Clementine also received a gift from her cousin. It was a large jar of Tunisian-style candy, made by binding cashews, Moroccan nuts, and chopped dates with honey and sugar, then pressing them into short bars. The candy was incredibly sweet and delicious.

Unable to resist the temptation of the sweets, Clementine’s eyes lit up as soon as she smelled the sweet aroma. She forgot all about her manners, reached into the jar, and grabbed a piece of candy, popping it into her mouth.

“Mmm—”

The crunchiness of the nuts mixed with the sweetness of the honey instantly made the little girl squint her eyes in happiness.

“Thank you so much for the gift, my dear cousin!” She wanted to curtsey to Joseph again but realized her fingers were sticky with candy. Thinking quickly, she simply grabbed another piece of candy and stuffed it into her cousin’s mouth.

Joseph was taken aback, wanting to say, “You didn’t wash your hands,” but it was too late. He could only mutter to himself, “A little dirt won’t hurt,” as he reluctantly chewed the candy.

“Dear cousin!” Nearby, the parrot perched on Charles’s arm mimicked Clementine’s voice in a funny tone.

“Wow! It can talk!” Charles, who was nearly four years old, widened his eyes in amazement.

Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were also drawn to the parrot, putting down what they were holding to gather around.

“What else can you say?” Charles pouted as he looked at the parrot. “Little cutie!”

“!” The parrot responded with a phrase in Arabic and even bowed its head towards Louis XVI.

Everyone exchanged glances and then burst into cheerful laughter.

“It knows so many languages!”

“It’s so interesting!”

“Joseph, do you know what it just said?” Queen Marie Antoinette asked her son.

Joseph shrugged. “I don’t understand either. But if you want it to say something specific, just teach it a few times, and it will learn. Cape parrots are very smart.”

“Cape parrot! I love Mr. Cape Parrot!” Charles hugged the colorful parrot, which was as large as a pigeon, and joyfully spun around the room.

Clementine shook her head and corrected him, “Cape parrot is its breed. You should give it a name.”

“Is that so? Then what should I name it…”

Charles pondered for a moment, his eyes suddenly catching a glint of light under the table. Startled, he grabbed his father’s woolen tricorn hat from the table and quickly used it as a shield.

In the next instant, a black-and-white blur flashed by, crashing into the hat with an unhappy “meow.”

“Mr. Whiskers?” Clementine was startled and quickly looked for her maid. “Rosalia, how did the cat get out…”

She had forgotten that Princess Thérèse was visiting Spain recently, and Mr. Whiskers’s “girlfriend” had gone with her. Taking advantage of the maid’s inattention, the cat had sneaked out for a stroll and had found what it thought was a delicious “pigeon snack.”

Having its ambush foiled, the cat took another greedy glance at the parrot and then, with a “meow,” pounced again.

Charles had been taught about chivalry by Queen Marie Antoinette from a young age. Despite being a bit scared, he mustered up the courage to lift his leg and kick at Mr. Whiskers.

“Meow!” Whether or not the cat was actually kicked, it let out a terrified cry and shrank back into Clementine’s arms for comfort.

The little girl soothed the cat and protested to Charles, “Your Highness, you almost hurt Mr. Whiskers.”

Charles, still clutching the parrot, retorted, “That naughty cat wanted to eat Mr. Parrot!”

“I apologize for it, but you already blocked it with the hat. There was no need for that extra kick!”

“I thought there was!”

“There wasn’t!”

“It started it!”

Hands on her hips, Clementine angrily declared, “There’s no doubt that your behavior just now was very rude!”

Charles, unable to argue back, suddenly noticed the Moroccan nuts in her candy. Remembering something he had read in a book, he grinned mischievously and pointed at the nuts. “Do you know how those are harvested?”

“Huh? Harvested?”

Charles smirked. “The locals herd goats up the trees to eat the green fruits. The nuts in their droppings are what you’re eating!”

“Ugh!” Joseph’s face turned green as his stomach churned.

