The Boeing 737 passenger plane roared safely from Silvio Petirosi International Airport in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. This airport, also known as Asuncion International Airport, is one of the only two international airports in Paraguay and the largest airport in Paraguay.

Asuncion is the capital of Paraguay, the largest city in Paraguay, and one of the oldest cities in South America.

When the Spanish arrived here on August 15, 1537, it was the Catholic Virgin Mary's Ascension Festival. In Spanish, the Ascension Festival is pronounced as "Asuncion", so Asuncion became the name of the city.

In other words, this city has a history of more than 480 years!

However, although this city has a long history, it is really not very developed. Paraguay itself is a poor country in South America. As the only two landlocked countries in South America, Paraguay, like its neighbor Bolivia, is a poor country that is too poor.

This country with a population of only 7 million people has a total GDP of less than 30 billion US dollars per year. However, Tianqu City, the hometown of Yang Jing, has a total population of 5.8 million, and the total GDP of one year is 47 billion US dollars per year!

In other words, the total GDP of a fourth-tier city in China is 1.5 times that of Paraguay!

The poverty of Paraguay is imaginable.

In fact, there are not many major cities in Paraguay. Except for Asuncion, which has a population of more than 500,000, the Oriental City, located on the banks of the Parana River, is Paraguay's second largest city. The population of Asuncion and Oriental City accounts for one-eighth of the entire population of Paraguay!

As the capital of Paraguay, this city located on the east bank of the Paraguay River does not have any high-rise buildings. The only few buildings are only about thirty floors in height...

However, it is said that the river beach in Asuncion is still very beautiful. Perhaps because Paraguay is a landlocked country, the residents here are very yearning for beaches, so they built a large number of beaches on the beaches of the Paraguay River to imitate the beaches by the sea.

This matter is a bit sad to say, but there is no way, I really can't help it. If you want to blame it, just blame Quaresma...

In fact, Paraguay had an outlet in the past. From 1810 to 1825 in the early 19th century, the independent movement emerged in Latin America forced Spain to abandon its colonial rule over most Latin American countries. Paraguay, a Spanish colony, also declared its independence in June 1811.

After being independent, Paraguay also had an estuary on the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and at that time, Paraguay had a very outstanding president, Carlos Antonio Lopez.

The president replaced the dictator Francia's dictatorship in 1944 and became the new president of Paraguay.

During his tenure as president, Lopez vigorously carried out reforms. He sent a delegation represented by his son Lopez Jr. to Britain, France, Italy and other countries, and vigorously recruited immigrants and invited European technicians to inspect military and acquire weapons. Under the painstaking management of President Lopez, Paraguay, which was once barren, rose rapidly. He encouraged foreign trade and introduced a large amount of foreign investment; invited engineers from Britain and Austria to help build railways, shipyards, and steel plants; hired European and American doctors, engineering and technicians, and opened factories and schools; in 1850, the National Grand Theater was also completed, and a Europeanized Paraguay appeared in Latin America as a powerful country.

But just when Paraguay was booming, President Lopez died of illness. However, before he passed away, he did the only thing that made him a defilement in his life. He listed his son Francisco Solano Lopez as the "legal" successor, and the result was that Lopez Jr. became the new President of Paraguay.

In fact, President Lopez is also a very courageous person, but because this guy was on behalf of his father to work in various European countries in the early days, he had more knowledge, so his ambitions began to grow.

President Lopez used to study military affairs in Europe, learned about the new development of military technology, and knew the importance of military construction. He admired Napoleon Bonaparte and highly praised the French emperor Napoleon III at that time. In Paris, Lopez met the Irish woman Elisa Lynch, who became Lopez's lover. When Lopez returned to his country, he brought back a large amount of weapons and military supplies, and brought Lynch back to his country. Lynch later had a strong influence on Lopez's ambitious plan.

Because of President Lopez's diligence, when President Lopez took over, Paraguay had become the only country in South America without foreign debt. The strong economic strength made President Lopez's ambition even more expanding.

After President Lopez came to power, he began to vigorously expand his military equipment. After taking office, he reorganized the army of 7,000 people he inherited, and implemented a plan to expand rapidly.

