Chapter 208 Awarded the title of “Savior of Suffering”

Chapter 209 Awarded the title of “Savior of Suffering”

Berthier did not see Sinanidine who came as an envoy at all. Instead, he sent someone to the Cahill Palace to submit a list of pirates and asked Hamoud Ali to hand him over immediately.

Under Hafsa's advice, Ali decided to show a tough stance and immediately drove the French who came to negotiate out of the Tunisian city without compromise.

At the same time, large-scale mobilization also began in Tunisian cities.

Due to the large number of troops previously sent to Kairouan to deal with Yunis, there were less than a thousand Praetorian Guards left in the Tunisian city. However, Sinanidin showed good personal ability and mobilized more than 7,000 Guardsmen in just two days.

To those unfamiliar with the situation in Tunisia, this may sound a bit awkward. That's because the word "January Guard" is not the name of an army in Tunisia, but closer to a class.

More than a hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire in its prime sent elite Janissaries to invade North Africa, including Tunisia, Algiers, Tripoli and other places, and easily defeated the locals, turning these places into Ottoman territory. Province.

Later, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Guards stationed in North Africa began to control these places and gradually broke away from Ottoman rule and became a separatist regime.

The Ottoman Sultan had nothing to do about this, so he simply gave them the title of "pasha", which is a title similar to a governor, recognizing their rule over all parts of North Africa.

In order to prevent assimilation by local people, these Ottoman guards strictly enforced internal intermarriage and maintained Ottoman traditions such as clothing and customs, becoming a unique class.

Over the long years, the Ottoman Janissaries became very wealthy by exploiting the natives of North Africa. The new generation of Guardsmen have lived a comfortable life since childhood, and have long lost the bravery of their ancestors.

At the same time, divisions began to appear among the Praetorian Guards. The lower-level Praetorian Guards continued to undertake the tasks of the army, while the powerful ones could hire others to serve on their behalf, and eventually developed into a system where they could be exempted from military service as long as they paid money.

At this point, the Tunisian Guards were no longer an army, but became synonymous with nobility.

At present, Tunisia's Janissary class has a total of nearly 90,000 people, but the actual combat troops are less than 20,000.

However, nominally all the Guards are still soldiers, so after Bey of Tunisia issued a mobilization order, a large number of Guardsmen were pulled out and organized into the army.

It's just that most of these people have never even touched a gun, and their military training is almost blank. Their combat effectiveness can be imagined.

At noon the next day, an envoy from the Guards Corps came outside the city of Tunisia, exemplified the crimes of the pirates, and denounced Hamoud Ali for colluding with and harboring the pirates.

Subsequently, Berthier ordered the attack.

The city of Tunisia is located close to the Port of Tunisia and is a city by the sea. Therefore, the main consideration during construction was to defend against threats from the sea. Even its city walls only have three sides - the side facing the hinterland has almost no defense. .

However, the Guards Corps happened to attack from land.

This time, unlike the landing operations at Bizerte, the entire army could be fully deployed. Cannons, war horses and other equipment are all in place. This is a battle that can fully demonstrate the full strength of the Guards Corps!

Berthier can become the emperor's chief of staff and has extraordinary talent in troop deployment.

He had clearly mapped the nearby terrain the night before and formulated a detailed combat plan.

At this time, he stood on the mound opposite the Tunisian city, looking at the swarming Tunisian army in the telescope. Although he was a little nervous, he still ordered the artillery to start attacking in strict accordance with the planned time.

The rumbling sound of artillery was immediately transmitted to the city of Tunisia. Coupled with the news that the Tunisia port was blocked by the European fleet yesterday, there was chaos everywhere in the city.

In front of the side entrance of the Cahir Palace, the guard was surprised to see Bey's nephew, Mr. Haji, approaching with more than ten followers.

The leading guard hurriedly stepped forward to salute and asked, "Pasha, what can I do for you?"

"I have something urgent to see Bey." Haji motioned to the man dressed as a tailor behind him, "I'll make him a new robe by the way."

"Making robes? Now?" The guard looked extremely confused as he listened to the sound of cannons in the distance.

At this moment, the "tailors" suddenly burst into the palace gate and controlled the guards with pistols. From the statue at Kahir Palace, forty or fifty people with muskets and scimitars immediately rushed out, surrounded Haji, and continued to rush towards the inner hall.

Due to the need to fight the Europeans, a lot of the Royal Guards at Cahir Palace were mobilized. At this time, there were only dozens of guards here, patrolling around the palace.

