Garcia fled back to the barracks, gathered the defensive forces to prepare to evacuate the defensive line, and returned to Brazil by land, and that night, before it was dark, the Chinese Independence Army troops followed the defeated enemy army to the Brazilian Army defensive position, with the defenders of the Humeta fortress in front and the Chinese Independence Army blocking the way, and Garcia's attempt to quickly retreat was declared bankrupt.

The Brazilian army's logistical supply was cut off, the main force was besieged in front of the Humeita Fortress, Brazil temporarily could not withdraw troops to give Garcia strong support, the defenders of the Humeita Fortress and the Chinese Independent Army seized the opportunity to attack the Brazilian troops in turn, the defense line built by the Brazilian army was constantly occupied by Paraguay and Chinese troops, and on the fifth day of the battle, Garcia gathered all the remaining troops, and launched a counter-assault operation from the defensive junction of the Paraguayan and Chinese troops as a breakthrough, After paying the price of most of the Brazilian army killed, wounded and captured, 10,000 Brazilian troops broke out of the encirclement and burrowed into the mountains and forests east of the Paraguay River.

Li Mingyuan's aim was to completely annihilate the Brazilian army, so that Brazil's military strength would be temporarily weakened, and the Chinese Independence Army would gain time to establish a foundation in Rio Gro Sul.

However, it was not easy to besiege the remaining Brazilian army, but the enemy broke through under his nose, Li Mingyuan was very angry, ready to find out the generals who were unfavorable in defense and punished heavily, who knew that after the final investigation, it was found that the problem was on the side of the Paraguayan army, the defense line broken by the Brazilian army was located on the Paraguayan line at the junction of the two armies, and when the Chinese Independent Army realized that the situation was wrong and rushed to reinforce, the Paraguayan defenders were defeated by the enemy, and a large number of Brazilian troops had escaped from the encirclement.

The problem lies with the Paraguayan troops, and Li Mingyuan has no place to vent his anger.

Soon after the Brazilian army broke through, Li Mingyuan contacted the Paraguayan army to discuss jointly sending troops to pursue the Brazilian army, but the result was that the Paraguayan army suffered heavy casualties and needed to be repaired urgently. The pursuit of the remnants of the Brazilian army had to be done by the Chinese Independence Army alone.

Little López's attitude made Li Mingyuan very unhappy, Lao Tzu rushed all the way to Paraguay, although it was mainly for the Chinese Independence Army to gain a foothold in Rio Grande do Sul to participate in the war, but in any case, the Chinese Independence Army helped Paraguay solve the invading enemy army, and when the battle was over, Lao Tzu put forward a simple request to pursue the remnants of the enemy army, and you didn't agree, isn't this a deliberate attempt not to give the Chinese Independence Army face?

Li Mingyuan complained that López Jr. was ungrateful and did not give face to the Chinese Independence Army, and López Jr.'s heart was also full of fire, and news came from the troops left behind in the rear, the Chinese Independence Army took advantage of the opportunity of the emptiness of Paraguay's domestic troops, and without the consent of López Jr., forcibly requisitioned large and small ships in his name, and the boats along the Paraguay River basin were looted by the Chinese Independence Army, and the fishermen who had no food had to drive the fishskin rafts built of wooden planks to go down to the river to fish, and the Paraguayan people along the coast who did not know the truth also blamed the resentment on López Jr.

After the siege of the fortress of Humeita, he did agree to some conditions of the Chinese Independence Army, but those conditions were only limited to the division of their respective spheres of influence after the end of the war, and did not involve the interests of ordinary people in Paraguay.

It is not interesting for the Chinese Independence Army to forcibly requisition ships without López Jr.'s consent, but this is not the main reason why López Jr. is angry, and even refuses to provide troops to pursue the remnants of the Brazilian army is the Chinese Independence Army's recruitment of school-age women in Paraguay.

