Chapter 512: Chapter 425: The Great Developnt of Tunisia
At the mont when Callia felt so nervous that she didn’t know what to do, Perna, who had been hiding at the end of the corridor and peeping, saw the incredibly beautiful girl run out of the Crown Prince’s bedroom and then return to her own room. It was quite so ti before she was able to finally take a long breath of relief.
She didn’t know why she was doing this, but ever since that girl nad Callia appeared, an inexplicable sense of crisis had erged in her heart.
Especially since, as a personal physician, she hadn’t shared a carriage ride with His Highness the Crown Prince for a long ti—His Highness often worked in the carriage, and Mr. Eman said that it would affect His Highness. Yet on the journey from Vienna, Callia had been in His Highness’s carriage all along.
Turning around to lean her back against the wall, Perna shook her head silently; no, she shouldn’t entertain any other thoughts. But in the next mont, the handso visage of the Crown Prince dominated her mind.
“Perhaps I should be braver,” she murmured, “or else His Highness might be…”
Startled by her own words, she suddenly jerked, hurriedly lowered her head, and scurried back to her room, praying silently, “God, please guide !”
...
The next day, Joseph unexpectedly found that Doctor Perna seed to be incessantly finding excuses to linger around him.
After he coughed a few tis, she even insisted on confirming whether his pneumonia had recurred, and stayed in his carriage.
The carriage beca sowhat crowded. Eventually, Eman, with no other choice, alighted from the carriage and rode on horseback beside the Crown Prince’s carriage.
Inside the carriage, Joseph started to get busy with reports on Tunisian immigration policy. The two girls exchanged polite greetings and then fell silent, each bowing their heads.
In this awkward atmosphere, Perna felt so embarrassed she could carve a replica of the Palace of Versailles with her toes, yet she stubbornly stayed put, occasionally stealing glances at the Crown Prince’s charming deportnt while he attended to his official duties.
This way, with the accompanint of the two young ladies, Joseph finally reached Paris without any “accidents” occurring.
Perna, in the end, did not muster up the “courage.” And Callia still hadn’t found the “knack.”
Joseph, well-cared-for, energetically took Callia to Petit Trianon Palace to report to his mother.
Queen Mary, holding the granddaughter of Mada Delvaux, cried as though her tears were a brook before announcing her intention to appoint Callia as her third attendant.
However, Countess Debreninac imdiately cautioned prudently that with Miss Delvaux’s background, it was unsuitable for her to serve as an attendant to Her Majesty the Queen.
In the end, Queen Mary had to adhere to court protocol and made Callia her maidservant so that she could stay by her side[Note 1].
When Joseph erged from his mother’s place, he saw Brian waiting for him at the door of his bedchamber.
The latter ca up to him from a distance, greeted him, and said, “Your Highness, congratulations on the series of important diplomatic achievents attained in Vienna. Our alliance with Austria has been further strengthened.”
“It’s all thanks to God’s blessing,” Joseph made the sign of the cross proficiently, then gestured for the Chief Minister to co inside, “Do you have urgent matters? Oh, please sit and talk.”
Brian nodded hurriedly and said:
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s about Tunisia. The ‘Tunisian Trade and Construction Plan’ you previously enacted has started to be implented, but due to certain tribal actions, we have encountered so difficulties.”
Joseph frowned slightly upon hearing this. After Moro and Ney had defended Tamire, Sherelle’s Legion completely drove the Moroccan Army back into Algiers territory, greatly improving the security environnt in Tunisia.
Then, under governnt propaganda, France began a second wave of major developnt in Tunisia, with tens of thousands of comrcial and agricultural immigrants flocking to Tunisia, indicating a surge in economic activity.
Therefore, Joseph made preparations in advance, issuing decrees to abolish local tariffs and tolls among different regions in Tunisia, lower comrcial taxes, and begin infrastructure projects such as broadening roads and laying wooden railway tracks.
In the political landscape of Tunisia, tribal forces dominated the villages and towns. There had been issues before with tribes refusing to pay taxes, which Joseph resolved using the “Palace of Versailles” model. Now, were they causing trouble again?
He looked at Brian and said, “Please tell the details.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Brian nodded, “The main issue is that the large tribes do not allow certain foreign goods to enter their villages and towns.
“At the sa ti, almost all tribes are still charging exorbitant ‘security fees’ on the roads they control.
“In addition, they often extort rchants and the farrs who went there to till the land.”
He looked troubled: “You know, Tunisia’s army is insufficient and can only be stationed near major cities. For these tribes that are far away, we basically have no power over them. Even if we send troops to intimidate them, they will comply with the laws only when the army is present. As soon as the troops leave, they imdiately revert to their old ways.”
Joseph’s expression also turned serious.
Let alone 18th-century North Africa, even in the 21st century, many countries’ governnts have difficulty effectively managing local powers.
Especially with tribes, which are held together by kinship relations, it’s even harder for external forces to intervene.
Tribes in Tunisia, which have been dealing with taxation since the Phoenician era, were sowhat accepting of it, but now that they’re being asked not to charge fees at will and to allow the free circulation of goods, they started to resist.
Joseph had originally planned to use Tunisia as a pilot for local tax reforms before promoting them in France. He hadn’t expected to encounter such strong resistance.
Brian cautiously said, “Your Highness, do you think we should first implent the laws in major cities and wait until the Tunisians are accustod to them before expanding the scope?”
Joseph imdiately shook his head. He was counting on the profits from Tunisia to feed back into France’s finances. Going this slow, it could take ten to eight years before the policies were fully implented.
Moreover, this would let the Tunisian tribes realize that the governnt couldn’t handle them, and future new laws would still face various obstacles.
He fell into deep thought; fundantally, the reason local powers did not submit to governnt control was due to transportation and communication.
When roads are poor, tribes have little contact with the outside world, inevitably creating their “little worlds.” More interaction with the outside world and the formation of mutual interests could lead them to integrate into the nation.
This required rapidly improving roads, but constructing infrastructure across Tunisia wasn’t sothing that could be done overnight.
Another option was to significantly increase the number of troops or police to supervise and intimidate the tribes constantly with the threat of force, preventing them from defying the laws.
But this required the expenditure of a vast amount of funds. Maintaining an army of over a hundred thousand in Tunisia might solve the problem, but the taxes would also be largely consud by military expenses.
At this thought, Joseph suddenly paused; wait, to intimidate the tribes with the military, it wasn’t necessary to station troops near the tribes…
[Note 1]: A queen’s lady-in-waiting is considered a court position, usually filled by nobles of higher status and close relationship with the queen, who can join the queen for walks, gas, and other activities. A maid is simply a servant, the kind who would only stand at the doorway.
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