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On November 12, after a week's long march, the French army led by Junod finally reached the border of Spain and Portugal, but at this time, a very important problem had plagued his army. That is, there was a serious problem with their logistical support. After this period of marching, the food, drinking water and clothing of the troops were seriously lacking, and the weather was very cold, which caused a large number of non-combat attrition.

In fact, Clark prepared a large amount of logistical materials for this French operation, but he seriously ignored one problem, that is, the obstacles of the Pyrenees. A large amount of logistics materials are piled up in Biarritz and other places, but due to transportation problems, they cannot be delivered to Juno in time, which has caused Juno's current difficult situation.

"How long will our supplies last?" Juno asked his chief of staff.

"It can last for two days at most, but what we are seriously lacking now is medicine and clothing. In the past week, more than 2,000 people have been frostbitten." The chief of staff replied anxiously.

Hearing this news, Juno frowned. Originally thought that this operation was an easy mission, but he didn't expect it to become like this due to logistical problems. He even wondered if Clark was deliberately messing with him, but he didn't remember any conflicts with Clark.

"Can we get some supplies from our ally Spain?" Juno asked.

"I've tried it, but they said that they are also in short supply of various supplies now, and there is nothing extra for us."

"Bastards, those damned, greedy Spaniards." Juno cursed very angrily. He has long been dissatisfied with Spain, not to mention that they occupied one-third of Portugal without any effort, and now they refuse to give some supplies.

"Have the Portuguese made any preparations?" Juno asked after calming down.

"There is no news yet, but the Regent of Portugal has clearly rejected our request for assistance in defense, but we don't care about the internal request. According to the original plan, the entire territory of Portugal will be occupied before November 30. The important point is to imprison the Portuguese royal family," the chief of staff reminded.

Juno nodded: "It's already the 12th, and we don't have much time left. Besides, the Portuguese royal family may have already prepared, and it may be difficult to catch them."

"Yeah? They are not our opponents, but they won't sit still." The chief of staff said with a sigh.

"Temporarily hand over all the wounded to the Spanish government, and ask them to help us take care of them, then gather the remaining supplies, order the entire army to march at full speed, and must occupy the entire Spain before the 30th, and stop the Spanish royal family." Zhu Nuo gave the final order.

In this way, more than 20,000 French troops frantically marched towards Lisbon. In order to ensure the supply of supplies, they even robbed Portuguese civilians. Fortunately, the Portuguese army did not know what was going on, and did not do anything to resist the invasion of the French army. , This made Juno's march very smooth, but similarly, in the absence of logistical support, non-combat attrition was also very large.

It was not until November 30, 1807 that less than 20,000 ragged troops entered Lisbon, but it was too late. The Portuguese royal family had fled to Brazil less than 24 hours earlier on a British warship with **** The British royal family is none other than Napoleon's old enemy, the famous William Sidney Smith. This person successfully defeated the French navy when Napoleon invaded Egypt, cut off Napoleon's retreat, and indirectly caused the failure of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. In the following years, he also led his fleet to defeat the French navy one after another, thwarting Napoleon's plan to attack Britain.

After occupying Portugal, Juno reveled in dating Portuguese beauties and plundering property in Lisbon, taking no precautions at all against possible British reprisals. As a result, in August of the following year, Sir Arthur Wellesley led a British army of 9,000 people to land in Mondego Bay. Although Junod's mistakes delayed Napoleon's Iberian campaign until the end of 1807, Napoleon was relatively satisfied with Junod.

Portugal was the launching pad for Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, followed by Spain, which then occupied the Straits of Gibraltar and took control of the entire Mediterranean. In this way, the French army can imitate the ancient Roman army to attack North Africa, and the French army in Italy will capture Sicily and send a fleet to control the Cape of Good Hope. But in order to complete such a huge plan, at least 60,000 French troops need to be added to attack Constantinople, a strategic location called "the center of the universe" by Napoleon. In addition, there are the East and West Indies and South Africa. Such a conquest plan was conceived in February 1806 and matured in March 1807; the whole strategy aimed at destroying British trade around the globe and taking the world into Napoleon's own hands. The plan was dizzying in its depth, breadth, and imagination, and it required a number of troops and warships that France did not possess. Moreover, when Napoleon conceived this plan, he seemed to have forgotten the existence of the British Navy, which controlled the world's major sea areas, and the technical and logistical conditions required for such a world-wide war. After Talleyrand stepped down, there was no harsh advice to pour cold water on Napoleon's arrogant plan. Napoleon's orders are still taken seriously in the French army by most of the officers and generals whose existence depends on his orders.

