Chapter 351 War and Expeditionary Force

After entering the mountains and forests, the whereabouts of the Argentine army were consciously hidden. The footprints on the snow in New˙ɔoɯ were scrawled and camouflaged around them, making it impossible to tell which way the Argentine army was evacuating.

Because he was worried about an ambush by the Argentine army, Lucas Fuente asked the soldiers to search for a while to no avail, and then he had no choice but to withdraw with the army.

But unexpectedly, just when he was about to order a retreat, his soldiers suddenly reported that the body of an Argentine soldier was found not far ahead.

The corpse was obviously freshly dead, and there was even blood flowing from the wound on the abdomen. It should be that the Argentine army was eager to escape and saw that the wounded man could not be saved, so they reluctantly gave up on him.

This corpse was of little value to Lucas Fuente. After all, the evidence now available could already prove that these incoming troops were Argentine soldiers.

But the rifle the body was carrying piqued Lucas Fuente's interest. Having had many encounters with the Argentine army, Lucas Fuente naturally understood that this rifle, which looked very novel, was definitely not the standard equipment of the Argentine army.

If your guess is correct, this should be the equipment of the powerful country behind Argentina, and it is also Argentina's confidence in repeatedly provoking Chile.

After understanding the importance of the matter, Lucas Fuente did not dare to be careless in the slightest and ordered the soldiers to evacuate with the rifle.

As for the body of the Argentinian soldier, it was hastily buried on the spot.

After more than an hour, Lucas Fuente finally returned to the camp.

Without any pause, Lucas Fuente found his boss with the rifle in hand and reported his findings.

After many layers of reporting, the rifle was finally handed to the commander of the Chilean Second Border Garrison Division.

It is impossible that the top brass of the Chilean military have not seen this rifle, because this rifle is the famous M1 German rifle, the only great power in North and South America, the standard rifle of the US Army.

Suddenly, the news that Americans might be involved behind Argentina was quickly reported to the top levels of the Chilean government.

For Chile, it is no longer a simple conflict with Argentina, but more like a direct collision between the United Kingdom behind Chile and the United States behind Argentina.

Although the military strength of the United States is not strong, in the face of Chile, which is very weak in size and population, the United States is still the well-deserved great power.

The Chilean government did not hesitate at all. It reported the possible involvement of the United States in this conflict to the British government and requested help from the British government.

After receiving Chile's request for help, the British government paid great attention to the conflict between Chile and Argentina.

It is a pity that the Americans absolutely deny that they have provided assistance to Argentina and that they are the real culprits behind the conflict between Argentina and Chile.

In order to reassure the Chileans, the British Empire urgently allocated a batch of equipment from various places, including 50,000 Lee-Enfield rifles, hundreds of artillery pieces, dozens of heavy machine guns and corresponding various ammunition. new˙ɔoɯ

A considerable part of this weaponry was purchased from Australasia. After all, Australasia is relatively free compared to other major powers and does not have much pressure to expand its armaments.

With weapons support from the British Empire, Chile acted quite tough and issued an ultimatum to Argentina, requiring Argentina to fully withdraw its troops that invaded the border, apologize to Chile for the two conflicts, and compensate for the corresponding losses.

It is naturally impossible for Argentina to agree to Chile's conditions, not to mention that the compensation requested by Chile is even enough to build another dreadnought.

1 Argentina flatly denied Chile’s request and stated that the Argentine army was only patrolling and operating at the border legally and compliantly, and that Chile had no right to ask the Argentine army to withdraw.

By this time, the two conflicts between the two sides had already spread among the people, and the hatred between the two countries had deepened.

Naturally, Chile was not used to Argentina's shameless behavior and showed the bodies of two Argentine soldiers and photos of battlefield battles.

At the same time, Chile issued a renewed ultimatum to Argentina, requiring Argentina to fully withdraw its invading troops, otherwise it would be regarded as a provocation and declaration of war against Chile.

If the Argentine troops do not withdraw within 48 hours, Chile and Argentina will officially enter a state of war.

A day later, Argentina also responded. Argentina admitted that the corpses were those of Argentine soldiers, but said that the corpses were transferred to Argentine territory to forge evidence after the Chileans attacked an Argentine patrol.

Those photos of the Chilean border with traces of war were also forged by Chileans in order to frame Argentina.

