Napoleon II Reborn Chapter 164

Although Napoleon received a large number of crowns, the situation was not as rosy as he said in the "Monitor". Because as early as May 2, before Ferdinand succeeded to the throne, there was a large-scale armed uprising in Madrid against Marshal Murat and the commander of the Madrid garrison, Grouchy. It was not until Moncey's reinforcements arrived that they were relieved. As a result, more than 1,000 French and Spaniards were killed, and some estimate 25,000. The armed uprising of the Spanish people against the French invasion has been raging on the Iberian Peninsula since then. At this time, Napoleon was still on vacation with Josephine at the seaside of Bayonne. He didn't take the Spanish uprising seriously, he thought it was just a trivial matter. Later, further news came that the Spaniards had blown up and occupied the port of Cadiz, which the French had been mooring since the Battle of Trafalgar, but Napoleon still ignored it.

After adding two new kingdoms to the French map, Napoleon and Josephine returned to Paris at the Palais Sainte-Cluh, and the censored press said nothing about the French defeat in Spain. While officials were celebrating in the capital, Foreign Minister Compenny and War Secretary Clark received bad news from Spain almost every day. In one week in May, three Spanish prefects were assassinated and open rebellions began in many provinces. In the first week of July, almost the entire Spanish kingdom began an uprising against the French occupation, and the Spaniards even directly asked the British for military assistance.

In fact, Napoleon learned about Spain from his disliked officer Savary (the new Duke of Lovigo, General of the Army, Commander of the 11th (New) Army) on his way back to Paris from Bayonne. News of the Resistance Movement.

The Spanish Resistance Movement was established after the French army invaded Spain on a large scale. Its members are mainly Spanish army generals and nobles, as well as Catholic religious figures. They received widespread support from the Spanish people, attacked the French army everywhere, and assassinated senior officials. French rule in Spain almost collapsed. Its leader was General Castagnos, the former Deputy Minister of the Spanish Army. Under his call, 120,000 of the 200,000 Spanish Army began to rebel against the rule of the French army, and a large number of people took off their military uniforms. Only less than 40,000 people took refuge in France, led by Lieutenant General Grouchy, commander of the Madrid garrison.

But in terms of military strength, the French army in Spain has the 2nd Army, the 4th Army and the Cavalry Army, a total of 100,000 people, and Grouchy's 40,000 people. Compared with the army led by Castagnos, The numbers were not at a disadvantage, although by this time Castagnos' army had grown to 160,000 men. The weapons and equipment are also much better than Castagnos's army, but Castagnos has the full support of the Spanish aristocracy. They have a lot of wealth and can provide Castagnos with excellent weapons and various supplies. The various supplies of the French army need to be transported from France, and they have to pass through the Iberian Mountains where the Spaniards resisted fiercely. insufficient.

The Spanish resistance was in full swing, and the French army was in trouble. On July 22, 23,000 people led by French general Dupont were attacked by General Castagnos in Bailan; the French army suffered heavy casualties, and Dupont had to surrender. Napoleon was particularly concerned about the fiasco at Dupont, with ominous clouds hanging over the Palais Sainte-Cluwe and the Ministry of War. Dupont's army raped and plundered the Spaniards after taking Córdoba, a scene reminiscent of Napoleon's campaign in Italy in 1797. Tens of thousands of mule-horses pulling 500 wagons laden with loot overwhelmed his army, before finally being able to escape the enraged Spanish populace (the French called "rascals") and the Spanish The encirclement and interception of the army.

"If you need to pay 80,000 people to conquer Spain, I don't think it's worth it, but in my opinion 12,000 people are enough." Napoleon's tone in Bayonne on April 18 was very relaxed, as if 12, 000 lives are not worth it. But now, the loss of the French army has far exceeded 12,000 people.

On July 30, in order to solve the current Spanish predicament, Napoleon held a special meeting at the Santa Cruz Palace to discuss this issue. Xiao Jie also attended the meeting. "Gentlemen, we are now in a very bad situation in Spain. Every moment, brave French soldiers are killed by sneak attacks by the despicable Spaniards. We must find a way to rescue them." Napoleon said excitedly, waving his arms .

There is a way, it's very simple, as long as all the French troops withdraw from Spain, no one will die. But no one dared to say that, because of the importance of Spain to France and Napoleon's determination to occupy Spain. At this time, if he withdrew from Spain, wouldn't that admit that the French army had failed in Spain? This was something Napoleon decided he couldn't bear . So no one dared to touch Napoleon's brow.

