Chapter 1116: The Mara Farm Tactic
At this moment, the Red Team was in its most chaotic state, having just collapsed their combat formation. Suddenly hit by a counter-attack, they couldn't hold and were forced to retreat from the village once again.
The Blue Team's artillery quickly changed positions. With the help of hot air balloons, they calibrated their targets, ensuring they could accurately strike the small village.
Soon, the Red Team regrouped using their numerical advantage and launched another assault on the village.
The Blue Team still couldn't hold and abandoned the village again.
The Red Team occupied the village, only to be devastated by heavy artillery...
After three rounds of this back-and-forth, the roar of guns and cannons gradually died down. The exercise appeared to be over.
The military generals immediately began discussing the results, clearly shocked by the devastating effectiveness of this "Death Farm Tactic."
Joseph had proposed this tactic a year ago. It was essentially a direct copy of the "Mara Farm" tactic from a later era. However, to avoid any misunderstanding with the Bureau of Fair Investigation, he had renamed it "Death Farm."
Implementation was simple: deliberately abandon a position to lure the enemy in. Then, use a massed artillery group that had pre-calibrated its fire to inflict concentrated casualties on the advancing enemy.
Before long, the Dean of the military academy personally brought the commanders from both sides to report the results to Joseph: "Your Highness, the Red Team suffered over one-third casualties and had no effective means to counter the Blue Team. Therefore, they have been judged the losers. The Blue Team suffered fewer than a hundred casualties, securing victory in this exercise."
Joseph nodded with a smile. "It seems the legions have become quite proficient in coordinating with hot air balloons and utilizing the 'Death Farm' tactic."
Sitting in the back row, Murat, who wasn't very familiar with artillery, frowned and whispered to Marmont, "This tactic is extremely effective, but the training shouldn't be too complex. Our enemies will likely learn it quickly on the battlefield. We need to prepare some countermeasures in advance."
Marmont, the Chief of Artillery for the French First Army, waved his hand with a chuckle. "The tactic looks simple, but currently, only we can pull it off."
"Oh? Why is that?"
Marmont pointed to the slowly descending hot air balloons. "Because no other nation has a high-altitude reconnaissance battalion.
"The key to the 'Death Farm' tactic is to begin the bombardment immediately after our troops withdraw. That's the only way to inflict maximum damage.
"Once the enemy completes their defensive deployment, the lethality drops significantly, and we might actually end up handing the position over to them.
"Of course, we can't fire too early either, or we'll hit our own men.
"To accurately grasp the timing of the strike, we must rely on hot air balloons to observe and notify the artillery.
"Furthermore, when the enemy retreats to minimize bombardment damage, our side must immediately launch a counter-attack to capitalize on the results. This also requires the intelligence provided by the balloons."
Murat's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Hot air balloons are truly the most miraculous equipment I've ever seen! Well, the last thing that made me feel this way was the horse artillery carriage."
An hour later, another two thousand soldiers entered the training grounds to begin a skirmisher swarm combat exercise.
Murat watched through his telescope as the skirmishers, arranged in a line several hundred meters wide, fired in disciplined volleys and advanced. He turned to Marmont. "Recently, the Crown Prince has been spending a lot of time at the General Staff Headquarters or inspecting troops. Is a war coming?"
"Yes, I heard we're sending troops to Egypt."
Davout, sitting on the other side, leaned in. "It's likely more than just Egypt. All four major army groups have intensified their training. Last month, they even audited the logistics and supplies. I suspect the opponent will most likely be Britain."
Marmont nodded. "I've heard news that the front lines in Portugal have shifted..."
Murat immediately mimicked a slashing motion with his saber. "Really? I can hardly wait!"
As they whispered among themselves, an officer hurried onto the observation deck. He handed a telegram from the Chappe signal tower to Berthier and gave a brief, quiet report.
The Chief of Staff frowned and immediately turned to Joseph. "Your Highness, we just received word. The Marquis of Talavera has launched a siege on Lisbon with 40,000 soldiers. It is highly likely the Portuguese royal family has already fled the city."
Joseph didn't seem particularly surprised. When Junot reported last week that the main Spanish force had suddenly left Coimbra, he had guessed that Talavera might be planning a surprise attack on Lisbon.
"The British were already preparing to withdraw from the Portuguese theater," he sighed, folding the telegram. "The Spanish just gave them a helping hand.
"However, for Madrid, this is indeed the best strategic choice. I didn't expect the Marquis of Talavera to possess such excellent tactical insight."
This time, Junot had passively helped Spain by holding off the British-Portuguese allied forces on the main front, yet he couldn't find any fault with Talavera's actions.
The Spanish army had used this opportunity to rapidly occupy large swathes of southern Portugal.
But this move forced the Portuguese royal family to flee to South America. Britain, which had been hindered by its obligation to protect Portugal even while wanting to reduce its presence on the Iberian Peninsula, now had a perfect excuse.
Now that even the Portuguese royals had fled, Britain could withdraw its troops with full justification.
Going forward, Spain's effectiveness in bleeding Britain dry would be significantly diminished.
What Joseph didn't know was that this wasn't actually Talavera's idea. It was a strategy proposed by Joaquín Blake, an engineer battalion commander who was currently still an unknown name.
Historically, Blake was the man who founded the Spanish General Staff and had defeated generals like Suchet and Villatte during the resistance against Napoleon's invasion as the Governor of three Spanish provinces.
He was also one of the key generals responsible for driving Joseph Bonaparte off the Spanish throne.
Of course, at this point, he was still far from being a match for the famous French generals; he would eventually be chased and beaten by Soult and others before being captured by Suchet.
Once the skirmisher swarm exercise concluded, Joseph gave a speech to the cadets. He then canceled his plans to observe the next day's exercises and returned to Versailles that very night.
Early the next morning, Berthier, Moreau, Lefebvre, and other officers gathered in Joseph's drawing room to begin discussing the strategic plans for the Iberian Peninsula.
"If Wellesley hunkers down behind the Lines of Torres Vedras, he would only need 10,000 troops to repel Talavera's assault," Berthier noted. "Unless Madrid can commit over 20,000 additional men."
Lefebvre shook his head. "They have to focus an enormous amount of energy on stabilizing the situation in Portugal. Increasing their forces is simply impossible."
"If we want to bleed the British as much as possible," Moreau looked toward the Crown Prince, "then our only option is to encourage Madrid to retake Gibraltar. They certainly won't be able to refuse that."
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