"After Paraguay officially declared war on Argentina, it quickly sent an army deep into the Argentine province of Corrientes, and a fierce exchange of fire broke out between the two armies.

The relatively strong Pakistani army won successive victories, and the situation was quite bad for Argentina, and they hastily withdrew a large number of troops to reinforce the battlefield in Corrientes Province, including a group of Indian soldiers, numbering about 6,000 people.

The change in the situation in South America has directly led to the softening of the Argentine delegation, which is participating in negotiations in the imperial capital......"

When Prime Minister Yoo Hyun-jun introduced the above situation, the corners of his mouth could not help but show a proud smile, and he was full of a sense of accomplishment.

With the strong political, economic and military strength of the Tang Empire today, it is an out-and-out hegemon of the Americas, and no major event in the Americas can be separated from the influence of the empire, whether it is North, Central or South America.

Based on the "Yoo Hyun-jun Doctrine" (Note; The Tang Empire is extensively deepening diplomatic and economic and trade ties with the countries of the Americas, and exerting influence through military, cultural and educational exchanges, moving towards the long-term goal of building a "stable backyard of the Americas".

Due to the rapid rise of the Tang Empire, some of the more powerful countries in South America have not yet realized this.

This includes countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, and other European colonies, or the refusal of the local military and political elites to acknowledge this change, backed by the inextricable European relations between the countries, trying to resist the infiltration of imperial influence.

This trend of thinking of "relying on Europe for self-respect" widely existed in some Central and South American countries, and brought considerable resistance to the promotion of the foreign policy of the Tang Empire.

The outbreak of this hot war in South America will be an excellent opportunity for the Tang Empire to fully demonstrate its regional influence.

With the introduction of the Prime Minister, His Majesty the Emperor on the throne of the main hall showed a relaxed expression, which also affected the mood of the ministers.

Your own family knows your own business.

It has been four years since the end of the North American War, and most of the empire's huge army of more than one million during the war has been disarmed and returned to the field. However, due to the introduction of reserve military service, the overall military strength of the empire was not affected, but became more and more prosperous as the economy flourished.

The Tang Empire was extremely martial from top to bottom, and under the implementation of the meritorious system, a large number of military families dominated by military aristocrats emerged.

The children of these families were sent to the junior military academy from an early age to cultivate the tradition of military service, and these were often expensive aristocratic schools.

Strength is the foundation of confidence, and with the transcendent strength of the Tang Empire today, it is enough to be proud of the countries of the Americas.

Among the Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and other countries where war broke out in South America, the Paraguayan army, known as the "South American Prussia," performed the most outstandingly.

Paraguay, a landlocked South American country with a population of less than 500,000, has been actively preparing militarily to counter the territorial ambitions of Argentina and Brazil and to gain access to the La Plata River.

After the new president López Jr. took office in 1862, he vigorously expanded his armaments, reorganizing Paraguay's army of 7,000 men and implementing a plan of rapid expansion.

Two years later

The total number of Paraguayan troops alone reached 30,000, and the army alone reached 25,000, which was enough to confront Brazil and Argentina.

By the end of 1864, the Paraguayan army had 30 infantry battalions, 23 cavalry regiments and 4 artillery regiments, and had a reserve of more than 26,000 men.

Its equipment and training are superior to those of Brazil and Argentina, which is why President López dares to declare war on two regional powers at the same time.

In addition, President López also attaches great importance to the construction of the navy, requiring domestic shipbuilding enterprises to build world-class steamships to be used as warships, update naval equipment, and strengthen naval forces.

Since the import of the Tang Empire's two 1,500-ton ironclad destroyers, its naval strength has grown greatly, the navy is equipped with a sailor battalion and an artillery battalion, and the main use of steam ships, which is unique in the naval fleet dominated by sail warships in South America.

The only drawback is that the number is too small to compete with the South American coalition fleet, which has dozens of sail warships.

López Jr.'s emphasis on the military reflects his ambition to increase Paraguay's influence in the South American region, which he unabashedly declares;

"I hope that one day Paraguay will be able to gain access to the Atlantic Ocean, develop and grow freely and unfettered by imperialism, and become a powerful country with important influence in South America."

