Five days ago, when Wellington transferred Roland Hill back to the General Command of the Tagus River General Office from the northern front line, the commander bluntly told the latter about the major crisis facing the Evora coalition. Wellington publicly admitted in front of his subordinates: "In fact, I did underestimate the ability and ambition of Duke Hruna, and also overestimate the combat effectiveness of the Eastern coalition, especially the Portuguese army and the Spanish army. Therefore, there was a big trouble in the eastern battlefield, and you need to make up for this mistake. Roland will help me make up for it."

Wellington was a little anxious. He pointed to the battle map on the table and drew a large circle throughout the Lisbon area, and continued: "So, Roland, you will be granted the duty of Lisbon's defense commander, and the troops there are all your powers to dispatch. Since the military situation on the Northern Line is also urgent, I cannot dispatch other troops for your command. However, a squadron in the UK will send a liaison officer to cooperate with your actions... First, we must open up the liaison channel with Evora and learn about the real situation facing General Bellsford..."

Hill accepted the commander's request without hesitation. However, Wellington gave his subordinates a little vague in his clear combat goals and specific responsibilities, because the intelligence from Evora was severely lacking. In fact, Lisbon and the coalition headquarters had not received relevant battle reports from General Bellsford for several days. The last information brought by the Evora messenger showed that during the periphery of Evora, more than 20,000 coalition soldiers (including guerrillas), the entire city was facing a heavy siege of nearly 30,000 French troops, and a large number of armed black slaves were cooperating with the French. At the same time, the number of defenders of Evora had dropped to less than 10,000. However, Bellsford promised that Evora would definitely last until late August.

Hill thought about the combat map for a moment and made a request to Wellington: "I must be absolutely authorized. Once the situation reaches the most critical point, I cannot only consider Lisbon's simple defense. I need to implement the best strategy and tactics I think are the best in accordance with the actual needs of the battlefields in the east and south. Whether it is attacking, evacuation, or organizing the city's peripheral defense on site."

Wellington nodded in agreement, and signed a letter of appointment to General Roland Hill in the name of the British Expeditionary Force and the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Portugal. After leaving with the commander, Hill took his adjutant and rode his horse to Lisbon to take office.

On the road leading to Lisbon, Hill and others encountered a Portuguese guerrilla evacuated from Evora. They were ragged, hungry, with a look of despair, without a trace of fighting spirit, and without any military discipline. Only a few of them in the team of nearly a thousand people still retain weapons such as rifles, and the others had only a bayonet or a stick picked up from somewhere.

These people obviously had lost their noble honor as soldiers. They ran to nearby villages to rob, rushed into the houses without restraint, robbed the food and wine they needed, and caught chickens and sheep in the livestock shed, and took away mules and horses that could be used for transportation. The canvas bag behind them was filled with bulging valuable things, deaf ears and scoldings from the villagers, and even used a butt to deal with the villagers who resisted themselves.

But once the gunshots were heard, all the deserters would transform into frightened wild ducks, shaking, scrambling to run towards the road in Lisbon, and kept muttering: "It's over, the terrible Frenchman is coming again!"

Hill was so angry that he shivered all over at the ridiculous scene in front of him. He ignored his safety and turned over and dismounted, approached him, took out his pistol, and shot him in the sky in public. Hill kicked the deserter who ran in front of him and shouted at the crowd: "I am General Roland Hill, General Hill, the highest commander of the coalition forces stationed in Lisbon! Everyone was in the eye, the officers came out and saluted the senior officer in front of you!"

Hill's entourage adjutant and more than a dozen guards also turned over and dismounted, drew out pistols and sabers, and they stood beside the commander. A second lieutenant was worried about the general's personal safety and wanted to use his body to block it, but Hill rudely pushed it aside.

The deserters were barely stopped. Some people had identified a British general who was blocking them, but Portuguese soldiers were still cursing in secret, but were stopped by the officers in the team. Soon, a Portuguese captain in a red-shirted uniform walked out.

The Portuguese captain stood straight in front of General Hill, saluted respectfully. With a shy expression on his face, he apologized for his irrational behavior and explained: "Sorry, General! We are all subordinates of General Paul Coelo. A few days ago, the army was ambushed by the French in the northeast of the city of Evora, and the senior officers were captured by the French army. I gathered some of them and then broke out from the northern mountainous area overnight. Everyone had no food or drink for several days. So..."

Hill accused angrily: "Captain, this is not a reason for you to violate military discipline. You should make up for your fault."

The Portuguese captain lowered his head in shame and plundered his property with his hands. There were only 12 Escudos, which was obviously not enough to be stuck between his teeth. The captain turned around and ordered his subordinates to collect wallets. The result of 925 soldiers raising funds collectively was only 110 Escudos, which happened to be about 1 pound.

The Portuguese captain returned to the British general with a pile of coins in his hand, "Sorry, General, we only have so many."

"Add my share, and hand it over to your fellow countrymen, and convey my apology!" Hill asked the adjutant to take out £20 and put it in the hands of the captain. He shouted: "My money needs to be returned, and you must use your spoils to seize the spoils from the French!"

