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Chapter 204: Another Option

France.

Southeast of Provence.

A well-ordered, finely equipped legion marched into Toulon Harbor.

A closer look would reveal slight differences in the soldiers' crisp white uniforms—some had fleur-de-lis and dolphin patterns embroidered on their collars, the exclusive emblem of the French Crown Prince, while others bore the insignia of the Paris Police Academy.

Indeed, this was the "Crown Prince's Personal Guard Legion," preparing to embark for Tunisia. They had departed Paris, heading south, two weeks prior.

At the time, Joseph had even forgone attending the grand ceremony where the Standards Committee unveiled its new system of weights and measures, all to see them off. Though somewhat regrettable, it was clear that the North African strategy was the most crucial matter at hand. He personally delivered a pre-battle address to the legion and accompanied them for over 20 kilometers, immensely boosting the soldiers' morale.

Outside Toulon Harbor, a Captain leading the contingent observed his sun-weary soldiers, then waved a hand and bellowed:

"Where is the lead singer?"

"Yes, sir! I'm here!" A short young soldier, an accordion strapped to his back, quickly jogged over and saluted the officer by raising his cap.

"Let everyone sing a song."

"How about "Glory and Victory," sir?"

"Excellent, that's the one. It's my favorite as well."

The lead singer ran to the front of the formation, drew a few high notes from his accordion to capture the soldiers' attention, then signaled to the drummer before calling out:

"Sing with me—

"On dawn's battlefield, the bugle sounds,"

"The warriors' ranks stand firm and straight."

"With determination and conviction etched upon their faces,"

"Glory and victory, our unwavering creed."

"Our loyalty shall never waver,"

"With victory, we honor His Majesty the King!"

"And with blood and fire, earn supreme glory..."

The song was solemn and powerful. Accompanied by the rousing chorus, the soldiers quickly felt their spirits lifted.

However, the melody was undeniably that of "La Marseillaise," a song almost every Frenchman would later know so well. Joseph had introduced it to his legion in advance, and it had proven incredibly popular with the soldiers. Thus, Joseph had, therefore, designated it as the official regimental anthem.

Of course, the melody had been refined with the help of Madame Garand, and the lyrics had been rewritten by the celebrated author Mr. Bomasha. The content was entirely transformed to reflect loyalty to His Majesty the King and the pursuit of distinction and glory on the battlefield.

At the docks, a large fleet of naval transport ships and escort warships already lay berthed, swaying gently with the waves.

The navy had received 800,000 livres in funding that Joseph had "wheedled" from the Americans. For this anti-piracy operation, however, they had only dispatched three warships, and more than half their supplies were even provided by the Dutch, meaning they hadn't spent much money at all. Perhaps the navy itself felt somewhat guilty about the funding, and so they responded very enthusiastically to the operational demands in North Africa.

As over 4,000 officers and soldiers, along with warhorses, artillery, and other military provisions, successively boarded the ships, at 2:30 PM, ten transport vessels weighed anchor and hoisted sails, sailing directly toward Tunisia.

...

South-central Tunisia.

The Choukri Valley, situated at the border between Kairouan and Sfax.

Beneath a thick olive tree, a Tunisian Janissary officer, clad in an orange robe, raised his hand and swatted dead a mosquito the size of a small berry, which had been frantically drawing blood from his face.

He wiped the blood from his palm, then, with a grim expression, barked at the soldier fanning him:

"Put some effort into it, you lazy lout!"

"Yes, yes, sir," the soldier mumbled, nodding his head and increasing the vigor of his fanning.

The officer gazed down the valley for a moment, but saw only green grass and trees, the scene appearing calm and peaceful.

He turned to a small-eyed officer nearby and asked:

"How much longer must we remain in this wretched place? I'm practically drained dry by these mosquitoes!"

The small-eyed officer was fiddling with his boots and replied without looking up:

"Patience, Gaidik. This is an order directly from the Bey's palace to Lord Khoja."

Gaidik glanced at the cover of the woods, then muttered, frowning:

'How would the Bey, sitting in his palace, know what's happening on the front line?'

The small-eyed officer waved a dismissive hand.

"I heard Lord Khoja say it was Lady Hafsa's idea."

"Her?" Gaidik snorted. 'A woman daring to speak about war, utterly lacking in propriety!'

"Supposedly, she was the first to uncover this rebellion. So this time, when she claimed Younis would launch a surprise attack, the Bey heeded her advice and had Lord Khoja prepare in advance."

'Lord, how could they believe a woman's words?'

