Just after the New Year of 1870, Argentina... no, in fact, Argentina was destroyed, whether Argentines were willing to face it or not.
Argentina as a country no longer exists, and even in a legal sense it never existed.
From the day of their independence, conflicts between the provinces and Buenos Aires never ceased, and the so-called Argentine Confederation was divided most of the time.
Almost immediately after completing the attack on the province of Buenos Aires, the attack on the other provinces was launched at the same time. Compared with the stubborn resistance of Buenos Aires, the resistance of the other provinces was almost insignificant.
Almost at the same time that the South China Army and Navy were moving upstream along the Paraná River, Marchisa, a small town in Entre Rio Province, announced its surrender.
Betrayal during the evacuation of Buenos Aires, some other provinces expressed their surrender.
January and February passed one after another, and everywhere in the provinces of Argentina looked miserable, rainy, foggy, and gloomy. The demise of the country made people's hearts gloomy.
What is different from other places is that in Posadas, in this land occupied by Argentina, in the past two months, people here have always looked elated when talking about Argentina's disastrous defeat.
This land once belonged to Paraguay, and the people here once fought desperately. After Argentina occupied this land, almost all the women here wore mourning clothes. In the cemetery outside the city, there are rows of soldier graves.
Women's fathers, husbands, brothers and sons. Of course they will not cry or grieve over the demise of the Argentinian people!
Whenever they read about "invaders" occupying a certain city in the newspapers, they always wait with anticipation for the arrival of the "Avengers".
"Thank God that Nanhua punished the damn Argentines!"
In markets and churches, those hostile women would always curse Argentines like this.
Being in a hostile city, Major General Pedro's heart was heavy. As the occupier of this land, he never thought that Argentina would perish. Like many officers, he had already gained a lot of money in the province.
of land—land taken from the defeated Paraguayans.
"General, once the South Chinese occupy this area, you will definitely lose everything!"
Sitting in front of Pedro, Colonel Mathos said in a relaxed tone.
As the special envoy of General Inacio da Fonseca, he knew exactly what Pedro and the officers in his unit were worried about - land.
"General, where did you get your land? It was from the dead Paraguayans. We occupied this place, we got the land here, this is war!"
What is war?
It’s plundering, it’s robbery of wealth!
In the war everything was lost, the resisters were killed on the battlefield, and the land belonging to the officers became the wealth of the invaders.
Pedro did not deny everything Colonel Masos said. How could he not know? A few years ago, he only owned a small piece of land, but in this war, he not only became a high-ranking official,
He also became the largest landowner in the province, and his subordinates also became landlords. These lands came from there and were plundered through war.
"The winner has everything, General."
Matos' words made Pedro think for a moment, and then said.
"If I surrender, I believe they will allow me to keep my property. Little Marchisa and the others surrendered and kept all their property."
"That's only temporary, General!"
Mathos sneered.
"Perhaps they will let you keep those lands temporarily, but you have to know that the people of Nanhua are from China. They speak a completely different language from us, and their appearance is also completely different. After they occupy this place, how can they
Are we allowed to continue to have all this? They will definitely use all means to take away the wealth that belongs to us, just like we once took away the wealth that belonged to the indigenous people."
As a colonist, or a descendant of a colonizer, Pedro certainly knew what had happened on this land. Because of this, he seemed a little unsure, but he never thought about fighting against Nanhua.
After all, he had less than 2,000 soldiers under his command.
"We don't have the power to stop them, Colonel, that's a well-known fact."
"General, this land once belonged to Paraguay, and even now it still belongs to Paraguay legally, including the Chaco region of course. This is not Argentine land, but Paraguay's. We can completely deny them entry into this land!
"
Mathos said with a smile.
"Even if Nanhua is the winner, what qualifications do they have to enter this land that we also sacrificed to capture?"
us!
Mathos repeatedly emphasized "we" when speaking. What is we?
Aren't they Brazilians?
They must have taken a liking to this land too!
Pedro's heart was like a mirror. They absolutely did not want Nanhua to occupy this land, so General Inacio da Fonseca sent him here.
"Is this what General Inacio da Fonseca meant?"
Pedro asked.
"This is the intention of His Majesty the Emperor. Brazil will never allow the land occupied by the blood of Brazilian soldiers to be occupied by the South Chinese. We believe that with the demise of Argentina, only Brazil will be able to hold peace talks with Paraguay in the future. As for South China...he
If you have never participated in this war, what qualifications do you have to negotiate for peace and obtain these lands?"
The emperor that Masos spoke of was the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II. Faced with the demise of Argentina, after several discussions, the Brazilian high-level officials made the decision that was most beneficial to Brazil - refusing to accept South China's ownership of Argentina.
occupy the areas and exclude them from the peace talks.
In other words, Brazil's purpose is very simple, that is, it wants to monopolize the fruits of victory. In the past, the existence of Argentina hindered their ability to monopolize it, but now it is different.
"What about us?"
After knowing that this was the emperor's intention, Pedro finally breathed a sigh of relief. With Brazil as his backer, the problem naturally became much simpler.
"General, you and your men will still be stationed on this land, and you will continue to own everything here. In the future, this will become a part of Brazil, and General, you will become an officer of the Brazilian Army,"
It is very simple to persuade these Argentine officers to cooperate. It is nothing more than giving them benefits. Now Argentina as a country has perished. These Argentines have no choice at all. They can either surrender to South China or submit to Brazil.
For these Argentine officers, surrendering to South China is full of too many uncertainties. But surrendering to Brazil is different. They can continue to serve as Brazilian officers and lead their troops to be stationed here. They and their families can be the same as in the past.
They will also enjoy the glory and wealth in this land, and eventually they will become the rulers of this land.
"Colonel, you should know that if those people want to come, we have no power to stop them."
Pedro knows that he has no better choice, but he will never serve as cannon fodder for the Brazilians. Maybe he can surrender to the Brazilians, but he will never die in vain to defend this land.
Pedro's reminder made Mathos smile.
"You don't need to come forward to stop them. After all, this is Paraguay's land."
"Paraguayan land? Let the Paraguayans stop Nanhua? This is simply impossible. Those people can't wait for Nanhua's army to rush in and kill us all."
Faced with Pedro's rebuttal, Mathos said.
"Don't forget, we are now the protectors of the Paraguayans! Of course we must fulfill our responsibilities - we must prevent South China from invading Paraguay."
This chapter has been completed!