Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 115 Sweep
Near Santa Maria, after a brief mopping-up battle, the Brazilian residents in the town gave up resistance. Five or six hundred men, women, old and young lined up in two rows and gathered in an open space outside the town under the guard of Chinese soldiers, waiting for the Chinese troops to arrange and deal with them.

After returning from a meeting in Porto Alegre, Luo Linshan immediately started a plan to expel Brazilian residents.

The war stopped, and the field troops of the Chinese Independence Army, which had been fighting for a long time, lacked rest and replacement of lost soldiers. After arriving in Porto Alegre, the three field divisions and two mixed brigades rested on the spot, and soldiers with outstanding performance were selected from the garrison to replenish the lost soldiers. Most of the field army soldiers got the opportunity to rest. Only Luo Linshan's Fourth Division, Li Dawei's Cavalry Brigade and the Guards Brigade still insisted on tactical training. Among the three troops, the Guards Brigade was responsible for guarding Li Mingyuan and the headquarters of the Chinese Independence Army, and the training was never slackened at any time. The Fourth Division and the Cavalry Brigade conducted tactical training in order to carry out mopping-up operations against Brazilian residents.

Rio Grande do Sul is a vast state. Half of the Brazilian population lives in castles such as Porto Alegre and Santa Maria, while the other half lives scattered around the plains and mountains in the countryside.

Large castle settlements such as Erechim, Bagé, and Santa Maria were occupied by small teams arranged by Luo Linshan before the main force of the Chinese Independence Army arrived in Rio Grande do Sul. There are many Brazilian residents in the large castles, and the local Chinese teams stationed there can stabilize the local situation. To expel the Brazilian whites in the large castles, it is only necessary to send some soldiers from Porto Alegre to cooperate with the local garrison to complete the task. However, it is much more troublesome to deal with the Brazilian residents scattered in the countryside. The countryside is far away from the core ruling areas such as castles. The Brazilian whites living there are all descendants of poor European immigrants. They need to face attacks from the remaining Indians in the mountains and forests, as well as harassment from diseases and wild beasts. The cruel living environment has increased the difficulty of their survival while also honing their will to live in adversity. For these poor whites lingering outside the core of rule, the Portuguese rulers will deliberately ignore their existence and not levy taxes on them.

The Brazilian residents in the countryside are wild and difficult to train. They were among the armed forces that attacked the local garrison of the Chinese troops some time ago. Luo Linshan, who had suffered losses from them, did not dare to be careless when facing the order issued by Li Mingyuan. After returning to the barracks, he invited Li Dawei and the staff of the army to discuss specific strategies for dealing with the Brazilian residents.

In fact, before returning, Li Mingyuan had roughly arranged the combat methods of the mopping-up operation. Relying on important strongholds such as Bagé, Erechín, and Santa Maria, the entire Rio Grande do Sul State was divided into several combat areas. A certain number of garrisons were deployed in each combat area, and then the main force of the mopping-up operation was concentrated according to the pre-determined war zones to eliminate the stubborn Brazilian residents one by one.

In order to control important strongholds, relocate Brazilian residents and immigrant Chinese to the combat areas for occupation and construction, Li Mingyuan gave Luo Linshan the strategic arrangements in the general direction and the plan for the early resettlement of Chinese soldiers in the occupied areas, but when it came to practice, Luo Linshan found that it was not so easy.

Occupying strongholds, dividing combat areas, determining the appropriate number of soldiers to station in each combat area, and how to ensure that the Brazilian residents surrounded in the combat areas would not move around and flee were all problems that Luo Linshan had to face.

The number of troops used to carry out the mopping-up operation is limited, and Luo Linshan needs to arrange the troops at his disposal as properly as possible to complete the task of expelling the Brazilian residents within one month.

The mopping-up of Brazilian residents and the resettlement of Chinese soldiers were carried out successively. The mopping-up troops occupied and expelled all the Brazilian residents in an area, and the subsequent Chinese would quickly follow up and use the houses and production tools left behind by the Brazilian residents for production and construction.

A force that only plunders but does not produce is only a bandit force. The Chinese Independence Army grew and developed by plundering and capturing enemy weapons and supplies in the early mobile operations, but a mature army must have its own stable base and military factories and logistics supply centers to support the troops to update their equipment. The Chinese Independence Army is composed of all soldiers, with a total force of 100,000. The 100,000-man force has reaped huge rewards in the operations in Peru, Bolivia, and the encirclement of the main forces in Brazil. The logistics supply base of the Chinese Independence Army is filled with muskets, artillery, livestock, and food. However, no matter how much supplies there are, there will be a day when they will run out. The fierce battles of the 100,000-man force quickly consumed the captured weapons and ammunition. During the long journey of thousands of miles, a large amount of food and weapons had to be abandoned halfway because of the difficult mountain roads.

