"Your Majesty, Chang'an Emergency!" A young officer quickly ran to Li Mingyuan's side and hurriedly handed over a telegram: "The situation of the civil war in Paraguay has changed, and General Liu, Luo, Zhao, and other important members of the central government ask Your Majesty to return to Chang'an as soon as possible and preside over the overall internal and external situation. ”

"I know, call back to General Liu and General Luo, we will leave tomorrow morning, and we are expected to arrive in Chang'an in two days, and during the period when we have not yet returned to Chang'an, ask them not to contact the Paraguayan side, and all questions about the direction of the Paraguayan war will be put on hold for the time being, and I will make a decision after I return to Chang'an."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The young officer took note of Li Mingyuan's instructions, stood up and saluted, and quickly turned to leave.

"Deputy Director Niu, the general situation of Xinghe Shipyard, after a few days of inspection, I also understand almost, the inspection of Xinghe Shipyard is up to today, early tomorrow morning, I will return to Chang'an with Chief Chen, Chief Zhang, General Chen, and the follow-up development of Xinghe Shipyard requires more efforts and more attention from your factory staff."

Li Mingyuan turned his head to Niu Shangzhou and said: "The 5,200-ton ocean-going ship has not yet been named, in my opinion, it is better to name it as the Fuxing ship, taking the meaning of reviving the country and prospering the people. ”

Your Majesty can rest assured that before the completion of the construction task of the "Fuxing Ship", all the employees of Xinghe Shipyard will never dare to slack off. ”

"Well, professional things are entrusted to professional people, in terms of shipbuilding, you are experts, and the central government and I only put forward rough construction goals and standards for you, as for how to implement and operate, you still need to think and practice more."

After Li Mingyuan finished saying his request to the shipyard management personnel, he looked up at the blood-red remnant sun, and said, "It's not early, we should go back too."

General Chen, inform the soldiers in charge of the surrounding garrison and let them prepare to leave. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." ……

The next morning, the flotilla headed by the 3,500-ton armored cruiser Pioneer departed from the port of Songjiang, arrived in Huaiyang Province (Rosario) in the afternoon, and then transferred to a train from Huaiyang, and it took nearly a day to arrive in Chang'an (Córdoba) on July 11.

In front of the Chang'an Imperial Palace, the Daming Hall was filled with people, including the main officials of various departments of the central government, as well as the core officers of various branches of the army and navy.

Li Mingyuan came to the palace under the escort of dozens of Praetorian Guard soldiers, and saw that the central government departments and personnel from both the land and navy had arrived, and immediately spoke: "Six days ago, the Brazilian Republic sent troops to officially declare the resumption of a state of war with Paraguay.

On 5 July, the Army of the Republic of Brazil launched an attack on the Paraguayan-controlled state of Mato Grosso do Sul on two routes, one with about 60,000 troops, and the other with nearly 30,000 men, from the northern garrison area of Goiás, to break the defense line of the Fourth Division of the Paraguayan Army, and to advance rapidly along the Paraná Boundary River towards the central region of Paraguay.

According to the latest information we have received,

As of the evening of July 10th,

The 2nd Division of the Paraguayan Army, which was mired in the quagmire of the Indian rebellion, had been completely annihilated under the attack of the superior forces of the Republic of Brazil, and the 4th Division of the Paraguayan Army was also divided and surrounded in several isolated towns by the troops of the Paraná side of the Brazilian Republic due to the turbulent civil war situation and the lack of ammunition and supplies. ”

Li Mingyuan's eyes gathered on a large sand table in the center of the palace conference hall, and while casually holding two small flags symbolizing the second and fourth divisions of the Paraguayan Army, he continued: "Excluding the second division of the Paraguayan army that has been eliminated and the fourth division that is about to be eliminated, the number of remaining regular troops in Paraguay is only more than 30,000 people, and among the remaining more than 30,000 people, more than 8,500 people of General Whitehead's first division of the Paraguayan army are stationed in Encarnacion, which is close to the mainland, and Encarnacion is located in the southernmost part of the Paraguayan Kingdom. Far from the front-line theater of the Brazilian Republic's offensive, even if Whitehead and his officers tried to move their defenses to resist the offensive of the Brazilian Republic's army, they could not turn the tide of the battlefield in Paraguay in a short time.

Again excluding the strength of more than 8,500 people belonging to the First Division of the Paraguayan Army, the total strength of the four-member Regency Committee and the two sides of the rebel coalition before the war was about 27,000 (including temporarily recruited soldiers), after several months of fierce fighting, the total number of casualties was about 5,000, and the number of soldiers with normal combat ability was about 22,000.

With 22,000 men, the largest military force in Paraguay that can be assembled to resist the offensive of the army of the Republic of Brazil, the Kingdom of Paraguay may have a chance of surviving if the four regency councils and the rebel coalition can put aside their previous suspicions, completely let down their mutual guards, and unite in a defensive war against the Brazilian Republic.

