Chapter 205 The first battle of the Guards Corps

Chapter 206 The first battle of the Guards Corps

Tunisian city.

In the Kahir Palace, Beyhamud Ali smiled happily as he listened to the battle reports sent back from the front line.

At first, when he learned that Younis had really returned to Tunisia, he was really worried for a while. Fortunately, his concubine Hafsa was extremely smart and expected that Younis would take the risk to raid Kairouan.

After he ordered Koca to prepare in advance, he indeed won a great victory and captured and killed thousands of rebels.

Several officials in the hall immediately offered flattery:

"Isn't it easy for the great Bey to deal with these rebels?"

"The Lord protects Bey and makes his army invincible!"

"After getting rid of Younes, the Algiers will not be able to extort our annual tribute!"

When Ali returned to the harem happily, he couldn't wait to tell Hafsa about the victory.

Contrary to what he expected, Hafsa looked a little worried after hearing this:

"Bey, after a bison is bitten by a lion, it will become ten times more ferocious than usual, and even gore the lion in turn. Although you defeated Eunice once, you must not take it lightly. I think that at this time, The more we must increase our military strength, the more we must strive to eliminate the rebels as quickly as possible.”

Although Ali admired her for guessing the rebels twice before, he was a little unimpressed this time. Because according to the battle report just sent back by Koca, Yunis should have only more than 4,000 troops left now, and he was defeated immediately after the rebellion, so he should not be able to make any waves.

He casually said a few words to his beloved concubine, then continued playing music and dancing.

However, Hafsa was like a prophet possessed, and just five days later, bad news came back from the front line.

Koca gathered an army of 13,000 men to besiege Yunis, but was unexpectedly beaten hard by the latter's artillery.

The battle report said that the cannon had an extremely long range and was astonishingly powerful. More than ten volleys caused heavy casualties to Koca's forward corps.

Moreover, Younis did not know where to get a large number of very sophisticated muskets, and the firepower was extremely fierce. Under the cover of artillery, it took only a few hours to defeat Koca's encirclement and chase him out of the Chukri Valley.

After this battle, the Praetorian Guards led by Koca no longer dared to confront Younis. Currently, Koca can only use the Kairouan fortress to confront Younis.

When Hamoud Ali looked at Hafsa again, he was filled with admiration. He immediately followed her instructions and sent 3,000 garrison troops from the Tunisian city to Kairouan, and at the same time allocated two troops to Koca. Thousands of riyals were used for military expenses.

But in front of the Kairouan Fortress, Younes, who had just won the battle, also had a solemn look on his face.

A week ago, as the French adviser said, a French transport ship arrived at the port of Sfax, bringing 2,000 Charleville flintlocks, 4 6-pound cannons, and 15,000 gold ducats.

He used the weapons and money to quickly regroup his army and then cleanly broke the siege of Koca, driving Koca all the way into the fortress of Kairouan.

However, he also had a headache facing the solid fortress and the tens of thousands of Tunisian Guards guarding it.

If he had more gunpowder and cannonballs, he would be completely confident that he could storm the fortress, at least so that the defenders would not dare to show their faces, and thus bypass this place and go straight to Susa.

But he now only has four carriages of ammunition left, which is not enough to bombard the fortress, and it is not known when the next supply from the French will be delivered.

A few days later, Hamoud Ali's reinforcements arrived in Kairouan first. Koca immediately led the army and attacked Yunis' army again...

While Koca and Younis were engaged in a tug-of-war, more than a dozen transport ships carrying the French Dauphin Guards Corps, escorted by the joint anti-piracy fleet, appeared outside the Tunisian port of Bizerte.

This is the northernmost port in Tunisia and an important stronghold for the Barbary pirates, or in other words, the base of the Tunisian Navy.

A small boat was lowered from the "Forward", the flagship of the United Fleet, and carried officials responsible for negotiations to the Port of Bizerte.

He submitted a list of hundreds of people to local officials in Bizerte and requested that these pirates be handed over to the combined fleet within 24 hours. In addition, the pirate ships they used to rob must also be taken away by the combined fleet.

After 24 hours, the combined fleet will take matters into its own hands to capture the pirates who have not yet surrendered.

