Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 17 Sweep
The next day, Li Mingyuan and Liu Pu cooperated with each other to point out the disadvantages of using Barranca as a base. The senior military officers present, including Chen Guozhu, who originally favored Barranca, changed their views and agreed to Li Mingyuan's plan to establish a country in southern Brazil.

It is a three thousand mile journey from Barranca to southern Brazil, passing through Bolivia and Paraguay.
Moving into southern Brazil, except for the long distance and the need to bring enough daily necessities, all other difficulties can be overcome.

Bolivia has a small population and has always been a weak force in all the wars in South America. As long as the Chinese defeat the main force of the Peruvian army and move into Bolivia, even if the Bolivians have the courage to intercept them, Li Mingyuan is confident that he can make them pay the price.

As for reaching Paraguay, that is even more convenient. Paraguay is currently at war with Brazil and Argentina. It would be happy to receive reinforcements, so why would it take the initiative to provoke the Chinese army?

And there is another advantage after entering Paraguay, that is, the Paraná River that runs through Paraguay and Brazil can be used to transport troops, and then go downstream directly to southern Brazil.

After reaching a consensus on the location for founding the country, the objectives of subsequent military operations became clear. The main goal at the moment was to collect the pack horses and food supplies needed for the Chinese troops to move in.

The second is to annihilate the main force of the Peruvian army and create conditions for the transition.

After discussing the next phase of combat objectives, Li Mingyuan ordered Wang Linshan and Li Sandou to lead 10,000 people each to sweep the towns around Baranka, rescue the miners scattered in the mines and plantations, and plunder supplies.

After everything was arranged, Li Mingyuan finally had some free time to review the results of this operation.

The muskets captured on the battlefield were temporarily distributed to the soldiers participating in the battle. After capturing 1,000 defenders of the city, the Chinese army obtained about 1,000 muskets. Together with the 3,000 muskets stored in the Baranka arsenal, a total of more than 9,000 muskets were captured in this battle.

Moreover, because Barranca was a prosperous and wealthy port city, Li Mingyuan also seized more than 50 Peruvian ships and a large amount of cargo. Although the Peruvian ships were not as good as the warships of the Western powers, with these ships, the Chinese army could use the ships to transport some soldiers to land from the rear of Peru after annihilating the main force of Peru, and cooperate with the main force to occupy the coastal areas of Peru.

There were still fifty or sixty merchant ships from Britain, France and other countries in the port of Baranka. Li Mingyuan ordered the soldiers not to touch their ships because the Chinese troops were still too small and it would be disadvantageous for the Chinese Independence Army to clash with Western powers too early.

Most of the fifty or sixty merchant ships were British. Although the Americans had proposed the Monroe Doctrine decades ago, advocating that America was the land of the Americans and warning European powers not to colonize America, the United States, which had been established for less than a hundred years, had not yet developed into the behemoth it would become in later generations, and its words were not very effective.

Not to mention the world hegemon Britain's colonies in the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Guyana, even the original American sovereign Spain still controls the Cuban Islands and other places.
The United States fought the Civil War for four years from 1861 to 1865. Although the North eventually won, the war had only been over for three years and Americans were still licking their wounds in their old nest and had no power to interfere in the future development of South America.

South America had not yet become the Americans' backyard, and Li Mingyuan happened to travel through time at a good time. Various forces had not yet controlled South America, which gave Li Mingyuan an opportunity to take advantage of the chaos and power vacuum in South American countries to occupy a piece of land for development. Then, he brought the remnants of the Taiping Army who had drifted to Southeast Asia to South America. After a few years of hard development, he could take root in South America.

After the more than 20,000 Chinese workers in Balangka were rescued, the Chinese Independence Army added another 20,000 soldiers, plus the captured horses and a large number of weapons and equipment. In addition to sending out 20,000 people to seize supplies and territory, the other troops of the Chinese Independence Army began to intensively expand their forces and receive equipment while resting.

With an increase of 20,000 people, the total number of Chinese troops reached more than 86,000, including 78,000 soldiers. The remaining 8,000 Chinese were not idle either. Li Mingyuan organized them into the rear camp in accordance with the previous Taiping Army system, and engaged them in some simple transportation support work. In this way, more than 80,000 Chinese laborers, according to precise arrangements, operated efficiently like a large machine.

More than a thousand war horses were distributed as rewards to more than a hundred middle and senior officers who had made military achievements. As for the remaining nine hundred horses, Li Mingyuan organized them into a cavalry regiment, headed by Li Dawei, the deputy regiment commander under Zhang Ansong. Li Dawei was a member of the Nian Army active in the Huaibei area. The Nian Army was a peasant uprising army of the same period as the Taiping Army. However, unlike the Taiping Army, the main force of the Nian Army was cavalry. Taking advantage of the vast area of ​​the Huaibei Plain, the Nian Army and the Qing Army were evenly matched. Even the famous Senggelinqin died at the hands of the Nian Army. If Li Dawei had not been surrounded by the Qing Army on all sides, he would not have followed the Taiping Army to South America.

While Li Mingyuan was worrying about various military affairs, Wang Linshan and Li Sandou were happily sweeping the surrounding Peruvian towns.

After Wang Linshan and Li Sandou led their troops to set out, they originally planned to lead 10,000 troops each. But later, they found that there were not many Peruvian armed forces in the surrounding towns. The larger towns had only five or six hundred militiamen, and the small plantations had only dozens of people. They felt that it was too slow for 10,000 people to act together, so they divided the troops into more than a dozen teams, each led by a battalion commander, and they dispersed to carry out sweeps. However, their two leaders met during a sweep, and then the two teams merged into one and acted together.

"Brother Wang, this mopping-up operation was like an armed parade. In two days, the team I led alone captured more than a dozen towns. I'm sure your subordinates did a good job as well." asked Li Sandou while riding on a horse.

"Similar to Brother Li, yesterday my subordinates sent me news that they have occupied Moquegua and rescued 500 Chinese from there."

"The task assigned to us by the prince has been almost completed. We can go back and report tomorrow." Li Sandou said.

"We have rescued a lot of Chinese workers this time, and we can expand our troops after we return," said Wang Linshan.

"Before we set off, I heard that 24,000 Chinese brothers were rescued in the city of Baranka. I estimate that this raid can also bring back 10,000 Chinese workers." Li Sandou said.

"Your Highness is wise and brave, and considerate. He has led us to two victories in a row. Now the morale of our brothers is very high. When they see the Peruvian soldiers, their eyes light up like wolves seeing sheep."

"It's been a long time since I've seen my brothers fighting with such high morale. The last time was when we followed the King of Shi to defeat the Qing army." Li Sandou recalled.

"With the prince's wise leadership, we will not fail again like we did in the Central Plains."

"Alas, when the Heavenly Kingdom was first established, it was also a prosperous scene. However, there was an internal conflict between the Heavenly King and the Eastern King, which killed 20,000 elite Taiping troops and broke the hearts of the old brothers in Guangxi. Otherwise, the Wing King would not have left Tianjing." Li Sandou said.

"It's all right now. The prince told us the day before yesterday that we would establish a country based in southern Brazil. I heard that the climate there is mild and suitable for living, similar to the Jiangnan region on the mainland."

"The prince has a thorough plan, and we, his subordinates, just need to carry it out according to the plan." Li Sandou nodded.

(End of this chapter)