The Rise of Australasia

In the more than ten years since Lucas Fontaine joined the army, there has been a small-scale war and more than ten conflicts between Chile and Argentina.

These conflicts varied in scale, with larger ones involving dozens of casualties and smaller ones resulting in several injuries.

However, because the strength of both parties was not very different, the outcome of these conflicts was mostly inconclusive, and Chile did not suffer too much overall.

But this time was different, as the Argentinians had openly invaded Chile's borders and attacked the Chilean border defense forces twice, resulting in dozens of casualties on the Chilean side.

According to the information provided by Edward Montalvo, there were only about a dozen Argentinian soldiers who had entered the border. Therefore, Lucas Fontaine did not intend to request any more reinforcements.

His second platoon had more than a hundred soldiers, along with some machine guns and firearms. In the face of the Argentinians who lacked heavy firepower, this difference in strength was enormous.

Furthermore, the overall combat effectiveness of Lucas Fontaine's second platoon was much higher than that of the patrol squad.

After all, Chile was one of the countries that had adopted the German military model, reforming and training its army.

Chile was one of the few South American countries with a strong army and was also known as the Prussia of South America.

The reason why Edward Montalvo's patrol squad had low combat effectiveness and poor display of military professionalism was due to these soldiers being new recruits who had not been in the army for a long time.

However, as part of the two Chilean border defense regiments, Lucas Fontaine's second platoon still had a number of elite soldiers.

In addition to their advantage in firepower and the Argentine army's previous consumption in battles with the patrol squad, Lucas Fontaine was sure that this Argentine force might be a rare opportunity for merit.

Even Lucas Fontaine had grown tired of accumulating military ranks through seniority. According to the current pace of promotion, it would take at least five more years to advance one more level.

And Lucas Fontaine was not without rivals. The higher the military rank, the fewer the corresponding positions, and the fiercer the competition.

If there was no corresponding merit or background support, the position of captain might be Lucas Fontaine's peak.

This opportunity for military merit was a good one. If he could wipe out this group of invading Argentine troops and deliver a heavy blow to the Argentine military and civilians, his promotion to captain would be basically secured, and he might even have a chance to become a school-level officer.

It could only be said that for Chilean soldiers like Lucas Fontaine, serving in Chile was both fortunate and unfortunate.

The good news was that aside from people like Lucas Fontaine who served at the border defense regiments, there was virtually no warfare in the divisions stationed inside the borders.

This made soldiering in Chile very safe, but at the same time it also lost the room for upward mobility.

People like Lucas Fontaine were still fortunate, as they managed to secure a position as a company commander due to their excellent performance and accumulation of experience over more than ten years.

However, many others could only go as far as becoming a platoon leader, and throughout their lives would be likely to be only a deputy platoon leader or equivalent officer.

Shaking his head slightly, he cleared away all the distracting thoughts in his mind, and Lucas Fontaine looked at the distant forest.

In a few minutes, the troops arrived at the base of the mountain, which was the location of the previous battle between Argentina and the patrol squad.

The place had already been cleaned up, and other than the bloodstains, bullet holes, and some earth and rocks, it did not look too chaotic.

In this chaotic area, several Argentine soldiers' corpses lay scattered, but their firearms had already been taken away by the Argentinians.

This was normal, after all, with the soldiers dead, the guns would naturally be left to the next person to make the most out of their value.

The thin layer of snow underfoot and the messy footprints confirmed that the Argentine troops had indeed retreated towards the forest to the west.

Even traces of blood could be seen, proving that the Argentine troops had taken their wounded with them during the retreat.

This was good news for Lucas Fontaine because the marching speed of the Argentinian army carrying their wounded would undoubtedly be slow.

Moreover, the trail of blood also further exposed the direction of the Argentine army's escape.

However, once entering the forest, Lucas Fontaine realized that he had underestimated this Argentine force.

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