The Beys of Barbary
Just to clear up tech levels, I'm trying to stick to early American civil war era stuff (meaning no maxim gun or repeating rifles) with the exception of iron-hulled sailing ships. To address a guest comment, Asplund balls are basically this universe's Minie balls. Still muzzle loading, just easier than jamming a normal ball down a rifle's muzzle.
I'm still iffy on screw/propeller ships. I mean I make the rules I suppose, but if I add them it won't be for a while. Tell me if you have any strong opinions on the paddle wheel/propeller dichotomy. They're basically the last step until reaching something like ironclads, at least something like the Monitor, so their discovery would almost certainly lead to something like proper ironclads. Too soon?
Even as Lelouch wintered in Venice, he planned to eventually take the fight to the North African coast, even if it would take months to prepare and acquire all the appropriate supplies. Much of their naval construction was taking place in and around Genoa, as it was much closer to the iron mines of Elba and the coal mines of Sardinia than Venice itself. The iron hulled sailing ship, tentatively dubbed the Italia, was under construction in addition to the paddle steamers (both those armed with exploding shell guns and transport craft) but would probably take until summer to be finished, if not fall. The demand for steam engines was proving to be something of a bottleneck in production, and even with production ramping up it would take a while to get the steam engines to the ships.
Lelouch had taken an occasional visit to Genoa to check on the progress of the ships, and while the paddle steamers weren't really a surprise other than the iron sheathing and turret design, the Italia was something else. Lying in the dry dock, the ship seemed unreal- the curving lines of the keel and hull wrought in iron instead of wood were beautiful, and they held a terrible sort of promise in Lelouch's eyes. Perhaps the future of warfare at sea would be found in steam and steel as opposed to sails, although crafts with paddle wheels certainly had their own disadvantages.
Despite all the activity going on Genoa, there was some naval work going in Venice as well- the conversion of some older wooden transport craft into bomb ships for the coming campaign. Despite the name, such ships were not actually rigged to explode (the proper name for a ship made to explode or burst into flame was a fire ship) but were designed around mortars instead of typical horizontal firing cannons or carronades, and dropped explosive shells (hence the name bomb) like a siege piece on land would.
It turned out that sticking a mortar inside a ship not designed for one was fairly difficult, and the shipwrights were working hard to keep the ship from crumbling apart whenever the guns fired. The ships would be useless in naval battle though- other than a few token cannons, they were worthless against other ships that were actively moving.
At the very least, all the naval construction would give him the time to study up on naval tactics, because the Barbary corsairs certainly had more naval experience than he did. The way it was looking, a majority of his spare budget during 1827 would be devoted towards preparation for the campaign; however, he knew that a short term investment like this could pay dividends if it meant he didn't have to pay the Beys' ransom for any unfortunate Italian traders they captured (it would also make trading easier, which was a great thing). The threat to Italian sailors, in addition to coastal towns, was too major for Lelouch to ignore, and there was no better time to strike now that the Pasha of Egypt and the Sultan were fighting.
The outcome of that conflict wasn't particularly important to Lelouch, as long as it drew long and kept either side from interfering. Lelouch hoped to get in and out as quickly as possible- show the pirates (and to some extent, the world) that Italy was not to be trifled with. He didn't expect to put an end to piracy in the region altogether and didn't plan on taking any land, but he decided that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure when it came to the corsairs.
News of ships arriving certainly wasn't surprising in a naval city like Venice, although Britannian royal arms were more unexpected. For a few moments, Lelouch was worried that his father had come back to visit again, but a glimpse through a telescope revealed that the issue was the similarity between the royal arms used by the Emperor and his various children.
While Lelouch had been away from the capital for years, he could still recognize the distinctive markings that set this particular flag apart from the royal standard- loaned from the noble family of Euphemia and Cornelia's mother. The prospect of a visit from some of his favorite siblings certainly improved Lelouch's mood, although he couldn't imagine Cornelia visiting Italy just for pleasure, especially considering her last station in India.
The cold winter weather, while not harsh enough to freeze the brackish water of the Venetian canals, certainly made a heartfelt reunion outdoors a little less practical, so Cornelia and Euphemia were escorted into the Doge's Palace, accompanied by the former's guards.
Cornelia and Euphemia (along with their guards) were shivering from the chill, which must have been a change of pace from the warmth of India.
