The loss rate of 1 to 7.5 was a great victory, but when the casualty data of the Chinese Independence Army were placed in front of Li Mingyuan, he could not be happy.
More than 2,000 people were lost in one battle, and in the subsequent ambushes of Moyando, Cusco, and the attack on Arequipa, another three to four thousand people were lost based on this casualty ratio.
The Chinese army was difficult to replenish, and Li Mingyuan was worried about recruiting local South Americans as soldiers, so he felt a headache when faced with the number of casualties of the Chinese Independence Army.
After the battle at Hermodut was over, Li Mingyuan called Liu Pu over and wanted to hear if he had any good ideas for reducing the casualties of the Chinese Independence Army.
"Your Majesty, our army's losses in this battle are indeed not small." Liu Pu has always been responsible for statistics of battle statistics, so after listening to Li Mingyuan's words, he directly admitted the fact that the Chinese Independence Army suffered losses.
"However, there are reasons for the more than 2,000 casualties in this battle. On the one hand, the Peruvian army has good combat effectiveness. On the one hand, our army has expanded too quickly, resulting in a decrease in the average combat effectiveness of soldiers."
"There is indeed a big problem with the rapid expansion of the Chinese Independence Army. After taking Arequipa, all the troops will need to be repaired for a period of time." Li Mingyuan nodded.
"Your Majesty, I have a question, I don't know whether I should say it or not," Liu Pu tried.
"You know who I am. If you have any questions, just ask them and I won't be angry."
"Since the Crown Prince plans to use southern Brazil as our military base, why are we wasting time in Peru? As far as I know, the three Brazilian countries are stepping up their attack on Paraguay. I am worried that the Paraguayans will not be able to withstand the attack of the three countries and surrender. At that time, even if we have more
Even tens of thousands more troops cannot defeat the armies of the Three Kingdoms."
"The Paraguayan army is fighting tenaciously. It is not easy for the three Brazilian countries to want Lopez to surrender."
It is now January 1868, and there are still more than four months before Lopez Jr. breaks out from the Humeita Fortress, so Li Mingyuan is not in a hurry to move in.
"Your Majesty, after annihilating the three reinforcements, do you want to send troops to occupy Moyendo, Puno and Cusco?"
"Three lines of reinforcements have been eliminated. These three places are not heavily defended. Of course, we must take the opportunity to occupy them." Li Mingyuan said subconsciously, not understanding what Liu Pu meant.
"Your Majesty, let's not mention the losses of our army after this battle. After occupying these three places, a total of no less than 25,000 troops will need to be stationed, plus Arequipa and Balang that need to be defended.
In Ca, Duraya and other places, the defensive force in the occupied areas alone will account for about 50,000 troops. At this time, there will not be many troops that can be assembled to deal with the Peruvian counterattack."
Li Mingyuan frowned. He ignored the problem of garrison defense. The area occupied by the Chinese Independence Army now belongs to a mineral area with a sparse population, so leaving some second-line troops can deter the Peruvians in the area.
However, with the victory of this battle, the Chinese Independence Army will definitely expand its sphere of influence. While occupying a vast space of maneuver, the Chinese Independence Army has to leave enough troops to defend the place to prevent the Peruvians in the occupied areas from rebelling.
"Dispersing the garrison is not a good idea. Our army has always been able to achieve victory by relying on flexibility and mobility. Dispersing the garrison will limit our limited troops to various towns, giving the enemy every opportunity to defeat us."
After Li Mingyuan thought about it, he admitted.
"Your Majesty, after annihilating the Peruvian reinforcements and searching for the Chinese workers in the newly occupied areas, the total number of Chinese under our army can reach 120,000. At this time, even if there are Chinese workers in other parts of Peru, there will not be many left, so I suggest that we rescue the generals
After removing the Chinese laborers in Novo, Moyando and other places, our army quickly withdrew from the occupied areas, repaired in Arequipa for a month and then moved into southern Brazil."
Li Mingyuan originally had no intention of occupying Arequipa and other southern Peruvian areas, so he considered luring the enemy deeper and exchanging captured Peruvian soldiers for Chinese laborers. Now the situation has changed. There are not many Chinese laborers left in the hands of the Peruvians, and he will wait to exchange Chinese laborers with them.
It's a bit of a loss.
"It is necessary to withdraw from the occupied areas, but it is too cheap for the Peruvians to give up the occupied areas for nothing." Li Mingyuan said.
"We took away supplies from the occupied areas, and all the Peruvians got were empty cities. They couldn't get much of a bargain."
"Okay, after this battle is over, all the captured materials will be transported to Arequipa in batches, and other occupied areas will be gradually abandoned."
Although the city of Arequipa is still in the hands of the Peruvians, it is only a matter of time before the largest Peruvian reinforcements are taken over.
When the battle at Hermodut ended, Chen Guozhu's soldiers were attacking Moyando's reinforcements.
"Sir, the enemy has an ambush." Manuel lay on the ground to avoid the shelling of the Chinese army.
