I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 278 Common Prosperity

Dufresne familiarly gave some small gifts to Tainuiwe chief Tue and high priest Matero, and the Maori people's attitude immediately became enthusiastic.

After the two parties exchanged some unsmooth greetings through an interpreter - the Tahitian language is not exactly the same as the Maori - Dufresne directly stated the purpose of the trip to Touré:

"Dear Chief, I am here to purchase some land from you on behalf of His Majesty the King of France. As for what to pay for, you can choose weapons, clothing, furniture or even technology. I guarantee that you will definitely be satisfied with this transaction. "

Touré and the high priest looked at each other, then looked at Dufresne with a smile: "How much land do you plan to buy?"

Seeing that the other party did not seem to be resisting, the latter said to himself that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince still looked down upon these people, and they were still just ignorant natives. According to the usual routine of the colonists - just like the Spaniards used to trick the Indians - they can exchange for large tracts of land with worthless gadgets.

He immediately replied: "If possible, I hope to purchase 50,000 acres in advance, and then continue to purchase depending on the situation."

The translator communicated with the Maori leader about the unit "acre" for a long time, but Touré suddenly sneered, shook his head and said: "At most 500 acres, we need some muskets."

Dufresne's face suddenly froze and he hurriedly said: "You have so much useless land here, 50,000 acres is not worth mentioning to you."

"500 acres."

"With 50,000 acres, we can provide the muskets you want."

"500 acres, there is no other possibility!"

How could Dufresne know that the Maori had mastered farming and valued cultivated land very much. Wars for land often occurred between tribes, so how could they sell the land so easily?

In fact, decades later, the British encountered the same problem, and then had to spend a lot of time to send troops to "persuade" the stubborn Maori.

Dufresne took a deep breath and hurriedly returned to the "script" given to him by the Dauphin.

He showed a harmless smile: "You may have misunderstood. What we need is not cultivated land, but uncultivated grassland."

Touré still refused to let go: "Even on the barren grassland."

Dufresne had no choice but to use his trump card: "Your Excellency, Chief, what if the land I bought still belongs to you, and I only use it to raise sheep, and these lands are still managed by your tribe?"

"Ah?" Touré asked tentatively without responding, "Then will you still provide me with a musket?"

"Of course!" Touré gestured to the assistant behind him, took an old-fashioned matchlock gun from him, and handed it to the Maori leader, "500 of these guns, as well as the matching 10,000 rounds of ammunition and gunpowder. Add Get 500 linen coats, skirts and 300 blankets in exchange for your 50,000 acres of wild grassland.”

Touré confirmed again in disbelief: "The land does not belong to you, but my people can still set foot there?"

"Completely correct!"

Tuela is happy, what’s the difference between this land and not selling it? Didn’t he earn a lot of muskets, clothes, and blankets for nothing?

Dufresne smiled and said: “It’s just that these 50,000 acres of land must be used to raise sheep.

"Oh, don't worry, I will provide the sheep. I just need help from your tribe to raise them."

"Oh, please don't worry, I will pay your people enough compensation, whether it is muskets or anything else.

"And these sheep are yours too."

"What?!" Touré's eyes almost popped out - is there such a good thing in the world? Not only did they buy land for free, but they also gave sheep away for free! You even get paid for raising sheep! !

Dufresne continued: "Of course, you cannot slaughter these sheep at will, unless they are too old to produce wool. And your people must take good care of them. If any sheep are killed or injured, they must be deducted from their reward."

"And my only requirement is that all the wool produced must be sold to France. Yes, it is sold. After all, the sheep are yours. We will provide the corresponding materials to exchange for the wool."

This was Joseph's New Zealand strategy.

When the French navy was completely unable to defeat the British, they wanted to establish a stable colony in the Pacific, and they were faced with Maori people who had seen the world, had explosive combat power, and were very united. They could only use one strategy.

That is to distribute benefits to Maori!

The land is still yours, the sheep are yours, I pay the wages for raising the sheep, and I pay for the wool produced.

If anyone refuses this, he is definitely a fool!

This was the model commonly used by meat factories in later generations, providing farmers with piglets and raising them all for me to buy. It's just that in New Zealand, whether it is land price, labor force or wool price, they are so cheap that they are almost negligible.

As for New Zealand's natural conditions, even the indigenous people can easily raise sheep well.

Everything is perfect!

At the same time, France also formed a community of interests with the Maori and even armed them with compensation.

When the British want to cause trouble, the fierce Maori will be enough for them to drink a pot.

You know, although the Maori are still in the Stone Age, they have an extremely powerful weapon-the handkerchief.

This is a military defense system.

Usually built on high ground such as hills, the Maori will transform the mountain into a terraced plane, and then build fences and towers layer by layer - the former uses sharpened wooden piles, the latter uses stones, and is fixed with a large amount of flax .

Then behind the fence, trenches were dug, with a depth of up to 4 meters. In this way, after each fence was captured, the enemy had to face the deep ditch and the next fence.

The best thing is that this kind of "bunker" built almost by primitive people actually has the innate ability to defend against cannons!

Faced with artillery, the Maori would immediately hide in the trenches behind the stockades, and solid shells had no power against them. When the bombardment was over, they jumped out and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy.

When the British sent troops to attack New Zealand in the mid-19th century, they suffered a big loss from these "pars". Almost every "Pa" consumes thousands of artillery shells and takes an extremely long time. And after the British broke through the last tower of "Pa", the Maori would still escape through the tunnels dug in advance.

Each Maori tribe has to repair several of these "Pa"s. They are found all over the mountains and plains of New Zealand...

The British, who were stronger than they were in 1840, could only rely on deception to sign a colonial treaty with the Maori tribal leaders. Soon they were overwhelmed by the Maori uprising, and finally had to agree to Maori autonomy.

Therefore, for New Zealand, those who come hard cannot be a candidate at all.

From the beginning, Joseph planned to let the Maori speak French, raise French sheep, and believe in French Catholicism, so that everyone would be prosperous together.

As for Maori hooking up with the British?

Not to mention the sincerity and stubbornness of Maori people, after many years of operation, France’s penetration and influence in New Zealand cannot be easily handled by the British.

At the very least, Britain had to pay a price that was ten to eight times higher than the cost of colonizing New Zealand in history to be able to conquer this place.