Wild North America 1846

Chapter 399 Bon Appetit

Argentina also has the problem of uncertain southern borders, which originally seemed to be a good thing in the eyes of white Argentines, as they could continue to encroach on the Mapuche territory southwards.

As a weak person, no one will stand up for justice for the Mapuche people.

This logic worked before, but not now.

The striking example of Chile lies before our eyes;

Originally, in 1825, Chile and the Mapuche tribal alliance agreed to use the Bio-Bio River as the boundary. However, Chile did not abide by this oral agreement in the following ten years and continued to invade hundreds of kilometers southward, pushing Lauta

Luo, Panguipui, Osorno and other areas are all included in the territory of Chile.

There is no contract or certificate, just take possession.

Now that the Tang Empire has come, it swallowed up Torch City (Osorno), Panguipui and other vast areas in one fell swoop. It swallowed up almost half of the fruits of Chile's colonization in the past ten years, leaving only Lautaro.

area.

That is to say;

The southernmost territory of Chile can only reach the Bio Bio region. The Araucachia region belongs to the Tang Empire, and the losses are not small.

Historically, Chile's 5,600-kilometer-long slender territory along the Pacific coast is now only 2,351 kilometers long. The 3,250-kilometer-long Pacific coast Andes region south of the Bio Bio region belongs to the Tang Empire, including the southernmost part.

Tierra del Fuego.

Since then, Argentina has been embarrassed.

Sure enough it didn't take long

From late May 1863, the expeditionary force and armed militias from the Tang Empire appeared in Neuquén Province and engaged in armed conflicts with scattered white Argentines in the area, killing and wounding several 10 white Argentines.

The Tang Empire's overbearing behavior prompted the Argentine government to urgently dispatch a government delegation to Chang'an in early June in an attempt to find a land division plan acceptable to both parties.

At this time, the shortcoming of Argentina not having a government agreement related to territorial division or a written agreement with the Mapuche tribe was revealed;

They could not prove that the Mapuche land occupied by white Argentines was legitimate and legal.

While the Argentines and Chileans were struggling with this matter, the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force (composed of the 1st Division of the Royal Marines and the 204th Army Division, the former landed on the Pacific coast to establish a stronghold, and the latter landed on the Atlantic coast to establish a stronghold)

and more than 33,000 volunteer militiamen poured into this fertile land full of hope, massacred the local indigenous Indian tribes, and established their own vast pastures.

During this time

Chinese armed militiamen who continue to move north have poured into the Neuquen and Rio Negro regions, reaching as far north as the La Pampa region. They often engage in armed conflicts with local Argentine whites, exacerbating the turmoil in this region.

President Lopez of Paraguay, who is far in the north, expressed a warm welcome to the Tang Empire's blatant intervention in the situation in South America. He said;

"The entire Paraguayan people welcome the Tang Empire's intervention in South American affairs with sincere respect, which will re-establish order in chaotic South America. Paraguay is optimistic about its success and is willing to strengthen close ties with the Tang Empire."

Paraguay is purely a matter of standing and talking, because to the north of the Andes region occupied by the Tang Empire is the territory of Chile and Argentina, which does not border Paraguay.

Only by completely annihilating these two countries can the Tang Kingdom and Paraguay be bordered. In fact, this is impossible.

But Paraguay's statement undoubtedly added another fire to the chaotic situation in South America.

The independence movement that emerged in Latin America in 1810 at the beginning of the 19th century forced Spain to give up its colonial rule over most Latin American countries. Paraguay, a Spanish colony, also declared independence in June 1811.

But after the Spaniards left, they left behind countless territorial disputes. As the central governments of Brazil and Argentina gradually consolidated, they also began to turn their attention to neighboring Paraguay and Uruguay.

Francisco López, the new president of Paraguay, is a thorn in their side and a thorn in their flesh, and they want to eliminate him and then quickly.

Both the Brazilian royal family and Argentina's president have demonized Lopez, saying he has territorial ambitions and covets Uruguay, northern Argentina and southwestern Brazil.

essentially

Both Brazil and Argentina have ambitions for the areas along the Paraguay River in Paraguay where mate is abundant. Mate is a bulk commodity exported to Europe and generates huge profits every year.

The profound contradiction between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay stems from the Uruguay question.

As a landlocked country, Uruguay is Paraguay's only export channel to the Atlantic Ocean, and it is also the country that eases the territorial dispute between Brazil and Argentina. Therefore, the above three countries are very concerned about the situation in Uruguay and strive to exert influence.

During the Argentine Civil War in 1861, the Uruguayan Red Party supported President Bartolomé Miter of Argentina's ruling Liberal Party.

Therefore, Argentina supports the rebellious Uruguayan Red Party.

Because the White Party government of Uruguay adopted restrictive policies on Brazilian immigration in Uruguay, Brazil also supported the Red Party rebellion.

Paraguay President Lopez supported the White Party government, severely criticized Argentina and Brazil for their "imperialist policies" towards Uruguay, warned them not to destroy the regional strategic balance, and issued an ultimatum to the Brazilian imperial government.

Not only did Brazil turn a blind eye to Paraguay's ultimatum, but it also sent troops to Uruguay to intervene. Lopez ordered the Paraguayan army to attack Brazilian merchant ships. Armed minor frictions between the two sides continued, and the relationship reached an extreme point.

The Tang Empire's massive march southward to South America gave Paraguayan President López new hope, so all kinds of praise and enthusiastic support came one after another, expressing the joy in Paraguay's heart.

