In such a situation, Eunice had no choice but to risk it all. Seizing the opportunity before the Kairouan Fortress was fully prepared, he preemptively attacked the defenders outlying the fortress, in an attempt to bypass it and directly seize the affluent city of Sousse, where he could obtain supplies.
Of course, if Eunice was not planning to do so, Joseph’s French military advisors staying by his side would also suggest a raid.
Joseph’s Tunisian strategy from the beginning was to set a wolf to kill a tiger, letting Eunice and Hamoud Ali fight among themselves, depleting the living force of the Tunisian Guard. What he held in reserve was his true objective.
To accomplish this plan, he initially intended to send spies to infiltrate the Ksar Hellal Palace, posing as military experts to offer Ali “advice.”
However, while the spies from the Police Affairs Department were carrying out their mission, an unexpected acquaintance was made with a French-descended merchant supplying high-end clothing to the palace, and through this person’s introduction, another very important person was met—the son of the former Bey Mohammed Ibn Hussein, and Hamoud Ali’s nephew, Haji.
After Joseph established contact with Haji through his people at the Police Affairs Department, the two sides quickly confirmed their intention to cooperate, and Haji then recommended a person more suitable to influence Hamoud Ali—his favored concubine, Hafsa.
Afterward, it was Hafsa who pretended to deduce that a rebellion might arise in the south. After Ali deployed his troops, she “predicted” that the rebels would likely make a raid on Koja.
Joseph’s purpose, of course, was not to allow Ali to quickly quell the rebellion but to inflict a heavy blow on Eunice, making it seem like he was on the brink of collapse.
This would set the stage for the next phase of the plan.
As for Eunice’s side, Joseph was not worried at all that he would be annihilated. As long as the warships anchored off the coast of Sfax delivered the remaining weapons and some silver coins to him, he could immediately revive on the spot and fight the Tunisian Guard for another three hundred rounds.
On the slopes on either side of Chukri Valley, the Tunisian Guard officer Gedik hastily sent the orderly officer to send a message, ordering the soldiers to prepare for battle. Find exclusive stories on empire
The terrain of Tunisia is flat, and the entire country is almost entirely plains. What are called valleys are really only three to four hundred meters high at best, yet they are also an important strategic pass to enter Kairouan.
Rum, one of Eunice’s officers, displayed a relaxed expression, signaling his men to speed up their advance.
Just now, he had nearly crushed the Koja outpost without breaking a sweat, which filled him with great satisfaction: the present-day Imperial Guard was far from what it was twenty years ago. Back then, when he followed Pasha Eunice during the siege against Bey Hussein, his men were so valiant and adept at fighting.
But the guards he encountered just now had obviously grown complacent in Tunis City, each one corpulent and slow, hardly able to run. It seemed this battle would be easily won.
As soon as he crossed the valley and saw the boundless plain before him, he immediately ordered a message to be sent to Pasha Eunice.
Soon, Eunice personally led the main force through the valley. And at that moment, Nizamuddin, whom he had sent to set up cannons on the high ground to the east of the valley, suddenly engaged in fierce combat with the enemy forces.
Gedik was also taken aback. He saw Eunice’s vanguard troops passing by, preparing to launch a surprise attack on the enemy’s main force when suddenly a small detachment of enemy artillerymen climbed up the slope.
Left with no choice, he was forced to initiate the attack ahead of time.
Eunice, an experienced commander, instantly realized something was amiss. He hurriedly ordered the main force to retreat from the valley while sending his daughter Labia with troops to search both sides of the valley.
Before his arrangements were complete, Gedik had already led nearly 6,000 members of the Tunisian Guard charging down from both sides of the valley.
Both forces immediately clashed, but Eunice’s side, caught off guard, was thrown into disarray, and the few hundred men who first entered the valley were slaughtered within half an hour.
At the same time, on the other side of the valley, the previously triumphant Rum’s Force was surrounded and attacked by the main force of the Tunisian Guard led by Koja himself.
They numbered only 1,500, with the narrow valley at their back. The battle lasted only a little over 40 minutes, and Rum was pierced through the chest by a stray bullet. His men promptly surrendered.
