18th century total war

Chapter 357 Flattening the Ilibian Peninsula
Since the outbreak of the Fifth Anti-French War, in less than a year, the main force of the Allied Forces on the Iberian Peninsula was wiped out. Not only Carlos IV brought his queen back to Madrid for restoration, but also the entire Kingdom of Spain. Not many regular troops.

Although the Kingdom of Portugal has been working hard to train and recruit militia reserves, anyone with a discerning eye can see that it is only a matter of time before the fall of the Ilibian Peninsula.

However, after the restoration of Carlos IV, he was forced to go to Vienna with his own Kingdom of Louisa to meet Li Wei, and then was enlightened by the administration to become a loyal servant.

This piece of news quickly spread throughout the high-level anti-French alliance along with the intelligence of the British spies.

They knew that the orthodoxy of the Spanish royal family was irretrievable...

In order to prevent Carlos IV's successor, Ferdinand VII, from being hypnotized and brainwashed by Li Wei, the London government decided to semi-forcibly transport Ferdinand VII to the British Isles and put him under house arrest, forming a government-in-exile to continue 'remote control' Command the Rebel Army in the Kingdom of Spain.

Of course, the so-called remote command is actually the British helping to command.

Those Spanish guerrillas had nothing to do with Ferdinand VII except their nominal allegiance to Ferdinand VII.

The composition of the Spanish guerrillas mainly came from the defeated Spanish routs and mercenary routs, men who had blood feuds with the French, ordinary Spaniards who did not want to be ruled by the French, and were influenced by nationalist ideology.

The last one has the highest proportion of soldiers!

As a kingdom on the verge of France, the Spaniards were undoubtedly the most seriously affected by the French Revolution over time, even more serious than Central and Southern Europe under the control of the Livy government.

Regardless of the fact that Li Wei came to power on the back of the French Revolution, after he became the emperor of the French Empire, he strictly guarded against the ideas of the Great Revolution.

All books and even all paper media related to revolutionary ideas are listed as prohibited items. Once found, they will be burned in public immediately.
You must know that in order to increase the cheap labor force of labor agencies, the Li Wei government has reduced a large number of death penalty laws and changed them to life imprisonment, or hundreds of thousands of years of punishment, which makes you hopeless for commutation.

Only crimes that are equated with treason will be judged as capital crimes.

It can be seen from this that the Li Wei government's punishment for revolutionary ideas is no less severe than the literary prison that rose during the Qianlong period of the Far Eastern Empire in the history of Li Wei's previous life!

For this reason, the Li Wei government also publicly hanged many well-known philosophers and thinkers, all of whom had expressed sympathy and even admiration for the revolution.

Because of this, the idea of ​​the French Revolution spread very slowly in other areas conquered by the Livy government, except for the unchangeable French mainland, basically relying on the underground revolutionary organizations supported by the Anti-French Alliance for propaganda.

In history, this is actually a typical retrograde behavior.

On the other hand, the kingdom of Spain next door, because it does not have the strict control of public opinion as the Li Wei government, has allowed the ideas of the Great Revolution to gradually spread in the Iberian Peninsula.

It's just that it hasn't developed to the point of overthrowing the monarch. After all, there is still a big gap in thinking between the Spaniards and the French, and they are not used to the days without monarchy.

However, Spanish nationalism has risen.

Moreover, the Spanish nobles repeatedly provoked the authority of Carlos IV, which also made the Spanish people doubt the personal prestige of the monarch.

The king in the eyes of the Spaniards and the emperor in the eyes of the common people in the Eastern world are two completely different creatures.

Therefore, the Spaniards do not think that the king is a ruler who enslaves them, but the Spaniards think that the king is just the leader of the country.

This is like the people of later generations who know that the president is the leader of a country and has a high position, but if you really ask how much the people of later generations fear the president, it is estimated that few people will agree.

Even in some countries, the president has become the focus of people's gossip after dinner, and there are many remarks that slander the president!
Although the Spanish people today are not as exaggerated as the attitude of the people of later generations towards the president, they are actually very close.

These are all changes in thinking brought about by the Spanish nobles jumping back and forth.

