The so-called "glorious battle" is what later generations called it. In Commander Andrew's combat log, it was called the Battle of Figueras-Manresa. This was a decisive battle in the early days of the Spanish War, which was between July and August 1794. In just over twenty days, the French army commanded by Andrew defeated only 50,000 people and wiped out more than three times its Spanish army. The main force of the entire Spanish regular army lost all the losses in this battle.

Later historians divided the battle into two stages, the Battle of Figueras and the Battle of Manreza. The result of the battle was an unprecedented catastrophe for Spain. In the entire central and northern part of the Kingdom of Spain, almost all towns and villages fell into the hands of the French, and about two-thirds of the territory was in the fall.

The opening of this battle begins with a series of dazzling strategic deceptions by the magical general Andrew.

In early July 1794, the French army successfully conquered the Ass Pass, occupied the small town of Figueras on the border of the Pyrenees, and eliminated more than 30,000 Spanish defenders spread throughout the Iberis Peninsula in just a few days, just like bombs falling into the hearts of all Spanish people.

In Barcelona, ​​the capital of Catalonia, General Tasman, who was stationed there, immediately thought of retreating, but was suffering from the ruthless military laws of Duke Sanchez, and was in panic all day long. He cannot blame him here. General Gironimo's more than 30,000 troops were wiped out, and Tasman had only 12,000 men in his hands, which was even more difficult to resist the attack of the French army. While requesting the old duke's reinforcements, he kept writing letters to his family and relatives in Madrid, hoping that they could help transfer back to Madrid, preferably away from the French. Just in case, General Tasman even thought of preparing a merchant ship for himself, which could safely evacuate from the Mediterranean sea in the moment before the Andrew's army conquered Barcelona.

In Saragossa, when Duke Sanchez was shocked by the velocity of Andrew's army, he had no time to sigh for the fate of more than 30,000 compatriots. After a brief thought, he instructed the adjutant to issue a series of orders: order General Tasman to hold on to Barcelona and not retreat privately until reinforcements arrive; order to defend the Pyrenees in the central Pyrenees and Lechma region of General Domcho, including three infantry brigades and two cavalry regiments, to rush to the sky at night

He went to Manresa to join the nearby Barcelona defenders and organized defense on the spot; ordered General Boca to command more than 30,000 people stationed in Lerida to prepare, waiting for him to lead tens of thousands of independent battalions to arrive, and then head to Manresa with him; ordered General Gioma, in the western Pyrenees, to closely monitor the movements of the Moncey Legion and not to divide his troops to participate in defense in the east. In addition, Duke Sanchez also asked Madrid for help, hoping to dispatch more reinforcements.

In Madrid, the news of Andrew's successful attack caused envoys from various countries to begin to evacuate the city as planned. Following them, many families of wealthy businessmen and noble officials were also following them. For a time, the Madrid people were panicked. Less than two months after he ascended the throne, Juan VI was playing a sex game with a countess. The panicked Spanish king actually ran out of the palace naked, shouting that the guards should immediately call the cabinet to hold an imperial battle meeting.

The entire imperial meeting can be said to have been held in a quarrel. Although all liberals were driven out of the parliament and cabinet, and there were all conservative aristocrats on the venue, the defeat of the eastern defense line of the Pyrenees made the nobles who liked the faction of the party and the dissent. Their main anger was not the defeat of the battle, but the various measures taken by Duke Sanchez in Catalonia (capital, Barcelona) and Aragon (capital, Saracosa) and other regions seriously damaged the common interests of the nobles.

Previously, Duke Sanchez held heavy troops, and the nobles whose interests were hurt were not feeling touched the tiger's butt. When there was such a good opportunity, the shameless guys were not concerned about the safety of the country and jumped out to serve as the commander-in-chief of the northern defense line. Everyone criticized Duke Sanchez for his serious dereliction of duty, believing that it was the wrong deployment and personnel appointment of the old Duke that caused the entire northern defense line to collapse. The nobles asked the king to immediately remove the position of the old Duke and let him return to Madrid to receive punishment; while the minority of nobles were mainly officers and generals, but they hoped that Duke Sanchez could continue to command the battle. After all, there was no commander in the entire Spanish army who had rich combat experience and high moral character than him.

