August 1, 1646, light snow.

A cavalry unit was speeding through the grass near Fort Ningjin, soldiers in training. The cavalry battalion has been expanded repeatedly over the years, and its establishment has now reached six companies, and the total number of troops directly under the battalion headquarters has reached nearly 700. This number was already more than the total strength of the newly established infantry regiment of La Plata by the Spaniards, and there was no pressure to defeat the opponent head-on.

At present, about two companies of the cavalry battalion were sent to fight in the northern Zhuliang division to fight against the Guarani; In addition, there is a company stationed in Xihu Township, Dafengbao and other agricultural areas in Huxi; As for the remaining three or four hundred men, they were scattered like pepper noodles over a vast area from Xiayihe Township to Merlot Fort, and only one company and one battalion headquarters of 150 men remained here at Ningjin Fort.

Along with the cavalry unit was the newly formed 6th Company of the Army, which was commanded by Xiao Baitu, the commander of the 5th Company of the Army, who had been transferred back from South Africa. As for the position of company commander of the 5th Company after Xiao Baitu left office, it was held by his original deputy Sun Shengjun, and Sun Shengjun is also the second front-line main force leading officer in China who is not from the crossing group so far (the second is Leonid who was turned from the deputy company commander of the South African Cavalry Company), which can be regarded as a complete boil.

The Army's 6th Company, as well as the 106th Company, which is currently being redeployed to training near New Königsberg, are new units that have only been in formation for a few months. The soldiers were recruited from the militia in Dongfang County, Xiayihe Township, Canyon Fort and other places, and some of the officers were transferred from other units, and some were filled by the new graduates of the Dingyuan Army Military Academy. Large-intensity military training began. After all. They used to be exposed to militia training that was better than the regular army. It's still quite inferior, and they still need a certain amount of time to form combat effectiveness.

Looking at the wind and snow outside, which was gradually getting bigger, Xu Yu, the commander of the cavalry battalion and a major in the army, closed the window, which made Xiao Baitu, who was sitting at the coffee table with Erlang's legs crossed, a little dissatisfied. I only heard him say: "Lao Xu, what are you doing, the house is full of the smell of cigarettes you smoke, why don't you hurry up and open the window to breathe?" It's stuffy and suffocating! ”

Xu Yu ignored him, but added some peat to the fireplace, and then sat on the chair opposite Xiao Baitu. Slowly stuffed the pipe with imported Virginia tobacco, lit it, took a puff, and then said with a smile: "The weather is getting worse and worse, what does the military department think?" If something so big happens, don't you make a decision quickly? How long will this grind be? ”

The so-called "big incident" in Xu Yu's mouth refers to the incident in which the Spaniards fled with gold ore in the Corrales mining area in mid-to-late July last month. Wang Dali, the leader of the expedition team of the Ministry of Geological Resources, who was present at the time, immediately ordered all his subordinates to go out to search, but there was no result, and he quickly reported the details of the incident to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee was shocked when they received the news, because almost everyone understood how dangerous it was to let the Spaniards know that there was a gold mine near Corralles, because it undoubtedly touched the sensitive nerves of the Spaniards.

If the persecution of Christians, the killing of indigenous peoples, the cross-border reclamation, the smuggling trade and other acts of the Spaniards could barely endure in the past, then the news of a large gold mine in the Corrales mining area must have made the Spaniards restless and calm. They will never give up this low-hanging fruit.

The present government of the Kingdom of Spain was poor, and they spent a lot of money to continue the war and to aid their relatives, Austria. This has brought their financial system to a near collapse. One can imagine how excited and crazy they would have been when they learned that there was an undiscovered gold mine in the East Coast, which is now nominally theirs.

Even today, with the revolution in mining technology and equipment, the average Spaniard can only produce about five tons of gold and more than 200 tons of silver per year in Latin America, of which about three-quarters of the gold and silver will be shipped back to Spain. In all fairness, in the 17th century, before the 60 years of frenzied mining, if the Spaniards invested a lot of manpower and equipment, it was still possible to produce 1-2 tons of gold per year, which is almost 10% of the precious metals that the Spaniards get back from their Latin American colonies every year, which is an extremely eye-catching wealth.

The news leaked out, and anyone with a brain would be aware of what that meant. Of course, the officers of the military department are not brainless red deer, so they reacted before the executive committee, and the officers of the Shaozhuang faction frequently connected in tandem to discuss countermeasures. Peng Zhicheng, a "retired" army veteran, has a very busy home, and many soldiers in military uniforms sneak into his mansion at night and then leave quietly in the dark.

As a member of the National Power Alliance, a radical military association, Xiao Baitu has long been dissatisfied with the appeasement policy that the state has been adopting, and he has always believed that the country should take advantage of the opportunity of the 30-year war in Europe to occupy as much land in South America as possible, and he did not hesitate to offend Spain and Portugal for this. When the 30-year war is over, they will defend with peace of mind while digesting the fruits of what they have gained.

