He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 190

(190) Marceau Prevents the Cairo Revolt Just Before It Erupts

There are various standards for measuring the development of civilization.

Among them, what is the standard that France values most?

Absurdly, it’s romance.

True to the French, who live and die for love, a romantic mishap occurred even in Egypt.

“You infidels, daring to covet my daughter!”

In the Cairo city center, at the famous market street called [Khan el-Khalili].

A thousand-year-old shopping street that has been around since the 10th century.

There, a merchant was grabbing the collar of a French soldier in a blue uniform, François.

François was flustered and didn’t know what to do, and next to him, the merchant’s daughter, Jasmine, was covering her mouth in surprise.

The soldier, François, tried to explain, using all the Arabic he knew.

“No, I… I just think the beautiful lady is… good. I just gave her a flower.”

“I cannot forgive you! You have ruined my daughter’s chastity!”

“Chastity? What is that? I didn’t do anything!”

At that moment, the merchant Al Kuari shouted.

“I’ll kill you! And my daughter, who has defiled my honor! I will protect the honor of my clan!”

So, the situation is very simple.

The French soldier François was taking a kind of tour, wandering around Cairo during his break.

Since the 17th century, there has been a travel concept called the Grand Tour in Europe [a traditional trip of Europe undertaken by upper-class European young men of means].

Of course, it’s a pastime for the rich, but that doesn’t mean the common people don’t have a longing for [tours].

While looking around the Khalili market, François’s eyes were caught by a very pretty Arab girl.

François, true to the French who live and die for love, immediately began to woo the girl.

From the girl’s point of view, she was embarrassed by the European-style courtship she was seeing for the first time, but she smiled.

This was because it was completely different from the way Egyptian men usually try to get women—coercively or propose conservatively.

The father, the merchant Al Kuari, witnessed this situation.

Of course, even in France, a suspicious soldier flirting with a daughter would be kicked out.

It was natural for the Muslim Al Kuari to be furious and rant.

However, the fury was excessive.

-Thwack!

As François fell from being hit by Kuari’s club, Jasmine screamed.

“Kyaa! Father! What are you doing!”

“You’re the same! How can a virgin flirt with a strange man! Regain your honor with death!”

“I didn’t do anything strange! I just… just taught him some words because he was helping me with work and gave me a flower!”

However, such words do not work for Muslims, for whom a woman’s chastity is the honor of the family.

“That’s exactly what it means to abandon your chastity!”

Of course, there was a time like that in Europe as well.

But now is the age after the Enlightenment and the Revolution.

Therefore, from the French point of view, a ridiculous situation has unfolded.

The market was buzzing, and the soldiers who were passing by were surprised and picked up their guns.

But Kuari didn’t stop.

He began to strangle his daughter, Jasmine.

It was then.

-Clang!

Kuari fell, bleeding from being hit by his shop’s bowl.

Jasmine looked up in surprise.

François was standing there, also bleeding.

“Kyaa!”

“Ru… run away, miss.”

“Wh… where are you telling me to run away to?”

François grabbed Jasmine’s arm and left the Khalili market in a daze.

“You’ll die here anyway, miss!”

If this were Paris, Marseille, or even Milan, it would be just a small incident.

But this is Cairo.

The largest city in Egypt, where 500,000 Muslims and 100,000 Coptic Christians live mixed together.

The merchants were surprised to see a French soldier dragging an Egyptian girl away.

Kuari, who had fallen, got up and cried out to the sky.

“Aaaah! People, listen! The Frankish man has raped and kidnapped my daughter!”

Of course, everything is wrong.

First of all, François is a French citizen, not a Frankish kingdom person who has already disappeared.

Also, Kuari’s daughter Jasmine has never been raped.

Jasmine is being dragged away now, but she is also running voluntarily.

However, what is important to the merchants and residents of Cairo in this area is not that.

“Kidnapped, raped, and killed his daughter?”

“How can this happen! Even the Mamluks didn’t do that!”

“I can’t forgive it. Allahu Akbar [God is the greatest]!”

Everyone began to seethe with revenge for Jasmine, who had already become a dead person.

“Punish the Frankish man!”

Cairo, a city with a population of 600,000.

The core market, Khalili, revolted with weapons.

***

Cairo is a city surrounded by the Nile River to the east and tributaries of the desert and river.

There are city areas in the east, west, south, and north of the city.

At the southeastern end is a fortress called the [Saladin Citadel].

This is the famous Cairo Citadel.

As the Mamluk soldiers of the past did, the French expeditionary force also used this place as a base in Cairo.

But there is a problem.

The main force of the French army is across the river, in the [Giza] castle.

Of course, this was also because Eugene and Hosche deliberately took care to prevent the French army and residents from clashing.

Therefore, the number of troops staying in the Cairo Citadel is only about one brigade.

Nevertheless, this clash eventually occurred.

“It’s a riot, General Kléber!”

Brigadier General Joubert ran to the Cairo garrison camp, the Citadel, and shouted.

Of course, even if it is a riot, it does not mean that the entire Cairo has risen up.

Also, the weapons in the hands of the residents were kitchen knives, plows, and spears.

Not a single gunpowder weapon was in the hands of the residents.

Nevertheless, it was enough for the French soldiers in the city to flee.

Joubert was one of them.

It was quite a sight, half-naked, whether he was trying to seduce an Egyptian girl or running away.

Kléber clicked his tongue as he looked at Joubert.

“I saw it too, Joubert. It was very visible from this castle.”

“What are you going to do? Are you going to let Giza know?”

“I’ve already sent a messenger. However, they will flock to our fortress before that.”