During the quarrel between the two factions, Juan VI himself could not make up. After he was impatient, the incompetent Spanish king accepted a plan submitted by his close servant: first send 20,000 elite cavalry from the Madrid guards' guards' guards to Manresa immediately; then urgently dispatch 30,000 troops in major cities in central and southern Spain, and rushed to the Catalan theater within ten days; ordered Duke Sanchez to defend the gateway of the northern city of Saracossa, Lerida, and wait for the arrival of reinforcements in the south-central areas. The commanders of the front line were handed over to General Brisbane, the commander of Madrid's garrison troops; the Imperial War Council required General Brisbane to drive the Andrew's army back to the Pyrenees as soon as possible, and counterattack the French territory as soon as possible.

...

While all the Spanish troops were frequently dispatched, Andrew, who had just won a major victory, slowed down his legion's pace of progress. Andrew ordered the entire legion to organize defenses near the small town, and sent a large number of quarantine officers to collect food, war horses, brass and other metals used to cast artillery.

On the one hand, he strictly blocked the border and the Spanish inland, sent a large number of military police to investigate all "suspicious figures" and detained them near the base camp, but allowed the "suspicious figures" relatives and friends to pay a certain ransom and release them. He also ordered various secret channels to walk through various secret channels. The French army encountered an unprecedented bloody battle in the city of Figueras, including fake news of heavy losses in various strategic materials. While concealing mobile cavalry and heavy artillery, he signaled that doctors in the battlefield hospital were busy bandaging and wounding the soldiers every day.

The performance of mouth. From Figueras to the Ass Pass, to the main traffic road leading to the French side, while continuously transporting injured soldiers (actually pretending to be Spanish prisoners) and food and supplies, there are often hurried messengers passing by. Several of them accidentally "missed" confidential documents within the legion, and the contents were basically requesting Paris to quickly dispatch reinforcements from the Pyrenees Legion, artillery, horses and other bad news. This kind of intelligence was quickly picked up by Spanish farmers or spies and sent to the Spanish front base camp.

On the other hand, Andrew deliberately painted peace and publicized the extraordinary combat effectiveness of the French army and the weakness of the Spanish army countless times, exaggerating the examples that had already achieved brilliant results, and making a mysterious noise that he would go south to Barcelona within this month and arrive in Madrid. His proud expression was like a nouveau riche. One day, in Yuma Village near the city of Figueras, the commander of the Legion who had just arrived at this "Tree of Freedom" accepted joint interviews from more than a dozen European journalists on an open space at the entrance of the village.

After publishing a bragging and disgusting publicity, a reporter from the Paris Jagbins asked Commander Andrew, who asked:

"General, when will our legion start the next attack, and when will our legion attack Madrid."

"Reporter Citizen. Our military operations have continued to be launched. I believe that it will not take long for me to invite me to visit the square in Madrid."

"General, can you tell me the specific time?"

"Yeah, it's the end of July or early August!"

"General, of all the troops of the army you command, will that force first capture Madrid?"

"Fifth Column!"

...

"General, I am a columnist for the Republic of Venice's "Road of Republic" and I would like to ask, how do you evaluate your army, and your opponent's Spanish army!"

"Haha, my army is extremely brave, the most powerful and terrifying legion in Europe. It can block ten, no, one hundred; as for the Spanish army, except the Duke of Sanchez, the others are synonymous with incompetent cowards, poor worries, and cowards. At the Ass Pass, our army killed 5,000 Spanish defenders in an instant in just one round of artillery; in the city of Figueras, my army occupied the city without bloodshed, all defenders, including more than 10 generals and their commander Geronemo, one surrendered without leaving any trace, and at that time, my army was still crossing the Ass Pass."

"General, you said that the city of Figueras was occupied without bloodshed, but I still saw many injured French soldiers. They still retained a large number of traces left after fierce battles in battlefield hospitals or on their way back to France, and near the French base camp. Can you explain this, General?"

"You're wrong, comrade! There was no casualty in Andrew's soldiers. They were ready to join the next battle. If they were really injured, it was just a small sprain on the training ground."