This list was provided by Hamoud Ali's nephew Haji. Everyone on it has committed murders and plunders of Europeans - this is a record for the Tunisian Navy, and there are many people inside them. Easy to find.

Not surprisingly, the combined fleet's request was rejected.

Most of the pirates on the list are local officers in Bizerte, and many of them are even very important throughout Tunisia. How could they be willing to "surrender themselves"?

On the fort of Bizerte Port, a Tunisian naval officer looked at the warships of the United Fleet that were vaguely visible in the distance, and said nervously:

"Why are people in Catholic countries so aggressive this time? What do they want?"

The other person nodded: "Yes, there is no intention of discussing it at all."

According to their past experience, even if they accidentally damage merchant ships from France, Spain and other countries, they can cope with it by paying some compensation at most.

I have never encountered a situation like today, where warships are approaching and an ultimatum is issued as soon as they come up, demanding that people be surrendered immediately.

The officer next to him twirled his mustache and said:

"I think it was the Americans who prompted it. A few months ago, Pargale hijacked two of their ships and killed a dozen people."

"This time they seem to be serious." An officer held up a telescope and looked very worried. "I saw a 60-gun heavy battleship."

The mustache sneered disdainfully:

"Humph, what are you afraid of? Even if it is a first-class ship, it will just hang around outside the harbor. We have a turret."

Another officer nodded and said:

"Yes, they will also suffer a lot of losses if business at the port stops. I think they will just lose money in the end. At worst, they will lose a little more."

However, no matter what the pirates thought, the port of Bizerte still looked like a storm was about to come. Unrelated merchant ships, especially European merchant ships, did not hesitate to pull anchor and leave the place of right and wrong.

On the sea, in the officer's room of the Advance, Berthier looked at the official in charge of negotiations and said calmly:

"As expected, it seems we have to catch those pirates ourselves."

Rear Admiral Cisneros, commander of the combined fleet, took a breath and said:

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, although I still don't agree with storming the port, I will still try my best to provide fire cover for your troops."

Although he received an order from the Navy to "attack the Barbary pirates with all his strength," no one had told him before that he would attack a large and well-defended port.

He always thought that he would just use the funds to wander around the Mediterranean and catch some pirates to deal with the Americans.

After reuniting with Berthier this time, the latter took out the order of the Minister of the Navy and told him that the goal this time was to capture the pirate base of Port Bizerte.

This order was naturally requested by Joseph from the Marquis of Castries. For the latter, the fight against piracy was something the Queen overrode at the cabinet meeting, and it was Berthier's Legion that stormed the harbor, which had nothing to do with him. The navy only transports troops and cooperates with the bombardment on the periphery. Why not sell the crown prince a favor for this matter?

Major General Cisneros continued:

"You know, we can't get too close to the fort...so your legion may have to face the heavy artillery up there alone."

"Don't worry, General." Berthier nodded, "I have confidence in my people."

The landing tactics had been laid out long ago. Berthier chatted with several naval officers for a while, then got up and returned to the transport ship. Tomorrow, he will lead the Legion soldiers from there to attack the pirates' lair.

Early the next morning, 10 transport ships lined up outside the port of Bizerte. The soldiers of the Dauphin's Guards lined up on the deck and watched quietly as the sailors hoisted the landing boats into the water one after another.

On the "Stalling" transport ship, Berthier walked in front of everyone and nodded seriously to each soldier. Then, he came to the front of the queue, pointed hard at the coastline not far away, and said loudly:

“That’s where we get the supreme glory!

"Soldiers, I will work with you to use invincible courage and faith to crush those cowardly pirates and let them accept God's punishment!

"Now, let the whole world see the fearlessness and bravery of the French warriors! To win your victory, just move forward and crush everything!"

He took a deep breath, raised his arms, and shouted:

"For the king! For the crown prince! For the glory!"

The soldiers suddenly broke out into a deafening roar:

"For the king! For the crown prince! For the glory!"

The sound spread to several other transport ships, and the soldiers there also shouted:

"For the king! For the crown prince..."

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the first show after the establishment of the Crown Prince's Guards Corps officially began.

