The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 880 The Prelude to World War I
1808 10 Month 30 Day.

At this time, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, who was then a lieutenant general, led 13,000 men and landed in Portugal at the mouth of the Mondgo River.

Before Arthur Wellesley arrived, a group of Portuguese local militia and students from the University of Coimbra had already occupied the fort at the river mouth to support the British army.

Although the Portuguese kingdom was completely paralyzed at this time, the anger of the people against the French occupation was growing stronger.

The main reason for this was that as the French Empire fought larger and larger wars, the scope of conscription continued to expand.

The soldiers recruited were no longer the French garrison soldiers who had profited from the French Revolution, but rather a large number of urban poor on the verge of bankruptcy and outlaws from the countryside.

The addition of these people not only lowered the average combat effectiveness of the French army, but also significantly reduced the overall quality of the French troops.

At the same time, Napoleon's military administration also had some problems.

He placed too much importance on the role of generals, and Napoleon was very generous in giving gifts to generals and mid- to high-ranking officers.

The generals he favored were all marshals, generals, dukes, princes, and even kings of vassal states.

However, the lowest-ranking soldiers did not receive many rewards. The French army's treatment was better than that of the British, Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, but significantly lower than that of the Da Yu, at least not in line with their war achievements.

Napoleon also failed to establish a fair and effective mechanism for the distribution of spoils of war, and inequality within the French army became increasingly severe.

This resulted in those who fought for the French Empire with great enthusiasm not reaping as much as those who plundered the occupied territories and hoarded the spoils of war after the war ended.

Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, you'll end up being influenced by bad company and become completely corrupted.

This is also the most important reason why the French army led by Pierre Dupont suffered a historic defeat at the Battle of Byron in Spain.

That French army not only had many new recruits, but they also continued to loot during their march. Each soldier used the space originally intended for ammunition, food, and water to fill it with all sorts of looted valuables.

This resulted in the French army being immediately caught in a food and water shortage after being surrounded on the mountain, putting them in a very passive tactical position.

In Portugal, the French were even more brutal, because at least Napoleon Bonaparte had supported his brother Joseph Bonaparte to become King of Spain, and Spain had always been an ally of France, so their methods were relatively gentler.

In Portugal, the French army did not just loot; they went so far as to massacre entire cities.

For example, fifteen days ago, after capturing the city of Évora, French commander Louis-Henri Loisen ordered a massacre without any investigation, slaughtering more than 10,000 elderly, women, children, and rebels.

It was this event that spurred the students of the University of Coimbra to put down their pens, pick up rifles, and begin defending their country.

France, as the center of European culture and art, had its image as a beacon of European civilization, established by the Enlightenment over decades, completely shattered in Portugal.

At the estuary, Qin San and Qin Dingyang led overseas Portuguese volunteers from Goa and Macau as the vanguard, and were the first to land.

They were not flying the various colored sun and moon flags of Dayu, but rather the white flag with a blue cross of the Kingdom of Portugal.

However, at the very bottom of the blue cross is embroidered a small bird with blue and white feathers, a tail like a long needle, and a beak as red as fire. This is the most common pintailed vidal in Portugal.

On the shore, students from the University of Coimbra, located at the estuary, cheered loudly upon seeing the white flag with a blue cross. They raised their hands and ran from the hillside to the mudflats to greet it.

"Has Her Majesty the Queen returned? Has she returned to save her people?" someone on the shore shouted.

The Portuguese royal family's disastrous retreat, abandoning their people, greatly damaged their image in the eyes of the Portuguese people and deeply hurt them.

The eventual abandonment of the Portuguese royal family in history was actually closely related to this abandonment.

"Yes, it was Prince Pedro who sent us back," the Portuguese volunteers who landed overseas answered loudly with laughter.

Someone pointed to the little bird under the cross and said, "Look, that's the prince's emblem."

Everyone burst into knowing laughter. It would be too cheesy to actually draw a cuckoo below; a pintail, which is very common in Portugal, would be more appropriate.

Moreover, this bird also has a similar habit to the cuckoo, namely, laying its eggs in other people's nests.

Three days later, with the support of students from the University of Coimbra and the resistance forces commanded by General Andrade, the Anglo-Chinese allied forces of 13,000 men quickly headed towards Lisbon.

