Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 387: The fantasy of 354 million square kilometers of territory.

Through the Treaty of Arauco, the Chu State cut off the southern two-fifths of Chile's originally narrow territory, and extended all the way to Tierra del Fuego in the south.

By signing this treaty, the State of Chu included the long Pacific coastline south of Arauco, totaling 1810 kilometers, into the scope of its overseas colonies.

This long strip of territory has a total area of ​​31.672 square kilometers, of which 31.66 square kilometers are land and 127 square kilometers are islands. The narrowest area from east to west is only 96.8 kilometers.

The vast Pampas Plain in southern Argentina, across the Andes Mountains, is not included, and most of it is already controlled by Chinese immigrants.

This era
Argentina has not yet launched its "Desert Expedition" to the south, and Chile has not hastily launched an expedition to the south because of Argentina's conquest, extending its territory to Tierra del Fuego in the south.

The two sides signed a border demarcation treaty. Although Chile felt a little uncomfortable, considering the powerful military strength of the Chu State, it was no joke to be able to resist the British and French forces.

Forget it... just wipe your nose and take the loss.

In the eyes of the military government in power in Chile, the Chu State, which had defeated the Anglo-French coalition forces, was strong, its army had advanced weapons and equipment, and its soldiers had strong combat effectiveness, and was not a character to be trifled with.

In addition, Chile, Bolivia and Peru are now in unpleasant conflict over the guano and saltpeter resources in the Atacama Desert in the south, and the relationship between the three countries is quite tense.

The Bolivian government has made several harsh remarks, saying it is willing to resort to war to resolve the dispute.

This has also made the Chilean government nervous. In order to resolve the border demarcation dispute in the south, it must concentrate its efforts on competing for the important Atacama Desert resources in the north and cannot be distracted by other things.

Fighting on two fronts is a taboo in military strategy, and the Chilean military government certainly cannot make such a stupid mistake.

After many considerations

The Chilean military government retreated more than 3 kilometers in the southern treaty demarcation, allowing the tough-minded Chu negotiating envoys to succeed and set the final border kilometers north of the town of Arauco.

The Chileans did not know that the signing of this treaty destroyed two-fifths of their historical southern territory and more than 1810 kilometers of Pacific coastal territory.

Fortunately, the Chileans did not occupy this area in the first place, so there was no loss to speak of.

The situation in Argentina is the same, but what makes Argentines unhappy is that many Chinese immigrants have entered the southern part of the Negro River, where there are many white ranches.

Because of this issue, many conflicts arose between Argentines and Chinese immigrants in Chu State, and even caused small-scale conflicts, but they were quickly stopped.

This made Argentina realize that it should sign a bilateral border treaty with the State of Chu to prevent similar diplomatic incidents from happening frequently and attracting powerful enemies from outside the region.

After the war with Britain and France four years ago, the reputation of Chu State spread far and wide, even to Argentina in South America. This is the potential benefit brought by the war.

In Argentina
There were obviously many more complaints against the State of Chu. The main point was that the Patagonia Plain in southern Argentina should have been a pasture for white people. It was a land chosen by God, but it was occupied by the Chu people.

The fact that the Argentines did not occupy the land does not mean that they are willing to see a large influx of Chinese immigrants from the Chu State. This makes them feel absurd as if their own children are being taken away by others.

in the original history
Argentina launched the Crusade against the Enlightenment in 1878, conquering the vast Patagonian plains owned by indigenous Indian tribes to the south, reaching as far south as the Strait of Magellan.

This vast and fertile pasture is said to have no stone from north to south for 2,000 kilometers. It is entirely covered with vast plains, hills and lakes, making it a world-class excellent pasture.

None of this has happened today. The Patagonian Plain belongs to the local indigenous Indian tribes. It is where they have lived and reproduced for generations and has nothing to do with Argentina.

The negotiations are not going smoothly at the moment. The Chu envoys advocate drawing the border south of the Negro River area, completely incorporating the historical Argentine Negro River Province into the Chu territory, and also incorporating a small area in the southern part of Buenos Aires Province.

This is because the Chu State occupied Bahia Blanca, which is also an important town in the northernmost part of the Chu State. It has now rapidly developed into a large Chinese city with a population of more than 100,000. In the future, at least one prefecture must be established here.

Such a division swallowed up all of the southernmost land in South America, about 92 square kilometers in southern Argentina (note: the disputed area between the two sides is only to square kilometers), part of which is the white ranch area, which is also the most controversial area.

The Argentines didn't care about the southern wasteland. Since it had never belonged to them, although it was awkward to divide it with the Chu State, it would not lead to war.

The problem is that this disputed area and Bahia Blanca were originally white people's territories, and the Argentines tacitly assumed that they were conquered areas, but there was no clear demarcation, so of course they were unwilling to give them up.

Especially Bahia Blanca, which is located in the southern part of Buenos Aires Province in the core of Argentina. Although it occupies a small area, it is the confluence of several large inland rivers and has excellent geographical conditions for building a port city on the Atlantic coast.

