"In war, the first thing that is eliminated is the truth! Whenever the war ends, people look for the cause of the incident in a chaotic, hazy and tragic image. Most of the facts have become incomplete, vague, but conflicting. That is all the truth, intentional, or unintentional, has been buried deep in the rubble of history."

During the war on the Iberis Peninsula, the Spanish people in the war zone had to endure the triple persecution from the French army, the Spanish army loyal to Cadiz, and the local guerrillas, from food collection to military service.

Among them, the French regarded the act of confiscating food and fodder as the legitimate rights of the victor; the guerrillas promoted their grain collection to save the country; while the Cadiz army publicly announced that the people must normally fulfill their obligation to pay food to the Spanish king and to the feudal nobles. At least until the end of the war, they represented His Majesty Pedinan's only legal government.

No matter which side's grain collection action is inevitable, it will inevitably encounter public resistance. At the same time, the hostile forces of the three sides will adopt bloody and brutal solutions: suppress by force, killing one to warn a hundred. The French usually do not explain the suppression actions against ordinary people, but the guerrillas and regular army will declare that the "resistance mob" are some Spanish spies who have defected to France.

General Galicia and his grain collection team swept through more than a dozen villages within 50 kilometers southwest of Baros Town. The originally empty white sail chariot was filled with spoils such as flour, bacon, potatoes, eggs, wine, and hundreds of cattle, sheep and livestock driven by soldiers. Behind the grain collection team, countless villagers were crying and wailing, either for the lost food and livestock, or for the relatives who were shot and killed in a pool of blood due to resistance.

...

In the seat near the exterior window of the first-floor restaurant, Jacques ordered a lunch for himself: 2 pounds of cooking steak, 2 cooked eggs, cheese, boiled cabbage, and a glass of wine. The portion and taste of the food were average. Fortunately, he didn't have the chance to pick on food when he was hungry, Jacques barely finished it. However, the wine sold in the tavern was good, so he asked for a second glass.

It is noon now, and there are not many people eating in the tavern, including Jacques, only seven or eight people. The boss lady was angry and drove the lazy girls out of the hotel and asked them to go to the street to solicit customers. A good-looking woman wanted to tease Jacques alone, but she failed, but she received the comfort fee of 2 copper coins.

Just as Jacques was tasting his second glass of wine, a soldier who had led him hurried into the bar. After seeing the messenger of Cadiz at a glance, the soldier let out a long sigh, squeezed out his smile and walked forward, sitting opposite Jacques.

"Tias, what's the matter?" Jacques asked the freckled young soldier casually.

The soldier named Thias quickly replied, "It was Major Alonso who sent me here. The Major said there was a French patrol nearby and was worried about your return safety. So, he suggested that you stay in this town for a while. If the master wants, I can accompany you to wander around the town these days." As he said, the soldier's eyes were staring at Jacques' leftover steak. Apart from black bread and mashed potatoes, Thias had not eaten any meat for two weeks, let alone the fragrant steak cooked by the chef.

"French Patrol?" This is obviously an absolute lie for the MIIS agents.

Before Jacques sent out the information, there would be no signs of its own army's activity in the town of Barros. Chief of Staff Rusty was worried that he would send troops rashly, which would inevitably scare the Spanish rebels away. In the vast and unfamiliar mountain jungle environment, arresting more than 10,000 Spanish "rabbits" with specialties and hidden specialties is not a troublesome thing the Desay Division wants to do.

"Suspicion, or surveillance?" After Jacques reexamined his actions and did not reveal any flaws, he further suspected that there was a problem within the enemy, otherwise he would not have changed his attitude towards the messenger of Cadiz in a short period of time.

From the beginning, Major Alonso couldn't wait to drive him back to Cadiz, to now, he sent someone to follow him closely and settle in the town of Baros. Originally, Jacques wanted to inquire about the news everywhere, but now he saved a lot of trouble. From the unreliable mouth of the Thias in front of him, Jacques believed that he could obtain enough information.

