Trade Deficit

Unable to keep the main French force behind, Huthier and the others had no interest in continuing their pursuit of the Egyptian colonial troops. Once the battle ended, the Eighth Division immediately launched a massive recruitment drive.

In the span of a single week, the Eighth Division's establishment tripled in size, conscripting every able-bodied young man from the surrounding areas.

At least they still had a conscience and had not truly copied the bandits by drafting men, women, children, and the elderly into the army as cannon fodder.

The army advanced mightily along the Nile River, turning a blind eye to the cities along the way and specifically targeting plantations in the countryside.

As they destroyed estates, they enlisted the enslaved Egyptians into the army and spread ideas of national independence.

With their strategy of bullying the weak and avoiding the strong, the Eighth Division had smooth sailing, rapidly swelling like a snowball rolling downhill.

By comparison, the main rebel force progressed far more slowly. Unlike Huthier and the others, who struck once and left, the rebel high command still had ambitions.

To become warlords, they naturally needed territory. Mahdi, the leader, could no longer keep control of the situation, and the various major factions rushed out to seize land.

They even came to blows over territory. If the threat from the French had not remained, the rebels would likely have split apart on their own.

In order to unite the rebels and jointly resist the French counterattack to come, Lieutenant General Jarrett had personally stepped in several times to coordinate relations among the factions.

Yet chaos would still be chaos. The rebel ranks were far too complicated, with internal conflicts emerging one after another. Only the threat of the French maintained the hollow shell of their unity.

As the