"A mistake, what a serious mistake!" Xiao Jie stood alone on the pier of Santander, talking to himself facing the wide sea. Due to his misjudgment, Arthur Wellesley successfully escaped from Spain, which made him very unwilling. Now that Arthur Wellesley has left Spain, Xiao Jie has a premonition that he will meet him again on the battlefield in the future. Through intelligence, he knew that the British fleet stationed in Santander was not large enough to transport Arthur Wellesley's army away. It was precisely because of this that he thought that he would capture Arthur here. Arthur Wellesley was a big fish, but he still underestimated Arthur Wellesley. He didn't expect that he would abandon his soldiers and run away by himself. Could it be that the officials of the British Empire, who have always valued honor, can give up their honor as more precious than life in order to survive? It can be concluded that life is the most precious thing.
After Arthur Wellesley and a group of his officers fled, the British army lost its command and became chaotic, unable to effectively resist the French attack. So, except for a very small number of diehards, the rest of the people put down their weapons without hesitation, stopped resisting, and walked into the French prisoner-of-war camp obediently, making the French prisoner-of-war camp, which was originally small, once again get crowded. For those who stubbornly resist, of course there is nothing good, and they will all be killed.
Although the supplies of the 88th Army Corps are also a little tight, Xiao Jie still provided these prisoners with good food and drink. Of course, they also had to pay a certain amount of labor, such as building roads or other infrastructure. These prisoners of war Xiao Jie are of great use. The British government will not let them go. At that time, they can open their mouths and beat them hard. Anyway, Britain has accumulated a lot of wealth over the past few hundred years. , Now it is just time to let them bleed, the construction of Spain needs a lot of money, Xiao Jie is worrying about this matter. It doesn't matter if you don't want to use money to redeem these prisoners of war. Anyway, these prisoners of war can be used as the cheapest labor force. Of course, the premise is that the British government can appease the relatives of these prisoners of war and resist the attacks of some other opposition parties.
The British withdrew from Spain, and the situation in Spain became very clear. In the entire northern part of Spain, after the retreat of the British army, there were no resistance forces threatening the French army, so Xiao Jie ordered the cavalry corps to start sweeping the entire northern part of Spain and eradicate all forces hostile to France. Although the cavalry regiment was severely damaged, there was no problem doing these things.
Afterwards, rest in Santander for two days. On January 1, Xiao Jie led the main force of the 88th Army and began to go south, preparing to deal with the largest force in the Spanish rebellion—the rebellion led by Castagnos. They still control Madrid and most of the south-central areas of Spain, and there are also many troops. After this period of crazy development, it is said that they have reached 200,000 people. Of course, in Xiao Jie's eyes, these are basically a bunch of vulnerable mobs.
Before Xiao Jie went south, the 2nd Division led by Dugor, the deputy commander of the 88th Army Corps, had already advanced towards Madrid from the southeast. It is currently stationed in Tarancon, only 80 kilometers away from Madrid, but here It was too close to the ruling center of Castagnos, and the forces of the Spanish rebels were relatively strong, making it difficult for Dugor to continue to advance.
Castagnos certainly did not want the army led by Dugor to push into Madrid, and he also sent troops to stop it. On December 27, the two sides fought a fierce battle in Tarancon. Among them, the Spanish rebel army dispatched more than 60,000 people, but they still failed to get any bargain under the 2nd Division of the 88th Army, and instead caused heavy losses to themselves. More than 60,000 people were killed and half of them were captured, and the rest were so frightened that they did not fight anymore and retreated one after another, resulting in the current confrontation between the two sides along the Tagus River. On the one hand, the Spanish rebellious army was frightened and dared not launch an attack easily. On the other hand, the 2nd Division had no strength to continue the attack, which made the two sides enter a temporary stalemate. However, this situation is about to change soon, because the main force of the 88th Army led by Xiao Jie is on the way to the south. When they arrive, they will inevitably attack Madrid from the north, and Castagnos will be exhausted. , no resistance.
