Although the French Navy had always lost a lot in several maritime confrontations with the British and Russians from the Revolutionary era to the reign of Napoleon, the French never stopped building the Navy. Even after the Battle of Trafalgar, the Toulon fleet still built a large number of new warships with the help of Spanish allies, trying to fight against the British Mediterranean fleet.

When the news of the steam ship invented by Fulton reached France in the United States, in Toulon, naval ordnance engineers who were not to be outdone also proposed to move the steam engine to the warship and use tail propellers to advance the ironclad ship, but the experiment was not successful. With the outbreak of the Spanish War in 1808, the French Navy lost an important ally of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Toulon fleet had to give up its efforts to compete with the British Mediterranean Fleet for sea control in the northern Mediterranean. As a result, many built sailing ships were permanently sealed before they even left the dry dock.

Colonel Croix asked Marshal Desay about the reasons for supervising the steamship. In addition to his special experience from the French Navy, he also made friends with the commander of the Toulon Fleet and could obtain those new types of warships that were sealed at a "favorable price", including gathering some professional and technical talents, which could greatly shorten the construction (renovation) time of the ironclad ship. Of course, a lot of money is also needed to pioneer the way.

Desai would naturally not object to it, but he asked his subordinates to join the American ship engineers to propose a detailed feasibility plan. Once he gained his recognition, Colonel Croix would take Papan Feich and his team to the Hruna Ship Research Institute after the war in Portugal, and supervise the construction of the ironclad ship. However, General Rusti was not happy. He whispered that the marshal had abducted his important assistant in the staff, while Desai smiled without saying a word.

Two weeks later, the ironclad plan jointly drafted by Colonel Croix and Papan Feich was submitted to Marshal Desay. The key data generally meet the requirements of the superiors. Only when it comes to the raw materials for building four-windmill underwater blades (tail propellers), they unanimously recommended the use of lightweight hardwood (Archimede propellers) rather than bulky iron (Stephen propellers).

Note: The data on the new steam warship proposed by Desai originated from the "Glory" developed by the French Navy. It should be the first iron armored warship in the world to successfully use steam engines as auxiliary power. However, in the second year, the more advanced steam iron armored ship developed by the British was launched from the Plymouth military port.

...

On the afternoon of October 10, 1810, an ordinary van carriage surrounded by cavalry and walked slowly along the left bank of the Tejo River. The carriage was painted with olive green on the outside and did not wear any noble marks. Along the way, farmers in the fields carefully took off their hats on their chests, and passers-by quickly avoided them at both ends of the road to show fear and obedience.

These ordinary Portuguese didn't know which big man was sitting in the closed carriage, but they believed that it would be extraordinary to allow more than a hundred elite French cavalry to guard the officers around the carriage. Since the "Ukre Village Incident" the day before yesterday and the "Notice to the People of Central Portugal" yesterday, the Portuguese people living along the lower reaches of the Tejo River have become obedient to the occupying army almost overnight. Although most people are still full of anger and hatred, they dare not speak out. This is a bloody lesson learned by more than a hundred compatriots with their precious lives.

Thanks to the clear authorization of the Supreme Commander, French soldiers can take all violent means, bullets and bayonets that they think are necessary against all Portuguese who refuse to cooperate. In addition to waving a big stick with one hand, the French will also pick up radishes in the other hand. For example, respecting the religious beliefs and personal property of the locals, the mutual transactions are fair, and soldiers rarely take the initiative to disturb the villagers. In addition, the French army also divided half of the township public property they forcibly requisitioned to compensate obedient Portuguese civilians.

The window of the carriage was opened, and Desai stretched out his arm from the carriage and swayed. Following the adjutant on the side of the carriage, Major Mardan quickly stepped forward, and he signaled the coachman to stop the carriage immediately. At the same time, Captain Jacques, the commander of the guard, ordered the cavalry to disperse and implement strict warnings within 100 meters with the carriage as the core.

The carriage stopped and the side door opened, Desai did not get out of the car immediately. He asked Adjutant Mardan to unfold a military map and confirm his specific location, which was about 10 kilometers away from the front of the Second Division. The superiors decided to get out of the car for a walk and rest for a while. At the same time, he told his followers not to speak loudly, so as not to wake up Chief of Staff Rusty, who was still sleeping soundly in the car.

From the military camp in the northern suburbs of Lisbon, the hardworking chief of staff acted as a temporary clerk. For several hours, he recorded various commands from the commander in the bumpy and rolling carriage. Subsequently, these commands were translated by Jacques intelligence officer into a series of symbolic codes, and finally sent quickly to commanders everywhere through the arm plate signal on the nearby mountains.

