Alexandria, Egypt.

The sun finally set, and the sky turned from blood-red to boundless darkness. A brutal battle also came to an end.

The Grand French Fleet slowly disappeared into the port of Alexandria, leaving only smoke, blood, and screams on the ground.

In the past day, the small detachment of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Chinese fleet led by Zhu Li, with the support of the Alexandria Port Battery, stubbornly withstood the attack of the main force of the French Mediterranean Fleet led by French Admiral Bruyers.

By the time the French expeditionary force drove out of Tolon, the Ottoman Empire had formally signed an entente with the British in Istanbul and reached a war agreement with France.

Although the French kept the destination of the war strictly secret, Napoleon was always asking the European Office for information on the British side in order to confuse Chen Han. But Istanbul and London, in the face of numerous evidences, were convinced of the target of the French attack.

The formation of an expeditionary force required too much work, and Napoleon needed to have a very detailed understanding and study of his destination, and many traces were inadvertently leaked.

For example, he frequently patrols the navy and fleet, and seems to have forgotten what he complained about a few months ago about the European Office - attacking Britain is looking for death!

He studied everything that was happening in the political situation of the world, and at the same time he was very, very attentive to the war in India, and to all the news about the activities of the British Nelson fleet.

He chose many, many strong soldiers, because Egypt was a land of desert more than green space, and where the temperature was hot, and in order for his army to fight under the fiery sun, and to walk through the hot, boundless, barren and arid desert, he had to select soldiers who could endure hardships and stand hard work.

He also selected a group of senior officers, with Berthier continuing to serve as his chief of staff and Admiral Bruise the brave as commander of the fleet. In addition to this, there were a number of famous generals such as Klebel, Discher, Lana, Bessière, Murat, Juno, Davout, Marmont, etc. Josephine and her former husband's son, Eugène Beauharne, also went with him as Napoleon's retinue of lieutenants.

And out of his extensive interest in science, literature and history, he also took with him many scientific research and engineering technicians with him on this expedition. The famous mathematician Monges and chemist Bertollet selected 21 mathematicians, 3 astronomers, 17 civil engineers, 13 naturalists and mining engineers, 13 geographers, 3 gunpowder engineers, 3 architects, 8 designers and draftsmen, 10 mechanics, 1 sculptor, 15 translators, 10 literati, 22 printers, with typesetting in Latin, Greek and Celestial scripts. In addition, it comes with an abundance of books.

Hehe, Tianfangwen. Napoleon's secrecy actually left a lot of clues, and as long as you pay attention and search with confidence, you will find something satisfying.

It was with these details that the EEU convinced the Ottomans, and the British of course.

In the end, it was the place of departure of this legion - Toulon, the port of Toulon in the Mediterranean, not Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast of France.

Napoleon's regiment numbered seven, and there were 37,000 soldiers on land and sea. On the eve of embarkation, he gave a very stimulating speech to the troops, promising each soldier six acres of land when he returned home in triumph.

And this huge fleet has as many as 130 transport ships, a third of which are from Naples, Italy, escorted by a fleet of 13 capital ships and up to 42 three-masted fast sailing ships. Among the capital ships, the Vostok and Amiral are first-class sail battleships with 120 cannons each. The army on the transport ships consisted of 19 infantry regiments, 7 cavalry regiments and 28 companies (artillery, engineer and mine engineer companies, etc.), with a total of 24,300 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 3,000 artillery and 1,000 non-combatants.

When the fleet sailed out of Tolon's harbor, the sun in the sky was so dazzling, and the brilliant sunlight shone over the ships lined up in a semicircle, which was magnificent and majestic. The vast majority of the officers and soldiers had followed Napoleon for a long time, believing that victory was guaranteed as long as he was there.

With 6 acres of land, the hearts of the French soldiers are full of confidence and hope for the future.

The destination of the French expedition was kept strictly secret, and only a handful of high-ranking officials knew that it was going to Egypt. Until the last minute, officials called it the left flank of the English Legion, and declared that they were going to land in Ireland through the Strait of Gibraltar, bypassing Spain.

