Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 262: Guano War Breaks Out
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At the end of 1878, in South America, Bolivia and Chile, which had experienced years of peace, were inevitably on the brink of war because of a premeditated sneak attack.

On December 1878, , the Chilean government suddenly sent troops to occupy Antofagasta without declaring war. The next day, the Bolivian government declared war on Chile. At the same time, the Peruvian government announced a general military mobilization in accordance with the alliance agreement signed with Bolivia, and on December , it officially declared war on Chile.

History took a small turn at this moment because of the changes in the balance of power among parties in South America. On the one hand, Bolivia and Peru, which were hostile to Chile, had the support of Paraguay and the Han Kingdom, and their overall strength was much stronger than in history. On the other hand, influenced by the rise of the Han Kingdom, the British government, in order to protect its commercial interests in South America, strengthened its support for the Chilean military government, which greatly improved Chile's military strength, especially its naval strength.

Chile has a long and narrow territory and lacks the strategic depth to sustain long-term confrontation with hostile countries. It is easily vulnerable to maritime threats from other countries. Therefore, in order to eliminate the adverse effects of the land area distribution, the Chilean government has made the development of the navy the main task of military construction.

Since the 1868s, the Chilean Navy has always maintained an advantageous position over the navies of Peru and Bolivia. Before 1868, the tonnage of the Chilean Navy's main warships exceeded the total tonnage of the warships of Peru and Bolivia combined. In the ten years from 1878 to 1878, the technology of building ironclad ships in Britain and France became increasingly mature. Relying on the financial funds obtained from the export of mineral resources, the Chilean government customized ironclad ships and heavy artillery and other warships and weapons from Britain on a large scale. By the end of , the tonnage of the Chilean Navy's main warships reached times the total tonnage of the navies of Peru and Bolivia combined, which was times higher than the original historical data. In the comparison of maritime strength, the Chilean Navy undoubtedly has an overwhelming advantage.

The Chilean government took the initiative and took advantage of the lack of combat preparedness in Bolivia and Peru to occupy Antofagasta and gain tactical initiative. At the same time, taking advantage of the power vacuum when Peru and Bolivia were assembling their troops, the Chilean Navy bombarded and blockaded the Peruvian fortress of Iquique on December 12, forcing the Iquique defenders to retreat into the fortress and unable to provide support to the Peruvian troops stationed in the northern Atacama Desert.

On December 14, the Chilean Navy left an old ironclad ship to continue to blockade the Iquique Fortress, and the main fleet went south to cooperate with the Chilean Army to land in Tocopilla. After learning that the main force of the Chilean Navy was moving south, the commander of the Bolivian Navy fleet who stayed in Tocopilla discussed with the commander of the fortress garrison, and led the fleet to leave Tocopilla that night. Fortunately, he escaped the blockade of the Chilean Navy and successfully evacuated to the southern Peruvian port of Mollendo the next day to meet up with the Peruvian Navy fleet there.

The Bolivian naval fleet was weak, and the threat posed by the Bolivian navy, which had lost its port base, to the Chilean navy was limited. Therefore, after missing the opportunity to destroy the Bolivian naval fleet, the main fleet of the Chilean navy did not continue to search for the whereabouts of the other side, but continued to sail south as originally planned, arriving at its destination on the morning of the 15th.

Tocopilla is located at the border between Bolivia and Peru. It is the main copper and saltpeter producing area in the Atacama Desert. After the fall of Antofagasta, Tocopilla became Bolivia’s last outlet to the sea. Therefore, facing the attack of the Chilean army and navy, the Bolivian government, on the one hand, strictly ordered the defenders of Tocopilla to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements, and on the other hand, ordered neighboring troops to rush to help. Although the Chilean army received artillery support from the navy fleet, due to the strong fortifications of the Tocopilla Fortress and the tenacious resistance of the Bolivian defenders, the army launched several attacks without counting casualties, but failed to capture the opponent’s core position. After the initial smooth progress, the battle quickly entered a brutal bloody stalemate.