"Idiot, even a fool knows there is an ambush."
Lou Stuart cursed.
"Manuel, I will give you a regiment of troops to resist the enemy's attack and cover the retreat of others."
The equipment and combat power of Lustuart's soldiers were inferior to Umato's troops. The Chinese troops retreated within twenty minutes of attacking, and some Peruvian soldiers surrendered directly.
"Sir, there are too many enemies. I can't resist their attack. I'd better retreat with the large troops to protect your safety."
Just now, you said that you should let me be your successor. Now if you are in danger, let me block the gun. I will not be so stupid. Manuel cursed in his heart, but he made excuses for not resisting the enemy.
The number of Chen Guozhu and Zhou Daniu was four times that of the Peruvian army. Taking advantage of Lustuart's army being unprepared, the Peruvian army was unable to fight back.
Lustuart saw that his army was defeated and it was impossible to organize troops to fight back. He immediately ran to the desert to the west without hesitation.
There are soldiers as there are officers. As soon as Lustuart ran away, the remaining Peruvian soldiers followed suit and spread out and ran in all directions.
"Brigadier Zhou, you lead the soldiers to deploy defenses on all sides. You can't let another Peruvian soldier escape."
Not to mention, Lustuart's soldiers were not good at fighting, but they were good at escaping. Taking advantage of the charging opportunity of the Chinese troops, more than a hundred Peruvian soldiers passed through the gaps left by the charging Chinese soldiers and escaped from the encirclement.
"Yes, Third Regiment, Fourth Regiment, follow me." Zhou Daniu shouted, and the charging soldiers of the Third Regiment and the Fourth Regiment immediately stopped, turned around and ran towards the original defensive position.
After letting go of more than 300 Peruvian soldiers, Zhou Daniu led his troops to block the escape exit of the Peruvian army.
"Sir, there are enemies all around. We can't run away." Because there were more than 500 soldiers gathered around Luce, Zhou Daniu specially surrounded his team, which prevented Louth Stuart from running away.
"Stop running away. Manuel, go and tell the Chinese rebels that we are willing to serve them and ask them not to hurt our soldiers anymore."
Luce stopped to take a breath and said.
"Sir, I don't speak Chinese, you'd better let others go." Manuel grimaced, fearing that he would be killed by ordinary soldiers before he even saw the chief officer of the Chinese army.
"I have a soldier here who understands Chinese. Let him accompany you."
Manuel was still about to refuse, but when he saw Lou Stuart's unkind expression, he quickly stopped what he was saying and took his translator to negotiate with the Chinese troops.
"Division Commander, the Peruvian army sent two people holding white flags. They said they would join us and serve for the Chinese Independence Army."
"Haha, this is the first time I have met a Peruvian army willing to serve for us," Chen Guozhu laughed.
"Go tell them to put down their weapons and we will accept their surrender."
"Master Chen, the prince has not allowed the Peruvian army to surrender, so it is not a good idea to do so." Zhou Daniu said.
"Brigadier Zhou, you don't understand this. Let them lay down their weapons and surrender first. As for surrendering, we will report it to the Crown Prince. What the Crown Prince decides then is none of our business."
"Soldiers never tire of deceit, but Master Chen is still the best." Zhou Daniu suddenly said.
Because Lou Stuart took the initiative to surrender, the battle to ambush Moyendo ended within an hour.
Chen Guozhu and Zhou Daniu's men suffered a total of ninety-eight casualties, of which only seven were killed.
The results of the battle were much more generous, with a total of 3,600 enemies wiped out, of which more than 3,300 surrendered voluntarily, and less than 200 died in the battle.
"Haha, the prince will be very happy to see our battle report." Chen Guozhu laughed while looking at the compiled post-war data.
"Three thousand six hundred people were wiped out, and our army suffered less than a hundred casualties. Although the enemy took the initiative to surrender, the results were still very impressive." Zhou Daniu said happily.
"Yes, I will now send someone to send the victory data to the Crown Prince, and also make the Crown Prince happy."
Chen Guozhu said.
"Sir, we agreed to surrender to them, but why are we being held as prisoners?" Manuel asked while staying in a fence surrounded by wood.
"It's all your fault. I asked you to talk to them about surrendering. When you came back and said they agreed to our surrender, I ordered the troops to put down their weapons. But now they are imprisoning us. Who do you blame for this?
"As Lustuart said, he was still angry and kicked Manuel. If he didn't have a pistol in his hand, Manuel would have been killed long ago.
The captured Peruvian soldiers nearby looked at Manuel angrily, thinking that it was the failure of him and the Chinese to negotiate well that led to their current fate.
Manuel was in trouble and couldn't tell. Lu Stuart forced him to discuss surrendering to the Chinese Independence Army. The matter was settled, but the Chinese refused to admit it, and all the Peruvian soldiers blamed him. It was really
In line with an old Chinese saying: young people are inexperienced and deserve to be deceived.