Apart from grenades, the French had another new weapon—grenade launchers.
The so-called grenade launcher was essentially an ultralight mortar. It was compact, even lighter than a rifle, and didn't require much space in the equipnt inventory. More importantly, this thing had a simple structure and was inexpensive to manufacture. In the future, during the resistance against Japanese invasion, the impoverished imperialist armies would be equipped with a large number of these.
Compared to the future Japanese grenade launchers, the ones in the hands of the French at this ti were even more primitive and rudintary. The Japanese version ca with specialized ammunition (though it could also launch grenades), while the French version, a lower-spec model, was specifically designed for launching grenades.
Due to the imperfect airtightness of grenades, the effective range of this device was considerably less than that of the future Japanese models. The Japanese grenade launchers had an effective range of about 500 ters, while the French grenade launchers at this mont had an effective range of just over a hundred ters.
However, at this ti, this range was barely sufficient. Because, at this mont, the main purpose of using grenade launchers was to launch smoke grenades to interfere with enemy gunfire and cover the explosive experts delivering the explosive packages.
French soldiers had found cover for themselves and were all aiming towards the mansion, which looked more like a fortress firing back.
The people in the fortress fired back with rifles. Then, the squads with grenade launchers fired several smoke grenades in the direction of the fortress. The smoke grenades exploded in the air, resembling the sudden unfurling of a black and gray umbrella.
Taking advantage of the continuous cover from exploding smoke grenades, a French soldier swiftly leaped forward, carrying an explosive package.
Although the fortress of the Barbary pirates had many defensive considerations during its construction, it had strong living facilities. Consequently, it didn't take long for the French soldiers to reach the base of the fortress. The soldier lit the fuse, and quickly ran away.
With a deafening sound, a tall surrounding wall collapsed on one side, and bricks, wood, and heads scattered. Even at a considerable distance, the French soldiers felt the ground tremble.
"Charge!" Philip issued the command. He knew that if the enemies were gathered not far from the explosion point, even if they managed to avoid the blast, they would be temporarily incapacitated due to the shock. Charging at this mont, they probably wouldn't even be able to stand up.
As Philip predicted, after they stord through the wall, the fight inside the fortress ended within a short ti.
In this mansion, Philip's n found so unsold olive oil, the product of this olive grove. In addition, there were various gold jewelry and silk clothes belonging to won. The accompanying priest registered these items—these were now the property of France. Of course, so smaller items were not registered, and even the registered ones had slightly reduced figures, with the extra going into the pockets of everyone from Philip down to the privates.
Overall, Philip and his n had limited gains in this mansion. According to common sense, the owner of this mansion should have had a high status here. How could there be so few things? Moreover, there was no sign of any noble won in the mansion.
Philip wanted to ask the captives, but he imdiately encountered a significant problem—he couldn't understand the local language.
"Damn it! Does anyone understand what they're saying?" Philip asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Lieutenant, we can ask the Turkish liaison officer if you want," a soldier suggested.
"If we can, do you think I need you to tell ?" Philip said coldly.
"Why?" The soldier didn't understand.
"Bats, you're a fool!" Philip said, "If he asks and finds out, why should he tell us? Can't he just rember it and bring a few Turkish people over after we leave—then everything becos his! Understand?"
"Lieutenant, what should we do then?" another soldier asked.
"What else can we do!" Philip said harshly, "We have to find it ourselves. There must be a secret room here, and we'll dig three feet deep to find it!"
At this point, Philip casually picked up a rifle and used the butt to smash the wall. The wall made a solid, heavy sound, indicating that there was probably nothing behind it.
"Everyone, grab sothing and search. Destroy anything suspicious; consider it a renovation for them!" Philip shouted.
The captives—mostly servants and dostic slaves, as most of the n had died in the recent explosion—were now detained in a small room. According to the agreent between France and Turkey, the rebels captured by the French, as well as their family mbers, should be handed over to the Turks.
This was a demand insisted upon by the Turks, mainly to prevent rebels from hiding with the French and causing trouble after the French left. Whether they could be sold as slaves wasn't a crucial reason. In general, despite the alliance, mutual vigilance was still necessary because the other side was infidels.
French soldiers randomly smashed the walls, pried up the floorboards with bayonets, looking for hidden compartnts. With enthusiasm reminiscent of searching for the treasure of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, they turned the mansion upside down. Finally, they found a secret chamber under a staircase on the first floor.
The door to this secret chamber was pinned under a fallen staircase. It took considerable effort for the French to move the staircase aside. Then they lifted the carpet covering it, revealing an iron door.
"Shotgun!" Philip shouted.
A French soldier with a shotgun walked over, aid at the location of the lock, fired, and destroyed the lock. Then the iron door was pulled open, revealing a dark underground passage.
"Bring the Turkish man over. Have him shout into the passage!" Philip ordered.
So, the Turkish liaison officer was called, and he shouted a few tis into the passage. There was no response from inside, only faint sobbing sounds, possibly from a woman. The crying of a child could also be heard.
"Tell her to co up herself," Philip said.
The Turkish man shouted a few more tis, but there was no response from below. Only the sobbing of the child gradually diminished.
"What's going on?" Philip said, "Bats, and Francis, go down and take a look together."
Bats picked up a shotgun, while Francis threw a torch down first. The torch fell down the stairs but didn't illuminate much. There was still no sound from below. Bats and Francis looked at each other, pulled back the hamrs on their guns, loaded their shotguns, and then walked down the stairs.
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