sultan's crescent

Chapter 78 A New Beginning
Napoleon's words touched Jacques a bit. Compared with the other party, Jacques actually felt the feeling that his hometown might be ravaged in the next moment.

It was the second year of the Seven Years' War, and Jacques remembered that he was only five years old when the British, Prussian, and Hanoverian troops attacked the Salter Mountains, eighty kilometers east of Paris.

And here is very close to his hometown of Marne, so close that the local French worry almost every day that hostile troops will pass by.

In fact, it did happen, that is, during the Battle of Salt Mountain, he was taken by his parents to avoid the military disaster.

At that time, the Prussian cavalry came very quickly. They wore round helmets and a short accessory on their heads. Their jackets were usually blue or black vests, and their trousers were white or dark breeches. They wore high leather boots and a neckline. , cuffs, and trouser legs are decorated with gold or silver patterns.

Jacques dared to say that unless someone had been on the battlefield, no one could remember it better than him.

Those Prussian cavalrymen pulled out their swords almost instantly, and the cold light of the straight-edged sword was clearly seen by Jacques who let his parents hide in the upper compartment of the barn.

Shouting and screaming strangely, they galloped towards the villagers.

Every time the Prussian cavalry swept past the villagers, the straight-edged sword cut off an arm or harvested a corpse.

They killed wantonly in the village, played with women, slaughtered livestock, and burned houses.

When the cavalry left, Jacques felt as if he had entered hell. The old and beautiful scenery had long since disappeared, replaced by ruins everywhere.

Looking at Jacques who didn't speak for a long time, Napoleon just waited silently.

After a while, Jacques finally spoke.

"Major General, you should have investigated me.

In fact, I am not a pure royalist. I am more yearning for the British constitutional monarchy than the absolute monarchy.

But this was not tolerated in Paris, so I went to Lyon and chose to join the Royalist Party.

Major General, you said you want to protect France, but I haven't seen your ability yet.

Your victory in the Balkans can only prove your military literacy, but if you want to defend France, you also need your abilities in other areas.

Well, if you manage Lyon well, I will help you contact the Duke of Burgundy. "

After Jacques finished speaking, he left quickly without waiting for Napoleon to reply. He only needed to see the final result of the other party.

In the Cilicia region, Muhammad Ali (this Ali is not Ali who was executed by Selim, but the ruler of Egypt in the original time and space) is marching in the countryside, and he is leading the Sipahi cavalry.

At this time, the army was exhausted. Considering that four waves of large-scale bandits had been wiped out today, it was not suitable to march again, so Ali decided to camp nearby.

He led his troops to a nearby town and decided to camp here.

There is a river passing by near the camp, which constitutes the eastern barrier of the camp, and it is convenient to get water. On the north side of the camp, there are a large number of rock pillars, with a lot of rocks mixed in the middle. The terrain is very complicated and difficult to walk. It is almost impossible for anyone to come here. attack.

While not an easy-to-defend, hard-to-attack place, it was as good a camp as Muhammad Ali could find.

After arranging the camp and releasing the scouts, Muhammad Ali disguised himself as a businessman and entered the town with two guards disguised as porters.

The Sudan sent him here this time not just to suppress bandits. It has been almost four months since the "Imperial Edict" was released. Sudan needs someone to help convey the voice of the people, and Muhammad Ali, who is under the banner of suppressing bandits, is the best candidate.

Historically, Mahmud II's reforms were actually quite strong. He killed the Guards, relaxed the empire's ethnic and religious policies, opened education, and reformed the financial system.

But he failed in the end, perhaps because he was now facing a more dilapidated empire.

After the baptism of the French Revolution, nationalism was out of control, local tyrants became more and more arrogant, currency devaluation was serious, finances were close to collapse, Greece was independent, Egypt was semi-independent, Arab turmoil, Austria and Tsarist Russia were eyeing each other.

These have weakened the central government of the Ottoman Empire, and the policies of Mahmud II have not been implemented, and the failure of reform has become inevitable.

But Selim's situation is almost the opposite of that of Mahmud II, except that he also solved the Guards.

