Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Mysore City, Ambavilas Palace.

This was originally the palace of the Maharaja, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, though now it had been largely "requisitioned" by Sultan Tipu.

In a spacious and cool hall on the west side of the palace, Sultan Tipu, barely able to contain his excitement, grabbed Sheikh Khan by the arm, "Are you saying that France wants to send a princess to Mysore?"

As arranged by Salah, the second consul of France in Mysore, he did not directly approach Tipu with this matter, but let Sheikh Khan tell Tipu. In this way, Sheikh Khan could become the de facto facilitator of the Franco-Mysore marriage alliance, greatly enhancing his political status and providing convenience for the future joint effort to overthrow the pro-British Jahanzeb Khan.

"Indeed, great Sultan," Sheikh Khan sat up straight and placed his hand over his chest, "and she is a princess who believes in Islam!"

However, upon hearing this Sultan Tipu was taken aback. He was quite familiar with the European countries and knew that France was a pillar of Catholicism in Europe. How could there be a princess who believed in Islam coming out of the Royal Family?

Noticing his confusion, Sheikh Khan hastened to relay Salah's original words, "Your Majesty, the French consul said that the princess is from Tunisia, named Amira Slichi, 15 years old, beautiful and intelligent..."

"Tunisia?" Sultan Tipu blinked and then remembered the recent news—Tunisia had been incorporated into France, "How could the Tunisians be princesses?"

Sheikh Khan continued to explain using Salah's words, "Your Majesty, although Tunisia has merged with France, it is still a kingdom, and the brother of Princess Amira is the 'Bey' of Tunis, oh, now he has been renamed the Duke of Tunis."

Sultan Tipu couldn't help nodding slightly. He knew that in Europe this situation was quite common. For instance, the Holy Roman Empire, they had a common Emperor of Holy Rome, but the states underneath also had their own grand dukes, and their children and sisters were princesses too.

Yet even a princess from Tunisia was very satisfying to him, as she was a princess of a French state, and there was no one else across the entire peninsula who could claim an alliance with a great European power.

This would greatly enhance the prestige of Mysore, making it a premier kingdom on the peninsula!

"The princess is 15 years old?" he mused, "Just right for Prince Pratiba who is 17 years old, let them..."

Sheikh Khan, however, wore a smug smile and interrupted him unceremoniously, "Your Majesty, the intent of the French consul is for Princess Amira to marry Prince Nawaz."

The eyes of Sultan Tipu immediately widened, for Nawaz was his son!

Although Mysore was currently under his, Tipu's, command, in reality, there was still a "Maharaja" above him, the supreme ruler of Mysore. Tipu's father, Hyder, originally an officer in Mysore, had taken complete control of the army 30 years ago, sidelining the Wadiyar family's kings and seizing the real power in Mysore.

This Wadiyar family would become a food industry giant in India in the 21st century, manipulating legal articles in cooperation with the French Danone Group, suing Danone, and ultimately fleecing them for 2.4 billion US dollars...

But at this moment, the nominal ruler of Mysore was still the Wadiyar family, and thus Tipu had always assumed that France intended to forge an alliance through marriage with the Wadiyar family.

Yet unexpectedly, the French had chosen him!

This meant that the French Government regarded him as the actual ruler of Mysore, or at least that he would be in the future.

With the support of France, he might be able to toss the Wadiyar family into the rubbish heap for good!

He excitedly looked at Sheikh Khan, about to give his consent, when he suddenly remembered that the French wanted him to confront England, and immediately he felt somewhat deflated.

He also greatly disliked the British, but England's power was indeed formidable, and with the support of Maratha and Hyderabad, he really did not want to provoke England.

Sheikh Khan saw his hesitation and quickly threw out the "cake" that Salah had given, "His Excellency, the French consul, also said that Princess Amira's dowry is a cannon foundry, bringing at least 30 technicians and a full set of production equipment."

Sultan Tipu's breathing suddenly became rapid.

This was not just a cannon, but a cannon foundry!

He had always strived to learn from Europe how to cast cannons, and even spent a lot of money to bring over European craftsmen; he could produce some cannons, but in terms of quality and power, those cannons were far inferior to the original ones bought from Europe.

There were mainly two reasons for this.

First, Mysore was learning from the Ottoman Empire, which itself was only half knowledgeable; their cannon technology had been behind Europe for years, and the knowledge passed to Mysore was further discounted.

The second reason was that casting cannons was a systematic project; you couldn't produce excellent cannons just by having a blueprint and a few craftsmen. From the most fundamental tools, like rulers and pliers, to advanced machining equipment, like boring machines and drills, Mysore was far behind. Don't underestimate a pair of pliers; without solid handicraft foundations, you simply couldn't produce a qualified product. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

So far, the cannons Mysore relied on the most were still those dozen or so smuggled from Europe. They had nearly a hundred cannon produced themselves, but in total, there were no more than 120 altogether.

These cannons, although sufficient to dominate the Indian peninsula, were far from enough when facing the British.

And now that the French provided a full set of production equipment and dozens of skilled technicians, Sultan Tipu had only to invest money, and he would be able to continually acquire cannons!

With over ten times the soldiers of the British, if he had enough cannons, he might not be unable to defeat the British!

Of course, Joseph still kept an ace up his sleeve. Although Mysore acquired the foundry, both the production materials and spare parts for the equipment were dependent on France.

Even the most basic gunpowder was not something Indians could easily handle—without a precision chemical industry, the power of gunpowder would be at least ten to twenty percent lower.

Moreover, arming Mysore had no downsides for France, since this was all within the British sphere of influence. Given the political environment in India—with countless small states, sharp religious and ethnic conflicts, and the caste system—there was no worry that Mysore might unify the peninsula and become a powerful empire.

Sultan Tipu no longer hesitated. Rising to his feet, he said to Sheikh Khan, "Invite the French consul to Ambavilas Palace tomorrow; I wish to discuss the marriage with him."

He then remembered something and instructed, "You may reveal to the consul that I am willing to offer 500,000 British Pounds as a bride price."

Of course, the bride price he mentioned was not exactly the same as that in East Asia, but it generally referred to wealth paid for acquiring a wife.

Joseph had never expected that, in his efforts to incite Mysore against the British, he would suddenly gain a huge profit of more than 12 million livres.

However, this was also enough to show how incredibly wealthy the Indian peninsula was at that time.

And it demonstrated the enormous profits that England, which controlled the India-Europe trade, was able to extract.