Prosper personally led more than a dozen agents from the Police Intelligence Department at the front of the queue. Once he saw a guard rushing over, he immediately gave the command, stopped to greet with a salvo, then reloaded his ammunition, and then continued to move forward.

With such methodical advancement, it took them just over ten minutes to cover Haji and reach the apse of the Kahir Palace.

Finally, in a bedroom on the second floor, Haji saw Hamoud Ali in casual clothes and Hafsa standing next to him.

Suddenly there was only endless chill in his eyes.

Prospell directed his men to search the house carefully, and after confirming that there were no guards, he led the agents out, leaving only Haji's people in the house.

Haji's guards immediately stepped forward and surrounded Ali. The latter shouted with anger: "Haji, what are you going to do?!"

Haji did not answer, but took out the scimitar from the guard's waist and strode towards him.

Ali panicked a little, staggered back, and his voice began to tremble: "You, why are you?"

"Seventeen years ago, when I was young, you forged my father's will and took away my position as Bey. I can bear it!" Haji looked at Hafsa aside and said excitedly, "Three years ago, You even wanted to take away my hafsa! I knelt down to pray to you, but you had people drive me out."

Haji took a few steps forward, held Hafsa with one hand, and raised the machete with the other hand: "Do you understand? Without her, my life will be gone!"

"Ah, you can take her away, I...I..."

Ali's words were interrupted by a cold light, and the scimitar pierced under his left rib. The tip of the knife came out through the back.

Haji gritted his teeth and said word by word: "You don't need to agree! I swore three years ago that I would take her back with my own hands!"

As he spoke, he whipped out his scimitar, and scarlet blood spurted all over him and the woman.

"I did it! Look, I really did it!" Haji threw the machete aside, turned around and hugged Hafsa hard, burying his head in the crook of her neck, "We can finally be together. !”

"Yes!" Hafsa nodded vigorously, "I saw it! From now on, we will never be separated!"

The two hugged each other tightly, both with tears in their eyes.

After a long time, Ishaq's voice came from outside the house: "Haji Pasha, although I shouldn't disturb you, but time is urgent. Are you okay over there?"

Haji quickly wiped away his tears, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "Yes, Mr. Ishaq, you can come in."

Immediately, Hafsa came forward and announced to the guards in the palace that Hamoud Ali had just been killed by a traitor in the navy. Before her death, she left a will that her nephew Haji would take over as Bey.

Outside the city of Tunisia, an infantry battalion on the left wing of the Guards Corps had broken through the Tunisian Guards' defense line, quickly triggering the collapse of the Tunisian army.

In fact, after more than ten rounds of bombardment by the Guards Corps artillery battalion, the Tunisian Guards were already in chaos. Until this time, the latter's only two cannons had not arrived at the position.

Subsequently, the Guards Corps made a feint attack on the right wing, and the left wing easily completed the breakthrough.

The Tunisian army, which was twice as many in number, was completely unable to fight back and was always running around and being beaten.

Just when Berthier was about to order the left wing to turn around and encircle, the palace steward of the Cahill Palace hurried from the Tunisian city and conveyed the order of the new Bey to the Tunisian Guards: "Stop resistance immediately, Let the French army enter the city."

When the Tunisian officers received the order, they all breathed a sigh of relief - the army on the opposite side was really terrifying, with neat formations, fierce firepower, and skillful tactical coordination. They had been worried about when they would take bullets, but now it was better, at least their lives were saved.

Berthier left some people to guard the prisoners, while he quickly rushed to the Cahir Palace with three battalions of troops to provide support to Haji.

You know, although Hamoud Ali is dead, there must still be a large number of Tunisian senior officials loyal to him. After years of deliberate suppression by Ali, Haji has almost no political power, and it is difficult to suppress these people.

Just a dozen people from the Police Intelligence Department are simply not enough to ensure Haji's safety.

As the Guards quickly took control of all the main roads in the Tunisian city, officials in the city began to rush to the Cahir Palace, either on their own initiative or in coercion, to meet with the new Bey, Haji.

As for Hamoud Ali's death, no one cared - officials knew he too had come to power through a conspiracy. As for whether he died at the hands of the Tunisian navy, that's not what Haji said.

The first thing Haji did after taking office was to announce the ban on the Tunisian navy involved in the murder of the former Bey, and to hand over the naval officers who participated in the robbery to France for piracy.

Later, he ordered the Praetorian Guards in Kairouan to continue to clear out the Yunis rebels and not to leave the fortress without permission.

