Chapter 1,140 The Egyptian version of 'Changing rice into mulberry'
"Your Majesty, you are confused about the indifference of the British Kingdom, aren't you?"
In response to de Lesseps' inquiry, Jérôme Bonaparte smiled noncommittally.
"So be it! If I were the ruler of the Kingdom of Britain, then I would definitely not miss the opportunity to disrupt the navigation of the Suez Canal!
Rather than letting an important waterway be navigable in the hands of a potential hostile country, it would be better to make this waterway completely unusable!"
Jérôme Bonaparte's words made de Lesseps fall into deep thought, and his mind began to think about the various difficulties the Suez Canal had faced so far.
After a while, de Lesseps finally spoke to Jérôme Bonaparte and replied, "Your Majesty, please don't worry!
I will definitely treat every issue carefully and try not to let the British Kingdom seize the opportunity!"
"Mr. Lesseps!" Jérôme Bonaparte responded lightly, with a harsh tone in his tone, "Sometimes, problems cannot be solved by relying on caution!
When necessary, you still need iron and blood!
According to my guess, the British Kingdom’s method of delaying the opening of the Suez Canal is simply to instigate local people to oppose the construction of the canal, or to instigate Suez Canal workers to go on strike.”
At this point, Jérôme Bonaparte recalled that when he saw the Suez Canal quotation provided by de Lesseps for him, de Lesseps did his best in terms of one of the labor costs.
It can be compressed. The salary of each Egyptian worker who was conscripted to build the Suez Canal was less than one-third of that of French workers, and the hours they needed to work were 1.5 times the average working hours of French workers. It can be said that it was done perfectly.
Wages are perfectly linked to local prices.
In this situation, nothing major would happen without the intervention of foreign forces. However, as long as the British Kingdom is willing to make a big fuss about this matter, Egyptian workers will inevitably be dissatisfied with their treatment, which will lead to labor conflicts.
The final result is nothing more than that one side, the labor side and the management side, will inevitably choose to compromise, and this kind of compromise often ends with the management side compromising.
After all, for those who build big projects, every minute and every second is money.
Jérôme Bonaparte did not want to continue to increase costs in front of the Suez Canal unless it was absolutely necessary.
It is true that the Suez Canal is indeed beneficial to France, but the core of France has never been at sea. The European continent is the focus that France needs to compete for.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured about this!" De Lesseps replied to Jérôme Bonaparte confidently, "Since our task force (the army in the disguise of supervisors) arrived at the Suez Canal, the Suez Canal has no longer
There hasn’t been any group incident!”
"That's good!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded and did not say anything more.
Later, de Lesseps asked Jérôme Bonaparte if he would take advantage of his visit to Egypt to visit the progress of the Suez Canal.
After Jerome Bonaparte thought for a moment, he agreed to de Lesseps' invitation.
After the topic of the Suez Canal ended, Jerome Bonaparte quickly shifted the topic to the purpose of his arrival in Egypt.
“I arrived in Egypt this time because I wanted to deepen the relationship with the Egyptian government. The Suez Canal still needs the assistance of the Egyptian government!
Secondly, I want to see if Egypt can become the second cotton supplier to France!
After all, we can’t hang ourselves from a tree!”
When de Lesseps heard about Jerome Bonaparte's second purpose, a puzzled look immediately appeared on his face.
According to de Lesseps' previous understanding of the French textile industry, all cotton used in the French textile industry comes from the United States of America. It is extremely difficult to get French textile owners to use cotton from non-United States of America.
What's more, the quality of Egyptian cotton is indeed slightly inferior to that of the United States.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me!" de Lesseps boldly spoke to Jérôme Bonaparte, "I have also known about cotton spinning for a period of time before. Although I cannot say that I know everything about the cotton spinning industry, I do know a little bit about it.
dabble.
The cotton with the best quality and the lowest price in the entire world is the cotton from the United States of America. The cotton from Egypt cannot be compared with the cotton from the United States of America!
Those French textile owners will never use Egyptian cotton, and those lobby groups in the United States of America will never let France switch to Egyptian cotton!"
Jérôme Bonaparte nodded, seeming to agree with de Lesseps's remarks.
"You're right!" Jérôme Bonaparte said to de Lesseps with a smile, and then changed the subject and continued, "But what if I told you that something might happen in the United States of America in the next year or so?
