Chapter 431: Preliminary Decision in North Africa (two chapters in one)
Southeast of Tunisia.
The province of Taitaouine faces the sea on one side and the desert on the other.
Ney stood on a high ground, looked at the town of Remada in the telescope, and said solemnly: "The scout's report is correct, the terrain is indeed very suitable for the corps to deploy.
"If we launch an attack tomorrow morning, we will be able to recapture this town around noon."
"You are always so full of courage and energy." Moreau smiled on the side, "But my suggestion is that it is best not to attack there first."
Ney looked at him doubtfully: "Why not? There are only 2,500 Ottomans in the town, and we have 4,000 soldiers. The battle will be over soon."
Moreau nodded: "Yes, yes, win easily and recapture an insignificant town. Maybe we should also send people to Tripoli and politely inform the Ottomans, 'Hey, your French friends are here.' ”
Ney paused upon hearing this. Indeed, as he said, an attack on the enemy forces in Remada would surely alarm Tripoli. There were nearly 10,000 Ottoman troops stationed there.
My mission this time is to completely wipe out Benjiour. If I storm the city of Tripoli, which is already prepared for defense, it will probably be a very difficult battle.
Moreau patted him, then pulled the reins to turn the mount: "We've finished watching the battlefield, let's go back first."
Ney glanced at this hateful nobleman, urged his horse to follow him, and had to ask: "Then what are your plans?"
Morrow did not hide this from his upright partner: "You see, although we have 4,000 people, half of them are recruits who have never been on the battlefield. Some of your soldiers even lack necessary training. "
Their last unexpected victory in the town of Tamirai resulted in a fiefdom. Afterwards, the nobles stimulated by the news came to Tunisia one after another to "pursue glory." As for the civilian side, the General Staff Headquarters has opened a "quick training camp" where people with no experience but who intend to join the army can receive simple training for five months, and then they can serve in areas where the fighting is not too intense. For those who have participated in night patrol teams and rural security teams, the training time can be reduced to 2 months. 【Note 1】
These "new blood" came to Tunisia on naval transport ships. Joseph directly handed them over to the command of Moreau and Ney, and put them in charge of the battle against Tripoli. However, Berthier was still not reassured, so he sent an experienced staff officer to assist the two young commanders.
Moro continued: "With such a force to attack Tripoli, it is difficult to predict what will happen."
Ney muttered under his breath: "When our cannon arrives, everything will be no problem."
Yes, Moreau has more than a dozen noble young men who can operate cannons - they came directly from the military school. Currently, this young regiment not only has artillery, but also has as many as 1,200 cavalry. The ratio is simply ridiculously high. Most of them were aristocratic classmates brought out by Moreau from school, but they suffered a lot from the Tunisian local government who was responsible for their logistics.
Moro nodded: "Cannon can solve some problems, but if Benjiul's main force can be allowed to leave Tripoli, things will be much simpler."
Surprise flashed in Ney's eyes: "You must have thought of a way!"
Although he didn't like this cunning noble, he still recognized this guy's mind.
"I'm not absolutely sure, but I can give it a try."
Morrow said, looking eastward: "Ah, my lovely fief, I don't know how much output it produces every year."
Ney glanced at him disdainfully and murmured in a low voice: "Do all nobles have such greedy faces?"
At noon the next day, Moreau "requisitioned" a large amount of supplies from the nearest town, Mede, but these items had nothing to do with combat, including expensive clothing, jewelry, handicrafts, spices, etc. Under his forced order, Mede was almost completely evacuated.
If he had not sent soldiers to block the town hall, Mede's officials would have gone to the governor to complain.
The old staff officer sent by the General Staff was so frightened that he couldn't help but persuade Moreau to return the things quickly, otherwise he would be subject to a military court. Ney was accustomed to his partner's illegal operations, but this time he repeatedly stated to local officials that the matter had nothing to do with him and was all the fault of an officer named Moreau.
Returning to the camp of the "God's Guidance" Cavalry Regiment, Moreau called on the noble soldiers to donate all their belongings, promising to return them immediately after the battle in Tripoli, with an additional 40% interest.
