Changing the heavens and the sun
Having made up his mind, Joseph immediately ordered Eman to summon all the Crown Prince's personal attendants.
Before long, looking at the painters, sculptors, apothecaries, acrobats and other attendants standing in two rows in front of him, Joseph exclaimed again, "My mother was absolutely brilliant to have me bring them to Tunisia!"
Without these people, implementing their plan would be quite difficult—even if Tunisia could find such master-level experts, maintaining secrecy would be a major problem.
As for the specifics of how to do it, he didn't put much thought into it. There were already mature solutions from the past, so he just copied them directly.
He first gave brief instructions to the pharmacist and the ventriloquist, then instructed the Police Intelligence Division and the French Descent businessman Agadon to cooperate with them, before turning to the sculptor, Mr. Brigitte, who was in charge of the most important task.
"The Islam festival of Ashura Festival is in about ten days," Joseph said to the sculptor. "I need you to make a stone sculpture for me before then."
"Oh, considering the shipping time, you should only have 8 days."
Brigitte bowed obsequiously and asked:
"Your Highness, what kind of artwork would you like?"
"A stone figure in typical Arabia attire," Joseph said, pointing to the roof. "At least this tall, of course, the higher the better."
Brigitte was stunned; this luxurious Hall was nearly 4 meters high!
He immediately looked troubled. "Your Highness, if I may be so bold, such a large stone carving... I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete in eight days."
"It doesn't need to be too elaborate. Just a little fine sculpting on the face, and the rest just needs to be recognizable as a human being."
Even so, it's still unlikely...
Joseph smiled slightly and unleashed his Money Power:
"If you finish one day early, you'll receive a reward of 1000 Livre. Two days early, 2000 Livre. Three days early, 4000 Livre. And so on, with the reward Dorcas for each day you finish early."
Brigitte's mind was instantly filled with the clattering sound of Silver Coin, and she immediately nodded without hesitation, clutching her chest.
"Please rest assured, Your Highness, you will definitely see the stone figure you requested within eight days!"
He paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Your Highness, if you could allow me to borrow some engineers, the construction schedule would be more secure."
"No problem. You can choose your own people from the legion later."
Joseph then gave some detailed instructions, and finally added:
"Oh, by the way, this stone figure should be carved with only one eye, please remember that."
Brigitte wasted no time. After leaving the Crown Prince's place, she immediately went to Berthier and asked for several sappers to be in charge of demolition. Then she headed straight for the vicinity of the Medjerda River —as requested by the Crown Prince, who said it would facilitate transportation.
He quickly selected a huge limestone rock, had the engineers drill holes in it, install Gunpowder, and blast it.
Each of the engineers received 30 Livre from the sculptor, so they all used their best skills. They spent most of the day using extremely precise explosives to blast the large rock into a human-shaped outline...
Several days later, a prophecy from an Elder Alayi began to spread throughout Tunisia: soon an oracle would descend upon Tunisia, conveying its message to the world through water or forests...
People didn't pay much attention at first, until one day, a resident of Majaz al-Bab dug a stone out of the belly of a fish he had bought. There were white marks on it, and one could vaguely make out a line of words.
The words weren't carved on, which made them seem incredibly magical.
He immediately took the fish and the stone to the town's mosque and asked the clergy to decipher them.
Soon, the whole town was in an uproar, because the imam recognized the writing. "The descendants of Rome will surely drive out the Ottoman Guard Corps!"
In the following days, people in cities along the Medjerda River found stones with mysterious patterns inside the fish's belly, bearing the same inscriptions.
Some fishermen even dug out "Oracle Stone" from the bellies of fish they had just caught, and were so surprised that they immediately knelt down and prayed on their boats.
In areas farther from the Medjerda River, such as the northeastern mountains, people have faintly heard foxes calling at night, and the calls sounded very much like, "Drive out the Ottomans."
Clearly, Elder Alayi's prophecy had come true! The whole of Tunisia was in an uproar once again. People began to openly gather together to discuss the expulsion of the Guard Corps.
This is a divine decree!
With their master backing them up, what's so scary about even the most ruthless Guard Corps?
Of course, all the oracles actually came from the Crown Prince's personal attendants.
They used strong acid to write words on stones, then stuffed them into the bellies of live fish. To be efficient, they would sell them directly at the market; to make them more realistic, they would try to put them in fishermen's nets.
