The vanguard repaired for a day at Puerto Casado, and the next morning, leaving a part of the soldiers to guide the follow-up troops, Li Mingyuan led the large army to continue along the river.

The Paraguayan River was stable, and the Chinese troops traveled an average of 100 kilometers a day in scavenged boats to transport soldiers' weapons, and three days later, at noon on May 19, 1868, the outpost arrived in Concepción and made its first contact with the Paraguayan troops.

Due to the tension of the fighting, most of Paraguay's troops were concentrated in the fortress of Humeta, and only a few garrisons remained in important areas, Concepción was located in the upper reaches of the Paraguay River, some distance from the capital Asunción, so the number of troops left in the area was small, a rough estimate of only 500 men.

The five hundred defenders suddenly found a group of unknown armed forces of tens of thousands of people appearing in front of them, and the panic effect caused by it was self-evident. The small fleet of boats belonging to Paraguay on the river hurriedly gathered in the harbor, and the shore fire guns also turned their guns to target the Chinese fleet that was coming downwind.

In fact, most of these ships are small wooden boats looted after entering Paraguay, and some of them are small boats made by the Chinese troops themselves, which are used to transport soldiers, but there is still a lot of damage in the conflict with the other side.

The purpose of the Chinese Independence Army (CAA) was to join forces with Paraguay to fight the enemy, and it would be of no one good to fight here, so in the face of the hostile behavior of the Concepción defenders, the Chinese Independence Army exercised restraint, docked along the coast with the fleet, and then sent soldiers to negotiate with the local defenders to explain the intention of the Chinese Independence Army.

Hearing that the Chinese Independence Army wanted to cooperate with Paraguay to fight against the Brazilian coalition forces, the local defenders immediately became calm, and the commander of the defenders did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent the only steam gunboat in the base to transport the representatives sent by the Chinese Independence Army to the capital Asunción, and sent a telegram to President López Jr. to report the situation.

Thanks to the foundation laid by the elder López, Paraguay taken over by López Jr. can be regarded as a small South American power.

Railways, shipyards, steel mills, telegraph communications, the advanced technology of many European countries was introduced to Paraguay by the old López, increasing Paraguay's war potential, relying on the telegraph communication facilities laid in advance in Paraguay, López Jr. can also receive military intelligence from other regions in the fortress of Humeita, and soon after the defenders of Concepción sent a telegram, López Jr. got the news that the Chinese Independent Army had entered Paraguay.

The Chinese Independence Army has been in trouble for nearly half a year, although López Jr. has been busy dealing with the attack of the Brazilian coalition and has not paid much attention to the outside situation, but the information of the Chinese Independence Army still knows a little.

The Chinese workers' uprising occupied the mining areas of southern Peru in less than two months, annihilating no less than 50,000 Peruvian troops, and these information that is difficult for outsiders to know entered the ears of López Jr. If you want to swallow the land of the four southern states of Brazil, you must first have a good tooth, otherwise being killed by others at once will be the end of the greedy.

Paraguay's water is already mixed enough, and the little López, who originally planned to fight quickly, does not have much hope for victory, at this time the Chinese Independent Army takes the initiative to participate, and the little López, who lacks troops, naturally can't ask for it, as for the so-called worry of luring the wolf into the house, let's wait until the Brazilian coalition army is repulsed, otherwise Paraguay will only be eaten under the attack of the Triple Alliance.

The decision to admit the Chinese Independence Army (CAA) to fight against the Brazilian coalition did not mean that the Chinese Independence Army should be brought into the battlefield immediately, and López Jr. also wanted to whet the appetite of the Chinese Independence Army so that they would not make excessive demands.

The Chinese representatives in small gunboats arrived in Asunción two days later, and then arrived at the fortress of Humeita, escorted by the local defenders, and the representatives of the Chinese Independence Army immediately asked to see López Jr. after arriving at their destination, but López Jr. kept refusing.

Three days later, the Chinese representatives, who had been waiting for no avail, finally met Little López, but at this time, the real anxious person was replaced by Little López.

Under Garcia's arrangement, five thousand Brazilian troops bypassed the heavily defended line of defense along the river by the Paraguayan army, landed at a river crossing where no troops were stationed, and then crossed hundreds of miles of dense mountains and forests to appear behind the fortress of Humeta and occupy the link between Humeta and Asunción.

Less than a day after this happened, the news reached the ears of López Jr., and he immediately sensed that the situation was not good.

Traveling hundreds of miles around and cutting off the passage between Asunción and Humeta, the Brazilian army wants to eat the main force of Paraguay in one bite!

Thinking of the danger of being surrounded by the defenders of Humeita Fortress, López Jr. immediately became nervous, he should not have stopped the advance of the Chinese Independence Army for a little selfishness, otherwise there would not be a danger of encirclement for the Paraguayan defenders.