Marshal Jean Junot, stationed in Lisbon, underestimated the strength of the Anglo-Chinese forces that landed.

After the French army carried out large-scale looting and massacres in Portugal, no Portuguese people were willing to cooperate with them anymore, making it difficult to obtain intelligence.

Marshal Jean Junot thought there were only a few thousand men, but in reality, including the student soldiers from the University of Coimbra and the local resistance, Arthur Wellesley had far more than 20,000 men under his command.

However, before the French army could intercept them, Arthur Wellesley and Portuguese resistance general Andrade disagreed on the route of advance.

General Andrade believed that marching straight to Lisbon would be suicide, so he led his troops away, leaving only a battalion of more than 600 men to guide Arthur Wellesley out of his more than 6,000 men.

On November 14, the Anglo-Yu allied forces of more than 10,000 men arrived near a village called Lorissa. General Henri de la Bourde of the French army, who had come to block them, had already set up a defensive line with 4,000 men.

The village of Lolissa was situated on a horseshoe-shaped hill. The French troops, who had initially spread out in formation, were immediately alarmed when they realized that the opposing force was not the few thousand harassing troops they had expected, but rather an elite force of nearly 20,000 men.

General Delabor quickly moved his troops up the hill, attempting to defend against the terrain, but Qin Dingyang's Hengchuan Battalion arrived exceptionally fast.

Yokokawa (Myitkyina) is located in the mountains, and these soldiers are extremely skilled in mountain warfare. The French army attempted to take advantage of the terrain, but the Yokokawa soldiers climbed steep slopes as nimbly as monkeys.

They first threw a volley of bombs up, then charged forward with bayonets. The French army was caught off guard by this brutal fighting style, and their four thousand men were forced into a retreat by just over a thousand men.

Half an hour later, the British troops outflanked and took their positions. General Delabor had hoped to use his cavalry to charge the Yokokawa soldiers, who were left with only rifles and few bombs, and then regroup.

As a result, Arthur Wellesley seized the opportunity and charged directly from the flank and rear, throwing the French army into chaos. De La Bourde was also wounded in the right arm during the melee, and the French army scattered like birds and beasts.

Fortunately, the 10,000-plus men led by Arthur Wells were actually there to scout ahead for the main British force, just as 8,000 British troops arrived near the coastline and requested to land.

Therefore, Arthur Wellesley only deployed a small number of troops for a symbolic pursuit, while the majority of the troops were used to cover the landing and establish temporary logistical support bases.

Although the French army was on the verge of collapse, it only lost about nine hundred men.

Three days later, Arthur Wells led his army to the vicinity of the Portuguese town of Vimeró, but by then his troops had dwindled after British reinforcements arrived.

It turned out that the former Governor of Gibraltar, Harry Burrard, distrusted Arthur Wellesley's military plans and forcibly took away a portion of the troops, leaving Arthur Wellesley with only two English infantry brigades and one dragoon brigade, totaling less than nine thousand men.

Of course, Qin Dingyang always followed Arthur Wellesley because he did not trust the other English generals.

“That Governor of Gibraltar is no good official. I smell the same stench about him as those corrupt monks and officials on the Qiangtang Plateau,” Qin Dingyang said to Arthur Wellesley with some concern.

Qin San has grown into a general, but his heart is still as simple as when he worked as a day laborer for a landlord in his hometown in Guangxi. He hates corrupt officials very much.

“That is precisely why I requested His Majesty the Emperor to bring you with me.” Arthur Wellesley forced a smile.

"Qin, the Seris Empire is too powerful, and the competition in the army is too fierce. Trust me, if you come with me, you will soon be promoted to lieutenant general."

Qin San laughed and said, "We're all brothers, so there's no need to be so formal. Actually, I think you should come back to the East with me after the war in Europe is over."

His Majesty values ​​you so highly; your future is bright after you go to China. Please also look after me, your brother.

Arthur Wellesley seemed to nod, but then seemed to shake his head. After that, the two stopped talking and began to plan the battle.

At 10:00 a.m., Marshal Jean Junot, the highest-ranking French commander in Portugal, arrived at the battlefield with two infantry divisions and one cavalry division, totaling 14,000 men.