Now that the king is no longer everything, nationalism will rise as a matter of course, and even many Spanish nobles will desperately use the concept of the Spanish nation to win people's hearts and oppose Carlos IV.

In addition, the London government is the biggest behind the promotion of Spanish nationalism.

The previous few wars made the high-level officials of the London government very disappointed with the military power of the Kingdom of Spain, and they did not want the Iribian Peninsula to easily fall into the hands of the tyrant Levi. Promote nationalist ideology within the territory.

Since the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland is an ally of the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Spain cannot interfere at all in the face of the London government's promotion of nationalist ideas.

As long as the London government does not promote anti-feudal and anti-monarchist rhetoric, everyone will turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye to the past.

After all, the purpose of the London government is not to overthrow the superstructure of the Kingdom of Spain, but to use nationalism to enhance the xenophobia and fighting will of the Spaniards.

Originally, European countries did not know the power of nationalism, but after the French Revolution, the revolutionary army exploded with fighting spirit, and European countries both loved and hated democratic ideas.

What I love is that the nationalist ideology will increase the combat effectiveness of the European army to a level close to that of Levi's brainwashing army.

I hate that nationalist ideas can easily lead the people to extreme hatred of the upper class. After all, in the French Revolution, freedom and equality are the main central ideas.

No matter how you change it, you can't get rid of this core idea, otherwise the ability of nationalist ideas to attract people will be greatly weakened.

Of course, there are still a lot of smart people in the ruling class in this world. The current Kingdom of Prussia is actually adopting and reforming a nationalist idea suitable for its own country, which is called nationalism in later generations!

Nationalism combines nationalism and the idea of ​​loyalty and patriotism, perfectly combining the concept of nation with loyalty and patriotism.

However, the awakening of the Kingdom of Prussia was too late, and it was too late to conceive. Most Prussian soldiers were in a state of ignorance, which also benefited from the compulsory education that the Kingdom of Prussia started from the time of Frederick the Great. The idea of ​​nationalism simply cannot be promoted in a short period of time.

Facts have proved that the efforts of the London government to promote national ideas in the Iberian Peninsula are still fruitful. After the complete demise of the Spanish aristocracy and the forces rebelling against the royal family, there are still a large number of active guerrilla rebels in the Kingdom of Spain.

Although these guerrilla resistance forces do not belong to each other, they all have a common goal-to drive away the French invaders!
Moreover, most of the leaders of these guerrilla rebels are not nobles. They are warriors killed out of the common people.

As for Carlos IV, there is no need for spies from the London government to make special propaganda. The Spanish people have already branded him as a traitor for glory. His reputation among the Spanish people is comparable to that of the Empress Dowager Cixi in the late Qing Dynasty in the history of Li Wei's previous life...

Looking at what Carlos IV did after the restoration, it is not difficult to understand why the Spaniards hate him so much.

After the restoration of Carlos IV, the power to reorganize the cabinet was fully handed over to the ruling team from France, that is, senior officials who had been enlightened by Li Wei's administration.

Afterwards, the power of military administration and judiciary was handed over to the cabinet government team formed by the French one by one, and he himself became the country's rubber stamp!

It can be said that Carlos IV has done nothing but an orthodox title!

What's the difference between this and giving Spain to the French?
Even if there are many ignorant Spaniards who don't know the truth, there will be British spies and guerrillas who know the inside story and tell those people the cruel truth.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that if Carlos IV continues to be so traitorous, in a few years, Levi will be able to add a certain Spanish crown to his head!
Then the Kingdom of Spain will be incorporated into the Roman Empire and become a veritable vassal state!
This obviously made most Spaniards who had just awakened their nationalism unacceptable.

Borza is naturally aware of the high voices of opposition among the Spanish people, but now he has not even completed the task of occupying the territory, so he has not sent troops to clear the Spanish guerrillas who are drilling mountains and forests for the time being.

For Borcha, it was not difficult to defeat the main force of the Spanish-Portuguese coalition forces, and it was also easy to scare away the British King's German Army, but it was a big project to occupy the entire Ilibian Peninsula.

