Chapter 368 Friendly Sponsorship (First Update, Please Subscribe)
On December 10, the South China Brigade entered the city and began to mop up the remaining enemies in Buenos Aires. On Julio 9 Avenue and the streets in the city, there were uniforms left by Argentine soldiers everywhere. Many Argentine soldiers changed into ordinary citizens' clothes and fled back to their homes. After they hid among the citizens, it became very difficult to find them.
The resistance in the city did not stop with the escape of the officials. There were still some defeated soldiers in the city who persisted in resistance. They fought in the corners of the city, using their lives and will to prove the tenacity of the Argentines.
But this resistance is indeed futile and even meaningless, it only increases unnecessary sacrifices, but their courage is also admirable.
To show their admiration and respect for them, the soldiers of Nanhua always used cannons or fierce firepower to see them off. Perhaps this is the mutual respect between soldiers.
The sporadic resistance in the city lasted for about three days before it gradually died down and peace was finally restored.
Blair Estate on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this estate built in the late 18th century originally belonged to a Spanish nobleman. During the War of Independence, as royalists, they were forced to leave, so this luxurious estate was taken over by an upstart who was said to be related to a nobleman in the "May Revolution". After Rosas was overthrown, the estate changed hands again and finally fell into the hands of a British expatriate.
Now, there is a new owner here.
Outside the gate of the manor, two teams of fully armed soldiers in green uniforms were standing guard on both sides of the gate. Their neat green uniforms and weapons also revealed the identity of the current owner of the manor - Nanhua.
Well, as an occupying force it is only natural to receive some of the fruits of victory.
However, no one expected that when the remaining enemies in Buenos Aires had not been completely cleared out, Zhu Xianhai, the owner of the America Company, the master of Nanhua, the king of Araucania and Patagonia, had already arrived outside the city of Buenos Aires.
Standing in the corridor, Zhu Xianhai was leisurely admiring the oil paintings on the wall. The former owner of the manor seemed to have a good taste in art. These paintings might not be art treasures, but many of them were antiques with a history of hundreds of years.
"Marshal, although the Bellucci Manor is nearby, it is some distance away from the railway, so I chose this place."
Sun Hu said respectfully on the side.
“This estate is great, I’m very satisfied.”
Bellucci Manor...it's been a long time since I last visited it, but compared to revisiting the old place, Zhu Xianhai still prefers this place!
This place was occupied...oh no, it was taken over.
Living in someone else's place is not as comfortable as living in your own place. Even if it is adopted, it is now the surname Zhu.
This is what war rewards the victor.
"By the way, what do you think about going into the city?"
Turn around and continue walking along the corridor.
"Well, Marshal, everyone thinks that we should make more efforts, at least we should loosen up our hands and feet, relax the previous restrictions, and give the frontline officers enough autonomy so that they can let go and do a great job."
Wang Dewen's answer immediately aroused Liang Shan's approval, and he chuckled.
"Haha, I think so too, Marshal. We have already seized their conscription lists from the War Department. We just need to arrest people according to the lists. If we arrest people according to the lists, we can almost arrest all the men in the city as prisoners of war."
There was a hint of excitement in Liang Shan's voice, and Zhu Xianhai knew what the commander of the Second Division was so excited about.
How many men did Sarnto conscript into the army to defend Buenos Aires?
56,000 people!
For this city with a population of only 270,000, it was almost equivalent to conscripting all adult men. Where are these people now? Many died on the battlefield, some fled, but a considerable number of them fled back home.
What does it mean to arrest those people as prisoners of war?
This means that the city will become an empty city - an empty city with almost only women left! Of course it will not be an empty city. In the future, this city will be stationed with tens of thousands of soldiers. A man and a woman alone will always ignite the fire of passion, and this is obviously in the interests of Nanhua.
Zhu Xianhai couldn't help but reveal a cunning smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Although those people are soldiers, according to wartime rules, we should of course arrest them, but we are merciful... We only need to arrest some adults, those in their prime."
The elderly and teenagers do not need to be arrested at all, as they will not have much impact on the "integration plan."
"Even if we are in our prime, we don't need to catch them all in one fell swoop. We need to arrest some, detain some, and release some. After all, we also need collaborators, and keeping some collaborators is very important for our image."