Because of his admiration for Napoleon, he asked his army to equip Napoleon's uniform. Two years later, the total number of Paraguay's army reached 30,000, and the army alone reached 25,000, which was enough to confront Brazil and Argentina.

At this time, the Paraguayan army had already included 30 infantry battalions, 23 cavalry regiments and 4 artillery regiments.

In addition, Lopez Jr. also attached great importance to the construction of the navy and required domestic shipbuilding companies to build world-class steamers to use as warships, update naval equipment, and enhance naval power. This has greatly increased Paraguay's naval strength, with 1 naval battalion and 1 artillery battalion, and the fleet uses steam ships.

At this time, two years after Lopez came to power, in 1864, with the support of Argentina and Brazil, a coup occurred in Uruguay. Uruguay's Red Party leader Venensio Flores subverted the Uruguayan White Party President Bernardo Bero, supported by Lopez.

Then, Brazil began to intervene in the Uruguay War and joined forces with Argentina. Lopez Jr. judged that Brazil would soon concoct the Uruguayan model against Paraguay and overthrow his rule, so he decided to take the initiative.

In November 1964, Lopez Jr. declared war on Brazil, and the Paraguay War began. Soon, Argentina stood on the side of Brazil and had friction with the Paraguay army. Six months later, Paraguay once again declared war on Argentina.

At that time, Lopez Jr. probably didn't expect that a Uruguay civil war would eventually turn into the largest armed conflict on the South American continent. At that time, Paraguay was the best in South America in both economic and military power. Under the powerful military oppression of Lopez Jr., Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay secretly signed the Three-Nation Treaty on Buenos Aires on May 1, 1965 and formed the Three-Nation Alliance Alliance.

So, the famous Paraguay War broke out.

At the beginning, even when facing the Three Kingdoms coalition, Lopez was not afraid. After all, Paraguay's military power was stronger than the other Three Kingdoms at that time, and the beginning of the war also proved this.

The war began a series of victories that made Lopez ignore the logistics requirements of modern warfare. Although Paraguay's military power has almost no rivals in South America, Paraguay's strategic depth is too small. The most important thing is that the country's population is too small. Victory in the early stages of the war does not mean that Paraguay can win the war.

Therefore, as time progressed, the Paraguayan army, which had won steadily on the battlefield at the beginning, gradually tasted the pain of poor logistics. Then the war began from the early victory of the Paraguayan army to the transition to strategic defense. Finally, in 1970, this war lasted for seven years, with more than 500,000 troops participating in a war with more than 500,000 troops, with 300,000 people killed in Paraguayan, 100,000 people killed in Brazil, 300,000 people killed in Argentina, and the Three-Nation Alliance captured Asuncion.

This war has turned all the previous efforts of President Lopez. Although Lopez still insists on fighting guerrilla warfare, Paraguay's complete failure is inevitable. While Paraguay's failure, the country also lost 154,000 square kilometers of land and seaport.

A war completely changed the future of Paraguay!

If Lopez had not had such great ambitions, then in the situation of Paraguay at that time, Paraguay might now be the most developed and richest country in South America, but because of the ambition of an dictator, a country could not rise for the next 150 years and became one of the two poorest countries in South America.

Moreover, because of the loss of the seaport, the country was completely trapped in the tropical rainforests in the inland South America. The residents here even converted the river beach into a beach. Isn’t this a sadness or what?

There is an old saying in China that goes well - forgetting to fight will lead to danger, and being a war will lead to death!

In fact, the war that happened in Paraguay that should not have happened 150 years ago is a true portrayal of "the war will perish."

At this time, standing in Asuncion, the oldest city in South America, Yang Jing, who knew this history, was helpless.

That war completely shamed the beautiful city, completely ruined the potential for development, and became the root of poverty in this country. Although all this has nothing to do with Yang Jing, since he has come here and seen this city, Yang Jing, who is familiar with that period of history, cannot help but feel sad.

However, Yang Jing and the others would not stay in this city. After all, their purpose was not this city, but another small town called Ita.

Ita, a small town under the jurisdiction of Paraguay's Central Province, is only 35 kilometers away from Asuncion. This city is not big, but it has a very long history, only two years later than Asuncion.
Chapter completed!