In addition, there were four mixed Guards grenadier battalions, totaling approximately two thousand men. French Marshal Junot first sent out skirmishers to engage the British line infantry, who were already in formation.

At first, things went smoothly, but after the arrival of the four companies of the Shesheng Army from the Dayu Hengchuan Camp, the situation began to reverse.

The skirmishers, light infantry, hunters, and the archers of the Dayu side are actually all the same type of soldier: elite soldiers who are dispersed outside the range of the line infantry and rely on rifled guns to accurately strike the line infantry.

The Yokogawa Battalion's Shesheng Army not only outnumbered the French skirmishers, but also used more advanced weapons and ammunition, which immediately forced the French army to retreat.

As soon as these French skirmishers retreated, they immediately exposed their line infantry to the Yokogawa camp's Shesheng army.

They showed no mercy, and more than four hundred men inflicted heavy casualties on the French line infantry at a distance of just over two hundred meters.

At the same time, the British artillery adjusted its firing parameters faster than the French artillery and began to bombard the French line infantry positions.

Even the most resilient French soldiers couldn't withstand such gunfire and artillery bombardment, and began to retreat before Marshal Junot could give the order.

"Either Jean-Juno doesn't have elite French troops at his disposal, or the French army's combat effectiveness has seriously declined."

Seeing all this, Arthur Wellesley muttered a few words and immediately ordered one and a half English line infantry brigades in the center to advance in a diagonal line formation.

Jean Junot ordered the French line infantry not to retreat, preparing for a decisive battle with the British line infantry, but under the tutelage of Arthur Wellesley, the British fighting strength was much stronger than before.

The two sides conducted seven rounds of firing in formation at a distance of eighty meters, with the British volleys being more precise than the French volleys almost every time.

After seven rounds, the French army lost more than 700 men and, unable to withstand the damage, began to retreat. Marshal Jean Junot had no choice but to order two battalions of mixed guards grenadiers to launch an attack on the British army.

These guards grenadiers were the French army's top elite troops. They first used rifled guns to disrupt the formation of the British line infantry pursuing the French, and then charged to within about fifty meters to throw bombs. It was a completely reckless fighting style.

Now it was the British troops' turn to be bombed so badly they were forced to retreat.

At the critical moment, Qin Dingyang ordered the Portuguese volunteers from Macau to launch a surprise attack from the flank of the French Guards grenadiers.

Although these Portuguese volunteers from Macau were not particularly combat-effective, they were originally intended to use the Portuguese flag to gain prestige for Prince Mo Zhouyao, and were not expected to play a decisive role in the battle.

But this time, Qin Dingyang commanded well, and the Portuguese volunteers from Macau suddenly approached the French guards grenadiers from the smoke, killing dozens of them in a single volley.

The French Guards grenadiers were shrouded in smoke and could not see where the enemy was coming from, so they had no choice but to retreat. A dozen minutes later, these elite Guards grenadiers regrouped and charged forward again.

But at this moment, the Yokogawa battalion's shobu army arrived and withstood their counterattack. After both sides lost sixty or seventy men, the French guards grenadiers chose to retreat first.

Arthur Wellesley immediately ordered the British Dragoon Brigade to pursue them. The French army was still in chaos on the flat ground and was constantly pursued and pressured by the Dragoons. They were unable to form ranks and suffered heavy casualties.

However, the British dragoons got carried away, and their commander, Colonel Walker, failed to observe the changes in the battlefield situation, resulting in them running headlong into French hussars who were coming to reinforce them.

Although these French hussars were not Imperial Guards hussars, they had no trouble defeating dragoons who primarily fought on foot.

After three charges, the British dragoon brigade was scattered, and its commander, Colonel Walker, was killed by French hussars.

Qin Dingyang once again saved the team. The Hengchuan Battalion was able to find more than a thousand men and quickly form a hollow square formation. With the support of British artillery, they stubbornly withstood the attack of four thousand French hussars on the artillery positions.

Seeing that the artillery positions were not in danger and the French hussars were also contained, Arthur Wellesley immediately reorganized the British army.

