In late December, López Jr., who had been at the end of his rope in history, jumped up and down to fight Argentina in Misiones.

Brazil lost two southern states, Pedro II's prestige was greatly hit, the ongoing reform of imitation of Britain and France was interrupted alive, the domestic liberal forces rose, the regional independence elements that had been suppressed frequently launched independence riots, economic development regressed, the interest on war money borrowed from Britain and France and other countries was due, and the successive contradictions involved too much energy of the Brazilian government.

Argentina and Paraguay continue to fight for control of Misiones, Bolivia and Peru return victorious, busy dealing with the instability of acquiring land from Brazil, and Uruguay is so poor that it has shrunk into its own one-third of an acre of land.

Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, and the Chinese-occupied Rio Gran do Sul have restored a strange equilibrium among the seven countries of South America.

Rio Grande do Sul, Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia secretly formed an alliance against Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay were at partial war, Peru and Bolivia remained neutral in the conflict and did not provide help to Paraguay, while Rio Grande do Sul was ostensibly neutral and actually supported Paraguay and secretly provided Paraguay with weapons and ammunition.

Uruguay was Brazil's younger brother before the war, and after Brazil was separated by Rio Gran do Sul, Uruguay threw itself into the arms of Argentina and aligned itself with Argentina.

Each of the seven countries of South America shares a border with each other, and a series of contradictions arise over the issue of territorial resources, but in terms of grand strategy, the seven countries form different groups.

First of all, although the Brazilian Empire lost a large area of land in the war, but the overall strength of Brazil is still the highest, the Argentine army did not rescue the Brazilian army in the Paraguayan War, and withdrew from the country without authorization, and Uruguay withdrew from the war before the decisive battle, therefore, the Triple Alliance was broken, and Brazil had no allies in the southern part of South America for the time being, and it was a faction of its own.

Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and the principality of Rio Grande do Sul have formed an alliance with Brazil as an imaginary enemy, and at the same time the four-nation alliance is unstable, Paraguay and Bolivia have territorial disputes in the Chaco plain, Rio Grande do Sul and Peru and Bolivia have previous contradictions, the newly established Indian Autonomous Region in southern Bolivia is a pawn left by the Chinese, and Bolivia has been unwilling to reluctantly recognize the establishment of the Indian Autonomous Region, and maybe when the Bolivian government will announce the abolition of the Indian Autonomous Region, Then troops were sent to occupy it.

Paraguay faces enemies on both sides, Bolivia is only a temporary ally, and only Rio Gran do Sul and Paraguay have the same interests, both facing the threat of Brazil, and at the same time have ideas for the southern Argentine lands.

Thus, in the Quad alliance, Rio Ogran del Sul and Paraguay are divided into one faction, and Bolivia and Peru are divided into one faction.

Together with the Argentine and Uruguayan factions, the southern part of South America is divided into three major factions and four small factions around Brazil.

If one faction unites with the other, the strategic equilibrium will be broken, and a new major war will break out again.

Among the three major factions, Li Mingyuan is most worried about Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil uniting again, because the three countries have Rio Gran do Sul as a buffer zone, and there is no longer direct territorial contact and conflict of interests, and the reason why the three countries are not united is because Brazil is busy dealing with domestic affairs, as for the previous contradictions, the problem is not big, and the countries attach importance to actual interests, as long as it is beneficial to both sides, even if the fight is bloody one moment, the next second can also shake hands and make peace.

Brazil relieved itself, co-opted Argentina and Uruguay, and then provoked the contradictions between Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay Rio Grande do Sul, and then the greatest pressure was Rio Grande do Sul, with Brazil to the north, Uruguay to the south, Argentina to the west, and the sea to the east.

Defensive everywhere, passive everywhere, the Chinese also had to face the disadvantage of dispersed forces after seizing the two southern states, and the main force of the field army was scattered in several key areas.

In the war, they defend the city and lose the flexibility of troop movement, and cannot concentrate superior forces to defeat the enemy.

