Outside the plantation, Li Mingyuan led 500 people to guard the city gate.
After removing the Duraya Mine, there was no large-scale Peruvian armed force around the Patibilca Valley. Therefore, after discussing with Chen Guozhu and other senior Taiping Army officials, Li Mingyuan decided to divide his forces to capture the Patibilca Valley before the Peruvians could react.
Rescue as many Chinese workers as possible and strengthen your own strength.
"Your Majesty, the brothers in the plantation have sent a signal," Zhao Yongzeng, who had just taken over as the reconnaissance company, whispered.
In the future, the special forces units will be managed uniformly with the reconnaissance troops, so Li Mingyuan first placed Zhao Yongzeng as the reconnaissance company commander to facilitate him to familiarize himself with the situation in advance.
A torch on the city gate swayed left and right, and Li Mingyuan vaguely saw the figure of Sun Qisheng holding the torch.
"Sun Qisheng is a good candidate to be a special forces officer. Yongzeng, we will recruit him into the special forces during the military competition in a few days."
The Army Competition is an activity organized by Li Mingyuan to select talents from various military services. At that time, not only the newly established special forces will come to select troops, but other troops will also take this opportunity to recruit troops.
"Understood," Zhao Yongzeng said
"This opportunity cannot be missed, Yongzeng, you lead your men to capture the plantation."...
Since all the Peruvians in the mine were exterminated and captured, other surrounding mine plantations have not yet received news of the riots by Chinese workers.
Li Mingyuan took advantage of information asymmetry and spent less than ten days to wipe out the Peruvian forces in the Patibilca Valley. He occupied a total of 19 mines and 28 plantations, and rescued 57,300 Chinese workers.
One hundred and forty-one people, and countless supplies were seized.
In a matter of ten days, Li Mingyuan led the Taiping Army to snowball from 2,000 to 60,000. The speed of growth was astonishing.
The rapid expansion of the army naturally brings about various problems.
First of all, the newly joined Chinese laborers had no combat experience, and the individual combat capabilities of the expanded Taiping Army declined.
Secondly, the daily cost of food and drink for more than 60,000 people is an astronomical figure. Although the Taiping Army can still maintain a three-month supply of supplies by relying on seizures, the area occupied by the Taiping Army is a desert area, except for scattered plantations and saltpeter mines.
The supply of daily necessities depends on support from the mainland of Peru.
When the Peruvians reacted, as long as they surrounded the Patibilca Valley, the Taiping Army could be trapped. It was precisely because of the geographical shortcomings of Patibilca that Li Mingyuan gave up establishing a base here.
In order to solve the current predicament, Li Mingyuan planned to fight several battles in Peru to beat up the Peruvians, so that when the Taiping Army moved in, the Peruvians would not dare to pursue them.
Seizing the mines and plantations, the Taiping troops killed a total of 800 Peruvian troops and captured 5,000.
In addition to the Peruvian army and armed militia, the captives also included forty-seven large mining owners and large estate owners. These people can open mines and plantations. They are all people with connections in Peru. The total of forty-seven people
had great influence. When Li Mingyuan was preparing to move to Brazil, he used them to negotiate with Peru to return captives, mines, and plantations as bargaining chips in exchange for more Chinese workers.
Among the 61,000 people, except for more than 3,000 who are weak and weak, all the others meet the requirements to serve as soldiers.
Living in a foreign country with enemies on all sides, Li Mingyuan did not dare to be careless at all. In the face of a formidable enemy, Li Mingyuan was not in the mood to farm and develop. All the 58,000 people who met the conditions for joining the army were thrust into the army regardless of whether they were willing or not.
If there was enough time, Li Mingyuan would still find time to train them, but when they were about to face a counterattack by the Peruvian army, Li Mingyuan could only take them to the battlefield and rely directly on actual combat training.
"Your Majesty, all officers above the company commander level are here." Zhou Daniu, who took over as the commander of Zhao Yongzeng's bodyguards, reported.
