"In modern wars, the most terrifying form of war is a so-called people's (national) war... Only wars that are participated by the whole people, or at least the wars that are excited by the spirit of the whole people and decide to defend themselves, and the majority of people participate, can become people's wars." --- Excerpt from Jomini's "Introduction to the Art of War"

There are three reasons why people's wars occur: the rulers of the state, who are deeply loved by the people, set an example and took the lead in resisting the invaders, which then triggered the people's infinite love for the motherland and the rulers, and then developed a deep hatred for the occupying army; second, the secret incitement of religious forces and monks; third, the defense of political beliefs or the sacred love for the existing system.

In the third Portuguese war on the Iberis Peninsula, the British expeditionary army had only more than 40,000 people. Even if the 30,000 Portuguese regular army with extremely poor combat power, there were only 70,000 people. They still had to be divided into two battle zones: the North and Eastern fronts. Whether in terms of the combat qualities of the soldiers or the level of tactical application, the comprehensive combat strength of the 70,000 coalition forces was not as good as the 90,000 tiger and wolf division commanded by Marséna (including 25,000 officers and soldiers of the Desay Division). Therefore, the former could only strengthen the walls and clear the fields, constantly relying on favorable terrain, and tempt the hungry French army to attack the solid fortress.

But on the other hand, in Portugal and the border between western Portugal, the number of armed guerrillas (people) was as many as 200,000. On the French side, whether it was Marshal Massena or Desai himself, they commanded only an army, while the French commander was facing the desperate resistance of two nations to their own army. The armed guerrillas (people) were able to use various simple weapons to cooperate with the coalition forces to fight the enemy bravely.

Once they enter the Portuguese battlefield, the seemingly invincible French elite legion will be submerged in the vast ocean of this people's war. Liendesai himself admitted that, including his divisions, all French troops usually can only control the strongholds they are stationed and can only obtain most of the supplies by force, while their baggage is often under threat of being destroyed or taken away.

Therefore, before the Portuguese War, Desai and his officers unified their thoughts and realized the absolute disadvantages of their own army. Therefore, in terms of logistics supply, they tried their best to reduce their dependence on villages near the battlefield through the military supplies, and repeatedly emphasized that the army abides by military discipline, pay attention to appease the emotions of the people in the occupied areas, and use both kindness and power to ensure at least superficial justice and fairness.

However, the above methods were effective in the northeastern area of ​​Spain. Desai successfully used the Catalans' attempt to get rid of Spain's great emotions and won people's hearts through the "Humanitarian Shield Operation" during the Great Famine spreading throughout the Aragon region. However, the Portuguese are willing to obey the order of the coalition commander Wellington and use the scorched earth policy of firm walls and clearing the fields to fight against the French army, whether it is to build a safe village like Hruna or to win people's hearts through strict military discipline, it seems that it is no longer effective.

According to the domestic information collected by the Military Intelligence Agency, in addition to the more than 400 million Portuguese citizens, there are many black slaves living in addition to the more than 400,000 Portuguese citizens. Although Portuguese merchants no longer imported African black slaves to their hometowns as early as the middle of the last century, they instead sold them to North America, which had higher profits. However, in Portugal, the Military Intelligence Agency estimates that there are still 400,000 to 500,000 black slaves, nearly one-half of them live in the Evora District in southeastern Portugal to the capital Lisbon District.

Drawing on the successful experiences of later generations and weighing the pros and cons of the pros and cons to face, Desai made a decision. He recruited the chief officers of the General Staff and Intelligence Department and immediately put forward a bold and exaggerated strategic slogan, namely, "Turn an unjust war of aggression into a just war to liberate black slaves", which would at least allow the Desai division to occupy a moral commanding height.

Since it is a slogan, it is inevitable to have false elements. Desai's true intention is to use the name of "freedom, equality, and fraternity" as a slogan to release 200,000 black slaves on the road ahead in the future (Evora District to the capital Lisbon District), so that they can obtain legal and personal freedom and equality. In fact, it is to incite, provoke, instigate the black slaves to make trouble, get rid of the shackles of the former slave owners, and arm the blacks as much as possible against the Portuguese whites, in order to reduce the pressure on the French army on the front battlefield.

