Chapter 208 Scoring Twice

Alexandria.

The Austrian Marines never expected that the defense of Egypt's most important port city would be so lax.

In just one hour, they controlled the port and the surrounding artillery.

According to the insider, the newly appointed governor of Alexandria had been levying heavy taxes in the city. Except for a few dignitaries and wealthy businessmen who had fled, more than half of the wealth in the city was in the treasury.

According to the new governor, the war on the front line was tight, and refusing to pay was treason, so no one dared not to pay. In fact, the money was from Al Said, who was going to make another fortune before running away, so that he could retire in the United States.

In fact, most of the Egyptian dignitaries and wealthy businessmen who had negotiated extradition with the United States chose Matruh Port because it had been looted by the Austrian Navy before, and theoretically there would be no second looting.

And even the Austrian Navy would not attack American ships that also belonged to the Western camp.

The reason why the guards of Alexandria were so lax was not the credit of the Karamanli family, but Al Said's mischief.

Al Sayid had collected too much wealth to be able to take it away without being discovered. So he decided to let the Americans come directly to Alexandria so that he could transport all the treasures away in the shortest possible time.

And what Al Sayid had to do was to weaken the defense of Alexandria as much as possible. When the American warships entered the harbor, even if others found out that he was a traitor, they would be helpless.

Just as Al Sayid was discussing life with his concubine, one of his personal soldiers knocked on the door.

"Governor, Governor, something bad has happened!"

"You'd better be okay, otherwise I'll chop off your head." Al was very upset to be disturbed.

"Enemy ships! Enemy ships are attacking! The enemy has landed, and the eight Aghas are all missing now. What should we do?" The personal soldiers didn't know Al Sayid's plan.

Because Al knew that the fewer people knew about his call for the fleet, the safer it would be. He was not afraid that his personal soldiers would betray him, but he was afraid of complications. After all, Muhammad Ali was suspicious now. If he heard the news and killed him, wouldn’t all his efforts be wasted?

As for the disappearance of all eight Agha, it was a blessing from heaven for Al Said.

Agha is an official position in the Arab world, which is almost equivalent to the head of a regiment. In Alexandria, it is the head of eight barracks.

The disappearance of these people was naturally caused by a series of assassinations, kidnappings, ambushes and other means carried out by internal accomplices, which led to the death or injury of these people. The Egyptian soldiers without a commander simply did not want to rush into the city to fight against the enemy forces whose numbers and origins were unknown.

Compared with the tightly defended Tianci Bay (where the Egyptian Navy hides warships), the defense of Alexandria Port is like paper.

"Hurry up and go to the treasury. We are leaving here. You can enjoy life with me in the future." Al Said thought that the American warships were coming to pick him up, so he excitedly asked his men to move things from the treasury to the port.

"Governor, where are we going?" asked the guard.

"America." Al Said answered proudly.

The scale of the Austrian Navy is no longer what it used to be, but it still dispatches small and medium-sized steam warships and troop transports.

The reason is that the steam ships are fast, and those large warships captured from Egypt have strong firepower and strong defense, but lack sufficient maneuverability for sneak attacks.

In the docks of Venice and Trieste, the transformation of those Egyptian warships is being carried out overtime. They are Friedrich's treasures and important chess pieces of Franz.

In addition to the 3,000 marines brought by Friedrich this time, he also brought 2,000 army and 2,000 professional sailors.

Stealing is addictive. Friedrich wanted not only the treasury and arsenal of Alexandria, but also all the ships in the port.

The Egyptian garrison guarding the arsenal gave up after only a symbolic resistance, and the city's most important defense force fell.

The Egyptian soldiers who were still asleep were even worse, as Congreve rockets flew in from the door. The choking smell of sulfur filled the whole house, and the flames from the explosion ignited the barracks where they were.

The fire soon engulfed the camp, and there was a panic in the barracks. Some people were awakened by the fire in their sleep, and some were burned to death. The few Egyptian soldiers who escaped desperately were ambushed by the Marines hiding in the dark.

Those who ran in the fire were almost knocked to the ground by them. Soon the air was filled with the smell of burnt corpses. The soldiers did not kill them all, but left a way for the Egyptians to survive. As long as they ran into the mountains or the desert, the soldiers would no longer chase them.

In the city, bloody and fierce street fighting did not occur. In the treasury of Alexandria, in addition to a large amount of property, there were also copper, iron, and hundreds of thousands of tons of grain.

At this time, the residents of the city had already rushed over. This was of course the work of Franz. He hoped that the Karamanli family could make the Egyptians think that the Austrians came to save them and overthrow the tyrant, so they would not set fire to the city, but would open the warehouses to release grain.

The reason why Franz did this, in addition to considering the family's reputation, was that he believed that Friedrich would not be able to move all the things away.

This is true. Those copper and iron ingots cannot be moved at all. In addition to gold and silver, Friedrich's main targets are cotton, indigo and ships.

As for the weapons in the Egyptian arsenal, except for the cannons, they were distributed to the Egyptian civilians on the spot.

Friedrich felt that even if the civilians took the weapons, they would not be able to fight against the Egyptian regular army.

But what Franz wanted was not for the civilians to defeat the regular army, but to strengthen the people's strength. This is a very good choice whether it is to force Egypt to surrender or to make Britain bleed more when conquering Egypt.

Since ancient times, the colonists have been most afraid of security wars. As long as the maintenance cost of a region is greater than the benefits, the colonists will lose interest in it.

Al Said originally heard that the enemy was moving things in the treasury, which made him feel that the Americans' service was really thoughtful. But when he saw countless Egyptian people looting property in the treasury, he couldn't help but get angry from his heart.

"Why are the damn pariahs in my treasury? What are they doing? Call those Americans over to me!" Al Said roared.

Several guards picked up sticks and rushed into the crowd, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. When the Egyptian people saw that it was the governor who came, they shrank their necks in fear.

Soon the guards reported to Governor Al that all the gold, silver and jewelry in the treasury had been taken away by those "Americans".

When Governor Al saw that the "Americans" were actually going to abandon him, he immediately ordered the guards to open the way and take him to the dock. No matter what, he had to leave here today.

However, gunshots suddenly rang out in the crowd, and then the Egyptian people realized that now that they had weapons, they no longer had to be afraid of those Egyptian officials who had been bullying them.

The Egyptian people picked up their weapons and fired at the governor and his guards who were usually domineering, and the battle was about to break out.

The Austrian Navy had completed the second interception at this time and was loading ships to escape the scene.