The Argentines are not stupid, so they are naturally unwilling to give up.

However, after a detailed investigation, it was discovered that this place had become an important town with hundreds of thousands of Chinese people gathered. Dozens of armed Chinese teams came in and out every day, riding horses and carrying guns, with a murderous aura that was not concealed.

On the return trip
It was common to see Chinese armed adventure teams riding horses, escorting long lines of Indian captives and driving cattle and sheep back to town, with a strong smell of killing on them.

After an on-site inspection, senior officials from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs involved in the negotiations realized that the Blanca region was completely under the control of Chinese forces and would never be relinquished. If they persisted in this point, the demarcation negotiations would be impossible to proceed, and a war would sooner or later be inevitable.

Although the bilateral boundary demarcation treaty has not yet been signed, it is still under tense negotiations and may drag on for another year or two, or a breakthrough may be achieved soon.

It depends on the decision of the Argentine government, but it has basically been decided.

Overall
The Argentines do not want war to break out because of this, and have shown a certain degree of flexibility and pliability in the boundary negotiations, but fierce bargaining is still unavoidable.

The Chu State took a tougher stance, insisting on extending the border to La Pampa Province and including a small area in the southern part of Buenos Aires Province, headed by Bahia Blanca.

The only concession is a certain amount of economic compensation in exchange for thousands of square kilometers of land in and around Bahia Blanca.

With a population of only 150 million and having just fought the costly five-year Paraguayan War, Argentina had no power to resolve the dispute by force.

Even if the Brazilian Empire stood on Argentina's side, with its population of tens of millions, it would still be far from enough.

In a few months, by the end of 1872, the total population of Chu will exceed million, which is about half the population of France.

Its industrialization process continued to deepen, and its economic strength grew rapidly. Through the long Chieno Island ocean route and the highway across the Andes Mountains, it was able to continuously import Chinese immigrants to South America.

This is an advantage that Paraguay, the defeated country in South America, could never achieve.

It is said that after the war, there were only more than 20,000 men left in Paraguay, and they were both old and young, because they were beaten quite badly.

An idea came to King Zheng Guohui of Chu's mind: to send some Chinese immigrants to Paraguay, where they would basically have no more troubles.

With food, shelter, and women, wouldn’t the influence of Chinese society come?
As for the small area of ​​Paraguay, King Zheng Guohui of Chu has now raised his standards and doesn't think much of it.

If the border demarcation negotiations with Argentina can be successfully concluded, at least 92 square kilometers of land will be acquired, plus the 31.7 square kilometers acquired from Chile, the total will be more than 123 million square kilometers.

Together with the 47 square kilometers of the Dutch-occupied area in southern Kalimantan, if it is successfully integrated, and the existing 183 million square kilometers of Chu State, the country's territory will reach about 354 million square kilometers, which has exceeded the 298 million square kilometers of India in later generations, and is a solid foundation for a great power.

When I think of this, I feel happy.

With such a vast territory, the State of Chu did not need colonial expansion for at least 15 years. It could slowly digest this vast territory and transform it into its own powerful strength.

Nicaragua and Honduras in Central America are not included. The key to these small places is their important geographical location, not the size of their territory.

As long as we can resettle one or two million people, we won’t have to worry about it in the future.

That was the Chu State's forward base facing the Atlantic Ocean in Central America, which extended the Chu State's front-line defense across the entire Pacific Ocean and directly under the noses of the Americans.

Its vast strategic depth is unparalleled in the world.

Having an excellent seaport in the warm Caribbean Sea is itself of great strategic significance, meaning that the Chu State has the ability to exert influence on the Atlantic and Europe and occupies an important position in the situation in Central America.

As a result, a three-player poker game was formed in Central America, namely Britain, the United States and the Chu State.

Britain and Chu were on one side. Relying on the huge deterrent power of the British Royal Navy and the pervasive infiltration of the Chinese, Britain and Chu were the ones who had the upper hand in the game of Central America.

The influence of Americans can be firmly limited to Central America, making it difficult to expand to South America.

The United States today is not the United States that will dominate the world in the future. It is just a regional power in North America. It is far from being strong enough in front of the European powers and is suppressed and excluded everywhere.

What the European kingdoms fear most is the United States' export of its toxic democratic system of fairness, justice, and freedom. This is a huge blow to Europe's traditional feudal kingdom system of monarch and ministers. It can be said that it is like guarding against a flood or a beast.

At this level

The newly born Second French Republic was in a difficult position in European politics, always encountering nameless exclusion and dissatisfaction, precisely because its political ecology was very different from the situation in Europe where there were many feudal royal families.

It is both a freak and a product that is easily targeted.

The reason why the "Triple Alliance" advocated by German Chancellor Bismarck was able to generate broad consensus was that fear of the democratic system was also one of the concerns of European royal families.

In this field
As representatives of the Far Eastern Kingdom, the Chu royal family was able to integrate seamlessly, blending into the upper-class circles in both London and Berlin and receiving corresponding respect.

(End of this chapter)