After some preparations, a luxurious caravan consisting of seventeen or eighteen carriages left Mede and rushed towards the Gudamis tribe in the oasis to the south.
The caravan arrived carelessly near the town of Remada in the south of Tunisia. Seeing that it was getting late, they camped on the spot to rest.
Not surprisingly, the Ottoman cavalry who occupied the town of Remada soon discovered this "fat sheep" during their patrol and immediately returned to the town to report.
A few hours later, nearly a thousand Ottoman soldiers swarmed in, quickly defeated the caravan's guards and snatched the carriage.
The leading officer was overjoyed when he heard the soldiers' report on the loot - a rough estimate was that the value of this cargo was close to 100,000 rials!
Soon, he learned from the captured merchants that this was only the first batch of goods from an Italian caravan, and nearly seven times more goods would arrive at Tatawan Port in half a month.
However, the value of the goods is high, and the number of guards is also greater. According to the businessman, the Italian caravan hired French regular troops to escort it, and the number of people might be as much as a regiment, that is, nearly 2,000 people.
The officer immediately transported the proceeds of the robbery back to the town and sent someone to send the news back to Tripoli.
In the white palace of Tripoli, Benjiour's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard that goods worth up to 700,000 riyals would be landed in Tataouine.
700,000 rials, that’s more than 15 million livres! For any warlord, this is a huge sum of money that is impossible not to be tempted.
Especially after the British paid only a small half of the 100,000 pounds of "benefits" promised before and suddenly nothing happened, this simply killed him.
The troops in his hands were sent from Istanbul. If they could not provide them with enough benefits, they would not mind replacing one of their own as Tripoli Pasha - this is a tradition among the Ottoman Guards. , they even made several moves to replace the Ottoman Sultan.
After a brief hesitation, Benjiour made the decision to personally lead 6,000 soldiers, plus 2,000 people from Remada Town, to rob Tataouen Port.
He received news not long ago that the main force of the French army is currently fighting the Algiers in Annaba, more than 400 miles away. In other words, there are only less than 2,000 troops on the Taitaouen side.
The port of Tataouine is only more than 70 miles away from Tripoli. If you walk quickly, you can get there in a week.
If he leads an 8,000-strong army to attack, he should be sure of victory.
After grabbing the 700,000 riyals of goods, he used part of it to bribe the top officials in Istanbul and retreated to Tripoli with the rest. If things go wrong in the future, he will leave the task of defending the city to his subordinates and escape back to Istanbul to enjoy his happiness.
Four days later.
Benjiour looked back at the wasteland behind him, feeling uncontrollably excited. This is already in Tunisia. His scout cavalry reported that no trace of the army was found until Mede.
According to the news from the Tripoli Navy, a huge caravan indeed set off from Genoa and headed south not long ago.
Regarding the fleet, Moreau didn't even bother to lie - trade in the Mediterranean was booming, and countless merchant ships traveled between Italy and North Africa every day. Benjiour would naturally "claim" one of the fleets as his target. . When Benjiour's troops reached a hilly area near Mede, they suddenly heard chaotic shouts from the front.
He frowned and looked at the officer beside him: "What happened?"
The marching column was too long. Others were in the middle and rear of the army, nearly two kilometers away from the front.
Before the officer could send cavalry to investigate the situation, Benjiour vaguely heard a burst of intense gunfire.
He also had some battlefield experience, and he immediately judged that there were at least a thousand enemy soldiers firing volleys.
Where did this enemy come from? He hurriedly ordered his troops to deploy defensive formations on the spot, and personally organized cavalry formations to prepare for battle.
However, before his cavalry could gather together, the ground began to tremble slightly, and then there was the sound of horse hooves like a sudden rain hitting the roof.
All the Ottoman soldiers froze in place and looked in the direction of the sound. Not long after, a large number of cavalrymen in white military uniforms emerged from the hills in the distance, charging towards us waving their sabers.
In front of the Ottoman army, Ney commanded an infantry line composed of more than 2,000 soldiers, approaching the enemy step by step in an orderly manner.
Thanks to the ample preparation time this time, he was finally able to get these brand new soldiers to line up neatly.