Before Gaidik could finish, two scouts came sprinting toward them, gesticulating wildly as they called out:

"Enemy! Our outpost has been attacked, with at least a thousand enemy troops!"

Gaidik exchanged glances with his colleague, then shot to his feet, his eyes wide with disbelief:

'How on earth did that woman guess that?!'

Hafsa hadn't guessed, of course. Joseph had ensured she was informed early on that Younis was highly likely to make a desperate, all-or-nothing surprise attack on the Choukri Valley.

He had Hafsa disclose Younis's movements to Hammuda Ali in advance, giving the latter ample time to deploy troops to counter the rebellion.

At the same time, Joseph knew that Younis possessed only a limited arsenal and that his military funds would quickly deplete. This was because he had arranged for Younis to receive only 2,000 flintlock muskets, and not a single sou of the promised 2 million livres in military funding was ever delivered. It was already a struggle for Younis to gather forces with his meager savings; subsequent military pay and provisions were entirely unaccounted for.

In this desperate situation, Younis could only make an all-out gamble: taking advantage of the Kairouan fortress not yet being fully prepared, he would preemptively strike its outer defenses, aiming to bypass it and directly seize the wealthy city of Sousse, thereby securing supplies.

Of course, if Younis weren't inclined to take such a course, the French military advisors Joseph had placed at his side would also suggest a surprise attack.

Joseph's Tunisian strategy, from the very beginning, was to "drive the wolf to devour the tiger," compelling Younis and Hammuda Ali to engage in an internal conflict, thus depleting the effective strength of the Tunisian Janissaries. His trump card, held in reserve, was the true objective.

To accomplish this plan, he initially intended to send spies to infiltrate the Bey's palace, disguised as military experts, to proffer counsel to Ali.

However, during the Police Intelligence Bureau's mission, their spies unexpectedly encountered a French merchant who supplied high-end clothing to the Bey's palace. Through this individual's introduction, they met another highly important figure—the son of Tunisia's former Bey, Muhammad ibn Hussein, who was also Hammuda Ali's nephew, Haj.

After Joseph established contact with Haj through the Police Intelligence Bureau's agents, both parties quickly confirmed their intention to cooperate. Haj, in turn, recommended someone even more suitable to influence Hammuda Ali—his favored consort, Hafsa.

Following this, Hafsa feigned a deduction that a rebellion might erupt in the south. After Ali deployed his troops, she then "predicted" that the rebels were highly likely to launch a surprise attack on Khoja.

Joseph's objective, of course, was not to have Ali swiftly quell the rebellion, but rather to ensure Younis suffered a crushing blow, appearing on the verge of total collapse.

This would then set the stage for the next phase of his plan.

As for Younis, Joseph wasn't concerned that he would be annihilated. As long as the warships anchored off Sfax delivered the remaining weapons and some silver coins to him, he could immediately rebound and engage Ali's Janissaries in battle for another three hundred rounds.

On the slopes flanking the Choukri Valley, Tunisian Janissary officer Gaidik hastily ordered his runner to relay messages, commanding the soldiers to prepare for battle.

Tunisia's terrain is mostly flat; nearly the entire country consists of plains. The so-called valley, in reality, was only three to four hundred meters high, yet it served as a crucial pass into Kairouan.

Rum, an officer under Younis, wore a relaxed expression and signaled his subordinates to accelerate their advance.

He had just effortlessly crushed Khoja's outpost, leaving him filled with a sense of triumph: 'The Janissaries of today are no longer the Janissaries of two decades ago. I remember how brave and skilled my men were when I accompanied Pasha Younis in besieging the former Bey Hussein back then. But those Janissaries I just faced clearly enjoyed too much comfort in Tunis City, each one fat and sluggish, unable even to run. It seems this battle will be an easy win.'

After passing through the valley and gazing at the endless plains stretching before him, he immediately ordered his subordinates to send a message to Pasha Younis.

Soon, Younis personally led his main force through the valley. It was at this moment that Nizamiddin, whom he had dispatched to deploy artillery on the high ground to the east of the valley, suddenly engaged in fierce combat with the enemy.

Gaidik, too, was considerably surprised. He watched Younis's vanguard moving past, and just as he prepared to assault the enemy's main force, a small team of enemy artillerymen suddenly scrambled up the slope.

Helpless, he had no choice but to launch the attack prematurely.

Younis, an experienced commander, immediately sensed something was amiss. He hastily ordered his main force to retreat from the valley, while also sending his daughter Rabia to lead a search of both sides of the pass.

Before his deployment was complete, Gaidik had already led nearly 6,000 Janissaries charging down from both sides of the valley.