Clementine looked at her delicious candy, then back at Charles, and suddenly burst into tears. “That’s not true! You’re lying…”

Servants and maids quickly rushed over, some comforting Charles and others soothing the crying girl, creating a chaotic scene.

Louis XVI looked pleadingly at the royal biologist standing by the door.

The biologist hurried over, bowed to everyone, and explained, “There is indeed a method like what His Highness described, but the edible part is the kernel inside the nut, which is protected by the shell and wouldn’t be contaminated by goat droppings. Besides, for high-end candy like this, the nuts are likely harvested by hand.”

Only then did Joseph relax, and Clementine’s sobs gradually subsided.

Queen Marie Antoinette calmed her son, then gently patted Clementine’s head to distract her. “By the way, Clementine, didn’t you say you wanted to hear about your cousin’s adventures in North Africa?”

She looked at Joseph. “Dear, why don’t you tell them about it?”

The two children immediately stopped arguing and focused their attention on Joseph.

Joseph instinctively wanted to decline but suddenly thought that he shouldn’t always let the Queen treat him like a child. As France developed, he would need to undertake more extensive and deeper reforms, as well as handle more diplomatic affairs. To do this without being restricted, he would need greater authority.

This was an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to the Queen.

So, he nodded, motioned for everyone to sit by the sofa, gathered his thoughts, and began to recount:

“A few months ago, there were attacks on French citizens in Tunis. I suspected that foreign powers were behind it, so I decided to go there myself…”

He went on to describe how he promoted the idea of “Roman identity,” how he turned the Tunisian Janissaries into a “gift” for the locals to gain their support, and how he made the local rebels dependent on French weapons and equipment.

However, to avoid upsetting the devout Catholic Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he left out the part about his more superstitious tactics, like using “one-eyed stone men,” and instead mentioned collaborating with Elder Arai, which eventually led to the locals overthrowing the Tunisian Janissaries who had attacked the French.

Marie Antoinette listened with wide eyes, repeatedly praising him. “You managed to defeat those who were hostile to France without using much force. How did you come up with such a brilliant idea, my dear?”

This time, with no Brienne accompanying Joseph to Tunis, she no longer thought of her son as just a follower.

Her heart swelled with pride as she made the sign of the cross and silently thanked God and the Virgin Mary for blessing her with such a capable and strategic son.

Joseph then went on to describe how Algiers sent troops to intervene in Tunis and how he decided to strike first by quickly moving to Annaba to launch a surprise attack on the Algerian army.

Even though Marie Antoinette had read reports about these events before, they were never as detailed as Joseph’s account.

When she heard that her son had been involved in a battle between 6,000 French troops and over 20,000 Algerians, she became so anxious that her palms began to sweat, and she whispered, “It was too risky; you shouldn’t have gone with the army…”

It wasn’t until Joseph described how they ambushed and defeated Kehler’s forces south of Annaba that the listeners finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Clementine was the first to applaud. “Cousin, you’re amazing!”

The King and Queen exchanged glances and joined in the applause, their faces full of pride.

Little Charles, meanwhile, exclaimed with admiration, “Brother, next time, take me with you to fight the infidels!”

Joseph ruffled his brother’s hair affectionately and laughed. “Then you must study hard and practice riding. When you grow up, we’ll lead the army together.”

Queen Marie Antoinette quickly waved her hand. “It’s too early for riding; that’s not allowed…”

After Joseph finished recounting his experiences in North Africa, Louis XVI’s attendant came to remind them that it was time for dinner, and the royal family’s bonding time came to an end.

As Queen Marie Antoinette watched her eldest son walk side by side with her husband, she couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction—her efforts had finally paid off, and she had raised such an outstanding heir.

But then she remembered that Joseph had been in the midst of a war-torn North Africa, and her heart tightened. If it hadn’t been for the delays caused by the Marquis de Saint-Veran’s army, her son wouldn’t have faced such danger!

She was grateful for her son’s success, but the thought of him possibly being harmed by the Algerian forces filled her with dread.

She didn’t dare to think about it further, her eyes flashing with a cold, vengeful light. Like a lioness protecting her cub, she growled, “Montcalm, you will pay for your actions!”