Although some weak-legged Spanish nobles would voluntarily donate their castles and fiefs, most of the Spanish nobles with the anti-French alliance behind them still chose to fight to the end.

Even the London government has arranged their retreat. It doesn’t matter if they can’t fight. As long as you insist on opposing, your family can become a rich man in the city of London. If you’re okay, you can go to the aristocratic council of Ferdinand VII’s government in exile and make a statement Political speech, brush up the sense of presence.

Compared with being a dog to Li Wei and risking his will being washed away by hypnosis, the conditions offered by the Anti-French Alliance are already considered good.

The maintenance funds of the government-in-exile are all paid by the London government!

Furthermore, the public opinion against the law everywhere in the Kingdom of Spain also gave many Spanish nobles the illusion that sooner or later they would return to the Iberian Peninsula under the call of justice.

As a result, the Roman Guards had to attack one city at a time, knocking down piece by piece of land.

Even when the army marches, it tries to avoid remote areas with complex terrain and avoid black gun attacks by guerrillas.

Those Spanish guerrillas who fought head-on were the rubbish that the Roman Guards charged to solve, but it was still a headache to shoot black guns.

Even the unit of sharpshooter may be folded in complex terrain.

Who said that the caliber of muskets in this era is too large, and the medical conditions are too poor, as long as they are hit, they will die?
The lives of the guerrillas were worthless, and Bolcha didn't want his soldiers to die on the battlefield, but to be shot to death by inexplicable black guns while on duty.

All of this naturally delayed Bolcha's advance.

So much so that Bolcha discovered that he could not conquer the entire Iberian Peninsula within the time limit set by Li Wei!
So Bolza was furious.

The price of Bolcha's anger was very high. He began to no longer restrain the soldiers under his command, and launched a bloody retaliatory massacre against the recalcitrant cities, castles, and even the countryside!

Before each siege, Borcha would send a message to the city through various channels—surrender to avoid death, resist massacre!

At the beginning, those stubborn cities did not believe in evil, but they were turned into empty cities by the Roman Guards, and even burned down in the end!

Because an uninhabited city is worthless to the Roman Empire. On the contrary, the complex buildings in the city will become the favorite stronghold of the guerrillas. It is impossible for Bolza to divide troops to garrison an empty city, so the final choice is Completely destroyed and burned up.

After slaughtering a city and castle in a row, the Spaniards finally had to pay attention to the French invading army.

The opponent is really too cruel!
In the face of life threats, a large number of city and castle defenders began to disregard the orders of the superior remote control command, and immediately opened the door to welcome the surrender after the army approached the city.

This time, Bolcha's advance speed was significantly increased.

Sure enough, the Spaniards and the Portuguese are a bunch of cheap skins, and they will not know the cruelty of war if they are not afraid of killing them.

The cities and castles that open their doors to surrender, superstructures and garrisons are often transferred away, and then moved in with high-level administrative officials from France, as well as batches of local militiamen from France to maintain law and order.

This is mainly to prevent the city from rebelling repeatedly after the main force of the Roman Guards leaves.

After all, Bolcha knew that it was impossible for him to stay on the Iberian Peninsula for a long time.

Obviously, this approach works very well.

Although those local militias in France were not strong in combat effectiveness, relying on city defense, they had no problem dealing with a group of Spanish and Portuguese guerrillas who did not have heavy weapons.

As for the kind of city that resisted to the end, there were not no such cities. The casualties of Bolcha's troops were basically caused by such cities.

After Bolza flattened Lisbon, the entire Ilibian Peninsula fell under the control of the Roman Empire. Carlos IV even won the victory and merged the Kingdom of Portugal into the Kingdom of Spain. More than 1 people had died in the French Legion!
Moreover, more than one-third of the cities or castles on the Iberian Peninsula were destroyed in the war, the people were displaced, and the population dropped by nearly half!
Of course, not all the sharply reduced populations were massacred, and many disappeared populations had already fled by boat, or got into the mountains and forests to become 'hidden populations'.

Since then, the Iberian Peninsula has been renamed the Spanish Peninsula.

(End of this chapter)