I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 429 Let Them See a Real Army
For a time, the battlefield on the east side of Annaba was full of "French" corpses - most of them were caused by "tribal warriors" trampling on each other while fleeing.

Kehler put down the telescope and squinted his eyes. Was it just an accident that he lost to the French before? They were not as terrible as he thought? Or was it that the more capable French general did not come to Annaba this time?

He hesitated for only a few seconds before ordering the officer beside him:
"Order the Gorza Corps and the cavalry on the left wing to immediately pursue and defeat the enemy! Artillery forward, press to the center line!"

He was sure that it was not a tactic used by the French to feign defeat to lure the enemy - looking at the corpses on the ground, there were at least five or six hundred people. Who could go to such great lengths to fake a defeat and act it out so realistically?

Soon, a deep trumpet sounded from the Algiers army. An Algiers officer led more than 3 infantrymen and rushed towards the "retreating" French positions under the cover of cavalry.

On the other side, Lefebvre looked at the oncoming Algiers army and couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just said to let those tribal guys experience the "atmosphere" of the battlefield, but he didn't expect there would be such an unexpected gain - hedging is much easier than attacking.

He immediately ordered the Tunisian soldiers who had been waiting on the side to escort the "tribal warriors" and follow the Guards to watch the battle, and then turned his head to the staff officer beside him and said:
"Okay, now let them see how a real army fights."

"Yes, sir!"

Sfik of the Wakruma tribe, the chief's nephew, was trembling all over and was forced at scimitar to move back to the battlefield.

It was completely different from what he had heard. The people of Algiers were simply too terrible! The man next to him suddenly broke into pieces, and the broken internal organs even burst into his mouth. Thinking of the hot and wet bloody taste, he couldn't help vomiting again.

"What...what are they doing? Are we still going to fight?" A man next to him stared in fear, "No! I won't go..."

The man was kicked hard by the Tunisian soldier and the sound stopped abruptly.

Sphek walked forward tremblingly, and someone put a telescope in his hand.

"Will it work?" the officer asked.

Sphek nodded subconsciously, and suddenly heard the sound of neat drums appearing in the army formation beside him. The next moment, the straight line of French infantry moved, and more than 2,000 people, like a whole, rushed towards the Algiers without hesitation.

The officer pointed to the north and said loudly:
"Look over there!"

The "tribal warriors" all turned their heads and saw dozens of horses dragging something towards the enemy's position in a cloud of dust.

Sphik remembered the telescope in his hand, raised it up and looked, and found that they were several cannons.

The cannons actually rushed straight in front of the Algiers - at least in his opinion, the two sides were almost touching each other.

Then, a large number of soldiers jumped off the carriages, untied the ropes with extremely skillful movements, and set up the cannons.

Almost at the same time, the Algiers cavalry rushed over waving scimitars - destroying enemy artillery was one of the cavalry's primary duties.

However, the cannons immediately spewed out flames, causing Sphek's heart to twitch. Then, the Algiers cavalry that rushed up were blown down like weeds in the wind.

The concentrated bombardment of grapeshot at close range is so terrifying.

The cavalry was obviously frightened, and their momentum was frustrated, and they turned and fled. This was a contest of morale and willpower. If the Algiers cavalry could continue to attack under the bombardment, the artillery would most likely be defeated in the end, but this was obviously beyond their ability.

The Algiers had never expected that the artillery would dare to fight the cavalry head-on. After the cavalry retreated, the entire left wing was exposed to the cavalry artillery of the Guards Corps.

Five six-pound guns were immediately loaded with solid bullets and launched a intensive bombardment at the Algiers infantry less than 5 steps away.

These poorly trained Algiers guards held out only a few minutes longer than the "tribal warriors" before retreating in disorder under close-range artillery fire.

Kehele was stunned - he had the advantage just now, how could it turn out like this in just half an hour?

He hurriedly ordered the officers to gather the fleeing soldiers and let the second infantry line go up. However, before his order was passed to the front line, the attack column of the Guard Corps, under the cover of the skirmishers, rushed to the front of the Algiers army.

Sphek and his companions were driven to the flank of the battlefield. He could hear the rumbling of cannons, and then he saw that the "Roman soldiers" in white uniforms turned around and ran a few steps before forming a straight line.

The drumbeats suddenly stopped, and the officers of the Guards Corps pointed their swords forward at the same time and gave the order to "shoot."

The two armies were less than 20 steps away from each other. As the Guards fired a volley, a large cloud of blood rose from the Algiers' ranks. Screams and wails followed, and the ground was littered with broken bodies. The air was filled with the smell of blood. More Algiers soldiers screamed and ran around. Many of them were soon knocked to the ground by their own people and then trampled to pieces.

Sphik's eyes were dull and he kept muttering one word - Hell!
The infantry of the Guards Corps was like a precise killing machine, quickly reloading their ammunition, and then advancing ten steps to the sound of military drums, firing another volley of fire like the Grim Reaper...

The Algiers army's second line of defense was affected by the fleeing soldiers and only lasted for more than ten minutes before fleeing backwards, followed by the third line.

Kehler could see the reflection of the French infantry's bayonets with his naked eyes, and turned to his attendant and shouted:

"Where are the Moroccans? Why haven't they come to reinforce us yet?!"

The latter lowered his head and signaled to the military horse beside him:

"Sir, you should retreat as soon as possible..."

Two kilometers to the west, Said, the commander of the Moroccan Black Guard, looked at the rapidly collapsing Algiers through the telescope and couldn't help wiping away a cold sweat.

Fortunately, I didn't agree to Kehler - you know, this was just the vanguard of the French army, and it defeated tens of thousands of Algiers guards, and there were nearly 20,000 French main forces behind them. If I went to reinforce, I would probably die!

He immediately waved to the black officer beside him without hesitation:

"Agold, order the entire army to retreat immediately."

In fact, when he learned that the British had stopped providing aid, he anticipated that the war was doomed to fail, so he had suggested to the Sultan last week that the entire army withdraw to the fortress of Tlemcen.

Although the Sultan's will had not yet arrived, he knew that the Sultan would definitely agree to withdraw the troops - without the support of the British, Morocco would never go to war with the French! It would be impossible to win.

(End of this chapter)