In fact, these words are still modest, and President López's real ambition is to toss a new situation by punching and kicking, just like the Tang Empire rose in North America and eventually became the hegemon of South America.

For this unrealistic arrogant mentality, no one in the Tang Empire from top to bottom can be optimistic.

The population of the Brazilian Empire is as high as more than 10 million, the population of Argentina is more than 1.5 million, and Uruguay is less than 300,000, and the total population of the three countries is 24 times the total population of Paraguay.

In terms of population, territorial area, and resources, Paraguay is far from its South American allies, and coupled with the disadvantages of landlocked countries, once it is cut off from import channels and the supply of weapons and equipment resources, the consequences will be unimaginable.

"Aiqing has worked hard, let's put aside the affairs of Paraguay for the time being, it is inconvenient to meddle in the past two years, the army staff headquarters can keep an eye on it, what about the situation in other regions?" Richard had the intention of sending charcoal in the snow, and only intervened when the heads of the South American countries were beaten into dog brains, so that the aid was precious.

With the huge size of the empire, it can be said that it is easy to deal with these little Karami, so let them make a fuss for the time being.

Richard sat on the emperor's throne at the top, turned his gaze to Count Juan-Carlos, Minister of the Colonies, and said directly by name;

"Carlos Aiqing, can you tell me?"

"Wechen obeys."

The white-haired Count Juan Carlos was a minister of the dragon in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, who had made many contributions to the empire in the post of foreign minister, and was the oldest important minister in the cabinet today, and won the trust of His Majesty.

Count Juan Carlos stood up, and after a moment's thought, he spoke;

"Your Majesty, all your ministers;

Today, the overall situation in the Americas presents an unstable situation of tranquility in the north, chaos in the middle, and war in the south, which requires the Empire to intervene at the right time and exert a leading influence to dominate the situation in the Americas.

The core of the British Canadian issue in North America was still the dispute over regional autonomy, and after the unremitting efforts of the British side to eliminate the strong opposition of the French residents, the resolution to establish a "Dominion of Canada" by merging the three provinces north of the Great Lakes has won the support of the majority of the people in the three provinces.

What is lacking is a final referendum process, which is expected to be completed within the year.

The democratic process in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, which is of interest to the Empire, is also progressing in tandem and steadily, and with the absolute proportion of the Chinese population in these two regions, the adoption of the final regional self-government plan has been largely untroubled.

Next

It was the two regions that once again initiated the process of joining the empire as a whole through popular motions.

The Imperial Colonial Department and the United Military Department have continued to promote the sending of some loyal retired veterans and outstanding graduates of the Taoyuan School of Administration to settle in the north, with a total of 543 people, and have played an important role in organizing the referendum of Chinese Americans in British Columbia and Yukon.

This year and next, we will continue to organize a group of outstanding backbones to go north, so as to strengthen the role of organizing and guiding the people in the above two regions, and infiltrate all aspects of influence. ”

"What is the population of these two northern provinces?" Richard suddenly interrupted the debriefing and asked.

Count Juan Carlos replied with a calm salute to these figures; "Your Majesty; The total population of the above two areas has reached 71,600, of which 82.7% are Chinese, belonging to the absolute majority. ”

"This is a very good move, and we will continue to migrate some northern people to enter, and give preferential financial support to help settle down." Richard thought about it for a moment, and then said; "Recently, some female family members of convicts and misdemeanor offenders can also be sent to the north to serve hard labor, and try to help northern immigrants marry wives and have children, and settle down."

"If Weichen obeys the decree, he will uphold the holy will and implement His Majesty's benevolent government, which is the blessing of all the people." Count Juan Carlos spoke Mandarin very well, and after a slight pause, he continued to explain the situation in the Americas today.

"In Central America, there are now two hot spots.

The first is Guatemala, a major Central American country in which the civil war broke out, and now in its third year, the ongoing civil war and the lack of crop harvests have caused the people of the region to suffer from the spread of the war, especially the miserable situation.

The total population of the three countries in the region has dropped sharply by half from more than 700,000 before the civil war, and according to rough estimates, there are still about 3.67 million people left.

Considering that most of the people who died in the fighting were young men, the elderly and infirm, and young children, and that the proportion of men in the population was less than 30 per cent, this was a truly devastating catastrophe for the three Central American countries......"

