Ambush

After this speech, Victor was quite optimistic about his prospects in the struggle with the Holy See for control over these Christ. After all, he had far more resources at his disposal than Bishop Torres, much like France did when it faced the Holy See.

Of course, the most important thing at the moment was the distribution of land. Bishop Torres hoped to distribute the land as soon as possible, but Victor was not in a hurry, because the distribution of land was a very important power, and if used well, it could quickly establish his own base among these Christ. So he delayed the matter, citing the need to get to know these Christ better in order to distribute the land in a more organized manner.

"Bishop, I know the believers are eager to receive the land. But they have waited for this day for generations. What difference does it make if they wait a few more days? The distribution of land is something that will affect their entire lives, and even their sons, grandsons, and many more descendants. If we don't consider things carefully now, generations will suffer. So, the more critical the moment, the less we can afford to be impatient," Victor said to Bishop Torres, who had come to discuss the distribution of the land.

As he spoke, he took out a map. It was a map drawn using a completely new projection method, which was more accurate and easier to use than previous maps.

"Bishop, look. This is the land allocated to us, mainly in these few places." Victor pointed out these places on the map to Bishop Torres.

"Why aren't they connected?" Bishop Torres asked, frowning. He noticed that the Christ lands were scattered here and there.

"Because those heretics insisted on deciding the ownership of the land by drawing lots," Victor explained. "By drawing lots, it naturally turned out this way."

On this point, Victor lied. In fact, it was the Turkey, not the France, who insisted on using a lottery to determine land ownership, thus resulting in the fragmentation of land belonging to Christ.

In Victor's view, the current situation would inevitably lead to a pattern of small, clustered Christ settlements and large, mixed settlements. Large-scale mixed settlements meant they would have frequent interactions with non-Christians, which could easily lead to conflicts. The small, clustered village structure, on the other hand, ensured they wouldn't be completely defenseless in the event of unrest. Of course, without France support, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. This was the situation that best suited France's interests.

Conversely, if Christ lived together in one place, they could easily dig a trench around their own land and establish a completely voluntary religious segregation. This would reduce their chances of conflict with infidels, decrease the France's opportunities to exploit them, and reduce their dependence on France. It would then become much more difficult for the France to control them.

"As you see, Bishop," Victor continued, "This distribution greatly increases the opportunities for infidels to come into contact with our believers. It's beneficial for proselytizing to infidels. Of course, it also increases the chances of friction with them. But can we stop spreading the truth to those infidels because of this? Some infidels are actually quite virtuous; they are just unfortunate enough not to have heard the Gospel of the Lord."

"Of course," said Bishop Torres. Although according to the agreement between France and Turkey, Holy See personnel could only provide services to existing Christ and could not freely proselytize, why would the Holy See bother coming here if it weren't for missionary work? Therefore, missionary work was a must.

"But once a conflict breaks out, you see, each village can only accommodate a relatively small population. If the village is poorly organized, it can easily be bullied by those infidels. Therefore, we must ensure that each village has capable and responsible people who can unite the entire village. Only in this way can their interests be guaranteed. So, Bishop, you see, this matter of land allocation really can't be rushed, can it?"

Therefore, Bishop Torres had to admit that the allocation of land had to be handled with care and attention.

"So, Consul Treville, how do you intend to distribute them?" Bishop Torres asked.

"I plan to first rank all the believer families. This rank will not involve anything else but their appeal and fighting ability. The families with the most appeal and fighting ability will be designated as village chiefs and given priority in land allocation in their respective villages. Then, based on the village's defense conditions, different other families and individuals will be assigned," Victor replied.

The principles in this answer are absolutely sound, but the selection of personnel and the allocation of land can be used to win over a group of people. The intention is so obvious that Bishop Torres naturally saw it too. But seeing it is one thing, having a way to do it is another. In terms of the power at his disposal, Bishop Torres had very little room to intervene.

While Victor was busy leading a group of liberated Christ in distributing land, in Tunisia, after a long siege, the France and Turkey allied forces finally broke through the Barbary Pirates' blockade and captured the city. Both armies paid a heavy price for this.

The French Army used up almost all of their remaining high-explosive shells, while the Turkey suffered another five or six thousand casualties. As for the Barbary Pirates, Ahadi Pasha was killed in battle. Before his death, he ordered the killing of his wives and concubines and entrusted his son to his captain of the guard, asking him to lead him in a breakout. However, his captain of the guard also failed to escape, so Ahadi Pasha's son would be sent to Istanbul. This delicate-looking little fellow might one day become a delicate-looking eunuch.

The France fleet had been at sea for a long time and needed to return to Toulon to resupply. The Turkey, having suffered heavy losses in the fierce battle, also needed rest. Therefore, the battlefield temporarily calmed down. The French Navy fleet returned to Toulon. Most of the Turkey went ashore to recuperate.

However, just two nights after the France fleet left, the Turkey fleet was attacked unexpectedly. It was a moonless night, so it was extremely dark and almost nothing could be seen on the sea. But some Morocco pirates quietly approached the Turkey fleet.

