Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 9 Strength Expansion
Outside the plantation, Li Mingyuan and five hundred men were guarding the city gate.

After the Dulaya Mine was taken down, there were no large-scale Peruvian armed forces around the Patibilca Valley. So after discussing with Chen Guozhu and other Taiping Army leaders, Li Mingyuan decided to divide his forces to capture the Patibilca Valley and rescue as many Chinese workers as possible before the Peruvians could react, thereby strengthening his own strength.

"Prince, the brothers in the plantation have sent a signal," Zhao Yongzeng, who had just taken over the reconnaissance company, whispered.

In the future, special forces will be managed together with reconnaissance troops, so Li Mingyuan first arranged Zhao Yongzeng to be the reconnaissance company commander to help him familiarize himself with the situation in advance.

A torch was swaying from side to side on the city gate, and Li Mingyuan could vaguely see the figure of Sun Qishen holding the torch.

"Sun Qisheng is a good candidate for a special forces officer. Yongzeng, recruit him to the special forces when the whole army competes in a few days."

The military competition is an activity organized by Li Mingyuan to select talents from various military branches. At that time, not only the newly established special forces will come to recruit soldiers, but other troops will also take this opportunity to recruit soldiers.

"I understand," Zhao Yongzeng said

"We cannot miss this opportunity. Yongzeng, lead your men to seize the plantation."...

Since all the Peruvians in the mines had been wiped out and captured, the surrounding mines and plantations had not received any news of the Chinese workers' riot.
Li Mingyuan took advantage of information asymmetry and wiped out the Peruvian forces in the Patibilka Valley in less than twelve days. He occupied a total of nineteen mines and twenty-eight plantations, rescued fifty-seven thousand three hundred and forty-one Chinese workers, and seized countless supplies.

In just over ten days, Li Mingyuan led the Taiping Army to grow from 2,000 people to 60,000 people like a snowball, and the speed of growth was amazing.

The rapid expansion of the army naturally brought about various problems.
First, the newly joined Chinese workers had no combat experience, and the individual combat capability of the expanded Taiping Army declined.
Secondly, the daily food and drink expenses of more than 60,000 people were an astronomical figure. Although the Taiping Army could rely on the spoils of war to sustain a three-month supply of supplies, the area occupied by the Taiping Army was a desert area. Apart from scattered plantations and saltpeter mines, the supply of daily necessities still depended on support from the interior of Peru.
By the time the Peruvians realized what was happening, they could simply surround the Patibilca Valley and trap the Taiping Army to death. It was precisely because of the geographical disadvantages of Patibilca that Li Mingyuan gave up on establishing a base here.

In order to solve the current difficulties, Li Mingyuan planned to fight several battles in Peru to hurt and scare the Peruvians. In this way, when the Taiping Army retreated, the Peruvians would not dare to pursue.

In capturing mines and plantations, the Taiping Army killed a total of 800 Peruvian soldiers and captured 5,000.

In addition to the Peruvian army and armed militia, the captives also included forty-seven large mine owners and large landowners. These people were able to open mines and plantations, and they all had connections in Peru. The combined influence of these forty-seven people was enormous. When Li Mingyuan was preparing to move to Brazil, he used them to negotiate with Peru, using the return of the captives and the mines and plantations as bargaining chips in exchange for more Chinese workers.

Among the 61,000 men, except for more than 3,000 who were physically weak, the rest met the requirements for military service.
Being in a foreign country with enemies on all sides, Li Mingyuan did not dare to be careless. With the enemy at the doorstep, Li Mingyuan had no mood to develop his career in farming. All 58,000 people who met the requirements for military service were stuffed into the army, regardless of whether they were willing or not.

If there was enough time, Li Mingyuan would take time to train them, but facing the counterattack of the Peruvian army soon, Li Mingyuan could only take them to the battlefield and rely directly on actual combat training.

"Your Highness, all officers above the rank of company commander are here." Zhou Daniu, who took over as the commander of Zhao Yongzeng's guards, reported.