The Argentine government declared that in order to protect the interests of the government and the Argentine people, the Argentine military will never retreat and will never fear danger from enemy countries.

In the past few days, the diplomatic systems of Argentina and Chile have been very busy. After the 48 hours stipulated in Chile's declaration, the Chilean government formally met with the Argentinian ambassador to Chile and announced the Chilean government's decision that from that day, 1, Chile and Argentina would officially enter a state of war and requested the Argentine diplomatic ambassador to return to Argentina immediately. .

On the day the war was declared, Chile mobilized two divisions to the border areas and announced a nationwide general mobilization.

As a country with a fairly good army, there are currently five divisions of standing troops and a reserve force of 100,000 people.

If the whole country is mobilized, a total of at least ten divisions and more than 150,000 combat troops can be armed.

Because the two countries were so close, Argentina also received news of Chile's declaration of war not long after.

As things have developed to this point, both countries have made certain preparations for war, and both have deployed a large number of troops as soon as they declared war.

On the Argentine side, due to more adequate preparations in advance, some reservists have already joined the army.

At present, Argentina has more than 100,000 combat troops at its disposal. Half of them were located on the border between Argentina and Chile, and the other half are on the way.

"Sign up to join the army and defend the motherland!"

"Behind you is the great motherland. Please fight for your motherland and your family!"

"Gentlemen, the motherland needs you!"

All of a sudden, various recruitment slogans in Chile and Argentina were all over the streets, and the two countries were fully mobilized. new

It is worth mentioning that Argentina’s new army is basically equipped with M1 German rifles, while Chile’s new army is basically equipped with Lee-Enfield rifles.

The news of the war in South America spread to the whole world almost immediately.

At this time, the White House of the United States was in charge of Wilson, who had just become the President of the United States for a few months.

However, President Wilson was not in a great mood at this time, because he later discovered that the situation in South America at this time was somewhat beyond his expectation.

It is indeed President Wilson's opinion to contact Argentina and provide help to Argentina. After all, South America can be regarded as the back garden of the United States. As the president of the United States, Wilson naturally has no small ambitions for South America.

But President Wilson's plan was not to attack now, but to wait for a more suitable time, such as the outbreak of war in Europe.

After the outbreak of war in Europe, the great powers were destined not to have much energy to manage matters in South America.

Even the most powerful British Empire needs to worry about the challenge from Germany.

But things are different now. The British Empire is still the most powerful country, and the United States alone cannot compete with it.

It would not be a good thing for the United States to directly confront the British Empire at this time. It might only give Germany an advantage in vain.

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"Fuck! Shit!" President Wilson cursed secretly, but had to face the current bad situation.

Chile and Argentina went to war, and the United States decided whether to aid this new ally.

Even if they support Argentina, the United States and Argentina cannot be a match for the United Kingdom and Chile.

If it does not support Argentina, the United States is very likely to lose this ally it has won over and lose it in front of South America.

Among the three major powers in South America, Chile has good relations with the United Kingdom, and Brazil and Germany have good relations.

Argentina, the only remaining country, became a breakthrough point for the United States and an important condition for the United States to turn South America into its backyard.

Now it has become a dilemma how to choose. Choosing any one will cause losses to the United States.

Compared with the United States, which is in a dilemma, the British Empire's choice is much simpler.

1 On the second day after the South American War broke out, the British Empire solemnly stated that Argentina had displayed shameful acts of aggression in this war, causing major damage to Chile's homeland security.

This maintains tranquility and peace in South America, while also reducing greater casualties and bringing peace to the world. The British Empire announced that it would provide military assistance to Chile and provide an interest-free loan.

On the other hand, the United States also shipped support to Argentina at almost the same time.

In order not to offend the British Empire after the war, the United States also changed the name of the support. On the surface, Argentina purchased American arms, and the order was signed before the war.

With the support from the big brother behind them, the war between Chile and Argentina became more intense, turning into an offensive and defensive war involving more than half of the border.

Facts have proved that Argentina, which was prepared for the war in advance, would indeed gain a certain advantage in the early stages of the war.

In just one week after the war broke out, Argentina advanced the border several kilometers and killed thousands of Chilean soldiers.

Although Argentina also suffered heavy casualties, it already had a certain advantage on the battlefield due to its large number of people.

