Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 111 End of the Expedition
Garcia fled back to the military camp, assembled the defense troops and prepared to evacuate the defense line and return to Brazil by land. That night, before dark, the Chinese Independence Army troops followed the defeated enemy and arrived at the Brazilian Army's defense position. With the defenders of the Humeita Fortress in front and the Chinese Independence Army blocking their way behind, Garcia's attempt to retreat quickly failed.

The logistical supply of the Brazilian army was cut off, and the main force was besieged in the front position of the Humeita Fortress. Brazil was temporarily unable to withdraw troops to provide strong support to Garcia. The defenders of the Humeita Fortress and the Chinese Independence Army seized the opportunity and launched attacks on the Brazilian troops in turn. The defense line built by the Brazilian army was continuously captured by the Paraguayan and Chinese troops. On the fifth day of the battle, Garcia assembled all the remaining troops, took the junction of the defenses of the Paraguayan and Chinese troops as a breakthrough point, and launched a counterattack. After paying the price of most of the Brazilian troops being killed, wounded or captured, 10,000 Brazilian troops broke out of the encirclement and penetrated into the mountains and forests east of the Paraguay River.

Li Mingyuan's goal was to completely annihilate the Brazilian army, causing a temporary period of weakness in Brazil's military power, and buying time for the Chinese Independence Army to take root in Rio Grande do Sul.

However, after they had finally encircled the remaining Brazilian troops, the enemy broke through right under their noses. Li Mingyuan was very angry and was ready to find the generals who were responsible for the poor defense and punish them severely. However, after the final investigation, he found that the problem was with the Paraguayan army. The line of defense broken by the Brazilian army was located at the Paraguayan line at the junction of the two armies. By the time the Chinese Independence Army realized that the situation was not right and rushed to reinforce, the Paraguayan defenders had been defeated by the enemy, and a large number of Brazilian troops had escaped the encirclement.

The problem lies with the Paraguayan troops, and Li Mingyuan is angry but has no place to vent it.

Soon after the Brazilian army broke through, Li Mingyuan contacted the Paraguayan army to discuss a joint expedition to pursue the Brazilian army, but the result was that the Paraguayan troops suffered heavy casualties and urgently needed to be repaired. The task of pursuing the remaining Brazilian troops had to be completed by the Chinese Independence Army alone.

Li Mingyuan was very unhappy with Lopez Jr.'s attitude. I traveled thousands of miles to Paraguay, and although I joined the war mainly to help the Chinese Independence Army gain a foothold in Rio Grande do Sul, the Chinese Independence Army helped Paraguay resolve the invading enemy forces. Now at the end of the battle, I made a simple request to pursue the remnants of the enemy forces, but you refused. Aren't you deliberately not giving face to the Chinese Independence Army?

Li Mingyuan complained that Lopez Jr. was ungrateful and did not give face to the Chinese Independence Army. Lopez Jr. was also very angry. The troops left behind in the rear sent news that the Chinese Independence Army took advantage of the lack of troops in Paraguay and requisitioned large and small ships in his name without Lopez Jr.'s consent. All the ships along the Paraguay River were looted by the Chinese Independence Army. Fishermen without food had to drive fish rafts built with wooden boards to the river to fish. The Paraguayan people along the coast who did not know the truth also blamed Lopez Jr.

Little Lopez had no way to defend himself. After the Humeita Fortress was surrounded, he did agree to some conditions of the Chinese Independence Army, but those conditions were only limited to the division of their respective spheres of influence after the war and did not involve the interests of ordinary people in Paraguay.

It was a bit unfair for the Chinese Independence Army to requisition ships without Lopez Jr.'s consent, but this was not the main reason why Lopez Jr. was angry. What really made Lopez Jr. angry and even refused to provide troops to pursue the remnants of the Brazilian army was that the Chinese Independence Army recruited women of marriageable age in Paraguay.

Because of the war, Paraguay's population has been reduced by more than half, and the gender ratio is seriously unbalanced. After the war, Lopez Jr. plans to promote the fertility rate of the people and increase the population in Paraguay. In order to restore Paraguay's pre-war population, Lopez Jr. has considered implementing polygamy to increase Paraguay's population in a short period of time.

