Thanks for the reward and support when Tianjiao comes
After looking at the map sent by Adolfo for a long time, Li Mingyuan had a rough siege strategy in mind.
The northern city wall of La Paz is facing the offensive position of the Chinese Independence Army, and El Alto was built on the hillside of the city wall to provide fire support to the defensive forces on the northern city wall and be able to flank the troops attacking the city from the front.
Judging from the construction and weapon configuration of the fortifications of the two cities, the Bolivians also placed their main firepower on the northern city wall. Eight fixed heavy artillery were evenly distributed on the eight gun ports of the northern city wall, while the east and west sides only had their own firepower.
Equipped with two heavy artillery pieces and several light artillery pieces.
In the past, Li Mingyuan did not know the specific distribution of firepower of the Bolivians, so Li Mingyuan did not dare to easily send troops to attack La Paz, but now the situation is much clearer.
The northern city wall is a key area for Bolivian defense. It is difficult to attack. The high terrain in the west is not suitable for the Chinese independence army to attack. Only the east wall is far away from the fire deterrent range of El Alto and the mountain slope is smaller, so it is the most suitable at the moment.
Main target.
Li Mingyuan observed the terrain outside the east city wall a few days ago. There was a flat mountainous area two hundred meters away from the foot of the city wall. At that time, Li Mingyuan did not plan to choose the main attack position here because he did not know the strength of the Bolivian army in the city.
But it's different now. The distribution of the troops on the opposite city wall is clear. If the plain is raised seven meters higher, it will be enough to attack the heavy artillery on the east wall. As long as the two defending heavy artillery are destroyed, our own artillery can be used to kill the enemy.
The defenders on the opposite side can clear the siege obstacles in advance for the siege troops below, providing a favorable advantage for the final capture of La Paz.
With a clear direction for the siege, Li Mingyuan invited Liu Pu and more than a dozen staff officers to refine the details of the attack. Then he summoned senior officers of the Chinese Independence Army and leaders of various Indian tribes participating in the siege to a temporary meeting tent to announce the latest battle plan.
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In the military tent, Liu Pu, Wang Dashan, Luo Linshan, Li Dawei, Zhao Yongzeng and other generals of the Chinese Independence Army were sitting on the left side of the tent, while a dozen Indian leaders were sitting on the other side cautiously, waiting for Li Mingyuan to speak.
Among the people sitting here, Wang Dashan, Zhao Yongzeng, Wang Xiaoshan, and Luo Linshan are all under thirty years old, but they each command an elite army, while the older generation Chen Guozhu, Li Sandou, and Zhang Ansong are all in their forties.
He is many years old, has rich combat experience, and is in the golden age of a general.
From the Taiping Rebellion to the South American riots, both the newly grown young generals and the older generation of Taiping veterans all have keen insights into war.
They spent three days under the city of La Paz, digging tunnels, attacking at night, and blasting under the city. The methods used to attack the city in the past can be thought of by the generals of the Chinese Independence Army sitting here, but after a closer look, each method is difficult to implement.
La Paz is built on a mountain. The mountains and rocks under the city wall are criss-crossed. It is very difficult to dig a tunnel. The Chinese Independence Army also tried methods such as blasting under the city and night raids to siege the city, but they were all unsuccessful.
According to most people's understanding, special forces are omnipotent, and it should be easy to climb over walls and break through cities. However, conquering a fortified city with hundreds of special forces can only happen on TV, because special forces are also human beings, and their extraordinary ability
The long-term combat capability is much stronger than that of ordinary soldiers and can play an important role in specific battlefield situations. However, for a well-defended fortified city, sending hundreds of special forces to attack at night is equivalent to death, and there is no possibility of success.
The siege was frustrated and the Chinese Independence Army could not stay under the city of La Paz for too long. Most of the Chinese generals guessed that Li Mingyuan summoned everyone to issue an order for a strong attack.
