Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 108: Resolving the Beach Battle
The Paraguay River is wide and deep, but compared with the vast ocean, the space for ironclad ships to move is extremely limited. The width of the river of more than 100 meters is not enough to provide space for the Brazilian ironclad ships to maneuver and cover.

The Rising Sun and the Dawn turned their guns and fired a salvo of shells when the Brazilian ironclad was blocked from retreat by the chaotic friendly ships.

The unexpected surprise attack and preemptive strike gave the Chinese Independence Army the upper hand. At a distance of only a hundred meters, the Brazilian ironclad ship became a living target for the Chinese Independence Army's naval novices to test. Two shells hit the target after close artillery fire. The Brazilian naval soldiers who were still operating the warship on the river heard two explosions in succession, and then fell to the ground under the impact of fragments stirred up by the shells. The two shells hit the ironclad ship's turret and deck respectively. A cannon was overturned by the shell and lost its combat effectiveness, and a large hole was pierced through the watchtower by the shell.

The Brazilian ironclad ship was in a mess. More than 20 soldiers were hit by the shells, most of them were seriously injured and fell to the ground.

Although the Brazilian ironclad warship appeared to be in a state of disarray, in fact the core power system of the warship had not been hit, and the entire warship still maintained most of its combat capabilities.

The initial combat advantage was hard-won. While the Chaoyang and Liming fired at the main Brazilian ironclad ships, seven gunboats and hundreds of sailing warships took advantage of the situation to attack. The Chinese Independence Army soldiers on the ships stood at the bow, holding grappling hooks, ready to engage in boarding combat at any time.

Boarding combat was a typical fighting method in the sailing age. Many veteran Taiping soldiers who fought against the Qing army in the Yangtze River area had experience in boarding combat. Originally, this fighting method had been eliminated from the battlefield in the West, but on the Paraguay River, this eliminated way of warfare found its place again.

The Paraguay River, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, gave the Brazilian Navy the opportunity to enter the interior of Paraguay, but also restricted the ironclad ships fighting in the vast ocean to inland rivers.

The Brazilian ironclad ship knew that the enemy was coming towards it but could not effectively evade it. In less than a minute, seven steam-powered gunboats arrived at the battlefield first.

"Bang" a gunboat hit the Brazilian ironclad ship. The Chinese soldiers on the gunboat shook for a while, then threw out the hook and climbed towards the ship along the rope.

"Quick, rush to the bow, don't let them board the ironclad ship."

The Brazilian navy soldiers who escaped the artillery attack quickly ran from the deck to the bow, and the soldiers under the hold also rushed to the deck hill under the leadership of the officers to resist the attack of the Chinese Independence Army.

Seven gunboats approached the Brazilian ironclad ship almost at the same time. More than 210 Chinese soldiers landed from all sides of the warship. A fierce battle took place between the soldiers of both sides at close range.

The bow of the Brazilian ironclad ship was less than four meters away from the surface of the gunboat. The Chinese soldiers and the Brazilian navy opened fire at close range. In just a few minutes, the casualties on both sides exceeded two hundred.

In order to seize the last ironclad ship of the Brazilian Navy, more than half of the Chinese soldiers in the first wave of attacking on gunboats were killed or wounded, and at the same time, they caused casualties to the Brazilian Navy soldiers that were no less than their own. The Brazilian ironclad ship had a full crew of 300 people, and more than 20 of them had lost their combat effectiveness due to being hit by artillery shells. More than 100 people were killed or wounded in the boarding battle. There were less than 150 soldiers on the entire warship who could still pick up weapons and fight.

The heavy casualties quickly consumed the fighting will of the Brazilian soldiers on the ironclad. The gunboats surrounded the ironclad and attacked it. The warships sailing with traditional wind power arrived at the battlefield a few minutes later. As soon as the three sailing warships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons came into contact with the Brazilian ironclad, the decks of the two warships were basically level. The Chinese soldiers who had been prepared crossed the gap between the warships and rushed towards the Brazilian ironclad.

The disparity in strength between the enemy and us was too great. Except for more than 30 people who were killed, the rest of the more than 100 soldiers on the Brazilian warship all surrendered.

