Chapter 439: The Surrender of the British Army

When the news that the army had successfully captured Lisbon reached Ma Deli, it immediately sparked cheers among the high-ranking officials of the Xibanyazheng Prefecture.

The capture of Lisbon signifies that this war is more than halfway over; the most important task ahead should be the negotiations.

Unless the Yingguozheng Prefecture has lost its mind, with both its navy and army suffering a total defeat, the only option left for the British is to cut their losses as soon as possible.

Although Gao Da was quite satisfied with the army's actions, he also knew that now was not the time to celebrate. Only by leveraging the boost in morale from the capture of Lisbon to advance rapidly eastward and cut off the retreat of all the Portuguese Republican forces and British forces could he completely secure the initiative at the negotiating table.

If the Yingguozheng Prefecture wants to save these soldiers stationed in Portugal, it will have to make concessions in other areas. Gao Da does not expect to knock the British off their pedestal with just this one war, but it is necessary to collect some interest and allow Spain to thoroughly consolidate its status as a superpower.

It was indeed as the Xibanyazheng Prefecture had anticipated; when the Yingguozheng Prefecture learned from the fleeing Portuguese Republican government that Lisbon had been captured, the British Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour was so shocked he nearly collapsed.

One must know that just a few days ago, the Yingguozheng Prefecture was still celebrating that the front line had blocked the offensive of the Spanish army, and it seemed the powerful Spanish army had not advanced even a meter in several days.

Yet, what Prime Minister Balfour never expected was that the counterattack of the Spanish army would be so fierce, capturing Lisbon before anyone could even react.

For the Yingguozheng Prefecture at this moment, the priority is no longer how to win this war, but how to save the nearly 100, 00 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 the front and the rear.

Even more dire is that the British navy lacks the ability to guarantee the successful evacuation of these soldiers from Portugal. This also means that if this war does not end, these nearly 100, 00 British troops in Portugal will be sent by the Spanish to meet God.

If these British soldiers were to die in battle, it would be one thing; such a blood feud would only increase the hatred between the British and the Spanish, making the British support this war even more.

But if Spain were to take these nearly 100, 00 British soldiers prisoner, that would not be good news for the Yingguozheng Prefecture. Dying in battle and being captured are two completely different outcomes; once these soldiers are captured by the Spanish army, the Yingguozheng Prefecture will fall into an extremely difficult and passive position.

The Yingguozheng Prefecture could never voluntarily abandon these soldiers; after all, these nearly 100, 00 soldiers represent 100, 00 families, backed by the opinions of hundreds of thousands of British people.

If the Yingguozheng Prefecture were to voluntarily abandon these soldiers, to say nothing else, the angry families of these soldiers alone would be enough to give Prime Minister Balfour and his cabinet government a headache.

But if they try to look after these soldiers, the Yingguozheng Prefecture will have to pay a painful price it cannot afford. Spain, holding the prisoners, will certainly make exorbitant demands, which means that Gibraltar and Portugal are basically gone for the British, and the British will have to pay other costs besides.

Prime Minister Balfour is, of course, unwilling to face such a dilemma; he hopes to rescue these British troops before the Spanish army takes its next step, or at the very least, have them retreat to a safer place to await the next move of the Yingguozheng Prefecture.

Although he was very annoyed at the Portuguese Republican government for fleeing without a fight, fortunately, they notified the Yingguozheng Prefecture when they ran, so at least the British army had enough reaction time, and they did not only learn that the rear had fallen after being caught in a pincer attack by the Spanish army.

At this moment, Prime Minister Balfour had no time to think; he could only immediately notify the British army in Portugal, demanding they retreat north immediately and get as far away from the Spanish army as possible.

It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Balfour specifically instructed the British home army that, apart from notifying a small number of colonial troops from Canada and Australia composed of white people, the remaining colonial troops composed of colored populations did not need to be notified.

The purpose of this move is also very clear: to use these colonial troops composed of people of color as cannon fodder, letting them delay the Spanish army's advance to buy more time for the British home army and the colonial troops from Australia and Canada to retreat.

The plan of the Yingguozheng Prefecture was very good, and the execution by the home, Australian, and Canadian troops was relatively smooth.

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

The spread of this news was fueled by Spain, with the goal of making the Republican Party forces still holding out in various parts of Portugal stop their resistance, allowing the Iberian Party to quickly take over the entire territory of Portugal.

Since the news spread to all parts of Portugal, the front line naturally could receive this news as well.

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

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

In any case, they were forcibly conscripted by the Portuguese Republican government and were not that willing to risk their lives for the Republican government in the first place. Since the Republican government has already perished, why continue to resist and disregard their own lives?

The Portuguese army was in chaos, and the British colonial troops were no better off.

In order to better defend against the Spanish army's offensive, the deployment of troops on the Montemor-o-Novo front was quite chaotic, with the British home troops, colonial troops, and Portuguese troops being quite closely integrated.

The news of the British army's retreat could not be hidden from these indigenous soldiers at all; when they learned that the Yingguozheng Prefecture had abandoned them, one can imagine what their reaction was.

At this moment, the British colonial troops no longer cared about the situation on the battlefield; they only thought about following the British north to retreat and saving their own lives first.

In that very instant, the British home troops, colonial troops, and Portuguese Republican Party troops seemed to have a tacit understanding, abandoning the situation on the front line one after another.

The Portuguese soldiers chose to completely abandon their status as soldiers; as soon as they threw down their guns, they were authentic Portuguese civilians.

But the 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 speak Portuguese at all, so it is completely impossible to disguise themselves as Portuguese civilians.

The British colonial troops need not even be mentioned. It is completely impossible for these people of color to disguise themselves as Portuguese; they could only follow behind the British home troops, attempting to retreat north to find a way out.

On the third day after the Spanish army officially entered Lisbon, the situation on the Montemor-o-Novo front completely collapsed. The Spanish army located in Evora encountered almost no obstacles and successfully captured the Montemor-o-Novo defense line that had blocked them for a long time.