Chapter 78 A New Beginning (First Order Request)

Napoleon's words touched Jacques a little. Compared with him, Jacques could actually feel more that his hometown might be ravaged in the next moment.

It was the second year of the Seven Years' War. Jacques remembered that he was only five years old at that time. The British, Prussians and Hanoverian troops killed their way to the Sarthe Mountains, 80 kilometers east of Paris.

And this place is very close to his hometown of Marne Province, so close that the local French people almost worry about the passage of hostile troops every day.

In fact, it did happen. During the Battle of Sarthe Mountains, he was taken away by his parents to avoid the war.

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

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

The Prussian cavalry drew their swords almost instantly, and the cold light of the straight-bladed swords was clearly seen by Jacques, who was hiding in a small compartment on the upper level of the barn with his parents.

They shouted and screamed, and rushed towards the villagers.

Every time the Prussian cavalry passed by the villagers, the straight-bladed swords either cut off an arm or harvested a body.

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

When the cavalry left, Jacques felt like he had entered hell. The beautiful scenery of the past had long disappeared, replaced by broken walls and ruins everywhere.

Looking at Jacques who had not spoken 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. Compared with absolute monarchy, I prefer the British constitutional monarchy.

But this is intolerable in Paris, so I went to Lyon and chose to join the royalists.

Major General, you said you want to protect France, but I have not seen your ability.

Your victory in the Balkans can only prove your military quality, but if you want to protect France, you need your ability in other aspects.

Let's do this. If you can govern Lyon well, I will help you contact the Duke of Burgundy."

Jacques said, and left quickly without waiting for Napoleon to reply. He just needed to see the final results of the other party.

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

At this time, the army was already tired. Considering that four waves of large bandits had been cleared 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 there.

There was a river passing by the camp, which formed a barrier on the east side of the camp and was convenient for water. To the north of the camp were a large number of rock pillars, mixed with a large number of rocks. The terrain was very complex and difficult to walk, and it was almost impossible for anyone to attack from here.

Although it was not a so-called easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack place, this was the best camp that Muhammad Ali could find.

After arranging the camping affairs and sending out scouts, Muhammad Ali disguised himself as a merchant and entered the town with two guards disguised as porters.

The Sultan sent him here not only to suppress bandits. It had been almost four months since the release of the "Royal Edict". The Sultan needed someone to help convey the voice of the people, and Muhammad Ali, who was under the banner of suppressing bandits, was the best candidate.

In history, Mahmud II's reforms were actually quite powerful. 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 facing a more dilapidated empire at this time.

After the baptism of the French Revolution, nationalism became uncontrollable, local tyrants became more and more arrogant, the currency depreciated severely, the finances were close to collapse, Greece became independent, Egypt was semi-independent, Arab turmoil, Austria and Tsarist Russia were eyeing covetously.

These had weakened the central government of the Ottoman Empire, and Mahmud II's policies could not be implemented, so the failure of reform became inevitable.

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

Internally, Selim either wooed, suppressed, or exterminated the local tyrants, and basically subdued them; in terms of finance, Selim had stabilized the value of the empire's currency by issuing new coins; locally, the French Revolution had just begun, nationalism had not yet spread widely, and there would be no problem of large-scale unrest in any place.

Externally, the upcoming anti-French war will involve the main energy of the European countries, especially Austria and Tsarist Russia to the north of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, relying on the geographical advantage of the Ottoman Empire, the east is the Persia that has become a waste, and the south is a pile of African scum. It can be said that the external threat is basically eliminated.

However, the Ottoman Empire is also a very large empire. Although the empire has declined a lot, it still has power projection in the entire eastern Mediterranean.

This is the bargaining chip that the Ottoman Empire can use for negotiation during the entire anti-French war. What technology, machines, workers, as long as the other party's requirements do not destroy Selim's plan for preliminary industrialization, they can all be negotiated.

Seizing the window of more than ten years and waiting for the Ottoman Empire to begin industrialization, Selim really did not believe that Tsarist Russia and Austria could do anything to him in the empire itself.

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. If you don’t go to the grassroots, you will never know whether your good experience will be used by the subordinates. The monk read crookedly.

Muhammad Ali opened the door of the teahouse in the town. It was afternoon and there were quite a lot of guests in the teahouse.

Muhammad Ali listened carefully to the conversations in the teahouse's small circles.

"A big thing happened last month, did you know? Another village was massacred by bandits.

"We don't have to worry here. A military master happened to be here today."

"Pena, you are so lucky. Not only did your family receive land, your son was also selected to join the new army."

"The Guards were finally executed by the Sultan, and we no longer have to see those old soldiers."

"That's right, that's right, Bey, who was in charge of our business, was caught, you know?"

