Ney glanced at those iron bucket "cannons" with disdain and said to Moro:
"Your ’little invention’ is quite interesting. However, it certainly won’t fool Moroccans for long, for they will realize that after being bombarded for so long, not a single one of them is injured."
"You really should read David Hu’s ’A Treatise of Human Nature’," Moro pointed at the distant Moroccan positions, "They will just think they are lucky and then laugh at the poor skills of the French gunners."
"...Suit yourself."
After the "bombardnt" continued for a while, the French infantry line appeared on the horizon.
Ney nervously reminded his soldiers to keep their spacing, backing against the forest—the infantry line was only one row deep, and the n were spaced extrely far apart, which could only pass muster against the dim backdrop of the woods.
anwhile, Moro led the cavalry back and forth alongside the line formation, indicating an intent to fight a major battle.
Agold, watching from afar, saw the infantry line that stretched over a kiloter long, and the clouds of dust raised by the cavalry troops; his brows imdiately furrowed.
At least 4,000 infantry and more than 1,000 cavalry, along with 15 cannons—there was no doubt this was Sherelle’s Legion.
But how did they manage to co all the way from the lower reaches of the Oued djerda in such a short ti?
Before long, another cavalry ca to report that they had found the French camp, four miles to the south. By judging its scale, it was likely a force of nearly ten thousand camping there.
Now Agold was even more convinced.
Given the French Army’s combat power, his five to six thousand n were no match at all—they could only wait for Said Pasha to arrive with the main force of the Guard before they could fight a decisive battle with the French.
No, sothing was wrong, he suddenly paused, recalling the Sultan’s orders: the Guard should avoid direct conflict with the French main force—they were there to raid Tunisia and then demand rewards from the British. Going head-to-head with a great power like France, win or lose, was not in the interest of Morocco. Find adventures on .Côm
He pondered for a long ti before turning to instruct his attendant:
"Leave the Aghd Corps behind, everyone else retreat covertly. And yes, keep the cannons firing to confuse the French."
"Yes, General!"
Moro had initially thought he would have to repel one or two feigned attacks from the Moroccans at great cost before they could be thoroughly bluffed, but unexpectedly, there was no sign that the enemy wanted to fight at all.
Of course, he was happy to drag out the ti, so he ordered the iron bucket "cannons" to fire with all their might, pretending the battle was fierce.
Thus, the two armies, almost a mile apart, "bood and thundered" against each other all day long, and each withdrew their troops when it beca dark.
The next day the bombardnt continued until the afternoon, when Moro suddenly felt that sothing was not quite right, so he took the risk of leading half of the cavalry to raid the Moroccans, only to find that there weren’t any enemy cavalry coming to defend.
He boldly circled Tamire several tis and finally confird that there were fewer than 2,000 Moroccan soldiers still holding the front line, while the rest of the enemy had long since disappeared.
He had never imagined that his act was so convincing that it had directly scared the Moroccans away...
After returning, he consulted with Ney, gathered all the troops, including the few hundred from the Tunisian Army in Tamire, and launched a fierce attack on the Moroccan force from two directions at the sa ti.
...
Paris.
The second floor of the Tuileries Palace.
Joseph looked at the map of North Africa on the table, his expression showing so worry.
According to intelligence reports received last week, there had been large-scale troop movents in Algiers and Tripoli, signaling that the British could no longer restrain themselves from taking action against Tunisia.
anwhile, news from India was that the Mysore Army was fiercely attacking Tiruchirappalli, the southernmost state of the Carnatic. Should Mysore seize it, they would be able to directly confront the British’s only supply point in southeastern India, Nagapattinam.
Joseph was convinced that if there was any risk of Nagapattinam being lost, the British would surely return to the negotiation table—this port being critical for the British rcantile fleet returning from East Asia. Without resupplying there, British rchant ships would have to detour by hundreds of nautical miles to Madras in central India for fresh water and food, or pay the French in Puducherry for supplies.
Therefore, the British would definitely invest heavily to create chaos in Tunisia before issues arise in Nagapattinam, using it as a bargaining chip in exchange for interests in India.
The staff headquarters had already dispatched 6,000 troops to reinforce Tunisia, which was the limit of what the French finances could bear.
To be frank, if the situation in Tunisia deteriorated significantly, then Joseph would have no choice but to redeploy the Guard Corps to North Africa to clean up the ss, which would inevitably affect strategic deploynts in the Southern Netherlands.
Should it co to that, he would have to consider accepting the British terms and for both sides to cease hostilities. That also ant the failure of his strategy to limit the British in India.
Just then, Eman knocked and entered, handing over a confidential report, "Your Highness, this has just arrived from Tunisia."
Joseph imdiately opened the wooden tube at the greatest speed, spilling out the several pages within.
When he saw the report was from General Barthélemy Louis Joseph Sherelle, he couldn’t help but be puzzled—usually, this should be the job of the intelligence agency.
He quickly read the main content, which ntioned that the Moroccans had joined the siege on Tunisia, deploying over 14,000 of their most elite Black Guards, and having the Algiers Guard feign an attack on Kaf to lure the main force of Sherelle’s Legion to the lower reaches of the Oued djerda.
Joseph frowned and continued reading, to see Sherelle reporting that two "volunteer" detachnts that had co to join his legion fiercely defended Tamire with fewer than 2,000 troops, repelling a Moroccan force of 10,000, capturing over 700 and seizing 11 cannons...
Hmm? Joseph raised an eyebrow, 2,000 against 10,000 and still erged completely victorious, taking captives and seizing equipnt—what was happening?
On the last page, when he saw the detailed battle report, his eyes suddenly brightened.
Victor Moro, Michel Ney? So it was the two ’marshal-level’ big shots who were commanding the battle!
Then achieving a victory ratio of one against five was not surprising at all.
Joseph silently marveled: France truly abounded with talent; Napoleon’s invincible marshals, who were now rely lieutenants each leading soldiers not under their own command, had unexpectedly thwarted the Moroccan’s sneak attack.
No wonder this intelligence ca from Sherelle—it was a victory on the front lines, and he aid to report the triumph before the intelligence bureau did.
When Joseph saw that Moro’s detachnt of noble soldiers called themselves "God’s Guidance" Cavalry Regint, he couldn’t help but shake his head and chuckle. Everyone was an adult, yet they chose such an adolescent na.
However, if that’s what they liked, then so be it.
Joseph imdiately picked up his pen and endorsed the report, formally granting the title "God’s Guidance Royal Cavalry Regint" to those 1,000 noble soldiers.
At the sa ti, Moro was promoted extraordinarily to Major, and Ney to Lieutenant. The forr was granted 700 hectares of land in Tripoli, and the latter, 500 hectares.
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