On August 1, 1646, Xiaoxue.

A cavalry unit was sailing on the grass near Ningjin Fort like lightning. The soldiers were training. The cavalry battalion has been expanded over the years, and its organization has reached 6 companies. The total number of troops directly under the battalion headquarters has reached nearly 700. This number has exceeded the total strength of the newly established La Plata Infantry Regiment by the Spanish, and there is no pressure to defeat the opponent head-on.

At present, about two companies of the Cavalry Battalion have been sent to the Zhuliang troops in the north to fight against the Guarani people; there is another company stationed in the Huxi Agricultural Areas such as Xihu Township and Dafeng Fort; as for the remaining three or four hundred people, they were scattered in the vast area from Xiayihe Township to Melo Fort, just one company and a battalion headquarters with 150 troops.

The newly formed 6th Company of the Army was also trained with the cavalry unit. The company commander was Xiao Baitu, the company commander of the 5th Company who was transferred from South Africa. As for the company commander of the 5th Company after Xiao Baitu left office, his original deputy Sun Shengjun was also the second front-line main force in China who was not a cross-border group (the second one was Leonid, who was transferred from the deputy commander of the South African Cavalry Company), which was completely successful.

The 6th Company of the Army and the 106th Company, which is currently being transferred to the training near New Konisburg, are newly formed troops for only a few months. The soldiers were recruited from militias in Dongfang County, Xiayihe Township, Canyon Fort, etc. Some of the officers were transferred from other troops, and some were newly appointed graduates from Dingyuan Army Officers' School. At present, both departments have completed personnel recruitment and started high-intensity military training. After all, the militia training they had contacted in the past was quite inferior to the regular army, and they still needed a certain amount of time to form combat effectiveness.

Looking at the wind and snow that were gradually getting stronger outside, the battalion commander of the cavalry battalion and army major Xu Yu closed the window, which made Xiao Baitu, who was sitting next to the coffee table with his legs crossed, was a little dissatisfied. He only heard him say, "Old Xu, what are you doing? The house is full of smoke. Why don't you open the window and get some breath? You're so stuffy!"

Xu Yu ignored him, but added some peat to the fireplace, and sat down on the chair opposite Xiao Baitu. He slowly stuffed the pipe with Virginia imported tobacco. After lit it, he took a beautiful mouthful, and then said with a smile: "The weather is getting worse and worse. What is the military thinking? If you have such a big deal, why don't you make a decision quickly? When will you wait for this torture?"

The so-called "thing big things" that Xu Yu mentioned refers to the incident of the Spanish escaping with gold ore in the Corales mining area in mid-to-late July last month (in late July). Wang Dali, the captain of the inspection team of the Ministry of Geological Resources present, ordered everyone to go out for searching immediately, but there was no result. He quickly reported the detailed content of the incident to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee was extremely shocked after receiving the news, because almost everyone understood how dangerous it was to let the Spanish know that there was a gold mine near Corales, because this undoubtedly touched the sensitive nerves of the Spanish.

If the Spaniards could barely endure Christians, killing aboriginal people, crossing the border to settle, smuggling trade and other behaviors before, the Spaniards could barely endure the fact that they were unable to clone their bodies, then the news of a large gold mine in the Corales mining area would definitely make the Spaniards restless and calm. They would never give up this huge source of wealth that could be obtained.

The current Spanish government is poor, and they spent a lot of money to continue the war and aid their relatives, Austria. This almost collapsed their financial system. It can be imagined how excited and crazy they would be when they learned that there was an undiscovered gold mine in the east coast that is nominally still belonging to them.

You should know that even today, when mining technology and equipment have undergone revolutionary changes, the Spaniards can only produce about five tons of gold and more than 200 tons of silver every year in Latin America, of which about three-quarters of the gold and silver will be transported back to Spain. To be fair, in the 17th century when the 60 years of mad mining in the later generations, if the Spaniards invested a lot of manpower and equipment, it would be very likely that 1-2 tons of gold would be produced every year. This is almost the production of precious metals brought back from their Latin American colonies every year by nearly 10%, which is an extremely jealous wealth.

The news leaked, and anyone with a brain will realize what this means. Of course, the officers of the military are not brainless, so they reacted first than the executive committee. The young and strong sent officers to discuss countermeasures frequently. The home of Peng Zhicheng, who had already "retired" army veteran, was even more crowded. Many soldiers in military uniforms would sneak into their mansions at night and then quietly leave in the dark.

