Chapter 213: Gun in Hand, Follow Me!

Chapter 214: Gun in hand, follow me!

When the scholars' gathering came to an end, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged man with deep eyes and a bookish air walked in under the leadership of a servant.

Everyone turned around to look, and immediately let out excited and surprised shouts:

"Shilada Celebi! Why are you here?"

"Celebi, we are reading your masterpiece."

"You wrote so well! There are some parts that we don't quite understand. Please help us interpret it."

"Please sit here quickly..."

The scholar named Hilada socialized a little tiredly, sat down on the carpet, smiled and talked to several people in the room about the relationship between Tunisia and Rome.

This is the third "scene" he has attended today. For him, this was supposed to be a business - he took a fee and published "Analysis of the Origins of Tunisia" in his own name.

The fee is quite high, as much as 1,000 rials. You must know that this book did not have any religious approval, and it severely criticized the Imperial Guards. He took a great risk.

However, after repeatedly studying the pamphlet, he became more and more aware of its contents and began to actively promote it throughout Tunisia.

"There is no doubt that we originated from the powerful Eastern Roman Empire." Giralda soon became the core of the discussion, and according to the point of view in the pamphlet, "Now there is a gap between us and civilization and prosperity. , those Ottomans!

"They killed our ancestors and brutally oppressed us descendants of Rome for more than a hundred years!"

The Ottomans he was talking about were the Tunisian Janissaries. In fact, as for the hatred towards the Imperial Guards, everyone in the room was already nodding their heads without him inciting them. More than a hundred years ago, when the Ottoman Guards invaded Tunisia, they were naturally accompanied by a lot of looting and killing.

Someone asked cautiously:

"But, Celebi, our fellow Romans are the French... They believe in Christianity. If they force us to convert..."

"Don't worry, this kind of thing won't happen." Shilada said confidently, "To tell you the truth, I have been in contact with high-level officials in France. They are very nice people, very civilized and tolerant. They want to help us achieve autonomy. , promise not to force us to make any changes..."

"This is really great!"

While the "Jingfa" were discussing excitedly, Joseph was riding his ship-shaped carriage to the north of Susa.

In the carriage, Qiao An, the consul in Tunisia, reported to him the status of the "identity recognition" propaganda, and reminded him with some concern:

"Your Highness, we have been busy for so long, but it seems that no Tunisian dares to resist the Guards. I mean, there are still frequent attacks on the French by the Guards everywhere. You see, can we send troops first? To intimidate them?"

According to the crown prince's plan, the first thing is to make the Tunisian natives feel that they are supported by their "compatriots in Rome", and then let them recall their hatred for the Praetorian Guard class, and then "rise up" to rebel against the Praetorian Guard.

Joseph shook his head and said:

"We must not fall into a security war, which will drag us down. The Guards have ruled Tunisia for so long, and it is not surprising that ordinary people will be afraid of them. Therefore, we need to give them some 'incentives'."

"excitation?"

"People may not challenge the strong for revenge, but they will take risks for gold coins." Joseph smiled and looked at the mosque in the distance, "This is the purpose of my search for Elder Ala'yi."

Elder Ala'i is a very influential leader in Tunisia's religious circles and has many believers who serve him. Most importantly, he was not Ottoman but of indigenous Tunisian origin.

An hour and a half later, in a villa outside the mosque, Joseph said earnestly:

"This is also of great benefit to you and your faction - now that the religious world is controlled by the Ottomans, drive them away, and you will definitely become the supreme leader of Tunisia's religious world."

The kind-looking old man still hesitated to refuse, and after politely saying goodbye, he led his entourage back to the tall mosque.

Although he was somewhat interested in calling on the Tunisian natives to drive away the Ottomans, he still felt that the risk was too great and did not agree to the young French big shot's suggestion.

Qiao An looked at Ala Yi's leaving figure and whispered:

"Your Highness, do you want to... threaten him?"

Joseph immediately shook his head: "No need. Let's try again tomorrow."

Although Qiao An felt that judging from the old man's attitude, no matter how many times he tried to persuade her, it would be useless, but since His Highness the Crown Prince had said so, he would not say anything more.