However, according to the debriefing of the battle situation made by the General Staff Headquarters, the probability of such a probability is very low. ”

"The rebel coalition and the four-member regency council belong to different factions, they have accumulated irreconcilable contradictions in the previous civil war, and I do not believe that they will give up their hatred of each other for the sake of the so-called Paraguayan motherland."

Luo Linshan, the chief of the War Department, followed Li Mingyuan's words and speculated.

"It is almost impossible for them to completely abandon their hatred and cooperate sincerely, but it is not unreasonable for the military threat of the Brazilian Republic to be forced to unite for the sake of each other's political and economic interests."

Zhao Yongzeng, the chief of the army staff, had a different view from Luo Linshan, who believed that under the military threat of the Brazilian Republic, even if the rebel coalition and the four-member regency committee had great hatred before, for the interests and survival of their respective factions, they would choose to resolve their previous grievances and respond to the crisis in a unified manner.

"Whether the four-member regency committee and the rebel coalition reconcile and resist the enemy actually have no essential impact on the prospects of the Paraguayan war, the remaining strength of the four-member regency committee and the rebel coalition combined is only more than 22,000 people, and the Brazilian Republic has mobilized a total of 120,000 troops in order to attack Paraguay, in addition to the 90,000 people used for front-line operations, the Brazilian Republic has also deployed 30,000 troops in Paraná to deal with possible attacks on the local side.

After the death of López Jr., Paraguay no longer has the general conditions necessary to maintain its independence, and without the support and intervention of the local side, it is only a matter of time before the four-member Regency Council and the rebel coalition fail, and there is no need to unite with them. ”

Luo Linshan stated his opinion.

"The views of General Luo and General Zhao have a certain degree of truth, the contradictions between the two sides of Paraguay are irreconcilable, and the current Paraguay is not the Paraguay when López Jr. was alive, without the power rule of López Jr., the Paraguay that was scattered into a plate of scattered sand, and there was no Brazilian army that defeated the strong with the weak and had an absolute advantage in strength and weapons in the war again."

Li Mingyuan smiled faintly and said: "Whether the four-person regency committee cooperates with the rebel coalition or not, or even whether the Paraguayan army is completely wiped out by the Brazilian army is not the focus of our attention, the focus of our attention is how to take advantage of the opportunity of the Republic of Brazil army to fight the Paraguayan army and obtain the maximum benefits." ”

As we are about to enter the 20 th century, the mode of warfare is beginning to gradually change to the direction of heavy firepower and large-scale corps operations, and the war between Paraguay and the Republic of Brazil, which involves a total of more than 100,000 troops, is, at most, a rookie pecking war in which modern weapons are used, but tactics and soldier quality are relatively backward.

Twenty years ago, the predecessor of the Han army, the rebel force composed of Chinese workers as the main body, was also regarded as a war between rookies when it fought against Bolivia, Peru and other countries, and now, after 20 years of development and the baptism and tempering of many wars, the Han State has got rid of the role of rookie and began to participate in the war of all parties as the controller of the international situation in South America.

The Paraguayan War is like a huge chessboard, all parties in Paraguay and the Brazilian Republic are pawns on the chessboard, and Li Mingyuan is like a chess player, just standing in front of the sand table in the conference hall, he can influence the direction and outcome of the Paraguayan War.

"The four-man Regency Council and the rebel coalition have only one way to defeat under the attack of the army of the Brazilian Republic, and before they fail, when will the local side intervene in the Paraguayan war is a key question for us to consider.

Intervening too early, in which the warlords in Paraguay did not suffer great losses, would be detrimental to our established policy of peaceful occupation of Paraguay, and too late, when the Brazilian Republic had completely eliminated the main forces of the Paraguayan army and had occupied and destroyed the main cities in Paraguay, would have been equally detrimental to our recovery from the occupation of Paraguay in the future.

Therefore, it is best to choose the time when we should intervene in the Paraguayan war before the main forces of the Paraguayan army have been damaged and the army of the Republic of Brazil has launched a final offensive against the remnants of the Paraguayan army.

In order to achieve this goal, the local side should selectively agree to the Paraguayan side's request for assistance, and in the early stage, it will gather its troops in Luoning County (Formosa) and Xianghe City (Posadas), and in the middle stage, mobilize the garrison of Xianghe City, advance from the Paraná River and Encarnación, and control the railway branch line from Encarnacion to Asunción and the southern area of Paraguay in two waysAfter the three places and Puerto Antequera, a partial division was divided to continue north along the Paraguay River to recover Paraguayan territory, while the main force remained in the direction of Asunción to launch an attack and encirclement against the army of the Republic of Brazil.

The purpose of the Paraguayan War was to inflict heavy damage on the main forces of the Republic of Brazil and further weaken the war potential of the Republic of Brazil. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

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