Siege

Although the mines were ineffective, the pirates' act of setting a fire themselves proved quite effective. Therefore, the France now made it clear that incendiary bombs were out of the question. They could only support the Turkey landing operation with solid shot.

So Turkey had no choice but to launch a direct assault. Full of confidence, they charged forward, only to be quickly routed by the pirates' cannon and rifle fire. Tayyip then returned to the France warship seeking tactical guidance.

"Breaking through the enemy's defenses head-on and landing directly at the port would be difficult. We could choose to land first in some other, relatively flat area, establish a temporary pier, and then send personnel and weapons there to fight our way overland," Admiral Treville said.

"People can get ashore this way, but cannons can't. Without cannons, even if a lot of people get ashore, it won't be of much use," Tayyip said.

"The most important thing for those who go up is not to destroy the enemy's defenses from the land, but to attack the enemy's unprotected high-value targets," Admiral Treville said. "The pirates' strength is limited; they concentrate their forces on guarding the port, and the rest might not even be enough to hold the city walls. But what truly valuable, truly worthless things are left inside Tunisia?"

Pasha, look, they set fire to the entire port area, and even many houses in the wealthy neighborhoods are without roofs. This is clearly for fire prevention. But what about the people who originally lived there? Will they still live in houses without roofs? Especially the wealthy people, will they continue to live in those houses without roofs?"

"General, do you mean that their wealthy people and a lot of valuables have already been moved to manors outside the city? We only need to attack those manors to greatly weaken their defenses?"

"Yes, Your Excellency Pasha. However, the enemy is well-prepared, and their estates may not be easy to attack without artillery. Therefore, our France Marines are willing to assist you in such operations," Admiral Treville replied.

Tayyip understood that the France were so eager for a share of the loot. Last time in Tripoli, almost all the spoils had gone to the Turkey, reportedly causing discontent among many France soldiers. And during the recent attack, France artillery support had been slow and inaccurate, even hitting Turkey on the head in several instances—its performance was almost as poor as the Turkey'. Whether this was due to disagreements over the distribution of spoils, nobody knew.

In short, the France demanded that everyone participate in the robbery.

Tayyip wanted to refuse the France, but he worried that the France would continue to be out of sorts with the subsequent fire support. So, they eventually reached an agreement: France would send marines to land alongside the Turkey, but in the subsequent operations, both sides could operate independently. In other words, each would fight for their own territory to avoid any conflict or clashes between them.

So a group of Turkey and France began to land on the beach near the port.

These actions could not be kept secret from the Barbary Pirates, but they did not have enough men to stop the Turkey from landing. They could only continue to defend the city.

Tunisia is one of the few fertile lands in North Africa, with a climate perfectly suited for olive cultivation. Since the Carthage era, it has been an important olive oil producing region, especially with vast olive plantations scattered around the city's outskirts. There are tens of thousands of olive trees there, and especially in recent decades, with the piracy business becoming less profitable, olive cultivation has become a crucial source of revenue for Tunisia Ahadi Pasha. He himself, along with his officials and generals, also own numerous plantations in the suburbs.

Upon discovering the Turkey and French Army troops landing, Ahadi Pasha was initially worried that these enemy forces would coordinate with the enemy forces at sea to launch a fierce attack on the city. So he quickly mobilized his troops to the city walls to prepare for defense.

"Hussein, do you think we can hold off the enemy?" Ahadi Pasha asked Commander Hussein, who was standing beside him.

"Pasha, they landed from those positions and couldn't carry cannons. Without cannons, they can hardly threaten the city walls. With the walls protecting us, and with our new rifled rifles, we can hold the city."

This answer reassured Ahadi Pasha considerably. He patted Hussein on the shoulder and said, "My brother, I'm entrusting the defense of the city walls entirely to you."

Hussein immediately knelt down on one knee and said to Ahadi Pasha, "I will protect this wall with my life and will never let the enemy cross it."

However, the Turkey did not attack the city walls. Only a small troop of about a hundred Turkey cavalrymen came to the vicinity of the walls and stopped outside the range of the cannons on the walls, seemingly monitoring the troops inside the city. Then there was no movement for a long time. It wasn't until evening, when the sun was about to set, that the cavalrymen turned around and left.

During this period, Hussein wanted to send troops to launch a preemptive strike to drive out the cavalry, but Ahadi Pasha feared a France conspiracy and therefore firmly rejected Hussein's suggestion to take the initiative.

Throughout the day, the Turkey brought over three thousand men ashore. The France also sent about a company. However, upon landing, these men did not immediately rush towards their targets. Instead, under the guidance of France instructors, they constructed camps and fortifications to guard against potential pirate attacks. The pirates did not retaliate that night. Furthermore, the Turkey cavalry had conducted preliminary reconnaissance of the surrounding area that day, identifying over thirty plantations. The France and Turkey then met to discuss how to allocate these targets.

