The Fox of France

Chapter 290: Intimidation

In May 1801, after a series of battles, the "Free Trade" finally returned to the shores of France. Along with the ship came Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the representative of Saint-Domingue's governor, Dussan Lucidur. His mission was to journey to Paris, where he first sought an audience with the Minister of Truth, Lucien, followed by a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, and, when the time was right, an audience with First Consul Napoleon.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, originally a plantation slave with little formal education, possessed remarkable intelligence. He had distinguished himself during the slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, gradually becoming one of Dussan Lucidur's most trusted commanders. In the original course of history, when French expeditionary forces used negotiations as a pretext to capture Dussan Lucidur, it was Dessalines who continued to lead the rebel forces, persistently battling against the French expeditionary forces. He eventually expelled the French from Saint-Domingue and established the world's first independent black republic. Dessalines became the first president of this black republic and later declared himself Emperor of Haiti.

However, the fate of this Haitian Emperor took a turn for the worse. Following Haiti's independence, he resorted to the most direct and brutal means to resolve land issues – the massacre of white colonists and the distribution of their land to his supporters.

After Haiti's independence, trade with the country nearly ceased, and even the British, who had supported Dessalines, effectively withdrew from Haiti's trade network. The newly-formed Haiti could only grow cash crops and couldn't sustain itself with food production. They had to resort to smuggling, trading coffee and sugar for food at prices well below the international market rates.

Famine began to spread across Haiti, and many "free blacks" were forced to flee from the world's only "free black nation." In order to protect the interests of his supporters, boost agricultural output, and maintain the nation, Dessalines reestablished a plantation system with strict measures to bind laborers to their contracted areas, punishing those who attempted to escape or harbored escapees. In essence, he turned the majority of free black population back into agricultural serfs, with some of the blacks who had followed him replacing the former white slave masters.

Naturally, these reactionary measures triggered widespread opposition, and in a rebellion, Dessalines was assassinated. Haiti subsequently descended into division and civil war.

Accompanying the "Free Trade" to France were not only representatives of the black population but also a group of white individuals. However, they were not there as representatives but as prisoners.

These individuals were the plantation owners of Saint-Domingue, or in other words, the slave masters. Governor Dussan Lucidur had concocted various pretexts, accusing them of conspiring with exiled nobility to overthrow the republic.

These accusations were purely a fabrication, but in an era where close ties with the nobility were reason enough to be suspicious, evidence was not a problem. Both the Ministry of Truth and the Department of Public Safety had their ways of producing what appeared to be unquestionable evidence.

In recent years, the iron grip of authoritarianism had temporarily relaxed, and many had started to forget its existence. However, it had not vanished as completely as people believed. As the era of peace arrived, it had quietly retreated to a shadowy corner, much like a dagger sheathed in a splendid scabbard. People often only saw the intricate patterns on the scabbard's surface but forgot about the sharp blade concealed within.

During these years, the power of authoritarianism had not weakened but had, in fact, become more refined than in the days of Robespierre. During Robespierre's time, the Committee of Public Safety was a blunt instrument, potent but requiring substantial force to wield, and incapable of performing delicate tasks. In the present, authoritarianism had evolved into a precise surgical tool, capable of more accurate operations with minimal collateral damage.

For instance, manufacturing "ironclad evidence" was a task that Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety could not have performed at this level of technological sophistication.

However, in most cases, France did not immediately pass judgment on the "suspects" who had been brought in. Instead, they were detained, awaiting a thorough investigation. This allowed them to maintain a reason to confront Dussan Lucidur in the future.

Dessalines came ashore, but the French government didn't immediately arrange for him to go to Paris. Instead, officials from the French Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade accompanied him to inspect France's agricultural and industrial production.

Dessalines understood that the French were showcasing their power. To them, Saint-Domingue, no matter how independent, could not achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and thus it needed to align with some force. The French were displaying their might to make Dessalines realize that if he had to acknowledge a "father," he should acknowledge the most powerful and benevolent one.

For instance, they took him to visit the wheat production area along the Seine River. In May, the winter wheat was entering the grain-filling stage, a time when it needed water. Fortunately, this region had advanced irrigation systems in place, so the wheat production hadn't been significantly affected.

Dessalines had worked the land before, but he'd never grown wheat, so he wasn't entirely familiar with how it should look. Nonetheless, the French used a machine to effortlessly pump river water to higher elevations, which seemed almost miraculous and left Dessalines deeply impressed.

While the French countryside was astonishing to Dessalines, what came next, the inspection of French industry, was nothing short of terrifying for him. The French guided him to a cannon factory, where he saw massive red-hot steel ingots being deformed under thunderous forging machines, much like kneading dough. He witnessed cannon blanks being drilled, sparks flying, and cannons being produced one after another. The formidable might of France left this black man from the distant Central American region awestruck.

Even though Dessalines knew that the French were trying to intimidate him with these displays, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by what he saw. He began to calculate just how many cannons one factory like this could produce in a year. If he could bring this technology back to Saint-Domingue...

The idea of first showing Dessalines around France and then negotiating with him was inspired by Joseph.

In the previous timeline, you, my dear reader, often employed this tactic to deal with people from less advanced nations. Many times, when representatives of these backward countries visited you, they aimed to learn from your advanced technology and ideas. However, after spending a lot of foreign exchange and going through the learning process, these individuals typically returned with results that sounded like this:

"Look at you, you're so advanced..."

"People like you are so advanced; our country will be trailing behind for a hundred years..."

Some of them even became proponents of your thoughts and interests, going as far as lamenting their own inadequacies:

"This yellow land can no longer nurture a new culture."

"This yellow earth can't teach us what real scientific spirit is."

And they eventually reached conclusions like "We must embrace the blue civilization," advocating complete surrender.

Of course, your approach had its risks. Consider the example of Zhu Long's southern journey to Wu and Yue, an attempt to use his strength to intimidate those who wouldn't submit. His actions did have an effect. However, what distinguishes heroes from the ordinary is their response when facing substantial disparities. Heroes are motivated by the belief, "We can attain that too," and "A great man should be like this."

What makes our family of gardeners most proud is that we never lack heroes. "Among the nobility, there must be a gardener!"

However, Dessalines was not a hero. So, what the French showed him deeply impressed him, and this formed a solid foundation for their subsequent negotiations.

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