Chapter 131: The peace talks are completed and the initial stability
Thanks to Yun Hai Shu You Shi Tong Zhou classmates for the reward!
Santa Catarina has a population of about 70,000. After the war broke out, some local white residents chose to leave Santa Catarina and went to the rear state of Paraná because of fear of the Chinese Independence Army. They fought for nearly a month and stayed in Brazil.
There were less than 40,000 people, and the rest of the population either left or entered the prisoner-of-war camps of the Chinese Independence Army.
Compared with the occupation of Rio Grande do Sul, the Chinese Independence Army suffered greater losses when marching into Santa Catarina State. By the time the troops advancing north of Foz do Iguazú encountered the Brazilian garrison, the Chinese Independence Army suffered a total of 2,600 casualties, including those in the offensive.
The local Brazilian army suffered 2,000 casualties, and the remaining 600 were soldiers attacked and injured by local Brazilians in small-scale conflicts.
The forced expulsion of local residents in Rio Grande do Sul by the Chinese Independence Army caused panic and anger among Brazilians in Santa Catarina State. In order to protect their land and property, a large number of young Brazilians formed small armed groups to attack the scattered troops of the Chinese Independence Army.
, forcing the Chinese Independence Army to send a large number of troops to maintain security in the occupied areas.
After bidding farewell to Liu Pu and other people who participated in the negotiations, Li Mingyuan devoted his energy to the encirclement and suppression operations to clean up the local rebel forces.
After experiencing the experience of encircling and suppressing the guerrilla forces in Rio Grande do Sul, Li Mingyuan had clear goals and pertinence when facing the resistance elements in Santa Catarina.
First of all, the leaders of the resistance forces are mainly the local big landowners. When the Chinese Independence Army marched into Santa Catarina State, they were the ones whose interests suffered the most, while those who participated in the fighting were the lower class whites and landless Indians.
He was hired by local large landowners and fought against the Chinese Independence Army.
As for the local landlords who dare to resist, there is nothing to say to eliminate them and deprive them of all their land and property. As for the low-level Brazilians who have no money or water, Li Mingyuan has already thought of a way to deal with them, pulling in groups and beating them up.
Those who took the initiative to report and expose the rebels pardoned their punishment and rewarded them with land wealth, while those Brazilians who chose to fight the Chinese Independence Army to the end were completely eliminated, shocking the ordinary residents of the occupied areas.
With a big stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, after wiping out several relatively powerful rebel forces, Li Mingyuan stopped the policy of maliciously expelling local residents, and then assured the remaining Brazilians that if you report the rebels around you, your land wealth will not only be
If you keep it safe, you can also get rewards from the Chinese Independence Army.
After the new policy was revised, although local residents did not report the rebels on a large scale, the security environment in Santa Catarina State has improved a lot. The land wealth of the local residents has been guaranteed, and they have seen batches of rebels being executed.
It was decided that most people did not dare to risk their lives to help the rebels. As time went by, the rebels who lost the support of local residents became more and more miserable. Each rebel force was surrounded and exterminated by the closely encircled and suppressed forces. Some had second thoughts.
The rebels who wanted to surrender voluntarily surrendered to the Chinese Independence Army, guided the encirclement and suppression troops to find the rebels' hiding place, and then killed them all.
The siege and suppression operation that lasted for more than 20 days came to an end with the surrender of the last rebel forces, and the local residents who suffered from turmoil and fear gradually returned to normal life.
More than 20 days of security operations resulted in the elimination and capture of more than 2,000 local Brazilians related to the rebellion. Half of the more than 2,000 people were Brazilians who directly participated in the rebellion, and the rest were local residents who provided help to the rebels.
It would not work to capture the rebels and then put them directly into concentration camps for labor like in Rio Grande do Sul, because Brazil had sent news through the British to protest against the Chinese Independence Army's suppression of ordinary residents. Due to the pressure from Brazil and the British, Li Mingyuan chose to do something
A compromise was made that the rebels would not be treated as prisoners of war, but as a punishment for participating in the rebellion, all their land would be confiscated and they would be forcibly sent out of the state of Santa Catarina.
Two thousand rebels were expelled, and the population originally living in Santa Catarina was reduced again. The Indians and a small number of black slaves were swept away, leaving less than 30,000 whites and mixed Indians and whites.
Catalina's population dropped to an extremely low level.
The forced expulsion of local residents led to resistance from the Brazilians in the controlled area and strong protests from the Brazilian Empire. However, for Li Mingyuan, these costs were worth it. Only by expelling most of the locals could the Chinese occupy the majority. The rule of the Chinese Independence Army
Only the foundation can be stable.
The numerous security operations were over, and the negotiation team represented by Liu Pu also returned from Brazil, bringing news about the conclusion of the negotiations.
The negotiation was not smooth sailing. Representatives of the five parties bargained over the contents of the agreement one by one. It took half a month to finally reach an agreement that was reluctantly accepted by all parties. There were eight articles in the agreement related to the Chinese Independence Army, as follows:
1 The Brazilian Empire agreed that the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina would be owned by the Chinese Independence Army, and the area south of Iguassogue was controlled by the Chinese Independence Army. The sovereignty issue was temporarily put on hold, and the remaining controlled areas were returned to the Brazilian Empire.
The front lines delineate the border lines.
2 Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina were merged into the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul. The Principality of Rio Grande do Sul joined the Brazilian Empire and became an indivisible and sacred territory of the Brazilian Empire. At the same time, the Brazilian Empire did not interfere in the internal affairs of the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul.
, allowing the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul to be autonomous.
