In the military camp in the southern suburbs of Madrid, there is an infamous foreign employed group with about 1,000 people. The foreign infantry regiment was originally named Madrid Volunteers, and was ordered by Marshal Mura (the first commander-in-chief of the French army in Spain) who had left the Spanish battlefield.

At first, the infantry regiment was mainly composed of recruited Spanish soldiers, plus a small number of Swiss and French. Marshal Mura deceived the soldiers and said he wanted to assist Spain in conquering Portugal. After the Madrid Uprising broke out in 1808, Spanish soldiers were provoked and bewitched by the uprising citizens and rushed out of the military camps to resist the French rule.

The Madrid uprising was soon suppressed by the French regular army. These Spanish soldiers fled to the south with their guns and joined the arms of the Honta Parliament; or infiltrated into nearby mountains and became members of the local guerrillas. By the time King Joseph returned to Madrid, the entire infantry regiment was less than 200.

In order to supplement the vacancy left by Spanish deserters, King Joseph appointed General Hugo to recruit some recruits to supplement the regiment. Soon, this regiment of foreign mercenaries became a varied army of people from all countries, including Hungarians, Bohemians, Poles, Russians, Danes, Egyptians, and even British (Irish).

These people did not have the noble enthusiasm of protecting the New Spanish Kingdom, and did not obey commands and did not abide by military discipline with money. Faced with the lack of training and poor equipment, Spanish guerrillas were able to throw away their armor and lose their battles repeatedly. When they returned to the military camp, they either fought against each other, fought with other friendly forces, or ran to nearby towns, participated in looting and stealing, or even raped women, and were extremely angry.

General Hugo was very upset about this. The dispatched Military Law Department shot several illegal soldiers in succession, but could not suppress them. Not long ago, a convoy transporting French military pay from Madrid was robbed, and even dozens of French soldiers were killed or injured. At first, General Hugo thought it was a bloody crime committed by mountainous guerrillas, but soon a whistleblower reported that everything was done by foreign mercenaries.

After asking King Joseph for permission, General Hugo was preparing to send troops to encircle and suppress the ungrateful wolf. However, it was not good to send troops directly. After weighing and thinking, General Hugo decided to pay 800 horses and invite the Desai team to do it on his behalf. As for the life and death of 1,000 mercenaries, he had signed a secret order and handed it over to Colonel Desai for full disposal.

...

The third day entering Madrid was not a good weather. The sky was covered with dark clouds and was terrifyingly gloomy. After noon, it began to rain lightly on the sky, falling on the top of my head, feeling uncomfortable. At this time, on the road leading to the southern suburbs of Madrid, more than 700 soldiers of the Desay regiment were marching forward with cold rain and muddy roads, and these fully armed French soldiers were preparing to carry out a special mission.

Berson Rusty also joined the marching ranks. The 32-year-old Rusty once had a great future that was enviable. He first participated in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and later joined the rank of captain to Emperor Napoleon's near-guards. He participated in a series of glorious battles by the emperor. He became a lieutenant colonel staff officer under General DuPont at the age of 30. Even if he followed the steps, perhaps at the age of 40, Rusty would be able to obtain the rank of brigade general and a noble title. But all of this was completely wiped out after the damn Battle of Bailan.

Being defeated and captured is not his own responsibility. In fact, Rusty has fulfilled his duties as a staff officer. Whether in private or in public, he repeatedly reminded General DuPont that he must decisively give up more than 800 baggage teams loaded with various types of spoils. Because when this army carrying countless burdens, like a snail, slowly proceeding on rugged mountain roads, it is very easy to become the target of the Spanish attack. In addition, the officers and soldiers suffered from money, became loose in military discipline and had no intention of fighting at all.

Unfortunately, General DuPont, including most other officers, lost his mind by the rich spoils and flatly rejected Rusty's correct advice. Soon, the doom of annihilation fell on all the officers and soldiers of the DuPont Division.

Rusty was injured and captured. During the days when he was imprisoned by the Spanish on the deserted island of Caffrera, he had to be despicable and compete with other captured soldiers for every potato and every slice of bread, and endure the ruthless humiliation of the Spanish and the heavy ore mining labor.

Fortunately, Rusty was an officer with priority in obtaining the qualification to exchange prisoners. After being detained on Caffrera for three months, he landed in Barcelona under the control of the French army as the third group of released prisoners of war.

Because he wanted to regain his former glory and was unwilling to retire with a shameful resume, and was despised by others for the rest of his life, Rusty and several captured officers with the same idea refused to return to France. The seven ragged French officers, regardless of the death threat of Spanish guerrillas along the way, walked together and returned to Madrid again. Rusty hoped to get the opportunity to return to the battlefield from the old commander and Marshal Jules, and was willing to be relegated and hired.