The next day, Joseph brought a few more people and met with Elder Ala'i again. The topic was still the same as yesterday - calling on believers to launch an attack on the Tunisian Guards. In the process, all wealth "recaptured" from the Praetorian Guards, except the land, belonged to the raiders.

You know, as the ruler of Tunisia, the Guards hold a huge part of Tunisia's wealth. Just copying a senior official of the Imperial Guard would be enough to feed several large Berber tribes for several years! Driven by such huge interests and with the call of religious leaders, it is strange that the Tunisian natives could not risk their lives with the Guards.

Of course, although most of the Tunisian guards are now fat and weak in combat effectiveness, they still control most of Tunisia's weapons. If the natives want to challenge them, they can only ask their "Roman compatriots" for weapons and funds, thus creating a closer emotional and interest "bond".

This is Joseph's "sacrifice" plan.

However, the cautious elder Alayi rejected his suggestion again and politely hinted that the young big man should not come again. As a Berber, he was able to stand firm in the religious world of Tunisia controlled by the Ottomans, relying on this caution of not standing out and not taking risks.

Joan watched the old man leave, looked at the prince with disappointment, and was about to ask what to do next, but saw His Highness turned around and asked the two "guards" behind him:

"How is it? Are you sure?"

The two simply nodded, and then immediately returned to the carriage, took out the charcoal pencil and drawing folder and began to sketch.

More than ten minutes later, Joan saw the lifelike appearance of Elder Alayi on their drawing paper.

"Your Highness, what are you going to do?!" He looked at the crown prince beside him in surprise.

"Since Elder Alayi disagrees, we will help him agree." Joseph smiled slyly at him, and then ordered the convoy to go to the house that had been prepared a few streets away.

The two painters entered the house, immediately set up their postures, and wielded a full set of oil painting tools to continue their paintings.

Joseph looked at the busy figures of the two and couldn't help but sigh:

"Her Majesty the Queen asked me to bring all the exclusive painters, and she really predicted things!"

A few days later, an oil painting of Elder Alayi waving solemnly and calling on believers to expel the guards and robbers went viral all over Tunisia.

There is also an oval frame with a sharp angle above the oil painting, which reads: Drive away the Ottomans, and all the wealth taken back from them, except for the land, belongs to the warriors who obey the call.

The tip of the sharp angle points to the mouth of Alayi in the painting, making it clear at a glance that these are his words.

There are a large number of oil paintings circulating in every province, and there are tens of thousands of copies of the monotonous colored paintings of Elder Alayi printed on stone slabs.

Less than 10 days later, the whole of Tunisia knew that Alayi had "declared war" on the Ottomans.

Joseph got the inspiration for this method from the last "The Last Supper".

Since the French, who are much more educated than Tunisians, firmly believe that what is in the oil paintings is the truth, then the Tunisians should be even more convinced.

Fortunately, since the 18th century, the religious circles of the entire Ottoman and North Africa have no longer rejected portraits due to the influence of Europe, which allowed his plan to be implemented smoothly.

As for Elder Alayi's denial?

Not to mention that the police have brought people to martial law around his house, it is difficult for ordinary people to see him. Even if he can spread the news, people will believe more in a verbal message or an oil painting that looks like a real person standing in front of them. The result is self-evident.

Unless old man Alayi can teleport to Tunisia and publicly announce that "the oil painting is not real", otherwise this "declaration of war" will be confirmed.

...

Soon, the whole of Tunisia began to become restless under the call of religious leaders.

South of Bizerte, Andalusian.

More than a dozen members of the "Sword of Vengeance" organization in their forties and fifties are gathered in a dim hut. On the north wall is a painting of Elder Alayi, and a circle of religious utensils are placed around.

They are a Berber organization that resists the Guards and has a history of hundreds of years. However, after a long time, they have long seen no hope of driving out the Ottomans, and young people are unwilling to join. The organization is about to collapse.

At this time, the religious leader's "declaration of war" came.

This oil painting helped them recruit more than 60 members in three days, all of whom are young and strong in their twenties and thirties. This made them ecstatic.