This time the two countries fought with heavy weapons, including artillery and heavy machine guns, which also caused a large number of casualties to both sides.

For the British Empire at this time, the war in South America was a more important war than the Balkan War, and the British Empire was also prepared to end at any time.

After all, the interests of the British Empire in the Balkans are not many, but more of the interests between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Italy.

As long as Constantinople is not threatened, the British Empire can accept any situation in the Balkans.

But South America is different. Chile was an important strategic partner of the British Empire and the world's largest exporter of saltpeter ores and products.

If problems arise in the situation in South America, it will be unacceptable to the British Empire. Especially if South America is controlled by the United States, the United States will become an invincible country.

The geographical location is very good and difficult to attack, and with the support of resources from South America, the United States has the potential to become a world hegemon.

This is what the British Empire does not want to see or accept. This is the reason why the British Empire supports Australasia to fight against the United States.

Under the close attention of Britain and the United States, the war in South America continued for another week.

So far, the war has caused tens of thousands of casualties to Chile and Argentina, with the combined death toll on both sides reaching more than 2,000.

Even though South America was relatively wealthy before, the consumption of the war made these two countries miserable.

If Britain and the United States were not supplementing and supporting behind the scenes, I am afraid that if these two countries want to win the war, they will really have to drain their national resources.

1. Arthur received a telegram from the British government asking whether Australasia was interested in jointly sending troops to form an expeditionary force to end the war in South America.

Of course, it's not without pay. After the war is won, a buffer zone will be divided between Chile and Argentina, which will be jointly managed by the countries participating in the expeditionary force.

In fact, it is the United Kingdom, Russia, France and Australasia. As the four major powers of the Entente, the ones that can best support the British Empire are naturally the major powers except the United Kingdom.

The Allied Powers share common interests, and their current ties are relatively close.

Arthur didn't know whether France and Russia had agreed to the British conditions, but the British conditions were actually pretty good for Australasia.

The size of the expeditionary force to end the South American War would not exceed 50,000 at most. This also means that if the four major powers send troops together, basically each country only needs to send more than 10,000 troops.

And then a buffer zone was divided and jointly managed by the four major powers. This was also good news for Arthur.

After all, in terms of distance alone, Australasia is the closest country to South America.

Moreover, after the First World War begins, other countries will be busy with the First World War, and then Australasia will have the final say in the management of the buffer zone.

In fact, Arthur understood the buffer zone very clearly, even though the British Empire rightfully said that it would demarcate a buffer zone from the border between Chile and Argentina to ease disputes between the two sides.

But judging from Chile's relationship with the British Empire alone, most or even all of the image buffer zone should be in Argentina.

Argentina has one of the four largest black lands in the world, the Pampas Plains. The total area of ​​this black earth plain is up to 105 million hectares, and Argentina occupies the vast majority of it, up to 89 million hectares.

Each of the four major black soils in the world is a granary of excellent potential.

In the following World War I, economic crisis and World War II, the importance of food was unquestionable.

Even in peacetime, food production is an important indicator for a country.

For a country with a large population, food production must be in its own hands. It would make sense for the development of Australasia if part of Argentina's black soil could be controlled.

This is indeed a good opportunity now, allowing Australasia to successfully control part of Argentina's black land with the consent and even expectation of the British Empire.

As long as Argentina's strength does not exceed that of Australasia, Australasia can always hold this piece of black land and develop it into its own large granary.

There is no reason why Arthur is so greedy for this black land. The value of the four largest black lands in the world is too great.

The Eastern European plain, where the largest black soil is located, has always been Europe's great breadbasket, and will shine even more brightly in the future Soviet period.

The second largest black soil is located in North America. The area in the United States is affectionately called the "bread basket" by Americans.

The third largest region is in Northeast Asia, which has also been developed from a barren area into an important grain-producing area and is known as Beidacang.

Although the black soil range in South America is the smallest, the 8 areas in Argentina are completely enough to cultivate it into a super large granary.

With this important food-producing area, Australasia can safely expand its population to tens or even hundreds of millions without worrying about any food crisis.

People are food-oriented. As long as they have sufficient food production and food reserves, Australasia will be fully confident and safely survive whether in war or crisis.

And more grain production can also bring huge profits to the country, taking the country's development to a higher level.

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