Chapter 439

When the news that the army successfully captured Lisbon reached Madrid, it immediately caused cheers from a group of high-ranking officials of the Spanish government.

Capturing Lisbon represents that this war has been going on for more than half, and the next most important thing should be the negotiation work.

Unless the British government has lost its mind, otherwise, in this situation where both the navy and the land army have lost, the UK only has the choice of stopping losses early.

Although Gao Da is quite satisfied with the army's actions, he also knows that it is not the time to celebrate yet. Only by using the morale boost brought by capturing Lisbon, advancing rapidly to the east, and cutting off all the retreat routes of the Portuguese Republic's army and the British army, can we completely grasp the initiative on the negotiation table in our own hands.

If the British government wants to save these soldiers in Portugal, it has to make some interest concessions in other aspects. Gao Da does not expect to let the UK fall from the altar through this war, but it is necessary to collect some interest appropriately and let Spain completely consolidate its status as a superpower.

It is indeed as the Spanish government expected. When the British government learned the news that Lisbon had been captured from the Portuguese Republican government that had already fled, British Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour was so shocked that he almost couldn't stand up.

You must know that the British government a few days ago was still celebrating that the front line had blocked the Spanish army's offensive, and it seemed that the powerful Spanish army had not pushed the front line forward by even a meter for several days.

But what Prime Minister Balfour never expected was that the Spanish army's counterattack would come so fiercely, and Lisbon had already been captured when no one reacted.

At present, for the British government, what is important is no longer how to win this war, but how to save the nearly 100,000 British soldiers still fighting in Portugal.

With the capture of Lisbon, the British army located at the front line of Montemor-o-Novo will immediately fall into a situation of being attacked from both sides.

What is even more fatal is that the British Navy is unable to guarantee that it can successfully withdraw these soldiers from Portugal. This also means that if this war does not end, these nearly 100,000 British soldiers in Portugal will be sent to see God by the Spanish.

If these British soldiers died in battle, it would be fine; such blood feud would only increase the hatred between the British and the Spanish, making the British support this war even more.

But if Spain captures these nearly 100,000 British soldiers, then it is not good news for the British government. Death in battle and capture are two completely different endings. Once these soldiers are captured by the Spanish army, the British government will fall into an extremely difficult passive situation.

It is absolutely impossible for the British government to voluntarily abandon these soldiers; after all, these nearly 100,000 soldiers represent 100,000 families, and behind them are the opinions of hundreds of thousands of British people.

If the British government voluntarily abandons these soldiers, let alone anything else, just the angry families of these soldiers are enough to give Prime Minister Balfour and his cabinet government a headache.

But if they take care of these soldiers, the British government will pay a painful price that it cannot bear. Spain, which holds captives, will definitely open its mouth wide, which also means that Gibraltar and Portugal have basically moved away from the UK, and the UK has to pay other costs besides this.

Prime Minister Balfour is certainly not willing to face such a dilemma; he hopes to rescue these British troops before the Spanish army takes the next step, or at least let them withdraw to a safer place and wait for the British government's next move.

Although he is very annoyed at the Portuguese Republican government's fleeing without fighting, fortunately, the other party also notified the British government when fleeing, at least the British army still had enough reaction time, not to be caught in a pincer attack by the Spanish army, only to learn the news that the rear had fallen.

Prime Minister Balfour at this time has no time to think too much; he can only immediately notify the British army in Portugal, requiring them to withdraw north immediately, as far away from the Spanish army as possible.

It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Balfour also specifically requested the British mainland army, except for notifying a small number of colonial troops composed of white people from Canada and Australia, the remaining colonial troops composed of colored people do not need to be notified.

The purpose of this move is also very obvious, which is to treat these colonial troops composed of people of color as cannon fodder, letting them delay the Spanish army's offensive, so as to strive for longer withdrawal time for the British mainland and the colonial troops of Australia and Canada.

The British government's plan is very good, and the execution of the mainland and Australian and Canadian troops is also relatively smooth.

But the problem is that the British government underestimated the speed at which news spread within Portugal. At the same time as the Spanish army entered Lisbon, relevant news reports had already spread rapidly to all parts of Portugal.

The spread of this news is fueled by Spain, and the purpose is precisely to let the Republican Party's army still insisting in various parts of Portugal stop resisting, and let the Iberian Party quickly take over the whole of Portugal.

Since the news is spread to all parts of Portugal, the front line can naturally receive this news.

At first, the Portuguese army did not want to believe that their rear had collapsed, but when they found that they could no longer contact the Republican government in Lisbon, they had to believe it.

The result was that an extremely chaotic collapse occurred on the front line of Montemor-o-Novo, and a large number of Portuguese soldiers, in a state of extreme panic, chose to become deserters one after another.

Anyway, they were forcibly conscripted by the Portuguese Republican government, and they were not so willing to sell their lives for the Republican government. Since the Republican government has already perished, why should they continue to resist regardless of their own lives?

The Portuguese army is chaotic, and the British colonial army is no better.

In order to better resist the Spanish army's offensive, the troop deployment on the front line of Montemor-o-Novo is relatively chaotic, and the British mainland army, colonial army, and Portuguese army are relatively close.

The news of the British army's withdrawal cannot be hidden from these indigenous soldiers at all. When they learned that the British government had abandoned them, one can imagine what their reaction was.

The British colonial army at this time no longer cares about the situation on the battlefield; they only think about following the British north to withdraw and save their own lives first.

Just at that moment, the British mainland army, colonial army, and Portuguese Republican Party army seemed to have a tacit understanding, and they all abandoned the situation on the front-line battlefield.

Portuguese soldiers chose to completely abandon their status as soldiers; as long as they threw away their guns, they were authentic Portuguese civilians.

And British soldiers did not have this choice. Although the British and Portuguese are both European white people, the gap between the two sides is still quite large.

More importantly, the British do not know Portuguese at all, and wanting to disguise themselves as Portuguese civilians is completely impossible.

The British colonial army is even more needless to say. It is completely impossible for these people of color to disguise themselves as Portuguese; they can only follow behind the British mainland army and try to withdraw north to find a way out.

On the third day after the Spanish army formally entered Lisbon, the situation on the front line of Montemor-o-Novo also completely collapsed. The Spanish army located in Évora successfully captured the Montemor-o-Novo defensive line that had blocked them for a long time without encountering any obstacles.