How much more will Paris have to be careful to agree to such an offensive plan. And what about the right flank of the English Legion? Where? Did France massively concentrate its forces and fleet in its own Atlantic coastal ports?

This news in history reached the ears of Nelson, the commander of the British Mediterranean Dispatch Fleet, the famous British naval admiral really thought that Napoleon was going to attack the British mainland, believing that when the French Navy left the harbor and went straight to Malta, he himself led the main force of the LinkedIn Mediterranean Dispatch Fleet to defend Napoleon in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Nelson on this plane would not be humiliated again. But he was still fooled by Napoleon's feints, and he thought that Napoleon would lead the fleet into Naples.

This city, ruled by the Bourbon family [from Spain], has recently been influenced by the French Revolution, and the Republican Revolution has also broken out. King Ferdinand IV was forced to flee to Palermo. Palermo was the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily, and the kings of both the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples were Ferdinand IV, but the two countries did not merge at this time, and Europe was so peculiar.

Ferdinand IV was not only from the Bourbon dynasty, he was also the brother-in-law of Louis XVI, and his queen was the sister of Queen Marie. After the beheading of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, the royal couple was shocked and terrified, and Naples and Sicily joined the first anti-French alliance.

In the original time and space, Ferdinand IV remained king in Naples for two years after the defeat of the First Anti-French Alliance, as Napoleon turned around and went north to fight Austria. By the time of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, Ferdinand IV had already enjoyed his rights, and when Napoleon conquered Egypt and had no time to take care of Italy, he recruited 70,000 soldiers to join the army of Austria and other countries to enter the Roman Republic at the instigation of his queen, attack the French army occupying Rome, and led the army into Rome at the end of 1798. However, the Neapolitan army was quickly routed by the French, and Ferdinand IV fled back to Naples in a hurry. Later, with the French army on the march, he and 600 members of the royal family and ministers went into exile in Palermo, Sicily, at the end of December of that year aboard the Horatio Nelson's "Vanguard", placing himself under the protection of the British navy.

But now in this time and space, Napoleon's hole cards are different, and his march and battle in Italy have become smoother. Moreover, under the guidance of the European Office, Napoleon made contact with the revolutionaries in Naples, who decisively launched a riot, and Ferdinand IV fled in a hurry.

It's just that the lower classes of the Neapolitan people were very religious and loyal, and supported the Bourbon dynasty [the revolutionary government was nothing to monotheism], and historically they were extremely resistant to the republican government of Naples, which caused a civil war.

But now Neapolitan Republicans occupied the castle of San Elmo and proclaimed a republic, escorted by French troops. More precisely, they were under the protection of Napoleon.

But the rule of the Naples Republican government remained shaky and unstable. The people of a country are the foundation.

Deluded, Nelson judged that Napoleon would lead his legions to land in Naples to intimidate the local opposition. After all, Napoleon had great interests in the Italian region, and he did not allow the fall of the Republic of Naples, which was under his patronage, which would greatly affect his prestige.

So Nelson ordered the fleet to pull up all the sails, take the shortest course, and go straight to Naples, intending to destroy them in the sea before the French landed. As a result, while the main force of Nelson's fleet was wandering in the waters of Naples, Napoleon's fleet was resting on the island of Malta.

Located in the middle of the Mediterranean, Malta is the main link between the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and is the best port in the Mediterranean. The island had 30,000 inhabitants and was defended by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The French fleet arrived on the island, and Napoleon immediately sent troops to land. The knights on the island surrendered with only some symbolic resistance. Napoleon declared the island the territory of the French Republic, abolished the Knights of St. John, confiscated their lands, and established a new government.

When the French fleet left the island, Napoleon left three regiments of French troops to defend Malta to ensure the unimpeded flow of French shipping in the Mediterranean.

Then when Napoleon's legions appeared before the world again, it was the evening of the day before.

A French cruiser appeared off the coast of Alexandria.

What made Chen Ming laugh later was that just three days before the French army arrived in Alexandria, Nelson also led the main force of the fleet to wander around Alexandria. He stayed in Alexandria for four whole days, but 70 hours before the arrival of the French, he did not know where he got the news that made him excited, and despite Zhu Li's dissuasion, he insisted on leading the fleet north to Smyrna.