The mass-produced "Oracle Stone" ensure that almost every major town can receive one.
Ventriloquists, on the other hand, have a tougher job. They have to travel to several places every day to learn how to call a fox, and they can only work at night. After half a month, they lost six or seven pounds from exhaustion.
However, what ultimately triggered the outburst among the Tunisia natives was the astonishing oracle that appeared on the day of Ashura Festival.
Ashura Festival is the day, according to scriptures, when Adam and Eve repented for eating the forbidden fruit, for which God permitted them. Yes, that's right, the accounts of these two human ancestors are the same in Islam and Christianity.
On that day, tens of thousands of people gathered in Utica to celebrate the festival when the oars of a giant ferry that had come here struck something in the middle of the river.
The captain was very puzzled, so he ordered his crew to dive into the Medjerda River to investigate, where they discovered a giant stone man!
Of course, the captain was arranged in advance by the Police Intelligence Division.
So the city of Utica organized a large number of boats and men, tied ropes to the stone figure, and dragged it ashore from the river.
When people saw the one-eyed stone giant, they immediately recalled the strange prophecy left by a mysterious ascetic: the one-eyed stone giant would purify the corrupt Ottoman.
The prophecy has come true; the oracle has appeared once more!
The clergy of Utica immediately announced that a mosque would be built on the stone statue to facilitate people's worship of the miracle. Outside the city of Utica, nearly ten thousand people prostrated themselves around the one-eyed stone statue for a long time, praising the power of the Lord and vowing to obey the contents of the oracle.
Mr. Brigitte spent five days completing this enormous work, receiving a prize of 4,000 Livre, and also bidding farewell to the Tunisia Guard Corps.
As news of the astonishing oracle spread from Utica throughout Tunisia, the people finally overcame their fear and launched their first attack on the Guard Corps.
Zhemile led nearly 600 men, including members of the "Sword of Vengeance" and members of the Fawaz Tribe, into the town of Andalusian —a small town with little to no defenses—and quickly drove 200 Guard Corps into the town's mosque.
Zhemile and his warriors first knelt before the "Oracle Stone" they had brought, then rose, drew their Scimitar, pointed them at the enemy's last stronghold, and shouted:
"No more Ottomans oppression! Obey the divine decree! Warriors, attack!"
These 600 men were well-equipped, possessing 100 Flintlock Gun and almost all carrying Scimitar and Pike. They immediately charged towards the Guard Corps in the mosque with shouts.
The Guard Corps, though terrified by the sight, were still regular soldiers. At the officers' command, the soldiers picked up their Musket and began firing.
As the chaotic gunfire erupted, the first few "Sword of Vengeance" members were shot and fell to the ground. Those behind them, seeing their bodies torn apart by bullets and the black blood on the ground, paused in their tracks.
Upon seeing this, the Guard Corps officer shouted sternly:
"You lowly bastards, how dare you rebel! You and your families will all be hanged outside the city! Not one of you will escape!"
Upon hearing that familiar, terrifying shout, Zhemile's army lost most of its Courage and hastily turned back to retreat beyond the range of the Guard Corps.
Zhemile was furious and personally led another charge. But after several men were shot, the charging troops immediately retreated.
Zhemile had no choice but to order a firefight with the Guard Corps. The two sides fought fiercely for a day, suffering about ten casualties, until night fell.
Watching from a distance, Special Agent Ishaq of the Police Intelligence Division could only curse. Even a few hundred sheep with Flintlock Gun would probably be more ferocious than these people.
He knew that this was the first time the Tunisia had attempted to attack the Guard Corps, and all the natives of Tunisia were watching. He had to achieve victory as soon as possible, otherwise the morale that the natives had just gained would soon dissipate.
If other Guard Corps arrive as reinforcements, the situation will be even worse.
With this in mind, he immediately rushed back to Tunisia City that very night.
The battle for Andalusian continued the following day, with the Guard Corps even launching a breakout attempt. Fortunately, Zhemile led his capable men in a desperate resistance, otherwise the mission might have failed.
As darkness approached, just as Zhemile was feeling agitated, a deafening roar suddenly came from near the corner of the road in the distance. Immediately afterward, bricks and stones flew everywhere from where the Guard Corps were hiding, and a hole more than half a person high appeared in the back wall.
