Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

East bank of the Tamega River.

The Commander of the French Iberian Legion, Juno, looked at the small town built halfway up the hill in front of him and turned to the Spanish officer beside him, saying: “Major Caldes, are you sure the guerrillas have never left?”

The latter nodded vigorously, “Rest assured, my men have been watching them.”

“Alright. The usual protocol, I’ll deal with the guerrillas, and you handle the requisition of food.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Soon, two companies of French infantry entered the town of El Surt.

After a burst of gunfire, thirty to forty Portuguese men clutching guns fled from the east side of the town.

However, the cannons positioned halfway on the mountain immediately began to spew flames at them.

After a dozen or so were ripped apart by cannonballs, the others lost the courage to resist, dropped their weapons, and surrendered to the encircling French forces.

Immediately, Caldes led over two hundred Spanish soldiers to collect food from house to house.

A town with only about 800 people was thoroughly searched in no time.

Juno watched as the Spaniards loaded bag after bag of wheat, sour cheese, and cured meat onto carts and signaled to Caldes: “There are only a few hours till dark, please deliver the supplies to Marquis Talavera as soon as possible.”

Yes, during this period, the British-Portuguese Army has consistently avoided decisive battle with the Spaniards attacking Porto and has stayed firmly within the fortress in defense.

Meanwhile, France and Spain’s supply lines have been frequently ambushed by the British cavalry and Portuguese guerrillas, and more than half of the logistical supplies have been lost halfway.

Although domestic Spain has dispatched additional supplies to the Porto front line, it still faces shortages, and at one point, the soldiers of the Talavera legion could not even guarantee two meals a day.

Joseph’s previous plan was to lure the enemy deep, establish a line of defense near Lagoa Azul close to Spain, and engage in a war of attrition with the British.

But at present, the Talavera legion has the enemy besieged in Porto without any sign of crumbling.

He couldn’t just directly order a retreat; otherwise, the British would immediately see through it as a ruse.

Joseph didn’t expect the famous Duke of Wellington to be so cautious, not even probing an attack, just steadfast defense from the get-go.

Yes, Marquess of Wellesley is the future Duke of Wellington. It’s just that he has yet to be granted the ducal title.

In fact, it’s understandable why Wellesley is so cautious.

Historically, the British Empire hadn’t suffered the severe impacts of the “London Gas Lamp Incident” or the “Caribbean Sugar Supply Cut-off,” hence its financial situation was much better than now.

At that time, England initially dispatched nearly 20,000 expeditionary troops, then eventually increased to 35,000 soldiers. With that kind of manpower at his disposal, Wellesley would have certainly charged straight in.

However, the current Congress has only provided him with 7,000 soldiers, making him wary of launching an offensive. Holding the fort is already quite fortunate.

Fortunately, the “local supply mode” is a standard training subject for the French Army. Juno adapted this mode by extending it within a hundred-kilometer range around Porto, “collecting” supplies.

Since the British forces weren’t planning any offensives, the French troops initially deployed around the Tamega River for ambushes were temporarily without battle assignments, so Juno led half of his forces out to strike and disrupt the enemy raiding the supply lines, collecting grain on-site after the skirmishes.

As for whether the soldiers responsible for requisitioning the grain paid the local residents or how much they paid, that was not Juno’s concern. After all, those handling the requisition were all Spanish speakers.

By relying on this mode, the Spanish forces at the front could just barely maintain their momentum of attack.

Meanwhile, Joseph was relatively content with the current situation.

While the British-Portuguese Army, being on the defensive, would incur less war expenditure, France essentially faced no attrition—the besieging forces at Porto were all Spanish troops, eating Portuguese grain.

Oh, Madrid has twice reinforced, bringing the besieging force in Porto to 33,000 men.

Thus, sustaining this standoff for years to see who would falter first.

…

In the conference room of Porto City Hall.

The Portuguese Minister of War, Miguel Forjas, in order to be heard over the distant thunder of cannons, shouted at the top of his voice: “Marquis, the war has been raging for nearly two months, yet the Franco-Spanish Alliance has not, as you predicted, descended into chaos due to a lack of logistical supplies.”

Wellesley waited until the cannon fire paused before calmly speaking: “Indeed, the enemy continues to launch fierce attacks every day. That’s because they are receiving a steady supply of provisions from the Portuguese towns.”

“Yes, the Portuguese are being plundered by the enemy,” Forjas said grimly. “Therefore, the Crown Prince hopes you report the dire situation here to London, so that the Prime Minister can dispatch more troops. Only then can we achieve victory.”

He refers to the Crown Prince as Joao Maria Jose, the Crown Prince of Portugal and currently its principal ruler.

Wellesley gently shook his head: “No, what we need most now is not increased manpower.”

In reality, he had already requested reinforcements half a month ago, but due to the Navy swallowing a lot of funds, and the Congress being unwilling to shoulder greater financial pressure for Portugal, they only raised the expeditionary limit to 10,000 soldiers, cutting him short.

Even then, the additional 3,000 soldiers have yet to arrive.

Forjas hastily said: “But we are far from having enough forces to launch a counterattack…”

Wellesley raised his hand to interrupt him: “Our foremost task is to cut off the enemy’s sources of logistical supplies.”

Forjas stared at him in surprise: “You seem to be suggesting something impossible.”

“No, it’s achievable,” Wellesley said. “You merely need to relocate all the population around Porto to south of the Douro River and even set fire to the nearby towns. Within at most a month, the enemy’s soldiers will start to starve.”

Forjas’s pupils shrank suddenly, and he instinctively shook his head: “No, that’s absolutely unacceptable…”

Wellesley leaned in, speaking coldly: “This is the only way to defeat the enemy.

“Please inform the Crown Prince, summer is fast approaching, at that time, ripened wheat will provide the enemy with half a year’s worth of food.

“The next opportunity for enemy logistical exhaustion would be next spring, if Porto can hold out until then.”

Forjas stood stunned, finally saying with difficulty: “I, I will inform His Highness.”

Many believed Alexander I set fire to Moscow as the first instance Napoleon encountered a scorched-earth tactic, but in reality, the Russians were inspired by the Portuguese campaign, leading them to make that decision.

It was the British who were the steadfast practitioners of scorched-earth strategies, having extensively used it during the Thirty Years’ War, causing severe damage to the European Continent.

Wellesley continued: “General William Beresford will complete the training of the ‘mixed formations’ within two months.

“By then, we will launch a counteroffensive as the enemy’s logistics are cut off!”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!