A grave situation

Ottoman. ♢♦ 👽♢

Kostantiniyye.

Sultan Hamid I watched the British envoy depart from his bed.

The Servant bowed and closed the door, then he weakly turned to look at the Grand Vizier:

"What do you think is the best way to handle this?"

Grand Vizier Yusuf hesitated for a few seconds before answering:

"Great Sultan, although the United Kingdom plan of 'jointly attacking Tunisia ' was impractical, they did provide assistance and helped our people take control of Tripoli."

"The Empire has just suffered a defeat in Bessarabia and needs some victories to boost morale. I think we should send troops to garrison Tripoli and make it a true province of the Empire."

"Furthermore, this could create a pincer movement against Egypt, forcing the Mamluk to come to the Topkapi Palace and pledge their loyalty to you once again."

Currently, although Egypt claims to be Ottoman territory, it is actually controlled by the Mamluk Sultanate. The Ottoman have always been reluctant to relinquish this fertile land of Egypt, but they have been unable to gain an advantage against the Mamluk cavalry when they send troops, so they have never been able to truly control Egypt.

Hamid I nodded silently:

"I hope I can live to see that day. Go and select some troops, and have the navy transport them to Tripoli. I'm going to take a nap..."

"Yes, Your Majesty, Great Sultan."

Yusuf bowed and withdrew.

Because of France influence in Tunisia, the Ottoman today differs from its historical counterpart—they did not expend their main forces in the Russo-Turkish War, so they still have some troops available for deployment.

A few days later, more than 10,000 Ottoman Guard Corps and Sipahi cavalrymen boarded transport ships bound for Tunisia.

French North African Territory, Susa Province.

Tunisia City.

Joanne and Ishaq, accompanied by several officials, greeted His Crown Prince and his entourage in front of a Villa in the north of the city.

Although Joanne is currently only the administrative commissioner of Susa, he is in charge of the administration here because the Governor of Susa Province has not yet taken office.

At the same time, because Ishaq had served as the leader of the Tunisia Rebel Army, he also wielded considerable influence within the Tunisia Legion, which was formed from the rebels.

They were, in essence, the top military and political leaders of Susa Province.

Joseph specifically instructed that his whereabouts should not be publicized, otherwise he would be surrounded by a large group of Tunisia dignitaries all day long and would certainly not be able to get any important business done.

Joanne and Ishaq respectfully welcomed the Crown Prince into the Villa's Hall and had some locally produced, high-quality Coffee served.

Joseph gestured for everyone to sit down and asked directly, "Are you aware of the situation in Tripoli?"

Ishaq hurriedly replied, "Yes, Your Highness, Benjiul's men have completely taken control of the area from Tripoli City to Benghazi and are now attacking Zuwara's Pasha army."

He then gave a detailed account of the current battle situation in Zuwara.

Zuwara is a city bordering Tripoli and Tunisia. Currently, fewer than 600 soldiers remain loyal to the former Tripoli Pasha Ali I. They are retreating here and putting up a stubborn resistance.

However, under the superior firepower of the British-equipped rebels, they were barely clinging to life, especially after Ali I fled Tripoli, which further demoralized them.

Joseph then asked, "Will they pose a threat to Tunisia?"

"Your Highness, while it's possible, Benjiul only has 2,000 troops. If he dares to set foot in Tunisia, the Tunisia Legion stationed in Sfax can easily handle him."

As they were talking, an Arabia Intelligence Bureau gestured anxiously to Ishaq outside the door. Ishak frowned, quickly went out, listened to the agent's report, and immediately returned to the Hall, saying to Joseph:

"Your Highness, we have just received news that the Sultan of Morocco has deployed 12,000 Imperial Guards to Algiers. Furthermore, the Algiers Guard Corps appears to have acquired a batch of Flintlock Gun, though most are of Germany or Spain origin, they are most likely supplied by the United Kingdom."

During the years of war, United Kingdom acquired a considerable amount of weapons from Austria and Spain through various channels, and it was entirely possible that Britain would hand them over to Algiers.

"The United Kingdom again?" Joseph frowned. "The Moulins Army will arrive in Tunisia in a few days. Have them stationed at the Algiers border first, just in case."

He then looked at Ishaq: "Approximately how many of the Tunisia Legion's soldiers are currently considered to be of relatively strong fighting ability?"

Although the Tunisia Rebel Army numbered nearly 20,000, most of them were elderly and weak who had followed the spoils of the war, and many were tribal soldiers who returned to their tribes after the war ended.

Therefore, only a little over 10,000 men were eventually incorporated into the Tunisia Legion, and even fewer of them were truly trained elites.

Ishaq hesitated, then said, "Your Highness, the two regiments led by Major Zhemile and Ghazi's battalion are the stronger ones, and they're quite formidable."

In other words, only two and a half regiments, less than 4,000 men, were truly combat-ready. The rest of the soldiers could only fire their guns from the fortifications; they would likely collapse at the first sign of battle in a direct confrontation.

Joseph roughly calculated the number of troops in Algiers and couldn't help but frown and shake his head, not expecting the situation in Tunisia to suddenly become so dire.

After all, the Algiers Guard Corps had launched an attack on Tunisia last time at the instigation of the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom are involved again this time, so we have to be on guard.

After the last crushing defeat, the Algiers Guard Corps had only about six or seven thousand men left. With the addition of the Morocco troops, the force was close to twenty thousand. It was not safe to rely solely on the Moulins Legion and the Tunisia natives.

"It seems we'll need to bring in more troops from the mainland."

Joseph immediately picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Berthier, and then discussed the situation on both sides of Tunisia with Ishaq and others, as the sunlight outside the window began to dim.

Taking advantage of the Crown Prince's pause, Joey quickly suggested:

"Your Highness, I have prepared a dinner for you. Would you like to have dinner first?"

Joseph, after hearing this, also felt hungry, so he got up and followed him to the Dining Hall.

Along the way, Joseph saw through the arched window that hundreds of people were busy wielding hoes and shovels in the distance, so he casually asked Joey:

"What are those people doing so late?"

Joey glanced in that direction as well, then turned back and said:

"Your Highness, those are Algerians and Albanian Mercenaries captured during the last war. They are now being used as slaves to build roads throughout Tunisia. They won't stop until it's completely dark."

Joseph immediately understood. No wonder the report from Tunisia showed that the new road was being built very quickly; it turned out that the strong and healthy prisoners were doing the work.

Thank you to the boss of RenZiNiXiaWuTong for your generous reward for this book! The young author is very grateful, eh!

(End of this chapter)