Chile's siege of the city of Iquique was completely arranged in accordance with the ancient oriental war philosophy. In China's siege, it is important to siege three and one. It means that the enemy must leave a way to survive in the siege. The purpose is to make it impossible for the enemy to fight to avoid it. The fight between trapped beasts.
The north side of Iquique City has always been open. The two forts here had no effect at all. There was not a single Chilean army in front of them during the entire shelling battle. It was just that when the war started, countless Iquique civilians came from here. Fleeing north, they actually became onlookers throughout the battle.
In the northwest corner of the city, at the highest point of the fortress near the sea, a middle-aged white man dressed as a civilian was watching the battle on the sea. Behind him, a colonel from the Chilean Army stood respectfully.
"Mr. Henry, thank you for your support of Peru. After this war, we will definitely write your name into the history books!"
"No, no, no... Dear Colonel, I am just a businessman. I leave it to you to leave my name in history. Let me remind you that I do not want my name to appear on any paper, nor do I want it to appear on people's lips. Praise here!"
"All I want is money, the most beautiful gold... I have found so many warships for you, you just need to be prepared to pay, hahaha..."
This businessman was Henry, the British arms dealer, and was also the largest arms supporter of Chile.
Regarding the war in Central America, Europe's attitude is very interesting, that is, it basically has no attitude. Yes, this colony that originally belonged to Spain has been on the edge of the international order since the independence movement. In the eyes of Europeans, it is a barbaric country. In addition to archaeological teams and explorers who can often bring back some bizarre legends to add some Apart from the mysterious element, that land is not important in their national strategy.
Compared with the globalization of the 21st century, human beings are heavily dependent on mineral resources. In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, European civilization was doing very well relying only on the supply of raw materials from North America, Africa, and India.
As for the dumping market, Europeans still focus on places like China and India. No one really cares about the vast and sparsely populated poor areas of South America.
It is precisely because the strategic status is very low and there are no urgent interests to protect that Britain, France and other countries do not care about this war at all. No matter who wins or loses, it will be enough to issue an official document of diplomatic concern. Even if the country is destroyed, it will be enough. how? One of those small countries has nothing to do with Europe.
The only thing worthy of attention is saltpeter. Before the technology of artificially synthesized saltpeter was popularized, the saltpeter from the Atacama Desert became the most sought-after item in arsenals around the world.
But Europe still has little interest in this war, because they know very well that no matter which country holds the saltpeter mines, Europe and the United States will always be the largest customers, and the best saltpeter here will still be continuously sent to European and American arsenals.
Since the results are the same, what's the harm in the three countries fighting each other fiercely? On the contrary, the longer the war drags on, the better it will be for Europe.
Henry, the British arms dealer, was actually standing behind the British government. The iron-clad navy formed by Chile, which was twice the size of Peru, would not have been able to pick up goods from European shipyards without Britain's nod.
In this struvite war, the British supported Chile. It was not that Britain had a good impression of Chile. The only reason why it chose to support Chile was because Chile was a relatively weak party.
Bolivia and Peru have joined forces to deal with Chile. Without foreign aid, Chile will definitely not be able to hold on for long. A short conflict is not in the interests of the United Kingdom, let alone the interests of arms dealers.
Can you make the same amount of money if you fight the war for three months as if you fight it for three years? And the most important thing is that once the war breaks out, the three South American countries will be very dependent on European support. Whether it is diplomacy or war loans, they cannot do without Europe.
The longer the war drags on, the more foreign debts these three countries will owe, and European capital will be able to erode a large number of mining companies in these countries. In the end, they will use very low prices to take away the mining companies that belong to the country bit by bit. Companies are privatized, and when European plutocrats secretly own more shares, who cares how those governments change.
Henry sneered in his heart, "The war has just begun. These three countries have not fought to the point of despair. My friends and I have not yet plundered the biggest cake or eaten the most shares. We will let this war Finish?"
"I will not let this war escape our baton. Today in Iquique, I will teach Chile a lesson... Without our full support from Europe, you small South American countries are all rubbish!"
"Think hiring a group of veterans from China can change the situation of the war? Go ahead and dream, I will make you sober!"
Arms dealer Henry looked at the rumbling artillery battle on the sea and felt extremely comfortable. He turned around and gave the colonel a Cuban cigar. After lighting it, he smiled and said, "Please remember, you bought these warships from Belgium, a neutral country. They do not belong to any country." , the soldiers above are just pirates at the moment, remember!"
The Peruvian colonel smiled flatteringly, "Everything is as you wished. It's too dangerous here now. Let me escort you out!"
Henry nodded and walked off the fortress observation deck. After a while, more than two hundred horses galloped forward on the road along the coastline in the north of the city, running towards the Peruvian plateau.
In the eyes of businessmen, there is no country, only capital. When Chile is weak, they will use all their connections to help Chile purchase the most advanced warships in Europe, thereby creating a navy twice the size of Peru.
But when Chile becomes too powerful and even seeks foreign aid from China in an attempt to end the war quickly, the original allies will immediately turn their backs.
Henry was backed by a large number of rentier plutocrats. The power of these people was terrifying. Within half a month, they forced the navies of Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico to retire a number of old warships. The company that acquired these warships was affiliated with Panama.
Then the Panamanian company quickly sold these warships to Canada, and then Canada sold them to the Netherlands, and then to a company in Belgium.
In this series of dazzling property rights change contracts, the names of these warships were changed more than a dozen times, and the owners were changed more than a dozen times. By the time the Peruvian military finally purchased these warships, it was already difficult for people to find out from these contracts. No clues.
In other words, no one can find the traces of Henry and those large consortiums from this series of transactions. It is obvious that the warships only sailed from Central America to the Peruvian capital Lima for a short journey, but legally these warships have already bypassed it. Half the world more.
What is even more strange is that there is also a stateless Central American mercenary who came to Peru along with the warship. As long as the Lima government pays a generous salary, they will fight for Peru.
The Chilean intelligence network was unaware of all this, and they never thought that the person who betrayed them was Henry, the arms dealer who had been most friendly to them before.
This is the cruel law of the jungle. There is no morality or tenderness, only interests!
