Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 239 Patagonia

ps: Thanks to classmate Xiaobaicaidunmushu for 2000 starting coins, classmate Heimaebison for 500 starting coins, and classmate Haihua Empire Emperor for 100 starting coins for their support!
After bidding farewell to Li Mingyuan, Ye Chenglin left by boat with the 34 officers assigned to him and arrived at his destination five days later.

In Sierra Grande, Patagonia, four or five Indians are leading horses carrying game back to their base.

"Ilia, where did you go hunting?"

An Indian woman came up and asked.

"We walked west along Lake Negro for a hundred miles and hunted two wild deer in the Adra Forest."

"Adela is the hunting ground of the Mavidas. Are you in no danger?"

"No, the Argentine troops in Villalonga retreated to Porto Blanca, and the young and strong men of the Mavida tribe also followed the Argentines in retreat. There is no one guarding the Adra Forest now."

Iria and another Mapuche man carried the dead deer off their horses and placed it on the open space in front of the wooden house. They looked at the Indian woman whose clothes were covered in mud and said with love in their eyes, "You reclaimed another piece of land?"

"Yes, we haven't eaten all the sorghum our Han friends from the north gave us. I plan to plant the rest in the reclaimed land. Next year when the sorghum is harvested, you won't have to risk hunting on the Mavida's land, and life in the tribe will be better."

"Thank you for your hard work." Ilya touched his wife's hair lovingly and asked, "Is Baker okay these days? Why don't I see him playing outside?"

"A few Chinese friends just came over, and Baker is learning shooting with them behind the wooden house."

While the Indian woman was talking to Elijah, several Han Chinese and an Indian boy in his teens came out from behind the wooden house.

The Indian boy looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old, but he was over 1.6 meters tall, only half a head shorter than the Han men next to him.

"Father, you're back!" The Indian boy saw his father coming back from hunting, and happily ran forward, holding up the musket in his hand to show off to his father, "Father, this is the musket that uncle gave you. There are 17 more muskets behind the wooden house, all given to you by the Han uncles."

"Baker, put down your gun and go help your mother clean up the wild deer. I want to talk to some Han Chinese friends."

"Okay, Father."

The Indian boy did not dare to disobey his father's order. He carefully placed the rifle on the wooden chair, walked to the small river in front of the cabin, and cleaned up the dead wild deer with his mother.

"Chief Ilia, it's nice to see you again."

Ye Chenglin walked up to the other party with a few officers and greeted them with a smile.

"Friends from afar, thank you for the gifts you sent us. The Volos tribe will always remember your kindness."

"The Mapuche are sincere friends of the Han people. We should do what we can for our friends." Ye Chenglin and Iyari hugged each other in Indian style and said with a smile, "Chief Iria is very lucky to have shot two wild deer. It seems that we can have a good lunch at our friends' place in Volos today."

"The God of Nature has blessed our tribe with two wild deer."

Iria pointed his hands to his chest and prayed, then said, "The Volos tribe will use the most precious lunch to entertain our Han friends. However, in recent years, the Argentines and the Mavidas who have taken refuge with them have been constantly robbing our land and livestock. The Volos tribe does not have much food to entertain our friends. I hope you will not blame us."

"The Han people and the Mapuche people are from the same family. We won't mind such a small matter. Chief Iria is too polite."

Before 1866, the Volos tribe was a medium-sized tribe with a population of to . Later, Chile and Argentina launched the government's Patagonia Desert Movement. The Volos tribe, like other Patagonia Indian tribes, was constantly weakened in the confrontation with the Chilean and Argentine armies. More than ten years later, due to the influence of war and disease, the population of the Volos tribe dropped to only more than people, and there were less than young and strong people in the tribe.

The end of the primitive tribe's confrontation with the modern civilized regime was miserable. When the Patagonian Indians were facing national survival, they first elected Antoine, a French adventurer who sympathized with them, as king and lobbied the French government to recognize the independence of the Patagonians. Then Antoine's lobbying of the French government failed, and Antoine himself was expelled from Argentina. The desperate Patagonian Indians began to summon all the young and strong men in the tribe and waged a war with Argentina with no hope of winning.

In 1866, the war broke out. The Mapuche and Araucanians were unwilling to give up their last piece of land, and continued to fight with the invading troops of the two countries in the Patagonian wilderness. In 1868, the area north of Neuquén fell into the hands of the Argentine government. In 1869, the Argentine troops advanced to the Negro line. At this point, the population of the Patagonian Indian tribes, including the Araucanians and Mapuches, had lost more than two-thirds. Some of the remaining Indian tribes, like the Mavida tribe, turned to the Argentine whites for survival, and according to the arrangements of the whites, they lived in the barren reservation to fend for themselves. Some, in desperation, retreated to the Binan area of ​​the Negro River, preparing for the final battle with the Argentine troops.

While the remaining Patagonian Indians were waiting for the final battle, the war of the Han Dynasty against northern Argentina broke out. Then, within a few months, the main Argentine force that swept across the Patagonian desert was completely wiped out. Argentina, which was in a tense national situation, urgently transferred the remaining troops in the south to resist the attack of the Han Dynasty. In this way, the Patagonian Indians survived the most dangerous period. After the first Argentine War, the Patagonian Indians got in touch with the intelligence personnel sent by the Han Dynasty. Then, batches of obsolete old weapons, medicines, food and other supplies flowed into Patagonia. The relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Patagonian Indian tribes gradually became closer with the material assistance.

Ye Chenglin, who personally took over the affairs of contacting the Patagonian Indians, was aware of the difficult situation of the Volos tribe. He generously accepted Iria's kindness, and then around noon, he enjoyed the lunch hosted by the Volos tribe with more than 40 tribesmen.

The food for the two wild deer was quickly eaten by everyone. After lunch, Ye Chenglin called Ilya to the grass outside the wooden house and explained his purpose to him as they walked.

"The king you originally nominated, Antoine, died of illness in France. The thirteen chiefs of the Mapuche tribe jointly invited His Royal Highness King Han to be the King of Patagonia. His Royal Highness King Han has agreed to be the King of Patagonia. Now the Volos tribe and the Han people have become one family. I hope that Chief Iria can join our army in recognition of His Royal Highness King Han's dedication to helping the Mapuche people, and jointly resist possible attacks from the Argentine troops."

“I am very happy to see His Royal Highness King Han become the King of Patagonia. As a Patagonian, I am willing to resist the attack of the Argentine whites for the safety of my tribe. However, the Argentines signed a ceasefire agreement with us last year and the war is over.

Now I just want to live a good life with my wife Finina and Baker, and I don’t want to join the army again.

My friend, I am sorry that I cannot grant your request."

"A temporary ceasefire will not bring eternal peace, Iria, my friend. Believe me, only by joining our army can you better protect the safety of your wife, children and tribe. Otherwise, when the Argentines recover their strength, they will tear up the agreement signed with the Patagonians like the Spanish did and attack you again."

Ye Chenglin looked at Iria, who was in his prime, and persuaded him, "You are a famous warrior among the Mapuche people. In the battle with the Argentines, you and your tribe made great sacrifices to protect the safety of other people. I understand that you hate endless killing, but, Iria, the white people believe in the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak. As long as the Mapuche people cannot use force to protect their own interests, the war will not disappear.

Ilya, I will give you three days. I hope you will consider it carefully before making a choice. "

"Thank you for your understanding. I will give you a reply in three days."

……

(End of this chapter)