Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 469 The Tragedy of the Weak
After a short rest, the soldiers, led by the commanders of various departments, formed into a long and narrow marching column and continued to hurry on their journey.

The troops' marching speed gradually increased and the distance to their destination was getting closer and closer.

At 3:09 pm, when the troops reached a flat area not far from a Paraguayan village, several soldiers dressed as Paraguayan civilians rode back on horseback and brought back the intelligence they had gathered: "A large number of Paraguayan militiamen and civilians were killed in the village. Their bodies were left on the ground without anyone sorting them out. Many of them were already rotting and smelling. It is estimated that the Brazilian army arrived here two or three days ago and led the massacre of the Paraguayan militiamen and civilians in the village."

"Is there anyone alive?"

"We found seven or eight children alive in the village. They were all young, the youngest was three or four years old, and the oldest was no more than eight or nine years old. We speculated that when the massacre occurred, those children might have been playing outside the village, so they escaped the disaster."

A young officer in charge of the investigation reported: "However, the surviving children were in very bad condition. They probably hadn't eaten for several days. When we arrived at the village, we saw them lying next to a ditch, drinking dirty water that had been contaminated by corpses and blood."

"Suddenly, a disaster struck. All of my relatives and parents were killed. The few children who survived were just relying on their instincts to try to find a way to survive."

Although the Han soldiers were cold-blooded and ruthless towards the enemy, they were not beasts who only knew how to kill. Therefore, upon hearing about the tragedy of the Paraguayan children, Zhang Shishan, who was standing behind Cai Jiu and graduated from a military academy, could not help but feel a little sympathy: "Captain, do you want to send someone to take in those poor Paraguayan children? Their parents and relatives were killed. If they are left in the village without anyone to take care of them, it will be difficult for them to survive until the end of the war."

"The Imperial Army is a righteous army. We were ordered by His Majesty to go abroad to fight. Our mission was to save the people of Paraguay from danger. It was also our duty to take in the Paraguayan children who were tortured by the Brazilian army."

Compared with the increasing number of young officers in the army who have received education in formal military academies, Cai Jiu has not received formal military education. However, the hardships he experienced in the Peruvian plantations in his youth and the dozens of battles he participated in after joining the Chinese Labor Corps have tempered his character and made him have a calmer battlefield judgment than the former.

In the village not far ahead, the experiences of ordinary Paraguayan people might make him feel a little sympathy, but it would not interfere with his normal judgment. The task of the mixed assault force is to reach the destination as soon as possible and capture the town of Elisa as soon as possible. Sheltering and rescuing Paraguayan children is also one of the political tasks of the Han army, but it is not the top priority.

Cai Jiu had already made up his mind, so in response to the somewhat sentimental suggestions from his officers, he made a clear statement: "However, our army's primary mission is to occupy Elisa Town. Anything not related to the mission of occupying Elisa Town must be postponed.

Captain Zhang, please send a telegram to the frontline command, reporting what we saw on the way, and requesting the frontline command to dispatch a special logistics shelter to take in those homeless Paraguayan children, and at the same time bury and deal with the bodies scattered in and outside the village, so as to prevent the spread of germs and plagues that may be caused by the decay of the bodies in advance. "

"Yes, Captain."…………

There were dead bodies everywhere in the village ahead. In order to prevent the army from being infected with diseases, Cai Jiu ordered the mixed assault force to bypass the village and march northward along a small river near the east side of the village.

The small river near the east of the unknown Paraguayan village was no more than four or five meters wide, with a gentle current mixed with yellow filth flowing along the river. Probably having heard the sound of the troops marching, several ragged and dirty Paraguayan children walked out of the village, looking at the soldiers wading across the river with numb expressions.

On both sides of the river were damaged rice fields, with trampled rice seedlings drooping and crawling on the water.
Near the rice fields were dozens of corpses squatting on the ground, some of them were rotten and smelly bodies of Paraguayan militiamen. Perhaps they had been soaked in water for too long, like drunkards with a belly full of wine, lying there quietly and motionless.

A few wild dogs roaming near the riverbank devoured the undecayed corpses greedily like hungry ghosts.
The scattered corpses, the numb Paraguayan children, the dirty and disgusting river water, none of the scenes before our eyes made people feel comfortable.

The soldiers crossed the river silently and marched forward. When a few young soldiers couldn't resist their curiosity and looked back, the images that emerged in their minds were pairs of greedy eyes with green light, and the Paraguayan children with messy hair and dull eyes that followed the greedy gaze of wild dogs.

"God of Heaven may bless them and let them survive safely."…………

Endless trees and destroyed farmland kept appearing in the field of vision, and then slowly moved away.

The dust jumped wildly in the heat. The tributaries of Parana appeared and disappeared, disappeared and appeared again. In this way, the mixed assault force walked from morning to noon, and from noon to afternoon.

At 5:30 in the evening, the sun slowly set in the west, and the hot weather gradually reduced its power with the arrival of evening.

The marching troops still maintained their due discipline and vigilance. The cavalry, infantry, and artillery advanced in turn. When the time slowly shifted to five forty-nine, a relatively wide river appeared in front of Cai Jiu.

