Finally, Napoleon had no choice but to violate his ban and order the requisitioning of local sheep and grain. It was also in Vadin that the army saw the dawn of hope and the goal of their march. On the distant sand dunes, I saw the Pyramid of Giza…and the minaret of the islamic monastery in Kairo, our hopeful destination. This gave the army new courage. said Colonel Savary. However, this did not dispel the despair in the hearts of the officers and soldiers. An angry cavalry officer walked past Napoleon and said angrily, Hey, General, you plan to lead us to India, right? Napoleon replied, Yes, but certainly not someone like you!
It was the coolness of the vast fields and oases of Vadin, and the abundance of food found here and on the banks of the Nile that saved Napoleon and his army. The team was finally able to eat, and their anger was appeased. But before the troops could catch their breath, Napoleon ordered the officers, who had become disobedient and daring, to clean up the sand-filled muskets and cannons to prepare for the upcoming battle. According to the spy's report, Murad Beyi's army was now on both sides of the Nile River outside Cairo. On the left was Murad Bay's army, and on the right was Abraham Bay's army. A large-scale battle was inevitable between the 24,000 soldiers of Napoleon and the 18,000 soldiers of Murad Beyy, as well as the 100,000 tribal soldiers of Abraham Beyy (most of whom were peasants without proper weapons and training). If Napoleon wanted to occupy Cairo or survive, he had to fight with his back against the wall.
After a day of rest, the five divisions of Vardan set off at three in the morning. At 9:00 a.m. on July 20th, Napoleon personally mounted his horse and left the dunes. They came to a place called the cow's belly by the Arabs. It was the fork of the Nile River. The two tributaries of Rosetta and Tamia formed a long and countless island here. The plain we passed was lovely and fertile, with a few villages. Savary noted. At 5 p. m., the French army arrived at Alquarataen.
The next day, Captain Peret's river fleet arrived, and General Zayoncheck's team on the other side of the Nile River was also marching.
Major Detroye on the right bank of the Nile found the conditions of the march disappointing. There was nothing more difficult than marching into Cairo, he noted in his diary. The sky was burning, and the earth was scorched by the sun. We traveled day and night. The sand dunes where they camped often moved. At night, due to the steaming of the river, it was stuffy and hot. Although the Nile had solved the problem of drinking water, buffaloes, chickens, and pigeons had solved the problem of meat, and there were watermelons and beans, there was no bread or wine. He had forgotten to mention snakes and scorpions in his diary. If food and drinks were not a problem for this brigade, then their leader was a problem.
General Zayonsek was hardly the ideal officer for such an army, at least according to Major De Toye. The general…seemed to be an honest person, but he was not a good officer. Lacking character, energy, and basic foresight, he let his team starve in places where food was abundant. There was food around them, but no one was arranged to collect or distribute it. Due to the lack of punishment and practical needs, it led to the occurrence of robbery. All the villages that our army (referring to the Zayoonsek Brigade) passed through were ravaged, and the order of marching during the day was extremely chaotic. However, Napoleon and his senior generals liked Zayonsek. In Bertier's report to the Directorate-General, they hid the truth as usual, but praised Zayonsek as an excellent leader. At the intersection of the two tributaries, Rosetta and Tamia, the undulating heat waves of the desert, the haze of the desert, and the sand dunes were gradually replaced by endless fields, watermelon fields, sugar cane fields, and black grape gardens. The village was surrounded by orchards of orange and lemon trees. Although one-third of the village was dilapidated and the mud huts where the villagers lived were filthy and smelly, the French finally saw tall and strong people. Their women were short, skinny and extremely ugly. The children ran around naked until they were seven or eight years old. Nevertheless, the French found the villages very hospitable; However, their music-Egyptian music played by tamales, cymbals, and flutes-was so unpleasant that the French would rather not listen to it.
Captain Perrett's fleet on the river, which carried Monge, Bertolet, Brenner, and other civilians, was gradually decreasing in number due to several large ships being stranded on the river. When they reached the main river of the Nile, Peret found that he only had eight three-masted ships and eight gunboats left.
For Napoleon, who only had a few hundred cavalry, was at a disadvantage in terms of tactics, and his morale was low, the army of Murad Beyy was waiting for fatigue. It seemed that Murad Beyi's army was going to fight them in a village called Ibaba in front of Cairo. Napoleon pressed forward. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the travel-worn, mile-long Napoleonic expeditionary army arrived a mile and a half away from Murad Beyy's army.
Murad Bay's army and the army of Abraham Bay on the other side of the Nile River were filled with killing intent. But what the French didn't know was that Shubrahit's victory had already caused panic in Cairo. According to the Egyptian historian Alamein, the news of the French army approaching the city increased the panic of the people... Our cannons and troops were on both sides of the Nile... Despite these preparations, the Mamluk royal family was still scared to death. The rich people in Cairo had already packed up their belongings and were ready to flee if our army could not resist. The government tried its best to prevent people from fleeing the city. At the same time, Effendi, the leader of the descendants of the Holy Tribe of the Islamic religion, carried the prophet's green flag from the castle. Escorted by thousands of believers armed with sticks, he read the scriptures loudly and went to help. The whole of Egypt was in chaos…Alamein continued," Everyone prayed to God to bless them with victory over the French. Only women, children, and the elderly were left in the capital, Cairo. They hid behind mud huts. Murderous mobs took control of the city. Angry mobs robbed most of the Europeans, Christian Arabs, Egyptian Christian, Greek, and Jewry. They took everything valuable from their churches, monasteries, and homes. They wanted to kill all the Arabs and the Arabs, and only with the strong intervention of the Mamluk authorities who stayed behind did they stop a massacre. They knew every day that the French were getting closer and closer to Rowe, but the authorities were still hesitant in deploying resistance. The Egyptian army lacked confidence in themselves and did not take any effective measures against the French army.
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