Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 156: Antrelios Changes Hands
After the gaucho raid, the situation in northern Argentina became increasingly chaotic. On January 7, a patrol force of more than 70 people was ambushed by unknown armed forces and the entire force was wiped out.
On January 9, nearly one hundred Argentine soldiers were ambushed and wiped out again, one hundred miles away from the site of the previous ambush.

On January 10, more than 700 Indians took the initiative to attack the Argentine troops, causing more than 50 casualties on the other side.

Half a month after the unrest in the north began, more than a dozen Argentine troops were attacked by rebel forces. More than 200 Argentine soldiers were killed in the unrest, and another 300 soldiers suffered varying degrees of injuries.

In the rebellion in the north, the Argentine troops suffered a total of about 500 casualties, a number that could not be compared with the losses in the front-line combat.

However, considering that the number of white people in several provinces in northern Argentina was less than 20,000 and the number of regular soldiers was 3,000, 500 casualties was still a large proportion of soldier casualties.

There are nearly 100,000 Indians and gauchos in several provinces in northern Argentina. Under the bloody suppression of riots and genocide policies against Indians launched by Argentine troops, more and more Indians joined the resistance and actively sought opportunities to attack the Argentine troops.

The total number of rebel armed forces exceeded 5,000, of which two were the most powerful and repeatedly won in the process of fighting against the Argentine troops. One was a mixed force of Indians and gauchos headed by the gaucho Davis, with a number of about 800 people. The Argentine troops launched special operations to wipe them out many times but failed.

Another force was the newly emerged Indian-led armed forces, which numbered about 600 people and were equipped with more than 200 rifles.

Some of the rifles in the hands of this group of Indians were seized from the Argentine tribe, while the rest were obtained from unknown channels.

The Indians had fewer men than Davis, but they posed a greater threat to the Argentines. More than half of the more than 200 Argentine soldiers who died in the battle were killed by this group of Indians.

The rebellion in northern Argentina intensified, and the local garrison basically lost control of the situation and could only retreat to a few important strongholds to seek assistance from the main Argentine forces.

The battle of Misiones once again reached a stalemate, and at this time a rebellion broke out in the north. Argentina naturally thought that the Paraguayans were behind it.

Several northern provinces are short of troops and the number of local white people is limited. If it is just a simple Indian rebellion, Sarmiento and Mitre are confident that the local garrison can hold the stronghold until the end of the Misiones War. However, once external forces intervene, especially a small military power like Paraguay close to the northern region sends part of its troops to support the rebel forces, then the northern region is likely to be lost in a short time.

After the defeat in the Paraguayan War, the Argentine ruling oligarchs who had personally fought against Lopez Jr. were aware of the strength of the Paraguayan army. Therefore, facing the possibility that the Paraguayans would support the rebel forces in the north, Argentine President Sarmiento and Mitre, who held military power in the Federal District, jointly issued an order to Antrerios to dispatch 2,000 soldiers under Delqui to reinforce the northern provinces and quell the rebellion.

The northern provinces are mountainous and densely forested, making roads difficult to navigate. The Gauchos and Indians took advantage of the complex local geographical environment to resist the invasion of white forces and, when Indians in other South American countries and regions were being massacred, they retained a piece of land belonging to the Indians themselves.

At the end of the 19th century, Argentina, which had vigorously introduced European immigrants and carried out industrialization reforms, had greatly improved its national strength. Then, the Argentine troops used sophisticated weapons to first eliminate the Indians in the southern desert area, and then solved the Indian problem in the north by means of step-by-step immigration and armed encirclement. However, now is not the end of the 19th century. Argentina's national strength has not only not been improved, but due to unfavorable factors such as the defeat in the Paraguayan War and the slow progress of the Misiones War, the country's development has stagnated or even retreated. Palmiento's order to send troops became a hot potato in Delqui's hands. He relied on Mitre's support to overthrow Urquiza and take charge of the Antillerios Province. The other party not only owed him a favor, but also held evidence to threaten him. The order to send troops must be obeyed both from the overall situation and private interests.

Of course, Delqui might not feel conflicted if he was just sending troops to quell the rebellion. There is an unspoken rule in Argentina that troops seconded by the central government will no longer belong to local forces after the war, but will be transferred to the central government. This unspoken rule not only exists between the central and local forces, but also in the form of oligarchs in various local areas who use similar methods to annex troops from other forces. Therefore, although the number of troops in Argentina is not small, during the Paraguayan War, the number of troops sent was limited, because no one wanted their troops to go abroad to fight and then never come back.