Kléber nodded heavily as he went up to the Citadel’s walls and surveyed the situation.

“Send out the garrison. Riots must be suppressed cruelly at an early stage.”

This is what Kléber learned in the Vendée [a region in Western France known for its counter-revolutionary uprisings].

During the Vendée rebellion, the revolutionaries were initially unable to carry out a cruel suppression.

As a result, the rebellion spread even more strongly, and from this point on, the so-called Vendée massacre began.

He had no intention of repeating that mistake in Egypt.

However, the Egyptian scholars advisory group, Volney, who was staying with the garrison, was surprised and dissuaded him.

“No, General Kléber. Then the riot will become even more violent. There are as many as 600,000 people living in Cairo right now!”

“If we leave it alone, all 600,000 of them will rise up, Professor Volney.”

“It’s the same even if you kill them cruelly!”

Volney also experienced the bloodshed of the revolution enough.

Slaughter breeds more slaughter.

Suppressing the Egyptian people with gunfire?

However, the accumulated resentment will surely erupt in some form.

But Kléber was firm.

“I am the person in charge of the Cairo garrison. Move out!”

The riot must be suppressed when the rebellion is still in the hundreds.

Otherwise, it could lead to a rebellion of tens of thousands.

This is what actually happens in Cairo in the original history.

At that moment, a general stepped out from behind Kléber.

“I will take care of it.”

Kléber was startled and exclaimed.

“General, when did you come here? I thought you went to Alexandria?”

“I came because of the cannon supply problem. Because Alexandria needs more cannons. But, cannons are needed here too.”

“Wait, by any chance? Are you going to fire grapeshot [a type of ammunition consisting of small iron balls packed into a canvas bag]? That’s!”

Kléber knows what the general in front of him did in Paris in the month of Fructidor [a month in the French Republican Calendar, corresponding to late August/September].

Could it be that he is going to do the same thing in Cairo?

However, the general calmly shook his head.

“Don’t worry. There will be fewer casualties.”

It was an unbelievable sound, but in the end, Kléber handed over command to the general in front of him.

Because this person was the best expert in the French Egyptian Expeditionary Force when it came to street fighting.

***

Now, the rioters or rebels gathered at the Khalili market have increased to thousands.

“Let’s get our daughters back from the French!”

Merchants, residents, and disgruntled pilgrims joined, centered around Kuari.

All of them do not like the unfamiliar ruler.

If it hadn’t been for the French Military Committee’s declaration of tax exemption, the rebellion would have already occurred.

But killed the daughter of a Cairo resident?

Of course, it is something to be punished with force.

In particular, Kuari, who had been instigating from the beginning, shouted at the front.

“Let’s go! To kill the French!”

“Waaaa!”

“Death to France! Freedom to Misr [Egypt]!”

It was then.

-Kwaaaang!

A huge roar covered the city of Cairo.

-Ihihihihing!

Camels and horses scattered in confusion.

Merchants, pilgrims, and residents each ran away in confusion.

If even a cannon was flying, it was not a weapon that could be stopped by manpower.

But, only the sound was loud, and no broken place was visible.

It was a kind of blank shot, that is, an intentional misfire.

Suddenly, a voice shouting from outside the market was heard in the distance.

“Everyone, stop and look here!”

Armed soldiers can be seen in front of the Khalili market.

At the head of them was a French general with black hair flying.

It was Marceau, one of the five division commanders of the French Expeditionary Force.

“No one is dead. Neither the virgin nor the soldier!”

Next to Marceau, François and Jasmine were standing hand in hand.

Kuari tried to have a seizure when he saw the sight, but in front of them, French line infantrymen were aiming their guns fully armed.

But the most frightening thing was the cannons placed in front of the soldiers.

A total of 40 doors.

It was none other than the cannons that the Mamluk army mobilized to fight the French army.

Although it is an old model compared to French cannons, it does not mean that the power of the shelling is absent.

Marceau had a Coptic interpreter shout at the Khalili market rebels who were hesitating and stopping.

“Disband immediately, otherwise!”

Suddenly, Marceau’s hand pointed to the sky.

“I will send down God’s whip from that sky!”

Instantly, the Khalili market rioters looked at the sky and held their breath.

The [Balloon], which France showed its first prototype here, was floating there.

The fact that the Mamluk Corps was annihilated because of the balloon was already widely known throughout Cairo.

What would happen to the merchants if they used unknown gunpowder weapons in that balloon?

“Re… retreat.”

The moment someone said it, the rioters started running.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands all ran.

In an instant, the crowd scattered, and it became impossible to find people in the market.

Kléber, who was watching the scene from behind, asked Joubert.

“Is there a grenade on that balloon?”

“It’s for decoration, there’s no one there.”

“Wh… what are you believing in to shout so loudly? Commander Marceau?”

However, Marceau turned to Kléber and calmly replied.

“Riot suppression must be firm, General Kléber. I’ve seen it countless times in Paris.”

Marceau, who served as the commander of the Paris National Guard.

He knew exactly that the key to suppressing riots was to show power early rather than bloodshed.

Marceau was also the most experienced in street fighting than anyone else in this expedition.

However, as with all riots, the danger continues unless the root cause of the problem is eradicated.

Marceau clicked his tongue as he looked at the merchants looking back at the French army with dissatisfied eyes.

“Anyway, this… It won’t be a temporary phenomenon.”

Cairo began to seethe with rebellion.

At the very moment when the Ottoman Empire declared war and the British Navy was approaching.

It was a challenge that Eugene and Hosche faced.