Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 265 Comparison of Strength
In the Argentine Presidential Palace, the interim Argentine President Mitre, who is over 70 years old, was pacing back and forth in the room, occasionally looking back at the map on the wall.

The map hanging on the wall covers the entire territory of Argentina, but the three areas marked in red, white and yellow on the map indicate that Argentina does not constitute a unified country.

The six northern provinces marked in red are areas occupied by the Han State, the central and western areas marked in white are local opposition forces represented by Urquiza, and the yellow areas are areas that obey the orders of the federal government.

Among the three areas, the white area is the smallest and the yellow area is the largest. However, a large part of the area covered by the yellow area is the Patagonia Plateau in the south. Although the Patagonia Plateau was divided into the control area of ​​the federal government by Mitre, due to the existence of local Indians and the infiltration of Han forces, the Argentine federal government has limited control over it. In addition, Patagonia’s dry climate, barren land and sparse population cannot provide effective help to Mitre. Therefore, excluding the Patagonia region where control is weak, the area directly controlled by the Argentine federal government is not much higher than that of local forces.

The worsening separatist trend in Argentina stems from the defeat in the war of 1870. In this war, the Central Army suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle with the Han National Defense Army. The former Argentine president not only lost his life because of the defeat in the war, but also lost Cordoba, the base he used to take power.

Cordoba Province is located in central Argentina. It is an important industrial base and economic center of Argentina. In Argentina, its economic and political status is second only to the capital Buenos Aires.

It was because of the special status of the province of Cordoba that Mitre chose Sarmiento as his successor after he resigned from the presidency. However, what Mitre did not expect was that Sarmiento, whom he had always favored, encountered a more powerful opponent. Not only did he lose the army that supported his power, but he also lost his base.

In Mitre's mind, the assassination of Sarmiento was unfortunate, but the consequences of losing the province of Córdoba were even more serious.

It didn't matter that Sarmiento was dead. Mitre had many trusted men under him, and he could choose a few more people to replace Sarmiento. But when Mitre's old rivals took advantage of Sarmiento's assassination and the weakening of the central government's authority to occupy the province of Cordoba, the situation Mitre faced became even worse.

Urquiza and his confidant Ferna occupied two provinces in Argentina, and with Cordoba, the second largest province in Argentina, falling into his hands, Urquiza gained the capital to compete with Mitre. Then, the situation in Argentina developed in a direction that Mitre did not want to see. Provinces such as Mendoza and San Juan around Cordoba changed sides and joined Urquiza, and used the excuse of the war failure to constantly put pressure on him, making it impossible for Mitre's plan to restore Argentina's economy and population growth to be effectively implemented.

Before the war of 1870, Argentina's total land area was about 270 million square kilometers and its total population was 180 million. Eight or nine years later, due to the loss of territory in the six northern provinces and continued domestic fighting, even though domestic white families maintained a high fertility rate, Argentina's population only hovered around 150 million to 160 million, far from Mitre's target of more than 200 million.

The 1870s and 1880s saw the first outbreak of large-scale migration of the European population, but the turbulent situation in Argentina made it miss the most favorable opportunity to receive immigrants. Most white people who intended to immigrate to Argentina gave up their plans due to concerns about their own safety and other factors, and instead chose the United States, Canada, Australia and other regions as their immigration destinations.

In contrast to the slow population growth in Argentina is the continuous influx of population from Han. Ten years ago, the population of Han was only a quarter of that of Argentina. Ten years later, at the end of 1878, the Chinese population in Han reached million, more than three times the total population of Argentina.

Population size is an important indicator of a country's potential military strength. The rapidly growing population of the Han Dynasty has made Mitre feel greatly threatened. The policy decrees just promulgated by the Han Dynasty have directly made him give up the last bit of luck in his heart and made him realize that the biggest challenge to determine Argentina's fate has arrived.

Han's ambitions for Argentina were obvious to everyone. Mitre had been preparing for a decisive battle with Han, but in Mitre's opinion, a war between the two countries would not start until at least three to five years or even ten years later. He still had a lot of time to prepare slowly, but the sudden outbreak of the Guano War and the actions of Han seriously disrupted Mitre's deployment.
The number of federal troops has not yet recovered to the level before 1870, and the strength of the federal government is not enough to suppress local opposition forces such as Urquiza. It is very disadvantageous for Argentina to go to war with the Han Kingdom at this time.

