Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 150 Overall Plan
The military is a continuation of politics. Superficial fighting is only one aspect. If you want to gain tangible benefits, various private alliances are the core.

Argentina increased its troops on the front line, and Paraguayan troops captured Morandi to gain a strategic advantage, but were severely weakened by the enemy's absolute strength.

Li Mingyuan was happy to see Paraguay and Argentina fighting each other, but for the sake of the overall interest, Paraguay's heavy losses in the Misiones dispute would reduce its strength to fight against Brazil. Therefore, some artillery units were sent to support the Paraguayans in defending the city, which would slowly bleed Argentina, while also controlling the losses of both sides within a certain range to avoid the expansion of the war.

The San Javier Iron Mine is about thirty miles away from the Rio Grande do Sul border and is a piece of land of about 200 square kilometers that is cut into the Rio Grande do Sul border.

Rio Grande do Sul lacks iron ore. When Li Mingyuan and Liu Pu were discussing industrial layout some time ago, the issue of obtaining iron ore was mentioned. At that time, Li Mingyuan appeased Liu Pu with the answer of obtaining iron ore from outside. In fact, Li Mingyuan was already considering how to seize the San Javier Iron Mine from the Argentines.

San Javier is not far from Passo Fundo. By taking San Javier, Rio Grande do Sul will have an iron mine on its own land, which is of great significance to the industrial development and security in the early days of the country.

Selling weapons to Paraguay, increasing the number of troops in the San Pedro area twice, contacting Ferna, and an artillery battalion that will fight as Paraguayans are all planned around obtaining the San Javier iron ore.

The Argentines and Paraguayans fought fiercely on the front line. The Chinese troops occupied the San Javier Iron Mine at the appropriate time, and then immediately sent people to negotiate with the Argentines, forcing them to agree to exchange San Javier for the western area of ​​the San Pedro River.

By exchanging 200 square kilometers of land for 300 square kilometers of land, Li Mingyuan has already given the Argentines enough face. If they do not agree, then there are naturally other response plans.

In Morandi City, Wang Dashan got up early and prepared to go outside the city for physical training.

"Brigade Commander Wang, wait a moment. I want to train with you."

Wang Dashan walked to the door and heard a voice behind him. He nodded and said, "I'll give you two minutes. If it's too late, I'll leave first."

"Understood, sir." Battalion Commander Wu said as he put on his black military coat. In less than two minutes, he was ready and the two of them jogged out of their residence together.

As the sky brightened, after a simple half-hour physical training, Wang Dashan and Battalion Commander Wu started to walk back.

"Brigade Commander, you brought me to the banquet. There must be a deep meaning behind it, right?"

Battalion Commander Wu had been holding it in for two days and couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I have other plans, otherwise how about I bring you here for dinner?"

Wang Dashan made a joke and started to speak seriously: "I couldn't tell you about this originally, but I guess Istigari will make a decision today, so it doesn't hurt to tell you earlier."

Wang Dashan put on his military uniform and said as he walked: "Argentina's reinforcements left Posadas four days ago. According to the normal marching speed, they can reach the outposts of both sides in three days. A large-scale counterattack may break out within a week."

After Wang Dashan introduced the deployment of the Argentine troops, he asked, "Captain Wu, you have been in Morandi for a day. What do you think of the situation of the Paraguayan troops?"

"Istigari said yesterday that the 3,000 reinforcements from the rear will arrive in Morandi in two days. With the addition of the more than 4,000 troops in the city, with more ammunition and weapons, even if it is a bit difficult to defend Morandi, we can still keep the city for ten days."

"I heard all this from Istigari. It is true that the Paraguayan soldiers are brave and hardy. The number of 7,000 soldiers should be about the same. However, Istigari only talked about the advantages of the Paraguayan army and did not mention its shortcomings."

"What does Brigade Commander Wang mean?"

