Chapter 136: Storm

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On the morning of December 1st, during the inauguration of the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul, a large-scale armed conflict broke out between Paraguay and Argentina in the Misiones area. After the conflict broke out, paraguayan and Argentine surrounding forces quickly assembled in the Misiones area. The confrontation between the two armies along the Parana River may trigger a new war at any time.
Misiones Province is located in the northeast of Atin with an area of ​​29,800 square kilometers. Most of the area is the Parana Plateau, with rugged terrain, low mountains, canyons and rivers.
Subtropical forest climate, with warm winters and hot summers, with an average annual rainfall of more than 1,500 mm. There are mineral resources such as gold, silver, iron, mercury, and coal.
The east-west direction borders the Paraguay and Uruguay rivers respectively, and curbing transportation in the middle of the two rivers has important economic and strategic interests.
Both Argentina and Paraguay claimed sovereignty over the Misiones region. Before the Paraguayan war, Argentina had actual control over the local area. In the late Paraguayan war, the Chinese troops annihilated the main force of the Brazilian expeditionary forces. The participating Argentine troops hurriedly returned to Argentina and took it with them. The garrison in Misiones also fled the northern area, causing a period of power vacuum.
After the Paraguayan war, the Chinese troops mainly entered southern Brazil, leaving only one dissatisfied formation in the Misiones region, stationed at the confluence of the Canoas and Paraguay rivers, and controlling about 5 Area of ​​one hundred square kilometers.
The Argentine and Paraguayan forces control the northern and southern regions of Misiones Province, respectively, forming a de facto line of control in the Canoas region.
In the Misiones region, the three forces of Argentina, Paraguay, and Chinese forces converged. The Chinese forces controlled part of the land on the west bank of the Uruguay River and controlled the three small fortresses left by the Argentine retreats. The terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was strategically advantageous. status.
The Chinese troops occupy a small area, the fortresses have difficulty in overcoming them, and the halo brought about by the annihilation of the main force of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. Neither Argentina nor Paraguay has the trouble of actively seeking Chinese troops. Instead, they have targeted the opponents who seem to be easy to deal with.
On the evening of December 3, the third day of the conflict, three Paraguayans walked into Porto Alegre and submitted a telegram written by Lopez to Li Mingyuan.
The telegram was delivered in Spanish. The Paraguayan representative who remained in Porto Alegre received the telegram and quickly translated it into Chinese, so Li Mingyuan had no trouble reading it.
"His Excellency, the four-nation covenant is only aimed at Brazil. The conflict between your country and Argentina is not within the scope of the covenant, and I cannot agree to your president's request."
In the telegram, Lopez invited Li Mingyuan to send troops to Misiones, promising to expel the Argentine forces, and the two sides shared the land in the southern part of Misiones.
There are two metal ore producing areas in the Argentine-controlled area in the south of Misiones, which contain iron ore resources needed for the development of Rio Grande do Sul. Little Lopez should have seen this, so he invited the Chinese troops to send troops.
"His Majesty, Paraguay has never recognized the Misiones region as Argentina. It is also the Argentine side who provoked this conflict. Paraguay has no intention of initiating a new war, but Argentina has proactively provoked and attempted to occupy all the land of Misiones. It was a naked declaration of war against Paraguay! "
Li Mingyuan's refusal did not affect the Paraguayan messenger standing in the hall. He directly said "Paraguay recognizes your ownership of the area where the Canoas and Paraguay rivers border, and is willing to take out the southern part of Misiones near the Paraguay river. In return to the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul, ...
President Lopez is sincere and hopes to reach another cooperation with His Majesty. "
The Paraguayan messenger continuously stated a lot of conditions, some of which were mentioned in the telegram, and some were not mentioned. There were no less than 30 articles. It can be seen that this conflict was not only deliberately provoked by Argentina. The Paraguayan side There was also a plan for Misiones.
"Sir, the main population of Misiones is the local Indians. Argentina and Paraguay only controlled the coastal areas more than ten years ago. We believe that Misiones' status is undetermined, and Argentina and your claim of sovereignty has no legal basis The conduct of the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul is not recognized. "
Li Mingyuan's sudden reshuffle aroused the vigilance of the Paraguayan messenger,
"What does Your Majesty mean? Do you want to annex Misiones alone?"
"No, you misunderstood." Li Mingyuan began to explain the misunderstanding of the Paraguayan messenger: "The Chinese are peace-loving and national, and we do not want to see the Misiones conflict evolve into a large-scale war.
The Paraguayan war has just ended. Paraguay, Argentina, and Rio Grande do Sul need time to recover the damage caused by the war. The three parties should work together to resolve territorial disputes peacefully instead of war. "
"I will pass on Her Majesty's suggestion to President Lopez, and hope that His Majesty will consider our conditions carefully before President Lopez makes a new decision."