"Campini, explain to everyone the current situation in Spain." Napoleon said.

"Okay, Your Majesty. Everyone, the situation in Spain is very bad now. So far, we have lost nearly 40,000 people there. The places that were originally occupied have now been retaken by the rebels, and they are still under our control. Only Madrid, Getafe, Zaragoza, and the cities of the Costa Dorada and the Splendid Coast have been taken by rebels. Madrid was once in danger of being besieged. In addition, Castagnos had sent People ask the British for help and ask them to join the war directly, and the British are likely to agree to Castagnos' request, and in that case, our situation in Spain will be even worse." Campini introduced the terrible situation in Spain to everyone. situation.

After listening to Compini's introduction, all the people attending the meeting frowned. Xiao Jie was the same, but he was happy in his heart. In his plan, the more chaos Spain had, the better, so that he could get more benefits from Napoleon when he sent troops to Spain. In addition, under such circumstances, all the opponents in Spain have basically surfaced. As long as he can eliminate them all, his future rule in Spain will be much simpler.

"Clark, does the Ministry of War have any solution?" Napoleon asked with a frown.

"Our political plan is to send more troops to Spain. According to the plan, we have to send at least 2 more legions to Spain to control the situation. If we want to eliminate the resistance of the Spanish, we must send at least 3-4 legions," Clark said. .

It is certain to increase troops, but the current strength of the French army is not sufficient. Although the French army now has 12 legions, and there are 4 more under construction, the huge territory of France now also needs a lot of French * The 1st Army is stationed in the Netherlands, the 3rd Army is stationed in Calais, the 5th Army is in Poland, the 6th Army and 7th Army are in Bavaria to guard against Austria, the 8th Army is in Germany, and the 9th Army is in Normandy. The 10th Army is in the Rhineland League, the Guards and Imperial Guards are in Paris, Xiao Jie's 88th Army is still training, Eugene's Italian Front is also defending Austria, and the poor 2nd and 4th Army and the Cavalry Army are Trapped in the quagmire of the Spanish war, living a life of fear, so now there are not many legions that Napoleon can mobilize.

"But each of our legions has its own mission, and there are no redundant troops for Spain." Napoleon said. He originally thought that 10 French troops would be able to completely occupy Spain, but now he realizes that he was wrong. He miscalculated the determination of the Spaniards to defend their motherland and resist aggression.

"We are going to let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince lead the 88th Army into Spain to help Marshal Murat stabilize the situation. After 3 months, our new army can go into battle, and then we will be able to resolve the Spanish war well. "Clark said. After hearing his words, everyone turned to Xiao Jie, knowing that after this expansion, his 88th Legion now has more than 80,000 people, fully twice the number of other legions, and since he is the Andresi Arsenal So the equipment of the 88th Corps is also the best, and the equipment of artillery and heavy machine guns is more than twice that of other legions.

Napoleon also looked at Xiao Jie, because now only Xiao Jie's 88th Army can be transferred to Spain~www.mtlnovel.com~ But he did not give orders to Xiao Jie, because as we all know, the 88th Army It was established by Xiao Jie with his own money, and all the expenses of this legion were borne by him, so although this legion was nominally affiliated to the French Ministry of War, none of them had the power to issue orders to this legion, including Napoleon .

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Xiao Jie became a little depressed. He didn't want to send his army to Spain so early, and at the same time, he secretly scolded that old fellow Clark in his heart. "Everyone, the training of my legion is not over yet, and I can't send troops to participate in this operation yet." Xiao Jie said. In fact, the training of the 88th Army Corps has basically been completed, and only the last finishing touches are left to be done. After this expansion, although the 88th Army was more than twice as large as before, its combat effectiveness was not twice that of before, because many people were recruits who had never experienced war, so their combat effectiveness would naturally be greatly reduced. But what made Xiao Jie very happy was that the brainwashing of the soldiers was very successful. In the hearts of the soldiers of the 88th Army, Andresi's status was definitely higher than that of Napoleon. of.

"It's been almost a year, and I haven't finished the training yet. Who will believe it? If you are afraid of death, just say so." Just as Xiao Jie finished speaking, someone said in an indifferent way.

(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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