"Lelouch, it's been so long!" Euphemia smiled broadly as she embraced him, and Lelouch smiled back. It had been the greater part of a decade since they met face to face, and she was one of the few members of the Imperial family Lelouch actually missed.
Cornelia was a little less excitable and remained the military decorum she was so known for, but she still gave him a smile. "We've missed both you and Nunnally. I assume she's here?"
"Of course." Lelouch led them to Nunnally's room, with Guilford in tow.
"Lelouch, who are those people with you-"
"Nunnally!"
Nunnally gave a smile as Euphemia embraced her. "Big sister Euphemia… and is that Cornelia? I'm not sure who the third person is, though."
Cornelia responded. "My aide-de-camp, Guilford. I was reassigned to Italy, and we came to see you first."
As they exchanged pleasantries, Lelouch pondered why Cornelia had been assigned to Italy. Lelouch did think that he was possibly the only person in the royal family who could fulfill the role of Viceroy of Italy without causing domestic problems. He was too tied into the fate of the Viceroyalty to be replaced without issue, so Cornelia was sent to Italy for some other reason.
Lelouch figured that her real purpose here was to be a representative of the Imperial Court, a Britannian with actual power and sway to keep him from stepping to far out of line. She might actually help with military reorganization and drill, and that was probably her official purpose if he asked; however, that certainly didn't mean Lelouch was going to give her free reign.
Eventually, after their reunion Cornelia sat down with Lelouch to discuss military matters. As Lelouch suspected, she was here to "improve drill and organization within the Italian army" and they had a discussion of the military resources Italy was capable of using. This would give Britannia a great idea of Italy's military capacity, its strengths and weaknesses, but being evasive and refusing to give Cornelia information would only raise suspicion.
"How many men are in the Italian army at this very moment?"
"Some 60,000 soldiers, although we could probably raise more if we wished. The main issue is filling the ranks with officers at the moment."
Cornelia nodded. A good officer corps wasn't the sort of thing that could be built up overnight, so in the short term they were stuck with sixty thousand, which was certainly more than what Lelouch started with at the beginning of his campaign of unification. "Where are the men stationed, then?"
"At the moment, they're spread over much of Italy, garrisoning large cities to control any unrest due to cholera."
"Cholera?"
"I suppose you may not be familiar with the name. You may have had men suffering from it in India? Diarrhea so bad it can kill a man and turn his skin blue?"
Cornelia's eyes widened. "It spread here as well?"
Lelouch nodded. "The way it's looking, it was carried here by a traveler from the East India Company, but we've taken what steps we could to slow the spread. I have a theory it's spreading through water."
"You're sure?"
"Fairly so, but that's unrelated to the matter at hand. At the moment, we have around 10,000 men in Venice proper, with the remaining 50,000 spread around the biggest cities."
"And how many of the men have seen battle?"
"Some 25,000 of my men fought Beauharnais, but only 2,500 of them are near Venice at the moment."
"Can you take me to their camp?"
Lelouch did not look forward to introducing Cornelia to the Peat Gatherers, for rather obvious reasons. The Sicilians were fairly used to Britannian royalty (or at least Lelouch and to a lesser extent Nunnally) and the Italians didn't have any real reason to dislike her (at least not yet). However, the Peat Gatherers left Britannia for the sole purpose of escaping absolutism, so they wouldn't be as happy to take orders from a woman they saw as the Emperor's personal attack dog.
They weren't anti-royal, necessarily, but they would definitely take issue with Cornelia, especially considering her fighting in India. It would be rather hypocritical to say that they were anti violence or something to that effect, but they thought a more liberal government was worth fighting for while a colonial empire was not.
At the very least, they had fallen into the military structure quickly, and shouldn't raise too many eyebrows when it came to military discipline. Of course, Lelouch hoped that discipline would hold up when in the presence of Cornelia, considering how some of the men might feel about her.
The army wasn't stationed on the isle of Venice, so they went to their camp by boat, and as the ferry sailed through the Venetian lagoon, Cornelia noticed the shipwrights scrambling to fit a mortar in one of the ships.
She turned to Lelouch, eyebrow raised expectantly. "Bomb ships? Who exactly do you plan on besieging?"
Lelouch shrugged. "I suppose there's no use in hiding it. I plan on invading the Barbary states soon, hopefully in late summer or early fall, depending on the speed of the shipwrights in Genoa."
"Do you plan on fighting the Ottomans themselves?"
"No. For now, I just plan to chastise the corsairs while the Sultan is distracted."
