It is not surprising that Siam and Japan would come together.

In the twenties and thirties, the world economic crisis hit the Asian market hard, and the Thai economy, which relied heavily on import and export trade, suffered heavy losses and plunged society into turmoil.

The capitalist forces in Thailand took advantage of this opportunity to launch a constitutional revolution, in which politicians educated in Western ideology and young military officers worked together to overthrow the monarchy and change the state system into a constitutional monarchy.

In the ensuing period, politicians and military members were caught in a whirlpool of power struggles, and even in just a few months, there were several coups and rebellions in the country. When the political situation finally stabilized, the winner faced an economically depressed, stagnant, and chaotic kingdom of Siam. The people were full of anger and dissatisfaction with the government, and there were even talks of restoring the rule of the royal family in society.

In order to deflect the contradictions of the people, those in power raised the banner of nationalism, and the target was the Siamese Chinese ethnic group, which was the most affluent but also made up the smallest proportion of the population.

At that time, in Siamese society, which was dominated by the Thai people, the main commercial and financial business was almost monopolized by Chinese merchants. Most of these Chinese, who have immigrated for several generations or even dozens of generations, are from the Liangguang and Chaoshan regions, and they have a huge business network linked by blood and hometown, covering almost the entire Southeast Asia region at that time. Through all kinds of exclusive means of commerce, they wandered on the edge of the law, spent several generations, eliminated almost all their competitors, accumulated huge contacts and funds, and set up countless enemies for themselves.

Although the Chinese in Siam have been in Siam for dozens of generations and can be said to be deeply rooted in the local area, they have compiled a dense network of contacts in Siam, but in the face of the great trend of almost universal integration at that time, this network of people is as fragile as glass. At this time, China was no longer the central power that it was in the past, and the identity of ethnic Chinese did not guarantee their own security.

The anti-Japanese activities launched by some patriotic overseas Chinese in Siam have also become a criminal evidence of the Chinese ethnic sabotage of Thailand's foreign policy, and the Siamese government has forbidden the Chinese to launch any similar anti-Japanese activities, and even ordinary fundraising is not allowed.

Siam's dictatorial prime minister, Luang Phibun Songkham's government's attack on ethnic Chinese in the country, was originally intended to unite Siam's nationalist forces and consolidate his personal dictatorship, but it turned out to be misunderstood by the Japanese as a gesture of goodwill by Siam.

Japan lacks powerful allies in Southeast Asia, and Siam, although it lacks size, is in a very critical position, and if it can become an ally, it will be the best springboard for Japan to conquer the western colonies in Southeast Asia.

It can be said that Japan has spared no effort to win over the Siamese government, but Japan's own resources are very limited, and it cannot come up with any exciting benefits. Therefore, in those arms deals, the Japanese side almost smashed the cost price to settle with Siam, and in good conscience it really did not make any money from it.

At that time, the nationalist forces in Siam, because they were blinded by national hatred and completely lost their normal ability to distinguish between right and wrong, had a very good impression of the Japanese Empire that was invading China, and many politicians had pro-Japanese tendencies because they had obtained the benefits of Japan, so the relations between Siam and Japan began to warm up rapidly, and Siam's original policy of diplomatic neutrality had existed in name only.

When the news of the rapid defeat of France reached Siam with the outbreak of war in Europe, the authoritarian prime minister was overjoyed, and he regarded it as a personal gift from the gods and Buddhas, because the wealth and population of the Chinese were limited, and the blow to the Chinese in Siam was coming to an end, and there was no political oil to be made in this regard.

In order to demonstrate the gains of his rule, the prime minister urgently needed to find an opportunity to flex his national power, while also finding a new target for a cooling nationalist movement.

As a result, all kinds of media in Siam at that time unanimously started a new round of public opinion offensive, this time no longer targeting the Chinese, but the neighboring colonial government of French Indochina.

"The time has finally come to repay the blood debt from those evil French colonizers, and we must take back the land left to us by our ancestors from those French." The announcer on Siam Radio shouted in soft Thai.

Thousands of people armed with signs and sticks gathered on the streets of Bangkok, with demonstrators chanting anti-French slogans, cutting down two hibiscus trees that the governor of French Indochina had given as a gift of friendship, and destroying all shops along the road with French signs.

The Siamese cabinet also took the opportunity to make several resolutions, submitted a formal protest to the French colonial government, and demanded that the border between the two sides be redemarcated, that France exchange the territory seized from Siam, and apologize for the war crimes committed against Siam, compensate Siam for the losses, and punish the commanders at the time.

At the same time, the Siamese army began to move towards the southern border with great fanfare, and seemed to be ready to force the French into submission by force at the slightest disagreement.

In that month, Prime Minister Luang Phibun Songkhan reached its peak in Siam, becoming a spiritual symbol of the Siamese people's defy of any foreign enemy, a hero who bravely challenged the Western powers.

At that time, almost all Siamese believed that the weak French would definitely choose to bow their heads in the face of a strong Siamese army, just as they did to the Germans.

But it was clear that they were mistaken, and instead of giving in, the French were completely dismissive of the protest submitted by Siam, and the Pétain government did not even give Siam an official reply.

It was only when a new round of news came from Europe that Siam understood what had happened, how could the French still have this confidence after losing the war, and after a long time the French and the Germans formed an alliance, and now France has the powerful German Empire as its backing, how can it care about the protests of you, a small South Asian country.

Now the Siamese government is a little out of power, like all countries that like to use populism, Siam has made the same mistake this time, and it is a little too easy to play populism.

Unless the Siamese government has the means to convince the French, even if it is to superficially follow the situation, it will not be able to account for the people they have instigated. If it could not calm the national mood of the people, then the government would have only one way to go, and to pull the horses and meet the French.

Luang Phibun Songkhan actually considered that if Siam changed its foreign policy, especially when it turned the spearhead of nationalism to the Western colonizers, it might cause dissatisfaction among some Western forces, and he originally believed that the Western powers themselves had serious contradictions and differences, and it seemed difficult to reach a consensus on the attitude towards Siam, and he could completely profit from it.

The South Asian dictator would not have imagined that his calculations had been wrong from the start, and he had not expected the retaliation of the great powers to come so quickly.

The Royal Siam Air Force was negotiating a big deal with a North American company in the United States, the -68 fighter jet, to replace the Hawker III and Hawker 75Ns fighters, which were already significantly outdated.

Initially, the Siam Air Force is ready to order six trial aircraft, and if they are satisfied with the use, then they will completely replace the remaining fighters, and it is initially estimated that the Siam Air Force will need to purchase at least 60 aircraft of this type, and the total transaction value is about 3 million US dollars.

But in late October '40, the North American company suddenly sent a notice that the company's board of directors had decided to unilaterally break the contract with the Siamese side because the Senate had issued an injunction against the deal on the grounds of national security concerns. In the letter, the North American company stated that it would refund all the advance payments and was willing to pay the full amount of liquidated damages, hoping that Siam would understand.

Not many people know what happened on the Siamese side, the only thing that is clear is that Siam has repeatedly hit a wall in the international arms market since that day, and those bloodthirsty and greedy international arms dealers seem to have suddenly become saints, and they unanimously refuse to sell any products to Siam.

At this point, Luang Phibun finally understood that this was a joint international operation against Siam, and that he would never again want to buy any weapons from the Western powers until the issue was resolved.

PS: Actually, the problems of this country are more sensitive than those of other countries, and I think I have done my best to give book lovers a general understanding without touching landmines. (To be continued.) )