Chapter 404: Counterattack (1 million words, please give me a monthly vote!)
Chapter 405 Counterattack (1 million words, monthly votes requested!)
As for other officers and soldiers who performed meritorious service in the battle, Joseph also generously gave them corresponding awards.
After handing over all the documents to the official responsible for delivering confidential letters, Joseph asked Emand to call Denico, the general manager of Paris Business Daily.
This great victory in Tamiray not only stabilized the situation in northwest Tunisia and allowed him to gain two officers with outstanding abilities, but also had very important propaganda significance.
Only two months after Joseph last called on the nobles in the Palace of Versailles to "fight for His Majesty the King and France on the battlefield like warriors", Moreau led a thousand young nobles to achieve outstanding results and received generous rewards. This matter must be well publicized to attract more nobles to join the army.
As for Ney, as a commoner from a cooper family, he was able to be granted a territory, and after owning the territory, he would also have a corresponding title, which would also greatly encourage the common people.
It can be predicted that France's ability to mobilize troops will far exceed that of other European powers in the future, and morale will be directly raised to a very high level.
Of course, with France's current financial situation, it can only support an army of about 150,000 at most, and there are many old-style troops among them.
However, as the war situation in India develops in a direction that is favorable to Mysore, Tunisia should be able to break through soon.
In addition, the coal and iron industries in the Southern Netherlands and Luxembourg will gradually begin to go into production.
By then, the dividends of Tunisia and the lowlands, which have been laid out for a long time, will truly be reflected, bringing a lot of benefits to the French finances.
At the same time, the troops stationed in North Africa and the Southern Netherlands can also return to the country, and no longer need to invest huge military expenditures.
Under the principle of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, the financial difficulties will be significantly improved. It won't take many years for France to develop to a state of "full of martial virtue" where it can recruit soldiers and fight wars!
More than an hour later, the slightly plump Denico entered the office of the Tuileries Palace under the guidance of Emmanuel. When he saw Joseph, he bowed and saluted:
"Your Highness, I haven't been summoned by you for a long time. I am so excited! May God bless you."
Joseph smiled and returned the salute. After motioning him to sit down, he told him about the great victory of Tamirai, and finally said:
"I need you to take personal responsibility and vigorously publicize this matter nationwide."
"Of course, no problem, Your Highness." Denico bowed and gestured, and then said very skillfully, "I think we can send a few reporters to North Africa to interview Commander Moreau and..."
"Ney, Michel Ney."
"Yes, yes, and Commander Ney. Oh, and their soldiers. The relevant news will be published on the front page of newspapers within a week.
"You can also organize a 'My North African Hero' essay contest, and let citizens submit articles to praise the warriors who have made meritorious contributions in the battle. And give some bonuses to those who write better. "
"Then find a few well-known writers and ask them to write a serialized novel about the battle in Tamirai. By the way, Your Highness, do the two commanders have wives or lovers? You know, people like to read about love affairs."
Joseph looked at the newspaper manager with some surprise. He had learned all the propaganda tricks he had used before, and there was nothing to add.
"It seems that they are not married yet..."
When he said this, he suddenly remembered the "scammer" that Moreau married in history - Millie Olo.
This woman was extremely ambitious and had a strong desire for power. After marrying Moreau, she used his fame to flirt with foreign forces and participated in the coup of the royalists.
After the coup failed, she went to the Russian Tsar - Russia had joined the anti-French alliance at that time - and colluded with the famous French traitor Bernadotte to trick Moreau into going to Russia and becoming the enemy of the emperor.
It was because of this woman that Moreau was implicated and had not been able to gain the full trust of the emperor. In the end, Finally, he had to go into exile in the United States, missing many opportunities to make achievements on the battlefield.
Joseph recalled Moreau's life, and he seemed to be married in his 30s. In other words, he had plenty of time to change his fate of being with that pitfall woman. For example, he could introduce him to a good marriage in advance...
After arranging the publicity of the combat hero and sending Denico away, Joseph prepared to go to the Palace of Versailles to rehearse the drama - he had to fulfill his promise to his mother...
Just as he was about to go out, he saw Berthier rushing over, saluted him, and then took out the document commending Moreau, Ney and others:
"Your Highness, there is no problem with your commendation of the North African Corps, promotion, and honors, but this fiefdom...you seem to have written the place name wrong?"
"Wrote it wrong?" Joseph took the document he signed and looked at it, "That's right. "
Berthier said somewhat embarrassedly: "Your Highness, Tripoli is not French territory..."
Joseph turned to the page where Scherer reported on the situation in Tunisia and pushed it in front of him:
"Tripoli has invaded the southeastern provinces of Tunisia many times, looting 6 tribes and more than 20 villages and towns.
"At the end of last month, Benjiul's 2,000 troops occupied the town of Remada in southern Tataouine, resulting in more than 300 casualties there! According to the intelligence agency, he is still mobilizing more troops to launch a larger-scale attack.
"In addition, Tripoli pirates have also begun to rob our merchant ships, and our joint fleet has to rush to the Gulf of Gabes for escort."
He looked at Berthier and said in a cold tone:
"In the face of such provocation, we will declare war on Tripoli. As for Moro and his fiefdom, we just need to conquer it ourselves. "
After the failure of the Moroccan Guards, the strongest force in North Africa, the situation in Tunisia has become basically clear.
Scherer's main force will be responsible for the defense of northwest Tunisia.
Although this corps is an old-style army, if it is well prepared, leaving 15,000 people plus 5,000 local troops in Tunisia is enough to guard against the Moroccan and Algiers coalition forces of less than 30,000. Especially when the latter has just suffered a defeat and morale is low.
The 5,000 soldiers separated from Scherer's Corps followed the new force of Moreau and Ney to the southeast to deal with Tripoli.
Now they only have to wait for the British to stop supporting Algiers and other countries, and France can immediately launch a counterattack against Tripoli.
After that, Joseph even prepared to teach Algiers a lesson.
And in order to ease the situation in India this time, the British could only watch his "little brother" in North Africa get beaten.