I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 987 Portuguese Militia

Central Portugal, 30 km west of Viseu.

Two French hussars went around the hill ahead, pulled the reins one after another, raised their hats and saluted to a captain riding a Gallic horse, saying, "Captain, another British cavalry squadron has arrived, and it looks like they will attack at any time."

The cavalry captain nodded: "What's the situation in the town?"

"They have gathered four or five hundred guns," said a cavalryman, "but I have observed them through a telescope and they are in a mess, so they probably have little fighting power.

"Oh, they seem to have dozens of cavalrymen, most of them are nearby mounted police."

"I understand. You guys go and rest first."

The two hussars looked at each other, and one of them asked, "Captain, are we still doing nothing as before?"

More than ten days ago, British cavalry began to move out, driving away the surrounding villagers and setting fire to farmland.

The French cavalry company was ordered to monitor a squadron of British cavalry, which had already attacked three villages, but they were just following from a distance.

Two days ago, they followed them to the vicinity of the town of Dusal.

Not surprisingly, the newly elected town council rejected Lisbon’s “scorched earth” order.

The British cavalry seemed to be worried about being frustrated in this town of more than 3 people, so they called in another squadron - usually they were divided into 50 cavalry to a squadron to carry out the mission. After all, this was within the supply line of the Franco-Spanish coalition forces, and if the troops were too concentrated, they would easily be wiped out.

The French cavalry captain smiled and said, "No, our 'vacation' is over."

Town of Dussard.

The militia battalion commander, La Plessis, nervously stared at the open space to the west through a telescope. Although there was no sign of British cavalry there yet, he knew they were there and could appear at any time.

This made him keep wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Yes, he was a retired sergeant who had only commanded 20 soldiers at most before, but now he had to lead 460 people to repel two squadrons of enemy troops.

But he knew that he had to hold on, otherwise his home would be burned down, just like those villagers who fled to the town.

At this time, the British, carrying the king's order, had burned down three nearby villages, and as many as three or four hundred people fled to the town.

Fortunately, after hearing the rumors, the town of Dussard quickly elected a parliament. It has to be admitted that those previously annoying liberals were right this time.

The council gathered all the weapons in the town and formed a militia battalion out of retired soldiers and policemen.

Fortunately, there were many hunters among the villagers who escaped, otherwise they would not be able to gather more than 400 people who could shoot in such a short time.

A magnetic male voice came from behind: "Those nobles sucked our blood, fattened themselves, and now they want us to die!
"We will use our own strength to protect our homeland. No matter the king or the Spaniards, don't think of making us surrender!"

LaPlessi didn't need to look back to know that it was the newly elected congressman Apinto.

He turned his head subconsciously, bowed and said, "Master Apinto..."

The congressman helped him up and said seriously: "Mr. La Plessis, there is no such thing as a master, everyone is equal.

"Oh, I brought sweet bread and wine for everyone on behalf of the council."

He then leaned closer to LaPlessie and whispered, "We can win, right?"

LaPlessi tried to appear more confident and nodded vigorously: "Yes, we will win."

Apinto relaxed his clasped hands and nodded: "We only need to hold on for three days, and the people from Rue will come to reinforce us."

The Dussard Town Council had reached an agreement with several nearby towns on mutual assistance in attack and defense. The women who came with the council were about to distribute bread and wine when they heard the dull sound of horse hooves in the distance.

La Plessis hurriedly asked them to leave, and then quickly came to the defense line at the entrance of the town - that was a "barrier" made of a lot of furniture and sandbags - and shouted loudly: "Don't be afraid, don't shoot casually! Pay attention to the commands!"

Almost no one paid any attention to him.

It’s not that I don’t want to pay attention, it’s that my brain is so tense that it doesn’t respond to the signals from my ears.

Ten minutes later, several dark blue figures appeared on the horizon, riding side by side and walking very slowly.

The British Hussars.

"boom--"

There was a gunshot from La Plessis's left side, and someone pulled the trigger in panic.

The other soldiers seemed to have been "reminded" and suddenly there was a constant "bang" sound.

On the contrary, the hunters in the village remained calm because they knew that they couldn't even kill a rabbit from such a distance. If they wanted to shoot a wild boar, they had to get within 40 steps.

More cavalry appeared in people's sight, and soon began to accelerate, rushing towards the town entrance in an inverted V formation.

The militiamen, whose previous random shooting had caused no damage, now began to reload in a panic.

Some British cavalrymen dismounted and moved the roadblocks away, and the horses behind them leaped over the sandbags left behind, pointing their sabers directly at the militiamen more than a hundred steps away.

The hunters on both sides opened fire.

However, their numbers were too small and they were unable to form a volley. After killing five or six British, the cavalry rushed into the militia's defense line.

As the saber was swung, more than a dozen people screamed and fell in a pool of blood.

La Plessis raised his sword and shouted to the reserve troops hidden in the side alley to meet the enemy.

The cavalry was slowed down by the dead bodies. Suddenly, hundreds of people appeared in front of them. The British officer decisively ordered them to go around the west side of the defense line.

Behind them, more than 30 mounted police immediately shouted and launched a pursuit. With flashes of carbine fire, they shot and killed several British people.

However, after running several hundred meters, the British suddenly turned to the side, and the 50 British Hussars who had been waiting there cut into the messy ranks of the mounted police.

Blood splattered everywhere, and more than a dozen people were chopped down by sabers in an instant.

The other mounted police were so scared that they turned around and ran, but they turned very slowly on their horses. The British circled behind them and quickly lined up to kill them.

In the end, only seven blood-soaked policemen escaped back to the town.

The British cavalry calmly regrouped and soon launched another attack.

This time, the militiamen in Dusal were so frightened that they didn't know what to do - there were dozens of corpses lying around them, as if the god of death was grinning at them - more than a third of them dropped their weapons and ran away after firing a shot.

LaPlessi and his men fought hard for half an hour, but were forced to retreat into the heart of the town, trying to continue holding out by relying on the streets and alleys.

The British skillfully cleared the streets one by one, half of them dismounted and fired volleys while the other half chased and killed the fleeing militiamen.

By around three o'clock in the afternoon, more than a hundred militiamen had been killed and the British cavalry had approached the town's church.

At this moment, Congressman Apinto suddenly appeared on the church bell tower, holding a white flag and shouting: "No, stop fighting, we surrender!"

(End of this chapter)