The so-called "mixed formations" were a method Wellesley had devised to make full use of the Portuguese Army.
From then on, every company under his command consisted of thirty percent English soldiers and seventy percent Portuguese soldiers.
In battle, the elite English troops stood on both flanks and in the rear rank, "binding the Portuguese in the middle" while constantly reminding them what they should do.
This way, the previously worthless Portuguese Army could display considerable combat effectiveness.
From Wellesley's first day in Porto, he had ordered Beresford to train the Portuguese in batches.
Two months later, he would have more than seventeen thousand usable soldiers. Together with ten thousand English troops, his total force would reach nearly thirty thousand. Pursuing the thirty thousand troops from Spain thrown into chaos, failure was simply impossible.
Even with the additional five thousand French troops, he was confident of victory. After all, his New Army had been built to French Army standards, yet it had twice the numbers.
Three days later.
Portuguese Crown Prince João signed a decree in the name of Queen Maria I, ordering all Portuguese within eighty miles of Porto—nearly 130 kilometers—to move south of the Douro River within half a month. Anyone who disobeyed would be convicted of treason and collaboration with the enemy. The Resistance Army fighting the Franco-Spanish Allied Forces was unaffected.
Soon, when Junot led his troops to a small village north of Porto, he was astonished to find it completely deserted. The wheat fields, nearly ready for harvest, had been reduced to charcoal and ash; even the thatch on the roofs had been stripped away.
He immediately sensed trouble and rushed to the nearest village, only to find the same scene there.
He hurried back to headquarters, dispatched someone to notify Marquis Talavera of the