Nonprofessional "Players"

Said had a map brought to him, looked at it, and said to Agord, "Order the vanguard to reach Tamirai by this afternoon. Rest there for a day, and the whole army will attack Cape Serrat the day after tomorrow."

Cape Serrat is the only town west of Bizerte. According to intelligence, there should be three to four thousand Tunisia troops stationed there. After capturing Cape Serrat, the Port of Bizerte would be wide open.

The Blacks officer bowed and accepted the order, quickly relaying the command from the Moroccan Guard Corps commander.

Ney hummed along with the soldiers, who had only trained for less than four months and knew only these songs, calculating in his mind how long it would take to reach Tamirai.

Just then, his company commander rode up at full speed towards him, shouting, "Morocco spotted! Less than 4 kilometers from Tamirai!"

These men were severely lacking in cavalry, so officers who could ride horses, such as company commanders, had to act Hussars for reconnaissance.

Upon hearing this, Ney felt a pang of anxiety. It seemed he would Tamirai later than the enemy forces.

This means it will become a tough battle.

He hurriedly asked the company commander, "How many enemy soldiers are there?"

"At least two thousand, or three thousand."

Ney frowned further. He didn't even have a thousand soldiers at his disposal. He might be able to defend Tamirai, but he was afraid it would be difficult to win an attack.

Are we going to retreat to Cape Serrat?

He turned to look behind him, knowing that doing so would surely invite ridicule from the Nobility.

He gritted his teeth and shouted to his soldiers, "Speed up the march! We'll show those Nobility who the real warriors are!"

The soldiers immediately erupted in cheers:

"Let the Nobility lords see!"

Victory belongs to us!

Long live His Majesty the King!

Most of these people were farmers whose families had bought land. After hearing that His Crown Prince was calling on commoners to join the army, those with surplus labor in their families were very eager to sign up.

They originally only wanted to repay His King for fulfilling their dream of acquiring land. However, after learning about the current military policies in France, they realized that they too could rise to the rank of officer through military merit. And if they were to achieve merit, they would be set for life.

Therefore, although this "rookie" army had limited training, its morale was exceptionally high.

This is the fundamental reason why Joseph faced enormous resistance in carrying out land redistribution—only by enhancing the sense of national identity among the vast majority of the France lower classes could the power of the country be truly unleashed.

The population of France during Napoleon's time was not much larger than it is now, yet he could easily mobilize an army of 600,000. Now, France cannot even muster 160,000 troops. This is because the French Great Revolution greatly inspired the enthusiasm of the people and awakened their national consciousness. National affairs were no longer just the duty of the Nobility, but something that every France cared about.

If France could mobilize 600,000 troops right now and guarantee logistical support, it could sweep across the European Continent immediately.

It's important to understand that even combined, Britain, Austria, and Prussia could only muster a little over 400,000 troops, which is far from sufficient.

Of course, land policy alone is not enough to give the French People absolute national identity, but it is already a very big step forward.

Seeing the soldiers' noticeably quickened pace, Ney loudly encouraged them and repeatedly reminded the officers to watch out for any soldiers who had fallen behind.

Two kilometers away, Victor Moreau also received a report that the Morocco were approaching Tamirai.

He looked at the Messenger sent by Ney: "How far are your men from Tamirai?"

"Over 6 kilometers, Lieutenant."

Victor Moreau frowned and pondered for a moment, then asked, "I remember Tamirai still has 300 Tunisia soldiers?"

"Yes, Lieutenant."

Moreau nodded and said, "That's good. Order them to move forward to the west side of the town and set up a defensive line, doing everything they can to delay the Morocco."

"Yes!" the Messenger responded instinctively, but immediately realized his mistake, "But, sir, you don't have the authority to mobilize them..."

"Just say it's General Sherer's authorization. The documents will be given to them after the battle."

"This..."

"Don't delay, or we'll lose Tamirai!"

The Messenger jumped, puffed out his chest, and said, "Yes, Lieutenant!"

Watching the Messenger spur his horse and ride away, Victor Moreau's staff officer whispered, "Lieutenant, you'll be Military Tribunal if you do that."

"As long as we can keep Tamirai, we'll only get medals," Victor Moreau smiled. "And even if something goes wrong, it'll be Lieutenant Ney who faces the Military Tribunal. The one claiming to have the general's authorization is his man."

"..."

Ney sneezed loudly, rubbed his nose, and suddenly heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the west, which made his heart tighten.

He looked at the formation, which had been completely thrown into disarray by the Forced March, and loudly ordered them to regroup on the spot and continue advancing in four Column.

The location is less than half a kilometer from Tamirai, and the gunshots were likely made by Morocco looting the town.

"We will teach those heretics a profound lesson..."

Before he could finish speaking, a company commander who had gone to scout reported:

"Lieutenant, the Tunisia border guards are fighting the Morocco. But it seems they're already at a disadvantage."

Ney's eyes widened immediately. He had guessed that the hundreds of Tunisia soldiers should have already fled. He had heard rumors about the Tunisia army back home, saying that they couldn't even keep their formations straight and were almost defenseless.

In reality, he was unaware that Tunisia soldiers were used as elite troops by Lafayette in India...

"Quickly! Get reinforcements immediately!"

Ney a loud shout, Ney led the already neatly arranged First and Second Companies toward Tamirai.

One-third of the soldiers in these two companies were soldiers he had brought from Saar, and their abilities were far superior to the others. Originally, he planned to take them to enroll in military academies—civilians could attend military academies with free tuition, accommodation, and meals—but Saar did not have a military academy, and the military academies in other areas that accepted civilians had already closed their enrollment season.

Ultimately, on the advice of a relative who had joined the Royal Guard Legion, he decided to go to North Africa to expand his influence. Along the way, many civilians who intended to go to North Africa to fight learned that he was an officer and voluntarily followed him. This force eventually grew to as many as eight companies...

The vanguard of the Moroccan Guard Corps had no idea they would encounter resistance; their scouts reported that the garrison in Tamirai had all left.

So when the Tunisia soldiers hiding outside Tamirai suddenly opened fire on them, it threw them into a moment of chaos.

The Moroccan Guard Corps, composed entirely of Blacks, quickly regained their footing and launched a counterattack. However, just as they were pushing back more than 300 Tunisia soldiers and they were on the verge of collapse, a slender line formation of soldiers in white uniforms appeared in their field of vision.