Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 34 Conversation
The cavalry soldiers rested at the horse farm for one night, and returned the next morning with the captured horses and Peruvian prisoners.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the cavalry soldiers returned to Arequipa, and Li Dawei handed over the horses and captured supplies.

Just as he was about to leave, he received an order from Li Mingyuan asking him to discuss important matters.

Li Dawei followed Li Mingyuan's request and took Sun Yanming and Zheng Guosheng to the conference room.

In the conference room, Li Mingyuan and Liu Pu sat together.

"Four hundred tons of gold are very important for the future development of the Chinese Independence Army. Now that we have the clue of this gold, we might as well check it out tomorrow."

After listening to Li Mingyuan's introduction, Liu Pu said seriously.

"We can't go looking for treasure in a blatant way. Otherwise, if the Peruvians find us, it will cause a lot of trouble."

"That's true. Four hundred tons of gold is a huge amount. Once the news leaks out, I'm worried that not only the Peruvians will be ready to make a move, but other European countries will also be eyeing this gold."

Liu Pu nodded.

"The soldiers of the cavalry regiment are specially selected old Taiping Army. There is no need to worry about their loyalty, so I plan to let the cavalry regiment follow me to find gold." Li Mingyuan said carefully.

"The Chinese Independence Army cannot be leaderless for a long time. If we cannot find the whereabouts of the gold, the prince must return as soon as possible to prevent a possible surprise attack by the Peruvian Navy."

The Peruvian Southern Army has been wiped out by the Chinese Independence Army. In the short term, the Peruvian Army will not make any major moves. However, the Peruvian Navy is quite powerful at sea and is capable of launching landing operations against the Chinese Independence Army.

"The Peruvian Navy is a problem. After I leave, you must strengthen the security of coastal cities to prevent sneak attacks by the Peruvian Navy."

"Understood, Prince."

"By the way, didn't we seize more than 20 ships after we attacked Barranca last time? Is it possible to take the ships away when we move into southern Brazil?" Li Mingyuan suddenly asked.

"Impossible, Prince." Liu Pu shook his head, walked to the map, pointed at it and said, "There is no continuous waterway from the Peruvian coast to southern Brazil. It is impossible to transport ships from the coast to southern Brazil, unless you take a ship to bypass the coastal areas of Chile and Argentina."

Among the twenty-three captured ships, there were three warships that could carry two hundred people. The other twenty ships had a larger carrying capacity because they were used to transport minerals and could transport five or six hundred Chinese troops at a time.

The Chinese Independence Army cannot gain a foothold in South America without the navy.
After capturing twenty-three ships, Li Mingyuan specially selected three thousand soldiers to practice navigation skills with the captured Peruvian crew members.

The Chinese independence army under Li Mingyuan were all remnants of the Taiping Army and poor farmers from the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong.
Many of them had experience at sea, so they followed the captured Peruvian crew members to learn navigation knowledge for half a month. Now the selected Chinese Independence Army naval force has been able to master basic navigation skills.

Li Mingyuan didn't want the newly trained naval troops to become landlubbers without ships.

After hearing Liu Pu's second plan, Li Mingyuan walked to the map and looked down along the map, from Chile to the coastal area of ​​Patagonia.

"Liu Pu, the Pacific coast is controlled by the Chileans. They won't let us pass smoothly." Looking at the long coastline along the Pacific coast, Li Mingyuan said disappointedly.

"Prince, the Pacific coastal areas are not entirely controlled by Chileans. The southernmost Patagonia is still under the control of local Indians." Liu Pu pointed out Li Mingyuan's mistake.

Li Mingyuan thought for a while and realized that Chile and Argentina were just beginning to infiltrate the Patagonia region, and they had not yet controlled the nearly 800,000 square kilometers of land in southern South America.

So by sailing from the Peruvian coast, as long as they avoided the navy near Santiago, they could land in Patagonia to repair and then continue on their way.

"Liu Pu, is it possible to bribe the Chileans to let our ship pass?"

The Chinese Independence Army was considered a rebel group in the eyes of South American countries. Even though the Chileans did not go to war with the Chinese Independence Army, they would certainly not show mercy if they encountered a Chinese fleet passing through the coast of Chile.

"It's very difficult. What the Chileans want is Bolivia's Antofagasta region. We don't have any conditions that can impress them," said Liu Pu.

Antofsta is rich in saltpeter, and the Chileans have long coveted this area. Later, they fought wars with Bolivia and Peru in order to seize Antofsta.

"Sir, it is very difficult to sail from the sea, because even if we get past the Chileans, the Argentine navy behind us will be difficult to deal with."

Liu Pu continued.

"Do you think it's possible? We find the treasure, use the gold to buy supplies from the Prussians, and then bribe the Prussian naval commander to have our fleet pretend to be Prussian ships and sail with them."

"This method should work. But the key is that we have to find the gold first." Liu Pu said.

"Yes, it all comes down to money. Money makes the world go round. The Chinese Independence Army is fighting alone. Without a large amount of funds as a guarantee, we will never be able to gain a foothold in South America." Li Mingyuan agreed.

"Prince, what you just said gave me an idea."

"Oh, you said,"

"We now have 23 combat-capable ships, and with the captured small merchant ships, we have about 50 ships. We can use these ships to transport some elite soldiers to southern Brazil, seize Rio Grande do Sul Province while the enemy is unprepared, cut off the Brazilian army's retreat, and encircle the Brazilian army together with the main force in Paraguay."

"That's a good idea indeed. I originally only wanted to preserve these ships, but I didn't expect you to think further."

"So, Prince, regardless of whether we can find the gold this time, we must allocate a portion of our funds to exchange for the support of the Prussians."

"I remember that the Prussian fleet that trades arms with us has a liaison office in Baranka. After I leave, you can find two smart and capable brothers to talk to them. Talk to them about the arms trade first. After the terms of the arms trade are negotiated, we can talk about pretending to be Prussian warships."

After Li Mingyuan occupied Balanga last time, he first sent troops to protect the merchants of the Western powers to ensure that their interests were not damaged. That's why those European countries did not cause trouble for the Chinese Independence Army.

"I'll find someone to do it right away." Liu Pu said and was about to leave.

"No hurry. Wait until Li Dawei comes and discusses the search for gold. Then you can send someone."

(End of this chapter)