However, hope is beautiful, but reality is so cruel. With the recommendation letter of Jur as the marshal, Rusty and others visited more than ten generals, but were all politely declined. Just as everyone was about to despair, Colonel Desay, who had just arrived in Madrid, agreed to take them in. While they were happy, no one opposed the prerequisite proposed by Major Carls. Not to mention the relegation of the recruitment, even if they gave up the rank of lieutenant colonel and returned to the rank of lieutenant officer, Rusty and others were happy.

Two hours later, Rusty and six companions, including Shener (former major), Croix (former captain), Simerz (former captain), Mitheus (former lieutenant), Costan (former lieutenant), Gottal (former lieutenant) and six companions, as ordinary soldiers, temporarily joined Major Carls' military police.

In order to prevent the cold spring rain from causing large-scale illness of the war horses, all the soldiers were wearing rainproof cloaks and marched on foot. Corporal Silva once again wiped away the rain from the flowing cheeks, ran out of the queue, and stopped in the dense woods on the side of the road to hide from the rain. He picked up a dead branch on the ground and tried to scrape off the mud stuck to the soles of the shoes. When the corporal of the military police returned to the team, his previous efforts were wasted, and the mud under the soles of the shoes was filled again. Every time he lifted his feet, it was like pressing a 4-pound iron bullet.

Silva began to miss his mount, the snow-white Spanish war horse, which was the corporal who used 50 riyal silver coins to bribe the logistics officer and obtained the priority selection. Although it was the first two-year-old stallion, Silva gave it a nice lady name, "Alice".

Then, Silva was missing his fellow Marseille, Sergeant Penduath. The lucky guy, and several other non-commissioned officers, received an admission notice from Saint-Silly Military Academy. Yesterday, they had left Madrid and returned to France with a French convoy.

Finally, Silva couldn't hold it in. He touched his taciturn new comrades beside him, took out his conversation, and asked someone to nag, "Hey, it's the Rusty brothers. Do you know, the damn mercenaries we are going to deal with? Teach a lesson, arrest, or kill them, and confiscate all their property?"

Rusty shook his head. Although the commanders did not prohibit the soldiers from talking to each other before the march, he was still used to it, not to mention that the spring rain falling into his mouth was too cold, and Rusty didn't want to have diarrhea at night.

Silva was unhappy. He stretched his arms and showed off his yellow armband to the soldier Rusty, "Okay, my identity as a subordinate, order you to answer the chief's question!"

"It should be an incorporation, corporal!" Rusty was silent for a moment, lowered her head and briefly said what she was thinking. As for Silva's rude provocation, Rusty did not take it seriously.

"No, soldier Rusty! Those who do evilly rape, bold thieves, and guys who lose their military honor should all be hanged. I understand the way the leader of Desay is, just like we are in the Monastery of Our Lady..." Just now, Silva, who was originally proud of the tone of the decree, seemed to think of some taboos. He looked around and saw that no one was paying attention. Then Silva was a little relieved and asked Rusty to explain the remarks of "why is it an inclusion" as if she was concealed.

While sorting out his thoughts, Rusty said, "It's not surprising, Chief Corporal! According to the military war management amnesty in 1805, His Majesty the Emperor issued an amnesty order for military war management. Within two months after the war subsided, the Desai regiment must complete the organization of at least 1,200 soldiers, otherwise Colonel Desai would receive punishment from the Paris Army Department. It's fine, but it happens to be an extraordinary period for Colonel Desai to be promoted to brigade general. Any mistake will lead to the invalidation of the promotion order.

At present, it is unlikely to wait for the French recruit battalion to supplement it. Because the relationship with Austria is becoming increasingly tense, the fifth anti-French alliance war is about to begin, and trained recruits are given priority to supplement the sequence of combat against Austria. As for the source of troops in Spain, no commander dares to try again and recruit a group of Spaniards who may turn against at any time. Only the mercenary group is the only choice for Colonel Desay.

As far as I know, there are some abandoned former Polish legion soldiers in the mercenary group, who have served in the Haitian battlefield in the Caribbean. With Colonel Desai's Polish aristocratic bloodline, the Poles will surrender with just a proper hint, and with the preparations for the mercenary group to clear out the camp, the mercenary group will collapse without bloodshed."

Listening to Rusty's analysis, Silva no longer argued with him, put down his non-commissioned figure and discussed the fate of the empire with "soldier" Rusty and the future of the Desays Group.

"Brother Rusty, tell me, when will our war with the Austrians begin?"

"It will take 1 month later."

"Will the Prussians join the war?"

"The Prussian generals wanted to join, but their king was not ready, at least before the Russian Tsar made a statement."

"Will our emperor win?"

“No doubt”

"Do you say our regiment will join the war with the Austrians?"

“It’s probably difficult.”

"Why?"

"Unfortunately, Colonel Desai offended a king who was not polite in Madrid."

"Will we be upset?"

"Corporate, you have too many problems!"
Chapter completed!