Chapter 404: Fiefdoms and Titles (Additional update for the Daytime Helmsman)
Ney glanced sideways at those iron barrel "cannons" and said to Moreau with disdain:
"Your little invention 'It's really interesting. But this will definitely not fool the Moroccans for long, because they will find that no one of them was injured despite the shelling from the opposite side."
"You should really read David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature."" Moreau pointed to the Moroccan positions in the distance. "They will only think they are lucky and then laugh at the poor skills of the French gunners."
"...It's up to you."
After the "shelling" continued for a while, the French infantry line appeared on the horizon.
Ney nervously told the soldiers to keep their distance and keep their backs to the woods - this infantry line only had one row, and the distance between people was very large. Only with the dark woods as the background could they get away with it.
And Moreau led the cavalry back and forth on both sides of the line formation, looking like he was going to fight a big battle.
In the distance, Agold frowned as he looked at the infantry line that was more than one kilometer long and the dusty cavalry team.
There are at least 4,000 infantry, more than 1,000 cavalry, and 15 cannons. This scale is definitely that of Scherer's army.
But how did they come from the lower reaches of the Majelda River in such a short time?
Not long after, another cavalry came to report that they had found the French army's camp, just 4 miles away to the south. Judging from the scale, there should be nearly 10,000 troops stationed there.
Now Agold was even more convinced.
According to the combat effectiveness of the French army, the five or six thousand men of his own are no match at all. They can only wait for the arrival of the main force of the Guards led by Said Pasha before they can engage in a decisive battle with the French.
No, no, he was suddenly startled. According to His Majesty the Sultan's instructions, the Guards should avoid conflicts with the main force of the French army - they came to Tunisia to plunder and then ask for reward from the British. It is not in Morocco's interest to win or lose in a head-to-head fight with a big country like France.
He thought for a long time, then turned around and ordered his attendants:
"Leave the Akkadian Army behind, while the others retreat in secret. By the way, keep the cannon firing to confuse the French."
"Yes, General!"
Morrow originally thought that he would have to repel one or two Moroccan probing attacks at all costs in order to completely frighten the Moroccans, but he did not expect that the opponent had no intention of fighting.
Of course he was happy to delay, so he let the iron barrel "cannon" fire with full strength, pretending to be a fierce battle.
So the two armies fired at each other for a whole day from a distance of nearly one kilometer, and then retreated after dark.
The bombardment continued the next day, until in the afternoon, Moreau suddenly felt something was wrong, so he took the risk of leading half of the cavalry to harass the Moroccans, but found that there was no enemy cavalry coming to defend them.
He simply circled Tamirai several times, and finally confirmed that less than 2,000 Moroccan troops were still on the front line, and the other enemies had long disappeared.
He never expected that his performance would be so good that he would scare the Moroccans away...
After he returned, he discussed with Ney and gathered all his forces, together with several hundred Tunisian troops from Tamirai, to launch a fierce attack on the Moroccan army from two directions at the same time.
…
Paris.
Second floor of the Tuileries Palace. Joseph looked at the map of North Africa on the table with a worried expression.
According to the intelligence sent last week, there are large-scale troop mobilizations in Algiers and Tripoli. Apparently the British can't help but take action against Tunisia.
The news from India is that the Mysore Army is storming Tiruchirappalli, the southernmost state of Carnatic. Once Mysore captured it, it would be in direct contact with Nagbottinam, the only British supply point in southeast India.
Joseph was convinced that the British would return to the negotiating table as long as there was a risk of losing Nagbottinam - an important port for British caravans returning from East Asia. If supplies were not carried out here, British merchant ships would have to go hundreds of miles further to Madrascar in central India for fresh water and food, or pay the French for supplies in Pondicherry.
Therefore, the British will definitely spend a lot of money to create chaos in Tunisia before problems arise in Nagbotinam, and use them as bargaining chips in exchange for Indian interests.
The General Staff has dispatched 6,000 troops to reinforce Tunisia, which is already the limit of what France's finances can bear.
To be honest, if there is a big problem in the situation in Tunisia, then Joseph will have no choice but to dispatch the Guards Corps to North Africa to clean up the mess, which will inevitably affect the strategic deployment of the Southern Netherlands.
Once he got to that point, he would have to consider whether to accept the British terms, and both sides would give up. That also meant that his strategy of restricting the British in India failed.
At this moment, Eman knocked on the door and handed a secret report to him: "Your Highness, Tunisia just sent it."
Joseph immediately opened the wooden tube as quickly as possible and poured out the pages inside.
When he saw that the report was sent by General Barthelemy Louis Joseph Scherer, he couldn't help but be a little puzzled - normally, this should be the work of the Intelligence Bureau.
He hurriedly read the text carefully, and mentioned at the beginning that the Moroccans interfered with the siege of Tunisia, sent more than 14,000 of the most elite Black Guards, and asked the Algiers Guards to pretend to attack Kafu and seize Sherey. The main force of the Er army was lured to the lower reaches of the Majelda River.
Joseph couldn't help frowning and continued to look down, and saw Scherer saying that two teams of "volunteers" who came to report to the legion stubbornly held on to Tamirai, repelling the Moroccan army of 10,000 troops with less than 2,000 people. More than 700 people were captured and 11 cannons were seized...
Um? Joseph raised his eyebrows, 2,000 versus 10,000, a complete victory and yet they were both captured and captured. What is going on?
When he turned to the last page and saw the specific battle report, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Victor Moreau, Michel Ney? It turns out that two 'marshal' bosses are directing the battle!
It's not surprising to achieve a 1-5 record.
Joseph secretly sighed: France is really full of talents. The invincible marshal under the emperor is now just two lieutenants, each with soldiers not under his command, but they unexpectedly disrupted the Moroccan sneak attack.
No wonder this information was reported by Scherer. He had won a victory on the front line and wanted to report the victory to himself before the Intelligence Bureau did.
When Joseph saw Moro's group of noble soldiers calling themselves the "God's Guidance" Cavalry Regiment, he couldn't help shaking his head and laughing. Everyone was an adult, and they still had such a middle-class name.
But since they like it, let's do what they want.
Joseph immediately picked up his pen and gave instructions at the end of the report, officially awarding the 1,000 noble soldiers the title of "Royal Cavalry of the Order of God".
At the same time, Moreau was promoted to major and Ney was promoted to captain. The former was granted 700 hectares of land in Tripoli, and the latter was granted 500 hectares.
(End of chapter)