In 640, after the rise of Islam, the emerging Arab Empire expanded from all directions. In 708, Islam began to be introduced to North Africa. During the spread of Islam, ethnic groups of various cultures were integrated into it, and a large number of local people accepted Arabic as their native language and converted to Islam. These people were the formation of the Moors, namely the Muslims in North Africa.

In 711, the Moors invaded the Christian Iberis Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). In the following hundred years, they established a powerful Muslim empire here. However, the continuous internal strife between the royal family (39 princes) quickly split the empire into more than a dozen Thai French (vassal states). These Thai French were on the surface surrendered to the Córdoba Caliph, but were actually the Kingdom of **.

In 1031, with the collapse of the Córdoba Caliph and the fighting between Thailand and France, the spontaneous restoration of the land movement of the people on the peninsula saw a glimmer of hope. In the struggle against the rule of the Arabs, the Catholics gradually formed several small kingdoms. As the situation developed, they gradually united to form several larger Catholic countries, but they did not belong to each other and had a continuous dispute.

Starting from the 15th century, with the strong support of the Roman Catholic Church and the central coordination of Pope Siktas IV, the Catholic countries on the peninsula gave up their prejudices and agreed to the outside world, and the Restoration Movement gradually got on the right track. In the following decades, these Catholic kings finally established a powerful Catholic country through marriage between them - the United Kingdom of Casti and Aragon, which is the Spanish Empire in the future, the first empire in the world.

In 1479, a vibrant, outstanding political and military talent, with fearless courage, Queen Isabella became the ruler of the United Kingdom. In 1492, the Spanish army entered Granada, the last kingdom of North African Arabs in Spain, and the seven-century regaining of lost ground movements in Western Europe ended.

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Due to the long-term rule of the Iberis Peninsula, the architectural styles of Spain, including residences, churches, murals, bridges and road construction, were deeply influenced by them. Even centuries later, the Catholic nobles still preferred beautiful, colorful natural stones, especially brown light brown limestone (marble).

Before the outbreak of the Iberis Peninsula War, the quarry south of Melda was one of the major mines in Spain that produce brown marble, and it was also a notorious place for exile. A large number of Moors, Jews, Gypsies or Protestants were detained as hard labor after being sentenced by religious courts in various places.

In 1809, when the French army (Martin Sirte's troops) attacked the city of Merida, more than a thousand Spanish troops stationed in the quarry were urgently transferred north to participate in the guarding of Merida. The uninspected religious and political prisoners also waited for an opportunity to scatter. Many people also retaliated in nearby villages and towns, burning, killing and looting, making the once prosperous quarry town a deserted place.

In March 1810, Marshal Victor's troops took over the city of Melda and stationed a naval battalion in a quarry (town) 8 kilometers south of the city, mainly to guard against the harassment of the Spanish rebels and guerrillas in the south. There is a small river near the quarry, from south to north, crossing a canyon, passing through the quarry town, and finally entering the Guadiana River. The original name of this river is no longer cared about, but it is marked as the quarry river on the map of the General Staff of the Desay Division.

Since it is the middle of dry and rainy summer, the water in Caishi River is not much. The river surface near Caishi Town is only 15 meters wide, and the deepest river water is less than 2 meters. Most of them are mudflats and fan-shaped alluvial plains that can be wading through. The canyon south of Caishi Town is 4 kilometers long. After passing through the canyon, it is a complex terrain with rugged mountains. The Caishi River flowing here has not yet gathered other small tributaries in the canyon, and it only presents a clear stream.

On the verdant hillside on the side of the canyon, Major Mitheus, the staff officer of the Third Brigade, was accommodating General Barbanegel, to observe the enemy camp garrison 5 kilometers south.

Based on the understanding and analysis of the combat style of Spanish rebel commanders, a few days ago, General Rusty did not set the quarry canyon with the best ambush position as the main battlefield in the future when announcing the combat missions of each brigade of the division. Instead, he lured all the rebel forces to the alluvial plains and river beaches in front of Caishi Town. After the battle begins, block the canyon and prevent the rebels from retreating.

During this period, General Deerney's First Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade commanded by General Desnuet were the main forces of this battle. With the cooperation of the artillery regiment and the engineering regiment, they will take on the task of the front battlefield in Caishi Town. The Third Infantry Brigade, which is good at mountain combat, lurks in the southern canyon, and after the battle begins, they will block the future retreat of the Spanish rebels; as for General Hugo's Fifth Brigade and the remaining two light cavalry regiments, they will be included as the general reserve team of the division.

