The commander of the baggage team of more than 300 people was Captain Sezel, a veteran in his 40s. He was short but energetic. Because the food shortage in Madrid was getting worse, people were starved to death in many places. Captain Sezel came to Zaragoza under the order of King Joseph to buy hundreds of carnivorous and flour in the city of Zaragoza.

The captain of the baggage team introduced to Colonel Desay that the entire journey from Zaragoza to Madrid was about 500 kilometers. Not only did you have to cross mountains and ridges, but you had to build bridges when you met rivers, but you should be especially careful of Spanish bandits who were active in Guadalama Mountain, killing people and robbing people and doing all kinds of evil. Based on the speed of the baggage team traveling 35 kilometers a day, it is estimated that it will take about 15 days to walk smoothly.

"What if it doesn't go well?" Lieutenant Charles, who was still the adjutant of the Desay commander, came forward and asked.

Captain Sezel shrugged, with a melancholy face, and his tone of commentary was pessimistic, "Maybe 30 days, 40 days, or you may never reach Madrid. Second Lieutenant, you should know that winter is not over yet, and the Spaniards hidden in the Guadalama Mountains are also short of food. If you see thousands of tons of food passing by your home, the bandits will definitely make up their minds. The terrain of this area is relatively flat and not their range of activities. After passing the town of Arisa, trouble may come."

"But we have a regiment of troops." Second Lieutenant Charles was a little dissatisfied.

"During the Battle of Bailan, there were more than 20,000 generals, DuPont and Vedal!" Captain Sezel replied bluntly. One of Captain Sezel's younger brothers was killed on the battlefield of Bailan.

Desai stopped the two of them from the smell of gunpowder, and his face seemed unwilling. It was not the confrontation of the captain of the baggage team, but the worry. He rode on the horse and looked coldly at the uneven road ahead. He felt that he was in the woods on both sides of the road, perhaps hiding a local guerrilla spying on himself.

"Person Charles, go and notify all officers. After arriving in Arisa, a military meeting will be held immediately. In addition, Captain Sezel, please be sure to attend!"

...

The town of Arisa is located at the foot of the mountain in the northern section of the Guadalama Mountains. In a small basin, the quiet Halong River flows through the east and south sides of the town of Arisa. Hundreds of years ago, this was the base camp of the Moors' attack on the northern part of the Iberis Peninsula, and it was also an important supply line for the King of Aragon to recover Madrid.

The center of Arisa town is two churches with a long history. One is a luxurious Gothic church. More than 100 meters away, the other church is converted from the original Moorish temple. The square between the two churches and the brick and stone avenue extending north and south divides the town into east and west sides.

Because this was once a military fortress, the appearance of the two churches was transformed into castle style, and together with the nearby residential areas, they were surrounded by an oval wall. This was originally an ancient town with a population of 3,000, but now it has only less than 1,000 people. In September 1808, the 4th Army commanded by Marshal Lefefer passed by the town of Arisa and was preparing to attack Madrid, a military station was set up here, and Captain Reno was the stationmaster of this military station.

At 3 pm, at the entrance of the wall of Arisa Town, when Colonel Desai saw the stationmaster of the army with a big belly, clumsy hands and feet, like an oak barrel, saluted to him, he found that there were still large oil stains on the other party's uniform. The oil stains were smooth and bright, and it was obviously just stuck. Colonel Desai, who was slightly obsessed with cleanliness, took a breath and finally restrained his impulse to hit the sloppy ghost with a horse whip and rode away.

Captain Sezel grabbed Captain Renault, dragged him aside, and kindly instructed: "Go and change your clothes quickly, and the meeting will be held later. Remember, Colonel Desay is an Earl who likes to pay attention to it."

...

Francisco Mina was hidden on the top of the Gothic church, holding a monocular telescope in his hand, and silently staring at the French convoy entering the city. He was about 38 years old, with two big beards like fox tails, surrounded by a face with a flat nose, woolen vest, and covered with patched gray clothes. From head to toe, he was dressed in a farmer's outfit.

Of course, Mina was not a farmer in the nearby mountainous areas. He served in the Spanish Kingdom for many years. After the failure of the Madrid uprising in the fifth and second period, he had already been in the rank of captain and gathered a group of troops, retreated to the Guadalama Mountains, and formed a guerrilla team. Since 1808, Mina's guerrilla team commanded by Mina specialized in attacking French convoys on the road from Madrid to Zaragoza, with brilliant results.

Soon, the famous Guadalama guerrillas quickly recovered more than a dozen nearby villages, and the number of troops expanded from less than 200 to more than 2,000. In early 1809, Francisco Mina was awarded the rank of temporary brigadier general by the Zaragoza Military Commission, responsible for harassing French reinforcements from Madrid. However, with the fall of Zaragoza, Mina's guerrillas also fell into an unprecedented dilemma. Not only were food shortages, but the morale of the troops also began to dissipate. Mina had to take risks, thinking of encouraging the Spaniards with a victory and rekindling their confidence in fighting the French invading army.

