Reincarnated as Napoleon II-Chapter 84: Where are the Resources

A day later, at the Versailles Palace.

Napoleon II was in the King’s Private Quarters or office. In front of his tables were the authorization letter, authorizing the Minister of Defense to sign a contract with the arms manufacturer to supply the army with the 75mm cannon, the bolt-action rifle, and the machine guns.

He signed it swiftly and after he had done that, he passed it to Charles who was standing by in front of him.

"Deliver this to the Minister of Defense," Napoleon II ordered.

"As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty," Charles grabbed the document as he bowed his head. He exited the office after that.

Once Charles left the room, Napoleon II rose to his feet and exited the office. He headed towards one of the rooms in Versailles where he’d like to contemplate things.

He arrived at the door where the Imperial Guards were standing on either side of the door. The moment he saw his presence, they immediately stood in attention. One of them opened the door for him, allowing him to enter.

Once inside, the Imperial Guard who opened it, pulled it to a close.

There, laying across the floor, was a canvas with a painting of the world map. It has a country with borders and in different colors. France and her controlled territories are color blue, the Empire of Britain in red, Prussia in green, Austria in orange, Russia in brown, Spain in yellow, and so on and so forth.

In the year 1830, he planned on making an offensive in foreign policy. The companies that were making modern technologies are growing so fast thanks to him implementing a modern business management where there will be departments with roles and responsibilities, making it efficient and has capacity to employ thousands workers, compared to other companies outside Britain who can only manage as many as he could handle.

And those companies needed a constant supply of raw materials to deliver finished goods.

What are the important resources? There is iron, copper, aluminum, oil, coal, rubber, each of them have significant deposits around the world. And since he is the one who has the knowledge about the location of those deposits puts France in a strategic position. Control those supplies, you will control the world.

Far back from the room, Napoleon II saw small flags in varying colors. He walked up towards it and grabbed three of them. He planned on putting it on top of the map with colors indicating what raw materials are found there. He started placing red flags on Gran Colombia and the Middle East where oil reserves are significant in terms. He also put northern Africa as it also has oil reserves there. Then Indonesia that is currently being held by the Dutch.

Napoleon II tried his hardest to recall other locations of significant oil but some of them are already offshore, meaning under the ocean, which is something they can’t do yet. How about Texas?

Looking at the map of the United States, Texas is not yet part of the United States, it is controlled by Spain. He could now imagine himself talking to the ambassador of the Spanish Empire to get exclusive contracts to mine for oil. So he put a flag there.

Napoleon II looked at the map again and walked around with his hand propped to his chin.

"Should I proceed with the iron ore?" Napoleon II said to himself. France is already rich with iron ore and bauxite, which is used to make steel and aluminum respectively. But that won’t be enough for the growing demand that is certain in the future.

Blue flag for iron ore.

Napoleon II turned it between his fingers for a moment.

He crouched and pressed the first blue flag into eastern France.

Lorraine.

The site is already known and they have been extracting iron ore there since the last fifteen years, feeding the factories and producing steel. But there’s more on the site so he still considered a source.

He stood and moved north.

Sweden.

He placed another blue flag there, just below the Arctic line. He took a note in his mind. Talking to the ambassador of Sweden, which is currently ruled by Bernadotte, Napoleon’s former marshal.

Next, he moved east.

The Balkans.

He hesitated here, then pressed the flag down anyway. It is fragmented with states with Ottoman influence declining. But it’s still in the grip of the Ottomans so he’d talk with the ambassador of the Ottoman Empire.

He straightened and walked west across the map.

South America.

Brazil.

It has vast deposits of iron, specifically in the interior regions far from the coast. Brazil already is an independent country and wants trade with France. He remembered the ambassador being one of the diplomats who had congratulated his rule.

He stepped back and scanned the map again.

Coal next.

Without coal, steel meant nothing. Coal is already present in the territory of the French Empire, particularly Belgium, the northern coal basin, and the Rhineland. It has so much coal there that it should secure France sufficiency in coal. But as someone like him who has a huge appetite for natural resources, there are places in the globe where there’s more. For example, South Africa.

Napoleon II walked south and stopped at the Cape of Good Hope.

He placed the black flag there, pressing it into the canvas with his thumb. The deposits were deep and abundant but it is controlled by the British Empire, and the south of Africa is under the influence of Britain.

He might have to go to war with Britain to secure those resources. But he knew he couldn’t do it yet. So he shifted his attention away from South Africa and looked for another option.

India was out of the question. British again. Australia? British again.

"Fuck..." Napoleon II cursed under his breath. Well, if that’s the case, he’d concede for now. He switched the flag to orange and this time it was copper.

Napoleon II moved back toward Europe, eyes narrowing as he scanned the familiar contours of the continent. Copper was easier than oil.

He knelt and placed the orange flag in the Iberian Peninsula. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Spain.

Rio Tinto. The deposits were already known, already worked on a small scale, but inefficiently. Spain was declining, burdened by debt, struggling to keep its colonies.

"Spain is starting to become my favorite."

He placed another orange flag farther east. The Ottoman again. That should do for now.

Next came rubber.

He picked up a green flag and turned it slowly between his fingers.

Rubber was the future. It’s where seals, tires, hoses, insulation. And there’s one spot on the other side of the world where it has it. Southeast Asia. He placed a flag there and this one was easy, he could just have an agreement with the Dutch for rubber and it’s done.

He stepped back and then looked at the map. Flags standing in a region where it’s rich in resources. Now it’s time to build a colony since France is an Empire, and he is an imperialist, having a colony is a must.