The only ironclad ship was the temporary flagship of the Brazilian Navy. The command ship was captured, and the other Brazilian ships were not much luckier. The Rising Sun and the Dawn occupied the central position of the Paraguay River bank and attacked the Brazilian warships with the ability to fight back, while nearly one hundred modified warships approached for attack. The transport ships behind them were spread out along the river bank to block the breakthrough of the Brazilian ships. The one hundred modified warships formed the first circle of encirclement, and the transport fleet blocked the retreat of the fish that slipped through the net. The two ironclad ships were responsible for patrol missions and were responsible for dealing with the warships that escaped the first layer of encirclement.

With two layers of encirclement and coordinated attacks from three sides, the Brazilian navy trapped in the riverside base struggled less and less. An hour and a half later, the battle on the river ended. More than 120 Brazilian ships and seven or eight gunboats escaped when the encirclement was not tight at the beginning, sinking and damaging more than 30 Brazilian ships and capturing more than 70 Brazilian naval ships including ironclad ships. In the two naval battles, the Chinese Independence Army captured three ironclad ships, 15 sailing warships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, and 30 warships with a displacement of between 1,000 and 2,000 tons.

Twenty large transport ships and seventeen gunboats.

As for small boats with a displacement of less than one thousand tons, there are more than three hundred of them. These boats are simple to manufacture and small in size. They are only suitable for transporting materials and personnel in inland areas and have weak combat capabilities. After the war, except for a small number of wooden ships with good performance under one thousand tons that will be retained to join the navy's offshore patrol fleet, the others will be sold at low prices to meritorious soldiers for use as fishing boats and merchant ships.

The battle on the river ended, and the Chinese Independence Army defeated the Brazilian defenders on the river bank and occupied the river mouth base.

The riverside base is the Brazilian army's logistics supply base and the river passage leading to the seaport. Occupying the riverside base is equivalent to pinching the Brazilian army's neck, isolating the main force of the Brazilian army and the rear troops.

The riverside base is very important to the Brazilian army. Garcia will not sit idly by and watch the base be lost. It won't be long before Garcia will send troops to counterattack. The Chinese Independence Army does not have much time to prepare. Li Mingyuan got off the boat and personally commanded the troops to build defensive fortifications.

The artillery placed by the Brazilian army in the camp was pulled out by the Chinese soldiers. Under the command of Li Mingyuan, one artillery after another was placed on both sides of the position's defense line. As the commander of the artillery brigade, Luo Dapao could only follow Li Mingyuan and listen to Li Mingyuan explain the application of artillery tactics.

“In mainland China, artillery is mainly used for city defense. As for field operations, artillery plays a supporting role most of the time. However, as artillery technology becomes more sophisticated, more specialized artillery such as siege artillery and portable field howitzers appear on the battlefield. The significance of artillery on the battlefield is becoming more and more important.

Cannon, remember, cannon is not just an auxiliary weapon on the battlefield. If used properly, artillery can play a decisive role on the battlefield. "

Normally, Li Mingyuan also introduced to Luo Dapao the important significance of artillery on the battlefield, but he rarely gave such a high evaluation of artillery as he did today.

Artillery played a dominant role in later large-scale wars. Due to the insufficient performance of artillery in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army, the artillery brigade had never reached the status envisioned by Li Mingyuan. After conquering the Brazilian Navy's shore base, the Chinese Independence Army not only captured a large number of warships but also obtained a number of artillery with superior performance.

The artillery that the Chinese soldiers are carrying is made in France

The M1857 12-pound (5.44 kg) field gun, also known as the "Napoleon gun", is a type of gun named after the French Emperor Napoleon III.

The Napoleon cannon has strong mobility, fierce firepower, and a maximum attack range of 1500 meters. It can cause effective damage to the enemy at a distance of 1000 meters. Moreover, because it uses explosive bombs, more than ten shells can destroy the offensive force of an enemy battalion.

The Qing army suffered heavy losses from Napoleon's artillery in the Second Opium War, and Napoleon's artillery was also very powerful during the South American War in North America. Now a row of twelve unused Napoleon artillery has fallen into the hands of the Chinese Independence Army. Li Mingyuan has reason to believe that the power of these artillery purchased by the Brazilians will surprise them.

It will take some time for the 40,000 Chinese troops to land. Before the troops have completed their landing, the mixed positions consisting of artillery and machine guns will serve as the main force to block the enemy's counterattack.

(End of this chapter)