The string of victories on the African front didn’t keep the French happy for long. Defeating the rebels didn’t mean the matter was settled; cleaning up afterward was the real headache. The scattered remnants of the defeated rebel troops out in the countryside weren’t much of a concern for now. Egypt had already been devastated, and the surviving French settlers had all retreated into the cities for safety, so there wasn’t much to worry about there. But the flooding Nile couldn’t be ignored. It was currently the dry season, so the damage wasn’t too serious yet. However, if the river wasn’t cleared and dredged in time, once the flood season hit, the entire Nile valley, including the fertile delta, would yield nothing. Staring at the Egyptian reconstruction plan in his hands, Napoleon IV’s expression darkened. Not even the good news from the front, where the rebel main force had been crushed, could bring him any comfort. “Why does this cost so much?” Napoleon IV was no stranger to massive undertakings. For something to shake him, it had to be a staggering figure. The cost of the Egyptian postwar reconstruction plan was nearing one-fifth of what France had spent on its own rebuilding after the civil war. It required an investment of several billion francs. And this was just a colony, not part of the homeland. Even with such a huge price tag, the plan would only be enough to restore basic social order in Egypt. It was far from any real development. The new Prime Minister,Terence Bourquin, hurriedly explained, “Your Majesty, the rebels went too far. The Nile, Egypt’s largest river, has suffered catastrophic damage. More than a hundred sections of the river have been blocked, forming seventy-three barrier lakes of various sizes. Due to the severe blockages, the river has been flooding its banks, and a large portion of farmland along the Nile has been destroyed. Just the cost of clearing the river channels will exceed one hundred million francs. Restoring the farmland will require an even greater investment. Because of the war, small towns and plantations across Egypt have been devastated, and the local economy has completely collapsed. As a result, many domestic agricultural insurance companies have fallen into crisis and now need government assistance. Capitalists, plantation owners, and ordinary settlers in Egypt who suffered heavy losses also require government aid. Aside from this, the largest expenditure is refugee relief. According to incomplete statistics, two out of every three people in Egypt are now refugees, and the total number may exceed two million. If these issues are not resolved, it will be very difficult to stabilize the situation in Egypt. The government has included all these necessary expenses, along with the military costs of maintaining postwar order, into the postwar reconstruction budget.” Even after hearing this explanation, Napoleon IV still didn’t feel any relief. No matter how many reasons were given, the fact remained that the money still had to be spent. Before Napoleon IV could respond, Finance Minister Roy Vernon jumped in and flatly rejected the idea saying, “That’s impossible. Egypt is just a colony. No matter how important it might be, it’s not worth such a huge price. The government’s finances are limited. We have more meaningful things to do and cannot afford to waste valuable funds.” He was speaking the truth. The French government really was short on money. The Egyptian rebellion had caused massive damage to the French economy, and revenues had also dropped as a result. While income had decreased, government spending had not. Military expenses in particular had increased significantly. Not long ago, the French government had launched a large-scale agricultural development plan, planning over a hundred farms in French Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and other regions. A third of those farm projects were already underway. Some of the land had even been leveled and was ready for spring plowing. All of these achievements were funded with money. Unsurprisingly, every single farm project was financed by the government. As for private capital? Unfortunately, the plantation owners in Egypt had been the most enthusiastic supporters of agriculture in all of France. Now they were all too busy licking their wounds. No one dared to throw their money into the bottomless pit that agriculture had become. Prime Minister Terence Bourquin glared furiously and said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s possible or not. It has to be done. Other projects can be postponed, but the Nile must be cleared as soon as possible. This year, agricultural output in Egypt is less than one-third of a normal year. The autumn harvest along the Nile has been nearly wiped out. According to the colonial government’s estimates, due to war, hunger, and disease, the population in Egypt has dropped by at least one-quarter. If we don’t manage to clear the river channels before May, there will be another failed harvest along the Nile next year. The famine will continue for yet another year. If that happens, the hard-earned stability in Egypt will collapse once again into chaos. By the time it’s all over, whether even one-third of the local population will remain is a big question. Without enough people, there won’t be enough labor. What will happen to our cotton plantations then?” Having just suffered from a cotton shortage, a large number of domestic capitalists in the textile industry were now urging the government to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible so that production could resume. You only had to look at the protesters out on the streets to understand. Seven or eight out of ten of them were workers from the textile supply chain. Because of the shortage in raw materials, most factories could not operate normally. If businesses were struggling, the lives of the workers were even harder. Terence Bourquin might not care about the lives of Egyptians, but he couldn’t ignore the consequences of a labor shortage. French-controlled Egypt now included half of Sudan, with a total land area of around two million square kilometers. However, across such a vast territory, even counting the indigenous tribes living deep in the mountains and forests, the total population was less than five million. And that was before the outbreak of the rebellion. Once the situation stabilized, if even three and a half million people survived, it would already be considered a blessing from God. If the famine continued, a land empty of people for thousands of kilometers would no longer be a fantasy. After all, the only fertile part of