Xiao Jie is not optimistic about Napoleon's huge plan, because it cannot be achieved with the current French national strength alone, and doing so will only consume France's already weak national strength. The quagmire of the Spanish war in history caused the death of 300,000 French troops there, which indirectly planted the bitter fruit of Napoleon's later failure. Xiao Jie knew that he could not prevent Napoleon from carrying out this plan at all, but he took a fancy to Spain, a strategically important place. He planned to lead an army here after Joseph became the king of Spain, quickly quell the turmoil, and then build this place as his rear base.

The cooperation of Russia and Spain was absolutely indispensable in the early stages of carrying out this plan of conquest. Napoleon could not station a large army in Spain without fear of flanking, especially against a ready Austria; for this he needed direct military assistance from Russia. Napoleon also hoped that the cooperation of the Spanish people would allow him to secure control of the country before advancing through Gibraltar to North Africa. But Napoleon realized: "Nobility and white collars are the main body of Spanish society. If their privileges and existence are threatened, they will fight me to the end. At present, I have my own supporters there, but if I act as a A conqueror goes and I lose them." The provocative and independent Spanish nation would not submit to France or any invader, as Napoleon puts it in these analyzes of Murat.

Spain is located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It borders on the Bay of Biscay to the north, Portugal to the west, Morocco in Africa to the south across the Strait of Gibraltar, France to the northeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east and southeast. The coastline is about 7800 kilometers long. The territory is mountainous and is one of the alpine countries in Europe. Plateaus and mountains alternate within the territory, with an average elevation of 660 meters across the country, 35% of the country is above 1,000 meters above sea level, and plains only account for 11%, making it one of the highest-lying countries in Europe. The main mountain ranges are the Cantabrian and Pyrenees in the north, and the Sierra Morena and Andalusia in the south. The Mulasan Peak in the south is 3478 meters above sea level, which is the highest peak in the country.

Spain is rich in resources and has the largest mercury reserves in the world, as well as coal, iron, bauxite, molybdenum, pyrite, and petroleum. The forest area is vast, including European cork oak, oak, chestnut, fir and so on. Rich in sardines and lobster.

This is the springboard for France to enter Africa, so Napoleon has very strong ambitions here. With Portugal cleared, Napoleon was ready for his second step—invading Spain. Fortunately, this step was much easier thanks to the Spanish crown's incompetence and deadly infighting. Before Juno's army marched into Spain in November, Napoleon had sent two French regiments into northern Spain, namely Marmont's 2nd Army and Lunet's 4th Army. Originally, Xiao Jie's 88th Army The Legion also wanted to participate in this operation, but Xiao Jie rejected Napoleon's request on the grounds that the 88th Legion was politically expanded. In fact, Xiao Jie's real goal was that the current situation in Spain was still unclear, and he didn't want to think about it. If this muddy water had flowed earlier, Spain would soon fall into the snare set by Napoleon. As for the Spanish army, Napoleon thought it was vulnerable and didn't care at all. And the Spanish royal family is even more in its pocket. King Charles IV of Spain is a weak-willed and stupid king. He is completely under the control of the queen and the queen's lover and favorite Godoy. He is full of jealousy towards Godoy and his son, the heir to the throne, Ferdinand~www.mtlnovel. com~ Godoy became very cooperative after Napoleon promised him a small kingdom in the Algarve. Napoleon despises and loathes the entire Spanish imperial court, whether it is the king, prince or favorite Godoy. Both time and situation are very favorable to Napoleon. As Napoleon pointed out: "Choosing the right moment to act is a man's great wisdom. What a man can do in 1807 may not be able to do in 1810 anyway."

As expected. Charles IV ordered the arrest of his own son Ferdinand on charges of treason (he believed Ferdinand's opposition to Godoy was a plot to dethrone him). He wrote to Napoleon for help and sent troops to intervene, but after mediation, the King of Spain repented and informed Napoleon that there was no need for military intervention. At this time, the French army was actively preparing to invade Spain, and French newspapers also criticized Godoy. Ferdinand attempted to marry the powerful French emperor in order to promote his Spanish reforms and overthrow Godoy; thus he proposed marriage to Napoleon's niece and Lucien's eldest daughter, but Napoleon refused his marriage proposal.

On February 16, 1808, seeing that the time was ripe, Napoleon occupied Pamplona, ​​Barcelona, ​​San Sebastian and other places in one fell swoop, and the journey went smoothly.

(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!)