"But, the general, including all our reporters, can see it very clearly, indeed..."

"For God's sake, are you going to finish it! I am the commander of the French Legion. I said no, no, the next one!"

...

"General, I am a reporter from Voice of Vienna. Although our two countries are in a state of war, can you accept my question?"

"Haha, you don't need to be restrained when you are here. Please ask casually. Commander Andrew is very kind and kind, and can speak everything without hesitation."

"Thank you, General! You said before that your army is about to start the southward battle. Has it begun?"

"Well, this is a military secret. However, considering that the incompetent Spaniards cannot truly resist the attack of the army, I will tell you bluntly that as you arrived at the city of Figueras, the vanguard of the Pyrenees' army had launched an attack first, and it was a complete victory!"

"General, can you tell us which commander we are?"

"Haha, no problem, Brigadier General Dawu, please come over and answer a few small questions for our Republic's supporters. Well, damn it, don't frown!"

...

In fact, General Dawu's division was indeed the vanguard of the entire legion, and he did launch a series of southward attacks, but the results of the attack showed the real situation in front of the world, but it was "a mess".

...

At this time, Sergeant Shavet, in the recruit company, was leading his platoon to fight a "beautiful defeat". That was the morning before yesterday, Sergeant Shavet and eight platoon leaders called to the division command center, and the commander of the Dawu Division personally assigned the combat tasks to the nine platoon leaders. The content of the task was very simple. Brigadier General Dawu asked Sergeant and others to lead the team to attack. Each sergeant led more than 30 infantry platoons to grope forward alone. After encountering the enemy, they could not fight too much. After firing several shots in the air, they could take the initiative to retreat.

As soon as he heard about the mission, Shaweit and others felt very strange, but after understanding their responsibilities, the platoon leaders did not ask the general for too much explanation. Before leaving, the commander of the Dawu Division repeatedly emphasized that there would be no reinforcements in the battles of each platoon during the advance, and the combat mission must be completed independently. When encountering a brigade of Spanish defenders, all the teams must retreat to the base camp with all their strength, which is a contribution; otherwise, those who do not follow the order will be severely dealt with by military law.

Since yesterday morning, Chavet and his 35 team members have been traveling dozens of miles in the hilly areas. During this period, they have crossed multiple hills, passed through three villages, and ambushed three small Spanish patrol teams. Obviously, the quality of the Spanish soldiers is too poor and have basically not received any effective training. Under Chavet's command, after a rogue of guns, the Spanish infantry and cavalry rushed and fled around, leaving only more than a dozen corpses and spoils on the bodies waiting for the French to get them.

The two brothers Levana and Denadi in the platoon were naturally very happy. It was their first time to obtain their own spoils (because the platoon leader of Charlie Chevres stipulated that the property of farmers should not be plundered, and the spoils could only be seized from the Spanish army). Levana also led a Spanish war horse that had lost its master and took on the task of hauling the spoils of comrades. The two planned to win a few more battles and handed over all the materials and horses to the quarantine officer for auction, and then they could exchange them for a brick house in their hometown.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. In an encounter at night, they met a team of 100 Spanish cavalry. The brave Frenchmen remained in a vigorous state of fighting. With the cover of the woods and bushes, they defeated the enemy cavalry several attacks, killing and injuring more than 40 people. The Spanish cavalry was finally defeated, but just as they were about to take advantage of the victory, the platoon leader of Shaweit ordered the platoon to retreat at full speed, and did not even give time to clean the battlefield.

Of course, the soldiers were not happy, especially Levana and Denadi, who protested. Chavet coldly warned everyone that they had to obey the orders. The depressed soldiers had to return to the base camp with their injured companions and a few spoils in darkness.

According to the order of Commander Dawu, all the small troops sent out ran back collectively shortly after contacting the Spanish defenders, and the speed of retreating was more than twice as fast as the pace of advancement.

This made General Tasman happy on the garrison of Manresa and Barcelona. When he learned that his army had "miraculously" repelled the "crazy attack" of Andrew's army more than ten times, Tasman began to float up. General Tasman did not hesitate to reward the defenders of various places with their money and ranks (the so-called glory was not even caught by a French prisoner), and he also excitedly reported the results to the Madrid cabinet and the old duke.

