Near Santa Maria, after a brief mopping up battle, the Brazilian residents in the town gave up their resistance. Five to six hundred men, women, and children lined up in two lines and gathered in the open space outside the town under the supervision of Chinese soldiers, waiting for the Chinese troops.
arrangements for them.
After returning from the meeting in Porto Alegre, Luo Linshan immediately threw himself into the plan to expel the Brazilian residents.
The war has stopped, and the field troops of the Chinese Independence Army, which has been fighting for a long time, lack of repairs and replenishment of attrited soldiers. In the days after arriving in Porto Alegre, three field divisions and two mixed brigades were repaired on the spot, and outstanding performers were selected from the garrison.
The soldiers replenished the reduced number of troops, and most of the field army soldiers were given the opportunity to repair. Only Luolinshan's Fourth Division, Li Dawei's Cavalry Brigade and Guards Brigade soldiers still insisted on tactical training. Among the three troops, the Guards Brigade was responsible for guarding Li Mingyuan.
and the Chinese Independence Army Headquarters, training was never slackened at any time, while the Fourth Division and the Cavalry Brigade conducted tactical training in order to carry out mopping up operations against Brazilian residents.
Rio Grande do Sul has a vast territory. Half of the Brazilian residents live in castles such as Porto Alegre and Santa Maria, while the other half live scattered around the plains and mountains in the countryside.
Before the main force of the Chinese Independence Army arrived in Rio Grande do Sul, large castle settlements such as Erechim, Bage, and Santa María were occupied by small detachments arranged by Luo Linshan. There were many Brazilian residents in the large castles, and the local garrison
The Chinese detachment can stabilize the local situation. To expel the white Brazilians in the large castle, only a part of the soldiers from Porto Alegre need to be dispatched to cooperate with the local garrison to complete the task. However, it is troublesome to deal with the Brazilian residents scattered in the countryside.
There are many rural areas far away from the core areas of rule such as castles. The white Brazilians living there are the descendants of poor European immigrants. They need to face the attacks of Indians and diseases from the remnants of the mountains and forests, and the intrusion of wild beasts. The cruel living environment aggravates their survival.
The difficulty also tempered their will to live in adversity. For these poor white people who lingered outside the core of the rule, the Portuguese rulers would deliberately ignore their existence and not collect taxes from them.
The Brazilian residents in the countryside are wild and difficult to train. They were among the armed forces that attacked the local garrison of the Chinese troops some time ago. Luo Linshan, who had suffered from their secret losses, did not dare to be careless in the face of the orders issued by Li Mingyuan. After returning to the military camp, he invited Li Dawei
Discuss specific strategies for dealing with Brazilian residents with the staff in the army.
In fact, before returning, Li Mingyuan had generally arranged a mopping-up operation. Relying on important strongholds such as Barge, Erechim, and Santa Maria, the entire Rio Grande do Sul state was divided into several combat areas. Each combat area deployed
A certain number of troops were stationed, and then the main force was concentrated to wipe out the recalcitrant Brazilian residents one by one according to the pre-demarcated battle zone.
To control important strongholds, relocate Brazilian residents in combat areas, and immigrate Chinese for occupation and construction, Li Mingyuan gave Luo Linshan a general strategic arrangement and an early placement plan for Chinese soldiers in the occupied area. However, in practice, Luo Linshan found that it was not so
easy.
Occupying strongholds, dividing combat areas, how many soldiers should be stationed in each combat area, and how to ensure that the surrounded Brazilian residents in the combat area will not flow and flee are all problems Luo Linshan faces.
The number of troops used to carry out mopping up operations is limited. Luo Linshan needs to arrange the troops at hand as well as possible to complete the task of expelling Brazilian residents within a month.
The raids on Brazilian residents and the resettlement of Chinese soldiers were carried out in sequence. Here, the raiding forces occupied and expelled the Brazilian residents in an area. The Chinese would quickly follow up and use the houses and production tools left by the Brazilian residents for production and construction.
An army that only robs but does not produce will only become a rogue armed force. The Chinese Independence Army relied on plundering and capturing the enemy's weapons and supplies in its early mobile operations to grow and develop. However, a mature army will inevitably need its own stable base and supporting troops.
Military factories and logistics supply centers that update equipment.
The Chinese Independence Army has all soldiers, with a total strength of 100,000. The 100,000 troops have made huge gains in the battles to encircle and suppress the main force in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Muskets, artillery, livestock, and food have filled the logistics supply base of the Chinese Independence Army. However,
No matter how much supplies there are, one day they will be used up. The fierce fighting of 100,000 troops quickly consumes the captured weapons and ammunition. During the long journey of thousands of miles, a large amount of food and weapons had to be abandoned halfway because of the difficult mountain roads.