Cornelia gave him a concerned look. "How do you plan on defeating them at sea? A few bomb ships are no match for entire pirate fleets."
"Do you know Lloyd Asplund?"
"That eccentric? What sort of stories has he been feeding you?"
"I assure you, the horizontally firing exploding shell gun Lloyd designed for us is very real."
Cornelia's eyes widened. "A gun with exploding shells that can practically be used on board a ship…" Lelouch grinned as she realized the potential of what Lloyd had created. "Do you have any ships with those guns already installed?"
"Not yet. To save costs, we're trying to design a sort of turret apparatus that rotates on a spindle, so that we only need one cannon per ship."
Cornelia nodded. "I suppose that would make an invasion possible, although it certainly wouldn't be easy."
After docking on the mainland, they rode to the army's camp as the sun set. Lelouch decided against quartering his men in random Venetian houses, and the weather, while cold, wasn't bad enough to change Lelouch's mind so far.
The men seemed to be relaxing after a day of drilling in the cold, and as the camp got closer Lelouch could hear singing from the camp, from the Peat Gatherers in particular, and he recognized the tune almost immediately.
I'm happy for to see you home,
All from the island of Sulloon,
So low in flesh, so high in bone
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ya!
Those were some of the final lines of a song known as "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", and the Peat Gatherers were rather fond of it. It was an anti-enlistment song, describing an Irishman who came back from fighting in India, Ceylon in particular, horrifically mauled. There was some hope to it- the song was from the perspective of the Irishman's lover, who decided to stay with him anyways, but it wasn't the sort of song Cornelia would have preferred.
"I didn't know your soldiers could speak English so well, could sing in it, even."
"Some volunteers from Britannia itself. Some Scottish, some Irish, some Welsh, and a few English as well."
Cornelia was silent, but Lelouch could tell she was thinking about the Peat Gatherers and analyzing their reasons for coming to Italy. She was probably going to realize (if she hadn't already) that their willingness to join the Italian campaign but their disdain for colonial warfare was a matter of liberal politics.
Upon entering the camp proper, the soldiers seemed almost transfixed- Lelouch doubted that they recognized Cornelia as a princess of the Empire, but just focused on the fact that she was an unusually beautiful woman accompanying their commander. If this was the sort of treatment Cornelia got from most soldiers, Lelouch could almost understand why she locked up Euphemia in a palace somewhere before marching off to battle- the leering of the soldiers made Lelouch uncomfortable and he wasn't even the person they were ogling.
Of course, Lelouch couldn't effectively address 10,000 people on short notice, so he gave orders to gather some of the higher officers from the ranks to have a discussion.
"Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce General Cornelia li Britannia, my beloved sister." Most of the men seemed to sit up a little straighter at that, although Collins was looking extremely uncomfortable.
"She has been assigned by Emperor himself to help organize the Italian army and make sure we're prepared to face any continental threats, or at least delay them."
Some of the men seemed to relax at that (what, did they think she was going to usurp his position as commander or Viceroy?) as Lelouch continued. "Treat her with the same respect you would give to me or Jeremiah. I would like to remind you all that she has more experience in battle than all of us."
Even if Cornelia's presence did mean oversight from the Britannian government, Lelouch couldn't delude himself into thinking that her experience in battle wouldn't be incredibly useful, and it would foolish not to use it, if she had to stay around.
Cornelia and Euphemia moved into the Doge's Palace with a contingent of their guards while the remaining portions of Cornelia's retinue set up camp with the majority of the Venetian garrison, although they were quickly moved to the other side of camp when fights started breaking out between them and the Peat Gatherers.
Lelouch and Cornelia visited Genoa to check on the progress of the exploding shell boats, which would be necessary for the north African campaign.
One of the ships was near completion, and it certainly didn't look as striking as a ship of the line might look. It was relatively low lying, although there was an obvious weakness on the sides in the form of the massive wheels. These ships certainly had some weaknesses- you couldn't get a traditional broadside out of them, and a lot of "cargo" space that could be filled with cannon was instead filled with machinery and coal.
However, the ships had the advantage of not being dependent on wind to move around (they weren't even hybrid steam and sail vessels) and sail against the wind, giving them an advantage in maneuvering. Logically, they exploited this advantage by giving the ships heavy guns which would usually be impractical at close range, like their exploding shell guns. Each ship had one gun on a rotating turret, which had to be manually jacked up and repositioned. It wasn't fast, but hopefully the paddlewheel could keep the ship out of range until the turret was properly aimed.
