In the early morning of July 12, Brisbane led his more than 50,000 Spanish troops to "go to the appointment" as scheduled.

According to the marching and combat deployment of the Madrid garrison general: before reaching the Roa River, the army was divided into three routes. The left was General Domcho's troops (18,000 people in total), the right was General Tasman's 12,000 elite garrison cavalry led by himself, and the only road in the hilly and mountainous areas became the special road for noble knights, because the road was relatively narrow and could only be arranged side by side with 4 or 5 cavalrymen. The generals on the left and right wings and their officers and soldiers had no choice but to crawl like turtles on the rugged hillsides.

The entire three armies kept a distance of about 12 miles, and were responsible for the reconnaissance and warning tasks in the surrounding area. They were General Domcho's two cavalry regiments. They rushed back and forth countless times on the hillside, hills, and basins, but to their disappointment, they never saw any French outposts or scouts, until they were near the Rova River.

A long dragon of cavalry winds on the only highway in the middle of the hills. A lieutenant, a garrison commander, arrived from behind the team and came to Brisbane to report the latest military situation.

"Report to the commander, the two generals, Domjo and Tasman, sent a commissar, asking you to slow down your progress. They are already more than 30 miles behind. In addition, the generals also asked if they could put the artillery they carried behind the cavalry."

Brisbane pulled his white gloves without any concern and asked casually: "Where is the French?"

"So far, the scouts have not found any trace of French sentinels nearby. I believe they are still busy doing fortifications in the town of Fairway, north of the Roa River!" The messenger reported loudly.

"Oh, since the French are in front, why should we wait for the slow guys behind?" Brisbane raised his head, looked around, and asked loudly at the cavalry in front and behind: "Northern knights, tell me, should we continue to advance and defeat the Frenchmen, enjoy their women and treasures, or wait for the garbage infantry in other provinces to distribute the spoils that belong to us to the useless bastard?"

The extremely provocative words of the Brisbane commander obviously aroused the enthusiasm of the garrison cavalry, and immediately the joy of the cavalry sounded on the winding road for several miles, but the sound was too noisy and the pace was very inconsistent.

"Go forward! Kill the French!"

"We leave the French corpses to the turtles!"

"Attack, continue to attack and go to the hometown of the French devils."

...

Brisbane was very satisfied with the soldiers' agreement. He pointed proudly in front of him and said to the commissar: "Go and tell the two generals and tell them the call of our brave cavalry. In addition, for God's sake, the merciful commander of Brisbane allowed them to put the heavy artillery on the road, and carry the small caliber artillery by themselves."

...

"Fuck Madrid bastard!" Domjo and Tasman cursed fiercely. Originally, the infantry could not escape the cavalry, not to mention that they were still marching between the rugged mountain roads, pulling the heavy artillery. But no matter how much they curse, the Madrid bastard was not something that the generals from other provinces could offend. After complaining, they still forced the troops to continue moving forward and speed up their pace.

In the afternoon, Brisbane's cavalry successfully arrived next to the stone bridge on the south bank of the Roa River, which was the only stone bridge on the Roa River. Here he could see the town of Fairway with his naked eyes. For some reason, the roaring Roa River was no longer turbulent, and the clear water surface was as quiet as the town in front of him.

A dismounted cavalry ran over excitedly and told the commander that the river was shallow and that the cavalry could ride horses across the river. The French had voluntarily evacuated the town, and even the citizens in the town were not left.

Brisbane felt relieved, knowing that the French could not resist their cavalry here. If the river was turbulent and could not swim, the French still used the only stone bridge on the river to resist the possibility of time at one end. Now even God is on the side of the Spaniards, and the river is no longer an obstacle to the cavalry. He ordered the cavalry to go to the town and rest on the spot, waiting for the arrival of the other two infantry.

The scouts had a good guess, and the citizens of the town of Fairway did retreat with the French soldiers, all thanks to the credit of the Brisbane Commander. While marching all the way, Brisbane instigated the soldiers to plunder, food, horses and women. The reason was that the tax officer who "recovered lost land" with the Brisbane Commander: saying that the villagers traded with the French and sold off the interests of the Spanish Kingdom and should be severely punished. More than a dozen villagers who tried to resist were executed on the spot. Brisbane also suffered a crushing disaster due to a little girl's struggle, causing the commander's beautiful white uniform.

