Chapter 654: The Prelude to the Battle of Magellan
Rio City, the capital of Busi Empire.
It faces the Atlantic Ocean and is a natural harbor. Together with Sao Paulo, it forms Bussy's window to the outside world.
There are more than 30 beaches in this city, with a total length of 200 kilometers. Among them, the most famous "Copacabana Beach" has white sand and clean water, is crescent-shaped, and is 8 kilometers long.
All in all, this is a beautiful city.
The most magnificent building in the city is the palace of Pedro II, as well as the tall and magnificent churches.
Pedro II was a promising monarch. After he ascended the throne in 1840, he immediately abolished the federal system, re-established a centralized government, and strengthened control over the provinces.
In the first few years, the republicans opposed the imperial system and launched another riot, but they were quickly suppressed.
Soon after, Pedro accelerated his centralization of power. He used the power granted by the constitution to dissolve the lower house, where liberals had a majority, and re-elected conservative members to suppress the power of liberals.
In addition, he pardoned the sentences of rebels in various provinces, but at the same time deported them to resolve domestic opposition.
In 1850, Brazil carried out land reform, implemented a new land law, banned illegally occupied land in the past, and established limits on land sales.
In the same year, Pedro II began to abolish the centuries-old slavery system in Brazil.
At this time, Pedro II was receiving Duke Cassias in his royal study.
The Duke of Casillas was born Luis Alves de Lima Silva.
He is the most important military general and field marshal of the Bushi Empire.
Casias was born into a military family and participated in the Bushi War of Independence. After Pedro II came to the throne, he was active in the political conflicts and battles in Busi during this period. He served several times as Minister of War and Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
He was the commander-in-chief of Busi's army in the Triple Alliance War, and both he and the Marquis of Hvar were heroes in the war.
After the war, he was awarded the title of Duke for his meritorious service, and he is currently the only person in Bussy to receive this title.
He is also known as the "Peacemaker" for his contribution in quelling various uprisings and ending the wars in South America.
"Duke Casias, why don't you agree to participate in the encirclement and suppression of Donghua? You must know that Donghua has now moved a large number of people to the Acre area for development, which has seriously threatened our Busi Empire's control of the upper reaches of the Amazon Basin.
." Pedro II asked.
Pedro II had great trust in Duke Cassias in the military field.
This time, the Spaniards in the north formed an anti-Donghua coalition.
Pedro also rejected New Grenada's invitation because of Casias's suggestion.
"Your Majesty, those Hispanics cannot believe that we will gain nothing by forming an alliance with them. If they lose then, we will be implicated. Judging from the previous wars, these Chinese are not easy to deal with."
"And if we want to attack Donghua, we can do it ourselves. If we join the coalition, Donghua will be on guard against us."
"Like now, if we don't declare war, Donghua will let go and use all his strength to deal with the enemies in the north and south. Then their east side will be open."
"When they are inexhaustible, wouldn't it be better for us to do it ourselves?"
"Besides, to put it bluntly, the Spanish descendants in South Amelia are too powerful, and we in Busi are all alone. With Donghua here, our external situation in Busi will actually be better."
The stability of the three pillars is better.
Cassias has never seen the Three Kingdoms, but he is an outstanding military strategist and politician.
After the establishment of Donghua, there has been no war between Busi and those Hispanic countries for a long time.
Because the other party has a bigger enemy, they don't dare to mess with Busi again.
"Yes, the Duke is still old and looking for a country. So should we start mobilizing the army to the west now?" Pedro II greatly praised Duke Casias's countermeasures.
It has to be said that Duke Cassias's countermeasures are the most beneficial to the Busi Empire.
"Your Majesty, to get to the western border we have to go upstream along the Amazon River. You are also aware of the size of our towns there. To mobilize too many soldiers there would be too much of a logistical requirement and the empire's finances would be difficult to support. In addition, the people in the parliament
It’s still a matter of debate whether we agree or disagree with the additional funding.”
Cassias poured cold water on the Emperor.
Busi is not as centralized as Donghua. Pedro's hands are not generous.
Like most countries in South Amelia, most of the national resources of the Busi Empire are in the hands of aristocratic families and churches.
This is what happened to these countries that were converted from colonies.
Most of the people who entered the colony at the beginning have spread their branches in the local area and developed into a big family that controls a place.
