Chapter 428: Battle for the South

The Congo territory, as the only land directly bordering British colonies, was invaded by British colonial troops in early August 1904.

But soon, the British army discovered something was wrong. The northern part of the Congo territory was a large area of primeval forest; besides a small number of colonial settlements that had roads, there were no roads on most of the land. The British army could only shuttle through the tropical rainforest, not only with slow action efficiency but also with various risks of injury and death.

This also meant that the British army could not act on a large scale at all; whether it was logistical supplies or other various problems in the tropical rainforest, it could cause heavy casualties to a large-scale army.

Since they couldn't act on a large scale, they could only send small groups of troops to harass Spain's colonies.

But the problem came again: Spain stationed a large number of troops in the Congo territory; just the colonial divisions of nearly 20,000 people were as many as two. How could these small groups of troops effectively destroy the situation in the Congo territory?

The British army launched multiple invasions of the Congo territory in early August 1904, and at most, they dispatched an army of thousands, but they all returned without success.

Compared to the primeval forest in the north of the Congo territory, invading from the south of the Congo territory might be a better choice.

But for the British, mobilizing troops from the land south of the Congo territory was absolutely not allowed. Because south of the Congo territory was Britain's South African colony; in the former Transvaal and Orange regions, there were a large number of Boer people living there.

Because of the failure of the war, these Boers could only carry out difficult guerrilla resistance, but this also made Britain have to maintain more than 200,000 troops in this land to suppress them.

Once troops were mobilized from this land, the Boers were likely to make a comeback. You know, in the process of Britain's armed suppression of the Boers, they carried out a series of inhumane concentration camps and scorched-earth policies.

The local Boers were very hateful toward the British; if these Boers were allowed to make a comeback, once they were allowed to recover their vitality, there would definitely be a third war between Britain and the Boers.

It was not to say that Britain was afraid of the Boers, but judging from Britain's current diplomatic environment, once a war erupted between them and the Boers, many countries would definitely choose to help the Boers.

For Britain, suppressing the Boers was more important than invading the Congo territory. Because even if they could successfully invade the Congo territory, they would inevitably be met with a strong counterattack from the Spanish army, and the war would not end so quickly.

But if they gave up the suppression of the Boers, under the funding of Spain and other series of countries hostile to Britain, the Boers would soon make a comeback, which would likely threaten the Cape Colony, which was extremely important to Britain.

Mobilizing troops from the north required crossing primeval rainforests, and mobilizing troops from the south required giving up the suppression of the Boers; this made the British fall into a dilemma for a while.

The plan to invade the Congo territory was also temporarily shelved; before the colonial troops from India, Canada, Australia, and other places arrived in Africa, Britain would not plan to launch new invasion actions in Africa.

After all, the invasion action of small groups of troops was just sending military merits to the Spanish army and could not cause any casualties to them at all.

On the contrary, between the British troops, it was like a thoughtful nanny, sending supplies and weapons and ammunition to the Spanish army.

Fighting like this would only cause heavy losses to the British army; after all, even if the British government had more money, weapons, equipment, and manpower were absolutely not to be wasted like this.

The invasion of the Congo territory painstakingly planned by the British government was abandoned halfway, and the eyes of the two governments were completely placed on the civil war in Portugal.

As if they had discussed it, Britain and Spain both decided to compete in Portugal, using the situation of the Portuguese civil war to find trouble for each other.

Time came to mid-August, and the immigrants who spontaneously returned to Portugal from Spain were almost all gathered, and soon a "migrant volunteer army" was formed.

Spain's purpose was also very clear, which was to emphasize the correctness of the Iberian Party and Pan-Iberianism through the event that immigrants were willing to fight for the Iberian Party, and in passing, attack the Republican Party government's inaction in these ten-plus years again.

Try to imagine, if the Portuguese republican government had achievements in the economy, would there be so many Portuguese people choosing to immigrate to Spain?

For the Portuguese government, the more population lost, the more it represented the incompetence of the Portuguese government.

Although the so-called volunteer army organized by Britain was earlier than Spain, the time these soldiers arrived in Portugal was later than Spain instead.

After all, Britain was farther from Portugal, and in order to disguise these volunteer armies as spontaneously organized by the people, Britain even forcibly scattered all the soldiers and let them go to Portugal on their own in various ways.

After arriving in Portugal, the Spanish volunteer army carried out simple arming and then was put into the battle in Portugal.

This Portuguese civil war had already evolved into a great infighting covering the whole country, and the participating parties had changed from the original Republican Party and Iberian Party to multiple parties participating together.

Of course, most parties stood with the Iberian Party; the Republican Party, which originally won people's hearts, became the "evil dragon" instead, to be suppressed by the new "dragon-slaying boy."

The forces controlled by the Republican Party were in the west and south; the capital Lisbon, the western stronghold Coimbra, and the southern stronghold Setúbal were all under the control of the Republican Party.