As Andrew foresaw, the news of misfortune quickly spread to other villages and the town of Fairway. After the fleeing villagers told them about their encounter, almost everyone followed the evacuated Frenchmen to leave their homeland.

At around 7 o'clock in the evening, when night fell, Brisbane finally waited for the other two armies. At the bitter begging of General Tasman and General Domcho, more than 50,000 people rested in Fairway Town for a whole night. The next morning continued to set off, this time the target was the city of Figueras, where the Andrew's legion's base camp was located.

Obviously, the Spanish marching speed was too much Andrew was very annoyed. All the way, Andrew ordered the French outpost troops to retreat quickly, hoping that the damn Brisbane could come that night, and he would solve the entire battle within one day on July 11. Time was already very urgent for Andrew. Because at this moment, he had just received a secret report from Madrid that more than 30,000 troops were about to go to the town of Lerida and meet with the Duke of Sanchez who was stationed there.

So, the problem that Andrew was worried about finally emerged. If Duke Sanchez was just doing simple defense on the spot, Andrew had nothing to worry about. He first cleaned up Brisbane, then wiped out 30,000 Bocas left by Manresa, and then waited for reinforcements from General Monse, and finally attacked Duke Sanchez in the town of Lerida. During this period, the tired soldiers could be rested for 3 to 4 days. Although Andrew was confident in the legion's continuous combat ability, he was unwilling to fight several times the enemy's continuous battle in a high-intensity fatigue state, which would inevitably increase the number of casualties of soldiers.

But now the situation has changed. At the strong request of Duke Sanchez, tens of thousands of troops from the central and western regions have accelerated their progress and will arrive in the town of Lerida as soon as July 13. Then Duke Sanchez will lead the 70,000 people, including the 40,000 miscellaneous troops collected by the old duke, to Manresa overnight to join the remaining troops of General Boca, and there will be 100,000 troops; on the other hand, General Monse, who completed the rest and replenished the troops, did not obey Commander-in-Chief (according to the National Guild's needs)

Ask that General Monse must obey Commander Andrew's command), he threw away the Milière commissioner who came to issue the transfer order. He did not follow the route designed by Andrew from France, on the Aspass side, to reinforce the Pyrenees legion, but secretly crossed the western end of the Pyrenees Mountains and crossed the border again. Now the 50,000 army is being led by 30,000 Spanish people in the mountains, whether they are going to be attacked by small enemy troops? According to the report of Milière commissioner, in a short time, the Biscay legion could not move to the vicinity of Andrew's legion.

The huge gap in military strength is obviously what Andrew wants to worry about. Andrew is not so arrogant that he can beat ten. The more than 50,000 Brisbane in front of him have not yet been eliminated, and more than 100,000 enemy troops will be added to the Duke of Sanchez. Andrew has only more than 50,000 people in his hands. The reinforcements of the Biscay Legion have not arrived for a long time, and it is very likely that they will not be able to reach the end of the battle.

The entire plan was originally extremely perfect, and it was extremely successful to lure the enemy into depth, but first there was no support for his own, and then the enemy was about to come to nearly 160,000. One table of food was prepared for three tables of people. It was depressed and depressed!

Andrew walked around the combat room, thinking repeatedly, and on the side of the commander, the senior officers of the Legion were also whispering in private and talking.

"Adminton St. Martin, what's the advice of your staff?" Andrew finished his wandering and returned to his seat.

"His Excellency Commander, the staff team's opinions are mainly two types of opinions after analysis," Major St. Martin walked to the huge battle terrain map and explained:

“First, in accordance with the original combat plan, after eliminating 50,000 Brisbane’s people, with the help of favorable terrain, the original defense line between Ass Pass and Figueras City will be maintained and consolidated, waiting for other reinforcements to arrive, and then make other plans;

Secondly, before the 50,000 enemy troops that destroyed Brisbane, a small force was sent to the hinterland of Spain, to cut off the information contact between the town of Lerida and Manresa, and to continuously raid the reinforcements of Duke Sanchez, and to make his 70,000 men unable to reach Manresa before the 15th. After our army eliminated Brisbane troops, the main force of the legion was not responsible for cleaning the battlefield and continued to move forward. On the night of the 13th, it quickly advanced to the vicinity of Manresa, and within 48 hours, conquered the town of Manresa, which was stationed by General Boca within 70,000, and then fought with Duke Sanchez's 70,000 people to seek the final battle."

