Chapter 1093 War is Gambling (Second update, please subscribe)
In September 1882, when the eyes of the whole world were attracted by the imminent situation of the "Cuban Crisis", almost no one paid attention to the other side of the earth.
The border area in the northern part of Paraguay Province bordering Bolivia suddenly became lively a month ago. Nearly 50,000 troops from the Northwest Military Region of the Empire assembled in this area and began a military exercise code-named "North-2".
Everyone knew why the military exercise was being conducted: it was because of the "Havana Incident." Although there was no evidence that Peruvian-Bolivian officials were involved, the Empire had to take action because the Assassins had lived in Peru for a long time.
The military then began military exercises in the area.
In the past month, the Imperial Army has been gathering and conducting exercises near the border, and the Peruvian-Bolivia Federation's army has also been gathering in the area. However, compared to the Imperial Army's massive exercises, the Federation Army's exercises are simply not worth mentioning.
It can even be said that the federal army itself is not worth mentioning.
Once again, standing on the border mountains, Ren Huabang, the commander of the Northwest Theater of the Empire, who had won the favor of His Majesty for proposing the "Anti-Putin Aid Law" and had since reached the peak of his life as a major general of the Imperial Army, was looking at National Highway 135 more than ten kilometers away.
National Highway 135 is the name within the territory of Ming Dynasty. It also has another name, "International Highway No. 3". Eight years ago, in order to promote the development of empire's trade, Ming Dynasty reached an agreement with the then Bolivian government to build this two-lane asphalt road with a loan. In fact, Ming Dynasty would definitely prefer to build a railway.
However, the Bolivian government flatly refused. Compared with building a railway to the Ming Dynasty, they would rather build a railway to the Pacific Ocean. So the empire had to take a back seat and choose roads. Compared with railways, roads have lower transportation capacity and less investment. However, thanks to the emergence of trucks, after the railway was built, a large number of imperial goods poured into Bolivia and quickly occupied the local market.
In a sense, this inconspicuous two-lane road is the most important channel connecting the empire and Bolivia.
“This is it!”
Ren Huabang said again.
"The Peruvian-Bolivian Federation Army has deployed 25,000 troops near the national highway. This is their defense focus."
"Commander Ren, this is because they believe that if a war breaks out, we will definitely enter Bolivia from National Highway 135 and then go straight to Sucre. After all, our trucks and motorcycles cannot do without the highway, and this is the only highway between our two countries."
Chief of Staff Ding Siwei pointed at the looming mountains in the distance and said.
"Sucre is surrounded by mountains. After 100 kilometers into Bolivia, there are rolling mountains on both sides of the road. They can easily rely on the mountains for defense, which will definitely cause trouble for our army, but..."
After a pause, Ding Siwei said with a smile.
"But considering the backward armaments of the federal army, I don't think it will cause much trouble for our attack."
The chief of staff's words made Peng Guoliang, commander of the 17th Division, laugh.
"The Chief of Staff is right, Commander Ren. What era is this? There are still people using Schneider rifles!"
What has the Ming Dynasty been most proud of over the years? It is nothing more than that its weapons and equipment have always maintained the world's advanced level and led the world's progress.
However, the equipment level of the surrounding countries was a little unsatisfactory. Of course, this made the Ming Dynasty feel arrogant.
"This is because they have become wealthy in recent years thanks to the export of saltpeter. Before that, many Indians in the Bolivian army used bows and crossbows, not to mention rifles."
Compared with other countries in South America, Bolivia, a country once famous for being the world's silver capital "Potosi", is the poorest and most backward country in the whole of South America due to the decline of silver mines and its inland location.
Not only that, the population of Bolivia is mainly Indians, and the vast majority of the soldiers in the army are Indians. The troops are full of Indians who don't even have decent uniforms, wear sandals, and wear a variety of clothes. They have no rifles or other firearms, only primitive bows and arrows and crossbows.
In fact, the situation in Peru is almost the same. Except for the white commander, most of the ordinary soldiers in their army are Indians living in rural areas and they don't have any decent weapons at all.
Even though they became prosperous by exporting saltpeter, the weapons purchased by the army were still those that were eliminated by other countries in the world - Schneider rifles, Gatling machine guns, and some of them were even donated by the British.
The white government in power did not care about the lives of Indians. After all, they had developed the habit of "Indians are consumables" for hundreds of years. Whether it was mining or fighting, they treated these Indians as consumables. In fact, the more Indians died, the better it was for them.
With this kind of thinking, they certainly couldn't improve the army's weapons and equipment. After all, they were just consumables.
"But we can't be too arrogant. In war, His Majesty once said, 'Strategically despise the enemy, tactically take the enemy seriously'. We can't underestimate the enemy just because they are poorly equipped and poorly trained. Although... it's no problem for one of our regiments to defeat their entire division, it's better to be cautious."
Ren Huabang, who once studied military affairs in France, was different from many officers in the imperial army. He was relatively conservative in the use of troops, but his conservatism meant caution, not reckless aggressiveness.
After thinking for a few hours in the border area and returning to the headquarters, Chief of Staff Ding Siwei walked in as soon as he took off his boots.
"Commander Ren, have you made up your mind?"
Nodding, Ren Huabang said.
"Sucre is the key. Although Peru and Bolivia are a federation, this federation is loose. The vice president is actually the president of Bolivia, and his residence is Sucre, which is the capital of Bolivia. If we take Tacna on the western front and we don't take Sucre, then Sucre will definitely call on the whole country to resist our invasion in the name of the vice president of the federation. Although those Indians are not patriotic, they will still cause us some trouble. This goes against the strategic policy of "quick victory" formulated by the General Staff. Therefore, we must take Sucre as soon as the war breaks out. If we advance along International Highway No. 3, there are too many unknowns. If we are delayed there, it will definitely affect the entire strategic plan..."
Once again, holding the information provided by the intelligence officer, Ren Huabang said.
"So, I prefer this plan. Although this plan also has a gambling element, war itself has a gambling element. Moreover, from Sucre's perspective, the possibility of a war is zero. After all, for now, the whole world thinks that our target is Cuba, so we are acting with intent..."
After a pause, Ren Huabang looked through the documents in his hand, thought for a while, and then said.
"Of course, they are also on guard against us, but their focus is on International Highway 3, which provides us with an opportunity..."
(End of this chapter)
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