A total of more than 3,600 troops, including the three infantry battalions, the brigade-affiliated engineer battalion, the brigade-affiliated engineer battalion, the brigade-affiliated reconnaissance battalion, and the machine-gun company, under the command of the 1st Mixed Brigade and the 1st Regiment that received the combat mission, quickly assembled and then took a train at 12:55 p.m. to the designated combat area.

"Woo woo woo", the whistle sounded, and a long train emitted thick black smoke, driving at high speed on the railway track to Villarica, and on the plain near the train window, one after another dense trees quickly appeared in the sight of the soldiers, and then in the blink of an eye, they were pulled behind by the train.

The area from Ncarnacion to Villarrica has not yet been affected by the fighting, but when you look out the window, you can see groups of people fleeing and migrating.

Hatred amassed between the civil and military forces of Paraguay and the Republic of Brazil, and during the First Paraguayan War from early 1864 to late 1868, the number of dead and wounded in Paraguay and Brazil reached 120,000 and 80,000, respectively.

On the Paraguayan side, about 92,000 men were killed and nearly 30,000 were killed by women and the elderly.

The 80,000 lost by the Brazilian army were all soldiers and officers who were directly involved in front-line combat.

The Paraguayan War, which lasted for nearly five years, exhausted the stamina of both warring parties, and when one side captured a prisoner from the other, it was often cruel punishment and revenge to the captured prisoners in order to vent the pressure accumulated by the war.

Among them, because the war took place in Paraguay, the Paraguayan people who had no ability to defend themselves suffered more severe war persecution than the Brazilian side.

Villages and towns were burned down, and men in villages were arrested and executed on suspicion of being involved in the war.

During the First Paraguayan War, the extreme measures taken by the Imperial Brazilian Army against the Paraguayan people were repeated again and again in the northern and central regions of Paraguay.

However, in the face of the bandit behavior of the grassroots troops, even though Field Marshal of the Republic of Brazil Shopeto issued several orders prohibiting troops from plundering the Paraguayan people at will, because the troops entering Paraguay belonged to different factions, and more than one-third of the black soldiers were mixed in each army, Shopeto's order was deliberately biased. The officers who indulged in the looting of their soldiers were not effectively carried out at all.

The atrocities of the army of the Republic of Brazil in plundering and harming ordinary people in Paraguay have led to the displacement and fleeing of a large number of Paraguayan people, and have also aroused the will of many Paraguayan people to resist.

A considerable number of resistance elements were active in the rear occupation areas, often exterminating one group of resistance, and within a few days another force reappeared, precisely because of the frequent attacks on the rear transport routes, the military command of the Brazilian Republic on the front line had to transfer some of its valuable forces back to the north-central part of Paraguay to suppress the insurgent attacks and maintain the usual supply routes for the front.

The instability of the rear occupation area of the Brazilian Republic not only bought the defenders of Asunción nearly a week of respite and repair, but also provided the necessary mobilization and marching time for the Han army to calmly intervene in the Paraguayan civil war.

From time to time, the crowd of refugees outside the train window appeared in the soldiers' sight, but as time passed, the soldiers' curiosity about what was seen outside the window quickly disappeared.

"The train is expected to arrive in Biarrica at 5:30 p.m. today, and it's 4:17 p.m., and you still have forty-three minutes to eat and recuperate!"

In the rickety steam train car, a junior officer sat by the window, holding the seat with his left hand, while staring at the watch in his right hand and said loudly: "At 4:50, the quartermaster department of the brigade will give everyone the marching rations for tonight in advance, which is the last marching ration of our troops in the next few days, brothers should cherish it." ”

"Is there any canned pork? Captain. ”

"Yes, there are canned pork, beef, and mutton, and you have an open meal to eat today, and after getting off the train, I don't know when the next marching meal will be available. So, if you don't have enough to eat this meal, you'll have to eat field rations tonight and tomorrow. ”

The young officer glanced down at the watch he was wearing in his right hand and urged: "The train is bumpy and unstable, brothers finish the marching meal as soon as possible, then check their weapons and equipment, and when the train arrives at the station, quickly assemble and stand by!" ”

"Yes! Captain. ”…………

"Director Wang, have the marching rations of the officers and soldiers been distributed?"