Mitre certainly hoped to have more time to prepare for the decisive battle with the Han Kingdom, but the God worshipped by Western white people obviously could not satisfy his wish. Therefore, when the war was about to break out, Mitre could only rely on the strength of the federal government itself to face the challenge brought by the Han Kingdom.

Mitre pondered in the room for a whole morning. At noon, after roughly sorting out a plan to deal with the Han attack, Mitre instructed his entourage to invite Uruguayan President Lorenzo Latorre to discuss important matters.

After the Han government issued a decree with a signal of war, the person who was most anxious was not the Argentine interim President Mitre, but the Uruguayan President Lorenzo Latorre.

Uruguay has a small territory. Out of a total land area of ​​170,000 square kilometers, more than 60,000 square kilometers have fallen into the hands of the Han State. Once the war breaks out again, small countries like Uruguay will inevitably be the first to bear the brunt of the invasion.

Uruguay has only a few hundred thousand people, and can only seek help from Argentina to protect its national security. So when Lorenzo Latorre learned the news from the Han Kingdom, he immediately took a boat to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, to discuss with Mitre how to fight against the Han Kingdom. "President Lorenzo Latorre, I believe you already know what the decree issued by the Han Kingdom means, so I won't say more."

Mitre saw Lorenzo Latorre rushing over and said directly, "What we need to do now is to unite closely and jointly deal with the military threat from the Han Kingdom. Your Excellency should have no doubts about this, right?"

"No, no, the people of Uruguay are willing to work together with the Argentine people to resist the invasion of the yellow people from the East."

Uruguayan President Lorenzo Latorre immediately expressed his position.

"With the war imminent, Argentina and Uruguay really need to work closely together."

Argentina and Uruguay originally belonged to the La Plata congestion zone under Spanish rule. In the diplomatic relations between the two countries, Argentina occupied a dominant position. Therefore, Mitre was not surprised that the Uruguayan president was willing to be in a subordinate position and jointly fight against the Han State with Argentina.

After reaching an agreement on the leadership of the cooperation between the two countries, Mitre went on to elaborate on the specific plan to deal with the threat from the Han State:
Based on the geographical location of the Han Dynasty, I speculate that there are three main routes for the Han Dynasty to advance.
One is to start from Riolande do Sul, march through your country, first attack your capital, Montevideo, and then use Montevideo as a forward base to advance into Buenos Aires.

The second is to go south along the Paraná River, occupy Santa Fe, Paraná, and Rosario along the way, and finally besiege Buenos Aires.

The third is to use its naval power to land in La Plata, south of Buenos Aires, and threaten the security of Buenos Aires from behind. "

"Which attack route do you think the Han army will choose?"

“Going south along the Paraná River is the quickest route of attack, but if the Han army chooses this route, they will need to occupy coastal fortresses such as Santa Fe and Rosario, which is very difficult.

If we start from Rio Grande do Sul and use your country as a springboard to finally attack Buenos Aires, the Han government will need to provide a large amount of logistical support for the attacking forces, which will consume a huge amount of supplies and will not be conducive to long-term combat.

If the Han army chooses to land at sea, although it can avoid our defense forces deployed in the north, the landing troops will also face difficulties in material supply and limited transportation personnel. "

After analyzing each possible attack plan of the Han army, Mitre explained, "The three marching plans have their own advantages and disadvantages. According to my judgment, the Han army may adopt a three-pronged attack strategy, and then designate one or two of the three attacking forces as the main attack, and the other as a feint attack. Of course, it is also possible that all three attacking forces of the Han country are the main attack, but this possibility is very low. I don't think the commander of the Han army will do this."

After Mitre determined the possible route of the Han army's advance based on the intelligence he had collected, he began to make tit-for-tat deployments:

First, increase the number of armed patrol boats in the Paraná River basin and strengthen vigilance against the Han State.

Secondly, troops were stationed in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, Santa Fe and Rosario, important cities along the Parana River, and Laplace, a city south of Buenos Aires.
Third, a decree was issued to reduce taxes and strengthen local autonomy, calling on young and strong citizens to join the army
fourth……

感谢海华帝国大帝同学100币、思澈同学500币、无幽15同学100币、流年似水岁月无情同学100币打赏支持！


(End of this chapter)