After listening to the introduction of Adjutant Saint Martin, Andrew chose the latter plan without hesitation after listening to the opinions of the officers. In his opinion, the former plan was too conservative. The long-term two armies did not conform to the legion's previous overall strategic deployment. They must arrive in Madrid in late July before the British interfering army landed on the peninsula. Although the latter type is very risky, and after continuous combat, it will definitely make the soldiers exhausted, but it is worth trying. It is based on trust in the combat capabilities of his soldiers. The previous long-distance training was to prepare for this arduous battle.

Andrew then ordered that the Massena Division, which had already detoured along the Rova River to the right, was ready to make a long-distance marching when it was over the encirclement and suppression of the enemy. It must arrive at the town of Manresa on the 13th, and with the cooperation of the Cavalry Brigade of Mura, it surrounded Manresa and wait until the active troops arrived. At the same time, it ordered that other troops would also prepare for marching after eliminating the current enemy in accordance with the combat deployment. Officers at all levels should be dispatched to the grassroots to do publicity and mobilization; the arduous task of slowing down the pace of the Duke of Sanchez's army was handed over to the hands of Colonel Shis's special forces brigade.

On the afternoon of July 11, the long-awaited Spaniards appeared on the hillside 5 kilometers away from Figueras City to camp. With the help of the afterglow of Xiyang, Brisbane and his followers were standing on the high ground and looking at the French defending Figueras City.

From here, the city of Figueras is just a lonely border town. Behind it is the rolling Pyrenees Mountains, with dense oak trees on both sides and a wide plain with a flat radius of more than ten miles. The east and west ends of the small town were only 800 meters. The residents of the local area were forcibly migrated to other places by the defeated General Gironimo before the war began. The walls of Figueras were low and thick, with a height of only 4 meters above and below. The three-color flag representing France fluttered over this city belonging to Spain.

The front end of the city is 200 meters. Facing the direction of the Spanish camp, infantry trenches are still deployed to lie on the entire city. 80 meters behind the trenches are the chest walls of infantry defense. According to the information learned, the French did not strengthen and widen the trenches, so the distance between the trenches is obviously only 2 meters. The fully armed infantry should not be able to cross, and the knights riding tall horses can do it. The two French artillery positions were placed between the trenches and the city walls. The number was not large, all of which were small calibers and only more than 50. There was no heavy artillery group of the French. It seemed that the artillery losses of Andrew's army were indeed quite large.

At around 8 pm, Andrew received a war letter from Brisbane, asking both sides to launch a battle between the two armies on the grassland between the city and the hillside tomorrow. When he received this challenge book that only existed in the Middle Ages, Commander Andrew happened to finish his supper and almost vomited before he finished reading it. After laughing, Andrew pointed to the war letter and said to the Spanish envoy in front of him:

"Yes, if the Brisbane commander could kill all the war horses and turn his cavalry into infantry, I would consider it. Now let you Spaniards release the horses, and the French artillery will kill you one by one."

After saying this, Andrew wrote in his reply to the other party's war letter: "Stop talking, just fight if you want to fight!"

Although Brisbane was furious afterwards, cursing Andrew as a coward and cowardly words countless times, threatening to take off his head tomorrow, both sides seemed to have agreed in advance that night. On the night of July 11, neither the French nor the Spanish launched an attack on the other side or tentative attack. The Spaniards were busy with the arrival of the subsequent heavy artillery, while Andrew was waiting for the Spaniards' active attack, and there was news whether the Massena Division successfully detoured the enemy's rear.

At 9 a.m. on July 12, the battle finally began.

Brisbane first ordered all 23 heavy artillery propelled within a range of 1,200 meters to be launched immediately. The target of the attack was two light artillery groups of French troops behind the infantry trenches. After a rumbling sound of cannons, the huge solid blasted through white fire smoke, and the wonderful arc in the sky was transformed into a meeting to fly to the French positions.

Obviously, the quality of the Spanish gunners was too poor, and they did not even conduct prior test firing. After five rounds of volleys, only less than 10 shells fell accurately on the French artillery positions. Because the soil on the grass was very soft, unless it was hit directly, the falling artillery shells could not continue to bounce, and continued to kill the gunners and artillery. The Spanish artillery caused less than 30 people to damage, and only 2 artillery losses were lost. The injured French gunner was immediately carried off by a stretcher, and a newcomer added, and the observer continued to calculate the enemy's artillery position, distance, wind speed and other data.