War is hell, and the only way to end this war is to make it terrifying and unbearable to the enemy. Since the British and the Portuguese wanted to subdue themselves with the vast ocean of so-called people's war, well, Desai would also use the hundreds of thousands of liberated black slaves to give them the most powerful counterattack.

Some things that Desai want to do but cannot do can be handed over to the liberated black slaves. It will be a devastating and extreme destruction at any cost. It will not only destroy the soldiers of the British and Portuguese coalition forces, but also destroy the economic foundation of the Portuguese Kingdom and the fighting will of the enemy residents.

As for how to finish, Desai didn't care. He was currently just the actual ruler of the United Kingdom of Catalonia and Aragon. Even if the entire Portugal was razed to the ground by the riots, it was not a question he was willing to consider.

What's more, in less than a year, Desai would go to Warsaw, thousands of miles away as the crown prince of Poland. Out of his understanding of the future historical direction, he had to complete absolute control over the regime and military power of the Polish Kingdom before Napoleon launched a war against Russia, and establish a centralized and authoritarian system similar to the French Empire in the entire Pan-Sislav region.

At the conspiracy meeting convened by the division commander, Desai asked the division intelligence department led by the Military Intelligence Bureau to incite and instigate the black slaves detained in the planting manor, and set them a reference benchmark or example of successful people, so as to stimulate the inner tendency of violence and use this impulse to transform it into the driving force for bloody revenge against the Portuguese whites.

Regarding the candidate for the benchmark and role model, Desai put forward his three suggestions: First, a black slave who is cultured, has the ability to lead others to resist and is physically strong, a cowardly slave power and a simple barbarian cannot do big things; second, he must have unforgettable hatred with the white Portuguese people and the impulse to put it to death. If there is no or lack, the agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau can secretly assist him in completing it when necessary; third, the future leader of the black slave must have relatives he loves for his life, so that he can easily be controlled by the Military Intelligence Bureau, and one day he will not suddenly jump off the chariot of the Desai Division and then turn against the water.

I don't know if it was luck or misfortune, Diego became the target candidate for Lieutenant Jacques. It was just that Duke Hruna proposed the first and third points, and Diego was satisfied one by one. But in the end, it was implemented to the second point, at least in Jacques's view, this future black leader who had been liberated legally, his hatred for the white Portuguese people was not yet to the point of death, and was different from the level of Dai Tian.

Therefore, a test of blood and fire must be added.

...

On the night after Jacques and his group left the planting estate in Mosil village, hundreds of Portuguese guerrilla soldiers holding torches arrived as scheduled.

Although Diego and Thias had issued several warnings to the black people living in the manor yesterday evening: a large number of white soldiers would come to commit bloody revenge, hoping that all black people would move to a solid villa built by the owner of the manor to unite and protect themselves, and wait for the arrival of nearby French reinforcements.

Unfortunately, the black people who were declared liberated by Lieutenant Jacques did not follow Diego's advice. They still naively believed that both the owners and the white people needed their hard work, needed them to continue to manage the vineyards, and needed them to serve them with all their heart and soul. How immoral it is to settle in the owner's room; and resist with a gun is even more dangerous.

Therefore, when the sirens of attack sounded, only about 200 black people successfully hid in the white rock villa, and the remaining more than 500 people still insisted on staying in their residences. The relatives snuggled and hugged each other, and kept praying to the omnipotent God in their mouths and hearts, hoping that the terrible night would pass quickly and that a busy and fulfilling new day would come again.

As soon as these white soldiers rushed into the manor, they burned and robbed everywhere, doing all kinds of evil. They not only set fire to the residence of black slaves, but also stabbed or cut off the black people who tried to escape from the sea of ​​fire one by one, and never let go of women, children and children.

At night, the tumultuous fire rose up for dozens of meters, burning the entire sky like daytime. The plantation under the starry sky has become a hell on earth. The black people who once refused to escape struggled desperately and screamed like ghosts and wolves in despair in front of the overwhelming fire, trampling on each other, and finally died tragically under the bloody knife edge of the white soldiers raised high.