The Principality of Rio Gran do Sul started with the Chinese Independent Army, the great victories before the founding of the country did not mean that the Chinese soldiers could completely crush the troops of South American countries, each battle, the ratio of the number of Chinese troops and enemy troops was mostly higher than 3:1, the key to the victory of the Chinese troops was to mobilize in the war, and the concentration of superior forces to deal with the enemy was the key to the victory of the Chinese troops, if the strength of the two sides was equal in the insurrectionary war, the Chinese troops would pay a heavy price even if they won, and then they were weakened in battles again and again, and finally the whole army was annihilated.

Taking precautions and planning carefully in everything is a habit that Li Mingyuan developed when he was a mercenary in his previous life, relying on his cautious and prudent character traits, he led the troops all the way over, and in the face of the new changes in the situation after the founding of the country, he was also careless.

The northern part of Argentina is vast and sparsely populated, rich in resources, and if the Chinese want to expand their sphere of influence in the future, they will have to conflict with the Argentines, so the two sides are congenitally contradictory, and unless a country takes the initiative to admit defeat, conflict is inevitable.

The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of rapid development of the second industrial revolution, a large number of European immigrants poured into South America through new means of transportation, if Li Mingyuan did not expand the territory before the influx of European immigrants, there will be no new opportunities in the future, so Li Mingyuan has almost no possibility of retreating, and the Argentines will not agree to cede the northern territories.

Since the contradictions are irreconcilable, Li Mingyuan has to plan for the future, after the end of the war, Brazil is busy dealing with internal affairs and has no energy to intervene in external affairs, and Rio Gran do Sul needs to resettle new immigrants and develop basic industries, and will not invest in a new war, at this time, the outbreak of the Misiones conflict formed a breakthrough point.

Paraguay has increased its troops, Misiones, Argentina has sent troops to reinforce disputed areas, and although the scale of the war that has broken out in local conflicts is not as large as that of the Paraguayan war, the ongoing war will slowly drain the blood of Argentina, forcing the Argentine government to focus on the war and delay their migration from Europe.

The postponement of Argentine immigration, Rio Gran do Sul will win more time for development, and then at a characteristic time, taking advantage of the time when Britain and France and other countries are attracted to Europe, they will make a force to occupy northern Argentina and realize another great expansion of Chinese power.

The moment Li Mingyuan was waiting for was not his personal speculation, but the Franco-Prussian War, which took place a year and a half later.

The Franco-Prussian War was a war of German unification, and the initiator of the war was not Prussia, which was secretly expanding its armaments, but the French Emperor Napoleon III first declared war and attacked the German Rhineland.

Before the Franco-Prussian War, France was the largest country in Europe, and Napoleon III, who had the largest army in Europe and a powerful navy, expanded France's sphere of influence around the world, so it formed a huge contradiction with Britain. "To express dissatisfaction with Napoleon III's wanton territorial expansion in Europe.

When the war broke out, Britain was holding the hand of Prussia to teach France a lesson and suppress France's expansionist arrogance, who knew that the invincible French army in Europe was vulnerable in front of Prussia.

On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia, and after the war began, the French army was defeated one after another. On September 2, the French Emperor Napoleon III personally led nearly 100,000 French troops to surrender at Sedan.

From Napoleon III leading hundreds of thousands of troops into Germany to admitting defeat and surrendering, but for more than a month, the British government officials have not yet reacted, and the war ended in another way, and the German Empire established by stepping on French soldiers exceeded Britain's expectations, in order to continue to maintain the policy of equilibrium on the European continent, Britain studied countermeasures for a long time, and focused on European affairs, therefore, the Franco-Prussian War was an opportunity for the Chinese to expand again, and before that, The Misiones clash is also an opportunity to test the Argentine.

On 17 December, two heralds arrived at the barracks outside the city on the orders of Li Mingyuan, and after receiving the order, the 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 1st Artillery Brigade finished their training and moved to San Pedro in the Misiones area.