Internally, Selim either wooed, suppressed, or exterminated the genocide, and basically subdued the local tyrants; financially, Selim had already stabilized the value of the imperial currency by issuing new coins; locally, the French Revolution had just begun, and nationalism It has not been widely disseminated, and there is no question of large-scale unrest anywhere.

Externally, the upcoming anti-French war will draw the main energy of the European countries, especially Austria and Tsarist Russia in the north of the Ottoman Empire. It is a bunch of African scum, and it can be said that the external threat has basically been lifted.

However, the Ottoman Empire was a huge empire. Although the empire had declined a lot, it still had power projection to the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

This was the bargaining chip that the Ottoman Empire could use to negotiate during the entire anti-French war. Any technology, machinery, or workers, as long as the other party’s request did not undermine Selimgo’s initial industrialization plan, they could all be discussed.

Grasping the gap of more than ten years, and waiting for the initial industrialization of the Ottoman Empire, Selim really didn't believe that the two bastards, Tsarist Russia and Austria, had done him in the empire.

In this case, the only thing to pay attention to is the implementation of the reform plan. This is why Selim sent Muhammad Ali to lead the army. The monk reads crookedly.

Muhammad Ali pushed open the door of the teahouse in the town. It was afternoon and there were quite a lot of customers in the teahouse.

Muhammad Ali listened carefully to the topics of the various small circles in the teahouse.

"Did you know something happened last month? Another village was slaughtered by bandits."

"We don't have to worry about it. A military master just arrived today."

"Pena, you are so lucky. Not only did your family share the land, but your son was also selected as a new army."

"The guards were finally executed by the sultan, and we don't have to see those old soldiers again."

"That's right, that's right, Bayy who is in charge of us has been arrested, you know?"

Hearing this, Muhammad Ali seized an opportunity to interject. (The following elder brother and younger brother are normal terms for expressing kindness among residents of the Ottoman Empire)
"Brothers, I am a merchant, and I want to transport goods to Syria, because the journey is far away, so I will rest here for a while.

I don’t know what Bey you are talking about? "

Several middle-aged men glanced at Muhammad Ali, and after confirming that the other party was indeed a merchant, they said immediately.

"My brother is here for the first time to do business, I don't know what his name is, why is he so unfamiliar?

Listening to this accent, could it be that my hometown passed Constantiniya and arrived in Albania? "

"Brother has good eyesight, I am indeed Albanian, everyone calls me Ali.

I used to go to Armenia, but this time I heard that there is a lot of good business in Damascus, so I came here.

I'm new here, please take care of me. "

Muhammad Ali pretended to be unfamiliar with the place and answered the other party's questions.

A man standing inside said immediately.

"Hey, let me just say, our town is the only way to go to Damascus, and this is the first time you have come here.

Brother, since you call Big Brother, we won't hide it from you.

You must have heard of the recent incident, about the "Imperial Edict" of the Sultan. "

Muhammad Ali then asked.

"I've heard about this, brother, but what does it have to do with Beiy?"

When the middle-aged man heard Muhammad Ali's question, he immediately put on an inscrutable expression and said.

"You don't understand this, brother, the sultan has issued an order to request all localities in Beiyi to quickly implement the policy of dividing land and cooperate with the army to suppress bandits.

But this man was on the opposite side of the Sudan, talking about the division of land all day long, refusing to move.

Regarding the banditry, not only did not help to eliminate it, but also helped it hide everywhere, allowing the other party to slaughter the village, just to let the other party hand over the treasure to him. "

Muhammad Ali then asked.

"This Bayy dares to act like this, could it be that he has some background?"

The man laughed loudly.

"So what if you have a backstage, that miscellaneous hair is said to be the son-in-law of the Kezan family, but guess what happened, brother?"

Muhammad Ali basically confirmed what was going on when he heard this, but he still cooperated with the other party and said something.

"Could it be that he was dismissed?"

At this time, the middle-aged man lowered his voice and said.

"Brother, you are wrong.

What did the Kezan family do to the Sultan?