Even as an occupying army, they need to maintain their image. Even the Japanese devils know to hand out some candy. They pretend to carry an old lady across the street to confuse the audience and conceal their identity as butchers.
Besides, the Nanhua Army is a civilized force, so how can they not perform... no, show off their image?
You have to know that since the outbreak of this war, until now, South China has always presented itself as a righteous army, but what about Argentina? They are barbaric and brutal, a butcher-like army.
Of course, Nanhua is different from them. After all, this war of public opinion has never stopped.
"Just implement this matter. By the way, how is the implementation of the Navy's plan going?"
Zhu Xianhai turned around and asked.
"Marshal, the plan is going very smoothly. The ironclad ship "May 25th" is now sinking to the bottom of the La Plata River, less than 30 meters from the water surface. Our divers can go down and salvage the supplies on the ship at any time."
When talking about the sunken ironclad warship, everyone was very excited. After all, it was not just a sunken warship, but also contained a huge fortune.
"Um!"
Zhu Xianhai nodded and smiled.
"Then send out divers to avoid any more trouble. The things on the ship include not only Argentine gold but also gold and silver from other private banks deposited in the central bank. The value of gold and silver coins is 48.12 million pesos. Tsk tsk, to be honest, we should be grateful for Argentine law. If it weren't for their requirement that the issuance of banknotes must deposit reserves in the central bank, we probably wouldn't have made this windfall!"
That’s nearly 50 million pesos!
If converted into British pounds, it is almost 10 million. Less than 20% of this huge sum belongs to the Argentine government. Who does the rest of the silver coins belong to?
There are dozens of commercial banks in Argentina!
These gold and silver that should have been kept in the national treasury were "rolled up" abroad by the Argentine officials. However, they did not know that Nanhua had already obtained this information as early as when Sarnto implemented this plan.
Who wouldn't be tempted by such a huge sum of money? Even South China's military expenditure in this war was not that much.
If we can get this huge sum of money, it will not only make up for the huge military expenditure, but also allow the money to be used in more urgent areas.
So, after learning about the Argentines' plan, everyone racked their brains to discuss how to stop this huge sum of money.
Finally, Zhu Xianhai approved the plan for submarine No. 001 to attack. The reason for choosing this plan is that among all the plans, only this plan is the most reliable.
The plan went even more smoothly than expected. The ironclad ship "May 25th", loaded with tens of millions of dollars worth of gold and silver, was hit by a torpedo and sank into the mouth of the La Plata River.
Both the British and Argentines thought they had encountered a mine, and they never thought they were attacked.
That's the benefit of submarines!
The most important thing is that no one in this era knows about the secret weapon of torpedo! This is the fundamental reason why the plan can succeed.
Now what?
The warship, fully loaded with tens of millions of pesos in gold and silver coins, lay quietly at the bottom of the La Plata River, where the water was only a few dozen meters deep.
Just send out divers to salvage the treasure on the ship!
diver!
This is exactly why Zhu Xianhai chose to use a submarine to sink the treasure ship, because Nanhua had more sophisticated diving equipment that other countries did not have at that time.
In fact, it is just a simple backpack diving equipment. Although these equipments seem simple, they are enough for divers to salvage gold and silver from the sunken ship.
"After the money is salvaged, it will be distributed according to the plan! 40% will be used as a naval construction fund to develop the navy, 40% will be used to invest in the defense industry, 15% will be used for education, and the remaining 5% will be used for special needs expenditures."
Staring at the oil painting in front of him, Zhu Xianhai seemed to be in a particularly good mood. It was certain that whoever made this windfall would be so happy.
Besides, this windfall means a lot to Nanhua!
4 million pounds were used to build the navy, an amount that was enough to make the South China Navy one of the world's naval powers overnight!
Nowadays, even a 10,000-ton ironclad ship only costs a few hundred thousand pounds. With this money, the South China Navy can wave the cash and start buying.
Although it is not the case that the pace of producing ships in large quantities is being started, one thing is certain: the construction of the South China Navy will be accelerated a lot. At least four or more battleships and auxiliary ships such as tens of thousands of tons of cruisers can be purchased.
As for the 4 million pounds of defense industry expenditure and the 1.5 million pounds of education expenditure, they are enough to ensure the future development of Nanhua.
Compared to naval construction, industry and education are the future!
Where does all this funding come from?
Thanks to Argentina for the friendly sponsorship!
(End of this chapter)
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