Chapter 77: Defence master, offense genius - 6
Around the time whenthe Spanishpeople got divided betweenthosewho chose their families livelihoods, individual interestsorthosewho favoredtheirloyalty to their homnd andthe royal family, and their antipathy towardFrance.
Simr processeshad begun to ur among the much higher ss of theSpanish people.
They set their courseofaction in aslightlydifferent way from the others. The province of Zaragoza wasupiedbythe French andundermilitaryrule.
There was andlord called MigueldeSebastian Lopez who owned thrgestnd there.
Lopez, who hadgained ahigh title andextensivendthanks to his ancestors feats in the Habsburg Wars<sup>[1]</sup>in the past, wasobserving the current situation on theIberian Peninswith more sober eyesthan ever before.
For those like him, patriotism andloyalty to thecountry andtothe royal family were of little importance. He just thoughtaboutsurviving thisturbulent timewhilekeeping hisfamilyswealth and honor.
Thetorrent of fire has stopped
Lopezwas lostinthought as he stroked his thick beard. Therewas now a lullinthe war on theIberian Penins.
Lopez wasconvinced thatatthe end of this war, whereBritain andFrance werefightingfor supremacy in Western Europe, and in which Spain and Portugal gotinvolved, the fall of the Spanish Empire would take ce, whoever won.
Thatwas why Lopez wasable to abandon all hisloyalty to Spain andchoose practical interests.
TheFrench armyhad beenfiercelypushed since the beginningofthe war, and the Alliedforces had been pushingupbytaking advantage of thepowervoid that happened while the Frenchwent to theeast (during the Russian expedition). Nownoone wanted to go outand fight first.
The Battle of theAnzn River and theBattle of La Buena-San Felix, wherethe corps of Wellesley andNapoleonfacedeach other, were thst battles in which morethan 10,000 people wereinvolved.
Now, the armiesofboth sides were ringateach other andfixing their uniforms, andinthe meantime, thesituation in the Iberian Penins wasgradually stabilizing. In lines that looked like theyhad beendrawnwith knives, the Frenchand the coalitionforces carriedmore shovels, hammers, andlogs than gunsand cannons.
Today, aFrench messenger came hereagain. He saidthat he brought aletter fromthe headofthe Standing Organization (LouisEmardChartres), whoproposestothe governor agracious and honorablejoining. Should I justleavethe letter andsend theman backlikest week?
Lopez, who hadpreviously servedasgovernorofthe Balearic Inds, continued to be calledgovernoreven after he stepped downfrom hispost.
At the endofhis assistants words, Lopez narrowed hiseyebrows. A provisionalorganization under the ridiculous nameofthe IberianStandingOrganization.
Nobles in the position of Lopez could notignore whatNapoleon, the FrenchEmperor, was after withthis organization.
TheFrench Emperorwas veryeagertoattract thelocalnobles fromall overSpain, including him.
Lopez hada rough idea of the reason. Untilstyear, Lopezdid not join either side but kept watching the warprogress.
As an experienced politician, he knew wellthe importanceofchoosingthe goodside duringa chaotic situation.
He was notthe onlyone doing this. There werea lotofaristocratsandndownersinthe territories upied by the Frenchwho wereobserving the situationbetween Franceand the coalition.
The longer thedrought, the higher thepriceofwheat. There is no needtochoose aside now. No matter howbelligerentthe French Emperor is, he cant im interest in theSpanish territorybypushing us out.
The Circle,posed of Spanish aristocrats andndlords, was more tightlyunited thanexpectedtoprotect their interests.
This was thereason why theFrench armywas toleratingsuch a group of people, who werelike walking on atightrope, even thoughtitcouldwipe them out ruthlessly.
Furthermore, Napoleon, theFrench Emperor, was actinglike it wasall right for local noblestokeep to themselves, includinghim.
Even thoughhewas refusing the meeting in the end, theydid not imposeany military pressure or sanctions. Hewouldprobablycontinuelike this for a while.
