Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, a far-flung central South American country.

At the pier on the banks of the Paraguayan River, although it was already noon, the scorching sun was shining on the earth, and Paraguayan President Francisco Solano López, dressed in a simple French First Empire uniform, sweated profusely, and more than 100 Paraguayan officers and generals waited quietly at the pier, looking forward to something.

Paraguay, a South American country, like other South American countries, has been a presidential republic since the beginning of this century after breaking free from Spanish colonial rule and becoming independent.

However, since Francesco López's father, López Sr., was elected president of Paraguay two decades ago, the country has slowly moved into an autocratic state ruled by the López father and son family.

López, the eldest son of López Sr., had a privileged early life, teaching himself English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Guarani, and in the second year of his father's presidency, López was awarded the rank of brigadier general at the age of 18 and led the Paraguayan army against the Argentine army.

Moreover, López studied military affairs in Europe, clearly knew the new development of military technology, knew the importance of army building, he admired Napoleon Bonaparte, and originally highly respected the current French emperor Napoleon III, in Paris, López met the high courtesan, the Irish beauty Elisa Lynch, and became a lover with Lynch, and when López returned home, he not only brought back a large number of weapons and military supplies, but also brought the Irish beauty Lynch back to China.

And what he probably didn't expect was that this Irish beauty Lynch was actually an Irish nationalist and had a deep relationship with the Chinese Imperial Secret Service Department in the East, and it was for this reason that López, who had just become president, learned that there was an ancient Chinese empire in the East, which had recently risen. Not only that, but it also defeated the world's largest power, Britain, in one fell swoop and became a world power.

If that's the case, forget it, but last year, two powerful neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, made territorial claims to Paraguay.

In fact, it all started with a coup d'état in Uruguay, which was divided and independent from Argentina. At the beginning of last year, Uruguay received the support of Brazil and Argentina in a coup d'état by the Red Party's Caudiro General Vinancio Flores, who overthrew Bernardo Bernardo Bello of the White Party. Paraguayan President Andrés López López Lopez sensed that Brazil and Argentina would subvert their rule over Paraguay in the same way, and that Paraguay had accumulated a lot of troops under his father and his leadership over the years, so he issued a serious warning to Brazil and Argentina in the name of supporting the former Uruguayan White Party government, demanding that they not interfere in Uruguay's internal affairs. However, Brazil not only turned a blind eye to Paraguay's ultimatum, but also sent troops to directly intervene in the Uruguayan coup d'état and prop up the Red Party close to them to power, so López declared Paraguay a declaration of war on Brazil, ordered the Paraguayan army to attack Brazilian merchant ships on the Paraguayan River, and sent troops to the western region of Togrosso in Brazil. Paraguay declared war on Argentina earlier this year because Argentina refused to allow Paraguayan troops to pass through Argentine's aid to Uruguay's white party, sending troops to the Argentine province of Corrientes.

By this time, the Red Party in Uruguay had gained the upper hand, gaining most of Uruguay and taking power. So, just the other day, news came out that Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay had formed a Triple Alliance against Paraguay. In this way, the Paraguayan Four-Power War officially broke out.

In fact, whether it's Brazil, Argentina, or Paraguay's López himself, they all know that all of the above factors are excuses. The real reason, of course, is interests, or territorial disputes!

Brazil wants to seize the yerba mate-rich region of Mato Grosso in northeastern Paraguay and give it access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Argentina, in turn, has a territorial claim to Paraguay. Not to be outdone, Paraguay was not to be outdone, because the control and development of the country by the López father and son made Paraguay strong, and it demanded the right of navigation through the Paraná River to the Atlantic Ocean in Argentina.

As a result, despite many diplomatic efforts, none of them were able to solve the problem at the root of the problem, and as resentment accumulated, territorial claims became more and more intense, and finally, war broke out in the case of the coup d'état in Uruguay. And poor Uruguay is just a stage for the three-country game.

But there is no doubt that since the outbreak of the war last year, the overall strength of the two sides has seemed to be very different.

First of all, in terms of population size, Brazil has a population of 10 million, Argentina has 1.5 million, Uruguay has 250,000, and López's Paraguay has only 400,000.

In terms of natural resources, territorial size and industrial and agricultural development, as well as the manufacturing capacity of weapons and equipment, Paraguay is far from Brazil and Argenty, not to mention the combination of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

The only advantage is that Paraguay is a relatively early development area by the Spaniards, and it has been ruled by his father López for more than 20 years, which is very stable and has a lot of wealth in his hands. Moreover, when Brazil invaded Paraguay, the entire Paraguayans hated Brazilians and were willing to fight against Brazilians.

But when Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay formed an alliance to declare war on Paraguay, López was still worried and asked for help. But at the moment, the two most powerful countries in the Americas, the United States and Mexico, are too busy to take care of themselves. Fortunately, his Irish mistress, Elisa Lynch, was there to give him the idea that the Chinese Empire, the eastern power that defeated the British, now had its tentacles extended to the Americas, so why not turn to them.

Only then did López know that his mistress still had a relationship with the Chinese Empire. After Lynch's contact, a banker named Feng Guifang in the New Mexico Province of the Chinese Empire promised to match up and help Paraguay, of course, the conditions were also very good, but Lynch could not agree to anything, and López also had a bold guess after hearing that the banker's surname was Feng, so the two sides agreed to meet at the river port terminal in Asunción.

"Mr. President, Mrs. Lynch, here they are!" As López's assistant reminded, in the distance, three warships slowly entered everyone's field of vision against the Paraguay River. When the three warships approached, everyone realized that the three Hao Ran were all medium-sized ironclad ships that were all fully armed, and their black barrels were shining in the afternoon sun.

Only then did López understand in his heart why the banker named Feng Guifang dared to come here in person, but it turned out that he had such a powerful force. López revealed envy and excitement, he had heard of this kind of ironclad ship for a long time, but he had never had the opportunity to see it. It can be said that there are no ironclad ships in the whole of South America, as well as in Latin American countries. And now, the navy of the Chinese Empire, which has only sent a few ships from the Pacific Fleet, is directly the most advanced ironclad ship today, which makes López extremely shocked, both bitter and excited.

And this three ironclad ships arrived at one time, which made López understand how terrifying the status of this Chinese named Feng Guifang was.