Chapter 263: Guano war broke out

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The time entered the end of 1878. In the South American continent, after years of peace in Bolivia and Chile, due to a premeditated sneak attack, they inevitably went to the brink of war.
On December 7, 1878, the Chilean government did not declare war and suddenly sent troops to occupy Antofagasta. The next day, the Bolivian government declared war on Chile. At the same time, the Peruvian government announced military operations in accordance with the alliance agreement signed with Bolivia. General mobilization, and officially declared war on Chile on December 10.
History made a small turn at this moment because of changes in the comparison of the strengths of the South American regions. On the one hand, Bolivia and Peru, which are hostile to Chile, rely on Paraguay and Han. The overall strength is much stronger than in history. In terms of the influence of the sudden rise of foreign forces in the Han Dynasty, the British government strengthened its support to the Chilean military government in order to protect its commercial interests in South America, which greatly improved Chile ’s military strength, especially its naval strength.
Chile has a narrow land area and lacks the strategic depth of long-term confrontation with hostile nations. It is very vulnerable to maritime threats from other countries. Therefore, in order to eliminate the adverse effects brought by the distribution of land area, the Chilean government takes the development of the navy as the main task of military construction.
Since the 1870s, the Chilean Navy has maintained an advantageous position over the navies of Peru and Bolivia. Before 1868, the tonnage of the main naval vessels of the Chilean Navy remained at a level that exceeded the combined tonnage of the two ships of Peru and Bolivia. During the ten years of 1878, the British and French technologies for building iron armored ships became more and more mature. The Chilean government relied on abundant financial funds derived from the export of mineral resources to customize large-scale iron armored ships from the United Kingdom and heavy artillery and other warships and weapons equipped with iron armored ships. By 1878, At the end of the year, the tonnage of the Chilean navy reached 2.5 times the combined tonnage of the two navies of Peru and Bolivia, which is 0.5 times higher than the original historical data. In the comparison of maritime strength, the Chilean navy undoubtedly occupies Overwhelming advantage.
The Chilean government took the initiative to take advantage of the inadequate combat readiness of Bolivia and Peru to preemptively occupy Antofagasta and gain tactical initiative. At the same time, while the Peru and Bolivia declared war, the Chilean Navy was in a vacuum of power. On February 12, the shelling of the secret Peruvian fortress Iquique forced the Iquique garrison to shrink into the fortress and was unable to support the Peruvian army stationed in the northern Atacama Desert.
On December 14, the Chilean Navy left an old iron armored ship to continue to block the Iquique fortress. The main fleet moved south to cooperate with the Chilean Army's landing in Tocopia. After learning that the Chilean navy's main southward news, it stayed in Tocopia. After discussing with the commander of the fortress garrison, the Bolivian naval fleet commander led the fleet away from Tocopía that night, and was lucky to escape the siege of the Chilean Navy and successfully evacuated to Peru's southern port of Mojendo the next day. And merge with the Peruvian naval fleet there.
The Bolivian naval fleet is weak, and the Bolivian navy that has lost its port base poses limited threats to the Chilean navy. Therefore, after missing the opportunity to laugh at the Bolivian naval fleet, the Chilean navy's main fleet did not continue to search for each other's whereabouts, but continued according to the original plan Head south and reach your destination on the morning of the 15th.
Tocopia is located at the junction of Bolivia and Peru. It is the main copper and saltpeter producing area in the Atacama Desert. After the fall of Antofagasta, Tocopia became the last estuary of Bolivia, so In the face of the attack by the Chilean army and the sea, the Bolivian government on the one hand ordered Tocopia's garrison to stay on standby, while on the other hand ordered the neighboring forces to quickly relax, while the Chilean army was supported by the naval fleet's fire, but because of the The strong fortifications of the Fortress of Copia and the stubborn resistance of the Bolivian garrison, although the army launched several attacks without remembering casualties, it failed to capture the opponent's core position. After the initial smooth progress, the battle quickly entered Brutal stalemate of bloodshed.
On December 16, nine days after the outbreak of the war between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, after browsing the intelligence gathered from all parties, the look on Li Mingyuan's face became dignified.
The rise of the Han nation in South America has shaken the trend of historical development. Because of the existence of the Han nation in South America, the outbreak of the guano war has been advanced more than two months. The Chilean navy has obtained an absolute maritime advantage in the early days of the war, although the Bolivian navy It escaped the siege of the Chilean Navy, but the Bolivian Navy, which is at a disadvantage in terms of overall strength, is still not an opponent of the Chilean Navy, even if added to the Peruvian Navy.
The significance of the existence of the navy is to maintain the maritime lifeline of a country. Compared with the Chilean navy, the navies of Peru and Bolivia not only lag in the performance of their warships, but also the overall tonnage of the warships is far lower than the other. In this case, the Chilean navy casually By sending half of the warships, the navies of the two countries can be blocked in the port, and a navy that cannot go to sea loses its existence. It can neither cooperate with the army to protect the security of the coastal areas, nor can it oppose the enemy. The maritime transport of the other side threatened. Such a fleet would either be trapped in the port and wait for the end of the war and let the other party dispose of it. Or it would take the risk to attack and annihilate the entire army in the battle with the Chilean Navy.
Bolivia and Peru ’s navies are not what Li Mingyuan hopes to see. In the original history, it was precisely because of the defeat of the Peruvian and Bolivian navies that the Chilean side completely controlled the sea, allowing the Chilean army to attack Peru and Bolivia at will through warships. Any area along the coast led to the defeat of Peru and Bolivia.
If the Chilean navy successfully destroys the Peruvian and Bolivian naval fleets, forcing the two countries to surrender in advance and admit defeat, Chile, which is drawn out, is likely to form an alliance with Argentina with the support of the British and resist Han against Argentina. Offense.
The Chilean people will not understand the reason for the cold, and because the British boss is behind them, Chile and even Brazil may have a knife on the back of the Han country when they attack Argentina, resulting in the Han occupation of Argentina. Great variable.
The La Plata Plain is the foundation of a great country. Although the risks of occupying Argentina and Uruguay are huge, as long as the Han country successfully swallows the two countries, the Han country will have soaring capital and the South American Chinese will also have a stable rear. Therefore, therefore, the actions of Raiders Argentina and Uruguay cannot be cancelled due to changes in external factors, and there are only two options before Li Mingyuan in order to solve the challenges brought about by Chile ’s initiation of the guano war.
First: wait until all combat readiness is completed ~ EbookFREE.me ~ to launch the offensive in accordance with the original plan.
Secondly: carry out the operation of Raiders Argentina in advance, taking advantage of the unbeaten opportunity of the war between Chile, Bolivia and Peru to occupy Argentina.
Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages. If the first option is chosen, the National Defense Force may face the forces of Argentina, Chile and even Brazil. If the second option is selected, the National Defense Force ’s combat readiness has not been completed, and an early attack may cause delays in the war. The National Defense Forces suffered heavy losses.
Li Mingyuan is not an indecisive person. If he wages a war ahead of time, he will not hesitate to make a decision as long as he can achieve the strategic goals, even if the National Defense Forces suffer heavy casualties. Then, it will be the bad luck of the family to break the country to meet Li Mingyuan and Han Dynasty.
Really in the position of the monarch of the country, I realized the difficulties before making a major decision. Li Mingyuan sat in the study room for an entire night, until it was bright, and he picked up a messy plan from the messy desk. Paper, and then firmly put a cross on the paper. With Li Mingyuan's last writing, it meant that the original combat plan was cancelled, and Han ’s attack on Argentina was also started in advance.
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