Lopezthought that thiswas due to theEmperors confidence. The confidence thatthe French could winthe PeninsrWar, thebelief thatthey would be theonly ones who would eventually be abletofight.
Lopezcontinued to ponder. That meant that he could decide which side to joinafterlooking at thedevelopmentofthe war a little more.
And if he was worried about his ownsafety, he could wait evenmore. Itmeantthat theEmperor wasinterested in Lopez andthe other nobles. Itwouldnot be toote to decide whether to joinhim or not after hisfuture victorybecame clearer.
But
Ill havetomeet him.
Y-Yes!?
Ugh, why are yousoslow today? Ill meet the manfrom theIberian Standing Organization.
Y-Yes! Allright, Governor.
If he wanted a bigger profit, he needed to know how to take risks.
WithNapoleonhere, the French areunlikelytolose.
This was thereason why MigueldeSebastian Lopez madethe decision to start moving now.
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Imvery happy to meet the Governor-General, whom Ivebeen waiting for! Im PaulDuguesseau, anadvisor to theIberian Standing Organization. I used to serve as an administrator of our EmperorsCorps.
Nicetomeet you, Im MigueldeSebastian Lopez. Andthe title Governor-Generalisnothing more thana facadeduring the day, so justcall me VignteLeader.
Lopez was running asmallvignte group, rallying serfs andvigers, andhiring mercenaries separatelytoprevent hind from being swept awaybythe war.
Thatwas why neither the Alliesnor the Frenchcouldplunder hinds. All thenoblndowners withrge farnd had been protectingtheind duringthe war in this way.
The coalitionand France were not tryingtoattract themembers of thenoblecircle to their sidefor no reason.
Ill ask youstraightforwardly. Whatcan France give me if I join theStandingOrganization and actively cooperatewith Frenchmilitaryoperations?
Oh! You must havefinally made adecision! Weve always waitedfor the momentwhen VignteLeader Lopez madeuphis mind!
Thats theonly reasonIm here. Why else would I be?
Inthe past, there usedtobea unification of theSpanish peoplewith aristocrats, priests, merchants, bourgeoisie, colonists, andeven ck ves, to pushback theFrench army. But nowthings had changed dramatically.
The entireSpanish poption living in theterritoriesupiedbyFrance was nowdivided into two extremes, busy criticizing andusingeach other.
The resistance forces were being wiped out littlebylittle, anddivisions and conflictsbrokeout throughouteach province andvige, and factions split apart. These were the typical signs of acivilwar on the brink of bursting.
Basque andCatalonia, which originally had stronganti-Castiliansentiment, openlysupported France by helping to create theIberian Standing Organization. The bnce was graduallytilting in favor of France.
Thesituation across theIberian Penins, which was beginningtosolidify, was oneofthe mainreasons behindMiguel de Sebastian Lopezs decision.
Asthe Allies were at adisadvantage in the war, theywent back to their strategy consistingofholding theLinesofTorres Vedras, like they always didbefore.
When they did this in the past, theFrench corps usedtorush towardthem, consuming their troops, whichthen gave apoweradvantage to the coalitionwho could advanceagain.
Butthis time the Frenchdid not do this. They stoppedadvancing and began to observe the situation, drawingthe Santiago-Almera Line that was cutting diagonallythe IberianPenins. This change urred after Napoleon Bonapartetook thelead again in thePeninsr War.
Currently, the Alliesand the Frenchwere both building and consolidating fortressesand trenches at the main points of thelong front lines, like they wererepeatedly sayingtoeach other: I have no intentionofmoving, so yoe.
What truly mattered now wasthe extent andlocationofthe territory upied by thearmies on bothsides. France upied most of the penins, including theprovinceofZaragoza, where Lopez owned rgnd. Lopezpredicted thatthis systemwouldnot easily copse.
I am bettingonthe French victory in thiswar. So youllhave to offer me a fairprice, too.
There wasa satisfiedsmileonDuguesseaus face.