The armor was especially striking, a few inches of iron layered over the wood, which would hopefully prevent one of the greatest dangers of naval battle: splinters. Sending a cannonball through the side of a wooden ship would send a spray of dangerous splinters into the ship, killing or disabling sailors. Even if the cannonball or wooden fragments didn't hit you directly, there was still danger- Lelouch had heard of that famed phenomena, the wind of ball, where a passing cannonball could kill a man without touching him, as if the cannonball's passing simply blew out of the candle of their life.
Of course, exploding shells would be even more dangerous than plain shot, and Lelouch was interested to see the turret in action. Of course, he had heard reports of Lloyd's testing with the piece, but Lelouch needed to see the gun in action onboard one of the ships. The shells were complex things- even if they didn't have the conical shape of Minie balls or the shot used in their rifled cannons, the exploding shells had to be loaded with a sabot to keep the ball facing in the correct direction so the explosion of the powder could light the fuze.
The results were simply incredible though- the fuze meant that the shell could explode while inside the ship or while embedded in its hull, leading to more damage than mundane shot. Of course, that didn't mean that these ships were invincible, and the Barbary corsairs had long since given up galleys in favor of proper sailing ships complete with broadsides. Lelouch supposed it would be a good test- while the Corsairs certainly weren't on naval parity with a power like Britannia, seeing how their paddewheelers fared in battle against actual sailing ships would be critical.
Lelouch also had some other surprises in store for the corsairs, in the form of special ammunition for both their normal cannons and the mortars of their bomb ships: carcass shot. The shot wasn't actually composed of human bodies, of course, but was named after the circles on early carcass shot, which bore a passing similarity to the ribs of a corpse even if modern shot looked more like a normal cannonball with holes cut into it. Carcass shot was most notable for being hollow- and filled with flammable liquid which blazed out of holes in the shell, making it an incendiary weapon. It would be useful when they reached the Barbary states proper and could start attacking buildings and defenses.
The turret rotation worked properly, which was their main concern, so they continued work on the paddle steamers with hopes of finishing by late summer or early fall. Work was also being done on mostly unarmed steamers to serve as transport for the soldiers they planned on bringing. Of course, they weren't bringing the entire Italian army with them for obvious reasons, but a portion of the Venetian garrison would be joining them.
This certainly didn't mean Lelouch was anxious to pick a fight with any Barbary armies that showed up, as he knew full well that any battle would be on their home turf. He had studied previous attempts to bring the corsairs to heel, and there was one in living memory, if just barely: the failed invasion of 1775, where the Bey of Algeria crushed an invading force of Spaniards and Tuscans by feigning retreat and baiting them inland into a trap.
Lelouch's main advantage over the corsairs were his heavy guns: his rifled pieces on land and his exploding shell guns at sea, which limited his operations to the shore or very close by if he really wanted to stand a chance. He certainly wouldn't be marching to inland cities like Constantine or anything, so his main focus were the major Barbary ports: Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli, and possibly Sale or Rabat, if they decided to push to Morocco.
One of the paddle wheel steam ships was going to be devoted to a special purpose: it was to be a balloon tender, designed around keeping a balloon for observation purposes. There was no practical way to use balloons offensively (Lelouch supposed you could drop grenades or fletchettes from the air, but they took up weight and also meant flying over enemy positions, not the wisest of ideas), but being able to see enemy ships sooner had immense tactical value. Lloyd had developed a sort of line system to keep the balloon from drifting too far away, which would hopefully help with recovering the balloon. The aeronaut who rode the first Italian balloon, Russo, was being trained in a complex system of flag waving in order to properly communicate positions and the like to the men on the ground (or deck).
Another one of Lloyd's experiments started to bear fruit as well: the first cargoes were being moved by rail. Asplund had a remarkable ability to focus on a single subject with incredible intensity, but he frequently left a trail of half baked projects behind- fortunately his subordinates managed to decipher his notes and lay down the rails. Lelouch supposed that indulging Lloyd's escapades into hot air balloons did mean he wouldn't be able to focus on railroads, but the sheer military utility of balloons was worth too much to him. At the moment, the rails were used in a very limited capacity, mostly to move heavy loads to the shore: coal in Sardinia, iron in Elba, and marble in a town called Carrara. Of course, marble wasn't worth much on campaign, but it sold well so Lelouch certainly didn't mind.
