Chapter 21: Arequipa

In the early hours of the morning, Li Mingyuan was just awake and was awakened by a hasty knock.
"What's the matter?" Li Mingyuan's long life as a mercenary made Li Mingyuan wear a habit of sleeping while wearing a military coat and shoes, and Li Mingyuan opened the doorway.
"The urgent letter from Shizi, Master Li and Master Luo, please look at it."
"Notify all officers above the regiment level to go to the meeting room." After reading the letter, Li Mingyuan immediately lost his sleep and ordered.
雷 Arequipa's intelligence was an accident. Li Mingyuan's original plan was to wait for help and meet the Peruvian army in Baranga. However, the actions of Li Sandou and Rollin Hill disrupted the original plan, and everything had to be redeployed.
"That's the situation now, everybody talk about their views."
After a staff officer had finished his conviction, Li Mingyuan said.
After conquering Baranga, Li Mingyuan remembered the establishment of the staff officer system, so the day before yesterday, he appointed Liu Pu as the chief of staff of the Chinese Independent Army and recruited several flexible officers as staff officers.
"Leader Li and Teacher Luo have almost arrived in Arequipa. It is impossible to recruit them back, so we can only send troops to support them." As the newly appointed chief of staff, Liu Pu first spoke.
"Lao Li was a little impatient this time, and acted without permission to report the situation. This made the entire Chinese independent army very passive. It would be impossible to support them. Supporting them would disrupt Shizi's original deployment." Chen Guozhu said .
"Lao Chen, you can't say the same thing. The situation in Arequipa is good for us. It is the right thing for Li to make a decision to surround Arequipa. If I am in his position, I will do the same."
Zhang Ansong said rarely.
明 Li Mingyuan listened carefully to everyone's speech and considered the gains and losses of sending troops.
明 Li Mingyuan has some military minds, but his ideas are not all correct, so whenever a major event occurs, Li Mingyuan always listens to different opinions before making a decision.
There is no doubt about sending troops. The two divisions of Li Sandou and Luo Linshan have now surrounded Arequipa according to time. Now ordering them to retreat will not only hurt the morale of the Chinese soldiers, but also fight the grass and scare the snake. In the future, I want to lure the enemy It's not that easy.
明 Li Mingyuan walked to the sand table just formulated, and carefully examined the sphere of influence of the Chinese and Peru.
Arequipa is connected to the road leading to Cusco, and Puno and Kuska along the road can transport reinforcements to Arequipa. And these two places are also the concentration of heavy soldiers in Peru.
Puno has 15,000 Peruvian troops because of its proximity to Lake Titicaca, and Cusco also has 20 million troops, plus 5,000 troops in Mojendo, south of Arequipa to support Arequi. The number of troops in Palestine reaches 30,000, accounting for almost a quarter of the total number of Peruvian troops.
The Peruvian army of 30,000 people should not be underestimated, because after all, they are equipped with brand new muskets and cannons. If they use the current number and equipment of the Chinese army to fight them hard, the end result may be both.
Peru was a mining base in South America during the Spanish rule. Peruvians sold mineral resources after independence. But they made a lot of money. Rich Peruvians naturally did not treat their own army. Peru bought from the British and French. A large number of armed equipment armed soldiers, and in addition to buying arms, the Peruvians also develop their own military industry. Arequipa is the arsenal base that the Peruvians have worked hard to build, so Arequipa faces the Chinese army's attack. At that time, other Peruvian troops will definitely give their full support.
"Luo Cannon, according to the information provided by Sun Qisheng, does your artillery regiment have the confidence to win Arequipa." After thinking for a while, Li Mingyuan asked.
"Arequipa's fortifications are stronger than Baranga. If the artillery regiment wants to blast the walls, it will need to use all its artillery."
Last time when attacking Duraya, Luo Cannon did not blast the city gate, and this time he did not dare to say anything.
"How long will it take to capture Arequipa with the support of the Artillery Corps?"
"Because of the city defense of Arequipa, if you storm, you can win it in two days, but in two days, other Peruvian reinforcements will also arrive. At that time, we are likely to suffer the enemy."
Liu Pudao.
"You don't care about this, I want to know if there is any problem in winning Arequipa."
"Shizi, there is no problem in winning the city, the key is that we don't have that much time." Liu Pudao.
"No, Chief of Staff, you understand what I mean wrong. I don't plan to storm Arequipa. It is not difficult to attack the city based on all the circumstances, but we have to take great risks, but we have not failed to rise again. Capital, so decided to give up the attack on Arequipa. "
Just after Li Mingyuan's words fell, Zhang Ansong anxiously said, "Shizi, Master Li, Master Luo and 20,000 or 30,000 Chinese brothers are still waiting for us to support. If we don't go, they may be attacked by the Peruvian reinforcements. The whole army is overthrown, Shizi should think twice. "
In fact, the situation is not as serious as Zhang Ansong said, because the Peruvian reinforcements took two days from receiving the news to rushing to Arequipa, and Li Sandou would definitely not take two days from receiving a withdrawal order from the headquarters to arranging a withdrawal.