The Chinese Independence Army's half-temptation and half-deception in recruiting Paraguayan women of marriageable age clearly undermined Lopez Jr.'s future development plans for Paraguay.

For more than half a month, more than 10,000 Paraguayan women have been lured to join the Chinese independence movement with food, medicine and even weapons and ammunition. If effective measures are not taken to stop the behavior of the Chinese independence army, more Paraguayan women will be lost. There are only more than 200,000 men, women, old and young in Paraguay. Even if the proportion of women is too high, it is still a valuable human resource. Too much population loss is also a major loss of Paraguay's national strength.

Unlike the crowded situation in East Asia, the newly independent countries in South America are generally short of population. Brazil has an area of ​​more than 850 million square kilometers and a population of only 150 million. Argentina has a population of million. Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay have even smaller populations. Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, these southern South American countries are rich in resources and fertile land. What they lack is only manpower. Therefore, a sufficient number of citizens is the most direct factor in measuring the strength of South American countries. If the population is enough, it doesn't matter if the country's area is too small. Just find an excuse to fight with neighboring countries and the land will naturally increase.

Population is of great significance to Paraguay's national development. The Chinese Independence Army recruited Paraguayan women to poach Lopez Jr. The stubborn and dictatorial Lopez Jr. has regarded Paraguay as his private property and will not allow outsiders to interfere.

After experiencing the lesson of the Brazilian Three-Nation Alliance's beating up Paraguay, Lopez Jr. became more rational. He thought it was not worth it to quarrel with the Chinese Independence Army over the issue of Paraguayan women. The more than 100,000 Chinese accounted for half of Paraguay's population. At this time, because of momentary impulse, the most likely result would be that Paraguay would become the territory of the Chinese Independence Army.

Foreign troops stationed in one's own country will eventually pose a huge hidden danger. Lopez Jr. issued an order prohibiting the Chinese Independence Army from continuing to recruit Paraguayan women of marriageable age, and at the same time sent representatives to urge the Chinese Independence Army to leave Paraguay.

The host closed the door and sent the guests away. Li Mingyuan felt unhappy but couldn't stay in Paraguay, so he put forward some conditions to Lopez Jr. again. After a lot of haggling, the two sides finally reached an agreement. All the captured Brazilian troops would belong to the Chinese Independence Army, Li Mingyuan took out a part of the seized food and gave it to Lopez Jr. for emergency use, and the Chinese Independence Army would stop recruiting Paraguayan women. Lopez Jr. was not allowed to interfere with the personal freedom of the Paraguayan women who had originally joined the Chinese army.

The sphere of influence was reiterated and confirmed. The three southern states of Brazil belong to the expanded sphere of influence of the Chinese Independence Army. Paraguay can use the coastal ports of the Chinese troops. The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is Paraguay's target. The two sides agreed on a time to attack their respective spheres of influence to disrupt Brazil's reinforcement plan.

Two days after the agreement with Paraguay was finalized, the 20,000-strong Chinese Independence Army, which had been well rested, set out down the Paraguay River on a fleet led by the Rising Sun and the Dawn. When passing through Formosa, they had an encounter with the Argentine army stationed there. The coastal areas of Formosa were occupied by Argentina, and the west bank of the Paraguay River was connected to the Argentine territory. The Argentine army, whose defense was lax, was suddenly attacked. The soldiers in the camp abandoned the ships and logistical supplies in the port and ran towards the inland areas belonging to Argentina. The goal of the Chinese Independence Army was to occupy Rio Grande do Sul and join up with the Chinese troops sailing on the sea. The 10,000 Argentine troops were not their main target of attack.

Abandoning the pursuit of the fleeing Argentine army, they looted the food, weapons and ammunition in the camp and took the captured Argentine ships. The fleet continued to move forward, passing the confluence of the Paraguay River and the Parana River, and went upstream along the Parana River. Three days later, the first batch of Chinese fleets arrived in Porto Alegre and successfully reunited with the small number of Chinese soldiers who stayed behind. In the next ten days, Li Mingyuan led the remaining Chinese and 1868 recruited Paraguayan women from Paraguay and arrived in Porto Alegre on July 7, 3. The transition, which lasted more than half a year and thousands of miles, was finally completed.

Thanks to Meng Shixihua for the reward and support.

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(End of this chapter)