The idea of rails weaving across all of the Italian countryside, from the Po valley and the snowy Alps in the north to the cliffs and mountains of Calabria was certainly romantic, but it was impractical in the short term. After the first cargo rail lines were set up, Lelouch hoped that rail lines would eventually be set in place between cities, but for now rail lines would mainly be used for freight.
By the time summer ended and autumn began, they were prepared for the invasion as well as they could be. Coaling stations were stocked in Sicily, ammunition and rations procured, and ships finished. The Italia was to stay in port, as Lelouch saw no reason to risk a trade ship in a naval war, but the steam ships were prepared. Lelouch chose one of the armed paddlewheelers to be his his flagship at random- The Ligurian.
They set sail (if that was even the appropriate term for a fleet mostly propelled by steam) in late September, as the Italian peasants worked in their fields, harvesting sheaves of durum wheat and blue-black grapes from the rolling Italian fields. Lelouch had to admit that staying behind in Venice with Nunnally, drinking wine or watching the harvest festivals sounded better than a trip to Africa, but his sense of duty called him to Barbary.
Cornelia joined him on The Ligurian as well, along with Guilford, Jeremiah, and some more guards; however, most of the men were on other ships devoted purely to transporting fighting men. The bomb ships trailed behind them, sailing against the dry sirocco wind that blew from the south, and Lelouch was very grateful that a majority of his ships were steamers- having to worry about sailing into the wind wouldn't be as much of a concern on this campaign.
As they departed from Sicily to the coasts of North Africa, Lelouch thought of the famed Roman who partook a similar expedition: Scipio Africanus. He fought against Carthage, whose capital stood where the city of Tunis stands today, and would in time defeat Hannibal himself in battle near Zama in inland Tunisia. It would not be the last war between Rome and Carthage, but it sounded the latter's death knell, crippling their capacity to wage war at land or sea. Scipio would earn the title Africanus- quite literally, the African- for his victory. Lelouch supposed that if he really wanted to play up his Roman connections he could start calling himself Italicus- the Italian- but that honestly seemed more pathetic than impressive.
Of course, centuries had passed since the Romans and Carthaginians did battle at sea, and marines on quinqueremes had long since been replaced with cannon and shell. High in the air above them, Vittorio Russo kept watch from the sky, overlooking the same frothy sea that countless thousands sailed for centuries- although certainly from a different point of view.
Their first destination was Tunisia, with hopes of following up with attacks on Tripolitania and Algieria, possibly even the independent Sultanate of Morocco; however, this all hinged on winning at sea first. Lelouch was admittedly risking a lot on being able to defeat the corsairs at sea- the potential loss in prestige (and wealth) if he or Cornelia were taken hostage was… worrying. At the same time, Lelouch knew that the corsairs weren't sailing anything approaching the greatest ships the European powers could bring to bear- ships of the line, their sides rife with cannon. The corsairs sailed smaller, more maneuverable ships, frigates and the like, which could prove themselves to be more of a menace to shipping then a sluggish, if powerful, warship.
Lelouch's train of thought was interrupted when one of the men on board, the one tasked with watching the observation balloon for any flag signals, spoke up. "Sir! Russo's spotted something! An enemy fleet in the distance, sailing from the south!"
Lelouch grinned. "Get out the signalling flags and tell our armed steamships to pick up speed!" At the very least, battle would mean a stop to all the worrying.
Next Time: The Shores of Tripoli, which should hopefully be a little longer, although I'm not sure if it'll cover all of Lelouch's African adventures.
I'm not sure I got Cornelia right, like as a character. Please tell if you have any criticisms about her characterization. The bit about royal heirs using modified coats of arms is true, at least recently in our timeline's United Kingdom, but I decided against breaking out the heraldry terms, for obvious reasons.
Some of the Irish rebel songs haven't been written yet, which is kind of sad. The Wearing of the Green also existed at the time, but Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya feels like a slap in the face to Cornelia, at least in my opinion. I decided to include it in part to showcase a growing divide between Britannia/Cornelia and Italy/the people in Italy, because I just like the song, and I think that historical music like that is interesting. Same tune as When Johnny Comes Marching Home, very different message. Is including bits of culture like this a thing I should do more often, or is it a mistake? I love feedback, guys.
Please tell me if these historical discussion sections at the end get too long or anything. Also, I feel like I'm pushing technology ahead a little fast, but at the same time Code Geass had mechs, which is a huge leap even with sakuradite.