Even though he was reluctant, Delqui finally decided to send 2,000 troops. Antillerios was Urquiza's former base camp, and there were many of his old subordinates in the government and the army. In order to maintain stability and smoothly transfer power, Delqui promised to maintain the positions of major officials and generals in the government and the army at the beginning of his term. Then, during the six years in power, he used various means to weaken the power of Urquiza's faction and support his trusted subordinates to take office.

After six years of suppression and weakening, Urquiza's only subordinates left in the army were more than 30 officers of various ranks, led by Colonel Celte, and the task of reinforcing the northern provinces naturally fell on Celte.

In the spacious military camp, more than twenty officers of various ranks walked into a heavily guarded military tent one after another.

"Is everyone here?"

A tall and thin officer in his forties said in a deep voice.

"Major Grant, Lieutenant Colonel Wright, and Major Cole said they were following General Delkey's orders and did not come."

"Haha, follow Delki's orders? Didn't Delki assign us to reinforce the northern provinces to suppress the rebellion? Can they make Delki change his orders?"

An officer in his thirties scoffed. "If they join Delki, others may not accept them. If we, the non-direct officers, are not driven out of the army, where will Delki make room for his trusted subordinates?"

"They want to join Delki, and we can't stop them. Now let's discuss what to do. Should we obey orders and go to the north to quell the rebellion?"

Celt stopped his officers from arguing and spoke.

"Sir, Delki has 8,000 regular troops and militias combined. Why do they have to send us there to quell the rebellion?

Everyone has heard that the Indians and Gauchos in the north are fierce and difficult to deal with. The three thousand regular troops and one or two thousand militias in the area cannot control the situation. What use will our two thousand people be if we go there?"

"The rebel forces in the northern provinces are huge. Delki pushed us to the front line to use us as cannon fodder. Whether you are willing to go to suppress the rebellion or not, I will not go anyway. The worst that can happen is that I can take off this military uniform and go home to farm, which is better than being used as a gun by others and dying in the mountains."

The order to send troops to quell the rebellion irritated the officers in the military tent, and their suppressed dissatisfaction with Delki suddenly broke out.

Celt looked at the officers who were venting their dissatisfaction in the military tent with caution on the surface, but he was very satisfied in his heart.

"Everyone, listen to me for a few words."

Feeling that the time was right, Celt said, "Six years ago, President Urquiza voluntarily gave up his military power in exchange for Delki's recognition that our positions in the army would remain unchanged. However, after Delki became a senior official in Antlerios, he turned his back on us and used some small excuses to drive our brothers out of the army and reduce the salaries of the remaining troops.

Now we have less than one-third of the troops we had six years ago, and our equipment is the worst among all the troops in Antre Rios Province. But Delqui is still not satisfied and wants to kick our brothers to the northern provinces to fight the Indians. Brothers, we can't stand it anymore. Support President Urquiza's comeback and drive Delqui out of Antre Rios!"

Celtic's last words stunned the officers in the military tent. Urquiza had been out of power for six years and had left the province of Antrerios. How could Celtic move him out?

The officers' questions were answered when a man walked out from behind the tent.

Teslenko was connected to Antillerios Province by water. After Urquiza quietly returned to Antillerios Province by boat, he secretly contacted his former subordinates and made plans to return to power.

Celt had a thousand regular troops under his command, and another thousand militiamen formed from Urquiza's troops.

Celt has two thousand troops under his command, and winning his support is an important part of the implementation of the plan.

Delki's order to send Celtic troops to the northern provinces gave Urquiza an opportunity. After receiving the order, Celtic, who had been hesitant, fully surrendered to the other side. The scene in the military tent was also a performance arranged by the two in advance.

Urquiza stepped in and, while inciting the officers' dissatisfaction with Delqui, he also used promotions and generous salaries to win over their hearts. With these two preparations, the officers in the military tent returned to Urquiza's command.

"Derki has planted many of his cronies in the army. Everyone, return to the army first, control Derki's people, and then assemble the troops tonight for action."

Urquiza gave a brief assignment, and more than 20 officers returned to their base to begin the operation to eliminate Delki's cronies.

In one afternoon, more than a dozen officers of the two thousand former subordinates of Delqui were all controlled. At one o'clock in the morning, the assembled troops arrived outside the city and took down the city gate with the cooperation of the internal support personnel. Before Delqui's army could react, Delqui and hundreds of officials belonging to Delqui's faction were captured. The province of Antillerios fell back into the hands of Urquiza.

(End of this chapter)