Then well have along conversation. One thing is forsure, you madethe right decision, andour Standing Organization will do its best to listen to your wishes.
It wasa human instinct to side withthe strongest, asalways. MigueldeSebastian Lopez joined theIberian Standing Organizationwith hisservants, vigntesand farmersfollowing him.
It was themoment whenster began to be applied to the lines drawn by Napoleon, adding solidity.
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The Frenchforces across thepenins, includingNapoleons Corps, did not tryfurther expansion. Theysimply supported theadministrationofthe IberianStandingOrganization by defeating theresistance forcesinside the upied territories andsupporting thepro-French locals.
They looked more likeofficials and guardswho cametorule than soldiers who came for war.
Frances rule throughthe temporary Standing Organizationwas morestable and consistent thanbefore 1812, whenlooting, massacres and tyranny wermon.
Itwas fromthis time thatthe aristocrats andndlordsofthe circle, who owned rgnd, begantomove towardthe French side little by little.
This was because the stabilization of the upied area was fasterthan expected, and theysaw the possibility of Frances victory in the Peninsr War. IfFrance was clear, theAllies wereblurry.
Theadvance to Burgos, which was supposed to wipe out themain Frenchforces in the Iberian Penins, failed. As theoperation was risky, the aftereffects of thefailure were huge.
Wellesleys Corps, whichwas the elite unit of the coalitionforces, lost one-fourthofits power and exhaustedits specialstrategic weapons, the Congreve rockets.
Atthis point, itcouldhave ended with areport withexnations and a few reprimands fromthe countries leaders, but the problem was thenumerousstrongholdsand cities on theIberian Peninsthat hadbeen recaptured.
The front on the peninsretreated hundreds of miles backand the local strongholds lost to the Frenchwere so numerous that theycouldnot dream of reckoning them hastily.
On theday thatthe Allied g flying in Madridwas reced by the tricolor g of the FrenchEmpire, theWestminsterParliament andleading British newspapersunited to criticize Wellesleys unreasonableoperation.
<i>DailyCurrent: The trustedMarquis of Wellington alsolost. Should we continue the warlike this? Thepublic opinioninLondon is skeptical Thekingdom shouldalso be mindful of the waragainst theUnited States in theNew World.</i><i>
Weekly News: Lawrence Photogiver(asenior member of theWhig Party) said: The Marquis of Wellingtons greed hasoverturned thesituation in the Peninsr War. PrimeMinisterJenkinson, whodecided to delegate allpowers to him, should reflectheavily on himself
OxfordGazette: Arthur Wellesley wasalso no match forNapoleonBonaparte. Thegap betweenthemander, who mostly stayedinside the kingdom, andthe Emperorwho conquered Europewas muchbigger thanexpected. The kingdomsarmy needs to wake up
GentlyMagazine: ording to military experts, if they losethe nextbattle, theBritish troopswouldhave difficultiesdefending Portugalsterritory! Some say we shouldnegotiate right now
London Post: 200,000 British menhave already losttheirlivesabroad. More than50,000 of themdied in thearmy Howlong shouldwecontinuethis useless war?</i>
<i>NewsLetter: Thewar of words betweenFirstLord of theAdmiralty Robert Dundasand Chancellorofthe Exchequer Nichs Vansittart<sup>[2]</sup>at Whitehall! Should we go all-in with the Navy? Or empower the Army?</i>
Commander-in-Chief ArthurWellesley received aletter fromPrimeMinisterRobert Jenkinson. Jenkinson wrote in detail thecurrent situationofthe ruling Tory party, pointing outthe failureofWellesleysCorpsinpolite and courteoushandwriting.
When RondHill read the letterwith ArthurWellesley, he felt thatitseemed to be saying<i>thecitizens supportfor our party is being shakenbecause of you</i>. He could nothelp butfeel hisinsides boiling.
[1]OttomanHabsburgwars
[2]RobertDundas,NichsVansittart