Egypt was the Nile Delta, while the rest was mostly desert. Surviving by hunting and gathering? Unfortunately, that was a scene from the wrong movie as most North African countries simply didn’t have the means to do so. Whether it was clearing the river channels, helping plantation owners resume production, or repairing damaged towns, all of it required massive amounts of labor. At its core, these projects were disaster relief, aimed at preventing the locals from starving to death, so that cheap labor could continue to be exploited. Once the severity of the consequences was made clear, even Napoleon IV couldn’t remain indifferent. With heavy industry still struggling to take off, France couldn’t afford to lose its cotton fields. “The river clearing must begin immediately. Order the frontline troops to speed up and stop the rebels from further damaging the upper river. The National Bank will issue low-interest loans to plantation owners to help them resume production as quickly as possible. The planned farms in the Nile Delta must be launched right away. Send a telegram to the colonial government, telling them to distribute some relief grain. We can’t let all the locals starve to death.” In a sense, Napoleon IV truly had it rough. Although born into royalty and destined to be an emperor, the empire he inherited was nothing short of a complete mess. Napoleon III had enjoyed glory and smooth sailing all the way to being crowned “Emperor,” but he left all the aftereffects for Napoleon IV to deal with. Massive debt, complex ethnic tensions, a declining economy, and international relations that were the laughingstock of the world—all of it came to light at once. Given how bad the situation was, the fact that Napoleon IV managed to stabilize things and prevent France from collapsing was enough to place him among the top monarchs of his time. Whether it was the African Development Plan or the current Large-Scale Agricultural Development Plan, they were all efforts by Napoleon IV to reverse France’s decline. Unfortunately, time waits for no one. His rivals kept stirring up trouble and never gave France a real chance to recover. The African Development Plan was hit by a man-made financial crisis that even sparked a civil war and the outcome speaks for itself. The Large-Scale Agricultural Development Plan was born right in the middle of the war. Napoleon IV had high hopes for it, as it targeted the weaknesses of Russia and Austria. But plans never keep up with changes. Just as implementation began, the government ran out of money. After a brief pause, Napoleon IV added, “Have the Ministry of Finance issue another 5 billion francs in government bonds to raise funds.” Throwing out a number like five billion francs, even though the current French Empire is much larger than it was historically, was still an astronomical figure, equivalent to the entire annual revenue of the French government. Upon hearing this, Minister of Finance Roy Vernon was completely stunned. He seriously began to doubt whether there was something wrong with his hearing. In recent years, the French government’s debt had been skyrocketing. It was on the verge of surpassing the 25-billion mark, and now with another 5 billion in bonds, it would directly break through 30 billion. “Your Majesty, even if we put aside the issue of government financial pressure, ignore the cost of interest, and even overlook the side effects of tightening credit, the Ministry of Finance still won’t be able to raise this amount. In the past few years, the government has already issued a huge volume of bonds, soaking up most of the idle capital in the market. In the short term, there is simply no way to raise that much money within the domestic financial market.” In the gold standard era, the amount of currency a country could issue was strictly limited by its gold reserves. Countries like Britain and Austria, which produced gold, were better off. Their gold reserves were large, market confidence in them was strong, and they could safely raise their leverage. Even if they printed more money, the pound and the guilder, as international currencies, had global markets to absorb the excess. As long as they didn’t overdo it, their currency value remained stable. France, on the other hand, was a gold-importing country. If it didn’t carefully manage the ratio between issued currency and gold reserves, it would easily become a target for international speculators. The French had already learned this lesson the hard way. Before the financial storm, the French government had followed Britain and Austria in playing the high-leverage game, and the franc had even held a major role in the international settlement system. Unfortunately, the French government lacked sufficient gold reserves and was unable to withstand a run on its currency. The franc’s status as an international currency collapsed overnight. Napoleon IV asked, “If domestic markets are no good, don’t we still have the international market? I remember that Austria once issued bonds across all of Europe and raised a huge amount of capital. It was by relying on the funds raised from the international market that Austria completed its industrial revolution and experienced a resurgence.” Finance Minister Roy Vernon shook his head. “Your Majesty, we are not the same as Austria, and today’s international situation is very different from back then. What the Austrian government was able to do doesn’t mean we can do the same. At the very least, we cannot overcome the political interference from other countries.” These days, money is not easy to borrow. International loans always came with strings attached, and issuing international bonds was no exception. When Austria raised a huge sum through international bonds, not only did the Austrian government offer sufficient collateral, the more crucial factor was a favorable international environment. Most of Austria’s agreements with European countries had been signed during that era. With a series of secret treaties in place, Austria’s relations with other European powers were either allied or nearly allied. With good relations, naturally no one tried to sabotage them. But with the French government, it would be a different story. Likely, the moment those bonds entered foreign markets, before they could even be sold, political interference would arrive. The matter was passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under Napoleon IV’s expectant gaze, Foreign Minister Émile Flourens could only lower his once-proud head. *** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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