Chang'an Daming Palace

Emperor Richard held a report on the situation in South America in his hand. After reading it carefully, he put it aside. He silently picked up the tea and took a sip, with a faint sneer appearing on the corner of his mouth.

Paraguay is just trying to get chestnuts out of the fire?

"Liu Aiqing, what do you think?" Richard asked aloud.

Prime Minister Ryu Hyun-jun, the Duke, smiled casually, stood up gracefully and saluted, and said;

"The countries in South America are fighting each other, so the empire can just keep paying attention and don't have to spend too much effort on it.

At present, the demarcation between the Empire and Chile has been determined. I secretly think that this is a good thing. The obedience shown by the Chilean government will help the Empire gain a loyal supporter in South America. It should be a very wise decision.

The so-called; distant friendship and close attack.

Nowadays, in the empire's southern expedition into the desert, the only country that can have nasty friction with the empire is Argentina, mainly on the issue of the final ownership of the areas surrounding Buenos Aires Province.

Until the final borders are drawn, bilateral relations between the Empire and Argentina will be difficult to calm down.

When it comes to the issues of Paraguay and the Brazilian Empire, Wei Chen secretly believes that it is better to adopt a friendly and neutral attitude, which is more suitable for diplomatic mediation and to strive for the best interests of the empire."

The opinion of Prime Minister Duke Ryu Hyun-jun is very clear. The territory of the empire's southern expedition only borders Chile and Argentina. After the Chilean border demarcation is resolved, the only country to deal with is Argentina.

The current attitude of the empire is that the southernmost border of Argentina should be bounded by the province of Buenos Aires, with the north belonging to Argentina and the south belonging to the Tang Empire.

This division plan

Swallowing Argentina's existing Neuquen region (93,400 square kilometers), Rio Negro region (203,000 square kilometers) and La Pampa region (143,400 square kilometers) in one go, the total area exceeds 441,000 square kilometers.

The Tang Empire's appetite has frightened Argentina, but it cannot argue with it.

The fundamental reason is that the civil war that ended in 1859, the continuous civil war between the Province of Buenos Aires on one side and the Northwestern United Provinces on the other, as well as the sharp conflicts between the two sides, left Argentina with no time and energy to set up a new one.

Provincial administrative agencies also did not have the energy to manage newly conquered areas.

At this time, the Tang Empire came and swallowed up the above-mentioned areas in one go, and advocated using the territory of the defeated Kingdom of Patagonia as the basis for division.

The Tang Empire found an Indian sheepskin map from nowhere. Its geographical drawing was extremely crude, and even a small half of the province of Buenos Aires was crossed out. It is said to have originated from the Indians more than a century ago.

The tribal alliance doesn’t know whether it’s true or not.

Nowadays, the secret negotiations between the Tang Empire and the Argentine government delegation have reached a deadlock, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to reach a division plan that is satisfactory to both parties.

The Tang Empire was not in a hurry, because the expeditionary force and the armed volunteer militia were continuously expanding, occupying more and more land with rich water and grass, forcing the white Argentines to continuously retreat and give up large tracts of fertile land.

no way

The Imperial Expeditionary Force and the Armed Corps are far more sharp than rookies like Brazil or Paraguay, and the Tang Empire's huge scale of nearly 40 million people, and its peak military and economic strength, are definitely not comparable to that of Argentina, a small country with a population of 1.5 million.

Compete with each other.

Although I feel unwilling to do so, I can only retreat.

The ministers in the main hall were full of ambitions, and no one took Argentina seriously. After some discussion, they put it aside.

Such a big matter cannot be decided in a short period of time, and it will have to be wrangling for a year or two. The current Argentine government does not dare to make decisions for fear of triggering a strong backlash, including from the northwest provinces.

Hispanic whites have always had close ties with Europe, and they attach great importance to territorial issues in traditional concepts. If they are not resolved well, it will easily cause big troubles.

So don’t rush now, just wait and see.

The topic of the imperial meeting soon turned to the Fuso Islands. In response to the turbulent "Respect the King and Reject the Barbarians" movement on the Fuso Islands, the Tang Empire, Britain and France and other countries expressed their disgust. This time, they officially launched an attack through the "Burning Consulate Incident"

, originally it was reasonable.

Britain dispatched 5 warships from the Far East Fleet, France dispatched three warships, two Dutch warships and 6 warships from the Tang Empire arrived all the way to form a four-nation coalition. The Tang Empire sent 7,860 troops, France sent 4,320 troops, and the United Kingdom

1,710 troops were sent (mainly Weihai Weihuayong Camp), the Netherlands sent 366 troops, and the four countries jointly intervened in the situation in Fusang.

In May 1863, in order to expel foreigners, the Choshu clan, which began to resist foreigners, blocked the Shimonoseki Strait (today's Kanmon Strait) and shelled the sailing Tangfa merchant ships.

In June, the combined fleets of Tang, Britain, France and the Netherlands retaliated and attacked the Choshu warships and forts in the Shimonoseki Strait. After being violently bombarded, the Choshu clan immediately repaired the forts with the support of reinforcements and civilians and occupied Kokura on the other side.

As part of the feudal dynasty, forts were built in the hope of continuing to block the strait.

Faced with Choshu Fan's stubbornness, the United Fleet decided to intensify its attack and impose severe punishment on the Japanese.

From June 5th to June 7th of the same year, fierce bombardment of Shimonoseki (today's Shimonoseki City) began, especially the advanced artillery bombardment of the Tang Empire, which ignited urban fires in Shimonoseki, which was dominated by wooden buildings, and the entire city became

A sea of ​​​​fire, local residents and rebels suffered heavy blows, and the losses were countless.

(End of chapter)