On the other end of the train, Zhang Wenlian, the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Mixed Brigade, asked a quartermaster officer beside him.

"Just after it was distributed, each soldier had a canned meat (pork, beef, mutton), a staple food (fried noodles, bread, cold rice, corn tortillas), a sausage, a sausage, and a piece of cheese candy, a total of 3,627 servings, which were distributed to all company and platoon units at 3:50 p.m."

The quartermaster chief of the 1st Mixed Brigade said: "Because of the urgency of time, I only brought half a day's marching rations and two days' field rations (the Han military rations are divided into three types, namely garrison rations, marching rations and field rations), if the fighting is still scorching two days later, the military rations of the advance troops can only be transferred from Encarnacion to the logistics department. ”

"Two and a half days of military rations are enough. If all goes well, the brigade commander and Brigade Commander Hu of the 4th Garrison Brigade will lead the main force to Biarrica before tomorrow evening, and then the advance force will converge with the main force, and we will not have to worry about the supply of military rations for the advance force. ”

Zhang Wenlian was optimistic about the course of the war in Biarica, so after learning about the basic military supply situation of the troops, he continued: "The military rations and ammunition reserves are sufficient to maintain the combat needs of our army for the next two to three days, so after solving the demand for the supply of war materials, what our army has to do is to complete the combat mission of preemptively occupying Biarrica and blocking the Brazilian army outside the railway station in accordance with the requirements of the brigade headquarters. ”

Zhang Wenlian stood up, maintaining the balance of his body, while focusing his eyes on the march map that was fixed on the table: "Everyone, please see, there are two strategic points around Villarika,

One is Mbokayadi and the other is Twicuari.

Located northeast of the Biarrica railway hub, Mbocayadi is an important north-south choke point from the Mauricio attack station.

Tvicuari, on the other hand, is located in the south of the station, with mountains and rivers in the background, and the land is open, which is conducive to the deployment of the Brazilian army, but it is not easy for our army to set up a blocking position.

Therefore, taking into account the geographical and strategic advantages and disadvantages of the two places, I am ready to place the main forces in the small town of Mbokayadi, where the 4th and 6th battalions of the 1st Regiment, two companies of the 75-mm artillery battalion, a machine-gun platoon of the machine-gun company, and a reconnaissance battalion are all deployed. ”

"Which unit is Tviquari's defense tasked with? Tvicuari was no more than twenty kilometers away from the Brazilian army's straight marching route, and if the Brazilian army was in danger, bypassing the frontal march route and detouring back to the direction of the Tvicuari front, our army would face great defensive pressure in the south of the station. ”

Li Jitai, commander of the brigade's reconnaissance battalion, asked.

"It cannot be ruled out that this could happen."

Zhang Wenlian nodded and explained: "Tvicuari is the biggest weak point of the Biaria defense line, so in order to prevent the threat of the Brazilian army to the defensive position of Tviquari, I am going to place the remaining 4 Jianye 6-year heavy machine guns in the machine gun company, a company of the 75-mm artillery battalion, the fifth battalion of the first regiment and the engineer battalion in the direction of Tvicuari, and then use the fortifications dug by the soldiers of the engineer battalion and the heavy fire support provided by machine guns and 75-mm field guns to break up the offensive posture of the Brazilian army. ”

"Tviquari has to defend, with the combination of engineers, machine guns, artillery and infantry, it can give full play to the advantages of our army's combined arms, and offset the disadvantages of Tviquari's geography and terrain to the greatest extent."

Zhou Liying, commander of the 75mm field artillery battalion, simulated Zhang Wenlian's troop deployment in his mind, and nodded in agreement.

"It is easy to divide the frontal strength of our army with the station as the central defense point, and the distance from the station to Mbokayadi and Twiquari is not more than seven kilometers. …………

：。 ：