When all the Taiping officers arrived, Li Mingyuan temporarily put aside his thoughts and went to the hall with Zhou Daniu.

Although the number of Taiping troops increased rapidly, the positions of the various Taiping officers remained unchanged because a new round of reorganization had not yet been carried out.

"Today I have some good news for you all. The Taiping Army will be reorganized, and everyone here may be promoted two levels, or even higher."

Glancing at the thirty or so people below, Li Mingyuan discovered that everyone had an eager look in their eyes. He knew what they were thinking. The army had expanded but the positions remained the same, so they certainly felt uncomfortable.

"I've been waiting for you to say this, Prince. I, Old Chen, have 10,000 men under my command, and I'm also the battalion commander. It makes people uncomfortable no matter how they look at it." Chen Guozhu grinned.

"Old Chen, you are really obsessed with power. You couldn't help yourself as soon as the prince started talking." Li Sandou said with a smile.

"Li Sandou, don't talk about me, don't you want to get promoted?" Chen Guozhu asked.

The Taiping officers below burst into laughter.

"Okay, let's get back to the point. According to the original organization, the four musket battalions will be expanded directly into divisions. Each division will have four main regiments, an artillery battalion, a reconnaissance company, and a logistics battalion, with a total of 10,000 people."

After Li Mingyuan finished speaking, the officers below talked to each other and discussed what positions they might get.

Li Mingyuan only mentioned the organization of four divisions, but four divisions alone would require hundreds of officers. As for the officers below, the South American Taiping Army had been established not long ago and there was a big shortage of officers, so the officers currently serving did not have to worry about being eliminated.

"Everyone, please be quiet," Li Mingyuan reminded, and the officers below immediately quieted down.

"Except for the four divisions, the remaining 18,000 people will be temporarily placed under the direct command of the headquarters. There will also be a military competition starting tomorrow, and the winning troops will have priority in selecting soldiers."

"Don't worry, Prince. My army will definitely be number one," Chen Guozhu shouted.

"Everyone can brag. Old Chen will lose badly tomorrow, so don't blame me for not giving you face." Li Sandou responded sharply.

Chen Guozhu and Li Sandou have been fighting for more than ten years, and the officers in office are no longer surprised by it.

"I want to remind you all that we can't keep the Patibilka Valley secret for long. Once the Peruvians get the news, they will definitely send a large army to encircle and suppress us. Therefore, we don't have much time left. While the Peruvian army is not here in the next few days, all units should speed up their training and try to get the new soldiers to work together and form combat effectiveness."

"Prince, there is nothing to be afraid of the Peruvians. We easily wiped out the Peruvians in Patibilka." A young Taiping officer said.

"What's your name?" Li Mingyuan stared at him.

"I am Qian Jianyu, Deputy Company Commander of the Third Company of the First Battalion"

"Did you fight in the Dulaya battle?"

"No," Qian Jianyu said honestly.

Qian Jianyu joined the Taiping Army after the Battle of Dulaya. He had never fought against the Peruvian regular army, so he had no idea about the Peruvian army's combat power and weapons and equipment. He only thought that the Peruvian army was as vulnerable as ordinary mine supervisors.

Li Mingyuan asked an officer next to Qian Jianyu who had participated in the siege of Duraya to tell him about the equipment of the Peruvian army. Qian Jianyu immediately lost his confidence in speaking and said, "I underestimated the strength of the Peruvian army. Please punish me, Your Highness."

"You have been promoted to deputy company commander in just a few days after joining the Taiping Army. You are a capable person. Since you don't understand the enemy's strength, I won't punish you this time. But you must not underestimate the enemy in the future."

The successful capture of the Patibirka Valley caused some Taiping soldiers to underestimate the enemy. Qian Jianyu was just one of these people. Li Mingyuan's warning to him today was to make the Taiping soldiers face the enemy squarely and avoid military losses due to underestimation of the enemy.

At the end of the meeting, Li Mingyuan reminded all officers at the company level and above to face the enemy correctly before adjourning the meeting.

(End of this chapter)