The soldiers skillfully landed on the boat along the cable - they had practiced this action hundreds of times before coming - and then everyone picked up the oars and started rowing hard.

Dozens of small boats rushed to the shore like arrows.

On the fort in the port, the lookouts quickly discovered the movement on the sea and quickly reported it to the officers.

More than a dozen Tunisian officers gathered together and discussed nervously - they did not expect that the fleet outside the port actually planned to land for combat.

"What to do now? Are we going to fire on them?"

"Where is Ayasi Pasha? Without his order, if you rashly fire on the French, who knows what consequences it will have!"

Ayas is the top officer responsible for guarding the port.

"He seems to be in his..." The officer almost said the words "those female slaves" and hurriedly changed his words, "I have sent someone to report to him."

It's not that Ayas was negligent. After receiving the ultimatum yesterday, he was still a little nervous. However, the traditional style of Ottoman officers [Note 1] made him return to his villa in the town for the night, which was not far from here. It's still miles away.

The disengagement of the Tunisian officers reduced the casualties of the Guards Corps. During the originally very dangerous beach grabbing process, the port's forts did not fire a single shot, and the first group of landing boats had already washed up on the beach.

Hundreds of steps away, the pirates could already see obstacles set up by the pirates. They were wooden piles that were sharpened at one end and inserted into the ground at the other end. There were four or five rows in front and back, occupying almost the entire beach.

Behind the barrier, there were hundreds of Tunisian navy soldiers, holding various muskets and looking nervously at the coastline.

As the first batch of attacking troops, Davout jumped from the boat, turned around and waved to the soldiers of the company, loudly saying:

"Quick! Get off the boat and line up! What are you waiting for? Have you forgotten how to run?"

As his flag bearer planted the flag on the beach, dozens of soldiers on several nearby boats quickly gathered towards him. The rigorous training of the Guards Corps was fully demonstrated at this moment. In less than ten minutes, they had already lined up in three neat rows and started loading ammunition.

Several other soldiers carried a small cannon that was only knee-high and placed it on the left side of the queue. The people behind pried open the wooden box containing the shells and placed them in front of the cannon.

It was only then that the military order from Tunisian commander Ayas reached the fort. Tunisian soldiers received the order "allowed to fire at the enemy" and hurriedly adjusted the angle of the artillery to aim at the landing troops on the beach.

However, before they could fire, the "Forward" on the distant sea took the lead in launching an attack.

The 32-pound and 24-pound heavy guns spewed out fire and smoke in turn. Amidst the huge roar, the dark iron balls roared and hit the fort on the west side of the port.

Although the training level of the French navy is not as good as that of the British, they are still the first echelon in Europe.

At almost the ultimate range, three of the twenty shells directly hit the wall of the fort. The violent impact smashed out large pieces of rubble and scattered it into the Mediterranean Sea.

The fort was shaken by the blast, and the pirates above suddenly panicked. Two people hastily lit the cannon. And more people were so frightened that they huddled in the corner with their heads in their hands.

One of the cannonballs fired from the fort fell directly into the water, and the other hit more than 200 steps away from the Guards Corps, raising sand all over the sky.

On the United Fleet side, more warships joined in the bombardment of the fort, and the sound of the cannons suddenly became more intensive.

Their efforts attracted most of the pirates' attention. More than 70% of the artillery on the fort turned towards the sea, trying to drive the fleet away.

On the side of the Guards Corps, the first eight companies that landed, that is, nearly 800 soldiers, have all completed the formation.

Under the officer's command to "start attacking," the gunner loaded gunpowder and shells into the mortar, a small cannon that was only knee high, and then ignited the ignition powder.

With a burst of explosions, five sparking cannonballs drew several arcs and flew towards the pirate formation on the opposite side.

Although this kind of cannon is small in size, its range is considerable because of its very large caliber and the fact that it shoots in a parabola.

The shells landed three to four hundred steps away, and exploded one by one as the fuses burned out.

[Note 1] Most of Tunisia’s officers come from the Ottoman conquerors more than a hundred years ago. In order to preserve the purity of their bloodline, they tried hard not to intermarry with local North Africans, and always retained Ottoman life and military customs.