These people control the local power. If the country wants to do anything, it must first get their support.
This is why South Amelia's natural conditions are obviously much better than those of North Amelia, and it was developed earlier.
But it has not developed a world power.
"So, what does the Duke think should be the case?" Pedro asked.
"Your Majesty, we can only send five thousand more people there first. If Donghua is defeated by then, we will declare war on Donghua and enjoy the fruits of victory, but we cannot really let Donghua die. In that case, New Grina
The Alliance will become a behemoth, and there is no guarantee that they will target us, Busi."
"On the other hand, we can use the Great Empire to put pressure on those in the country and force them to agree to increase military spending. In this way, we can further strengthen the strength of the army. Your Majesty wants to buy ironclad ships and expand the army. This funding issue always needs to be dealt with first.
fixed."
"Wonderful, let's do what you want." Pedro's eyes lit up, this was a plan to kill two birds with one stone.
"By the way, Duke, the fleet of the Great Empire has arrived. Will they force us to join the coalition?" Pedro II was full of worries about the arrival of the Great Empire fleet.
This time it is said that there are two more than 9,000-ton ironclad ships.
The last time Busi's navy was beaten to a pulp by two armored ships of more than 2,000 tons.
There has long been talk of ironclad warships becoming cynical.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. The Daxi Empire is in a lot of troubles right now. They won't touch Busi at this time. We just need to provide them with supplies and docking services normally. Let them go to the south to bully Donghua.
The navy can also help us avenge our last revenge. Didn't I just say that we can use the Great Empire to put pressure on people in the country, and in turn, we can also use this to hold the Great Empire back."
"Yes, the Great Empire is indeed in a lot of trouble. Now that the great Eastern countries are fighting against them, our life will be much better."
Originally, the Great Empire was causing trouble all over the world. Since it entered into a state of confrontation with the Eastern powers, the Great Empire has become quieter in other places.
This is simply good news for small and medium-sized countries.
The two most powerful people in the Busi Empire had arranged their positions in this war in this small imperial study.
In this South Amelia war, including the navy, the combined forces invested by both sides have reached almost 500,000.
This is definitely a war on a grand scale.
It's a bit stressful.
At this time, Tian Fang had already taken a boat to Iquitos to take charge.
He was traveling on a river vessel equipped with a diesel engine.
It originally took ten days to travel, but after modifying the power of the ship, it only took four days.
This is what greatly increased Tian Fang's confidence.
This means that he can deliver his soldiers to the battlefield where they are needed more than twice as fast as before.
This means that he can form a local strength advantage on the battlefield.
Therefore, the first thing he did after arriving in Yicheng was to visit the shipyard.
The shipyard is located on the edge of Yicheng River Port.
The Wu River will soon merge into the Amazon River when it reaches here, so the widest part of the river is already two thousand meters.
The shipyard is located in a river bend. It was originally a shipyard. The original white shipyard owner has long since disappeared, and now this industry belongs to the Donghua Kingdom.
There are a large number of logs piled in the open space of the shipyard, which were all seasoned logs originally reserved by the shipyard. This is also thanks to the foresight of the original factory director to store so much wood.
Fresh wood is not suitable for shipbuilding.
Fortunately, we are in a rainforest area, and the cost of high-quality wood is very low.
Tian Fang saw many workers dragging logs into the sawmill, where the wood would be processed into fixed specifications.
"Krupp, you are here with great dignity, but you are welcome from afar."
A middle-aged man in his thirties walked over quickly followed by several attendants.
"Director Xiao, I'm here to take a look at your shipbuilding progress. The war will begin soon. Military orders are overwhelming and urgent. I'm here waiting for the ships!"
Tian Fang is a soldier and likes to speak directly.
"Krupp, don't worry. The governor has transferred more than fifty large wooden ships to us. We are currently renovating them non-stop twelve hours a day. Give me three days to complete all the renovations."
"Okay, Director Xiao, I will treat you as if you have issued a military order."
More than fifty ships can transport four to five thousand people at a time, which is enough for the vanguard.
Tian Fang walked around the shipyard for a while before leaving.
As the troops arrive one after another, he goes to the front line to complete the deployment.
On the eastern front of the northern battlefield, Tian Fang only prepared 50,000 troops.
