Loot

Batz and Francis covered each other as they descended to the bottom. Batz picked up the torch that had fallen to the ground and held it out to illuminate the surroundings.

"What do you see, Batz?" the man above shouted.

"No..." Batz said as he walked inside, torch in hand. Just then, his foot seemed to trip over something.

Batz stumbled, nearly falling to the ground. The torch in his hand dipped, revealing a child's wide-open eyes before him, only the whites of those eyes were visible...

"Ah!" Batz exclaimed, jumping up and nearly bumping into Francis.

"What's wrong?" Francis asked.

"It's nothing," Batz replied, having recovered by now. "I tripped and almost fell on a dead man."

Then he held the torch over there, and in the firelight, he could see a child lying there with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, clutching a doll in his arms. Not far from the child lay his mother, who was holding an empty bottle in her hand.

A little further ahead, there are two boxes, but we don't know what's inside them.

Batz turned around and shouted upwards, "There's no one alive inside! I saw two boxes!"

The soldiers came down one by one, first dragging the box up, and then carrying up the mother and child who had died inside. She was a very young woman, and her child was probably only two years old, perhaps just learning to walk.

But now everyone's attention was no longer on them—just two dead people, people had seen plenty of that before. All eyes were on the two boxes.

The box was locked, but even the sturdiest locks can only deter thieves; against the France, they were useless. A soldier swung his rifle butt and smashed the lock open in a few moments. Then Philip walked over and lifted the lid of the box.

As the lid of the box was lifted, a burst of golden light almost blinded one. Inside, the box was filled with gleaming gold coins.

"What is this? Ah, it's gold! Real gold! Thank God Almighty! It's all gold!" Philippe grabbed a gold coin and gently bit it.

"Company Commander..."

Many soldiers were looking at him. Their eyes shone with a different kind of light.

Philippe immediately closed the box lid and said, "These are all France property. Have the priest come and count them in a bit. This box full of gold coins should be worth quite a bit of money."

After saying this, he gave everyone a meaningful look. Everyone immediately understood what the company commander meant and laughed.

Although the box was opened for a short time, as everyone saw, it wasn't just half-full of gold coins, but a completely full box. This means the company commander is willing to take the lead and work with everyone...

And what's inside this box? Everyone's attention quickly focused on this question. Then, again, a rifle butt was used to smash open the lock, and Philippe lifted the lid. Everyone craned their necks to look inside, but there wasn't a box full of gold or silver; it only contained some neatly arranged papers. However, no one was particularly disappointed. Although this box looked larger than the previous one, it wasn't very heavy when it was lifted up, so even before opening it, everyone was already guessing that there probably wasn't much inside.

Philippe picked up the top sheet of paper and examined it. It was a deposit slip from the Bovan Bank for 100,000 francs. Unfortunately, this was a slip requiring a pre-arranged password to withdraw the money. Without the password, simply possessing the slip wouldn't allow him to withdraw the funds. Of course, this unwithdrawable money, while nominally still belonging to the man on the slip named Abdullah Ben Hag, was considered war booty and would inevitably be handed over to the state. Even if Abdullah Ben Hag hadn't died in the war, without the slip, he still wouldn't be able to withdraw the money. Therefore, this money was destined to remain untouched in the Bovan Bank account; in fact, it was already Mr. Bovan's money.

There were other deeds and bills, but Philippe figured most of the creditors for these bills were gone. Then he noticed smoke rising in several other directions, indicating that the siege of the other manors was also in full swing.

The Turkey and France attack on the manor outside the city was quickly discovered by the city's defenders—after all, the high watchtowers on the city walls were not useless decorations. Ahadi Pasha immediately ordered a news blackout, because many people in the city owned property outside the city, and if they knew what was happening outside, they probably wouldn't be able to defend the city with peace of mind.

But such news couldn't be kept secret. The soldiers were all on the city walls for defense, and once they were up there, they could see what the Turkey were doing outside. Morale began to waver, and some officers immediately rushed to demand that the Pasha send troops to eliminate the invaders. But Ahadi Pasha worried that sending troops would weaken the defenses at the port. Just as he was struggling with this dilemma, someone reported that Yusuf, with his cavalry, was willing to go out of the city to wipe out the enemy forces.

Upon hearing this news, Ahadi Pasha and immediately went to see Yusuf off. Yusuf then led his two hundred-plus cavalrymen out of the city.

The Turkey cavalry unit that had been guarding the city gate reacted immediately. They first fired a firework into the sky to alert their friendly troops, who were happily looting, that the enemy had emerged. Then they approached.

Nowadays, cavalry warfare in North Africa is gradually aligning with Europe practices. Revolver-wielding cavalry has also become popular. Conversely, Turkey cavalry is relatively more conservative, still equipped with lances even today. Of course, in a real charge, the long lance isn't necessarily inferior to a pistol. But the enemy has pistols; only a fool would engage in close combat. So, with a chorus of gunfire, the Turkey cavalry abandoned their mission to hold off the enemy and scattered. Post-war statistics show that in that brief moment of gunfire, one-tenth of the Turkey cavalry was lost. What else could they do? Of course, they had to run.

After shaking off the Turkey cavalry, Yusuf led his two hundred-plus cavalrymen and quickly approached the manor closest to the city.

I caught a cold a couple of days ago and have a slight fever. I'm not feeling very well.