At 9 a.m. on September 20, 1889, the Brazilian Republic announced that after nearly a week of fighting from September 14 to September 19, the Brazilian army successfully occupied Asunción, killed more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, and won a decisive victory in the war against Paraguay.

The next day, in response to the diplomatic declaration made by the Republic of Brazil, the Han side solemnly responded, on the one hand, condemning the shameful act of the army of the Republic of Brazil in wantonly abusing and killing captured Paraguayan soldiers, and calling on the remaining Paraguayan soldiers and civilians to unite under the command of the Han side and adhere to the policy of fighting against the Republic of Brazil.

On the other hand, it was emphasized that the Han country's determination to reinforce Paraguay would not be shaken by the fall of Asunción, and that the Han side would still accept the request of Mrs. Lynch and López Jr.'s fifth son, Leopoldo (b. 1862), and continue to send reinforcements to Paraguay to counter the aggression of the army of the Republic of Brazil.

On September 22, after breaking through several water obstacles set up by the Brazilian Republic, more than 50,000 Han troops arrived in San Antonio, shortening the distance to Asunción to less than 100 kilometers in a straight line.

At 7 o'clock in the morning of September 23, adhering to the original combat plan, Chen Zongbai, commander of the 1st Division (Praetorian Division) of the Han Army and commander-in-chief of the Asunción Front, issued the latest operational order in San Antonio, ordering nearly 50,000 people from the 5th Division of Wu Fengdian's Division, the 2nd Mixed Brigade of Chen Dechao's Division, and the 3rd Mixed Brigade of Li Yingzhang's Division, to follow the general headquarters of the battle line, disembark and march, and attack the troops of the Republic of Brazil in front of them along the coastal routes such as San Antonio, Elisa Town, and Lambarre, in order to cooperate with the Navy's inland river fleet and attack from front to rear. Accomplish the strategic objective of eliminating the main forces of the army of the Republic of Brazil.

At 8 o'clock in the morning of 23 September, the Han army, which was carrying out the battle plan in the direction of Asunción, was divided into one, and a water offensive force with a total strength of about 15,000 men, mainly the naval river fleet, continued to advance along the Paraguay River in the direction of Port-Bie, an outer port of Asunción, not far away, while the other force, which was close to 50,000 men and served as the spearhead of the army's attack, quickly moved into action after the order to march was issued to the basic combat units.

At 8:41 a.m., a mixed force of about 1,200 men, consisting of cavalry, engineers, infantry, and artillery, under the guidance of Paraguayan guides, was the first to leave the camp and march in the direction of the town of Elisa.

At 4:27 p.m., the Fifth Division, the Second Independent Mixed Brigade, and the Third Independent Mixed Brigade of the Han Army completed preparations for the start of the army.

At 5:20 p.m., the assault and mixed unit tasked with reconnaissance and vigilance sent back the first piece of information, and after receiving the information, Chen Zongbai immediately issued the first formal combat order, ordering Chen Dechao to lead the headquarters of the second mixed brigade to set off immediately and speed up to Elisa Town to join the mixed assault unit. …………

Five hours earlier, in central Paraguay, a force of more than 1,000 men had suddenly appeared in a long queue on the dirt road leading to the small town of Elisa.

The sun is scorching, surrounded by endless woods and shrubs, and the ground has become stiff from the sun.

The narrow dirt road was full of dust from the march of the troops,

The troops in front had just passed, and at the back of the line, the soldiers' rubber-soled cloth shoes stepped on the ground, stirring up clouds of dust.

The trees on both sides of the dirt road are clearly not lacking in rainwater, and the sturdy branches and dense foliage stretch above the dirt road, completely obscuring the space above the entire path.

There is no wind in summer, and the sun shines through the layers of leaves.

Cast sparse spots of light.

Although the soldiers were not directly exposed to direct sunlight,

However, the heat and hours of rapid marching exercise still made sweat ooze from each of their faces.

Sweat kept flowing from the soldiers' bodies,

The well-fitting gray military uniform and military cap were the first to be soaked with sweat,

The sweat that flowed out was mixed with the dust on his body, and he swayed with the movement of the march, and was constantly thrown to the ground, gathering into one slightly wet mud after another.

The relatively closed natural environment, the stench of dust, sweat, dirt and the fatigue caused by the long and rapid march in the surrounding air, made some soldiers gradually lose their physical strength, unconsciously reduced the speed of the march, and fell behind the whole army.

"Commander Cai, the troops have been marching for more than four hours, do you choose a suitable place to let the brothers rest for a while?"

At the front of the troop column, an officer on a tall horse asked another officer.

"How far are the troops from Eliza Town?"

"According to the normal pace of our army's march, we will be able to reach Elisa Town before six o'clock in the evening."

"It's 12:40 p.m., and there's still time."

Cai Jiu rode on the horse, checked the time for a moment, and then nodded: "Before the battle, the army needs to control the time, and also need to maintain a certain amount of physical strength to deal with sudden battlefield situations.

Battalion Commander Zhang informed Battalion Commander Chen of the 4th Battalion at the front of the queue and ordered them to stop and repair immediately. ”

"Yes, Captain."

After the young officer replied, he added: "During the repair of the troops, should you notify the reconnaissance unit to strengthen vigilance?" ”

"The second company of the brigade reconnaissance battalion is more than ten kilometers away from our army, and they are not equipped with a new type of wireless telegraph (the first generation of telegraphs in the Han Kingdom is large in size and short in communication distance, so it is inconvenient to carry them when a small group of reconnaissance troops is performing reconnaissance tasks).

