marched his division straight for Tortosa while the other commanded by Bera, Adhemar, and Borrell of Ausona covered Louis' western flank and attacked Tortosa from the south. Bera turned his army around after they had crossed the River Ebro where it meets the Cinca. The army went as far as Vila Rubea before being forced to turn back to Vallis Ibana (this is possibly modern Vallibona), near Morella. They then rejoined the troops commanded by Louis's which has unsuccessfully undertaken a siege of Tortosa. The army then turned north and returned to Barcelona. Second and third expeditions In 808, Charlemagne sent his legate Ingobert to Toulouse to meet Louis and prepare for another expedition south. The plan was to follow the same tactics as in 804. The "Astronomer", author of the Vita Hludovici, writes that the forces of Bera and Adhemar crossed the Ebro in boats while their horses swam across. However, the horse dung was swept by the current past Tortosa which alerted the town's garrison. The Wali of the city attacked Bera, who was forced to retreat north again. In 809, Louis led his last expedition as King of Aquitaine into the Marca. This time equipped with siege engines, Tortosa was besieged for forty days by Frankish and troops from the Marca (under Bera). The new Emir of Cordoba, Abd ar-Rahman II, however met the besiegers with an army. The Moorish chronicler Al Maqqari records a Muslim victory, while Astronomus simply states that the besieged offered Louis's the keys to the city and, satisfied, the King of Aquitaine lifted his siege and left. First truce It is probable that Bera was the strongest promoter of peace with Córdoba. This would allow him to consolidate his power in his new possessions. Advised by his mother, and supported by the city's residents keen for continued peaceful relations with the nearby Muslim states, Bera sought to institute a truce. The Frankish court eventually signed a three-year peace treaty with the Caliphate of Córdoba in 812. Bera's father died on 18 May 812 and the Counties of Razès and Conflent passed to him. Following his father's example, Bera gave governorship of the counties to his son Guillemundus. In 812, Bera also travelled to the Imperial Court in Aachen with several other Counts of the region: Adhemar of Narbonne, Gaucelm of Roussillon, Odilo of Girona, Guiscafred of Carcassonne, Ermengar of Empúries, Laibulf of