Chapter 1,267 Twenty thousand cavalry, the military power of the Kingdom of Portugal
"The king has an order! Summon the Castilian nobleman, Don Christopher Columbus!..."
"Columbus! Dear King Joao has summoned you. Be honest before the King!..."
The jailer opened the dark stone cell and took the important "noble prisoners" out of the gloomy Lisbon prison. Facing the dazzling sunshine, the piercing people could not open their eyes. And when the guards holding long guns, under the order of the officer Ruben,
, stuffing the "prisoner" into the carriage, the light dimmed again.
"Da da!"
The brisk tapping of horses' hooves as they trot along the stone streets. The journey is not blocked, the smell of urine is not too unpleasant, and the road is only a little bumpy, all proving that Lisbon's municipal government is running well.
Far better than the filthy Paris at this time. And when the bright sunshine appeared again, the Portuguese Palace of Sintra had already appeared in front of us.
"This is the prisoner summoned by the king, a Castilian nobleman, Columbus."
"Routine body search."
"please!"
"Damn it...I am a noble of Castile! I want to be treated as a noble according to my status!..."
Before Columbus could react, he was pushed to the ground by two strong Portuguese guards and groped carefully. After a moment, he got up with a gloomy face and looked at the guards guarding the palace, wanting to say something harsh.
But seeing the other party's silent and fierce expression, he shut his mouth in fear.
"This is...the Portuguese King's Guard, that elite regiment composed of mountain people?"
Columbus pursed his lips and looked at it carefully for a while. There were about hundreds of guards guarding the Sintra Palace, and they were obviously divided into two types of costumes: one was wearing a breastplate, holding a long axe, and occasionally holding a flag gun.
Armored infantry, and the other is elite crossbowmen who wear chain armor, carry daggers across their waists, and carry large shields and crossbows. Many of these two types of guards wear unique mountain folk ornaments and have fierce and indifferent expressions.
At first glance, he looks like a battle-hardened veteran.
"Haha! That's right! The Lord has witnessed that this is the King's Guard that defeated your Castilian Army head-on in the Royal Battle a hundred years ago! These armored King's crossbowmen shot and killed hundreds of French and Castilian soldiers.
The Knights of Styria are the enemies of you Castilians!..."
The Portuguese officer Ruben who led the way raised his lips and allowed Columbus to be roughly searched. His face did not hide his hostility towards the Kingdom of Castile. In fact, Portugal and the Castilians have been fighting for hundreds of years.
The soldiers and the people were only hostile to each other and had no good feelings towards each other. The "Royal War" in his words was the battle that decided the fate of the kingdom when Castile invaded the Kingdom of Portugal a hundred years ago. Aljubarro
Battle of the Tower (Batalha de Aljubarrota).
In that battle led by John I personally, 8,000 Portuguese legions and hundreds of English longbowmen faced off against 30,000 Castilian troops and hundreds of French knights in a field battle. The Portuguese seized the hillside high ground, and the infantry dug trenches.
Set up horse-blocking posts to rely on the mountains to resist the charge of Castilian and French knights.
Then, the Portuguese mountain hunters halfway up the mountain, together with the English longbowmen, rained down arrows, killing and injuring all the thousands of cavalry who rushed into the battle, causing them to fall off their horses, and suppressing the Castilian infantry until they could no longer lift their heads.
From then on, it was the classic "hammer and iron felt tactics". The levied militia and the king's guard fought in the front, and the Alvi cavalry on the flanks made a surprise attack from behind. In the end, the 30,000 Castilian legion was defeated and suffered casualties.
heavy…
After this battle, the Portuguese mountain hunters were valued by the royal family because they were good at shooting and dared to fight, and were recruited in large numbers into the king's direct guard. Among them, the hunters who were good at shooting were armed with chain armor and trained into elite "kings"
"Crossbowmen". The bravest and strongest mountain people joined the legion and were trained to become "King's Infantry" who were agile in assault and dared to charge against cavalry.
