I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 429 Let them see the real army

For a time, the battlefield on the east side of Annaba was filled with the corpses of "French troops" - most of them were caused by "tribal warriors" trampling on each other when they fled.

Keheler put down his telescope and couldn't help but squint his eyes: Could it be that the previous defeat to the French was just an accident and that they were not as terrible as he thought? Or, the more capable French general did not come to Annaba this time?

He only hesitated for a few seconds before ordering to the officer beside him:

"Send the order, the Gorsa Legion and the cavalry on the left wing immediately pursue and defeat the enemy! The artillery moves forward and presses near the center line!"

He confirmed that it was not a tactic used by the French to lure out the enemy. Looking at the corpses there, there must be at least five or six hundred people. Who could spend so much money to fake defeat and act so realistically?

Soon, a low trombone sounded from the Algiers army. The Algiers officer led more than 3,000 infantrymen, and under the cover of cavalry, rushed towards the "retreating" French position.

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 that he would let the tribesmen experience the "atmosphere" of the battlefield. Unexpectedly, there would be such an unexpected gain - hedging is much easier than attacking.

He immediately ordered the Tunisian legionnaires who had been waiting to escort the "tribal warriors" and follow the Guards legion to watch the battle. Then he turned to the staff officer and said:

"Okay, now let them see how a real army fights."

"Yes, sir!"

Sphek of the Wakruma tribe is the nephew of the clan leader. At this moment, he was trembling all over and was forced to walk towards the battlefield again with a machete.

It was completely different from what he had heard. The Algiers were simply terrible! The man next to him suddenly fell into pieces, and the broken internal organs even collapsed into his mouth. Thinking of the hot, wet and bloody smell, he couldn't help but vomited again.

"What...what is this going to do? Do you want us to go to war?" A person next to him stared in fear, "No! I won't go..."

The man was kicked hard by a Tunisian soldier, and his voice stopped abruptly.

Sphyk walked forward tremblingly, and someone thrust a telescope into his hand.

"Will it work?" the officer asked.

Sphyke nodded subconsciously, and suddenly heard the sound of neat drumbeats appearing in the military formation nearby. The next moment, the straight French infantry line moved, and more than two thousand 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 in the dust towards the enemy's position.

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

Those 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 down from the carriage, untied the ropes with extremely skillful movements, and set up the cannon.

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

However, those cannons immediately spit out fire, making Sphyke's heart twitch. Immediately, the Algiers cavalry that rushed up were blown down like weeds under the strong wind.

The concentrated bombardment of grape bullets at close range is so terrifying.

The cavalry were obviously frightened, and the momentum of the attack was dampened, and they turned around and fled.

This is a battle between morale and willpower. If the Algiers cavalry can continue to attack despite the artillery bombardment, the artillery will probably be defeated in the end, but this is obviously beyond their capabilities.

The Algiers did not expect that the artillery would dare to fight the cavalry. After the cavalry retreated, the entire left wing was exposed to the cavalry artillery of the Guards Corps.

The five six-pounders were immediately replaced with solid ammunition and launched an intensive bombardment at the Algiers infantry less than 200 steps away.

These poorly trained Algiers Guards only lasted a few minutes longer than the "tribal warriors" before they retreated in confusion under close range shelling.

Kehele was immediately dumbfounded - he had had the advantage just now, and it had only been half an hour before and after, how could it have turned out like this?

He hurriedly ordered the officers to gather the broken troops and let the second infantry line go up. However, before his order reached the front line, the offensive column of the Guards Corps, under the cover of skirmishers, fell in front of the Algiers Army.

Sphyke and others were driven until they reached the flank of the battlefield. His ears were filled with the rumble of cannons, and then he saw the "Roman soldiers" in white military uniforms turning around and running a few steps before spreading out into a straight line.

The sound of the military drum suddenly stopped, and the officers of the Guards Corps pointed forward with their swords at the same time and issued the "shoot" command.

The distance between the two armies was less than 20 steps. As the Guards Corps fired a round of volley, a large amount of blood mist arose in the Algiers military formation. Screams and howls followed. Broken corpses were everywhere on the ground, and the air was filled with the smell of blood. More Algiers soldiers screamed and ran around, and many of them were quickly knocked to the ground by their own people, and then trampled to pieces.

Sphyke's eyes were dull, and he kept mumbling one word - hell!

The infantry of the Guards Corps were like precise killing machines, quickly reloading ammunition, then advancing ten steps to the sound of military drums, and fired another death-like reaping salvo...

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

Keheler could see the reflection of the bayonets of the French infantry with his naked eye, turned around and shouted to the attendant:

"Where are the Moroccans? Why haven't they come for reinforcements yet?!"

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

"Sir, you'd better retreat as soon as possible..."

Two kilometers away to the west, Said, the commander of the Moroccan Black Guards, looked at the rapidly collapsing Algiers in the telescope and couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat.

Fortunately, he did not agree to Keheler - you know, this is just the forward of the French army. It defeated tens of thousands of Algiers Guards, and there were nearly 20,000 main French troops behind them. If you go to reinforce yourself, you will 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 aid, he predicted that the war was destined to fail, so last week he had already suggested to the Sudan that the entire army withdraw from Tlemcen Fortress.

Although the Sudan's decree has not yet been sent, he knows that the Sudan will definitely agree to withdraw its troops - without the support of the British, Morocco will never go to war with the French! That's impossible to win.