Even the "legendary story" of Andrew's Desai conquering Catalonia and the Northern Aragon region without bloodshed was included in this report of the Army Department.

However, the Duke of Desay still insisted on his own point of view, just staying in his heart, and no longer spreading it to the outside world. The inherent inertia of history forced him to become a minority in the military. Those arrogant marshals, including the emperor, would not accept their correct opinions until they were touched.

The three-person meeting in the emperor's study continued. When talking about the combat mission of the Desai Division, Marshal Massena handed over the voice to Desai himself on the side.

"...The division I invested in the battle had a total of 15,000 officers and soldiers, including 2,000 cavalry and 35 to 40 artillery pieces of various caliber artillery. Among the participating troops, the first brigade of the main infantry, the third brigade of the infantry temporarily formed by three guard regiments, a military corps, a cavalry regiment, all the engineering regiments, most of the artillery regiments, as well as divisional baggage regiments, battlefield hospitals, etc.

At present, the above-mentioned troops are gathering in the area of ​​Zaragoza and are training on the spot. It is expected that all preparations before the expedition will be completed before May 20.

According to the deployment of Marshal Massena, my division will arrive at Badajos, an important town on the border between the Spanish and Portuguese, on June 15, five days before the Portuguese Legion launched its offensive, and obtain various military supplies from Marshal Sirte.

On July 15, when the main force of the Portuguese Legion captured the Rodrigo Fortress, I will lead my troops to set out again from Badajoz, advance westward, cross the Guadiana River and its several tributaries, and arrive at the city of Evora 100 kilometers away before July 20, and then launch an offensive against the city, then threaten Lisbon, forcing the British and Portuguese coalition forces to divide their troops.

The main task of our division is to cover the main legion on the flanks, attract some coalition forces under the city of Evora, and insist on the Portuguese army encircling or annihilation or severely damage the main force of the coalition forces, and then wait for an opportunity to capture the city, so as to achieve the ultimate goal of two groups of siege Lisbon."

Speaking of this, Desai added, "My staff believes that on the premise of completing the above tasks on time, we will give our division greater mobility, rather than waiting for the enemy to arrive at the city of Evora."

Napoleon didn't say anything, Marshal Massena replied on behalf of the emperor, "As long as your division can successfully capture Evora, you can take the initiative, and even allow a sneak attack on Lisbon. Of course, given your weak force, it is estimated that the coalition forces will preset 20,000 to 25,000 defenders, as well as guerrilla rebels who cannot estimate the number of people, and carry out siege and interception on the march of your division; in addition, the eastern part of Portugal is dominated by hills and valleys, with rugged roads and numerous rivers, so it is best to wait until Marshal Sirte's army operates together!"

"Accompany Marshal Sirte to act together?" Desai smiled bitterly in his heart.

Marshal Sirte might be good to him for his face, but his personal relationship with Marshal Massena was quite bad. It was because the two had a dispute over the distribution of spoils on the Italian battlefield, and they almost met.

In addition, when he first captured Lisbon, Marshal Sirte tried to make Napoleon appoint him as the king of Portugal, but was rejected. Sirte felt somewhat dissatisfied with the emperor's orders. Sirte would not publicly refuse the emperor's orders, but could delay.

Therefore, Marshal Sirte would not send troops to support the eastern battlefield at all. He would continue to be in the southern Spanish property, "slowly" support Marshal Massena who was fighting hard in front of the defense line, and watched his former senior with a gloating mentality and finally defeated. When it was Sirte's turn to be the savior, but unfortunately the fighter had lost at that time. The two outstanding marshals finally hated Portugal.

"What else is there?" asked the old marshal.

"I need a cavalry commander, and two brigade-level infantry commanders." Desay was waiting for an opportunity to ask for help.

Since accepting the more than 20,000 captured veterans, Desai has no worries about experienced soldiers and middle-level officers, but senior generals, especially brigade commanders, have always lacked senior generals, including the Second Infantry Brigade, the Temporary Infantry Brigade 3, and the Cavalry Regiment. Desai once asked the emperor for a request, but Napoleon refused to give it to him, so he asked him to find a way.

"You go and find Marshal Sirte, my Portuguese Legion also lacks excellent brigade commanders!" Massena replied in accordance with Napoleon's wishes.

Seeing Desai still being prepared to remain silent, Napoleon issued a banishment order in a cold tone, "Duke Hruna, please stay in the next room for a while. I have other matters with the Marshal to communicate!"

"As for your order, your majesty!" Desai stood up from the seat helplessly and left the room angrily.

"Our little Dercy always has too many concerns and likes to complicate simple issues, so he is more suitable to act as a politician than a commander!" After the door leading to the corridor closed, Napoleon made a personal comment on the Duke of Dercy.

Marshal Massena deeply felt the emperor's comment. During the week he went there, Derby had been nagging in the ears of the new commander of the Portuguese Legion, telling about some difficulties and crises in the expedition to Portugal, which annoyed the old guy.

"Marson, please go ahead, I want to hear how you deal with the Lisbon nobles who defected to the British?"

...

Desai, who walked out of the emperor's room, did not stay in the waiting room and waited foolishly. He gave a message to the Mamluk guards and walked into the beautiful palace garden. But on the corridor leading to the garden, Desai encountered an acquaintance, 47-year-old Imperial Marshal, Prince Ponte Kovo, and Bernardote.

Marshal Bernardote is very tall, 1 to 2 cm taller than Desai. He has black hair, black eyes, a torch-like eyes and slightly dark skin, which proves that Prince Pont Kovo, born in Pau, has a little Moorish blood. His tall and handsome appearance gives people the first impression of being righteous, upright, but he is resourceful and ambitious inside.

Because of the well-known reason, Bernardote had a bad relationship with Napoleon, so he rarely came to the Duille Palace. Today is to accompany his wife, Desiré Clarry (Napoleon's former first love) to visit the new queen.

Like all the marshals and generals of the empires, although they were incompatible with each other and had many conflicts, everyone had a disagreement with Princess Louise of Ollidi. Therefore, after accompanying his wife Desiré and chatting with the Austrian queen, Bernardote got up and said goodbye, and came to the garden for a walk alone, which coincided with Desai's idea.

"This is my alliance with you, Sweden's secret agreement with Poland, not including Napoleon and the French Empire under his rule!" Bernardote expressed his political philosophy to Desay.

"I accept that the two alliances are only targeting the Russians and guaranteeing that Russia will not invade Poland or Sweden!" When the conspiracy between the two sides was reached, Desai finally breathed a sigh of relief. He prepared a political bargaining chip for himself to take over Poland.

From beginning to end, the price paid by Desai was just to instigate his father-in-law to write a secret letter of recommendation to the Swedish and ministers. Bernardote had to change his original historical diplomatic strategy, no longer form alliances with the Russians, and instead establish ally relations with Poland (the Grand Duchy of Warsaw), which was dominated by Desai.
Chapter completed!