The goal of this battle is by no means to defeat the enemy, but to encircle and annihilate it without letting go. Therefore, the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength. At the tactical level, Desai instructed the General Staff led by Rusti to overestimate the combat effectiveness of the Spanish rebels when formulating combat goals, including their absconding ability, and never underestimate the opponent.

After receiving the order, the Third Brigade rushed to the established battlefield two days in advance, lurking in the jungles on both sides of the canyon, and then being bitten by mosquitoes for nearly 50 hours. Fortunately, most of the soldiers of the Third Brigade came from the former Norte Aragon guerrillas, or the former Catalan Resistance Army who had participated in mountain warfare. This guerrilla warfare method, hidden in the mountains and ridges, ambushed between cliffs and rocks and dense jungles, has long been common for them. Under the premise of sufficient supply, no soldiers would complain.

Seeing the Spanish rebels swaying from far to near outside the gorge, General Barbanegel and Major Mitheus, the huge rock hanging in their hearts finally fell down, and they let out a sigh of relief. The soldiers under their command were good at hiding in the jungle, but the French general who was born in a regular army could not bear it. For two days, they had been bitten by various mosquitoes all over their bodies.

Several times, Barbanegel thought of going down the mountain and personally checking the enemy situation, but in the end he resisted the temptation in his heart. According to the internal regulations of the Desai Division, although the chief officer (brigade commander) has the highest command power of this unit, it is also under the joint supervision of the brigade staff officer and the gendarmerie sent by the division's staff. If the two are unanimously determined, the command power of the senior chief officer can be lifted. So far, no unlucky general has hit the gun, and Barbanegel does not want to be the first.

"Damn!" Barbanegel cursed in a low voice. It was when he saw from his binoculars that the Spanish rebels gave up and continued to march and camped on the spot by the stream 5 kilometers away from the entrance of the gorge. Obviously, he did not intend to pass the canyon today.

Ten minutes later, the rebel commander also sent several cavalry teams to rush towards the entrance of the gorge, as if he was preparing to explore the terrain and test whether there were ambushes on both sides of the canyon.

Neither General Barbanegel nor his staff officer Major Mitheus were very worried. It was impossible to find out the entire canyon and the mountain jungle within a radius of 10 kilometers. Therefore, the Spanish rebel patrol team ran through the canyon in a blink of an eye. After feeling safe, they only left two rebels as observation posts at the northern foot of the canyon. The rest turned their horses and hurried back to the camp to report.

Barbanegel thought that the Spanish rebels had finished their reconnaissance operation, but after 30 minutes, an infantry battalion of about 500 people came out of the enemy camp. The infantrymen were pulling two cannons behind them and slowly walked towards the canyon.

At first, Barbanegel and others, hidden on the top of the mountain, occasionally heard the laughter of Spanish rebel soldiers talking and laughing along the way, the impact of rifles and bayonets, the neighing of horses, and the rumbling sound of cannon wheels rolling on the limestone avenue.

More than an hour later, the rebel infantry battalion went deep into the canyon for 2 kilometers, and all kinds of noises came to an abrupt end. Under the loud scolding of the rebel officers, 500 Spanish soldiers were divided into two parts. When the roar of artillery fire was heard, they raised their rifles and fired violently at the rocks and woods on both sides of the valley.

The roaring guns and cannons immediately frightened the birds and beasts in the forest and ran around, and all kinds of strange screams resounded throughout the valley.

The rebels' firepower reconnaissance naturally did not cause any damage to the soldiers hidden on the top of the mountain, but they could test whether there were ambushers buried between the rocks and cliff jungles on both sides. The birds, insects and beasts frightened around naturally eliminated the concerns of the rebel commander. Five minutes later, the rebel vanguard stopped shooting and pulled two artillery pieces to continue moving forward. After they met with the observation post at the northern Isleskou, they organized frontier positions on the spot 3 kilometers away from Caishi Town.

At this time, General Barbanegel exclaimed in his heart that if a sergeant from the North Aragon regiment had not given a bold advice to the brigade staff officer and captured a group of flying birds, insects and animals in advance. When the rebels were released during fire reconnaissance, the cautious rebel commander might have noticed the existence of the Third Brigade. No wonder Chief of Staff Rusty repeatedly emphasized that before all the rebels entered the ambush circle, the ambush on both sides of the canyon decided not to be exposed. It would be clear to see the Spanish rebels' arrangement method.

