I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 894: Layout of Iberia
Just one day later, the French General Staff received news that 8 Austrian troops had arrived north of Mantua.

Berthier had returned to Paris from the front a month ago and immediately rushed to the Palace of Versailles to report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

"Well, Austria's mobilization speed is much slower than I expected." Joseph only glanced at the report and folded it up. He said to the Chief of Staff calmly, "Just follow the planned plan."

Yes, long before Alvinzi left Vienna, the Intelligence Agency had already sent back to Paris the information that "Austria decided to reinforce Mantua."

With such a large military mobilization, anyone who is not deaf will surely be able to find out the news.

Joseph then worked out a series of follow-up plans with Berthier and other officers of the general staff.

The two legions involved in the plan had also set out more than a month ago and were already in place, waiting for the fighting in Mantua to begin.

……

Spain.

Madrid.

The Spanish Minister of War, Count Aranda, looked at the French lieutenant colonel in front of him with some dissatisfaction: "Lieutenant Colonel Junot, Olivenza is undoubtedly the most critical strategic location. After the meeting between His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, we have transported a large amount of logistical supplies to Badajoz.

"And you now ask us to turn to Salamanca?"

Junot placed the directive from the General Staff on the table, which had the coded signature of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The main French officials and officers had their own unique codes, which could be sent through the Chap signal tower, which meant that the owner of the code had signed it. The code was calculated using a complex encryption algorithm and decrypted using a specific secret key, so there was no problem with security.

"Olivenza does have important strategic value, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince believes that it is separated from Lisbon by the Tagus River, and the strategic intention is too obvious, which is likely to cause the Portuguese to retreat to the west bank of the Tagus River."

Junot said: "If we start from Salamanca and occupy the Almeida Fortress, we can go south to threaten Lisbon - there is almost no obstacle between there and Lisbon. At the same time, we can continue to attack Porto to the west.

"The Portuguese will then have no choice but to divide their forces for defense. We will have absolute initiative."

Count Aranda looked at the documents of the French General Staff, looked at the Chief Minister Count Floridablanca, and insisted: "Perhaps we can try it in Olivenza first. If it goes well, we won't have to transport combat supplies repeatedly."

Juno sighed secretly, thinking that it was exactly as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had expected, stupid Spaniards...

Of course, Joseph was not making a guess out of thin air. He knew that in the early nineteenth century, Spain's first military action against Portugal began with the attack on Olivenza.

Because there are oranges with high economic value there.

Short-sighted Spanish politicians did not consider military factors and went straight to the orange producing area of ​​Olivenza - every year the Spanish royal family had to spend a lot of gold coins to import oranges from there.

As a result, although the Spaniards took advantage of Portugal's unpreparedness and quickly captured the Elvas Fortress in Olivenza, this also gave Portugal time to react.

After that, Portugal began to use the domestic rivers to build layers of defense. Eventually, the Spanish army was exhausted and had to choose to cease fire.

Portugal was able to sign the Treaty of Badajoz with Spain without even asking Britain for help, and only lost the border town of Olivenza.

This also led to the fact that seven years later, in order to resolve Britain's largest naval port on the western side of the Mediterranean, France had to declare war on Portugal again with Spain.

But this time Portugal was prepared and immediately asked Britain for help.

At the same time, because of Napoleon's bold move - he deposed Carlos IV and crowned his brother Joseph Bonaparte as the King of Spain.

This aroused the uprising of the Spanish people. France continued to send troops to Spain, and Napoleon even personally led an expedition to Spain, where he lost countless troops and military expenses. Later, even Napoleon himself said, "The Spanish War finished me off. It was a real ulcer..."

So when Joseph was formulating his battle plan for the Iberian Peninsula, he knew that he had to avoid the Spaniards falling into Olivenza's trap for those few oranges.

The best battle plan should be the choice made by the French and Spanish coalition forces during their second attack on Portugal - starting from the Almeida Fortress in north-central Portugal, making it impossible for the Portuguese army to take care of both ends.

This would also allow Portugal to ask Britain for help as soon as possible due to its lack of troops.

If the French army then assists Spain, Portugal will become Britain's "ulcer".

Juno followed the instructions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and continued:

“Count Aranda, in fact, the war supplies you stored in Badajoz were not wasted.

“I believe that the Portuguese spies must have known about the war preparations there, which will have a great effect in confusing the enemy.

“Then when we mobilize our troops, the Portuguese will just think it’s an attack on Olivenza.

"When we launch our attack on Fort Almeida, we will surely catch them by surprise."

Badajoz is the Spanish border province next to Olivenza.

Seeing that several Spanish ministers were still hesitating, Junot brought out the "trump card" given to him by the crown prince:
"His Royal Highness has ordered 90 cannons to be transported to Salamanca. These cannons will make our attack on the fortress very easy."

These cannons were captured by the French army in the Rhineland and Italy. Some were made in Austria and some in Prussia. Their specifications and standards were different from those of France, and their quality was far inferior to that of French cannons. So they were simply given as favors.

Well, the captured British cannons were all kept. Regardless of the British character, their cannon casting skills were pretty good. These cannons could be used for training at military academies or sold.

Count Aranda finally fell silent.

Of course, these cannons are only one of the factors. Another factor is that they are more convinced of the French ability to fight.

Seeing this, Count Floridablanca put his hands on the table and made the final decision:
"Then let the Marquis de Romana go immediately to Salamanca."

……

Eastern France.

Alsace.

Moreau listened listlessly to the staff's report on the Austrian military's movements on the other side of the river, and couldn't help yawning.

There was really nothing to hear - the Austrians kept transferring troops from Freiburg to Italy, and from the aggressive preparations for an attack at the beginning, to the desperate construction of defensive facilities now, they were determined to hold on to the death.

He really hoped that Latour could cross the river to attack, so that he could at least earn some military merit.

It's better than watching Napoleon, Massena and others reporting victory while you can only sit here and watch the wind blow.

(End of this chapter)