In late autumn, the banks of the Guaiba River on the South American continent are still green, tall oak trees and Brazilian sumacia trees are intertwined on both sides of the river, pink mimosas and delicate hostels bloom along the river, the breeze is gentle, the river is slightly rippling, and a long fleet of boats sails in the distance on the riverbank, and the calm and serene Guaiba River soon becomes noisy.

Li Mingyuan sat on the bow of the boat, casually browsing the coastal scenery.

There are many affairs on weekdays, and there is little time to stop and rest quietly, and this time after temporarily dealing with the matter at hand, Li Mingyuan followed a team of troops stationed in the place to travel by boat, which can be regarded as a trip to relax his nerves.

The Guaiba River, which flows from Porto Alegre to the sea and flows through Santa Maria and Pasudu, is a strategically important river in the area controlled by the Chinese Independence Army.

Li Mingyuan's fleet consisted mainly of small inland waterway vessels, some of which were responsible for transporting soldiers, and the other part of which followed behind the fleet, and were responsible for carrying 2,000 retired soldiers and their food, agricultural tools, and other materials and tools.

After the end of the war, it is difficult for a large-scale war to break out within a year or two, and it costs a lot to maintain a huge military force.

Therefore, after a few days of discussion with the senior generals of the Chinese Independence Army, Li Mingyuan again made the decision to reduce the number of troops.

The number of the four field divisions in the army unit has been reduced from 6,000 to 5,000, and the number of each of the three mixed brigades has been reduced by 500, and the 2,500 personnel of one brigade have been maintained.

The number of cavalry brigades, artillery brigades, special operations commands, engineer regiments, gendarmerie regiments and other technical arms remains unchanged.

The naval force was expanded from 2,000 to 3,500, and then a regiment was transferred to defend the naval base.

The army field army was reduced by 5,500 men, and the size of the troops was maintained at about 34,500 men, and the total number of field troops was 38,000 with the addition of naval forces.

At the same time, from the beginning of the expedition, the Chinese Independence Army suffered a total of nearly 20,000 casualties, of which less than 5,000 could return to the army to fight, and the remaining 15,000 were mostly soldiers killed in battle, and the other part was wounded soldiers who had lost their combat capability.

With the loss of 15,000 soldiers, even if most of them were garrison troops and non-field troops serving as logistics, the pressure to continue to maintain the pre-war scale of about 42,000 troops was still relatively high.

Therefore, considering the two sides, only reducing the size of the field army is an appropriate choice.

The reduction in the number of combatants of the main forces, as well as the garrison of the second-line troops, is also unavoidable.

With the signing of the peace talks, the two states in southern Brazil and the area south of the Iguazu River basin occupied by the Chinese Independence Army have a total area of about 403,000 square kilometers, and it is impossible for such a large area of land to remain empty for a long time, and a brigade of 4,000 garrisons can only control a small area, so it is unnecessary to continue to maintain a large-scale garrison.

The 20,000-strong second-line troops of the 10 garrison brigades of 40,000 will be retained, and then the 20,000 people will set up a garrison regiment with an establishment of 1,000 men per regiment, and 20 Chinese immigration bases will be set up on 403,000 square kilometers of land, and a garrison regiment will be stationed at each base, and the 20,000 people who have been reduced will form the main body of the rule of the Chinese Independence Army with 50,000 retired Chinese, and will no longer undertake front-line combat tasks.

Breaking away from the brutal and tense life of a combat unit, the retired soldiers on board the ship quickly adapted after the initial confusion.

The natural scenery and cultural environment of South America are different from those of the mainland, and the dense and flourishing trees, the Brazilian bitter wood, the white oak tree, and the various indescribable legumes distributed in the jungle in large numbers have brought novelty to the Chinese who have traveled to the south of Brazil.

However, after a moment of joy and novelty, the Chinese soldiers, who had been away from their hometown for several years, began to miss their distant hometown.

"The mountains and rivers are beautiful, the land is fertile, but it's a pity that I am not in my hometown." Looking at the dense jungle on the right side of the Guaiba River, Liu Pu felt something.

The beautiful and deep scenery always makes people unconsciously fall into the memories of the past, and Li Mingyuan is no exception, but his memories not only have to cross thousands of miles of oceans, but also pass through the long time of more than a hundred years.

"In the past, I used to be, the willows are still around, and now I think about it, and the rain and snow are falling."

Li Mingyuan groaned, and said with a smile on his face, "After all, the affairs of the mainland are just memories, and the great areas in front of us are all the land laid by 100,000 Chinese brothers, and we can build this land with our own hands, so that the land under our feet can become a new home for the Chinese." ”

"Occasionally, I felt it, and it made the son of the world smile."