During the march, the rebel commanders always consciously pushed more than 3,000 infantry at the front of the team, and placed the cavalry with strong mobility behind them, closely following the infantry brigade at least 2 to 3 kilometers. Even when they set up camp, the infantry and cavalry are still 2 kilometers apart. This way of placing troops and deploying troops obviously first considers the safety of the cavalry brigade. Once they feel that the turbulence and encounter ambush or the war is unfavorable, the infantry (including the vanguard) that is in front of them is more like cannon fodder that is consumed at will.

"Send it to the division command center to tell the Spanish rebels to set up camp five kilometers away from the southern glade; in addition, a 500-person infantry battalion, plus two artillery vanguard, has passed through the ambushed canyon area of ​​our headquarters and organized frontier positions in the northern area of ​​the gorge, and it is not ruled out that it is possible to launch a night attack. At present, the enemy patrol teams have not yet discovered the existence of the Third Brigade." After consulting the commander General Barbanegel, General Mitheus, said to the messenger beside him.

Because of fear of frightening the "Spanish Rabbit" gradually entering the encirclement, the Third Brigade and the Division Command Post gave up the use of cavalry messengers or tower flags to convey intelligence, but instead used chemical telegrams. Three days ago, a communication cable with a length of 5 kilometers and wrapped in vulcanized rubber was previously buried between the canyon and Caishi Town.

After continuing to observe for a while, Barbanegel had confirmed that the Spanish rebels in the Turtle Camp would no longer have any movement and was preparing to return to the commander of the brigade department to try to eliminate the half box of Spam canned food that had not been eaten at noon. When he thought of this, the commander felt extremely disgusting. When he first entered the Desay barracks, his infinite praise for the wonderful taste of Spam canned food had already reached the sky. If it went well, perhaps the battle would be over ten hours later, and he would grit his teeth and endure it.

"Hey, why are you here?" Barbanegel turned around, but unexpectedly saw the leader of the Catalan regiment, Colonel Martin Ramos, and his captain and adjutant Ora. The adjutant of the regiment commander was carrying a small vegetable basket, which emitted a fragrant barbecue.

"That's the taste of fresh meat, definitely not a damn Spam can." Barbanegel confirmed with extraordinary certainty.

Colonel Ramos in front of him shyly, staring at the binoculars in front of the general, but he didn't speak much, kept winking and encouraged the adjutant beside him to come forward and speak.

"Our soldiers caught a few hares and made barbecue. I want to invite you to enjoy it." Captain Ora noticed General Barbanegel's face was unhappy, and quickly explained: "Don't worry, the soldiers were making fire inside a cave, and there was absolutely no smoke coming out, and the rebels would not notice it."

Barbanegel smiled and knew what the two subordinates were trying to do, so he untied the binoculars on his chest and handed them to Colonel Ramos. He happily took the small vegetable basket from Captain Ora and told him without looking back: "In an hour, send it to the command post of the brigade headquarters."

The binoculars held by General Barbanegel are the latest equipment issued by the Duke of Hruna to senior officers. During his stay in Paris, Desay felt the shortcomings of inconvenient carrying of monoculars, so he sent someone to find a professional glasses shop and asked for a pair of binoculars to be made for it, which is clear and bright, has a large field of view, and is convenient to carry.

In fact, binoculars appeared more than 10 years after the advent of monoculars. However, due to the complex production process of the former, the cost is extremely high. In addition, binoculars have always adopted the Galilean refractive method, and the magnification rate generally cannot exceed 6 times, which is similar to relatively low-priced monoculars, so naturally no one cares about it.

Desay requires eyeglass shop technicians to adopt Kepler-style refraction method and equipped with a special prism system to increase the magnification to 15 times. Although the cost has increased a lot, each price is as high as 1,000 francs, this type of binoculars has excellent characteristics that are incomparable to monoculars such as clear and bright image, large field of view, and easy to carry.

In the glasses shop in Paris, Desai ordered 10 of these Kepler-style binoculars. In order to prevent the leak of the above technology, a week before leaving Paris, Desai also sent someone to secretly kidnap the glasses shop technician and his family who made binoculars for him, and then coerced and tempted them to Catalonia, thousands of miles away, to settle down.
Chapter completed!