Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 118 Initial Stability
On August 1868, 8, the last batch of Brazilian residents concentrated in Erechín were expelled by the Chinese Independence Army. The Brazilian residents in Rio Grande do Sul were basically cleared out, and the land left behind by the Brazilian residents was distributed to retired Chinese soldiers under the management of the Chinese Independence Army. The mopping-up operation that lasted for a month was completely over.

The mopping-up operation lasted for 33 days. The Chinese Independence Army dispatched the First Division, the Cavalry Brigade, and four local security brigades, totaling 23,000 troops, to sweep the non-Chinese residents in Rio Grande do Sul like a lion hunting a rabbit. The descendants of white Brazilians, local Indians, and a small number of black slaves were all expelled. During the operation, the mopping-up troops expelled a total of 40,000 white and mixed-race Brazilian residents, 23,000 Indians, and 2,000 blacks.

Rio Grande do Sul borders Santa Catarina State in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Among the local residents who were expelled, 30,000 whites were driven to Santa Catarina State, 10,000 whites were expelled to Uruguay, and finally 23,000 Indians and 2,000 blacks were expelled to the northern part of Argentina at the border between Paraguay and Argentina.

The order to expel 65,000 residents to three countries was issued by Li Mingyuan after careful consideration.

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are de facto allied countries. The Chinese Independence Army's attack on Brazilian troops and occupation of Rio Grande do Sul is directly hostile to Brazil. Argentina and Paraguay, as Brazil's allies, are legally enemies of the Chinese Independence Army.

Uruguay is a small country with a small population. The occupation of Rio Grande do Sul by the Chinese Independence Army is equivalent to establishing a buffer line between Brazil and Uruguay, cutting off the possibility of Brazil swallowing up Uruguay again. Moreover, expelling the 10,000 penniless white Brazilians into Uruguay can divert most of Uruguay's energy and temporarily reduce the threat posed by Uruguay to the Chinese Independence Army from behind.

The situation in southern Argentina is complicated. The gauchos and local Indians are powerful. The white government in Buenos Aires has limited control over the vast, jungle-covered southern region. Most of the Indians living in Rio Grande do Sul live in mountainous areas near southern Argentina. After driving them to southern Argentina, the Indians who are good at surviving in forests and mountains will quickly occupy the land suitable for their survival, and then add fuel to the complex situation in southern Argentina, disrupting the local balance of power and forcing Argentina to devote part of its energy to dealing with affairs in the southern region.

Argentina is rich in resources, has fertile land and a superior geographical location, and has favorable conditions for developing into a powerful country in South America. Historically, after the end of the Paraguayan War, Argentina vigorously introduced European immigrants, rapidly improving its national strength and becoming one of the few rich and powerful countries in the world before and after World War I.

The Chinese Independence Army was sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. If it wanted to grow and develop, it could only obtain land from both countries. Brazil had a large population and strong comprehensive strength. Even if it was defeated by the Chinese Independence Army on the battlefield in Paraguay, it still had the ability to launch a counterattack. Therefore, in the early stages of the development of the Chinese in South America, the Chinese Independence Army not only found it difficult to obtain land from Brazil, but also had to face Brazil's counterattack.

Argentina is different. With a population of 150 million, it is a country with considerable comprehensive strength in South America. However, in the mainland,

150 million people is just the standard population of a wealthy county, and Argentina's 150 million people are mainly distributed in the area near Buenos Aires. Most of the to square kilometers of land in the southern region are inhabited by Indians and Gauchos. The white Argentines mainly rely on several important strongholds such as Tucumán to achieve weak control over the southern region and expel Indians and a small number of blacks into southern Argentina. Argentina, which is unstable domestically, cannot introduce population for economic construction before resolving the problems of Indians and Gauchos, which will slow down Argentina's development. Then the Chinese Independence Army will strengthen the strength of Chinese in South America through a large number of immigrants, and then slowly erode the southern part of Argentina and increase the land controlled by the Chinese Independence Army.

The 30,000 Brazilians expelled to Santa Catarina were mainly the elderly, women and children.

As for the young and strong men, some of them joined the guerrillas and were killed by the Chinese Independence Army, some were taken as prisoners of war and participated in forced labor with Brazilian soldiers, and the other part was driven into Uruguay. After several arrangements, there were only more than 4,000 young and strong people among the 30,000 Brazilian residents, and even there were few Brazilian white women of marriageable age.

There are about 50,000 white people in Rio Grande do Sul, of which less than 5,000 are women of marriageable age. Excluding those who have started a family and have children, more than 3,000 unmarried or childless women were retained by the Chinese Independence Army and assigned to meritorious soldiers.

Most of the 3,000 white women were between 18 and 35 years old. The more than 3,000 white women who were of childbearing age had fair complexions, which met the aesthetic standards of the Chinese soldiers. Therefore, the first batch of meritorious soldiers who had not found wives immediately focused their attention on the 3,000 white women. On the last day before the end of the mopping-up battle, most of the 3,000 white women who remained were assigned elsewhere. Only more than 200 white girls who had not yet reached the age of marriage avoided the fate of hasty marriage and were arranged by Li Mingyuan to nurse the wounded at the headquarters of the Chinese Independence Army. He also taught them Chinese in his spare time.

With the addition of more than 3,000 Brazilian women, the number of Chinese in Rio Grande do Sul exceeded 150,000, reaching the population number before the migration. Among the 150,000 people, there are 15,073 newly formed families with 30,146 people, accounting for one-fifth of the total population. One-fifth of the population forms a family, which alleviates the adverse effects of the imbalance in the male and female gender ratio of the Chinese Independence Army. At the same time, with the marriage of 15,000 Chinese soldiers, Rio Grande do Sul has also taken on the appearance of an emerging force. The newly married Chinese soldiers work hard on the more than 300 acres of land allocated to them, and the Chinese soldiers who have not married are training hard under the leadership of officers, striving to marry in the next allocation.

The stable life of the Chinese Independence Army soldiers was built on Brazil's defeat. The 30,000 expelled elderly, weak, women and children not only could not help the Brazilian army fight against the Chinese Independence Army, but also required the Brazilian government to consume a large amount of supplies to settle them. Even if they were full of resentment towards the Chinese Independence Army, they could only curse them in their hearts, but could not actually cause any harm to the Chinese Independence Army.

The completion of the expulsion of Brazilian residents meant the full launch of the production and construction work of the Chinese Independence Army. Construction sites, resettlement sites for retired soldiers, naval training bases... all major locations in Rio Grande do Sul left traces of Li Mingyuan's inspection and supervision. After a month of visits and inspections, Li Mingyuan took a day off, lying in the garden behind his house to enjoy the flowers, fish and rest.

(End of this chapter)