The leader was Hassan Pasha of Morocco —no, it should be Usama, the nephew of Sultan Hassan. After Turkey declared Hassan Pasha a traitor and declared war on him, he decisively declared Morocco's independence and proclaimed himself Sultan.

Usama brought five boats with him this time. But these were not pirate ships; they were small sailing ships, or more accurately, oar-powered boats. They each had only one low mast, one gray-black sail, and eight oarsmen.

These ships are unfit to be pirates, at least not in this era. Perhaps they could engage in some piracy back in the time of Xerxes and Themistocles. But even back then, they wouldn't qualify for the Battle of Salamis and would have to avoid the navy of that era. Yet now, Usama is leading a fleet of such ships to challenge a fleet that, while far behind by today's standards, possessed overwhelming superiority in the era of the Battle of Salamis.

Usama wasn't acting out of madness; rather, he possessed a weapon unavailable in that era—dynamite.

Each ship carried a dozen or so bombs, each with dozens of kilograms of explosives. Once detonated, they would be enough to shred even a sailing battleship like the Victory, and even an ironclad warship like the Imperator might not survive such an explosion. However, it was not easy for such ships to get close to the Imperator.

To carry out this attack, Usama deliberately chose a moonless night. This lower visibility made it harder for enemy observation posts to spot him. Furthermore, his boat was relatively low while the Turkey warships were much taller. So when the Turkey crew looked towards him, the backdrop was the pitch-black sea. To see a small, equally dark boat in the darkness of the sea is like trying to find a black cat in a pile of coal. Perhaps his boat would be right under their noses, and they still wouldn't be able to see it.

However, the view from his ship towards the Turkey warships was different. The Turkey warships were much taller, so they were looking up at the Turkey warships, and the background of the Turkey warships became the relatively bright sky. In this way, they could see the Turkey from a greater distance.

In fact, the small convoy had been here for two or three days, during which time they had been hiding in a bay, while Usama had been keeping a close eye on the Turkey fleet. He noticed that the Turkey were too relaxed; their warships remained in their designated berths without moving, and they had not deployed many guards around them.

Usama was very familiar with the terrain, so even if he could only see a faint shadow by starlight, he was able to lead his fleet quietly toward the port. And just as he had predicted, the unprepared Turkey fleet had no idea of their arrival.

Usama ordered the oarsmen to stop rowing so that the sound of their oars could be heard. He even lowered the sails, knowing the currents in the area would naturally lead them to the Turkey ships.

The small boat drifted past silently, unnoticed by the Turkey. Usama's boat stealthily approached a Turkey warship and rode alongside it. Usama used a small hand drill to drill a hole in the ship. He then inserted a large nail and attached a bomb to the nail.

This was a time bomb, provided to them by an honest and reliable Britain merchant. Using the light of a small France -made flashlight, he carefully set the detonation time, then turned off the flashlight and moved closer to another ship...

However, perhaps because the true god hadn't yet decided who to bless, Usama's luck, which had been going smoothly at first, suddenly seemed to turn bad. Another ship made a little noise while drilling, attracting the attention of the sentry. But at this crucial moment, the true god suddenly sided with the pirates again. The sentry looked around but didn't notice the small boat right under his nose.

And so, in one night, Usama and his men planted time bombs on fifty Turkey warships, and then quietly withdrew.

Around four o'clock in the morning, the bombs exploded one after another. Each bomb shattered a warship into pieces. In just one night, the Turkey lost fifty warships and hundreds of soldiers in the ports they had already taken control of.

This sudden blow enraged Tayyip, who felt that his return would likely end badly, much like the devastating defeat of Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Basha, who was beheaded by the enraged Sultan after his defeat in the Battle of Vienna.

On the other hand, he also understood that after suffering such a blow, he could probably only suggest making a further request to the France for "military assistance in suppressing the rebellion." So he immediately sent an envoy by fast ship to Toulon to ask his France ally for help. At the same time, he used the France communication system to report the latest situation to His Majesty the Great Turkey Selim III.

Another week later, the France fleet returned to Tunisia, but this time France was larger and included some smaller steamships.

Another two weeks later, the France reinforcements arrived: six strangely shaped steamships with square bows and flat bottoms. This design made the ships very shallow. Tayyip didn't know why they chose square bows, which increased drag. He only knew that the France called these ships "landing ships."

Two days later, Tayyip also received a report from the France regarding Selim III's treatment of him. The merciful Sultan only reprimanded him and did not punish him, but asked him to atone for his sins by winning the war as soon as possible.

After the France reinforcements arrived, the Turkey, having left behind a larger garrison (since there were far fewer ships and nowhere to pack them), set sail again with the France fleet for their next target— Monaco, the most powerful of the Barbary States.

A few days later, the Combined Fleet arrived near Port of Casablanca, Monaco's largest and most important port. The most important battle of this war was about to begin.