ps: Thank you all book friends for your tips. I'm sorry that something delayed me a few days ago.
Time has entered the end of 1878. In the South American continent, Bolivia and Chile, which have experienced years of peace, are inevitably on the verge of war because of a premeditated sneak attack.
On December 7, 1878, the Chilean government declared war without declaring 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 a military campaign in accordance with the alliance agreement signed with Bolivia.
General mobilization was launched, and on December 10, war was officially declared against Chile.
History has taken a small turn at this moment, because the relative strength of all parties in South America has changed drastically. On the one hand, Bolivia and Peru, which are hostile to Chile, are backed by Paraguay and Han. Their overall strength is much stronger than in history. On the other hand,
On the other hand, affected by the sudden rise of the Han Dynasty, in order to protect its commercial interests in South America, the British government strengthened its support for the Chilean military government, which greatly improved Chile's military strength, especially its naval strength.
Chile has a long and narrow land area and lacks strategic depth for long-term confrontation with hostile countries. It is easily vulnerable to maritime threats from other countries. Therefore, in order to eliminate the adverse effects brought about by the distribution of land area, the Chilean government will develop its navy as the main task of military construction.
Since the 1870s, the Chilean Navy has maintained a dominant position over the navies of Peru and Bolivia. Before 1868, the tonnage of the main warships of the Chilean Navy remained at the level of the combined tonnage of the warships of Peru and Bolivia. However, in 1868
In the ten years to 1878, the technology of building ironclads in Britain and France became more and more mature. The Chilean government relied on the abundant financial funds obtained from exporting mineral resources to customize ironclads from the UK on a large scale, as well as the heavy artillery and other warships and weapons equipped with the ironclads. By 1878
At the end of the year, the tonnage of the main warships of the Chilean Navy reached 2.5 times the total tonnage of the navies of Peru and Bolivia combined, 0.5 times higher than the original historical data. In the comparison of maritime strength, the Chilean Navy has no doubt
Occupy an overwhelming advantage.
The Chilean government took the lead and took advantage of Bolivia and Peru's lack of combat readiness to occupy Antofagasta first and gain the tactical initiative. At the same time, taking advantage of the vacuum when Peru and Bolivia declared war and assembled troops, the Chilean Navy
On December 12, shelling blocked the secret Peruvian fortress of Iquique, forcing the Iquique defenders to huddle inside the fortress and unable to provide support to the Peruvian troops stationed in the northern Atacama Desert.
On December 14, the Chilean Navy left an old ironclad ship to continue blockading the Iquique Fortress. The main fleet moved south to cooperate with the Chilean Army to land in Tocopia. After learning that the main force of the Chilean Navy was moving south, it stayed behind in Toco.
After discussing with the commander of the fortress garrison, the commander of the Bolivian navy fleet in Pia led the fleet to leave Tocopia that night, and was lucky enough to escape the encirclement of the Chilean navy, and successfully evacuated to the southern Peruvian port of Momo the next day.
Yando, where it rendezvoused with the Peruvian naval fleet.
The Bolivian naval fleet is weak, and the Bolivian navy that has lost its port base poses a limited threat to the Chilean navy. Therefore, after missing the opportunity to laugh at the Bolivian naval fleet, the main fleet of the Chilean navy did not continue to search for the opponent's whereabouts, but continued as planned.
Heading south, we arrived at our destination on the morning of the 15th.
Tocopia is located at the junction of Bolivia and Peru. It is the main copper mine and saltpeter producing area in the Atacama Desert. After the fall of Antofagasta, Tocopia became Bolivia's last outlet to the sea. Therefore,
Facing the attack of the Chilean 6th Navy, the Bolivian government on the one hand strictly ordered the Tocopia garrison to wait for reinforcements, and on the other hand ordered the neighboring troops to quickly relieve the reinforcements. Although the Chilean 6th Army received artillery support from the naval fleet, it was
The solid fortifications of Tocopia Fortress and the stubborn resistance of the Bolivian garrison meant that although the army launched several attacks regardless of casualties, it failed to capture the opponent's core position. After the initial smooth progress of the battle, the battle soon ended
Entering a brutal bloody stalemate.
On December 16, nine days after the war between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru broke out, after browsing the intelligence collected from all parties, the expression on Li Mingyuan's face became solemn.
The rise of Han in South America has stirred up the general trend of historical development. Because of the existence of Han in South America, the Guano War broke out more than two months earlier. The Chilean Navy achieved absolute maritime superiority in the early stages of the war. Although the Bolivian Navy
The Bolivian Navy, which had escaped the encirclement of the Chilean Navy, but was at a disadvantage in terms of overall strength, was still no match for the Chilean Navy even with the addition of the Peruvian Navy.
The significance of the navy's existence is to maintain a country's maritime lifeline. Compared with the Chilean navy, the navies of Peru and Bolivia not only lag behind in warship performance, but also have far lower overall tonnage than the other. In this case, the Chilean navy can easily
Sending half of the warships can block the navies of the two countries in the port, and a navy that cannot go to sea to fight has lost its due significance of existence. It can neither cooperate with the military to protect the security of coastal areas, nor can it attack
The enemy's sea transportation poses a threat. Such a fleet will either be trapped in the port and wait for the end of the war and let the other side deal with it, or it will risk an attack and be completely annihilated in a battle with the Chilean Navy.
No matter what the fate of the navies of Bolivia and Peru was, Li Mingyuan did not want to see it. 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 coastal area 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 has escaped, is likely to form an alliance with Argentina with the support of the British to resist the Chinese attack on Argentina.
attack.
Chileans will not understand the truth of lip-death and tooth-coldness, and because the British are the boss behind the scenes, Chile and even Brazil may stab Han in the back when Han attacks Argentina, leading to Han's occupation of Argentina.
Huge variables.
The La Plata Plain is the foundation of a great nation. Although the risk of occupying Argentina and Uruguay is huge, as long as Han successfully swallows these two countries, Han will have the capital to take off, and the Chinese in South America will also have a stable rear.
Therefore, the attack on Argentina and Uruguay cannot be canceled due to changes in external factors. In order to solve the challenges caused by Chile's early start of the guano war, Li Mingyuan has only two options in front of him.
First: wait until all combat preparations are completed and then launch the attack according to the original plan.
Second: Execute the capture of Argentina in advance and take advantage of the undecided war between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru to occupy Argentina.
Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages. If you choose the first option, the National Defense Forces may have to face the troops of Argentina, Chile and even Brazil. If you choose the second option, the National Defense Forces' combat preparations have not yet been completed, and launching an attack in advance may delay the war.
, the strength of the National Defense Forces suffered heavy losses.
Li Mingyuan is not an indecisive person. If the war is launched in advance, even if the National Defense Forces suffer heavy casualties, as long as the strategic goal can be achieved, he will not hesitate to make up his mind to do it. However, if the National Defense Forces still fail to achieve the expected goal after paying a heavy price
, then what awaits Li Mingyuan and the Han Kingdom will be the misfortune of destroying their family and country.
Only when he was truly in the position of the country's monarch could he understand the difficulty before making a major decision. Li Mingyuan sat in the study room all night. It wasn't until the sky got bright that he picked up a piece of paper from the messy desk full of battle plans.
paper, and then firmly drew a cross on the paper. With Li Mingyuan's last stroke of pen, it meant that the original combat plan was cancelled, and the Han Dynasty's attack on Argentina was also launched in advance.
