I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 986 Who is the enemy?
Yes, although Igor was scared to death last night, based on the friendship between fellow villagers, he still ignored Tarent's "dissuasion" and ventured back to the village to report the matter to the most prestigious Master Bamelo.

Of course, the people they met last night were not villagers from Huka Village, but "actors" from the Security Bureau.

As for the bodies buried, they were the Anglo-Portuguese soldiers killed by Junot on the north bank of the Mondego River a while ago. The bullet holes on the bodies need not be taken seriously, because they can be said to have been "shot by British soldiers supervising the relocation of the village."

A few hours later, the people sent by Bamelo and Kalova carefully dug out the bodies that Igor mentioned, and they turned out to be four people dressed as farmers.

That afternoon, more than a dozen of the most prestigious people in Nehabe Village gathered at Bamelo's house, all with gloomy faces.

"That's the thing," Bamero said, "apparently the rumors are true.

"The question now is not whether we can get compensation after arriving in Lisbon, but whether we can arrive in Lisbon alive."

The Security Bureau had started spreading the news that the British were going to destroy Portugal more than a month ago, and even small nobles like Palmero had heard some of the rumors.

Then it corroborated what was happening before my eyes.

A squire asked nervously, "What should we do now?"

"In short, we can't leave the village," Bamelo gritted his teeth, "and we can't burn it down. If we lose the village, the British can do whatever they want with us."

"But Master Matos came with soldiers..."

Igor remembered what the "Huka villagers" said last night and shouted, "We have guns, we can drive them away!"

Everyone in the room looked at him in surprise.

Bamelo groaned and said, “It hasn’t come to that point yet, but… Mr. Kallova, you can ask everyone to prepare their guns first.

"If we spread the news here, people from other villages will definitely not be willing to migrate, and then those officials won't be able to just target us."

In fact, he was not worried about the troops brought by the officials - there were only five soldiers from their village, and even without guns, they had ways to deal with them.

Portugal is full of mountains, and almost every village has a large number of guns for hunting.

Although most of them were old-fashioned matchlock rifles, the number of them could still kill the five soldiers.

Under the operation of Bamelo and others, the migration work in Nehabe Village came to a halt. On the day scheduled for the journey south, not a single farmer came to the scheduled gathering point outside the village.

The fuel used to burn the village was stolen by someone last night. Matos scolded the village chief, but there was nothing he could do.

Two days later, people who went to other villages to make contact returned one after another, bringing back more shocking news.

People in at least five or six villages witnessed the British slaughtering the relocated villagers - the Security Bureau mobilized almost all the Spanish spies operating in Portugal this time, and most villages and towns had "scripts" similar to the one performed by Tarent.

As more and more evidence emerged, the people of Nehabe Village became more convinced that "leaving the village would lead to death."

At the same time, other villages agreed with Bamelo's proposal to join forces to "resist relocation." For a time, Wellesley's scorched earth plan came to a complete standstill.

Of course, there are smart people in these villages, like Bamelo, who suggested sending people to Lisbon to investigate the situation and see if it is really as bad as the rumors say.

And this was exactly what Joseph wanted.

Given Portugal's administrative capabilities at that time, how could it possibly properly accommodate hundreds of thousands of migrant populations?

It was great to be able to allocate a piece of land and set up a tent, and the relief food was even more scarce. Anyway, the nobles of this era did not treat the peasants as human beings.

Those who had migrated from the vicinity of Porto to Lisbon were able to survive, but they must have lived a miserable life. At this time, no matter who asked them if they regretted leaving the village, the answer they would definitely get was a curse on the British and the nobles.

In particular, the pamphlets shipped from France had been circulated among the "immigrants", and the article "We died in the king's war, but did the king care about us?" was deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Under the influence of this mentality, the people from Niehabe Village who came to inquire about the situation heard only the bloody history of the migration route - it was impossible not to die when walking from the north to the south of Portugal. There were also many people who starved to death in Lisbon. These situations were repeatedly exaggerated and told to them.

If some things are not publicized, they can be easily glossed over, but if you look into it carefully, it is a major event in which lives are lost.

When the news came back, the villages and towns around Coimbra became more determined to stay.

At the same time, the Spanish grain-collecting teams that occasionally appeared in the village also became civilized. They not only paid the full amount of grain according to the market price, but also spoke Portuguese in a friendly manner.

You know, one of the core reasons why the Portuguese resolutely resisted Spain more than a hundred years ago was that the latter forced them to speak Spanish.

In addition, the Spanish army also brought an edict from Carlos IV - for those Portuguese regions that have been controlled by Spain, a high degree of autonomy will be implemented, with each region electing its own parliament, and all taxes must be approved by the parliament.

They are not an occupying force at all; they are here to help the Portuguese resist tyranny!
This is exactly what Joseph had suggested in his previous letter to Carlos IV. For Spain, the most desired ports are Lisbon, Bordeaux, and Gibraltar.

As for the little tax collected from the Portuguese mountainous areas, it is not a drop in the bucket, but it is not much either. It is better to use it to do a favor to the local Portuguese people.

Moreover, the local parliament would not give no taxes to the ruler. It was better for Spain to get a little benefit than to be harassed by guerrillas all day long.

What Joseph did not expect was that this policy received strong support from Portuguese liberals.

These people had been suppressed by the Portuguese royal family for decades and had never been able to make any progress, but now they saw hope with the arrival of the Spaniards.

For a time, the liberals began to actively maintain local stability and organize parliamentary elections.

In the city of Coimbra.

Wellesley looked at the "scorched earth" progress report sent by his men and his face turned gloomy.

One and a half months had passed since Crown Prince João’s decree was issued, and only four villages had “disappeared” within 60 miles of Coimbra.

No wonder the Franco-Spanish coalition's offensive has become increasingly fierce recently. If this continues, Coimbra may fall at any time.

He thought for a long time, and then summoned Colonel Hill, and ordered him: "You will personally lead 800 cavalrymen to urge the Portuguese to migrate. If you encounter anyone who does not cooperate, you are authorized to execute them on the spot."

(End of this chapter)