Alexandria, Egypt.

In the aftermath of that fiasco, Muhammad Ali, the Egyptian Pasha, the conqueror of the Sultan, was determined to reform his navy by buying advanced warships from France on the one hand, and advanced technology on the other hand, to train workers to build their own warships.

At present, the Egyptian navy has one second-class battleship, 15 third-class battleships, and hundreds of light gunboats of various kinds.

Ali Pasha admired his fleet, and his cards were still hidden in the dockyard.

In the dockyard, nine huge first-class battleships are under construction, in addition to ten third-class battleships that have already been built.

With these warships, Egypt will become the second largest naval power in the world, but Ali Pasha's ambitions go far beyond that.

Just a month earlier, Ali Pasha's emissaries had arrived in St. Petersburg.

Ali Pasha's envoy presented the Egyptian credentials, which Tsar Nicholas I sneered at and threw to the ground.

"That Egyptian, what's your name?"

Those who are familiar with Nicholas I know that it was the tsar who was going to kill.

In his credentials to Russia, Ali Pasha said that he was willing to divide the Ottoman Empire with the Tsar on the Tigris River.

Egypt was willing to form an alliance with Russia against the British. Egypt would cede the territory of what had been the Eastern Roman Empire, and would be willing to pay tribute to the Tsar.

This is the most ridiculous joke that Nicholas I has ever heard, why did Egypt want to divide the Ottomans with Russia? With their sense of humor?

At this point, the messenger replied.

"The Egyptians have no name, the Egyptians are all servants of Ali, you can call me Abdul. But I want to remind you that you have just dropped the credentials of our country on the ground. Can I pick it up for you? ”

The messenger replied without humility or arrogance, which surprised Nicholas I a little, he was a very murderous man, and even the Cossack chiefs, who killed their entire families at every turn, would unconsciously tremble their legs when they saw Nicholas I.

Nicholas I did not answer, just looked at Abdul coldly.

In fact, Abdul was already in a cold sweat, but his family was in the hands of Ali Pasha, and he could only succeed and not fail.

"Your Majesty, Honorable Tsar, you might as well take a look at the gift that Ali Pasha has prepared for you."

Nicholas I sat silently on the throne, his left hand clenched into a fist with his chin, like a lion waiting for its prey.

Boxes of gold, silver, and jewels passed before the eyes of Nicholas I, and his expression did not change in the slightest.

Until a group of trembling people prostrated in front of Nicholas I, he suddenly stood up, his eyes full of anger.

Nicholas I was of great stature, he was two hundred and five centimeters tall, and he had been trained for many years.

Pressed as he got up, the Egyptian envoy swallowed.

He knew why Nicholas I was angry, the Russian tsar had always presented himself as the savior of the Orthodox Church, and according to the Orthodox tradition, it was his duty to save all Orthodox believers.

Even in the darkest hour of Eastern Europe, when the Tatars, Crimeans and Ottomans were rampant, the tsar would send money from his small coffers to the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate every year to ransom people.

Now Nicholas I saw a group of Russian slaves appear in his palace, both emotionally and morally, he could not accept it.

However, this was a gift from Abdul, who knew that the gold and silver of Ali Pasha could not impress the Tsar, and only these Russian slaves could provoke the Tsar's anger and choose to make a secret agreement with Egypt.

"Your Majesty, they were bought by me in the slave market of the Ottoman Empire. I now give your subjects back to you, and I hope you."

Before Abdul could finish speaking, he was picked up by the tsar by the neck.

In the hands of Nicholas I, who was two meters and five, the one-meter-fifty Abdul was like a child.

"Tell Muhammad Ali that I have accepted his gift, but if one day I find a Russian slave on the territory of Egypt, I promise that my army will set foot in Cairo. Chickens and dogs are not left. ”

Abdul was thrown out like garbage by Nicholas I, and in turn he said to the Russians: "Get up, you are free." ”

The slaves looked at each other and stood up cautiously, in fact, they had lived in the Ottoman Empire for several generations, and apart from their physical features, they could not even understand Russian, let alone meet the Tsar.

They only know that they were bought by an Egyptian lord, and now they have changed hands to an even more powerful lord, and the strange thing is that this lord looks very similar to them, but it is a little scary.

Nicholas I did not care about the strange appearance of these slaves, but waved his hand and asked his confidant, Grand Duke Liubai, to take them away.

In fact, Nicholas I didn't care about any secret agreements, the secret agreements that Russia tore up could be piled up, and he was not missing.

It is better to accept the gift first and see what the Egyptians are going to do, if the Egyptians can inflict heavy damage on the British fleet, it will be better for Russia.

As for what to do if the Egyptians lost? Then it's better to act as if nothing happened, and accept the gift anyway.

Ali Pasha was overjoyed that Nicholas I had agreed to a secret agreement with Egypt, because the government of Thiers had assured Ali that France would intervene if necessary in the event of war between Britain and Egypt.

But Ali's Egyptian government had to guarantee French interests in Egypt, and Ali Pasha knew what Thiers wanted.

Now Egypt has become the second largest cotton exporter after the United States, and France has also become the world's second largest cotton importer, and the French textile industry is inseparable from Egypt for a day.

When Egypt was invaded by France, Napoleon's power is still fresh in his memory. But Ali Pasha did not expect the French to send troops directly, but he thought that as long as the French saw the opportunity to defeat the British, the French would not let go of this opportunity.

Speaking of Napoleon, Ali Pasha has always believed that Egypt is the graveyard of powerful empires, the Roman Empire lost to Cleopatra, the Mongol Empire lost to the Mamluks, Napoleon lost to the rebels, and he Mohammed Ali wanted to end the overlord of the world's oceans - Britain and create his own legend.

Ali Pasha, looking at the huge ship under construction in the dockyard, suddenly rose with a sense of pride in his chest.

Since no one knew about the existence of these warships, he could take advantage of this information gap and defeat the invincible British.

Because the British did not know about the existence of these warships, it was impossible to send all the main forces into battle at once.

If the experience of the last time was followed, the British would only send two or three first-class battleships to the garrison, supplemented by some third-class battleships as escorts.

Then what the Egyptian Navy has to do is to annihilate them all, and if it can, it is better to get the British to surrender, so that the Egyptian Navy will be even stronger.

And after the British suffered a crushing defeat, they will inevitably come to retaliate in anger, as long as they are not stupid and must ask the Ottomans to help, and then the real killer weapon in Ali's hands will come into play, because the British could not have expected that the Ottoman fleet had already been bought by Ali.

The self-righteous British, when attacked from both sides, had no choice but to surrender.

Destroy the British navy, then the Egyptian navy can dominate the seas.

When the time comes, it will be able to annex the legacy of the Ottoman Empire and demarcate the Tigris River with Russia.

In another ten years, he will be able to build a million-strong army and go north to defeat Russia and dominate Europe, Asia and Africa.

There are two theories about the height of Nicholas I, one is one meter nine, the other is two meters and five, the previous one was written according to one meter nine, so this time it is written according to two meters and five meters, which is more oppressive.

(End of chapter)