Chapter 225: Great East Coast, Dead
Chapter 225: Great East Coast, Dead
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is a new country that has always been a place of fierce contention between the two great powers, Portugal and Spain. It was only founded 41 years ago.
Argentina is a former Spanish colony and Brazil is a former Portuguese colony.
The reason why such a small country can exist between the two giants, Brazil and Argentina, is purely because Brazil and Argentina need a buffer zone of power to avoid friction.
We export beef jerky, leather goods, wool, soybeans and pulp to Europe. Two cargo ships of this size would be enough at a time, but sixty - there would definitely be a problem.
Not to mention the four Johnson-class and eighteen thousand-ton ironclad warships - they definitely have bad intentions.
Two 60-ton wooden-hulled sailing gunboats of the East Coast Coast Guard bravely approached and signaled to the fleet, "You have entered the East Coast waters. You are not allowed to enter the port for supplies before obtaining official permission from the East Coast. Please send someone in a small boat to inform us of your purpose."
On the Zhiyuan, the flagship of the Nanyang Fleet's Atlantic Squadron, Liao Rong, the fleet commander and captain of the Zhiyuan, was wearing a snow-white navy uniform with vice admiral shoulder straps, standing at the bow with his hands behind his back. He had a telescope hanging on his chest, and he no longer needed it to see the entire port clearly.
Lieutenant Deng Shichang, who was on a training mission on the ship, stepped forward and reported, "Should we respond to the other side's flag signal?"
Liao Rong said expressionlessly, "Continue to dock."
The 3,000-ton ironclad ship slowed down and moved forward slowly, and its huge hull went straight towards the insignificant gunboat that was blocking its way.
The captains of the two gunboats were terrified, and the sailors frantically adjusted the sails and rudders, barely avoiding being smashed to pieces.
The huge splash from the ironclad ship soaked the East Coast Guard members on the two ships. The two captains cursed at the same time, "Damn imperialism!"
Everyone in the port who saw this huge fleet had an ominous premonition.
Is this a joint effort by the United Kingdom and the United States to intervene in South American affairs? Or are they eyeing Uruguay and the East Coast Republic is going to be destroyed?
These people were half right.
The Zhiyuan approached the dock in a rude and unreasonable manner, and two hundred marines with oriental faces ran onto the dock, holding carbines.
The boots of foreign troops trampled on the territory of the capital without permission. The captain of the port's police rushed over with fifty police officers armed with "Brown Bess" muskets in a tragic manner, deliberately not using Spanish, and protested loudly in English.
"You broke into the capital of the East Coast Republic without reason. We will protest to the United Kingdom. Our allies Brazil and Argentina, and our sovereign countries Spain and Portugal will also protest together."
The captain of the police knew that his protest was powerless. Even if the two colonial powers were added together, the protest against the British Empire would be useless.
The captain of the police force felt helpless. According to the regulations, he could now order his men to shoot and drive away the intruders, and it was legal to kill them all.
However, the enemy soldiers raised their chins and ignored him. How could a mere fifty of his own constables armed with flintlock rifles dare to confront the breech-loading carbines in their hands?
When British warships come, the Qing Dynasty can still rely on Dagu Fort to resist for a while, but the small countries on the east coast can only endure.
Montevideo also had coastal defense guns, but those ancient bronze coastal defense guns that were designed to deal with sailing ships would only tickle the ironclad ships even if they really fired.
If you piss off the enemy, don't you see that the muzzle of the gun on the other side is even thicker than the coastal defense gun here? Once the fire is exchanged, it won't matter if the coastal defense gun is knocked over. I'm afraid the whole Montevideo will be engulfed in flames.
The businessmen, porters and others at the port quickly disappeared, and the second ship to dock was a large transport ship.
Five hundred infantrymen equipped with American weapons ran off the ship, immediately took control of the coastal artillery and disarmed all the police officers.
Where is the Uruguayan army? Ahem, Uruguay has a total of 200,000 people, and the number of troops after the general mobilization does not exceed 5,000. Now they are basically on the front line of the crusade against Paraguay.
Finally, a captain arrived with 200 soldiers to guard the capital. At this time, more than 2,000 soldiers had come down from the transport ship. Gatling machine guns and Williams rapid-fire cannons were all on shore. The soldiers operated the steam cranes at the port and were transporting the Armstrong heavy artillery to the shore.
