At the end of December 1876, the Ming Dynasty, which had already arrived at the city of São Paulo, once again rejected Brazil's request for peace. After several days of fierce bombardment, the 80,000-strong army of the Ming Empire Army launched an attack on the defense line outside São Paulo from all directions. In less than three days, nearly 60,000 defenders raised the white flag at the cost of more than half of their troops being killed or wounded.

At the same time, the Imperial Army finally arrived 50 kilometers west of Rio de Janeiro, where it encountered its first resistance from the Brazilian army.

The Brazilian army's resistance was extremely tenacious, and it could even be said that it was beyond the expectations of the officers and soldiers on the front line.

Machine guns, barbed wire, and even large-caliber heavy artillery.

In the past few months, in order to resist the "invasion" of the Ming Dynasty, the Brazilian army mobilized nearly one million troops. Although a large number of troops were eliminated in training camps by airship troops and many troops suffered devastating blows from airships during the movement, there were still more than 300,000 Brazilian troops gathered in Rio de Janeiro.

Although this army was mostly composed of freed black slaves, their resistance was very determined because every Brazilian knew what failure would mean.

"If we fail, we will lose everything!"

Emperor Pedro II replied in this way to his ministers.

"When Napoleon I sent troops to invade Portugal in 1807, Regent John VI could lead the nobles and officials to board the British warships and seek refuge in Brazil. But what about now?"

Although he looked a little anxious, Pedro II's gaze remained very firm.

“Now, we can’t abandon our entire country and flee to Portugal. We will lose everything there - all our wealth, land and status. We are just poor exiles with nothing. We must now defend Rio de Janeiro at all costs. This is our last fortress and our last stronghold. As long as we can defend here, we can preserve our country…”

Looking at the marshals and generals in the conference room, Pedro II forced a smile.

"You know, the loser has no right to negotiate. This is why the Ming Dynasty refused to negotiate with us. We must defeat them here, otherwise, there will be absolutely no possibility of survival!"

There is no possibility of survival!

At this time, Brazil no longer dared to dream of victory. As long as the empire could survive, ceding land did not matter.

The only problem is... Ming refused!

Because the winner may be able to swallow up the whole of Brazil!

"Well, gentlemen, for the survival of Brazil, God bless us, and may we inflict heavy damage on them here!"

Every Brazilian is mobilized!

Faced with the invasion from the Ming Dynasty and the precarious situation, all Brazilians were mobilized. Men inside and outside Rio de Janeiro took up arms. Slaves from every plantation within hundreds of kilometers were conscripted. The slaves dug trenches and built fortifications around Rio de Janeiro. In order to resist the bombardment, they cut a large number of logs from the rain forest to reinforce the fortress.

Outside the trenches were several barbed wire fences, trenches one person deep, solid earthworks, plus heavy artillery and machine guns. When the Ming army arrived in Rio de Janeiro, what they faced was no longer a city, but a fortress!

A fortress defended by 300,000 troops!

On January 31, in the early morning of this day, at the artillery positions of the Ming Empire Army, dozens of siege guns and hundreds of cannons were aimed at the Brazilian army's defense line. When the clock pointed to three o'clock, the fierce artillery bombardment began!

Like previous bombardments, this one was still earth-shattering.

After the bombardment lasted for two hours, when the sun came out, what appeared before people's eyes was no longer a battlefield, but a bloody hell. The once green field had completely lost its original appearance, and was full of charred craters and soil blown up by shells.

There were burning wood in the collapsed trenches, and black smoke was coming out of the wood on both sides of the trenches. There were broken guns and scattered ammunition boxes everywhere in the trenches, and in front of the trenches were twisted and deformed barbed wire.

This is just an embellishment of hell, who is the real protagonist?

There were corpses and blood everywhere. The bodies and broken limbs of soldiers filled the trenches. I don't know how many people died quietly in the trenches. It was lucky to find a few intact bodies in them. I don't know how many people left only a charred and twisted limb, many people left only a bloody arm or thigh, and many more were buried directly under the soil. They completely disappeared from this world under the horrific artillery fire.

The trenches they dug seemed to be their graves. Some were even blown to pieces, with only a few scraps of uniforms or bits of flesh and intestines to prove that they had ever existed.

The Brazilian army's first line of defense had been completely wiped out in the fierce artillery fire. No intact trenches could be found there. Almost all the bunkers and firing points had turned into smoking scorched earth. It seemed that there were no living creatures left here.

Even after the bombardment, the officers and soldiers of the 26th Division thought the same thing. They felt that the Brazilians were dead.

"rush!"

Amid the shouts of the squad leaders, thousands of soldiers jumped out of the trenches, rifles in hand, and quickly charged towards the enemy's defense line. They carried pliers for cutting barbed wire and heavy grenades for destroying fortifications, and all of them looked relaxed.

There won't be much resistance ahead.

Just as the soldiers charged, in the trenches that seemed to be devoid of any living creatures, the Brazilians who survived the shelling emerged again.

"Everyone, get ready..."

At the officer's shout, the machine gunner set up the machine gun again. Although the shelling was fierce, it did not destroy all the fortifications and kill all the people.

The next moment, gunshots rang out, and the charging soldiers' offensive paused slightly. For a moment, the soldiers' bodies seemed to be frozen. This freeze was only for a moment, and the next second, groups of soldiers fell down. Amid the rapid sound of machine guns, the soldiers fell down in the open space between the two armies. Many of them rolled into the bomb craters, and fired at the enemy from the bomb craters. The soldiers carrying wire cutters crawled in front of the barbed wire and cut the wire in the hail of bullets.

Amidst the hail of bullets, Chang Jiafu lay on the ground and kept cutting wire with a wire saw. From time to time, he looked up at the distance, where the enemy's machine guns were constantly firing in the fortifications.

Hurry up!

Chang Jiafu was anxiously cutting the barbed wire. The barbed wire blocked the troops' advance and had to be shortened.

After finally cutting the last barbed wire, he rushed forward without stopping.

When he was still more than ten meters away from a machine gun position, he stood up suddenly and threw the heavy grenade hard over.

At the moment when the grenade landed on the top of the fortification, he was hit by several bullets in the chest. Amid the violent explosion, he fell to the ground. Lying on the ground, dying, he looked at the sky with a look of nostalgia. At this time, it suddenly started to rain...