Han Guanglie rode a group of war horses and walked first in the half-human-tall thistle bush.

Thanks to the Spaniards, the invasive Spanish thistle grew taller and denser on the uninhabited Argentine plains, just as the Castilian people had in the New World. But the big thistle is easy to get rid of, but the Spaniards are not easy to get rid of, and these colonists from the Old World will eventually use their super competitive advantage to firmly gain the upper hand in the New World and become the masters of this continent like the big thistle.

Of course, this is the trend of the original historical time and space, and in the 17th century, where the East Coast people lived, for the Spaniards and even the entire Old World, the East Coast people were not a "species invasion"? Their competitiveness may not be particularly obvious elsewhere, but it is too obvious in the Southern New World, where Spain is the dominant one! Perhaps the most prominent manifestation of this is the expansion of the people of the East Coast in two directions, La Plata and the Brazilian Altiplano.

Han Guanglie is an active army officer, subordinate to the Military Police Command, a second lieutenant in the eighth year, the son of Han Zhong and the grandson of Han Kechang, just in his early twenties. It is said that their Han family was originally the first big family in Huai'an Mansion to surrender to the east coast, and they have always been favored by Liao Xiaoyao and Commander Liao. When he was still in Shandong, the second generation of the Han family brothers had already served as officials on the east coast, such as Han Keda and Han Kejiu were all in Shandong, as some transactional middle-level officials, and their sons and nephews also made a lot of achievements, Han Jin, Han Yin, Han Ku, and Han Qian all worked in the Bank of Taiwan, and some have already taken charge of themselves, and Han Rong is currently serving in Ningbo Prefecture, doing judicial work.

As for Han Kechang, Han Kerong and others, who immigrated to the east coast with their father Han Zhimei, Han Zhimei and Han Kechang have passed away due to illness, while Han Kerong is doing business at home, selling rice, tung oil, yerba mate, leather (mainly crocodile skin) and other special goods from the Hejian area to the core urban areas of the eastern coast to earn profits. However, in recent years, due to his advanced age and diseases such as rheumatism, he has faded out of the business world and handed over the business to his son Han Ming and nephew Han Zhong, planning to live in the drier southern region.

Han Guanglie is basically the most outstanding one in the fourth generation of the Han family, and he was mixed with the rank of second lieutenant in his early twenties. Otherwise, do you think that this time the boss will give him such an opportunity to "shine" in front of many big people, how is it possible!

Speaking of Han Guanglie's mission this time, we cannot fail to mention a "riot" incident that occurred on the Pampa Plain in the south just a while ago. That is, the famous wandering mercenary Inigo and the steppe bandit "One Hang Three" Wu Yifei joined forces to lead a group of rabble to break through the Spanish colonial town of Franco, which became famous, and at the same time made the Spaniards very panicked, so they rushed to check it out as soon as possible, and sent cavalry to search and pursue, intending to completely eradicate these two people and their subordinates.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows who is standing behind both Inigo and Wu Yifei - needless to say, they used the now more and more famous Minnie guns in battle, and the Spaniards can not count them in their hearts - so the cavalry sent by General Owando of Buenos Aires is doomed to nothing.

In addition, after that incident, in addition to informing Lima of the news as soon as possible, Buenos Aires also sent a delegation to the east bank capital to protest, demanding that the east bank side strictly restrain its citizens and refrain from committing such bad incidents that damage bilateral relations, otherwise they may also take countermeasures.

In fact, the Spaniards' protest in such a "violent" manner is already a concession to a certain extent. That is, their meaning is very clear, that is, the East Coast people, you don't mess around anymore, we can treat what happened this time as if we didn't see it, it doesn't exist, and the so-called pursuit is also symbolic, but you must promise not to make an example, otherwise we will retaliate.

Naturally, the Spaniards' attitude of inwardness was seen through by the people on the east coast, so they perfunctorily rebuked them and asked probing questions about the various business activities of the people of the east coast east of the Yanbu Railway, which had been put on hold for a long time. As a result, the Spaniards still did not have a noticeably positive response to this—in fact, they were not to blame, for such a matter was to be decided by the Madrid side, and they had no right to decide—which was somewhat disappointing to the people of the east coast, so that at the behest of some people, following the intervention of the General Directorate of National Intelligence, the gendarmerie command rushed in and planned to plan an incident under the pretext that a Spanish army unit had just had a skirmish with the people on the east coast in the vicinity of Wuping County over the ownership of some sandbar islands in the Paraná River.

Strictly speaking, the events they planned were not unrelated to the previous dispute between the two sides over the sandbar islands, and it was also revenge for that series of scrambles. According to the plan of the Gendarmerie Command, this time Second Lieutenant Han Kwang-yeol will lead a team of nearly 100 people, consisting of exiled prisoners, non-national laborers, and a small number of plainclothes gendarmes, to go deep into the Spanish-controlled area opposite Wuping County to carry out retaliatory raids on some of their colonial villages.

It was almost noon at this time. Han Guanglie looked at the sun and ordered everyone to dismount and rest for a while, eat and rest in batches, and store up their strength for the next attack. Han Guanglie himself, on the other hand, sat under a tree, and after eating some dry food at random, he took out his notebook and took the trouble to look through the homework he had done before.

"The word 'chaco' is derived from the Quechua language, which means 'country of hunting'. It is a forested plain that extends from the herbaceous plain of the Pampa to the tropics. The land is vast and flat, with little undulation. There are many vast areas with wide open land as far as the eye can see. Combined with climatic factors, floodplains, swamps and lakes have been formed. But many of the swamps disappear in winter and are overgrown with fat, juicy pastures, which provide a very good basis for animals to thrive, hence the name 'Chaco' (hunting country) by the indigenous Quechua people. Han Guanglie ran his finger over the lines of these transcripts, and kept recalling how he had felt when he had gone deep into the Chaco Plains several times before to deepen his impression.