After learning about the enemy's losses, Brisbane first called the commander of the artillery column to scold him and ordered him to aim at some attacks, so that all large and small caliber would appear, aim at the enemy's infantry chest wall, artillery positions, and the city behind him to fire violently. Then, he no longer waited for the enemy's artillery group to be destroyed, so he ordered General Domjo's infantry and cavalry to start attacking.

Five minutes later, 15,000 soldiers were arranged into more than 20 columns, each with more than 600 people in three rows, and about half a battalion of troops. The more than 10,000 infantrymen walked towards the French position opposite under the drum beat of the military band. 3,000 cavalrymen were arranged on the left and right wings of the infantry, and their pace was consistent with the infantry.

What floated down from the sky was the smell of smoke that made them choked, and countless artillery shells on their heads were also flying around crookedly. It seemed that the commander's fire was counterproductive. The Spanish artillery shells had completely become headless flies. The artillery shells fired several times also ran into the dense column of their own infantry. More than 200 unlucky soldiers created the first number of Spanish casualties.

Andrew, who was standing in the city of Figueras, thought of leaving the city wall and finding a safe place before the Spaniards fired. However, after watching the Spaniards' dazzling fireworks performance and stupid formation of troops, he gave up his early decision and resolutely stood in a conspicuous position that all French soldiers could see. It was not how brave the commander was, first, the chance of the enemy's artillery hitting him directly was too low, just like winning a lottery jackpot; second, standing at a high place, wanting to enjoy a wonderful massacre performance, and third, showing the commander's previous example in person.

"Adminton St. Martin, help me bring Little Pete over." Andrew found an easy chair to sit down. He looked bored and asked the adjutant to bring his dog over.

Little Pete is a cute big white bear dog. Before Andrew personally comforted the old farmer whom he called him "Big Brother", the other party gave a puppy to thank the commander. This is a specialty of dogs near the Pyrenees and the most powerful famous dog in the world. It is said that it is cute because it has a kind heart in its strong body, calm, gentle and loyal, emotional, and has the ability to guard the dog, and can adapt to home life.

The Great White Bear Dog is used to protect the sheep in the Pyrenees and to drive away the bears or wolves that attacked the sheep. The ancestor of this dog was a Tibetan arbitrary dog ​​from Asia more than a thousand years ago, and later mate with the native native dogs here. The reason why it was called Little Pete was when Andrew returned to the camp. He just received the British cabinet and rejected his own peace suggestions. In anger, Andrew called the cute Big White Bear Dog "Little Pete" (the name of the British cabinet prime minister).

After a while, "Little Pete", who was only 4 months old, jumped into Andrew's arms as if he was jumping around, and while opening his tiny tongue to his master's arm, he also moaned in his mouth, looking at Andrew with a pity, as if venting his dissatisfaction with his master's lock it just now. As for the rumbling sound of cannon fire in his ears, "Little Pete" didn't care much, thanks to the owner's reason for often going to the front line to listen to the sound of cannon fire.

Andrew smiled and patted his dog's head, and laughed loudly at the adjutant beside him, "Haha, look, even my little Pete is not afraid of the Spanish."

"Of course, the more than 10,000 infantry in front of him were just to die." St. Martin agreed respectfully, only skipping a trace of hesitation at the corner of his eyes. Although it flashed, Andrew was still keenly noticed.

Andrew shook his head and put "Little Pete" on the ground and played alone. He stood up and walked to St. Martin and continued, "As the commander's adjutant and staff officer, you must always put forward your opinion on the situation of the battle. This is your duty. You should always remember that the commander needs a staff officer with a clear mind, not a deputy who can only flatter. From your hesitant expression just now, you are worried that there is no fire support from heavy artillery, and whether the defenders under your chest wall can withstand the attack of the enemy on the ground. Is it?"

"Yes! Commander." Saint Martin felt a little ashamed, straightened his body, and said his thoughts loudly: "The infantry on the front line is only one brigade of General Dawu. The 6,000 men have to face three times their enemies, including the enemy cavalry. The artillery they cooperate with is small caliber, and the firepower support is too small. After all, what they have to face is the regular Spanish army, not the rebels of Wandai."
Chapter completed!