In the age of fusiliers, it was impossible for a marching army to defeat a neat infantry line, even if Frederick the Great was reborn.
After only three very irregular volleys, the Ottomans began to flee.
At the same time, thousands of cavalrymen on Moreau's side had already broken through Benjiour's rear column and were turning around.
Benjiour looked at the soldiers who were in chaos beside him, closed his eyes in despair, and then pulled out the pistol from his waist...
Outside Tripoli.
Moreau put down his telescope, pointed at a large piece of cultivated land on the southeast side of the ancient city, and said happily to Ney: "Look, that's my fiefdom over there."
He turned a little further to the south: "Ah, that piece of land should be your fief. It seems that we will be neighbors for a long time in the future."
Ney frowned and interrupted him: "Cannon! Can't you care about when those damn cannons will arrive?"
Although Benjiur was dead, the Ottoman army in Tripoli was not directly related to him, and new commanders were quickly introduced to continue to defend the ancient city.
Without the help of cannons, it's really not easy to break in.
"Celestine!" Moreau turned and shouted, "Go and see where the damn cannon has gone!"
Ney took advantage of the moment when he turned his head, picked up the telescope and took a quick look in the southeast direction, and suddenly felt excited in his heart: Oh God! That's really a good piece of land, it looks much more fertile than the land back home!
More than an hour later, the long-awaited cannon finally appeared under the city of Tripoli.
As the cannon sounded, the legion soldiers were gearing up one by one, their eyes glowing with green light - as long as they could capture Tripoli, they would most likely gain access to a nearby piece of land.
As soon as there was a slight gap in the Ottoman garrison's formation, several companies of soldiers rushed forward with rumbling cannon fire...
Peninsular India.
Salem, a city east of Mysore.
On a luxurious sedan carried by more than 20 people, Tipu Sultan sighed again, looked at the vaguely visible river in the distance, and said in a melancholy tone:
"I wish you could have stayed here. You helped Mysore achieve a great victory."
Lafayette also sighed:
"I don't want to leave beautiful Mysore, but you know, the British are instigating their servants to invade our Tunisia, and I have to go back and fight them."
Of course, this is just an excuse. In fact, the fighting including Annaba and Tripoli had ended at this time. After he returned, he should have gone straight to the Palace of Versailles to participate in the promotion ceremony.
His appointment as "temporary Assistant to the Secretary of State for War" has been signed by His Majesty the King. This time, his performance in India was quite satisfactory and he caused great losses to the British. However, he did not complete the task of "defeating the British", so he added "temporary" to his job title.
But he was already an important minister with a very high position. He could imagine the flattering looks of the nobles who had dismissed him in the past when they saw him.
"Damn the British!" Tipu Sultan slapped the armrest angrily, then shook his head and said, "I will have to deal with these demons alone in the future."
Lafayette remembered His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's instructions and hurriedly whispered:
"Don't worry, there will definitely be other friends who can help you."
Tipu Sultan's eyes suddenly lit up:
"What do you mean?"
Lafayette moved closer:
"All weapons, cannon-casting raw materials, medicines, gunpowder, military uniforms, etc. will be shipped from the Ottoman direction. However, the price will be slightly higher than before."
The Ottomans were Mysore's traditional trading partners and had large fleets with each other. These offshore merchant ships sailed close to the coastline, were flexible and concealed, and even if the British fleet filled the Indian Ocean, it would be difficult to stop them.
"Great!" Tipu Sultan was delighted, "The price is not important."
Mysore has a population of 18 million and has been doing business with Europe for a long time, so the state treasury is very rich.
"There are two more things you must remember," Lafayette continued.
"Please tell me." Tipu Sultan immediately sat up straight.
"First of all, you must stock up on large amounts of food, and preferably ammunition, in major cities such as Mysore, Salingabatam, and Salem."
[Note 1] The nobles of this era generally had to learn skills such as horse riding, swordsmanship, and hunting from an early age. As adults, they would only be able to train in queues, passwords, etc., and then they would have basic combat capabilities. Of course, there are always lazy or unconventional guys who don't want to learn these, but they will also be looked down upon by other nobles.
(End of chapter)