Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 8 Summary after the war
After discussing the problems exposed in the battle, Li Mingyuan began to prepare to expand the army. Three thousand two hundred Chinese workers were rescued from the Dulaya Mine. Among them, except for more than two hundred who were physically weak and needed a certain period of recuperation, the remaining three thousand were able to join the army.

Except for the initial few hundred Taiping Army families, the Chinese laborers in South America were all young and middle-aged men, and there were almost no Chinese women. Therefore, Li Mingyuan now did not have to worry about the burden of the elderly, the weak, women and children, and could reorganize the army with confidence.

Three thousand miners plus the original fifteen hundred Taiping troops, even if there are only two hundred casualties in this battle, there are still four thousand three hundred troops in total. Four thousand three hundred people can be reorganized into two regiments, but Li Mingyuan does not intend to do so.

Soon the Taiping Army will attack other mines and plantations, and the number of Chinese troops will increase.

It was too troublesome to reorganize the troops every time new Chinese workers joined, so Li Mingyuan planned to reorganize the troops after the army became stronger.

Now the newly joined Chinese laborers were mixed together with the original Taiping Army, with the old leading the new and their combat effectiveness being rapidly improved.

Before the mixed organization, the first thing Li Mingyuan had to do was to expand technical arms such as artillery and machine gunners.

Because six heavy artillery pieces used by the Peruvians to defend the city were captured, Li Mingyuan planned to form a separate heavy artillery company with 120 people, and add more than ten artillery pieces of different specifications in the Duraya warehouse to expand it into an artillery battalion.

The newly formed artillery battalion consisted of a heavy artillery company, a six-pounder company, a nine-pounder company, and a company of nine guns, a total of 25 guns and 350 men.

During the siege, Luo Dapao failed to destroy the enemy's heavy artillery because of the insufficient range of his artillery. However, he performed very well when supporting the Taiping Army, so Li Mingyuan directly promoted him to artillery battalion commander.

A lot of machine guns were seized this time, but Li Mingyuan did not plan to use them in a concentrated manner like artillery. In addition to retaining an expanded machine gun company, the other machine guns were distributed to four musket battalions, adding a machine gun platoon to each battalion. The number of people in the musket battalion after full staffing reached 610.

After the success of the first riot, Li Mingyuan planned to set up a special forces unit in the style of special forces in later generations.
However, due to time constraints and shortage of manpower, Li Mingyuan only gave basic special operations instructions to the fifty guards around him.

Now that there are enough people, Li Mingyuan will naturally not waste the opportunity. In his plan, the original candidate for the commander of the special forces was Wang Xiaoshan.
However, this time Wang Xiaoshan made a mistake and was excluded by him. After careful consideration, Li Mingyuan prepared to let the new guard commander Zhao Yongzeng serve as the chief of the special forces.

Zhao Yongzeng is calm, brave and careful, which enables him to lead the special forces without making careless mistakes like Wang Xiaoshan.

The requirements for special forces are very strict. Li Mingyuan does not have high expectations. It would be enough if he could select fifty people out of more than four thousand people.

After everything was arranged, Li Mingyuan left the meeting hall and went to Wang Xiaoshan's tent to visit him.

"Prince, why are you here?" Wang Xiaoshan was lying on the bed. When he saw Li Mingyuan coming in, he struggled to stand up and salute.

"Don't get up. I brought you some golden medicine. Lie down and I'll apply it on you."

"Prince, it's just a minor injury and it will heal in a few days." Wang Xiaoshan forced a smile.

"Lie down because I told you to. Do you dare to disobey my order?" Li Mingyuan held down Wang Xiaoshan who was about to get up, and took out a bottle of medicine to apply to the wound on his back.

"Xiaoshan, being careless on the battlefield will not only harm yourself, but also drag down the entire army. I am punishing you today to remind you not to make similar mistakes in the future. Do you understand my intention?"

Li Mingyuan said as he applied the wound medicine.

"Prince, I have failed you." Wang Xiaoshan was so moved by Li Mingyuan's act of applying medicine to him that he couldn't help but said with red eyes.

"Haha, a real man sheds blood but not tears. Don't let me look down on you." Li Mingyuan chuckled.

"Yes, Xiaoshan will never let the prince down again in the future." Wang Xiaoshan said seriously.

"The medicine is ready. You can rest and recover first. When you are well, you can fight with me." Li Mingyuan patted his body and said. ...

"Brother Luo, it's great to work with the prince. As soon as you came to seek refuge, the prince made you the battalion commander. It seems that the prince thinks highly of you." On the way back, one of Luo Linshan's men spoke up.

"Well, the prince treats his subordinates fairly and strictly, and his confidants will be punished if they make mistakes. Following the prince is a bright future." Luo Linshan nodded.

"I heard from others that the prince was summoned by Heavenly Father two months ago. Since then, the prince has become different. Not only has his skills become stronger, but he is no match for others in a fight."

"Maybe." Although he joined the Taiping Army, Luo Linshan did not quite believe in the God Worshipping Society, so he spoke ambiguously.

Two days later, on a large plantation in Peru,
A Chinese worker looked at the young man next to him and asked curiously, "Brother, are you new here? I have never seen you before."

"Brother, come here and talk." The young man pulled the Chinese worker to a hidden place and whispered, "Brother, didn't you hear the wind?"

"What's the news?"

"His Royal Highness the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Prince Shi has arrived in South America and is now leading the Taiping Army to attack the Peruvian mines to rescue Chinese workers."

"Don't talk nonsense. His Royal Highness the Prince of Shi has been dead for three years. I was a member of the Taiping Army back then."

"Brother is also a Taiping Army soldier, so we are a family. To be honest, I am Sun Qisheng, the squad leader of the Taiping Army. I am here to gather information under the order of the Crown Prince."

"Prince? Which prince?" the man asked in shock.

"Of course it's the only son of His Royal Highness the Prince of Attendant." Sun Qisheng said with admiration, and then told the man what had happened recently.

"God will not destroy our Taiping Army. I never thought that His Royal Highness the Prince of Shi would have successors and make such a big splash here." The man sighed.

"Brother, the prince is leading his men to attack the plantation tonight. Are you willing to serve him?"

"Needless to say, I have been waiting for this day for a long time."

At night, the Chinese workers who had been asleep gathered together to plan big things.

"Zhang Song, Zhou Qiang, have you taken out your weapons?"

"Twenty muskets and thirty long swords have arrived."

"Okay, brothers, the Taiping Army brothers are waiting outside. As long as we seize the city gate and let the Taiping Army into the city, we can gain freedom. Do you dare to do it?"

"Listen to Brother Sun, we will also follow the prince to conquer the world." Hua Gong on the side said excitedly.

"These are the weapons we smuggled in. Brothers with good skills, please come forward and claim them." Sun Qishen said, pointing at the pile of weapons.

The Chinese workers from all around rushed forward and snatched all the weapons in just two minutes.

"Brothers with weapons go ahead. Now everyone follow me to seize the city gate."

Sun Qisheng called out and led the way to the city gate.

(End of this chapter)