"Captain Wu, think back to yesterday when Istigali was waiting for us at the city gate, how many artillery pieces were there on the city wall?" "There were about twelve artillery pieces with a caliber of 100 mm or more. Twenty artillery pieces with a caliber of 65-85 mm. As for the smaller artillery pieces, I did not check them carefully."

"More than 65 artillery pieces of mm or larger are not a small number for defending the city, but Captain Wu, do you feel anything unusual about the Paraguayan artillery?"

The battalion commander surnamed Wu commanded the artillery of the first battalion. After Wang Dashan's reminder, he reacted quickly.

"The Paraguayans have no ammunition boxes next to their artillery, and they are running low on ammunition!"

"Yes, the Paraguayan troops are short of ammunition, and the artillery they bought from European powers was almost used up in the Paraguayan War. During the war, Britain imposed a blockade on Paraguay, and no country was willing to sell them weapons. After the war, Paraguay had no money to buy weapons. Some of the artillery they put on the city walls were captured from the Argentines, and the other part was old artillery that our army had eliminated."

"Now that Commander Wang said that, I remember why those small artillery pieces looked so familiar. They turned out to be the ones we eliminated. I thought those eliminated artillery pieces were distributed to the local security forces!"

Battalion Commander Wu suddenly realized.

"The security forces got a small portion, and the bulk was used to trade for women with the Paraguayans."

"The prince is really good at business. He is using the obsolete artillery to find wives for his brothers. I think the Paraguayans must be reluctant to part with them!"

As the scale of trade with Paraguayans continues to expand, a large number of Paraguayan women have entered Rio Grande do Sul, and the previously sluggish matchmaking and family-building activities have quickly become busy.

The Paraguayan women obtained were distributed according to the military merits of the troops. Soldiers with great merits and officers at all levels gave priority to choosing Paraguayan women they liked. Battalion Commander Wu, as a mid-level officer in the newly formed artillery brigade, also got a quota and married a 19-year-old Paraguayan white girl.

Battalion Commander Wu was happy to get married, but he also looked down on the Paraguayans. He thought that barbarians were barbarians and there was no reason to push the women of their own country away.

Battalion commander surnamed Wu mocked the Paraguayans for exchanging women for weapons and equipment, but he ignored the even worse fate of Han women under the rule of the Qing Dynasty in mainland China. The more beautiful Han women were occupied by the Manchus and local tyrants, and the daughters of disaster-stricken families were sold at low prices by their parents.

Throughout the dynasties, when the people suffered from disasters, the Han court would prohibit forcing the people into slavery even if it was to save face. However, the Qing government itself was a slave state. The Manchus were slaves of the Qing Tartar emperor, and the Han people were not even qualified to be slaves.

It is hard to tell whether it is ridiculous or pathetic that such a backward regime could rule the mainland for nearly three hundred years!

What Wang Dashan wanted to say was that the Paraguayan troops lacked artillery to defend the city and were at a great disadvantage in the face of Argentina's superior equipment, while Captain Wu had just married a beautiful wife and in his momentary happiness he focused his attention on mocking the Paraguayans.

Wang Dashan reminded the battalion commander surnamed Wu in time and explained to him that Li Mingyuan dispatched an artillery battalion to help the Paraguayans defend the city.

After hearing the explanation, the smug mood that Battalion Commander Wu had just used to mock the Paraguayans disappeared instantly. After eating a meal with Istigali, he was going to stay and help them fight. He felt uncomfortable no matter how he thought about it.

"You will be in charge of commanding the artillery battalion yourself. Don't worry about Istigali interfering."

Wang Dashan patted his shoulder and consoled him, "Helping Istigari defend the city is part of the prince's plan to intervene in the conflict in Misiones. After negotiating with Istigari, the artillery battalion will rush to Morandi immediately. Cooperate with Istigari in defending the city. Your contribution will be indispensable after the battle."

All plans were made by Li Mingyuan himself, and Battalion Commander Wu had to obey orders even if he did not understand.

(End of this chapter)