"We have arrived at the battlefield."

As if to confirm Cai Jiu's guess, just a few minutes after the troops stopped, a few sparse gunshots were heard from the woods not far away on the other side of the river.

"All troops on alert! Artillery and cavalry, find favorable cover!"

As soon as he heard the gunshots, Cai Jiu decisively issued a combat order. "Captain, have the Brazilian troops discovered us?"

"It's unlikely. The brothers from the Second Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion arrived on the other side of the river before us. If the Brazilian army discovered our whereabouts, the people from the Second Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion would have informed us in advance."

Cai Jiu half-crouched behind a grove of trees and continued, "Based on the intensity of the gunfire, there were only about twenty people firing from the opposite side. If the Brazilian army had discovered us, or had engaged in a firefight with the brothers from the Second Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion, the troops they sent out could not have been so few."

Cai Jiu took off the monocular telescope hanging in front of him, and while watching the movements on the other side of the river, he ordered: "Tell the brothers not to act rashly. First find out the situation on the other side of the river before deciding on the subsequent combat plan. Without my order, not a single shot can be fired!"…………

On the other side of the river, in the small town of Elisa, dozens of soldiers from the Second Company of the Reconnaissance Battalion, who were highly expected by Cai Jiu and others, were hiding in various locations near the town like still statues.

In the small town of Elisa, the Paraguayan defenders and young militiamen, angered by the brutal tactics of the Brazilian army, held out for four days before their defenses were finally breached by the superior Brazilian army.

Most of the Paraguayan regular army and militia died in the battle four days ago. The few Paraguayan militiamen who managed to survive hid in the village and fought stubbornly.

The Brazilian Asuncion Front Command drew about 6000 soldiers from Asuncion to join the encirclement and suppression of the areas surrounding Asuncion. Among them, about 2000 people were involved in the siege of the town of Elisa.

Like a turtle in a shell, the thick earthen walls and solid, seamless doors that served as external defenses were destroyed by artillery fire.

One after another, the Paraguayan militiamen hiding in civilian houses were discovered and killed.
Without the protection of their own army, the Paraguayan people in the small town of Elisa became lambs to be slaughtered.

In the chaotic town, Paraguayan civilians who fled were constantly shot dead on the streets, and those Paraguayan civilians who were lucky enough to survive and were captured by the Brazilian army did not have a much better fate than their dead relatives and friends.

More than 40 Paraguayan old men, estimated to be over 50 years old, were taken by Brazilian soldiers to an open space west of the town.

The interpreter asked them many questions, and they were beaten and kicked. They were terrified and collapsed on the ground, as if they had lost half of their consciousness before being killed. The Brazilian soldiers smiled at these poor old people, just like naughty children teasing humble insects.

They were trembling in the abyss of fear. They were frightened and at a loss as to what to do after this sudden and greatest misfortune. A Brazilian soldier thrust his bayonet and stabbed straight out!
The other Paraguayan elders, seeing their companion's pitiful fate, all trembled and fell to the ground. It would be more accurate to say they were lying on the ground. They were digging at the ground with their hands, and one could imagine the degree of fear in their hearts.

The Paraguayan elderly were in despair. The sounds of bayonets and gunfire continued to ring out. One after another, familiar neighbors and friends fell under bayonets and bullets.

The killing continued. From inside the town to outside, all Paraguayan people, except for Paraguayan women of marriageable age, became targets of killing by the Brazilian army.

More and more Paraguayan civilians tried to escape from the town. Amid the gunfire and bayonet killing, not only did more and more people fall down, but the number of Paraguayan civilians who managed to break through the encirclement of the Brazilian army and escape to the other side of the river was also slowly increasing.

Gunshots and shouts mixed together. More than a dozen Paraguayan militiamen threw away their weapons and jumped into the river. Behind them were more than 20 Brazilian soldiers who were chasing them closely.

"Bang, bang, bang," the Brazilian soldiers who chased to the river bank kept pulling the trigger, shooting deadly bullets into the water.

The blood dyed the nearby waters red. More and more Paraguayan militiamen were hit by bullets, but fewer and fewer people were still floating on the water.

Perhaps because they felt the pleasure of killing, the Brazilian soldiers standing on the shore did not seem to be in a hurry to shoot all their prey. They patiently assigned their targets and then fired one bullet after another.

Bullets rang out behind them, and the bullets that fell into the water created splashes of water. At this time, most of the Paraguayan militiamen had been hit by bullets. The only four or five remaining Paraguayans, under the threat of death, swam desperately to the other side.

They dived into the water and surfaced again. Countless bullets chased them.

However, the hit rate decreases rapidly as the distance increases.

At 6:41 in the evening, the sun set behind the mountain, white mist rose on the water, and the sound of gunfire near the water gradually became sparse. Two Paraguayan militiamen who had luckily escaped the pursuit lay exhausted in the mud on the shore. The Brazilian army on the other side of the bank, after venting their murderous anger, also ended the water shooting game, slung their rifles in their hands, and began to walk back.

(End of this chapter)