Napoleon later modified his original plan by ordering Marshal Victor's I Corps, based at Mérida, to send a column commanded by General Lapisse, located in Salamanca, to march westwards, first on Ciudad Rodrigo and then on to Almeida, in Portugal.

[note 1] The campaign came to an end following the French defeat by Anglo-Portuguese forces at the Second Battle of Porto (12 May 1809), with Soult's army dispersed and having to abandon large amounts of equipment to flee across the mountains back into the north of Spain.

II, sums up the campaign as follows: The parting instructions of Bonaparte to Soult have already been cited: when the English should have embarked, the Duke of Dalmatia was to march on Oporto, and ten days later was to occupy Lisbon.

)Having pushed Sir John Moore's troops towards Corunna, Soult's army was instructed to march on Porto, and then on to Lisbon, which he should reach by about 10 February.

After defeating the Portuguese at the First Battle of Porto (28 March 1809), Soult then sent out a column under Major-General Louis Loison to open up the route back.