The French Marshal needs to thank the upcoming opponent, General Wellington, for the existence of this "Information Highway".

In the second half of 1809, in order to ensure the flexibility of mobilization of coalition forces in the French War, Wellington ordered a dense network of transportation roads after each Torish Wedrash defense line, including roads parallel to the defense line. The coalition could reach the urgently needed areas through the newly built traffic road network at any time.

In addition, Wellington realized that the delivery of command messages is also crucial. Therefore, at many key commanding heights in the defense line, British communication engineers followed French colleagues and built many arm plate signal machines at visual intervals. The messages were transmitted between the signal stations through encoded signals, and from the southmost to the northmost of the defense line, it only took 6 or 7 minutes to have a good visibility.

Because Desai's army rushed south to Lisbon with lightning speed and forced arriving in the Portuguese defenders on the third line of defense, the signal station on the nearby mountains was successfully retained, and then became a communication envoy for the French team. When the marshal's instructions were issued from the carriage, these orders would be passed to the Alhandra front line or Lisbon in the rear.

When he returned to the ground from the carriage, Desai habitually stretched his waist and felt that he had gained a lot of weight. In two months, because he did not smell the smoke from the battlefield, the cashmere vest was tightened by his body and his belly seemed to have grown a little.

The sound of the rustling water attracted Desai and turned his attention to the Tejo River not far away. He found a stump for himself to rest for passers-by to sit down. Through the gaps between rows of dense cork oak branches on the river bank, Desai saw the figure of the "Sirius" full of military materials, which was full of military materials, appearing again on the surface of the Tejo River.

From the northern suburbs of Lisbon to Alhandra, the land journey is 35 kilometers, and the carriage takes 4 hours to complete; for the Sirius, which is going upstream, it takes only two and a half hours to complete this voyage (the straight line is 30 kilometers away). If it goes downstream, the speed will become faster. However, Desai did not choose Sirius as his transportation tool. The reason is very simple. He was worried that some kind of accident would occur during the unstable high-pressure boiler.

At some point, the intelligence officer Jacques walked to Desay. He told the marshal that General Barbanegel had sent a telegram saying that the Second Division had taken the town of Alhandra by the Tejo River without any blood. The coalition forces chose to abandon the defense.

In addition, the information from the Military Intelligence Agency showed that Wellington's main force was still deployed in the Sabuco Mountains and was in conflict with Marshal Massena's Portuguese army. However, the main force of the coalition had already shown signs of retreating to Fortress Saint-Teren, and its strategic intention was consistent with the analysis of the General Staff, and was preparing to engage in a large-scale war with the French army on the southern front commanded by Desay.

"Where is the front-line command of the coalition forces?" Desai turned around and asked. Adjutant Mardan, who was enjoying the river view not far away, also ran over. He re-opened the military map in his hand and placed it on the marshal's knee.

Jacques explained: "Here, the town of Sheila. In addition to relying on a strong fortress, the coalition forces can also use the mountains on both sides to cover it." On the map, the lieutenant pointed his finger northward to the town of Alhandra, which was an inconspicuous small place name.

Jacques continued: "Currently, the commander of the coalition blocking force in Sheila is General Laurie Cole, and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel James Bomer, who is the liaison officer of the Mediterranean Fleet's coalition headquarters. After drawing a large number of troops from Mafura, Montachik, Busselas, Alhandra, Sheila and other places, Sheila currently has a coalition number between 8,000 and 10,000. Among them, the British army is unknown, but at least two marine battalions are available for dispatch."

Like Alhandra Town, Heila Town is also located on the Tejo River. When the third line of defense that defended Lisbon fell, the Alhandra Fortress, which was originally used to resist the invasion of the enemy in the north (the second line of defense), was greatly reduced in practical value, and the Sheila Town, which was defending to the south, became extremely important.

"Tell the guard brigade behind them to start following, we will arrive in Alhandra Town within an hour." Desay told Major Mardan in front of him.

Major Mardan put away the map and stood up. Desay asked Lieutenant Jacques again, "Is there any news from Colonel Ultrasle?"

The intelligence officer shook his head, "Since last night, the Engineer Corps has not sent any information."

Desai immediately ordered: "You rush to Colonel Ultrasl's command post immediately to understand the actual situation, and report to me at any time!"
Chapter completed!