Chapter 248 Battle Night (First update, please subscribe)
Chillán, the seat of the Chilean interim government, has been under semi-siege since October last year. If it weren't for the fortresses and trenches outside the city that blocked the Chilean army's attack, the city might have fallen long ago.
In fact, its fall was only a matter of time - the Chilean army in the north mobilized nearly 40,000 troops to attack the city, while the defenders here had only more than 10,000 people.
After several months of confrontation on the battlefield, the northern army also built a very complex fortress trench outside the city of Chillán. The trenches were more than one meter deep, and there were artillery positions above the ground. The black cannons were pointed directly at the southern army positions one or two kilometers away.
After several years of war, and having enjoyed the precision of rifled rifles, trench warfare naturally became popular in Chile. After all, this was an experience gained at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.
The Chilean trenches were dug very deep. Above the trenches that were more than one meter deep, there was a trapezoidal breast wall that was nearly one meter high. Staying in a trench that was two meters deep was definitely the safest place. There was no need to worry about attacks. While the sentinels were vigilantly observing the outside world, the Chileans in the trenches were smoking and chatting. Among these northern troops, there were white people and many mixed-race people called mestizos, but there were more Indians. After all, at least half of the population of Chile is Indian.
Although these Indians had a low status in the army, compared with the outside world, they were relatively equal in the army. At least the mixed-race officers still treated them as human beings. At night, under the glass oil lamps, Indian soldiers smoked and played traditional music with simple indigenous instruments. The melodious and low music echoed in the dark.
The music sounded a bit sad, as if telling a story of being conquered. They were indeed conquered. More than 200 years ago, after the Spaniards came here, they not only conquered this land, but also conquered the people here. Even the Indians themselves are disappearing. Half a century ago, Indians accounted for 80% of the Chilean population, but now it is only half. Those white immigrants continue to marry Indian women. Now there are more and more mestizos in Chile, that is, mixed-race children of whites and Indians. Maybe in a few decades, the Indians will disappear from this land.
The music of the Indians is low, sad, and desperate. These Indian men serving in the military may never get married. After all, women prefer to marry men who own more land and wealth, that is, those white immigrants who have economic advantages.
Poverty will not last for more than three generations. Poor people without land and property will certainly not be able to reproduce. At present, most of the land in Chile is occupied by European immigrants, and the Indian population will only gradually disappear. Eventually, Europeans from Spain, France, Germany and other regions will achieve "ethnic integration" with the Indians...
Sad music echoed in the night sky, and at the same time, on the Confederate Army's defense line kilometers away, teams of soldiers were entering the trenches through the communication trenches.
Under a sky full of stars and the moon, soldiers from the two regiments entered the trenches. After entering the trenches, they held the Spiegel 1862 rifles and looked up at the top of the trenches eagerly. Their expressions seemed calm, but they were inevitably a little nervous.
In the tense atmosphere, an officer came over, looked at the soldiers in the moonlight, and Chen Yunsheng spoke loudly.
"Okay, the battle is about to begin today, so I won't waste any more time. Once you're on the battlefield, just kill the enemies and serve the Marshal. Even if you die, the Marshal won't treat you unfairly!"
After saying that, he raised the letter paper in his hand.
"Here is the list, everyone must fill it out carefully! If you are killed in action, your family will receive a pension of 500 dollars! If you have no relatives, you can choose to donate it to the Huaxia Education Foundation. Everyone must write a will and hand it over to the squad leader for safekeeping."
During his explanation, the company and platoon leaders distributed the pension slips and letter paper to the soldiers, and reminded them again and again of the importance of the pension slips. If they died in battle, the security forces would provide them with a generous pension, which would be enough for their families to live a worry-free life for the rest of their lives.
Providing a generous pension not only ensures that the families of fallen soldiers will never fall into poverty due to their deaths, but also has another effect. It is a prerequisite for ensuring the combat effectiveness of the troops. Only with it will the soldiers be able to fight on the battlefield without any worries.
As for honor and responsibility, of course they are necessary, but the most important thing is to let the soldiers have no worries.
"Ah, I didn't expect that after crossing the ocean to come here, I still couldn't escape the fate of eating the soldiers' rations. Fortunately, this ration is worth eating..."
Zhao Liu, who wrote the will, had served in the Qing army and also in the Taiping Rebellion. He never expected that after being "sold" to Nanhua, he would still be a soldier. Having eaten the military rations of two families, he certainly knew that if he served in the army of either family, he would die, and as for any pension or something like that, there would be nothing.
But it is different in Nanhua. If someone dies, the marshal will really give money, even if they died during training. Even if their family is far away in Tangshan, the money will be remitted over, and the remittance fee is still borne by the marshal.
The Marshal is so kind and righteous!
But after thinking about it, Zhao Liu really couldn't remember who to give the insurance money and pension to - his parents and brothers were either killed by soldiers and bandits, or had lost contact with them in the chaos of war.
If I die, who will the money go to?
"Or donate it to an education foundation."
As for what the education foundation does, Zhao Liu doesn't care. After all, it is used to run a school, and it is a good thing to spend money on it.
Although Zhao Liu had not received much education, he always thought that studying was a good thing. He did not feel wronged when he thought that after his death he could earn some money to support his children's schooling.
In the silent trenches, both officers and soldiers were lying there writing their wills and filling out insurance policies carefully. The immigrants in Nanhua were all literate - both men and women received basic literacy education in the education camp, and those who became workers and laborers had to attend literacy classes. There was an hour of cultural classes every day in the security team's barracks. The long-term cultural education allowed the soldiers to even read books and newspapers. As for filling out forms and wills, they no longer needed others to do it for them.
As the soldiers were making final preparations for the expedition under the light, teams of soldiers carried heavy equipment into the forward attack trenches and began to work in the moonlight.
(End of this chapter)
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