In June 1865, Chilian, the atmosphere inside the Provisional Government Headquarters, the former City Hall Building, seemed a bit tense.
"Okay, everyone knows the situation now,"
Pedro Leon Gallo, who was sitting at the head of the table, frowned and said.
"Just a few hours ago, company representatives informed us that they can no longer fund us! In other words, from now on, we are on our own!"
"Damn it, they think we have no use value!"
"Yes, it must be that their railway is about to be opened to traffic, that's why they refuse to fund us. Damn it, I have already told those businessmen that they cannot be trusted..."
For a time, there were many different opinions in the conference room. Everyone was accusing America Company of betrayal. Of course, they also had their own calculations in mind, and the core issue was——
How long can they last.
In fact, America will give up its support for them at some point.
This is no secret.
The reason why the American Company or the King of South China initially supported them was to contain Santiago and to gain time.
In the past four years, they have been working day and night to build the railway. Once the railway is completed and Nanhua and Araucanía are connected, the company's assistance may be suspended.
In the past, they were able to persist because of the arms and other supplies provided by the company. Without the military assistance provided by the company, they would not have been able to persist for four years.
The four-year civil war cost both sides more than 80,000 casualties. Of course, as politicians, they didn’t care about this at all. Compared to the deaths of ordinary soldiers, these politicians cared more about their power.
But now, their power seems to have come to an end!
“No matter what, we must lobby companies to continue funding us!”
Pedro Leon Gallo stood up and said.
"If we want to convince them, we must give them a reason to fund us. We must use our actions to tell them that we are capable and will definitely be able to capture Santiago! So, just two hours ago, I ordered the Secretary of War
Go to the front line in person and urge the army to attack Santiago. We will concentrate all our forces to completely defeat Santiago!"
While the meeting was going on, Major Saniatu, who was outside the interim government headquarters building, looked at the conference room quietly. Occasionally, he would also look at the pocket watch in his hand.
Time is passing little by little.
"God bless everything..."
Almost at the moment Major Saniatu's words fell, suddenly, several loud noises suddenly sounded from the conference room, and the smoke of the explosion spurted out from the window, the window collapsed, and the glass fragments even flew dozens of meters.
.
"..."
Even though he had been prepared for it, Major Saniatu was still dumbfounded. This bomb was too powerful.
Amid the screams of panic, Major Saniatu hurriedly fled the government headquarters, but he did not escape far. Just when he was about to escape from the city, he was arrested outside the city. Also arrested at the same time was the clockmaker.
Alfred.
However, this seems to be too late.
Their bombs killed almost all the senior officials of the provisional government, and chaos was almost inevitable in Qilian City.
When the explosion occurred, outside the city of Curico in northern Chilian, a troop was marching north. Both officers and soldiers were wearing green clothes and white trousers, which are the uniforms of the Chilean Southern Army. Among the marching troops, since
There are infantry and artillery, and the artillery unit even has a dozen horse-drawn heavy artillery.
Those are 120mm Albanian siege guns produced by Nanhua. Last year, as part of the military aid, six were provided to the Provisional Government. They were sent to the battlefield last year and played an extremely important role. However, they weighed more than 3,500 kilograms.
The heavy artillery was extremely inconvenient to transport on the battlefield and required up to twelve horses to pull it, so it was only used in siege warfare.
Now six A-type siege guns appeared at the same time. It didn't take a guess to tell that a war was about to break out.
This 4,000-man army was the army led by Bernardo Riquelme. Ever since he left Curico, he had been a little absent-minded, not thinking about the upcoming attack.
Instead, I am thinking about another thing - why Nanhua suddenly suspended its assistance, and how this is inevitably related to the upcoming opening of the railway.
"Is that guy really planning to give up on Calvary?"
The "that guy" in his mouth is none other than Zhu Xianhai. Now he is extremely dissatisfied with "that guy", not only because he has repeatedly refused to send troops north, but also because of another reason - his sister Maria, Maria gave that guy
The guy gave birth to a baby, but so what?
They still haven't held a wedding. He doesn't care about the name of brother-in-law. He cares about his sister's happiness. Is that guy going to let his sister spend his life as his lover?
"When Santiago is captured, no matter what, I have to make that guy give an explanation to my sister!"
Pursing his lips, Bernardo Riquelme looked at the north with expectation in his eyes.
Capture Santiago!
If he can capture Santiago, he will become the biggest contributor to the provisional government. By then, what can even the so-called "ruler" of Calvary do? We can only watch helplessly as he takes his place.
Military victory!
It is the best shortcut to the political arena, and all Bernardo Riquelme needs is victory. Unfortunately, the population in the south is too small and the troops are limited. Otherwise, how could this war continue?
Four years.
"No matter what, all this has to be..."
Just as Bernardo Riquelme was thinking about this, a messenger came over in a hurry.
"Mr. Minister, Mr. Minister, a telegram from Qilian!"
However, after taking a brief look at the contents of the telegram, Bernardo Riquelme's face turned pale, and he screamed.
"How can this be!"
"What? What happened? General?"
Colonel William asked.
"Qilian..."
Bernardo Riquelme said fearfully.
"Qilian has been attacked! The government headquarters has been attacked. The life and death of the governor and ministers are currently unknown..."
"What? Qilian was attacked? The ruler's life and death are unknown?"
Colonel William screamed.
"This is impossible. Did they grow wings and fly over?"
After screaming, he said again.
"General, we must block the news immediately, otherwise it will definitely cause panic on the front line!"