"Why are the Quechua people here so desperate for the Kingdom of Spain, is Catholic brainwashing really so powerful?" Looking at the information, Han Guanglie patted his thigh regretfully and whispered in annoyance.

In the many previous ventures into the Chaco Plain — staff trips to the Army system, adventurous surveys by the Geological Department, espionage operations by the General Directorate of National Intelligence — the greatest threat to the people of the East Coast was the hostility of the Quechua people.

These natives of the Chaco Plains, who hunted and grew corn for a living, were deeply Catholic, and were wary of any outsiders, reporting them to the priests or simply attacking the people of the East Coast. The East Coasters have no good way to deal with this kind of unguardable behavior, so that the activities are greatly affected, and there are also some casualties, which is very annoying.

When the counties of Wuping and Wuxin had a dispute with Spain over the ownership of some islands and sandbars in the center of the Paraná River, these Quechuas sided with the Spaniards and even accepted their levy to stand for the Mestiso infantry regiment stationed in Resistensia, which "greatly hurt the feelings of the people on the east bank."

Therefore, this time, Second Lieutenant Han Guanglie secretly sneaked into the Chaco Plain with these 100 people, saying that he had to focus on "taking care" of these people, so that they could know why the flowers were so red. Han Guanglie himself also very much approved of this request from his superiors: what are you kidding, the Kingdom of Spain is weak, politically corrupt, and deeply dependent on the East Coast, so the citizens of the East Coast have always been rampant in Buenos Aires, Chile and other places, even if they commit something, the Spaniards are not easy to deal with, and it is not much different from the consular jurisdiction in the future.

But this kind of waiting is not good on the Chaco Plains. It is unbelievable that the ignorant Quechua may not have figured out how powerful the East Coast really is, and that they have been deceived by the Spanish colonial officials and priests into being loyal and working for these peninsulars who are also foreign invaders.

Han Guanglie felt that these elm heads should be severely punished, otherwise they would not know the height of the sky. How pure are they who are desperate to work for the Spaniards? Have we forgotten the great Krandian revolt that took place more than 20 years ago? It's so cheap!

After everyone finished eating and resting in batches, Han Guanglie called a few leaders and reconfirmed some details with everyone, such as where to set up a temporary resting place, where to set up a place to hide food and ammunition, and where to communicate with the headquarters on the other side. These are all things that must be paid attention to, otherwise you may not be able to hold out for long on Chaco Plains.

On July 10, 1678, Han Guangyeol's troops found a Quechua village hidden in the woods and thistles, launched a surprise attack, and wiped out all resistance in the village at the cost of six casualties, more than ten of whom were peninsulars or Creoles.

On July 13, Han Guanglie and others, who had moved to another place, made another gain, they captured a team of horses carrying supplies to the city of Resistensia, killed more than a dozen Spanish soldiers (mostly Mestizos), and burned all the supplies, including grain, cloth, and salt.

On 18 July, they breached the manor house of a Spanish nobleman, killing and wounding more than 20 Peninsulars or Mestizos, and looting the manor of its valuable belongings.

Throughout July, such incidents were repeated, leaving the Spanish infantry regiment stationed at Resistencia exhausted and worried. Of course, they knew that the East Coast people did this, and it was not difficult to interrogate from the mouth of an unfortunate wounded and captured East Coast "bandit", but you can't put this kind of thing on the table, because strictly speaking, these bandits who committed the border either do not even have East Coast nationality, or they are also in the so-called wanted status in the East Coast, and it is very easy for the East Coast government to remove relations with them, and the Spaniards will have nothing to say.

So, herein lies the problem! The cross-border attack by the East Coasters was clearly carefully planned to disgust you, hit you, shake you, and make you fear them. If we add to the events that took place last month in the town of Franco on the Pampa Plains to the south, the East Coaster's move will be put on a deeper meaning.

But no matter how much it is analyzed and speculated, the most important priority for the Spaniards, especially for the defenders of the city of Resistensia, is how to expel or eliminate the incoming bandit force on the east coast. This bandit leader on the east coast named Han Guanglie, who has already been on the list of many big names when he entered the country, led his men to shuttle through the grasslands, swamps, woods and thistles like a pack of hungry wolves, constantly attacking villages and manors scattered everywhere, creating killings and panic incidents, which made people not feel annoyed.

The Spaniards could not imagine how much they would have to pay if this man, who already had the "Wolf of Chaco" bandit, continued! You must know that when the east bank people took away the fertile Mesopotamia region (that is, the area between the rivers), many of the local Spanish residents were forced to move west to settle in the west bank of the Paraná River, and here they overcame all the difficulties, and together with the new Catalan immigrants, the original small village and town of Resistencia was built into a large-scale town, and many forest farms, pastures and manor farms were also opened up around it, which was not easy.

But now it seems that all these efforts of theirs are so fragile that the people of the East Coast only need to send a hundred or ten horse bandits to disturb them, what is this like? Therefore, now the nearly two thousand white settlers in the whole of Resistencia are really angry, and constantly put pressure on the Mestiso infantry regiment, asking them to lock down the trail of this horse bandit as soon as possible and eliminate it.

Of course, these people did not forget to report to Buenos Aires and ask them to solve this problem by all means, whether it is military or diplomatic, as long as they can return them to peace, because everyone is really fed up! General Ovando was also very embarrassed by this request from Resistensia, and did not know what to do. Giving in or continuing to be tough, that's the question.