Zhang Ansong said this, on the one hand, he was worried that Li Sandou would violate Li Mingyuan's order and insist on taking down Arequipa and falling into the siege of Peruvians. On the other hand, Zhang Ansong also agreed with Li Sandou's approach.
"Since Shizi does not intend to attack Arequipa, he still sends a letter to Teacher Li to let them retreat overnight."
明 Li Mingyuan didn't plan to storm Arequipa. Liu Pu felt regret and at the same time reassured him. Although he lost a good opportunity to capture Arequipa, he could also guarantee the security of the troops.
"Shizi, no one can guarantee a certain victory in battle. In order to capture Arequipa, I don't think the military will take a little risk, and the risk of attacking Arequipa is not as great as imagined. If the Peruvian reinforcements arrive, We haven't captured the city yet, and we will retreat to Baranga and fight with them. The Heavenly Kingdom of Heaven has been guarded for eleven years. Can't so many of us still hold Baranga? "Zhang Ansong continued unswervingly.
"Uncle Zhang said the worst result, but I would not choose to do it."
Squinting Zhang Ansong, he also said that Li Mingyuan was no longer in a circle with them and laughed. "You have misunderstood me. Although I said that I would not fight Arequipa, I did not say that I would not fight Peruvian reinforcements."
Just now when looking at the sand table, Li Mingyuan suddenly thought that playing Arequipa should worry about the Peruvian reinforcements, so it is better to use the city of Arequipa as a bait, to surround the reinforcements, concentrate the superior forces, and eat the three Peruvian reinforcements separately, The city of Arequipa without reinforcements won by then.
"Shizi means siege to help?" Just now, I have been struggling with the question of whether to fight Arequipa. Liu Pu did not expect to hit the Peruvian reinforcements first.
As soon as Li Mingyuan said, the officers including Liu Puzai understood it instantly.
It was not the first initiative of a party in the later generations to sacrifice troops. Sun Weiwei rescued Zhao, and the destruction of the Wei army on the way was a familiar example. So the officers present were no stranger to siege assistance.
"Does Shizi say it early, I am frightened." Zhang Ansong said.
"Oh, I just remembered this approach." Li Mingyuan chuckled, and then said, "Mo Yando and Puno are closer to Arequipa. They will definitely dispatch the army first, so I decided to eat 20,000 people first. And then fight for reinforcements in Cusco. "
"Shizi's handwriting is very large. After eating the three-way reinforcements, Arequipa's garrison has become a cricket among them, and they can be solved without much effort." Liu Pudao.
"Yes, I'm going to fight a big battle this time. In one battle, the main forces in southern Peru will be killed, and Peruvians will have to make peace with us." Li Mingyuan said with anger.
"Shizi, after we annihilate the Peruvian reinforcements and occupy Arequipa, the weapons and equipment problems that plague the army can be resolved ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Our soldiers' combat power can also be fully exerted." Liu Pu happy.
"Liu Pu, after the occupation of Arequipa, you are responsible for protecting the military industry. There must be no mistakes."
"Humble work understands."
"Uncle Chen, Dashan, you will lead your respective troops to ambush on Moyendo's inevitable path to support Arequipa and wipe out all reinforcements."
"Observe," the two said in unison.
"Master Zhang, lead your division with the headquarters troops to ambush the enemy forces in Puno."
"Yes"
"Liu Chief of Staff, sent a letter to Chief Li, asking him to transfer Chief Luo's troops to the headquarters. He led a division and rescued Chinese workers to continue to besiege the city, and waited until we resolved the reinforcements and met with them."
"Yes."
After the mission was issued, Li Mingyuan laughed and said, "Uncle Chen, a division plus a brigade of 16,000 people will eat 5,000 Mo Yandu. No problem."
"The total strength of three to one is not enough to annihilate the Peruvians, so I twisted my head and kicked the ball for Shizi." Chen Guozhu said.
The officer on the side of him laughed when he heard what he said.
After everyone stopped laughing, Li Mingyuan said, "Our weapons and equipment are still a little different from the Peruvians, so we have to use the number advantage to make up for the shortfall, but after Peru's mobilization, the army must be more than us, so I hope you will be good. Lead the troops and wait until Arequipa is captured. With ample weapons and equipment, he will be able to outnumber the enemies, even with a dozen or three. Can you be confident? "
声道 The officer in the hall "yes" yelled.
"Very good, it is 1 a.m., and the whole army will leave in an hour."
"Yes" everyone answered, and quickly left the Chamber and rushed to the troops.