After defeating the main force of the Brazilian army, the Chinese Independence Army reached its strongest period. At this time, it seemed possible to occupy the three southern states of Brazil and even the state of São Paulo. However, beneath the surface of the powerful Chinese Independence Army, there were huge hidden dangers. The field army suffered serious non-combat casualties, and logistical supplies such as weapons and ammunition were exhausted. It was only because of a great victory that these defects and shortcomings were covered up. If Li Mingyuan was carried away by the victory and temporarily changed his combat objectives to continue attacking other areas in southern Brazil, the Chinese Independence Army would fall into a desperate situation of being alone and deep in the enemy's territory with no ammunition. Therefore, after realizing the internal hidden dangers of the Chinese Independence Army, Li Mingyuan gave up the plan to pursue Garcia's remaining troops, quickly reached an agreement with Lopez Jr., and led his troops to enter Rio Grande do Sul.

Weapons and ammunition were in short supply, and food was only enough to supply the Chinese Independence Army for a few months. It was no longer appropriate for the Chinese in South America to continue to maintain the system of universal military service, so it became a major issue for Li Mingyuan to consider disbanding the old and weak soldiers in the army and then placing them in the newly occupied areas for production and construction.

In Rio Grande do Sul, there are about 135,000 Chinese people, and the number of first- and second-line soldiers engaged in combat reaches 180,000. Among these soldiers, except for the 40,000 main forces of the field army and the newly established navy, most of the soldiers will be laid off for production and construction, and at the same time, the militia and guard forces will be trained. The laid-off soldiers usually carry out production and construction like the old and weak Chinese. During the slack season, they are called up for tactical training and are responsible for guarding the local area and assisting the main force in combat.

Li Mingyuan has made short-term plans for Rio Grande do Sul. The remaining work naturally needs to be carried out by subordinate officers and civil officials such as Luo Linshan. Clearing out the places where Brazilian residents are trapped by Chinese soldiers who need to be resettled is the first step in developing Rio Grande do Sul. Li Mingyuan gave Luo Linshan this seemingly simple but actually very difficult task to complete successfully. It is a test to train him and also a sign of his respect for him.

Luo Linshan was not from the remnants of the Taiping Army. He had stayed in South America for a long time and was more familiar with the living habits and combat methods of the white people in South America than the senior generals who came from the Taiping Army. In addition, his excellent command ability after leading the Chinese workers' uprising in history made Li Mingyuan feel more at ease to entrust him with the task of sweeping out the Brazilian residents.

Pressure can prompt people to stimulate their potential. After being assigned a difficult task by Li Mingyuan, Luo Linshan, Li Dawei and a group of staff discussed the matter, combined their suggestions with their own improvements, and finally developed a detailed and reliable mopping-up operation plan.

Using Santa Maria as the dividing line, the southern and northern parts of Rio Grande do Sul were divided. Two combat areas, Bagé and Rio Grande, were set up in the south, with a security brigade stationed in each area as garrison forces to prevent the movement and escape of Brazilian residents in the mopping-up area. The northern area was divided into two combat areas with Caxias do Sul and Erechín as the central strongholds, and a security brigade was also stationed in each area. Luo Linshan and Li Dawei led the main force of the 4th Division and the cavalry brigade to be stationed in Santa Maria, isolating the two parts of the southern part of Rio Grande do Sul. At the same time, reconnaissance cavalry were sent out to investigate the hiding places of Brazilian residents. Once the hiding places of Brazilian residents were reported from their respective combat areas, a mixed infantry and cavalry force composed of cavalry and soldiers of the 4th Division would set out to encircle and suppress them, surround the nearby places where the Brazilian residents were hiding, and then launch a carpet search to prevent a single Brazilian resident from escaping the encirclement.

The large-scale and meticulous mopping-up operation was carried out intensively under the command of Luo Linshan. On the fifth day of the operation, a rural settlement near Bajie was discovered by Chinese reconnaissance cavalry. The mopping-up troops surrounded the settlement and captured 800 Brazilian residents. On the sixth day, the seventh day, the tenth day... With the deployment of the garrison troops and the increasingly tight blockade line formed by the patrol cavalry, Brazilian residents hiding in the countryside were constantly discovered and captured. On the thirty-first day, the last Brazilian settlement was discovered near Santa Maria, and the one-month mopping-up operation came to an end.

(End of this chapter)