Lu Yunqi's new battle plan to switch from defense to offense was Deng Shicai's idea, and the reason why he told Lu Yunqi was to let him attack Houston was just to stimulate his desire for war, but he did not give him troops, forcing him to only defend. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Deng Shicai knew very well that now the Ming Dynasty did not have enough troops to attack and launch a general battle, the United States seemed to be in an offensive posture, and the newspapers were propagandizing all day long to drive the invaders out of the motherland, but in fact they were on the defensive, and the Americans also saw that there was still a considerable gap between their army and the Ming army at the technical level, and they could only make up for it through strategy.

It was a good idea to stretch the logistical supply lines of the Ming army as much as possible, and the Russians could use this to defeat the invincible Napoleon, and the United States, like Russia, had a vast territory that could not be borrowed.

Therefore, they planned to introduce the Ming army into the central region of the United States, concentrate superior forces to gather and annihilate the Ming army, and then launch a counteroffensive in one fell swoop to defeat the Ming army through a major battle. The preset location of their southern battlefield was apparently in the triangle of Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

However, the Ming army was willing to cooperate, and the Ming army did not enter this area, but built a position along the Pecos River 300 kilometers away, intending to defend the triangle formed by the intersection of the Pecos River and the Grande River, which threw the problem to the American army.

Previously, the U.S. military judged that the Ming army planned to attack the Gulf of Mexico along the southern front, so they deployed defenses in the Houston area, and now they need to make a choice, whether to take the initiative to attack, or continue to confront.

In addition to the frontal battlefield, the Ming and the United States opened up another battlefield, the Mexican battlefield, where diplomatic warfare was fought.

The United States constantly had to put pressure on Mexico, and the United States protested to the Mexican government, arguing that the Mexicans were violating the neutrality law by selling supplies to the Ming army. On the Rio Grande, which was controlled by the Ming army for 1,000 kilometers, Mexicans everywhere rowed small boats to sell goods back and forth, and the Ming army gave a high price. Moreover, the Mexicans also helped the Ming army build a large number of flat-bottomed boats, and a large number of Mexicans worked as interpreters in the Ming army.

In the face of pressure from the Americans, the Mexican government said it would investigate seriously and sent border patrols to patrol the river, but the biggest role of these patrols is that they can also get a share of the smuggling trade. The Americans' request to send U.S. troops into Mexico was completely denied, even if the Americans said it was to protect Mexico, Mexico did not need it.

Seeing this, the United States did not hold on, because they found that they could not afford to offend Mexico at this time. If it is pressed, Mexico may fall to the side of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Minister is trying his best to win over Mexico.

They made many concessions to Dias, such as reducing part of Mexico's debts and granting preferential loans, only hoping that Dias would cut off traffic on the US-Mexico border and prevent Mexican Chinese from supplying supplies to the Ming army.

While making overtures to the United States, accepting loans and debt relief from the United States, and pretending to increase the number of border patrol units, in reality smuggling is still rampant, not to mention Chinese and Mexicans, and even some American businessmen are involved.

Dias's appetite was obviously greater, and he proposed to the United States to adjust the border between the two sides, he believed that the U.S.-Mexico border should be adjusted to the Nusses River to the east, hoping that the United States would return the city of Laredo, which was founded by the Spaniards, and that it should belong to Mexico.

On the other side of the city of Laredo is Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and the two places have a similar composition of residents and many are related by marriage, and Mexico believes that in order to facilitate jurisdiction, it is necessary for the two sides to adjust the border line.

The United States firmly believes that there is no need to adjust the border between the two sides, but the Ming Dynasty is much more generous.

Minister Daming expressed Daming's attitude to different Mexican dignitaries, saying that once the relationship between Mexico and the United States breaks down, Daming can provide Mexico with development funds, and there is no need to worry about the United States cutting off loans.

Certain Mexican officials also proposed to the Ming Dynasty to adjust the border line, believing that it was appropriate to push the Mexican border to the Pecos River, which was controlled by the Ming army in the north, and that that the pastoral area was connected to the northern pastoral area of Mexico, and that the forced political division seriously affected the economic development of the two places.

The Ming expressed a positive attitude towards this, fully supported Mexico's proposal, and even said that if Mexico wanted, Mexico would be allowed to send officials to the Pecos River region now, and the Ming army would cooperate with the Mexican government to organize the administrative institutions here first, and then hand over the territory to Mexico after the war.

Daming is generous to others, anyway, it is the territory of the United States, even if he gives the whole United States to the Mexicans, he is not distressed.

But Mexico has instigated itself, and their officials say that this is just his personal idea and has nothing to do with the Mexican government, which adheres to the principle of neutrality and makes peace with both sides.

The diplomatic war between the Ming Dynasty and the United States in Mexico does not seem to have achieved results, but Deng Shicai is very satisfied, no results are victories, Mexico was under the control of the United States before, and now it is the biggest achievement to prevent Mexico from completely falling to the United States.

As for the Mexicans' desire to regain the lost land, Deng Shicai was afraid that they would not dare to ask for it, he was afraid that they would have no backbone, as long as they still remembered the lost land, sooner or later they would join the side of the Ming Dynasty.

At present, the Mexicans are waiting for the Ming Dynasty and the United States to bid, but they are just waiting for the price to sell, and second, they are afraid of the power of the United States and worried about the post-war ambitions of the United States.

It will be difficult to make Mexicans decide to join the war without alleging the fear in their hearts, so a decisive battle is essential.

But before the start of this big battle, Deng Shicai needed to withstand the offensive of the US army first, and it depended on Lu Yunqi's defense.

In early 1892, the United States finally began to act, and the large army was mobilized to attack the defense line of the Pecos River from San Antonio, which Lu Yunqi was responsible for.

The U.S. army concentrated 300,000 troops on the 300-kilometer-long river, trying to take advantage of the superiority in strength, disperse the Ming army's defensive strength, cross the Pecos River, and encircle and annihilate the main force of the Ming army.