Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1539 - 1445

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Duke Levis was overjoyed and hurriedly dragged his wife into the room, impatiently saying: “Quickly tell me, what has happened?”

One must know that the queen’s maid is one of the top three important positions in the Palace of Versailles. Although he is a prominent figure ranked 112th in the Senate, it took quite an effort to secure this job for his wife.

If his wife can replace the Countess of Debreninac to become the queen’s long-term maid, he would truly wake up laughing from a dream.

The Duchess hesitated for a moment, pulled him into the inner room, skipped over other trivial matters, and said nervously in a low voice: “His Majesty mentioned appointing a regent…”

…

Joseph waved at Alexandra who was going to painting class and returned to the desk to pick up the just-delivered report after she disappeared from view.

After reading the report of more than four pages, he couldn’t help but smile: “This Mr. Dorian Drat is somewhat wasted as an assistant at Talleyrand’s.”

He then picked up the draft of the “Egypt Investment Plan” by the Ministry of Industry, reviewed it, found no problems, and signed it. Afterwards, he added a line: Assign Dorian Drat as General Manager of the Egypt Shipping Company.

Since Egypt is nominally still a province of the Ottoman Empire, France cannot establish diplomatic relations with it, so this shipping company effectively serves as a consulate in Egypt.

And the company manager is actually the person responsible for diplomatic affairs.

Joseph handed the “Egypt Investment Plan” to Eman, instructing him to send someone to deliver it to the Ministry of Industry, and also ordered: “Also, notify the ‘Egypt Archaeological Research Institute’ to meet me tomorrow morning.”

Since Massena’s expedition to Egypt, France quickly started a craze for Egyptian culture, and then the archaeological research institute was established accordingly.

In fact, only half of the institute’s members are historians and archaeologists, while the rest are experts in engineering surveying.

After signing the agreement with Muhammad Ali, they can go ahead with the geological survey work for the Suez Canal.

Joseph, although not knowing the specific location of the canal, remembered that it was generally dug according to the ancient Pharaoh’s abandoned canal, so the survey work will be much easier than in history.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Eman was about to turn and leave when a servant at the door said: “Your Highness, General Bertier and Mr. Lavallette wish to see you.”

Joseph nodded: “Please let them in.”

Both entered the room, bowed to Joseph, and then the Chief of Staff handed over a war report: “Your Highness, news just arrived from Bern at noon.

“The Austrian army engaged fiercely with Basel militia near Alo, followed by Engelman from Wurttemberg leading two thousand mercenaries to reinforce. This might have been part of Engelman’s plan.”

Joseph opened the war report: “What was the outcome of the battle?”

Bertier’s expression was somewhat peculiar: “The Austrian army was defeated, Your Highness. Engelman killed at least 500 Austrian soldiers and captured nearly 400.”

Joseph was stunned for a moment, looking in surprise at the Chief of Staff: “How many Austrians were sent to Basel?”

“Krems Infantry Regiment and the 11th Vienna Scattered Troops. Approximately a total of 4,000, Your Highness.”

Joseph was even more puzzled: “So they’re the main force of the Austrian army? Yet they were routed by a colonel from Wurttemberg with Swiss mercenaries?”

“That’s indeed the fact, Your Highness.”

Because the battle just took place yesterday, the detailed battlefield situation hasn’t been reported back to Paris, so they couldn’t imagine how low the morale of the Austrian army was, having gone a long time without receiving pay.

After Engelman’s flank assault, the Austrians almost made no resistance and began fleeing north.

Even Stephan’s Basel militia achieved the result of killing 60 enemy soldiers.

Joseph rubbed his forehead; this was completely different from what he had initially planned.

According to his plan, the Wurttemberg army would surely suffer defeat, then he could suggest the King of Wurttemberg to seek aid from countries like Bavaria, eventually pulling more Southern German States into the Swiss battlefield.

Both sides facing off in the mountain ranges of Switzerland could not only deplete Austria’s national strength but also increase the Southern German States’ dissatisfaction with Vienna.

But now the Austrian interference troops were soundly defeated.

Joseph’s greatest concern at this moment was Franz II withdrawing the troops from Switzerland to avoid greater losses.

Lavallette suggested: “Your Highness, perhaps the situation within Austria influenced their army.

“Their tax reform encountered significant issues, evasion is prevalent everywhere.

“Moreover, Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary, and other places are very dissatisfied with the cancellation of local tariffs, as Vienna’s glass, textiles, and other goods are flooding in at low prices, making it difficult for their workshops to sustain.

“Multiple regional parliaments have thus delayed transferring the shared military expenses to Vienna.”

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In 1854 and 1856, the French Viscount Ferdinand de Lysps, consul in Egypt, obtained a concession from the Ottoman Empire’s Egyptian Governor, Said Pasha. Said authorized Lysps to establish a company and build a maritime canal open to ships of all nations, according to the plan drawn up by the Austrian engineer Alois Negrelli. [13] Through leasing relevant land, the company would preside over operations from the canal’s opening for 99 years.

On December 15, 1858, the Suez Canal Company was established. The work of forcing poor Egyptians across the desert to excavate the canal took nearly 11 years, with some laborers even whipped. The project overcame many technical, political, and financial issues. Ultimately, it cost as much as 18.6 million pounds, more than double the initial budget.

The canal was opened on November 17, 1869, which was declared as the canal’s opening day commemoration.

Research on the canal was conducted again in 1834 and 1846. Ferdinand de Lesseps received a concession from the Egyptian Governor Said Pasha to build a canal. The project began in 1859 and took 10 years to complete. The initial plan was to dig a small canal and a southern branch along the Tumelat River, called the Sweet Water Canal, leading to Suez, with a northern section to the Suez Port. This canal provided drinking water to other arid regions and was completed in 1863.

In 1865, a cholera outbreak occurred on the construction site, resulting in a large number of workers dying, to the extent that even those who sent patients to emergency stations couldn’t be found, and no one to dispose of the corpses of dead workers on site. For the construction of the Suez Canal, 120,000 Egyptian workers sacrificed themselves, with an average death rate of 738.5 per kilometer.