The leader of the "Sword of Vengeance", Jamil, finished praying with the top leaders of the organization, and immediately looked at the bearded man who was closest to him:

"What did the Fawaz tribe say?"

"Chief Hassani agreed to attack the town's guards with us. They will get 60% of the harvest."

Jamil nodded. The Fawaz tribe has many people, and can mobilize at least 400 warriors, while there are only about 150 people on his side, so it is acceptable for the other party to take the lion's share. Oh, no, the "Sword of Vengeance" is to avenge the evil guards, not for the gold coins!

The bearded man continued:

"It's just that Chief Hassani said that they only have a small number of scimitars, and the rest are machetes, and they are worried that they will not be able to defeat the guards."

The machete he mentioned is a farm tool used to slaughter livestock and chop bushes.

Although there are only about 200 guards in the Andalusian town, they have dozens of muskets. If a real fight breaks out, it's hard to say who will win or lose.

Jamil couldn't help but frown. The "Sword of Vengeance" has been assassinating and kidnapping the guards for many years, but it has less than 12 muskets in its hands, all of which are old-fashioned matchlocks, and it is completely unable to provide assistance to its allies.

Another senior member of the organization clenched his fists and gritted his teeth:

"What are you afraid of? I can lead the warriors to drown those evil enemies with blood!"

Jamiler shook his head decisively, and then heard the bearded man next to him say:

"I heard that there is a master from Tunisia who is willing to help the warriors who expel the Ottomans."

He leaned forward and lowered his voice:

"It is said that he has a lot of muskets and even cannons. Maybe we can go meet him."

Everyone in the room suddenly brightened up.

...

Port of Bizerta.

Jamil looked at the unremarkable building across the street from a distance, and ordered his men to repeatedly confirm that there was no ambush around, and then he carefully led people in.

This is the residence of the master who can provide them with weapons. He got the news from a French businessman.

Ishak, an agent of the police intelligence department under the alias Zaganos, met them.

In less than an hour, Jamil came out of the old house in great joy. Just now, Master Zaganos just asked them to agree to accept the "Roman origin" statement - he had read the pamphlet before and had no objection to recognizing the identity of Roman descendants - and then Master Zaganos promised to give him a full 100 flintlocks!

And these things will be directly transported to Andalusian for him.

He felt dizzy and pinched his arm three times to make sure he was not dreaming. With this batch of weapons, he was confident that he could sweep the guards in the town!

Then he raided all the Ottoman mansions nearby one by one!

After Jamil and others left, Ishak immediately ordered his men to go to Andalusian to confirm the authenticity of these people's identities.

"Sword of Vengeance" is a well-known anti-guard organization in Tunisia, so Ishak specially allocated some more weapons to them, hoping that they can live up to expectations. The guns were of course captured from pirates and guards before, there were thousands of them, and he didn't feel bad about sending them.

On the other hand, Jamil returned to the base and quickly connected with Master Zaganos's people. Five days later, he unloaded the batch of muskets from a group of "olive merchants".

However, what he didn't expect was that although the Fawaz tribe got the weapons, they suddenly backed out, saying that they needed to prepare for a while before attacking the guards.

Similar situations were staged all over Tunisia.

The natives were eyeing the guards covetously, and a large number of weapons were also distributed to them through Agadong and the Chamber of Commerce. However, since everyone was deeply afraid of the guards, no one dared to really take action.

In the city of Tunisia.

Joseph frowned as he listened to Ishak's report, and couldn't help but think of the plot in "Let the Bullets Fly" - Zhang Mazi raised his arms and shouted "With a gun in hand, follow me", but the people of Echeng only dared to stay at home and look around, and even with a gun, they didn't dare to touch Huang Silang's watchtower.

He really didn't expect the natives of Tunisia to be so cowardly.

He got up irritably and paced back and forth in the room for several times. Even the religious leaders had spoken, but why couldn't they arouse their courage?

Do they really have to wait for their Lord to show up before they dare...

Hmm? Wait!

Joseph was suddenly stunned when he thought of this, yes, that's it!