In the original history, López Jr., who was copied by the Brazilian military uniform, quickly made the choice to abandon the Humeita Fortress, led a part of the army to retreat into the rural areas of Paraguay and played guerrilla warfare with the Brazilian army, until 1870 was captured and executed by the Brazilian army, and now although the Humeita Fortress is also surrounded by the Brazilian army, but with the variable of the Chinese Independent Army, López Jr. did not choose to break through, but asked the Chinese Independence Army for help, urging the Chinese Independent Army to set off as soon as possible to relieve the siege for the defenders of the Humeita Fortress.

When the news of López Jr.'s urging for the departure of the Chinese Independence Army reached Concepción, five days had passed since the arrival of the Chinese Independence Army in Concepción, and in these five days, nearly 40,000 field troops of the Chinese Independence Army had assembled and repaired, and 90,000 logistical troops had crossed the Bolivian Plateau and entered Paraguay along the road taken by the vanguard.

Lopez Jr. deliberately postponed the meeting with the representatives of the Chinese Independence Army, which means that the current war has not yet reached the time when it is clear, so López Jr. is in the mood to play with the Chinese Independence Army and indulge in the past.

Since Xiao López is not in a hurry, Li Mingyuan can't worry about scaring others, anyway, the Humeita Fortress is still in the hands of Paraguay, even if the Brazilian side quickly forms an encirclement posture against the Humeita Fortress, the fortress will not fall for a while.

Therefore, while waiting for the rear troops to assemble, Li Mingyuan sent a small team to carry food, medicine and other materials to attract Paraguayan women to join the Chinese Independent Army.

More than a dozen detachments of two or three hundred people, under the guidance of the local whites who had been bought, scattered deep into the villages along the river, and within a few days, half of the detachments reported that about 1,000 Paraguayan-age women were willing to join the Chinese Independence Army.

Within a few days of departure, nearly 1,000 women were willing to join, which was indeed higher than Li Mingyuan's expectations, and it was learned from the returning Chinese soldiers that these Paraguayan women were not forced to come, but agreed to the Chinese soldiers' request after seeing the truckload of food.

Li Mingyuan didn't understand this situation at first, but later under the explanation of the local guide, Li Mingyuan finally understood,

Paraguayan women who are willing to join the Chinese Independence Army are the descendants of early white immigrants from poor families, and if they do not follow the Chinese Independence Army, they will starve to death in the future, and joining the Chinese Independence Army may not only get hope of life, but their relatives can also get much-needed food and medicine, and it is easy for Paraguayan women to make a choice between the life and death of their families and the happiness of a person in the future.

The recruitment of 1,000 new Paraguayan women was a good start for the Chinese Independence Army, and the Chinese soldiers in the barracks looked at the Paraguayan women who were in the camp alone.

Five acres of land and a cow, wives and children hot kangtou, the ideal life of the farming nation is almost the same, whether it is a European peasant or the Han people, most of them hope to live a life of sufficient food and clothing, a wife and children, the Chinese Independence Army soldiers followed Li Mingyuan to raise a righteous army, even if it is a choice that cannot survive and is forced to live, how can it not hope to be free and live a rich life.

Land, Li Mingyuan has promised to participate in the uprising of the Chinese soldiers each 300 acres, although the land has not yet been obtained, but in southern Brazil Rio Gro Sul is not far away, after defeating the Brazilian army, the Chinese soldiers can harvest their land, women are more difficult for the time being, hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers are all big men, before when they worked in the mines, they did not dare to have a wife, but to join the Chinese Independent Army, under the influence of successive victories, who does not want to hold their wives, guarding their own 300 acres of land to live.

In the past, Li Mingyuan promised everyone that he would find a wife for every soldier who followed him, but after all, it was just a blank check, and now a thousand Paraguayan women have entered the camp of the Chinese army, and a graceful figure has really appeared in the eyes of the Chinese soldiers, and many soldiers have ripples in their hearts.

The soldier's reaction was seen in Li Mingyuan's eyes, and this was exactly the effect he wanted, winning the war was one thing, and fighting for the immediate benefits of his soldiers was the other way to gain the loyalty of the soldiers.

All the changes are developing in a good direction, and the negative effects caused by the casualties of the Chinese and the harsh environment in the thousands of miles of migration have gradually disappeared in the face of a visible happy life, and the soldiers of the entire army have gradually recovered.

The benefits of recruiting Paraguayan women are obvious, and more women of appropriate age will join the Chinese Independence Army after staying for a while, but Li Mingyuan can't stay any longer, and the news of López Jr. asking for help proves that the Humeita Fortress has been surrounded by the Brazilian coalition forces, and it will not be possible to keep López Jr. will break through as in the original history, so it will be more difficult to defeat the Brazilian coalition again.

Li Mingyuan did not dare to risk the future and fate of the Chinese Independence Army, and after receiving López Jr.'s request for help, the Chinese Independence Army immediately set off to meet the Brazilian coalition army.