On December 16, nine days after the outbreak of the war between Chile, Bolivia and Peru, after reviewing the intelligence collected from all parties, Li Mingyuan's expression became solemn.

The rise of the Han Kingdom in South America leveraged the general trend of historical development. Because of the existence of the Han Kingdom in South America, the outbreak of the Guano War was advanced by more than two months. The Chilean Navy gained absolute maritime advantage at the beginning of the war. Although the Bolivian Navy escaped the blockade of the Chilean Navy, the Bolivian Navy was at a disadvantage in overall strength, and even with the addition of the Peruvian Navy, it was still no match for the Chilean Navy.

The significance of the navy's existence is to maintain a country's maritime lifeline. Compared with the Chilean navy, the navies of Peru and Bolivia not only lag behind in performance, but also have a much lower overall tonnage than the other side. In this case, the Chilean navy can send half of its warships to block the navies of the two countries in the port. A navy that cannot go out to sea loses its due significance. It can neither cooperate with the army to defend the security of the coastal areas nor pose a threat to the enemy's maritime transportation. Such a fleet is either trapped in the port waiting for the end of the war and left to the disposal of the other side, or takes risks and is annihilated in the battle with the Chilean navy. Li Mingyuan did not want to see either of the outcomes of the Bolivian and Peruvian navies. In the original history, it was precisely because the Peruvian and Bolivian navies were defeated that the Chilean side completely mastered the sea control, allowing the Chilean army to attack any coastal area of ​​Peru and Bolivia at will through warships, which led to the defeat of Peru and Bolivia.

A single move can affect the entire body. If the Chilean navy successfully destroys the Peruvian and Bolivian naval fleets and forces the two countries to surrender in advance, Chile, which has withdrawn, is likely to form an alliance with Argentina with the support of the British to resist the Han attack on Argentina.

The Chileans knew well the principle of "the lips and the teeth are interdependent", and because they had the support of the British as their behind-the-scenes boss, Chile and even Brazil might stab Han in the back when Han attacked Argentina, causing huge changes in Han's plan to occupy Argentina.

The La Plata Plain is the foundation for building a great country. Although occupying Argentina and Uruguay is risky, as long as the Han Kingdom successfully swallows the two countries, the Han Kingdom will have the capital to take off, and the Chinese in South America will also have a stable rear. Therefore, the action of attacking Argentina and Uruguay cannot be cancelled due to changes in external factors. In order to solve the challenges brought by Chile's early opening of the Guano War, Li Mingyuan has only two choices.

First: Wait until all preparations for war are completed and then launch the attack according to the original plan.

Second: Carry out the attack on Argentina ahead of time, and take advantage of the fact that the war between Chile, Bolivia and Peru is still undecided to occupy Argentina.

Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages. If the first option is chosen, the National Defense Forces may have to face troops from Argentina, Chile and even Brazil. If the second option is chosen, the National Defense Forces' combat readiness has not been completed. Launching an attack in advance may lead to a delay in the war and a significant loss of the National Defense Forces' strength.

Li Mingyuan was not a hesitant person. If the war was launched in advance, even if the National Defense Army suffered heavy casualties, as long as the strategic goal could be achieved, he would make up his mind to do it without hesitation. However, if the National Defense Army still failed to achieve the expected goal after paying a heavy price, then Li Mingyuan and the Han Kingdom would face the misfortune of the destruction of their country and family.

Only when one is truly in the position of a monarch can one understand the difficulty of making a major decision. Li Mingyuan sat in the study for a whole night until dawn. He picked up a piece of paper full of battle plans from the messy desk, and then firmly drew a cross on the paper. With Li Mingyuan's final stroke, it meant that the original battle plan was cancelled, and the Han Dynasty's attack on Argentina was also launched ahead of schedule.

(End of this chapter)