I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1111 Moving the Capital
“Yes, I’ll remember you.” Marquis Talavera nodded, but then noticed Blake was still standing there. “Is there anything else?”

Joaquin Black said cautiously:

"Well, if you want to acquire the town of Alentejo, I do have a way."

Talavera showed a disdainful expression:
"You? An engineer battalion commander wants to interfere in combat deployment?"

Blake's face flushed slightly, and he turned to leave.

Marquis Talavera thought for a moment, then raised his hand to stop him:
"Wait. Since we have nothing else to do, let me hear your plan."

Blake stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and said:

"Commander, you don't need to worry too much. Just lead all the troops across the Mondegou River and capture Goise. After that, whether to continue south to Évora or directly attack Lisbon is entirely up to you."

Marquis Talavera burst into laughter:
"It seems you are indeed only good at building pontoon bridges."

"The moment my troops leave here, the British will pounce on Mortagua. Before we even reach Goise, the British and Portuguese forces will already be attacking Guadalupe. After that, even Salamanca will be threatened!"

Blake immediately said:

“You’re right, so Colonel Juno will also notice this serious problem. That’s why I had you take all the legions away—that will make him make a decision more quickly.”

Marquis Talavera was stunned, his mind racing as he considered all possible scenarios—

Juno suddenly discovered that the Spanish troops on the Coimbra front had disappeared, and that 3 Anglo-Portuguese allied troops were facing the undefended Mortagua, as well as the equally undefended towns of Govea and Guada behind it.

At that point, he would only have one choice: to send all the French troops to Coimbra immediately to stop the British and Portuguese counterattack.

Marquis Talavera frowned. What if Juno recklessly withdrew to Salamanca?
He immediately shook his head. That's impossible.

The French strategy was clearly to let Spain wear down the British forces, so they didn't exert much effort on the battlefield. But if the British broke through the Franco-Spanish rear and even invaded Spain, then it wouldn't be the Franco-Spanish alliance wearing down Britain anymore, but rather the British and Portuguese wearing down Spain's national strength.

Juno would never allow this to happen.

That leaves only one question.

Marquis Talavera looked at the engineering major:

"The Juno Legion only has a little over 7 men. What if they are defeated by the Anglo-Portuguese allied forces..."

Blake said with great certainty:

"I have had several contacts with the French army in the past six months and have also observed their training. They are definitely one of the most powerful and first-class armies in Europe. Moreover, two years ago, the French defeated the Duke of York, who had a numerical advantage, in the Low Countries and made him helpless."

“I believe they can hold off 3 enemy troops. You know, a third of them are Portuguese soldiers.”

Seeing that the Marquis of Talavera was still somewhat hesitant, he added:

"You can quietly leave 8 soldiers on the south bank of the Mondgu River to stand by, and if the Juno Legion is in trouble, immediately return to reinforce them."

Marquis Talavera pondered for a moment, then finally gripped his sword firmly and nodded, saying:

“Your plan is very feasible. It’s time for the French to end their vacation.”

three days later.

The Marquis of Talavera's messenger arrived at the French Iberian Front camp and delivered a letter from his commander to Junot.

When Juno saw the letter saying that Talavera judged that the main force of the Anglo-Portuguese allied forces was going to reinforce the defense of Lisbon, and that he had decided to lead his troops to pursue them, his face turned ashen.

He asked the messenger impatiently, "How many troops did your general take with him?" "Three infantry divisions and all the cavalry and artillery, Colonel."

"This idiot..." Juno barely managed to restrain herself from swearing.

Last year, the Spanish army reorganized itself by imitating the French army's structure. The three infantry divisions alone have more than 30,000 men, and with the addition of cavalry and artillery, the total number should be close to 40,000.

The Western army in Portugal numbered only 57,000, and they had to control a front of more than 200 kilometers.

In other words, there are definitely not many troops left near Coimbra.

Just then, two French hussars arrived to report to him:

"Colonel, the Spanish troops along the Coimbra line have suddenly moved south. Currently, there are fewer than 1 soldiers left on the front lines."

"Damn it!" Juno gritted his teeth and roared at the messenger, "Assemble all troops immediately! Send Lieutenant Colonel Gaspard with cavalry to Coimbra to hold off the enemy, quick!"

……

After 20 days.

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

Grosz Palace.

Crown Prince João stared blankly at the group of ministers before him, heads bowed and silent, before finally slumping down and saying:
"So, there are no more troops left to stop the Spanish?"

First Minister Marquis Loris nodded helplessly:
“Your Highness, Marquis Wellesley has confirmed that he will concentrate his forces on the Torishvedrash defense line... while General Dos Santos’s army has only just arrived in Alvajazeli.”

Foreign Minister Duke Alcos whispered:
"Even the Dos Santos legion is finding it difficult to stop the Spanish..."

Yes, the Marquis of Talavera's 4-strong army suddenly abandoned Coimbra and rushed south, having already reached the south bank of the Sulaya River, less than a week's journey from Lisbon.

The Torres Vedras defensive line only completed its outermost circumference in history, and its southern end was far from covering the Lisbon area.

Meanwhile, the British government has decided to implement a strategic retrenchment policy, recalling 1 British troops under Wellesley's command back to the homeland.

This made the Marquis of Talavera's adventure a huge success. By this time, he had occupied more than 70% of Portugal's territory, excluding the southernmost part and the western coast.

After a long while, João spoke again:
"What solutions do you all have?"

Finance Minister Akin Loreiro hesitated and said:

"Your Highness, perhaps we can make peace with the Spanish. We can also offer some money to bribe the French, just like we did more than a hundred years ago."

More than a century ago, when Portugal was resisting Spanish rule, it relied on bribing powerful countries such as France and the Netherlands to exert diplomatic pressure and persuade Spain to accept Portugal's independence.

Marquis Loris stepped forward and shouted:
"No! We must not surrender to the Spanish!"

He was a staunch pro-British figure and absolutely unwilling to let Portugal side with France or Spain.

Loreiro looked at him and said:
"But we simply don't have enough troops to defend Lisbon."

“Lisbon is just the current capital of Portugal,” said the Marquis of Lorish. “Even if we abandon it, we can still fight the Spanish.”

"We possess vast territories in South America, where the kingdom will have a new capital!"

He said to João:
"Your Highness, I suggest moving the capital to Rio de Janeiro."

(End of this chapter)