In the white villa, the 200 black people who temporarily escaped here became frightened and desperate. They could only watch their homes ruthlessly swallowed by the fire, and their former companions died one by one by one under the massacre of white people. Everyone was crying heart-wrenchingly, stamping their feet and pounding their chests in the room, as if they were wailing for their upcoming tragic ending.

Among the fleeing crowd, only Diego and Tias did not lose their minds. At this time, Diego's heart was filled with endless hatred and no longer had any sad expressions. He wiped away the last tear and then took on the role of the leader of this black army. He kept going back and forth to go upstairs and downstairs of the villa, inspected the fortifications in detail, urged the black people holding rifles and sabers to cheer up again, and prepared to fight to the death with the white men and avenge their tragic death companions.

However, Thias' heart was filled with sadness, not for the blacks who died in the manor, but for the innocent self. He felt that he had been deceived by Chief Jacques again. Just a promise of rank of sergeant, Thias jumped into the fire pit happily and could not extricate himself. Looking at the villa, there were at least 500 Portuguese guerrillas holding various weapons gathered outside the villa. They held torches high, and they all shouted fiercely, wanting to kill every black and French in the villa.

"Damn it, I'm not a Frenchman!" Tias defended himself in his heart, but forgot that he was wearing a dark blue French uniform.

Soon, a short and lean middle-aged white man jumped out of the crowd of guerrilla soldiers surrounding the villa. He wore a plaid shirt on his upper body, his chest exposed, and his lower body wearing dirty and old breeches. He put his waist on one hand and waved a blood-stained saber in the other hand, standing on the open space leading to the villa steps, with a look of eagerness on his face.

The white man whispered: "Dirty black slaves, come out and surrender quickly. I promise you in the name of God that I will definitely kill every nigger in the room and that damn Frenchman, hahaha!"

"Let the surrender go to hell!" As soon as he heard that the guerrillas completely blocked their way of survival, Thias made a fuss in his heart, simply raised his rifle and aimed at the bastard more than 40 meters away from the side of the windowsill.

With a "bang", the middle-aged white man was shot in the head and fell on the stone steps without saying a word. However, this was not the achievement of Tias, but the fatal blow from Diyago not far away beside him. Diyas immediately made a face for Diyago, indicating that he had snatched the victory he could get.

The calm and composed Diego had no time to pay attention to the smile of the French sergeant. He raised his arms and shouted at the right time:

"If you don't have freedom, you'd rather die!"

"Revenge for the dead compatriots!"

"Long live the black man!"

He kept walking back and forth between the villa, guiding the other 200 black companions to join him, making the same shouts, and the courage to fight to the death seemed to be rekindled.

Based on Jacques' warning before leaving, Tias spent a day training blacks to use weapons and equipment, including how to fill ammunition, how to aim at the target, how to shoot correctly, how to clean the gun chamber, etc. At the same time, Diego also led more than a hundred blacks to remodel the villa, trying to turn it into a temporary but sturdy fortress.

All the trees within a radius of 20 meters of the villa were cut down and broken in half to prevent the enemy from using it to climb the house. The blacks also brought huge stones to completely block every window on the first floor, leaving only one door outward. When all the blacks escaped, they blocked the door with countless stones. In addition, Diego also asked to throw out all the items in the room that could cause fire, and store more than 10 large tanks filled with clear water in advance.

All black people, men, women, young and old, were assigned combat tasks. More than 50 male black people were holding muskets, bayonets and sabers to guard the passages of windowsills on the second floor and the hall on the first floor; while the elderly, women and children were squatting on the roof, with piles of stones transported in advance beside them, ready to throw them on the heads of the enemy in the attack.

When the middle-aged white man fell under the gun from the black man in the villa, the Portuguese present became indignant one by one. Their angry black slaves were unwilling to surrender and could still resist the white rule.

Before the officer's order was met, the white people shouted and rushed towards the villa in a swarm. Some people used their bodies to hit the door, some people used their butts or sabers to hit the blocked windows, and some people simply threw down their weapons and climbed upwards along the gaps in the white walls.
Chapter completed!