If there is a huge civil war, then you still think that Egyptian cotton cannot defeat the cotton of the United States of America!"
"What!" De Lesseps had a look of surprise on his face, and then asked Jerome Bonaparte with a serious face, "Your Majesty, where did you hear about this?"
"Where?" Jérôme Bonaparte chuckled and replied unhurriedly, "You still need to hear about this matter! You only need to pay attention to the elections in the United States of America to know the current situation in the United States of America!
Given the current conflict between the North and the South of the United States of America, as long as a Democrat is not the president, those slave states will inevitably choose to rebel.
In other words, as long as the Republican Lincoln can win the presidency of the United States of America, then the United States may win the Civil War!
By then, cotton produced in the United States will no longer be available to Europe in a short period of time!
Europe will inevitably fall into a cotton crisis, and Egyptian cotton will become a sought-after object in Europe!"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! De Lesseps frowned, feeling a little reluctant to believe the American Civil War mentioned by Jérôme Bonaparte.
The United States of America has been in existence for almost a hundred years from 1776 to now. Its lifespan has surpassed the first, second and third republics (the authoritarian republics briefly established by Jérôme Bonaparte during the coup).
)Sum.
This is enough to illustrate the excellent political compromise of the United States of America. De Lesseps does not believe that the political compromise mechanism of the United States of America cannot prevent the war of the United States of America.
However, de Lesseps also did not doubt the emperor's judgment.
The emperor must have information that he didn't know, and he even had connections with some rebel forces in the south.
Otherwise, he would never have said so dogmatically about the civil war between the North and the South!
De Lesseps couldn't help but thought to himself.
After thinking about this, de Lesseps also began to think about the possibility of using Egyptian cotton to replace American cotton.
It is true that Egyptian cotton is far inferior in quality to cotton from the United States of America.
However, if the civil war in the United States of America causes the cotton industry to shrink significantly, Egypt is fully qualified to take over the share of the United States of America in Europe, which will be of great help to Egypt's development.
Even though de Lesseps is a Frenchman, he is no less optimistic about the future of Egypt than Mohammed Said.
As long as Egypt develops without going against the interests of France, de Lesseps is still willing to give Egypt some help.
"Your Majesty! If the United States of America is really going to have a civil war within a year, then there is indeed a lot of potential for Egyptian cotton!" de Lesseps replied to Jérôme Bonaparte.
“So, I hope you can persuade Mohammed Said on my behalf to let him plant cotton on Egyptian soil as soon as possible!
As soon as the civil war in the United States of America begins, the price of Egyptian cotton will skyrocket!
Egypt can use its cotton to complement France's industries!" Jérôme Bonaparte replied to de Lesseps.
"But..." De Lesseps frowned and told Jerome Bonaparte the dilemma, "The existing land in Egypt alone cannot expand the scale of the cotton industry, unless the existing part is
Farmland converted to cotton cultivation!”
"So, I need your help!" Jérôme Bonaparte patted de Lesseps on the shoulder and said earnestly, "With your relationship with Mohammed Said, we can accomplish this.
It shouldn’t be difficult!”
"But this will lead to a small-scale famine in Egypt!" de Lesseps said worriedly to Jerome Bonaparte.
Although de Lesseps was a French patriot, he also had to consider Egypt's interests.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to sit in this position.
In response to de Lesseps' concerns, Jérôme Bonaparte responded teasingly, "Mr. Lesseps, when did you become so compassionate!"
"Your Majesty, I am the spokesperson of the empire's interests in Egypt and I am also the governor of Said.
Therefore, while safeguarding France, I must also ensure that there will be no turmoil in Governor Said's rule!" de Lesseps responded sincerely to Jérôme Bonaparte.
"Unrest! Why is there unrest!" Jerome Bonaparte showed a puzzled expression, "If the Egyptian people feel that their food is not enough, they can choose to import French food!
The price of grain is countless times cheaper than the price of cotton!”
After thinking for a brief moment, de Lesseps immediately understood what Jérôme Bonaparte was thinking.
Egypt grew cotton and sold it to France in exchange for a large amount of francs, while using foreign exchange to purchase French grain.
This not only allowed Egypt to obtain foreign exchange, but also further deepened the relationship between the French Empire and Egypt.
The French Empire can completely bind Egypt together through interest bundling.
"I think Governor Said will not refuse deeper cooperation with the French Empire!"