Liu Pu came to his senses from the memories and smiled slightly.

"It doesn't matter, it's normal to miss your hometown, if you can't live in the mainland, who wants to leave your family and cross the ocean to thousands of miles away."

"It's hard to leave your homeland, but you can only leave." Liu Pu shook his head, looking a little sad.

Liu Pu was immersed in homesickness and sentimentality, but Li Mingyuan thought of another question, the Chinese are deeply influenced by traditional customs, pay attention to the relocation of the land and return to their roots, these Chinese who have been in South America for several years will miss their hometown, those poor farmers who have been living in the mainland and have never left the range of birth will be willing to leave the place where they grew up and accept the recruitment of the Chinese Independence Army?

With doubts in his heart, Li Mingyuan directly threw his questions to Liu Pu.

"The Central Plains region has a large population, and in the early Qing Dynasty, the Manchu government relocated people from the Central Plains to the Shuzhong region on a large scale, and the Central Plains suffered from the flooding of the Yellow River for a long time, and the people were poor, so it was the least difficult to absorb immigrants from the local area."

The Yellow River, the Huai River and other Central Plains have broken out in the past, and the immigrants from the local area are indeed good, but the Central Plains is located inland, and it takes a long distance to travel from South America to the local area, and it is difficult to avoid the inspection of the Qing soldiers on the way.

"The mass base of immigrants in the Central Plains is relatively good, but considering the problem of distance, it is not feasible to absorb immigrants from the Central Plains."

Rejecting Liu Pu's suggestion, Li Mingyuan turned to ask, "The Jiangnan region was once the ruling area of the Kingdom of Heaven, how about immigrating from there?" ”

"It's not proper, Jiangnan is the wealth of the Qing court, the head of the Qing demon has shaved his head, and Li Hongzhang sent a large army to garrison the local area, and it is too difficult for the prince to immigrate from here."

Liu Pu shook his head in disagreement, lowered his head and thought for a moment, and gave his advice again,

"If you want to immigrate from the mainland in the future, you should suggest that the first place of immigration should be in the Liangguang area."

"The Liangguang area is near the sea, and it is much easier for the fleet to arrive at the local immigrants," Li Mingyuan nodded and said, waiting for Liu Pu to follow.

In order to compete for land and water, the local Qing government turned a blind eye to the frequent incidents of armed fighting between the two sides, and only stopped them when the scale of the armed fighting turned into a riot.

The two Guangxi regions, especially the rural areas, are chaotic, and the government's control over the local areas is weak, so it should be most appropriate for us to obtain immigrants from the local areas. ”

"There are many mountains and few lands in the Liangguang area, and a large area of land on our side has not been cultivated, and as for the Hakka people, they are brave and brave, and the Chinese Independence Army needs such soldiers."

The Liangguang region, especially the Guangxi wolf soldiers, were famous in their previous lives, and the selection of soldiers from Guangxi was just in line with Li Mingyuan's wishes.

"At this stage, the Chinese in the Americas are mainly concentrated in Cuba, although there are some Chinese workers in North America, but it is difficult for us to introduce Chinese workers from North America, so after the end of this operation to transport Cuban Chinese workers, the focus of absorbing Chinese workers will be shifted to the mainland and Southeast Asia."

"After the reception of Cuban Chinese workers in the Rio Grande do Sul area, large-scale construction projects will also start at the same time, and we have not much gold in reserve, so it is too urgent to immigrate Chinese from the mainland, so it is better to build in the Rio Gran do Sul area first, and the task of immigrating from the mainland will be temporarily delayed?"

"Liu Pu, don't you understand, the Western powers are developing rapidly in industry, and if we want to continue to expand the area of land under our control in South America, we must rapidly increase the number of Chinese, so that we can protect ourselves when the European powers notice us."

Li Mingyuan noticed the solemn expression on Liu Pu's face and explained, "The gold reserves are insufficient, and I will find ways to expand new financial resources from other aspects, so that the good situation in Rio Glan do Sul will not be destroyed due to lack of money." ”

The importance of rapidly increasing the number of Chinese in the Rio Gran do Sul area Liu Pu understood in his heart, and the money in the hands of the Chinese Independence Army could still support large-scale consumption for a period of time, so although he did not believe that Li Mingyuan could think of a way to obtain a new source of money, Liu Pu gritted his teeth and agreed,

"The Chinese Independence Army has developed from scratch, and the difficulties encountered abound, and when it really comes to the time when there is no money, it is a big deal to endure it and pass." Liu Pu comforted himself like this in his heart.