Jacques waved his hand to signal a waitress to come over. He threw out a silver coin as a tip, and asked the chef of the restaurant to make a large portion of cooked beef for the hungry soldiers, which was sufficient. When the food was delivered, Thias was so happy that he smiled. After thanking him, the soldier no longer pretentiously, gave up his knife and fork, and feasted with his hands and thrust towards the fragrant cooked meat.

Jacques slowly tasted the wine, and casually indirectly asked Thias about seemingly insensitive military affairs. The soldiers were always busy eating delicious food, and there was a sense of confidentiality in his simple mind. He basically answered questions and never concealed them unless he was unaware of it. In fact, Major Alonso gave Thias the only request to him to follow the messenger of Cadiz and not let him leave the town privately. As for other matters, there was no emphasis on them.

During the pleasant conversation, Jacques fetched information from Tias's mouth, combined with the information he had already mastered, he concluded that for some reason, three days ago, General Gesta had lost absolute control of this Spanish army, and the current affairs in the army were a three-person committee headed by General Jago, General Bronda and Major Alonso. These three senior officers representing traditional nobles had a bad relationship with General Gesta's illegitimate son, General Galicia, and was not even quite bad.

A portion of cooked food was obviously not enough to fill the hungry soldiers' belly, so Jacques called a second portion for Tias. When he was about to ask further, a noise came from outside, and then a mess was in chaos, mixed with the soldiers' shouts, and there were also the dull sound of countless large carts rolling on the ground.

Jacques noticed two diners who had just entered the door talking to each other on the dining table not far away.

"Who are those people who just passed by?"

"General Galicia's grain collection team."

"Is that brave cavalry officer?"

"Yes, yes. But a week ago, the poor illegitimate son was removed from office by his father, General Gesta."

"Well, it seems that it was the suggestion of General Yageo and General Bronda, and even Major Alonso was involved in the matter."

"Not only that, I also heard an officer from the headquarters say that on his way back to Barros, General Bronda sent his confidants to arrest General Galicia, ready to accuse his grain collection team of damaging the villagers in court."

"Bah, when did these shameless nobles start to learn to protect civilians? They simply want to frame General Galicia, jealous of his reputation among soldiers."

"Your point of view is correct, I agree!"

...

When Jacques heard this, he was overjoyed. The internal high-level members of the Spanish rebels had been completely divided. General Galicia, the main warfare leader supported by the soldiers, was imprisoned, and traditional aristocratic forces are currently occupying the top. Based on this, this Spanish rebel army will soon evacuate the town of Barros and move to the southwest rear to avoid head-on battle with the Desay Division.

If it were 10 days ago, Duke Hruna and Chief of Staff Rusti would have been pleased with the news. Now, the combat missions planned by the division have been issued. Except for the Fifth Brigade stationed at the Fortress of Badajos, all participating troops have been mobilized, with the goal of annihilation of this Spanish rebel, at least to eradicate the 3,000 cavalry units that pose the greatest threat.

"So, you must do everything you can to let the Spaniards take the initiative to attack the battlefield we have set!" This is the mission that Desai personally assigned to him before Jacques set off. The duke also promised that after the matter was completed, he would be promoted to the rank of Corporal Jacques to the rank of lieutenant.

After repeated consideration and weighing, Jacques made up his mind. He asked the boss's wife to bring a few bottles of wine, drunk the young follower around him, and the two returned to the bedroom upstairs together. After Jacques tied the soldiers up, he immediately took off his noble clothes and disguised himself as an ordinary Spanish soldier. He rushed into the town's downtown area and the nearby military camp before dusk.

When night fell, an unconfirmed news was circulating throughout the town of Baros and the garrison barracks: General Gesta had been assassinated by the three-man regiment led by General Yageo, General Bronda and Major Alonso. Not only that, the noble officers also secretly planned and arrested General Galicia, preparing to sentence him to death in the military court tomorrow, and to clean up the grain collection team and the cavalry brigade.

The news conveyed by one person, two people, and more than ten people is a rumor, but if hundreds of people are rumored that the three nobles assassinated General Gesta and persecuted General Galicia, the rumors will turn into unshakable facts.

