The Fox of France

Apart from grenades, the French had another new weapon—grenade launchers.

The so-called grenade launcher was essentially an ultralight mortar. It was compact, even lighter than a rifle, and didn't require much space in the equipment inventory. More importantly, this thing had a simple structure and was inexpensive to manufacture. In the future, during the resistance against Japanese invasion, the impoverished imperialist armies would be equipped with a large number of these.

Compared to the future Japanese grenade launchers, the ones in the hands of the French at this time were even more primitive and rudimentary. The Japanese version came with specialized ammunition (though it could also launch grenades), while the French version, a lower-spec model, was specifically designed for launching grenades.

Due to the imperfect airtightness of grenades, the effective range of this device was considerably less than that of the future Japanese models. The Japanese grenade launchers had an effective range of about 500 meters, while the French grenade launchers at this moment had an effective range of just over a hundred meters.

However, at this time, this range was barely sufficient. Because, at this moment, the main purpose of using grenade launchers was to launch smoke grenades to interfere with enemy gunfire and cover the explosive experts delivering the explosive packages.

French soldiers had found cover for themselves and were all aiming towards the mansion, which looked more like a fortress firing back.

The people in the fortress fired back with rifles. Then, the squads with grenade launchers fired several smoke grenades in the direction of the fortress. The smoke grenades exploded in the air, resembling the sudden unfurling of a black and gray umbrella.

Taking advantage of the continuous cover from exploding smoke grenades, a French soldier swiftly leaped forward, carrying an explosive package.

Although the fortress of the Barbary pirates had many defensive considerations during its construction, it had strong living facilities. Consequently, it didn't take long for the French soldiers to reach the base of the fortress. The soldier lit the fuse, and quickly ran away.

With a deafening sound, a tall surrounding wall collapsed on one side, and bricks, wood, and heads scattered. Even at a considerable distance, the French soldiers felt the ground tremble.

"Charge!" Philip issued the command. He knew that if the enemies were gathered not far from the explosion point, even if they managed to avoid the blast, they would be temporarily incapacitated due to the shock. Charging at this moment, they probably wouldn't even be able to stand up.

As Philip predicted, after they stormed through the wall, the fight inside the fortress ended within a short time.

In this mansion, Philip's men found some unsold olive oil, the product of this olive grove. In addition, there were various gold jewelry and silk clothes belonging to women. The accompanying priest registered these items—these were now the property of France. Of course, some smaller items were not registered, and even the registered ones had slightly reduced figures, with the extra going into the pockets of everyone from Philip down to the privates.

Overall, Philip and his men had limited gains in this mansion. According to common sense, the owner of this mansion should have had a high status here. How could there be so few things? Moreover, there was no sign of any noble women in the mansion.

Philip wanted to ask the captives, but he immediately encountered a significant problem—he couldn't understand the local language.

"Damn it! Does anyone understand what they're saying?" Philip asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Lieutenant, we can ask the Turkish liaison officer if you want," a soldier suggested.

"If we can, do you think I need you to tell me?" Philip said coldly.

"Why?" The soldier didn't understand.

"Bats, you're a fool!" Philip said, "If he asks and finds out, why should he tell us? Can't he just remember it and bring a few Turkish people over after we leave—then everything becomes his! Understand?"

"Lieutenant, what should we do then?" another soldier asked.

"What else can we do!" Philip said harshly, "We have to find it ourselves. There must be a secret room here, and we'll dig three feet deep to find it!"

At this point, Philip casually picked up a rifle and used the butt to smash the wall. The wall made a solid, heavy sound, indicating that there was probably nothing behind it.

"Everyone, grab something and search. Destroy anything suspicious; consider it a renovation for them!" Philip shouted.

The captives—mostly servants and domestic slaves, as most of the men had died in the recent explosion—were now detained in a small room. According to the agreement between France and Turkey, the rebels captured by the French, as well as their family members, should be handed over to the Turks.

This was a demand insisted upon by the Turks, mainly to prevent rebels from hiding with the French and causing trouble after the French left. Whether they could be sold as slaves wasn't a crucial reason. In general, despite the alliance, mutual vigilance was still necessary because the other side was infidels.

French soldiers randomly smashed the walls, pried up the floorboards with bayonets, looking for hidden compartments. With enthusiasm reminiscent of searching for the treasure of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, they turned the mansion upside down. Finally, they found a secret chamber under a staircase on the first floor.

The door to this secret chamber was pinned under a fallen staircase. It took considerable effort for the French to move the staircase aside. Then they lifted the carpet covering it, revealing an iron door.

"Shotgun!" Philip shouted.

A French soldier with a shotgun walked over, aimed at the location of the lock, fired, and destroyed the lock. Then the iron door was pulled open, revealing a dark underground passage.

"Bring the Turkish man over. Have him shout into the passage!" Philip ordered.

So, the Turkish liaison officer was called, and he shouted a few times into the passage. There was no response from inside, only faint sobbing sounds, possibly from a woman. The crying of a child could also be heard.

"Tell her to come up herself," Philip said.

The Turkish man shouted a few more times, but there was no response from below. Only the sobbing of the child gradually diminished.

"What's going on?" Philip said, "Bats, and Francis, go down and take a look together."

Bats picked up a shotgun, while Francis threw a torch down first. The torch fell down the stairs but didn't illuminate much. There was still no sound from below. Bats and Francis looked at each other, pulled back the hammers on their guns, loaded their shotguns, and then walked down the stairs.