After rejecting suggestions such as using rock-paper-scissors or other gambling methods to allocate the targets (mainly because the France felt that the Turkey were all gamblers with poor sportsmanship and prone to cheating; the Turkey held similar views about the France on this issue), the final decision was to allocate the targets by drawing lots, as this method was considered relatively fairer.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the Turkey cavalry returned to where they had been the day before, continuing to monitor the movements of the city's defenders. Meanwhile, the other troops rushed toward their respective targets.

Captain Philippe, the Marine Corps company commander, drew a name for a manor called Mehdi during the lottery last night. Of course, they only learned the name later; at that time, they simply referred to it as Manor Number Five, based on its map markings.

Early this morning, Captain Philippe led his company to Manor No. 5.

Based on the intelligence provided by the Turkey cavalry last night, Manor No. 5 is quite large, surrounded by high walls, suggesting strong defenses. This also implies that there must be many valuable items within the manor. Thinking of these treasures, the morale of the entire company, including Captain Philippe, was high.

Although it's impossible for them to keep all the spoils. The French Army is a disciplined force, and even in looting, there are rules. All spoils must first be handed over to the state, and then the state will distribute them uniformly. Otherwise, one day, the enemy might retreat, the French Army might pursue, and the enemy might leave all sorts of valuables scattered all over the ground. Then the French Army soldiers would rush to loot, and the enemy might launch a counterattack, resulting in the French Army's defeat.

Therefore, all the looted items theoretically need to be registered and handed over to the state. Of course, the work is not done in vain; the state will award them medals and provide them with a lot of assistance after their demobilization.

After marching for about an hour, Philippe and his company arrived near Manor No. 5.

"This is Manor No. 5? It's a miniature Bastille! Just with more and bigger windows." Philippe exclaimed after seeing the walls of Manor No. 5.

This is actually quite normal in North Africa. The security situation in North Africa is far superior to that in France. Even during the Kingdom period, before the revolution, there were no large-scale bandit gangs capable of plundering and pillaging in France. But in North Africa, bandits and the like are everywhere.

Back in the day, the Europe continent was dotted with the Castle owned by nobles. This was because Europe continent was in chaos at the time, with nobles engaging in rampant robbery and other illegal activities. Therefore, they needed to live in the Castle that were easy to defend.

The Castle, as a type of building, are generally terrible in terms of habitability. In order to meet the needs of defense, the Castle cannot have too many or too large windows, so both lighting and ventilation are very poor. Living inside is naturally very uncomfortable.

Therefore, once social order in Europe began to improve, nobles abandoned their the Castle and moved into comfortable but poorly defended manors. Looking at this manor now, Philippe concludes that "their social structure was in the early stages of the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Only at this time did such architecture, which combined defense with improved living conditions, appear on the Europe continent."

Like the Bastille, this manor was surrounded by towering, vertical walls. Such walls, easily collapsed in sections after artillery bombardment, were outdated a century or two ago; no fortress today would have such high, vertical walls. However, in North Africa, they proved surprisingly effective against bandits. These bandits relied heavily on their speed and agility, making cannons ineffective. Without cannons, the towering, vertical walls became a significant advantage.

Philippe did not launch an attack immediately. He simply ordered some soldiers to block the gates of the manor and monitor the situation inside, while sending a Turkey to address the people inside, demanding that they immediately cease resistance and surrender to the royal army. The Turkey also assured the people inside that their legal personal and property rights would be protected. Of course, what was legal and what was illegal depended on the specific circumstances.

Clearly, the people in the manor didn't believe the Turkey's words, or rather, they had recognized the huge pitfall in Turkey rhetoric. So, they responded in a very direct way: Bang!

The shot missed the Turkey, who rolled away and hid behind a large tree. In fact, he had already rehearsed the man's movements in his mind many times while shouting.

The Turkey, using the cover of a large tree, managed to escape back safely. Upon seeing Philippe, he complained in broken French, "I knew it all along; those guys in there were determined to rebel. There was no need to ask. If they weren't rebels, why didn't they open the gates themselves to welcome the royal army?"

"This is our custom; this ritual is indispensable," Philippe explained.

After all, the France are civilized people and must abide by civilized rules. Even if these rules seem a bit silly, they are very useful in politics.

"We must give them a chance. We are civilized people and do not kill innocent people indiscriminately. But now, things are clear: the owner of this manor is undoubtedly a traitor. They have fired the first shot, and now it's our turn." Captain Philippe said this and began to assign combat tasks to his soldiers.

Like the bandits common in North Africa, the France didn't have cannons and seemed to have no good way to deal with the wall. In a firefight, the defenders would be hiding behind windows, only their heads showing, making it extremely difficult to hit such targets. While the attacking France could also use the terrain for cover, they were no match for the defenders. Therefore, in a firefight, the France would definitely be at a significant disadvantage.

However, nowadays, artillery is no longer the only method available for demolishing such vertical high walls. For example, explosive charges are a relatively cheap and effective method.

The only problem was that someone had to brave enemy fire to deliver the explosive charge to the base of the wall. This was very dangerous and could result in casualties. However, the France army had a complete system in place to use various forms of fire support to send the explosive charge up the wall. This system had been practiced many times in exercises, but this was the first time it had been used in practice.