The Great Fire

Before the tide receded, the Turkey retreated, suffering considerable losses—at least, the France hadn't seen such heavy casualties on their side in years. However, the Turkey commander Tayyip, wasn't too concerned. Tayyip had fought the Russia and Austria in the Balkans, and he had seen far more Turkey die than this. In his view, today's losses were nothing more than a drop in the ocean. Well, although the exact figures weren't yet tallied, the Tayyip number was less than a thousand men. See, less than a thousand? What is this if not a drop in the ocean?

Of course, Tayyip still harbored some resentment towards his France allies. He had witnessed the effects of the France high-explosive shells on the warship. If the France had used similar shells to bombard the port of Tripoli during today's attack, the Turkey could have easily occupied an area and, relying on their superior numbers and firepower, gradually expanded their occupied territory until they finally seized the entire Tripoli.

So when the two generals met again in the conference room of the "Imperator" after the day's offensive ended to discuss the follow-up battle plan, Tayyip immediately requested that the France strengthen fire support and use "those exploding shells" to support the Turkey army.

But the France refused him without hesitation.

"Your Excellency Pasha, please forgive me for having to refuse your request. We can provide fire support, but not those high-explosive shells," Admiral Treville immediately refused. "These shells are difficult to produce, expensive, and have limited quantities. We haven't brought many ourselves. We've already used up almost half of our stock today. We still have several cities to attack, and we must save these shells for then. However, if you agree, we can still provide you with equally effective fire support."

"My friend, what are your plans? Tell me so we can discuss them..."

The following day, the Turkey and France once again made preparations for an attack, waiting for high tide outside the port of Tripoli. The Barbary Pirates were also ready to resist a Turkey landing.

This time, the France fleet remained at a relatively distant position, just as it had yesterday—clearly, the Turkey forces were still handling the potentially costly direct amphibious landing operation. Perhaps the France would join in once the Turkey had secured a relatively stable foothold.

The France army, especially the French Army, has become incredibly powerful in recent years, even renowned among the Barbary Pirates. A few years ago, when the Barbary Pirates raided Italy, they engaged in some small-scale battles with the Kingdom of Sardinia. Even the Kingdom of Sardinia army was no match for the Barbary Pirates. So how powerful must the French Army, which far surpasses them, be?

Therefore, Yusuf believed that the Turkey must not be allowed to land easily, nor should they be allowed to control a stable territory. Otherwise, things would become very difficult once the French Army landed. However, yesterday's France attack on the fort with high-explosive shells had almost completely destroyed it. Most of the cannons on the fort were damaged, and more importantly, all the artillerymen were killed. So now, no one was willing to go up to the fort. Therefore, the fort's defenses had not yet been restored. However, considering the time constraints of the tides, if the pirates could hold out for two hours, the enemy would have to retreat. Therefore, Yusuf felt that he could hold out for a while longer.

The tide gradually rose, and the Turkey warships approached with the tide.

With the fortifications depleted of firepower, the Turkey warships successfully approached the harbor. The pirates also gathered around the cannons positioned in the harbor, preparing for a landing. At this moment, the France warships behind them formed a firing formation and began bombarding the harbor.

Although the France did not use high-explosive shells in this bombardment, the power of the shells fired by the France was even greater than that of high-explosive shells for this port, because the France warships fired white phosphorus incendiary shells.

White phosphorus isn't produced in large quantities, but when used in incendiary bombs, its fuse is relatively simple; it can basically be set up like a shrapnel bomb. You just need to throw the ignition source.

Tripoli Port, as one of the pirate bases, had a rather chaotic and disorganized layout. The buildings were very close together, and although many of the walls were made of stone and adobe, the roofs were all wooden structures covered with bark and weeds, making them perfect for arson. Now that the pirates were gathered here to resist, a fire could easily burn them down.

Last night, after Admiral Treville had his staff explain to Tayyip the plan to attack the enemy with incendiary bombs, Tayyip gave it his full approval.

"Such rebellious behavior deserves to be burned, otherwise, how will they be willing to submit to us?" Tayyip said.

"But doing so will cause considerable damage to the port and many deaths, many of whom may be peaceful civilians. This will result in significant collateral damage. Moreover, in the future, they will also be your subjects, Pasha," Admiral Treville said.

Upon hearing this, Tayyip laughed heartily and said, "Thank you for your kind intentions, General, but this port is a pirate port. How many peaceful residents are there? In this port, if you are a man, you are a male pirate; if you are a woman, you are a female pirate; if you are a child, you are a little pirate. These people are always arrogant and fierce, and they do not submit to the king's rule. They only recognize force. If you don't give them a good beating, no matter how good you are to them, they will only think that you are afraid of them. If you want to rule them properly, you must first kill them severely, kill them until they are terrified, and then they will truly understand your tolerance and mercy towards them."

Besides, we still have several cities to take. If we fight them one by one, how much time will it take, and how many people will die? It's better to let them die quickly and decisively here. Then, for the ports we need to go to, we can simply set up our cannons and make them kneel down and surrender."