According to the preliminary estimate just now, there should be more than 120 horse-drawn trucks this time, and the grain and meat transported on it should be able to provide 8,000 people with frugality for more than half a year. Since the fall of Zaragoza, the Guadalama Mountain guerrillas commanded by Mina and more than a dozen small mountain villages under control have become increasingly difficult to obtain food supplies from the outside world. Before the summer grain harvest this year, as the leader, he must consider the livelihoods of 8,000 elderly, weak, women and children.

But the current situation is not very good. Judging from the formation, momentum, equipment, and military rituals of the French army entering the city, it is not the soft-legged shrimp from the Rhine Puppet Kingdom, but an elite French infantry regiment. Although the number is insufficient and the baggage team is only about 1,000. However, it is definitely not something that more than 2,000 guerrillas under his command can compete head-on.

Mina put away the monocular mirror, put it in her arms, and went downstairs from the top of the tower. At the corner of the lobby on the first floor of the church, a priest in a golden robe nodded at Mina, indicating all peace. The latter flashed past and hurriedly left the church through the side door and entered the limestone path in the town. Not far away, several guerilla captain's entourage were waiting outside the church.

Despite the long journeys of several days, the soldiers of the Desai regiment were finally given a chance to rest and were allowed to take turns to enter and exit the town of Arisa. Because fellow villager Sergeant Penduwas was responsible for the camp duty, after packing up the accommodation, Silva had to go to the town by himself.

Over the past period of time, Silva felt that he was not bad, not only because his ** career was over, but more importantly, the pocket coins became colorful, with gold coins, silver coins, francs or riyals. The only regret was that he failed to obtain the rank of non-commissioned officers, but it didn't matter much. Lieutenant Reedes once said that all soldiers involved in the surprise attack on the Town Hall, even if they did not get the opportunity to be promoted, will be given priority to be replaced as sergeants after the next victory.

The good mood did not last long. Shortly after Silva and others left the barracks, they found the figures of the military police patrolling everywhere on the street. "These guys are so lingering." Silva complained deeply. A few days ago, because he went out too late, he was warned by the military police once when he returned to the camp.

According to the military rules of the Desai regiment, every time they go to a town, the military police will cooperate with the local garrison (army station) to be responsible for internal and external security. Although many garrison supervisors are not happy about this, no one can change Colonel Desai's decision.

"Hey, Silva, remember! Be sure to return to the camp on time before six o'clock in the evening." A military policeman who knew him greeted him with a smile.

Silva waved his hand impatiently, nodded and turned back into an alley from the left side of the street. The alley was narrower on the left and less than one meter. When Silva entered the alley, several locals happened to come in on the other end. The leader was an honest middle-aged farmer. When he saw the French soldiers, he was stunned for a moment, thinking that he would withdraw first, but was drunk by the latter.

Silva, who was teased by the military police just now, finally found the object of venting. He pulled out his pistol, regardless of whether the other party could understand French, so he shouted to let several Spanish people come over, saying that he suspected that the other party was a spy and wanted to check and search one by one. The middle-aged farmer happened to be Francesco Mina, the guerrilla commander in the area. When the accident happened, he really wanted to go out of the city through this alley, prepare to return to the mountains, and discuss robbing food with his companions.

Perhaps the incident suddenly caused excessive tension. A young man behind Mina couldn't help but pull out a dagger and threw it at the French soldiers. Unfortunately, his head was not accurate enough, and sparks appeared on the bricks and stones in the alley walls, which scared the Frenchman.

Silva immediately reacted. While urging the way he came, he called the gendarmerie to come and arrest the spies; while waving his pistols, he rushed over. When the figures of several spies were about to disappear at the end of the alley, Silva hurriedly raised his gun and fired. The bullet happened to hit the calves of the young man who had thrown a dagger at him, and he put him to the ground.

Seeing other French soldiers coming to surround them, Mina and others had to give up their assistance to their companions. With their familiarity with the roads in the town and the intentional or unintentional help of the town residents, they quickly got rid of the French pursuers. Silva returned to the alley, and a military policeman tied up the injured spy and was about to escort them to the camp for interrogation. The military policeman who was still laughing at the Masai now envied the Silva who had "got lucky". Because the military policeman found something of interest from the young spy.

Siege of street fighting and counter-guerrilla warfare have always been the most troublesome military propositions for the invaders. The successful case of raiding Zaragoza City Hall was based on the familiarity of history by time travelers in later generations and opportunistically fiddling with the golden finger. However, Colonel Desai was at a loss for the guerrillas (or rebels, French terms) active on the Guadalama Mountain.

Before attacking Zaragoza, the Desai regiments had been fighting against Austria, Prussia or Russia in Central Europe. Under normal circumstances, as long as the French army defeated the enemy's main force in the general battle, both countries would show obedience to the French.

There are also armed resistance and conspiracy to assassinate the occupied troops, but very few are. Even the administrative authorities and various civil or religious groups in the occupied areas have stopped this "illegal act". Therefore, the officers and soldiers are not too worried about the residents of the occupied areas being sneak attacked for no reason, nor do they know what guerrilla warfare is or the effective way of anti-guerrilla warfare. But in Spain, the situation is completely different.
Chapter completed!