Indignation over the noble trio and concerns about their future and destiny, the grain collection team first jumped out to attack. Hundreds of soldiers avoided the officers' obstruction, connected and shouted, and rushed out of the barracks. These mutiny soldiers who had no time to get their weapons soon surrounded the headquarters. They burst out deafening protests, demanding that the trio immediately release the innocent General Galician and pursue all the crimes of the shameless people.

Ten minutes later, a large number of fully armed law enforcement teams rushed to suppress the incident after hearing the news. At the beginning, the soldiers on both sides were still relatively restrained, just verbally threatening and cursing. After General Yageo, on behalf of the headquarters, officially refused to return to the military camp, the troublemakers refused to return to the military camp, and then physically pulled and pushed the law enforcement team. When gunfire sounded from somewhere, someone in the law enforcement team fell in a pool of blood. The red-eyed law enforcement team quickly raised their guns and fired ruthlessly at the troublemakers.

The unarmed soldiers of the grain collection team suffered a great loss, with more than 50 casualties. They either helped their injured companions up and turned back to the barracks to get weapons; or carried their bodies to lobby in nearby barracks. After hearing that the grain collection team was subjected to bloody suppression, the officers and soldiers of the cavalry brigade who sympathized with General Galicia also responded to the righteous act of the recruitment team. After learning that General Galicia was imprisoned in the basement of the church, the cavalry broke through the blockade of the law enforcement team and rescued the former master from the dark and humid cell.

Then, the cavalrymen who were invading surrounded General Galicia and gathered with other soldiers willing to obey General Galicia's orders and gathered in the church area. General Galicia rectified his old subordinates and ordered his soldiers to attack the headquarters guarded by the three-person committee and nearby military camps, and exchanged fire with the army under General Bronda's command.

Yesterday, the comrades in the same camp fought each other, and everyone was full of fanaticism, using rifles and bayonets to beat the "enemy" to the point of flesh and blood. In the early stage of this civil war, the motivated mutiny soldiers, under the command of General Galicia, captured several military camps in a row, and fought the troops under the orders of the three-man regiment into chaos, and retreated to the town one after another.

Seeing the situation taking a sharp turn, General Bronda rushed out in person and shouted loudly to the retreating soldiers: "Go back quickly, bastards! We will never compromise like the rebels!" At the same time, he used the back of the saber to whip the backs of the defeated soldiers.

Even so, the troops of General Bronda, who had no fighting spirit, could not repel the crazy attack of the mutiny soldiers. It was not until an hour later that Major Alonso quickly dispatched an artillery company and four artillery continued to fire grape bullets, blocking the road to the center of the town, causing the unexpected rebels to suffer heavy casualties, and thus barely stabilized the defense line on their side.

The civil war between the Spanish army lasted for 8 hours until dawn, and the sound of gunfires subsided one after another. When the smoke of guns cleared, about 3,000 soldiers and a large number of innocent civilians fell in pools of blood, everywhere, with the bodies of fallen soldiers, and those who fell to the ground and wailed bitterly. Whether it was the mutiny soldiers loyal to General Galicia or the troops obeying the orders of the three-man nobles, both sides were evenly matched and failed to win.

After calming down, the two sides had no choice but to start negotiations in the face of the stalemate result.

After a day and night of bargaining, all the officers and soldiers involved in the mutiny were no longer held accountable, and General Galicia was re-appointed by the three-man regiment. After resting on the spot for two days and getting enough military supplies, Galicia led his 3,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry allegiance to organize a northbound corps. They left Barros and moved to the northeastern side of the city of Melda, trying to rescue fellow and relatives imprisoned by the French.

On the second day after the Northward Corps went to war, General Yageo, General Bronda and Major Alonso led the remaining 5,000 infantry and hundreds of cavalry to leave the town of Barros and head south to the Verva River. In the midst of chaos, Major Alonso gave up the search for the missing messenger of Cadiz, believing that he had died in this civil war.

Behind them, the once densely populated town of Baros has been reduced to ruins.
Chapter completed!