The captain looked back at the 200 soldiers with flintlock rifles on their backs, and bravely walked towards a man who looked like an officer on the other side, "I protest, you British and Americans cannot--"
The other party held his command knife and replied directly in Spanish, "I am Chen Cheng, the commander-in-chief of this team. What do you mean by Britain and America? Take a closer look." Chen Cheng had lived in the Spanish-speaking country of Cuba for more than a year. He listened to his native Hispanic white subordinates speak every day, and he could speak Spanish well.
The captain looked up and was horrified.
At some point, all the warships and transport ships at sea flew the red, white and blue tricolor flag of Paraguay, which is extremely similar to that of France, and added the national emblem of wheat ears, olive branches and stars.
Paraguayans?! They have been beaten so badly that their mothers don't recognize them anymore. Almost all the men are killed, and eight-year-old children are carrying guns to the battlefield. The navy has been annihilated long ago, so where did such a powerful fleet come from? And, Mr. Lieutenant General, I don't think you look like a Paraguayan.
"We are mercenaries from Cuba, hired by His Majesty Lopez, and ordered to disarm you. You can go to Cuba to protest."
The King of England smiled at Captain East Coast after secretly causing some trouble for the King of Wings who ruled Cuba.
"By the way, do you support the White Party or the Honduran Party? If you support the White Party, you are in luck. His Majesty Lopez strongly opposes Brazil and Argentina's imperialist policy of interfering in Uruguay's internal affairs and supporting the Honduran Party's rebellion. He has decided to help you put things right and put the White Party back in power."
A battalion of soldiers surrounded the parliament, and the occupying British king announced the dissolution of the parliament and the East Coast government, supported the White Party to come to power, and appointed himself as the commander-in-chief of the interim government.
The White Party lawmakers are not happy at all. What's the point of this obvious puppet government?
Twenty thousand mercenaries armed to the teeth with American-style equipment, a small country that only had 5,000 soldiers at its limit, didn't waste any time and occupied the entire territory of Uruguay within five days.
The White Party regime of the East Coast Republic under the control of the British King announced its withdrawal from the Triple Alliance that was attacking Paraguay, and the soldiers at the front turned against the enemy and joined the Paraguayan side.
Ahem, it’s a little late to help.
Lopez led 24,000 Paraguayan troops to defend the Humaita Fortress. He had just fought a bloody battle with 32,000 allied troops from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay on the banks of the Paraná River.
More than 18,000 people were killed on both sides, making it the bloodiest battle in the history of South America.
Most of the 5,000 troops on the East Coast Republic's front were killed. Even if they obeyed the orders of the rear authorities and defected, they would not be of much help to Paraguay.
After the war, both Paraguay and Uruguay faced a serious shortage of males, with the adult male-to-female ratio being 1:4.
The 20,000 strong Taiping Army men brought by Chen Cheng will become absolutely popular in the future. There will be countless beautiful Hispanic girls throwing themselves at them without them having to be snatched away. The burden will be very, very heavy.
The King of England was a world-class general and knew that occupying the east coast would not be of much help to his employer.
Instead of attacking the front-line troops of Brazil and Argentina head-on, the army crossed the La Plata River and surrounded the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
The Atlantic Fleet of the South China Sea Fleet simultaneously bombarded the Argentine capital. Shrapnel shells exploded continuously, and Buenos Aires was a sea of fire.
The brigades of Zhang Hanchen (Zhang Lexing) and Yang Changjiu (Yang Fuqing) were responsible for the siege. Apart from bombardment, they basically surrounded the city without attacking. The King of England personally led the Guards Division to ambush and prepare to destroy the Argentine reinforcements coming back from the front line.
Things like besieging a city and attacking its reinforcements were a piece of cake for the King of England.
The King of England sighed, "Is there still too few soldiers under my command? South America is such a vast territory, and the defense force is so weak. Even if my 20,000 men are fully mobilized, they can't occupy much. What a pity."
"Report, a 5,000-man Taiping Army has come to surrender. The leader is Weng Derong, who claims to be a subordinate of Wang Haiyang, the King of Kang."
What? Taiping Army? King Kang?
The King of England, who had been in America and Cuba for so long that he had forgotten his past, felt confused and looked around. Yes, this was Argentina, not the Qing Dynasty.
(End of this chapter)