And the area controlled by the Iberian Party was closer to Spain, and the headquarters was even set up in Elvas, only more than ten kilometers away from Badajoz, Spain. Doing so could easily obtain material support from Spain.

As for other series of parties supporting Iberia, they were distributed in various cities in Portugal, both in the north and south.

Originally, there were many parties around the capital Lisbon, but after the civil war broke out, these parties either succumbed to the pressure and defected to the Republican Party, or were directly wiped out by the Republican Party; currently, there were no other parties opposing the Republican Party.

From the map, one could also see that the Portuguese area controlled by the Republican Party was eroded by a circle, and the parts closer to Spanish land in the east and north were in the hands of all opposition parties.

Precisely because the Portuguese land was eroded by a circle, the importance of the capital Lisbon was infinitely increased.

Besides the strategic value and significance of the capital itself, the current Lisbon was also the material transportation hub under the control of the Republican Party.

Once Lisbon was captured by the Iberian Party, the Portuguese government under the control of the Republican Party would be split into two, and the Portugal cut into two parts would be very difficult to integrate the effective power of the whole country again.

Even without being polite, once the capital Lisbon was broken, it would be very difficult for the Republican Party to stir up any waves again.

After all, the reason why the Republican Party could continue to stalemate with the Iberian Party and other opposition forces was, besides the continuous support from Britain, that it occupied the capital as the legitimacy of the current Portuguese government.

Once the capital fell, the Iberian Party and other opposition parties established a new Portuguese government, and the ruling legitimacy of the original Portuguese republican government would also vanish.

Most of the bottom-level Portuguese people would not care whether the country was ruled by the Republican Party or the Iberian Party; as long as whoever occupied Lisbon, they could become the legitimate government of Portugal.

Therefore, for the Portuguese republican government, holding Lisbon was the only thing they had to do at present.

Under the support of the British government, the Portuguese republican government armed an army of nearly 100,000 people and put most of these troops into the defensive line built around Lisbon.

Currently, the construction of this line was quite successful.

It was not that the Iberian Party's army didn't try to launch an attack on Lisbon, but they only advanced to Coruche next to the Sorraia River, and then were repelled by the Republican Party army.

After more than 5,000 Spanish volunteer soldiers arrived in Portugal, the Iberian Party quickly adjusted its offensive strategy.

Judging from the current situation, even with the help of thousands of Spanish volunteer soldiers, it was very difficult for the Iberian Party to capture the Lisbon defense line head-on.

Since they couldn't capture Lisbon in a short period of time, it was better to put their eyes on other areas of Portugal. The Republican Party put most of its troops on the Lisbon defense line, which actually also represented that other lands controlled by the Republican Party were very empty, and the difficulty of capturing these lands was also much simpler than capturing Lisbon.

Under the planning of some Spanish officers, the Iberian Party quickly formulated a new offensive plan, putting its eyes on the southern region of Portugal, such as Beja and Faro in the far south.

The defense line of the Portuguese government did not include these lands; after all, it was already very far from Lisbon, and wasting troops on these lands would weaken the defensive power of the Lisbon area.

Since the Portuguese government did not focus on protecting these areas, it also represented that the Iberian Party had the hope of capturing these lands in a short period of time.

After holding more and more land in their hands, the Iberian Party could also unite with other opposition parties to announce the establishment of a new Portuguese government and announce that the original Portuguese republican government was illegal.

Doing so, although it could not immediately make the Portuguese republican government completely lose its legitimacy, it could also affect the stability of the area ruled by the Portuguese republican government.

To put it bluntly, the current Portuguese republican government was still "holding on" (a Chinese idiom meaning to struggle to survive). But if it lost Britain's support, the Portuguese republican government would soon be defeated by the Iberian Party.

Under such circumstances, the Iberian Party was not afraid of entering a war of attrition at all.

On the contrary, the Portuguese Republican Party—the longer this civil war dragged on, the more dissatisfaction the people had with the republican government.

By then, even with the support of the British government, the Republican Party would have to weigh the opinions of the angry people.

On August 17, 1904, with more than 5,000 Spanish volunteer soldiers as the main force, plus more than 5,000 people from the Iberian Party, an army of more than 10,000 people was formed, marching toward Beja in southern Portugal in a mighty manner.

Beja was a stronghold in southern Portugal and also an important transportation hub and strategic location. Once Beja was captured, Faro and other places further south were basically "spit-at-hand-obtainable" (a Chinese idiom meaning very easy to get).

The Spanish army soon displayed a combat effectiveness completely different from that of the Portuguese army; although they were fighting in a foreign country, the soldiers did not have the slightest bit of timidity.

From Elvas to Beja, the Spanish army could be said to be "like a broken bamboo" (a Chinese idiom meaning unstoppable), quickly capturing a series of towns including Évora, Alvito, and Cuba, with the spearhead pointing directly at the southern Portuguese city of Beja.

The geographical location of Beja was still quite special. Backing onto the Diana River, it was naturally a defensive line. ===== CHAPTER 429 =====