Attacking a fortified city is bound to be a bloody battle. However, the Chinese Independence Army, which has grown up through large and small wars, is not afraid of bloody battles. They firmly believe that Li Mingyuan will lead them to the final victory. Thinking of the coming war, a row of Chinese Independence Army generals looked steady.
Waiting for Li Mingyuan to issue combat orders.
"Everyone, before the meeting officially begins, let me tell you some good news: There was a coup against Melgarejo in Sucre. The leader of the coup, General Adolfo, captured Sucre yesterday, and Melgarejo learned that Sucre was lost.
After receiving the news, we already led the troops to leave La Paz last night. Now the defense force of La Paz is at its weakest, so now is the best time to attack La Paz."
As soon as Li Mingyuan finished speaking, the generals and Indian leaders below began to discuss in low voices.
"Your Majesty, is the information true? Isn't it a fake news released by the La Paz defenders to deliberately lure us into being deceived?"
Zhang Ansong led the rear troops who had just met with Li Mingyuan and did not know much about the situation in Bolivia, so he asked this question.
"The information is unquestionable. These two are General Adolfo's messengers, and they were the ones who delivered Sucre's information." Li Mingyuan pointed at the two Bolivians standing behind him and said.
Being sent by Adolfo as messengers, the two of them naturally had evidence to win the trust of the Chinese Independence Army. After Li Mingyuan introduced them to the Chinese generals and Indian leaders sitting there, the two looked at each other, and then one of them took a step forward and spoke.
Said; "My general promised your army that as long as your army helps us defeat Melgarejo, Bolivia will not only allow your army to transit, but will also provide food guides on its way in to ensure your army's safety in Bolivia."
Safe march."
"Melgarejo has 20,000 troops under his command. If you want the Chinese Independence Army to help you defeat his troops, just providing food guides along the way is too low a price."
"Yes, although Melgarejo took away some soldiers, there are still at least more than 10,000 defenders in La Paz. Have you, general, calculated how many casualties it will cost the Chinese troops to attack La Paz? A batch of food is just for the Chinese.
The Independence Army is trying to pull chestnuts out of the fire for you, are you just sending beggars away?"
As soon as the Bolivian messenger finished speaking, the two Chinese officers immediately retorted.
The attack on La Paz City was a spontaneous act of the Chinese Independence Army. Even if Adolfo did not send anyone to contact Li Mingyuan, he would attack La Paz City. However, since Adolfo took the initiative to seek cooperation, the Chinese Independence Army would naturally seek more benefits.
As soon as the first two Chinese Independent Army generals opened their mouths, the other Chinese Independent Army generals quickly understood and criticized Adolfo for his lack of sincerity in cooperation.
Mosquitoes, no matter how small they are, are still meat. Li Mingyuan would not be polite if Adolfo took the initiative to send him to his door to be slaughtered. However, the issue of reward will have to wait until Melgarejo is defeated. The problem now is to capture La Paz as soon as possible.
"Okay, everyone, be quiet." As soon as Li Mingyuan opened his mouth, the Chinese generals below him immediately stopped their condemnation. On the contrary, more than a dozen Indian leaders refused to let go and angrily rebuked the messenger sent by Adolfo. Looking at the ferocious appearance, if not
In the Chinese Independence Army camp, two messengers were about to be eaten alive by the Indians.
The contradiction between the native Indians and European descendants is what Li Mingyuan wants to see, and these Indians are also his means to check Adolfo. As long as Adolfo is not a fool, he will not dare to contradict him after defeating Melgarejo.
Yes, because in that case, Li Mingyuan can also unite the Indians to deal with the white descendants. Maybe Adolfo really doesn't care about the position of President of Bolivia, but he will not risk the white descendants losing their right to rule Bolivia and fall out with the Chinese Independence Army.
After speaking out to appease the angry Indian leader, Li Mingyuan continued: "Last night Chief of Staff Liu and I worked out a battle plan overnight, and now we are putting it forward. Let's see if there is anything we want to add."