He plans to set up two lines of defense.
The first line of defense is the Putumayo River, the original national boundary between Donghua and Columbus.
On this river, there are high mountains and hills in the west, making it difficult to cross the river.
The east is a plain area with wide and gentle river channels, and most places are suitable for crossing the river.
However, the coalition forces must have come from several major ferries.
There are currently three towns in Colombria: El Encanto, Arica and Alfonso.
This should be their main crossing point.
Compared to the other party, Donghua's development here is much weaker.
Donghua has only one fortress on the south bank called Yin Bunker.
Defending here is really detrimental to Donghua.
The first release line Tian Fang set up here was to give up. He had already arranged that if the enemy resisted here for a while, they would withdraw.
The reason why we still resist here is to hold off the enemy.
Of course, it is also good to be able to rely on rivers to attack the enemy.
The second line, the Napo River, is the key point.
The Napo River is wider. Its south bank is also relatively highly developed.
"District Chief Qian, I will give you two days to move the population between the two rivers to the south bank of the Napo River." The area between the two rivers is a border area and is managed by a Chinese district chief.
"Yes, Krupp, promise to complete the task. The current population between the two rivers is not large. There are only three farms and more than a hundred households of farmers. It is just a pity that tens of thousands of acres of rice have just been planted." District Chief Qian sighed.
road.
This area was developed from scratch by him.
"Don't worry, the most you can do is delay fertilization. The war will definitely be over before the rice heads." Tian Fang consoled him.
"Well, I guess those white people won't destroy our rice fields."
The first line of defense is mainly to confuse the enemy and make them feel that the Donghua Army is unable to defeat them, and then attract the enemy to the second line of defense.
But you have to give the enemy a real blow, otherwise you won't be able to attract the enemy's strength.
Tian Fang hoped that the 50,000 people he placed on the eastern front could attract the enemy's main force.
He will lead a main force of 100,000 troops to invade Ecuador along the western front and attack northward along the western coastline.
In this way, they can get support from the sea and the pressure on logistical support will be much less.
Sea control in the Pacific is their biggest advantage in this battle.
Cusco City, Donghua Palace.
"In power, is our navy really going to go to war with the Great Empire this time?" Ma Chun was still a little worried about Dong Shutong's decision.
"Whether it is true or not does not depend on us, but on the Great Empire. If they really use their navy to support New Grenada, we will have no choice but to go to war."
"Did Jing Haibo say what the odds are of winning?" Ma Chun asked.
"Jing Haibo thinks we can win completely. There are some things you don't know. Shu Heng has brought us some secret weapons. But this thing requires a good location. Fortunately, we have the right time, right place, and right people here.
"
The eastern section of the Strait of Magellan is rough.
Ocean currents and westerly winds collide here, and the sea water flows like a rushing river in this narrow strait.
After several days of sailing, the Donghua Fleet finally sailed out of the eastern exit.
As soon as they entered the Atlantic Ocean, the entire fleet felt a sense of enlightenment.
"Commander, Jing Haibo, are we really going to fight the fleet of the Great Empire this time?"
"More than nine thousand tons! Darling, it's three times as big as ours." Du Jianyi, the captain of the "Zhenyuan" on the deck, asked and sighed.
There are only three armored ships on our side now. Together they weigh more than 6,000 tons.
This time Liu Zhongyun took the squadron to the north to break diplomatic relations, and he felt really sad in his heart.
I thought that I followed the commander to the south most likely just in case. In the end, I might not be able to win any battles.
When they inspected the secret troops at Dongmen Port located in the eastern part of the strait, Du Jianyi realized that he had made a profit by going south this time.
Dongmen Port is located in Ponta Delgada, which is later known as Ponta Delgada. This is the narrowest point of the Eastern Channel, and the weather conditions here are also the worst.
Because of the high mountains to the west of the port, there is heavy fog here for four-fifths of the year.
Donghua built a small fortress, a supply port, and lighthouses here.
Tian Fang came here to check out a secret force.
Fifteen "Seawolf" class fast torpedo boats.
Is it big enough for the Imperial fleet to drink from it?
However, Du Jianyi's three armored ships were not enough to fight against the Great Imperial Fleet.
They are just bait.
Would the Imperial Navy of Great Britain think of Donghua using its main fleet as bait?