Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 485 Receiving
"Sir, the Brazilians are willing to surrender. These are the terms of surrender they have listed."

Shen Dehui first briefly recounted the content of the conversation with Getulio and others, and then handed over the letter with the surrender terms.

"There is no problem in principle, but there are two surrender conditions that need to be changed."

Pang Zhenyun glanced at the contents of the letter and said, "First, the property looted from Paraguayan civilians and officials is not considered private property and must be turned in.

Second, after surrendering, they must proactively disclose relevant intelligence about the Brazilian military.

Third, during the conversation, it was mentioned that Rodriguez sent reinforcements to Villarrica. After surrendering, they must cooperate with our army to eliminate the enemy reinforcements. "

"Sir, isn't the third request a bit excessive? The Brazilians may not be willing to agree and cooperate."

Zhang Wenlian, commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade, raised questions.

"They will agree. Once they have the idea of ​​surrendering and their will to fight is shaken, they will only have one way to go, which is surrender. There is no other way out for them to choose. Since they have to surrender anyway, they might as well surrender completely and reveal all the information."

"After surrendering, they won't have the choice."

Shen Dehui had seen the faces of Brazilian officers such as Getulio, and suggested: "Sir, why not just propose the first two surrender modification conditions? After they formally surrender, hand over their weapons and equipment, and leave the trenches, we can meet with Getulio and other middle and high-level officers separately and ask them to reveal the specific information of the reinforcements and cooperate with our army in ambush operations. After all, the reinforcement information is also part of the enemy intelligence in the second modification condition, so it does not count as a violation of the agreement."

"Yes, Staff Officer Shen, please go to the Brazilian garrison and inform them of the two revised surrender conditions. We agree to surrender and require them to lay down their weapons, walk out of the trenches and surrender to our army before 3 pm tomorrow."

"Yes, Commander, I'll go right away."

After receiving the instructions, Shen Dehui quickly turned around and left.

"Sir, do you want to report the ambush plan to General Chen?"

"Don't be in a hurry. Wait until the Brazilian garrison surrenders and get accurate intelligence about the enemy's reinforcements from them before asking General Chen for instructions."

Pang Zhenyun answered a question from an officer and then focused on the combat damage suffered by his own troops.

"Captain Zhang, your regiment is the main force attacking the Mbokayadi position. What are the casualties of the troops?"

"There were more than 200 casualties, most of which were caused by the first wave of attacks."

"Chief of Staff Wu, what are the total casualties of our army in the Battle of Villarrica?"

Pang Zhenyun turned his head and asked the chief of staff of the 1st Mixed Brigade beside him.

“The Battle of Villarrica has lasted for about 10 days, and our army has suffered a total of about 600 casualties, including about 200 killed or seriously injured.

About 6000 artillery shells of various types, 50 rounds of heavy machine gun and rifle bullets, and about 4000 grenades were consumed.

"The seriously injured were urgently transferred to the rear for treatment, and the lightly injured were also carefully cared for to prevent infection. The names of the fallen soldiers and their belongings were counted as soon as possible, and the bodies were burned in a centralized manner."

Pang Zhenyun pondered for a moment and gave instructions: "The work of confirming military merits must be carefully verified and counted, especially for the fallen soldiers. We must not be careless, as this is related to the pensions and treatment of the families of the fallen soldiers."

"Understood, Commander. I will personally monitor the statistics of military achievements and will not miss any of the contributions of any officer or soldier."

"Officers and soldiers serve the empire and go on expeditions abroad. We must not let them shed blood and sacrifice without receiving the treatment they deserve."

Pang Zhenyun emphasized it again, then paused for a few seconds and continued to ask: "What is the situation of our army's ammunition reserves? Can it support the consumption of a medium-sized battle?"

"There are 1 bases of various artillery shells, 47 rounds of bullets, and 3200 grenades left. It can barely support the consumption of a battle of people of medium to low intensity."

"Warfare is really a waste of money. In our army, each soldier only uses 100 rounds of bullets per year for training. The rifle bullets consumed in a medium-sized battle are equivalent to the annual training consumption of 5000 soldiers in the Fourth Guard Brigade."

When Hu Kunshan, commander of the 4th Guard Brigade, heard the ammunition and material consumption data of this battle, he couldn't help but sigh.

"The cost of rifle bullets is relatively low, but the cost of artillery shells and heavy machine gun ammunition is the biggest expense. After this battle, we will not count the loss of weapons, but only the consumption of various types of ammunition.
The cost was at least over 120 million Han yuan, which is equivalent to almost 70 taels of silver.

Modern warfare is really a money-eating beast. No wonder the Qing court in the Far East bought a lot of new artillery, heavy machine guns, rifles and other weapons, but was reluctant to use them. They could afford to buy them, but could not afford to use them.

Consumables such as bullets and shells are consumed too quickly and the cost is too high.”

Zhou Shanchu, the head of the Second Regiment of the First Mixed Brigade, echoed. "In the Empire, light and medium caliber artillery, heavy machine guns, new breech-loading rifles, mortars, grenades and other standard weapons and accompanying ammunition have basically achieved independent production, so the production cost is much lower.