Berthier immediately began to form a police force in Tunisia City, all of which were composed of Tunisia's indigenous Berbers. There are many instructors from the Paris Police Academy in the legion, and all training work is handed over to them. At the same time, they will also "temporarily" assume all middle and high-level positions in the Tunisian police force.

The Guards in Tunisia City have all been disarmed, and the security work in the city is currently temporarily handled by the Guards Corps and these Berber policemen.

At the same time, Tunisian officials received orders to begin counting the number of white slaves in the country and the number of Europeans living in Tunisia.

…

Paris France.

In the past two days, the front pages of almost all newspapers were occupied by news from North Africa.

His Majesty the King sent an expeditionary force, and with the cooperation of the naval fleet, it took only a few months to annihilate the Barbary pirates entrenched in Tunisia. The expeditionary force rescued more than 33,000 European citizens kidnapped by pirates and protected more than 100,000 Christians in Tunisia from the threat of pirates.

On the streets of Paris, people everywhere were excitedly discussing things about Tunisia: "A distant cousin of mine suddenly disappeared five years ago. We didn't know until he was rescued by the expeditionary force a while ago that he was kidnapped by pirates." gone!"

"These cursed pirates! Fortunately, His Majesty's army wiped them all out!"

"I heard that nearly a thousand pirates were captured this time, and a large number of pirate ships were also seized. That's great!"

"Long live His Majesty the King! He is truly the greatest King!"

"Hey, did you see what it said in the newspaper? The Pope has declared His Majesty the King as the "Savior of Suffering", thanking him for the gospel he has brought to countless Catholics!"

This title was naturally obtained after Joseph sent someone to communicate with Pope Pius VI. The Pope also wants to use this matter to improve the prestige of the Holy See and to please France, so why not?

However, in the circles of wealthy nobles and factory owners, the focus was on the news that "after cordial exchanges between His Majesty's diplomats and Tunisia's new Bey, the two parties have signed a series of agreements."

In a salon in the Louvre area, a group of nobles were discussing enthusiastically: "I heard that you can buy land in Tunisia now?"

"Yes, I saw it too, it was published in the Paris Business Journal, and the land price is very cheap."

"I have a relative who trades in North Africa. He told me that the land in Tunisia is so fertile that we can grow three crops of wheat a year!"

"There have been droughts and hailstorms in France in the past two years. Maybe buying a piece of land in Tunisia would be a good choice."

"Are you just thinking about farming? Now, Tunisia's tariffs on France have dropped to almost zero. You can make a lot of money just by shipping some wine or clothing!"

"That's right! Viscount Hoyne is raising funds to buy two ships to run business in North Africa. Which of you is interested in buying a stake?"

In the Palace of Versailles, Mirabeau and several officials from the industrial system walked out of the office tiredly. They had just discussed how to use Tunisia's agreement to allow the French to build factories there to expand the scale of the industry, and were now going to attend a ball hosted by Her Majesty the Queen to celebrate the successful eradication of pirates.

The hall of mirrors was filled with lively music and was already crowded with nobles coming to attend the ball. This kind of dance to celebrate happy events is the most popular, because the king and queen must be in a very good mood, and they often reward everyone with a lot of gold coins.

Queen Mary, wearing an exaggerated bun on her head, took Louis XVI's arm and walked up to the wooden steps at the front of the Hall of Mirrors.

The ladies were all talking about the queen's trendy hairstyle. It was a huge sailing ship, occupying almost the entire top of her head and even higher than her face.

"Oh, Your Majesty is always a trendsetter! This hairstyle is so beautiful!"

"Oh, God, that's a warship!"

"Mrs. Cisneros, do you recognize what kind of ship that is?"

As a family member of a naval officer, Mrs. Cisneros still has some knowledge in this field. She immediately said: "If I read correctly, that should be the flagship of the combined fleet this time, the Advance."

"It is said that the hair ornament was made by His Majesty the King himself."

"Oh, it's so romantic! If any man built a boat like this for me, I would marry him immediately!"

The queen's maid clapped her hands to signal everyone to be quiet, then bowed and took two steps away.

Queen Mary smiled and raised her hands, then looked at her husband beside her with admiration, and loudly said: "Let us pay high respect to the great 'savior of suffering'!"

The nobles immediately shouted: "Long live the savior of suffering!"

"Long live His Majesty the King!"

With so many people paying attention to him, Louis XVI rubbed his forehead uncomfortably, thinking to himself that he seemed to have done nothing. Why was the Pope so polite?