3. The release of Brazilian soldiers captured in previous battles shall be completed within one month.
4. Stop evicting local white people and let the white people decide whether to leave. If the local white people choose to leave, the Chinese Independence Army needs to pay compensation based on land property and no less than 50% of the converted value of the property.
5. The Brazilian Empire lifted its blockade against the Chinese, and the Chinese Independence Army could purchase needed commodities and supplies from Brazil.
6 The Chinese Independence Army promised not to conclude military treaties against Brazil with Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia.
7 The Chinese independent military returned ten Brazilian navy sailing warships and twelve gunboats,
8. The five countries participating in the peace talks granted Britain free navigation rights on rivers within their respective areas of control and gave British merchants the most favorable business rights.
The territorial issue in the eight-article peace negotiation agreement was the core of Li Mingyuan's concern. Preserving the territorial sovereignty of the two states and the actual control south of the Iguazu Basin just reached the bottom line of the peace negotiation. The establishment of the Principality of Rio Grande do Sul under the Brazilian Empire, although it did not achieve
Independence, but the actual control of the two states is still in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army. As for the restrictions imposed by the Brazilian Empire on the Chinese Independence Army in the name of national sovereignty, Li Mingyuan is not too worried. The Chinese Independence Army continues to maintain sufficient combat effectiveness and deterrence.
Naturally, the Brazilian Empire does not dare to act rashly, and establishing an independent country is not a problem. If the strength of its own independent army declines, Brazil will have plenty of excuses to deal with the Chinese, so it does not care about one more excuse.
After carefully reading all the contents of the agreement, Li Mingyuan smiled and said, "Brother Liu has worked hard and reached a peace agreement with the Brazilians. He has made a great contribution to the Chinese Independence Army. I will give a banquet to reward Brother Liu."
"The prince is overly praised. The agreement was reached only because the brothers had beaten the Brazilians so hard that they were willing to give in and compromise. Otherwise, relying on the next person alone would not be of much use."
Liu Pu's words were modest, but his eyes showed a look of satisfaction and joy.
After encouraging Liu Pu for a few words, Li Mingyuan began to ask questions related to the peace talks.
"The Brazilian Empire sees itself as the dominant hegemon in South America. Isn't it easy to get them to recognize the Chinese Independence Army's sovereignty over the two southern states?"
"Indeed, the initial request made by the Brazilian representative was to recognize that only Rio Grande do Sul belongs to us, and all other areas belong to Brazil.
The Brazilian was trying to save face and refused to compromise, and his subordinates were naturally not polite to him. They immediately stated at the negotiation table that the Chinese Independence Army would not give up an inch of the occupied land. If the Brazilians did not agree, the Chinese Independence Army would continue
Moving forward, naval forces will also bombard the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro."
"Negotiation is just bargaining. Our military strength is temporarily superior. It would be a waste not to use our military's advantage to force the Brazilians to bow." Li Mingyuan nodded in agreement.
"Haha, I felt angry for a moment when I said this." Liu Pu smiled and continued, "The Brazilian representative listened to my words through the interpreter and immediately threatened to launch a counterattack against our army and clamored to drive out the Chinese Independence Army.
The land of Brazil. Looking at his angry look, it seems that Brazil is the winner.
The Brazilian representative refused to let go. Based on the agreement reached with the representatives of Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia in advance, his subordinates took a unified stance to strongly refute the conditions proposed by the Brazilians.
The Brazilian representatives did not gain an advantage in the initial negotiations. During the intermission, they tried to break through each one and negotiated privately with representatives of the other three countries. However, because Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru also understood that now was not the time to split, they did not reach an agreement with the Brazilians privately.
"
No one who can take charge of a country is a fool. Seeing that victory is about to be achieved, even if there are various conflicts among the four forces, they still need to unite when facing a common enemy. Li Mingyuan understands this truth, and the three Peruvian countries also understand it.
"There was no agreement at the negotiating table for more than ten days. The British first intervened with the Brazilians and forced Brazil to cancel its unreasonable demands. Then we, Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia also lowered their demands and finally reached an agreement.
Peru and Bolivia gave up half of their occupied land to Brazil, while Paraguay retained the western part of Mato Grosso state. In exchange, Brazil provided Paraguay with some food supplies to alleviate Paraguay's domestic food shortage."
After introducing the content of the peace talks between the three countries and Brazil, Liu Pu took out a note from his body and said happily, "In order to acquire the two southern states and the area south of the Iguazu River, my subordinates transferred other occupied areas and prisoners, and some warships.
Give to Brazil.
Our army surrendered a large number of benefits to facilitate the success of the peace talks. It is impossible to only obtain land control rights on the surface, and some agreements were signed in private, all on this piece of paper."
Li Mingyuan took the paper, quickly read the content above, and said, "We will not suffer any loss by exchanging sugar and grain for sail warships. As long as the ironclad ships are in our hands, maritime security can be guaranteed. As for transporting Chinese workers from Cuba in the name of Brazilians,
Isn’t it inappropriate?”
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, although the Chinese laborers are being transported in the name of Brazilians, our own people will be dispatched to each transport ship to monitor the entire process. The exchange of prisoners of war and the transportation of Chinese laborers will be carried out in batches. The Brazilians will transport a shipload of Chinese laborers, and we will hand over a batch of prisoners of war.
"
The Chinese Independence Army has temporarily settled down, but it is not easy to directly trade Chinese labor with the Spanish colonies, so finding a third party as an intermediary is a last resort at this stage.
There are many prisoners of war in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army. The Brazilians hope to return the prisoners of war to increase Brazil's national defense strength. With the supervision of the Chinese soldiers on board, the safety of the Chinese workers can be guaranteed.