Moulay Hassan, after being chased by Barbarossa in his dominions, wandered for some time among the Arabs, he excited, revolution Khaireddine cons, making them a pompous display of all property that it would reward their services if they were able to ascend the throne.
There is nothing so light and so inconsistent that the Arab people; enemy domination, he is always ready to listen to him who flatters his love for independence, having nothing to lose and everything to gain in a revolution, he is always ready to take up arms in favor of the party who offers the most advantages. Moulay Hassan was not embarrassed to persuade several Arab Sheikhs, and they began to gather in the plains of Kairouan.
Khaireddine, learning their movements, contented himself with writing this words "Let anyone among you who recognize the dominion of our sovereign Lord and master the Sultan Suleiman, left earlier in the rebel army and come to meet under my banner, for those who would not benefit from this time mercy, and who persisted in their revolt, will be held to repent of their temerity. "
Meanwhile Khaireddine assembled his troops and made all his preparations to go dispel this army of Arabs, whose numbers increased daily. When, under the command of Moulay Hassan, the Arab came to present the fight, he put them on the field in disarray.
Being a good politician, Barbarossa, they even granted the pardon, he knew that it was very difficult to continue. So they sent letters of thanks, and when they were received, the main Sheikhs went with him to swear fealty to him. He therefore took
Kairouan and other towns of the province and settled around the collection of taxes. Finally he opened by 25,000 Christian slaves as contained then the channel Tunis La Goulette, and created a port where the fleet was perfectly sheltered. From that day, Tunisia is more than a Turkish province. Last
again defeated by the usurper of his kingdom, Moulay Hassan, fled to Constantine, where he finds refuge with the governor of the province.
In his exile he became friendly with a renegade Genoese appointed Ximéa, who wanted to take advantage of the situation, he advised him to approach the Emperor Charles V, to seek assistance and to offer, return of service, to declare himself a vassal of the empire. Moulay Hassan
commitment also to assist the operations of the imperial army, with a contingent of Arabs that it was hard to get on the Tunisian coast at the time of arrival of the Emperor .
He wrote the following letter "... Barbarossa, the wretched Turkish Rais, born to misfortune of Barbary, has possession of my statements, and one of the major reasons which have decided to persecute me, is the sincere commitment that I have always had for you; it is your honor, and it is in your interests, O great King! come to my rescue and I get the inheritance of my fathers.
forces you collect is more than enough to get back at Barbarossa, and put me on a throne I usurped qu'i1.
I still serve me sixty thousand men, with whom I shall besiege it by land, while you come to besiege the side of the sea
When the Kingdom of Tunis will be back in my obedience, I'll make a tribute, and I content myself with the title of your officer. "
Charles V had been deeply irritated by the happy hand of the Turks and when Moulay Hassan came to seek his assistance in regaining sovereignty and offer him in return for services rendered, to declare his vassal, the emperor eagerly accepted these openings and associations to conquer he would undertake the Order of Malta, the Holy See and Portugal.
Preparations were immediately begun in huge arsenals of Spain, Genoa, Naples and Sicily; ships and galleys were armed, and supplies of all kinds were kept ready, but that was some deep secret that surrounded the preparations, Barbarossa was notified. The first notice of danger, he asked for help in Constantinople, but the nobleman could not send him because of his military commitments in Asia.
Barbarossa was not discouraged, and resolved to defend himself with his own resources.
Having recognized that the city of Tunis was unable to resist the enemy if it managed to make a landing at La Goulette, he put all his attention on this point. By its orders for new work defense were added to those he had commissioned in the early days of conquest.
He himself conducted, and must use all the arms of Christian slaves. Leaving
anchorage of La Goulette twelve of his best galleys, it housed the rest of its fleet in the small channel that connects the lake to the sea, and as any fortified structure was no guarantee then that point forward, a real boulevard of the capital he erected, with the greatest possible speed, a thick wall, which had to cut the tongue of land that extends north-east of the canal in the direction of the ruins of Carthage, La Goulette to bring to the shelter an attack on that side.
time having failed to properly complete this great work he had to resort to an expedient to temporarily take a useful advantage: they took the oars, spars, all the wood that fell into his hands. They are planted in the ground, we reli them securely, and then thousands of sandbags by subjecting the foot perfectly. Basically, it spared the embrasures to establish a battery. A moat completed this first line of defense.
continued ...
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