Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 41 Secret Deal
Presidential Palace of Peru.

"President Pedro, after thinking about it all night, I think it is urgent to send troops to the southern mining areas. I propose a vote on the issue of sending troops. Please raise your hands if you agree to send troops as soon as possible." Tripa finished speaking and raised his right hand first.
Following Tripa's move, Thomas and others also raised their right hands.

More than half of the people raised their hands in agreement. According to the agreement last night, Thomas did not give Pedro a chance to fight back. He said, "President, most of the congressmen agree to send troops as soon as possible. I hope you will follow the will of the people and send troops to quell the rebellion."

"No, the Peruvian regular army is insufficient. We have to wait until we recruit enough soldiers before we can quell the rebellion." Pedro shook his head.

"Mr. President, it will take about two or three months to recruit new soldiers before we dispatch the troops. In that time, not only will the rebels grow stronger, but we also don't know how badly our mine resources in the south will be destroyed by them. So the sooner we dispatch the troops, the better."

"The big businessmen who have interests in the south are already very dissatisfied. If the government cannot send troops to retake the south as soon as possible, they are likely to unite against the government."

"We must send troops to quell the rebellion immediately. President, please stop hesitating."...

Tripa and Thomas united most of the Peruvian Congress to put pressure on Pedro.

"Everyone thinks that sending troops is imperative, and I no longer object. However, I have a request first. There are not many troops left in Peru, and we cannot mobilize all of them to encircle and suppress the rebels. We must leave some troops to maintain domestic security."

"President, my troops have been completely wiped out. You are not going to send the remaining troops of mine into the battlefield, are you?" Thomas spoke first, blocking the possibility of Pedro sending his troops to fight.

"General Thomas has few soldiers left, and it is indeed not suitable for him to continue fighting. How about this, the combat mission will be undertaken by my soldiers, and Francisco and the soldiers of other generals will follow behind as reserves. Is General Thomas satisfied with this arrangement?"

"Does the president have any other requests?" Thomas asked, not believing that Pedro was so kind.

"Sending troops to quell the rebellion is what the Peruvian army should do, but my soldiers have been staying in poor and bad places for many years, and I want to move to a better place. So after retaking the southern mining area, I want to send troops to the south. General Thomas, do you have any objection?"

Thomas's mouth twitched. Pedro really had bad intentions and wanted to occupy his territory. But were the Chinese rebels in the south so easy to deal with? According to Thomas's understanding of the Chinese's fighting power, Pedro's army was likely no match for the rebels. As long as his army was defeated, he could join forces with others to launch a coup and drive him out of power in one fell swoop.

After thinking for a while, he felt that even if he promised the south to Pedro in advance, he would not get it, so Thomas pretended to be embarrassed and said, "Okay, as long as we can recover the south, I promise to give the south to the president's troops to station."

Pedro sneered and said, "You're still a little naive if you want to play tricks on me."

Pedro's expression changed quickly. Before anyone noticed, he immediately put on a smug look and said, "Gathering a large army requires adequate preparation, so I decided to officially quell the rebellion in a month."

The Peruvian army was scattered across the country and it would take some time to assemble them, so Thomas and other congressmen did not raise any objections and agreed immediately.

After the decision to send troops was made, the Peruvian leaders quickly agreed on the details of the dispatch. A total of 50,000 troops were dispatched, of which Pedro's subordinate Dadini led 30,000 as the main force, and Francisco and another Peruvian warlord each led 10,000 troops behind Dadini. Once the army in front was in danger, the two sides would immediately support it. Of course, the meeting agreed to support each other, but if Dadini's troops were really in danger, Francisco would only laugh secretly and would never support Dadini.

After the meeting ended and Thomas and others left the presidential palace, Pedro called over a close confidant and whispered a few words to him, and the confidant quickly left.

Li Mingyuan and Pedro had many conditions for the transaction. The first was to ask Pedro to hand over 30,000 healthy Chinese workers, the second was to provide ten large merchant ships with 500 people, and the third was to provide 20,000 pack horses.

Of the three conditions proposed by Li Mingyuan, the first and third are not difficult to accomplish.
There should be more than 20,000 Chinese workers in Peru, and the insufficient number can be introduced from other American countries.

Although 20,000 pack horses are a lot, there are many horse farms in Peru, so they can be quickly gathered.
The ten large merchant ships were not easy to deal with. Peruvians originally had a lot of merchant ships, but most of them were captured by the Chinese army in Barranca. The remaining large merchant ships added up to only thirteen.
Pedro was reluctant to hand over the ten merchant ships, but thinking of the huge benefits of regaining the southern mining areas, Pedro gritted his teeth and ordered his confidants to gather the ten merchant ships that Li Mingyuan wanted.

After Rustuart and Pedro had initially agreed on the deal, they were not in a hurry to inform Li Mingyuan, because he had been instructed before coming that he had to see Pedro's sincerity before confirming the final deal, so Rustuart waited for his news in a room not far from Pedro's house.

"Sir, the president won't go back on his word, right? We've been waiting here for a day, and he hasn't replied yet," Manuel, who was standing next to Lustuart, asked.

After Lustuart was released by Li Mingyuan, he immediately released Manuel accompanied by a Chinese soldier.

Manuel originally thought that he was going to die of exhaustion in the mine, but when Lustuart rescued him from the mine, Manuel felt that he had encountered the luckiest thing in the world.

In addition, after Rustuart tricked him, Manuel became loyal to Rustuart.
When Rustuart took him out to carry out the mission, Manuel was very active and wanted to be at the forefront of everything and complete the tasks assigned by Rustuart ahead of time.

"Young people need to be steady. What great things can they accomplish if they are so impulsive and rash?" Lustuart said calmly, holding up a cup of tea.

"My boss has taught me a lesson. I will definitely correct it next time."

While the two were talking, the door of the room suddenly opened and a strong Peruvian walked in.

"The merchant ship they want is ready. The president wants you to go with me to check it out."

On the beach outside Lima, Pedro pointed to the ten merchant ships parked in the port and said, "All ten ships are here. Go back and tell the people behind you to pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other. When you hand over the occupied areas to us, the merchant ships and other supplies will be handed over to you."

"I will." Lustuart nodded.

(End of this chapter)