Hearing that Li Mingyuan did not set aside Paraguay's idea of ​​occupying the Misiones area alone, the Paraguayan representative was relieved, and after a few polite words, he hurriedly left the hall and returned.
Li Mingyuan, Liu Pu, and Zhao Yan remained in the room. After the outbreak of the Misiones conflict, Zhao Yan temporarily stayed in Porto Alegre to assist Liu Pu in analyzing the conflict situation.
"Your Majesty, Paraguay's forces are gathered on the frontline of the border, and Lopez Jr. is ambitious and I am afraid he will not obey His Majesty's advice."
Liu Pu said.
"Little Lopez is bold and tough, and his decisions will not be easily changed." Li Mingyuan said lightly.
"Brazil is vast and the country is rich in resources. Although the Paraguayan war consumed a lot of Brazil's national strength, it will not take long to recover some of its strength. If Lopez Jr. is willing to wage a war, Paraguay will weaken too much in the war and Brazil will lose As a restraining force, Rio Grande do Sul will also face a greater threat from Brazil. Therefore, we believe that Paraguay's participation in the new war is not good for Rio Grande do Sul, and we should try our best to prevent Paraguay from participating in the war. "
Zhao Yandao.
"Lopez Jr. took Napoleon as his learning goal and always wanted to be Napoleon in South America. We cannot stop his decision. A war will inevitably break out between Paraguay and Argentina."
"Your Majesty, Paraguay is participating in the war, shall we stand by and watch Paraguay's national strength be damaged?"
Liu Pu couldn't think of a way to prevent Paraguay from joining the war, and frowned.
"Yes, we don't do anything, just sit and watch them fight."
Li Mingyuan said in a relaxed tone, looking at the two people sitting next to him in confusion, explaining, "Little Lopez is ambitious and adventurous, but he is no stranger to the current situation in Paraguay.
When his father, Lopez, came to power, the once-barren Paraguay rose rapidly. He encouraged foreign trade and attracted a large amount of foreign investment. He invited engineers from Britain and Austria to help build railways, shipyards, and steel plants. He also hired European and American doctors and engineers. Personnel, starting factories and schools;
Under the painstaking management of the old Lopez, just two decades later, Paraguay, a poor and backward, has become the South American hegemon.
Because of the foundation laid by the old Lopez, Lopez Jr. was able to carry the Brazilian Empire for three years.
However, after the Paraguayan war, Lopez Jr. won the war on the surface, but he got nothing but a piece of land that was temporarily unavailable.
Old Lopez's industrial construction, which had been in power for 20 years, was exhausted, domestic food and supplies were lacking, and the population was reduced by one-third.
There are many internal difficulties in the country and no significant improvement can be achieved in a short period of time. Therefore, Lopez Jr. used the Misiones conflict to transfer domestic contradictions, and wanted to add a new honor to himself through the victory of a local war and stabilize the rule in Paraguay. status. "
"The situation in Paraguay is indeed not optimistic. After our army arrived in Rio Grande do Sul, we were ordered to continue the task of absorbing Paraguayan women. In the border area of ​​our army and Paraguay, Paraguayan women were accepted by our army and entered the Rio Grande do Sul ,
And two months ago, Lopez, who had been disagreeing with our army's entry into the Paraguayan control area to solicit Paraguayan women, was also relieved, and began to organize a group of poor women in exchange for grenades and firearms, artillery and other weapons produced by our army. "
It is Liu Pu who is responsible for obtaining female immigrants from South America. Through the transaction with Lopez Jr., Liu Pu also understands the purpose of the Paraguayan people in exchange for weapons.
"Argentina and Paraguay are severely damaged. They are not capable of launching a full-scale war, and the scale of the war will only be controlled within Misiones.
We are not involved in the conflict between them for the time being ~ EbookFREE.me ~ wait until the situation is deadlocked to participate in reconciling the contradictions. "
Li Mingyuan made a decision on the disposition of the Misiones conflict, and now assigns the task road "The first hybrid brigade dispatched the Canoas River to our military-controlled area to strengthen security and implement armed neutrality.
All the grenades, sealed guns and artillery produced in the Santa Maria base are sold to Paraguay. Liu Pu, you can negotiate with the Paraguayans. We can sell them guns, artillery, machine guns, and improved methods of manufacturing grenades. Instead of buying them with money, we only need single women. "
"His Majesty……"
"Don't call me Her Majesty, the Duke of Rio Grande do Sul was Brazilian, and he was still called my son when there were no outsiders." Li Mingyuan waved and interrupted Liu Pu: "The Prussians notified me of the news and went to the Prussian purchase ship The team will arrive in Porto Alegre in five days. The purchased industrial equipment and weapons are on board. The muskets and machine guns used by the brothers can be replaced with new weapons. "
"Yes!" The procurement fleet to Prussia is about to return. The various messy weapons used by Chinese soldiers have also fulfilled their historical missions. They can be sold to Paraguayans in exchange for the much-needed female population and balance the Chinese male-female ratio.