He wrote in his letter: "...Obviously, God is still standing on our side. His Majesty's soldiers are so brave and good at fighting. They fought bravely in the enemy's guns and bullets, repelled nearly 20,000 French people over ten times, and killed and injured more than 5,000 enemy troops... I believe, I promise, and swear before the Almighty God and His Highness of the Kingdom that as long as I give me another 20,000 people, Tasman will be able to drive all the French back to their hometown..."

Duke Sanchez obviously did not believe in General Tasman's war report. He defeated a reorganized French division with only 10,000 people, and also annihilated 5,000 enemies. Not to mention that Duke Sanchez suspected General Tasman's personal command ability and the combat capabilities of his subordinates, there were many loopholes in intelligence alone. One-third of the enemy had only seized a small amount of weapons and equipment, without a prisoner, an artillery and a military flag. However, due to the final decision of the Imperial Front Operations Conference, Duke Sanchez had lost the power of the commander-in-chief of the Northern Front, and replaced it with Madrid's garrison, General Brisbane.

Like most senior Spanish officers, Brisbane was born into a wealthy family. This simple-minded and well-developed Madrid beast (named by Madrid citizens), was energetic but extremely rough, and was a good player to play with women. Because of his strong physique, he was selected into the royal garrison. Since then, he has risen to the top with his family power and his lover with his former Queen Marian. He has not fought a great battle and was promoted to general at the age of 28, mastering Spain's most elite royal garrison, commanding 20,000 Spanish elite cavalry. Before Juan VI came to power, Brisbane actively surrendered to the later Spanish king and became his loyal lackey. This time, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the northern Spanish defense line by Juan VI, of course, was full of energy and arrogant.

After receiving the mission, the Brisbane General quickly dispatched troops and tied 20,000 cavalry to rush to the town of Lyrida to replace Duke Sanchez to take over the entire defense work. In the town of Lyrida, Brisbane, who took over the command of the commander, did not want to listen to any correct suggestions or suggestions from the old duke. That was Duke Sanchez kept nagging in front of him, how cunning Andrew in front of him, how should he be guarded against the French attack at all times, and should use strategic depth to lure the French army into the hinterland of Spain, rather than actively fighting with it...

If Duke Sanchez hadn't been an illegitimate noble that Spain could not offend too much, Brisbane would have been able to resist harsh retorting. After less than 10 minutes of a talk without any salt, Brisbane stood up impatiently and said goodbye, not caring about the previous warning of the old duke. He led 20,000 Spanish cavalry and 30,000 General Boca, a total of 50,000 people to the town of Manresa, and met with General Domcho (18,000 troops) who arrived there in advance, and General Tasman (12,000 troops) who had previously stationed there.

The next morning, while watching the army advance eastward, Duke Sanchez was still trying to send all the Brisbane General. The old duke who was loyal to his country hoped that the latter would strengthen the defense line between Manresa and Barcelona. If he was unable to compete with the enemy, he should take the initiative to retreat and use his vast territory to carry out mobile combat with the French. Obviously, all the old duke's words were wasted. The stubborn general finally couldn't control his anger in his heart and shouted loudly:

"Enough, Your Highness, Duke! I know that in the heart of Andrew's devil, you are the only Spanish general who can be taken seriously, but as a Spanish nobleman, I feel even more ashamed of your timidity and incompetence. Please wait and see. It won't take long for Brisbane to return triumphantly and bring Andrew's body back. Then we will see who is the best commander in Spain."

As soon as he finished speaking, Brisbane turned over and rode away without even saying a word of farewell, leaving only Duke Sanchez alone outside the city gate. The originally energetic old duke seemed much older for a moment. At this time, he finally understood Andrew's previous strategic intention: first fool the world with various contradictory false alarms, making the opponent mistakenly think that the strength of the French Legion had suffered a significant loss; then he used a small force to create a scene of weak attacks dozens of times, instigating and provoking the Spanish army to actively attack Andrew's Legion. Perhaps a large net had been quietly unfolding near the city of Figueras, waiting for the prey to come and die.
Chapter completed!