I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 548 Unbalanced Continent

"Oh, according to the intelligence collected by Lord Grenville, the current cost of France's textile industry is only about 15% higher than ours, and the steel industry has almost caught up with us. The French have discovered huge coal and iron mines in northern Crimea, Russia, which has enabled them to obtain a large amount of high-quality pig iron.

"As for the wine industry, the French have reduced their costs by 40% compared to two years ago, and the quality has even improved."

He was talking about the three most important industrial fields between Britain and France - either fierce competition or huge trade volume.

Little Pete paused, his expression solemn: "In short, France is growing stronger like a behemoth at a very fast speed.

"We were all blinded by arrogance and carelessness before, but now we must first admit the most critical point, that is, we will face an opponent who is more difficult than ever before.

"This is far from the France during the Seven Years' War. It has begun to break the balance of power on the European continent. "

The Marquis of Wellesley did not show any shock when he heard this, but seemed to be relieved: "My old friend, your strategic sense is still as sharp as ever. To be honest, I have been worried all the way that you have not noticed these things."

Little Pitt shook his head and said: "This is not my credit, but it is stated in a report submitted by the Duke of Leeds a few months ago."

As he said, he took out a stack of documents from the suitcase next to the seat and handed it to Wellesley: "I wanted to give it to you in two days. After all, you just came back from the Far East and need a good rest. But I suddenly felt that I need you to help me as soon as possible. "

"Oh, of course I firmly support you..."

Wellesley took the document and immediately saw the words "Cabinet Top Secret" on the cover. He hesitated and said: "I am not holding a government position now. This may not be appropriate, right?"

"Nothing," Little Pitt waved his hand indifferently, "Your opinion is what this report needs most."

As he said, he leaned on the armrest: "And, I hope you can serve as Minister of War. If you don't refuse, you will be a member of the cabinet."

"Secretary of War?" Wellesley was startled, "What position is this?"

Yes, because the British Army had played a trick on the King during the Glorious Revolution, and Britain had little demand for the Army, so until now Britain only had the Secretary of the Navy, and the Army was managed by several senior generals. Historically, it was Napoleon's huge pressure that made the British set up the Secretary of War three years later, and now, it appeared ahead of time.

Little Pitt said seriously: "As I said just now, we must deal with the French seriously. This is an important military measure.

"Although you are young, you have accumulated prestige in the battles in the Far East, and the soldiers admire you very much. It is most appropriate for you to integrate the army."

"Okay, I'll do it." Wellesley nodded without any pretense in front of his old friend, "We can't leave this matter to those old-fashioned old guys. In fact, I really have some ideas about the reform of the army."

The prospective Minister of War now confidently opened the Duke of Leeds' report, quickly browsed it, and continued: "According to the news I have obtained about the French army, they have made great progress in the past two years. Even surpassed their achievements in industry.

"The Prussians got some French rifles, and I asked for a few. It is a revolutionary weapon, which the French call 'percussion gun'. Whether in range, power or loading speed, it is much better than our most advanced Brown Bess 1769.

"It can be said that when our soldiers face this kind of weapon, unless they have a 30% advantage in manpower or the enemy has malaria, they will definitely lose."

Little Pitt was not familiar with the military field, and frowned and said, "I have also heard of this kind of gun, but Sir Henry Conway thinks it is not a threat."

Sir Conway is currently the most senior general in the British Army.

"That's why I don't like those old-fashioned people." Wellesley curled his lips, "They must be beaten before they admit that their set is outdated.

"Oh, and there are cavalry artillery. Prince Edward and I proposed to vigorously develop this weapon invented by Frederick a few years ago, but our old generals only agreed to build two battalions.

"Do you know how amazingly effective the French cavalry artillery was on the battlefields of the Southern Netherlands and Silesia last year?"

Little Pitt nodded: "That's why I made you the Minister of War. You can do all these now, and I will definitely not let the parliament embarrass you in terms of funding."

"Only you have this courage." Wellesley cast a grateful look, "The French army still has a lot to learn from, but I can assure you that I will give you a strong army that can defeat them..."

He suddenly stopped in the middle of his speech. The report of the Duke of Leeds made him frown and look up at Little Pitt: "Are you sure what is said here is not exaggerated?"

The latter nodded: "The cabinet has held several meetings on this, and everyone agrees with the content of the report."

"This..."

Wellesley quickly turned a few pages forward, where it was mentioned that France has stabilized the situation in North African colonies such as Tunisia and Tripoli, initially established a ruling system, and the number of immigrants has continued to rise.

Last year alone, more than 70,000 French immigrants went to North Africa, especially in the last month, when the number reached 11,000. This caused the price of the boat ticket from Marseille to Bizerte to rise by 35%.

You know, whether it is Britain or Spain, Portugal and other colonial powers, if they want to stabilize and control overseas colonies, they must go through a long time, a series of wars, gradually wear down the resistance of the local population, and invest a lot of money.

This usually takes 5 to 10 years. And the French did it in just 1 and a half years!

Although North Africa is very close to France, which gives them a considerable advantage, the speed is really too amazing.

In fact, if it weren't for Britain's previous obstruction, this time would be much shorter. Joseph's "Roman identity" and "miracle appearance" operations are extremely effective, far from being comparable to the colonial empire that only relies on guns and cannons to "persuade".

At the same time, the report also said that although the area of ​​Luxembourg and Wallonia in the Southern Netherlands obtained by France is small, a large number of coal and iron industries have been rapidly developed in these two places.

In addition, the residents of the two places were already more in agreement with France, so the ruling order was established more quickly. The Duke of Leeds estimated that France could recover all its investments in these places in two years at most, or even one year.

The overseas colonies that France had lost in the Seven Years' War had been largely compensated by these places.