I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 404: Land and Title (Additional chapter for the Master of Time and Daytime)
Ney glanced at those iron barrel "cannons" and said to Moreau with disdain:
"Your 'little invention' is really interesting. But it certainly won't fool the Moroccans for long, because they will find that the enemy has been firing for a long time, but no one has been injured."

"You should read David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature." Moreau pointed to the Moroccan positions in the distance. "They will just think they are lucky and laugh at the poor skills of the French artillerymen."

"… whatever you like."

After the "bombardment" continued for a while, the French infantry lines appeared on the horizon.

Ney nervously told the soldiers to keep their distance and put their backs to the woods - this infantry line consisted of only one row, and the distance between people was very large. Only by using the dim woods as a background could they pass through.

Moreau led his cavalry to run back and forth on both sides of the line, looking like he was going to fight a big battle.

In the distance, Agold looked at the infantry line that was more than a kilometer long and the dusty cavalry team, and his brows suddenly frowned.

There are at least 4 infantry, more than 1 cavalry, and 15 cannons. This scale is definitely Scherer's Legion.

But how did they get here from the lower reaches of the Majerda River in such a short time?

Not long after, another cavalry came to report that they had found the French camp, just 4 miles to the south. Judging from the size of the camp, there should be a troop of nearly people stationed there.

Now Agold was even more convinced.

According to the combat effectiveness of the French army, their five or six thousand people were no match at all. They could only wait for Sayyid Pasha to lead the main force of the Guards to arrive before they could have a decisive battle with the French.

No, that's not right. He was suddenly startled. According to the Sultan's order, the Guards should avoid conflict with the main force of the French army. They came to Tunisia to plunder and then ask the British for compensation. It is not in Morocco's interest to fight a big country like France, whether winning or losing.

He pondered for a long time, then turned around and ordered his attendants:
"Leave the Akkadian army behind, and the others retreat in secret. Oh, and keep the cannons firing to confuse the French."

"Yes, General!"

Moro originally thought that he had to repel one or two Moroccan exploratory attacks at all costs in order to completely scare the Moroccans, but he did not expect that the other side had no intention of fighting at all.

Of course he was happy to delay time, so he ordered the iron barrel "cannon" to fire with all his might to pretend that the battle was fierce.

So the two armies fired at each other for a whole day at a distance of nearly one kilometer, and then withdrew their troops after dark.

The bombardment continued the next day until the afternoon, when Moreau suddenly felt something was wrong, so he risked leading half of his cavalry to harass the Moroccans, but found that no enemy cavalry came to defend.

He simply circled Tamirai several times and finally confirmed that there were less than 2 Moroccan troops still on the front line, and the other enemies had long disappeared.

He never expected that his acting was so good that he actually scared the Moroccans away...

After he returned, he discussed with Ney and gathered all his forces, together with Tamirai's hundreds of Tunisian troops, and launched a fierce attack on the Moroccan army from two directions at the same time.

……

Paris.

On the second floor of the Tuileries Palace, Joseph looked at the map of North Africa on the table with a worried expression.

According to the intelligence received last week, there were large-scale troop movements in Algiers and Tripoli. It was obvious that the British could no longer resist taking action against Tunisia.

The news from India was that the Mysore Army was attacking Tiruchirappalli, the southernmost state of Carnatic. Once Mysore occupied it, it would be able to face Nagapattinam, the only supply point for Britain in southeastern India.

Joseph was sure that the British would return to the negotiating table as long as Nagapattinam was at risk of being lost. This was an important port for British merchant caravans returning from East Asia. If they did not resupply here, British merchant ships would have to travel hundreds of nautical miles to Madras in central India to get fresh water and food, or pay France to buy supplies in Pondicherry.

Therefore, the British will definitely spend a lot of money to create chaos in Tunisia before problems arise in Nagpatinam, and use it as a bargaining chip to exchange for India's interests.

The General Staff has already dispatched 6 troops to reinforce Tunisia, which is already the limit of what France's finances can bear.

To be honest, if there were major problems in Tunisia, Joseph would have no choice but to dispatch the Guards Corps to North Africa to clean up the mess, which would inevitably affect the strategic deployment of the Southern Netherlands.

If it really came to that, he would have to consider whether to accept the British conditions and both sides would stop fighting. That would also mean that his strategy of restricting the British in India had failed.

At this moment, Eman knocked on the door and handed him a secret report: "Your Highness, it has just been sent from Tunisia."

Joseph immediately opened the wooden tube as quickly as possible and poured out the several pages of paper inside.

When he saw that the report was sent by General Barthélemy Louis Joseph Scheerer, he couldn't help but wonder - normally, this should be the work of the Intelligence Agency.

He hurriedly read the text carefully. At the very beginning, it mentioned that the Moroccans intervened in the siege of Tunisia, sent more than 1 of their most elite Black Guards, and ordered the Algiers Guards to launch a feint attack on Kaf in order to lure the main force of Scherer's Corps to the lower reaches of the Majerda River.

Joseph could not help but frown and continued to look down. He saw Scherer saying that two teams of "volunteers" who came to report to the legion stubbornly held Tamirai. With less than 2000 people, they repelled the 1-strong Moroccan army, captured more than 700 people, and seized 11 cannons...

Joseph raised his eyebrows. 2 against 1, a great victory, and both prisoners and spoils of war, what was going on?
When he turned to the last page and saw the detailed battle report, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Victor Moreau, Michel Ney? It turns out that two "marshals" are commanding the battle!

It's no surprise that the record is 1 to 5.

Joseph secretly sighed that France was truly full of talented people. The invincible marshal under the emperor was now just two small lieutenants, each leading a soldier that was not under his command, and they unexpectedly broke up the Moroccan sneak attack.

No wonder this information was reported by Scherer. He had won a victory on the front line and wanted to report the victory to himself before the Intelligence Bureau did.

When Joseph saw that Moreau's team of noble soldiers called themselves the "God's Guidance" Cavalry Regiment, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. They were all adults, but they still gave themselves such childish names.

But since they like it, let's do it according to their wishes.

Joseph immediately picked up his pen and made a comment at the end of the report, officially awarding the 1 noble soldiers the title of "God's Guidance Royal Cavalry Regiment."

At the same time, Moreau was promoted to major and Ney was promoted to captain. The former was granted 700 hectares of land in Tripoli and the latter was granted 500 hectares.

(End of this chapter)