Because of the war, Paraguay's domestic population has been reduced by more than half, and the gender ratio of men and women is seriously imbalanced, after the end of the war, López Jr. intends to promote the fertility rate of the domestic people and increase the population of Paraguay, in order to restore the pre-war population of Paraguay, López Jr. has considered the implementation of polygamy to increase the population of Paraguay in a short period of time.

The Chinese Independent Army's half-seductive and half-deceptive recruitment of Paraguayan-age women has clearly undermined López Jr.'s development plan for Paraguay's future.

Over the past half month or so, more than 10,000 Paraguayan women have been attracted to join the Chinese Independence Army with food, medicine, and even weapons and ammunition.

There are only about 200,000 men, women and children left in Paraguay combined, and even if the proportion of women is too high, it is a valuable human asset, and the excessive loss of population is also a major loss of Paraguay's national strength.

Unlike the crowded situation in East Asia, the countries in South America that have just become independent generally lack population, Brazil covers an area of more than 8.5 million square kilometers, with a population of only 10 million, Argentina has a population of 1.5 million, Chile and Paraguay and Uruguay have fewer populations, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, these southern South American countries are rich in resources and fertile land, and what they lack is only manpower. Find an excuse to fight with neighboring countries, and the land will naturally increase.

Population is of great significance to Paraguay's national development, and the Chinese Independence Army's recruitment of Paraguayan women is a corner for López Jr., who has become stubborn and dictatorial and has regarded Paraguay as his private property, which cannot be touched by outsiders.

After experiencing the lesson of the Brazilian Triple Alliance beating Paraguay, López Jr. was rarely more sensible, because it was not worth it to break up with the Chinese Independence Army on the Paraguayan women's issue, and more than 100,000 Chinese reached half of the population of Paraguay.

The presence of foreign troops in their own country will eventually leave a huge hidden danger, and López Jr. issued an order prohibiting the Chinese Independence Army from continuing to recruit Paraguayan-age women, and at the same time sent representatives to urge the Chinese Independence Army to leave Paraguay.

The host closed the door and drove the guests away, Li Mingyuan was unhappy and didn't want to stay in Paraguay, and once again put forward some conditions to Little López, and the two parties bargained for a while and finally reached an agreement, all the captured Brazilian troops were owned by the Chinese Independent Army, Li Mingyuan took out a part of the captured grain and distributed it to Little López for emergency relief, the Chinese Independent Army stopped recruiting Paraguayan women, and the Paraguayan women who originally joined the Chinese army, Little López was not allowed to interfere with their personal freedom.

The sphere of influence once again reaffirmed that the three southern states of Brazil belong to the extended sphere of influence of the Chinese Independent Army, Paraguay can use the coastal ports of the Chinese army, and the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is the target of Paraguay's attack.

The agreement with Paraguay was finalized, and two days later, the repaired 20,000 Chinese independent troops set off along the Paraguay River in a fleet led by the Chaoyang and Dawn, and when passing through Formosa, there was an encounter with the Argentine army stationed here, the area along the Formosa was occupied by Argentina, and the west bank of the Paraguay River was connected to the Argentine territory, and the Argentine army with lax defense was suddenly attacked, and the soldiers in the camp left the ships and logistics supplies in the port, spread their legs and turned around and ran towards the inland area belonging to Argentina, The aim of the Chinese Independence Army was to occupy Rio Grande do Sul and to make peace with the Chinese forces sailing by sea, and the 10,000 Argentine troops were not the main targets of their attacks.

Abandoning the pursuit of the fleeing Argentine troops, they looted the camp for food, weapons and ammunition, and brought the captured Argentine ships with them. The flotilla continued to move forward, sailing through the confluence of the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, and sailing upriver along the Paraná River, three days later, the first Chinese fleet arrived at Porto Alegre, and the small number of Chinese soldiers left behind were victoriously reconciled, and then more than ten days, Li Mingyuan led the remaining Chinese and 12,000 recruited Paraguayan women from Paraguay to Porto Alegre on July 3, 1868, which lasted more than half a year, and the long journey of thousands of miles finally came to an end.