Hearing this, Muhammad Ali took an opportunity to interject. (The following “brother, brother, brother, etc.” are normal terms of affection among residents of the Ottoman Empire to express affection)

"Brothers, I am a merchant and I want to transport goods to Syria. Because the journey is long, I will rest here for a while.

I wonder who you call Bey? "

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

"This is my first time doing business here. I don't know your name. Why are you so unfamiliar?

Judging from this accent, could it be that my hometown has passed through Constantinye and arrived in Albania? "

"Brother, I have good eyesight. I am indeed Albanian, and others call me Ali.

In the past, I always went to Armenia, but this time I heard that there is a lot of good business in Damascus, so I came here.

It’s my first time here, so please take care of me. "

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

A man standing inside said immediately.

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

Brother, since you call me big brother, we won’t hide it from you.

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

Muhammad Ali then asked.

"Brother, I have heard of this, but what does this have to do with Bey?"

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

"You don't understand this, brother, the Sultan has issued a decree requiring Beys everywhere to quickly implement the land distribution policy and cooperate with the army to suppress bandits.

But this one happened to be the opposite of the Sultan. He chattered all day about dividing the fields and refused to move.

Regarding the banditry, he not only did not help to eradicate the bandits, but also helped them hide everywhere, allowing the other party to massacre the village, just to get the other party to hand over the treasure to him. "

Muhammad Ali then asked.

"This Bey dares to act like this. Could it be that he has some background?"

The man laughed loudly.

"It doesn't matter if there is a backstage. That bastard is said to be the son-in-law of the Kezan family, but guess what?"

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

"Could it be that he was dismissed from his post?"

The middle-aged man lowered his voice and said.

"Brother, you are wrong about this.

What does the Kezan family mean in front of the Sultan?

Not to mention the son-in-law, even the son cannot be saved after committing such a big crime.

When the Bey was executed, not only the Sudanese general, but also the Chapan family in the north came.

Brother, think carefully about the secrets inside. The Chapan family and the Kezan family are in-law alliances. They are not on the side of the Sultan. The water here is very deep. "

Muhammad Ali then asked.

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

"Otherwise, this man is young and promising, and is deeply trusted by the Sultan. It is said that the Sultan even intends to marry his sister to him.

By the way, brother, you and this general have similar names, both are Ali, but you are far behind compared to others. "

The man leaned next to Muhammad Ali and said.

Muhammad Ali calmly avoided the other party. He was a bit dumbfounded. Even he himself did not know that the Sultan would marry a princess to him, but these people knew it first. (The Ottoman Empire’s title for female royal members is not princess, and I don’t understand it very well, so I’ll just use this one)

he asked next.

"I wonder where the general is now and whether he is easy to get along with. I would like to pay him a visit."

The man laughed and said.

"Brother, you'd better not think about this. This general did two things when he got here.

The first is to suppress bandits. Many of the troops left behind after the disbandment of Sanjak Bey have basically become bandits. However, this is the border area between the Chapan family and the Kezan family. Even if the two families are in-laws, it is difficult to cross the border.

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

This is second.”

The man suddenly stopped talking at this point and coughed twice.

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

The middle-aged man was overjoyed to see this and hurriedly took it and drank it.

After a slow burp, the man continued.

"The second thing this general did was to inspect. Along the way, if there was anyone who did not grant land according to the Sultan's will, he would scold him at the least and directly dismiss him from his post at the most serious.

And he often went deep into the countryside to find out how everyone was doing.

For such a person, don't think about making friends with him with a few dollars. He is doing practical things for the people and doesn't care about your few broken dollars."

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

He immediately found a reason to end the conversation.

"Why are you calling me so urgently?"

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

Muhammad Ali frowned and said.

"Come on, follow me back to the camp."

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

"So, more than two hours have passed, and there is still no sign of them, right?"

The adjutant nodded.

Muhammad Ali sighed and muttered to himself in an almost inaudible voice.

"This is someone in Constantinieri who is trying to trip me up. He is just a little closer to Haji Pasha, but it is normal for this job to be envied.

But who could it be?

Is it Kuchuk Pasha, who seems generous but is actually insidious, or Ishak Pasha, who is shrewd and calculating? One is trying to get involved with 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 okay to reveal some intelligence.

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

Muhammad Ali shook his head helplessly and gave the order.

"The whole army will break camp and prepare to set off. The target is the southwest. If you encounter bandits, don't spare any of them."

About an hour and a half later, Muhammad Ali had already discovered the enemy army, which was about a thousand people and well-equipped.

From what Ali observed, all the cavalrymen were wearing armor and carrying two weapons, one was a straight sword, and the other was a long sword with a scimitar style. There were even many cavalrymen who seemed to be equipped with muskets.

Muhammad Ali looked at his own troops, about two thousand people. Because he ran too fast, the main force of the Sipahi cavalry was still behind.

Although there were more people, their own equipment was inferior to the opponent. Muhammad Ali knew that this would be a fierce battle.

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