If it were the Republic of Brazil, most of the weapons would have to be purchased, and the consumption cost would have to increase by at least 1.5 times. The Qing court in the Far East could only produce a small amount of weapons and ammunition, and most of them had to be imported. In addition, due to the long transportation distance from Europe to the Far East, the ammunition consumption cost was two to three times that of our army.

It is not easy to localize modern weapons and achieve self-sufficiency in standard equipment. The empire has been developing for 21 years. During these 21 years, the capital accumulated hard every year from agriculture, animal husbandry, advantageous chemical industry, etc. was used to introduce industrial technology and equipment from countries such as the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the French Republic. The funds, manpower, and material resources invested are incalculable, and only then have we reached the current situation.

Among the major countries in the world today, there are no more than 10 countries that have the ability to independently produce breech-loading rifles, heavy machine guns, light and medium artillery. Japan, which is currently undergoing the Meiji Restoration, cannot do this, nor can some small European countries that claim to be civilized and advanced. "

Entering the last decade of the 19th century, with the emergence and technological improvements of new weapons such as smokeless gunpowder, breech-loading rifles, and steel artillery, the rate of ammunition consumption increased exponentially compared to before. The consumption of ammunition in wars increased dramatically, and the cost of using shells and bullets also increased exponentially. Due to the increase in costs, except for a few powerful countries, for wars of normal intensity, the scene of shells and bullets flying around like heavy rain is impossible to occur, and ordinary countries cannot afford the huge cost of ammunition consumption.

Late that night, Shen Dehui returned from the enemy's position and brought back the news that the Brazilian defenders agreed to surrender.

The next afternoon, on the Mbokayadi Brazil side of the defense line, teams of soldiers, led by their commanders, left the trenches and walked towards the flat ground nearby, preparing to surrender to the Han army.

"The battalions were lined up in order along the open area east of the trenches. Each battalion was lined up in four rows, with a distance of 1 meter between them. All personnel were required to stand in an orderly manner and not make noise without reason."

Several Chinese officers who spoke fluent Portuguese stood in front of the Brazilian troops and reminded them loudly: "Put the rifles on the left side of the flat ground, and put heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and artillery on the right side. All personal weapons such as grenades, pistols, daggers, and sabers must be handed in. No weapons may be privately kept. If found, they will be shot."

Nearly 8000 Brazilian soldiers walked out of the trenches one after another and formed dozens of long lines according to the requirements of the Han army officers.

More than a dozen middle and high-level officers of the Brazilian garrison and Pang Zhenyun and others stood together to supervise the process of the garrison laying down their arms and accepting surrender.

"Reporting to the commander, we found two platoons of about 60 Brazilian soldiers who refused to surrender and tried to escape. They have been captured by our army. Please give us your instructions!"

A Han army officer quickly walked up to Pang Zhenyun and others, saluted and reported.

"Execute immediately by firing squad!"

Pang Zhenyun's expression did not change, and his tone was flat as he spoke a few short words, which determined the fate of more than 60 Brazilian soldiers.

The Han army officer turned around and carried out the order.

"General Getulio, do you think this is the proper treatment for the deserters?"

When more than 60 Brazilian soldiers, almost all of whom had black features, were escorted to the surrendering soldiers, lined up in a row, waiting to be executed, Pang Zhenyun asked.

"Your Excellency's decision is absolutely correct. I have no objection. Disobeying orders on the battlefield should be executed by firing squad."

Getulio glanced forward, then looked away and agreed.

"Since General Getulio has no objection, then we will execute the battlefield orders."

Pang Zhenyun nodded, and a row of Han soldiers pulled the bolts of their rifles, raised their rifles, and pointed the muzzles at the black Brazilian soldiers who were kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

"Aim, shoot, get ready, fire!"

The officer gave the order to shoot, and "bang, bang, bang", the soldiers fired bullets one after another, hitting more than 60 fleeing Brazilian black soldiers who were struggling for mercy.

"Second round of shooting, fire!" After a short pause, the gunfire started again, and the officer directed the soldiers who were wounded but not dead to be shot again.

After a burst of bullets, the white smoke dissipated and there was no sound of the fleeing soldiers on the open ground. The soldiers who executed the execution order, led by an officer, returned to their original formation. In the large open ground, in addition to more than 60 corpses lying on the ground, there was a group of trembling Brazilian surrendered soldiers who witnessed the process of the fleeing soldiers being executed. The originally noisy surrendered soldiers team soon became quiet and stood obediently, not daring to make any move that might attract the attention of the Han army.

Pang Zhenyun nodded with satisfaction and turned his gaze to Getulio. The other party understood and led a group of middle and high-level officers back to their own formation.

"I, Getulio, Commander of the Villarrica Front of the Republic of Brazil and Major General of the Ninth Division, on behalf of all officers and soldiers of my unit, formally surrender to your army!"

Getulio was wearing a clean general's dress uniform. He raised his sword with his right hand, saluted, and then completed a set of complicated and fancy etiquette. Finally, he handed over his command sword, a roster with the names of all officers and soldiers, and a surrender agreement, and formally surrendered.

"Colonel Pang Zhenyun of the First Mixed Brigade of the Han Empire, on behalf of the Imperial Army, accepts your army's surrender."

Pang Zhenyun took the sword and signed his name in the surrender agreement. Then he completed a series of procedures and the surrender ceremony officially ended.

(End of this chapter)