Then, a second loud bang came...
Ishaq had no other choice but to ask the Police Academy students Artillery "cheat" by using Four-Pound Cannon to help Zhemile open a breach.
Zhemile, quick-witted as ever, guessed that someone was helping with cannons, but he stood up and shouted:
"Divine punishment! This is divine punishment from the Lord! The Guard Corps is finished!"
Upon hearing the word "divine punishment," the Tunisia natives were immediately invigorated. If even the gods were on their side, what was there to fear? They roared and charged fiercely with Zhemile.
The dim light prevented them from seeing how many of their teammates had been shot, but they surged through the gap in the mosque with sheer force of their courage, taking advantage of their numbers to hack and slash indiscriminately at the Guard Corps inside.
They had been oppressed by the Ottomans for too long, and their pent-up anger was uncontrollable.
When Zhemile finally exhausted himself, he put away his Scimitar and turned around to find that there were almost no Guard Corps left standing.
The next day at dawn, Zhemile led his men to ransack all the homes of the Guard Corps in the town, reaping a huge sum of 30,000 Riyal that very day.
News of the Andalusian quickly spread throughout Tunisia. The natives were astonished to discover that the once invincible Guard Corps was not invincible after all.
The oracle was right; the corrupt Ottomans will surely be purified!
More importantly, it is said that Andalusian rebels seized 50,000 to 60,000 Riyal from the Guard Corps in just three days!
Everyone was immediately consumed by greed.
The natives, who were now filled with dreams of getting rich quick, were no longer afraid. Attacks on the Guard Corps increased in various places, and soon spread like wildfire.
Meanwhile, no further attacks on the France occurred throughout Tunisia — the Guard Corps were busy having their Gold Coin minted by the natives and had no recollection of their dealings with the United Kingdom.
As for the natives, since everyone is now a "Roman descendants," they naturally wouldn't make things difficult for their France brothers who share the same ancestry. Besides, they still need their France brothers to provide them with weapons and equipment that generate a lot of Gold Coin.
Meanwhile, on Zhemile's side, after clearing out all of Andalusian's Guard Corps, he began leading his troops to support the nearby natives.
After all, they were a victorious army, with high morale and some experience, and they quickly helped five or six towns break through the Guard Corps's defenses.
In just half a month, Zhemile had assembled a native army of nearly 4,000 people.
These were the brave and capable warriors he had carefully selected; the cowards were all sent home by him.
Then, under the guidance of the military advisors brought by Ishaq, this strongest Indigenous Army successfully repelled the Tunisia City Guard Corps that came to suppress them, and then took the opportunity to capture Susa, Tunisia's second largest city, and its prestige soared.
Another two weeks later, Zhemile's 5,000-strong army had arrived in Tunisia City.
Several other indigenous militia groups also arrived from other directions, managing to gather a total of about 20,000 people.
The natives elected Zaganos, also known as Ishaq, who had supported all the rebels, as their leader, Zhemile as their general, to lead all the Indigenous Army and besiege the Tunisia City.
A week earlier, Joseph had ordered the Royal Guard Legion to retreat to Bizerte, while the Moulins Legion took control of Kairouan Fortress and avoided being drawn into the impending storm.
When Ottoman Sultan's envoy Said arrived in Tunisia, he found the land engulfed in flames, with large numbers of Tunisian guards killed or driven out. One group of fleeing guards even nearly robbed him.
After learning about the situation in Tunisia, this pure-blooded Ottomans dared not linger and fled back to his ship as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, the Tunisia Navy was completely wiped out by the European, so there was no need to worry about the natives coming to capture him at sea.
However, this meant that the Sultan's task of persuading Tunisian Bey to request the Ottoman title of Pasha would no longer be possible.
Failure to complete the mission could result in execution by the Sultan.
Said, who dared not return to the Ottoman, hesitated for a long time, but finally realized that the only way out was to complete the mission.
To complete the mission, the first step is to help the Tunisia Guard Corps stabilize the situation.
He immediately turned his attention to Algiers, where the Ottoman Empire still had influence. The Guard Corps there were also a branch of the Ottoman Guard Corps and had a long tradition of interfering in Tunisia regimes. He had to persuade them to send troops in order to have any hope of saving his life.