Then she remembered the War Minister who had recommended the Marquis de Saint-Veran and immediately included him in her grudge.

The next morning, after dealing with some minor matters, Joseph headed straight to the Directorate of Industrial Planning at the Tuileries Palace.

As soon as he entered his office, he saw the thick stack of files piled on his desk and let out a long sigh. It seemed that his months in North Africa had left him with a lot to catch up on.

Sitting down in his chair, Joseph asked Aymon to bring him a cup of black coffee, then reached for the files and began reading.

As usual, the top file was a report on the grain situation.

As he had expected, despite the use of steam-powered irrigation and phosphate fertilizers from Nauru, this year’s harvest had decreased by 27% due to drought and a harsh winter.

What was even more worrying was that with the onset of winter, the strategic grain reserves were being consumed at an accelerated rate, leaving only about 18% of the year’s initial stock.

Additionally, due to poor harvests in other countries, international grain prices had skyrocketed, making it increasingly difficult to fill the gap with imported grain.

According to the document in Joseph’s hand, while he was in Tunis, over ten regions in France had experienced grain shortages. Fortunately, emergency reallocations of reserve grain had managed to avert a crisis. But at the current rate of consumption, the reserves would only last until March of the following year.

The earliest harvest of early wheat in Tunis would be in late April, leaving a gap of more than a month that needed to be filled. This would require accelerating the migration to Tunis and finding new sources of grain.

The situation was undoubtedly challenging, but compared to the same period in history, it was much better.

In the actual history of 1788, France was already suffering from widespread famine by the end of the year. The impact of the Eden Treaty had led to mass unemployment, and the country’s finances had completely collapsed. With no other options, Louis XVI agreed to convene the Estates-General the following year.

In 1789, the famine worsened, and people were dying of hunger across the country. The Estates-General failed to resolve anything, leading to the Great Revolution that swept across France like a flood.

Joseph rubbed his temples. Thanks to his efforts over the past year, the food crisis was still within a controllable range, and the Estates-General had not been convened.

Most importantly, Paris had not yet experienced a food shortage. Barring any surprises, the Great Revolution should be averted.

He took a sip of coffee and continued reading the next file, which mainly reported on the grain situation in various European countries during the second half of the year.

After skimming through the report, he couldn’t help but frown. Overall, the situation across Europe was quite dire.

Due to the drought, traditional grain-exporting countries like Britain, Russia, and Prussia were struggling to meet their own needs, and other countries were experiencing widespread famine.

The most telling statistic was the number of civil uprisings, most of which were caused by famine.

Austria had over a hundred uprisings in a year. Russia, of course, remained the undisputed champion of civil unrest in Europe. Prussia and Britain each had around sixty or seventy uprisings. Yes, even prosperous Britain wasn’t immune, although its situation was somewhat unique due to the ongoing enclosure movement.

The Italian states fared a bit better, thanks to their trade networks and relatively small populations. Nevertheless, Sardinia and the Two Sicilies had each seen more than thirty uprisings.

In comparison, France had only experienced around a dozen uprisings over the past year, making it a model of stability in Europe—although, in this feudal era, it was impossible to avoid uprisings altogether, as a single reckless nobleman could easily spark a peasant revolt on his estate.

Joseph knew that the widespread grain shortages across Europe could potentially lead to war. War was a common solution in this era, allowing nations to redirect domestic tensions outward and seize resources like money and grain.

This made it all the more urgent for him to deal with the rebellious military aristocrats and unify control over the military, so France could effectively defend against external threats.

The exceptional performance of the Royal Guard in Tunis gave Joseph the confidence to confront the military aristocracy, but he knew he needed to proceed with caution. Matters of state, especially those involving the military, had to be handled with the utmost care to avoid triggering a mutiny.

Joseph set aside the report on European uprisings and moved on to the next file.

This one was from Talleyrand, reporting on the outcome of France’s formal protest to the British government over Britain’s role in inciting the Tunisian Janissaries to attack French citizens.

(End of Chapter)

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep