Chapter 203: Driving Out Wolves and Swallowing Tigers

Chapter 204: Driving away wolves and devouring tigers

Russia.

Petersburg.

Crown Prince Paul Petrovich came out of Catherine's palace, reluctantly looked back twice, and finally strode towards the other end of the corridor.

He did not want to be close to his mother, on the contrary, he was full of disgust for Ekaterina, just as his mother hated him.

He couldn't bear to part with his lovely little angel, Alexandra.

Ekaterina never cared about his feelings. Ever since she discovered that Alexandra looked more and more like her, she kept the little guy by her side.

Paul rarely sees his daughter even once a month.

Previously, he took the little one to attend the French King's birthday, and finally reunited with his daughter for two months. But now when he returned to Petersburg, he had to be separated again.

As he turned around the stairs full of melancholy, a figure suddenly appeared, hugged his shoulders forcefully, and a familiar voice came:

"When did you come back? My dear brother, how are the ladies of Paris? Have they kept you entertained?"

Paul suddenly smiled, pushed his brother hard, and said with a serious face:

"I don't have as much money as you to spend on women, especially French women. I can't afford it."

"Haha, otherwise what will the money be used for?" Alexei came over again, "Are you still going to train today? Do you want us to go fishing? I have prepared the fishing gear and wine."

Paul still walked forward with his chest held high and his head raised:

"Spare me, I don't want to be drunk and be washed away by the river like mud."

He was talking about the winter a few years ago when Alexei was fishing and insisted on making a bet with him on who could drink a whole bottle of vodka first. Finally, Alexei fell into the cold river water drunk. If the guards hadn't fought hard to save him, he might have been swept away.

"Don't worry, I'm going to sea tomorrow, so I won't drink too much."

Paul glanced at his younger brother, who was obviously much more mature, and patted him hard on the back:

"Let's go fishing!"

In the Winter Palace, Ekaterina looked at her granddaughter lovingly, without the majesty of a hero at all, and said softly:

"Little one, is Paris fun?"

Alexandra sat upright, and a happy smile appeared on her face when she heard this:

"Well, it was very interesting there. People were wearing very beautiful clothes, and I even rode the merry-go-round. Did you know that wooden horse can really run?"

"Okay, okay." Ekaterina smiled and nodded, then asked, "Then have you completed the task I assigned you?"

"Yes, Grandma."

"Then tell me, what kind of person is the French Crown Prince?"

The little girl tilted her head, thought for a while, and replied:

"Well, he has beautiful blue eyes and is very handsome, especially when he wears that dark blue long coat. However, he seems to be always busy. I have only seen him two or three times. By the way, he is special He is very popular, and his name can be heard everywhere in the Palace of Versailles. It seems that he has done some very powerful things... However, I don't understand what they are talking about, such as building a bank..."

Ekaterina stroked the little girl's hair, listened to her talking for a long time, and suddenly said:

"It seems that you have a good impression of him?"

Alexandra nodded seriously.

Ekaterina also nodded, and then asked:

"Honey, do you want to live in Paris? I mean for a long time."

The little girl thought about being able to play the merry-go-round every day, and her eyes widened with joy:

"Is it really possible? That would be great!" She immediately thought of something and looked down at the Tsar. "Are you going too? If you don't go, I will miss you very much."

…

North Africa.

The port of Sfax in southeastern Tunisia.

In a tall beige building, Younis was wearing a bright red robe, a white turban with a dark gray feather, a scimitar on his waist, and gray European-style tights on his legs. He was pointing with high spirits. The sand table in front of him was talking to his officers.

I don't know what was said, and several people burst into laughter. Eunice looked through the arched window and caught a glimpse of a large group of coolies unloading packages of goods from a large ship on the dock in the distance.

He knew that the ship was loaded with flintlock muskets just shipped from France, as well as matching gunpowder and lead bullets.

The guards standing outside the door had already carried Charleville muskets on their backs, looking very powerful.

A sedan was parked downstairs. A man in his fifties, armed with a gorgeous waist knife, got out of the sedan, signaled to the guard, then quickly ran upstairs, saluted Younis excitedly, caressing his chest, and said loudly:

"Pasha, I have convinced that old guy Deolu, and he brought 600 soldiers to join you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man with a beard next to him frowned and said:

"Imanzad, Deoglu's people are not the Guards, why did you let them come?"

However, Younis raised his hand to stop him, and turned to Imanza with a smile and nodded:

"As long as they are loyal to me, I can give them high-ranking officials and generous salaries. No matter their origin."

Imanza was overjoyed and saluted again, saying:

"Thank you Pasha! I am confident that I can still convince several forces in the Kafu area. They can provide at least 4,000 troops."

Younis raised his hand generously: "Just do it, I will remember your contribution."

"Yes, my most noble Pasha."

After Imanzad left, the middle-aged man with a beard immediately touched his chest and said to Yunis:

"Pasha, are you going to ignore the traditions of the Guards?"

Yunis smiled and said: "Nizamiddin, there are too few Guards who still retain the glorious traditions. We must use everyone we can.

"If Imanzad can really bring back 4,000 people from Kaf, I will have 12,000 troops."

He pointed to the carriages carrying munitions and said: "With these sophisticated weapons, it won't take long to defeat Ali. When I become the Bey, I will naturally revive the glory of the Guards. ”

At present, the entire Tunisia has a population of less than 2 million. Ali can mobilize only about 25,000 troops, and now a large part of them have defected to Yunis.

Because the Royal Guards are seriously corrupted, their combat effectiveness is not as good as before, but some local forces are more capable.

Since Imanzad and other old subordinates have been running around in Tunisia to connect, Yunis has gathered thousands of troops in just three or four days after returning to Sfax.

Yunis turned his head to look at the sand table. According to the combat deployment he had agreed with his men before, once he had collected enough logistical supplies, he could march north to capture the Kairouan Fortress and form a peace Hamud Ali was competing with him.

He knew very well that Ali was good at managing people's livelihood, but he was definitely not his opponent in war.

In one or two years at most, he would be able to surround Tunisia City and unify Tunisia!

...

Tunisia City, Kasir Palace.

Hafsa's slender fingers gently stroked the strings of the piano, and the melodious music lingered in every corner of the palace.

The slightly fat middle-aged man who was half leaning on the cushion, his eyes narrowed, and only wearing a cool shirt was the current ruler of Tunisia - Hamud Ali.

He held a chess piece in his hand, looked at the official standing beside him with his head bowed, and said impatiently:

"Speak slowly, what happened in Sfax?"

The official hurriedly said: "Great Bey, the news just came back that a local force has blocked the border and does not allow people to leave Sfax."

Hamud Ali threw the chess piece to the slave beside him and frowned:

"Did they have another tariff dispute with the neighboring province? ”

Tunisia has a mixture of various forces, and local tribes often prohibit people from other places from entering or leaving the area due to taxation or business issues.

"It's not clear yet." The official said, "The guards sent to investigate the situation have not returned."

"Oh? These bastards, want to rebel?" Hamud Ali waved his hand, "Send more people, take my instructions, and let them make less trouble."

"Yes, great Bey!"

When the official who reported the news left, the sound of the piano in the palace suddenly stopped.

Hamud Ali turned his head to look at his favorite concubine and said softly:

"Hafsa, why don't you play?"

A young woman in a dark green dress stood up and walked to his side, looking worried:

"Pasha, I think there is something I must tell you."

"Oh?" Ali smiled, "What's so serious? ”

Hafsa motioned the servants around to step aside, and then said:

“At a party I hosted the day before yesterday, I heard the wives of several Royal Guards officers, such as Rum and Ishakpa, say that their husbands were going to the south to meet a ‘big shot’. ”

“What’s so strange about this?”

“Do you remember that Lord Khalil reported to you a few days ago that someone in the southern provinces was buying a large amount of grain and oats?”

Ali nodded: “That’s true.”

Hafsa said solemnly:

“Pasha, I think there is a high possibility that a rebellion is brewing in the southern provinces! Perhaps in... Sfax.”

“Rebellion?” Ali waved his hand and laughed indifferently, “What are you talking about?”

Hafsa said: “Do you remember the rebellion in Gafsa seven years ago? I remember that the Berber tribes there also hoarded food first, and then prohibited local people from entering and leaving. "

Ali's smile froze and he became serious.

Hafsa continued:

"Pasha, did Rum and Ishakpa also participate in the rebellion before, and your brother pardoned them?"

Ali's face became gloomy. He knew very well that these two people were once Yunis's subordinates. The rebellion Hafsa mentioned was the incident more than 20 years ago when Yunis led his troops to besiege his father Ibn Hussan.

Later, his father was defeated and died, but Yunis turned around to attack his own father Karamanli Ali, which gave him and his brother the opportunity to take back Tunisia.

At present, Yunis's old subordinates suddenly left Tunisia and went south, and a series of unusual things happened in the south...

His eyes condensed, perhaps it was really as Hafsa guessed, someone was planning a rebellion!

With Given the speed of information dissemination in this era, the news of Yunis's escape from Algiers had not yet reached Tunisia. In fact, the Algiers Parliament was still arguing over whether to tell the Bey of Tunisia about this matter.

Hamud Ali thought for a moment and ordered the Guards Aga, the commander-in-chief Koca, to prepare his troops to go to Sfax to investigate whether there was any rebellion. At the same time, he asked the Guards to investigate officers such as Rumu and Ishakpa.

Soon, the people who investigated Rumu and Ishakpa returned to report that they had left Tunisia yesterday and took their sons with them.

Koca was very fast and led two thousand elite guardsmen to the south the next day. At the same time, he ordered his lieutenants to recruit more troops.

He was very lucky. Three days after the army left the city of Tunisia, they encountered an army heading from Kafu to Sfax.

The latter seemed to be very guilty, and before Koja could question them, they hurriedly attacked the Praetorian Guards.

Koca had already made preparations and immediately annihilated the Berber armed force of more than 800 people.

According to these people's confessions, it was an officer named Imanzad who encouraged them to go to Sfax and join the "real Bey" Younes.

When the news came back to the Tunisian city, Hamoud Ali was shocked and immediately ordered the janissaries to mobilize. A week later, tens of thousands of people gathered at the border between Kairouan and Sfax.

…

"Pasha, the French have written back." An officer ran into Younis's military tent with a sullen face, lowered his head and saluted, "They said they encountered a storm in the Western Mediterranean, and the remaining weapons would not be shipped until 10 days at the earliest. Arrive.”

"Ah - Almighty Lord, why do you punish me like this?"

Younis spread his hands flat and looked up to the sky with a sigh.

Since the first shipment of two thousand flintlock muskets and three cannons arrived at the port of Sfax, no other arms had been sent.

The troops he gathered only had very crude weapons. After all, the most sophisticated equipment in Tunisia was in the hands of the Guards.

And what's worse is that Imanza reported before that several major tribes in Kafu decided to support him, but Hamoud Ali suddenly sent troops south for some unknown reason, blocking all the tribesmen in the way.

Now he has less than 7,000 men in his hands, and Koca has led tens of thousands of guardsmen to the Kairouan Fortress. The strategy of sneak attack on Kairouan has obviously come to nothing.

Younis turned to look at the sand table, suddenly clenched his fists, and said viciously:

"Rum, you immediately lead 1,500 people to the Chukri Valley."

"Ah?" Lum obviously didn't respond, "Pasha, but there is already an outpost of Koca there."

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

"Yes, Pasha!"

Eunice pointed to the beard again:

"Nizamiddin, you place the cannon in the dense forest on the east side of the valley."

"Yes!" Nizamiddin asked carefully, "Pasha, who is responsible for covering me?"

Artillery is indeed the emperor of the battlefield, but in the era of muzzleloaders, due to the limited range and slow movement of artillery, if there is no infantry to provide cover, it will easily be attacked by cavalry and have no ability to resist.

"Don't talk too much."

Younis shouted, turned around and poked his finger in the middle of the sand table, gritted his teeth and said: "Ishakpa led the cavalry to follow me.

“Rabia’s men were stationed west of the valley…

"Before dawn tomorrow, we must break through Koca's defenses! Taking advantage of the limited strength of the Kairouan Fortress, bypass the fortress and capture Susa!"

"Yes! Pasha!" Everyone in the military tent responded in unison with gloomy expressions.