Today in the 15th century, the entire standing legion of the Kingdom of Portugal can be roughly divided into three parts. The southern knights who were born in the Alvi Knights, imitating the Roman legions, the medium infantry who are good at building fortifications, and the northeastern mountain folk hunter training
They have become elite crossbowmen. The entire kingdom's legions are very balanced and adaptable to fighting in both mountains and plains, without any obvious shortcomings.
In battles with less than 10,000 people, especially fights with around 1,000 people, the Portuguese legions performed very well, often with fewer enemies and more enemies, achieving an astonishing victory with an astonishing casualty ratio. When later generations opened up colonies in the East, the Portuguese army with 1,000 people
Legions, and even defended the city and defeated tens of thousands of Arab armies and Indian princely armies... But once the scale of combat increased to more than 10,000 people in Europe, the Portuguese legions were often unable to do what they wanted, and had to expose their biggest shortcoming: too few people!
The entire Kingdom of Portugal has a population of two million. Apart from the militias stationed in various places and the private soldiers controlled by various vassals, the standing army in the hands of the royal family is only seven to eight thousand people, including two to three thousand royal cavalry. Twenty years ago,
During the battle for the throne of Castile, King Alfonso tried his best to recruit 5,000 light and heavy cavalry, 5,000 legion infantry, and less than 10,000 militiamen, and assembled an army of 20,000 infantry and cavalry to participate in the battle.
.And the number "twenty thousand" is approximately the largest field force the Portuguese can muster.
Later, King Alfonso and Prince Joao faced off against the coalition forces of Isabella and Fernando. Twenty thousand against twenty thousand, the result was a draw. Then, the originally neutral Castilian nobles gradually turned to the
On Isabella's side, the forces of the two kings were increasing. With 20,000 Portuguese legions facing the 30,000 to 40,000 Castilian and Aragonese coalition forces, King Alfonso could no longer support him. In the end, he had to negotiate a peace.
Withdrawing troops, giving up the claim to the throne of Castile, and missing the best and only opportunity to unite Castile...
As for now, the Kingdom of Castile, which has just finished fighting the Holy War, is at the lowest point financially and at the peak of its military power! A full 50,000 to 60,000 Jihadi troops who have been fighting for ten years are enough to make the Kingdom of Portugal extinguish any idea of a head-on confrontation.
, and even try to avoid land friction between the two sides...
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Haha! Twenty years ago, the Portuguese Legion invaded Castile and were defeated by the heroic Queen? But now the Queen's Jihad Legion is so prestigious and fighting
They are invincible. They just defeated the Moorish Kingdom. I saw it with my own eyes outside the city of Granada... How can you Portuguese compare?... What you Portuguese are best at is huddled in mountains or castles, like
Like a cowardly hedgehog, he defends himself desperately and gets beaten..."
Columbus frowned and couldn't help but sneered a few words. Even if he was caught and imprisoned for two days, he couldn't change his talkative and stubborn temper. He just didn't dare to curse in front of the Portuguese officers.
It's just that as a prisoner, he dared to ridicule and couldn't see his situation clearly. He obviously didn't suffer enough. When he was led in front of King Joao like this, if he offended the king, wouldn't it be considered his fault? The leader was leading the way.
Officer Ruben was immediately furious. He immediately pointed at Columbus and turned to shout to the guards guarding him.
"For the safety of the king...search this cunning, vicious Castilian prisoner again! Search all places, open and check carefully! Prevent him from carrying hidden weapons for assassination!..."
"…Merda!Minchia!Diamine!!…"
Two stout Portuguese guards rushed forward, but after a moment, Columbus broke out with screams and curses, and felt the greetings and teachings of the Portuguese...
"His Majesty the King, the prisoner Columbus has been brought."
"Greetings to you! The perfect King Joao... you are the wisest monarch... the man who is most respected by the queen..."
In the hall full of scholars, Columbus looked pale, bowed his head obediently, and saluted the majestic king. Although there were no wounds on his body, the wounds were aching, always reminding him to be careful. However, he became more careful after being taught a lesson.
Being cute is not his nature at all, how long can he really keep it?…