Since the man who will be the Pasha here in the future isn't worried about killing too many people, why should Admiral Treville worry about him? Of course, the fire will cause considerable damage to the port. But once France gains control of the port, it will also have to carry out major reconstruction. These messy buildings were all slated for demolition anyway.

Two years ago, Bonaparte's administration widened and renovated some streets in Paris, resulting in substantial demolition costs. Of course, demolition costs are certainly cheaper here than in Paris, but France is a country ruled by law. According to the Civil Code, France protects sacred and inviolable private property. If the owners of these buildings are still alive, France must obtain their consent before demolishing them. After all, the France are reasonable and law-abiding. Therefore, for the sake of future demolition convenience, it's best to leave these buildings as abandoned ruins for now. After all, the France are reasonable people.

Of course, this is just the France boasting. If it were the Britain, they would definitely say, "The greatest characteristic of the France is that they are unreasonable. Given the opportunity to be unreasonable, they will definitely be unreasonable. If they do occasionally reason with someone, it is only because the situation is unfavorable and they have no choice but to be reasonable."

In short, since burning Tripoli would bring so many benefits, it would be a waste not to set it on fire. So, just as the pirates reached their gun positions to prepare to resist the landing, the French Army warships began their bombardment.

One cannonball after another spewed from the France cannons, but instead of landing at the front line, they flew over the front line and directly behind the pirates, where they exploded in mid-air, turning into hundreds of sparks of fire with white smoke, falling like a rain of fire.

The sparks crackled and popped as they landed on the streets and rooftops. Combined with the sea breeze, the rooftops were ablaze in the blink of an eye.

If these pirates had been more perceptive when the sparks were first thrown, they might have abandoned everything and turned to run, perhaps escaping before the fire fully spread. But these pirates had never seen such a weapon before, and they had no idea of its ferocity. How could they react correctly in time? So, that precious window of opportunity to escape was quickly lost. In the blink of an eye, a raging fire erupted behind them.

The wooden roof, combined with the various flammable materials laid on it, and the strong sea wind, caused the fire to quickly spiral out of control. Bright red flames shot up more than ten meters high, forming an impenetrable wall of fire that burned towards the pirates' position.

The fire hadn't even reached them yet, but the heat was already unbearable for the pirates. They ran towards the bay, intending to jump into the water to escape the flames. But by then, the Turkey warships were already close in. The Turkey showed no mercy to these pirates who shared their faith; their warships opened fire with grapeshot on the pirates fleeing into the sea. The sailors on board also stood at the ship's railings, guns in hand, continuously firing at the pirates who had jumped into the water.

If it were just one or two shots, the pirates wouldn't be afraid. They'd take a deep breath and dive in. If they dove deep enough, no bullet would be effective in the water. But the problem is, people aren't fish; they can't really stay submerged. Once they surface to breathe, bullets will immediately fly towards them. If they're even a little slow in breathing or descending, they'll be dead instantly.

The Turkey soldiers on the warships, however, were quite relaxed. They were firing at the pirates on the surface, much like a game of whack-a-mole. Every now and then, a head would pop up, and they'd fire. Sometimes the heads would duck back down, and they'd miss. Other times, a head would be hit by several bullets at once, exploding like a watermelon. The blood instantly stained the surrounding sea red.

At first, the sea was almost covered with heads. But as the shooting continued, there were soon very few gophers left to shoot.

Meanwhile, the fire reached the riverbank and grew even larger, with flames rising dozens of meters high. As the hot air rose rapidly, the surrounding cold air, carrying large amounts of oxygen, quickly flowed into the fire. The wind fueled the fire, and the intense heat and swirling vortexes drew in large quantities of burning debris, which then converged with the incoming flammable gases, igniting a swirling, rising fire dragon. A terrifying spectacle even appeared on the fireground—a fire tornado.

This was a tornado of flames, a constantly twisting, fiery funnel rising hundreds of meters high, scattering burning materials in all directions. At this moment, the seawater near the fire began to boil, and even the Turkey warships had to retreat, otherwise they might have been swept into the fire.

But perhaps they were having too much fun playing whack-a-mole, so they didn't notice that the tide had receded considerably.

In fact, it wasn't that no one noticed this, but no one expected the fire to burn so fiercely. Everyone had assumed that the distance between their ships and the fire would ensure their safety. But now, the mere sight of the flames shining on their faces was already causing them waves of stinging pain. And the fire tornado, hundreds of meters high, was hurling large amounts of burning embers far away, even scattering them not far from the Turkey warships.

The Turkey warships were still sailing vessels, and now some sparks had landed on their sails. Although the flames were quickly extinguished, this situation forced them to retreat continuously. Until—"Boom!"

With a loud explosion, a Turkey warship began to sink rapidly—as the tide receded and the water level dropped, the pirates' mines finally began to take effect.

Even at the risk of striking mines, the Turkey warships dared not remain so close to the inferno. They continued to retreat, and after losing two more ships to mines, they finally withdrew from the harbor.

The fire was far more powerful than Tayyip had imagined, and even beyond Admiral Treville's expectations. The entire Tripoli was engulfed in flames.

"This is truly... Even the Great Fire of London back then couldn't have been more terrible than this, could it?" Admiral Treville couldn't help but say, gazing at the burning city.