Make France Great Again-Chapter 980 - 971: The Russian Empire’s Request

Although Jerome Bonaparte’s reason for punishing the Sardinian Kingdom seemed unfounded to Minister De Luy, he still agreed with Jerome Bonaparte’s heavy-handed approach towards the Sardinian Kingdom.

After all, the Sardinian Kingdom has indeed been somewhat restless, and a proper lesson could be beneficial for friendly relations between the two nations.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister De Luy said to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Alright! That’s all I wanted to say!" Jerome Bonaparte exhaled deeply and then asked Minister De Luy, "Do you have anything else you wish to report to me?"

"Your Majesty, there is indeed one matter that I wish to report to you!" Minister De Luy nodded and said to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Speak!" Jerome Bonaparte slowly said to Minister De Luy, "Has some new issue arisen in international affairs?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister De Luy shook his head and responded to Jerome Bonaparte, "A day ago, an envoy from the Württemberg Kingdom arrived at my office and relayed the Russian Imperial Government’s requests to me!"

"Which Russian Imperial Government?" Jerome Bonaparte instinctively asked, only to realize that his father-in-law’s contact was with the government of Alexander II.

"Your Majesty, it’s the Russian Empire based in Moscow!" Minister De Luy replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Continue!" Jerome Bonaparte waved his hand, gesturing for Minister De Luy to proceed.

"The Russian Imperial Government hopes we can persuade the pseudo-government in St. Petersburg to surrender. They say if Golitsyn is willing to surrender and ensures the safety of Her Majesty the Empress and the Crown Prince, 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Alexander II can guarantee the safe departure of Duke Golitsyn from the Russian Empire!"

"Why doesn’t Alexander II himself bring these terms to Duke Golitsyn!" Jerome Bonaparte asked in confusion.

"Alexander II has attempted multiple times to propose negotiations with Duke Golitsyn, but Golitsyn has consistently shown no intention of negotiating!" Minister De Luy explained to Jerome Bonaparte, "So the Russian Empire hopes we can persuade the Golitsyn Government to ensure the safety of the Russian Imperial Empress, Empress Dowager, and several Crown Princes, Princes!"

"They think too highly of us!" Jerome Bonaparte shrugged and looked at Minister De Luy, "Luyis, what do you think?"

"Your Majesty, I think we could give it a try!" Minister De Luy slowly responded, "Regardless of the outcome, the Russian Empire will be grateful to us.

Why shouldn’t we give it a try!

Moreover, the St. Petersburg government under Duke Golitsyn probably won’t last much longer!"

After pondering for a moment, Jerome Bonaparte said solemnly to Minister De Luy, "I’ll leave this matter to you!

If Duke Golitsyn agrees, then we must do everything we can to ensure Duke Golitsyn’s safe evacuation from the Russian Empire!"

"Your Majesty, you mean that the Russian Empire might go back on their word!" Minister De Luy also replied with a serious expression.

"If I were Alexander, I certainly wouldn’t let this damned traitor get away!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Minister De Luy, "If this traitor is allowed to roam free, the autocratic base of the Russian Empire would face the risk of collapse."

"Your Majesty, I understand!" Minister De Luy replied seriously to Jerome Bonaparte, "If Duke Golitsyn indeed chooses to bow to His Majesty the Tsar Alexander, I’ll let the embassy in St. Petersburg escort them personally!"

"No! That’s not enough!" Jerome Bonaparte shook his head, tapping the table with his hand before addressing Minister De Luy, "If it really comes to that, Alexander would undoubtedly resort to snatching people from the embassy.

You must align with the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Britain after Golitsyn agrees to negotiate, and then jointly form a convoy fleet of three countries to escort Golitsyn out of St. Petersburg!

Only this way would Alexander have second thoughts!

However..."

Jerome Bonaparte paused, then stroked his chin and said, "Duke Golitsyn is very unlikely to agree to negotiate; he will surely fight Alexander II to the end!

Every Republican attempts to awaken the numb masses with their blood, but unfortunately, their blood is destined not to gain the approval of the masses.

Perhaps only in a world a hundred years from now, will these people be included in the textbooks of the Russian Empire.

However, Russians are likely more opposed than approving of these people.

After all, without Duke Golitsyn, the Russian Empire would not have lost Poland and Finland."

Minister De Luy nodded in agreement.

Subsequently, Jerome Bonaparte inquired Minister De Luy about how many were recruited by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Russian Empire willing to emigrate to the colonies for labor.

