Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 197 Response
The camp was destroyed, and most of the Indians affiliated with Sun Qisheng's troops were killed. The few Indians who escaped the encirclement of the Argentine troops were also scattered all over the place, making it difficult to gather them again in a short period of time.

Faced with the current situation in northern Argentina, if Li Mingyuan wants to continue to implement his original plan, he not only needs to start from scratch, but also deploy more troops to intervene.

Argentines and Paraguay have been fighting for more than half a year. No matter how the two sides end the Misiones dispute, the rebellion in the north will become a top priority for the Argentine government.

In the battle of the base, more than 4,000 troops were mobilized to deal with Sun Qisheng's troops. As the ceasefire agreement on the front line is fully reached, more troops will enter the northern region. At that time, as a guest army, the National Defense Forces without any roots in the local area will have a more difficult time.

The strategy that Li Mingyuan formulated for the troops entering northern Argentina was guerrilla warfare, relying on the Indians in the jungle area to launch long-term harassment against the Argentines. In fact, the Argentines were not the Japanese during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The Argentine troops were fighting on their own land, and reinforcements could be continuously dispatched from the rear. It would be very difficult to eliminate the Argentine troops in the same way as they did against the Japanese.

On the other hand, the National Defense Force and the Indians living in the northern region have different nationalities and cultural customs. In practice, gaining their recognition by disguising themselves as Indians is not as simple as imagined.

War is a contest of comprehensive strength. The reason for losing the base was not only that Sun Qisheng was careless and underestimated the enemy on the surface, but was the final result of the power comparison between the two sides.

The battle failed, and Li Mingyuan was also responsible for his negligence in overall planning. He underestimated the determination of the Argentine troops to eradicate the rebellion and overestimated the influence of the National Defense Force on the Indians.

White people make up the majority of the population in Argentina. They are descendants of criminals and poor farmers. Compared with the Brazilian army composed of middle and upper class white people, the Argentine army is more powerful and has a stronger will to resist when facing danger on the homeland.

It was difficult for the Indians and the National Defense Force to maintain a united mind, and the fighting over more than half a year had consumed a lot of their strength. When they entered the northern region again, the only people the National Defense Force could rely on were the Chinese themselves.

With a clearer understanding of the complex situation in northern Argentina, Li Mingyuan tried to find effective ways to solve it from his mind.

"Mobile warfare, blitzkrieg, large-scale frontal decisive battles..." Classic war modes emerged in his mind, and were then rejected by Li Mingyuan one by one.

Half an hour passed quickly, and the senior military officers who stayed in Xinjing came to the National Defense Forces meeting hall one after another.

Seeing all his generals present and sitting in three rows, Li Mingyuan stopped thinking and briefly introduced the situation in northern Argentina, hoping to get useful solutions from them.

War is never something that can be controlled by one person. Because of the insights of future generations, Li Mingyuan can use the advantages of being a prophet to point out the direction in terms of big strategy. However, when it comes to specific tactical execution, he still needs his officers to execute it one level at a time.

He scanned the faces of the officers in the meeting hall one by one, and saw that most of them were thoughtful and fruitless. He felt a little disappointed, but then he thought, "I don't have a suitable solution to the situation in northern Argentina, and how can these officers under me come up with a better plan in a short time?"

Li Mingyuan did not treat his officers harshly. He continued to observe their expressions. At this time, Luo Linshan, who was sitting in the first row, spoke up to break the silence in the hall, "Your Highness, is intervening in the situation in northern Argentina a military mission that our army must perform?"

"The only places in South America that are suitable for being the foundation of a great country are the La Plata region and the Brazilian Plateau. Other areas either lack sufficient suitable arable land or have a harsh natural environment that cannot support the country's long-term development. Therefore, if the Chinese want to gain a foothold in South America and become an independent country, they must expand abroad."

Rio Grande do Sul has not conducted any large-scale military operations for a year, and the infiltration and interference in northern Argentina has only been carried out in secret. The questions raised by Luo Linshan probably represent the doubts in the minds of many officers.

The country's external development direction is a core secret, and senior military officers in the army also need to make targeted plans for military operations based on the knowledge of the country's development strategy.

The people sitting in the hall were all senior officers of the National Defense Force. Li Mingyuan was not worried that any of them would sell out Rio Grande do Sul's external expansion strategy to hostile countries. Therefore, in response to Luo Linshan's question, he explained very clearly, "The Brazilian Plateau is densely populated, and as the core ruling area of ​​the Brazilian Empire, with the development speed of Rio Grande do Sul, there is no possibility of annexing the Brazilian Plateau. The La Plata region is vast and sparsely populated. If our army can occupy the core area of ​​the La Plata region, it will truly gain a piece of land with a thousand-year-old foundation and be in a strategically advantageous position."