Elam was absolutely on the same side as Zhu Lian on this point, and Nelson ended up leaving a small fleet with two third class sail battleships as the center, and contracted Zhu Lian's small fleet to defend Alexandria together. And he still led the main force of the fleet to Smyrna.

Neither Zhu nor Elam knew who Nelson had received and what important information it was, and the British would not communicate with them. Anyway, Nelson is gone!

And then the French came.

The French cruiser had a notice from Napoleon that he wanted everyone to surrender and that he would keep everyone safe. This unreasonable demand, of course, was rejected by everyone. Then the second demand of the French was also verbally rejected by Ilam.

Napoleon's demand that the Ottomans hand over the French consul in the area, Magallon, was obviously impossible.

Napoleon's knowledge of Egypt may still be lacking, but Margaron definitely knows it. The latter was imprisoned half a month ago.

The first day of contact between the two sides passed peacefully. Until yesterday, the bombardment of Alexandria by the French fleet began. Although Europe now has a part of the Mini rifle armament army, they have not yet developed a hexagonal cannon.

China has chosen to keep these two weapons secret, but on a large-scale battlefield, it is impossible to truly keep them secret with a large number of individual weapons and artillery, and this is not the time when troops are stationed in peacetime. The Spaniards had gotten general information on both weapons at least a year earlier.

Then the secret of the Mini rifle was obtained by a European country, which was the second country to get the Mini rifle after the Russians. And Spain, like Russia's choice, kept it secret after it was in its hands.

As a result, as far as the Office of Europe knows, the French only got it from the Spaniards in the autumn and winter of last year with real benefits. Napoleon's legion may still have a little Mini rifle in it, but the hexagonal cannon is definitely a very rare rarity.

The indifference in the artillery of the two sides gave the naval battle of Alexandria a prerequisite.

If there was a gap in the weapons on both sides, as on the coast of the Americas, there would be no need to fight the battle in Alexandria.

……

After yesterday's temptation, today the main force of the French Mediterranean Fleet has caused heavy losses to the port defense fleet.

The fire on the Li Guang had been extinguished, but its hull had been damaged beyond its appearance. The powerful firepower of the French fleet hit the sides of the Li Guang like a heavy punch. The hull of the ship smashed by iron bullets fell apart, the hull was shattered, and even caused a small explosion in the ship's hull, which not only killed and injured more than a dozen Li Guang sailors, but also added a lot of trouble to Li Guang.

At the most difficult time of today's battle, Zhu Lian had the idea of sinking with the ship. But God willing, today he finally survived.

Cai Lian was sent off the boat at noon, and a jumping piece of wood pierced his stomach, like an arrow, piercing through. I'm sure I'll be able to survive in the future.

Zhu Li's mood is even more complicated. He knew the preciousness of the sail battleship, but now the new ship Li Guang could be said to have been destroyed in his own hands.

But shouldn't he have hard-topped the French in Alexandria?

As long as they could hold out and prevent the French from landing, the French fleet would have to stay outside the mouth of the Nile, and when Nelson turned back, it was possible to bury Napoleon's entire elite army in the sea.

With this temptation in front of him, Zhu Lian couldn't resist it. The commander of the British detachment, who was not willing to fight with the French at all, immediately made up his mind after listening to Zhu Li's reasoning.

Whether it was yesterday or today, which is even more cruel, the British will to fight is no worse than the Zhu Li fleet.

Looking at the calm sea, the expression on Zhu Li's face was cold and hard. This naval battle has come to an end, and both China and Britain have done their best.

The damaged warships were not only the unsaved Li Guang, but also the British, and each of the four third-class sail battleships suffered serious losses.

And more importantly, it's been three days, and Nelson's grandson hasn't seen his shadow yet.

Zhu Li was already in despair.

Tomorrow is the fourth day, and warships are trapped at the mouth of the Nile, and they have turned into batteries like positional warfare. They, the British, will support tomorrow for one more day at most, but will Nelson be able to appear outside Alexandria with the fleet for one day tomorrow?

Zhu Li didn't have any score in his heart.