Minister De Luy informed Jerome Bonaparte that as of last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Colonial Department, had recruited over 200,000 Russian "freemen" to move to Algeria, Senegal, and Gabon,

and it’s estimated they can recruit about another 100,000 Slavs to reside in the colonies.

"When did Alexander become so benevolent?" Jerome Bonaparte looked at Minister De Luyss with slight surprise.

Although a single Russian serf wasn’t valuable, tens of thousands of serfs represented a considerable fortune.

It’s surprising that Alexander II would allow such wealth to flow outward.

"Your Majesty, I think His Majesty the Tsar also doesn’t wish to do this!

However, he has no choice! The land ravaged by war can no longer support such a large population!" Minister De Luyss explained to Jerome Bonaparte, "The commander of the military district in Odessa is the one who signed a labor agreement with us!"

Jerome Bonaparte immediately understood Minister De Luyss’ meaning. The current economic difficulties of the Russian Empire forced Alexander II to export significant amounts of grain for foreign exchange to buy weapons.

Naturally, he couldn’t care about the struggling serfs living below the poverty line, and coupled with the fact that the person conducting the population trade was the military chief he needed to rely on, Alexander II naturally chose to turn a blind eye.

"Make sure to ensure the gender ratio of the Slavs introduced to the colonies and slightly lower the price of female laborers!" Jerome Bonaparte reiterated.

"Understood!" Minister De Luyss replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

What Jerome Bonaparte mentioned had already been implemented.

Previously, the male-to-female ratio of the Russians transported to the colonies was roughly 3 to 1.

"Alright! It’s getting late! Let’s end our conversation here!" Jerome Bonaparte stood up, stretched, and said to Minister De Luyss with his head lowered.

Minister De Luyss hurriedly stood up to bid farewell to Jerome Bonaparte, and Jerome Bonaparte personally escorted Minister De Luyss out of the study.

...

In the following days, Minister De Luyss focused primarily on negotiating with the Kingdom of Spain’s envoy over the territorial division with the Kingdom of Morocco.

During exchanges with the envoy from the Kingdom of Spain, the Spanish envoy repeatedly hoped that Tangier would belong to the Kingdom of Spain, but Minister De Luyss steadfastly refused.

In the end, the Spanish envoy had to abandon the demand for Tangier and pocketed Uzhan and Oujda.

The division between the Kingdom of Spain and the French Empire over the Kingdom of Morocco ended with the Madrid Treaty.

The treaty stipulated: using Uzhan and Oujda as the demarcation line, the areas north of the line would belong to the Kingdom of Spain (except for Tangier.), and the areas south of the line would belong to the French Empire.

Neither France nor Spain could station troops in the demarcated zone. In the event of a rebellion within the Kingdom of Morocco, both the northern and southern countries had the obligation to assist each other in quelling the rebellion.

Merchants from both countries enjoyed most favored nation status in the regions of the Kingdom of Morocco.

...

After the signing of the Madrid Treaty, the previously precarious O’Donell military government gained prestige from annexing land, barely stabilizing the teetering government, as the military and people began to rally behind O’Donell.

With the temporary prestige boost, O’Donell began to take strong action against the radical liberals he had been hesitant to deal with.

The extremist newspapers within Madrid were forcibly closed by soldiers dispatched for maintaining order by O’Donell, and thousands of liberals were arrested.

Some liberals attempted to launch a rebellion in the capital to overthrow the military government led by O’Donell.

Unfortunately, it was too late, and without the support of the people of Madrid, the liberals were no match against the military.

Although the Kingdom of Spain’s army couldn’t defeat the French Empire, defeating the disorganized liberals was a piece of cake.

In the following period, nearly ten thousand liberals were arrested by the O’Donell government.

Following this, the O’Donell government learned from past French tactics and exiled these damn rebel elements to their colonies in the Kingdom of Morocco.

In a short time, thousands of Spaniards poured into Uzhan and Oujda, leading to frequent conflicts due to language barriers between them and the indigenous people of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Many liberals lost their lives in the Moroccan colony, and those who realized the situation were forced to learn from the "predecessors" of France and join the Spanish Kingdom’s military.

Once batches of liberal-formed military units were established, O’Donell was able to redeploy some loyalists back home.

As for whether the liberal-formed corps would rebel in the colony, O’Donell did not care.

Because even if these troops did rebel, they couldn’t return to New Delhi.

If they overstepped in Morocco, naturally, France would be there to deal with them.