Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 320 Peace talks succeed, war ends

On September 1879, 9, more than 6 ships of the British expeditionary fleet sailed to the northern coastal area controlled by the royalists. Coastal towns such as Cordoba, Recife, and Maceió were all threatened by British warships. On September 9, 8 Brazilian Republican troops boarded British warships and landed in the southern port of Seguro in Bahia. On September 9, more than 9 royalist defenders were defeated by the Republican attack and evacuated Seguro to the northern inland area. On September 3500, the Republican army went all the way north and successively recovered Ilheus and Itacare controlled by the royalist army. On September 9, the Republican army occupied Tinare Island and confronted the royalist army stationed in Valenza across the sea.

On September 9, British Minister to Brazil Austin mediated the dispute between the Republicans and the Royalists. Both sides agreed to use the line of Tignare Island, Valenza and Serra Grande as the ceasefire line. The northern part of Bahia, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and other eight and a half states to the north of the ceasefire line were under the control of the Royalist army. The states of Amapá, Pará and Tocantins to the south of the ceasefire line and in northern Brazil were all under the rule of the Republican government. The armies of both sides withdrew to the designated control areas and were not allowed to cross the line to provoke.

On September 9, the day before the British expeditionary fleet supported the Brazilian Republican Army in launching a coastal offensive, the armistice negotiations between the Han Kingdom, Britain, Brazil and Chile were restarted. With the preparation of the first negotiation, the second negotiation went straight to the point at the beginning. After the representatives of the two sides eliminated some conditions that only raised the asking price and were impossible for the other party to accept, they each proposed relatively sincere peace terms. Then the representatives of Britain, Brazil and Chile negotiated unilaterally with the Han Kingdom on the conditions proposed by their countries. On September 5, the first round of negotiations ended. The Han Kingdom, Britain and Brazil reached a preliminary consensus on the Argentine issue. The British and Brazilian Republican governments recognized the Han Kingdom's annexation and occupation of Argentina and Uruguay, while the Chilean government opposed the Han Kingdom's rule over the land on the Pacific side of the Patagonia Desert.

On September 9, the Paraguayan King Lopez Jr. was blocked from advancing into São Paulo State. Under pressure from the British, he also joined the armistice negotiations. At noon that day, the Brazilian Republican government withdrew from the peace talks with the Han State on the grounds of reaching a reconciliation with the Han State.

On September 9, the Han Kingdom made concessions on the issue of overseas colonial outposts and was willing to hand over the Kismayo and Mtwara outposts to the British government. At the same time, the Han government promised to demilitarize the Natuna Islands. The Han Kingdom stopped building new fortifications on the Natuna Islands and withdrew excess troops. The number of troops stationed on the island was limited to 16. Because Songkhla nominally belonged to the territory of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Han government refused to agree to hand over Songkhla to the British Malay colonial government. The Malay Peninsula is the throat of Asia that strangles the Malacca Channel. In South American affairs, the British did not care that the Han people occupied a few more pieces of land, but in the face of foreign armed forces that might threaten the Strait of Malacca, the British were unwilling to make concessions. In order to reach peace talks as soon as possible, Hu Yaqi consulted Li Mingyuan and expressed his willingness to make concessions. The Han government promised to withdraw all troops stationed in Songkhla before 400 and no longer interfere.

Songkhla's internal affairs, and in exchange, the British government should respect Songkhla's sovereignty and not annex Songkhla's territory without reason.

An armistice agreement was reached with the British, who had the decision-making power. Only Chile was left. Even though it was seriously dissatisfied, it finally had to make concessions under the guarantee of Huayaki that he would not interfere in the progress of the Pacific War. It acquiesced to the Han Dynasty's ownership of the Pacific side of the Patagonia Desert. The Han government and Chile used Valdivia as the dividing line. As a result, the Han government obtained access to the Pacific Ocean. The two port cities including Valdivia and Puerto Montt will become two new immigration transportation ports in the next 20 years.

By signing the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, the Han Kingdom officially obtained access to the Pacific Ocean in Argentina, Uruguay, and the Patagonian Desert. More than 80 percent of the La Plata Plain area fell under the control of the Han Kingdom, and the Han Kingdom gained the foundation for becoming a rising power. Through negotiations, Britain resolved the crisis of the Brazilian Republican Government and got rid of the embarrassing situation of being stuck in the quagmire of the South American war. Of course, the most important thing for the British was that it destroyed the offensive and defensive alliance between the Han Kingdom, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru. Without the support of the Han Kingdom's strong military force, the Kingdom of Paraguay, which was warlike and had a deteriorating domestic economy, could not unify Peru and Bolivia. Faced with the situation where the governments of Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia were fighting each other, the politicians in Buckingham Palace were convinced that the prestige of the British Empire and the deterrence of the expeditionary fleet alone were enough to restore British capital's control over Peru and Bolivia. Lopez Jr., who had lost his alliance, faced with the situation where his external expansion direction was blocked, would struggle for at most three to five years before being overthrown due to intensified internal contradictions.

The alliance of Han, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro. In fact, during the Second Argentine War, the alliance was in name only. First, Lopez Jr. kept his troops in place and watched the Han army fight on three fronts. Later, Lopez Jr. launched an attack on the Brazilian Republican government, and the Han side did not send troops to help.

Ten years have passed, and the power comparison among the four countries has undergone a subversive change. Peru and Bolivia are full of warlords, and the presidents of the countries who came to power through coups have changed several times in ten years. The military and economic strength of the two countries are still stagnant. As for Paraguay, even though the territory has expanded to 120 million square kilometers, Lopez Jr. has successively incorporated Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul, northern Goiás, and parts of Mato Grosso into its rule, but in terms of population, Paraguay's population has only increased to 60, which is too far away from the Han Dynasty's population of 800 million.

In terms of population, economy and military strength, Britain surpassed the other three countries. Continuing to maintain the Quadruple Alliance would not only cost money and cause concerns from the other three countries, but would also arouse the British's unwarranted fear.

The Quadruple Alliance had lost the function it had ten years ago. The Han Kingdom, which had annexed and integrated the newly occupied territories such as Argentina and Uruguay, no longer needed to win over Peru and Bolivia for warmth. Therefore, it was a relatively cost-effective deal for the Han Kingdom to comply with the British wishes and sacrifice the interests of Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay in exchange for a precious period of peaceful development.

The fighting on the Atlantic front in South America ceased, and on the Pacific coast of the other front, without the Han army's restraint, the Chilean navy, full of anger, went north along the coastline to cause trouble for Bolivia and Peru. On September 9, Iquique fell. On September 20, the Chilean navy surrounded the Peruvian capital of Lima. The Peruvian army in the city went out of the city twice to fight but failed to break the siege of the Chilean army. On September 9, two large ironclad ships of the Chilean Navy took advantage of the high tide to sail into the military port and bombarded Lima. On September 22, 9 Chilean troops, with the cooperation of naval artillery, attacked Lima. Unfortunately, the President of Peru was captured and forced to sign a humiliating armistice treaty, ceding five places, namely Moquegua Province, Tacna Province, Tarapacá Province, Arica City, and Iquique City, to Chile.

On October 10, the Bolivian government was unable to cope with the situation alone and had to acknowledge the fact that Chile had occupied Antofagasta. Thus, the Guano War, which had lasted for four years in history, ended ahead of schedule. After losing ownership of the southern Patagonia desert, Chile seized important saltpeter producing areas from Peru and Bolivia. Moreover, compared with history, Chile also obtained the two provinces of Moquegua and Tacna from Peru. Overall, it was not too disadvantageous.

(End of this chapter)