Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 266 War begins

Li Mingyuan emphasized the importance of advancing step by step and making steady progress when formulating the battle plan.

The main factor affecting the outcome of a war is a country's comprehensive strength. When there is a huge disparity in national strength, it will not be difficult for the country with a strategic advantage to win the war as long as it does not make the mistake of underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly, and instead follows a safe method to gradually eliminate the opponent's effective military strength.

Han has passed the most difficult time at the beginning of its founding. After ten years of hard work, Han's economic and military strength have formed an absolute advantage over Argentina. Therefore, during the war, Li Mingyuan's primary consideration is to consolidate his strategic advantage and not give the Argentine troops a chance to turn the tables.

After the Han government issued the decree to prepare for war, both the Han and Argentine governments were making final preparations in full swing. In the tense atmosphere of preparation for war, time slowly passed to March 1879, . On this day, the course of development that influenced the general trend of South American history was changed because of a war.

The war between Han and Argentina officially broke out. After Li Mingyuan held a swearing-in ceremony at the Xinjing training ground, he led the main force of the National Defense Army, 160,000 people, to set off first. Wu Fengdian and Chen Shangfa led 60,000 guard troops as a strategic reserve force and delayed their departure for four days. Liu Pu, Zhao Yan, Hu Jinzhong and others stayed in the Han mainland, responsible for transporting supplies to the front-line troops and maintaining domestic territorial security.

The responsibilities of the 160,000 national defense forces and 60,000 garrison troops did not include the transportation of supplies and weapons and ammunition. These tasks were uniformly assigned to the organized militia forces and the young and strong Chinese who volunteered to support the front line.

The Argentine War was a national war that determined the future destiny of the Han State. At the call of Li Mingyuan and government officials, the third-line militia and the young and strong Chinese who volunteered to support the front were divided into logistics and transportation teams of varying sizes according to their respective settlements. Then, under the leadership and command of retired veterans and government officials in each settlement, they brought their own dry food or pickled meat products and marched along the route taken by the main force of the National Defense Army to provide the troops with necessary food and material support.

The number of young and strong Chinese in the Han Kingdom was over 150 million. Excluding those who joined the National Defense Army and the Garrison Army, the number of young and strong people who volunteered to support the front line was 50, which was more than twice the size of the combat troops.

The young and strong Chinese in Han State actively participated in the mission of supporting the front line, not only because the success or failure of the war in Argentina was related to the interests of every Han citizen, but more importantly, they could get enough benefits by participating in the logistics and transportation mission.

The Han government stipulated that Han people who participated in logistics transportation would be granted the status of volunteer soldiers. When the war was over, those Chinese people with the status of volunteer soldiers could receive land of varying sizes or monetary rewards based on the support merit books issued by the logistics department.

Generally speaking, a Chinese volunteer who supported the front could receive at least five mu of land, and some could receive up to thirty mu of land. If he made other contributions during the logistics transportation, the area of ​​the rewarded land would be increased.

It was Li Mingyuan who took the initiative to suggest using land in the occupied areas as a reward to encourage young and strong Chinese to support the front line. When the suggestion was submitted to government officials for discussion, some officials reflected that the amount of land reward was too much and the scale of the reward should be reduced. Some officials suggested saving government spending and taking compulsory measures to recruit civilians free of charge to support the front line.

After the officials' opinions were fed back, Li Mingyuan did not adopt them, because according to later experience, launching an important decisive battle, only by allowing ordinary people to share the benefits of the war can the majority of people be united and the government's ruling foundation be more solid. Those ruling classes who embezzle the proceeds of war or the dividends of national development will eventually be abandoned by the majority of the people even if they can maintain their rule for a period of time.

What is worrying is not the lack of benefits but the inequality. If we elevate the individual or the collective to the level of the country, a country with a balanced distribution of benefits will be more competitive. When competing with other countries or going to war, the entire country will be more likely to unite as a whole and exert strong combat effectiveness.

Li Mingyuan is a principled man. He prefers to protect the interests of ordinary people in the country while maintaining his own ruling position. Government officials are only tools for ruling the country. What can truly maintain his power is the support of the army and ordinary people. Therefore, even if many of the policies implemented are not conducive to the bureaucracy, Li Mingyuan still strongly supports expanding the policies to every corner of the country.