Count Juan Carlos's statement did not make much of a splash in the court, after all, the upper echelons understood where the disasters of the three Central American countries came from.

It was another tragedy caused by the sudden outbreak of a riot in Zhennan Province after the annexation of the Aztec Republic to the Empire.

The high-level military and political circles of the three Central American countries, which had originally planned to be annexed, were greatly frightened, changed their course one after another, and regressed from their original positions, seeing that the means of promoting reunification, which had been beaten and suppressed for many years, had completely failed.

The top brass of the empire was furious and simply took action......

Since you can't deceive the big ship, you can directly come to the hard, so a civil war of unprecedented scale broke out in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in Central America, and the flames quickly spread throughout Central America.

The provinces of Empire Zhennan, the Strait Province, and the Costa Rica Province have announced the blockade of their borders to strictly prohibit the chaos in Central America from affecting the territory of the Empire.

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, stationed in Central America, sent patrol ironclad ships to blockade the Caribbean waters near the three Central American countries to prevent arms and weapons from entering the region and aggravate the chaos in the region.

In this era when there was no international organization, the three weak Central American countries were really incapable of watching the war spread throughout the territory and a large number of people dying of hunger and turmoil......

"The situation in Central America is complex, with historical, religious and ethnic grievances. When the time is not ripe, it is not appropriate for the Empire to intervene for the time being. Richard sat on the throne and sighed lightly to make a conclusion.

All the ministers below knew it, and they all responded with their fists clasped in unison; "Your Majesty is sage, and there is no reason for the ministers to be disrespectful."

So;

The Empire's official policy toward the three Central American states was to keep them in civil war until the time came for the Empire to intervene.

In a nutshell; It is that His Majesty the Emperor feels that not enough people have died in Central America, and that the population should continue to be reduced.

The civil wars in the three Central American countries did not harm the empire, and in the past two years, Costa Rica and Panama provinces have added more than 100,000 young women to the population market, and more than 100,000 Chinese immigrants have solved their marriage problems.

The military and local officials have made a lot of money, the conditions of the garrisons in the Strait Province and Costa Rica Province have greatly improved, and many retired soldiers leave the barracks with two or three young Central American women to live a peaceful life of retirement.

If the civil war continues, the fighting will be empty, and the bones will be exposed, and the historical and cultural heritage of the three Central American countries will be completely severed.

But then again, this has something to do with the Tang Empire?

In the court of the Tang Empire

The Confucian rhetoric of being kind to others and being good-neighborly and friendly has never been the mainstream, and the policy of "making friends from afar and attacking in close proximity, and raising the prestige of the country in foreign lands" is the way to go.

For example, the colonization of Southeast Asia, the colonization of the East Indies, the colonization of Fuso Island and the Korean Peninsula, the colonization of Australia, the colonization of North Africa, the Near East, etc., were full of bold and radical colonial policy ideas, with the ultimate goal of colonizing the whole world like Britain and France.

This argument was extremely popular in the 60s of the 19th century, the subjects of the Tang Empire claimed to be the superior state of the Celestial Empire, and the victory of a series of wars bred a strong sense of national pride, and the national cohesion based on the Chinese feudal etiquette system was greatly enhanced, and the Chinese culture showed a strong strength in the expansion.

Some immature colonial ideas were stillborn, but colonizing Central and South America, and colonizing the Luzon Islands and the East Indies had always been one of the possible options for the empire.

Adhering to the prudent strategy of "eating food in one bite", after the North American War, the Tang Empire entered a period of strategic digestion for more than 10 years, and there was basically no major expansion.

In the archives of the Imperial War and the Colonial Office, there are dozens of detailed colonial plans, which will be launched when the time comes.

The famous "South American Desert Expedition Program" only used two cavalry divisions, with a total of more than 27,000 troops, which was really a piece of cake for the empire's strong army forces.

The highlight of the colonization plan is the armed militias; The self-financed armed regiment of Chinese descent has become the leading force in the South American desert expedition plan, and the investment province has achieved quick results, and the enthusiasm of the people is very high.

To date, gratifying results have been achieved.

(End of chapter)