When Duke Hruna appeared in full energy on the balcony on the second floor of the church in military uniform, the soldiers stopped hustle and surrounded him, all saluting in awe, looking up at his face, asking for his opinion, and looking forward to his orders.

At this moment, Desai felt that his body was full of strength, endless. In the soldiers' eyes that were eager to fight, he felt that it was the smell of war that was familiar to him. The great conqueror should create a series of wars to seek the happiness brought in the process, even under various political guises, or pretending to be well-dressed gentlemanly. All of this will make Desai full of vitality and enthusiasm, forget the still-continuous headaches and physical weakness.

Seeing the division commander's body shaking slightly due to excitement, Rusty came to him calmly and secretly stretched out his palm to support the commander's back. Desai ignored it and began to deliver a long-planned speech:

"Dear officers and soldiers, I began to lead you two years ago. At that time, you were still in a difficult and miserable situation in Zaragoza, in Madrid, in Gruna, and in Catalonia, and sacrificed, resisted, and endured every day, but you were hungry and cold, poverty with nothing. I promised to stop your painful situation and lead you to a prosperous and happy country. There you will get everything: bread, land, and beautiful women!

Soldiers, please tell me, Andrew Desay, have you fulfilled the promise?"

As Desai asked, under the balcony and above the square, the voices of approval gathered into deafening waves. The soldiers shouted from the heart: "Yes, Duke!"

The military band under the shade of the trees began to play the "March of the Guards Brigade", and the soldiers sang happily over and over again.

Desai felt very satisfied. This was the life of the superior, and he held the power of supreme glory in his hands. He paused for a moment, held the balcony railing firmly with both hands, leaned forward, waiting for the music to gradually stop, and the soldiers returned to calm, and then continued: "

However, you have not received enough, and I am deeply sorry for this, so two months ago, I resolutely took you to conquer a country, Portugal! A good place that can win more honors and wealth for you and your wife and children in your family.

In Evora, the great victory allowed you to eat a lot of delicious food, enjoy all kinds of beauties, and the quarantine officers were counting you with abundant spoils. But we know what happened. The battle of Evora was just a comfortable outing in the countryside; the consolidation of Evora's wealth was not enough to make us feel moved and satisfied. But there..."

Desai raised his head high, his eyes following his fingers, looking at the distant sky, Mount Mengsangtu under the sunlight.

He shouted, "On the other side of the Pass of Monsantu Mountain is Lisbon, the capital of the kingdom at our feet, is gathering all kinds of huge wealth over the past 700 years. It is one of the richest cities on the Iberis Peninsula. Perhaps tomorrow, this rich place, luxury and prosperous metropolis, will be controlled under our power."

Everyone suddenly started talking in a mess, and they were in a mess. Desai knew very well that this was his voice. So he clenched his fists on his chest and repeated loudly again: "Yes, brothers, this is our power!"

At this time, the soldiers were gradually quieted down by honor and wealth, and listened to the Duke's speech with caution.

"However, there was a group of ignorant cowards planning a conspiracy to try to stop our progress and prevent us from enjoying the benefits we should enjoy. So they built several seemingly solid lines of defense in the narrow mountain pass, and then hid in like women. The day before yesterday, these people deceived our kindness in a despicable way; yesterday, they killed our comrades in cruel ways; and today, they still openly humiliated our captured warriors on the position."

Desai shouted, "Brothers, who are these mean cowards?"

"It's the enemy!"

"It's Portuguese!"

"It's British!"

The soldiers were making noises, and Desai nodded slightly, because he had firmly stabilized the rudder in the storm.

Desai continued to shout, "Brothers! So, I, Andrew Desai, decided to accept your request for battle just now, because deep in your supreme commander, the flame of revenge against the enemy was also ignited.

In one hour, under the leadership of the officers, you will launch a powerful offensive against the coalition forces stationed in the Monsantu Mountain Pass, defeat them and hold victory in their hands. Win new glory for you and enjoy the benefits you deserve. The upcoming victory will surprise those who worship you today and become the invincible lion that the people of the two emerging kingdoms expect. I promise..."

In the church square, there is now a silence. The soldiers raised their heads and looked forward to the Duke's promise with longing eyes.

"In Lisbon, in those magnificent palaces, you will receive your due respect, glory, wealth, and more land." Desai shouted, "It is the wealth of Portugal and the land of Poland! Brothers, do you have the courage and perseverance?"

As soon as Desai finished speaking, the military band played the "March of the Guards Brigade" at the same time, and thousands of soldiers sang together again. They expressed their firm agreement with His Majestic and passionate singing to His Majesty the King's above proposal.

Following the example of those great men in later generations, Desai smiled and waved his hands frequently to the soldiers who loved him. Until the march came to an end, he turned around and returned to the confessional room with Rusty amid the cheers of the soldiers.

Desai felt very tired and tired at this time. A public speech was not just a slut, but required full dedication, including expressions, tone, gestures and other body languages. However, the effect was also very good. Desai believed that once the soldiers who were inspired and motivated heard the order, even if moving forward meant death, they would fight to death while moving forward.