On March 9, five days after Li Mingyuan led the main force of the National Defense Force to set off, teams of Chinese people responsible for logistics transportation formed a team more than ten miles long and marched along the Uruguay River.

"Brother Lu, we'll be out of the border after we pass the town ahead. The Uruguay River has been unsettled these past few days, with scattered Argentine soldiers often attacking transport teams. Should we be careful?"

Wang Shizhen, who was riding on a brown-haired horse, asked Lu Rongting who was traveling with him.

"You have to be careful." Lu Rongting nodded and ordered, "Brother Yang, notify the brothers behind to strengthen their vigilance and don't let the white barbarians take advantage of the opportunity."

"Yes, Captain."

Yang Guangzong, who had just turned sixteen, answered and then turned his horse around and ran back.

"Brother Lu, I heard from the wounded soldiers that the armies of Argentina and Uruguay put up a fierce resistance. It took Commander Chen's troops two days to capture the city of Paisandu. Do you think we have a chance to get to the front line?"

After Yang Guangzong left, Wang Shizhen asked.

"It shouldn't be. Commander Chen's Second Mixed Brigade and other troops have more than 10,000 soldiers. Only 700 to 800 wounded soldiers have been transported back in the past two days, less than one-tenth of the total number of troops under Commander Chen. Therefore, the Second Mixed Brigade still has complete offensive capabilities and does not need to be supplemented by militia forces for the time being."

Lu Rongting's judgment was roughly consistent with the actual situation on the front line. After Li Mingyuan led his troops to set off, they first marched south along the Uruguay River. Then, after conquering the city of Salto on the right bank of the Uruguay River, he left Chen Zongbai's Second Mixed Brigade, a cavalry regiment, a reinforced reconnaissance battalion and a 105mm artillery regiment to continue advancing along the Uruguay River, while Li Mingyuan himself led the main force of more than people across the Uruguay River, advancing all the way south, and directed the first offensive spearhead at Santa Fe, an important town on the Paraná River.

The city of Santa Fe is the capital of the Argentine province of Santa Fe. It is also the confluence of the Paraná and Salado rivers, and an important strategic hub in the Paraná River Basin.

The strategic position of Santa Fe City is critical. Once the National Defense Forces successfully occupy it, it will cut off the transportation links between Argentina's northwestern provinces and Buenos Aires. At the same time, after occupying Santa Fe City, Rosario will be the only large fortress left in front of Buenos Aires. Moreover, without the mutual protection of Santa Fe City, an irreplaceable loophole will appear in the daytime defense of Paraná City south of Santa Fe City. Therefore, as long as the National Defense Forces take Santa Fe City within the planned time, the gain or loss of Paraná City will depend on Li Mingyuan's decision.

After the main offensive focus of the National Defense Force shifted to the Santa Fe and Paraná River basins, the attack in the direction of Paraguay became a feint led by Chen Zongbai.

A feint attack does not mean that the combat mission is easy. Contrary to what most people think, the feint attack mission that Chen Zongbai is responsible for is, to some extent, as difficult as the main force's siege of Santa Fe.

First of all, a feint attack requires the appearance of a main force attack. Therefore, on the first day of the attack on Paisandu, Chen Zongbai pulled out the 105mm artillery regiment that was reinforced to the Second Mixed Brigade, and fired two base amounts of ammunition at the city of Paisandu in succession. At the same time, as soon as the shelling ended, six battalions of more than troops were sent to launch a non-stop attack. In the end, they relied on fierce artillery attacks and continuous rotation tactics to capture the city of Paisandu, which was garrisoned by people.

Secondly, Chen Zongbai had to ensure that the strength of the feint attack troops was not discovered by the enemy in advance, and to delay the Argentine troops in front before the main force achieved its established strategic goals.

Finally, if possible, break through directly from the Uruguay direction, march to the city of Buenos Aires, and after joining up with the main force, form a siege of Buenos Aires.

The capture of the city of Paisandu was the beginning of the feint attack mission. If the war situation worsened, Lu Rongting and other militia and logistics teams would also join the troops to confuse the enemy army with numbers.

However, from Lu Rongting's point of view, this possibility is very small.

It is very likely that the militia units and transport teams they belong to will not have the opportunity to participate in the front-line battle until the end of the war.

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(End of this chapter)