Castagnos has been in a bad mood recently and often loses his temper, which makes everyone in his house cautious for fear of doing something wrong. It's no wonder that several military operations have been carried out in the hands of the 88th Army. How can he feel better? Now he has received even more serious news that the British army had all withdrawn from Spain after the defeat in Tudela, which made him feel like he was fighting alone. He also understood that his own strength alone was not enough to fight against the 88th Legion. Even if his army was more than twice the size of the opponent, the only result of the confrontation between the two sides was that he was defeated and completely defeated. However, at this time, what can he do if he does not fight the 88th Army? Surrender to the 88th Army? This is simply not possible. Not to mention whether the other party can accept his surrender, first of all he will not be able to pass his own test. For such a long time, he has monopolized the power, and now he has become deeply infatuated with the taste of power, and now it is more uncomfortable for him to give up than to kill him. Therefore, he chose to fight to the death with the 88th Legion, hoping for a miracle to happen.
On January 11, after a 10-day trek, the main force of the 88th Army finally bypassed the Central Mountain Range and arrived at Plasencia, a city on the westernmost foothills of the Central Mountain Range. Here, Xiao Jie and the others met Castagnos's first blocking army. Knowing that he was not the opponent of the 88th Army, Castagnos shrank the other lines of defense and put all the main forces on the line of Madrid-Tajo River-Central Mountains, hoping to block the attack of the 88th Army with the favorable terrain . But the wish is beautiful, the reality is cruel. The 20,000 defenders he deployed in Plasencia were terrified by Xiao Jie's fierce bombardment. Basically, they were captured without organizing any decent resistance, and Plasencia was easily occupied.
After receiving the news, in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, Castagnos hastily withdrew the 50,000 troops stationed in Talavera, and transferred them all to Getafe, the gateway of Madrid. Carnell leads. Now under his command, there are few people who are both central and not afraid of death, except Kanel. Although Kanel is not very bright, he is much better than other generals who are greedy for life and afraid of death.
In this way, the army led by Xiao Jie went all the way without hindrance, and arrived at the city of Getafe on January 17. Almost at the same time, due to the contraction of Castagnos' defense, Dugor also seized the opportunity to defeat the Spanish chaos defending the Tagus River in one fell swoop and approach Madrid.
Because Madrid is blocked by tall mountains in the north and east, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, Getafe, which is located in the south of it, has always been more valued and built very firmly. In addition, Castagnos sent another 60,000 people to garrison here, it is not so easy for Xiao Jie to capture here as soon as possible.
But fortunately, the solidity here is for the era of cold weapons. The walls of Getafe are all made of granite. The 75mm field bombardment of the 88th Army did not respond much to it, but the 105mm howitzer bombarded it. Still somewhat useful. Besides, Xiao Jie didn't have to knock down the city walls of Getafe to get in. There was an easier place, and that was near the city gate. Even if the Spanish rebel army blocked the city gate, as long as enough explosives were buried, it would not be difficult to blow it open.
Next, after detailed analysis and calculations, the blasting experts in the engineers of the 88th Army finally determined the final explosive requirement. And sent a group of the most professional blasters to carry out this task. The time is set for the morning of January 19. That morning, the 88th Legion launched a fierce attack on the south of Getafe~www.mtlnovel.com~ The attack on the east and west sides was very flat. Canel, who was not very good at first, instinctively thought that the south was the 88th The main direction of the army's attack, having tasted the strength of the 88th army, he put the main force in the south. But what he didn't expect was that during the attack from the east, the engineer team specialized in blasting missions was hidden among the attacking troops. They quickly approached the city gate, and then blasted the city gate, blowing the city gate open in one fell swoop. . Seizing this opportunity, a regiment of the 1st Division of the 88th Army quickly attacked in and occupied a fast area near the East City Gate to prevent the Spanish rebels from counterattacking.
As soon as he heard the explosion, Kanel knew something was wrong and wanted to do something, but it was too late. A large number of troops of the 88th Army rushed into Getafe at the east gate, and fought fierce street battles with the Spanish rebels. Naturally, the Spanish rebels were no match for the 88th Army in terms of street fighting. After a day of fierce fighting, they were driven out of Getafe. Of the 60,000, only 20,000 remained, and the rest were either wiped out or surrendered.
Knowing that Getafe was quickly captured by the 88th Army, Castagnos couldn't hold his breath and fainted. The 88th Army also officially surrounded Madrid, and the final battle against Castagnos is about to begin, and the day of pacifying Spain is not far away.
(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!)