After saying that, Hill led his adjutant and his follower and turned around and left. The Portuguese captain was still standing there. He was filled with tears in his eyes and then whispered to the commander's back: "General, my name is Perro. Biyelo, my comrades and I will prove everything on the battlefield!"

After the episode, Hill no longer had much hope for the battle situation of Evora. When he arrived in Lisbon, he saw a scene that surprised him. Lisbon's nobles and officials seemed to be unaware of the bad situation from the eastern front, and they were still laughing and singing and dancing every night. No one thought about how to deal with the brutal French army. Perhaps everyone had a good countermeasure in their hearts, either boarding the British warship and fleeing back to their country; or simply surrendering. Anyway, this is not the first time the French have come to Lisbon.

In the salons, banquets and dances held by the Lisbon nobles, the most popular one is not the British officer who traveled thousands of miles to save the Kingdom of Portugal, but the Barcelona merchants who claimed to have a good friendship with the French commander and Duke Angela. Those merchants who acted as spies of the French army could actually sway across the market in a dignified manner, embracing beautiful women, drinking wine, and proclaim loudly that under the fierce attack of Marshal Massena and General Desay, the British Expeditionary Force is not long before the destruction of the entire army.

Then, the merchants and spies smiled again, and a kind tone, made one empty promise after another, saying that the kind General Desai would try his best to prevent Lisbon from falling into unwarranted war and protect the private property and life of the upper class. The Barcelona merchants even publicly promised that as long as the Portuguese aristocracy did not actively participate in the irrational behavior of the French army, even slave traders and the owners of the manor who used black slaves could get the special understanding of Duke Hruna. As for the abolitionist declaration, it was just a piece of paper, and it would be enough to tear it off. Therefore, danced and horses ran, and whenever the sun rose again, it was the beginning of a better life.

For this, Hill wished to arrest the Barcelona merchants who spread rumors, slander the coalition forces, and acted as French spies, and put them all into prison. But this was impossible, unless he was willing to see the entire Lisbon and its nearby cities fall into complete panic and endless unrest. To change the chaos in front of him, he could only obtain unprecedented major victory on the battlefield in order to inspire the hearts and morale of the Portuguese people.

Hill refused to enter the decadent aristocratic social circle again. He put aside the incompetent urban aristocrats and set out to rectify the army near Lisbon. The next day, Hill ordered officers at all levels of the Lisbon defense zone to hold a meeting at the command post. However, nearly half of the officers arrived late, and many people were still yelling with bad smells of alcohol and kept yawning, and a gangster-like look like a loud voice in the conference room.

Unlike his helplessness towards the Lisbon nobles, General Hill showed his decisive determination and means in the barracks. He mercilessly ordered the removal of all latecomers and noise-provoking military positions, and asked the guards outside the door to drive them out of the conference room, lock them into the basement of the command post, and wait for the punishment of the head of the Military Law Department.

The entire venue was immediately empty. Whether it was the British officer or the Portuguese officer, everyone was frightened by the commander who broke out in thunder and was silent. Looking at the solemn officers sitting upright, Hill nodded with satisfaction. He told everyone here to let them return to the military camp immediately and rectify their respective troops. After one hour, they were all on the school grounds and accept their own inspection.

Compared with the incompetence and frustration of the officers, the coalition soldiers in the barracks were not much better. Many people wanted to drink, ignore their superiors, refuse to go out of business, plunder and steal military materials, and even flee privately. They committed atrocities against civilians outside the city. In a fit of rage, Hill traveled back and forth between the barracks near Lisbon for five days and five nights. He followed the French army and formed a temporary military police force with 800 people, cooperated with the Military Law Department, punished illegal soldiers, and strictly maintained various military disciplines in the barracks;

Hill also sent military police to set up checkpoints on the road leading to Evora from Lisbon, recruited defeated soldiers on the eastern front, rebuilt the civilian guerrillas, investigated the military situation of the French, and strictly investigated enemy spies; and the most important measure was to organize the army drastic. After obtaining the support of Wellington, Hill opposed the opposition, eliminated and eliminated unqualified officers, punished and punished panicked elements and spreaders of failure rumors. He ignored the system in which only Portuguese aristocrats could serve as officers at all levels, and boldly rewarded, and even promoted outstanding soldiers to serve as soldiers, or even lower-level officers.

Soon, the morale of the coalition officers and soldiers stationed in the Lisbon military camp increased to a certain extent. The number of officers and soldiers returned to 15,000 before Hill arrived. In addition, 5,000 Portuguese guerrillas cooperated with each other.

On the evening of July 29, the adjutant reported to General Hill that the checkpoint had intercepted two messengers from Evora.

Before Hill took the secret letter brought by the messenger of Evora from his adjutant, he seemed to have a bad premonition in his heart. The coalition forces encountered shameful failure on the eastern front. The description of the secret letter confirmed his terrible prediction: after being besieged for 15 days, Evora finally fell, and 30,000 coalition forces were almost destroyed; of which nearly one-third of the 5,000 British troops were killed or killed, and the survivors also accompanied their commander, General Bellsford, and together with more than 20,000 Portuguese soldiers, they entered the prisoner-of-war camp set up by the French.
Chapter completed!