As a senior commander who has been fighting for many years, Desai already knows what adventure is and knows to order the army to make necessary sacrifices for war. For these reasons, the superiors must be as tight as bowstrings, and the commands must be like arrows, and they must be shot out quickly, and they must never look back. Even when facing cliffs, swords and seas of fire.

In the dark and small room, the school-level officers of the Guard Brigade, including Colonel René of the Ramp Regiment, Colonel Pavorsky of the Cavalry Regiment, Major Pochi, who served as the chief of the military police, stood at attention from beginning to end, and they were also waiting for the Duke's last speech before the battle.

Desai did not express an excited tone or wave his strong arms to these confidants. He did not hide his tired face and told the front commanders in a slightly plain tone, saying:

"Gentlemen, our soldiers are brave, crazy, and irrational; however, as officers, you must maintain sufficient calmness and resilience in battle. The Chief of Staff has explained the combat plan in detail just now, and I will not make any cumbersome statements. So now, please return to your respective teams immediately and lead them to win. In addition..."

Desay paused and finally said, "When victory, I will stand at the highest point of the Shan Pass defense line and give your team a flag!"

"Yes, Duke!" The officers roared in unison, and after saluting the military, they left one after another.

"Rusty," Desai said to his chief of staff: "Your cavalry brigade is still sticking to this place, waiting for the news that the first line of defense of the coalition forces was conquered. In addition, you go to the military officer in your own name and ask me for a glass of crow-filled wine. Remember! Don't let anyone know, including the military officer." In the last sentence, Desai's words became almost inaudible. If he hadn't been worried that his headache would have intensified again in the battle, which would have led to some accident, he would not have accepted the temptation of the demon.

...

While the leader of the Desay Division delivered an offensive speech to the soldiers on the balcony of the church, Sergeant Ortega Garset and Corporal Gonzalez Enrique, who were ordered to take on the reconnaissance mission, had secretly lurked in the Pass of Monsantu Mountain.

Two kilometers behind the two were the scattered soldiers arranged by the coalition forces in the frontier. After the victory, the Portuguese soldiers obviously neglected to guard against each other, which allowed Gasset and Enrique to pass through this warning post without any danger. 500 meters in front of them was the enemy's first solid defense line. Yesterday, several cavalry squadrons of the Cavalry Brigade were killed and sand was sank, and there were heavy casualties. Large areas of soil had been dyed dark red by the blood of the people, and there were a large number of human limbs mixed in the red soil.

Thanks to the battlefield information sent by the black Mario, Garset and Enrique had already known in advance that on the left side of the enemy's position, there were several tall and dense beech trees, whose branches happened to be connected to the cliff on the left. Taking advantage of the time when the coalition soldiers changed their guards at noon, Garset and Enrique quickly climbed to a 20-meter-high tree canopy, carefully jumped along the thick branches to a weathered cave in the middle of the cliff to hide, and built a temporary enemy situation observation station there.

"Damn it, why don't we come from the top of the cliff?" Enrique complained in a low voice. Two minutes ago, while jumping over the branches, a Portuguese soldier ran under the tree to urinate, scaring him so much that he almost dropped the rifle scope in his backpack to the ground.

Garset smiled, reached out his hand, and casually broke a large piece of severely divided rock, then threw it in front of the corporal, saying, "Gonzalez, you were the bravest mountain hunter in Northern Aragon, and you forgot to investigate the terrain. As soon as you step out, the weather fossils of the cliff will fall and expose your and me to the enemy. In addition, it will take at least 3 days to accurately find the cliff above us in the jungle of Mangshan. Colonel René did not give us enough time to climb the mountain and circle."

Enrique became speechless. He took out dry food from his backpack and sat on the ground in anger and started eating. His eyes were looking at Sergeant Gasset skillfully assembled the rifle scope. Soon, the corporal broke his silence again. He asked jokingly: "With this gadget, our rifle should be able to shoot 1 kilometer, right?"

"1 km? Nonsense, maximum range of 850 meters, effective range of 600 meters!"

"But it must be valuable?"

"That's right, the entire rifle regiment has only 20 pairs of long-bore scopes, and we have two."

"Oh, poor Julio Pablo, can't come and accompany us."

Garset stopped the movement of his hand, and he looked up and said, "This is what I asked Colonel René, Julio is the only son of the family."

The two fell silent. Soon, everyone was busy checking weapons and ammunition, or using telescopes to observe the enemy situation on the defense line.

About half an hour later, they heard a noise and looked out, and found that the Portuguese soldiers who were on the fox line of the coalition forces were spreading their legs and running towards the first line of defense, still shouting, "The French are here, they are here again!"

Soon, the figures of officers and soldiers of the Guards Brigade Ramp Regiment, riding on horseback, appeared behind the fleeing stragglers. Several Portuguese soldiers who were slow to react and avoided were nailed to the soil by conical bullets fired by the Hruna-style 1810 rifle.

A new battle officially begins...
Chapter completed!