I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1144 The Battle of the Pyramids, Part Two
Standing on the outer edge of the northernmost hollow square, Chaumont gripped his Type 1790 rifle like a statue, completely ignoring the large group of Mamluk cavalry charging towards him. He turned his head and shouted to the soldiers of his company, "Let these guys know what a true French warrior is!"

More than ten meters away, a sergeant with a light gold border around his collar insignia was also loudly encouraging his soldiers: "The enemy will retreat soon, everyone hold your positions!"

"For glory! For France! Grip our guns tight!"

"Hey, our 17th Company is going to get the medal of courage in this battle!"

"Did everyone in the 21st Company hear that? Someone's trying to steal our medals, we can't afford to lose to them!"

Yes, Sergeant Chaumont and others were honorary representatives newly assigned to the French Army after its second military reform.

They were all rigorously selected—not only were they outstanding in military skills, but they also had to pass political assessments. Their main responsibilities included boosting morale, providing daily psychological counseling to soldiers, and teaching them academic subjects.

Honorary representatives serve as the "glue" among soldiers and are also the backbone of the fighting force.

They almost completely replaced the roles of military priests and grenadiers in the army—now, the number of military priests in the French army has been reduced to one-third of what it used to be.

Honorary deputies can handle tasks such as leading soldiers in prayer and listening to confessions. Priests are now only responsible for presiding over holiday masses and burial ceremonies for fallen soldiers.

This was also an important measure taken by Joseph to reduce the church's influence on the army.

Led by the honorary representatives, the entire hollow square remained unmoved despite the tidal wave of Mamluk attacks.

Soon, two cavalry units swept past the north side of the square formation, preparing to turn around, regroup, and launch another attack.

But the soldiers forming the hollow square immediately began firing their guns.

As a series of fires erupted from the north side of the formation, over a hundred Mamluk cavalrymen were shot through the back and fell from their horses amidst screams of agony.

The French army is now fully equipped with rifled muskets, completely changing the situation of the flintlock era where "accuracy depended entirely on faith". Within a hundred paces, they can almost hit any target.

Sean loudly reminded his comrades, "Don't panic, load as you normally do in training! First rank, cease fire."

A dozen seconds later, the soldiers in the back two rows fired another volley.

However, this time, since the Mamluk cavalry had already run nearly 100 meters, their lethality was greatly reduced, and they only killed more than 20 people.

From a distance, through the swirling sandstorm, Ibrahim could vaguely see his elite cavalry circling around several thin square formations, unable to break through. He grew increasingly anxious.

He bowed his head in prayer, drew his saber, and shouted to his guards, "Fight for the Lord! Charge with me and crush the infidels!"

Ibrahim spurred his horse and led nearly a thousand reserve cavalrymen toward the second hollow square formation.

However, when he was still a kilometer away from the French phalanx, he saw hundreds of blood-soaked Mamluk cavalrymen fleeing towards him.

The leading officer, whose cheek was half torn apart by bullets, saw Bey's flag and rushed forward to stop him, saying in a hoarse voice, "Lord Bey, it's too dangerous, please go back quickly!"

It took Ibrahim a while to recognize that this was Hajid, one of his top three most powerful generals, and he immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

Hajid was a fearless and reckless warrior. If even he chose to retreat, there was only one possibility—even if all his cavalry were sacrificed, they still couldn't break through the French defenses.

In fact, the Mamluk cavalry had already shown remarkable tenacity. For example, Hajid's force, of 1200 cavalrymen, only retreated when only 700 remained.

Sure enough, Mamluk cavalrymen began to flee towards Inbaba village. The supervising officer tried to stop them with his sword, but they were like leaves in the ocean, quickly swept away by the giant waves.

Ibrahim was terrified and hastily retreated to the village of Inbaba, ordering his officers to gather the routed soldiers. Half an hour later, Murad, who was in charge of attacking the French flank, also returned in disarray.

After repeated questioning, Ibrahim learned that he had been utterly overwhelmed by more than 400 French cuirassiers and cannon fire.

Murad brought 1200 cavalrymen, but less than 1 returned.

As Ibrahim lay on the map considering his next tactics, an officer ran up to him and reported, "Lord Bey, the French have appeared less than two thousand geysers away."

A 2000-meter race is approximately 1.5 kilometers.

Ibrahim looked at his attendant beside him: "How many cavalrymen returned?"

"There are probably fewer than 5 cavalrymen now, Lord Bey."

Ibrahim, being the most militarily capable general among the Mamluks, frowned and pondered for a moment before turning to the messenger and saying, "Have Abdullah prepare to meet the enemy head-on."

He then looked at Murad: "You lead all the cavalry southwards, around the French flank, and attack their rear guard. If you encounter their cavalry, retreat and attack from another location."

"Once the French are thrown into disarray, I will launch a counterattack from the front and cooperate with you."

This is the Nile Plain, the domain of cavalry.

He launched the decisive battle right from the start in order to resolve the war on the west bank of the Nile as quickly as possible.

In reality, his cavalry needed to use their high mobility to constantly pull back and forth across the enemy's lines in order to create an advantage.

However, such tactics will consume a lot of time.

Ibrahim turned to look in the direction of Cairo and muttered to himself, "Hopefully, Fadl can hold off Raif during this time."

Before long, the faint sound of French war drums could be heard in Ibrahim's command post.

Ibrahim climbed to the top of a barn and, through his binoculars, saw a sparse line of white infantry that had reached the edge of the village.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Based on his understanding of European armies, such infantry lines should be arranged as densely and neatly as possible. This meant that the French could not maintain their formation during the attack.

It is very likely that the French commander on the other side is only good at defense and has average offensive capabilities.

This gave him hope again.

Murad loudly promised his cavalrymen a large reward after the battle and led his army south along the Nile, while sending out a large number of cavalrymen to scout the French army's position.

However, after walking nearly 4 kilometers, he still found organized French infantry on the west side.

Finally, a desert to the south blocked his path—such is the geography of the Nile River basin—rivers, oases, and deserts are all mixed together.

Murad knew that although the desert was less than 6 kilometers wide, he would not have enough time to cross it and come back.

Moreover, his cavalry had been fighting for half a day and were no longer physically fit to cross the desert.

(End of this chapter)