When the Taiping officers arrived, Li Mingyuan temporarily put aside his thoughts and came to the hall with Zhou Daniu.
Although the number of Taiping troops has expanded rapidly, the positions of various Taiping officers have not changed because a new round of reorganization has not yet been carried out.
"Today I will tell you some good news. The Taiping Army will be reorganized, and all of you may be promoted to two ranks, or even higher."
Scanning the more than thirty people below, he found that everyone had eager eyes. Li Mingyuan knew what they were thinking. The army had expanded but the positions were still the same as before, so of course he felt uncomfortable.
"I've been waiting for the prince to say this for a long time. I, Old Chen, have 10,000 people and still hold the position of battalion commander. It doesn't look very comfortable." Chen Guozhu said with a grin.
"Old Chen, you are really a fan of officials. As soon as the prince spoke, you couldn't help it." Li Sandou said with a smile.
"Li Sandou, don't talk about me, don't you want to be promoted?" Chen Guozhu asked.
After listening to the conversation between the two
The Taiping officer below burst out laughing.
"Okay, let's get back to the business. According to the original establishment, the four musketry battalions will be directly expanded into divisions. Each division will have four main regiments, one artillery battalion, one reconnaissance company, and one logistics battalion, with a strength of 10,000 people."
After Li Mingyuan finished speaking, the officers below talked to each other and discussed what positions they might obtain.
Li Mingyuan only talked about the establishment of four divisions, but four divisions alone require hundreds of officers. For the officers below, the South American Taiping Army was established not long ago, and there is a huge shortage of officers, so the officers who are serving do not have to worry about being selected.
"Everyone, please be quiet," Li Mingyuan reminded, and the officers below immediately became quiet.
"Except for the four divisions, the remaining 18,000 people are temporarily placed under the direct command of the headquarters. An army-wide competition will be held tomorrow, and the winning unit will have priority in selecting soldiers."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, my old Chen's army must be number one." Chen Guozhu shouted.
"Who doesn't know how to brag? Lao Chen will lose miserably tomorrow, so don't blame me for not giving you face." Li Sandou said tit for tat.
Chen Guozhu and Li Sandou have been fighting for more than ten years, and even the officers who are serving as officers are accustomed to it.
"Let me remind everyone that our occupation of the Patibilca Valley will not be hidden for long. Once the Peruvians get the news, they will definitely send a large army to encircle and suppress them. Therefore, there is not much time left for everyone. In the past few days, the Peruvian army
Before they arrive, all units must speed up their training and try their best to allow the new soldiers to get used to it and form combat effectiveness."
"Your Majesty, there is nothing to fear from the Peruvians. The Peruvians in Patibilca were not easily wiped out by us." A young Taiping officer said.
"What's your name?" Li Mingyuan stared at him and asked.
"Qian Jianyu, deputy commander of the third company of the first battalion"
"Did you fight in the Battle of Duraya?"
"No," Qian Jianyu said honestly.
Qian Jianyu joined the Taiping Army after the Battle of Duraya. He had never fought against the Peruvian regular army, so he did not know much about the combat power and weapons and equipment of the Peruvian army. He only thought that the Peruvian army was as vulnerable as ordinary mine supervisors.
Li Mingyuan asked an officer next to Qian Jianyu who had participated in the siege of Duraya to tell him about the equipment of the Peruvian army. Qian Jianyu suddenly lost the confidence to speak and said, "This humble position underestimated the strength of the Peruvian army. Please, Prince."
Punishment.”
"You can be promoted to deputy company commander within a few days of joining the Taiping Army. You are also a capable person. Since you do not understand the enemy's strength, you will not be punished this time, but you must not underestimate the enemy in the future."
The successful capture of the Patibilka Valley caused some Taiping soldiers to have the mentality of underestimating the enemy. Qian Jianyu was just one of these people. Li Mingyuan beat him today to make the Taiping soldiers face up to the enemy and avoid losing the army due to underestimating the enemy.
At the end of the meeting, Li Mingyuan reminded all officers above the company level to face the enemy correctly before adjourning the meeting.