As a member of the radical military association organization, the National Power Tongmenghui, Xiao Baitu has long been dissatisfied with the appeaserism policy that the country has been adopting. He always believed that the country should take advantage of the opportunity of fighting for life and death in Europe for the 30 Years of War in Europe, and the more the better. For this reason, it is also willing to offend Spain and Portugal. When the 30 Years of War is over, they will defend with peace of mind and digest the fruits they have already obtained.

But the policies adopted by the government disappointed him. He had been in South Africa for several years, but the expected large-scale war with La Plata never broke out. Even if the military had not insisted, the government would have been preparing to include the Guarani and Chalua people in the category of official citizens of the country, give them formal power and assimilate them.

Are the minds of the government and the people are confused? Even the indigenous people dare to accept it and assimilate it! The military headquarters quickly took action privately. They frequently entered the Guarani settlement area under the name of exercises for conquest operations, which gave the government a great headache and had to pinch their noses. After all, among the 11 members of the Executive Committee, the military forces have directly or indirectly occupied three seats. In addition, the traditional military allies, the Ministry of Transport, Materials and Intelligence Department, will it be easy to influence the Executive Committee. Of course, it doesn’t matter if your executive committee disagrees, but I will act by myself. You just need to develop the country well. You can’t do some dirty work. It’s better to do it with our glorious soldiers.

It can be said that in recent years, in addition to the Spaniards' own factors, the promotion role of the young and powerful army forces in the military headquarters cannot be ignored. It is precisely because of their vigorous inciting cross-border settlements and massacres and exiles in the Guarani settlement areas, which angered the Spaniards and the bilateral relations have also gradually destruction.

In fact, the Navy is quite slight about the Army's approach. Because expanding to inland areas is undoubtedly increasing the strength of the Army. With the increase in the strength of the Army, the Navy's strength naturally declines relatively. This is undoubtedly a matter of no doubt. Moreover, the westward strategy is completely different from the eastward strategy that the Navy has always adhered to. The Navy insists on going east to South Africa, New China, and Australia, and vigorously expanding military ports, shipyards, shipbuilding yards, coastal defense fortresses and other facilities in these places. At the same time, it vigorously trains new sailors and builds new ships to ensure the maritime security of these nodes. However, the navy's power is obviously not large enough in the military headquarters, so it has been firmly suppressed by the army over the years and can only passively follow the rhythm of the other party.

However, after the incident happened in front of him, the Navy could only pinch his nose and retreat with the army. Originally, the relationship between the Spaniards and the East Coast was already tense - or the Spaniards themselves did not think so, they might also think that the relationship between the two sides had not yet come to an end - if the Spaniards knew that there was a gold mine in Corales, they would definitely send more people to explore, and at the same time, they severely warned the East Coast people to take back their claws, which was almost certain.

Let the people of the East Coast give up the city that crossed the border and settled, give up the Northwest Railway that has been built quite a distance, give up the planned special steel base, and give up the gold ore, iron ore, manganese ore, coal mine. Even in the eyes of the military, no one dares to make such a ridiculous suggestion. Then, war is inevitable?!

"Isn't the military's idea clear? That is to start a war with the Spaniards!" Xiao Baitu said with a smile, "This is a battle to sway the country! A battle to destiny! The reason why the final decision has not been made yet is that the navy is still noisy and the distribution of interests has not been finalized. We must take advantage of the fact that the Spaniards have not yet reacted and defeated their main naval and army forces in La Plata in one battle, and then try to negotiate with them with this power."

"The premise of this plan is that the Spaniards act according to our wishful thinking!" Xu Yu took a deep breath of cigarettes and said worriedly: "But is this possible? The Spaniards will escalate the war and win over allies. Other countries may also be eyeing them, such as the Dutch. How should we deal with this complex situation? It is easy to start a war, but it is difficult to end the war! And 5 of our 12 infantry companies in the army are deployed overseas. Are our troops strong enough when the war begins?"

"If it's not enough, then we will find another way. Before the war begins, there is still a diplomatic negotiation and war preparation process. It takes less than a year and a half. Didn't we bring a letter from the military on the ships that set out to the Far East in May? I think Boss Mo should give this face to transfer some soldiers to the local area, so that our troops will be more abundant." Xiao Baitu frowned and said, "Also, do you think after the Spanish Kingdom spent two or three years mobilizing enough troops to come to La Plata and counterattack the East Coast, how should we defend such a scattered settlement?"
Chapter completed!