Li Mingyuan pointed to the location of Rio Grande do Sul on the map with his pointer. "The three southern states of Brazil are geographically located in the north of La Plata, and are inherently isolated from the Brazilian Plateau. After our army occupied the two states, the northern expansion limit was the last state of the three southern states of Brazil, cutting off the possibility of further annexing the Brazilian Plateau. The southern and western directions are northern Argentina and Uruguay, which are also in the La Plata region.

Uruguay is a small country with few people. As long as we defeat the Argentines, we can annex them. To defeat Argentina, we need a careful and long-term war. First, we need to separate the northern region from the Argentine territory, and then support the Indians in the southern desert area to fight the Argentines. After removing the southern and northern territories, Argentina will have less than half of its territory left. At that time, what our army needs to do is to concentrate the power of the whole country and eliminate the main force of Argentina in one fell swoop to achieve the goal of swallowing up the country. Ladies and gentlemen, governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, and planning for a big country is like cutting down a big tree.

Domestically, we can obtain a steady stream of people from the mainland and Southeast Asia, and eventually surpass the white population of Argentina in terms of nationality. Although Argentina has a vast territory and seems difficult to deal with on the surface, it is actually internally divided, and the central government has no ability to integrate domestic forces for development.

I have some data in my hand. In July last year, the President of Argentina issued a decree to encourage European white people to immigrate to Argentina. One year later, the population of Argentina was 151 million.

What was the population of Argentina a year ago? I tell you, it was 157 million. In the past year, Argentina lost about young and middle-aged people due to the war, and the remaining people left the area because of the war and migrated to Chile, Paraguay and other countries where there was a shortage of white people.

Unlike the Chinese, white people in Argentina do not belong to the same ethnic group. When life in the country becomes difficult to maintain, they can choose to leave and start a new life in another country in addition to resisting. What we need to do is to eliminate those who resist, deter more white people from resisting, and choose to leave Argentina, and finally achieve the goal of monopolizing Argentina. "

Li Mingyuan clearly sent the signal that Argentina must be occupied at all costs. After Luo Linshan understood, he said carefully, "Your Highness, I agree with your idea. Rio Grande do Sul is small in area and lacks various resources for industrial development. If we do not expand, our army will be increasingly at a disadvantage in the subsequent confrontation with the Brazilian Empire, until we lose the land that our brothers have worked so hard to conquer. Not expanding and being content with the status quo is a way to death. Only expansion can break the unfavorable strategic situation facing our army."

"General Luo, since you agree with my idea, do you have a general plan for dealing with it?"

"Your Highness, the Argentine troops have destroyed our camp in the north. The conflict between the two armies has become public. At this time, it is useless to continue to add small units to the north according to the previous guerrilla warfare model. Our army should change its combat mode. On the one hand, we should send out organized field army troops disguised as Indians to fight against the Argentine troops. On the other hand, we should send out civilians, mainly retired soldiers, to fill the occupied land. We should use the cooperation between the military and civilians to gradually erode the land in northern Argentina and completely digest the occupied area."

"General Luo, our army took the initiative to attack northern Argentina. Isn't this an open declaration of war on Argentina?"

As soon as Luo Linshan finished speaking, another officer immediately raised questions.

"Our military operations in the north are undoubtedly a real war. Why didn't the Argentines declare war on Rio Grande dolls? It's not that they don't want to, but Argentina is temporarily unable to resist the military pressure from Paraguay and Rio Grande dolls at the same time. Moreover, our army has once again sent troops disguised as Indians. As long as we verbally refuse to recognize the rebel forces in northern Argentina as the National Defense Force, what excuse does Argentina have to declare war on us?"

"Well, the Brazilians have not yet recovered from the Paraguayan War. Without the support and cooperation of the Brazilian Empire, the Argentines will not start a war with our army without authorization."

Li Mingyuan nodded in agreement and turned to look at Luo Linshan with admiration in his eyes.

"The size of the field army advancing into northern Argentina must be controlled within a certain range. If the number of troops is too small, it will not be effective. If the number of troops is too large, our army will not be able to bear the logistical pressure of long-distance cross-border operations. Moreover, if the number of troops is too large, it may provoke the nerves of the Argentines and cause them to go all out and declare war on our army.

General Luo, how many troops do you think are appropriate to send?"

After Li Mingyuan analyzed the situation, he threw the question back to the other party.

"Northern Argentina is full of mountains and forests, and large-scale heavy artillery and cavalry units are not suitable for fighting there. Therefore, I think that without provoking the bottom line of the Argentine government, we should first send 2,000 field troops as a vanguard to test the reaction of the Argentine troops, and then send a corresponding number of retired soldiers to carry out the task of enriching and digesting the occupied areas based on the results of the first phase of operations."

Luo Linshan didn't dare to say it out loud, and answered after careful consideration.

"Two thousand is a little too few. How about three thousand five hundred? We can select a mixed brigade of two thousand five hundred and a guard regiment of one thousand to form an advance corps. As for the commander of the corps, you will be the commander. General Luo, do you have any opinions?"

"I will follow the orders of the prince."

(End of this chapter)