Not to mention the son-in-law, even the son, if he commits such a serious crime, he will not be able to protect himself.

When that Bey was executed, not only the Sultan's general, but even the Chapan family to the north of us came.

Brother, think carefully about the doorway inside. The Chapan family and the Kezan family are in-law alliances, and they are on the side of the Sudan. The water here is very deep. "

Muhammad Ali asked next.

"General? Could it be the one sent by the Sudan to suppress bandits?"

"Otherwise, this is young and promising, and has won the trust of the Sultan. It is said that the Sultan even intends to marry his own sister to him.

By the way, brother, you have a similar name to this general, they are both Ali, but you are far behind others. "

The man leaned over to Muhammad Ali and said.

Muhammad Ali avoided the other party calmly, he was a little bit ridiculous, even he himself didn't know that the Sultan would marry a princess to him, but this group of people knew it first. (The Ottoman Empire does not call female royal family members princesses, and I don’t understand it very well, so let’s use this)
he continued.

"I don't know where this general is now, and whether he gets along well, but I want to pay a visit."

The man laughed.

"Brother, don't think about it, this general has done two things since he arrived here.

One is to suppress bandits. Many of the troops left behind after the disbandment of Sanjak Bey have basically become bandits. But here is the junction of the Chapan family and the Kozan family. Even if the two families are in-laws, it is not easy to cross the border.

What's more, the Sudan's "Imperial Edict" has stated that the empire no longer needs such a large army. Under such circumstances, even if the Chapan family and the Kezan family retain their own private soldiers, would they dare to send troops at will?

This is the second"

The man said this but suddenly stopped, he coughed twice.

Muhammad Ali immediately understood the meaning of the other party and asked the owner of the teahouse to send some grape juice.

The middle-aged man was overjoyed to see this, hurriedly got it on hand, and drank it.

After burping slowly, the man continued.

"The second thing this general did was to inspect. He traveled all the way, and if anyone didn't grant land according to the sultan's will, he would be reprimanded if it was light, and he would be thrown out of office if it was serious.

And he often goes deep into the village to find out how everyone's life is going.

Don't even think about using a few dollars to make friends with such a person. They do practical things for the common people and don't care about your broken money. "

After chatting for a while, Muhammad Ali saw the guard next to him wink at him.

He then found a reason to end the conversation.

"What's wrong with calling me so urgently?"

"General, something happened. The brothers who were sent to the southwest to reconnaissance have not returned yet."

Muhammad Ali frowned and said.

"Go, follow me back to camp."

When Muhammad Ali returned to the camp, the adjutant who stayed here immediately reported the situation to him.

"So, it's been more than two hours, and they still haven't been seen?"

The adjutant nodded.

Muhammad Ali sighed, talking to himself in a barely audible voice.

"It's Constantinieri who is trying to trip me up, but it's just getting closer to Haji Pasha, but it's normal for this job to be jealous.

Just who would it be?
Whether it is Kuchuk Pasha, who seems bold but actually insidious, or Ishak Pasha, who is scheming, one is trying to infect the new army, and the other is trying to save some face for the powerful while helping His Majesty promote the new law.

They will not send troops themselves, but it is no problem to reveal some information.

Haji Pasha is in Cairo, although it is less troublesome, but it is also far away from the center of the empire. "

Muhammad Ali shook his head helplessly, and then ordered.

"The whole army set out to camp, ready to go, aiming for the southwest, and if they meet bandits, don't leave any behind."

About an hour and a half later, Muhammad Ali had spotted the enemy army, probably in the thousands and well equipped.

From what Ali observed, these cavalrymen were all in armor and had two weapons, one was a straight-edged sword and the other was a long sword with a scimitar style. There were even quite a few cavalrymen who seemed to be Equipped with muskets.

Muhammad Ali looked at his troops, about 2000 people, because he ran too fast, so the main force of Sipahi cavalry was still behind.

Although there are more people, their own equipment is inferior to the opponent's. Muhammad Ali understands that this will be a fierce battle.

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(End of this chapter)