Knowledge is always respected, and the martial artists who can only fight with blood and courage may end up hiding the birds, perhaps at the beginning General Silapizo used these Chinese as mercenaries, as long as the war is won, it doesn't matter if they all die.

But today, when Tietoutuo showed a very high military quality, he felt that he had picked up a treasure, these people are not only cannons on the battlefield, if they are left behind, they will definitely be a strong army in Chile in the future, and they can even assist in the preparation of a military school.

A steady stream of military talents is added to the army, and this is the king's way!

Thinking of this, Silapizo took over the wooden battleship models with a straight face, and he decided not to hide anything and officially treat these Chinese as friendly forces.

"In this war, naval operations were mainly concentrated between Chile and Peru, and Bolivia never built a full-scale navy, except for a few small gunboats for coastal defense, there were no decent warships at all!"

"In South America, only we and Peru have the strongest navy, and they have all achieved ironclad...... Don't you believe it? Actually, there is no doubt that although Britain, France, and other countries are 100 times stronger than us, it is precisely because of their great business and huge navy that the overall refitting is not as efficient as ours......

"The reason is very simple, the British Navy has 10,000 ships, and the amount of money consumed to renovate as a whole is astronomical, and we are an emerging country after all, and the navy that has just been built can naturally travel lightly......"

"On the Peruvian side, there are a total of 12 ironclad ships, of which the flagship 'Huaasca' has a displacement of 2,300 tons, a thickness of 25 mm, and a total of 14 guns on the left and right sides...... The rest of the warships had a displacement of between 800 and 1500 tons......"

While placing the model of the battleship on the sand table, Silapizo gave a detailed introduction to everyone.

"And our Chilean naval strength is far twice as strong as the enemy! Our flagship 'Esmereda' has a displacement of 2,800 tons, an iron armor thickness of more than 35 millimeters, and a total of 16 guns on the left and right sides...... The rest of the battleships were twenty-one with a displacement tonnage between 800 and 1900 tons, and the total tonnage was definitely more than double that of the enemy......"

"You don't have to worry about things on the sea, our side is already in an absolute advantage, when we carry out the main attack in the land war, the navy will cruise in the open sea to respond to us, not only to attract the firepower of the battery, but also to deter the Peruvian navy from daring to act rashly......"

"Don't worry too much, we've had several exchanges with the Peruvian Navy before, and these cowards know the strength of our Navy so they've been running away from the battle, they're a bunch of skinny dogs without bones, so there's no need to worry about ......"

Tietoutuo looked at the comparison between the enemy and the enemy forces on the sand table, and muttered to himself, "Is there really no threat? Are you sure?

"General Tie, of course I'm sure, otherwise how do you think your more than 10,000 reinforcements landed safely? Without the overwhelming superiority of our Chilean navy, the Peruvian side would have allowed twenty ships to easily enter Chile's territory? So you don't have to worry......

"Well, since this hidden danger has been eliminated, then let's continue to deduce the battle situation on land...... 30,000 against 40,000, our own strength is not superior, and the enemy has seven strong fortresses, which makes it even more difficult for us to attack!"

"So I decided that the general idea of this campaign was to ...... Siege the point and send reinforcements! Eat the Bolivian reinforcements first, and make this desert a pool of blood! Demoralize the defenders......"

"First of all, ask the Chilean Navy to enter the waters of Iquique in advance and bombard the docks with heavy artillery to create an atmosphere of terror...... Immediately after that, the Chilean regular army used artillery to bombard the city from a long distance, causing psychological pressure on the enemy!"

"Our brown-clothed army has already made the enemy fearless in the previous battle, so this time we also used the same trick in the past, leaving 5,000 people to wave flags and shout on the outskirts of the city, and the drums and trumpets sounded in unison to create the illusion that the main force was on the side!"

"Bolivia's main army is more than 20,000 people, and if they want to cross the desert, they have to follow a fixed oasis route...... Right here, right on the periphery of this largest oasis, the Osaka Oasis, let's eat this piece of fat!"

Such a bold tactic shocked Silapizo, but instead of refuting it on the spot, he began a careful deduction with the Chinese.

Sleepless nights, everyone's dinner was eaten by the sand table, black coffee was brewed pot after pot, cigar smoke was consumed one after another, and if you looked closely from a distance, you would see that this huge tent was spewing smoke out of every crevice like a monster in the night.

Three days later, the flagship of the Chilean Navy, the Esmetale, led all the main warships from the port of Valparaiso to the north, and two days later the fleet arrived off the coast of Iquique.

The appearance of the Chilean navy heralded the imminent decisive battle, and the Peruvian side could not count on the navy and could only send people to urge Bolivian reinforcements to arrive quickly, and conduct a decisive battle on land under the city of Iquique.

After all, Chile is one against two, and when the war enters a protracted war of national strength, the advantage of two against one can be slowly reflected.

After two days cruising the Esmerdale, the Chilean army was finally ready for battle, and the Battle of Iquique began at five o'clock in the morning when the first shells were fired from the flagship Esmerdale.

Boom Boom Boom ...... The battleship's main guns spewed fire and bombarded the shore defense batteries intensively, and the city was suddenly noisy, and the citizens who had taken refuge began to flee frantically to the north, while the Chilean army did not fortify in the north and allowed the civilians to leave.

Soon the shore defense battery counterattacked, and for a time the cannon at the pier rumbled, the fire soared, and the decisive battle finally began.

After an hour of bombardment from the sea, the Chilean troops from the south and east began to pour out, pushing field guns in a neat phalanx on the field and slowly advancing forward, and the fortress of Iquique was in a panic, and the officers and native Indian soldiers of European faces took up their arms and lay on the wooden battlements in waiting.

The artillery on the fort also began to reload, and as soon as the enemy came into range, a Spanish roar was heard, followed by the roar of artillery.

The shelling had no effect at all, only four or five lucky shells landed in the crowd, causing dozens of casualties, but the shelling clearly angered the Chilean commander-in-chief, and after the smoke was over, an endless array of pennants were suddenly erected in the rear of the Chilean army.

"It's the banner of the Browns...... It seems that the information is true, the Brown Coats have received reinforcements from China, and they have killed them!" A cry of terror rang out from inside the fortress.