On the afternoon of December 4, the 1st Mixed Brigade arrived at Pasufondu, rested for the night, and the next day, with some of the newly recruited soldiers, the 1st Mixed Brigade made an overland pilgrimage to the San Pedro area. At the same time, Liu Pu and the Paraguayans reached an agreement to exchange women for weapons, and batches of muskets, artillery, and ammunition reloaded from the field troops were concentrated in the Paraguayans, ready to be handed over to the Paraguayans.

On the Caribbean island of Torti, the lazy, chaotic black pirates on the shores are replaced by teams of disciplined patrol soldiers.

By occupying Tolti Island, the Chinese naval division led by Chen Sen and Hou Taiyuan could be regarded as having a solid base area.

After several months of careful construction, all the blacks on the island were cleaned up, and now there is not a single black shadow in the whole Tolti Island, on the contrary, the number of Chinese is increasing.

Li Mingyuan's purpose in sending Chen Sen to the Caribbean Sea was to establish a halfway base and provide a base for the recuperation and rehabilitation of Chinese laborers who were thin and could not withstand the ocean voyage.

Wang Youtian returned to Cuba and used the contacts he had accumulated in the local area for several years to take out some of the silver coins he had seized to bribe the Spanish grassroots colonial officials, and through the connections of the Spanish colonial officials, Wang Yongtian not only found out the main distribution locations of the Chinese laborers in Cuba, but also bought more than 2,000 Chinese laborers at a low price and settled them on Tolti Island.

The total number of people on Tolti Island reached more than 20,000 people, and the large number of people crowded the coastal plain area, Chen Sen mobilized the Chinese who had settled down on the island in the early stage to urgently build a large number of wooden sheds, and used the stored grain to meet the basic living needs of the people.

Near the coast and under the woods on the east side of the island, Chinese soldiers armed with weapons carried large pots to the open space and distributed simple meals made of rice, sweet potatoes, corn and other grains.

The crowd formed a long line of soldiers to receive food, and at the front of the queue, a Chinese worker who received the food did not wait to leave the line, grabbed a rice ball and devoured it into his mouth.

The soldier next to him snatched the food from the hands of the Chinese workers, and said solemnly, "Why are you in such a hurry, there were already six people choking to death after eating yesterday, if you don't want to choke to death, eat slowly, no one will rob you!" ”

The Chinese worker glanced at the soldier with the weapon in fear, carefully took the rice ball returned by the soldier, bent down and bowed, and then ran to the side with the food and ate it slowly.

After dealing with the problem of eating the Chinese workers, the soldiers returned to their places and continued to supervise the Chinese workers in line.

At this time, a Chinese soldier standing beside him turned his head and said, "Brother Zhou, when do you think we can return to Rio Gran do Sul?" I heard from Commander Chen's brothers that the prince and his brothers fought another battle with the Brazilians and took a large piece of land from the Brazilians. If we're still at war now, we'll almost be able to reach the capital of the Brazilians, what's the point of staying in this place where birds don't, it's better to go back to Rio Gran do Sul and fight with the son. ”

The soldier on duty was an old platoon commander, and when he heard the words of his soldiers, he not only complained, "Who said it wasn't!" In addition to fighting a group of pirates on this broken island, there is only one thing left to train every day, and now I have to give up the sleeping place to this group of masters! ”

The platoon leader surnamed Zhou said and glanced at the Chinese workers in front of him with dissatisfaction, "Don't cut the line, the kid in front, what about you, be careful if Lao Tzu beats you!" ”

The platoon commander surnamed Zhou reprimanded a short Chinese worker in front of him, venting the depression in his heart.

The Chinese worker who cut into the queue heard the voice and immediately returned to his original position, yesterday he was severely taught a lesson by the soldier who spoke, and the wound on his buttocks is still painful, but he didn't dare to touch the moldy head of the platoon commander surnamed Zhou again.

"Brother Zhou, what do you have to do with a cheating and slippery boy, let him have another good life, and after he sails back to Rio Grande do Sul tomorrow, the instructors in the army will teach him how to be a qualified soldier."

