Chapter 271 The Situation Is Serious

Chapter 272 The Situation is Serious

Ottoman.

Costantiniya.

Sultan Hamid I was lying on the bed and watched the British envoy leave.

The servant bowed his head and closed the door, and then he turned weakly to look at the Grand Vizier:

"How do you think this matter should be handled best?"

Grand Vizier Yusuf pondered for a few seconds before answering:

"Great Sultan, although the British proposed the "joint attack on Tunisia" plan is not practical, they did provide help and helped our people control Tripoli.

"The empire has just experienced a defeat in Bessarabia and needs some victories to boost morale. I think we should send troops to garrison Tripoli and make it a real province of the empire.

"In addition, this can also form a pincer attack on Egypt, threatening those Mamluks to come to Topkapi Palace and renew their loyalty to you."

At present, although Egypt claims to be Ottoman territory, it is actually controlled by the Mamluk group. The Ottomans have always been reluctant to give up Egypt, a fertile land, but they could not gain an advantage over the Mamluk cavalry by sending troops, so they have never been able to truly control Egypt.

Hamid I nodded silently:

"I hope I can wait until that moment. You go and select some troops and let the navy transport them to Tripoli. I'm going to sleep for a while..."

"Yes, great Sultan."

Yusuf bowed and withdrew.

Because of the influence of France in Tunisia, the Ottomans today are different from those in history - they did not fight all their main forces in the Russo-Turkish War, so there are still some troops that can be deployed at the moment.

A few days later, more than 10,000 Ottoman guards and Sipahi cavalry boarded the transport ship to Tunisia.

...

French North African Territory, Susa Province.

Tunisia City.

Joan and Ishak, with several officials, greeted His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and his entourage in front of a villa in the north of the city.

Although Joan is only the administrative commissioner of Susa now, he is in charge of the administration here because the governor of Susa Province has not yet taken office.

At the same time, because Ishak was the leader of the Tunisian uprising army, he also has a great influence in the Tunisian Legion reorganized from the uprising army.

It can be said that they are the top military and political leaders of Susa Province.

Joseph specifically ordered not to publicize his whereabouts, otherwise he would be surrounded by a large group of Tunisian dignitaries all day long, and he would definitely not be able to do any serious work.

Joan and Ishak respectfully welcomed the crown prince into the villa hall and asked someone to bring the local high-quality coffee.

Joseph motioned everyone to sit down and asked directly: "Do you know the situation in Tripoli?"

Ishak hurriedly said: "Yes, Your Highness, Benjiul's people have completely controlled the area from Tripoli to Benghazi, and are now attacking the Pasha army in Zuwara."

Then, he detailed the current situation in Zuwara.

Zuwara is a city bordering Tripoli and Tunisia. Currently, there are less than 600 soldiers left loyal to the former Pasha of Tripoli, Ali I. They are retreating here to resist stubbornly.

However, under the superior firepower of the British-equipped rebels, they only have one breath left, especially Ali I's subsequent escape from Tripoli, which makes them even more demoralized.

Joseph asked again: "Will they pose a threat to Tunisia?"

"Your Highness, although this is possible, Benjiul only has an army of 2,000 people. If he dares to set foot in Tunisia, he can rely on the Tunisian Legion stationed in Sfax to deal with it."

As they were talking, an Arab intelligence agent anxiously gestured to Ishaq outside the door. The latter frowned and walked out quickly. After listening to the agent's report, he immediately returned to the hall and said to Joseph:

"Your Highness, I just received news. The Moroccan Sultan sent 12,000 guards to Algiers. In addition, the Algiers Guards seem to have obtained a batch of flintlock rifles. Although most of them were produced in Germany or Spain, they were most likely provided by the British."

In the wars over the years, Britain has obtained a lot of Austrian and Spanish weapons from various channels. It is entirely possible to hand them over to Algiers.

"The British again?" Joseph frowned, "The Mulan Army will arrive in Tunisia in a few days. Let them go to the Algiers border to garrison first to prevent accidents."

He looked at Ishak again: "How many people are there in the Tunisian Legion with relatively strong combat effectiveness now?"

Although the Tunisian rebels at that time had nearly 20,000 people, most of them were old and weak who followed the spoils of the melee. In addition, many tribal troops returned to the tribe after the war.

Therefore, there were only more than 10,000 people in the Tunisian Legion, and even fewer elite soldiers who could be trained.

Ishaq hesitated and said, "Your Highness, the stronger ones are the two regiments of Major Jamil and Ghazi's battalion."

In other words, there were only two and a half regiments with real combat effectiveness, less than 4,000 people. The other soldiers could only fire their guns in the fortifications, and they would probably collapse at the first blow in a frontal fight.

Joseph roughly counted the troops in Algiers and frowned and shook his head. He didn't expect the situation in Tunisia to suddenly become so serious.

After all, the last time the Algiers Guards launched an attack on Tunisia at the instigation of the British, the British were still involved this time, so they had to be on guard.

After the last disastrous defeat, the Algiers Guards only had about 6,000 to 7,000 men left. Together with the Moroccan troops, they had nearly 20,000 men. It was not safe to rely on the Moulin Corps and Tunisian native soldiers alone.

"It seems that we need to transfer more troops from the mainland."

Joseph immediately wrote a letter to Berthier, and then discussed the situation in the east and west of Tunisia with Ishak and others. The sunlight outside the window began to dim.

Joey took advantage of the pause of the crown prince and suggested:

"Your Highness, I have prepared a dinner for you. Do you want to eat first?"

Joseph felt hungry after hearing what he said, so he got up and followed him to the restaurant.

On the way, Joseph saw through the arched window that there were still hundreds of people busy waving hoes and shovels in the distance, so he casually asked Joey:

"It's so late, what are those people doing?"

Joey also glanced over there, turned back and said:

"Your Highness, those are Algiers captured in the last war, and Albanian mercenaries. Now they are all slaves, building roads all over Tunisia. They will not stop until it is completely dark."

Joseph immediately showed a look of understanding. No wonder the report sent back by Tunisia showed that the new road was built very quickly. It turned out that the strong captives were working.

Thanks: Renren Wutongxia for the generous reward for this book! The little author is very grateful, mua!

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