Not long after the gunfire sounded, Li Mingyuan heard the news from Wang Xiaoshan.
"Order, Chen Guozhu and Zhang Ansong to attack the mine gate immediately."
The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and a little hesitation may ruin an army. With the sound of gunshots, the troops in the mine will definitely rush to the city gate for reinforcements. The more enemy reinforcements there are, the more difficult it will be for the Taiping Army to capture the mine, so although a strong attack will
At the cost of heavy casualties, Li Mingyuan could only give orders decisively.
The reason why Li Mingyuan prepared to lead the Chinese laborers to riot within two months was actually a decision made after careful consideration.
The Paraguay War, which began in 1864, has been going on for more than three years. During more than three years, both warring parties have suffered a large number of casualties.
As the initiator of the war, Paraguay suffered more than half of its population casualties. From 520,000 before the war, there were only 200,000 left at the end of the war, and there were only more than 10,000 adult men among them. Paraguay was almost destroyed as a result.
The current President of Paraguay, Lopez Jr., is still in a confrontation with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. However, the war a few months later resulted in a disastrous defeat for the Paraguayan army and the capital was occupied by Brazil.
Li Mingyuan wanted to gather hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers in Peru while Paraguay could still support it, and form an alliance with Paraguay at the critical moment.
In the three-year war, not only Paraguay suffered heavy losses, but the three countries of Brazil were also struggling to support themselves. According to Li Mingyuan’s memory in his previous life, he learned that in two months, Argentina and Uruguay would withdraw from the war because they could not bear the losses, leaving only the Brazilian army to attack Paraguay.
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At this time, Brazil was the weakest, because although Brazil is huge, the more than twenty states that make up Brazil are very independent. As the leader of the central government, the Brazilian emperor has almost no control over the following states. If history does not change,
, the Brazilian Emperor would be overthrown by the forces of the Brazilian states more than ten years later.
Some people supported the Paraguay War, but of course there were also those who opposed it. When the Brazilians started the war, they did not expect that the war would be so difficult. In order to carry out the war, Brazil suffered tens of thousands of casualties.
Different from the 21st century, South American states are now dominated by white immigrants, and those who can join the army are local white people. In order to maintain the dominance of white people, various South American countries will leave enough troops to deter Indians and black slaves.
If the white casualties are too great, it will shake the foundation of the country's rule, and then the oppressed Indians and blacks will rise up in rebellion.
The reason why the war can continue is because those who advocated the war saw hope of victory, and the Brazilians cannot bear to stop the war now. The supplies and other necessities consumed by the war were purchased by them by mortgaging their national interests to the European powers.
If they cannot win, their losses will be too great.
In fact, the Paraguay War can be said to be a lose-lose war. After the war, Paraguay collapsed, and Brazil's economy also suffered a huge blow. Before the war, Brazil's economy developed rapidly, and its per capita income reached the average level of European countries. However, after the war, Brazil had nothing but
In addition to acquiring some land, it also paid huge casualties. The country's modernization process was interrupted. The originally wealthy country was saddled with a huge amount of foreign debt, causing Brazil to miss the golden time of development and become an economic colony of European countries.
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The European powers did not want to see the rise of a powerful Brazil. Li Mingyuan took advantage of this opportunity to help Paraguay eliminate the main invading Brazilian force, and then occupied the southernmost province of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil as a base. The powers would not interfere too much.
The European powers hope that Brazil will be as chaotic as possible. As long as the Taiping Army led by Li Mingyuan can withstand the counterattack of the Brazilian army and prove its strength, the European powers will also be happy to see this happen.
With the existence of Li Mingyuan, Brazil will rely more on European powers. European countries have been fighting for thousands of years, and what they are best at is balancing. If Li Mingyuan behaves respectfully and protects their interests, they will not take action against the Taiping Army.
"Your Majesty, the enemy's firepower is very fierce. Uncle Chen requested to slow down the attack." The words of the messenger interrupted Li Mingyuan's thinking.
"Let's go, follow me to the front line." Li Mingyuan waved his hand, and the reserve soldiers behind him quickly followed.
In front of the position, five or six cannons from the stone city tower attacked the Taiping soldiers below the city. Soldiers who were hit by cannons and muskets continued to fall on the road of attack.
"Your Majesty, the enemy's firepower is too fierce. A strong attack will cause huge casualties." Chen Guozhu said excitedly, his face blackened by gunfire.
Li Mingyuan looked at the cannons that kept firing and said to the artillery platoon leader without turning his head, "Cannon, are you sure you can hit the six cannons on the city gate?"
"Your Majesty, the city gate is too far away and our artillery can't reach it."
"Damn" Li Mingyuan cursed, feeling aggrieved.
The quality of the arms bought from the Prussians was indeed good, but they did not have the heavy artillery to attack the city. Time was running out. If the city tower could not be captured quickly and the siege would fail when Peruvian reinforcements arrived, the siege would fail.
"Uncle Chen, we can't wait any longer. The longer we delay, the worse it will be for us. I order everyone to prepare to attack immediately."
"Your Majesty..., if we conquer the mine like this, there won't be many brothers left," Zhang Ansong advised.
Li Mingyuan breathed a sigh of relief to keep his brain rational.
"Uncle Zhang, Uncle Chen, and the Taiping Army officers and soldiers sitting here are all my brothers. I know that a strong attack will cost a lot of casualties, but if we don't do this, we will only die in the end. There is no place for women's kindness in life and death. Immediately
I will personally lead everyone to attack the city, and if we fail, I will accompany everyone to die together."
"Your Majesty,..."
"I have made up my mind, don't try to persuade me anymore."
"Dashan, check the weapons. As soon as my pistol fires, we all charge."
"Yes" Wang Dashan shouted and looked at Li Mingyuan firmly.
"Your Majesty, look, the Peruvians are fighting on their own." Li Mingyuan took out his pistol and was about to give the order for all troops to attack when he heard an excited voice. He looked up and saw the sound of fierce firefights coming from behind Peru.
The door slowly opened, revealing the figures of a dozen Chinese people.
"Brothers, the Chinese brothers in the city have opened the city gate, everyone rush with me." Li Mingyuan shouted, and the Taiping soldiers nearby noticed the changes on the city wall and immediately rushed forward.
The city gate was opened, and the Peruvian army on the city wall was obviously confused. They hurriedly sent more than a hundred soldiers to support. At the opportunity, the Taiping soldiers rushed forward quickly and fired a row of bullets. Two Peruvian troops near the city gate were killed or injured.
There were more than a dozen, and the remaining Peruvian soldiers saw that there was no hope of seizing the door, so they ran back in a swarm.
Because of the help of the Chinese in the city, the Taiping Army captured Duraya without paying heavy casualties.