As he spoke, Li Mingyuan picked up a small wooden stick, pointed at the sand table in the middle of the crowd and said: "The east city of La Paz, the west city has weak defenses, and the east city has relatively good terrain, which is suitable as a breakthrough point for the siege, so the main attack location this time is La Paz.
Dongcheng.”
"Your Majesty, the enemy's firepower configuration is unclear. Is it inappropriate to rashly use Dongcheng as the main attack location?"
Nowadays, most generals of the Chinese Independence Army will not question Li Mingyuan's decision. Only Chen Guozhu and other older Taiping Army veterans have watched Li Mingyuan grow up and will speak out against it when they encounter something they do not agree with.
Li Mingyuan led the Chinese Independence Army to victory in every battle, and the belief brought by religion caused the Chinese Independence Army generals to have blind confidence in him. This situation has been realized since Li Mingyuan and Liu Pu had a long talk, but for this kind of
The best solution to the situation is to give your generals more opportunities to lead their troops alone, so that they can make their own judgments without being influenced by Li Mingyuan.
Prior to this, Li Mingyuan divided the Chinese Independence Army into three forces: the maritime force, the field force, and the logistics force to march separately. This decision was based on the overall situation and the consideration of training his men to stand alone. Of course, as for the effect, only the three forces joined forces in Brazil.
Only in the south will we see the outcome.
"Haha, Uncle Chen is overthinking. I have already obtained the layout map of La Paz City's fortifications, and the combat plan was formulated after actually inspecting the terrain outside the East City." Li Mingyuan said with a smile.
"Your Majesty said this, I, Old Chen, feel relieved." Chen Guozhu laughed.
After explaining, Li Mingyuan continued: "Dongcheng is the main attack direction. I am going to devote a brigade of troops to attack Dashan. I will leave the main attack task to you."
"Yes, I humbly accept my order."
"In order to confuse the enemy and prevent them from discovering our true intentions, I decided to launch attacks on the West City, North City and El Alto at the same time. We want to give the enemy the illusion that the North City of La Paz is the focus of our attack.
The other three points are just feints.
Drive the enemy's troops to create favorable conditions for the capture of Dongcheng."
The Chinese generals and Indians in the military tent followed the movement of the wooden stick in Li Mingyuan's hand and also focused their attention on Beicheng.
The northern city wall had the largest attack surface, and suffered the greatest losses from troops attacking from both sides. None of the Chinese generals present wanted their soldiers to suffer heavy casualties, so no general took the initiative to take on the task of attacking the North City.
Li Mingyuan was about to appoint a candidate. At this time, the old Aymara leader who had been standing behind said: "General, leave the task of attacking Beicheng to us Aymara people. I promise to hold off the enemy and cover the general's capture."
La Paz.”
Li Mingyuan glanced at the old Aymara patriarch with admiration and said with a smile: "The old patriarch has the overall situation in mind, and I can't say nothing. Let's do this. After capturing Laba, I will give the Aymara people five hundred muskets. Laba
The Aymara people also had a share in the capture of the city gate."
As the first Indian tribe to cooperate with the Chinese Independence Army, the Aymara Village received nearly 200 muskets from the Chinese Independence Army. With the muskets in hand, the Aymara Village attracted many small Indian tribes of the same ethnic group. Now
The Aymara village has not only recovered its vitality, but its size has also been expanded by a generation. The number of young people in the tribe who can fight has reached 1,500. This time, in order to assist the Chinese Independence Army in conquering La Paz, the old patriarch brought 1,500 people.
Young and strong.
Of course, a thousand men attacking Beicheng was not enough. Li Mingyuan set his sights on other Indian leaders.
"There is no free lunch in the world. If the leaders are willing to send troops to attack Beicheng, they can get a share of the muskets and post-war seizure distribution. You only have one chance. Please think about it carefully."
The Indians did not value the captured grain and other materials very much, but the muskets strictly controlled by the Bolivian army were what they urgently wanted. Li Mingyuan was right, it was impossible to obtain muskets without fighting hard. A dozen Indian leaders whispered to each other
After discussing for a while, we made the same decision as the Aymara people.