Persuaded the soldiers.

"Also, when he first entered the army, Lao Tzu was much more powerful than him, he suffered a few times, but he didn't learn to restrain his temperament and practice hard!"

The depression and dissatisfaction in the heart of the platoon commander Zhou was vented, and his mood was much better.

"According to me, it is better for the prince to think of a way, all the Chinese, whether they are suitable to be soldiers or not, will be locked up in the barracks for a few months of training, and their cowardly, slippery and treacherous nature will be changed."

"Brother Zhou is right."

The soldier habitually patted his ass, but he himself was strange, when he came out of the barracks, he could go to the battle and charge hard, why didn't he get rid of the habit of saying good things about his boss?

The two soldiers chatted, and a soldier in the back stabbed Zhou Xing's platoon commander with a gun: "Platoon commander, Commander Chen is here." ”

Hearing the reminder, the platoon commander surnamed Zhou and the soldiers next to him immediately resumed their standing posture.

"Commander Luo, you came from Rio Grande do Sul, how is the situation there? Is Shiko still at war with the Brazilians? Chen Sen asked as he walked.

"It's been a truce for more than a month, and when I came, I had just reached a peace agreement with the Brazilians, and the two southern states were owned by us Chinese, and the south of the Iguazu River was also under our actual control."

After Luo Linshan finished speaking, he felt that something was missing, and added: "Yesterday I met Director Sun, who returned from Prussia, and he used the telegram set up by the British in the colony to contact Rio Gran do Sul, and learned that the prince was officially founded five days ago, and the Chinese Independent Army was renamed the National Defense Army, and our title will be changed in the future. ”

"The country was founded so soon, if it weren't for Senior Commander Luo himself, I wouldn't have believed it." Chen Sen said with emotion.

"After the founding of the People's Republic of China, we will be able to settle down in South America in the name of justice, and the brothers will have a settlement in the second half of their lives, and we will follow the son of the world to revolt, for this day is not the day."

"It's a great pity that I didn't see Shizi announce the founding of the country with my own eyes, and after Master Luo led the Chinese workers back, he helped me hand over this record book to Shizi, which contains the division of spheres of influence of various countries in the Caribbean, the distribution of Chinese laborers in Cuba, and the rudimentary map and description drawn by Wang Youtian and his people.

I have a life under my post, and I can't go back to report the specific situation, so I can only get rid of Commander Luo. ”

After Chen Sen finished speaking, he cautiously saluted Luo Linshan.

"Brother Chen doesn't have to be like this, before leaving, let me give you a message, work hard in the Caribbean, after completing the task of transporting Cuban Chinese laborers, the affairs of the Caribbean Fleet will be handed over to Wang Youtian and Li Han to be responsible, and you and Hou Yutian will return to Rio Gran do Sul and have other job arrangements."

"Before I went to the Caribbean, Li Han and Wang Youtian had been in charge of pirate operations and logistics management, and there was no problem in handing over the fleet to them."

Chen Sen nodded and agreed with Li Mingyuan's arrangement.

"Director Sun has arrived in the Caribbean, do they want to go back with the first batch of Chinese workers to return to the sea?"

With the exact news of the time of his return to Rio Glan do Sul, Chen Sen began to care about the transportation of Chinese workers.

"The Prussian fleet was very large, and the goal of returning home with the fleet of transporting Chinese workers was too large, which could easily arouse the vigilance of other countries. Therefore, the two fleets will not depart together, and the Prussian return fleet left the Caribbean early yesterday. ”

"The Prussian returning fleet carried a large amount of machinery and equipment, and should be careful."

Chen Sen said.

"The first batch of 25,000 Chinese workers are watched by our men on board every day, and there is no shortage of defending forces with the Prussian returning fleet, so you don't have to worry about that."

Li Mingyuan's subordinates were short of people, and Luo Linshan, who had a steady personality and military experience, was forcibly brought over to serve as the head of the Huagong fleet to handle all matters related to the transportation of Chinese workers, so Luo Linshan paid more attention to the safety of the transport fleet than Chen Sen.