But he was disappointed by the government's policies, and he spent several years in South Africa, but the expected large-scale war with La Plata never broke out. Even if it weren't for the insistence of the military ministry, the government would have been prepared to include the Guaraní and the Charuya as official citizens of the state, giving them formal powers and assimilating them.

Are these government guys all mushy in their heads? Even the aborigines dare to accept and assimilate! The military department soon took matters into its own hands, frequently entering Guaraní settlements in the name of exercises to carry out conquest operations, which caused the government a great headache and had to pinch its nose and admit it. After all, among the 11 members of the Executive Committee, the military department already has three seats directly or indirectly, and with the traditional allies of the military department, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Materials, and the intelligence department, it is still very easy for the military department to influence the executive committee. Of course, it doesn't matter if your executive committee doesn't agree, I just have to act on my own, you just have to develop the country well, and there are some dirty jobs that you white shirts can't do, so it's better for our glorious soldiers to do it.

It can be said that the deterioration of relations with the Kingdom of Spain in recent years is not only due to the Spanish themselves, but also to the role of the young and radical forces in the military department. It was they who provoked the Spaniards with their agitation for cross-border settlements, massacres and exiles in the Guarani settlements, which angered the Spaniards and led to the destruction of bilateral relations.

In fact, the navy is also quite critical of the army's approach. Because the expansion into the inland areas is undoubtedly increasing the strength of the army. There is no doubt that the strength of the army has increased, and the strength of the navy has naturally declined. Moreover, the strategy of westward expansion is also at odds with the strategy of eastward expansion that the navy has always adhered to, and the navy insists on going eastward to South Africa, New China, and Australia, and vigorously expands military ports, shipyards, ship repair yards, coastal defense forts and other facilities in these places, and at the same time vigorously trains new sailors and builds new ships to ensure the maritime safety of these nodes. It's just that the strength of the navy is obviously not big enough in the military department, so it has been firmly suppressed by the army for many years, and can only passively follow the rhythm of the other side.

It's just that after the current incident, the navy can only pinch its nose and advance and retreat with the army if it has any ideas. The Spaniards' relations with the East Coast were already in a tense state – or perhaps the Spaniards themselves did not think so, and they perhaps thought that the relationship between the two sides had not yet come to an end – and now that the Spaniards knew that there was a gold mine in the Corrales area, they would have sent more men to explore it, and at the same time sternly warned the East Coasters to take their claws back, which was almost a certainty.

Let the people on the east coast abandon the walled city that crossed the border and reclaimed it, abandon the Northwest Railway, which has been built a considerable distance, abandon the planned special steel base, and abandon the gold, iron, manganese, and coal mines, even in the government affairs Yuan, which the soldiers thought was a hypochondriasis epidemic, no one dared to make such a ridiculous proposal. Well, war is already inevitable ?!

"Isn't it clear what the military department thinks? That is war with the Spaniards! Xiao Baitu said with a smile, "This is a battle for the whole country!" The Battle of the Fortunes of Nations! The reason why the final decision has not yet been made is that the Navy is still noisy, and the distribution of benefits has not yet been negotiated. We must take advantage of the Spaniards' ability to react and defeat their main naval forces in La Plata, and then try to negotiate peace with them with this power. ”

"The premise of this plan is that the Spaniards act according to our wishful thinking!" Xu Yu took a deep breath of his cigarette and said worriedly, "But is this possible?" The Spaniards will escalate the war, they will co-opt allies, and other countries may be eyeing each other, such as the Dutch, how do we deal with this complex situation? It's easy to start a war, but it's hard how to end it! And we currently have 5 of the 12 infantry companies of the army deployed overseas, will we have enough troops when the war starts? ”

"It's not enough to think of another way, anyway, there is a process of diplomatic negotiations and war preparations before the war, which will not go down in a year and a half. Didn't the ship that left for the Far East in May bring a letter from the military headquarters, and I think Boss Mo should transfer some soldiers from the front team back to the mainland, so that our troops will be more abundant. Xiao Baitu frowned and said, "Also, do you think that after the Kingdom of Spain has spent two or three years mobilizing enough troops to come to La Plata and counterattack the east bank, how will we defend such scattered settlements?" ”

"The only way we can defend is to defeat the La Plata Infantry Regiment in one battle before the enemy reacts, and occupy Buenos Aires, blockading the Uruguay River, the La Plata River, and the Strait of Magellan!" Xiao Baitu stood up, looked at the snowflakes that were already flying in the sky outside the window, and said with some fanatism: "Smoke for a while, you won't smoke when the war starts, haluha!" (To be continued......)