Chapter 403: Fiefs and Titles
Ney eyed the makeshift cannons made from iron barrels, saying to Moreau with a hint of disdain:
"Your 'little invention' is quite amusing. But it certainly won't fool the Moroccans for long; they'll soon realize that after half a day of bombardment, not a single one of them has been injured."
"You should read David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature." Moreau pointed to the Moroccan positions in the distance. "They'll just think they're lucky, and then mock the poor skill of the French artillerymen."
"...Whatever you say."
After the "bombardment" continued for a while, the French infantry line formation appeared on the horizon.
Ney nervously reminded the soldiers to maintain their spacing, keeping their backs to the forest—this infantry line was only a single row, with vast distances between men. Only with the dim forest as a backdrop could they hope to fool the enemy.
Meanwhile, Moreau led the cavalry, moving back and forth on both sides of the line formation, creating the impression of preparing for a major battle.
From a distance, Aghold watched the infantry line formation, stretching over one kilometer long, and the dust-stirring cavalry, his brow furrowing instantly.
At least 4,000 infantry, over 1,000 cavalry, and 15 cannons—this scale undoubtedly belonged to Schérer's legion.
Before long, more cavalry reported that they had found the French encampment, just 4 miles to the south. Based on its size, it appeared to be for a force of nearly ten thousand men.
This made Aghold even more convinced.
Given the French army's combat strength, his five or six thousand men were no match. They could only wait for Said Pasha to arrive with the main Janissary force before engaging the French in a decisive battle.
'No, that's not right,' he suddenly paused. 'According to His Majesty the Sultan's orders, the Janissaries should avoid direct confrontation with the main French forces—they were here to plunder Tunisia and then demand compensation from the British. Clashing head-on with a great power like France, regardless of the outcome, was not in Morocco's interest.'
He pondered for a long time, then turned and ordered his attendant:
"Leave the Akkad Legion here; the others are to withdraw covertly. And keep the cannons firing to confuse the French."
"Yes, General!"
Moreau had initially expected to repel one or two Moroccan probing attacks at all costs to fully intimidate them, but he hadn't anticipated that the enemy had no intention of fighting at all.
He was, of course, happy to buy time, so he had the makeshift cannons fire with all their might, feigning an intense battle.
Thus, the two armies "boomed and rumbled" at each other from nearly one kilometer away for an entire day, withdrawing their forces after nightfall.
The next day, they continued their bombardment. By afternoon, Moreau suddenly felt something was amiss, so he risked leading half his cavalry to harass the Moroccans, only to find no enemy cavalry came to defend.
He decided to circle Tamra several times and finally confirmed that fewer than 2,000 Moroccan troops remained at the front, while the rest of the enemy had vanished.
He had never imagined that his performance was so convincing it had directly scared off the Moroccans...
Upon returning, he conferred with Ney, gathered all their forces, including the few hundred Tunisian troops from Tamra, and simultaneously launched a fierce assault on the remaining Moroccan force from two directions.
...
Paris.
Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.
Joseph looked at the map of North Africa on the table, his expression tinged with worry.
According to the intelligence received last week, there were large-scale troop movements in Algiers and Tripoli. Evidently, the British could no longer resist making a move on Tunisia.
Meanwhile, news from India reported that the Mysore army was fiercely attacking Tiruchirappalli, the southernmost state of Carnatic. Once Mysore captured it, they would directly confront Nagapattinam, Britain's only supply point in southeastern India.
Joseph was certain that as long as Nagapattinam was at risk of being lost, the British would return to the negotiating table—it was a vital port for British merchant convoys returning from East Asia. Without resupplying there, British merchant ships would have to detour hundreds of nautical miles to Madras in central India for fresh water and food, or pay France for supplies in Pondicherry.
Therefore, the British would undoubtedly spare no expense to create chaos in Tunisia before any issues arose at Nagapattinam, using it as leverage to bargain for their interests in India.
The General Staff had already dispatched 6,000 troops to reinforce Tunisia; this was the absolute limit France's treasury could bear.
To be frank, if the situation in Tunisia escalated significantly, Joseph would have no choice but to deploy the Guards Corps to North Africa to clean up the mess, which would inevitably impact the strategic deployment in the Southern Netherlands.
If it came to that, he would have to consider accepting the British conditions, with both sides calling a halt. That would also signify the failure of his strategy to curb British influence in India.
Just then, Eman knocked and entered, handing him a confidential dispatch. "Your Highness, this just arrived from Tunisia."
Joseph immediately tore open the wooden cylinder and spilled out the several pages inside.
When he saw that the report was from General Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled—ordinarily, this would be the Intelligence Bureau's job.
He quickly read the main text. The beginning mentioned that the Moroccans had joined the siege of Tunisia, dispatching over 14,000 of their most elite Black Janissaries, and had the Algiers Janissaries feign an attack on El Kef to lure the main force of Schérer's legion to the lower Medjerda River.
Joseph frowned, continuing to read. Schérer stated that two contingents of "volunteer soldiers" who had reported to the legion had stubbornly held Tamra, repelling a Moroccan army of 10,000 with fewer than 2,000 men, capturing over 700, and seizing 11 cannons...
Joseph raised an eyebrow. Two thousand against ten thousand, a complete victory with both captives and seized equipment—what was this situation?
He turned to the last page, and when he saw the detailed battle report, his eyes lit up.
'Victor Moreau, Michel Ney? So it was two "Marshal" big shots leading the battle!'
Then a 1-to-5 combat ratio victory was no longer surprising.
Joseph privately marveled, 'France truly is rich in talent. These Marshals, who will be invincible under Emperor Napoleon, are now merely two young lieutenants. Yet, each leading soldiers not officially under their command, they unexpectedly thwarted the Moroccan sneak attack.'
No wonder this intelligence was reported by Schérer; he had achieved a victory on the front lines and wanted to report it to me before the Intelligence Bureau could.
When Joseph saw Moreau's detachment of noble soldiers call themselves the "God's Guidance Cavalry Regiment," he couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. 'We're all adults here; how can they come up with such a cringeworthy name?'
But if they liked it, then so be it.
Joseph immediately picked up his pen and made an endorsement at the end of the report, officially bestowing the title of "God's Guidance Royal Cavalry Regiment" upon those 1,000 noble soldiers.
Concurrently, Moreau was exceptionally promoted to Major, and Ney to Captain. The former was granted about 11,500 acres of land in Tripoli, and the latter about 8,200 acres.
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