It's too much time to send someone to inform them directly. ”

Cai Jiu thought for a moment and ordered: "Don't bother the brothers of the second company of the reconnaissance battalion, we will shorten the rest time of the troops to twenty minutes, and let Battalion Commander Chen send two platoons of troops to serve as guards, and after twenty minutes, the troops will continue on the road." ”

"Yes, regiment commander, I will send someone to inform Camp Commander Chen." …………

The order to trim and rest halfway was transmitted to the grassroots combat units in front and behind the queue through the heralds.

After receiving the order to rest, the soldiers, who were already tired and tired, looked for as shady places as possible to rest.

However, there were not many shady places in the woods that could be trimmed, and the soldiers could not leave within 50 meters of the garrison due to military orders, so most of the soldiers who could not find a suitable shade to rest had to sit under the big trees beside the dirt road, and used the broken branches as a tool to cool down and drive away heat.

Artillerymen carrying small mountain artillery, cavalry riding high-headed horses, infantry soldiers carrying rifles on their backs, grenades pinned to their waists, and marching on two feet alone, according to the nature of the arms to which they belong and their positions, sit together in groups of three or five to rest.

Xu was too tired, and in the first ten minutes when the troops had just stopped to rest, there were more than 1,000 people, and almost no one in the queue was more than 2 kilometers long.

Half of the rest time passed, after a short rest, the soldiers who slowly recovered some of their energy gradually regained their original temperament, and the cavalry sat next to the military horses, talking and laughing in a low voice, while sharing interesting things that happened around them.

The infantry, who accounted for the largest proportion of soldiers and marched the hardest, complained that their pack horses were divided by artillery, machine gun companies, etc., and on the other hand, they joked with their superiors and the cavalry officers.

The soldiers of the artillery battalion, machine gunner company and other units that temporarily played the role of Zizhong soldiers took advantage of the rest break to take care of the pack horses and weapons around them.

Military doctors were sent out to care for soldiers who were injured and suffering from heat stroke due to the rapid march, and two platoons of garrison soldiers also set up temporary hidden observation points hundreds of meters away from both sides of the dirt road, providing a reliable and safe environment for the troops to repair.

After resting for a few minutes, the main commanders of the mixed troops, such as Cai Jiu, Chen Donkey, Sun Yinglin, and Zhang Shishan, who left the war horses under them, sat together and discussed with each other.

"There is a river barrier between our current position and the small town of Elisa, and the area near the river is full of wetlands, and there are no transportation facilities such as railways and roads, making it difficult to march.

Therefore, before arriving in the small town of Elisa, the headquarters of the engineer battalion needed to build an improvised pontoon bridge over the river and in the surrounding wetland area for the mixed troops and subsequent main forces to pass smoothly. ”

Cai Jiu opened the marching map, pointed to a place in Chinese standards, and instructed Sun Yinglin, the commander of the engineer battalion of the Fifth Division: "Our army is expected to arrive in Elisa Town this evening, before tomorrow evening, is Battalion Commander Sun sure that he will be able to complete the task of building the pontoon bridge?" ”

"Commander Cai, according to the intelligence provided by the Paraguayan guide, there was originally a stone bridge and two wooden pontoon bridges on the river south of the small town of Elisa, and if the army of the Brazilian Republic did not completely destroy the underground foundation facilities of the bridge, the engineer battalion was sure to be able to build two improvised pontoon bridges within twelve hours on the basis of the bridges destroyed by the Brazilian army."

"In the early morning of September 20, the army of the Republic of Brazil initially eliminated the main force of the Paraguayan army, and now it is only the 23rd, less than three days before the army of the Republic of Brazil enters the city of Asunción, even if the army of the Republic of Brazil occupies the small town of Elisa, there should not be time to completely destroy the bridges and facilities on the river and in the wetlands."

After comparing with the information obtained before, Cai Jiu analyzed: "The front-line army of the Republic of Brazil has an unstable foothold, and after a big victory, it is inevitable that there will be carelessness and laxity, so taking advantage of the current opportunity of the Republic of Brazil army's lack of understanding of the direction of our army's main march, the two armies on water and land will advance at the same time, and they may be able to catch them off guard." ”

"It's very likely."

When he was a slave laborer in Peru, Chen Donkey, who followed Cai Jiu, agreed: "The army of the Republic of Brazil is undertrained and has bad military discipline, relying on its numerical superiority, the Paraguayan army that has lost the command of López Jr. is still superior, but if it is against the imperial army, even if the gap in weapons and equipment is not considered, they are not the opponent of the imperial army." ”

"Everyone is generally aware of the combat effectiveness of the Brazilian army, but looking at the current situation of our department, I think that our focus should not only be on the Brazilian army, but also on the Paraguayan rebels who are wandering in our army's combat area, and some of the Paraguayan militias who are hostile to our army."

Zhang Shishan, commander of the 7th British Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 5th Division, reminded: "When López Jr. was alive, although he maintained normal economic cooperation with the imperial side, but in the military and political aspects, Paraguay has always maintained a strong wariness of the empire. I propose that strict punishment be taken, and that if discovered, be immediately handed over to the gendarmerie for arrest and interrogation. ”

"Paraguayans are not all embraced by the Empire. It is indeed necessary to punish some of the diehards who are bent on sabotaging the strategy of the Empire. ”

Cai Jiu nodded in agreement with Zhang Shishan's suggestion, and then ordered: "Battalion Commander Zhang, a platoon of troops from your department and artillery pack horse units will form a temporary containment unit, which is specially responsible for receiving and sheltering soldiers who are unable to keep up with the march due to injuries and illness. ”

"Yes, Captain." …………

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