‘Not before time. Those bastards have delayed us enough already. Right, offer them terms. If they surrender the fort they can leave with their weapons, under parole. Tell them they are forbidden from taking up arms against French forces for a year. If they refuse those terms then we will continue the shelling and there will be no prisoners taken when we assault and take the fort. If they agree, get them out of here as quickly as you can, then break camp and continue the advance. Got that?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Reynier saluted and summoned an infantry section to go forward with him to meet the Turkish emissaries. Napoleon turned away and strode swiftly back to the mounted guides who were holding his horse ready. He swung himself into the saddle and turned back down the track towards the rest of the army, still seething at the delay to his plans.

With the removal of the threat to his lines of communication Napoleon led his army north, and into Syria. At once Reynier’s advance guard came up against Turkish cavalry, but as soon as he formed his men into squares the enemy attacked only half-heartedly before withdrawing.The weather was cold and sudden squalls of rain turned the tracks into slippery mud, and it was not until the beginning of March that the first troops moved into position around the port of Jaffa. The town was protected by a decrepit wall, erected long before the days of artillery, and Napoleon was content to use his field guns to breach the walls rather than send for his siege artillery. As the engineers constructed their batteries Napoleon sent an emissary forward to negotiate terms for the surrender.

‘God, I hope they’re not anything like that lot at El Arish,’ Berthier muttered as Napoleon and his senior officers watched the French officer enter the gates.

Napoleon shrugged. ‘If they are, then we’ll bombard them into submission just as we did before.’ He raised his telescope and examined the walls. ‘You can see that the masonry is crumbling in many places. I’m certain that a few well-placed shots will soon bring down a section of the wall large enough for Lannes’s division to make an assault into the town.’ He lowered the telescope and turned round with a smile. ‘What do you say, Lannes? Think your men can take that place?’

General Lannes grinned. ‘Just try to stop them, sir.’

Napoleon punched him on the shoulder. ‘That’s my Lannes! Only this time, try not to get wounded, eh? You have more lives than ten cats, but even you will run out of them one day.’

‘Not before my enemies.’

The other officers smiled, and then Berthier raised his arm and pointed towards the gates of Jaffa. ‘That was quick.’

Napoleon, still smiling, turned towards the town and saw the French officer emerge through the open gate, between two Turkish soldiers. Close behind him emerged a third soldier.