Just then, French General Breunier, leading more than 3,000 French infantrymen, ran headlong into the British army, which had lined up in formation, because the smoke was too thick to see clearly.

In an instant, thousands of flintlock muskets were brought to the face of the French soldiers at a distance of only forty meters, and the two sides exchanged three volleys.

Uh, no, it should be that the British fired a volley, and the French army was thrown into chaos from the very beginning.

A dozen minutes later, less than half of the three thousand French infantrymen remained, and General Breuer himself was wounded and captured.

This was the bloodiest scene in the Battle of Vermeero, where the French army lost an average of one hundred men per minute and were completely stunned.

Seeing this situation, Marshal Jean Junot had no choice but to decisively arrange a retreat towards Lisbon before the main French force was surrounded.

In this battle, the Anglo-Yu allied forces, at the cost of over 900 casualties, killed more than 1,000 French soldiers, wounded and captured over 3,000, and even captured a French lieutenant general, which directly destroyed the morale of the French troops stationed in Portugal.

But then, on November 17, 1808, things took a very comical turn.

Arthur Wellesley, who had achieved a great victory at the Battle of Vimerlo, was suddenly relieved of his post as commander of the front lines and replaced by Harry Burrard, the former governor of Gibraltar.

But the very next day, Harry Burrard was replaced by Hugh Dalrymple, a great Scottish nobleman.

Clearly, a power struggle began within the British army over this great achievement in helping Portugal regain its independence.

Qin San and Qin Dingyang went to find Arthur Wellesley in disbelief, only to find that this once-in-a-century military genius of England had become so depressed that he looked as if he had aged more than ten years.

“Perhaps, as an Irishman, this is my original sin,” Arthur Wellesley said with a bitter smile and a hint of despair.

Yes, although Arthur Wellesley was of noble birth, he was actually an Irish nobleman, born in Dublin and was an Irish Protestant.

This is a major reason why his fruits were plundered both in India and Europe.

Many people disapproved of an Irishman like Arthur Wellesley climbing to the highest levels of the Kingdom of England.

“If you’re not in Portugal, then I’ll write to Princess Mary and request permission to rest in England. I don’t trust anyone else,” Qin Sanqin Dingyang said after thinking for a moment.

This is one of the advantages of Mo Gongze marrying an English princess: Qin Dingyang can request to go to England for rest and recuperation in the name of the Xia army, without needing the consent of the English government's war department, as long as King George III agrees.

Ten days later, Hugh Dalrymple, the Scottish nobleman who replaced Arthur Wellesley, reached an agreement with French commander Jean Junot.

The French army agreed to withdraw from Portugal, while the British army used ships to transport 20,000 French troops and the property they had looted to France.

It can be said that this Scottish nobleman had lost all sense of shame in order to claim the great credit for helping Portugal regain its independence.

Arthur Wellesley was deported back to England, and Qin Dingyang's more than four thousand men also went to England.

In December 1808, on the eve of Napoleon's departure to lead his troops to the Iberian Peninsula, news of Prussian Chancellor Baron Stein's joining the anti-French coalition was leaked.

Napoleon acted swiftly, declaring Baron Stein an enemy of France and the Rhine Confederation, confiscating all his property, and sending troops to arrest him.

Baron Stein was forced to flee to Bohemia and seek the protection of Austria.

Subsequently, Napoleon resumed negotiations with Frederick William III, King of Prussia.

After receiving a 90 million franc indemnity from Prussia, which had sold everything it owned, the French army ended its occupation of Prussia, and Prussia promised to withdraw from the anti-French coalition.

In January 1809, the French army, led by Napoleon, returned to the Iberian Peninsula.

He still didn't take the Austrian Empire, which he had repeatedly defeated, seriously, hoping to deal with Spain and Portugal first before dealing with Austria.

In the same month, the Tsarist Rus' Empire began a large-scale mobilization, with its military forces aimed at two directions: Austria and the Great Yu in the east.

Upon hearing this news, the Great Yu Dynasty dropped the pretense. Crown Prince Da Laosen, in Yili, the capital of Beiting Province, officially issued a full mobilization order for the four provinces of Anxi, requiring all Anxi citizens aged between eighteen and thirty-eight to immediately enter reserve status.

(End of this chapter)