Koja quickly assessed the size of the enemy forces and realized they were not Eunice’s main force. He immediately ordered a crossing through the valley to seek out the enemy’s main forces.
Eunice, with a face ashen with rage, watched through his binoculars as his men scattered in panic from the valley, scurrying about like mice chased by a cat. He immediately ground his teeth and ordered the others to retreat first, while he stayed with the core 3,000 soldiers near the exit of the valley.
Half of these men were former members of the Imperial Guard, and though they were not young anymore, their combat experience should not be underestimated. Besides, the weapons they were equipped with were the good rifles sent from France!
Gedik, in the midst of pursuing the defeated army and killing with high spirits, suddenly spotted a neatly arranged enemy square formation not far away.
At this moment, his morale was soaring, and almost without a second thought, he ordered an all-out frontal assault, while his cavalry continued to chase down the fleeing enemy.
The dull sound of bugles rose as his two musketeer battalions formed up to advance towards the enemy forces of Eunice, with a battalion of scimitar-wielding troops swiftly moving to flank on both sides.
However, when the two sides were still over a hundred paces apart, Eunice’s forces burst into heavy gunfire.
Gedik was about to mock his opponents for being impatient—the muskets wouldn’t be lethal at this range—when he was stunned to hear screams within his own ranks and even saw cowardly soldiers, frightened by the sight of their companions being shot and rolling in pools of blood, began to shrink back.
After being taken aback for a moment, Gedik hurriedly ordered to fire back, but at this distance, his side’s guns indeed had little killing power.
The poorly trained Tunisian Guard fired a disorderly volley, and in response, Eunice’s troops stepped forward a few paces further, reloaded and fired in unison.
The deafening gunfire went off, and around thirty to forty men on Gedik’s side fell. Even though officers loudly ordered no retreat, they could not stop some soldiers from pulling back.
For a moment, Gedik’s musketeer units were a mix of those holding their ground and others falling back, with the lines now a complete mess.
Through the smoke, Gedik could only clench his teeth and order the scimitar battalions to accelerate their attack while directing the musketeers to fall back and re-form.
But Eunice gave him no chance, ordering his own musketeer troops to keep advancing, while the fierce Labia, with hundreds of scimitar-wielding soldiers, confronted the opposing scimitar troops.
Close-quarters combat is never like the movies where both sides display martial arts, engaged in a stalemate, ending with bodies strewn all over the ground.
In reality, the outcome of hand-to-hand combat is all about momentum.
If one side loses momentum, they’re almost instantly overrun by the other. Therefore, the melee lasted less than a minute before Gedik’s scimitar troops were scared off by the terrifying aura of the female pirate and began to flee.
Once a large army begins to rout, not even gods can restrain them.
Labia immediately roared, leading her troops in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, while Eunice’s French-style musketeers, after several volleys, almost had their enemies at point-blank range.
Gedik didn’t even have time to deploy his reserves before his main force was broken by an enemy that was only half its size, screaming and scattering in all directions.
Having routed the enemy, Eunice did not dare linger too long, ordering his men to cover the previously scattered troops and to swiftly retreat to the south of Sfax.
Several hours later, when Koja led the main force of the Guard to the other side of the valley, he only saw a disheveled Gedik and soldiers who were dispiritedly carrying bodies, while Eunice’s main force had long since vanished without a trace.
Observing the sky, he did not dare to pursue any further, ordering to set up camp on the spot, arranging defenses, and at the same time had the battle report sent back to Tunis City.
On the other hand, Eunice kept running until twilight before finally stopping. Only at dawn the next day did he manage to approximate the losses: nearly two thousand dead or missing, including the total annihilation of Nizamuddin and Rum’s Force, with hundreds more injured.
At this point, the troops he had left capable of fighting numbered less than five thousand.
Inside the military tent, several officers looked at Eunice with gloomy expressions, as some had already suggested continuing to the south, into the barren Ghadames region.
Just then, the accompanying French adviser let out an ill-timed smile:
“Gentlemen, do not lose heart. Please trust me, the Crown Prince’s reinforcements should be arriving very soon!”