The two sides immediately descended into a bloody melee, but Younis's forces, having been caught in a sudden ambush, fell into utter disarray. The first few hundred men who entered the valley were slaughtered within half an hour.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley, Rum's previously swaggering unit came under siege by Khoja's main Janissary force, personally led by Khoja himself.

He had only 1,500 men, with a narrow valley at his back. The battle lasted barely 40 minutes before Rum was shot through the chest by a stray bullet, and his men immediately surrendered.

Khoja assessed the enemy's strength and quickly realized this was not Younis's main force. He immediately ordered his troops to pass through the valley and search for the enemy's primary contingent.

Younis, his face ashen, watched through his telescope as his subordinates scattered and fled from the valley, scurrying like mice fleeing a cat. He immediately gritted his teeth and ordered the others to retreat first, while he, with his core force of 3,000 soldiers, held the line near the valley's exit.

Half of these men were Janissaries who had once followed him. Though advanced in age, their combat experience was not to be underestimated. Furthermore, they were now equipped with the fine French muskets!

Gaidik, caught up in the thrill of pursuing the routed enemy, suddenly noticed an orderly enemy square formation not far off.

His morale was high at this moment; he ordered a frontal assault without a moment's hesitation, while also having his cavalry continue their scattered pursuit of the fleeing enemy.

A dull blast of a horn sounded. His two flintlock regiments advanced in formation from the front toward Younis's army, while a scimitar regiment quickly pushed forward from both flanks.

However, when the two sides were still over 75 meters apart, dense gunfire erupted first from Younis's side.

Gaidik was about to mock his opponent for being impatient—flintlock muskets had little stopping power at that distance—but then he was stunned to hear screams erupting from his own formation. Some timid soldiers, seeing their comrades struck by bullets and thrashing in pools of blood beside them, were so terrified that they began to shrink back.

After Gaidik paused for a beat, he hastily commanded his men to return fire, but at that range, his own muskets indeed had little lethal effect.

After the poorly trained Tunisian Janissaries unleashed a disorderly volley, Younis's opposing formation advanced a few steps, reloaded, and fired another volley.

As deafening gunshots rang out, thirty to forty men on Gaidik's side fell. Even though officers shouted orders against retreating, they could not stem the tide of some soldiers falling back.

For a time, some of Gaidik's flintlock units held their ground, while others retreated, and the battle line had already devolved into a chaotic mess.

Through the gunpowder smoke, Gaidik glimpsed his men in utter disarray from afar. He could only grit his teeth and order the scimitar regiment to accelerate their attack, while having the flintlock soldiers fall back to regroup.

Younis, however, gave him no such chance. He immediately ordered his flintlock units to continue pressing forward, while the fierce Rabia led several hundred scimitar-wielders to meet the opposing scimitar soldiers.

Melee combat never played out like in the movies, with both sides showcasing their martial arts, locked in an intricate struggle, and finally leaving a field strewn with corpses.

In reality, close-quarters combat between two armies was all about momentum.

Whichever side's momentum weakened would almost instantly be overwhelmed by the opponent. Thus, the melee contact lasted barely a minute before Gaidik's scimitar soldiers, terrified by the female pirate's daunting presence, turned to flee.

Once a large-scale army engagement descended into a rout, it became an unstoppable tide.

Rabia immediately roared, leading her unit in pursuit from behind, while Younis's French flintlock squad, after several volleys, was almost right in the enemy's faces.

Gaidik didn't even have time to deploy his reserve units before his main force was overwhelmed by an enemy half its size, scattering and fleeing in agony.

Younis, having routed the enemy, dared not delay too long. He ordered his subordinates to cover the previously scattered troops and quickly retreat south toward Sfax.

A few hours later, when Khoja led the main Janissary force to this side of the valley, he saw only a dejected Gaidik and dispirited soldiers carrying corpses, while Younis's main force had long vanished.

He glanced at the darkening sky, dared not continue the pursuit, and ordered his troops to set up camp on the spot, deploy defenses, and simultaneously send news of the battle back to Tunis City.

On the other side, Younis finally halted his retreat at dusk. It wasn't until dawn the next day that he tallied the approximate losses: nearly two thousand men killed or missing, with Nizamiddin and Rum's forces completely annihilated, and several hundred wounded.

At this point, his fighting force numbered less than 5,000 men.

In the military tent, several officers looked gloomily at Younis; some had already suggested continuing south, retreating into the barren Ghadames region.

Just then, the accompanying French advisor revealed an ill-timed smile:

"Gentlemen, do not be disheartened. Please believe me, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's aid should arrive soon!"