After defeating the main force of the Brazilian army, the Chinese Independence Army reached its strongest period. At this time, it did not seem impossible to occupy the three southern states of Brazil and even swallow up the state of Sao Paulo. However, on the surface of the strong virtue of the Chinese Independence Army
However, there are huge hidden dangers hidden underneath. The field army's non-combat attrition is serious, and weapons, ammunition and other logistical materials are exhausted. It is just because of a huge victory that these flaws and deficiencies are covered up. If Li Mingyuan is dazzled by the victory and temporarily changes the operation
The purpose is to continue to attack other areas in southern Brazil. The Chinese Independence Army will fall into a desperate situation of going deep alone and running out of ammunition. Therefore, after noticing the hidden dangers within the Chinese Independence Army, Li Mingyuan gave up the plan to pursue the remaining troops of Garcia and quickly reached an agreement with Lopez Jr.
, thus leading the troops to enter Rio Grande do Sul.
Weapons and ammunition were in short supply, and food was only enough to supply the Chinese Independence Army for a few months. It was no longer appropriate for the Chinese in South America to continue to maintain the method of all-people soldiers, so they abolished the old and weak soldiers in the army and then relocated them to the newly occupied areas for production and construction.
Li Mingyuan has to consider major issues.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the number of Chinese is about 135,000, and the number of first- and second-line soldiers engaged in combat reaches 108,000. Among these soldiers, in addition to leaving the main force of 40,000 field troops and forming the newly established naval force, most of them
Some soldiers need to be disbanded to carry out production and construction and to train militia and garrison troops. The disbanded soldiers usually carry out production and construction like the old and weak Chinese. During the off-season, they are called up for tactical training and are responsible for guarding the place and assisting the main force in combat.
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Li Mingyuan has completed the short-term plan for Rio Grande do Sul. The rest of the work naturally needs to be carried out by subordinate officers and civil affairs officials like Luo Linshan. The first step in developing Rio Grande do Sul is to clear out Brazilian residents for the Chinese soldiers who need to be resettled.
Step by step, Li Mingyuan gave Luo Linshan this seemingly simple but actually very difficult task to complete successfully. This was not only a test for him, but also a sign of his respect.
Luo Linshan was not a remnant of the Taiping Army. He had stayed in South America for a long time and was more familiar with the living habits and combat methods of white people in South America than the senior generals who were born in the Taiping Army. In addition, he had outstanding achievements in leading the Chinese labor uprising in history.
His commanding ability made Li Mingyuan feel more at ease in entrusting him with the task of raiding Brazilian residents.
Pressure will encourage people to activate their hidden abilities. After being assigned a task that was difficult to execute by Li Mingyuan, Luo Linshan, Li Dawei and a group of staff discussed it, combined their suggestions and their own improvements, and finally formulated a detailed and reliable mopping-up plan.
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Using Santa Maria as the dividing line, Rio Grande do Sul is divided into the northern and southern parts. Two combat areas, Barge and Rio Grande, are set up in the south. A security brigade is stationed in each to serve as a garrison force to prevent raids in the area.
Brazilian residents moved and fled: the northern region was divided into two combat areas with Caxias Sur and Erechim as the central strongholds. Each of them also stationed a security brigade, while Luo Linshan and Li Dawei led the main force of the Fourth Division and the cavalry brigade to station in San Juan.
Maria, isolated the two units in the southern part of Rio Grande do Sul, and at the same time sent reconnaissance cavalry to detect the hiding places of Brazilian residents. Once the hiding places of Brazilian residents were reported in their respective combat areas, a mixture of infantry and horseback troops composed of cavalry and soldiers of the 4th Division
The troops will launch an encirclement and suppression campaign to surround the area where the Brazilian residents are hiding, and then launch a blanket search to prevent any Brazilian resident from escaping the encirclement.
A large-scale and detailed mopping-up operation was carried out intensively under the command of Luo Linshan. On the fifth day of the operation, a rural settlement near Bage was discovered by Chinese reconnaissance cavalry. Subsequently, the mopping up troops surrounded the settlement and captured eight people.
Hundreds of Brazilian residents, the sixth day, the seventh day, the tenth day... As the security forces were deployed and the blockade composed of patrol cavalry became increasingly tight, Brazilian residents hiding in the countryside were constantly discovered and captured, and on the thirty-first day
On the same day, the last Brazilian settlement was discovered near Santa Maria, and the month-long sweep came to an end.
