Operation Freedom Trail made Vietnam known to Americans, and Eisenhower's dominoes and DreamWorks films such as "Freedom Trail" and "Miss Hanoi" earned South Vietnam the sympathy and support of many Americans.

And in the past few years, Diem and his government, with the help of the United States, have achieved remarkable results.

Gained independence from the French, miraculously swept away the sectarian warlords, accepted and resettled more than 2 million refugees, completed the nationalization of the army, and basically eradicated the Vietminh forces in the country. Agriculture is developing rapidly, with more than 2 million tons of rice exported last year. The industrial village plan has achieved phased results, and from the end of this year, materials such as ordinary steel, cement and fertilizer will no longer rely on imports.

The diplomatic achievements are even more remarkable.

To date, it has cooperated with the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, Italy, the Republic of China, South Korea, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Spain, Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia, Guatelagua, Brazil, Libya, Nicaragua, Chile, Greece, Luxembourg, Argentina, Costa Rica, Canada, Laos, Turkey, Belgium.

Fifty-one countries, including Austria, West Germany, the Vatican, South Africa, Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, Sudan, Jordan, Portugal, Denmark, Lebanon, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Malaysia, Switzerland, Sweden, Iraq, Indonesia and Norway, have established diplomatic relations.

Ireland, El Salvador, Peru, Panama, Uruguay, Iran, Ethiopia and Dominia, although not formally recognizing the Republic of Viet Nam, voted in favour of its membership in the United Nations, implying recognition of South Vietnam as the legitimate Government.

India has not officially recognized it. There was no exchange of consular letters with each other. But a consul general was stationed in Saigon.

The same is true for Myanmar and Cambodia. In this regard, not only North Vietnam is far inferior, but even the Republic of China, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, has to bow to the upper hand.

Although the safflower is good, it also needs to be supported by green leaves.

Li Weimin won the Oscar for Best Original Music for three consecutive years, known as the "Chopin of Vietnam", is a well-known musician, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and even his beloved wife has appeared on the cover of Time magazine, known as the "Lotus of Saigon", and his popularity in the United States has directly followed Gregory Peck and other big stars.

He is a "green leaf". It adds a lot of color to Wu Tingyan's "red flower".

After five years, President Eisenhower personally greeted him at the airport and was welcomed by the U.S. government as never before.

Li Weimin clearly understood that Eisenhower's high-profile campaign was to a large extent intended to send a positive signal to the "free world" allies, including West Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, who were facing the threat of the Soviet and Russian camps.

As he expected, as soon as he arrived at the White House, he talked about substantive issues. The two sides were not as pleasant as they had when they first met at the airport.

After presenting the national gift, Ngo Dinh Diem said straight to the point: "Mr. President." We sincerely hope that the United States will increase its assistance to help us increase the number of troops from the current 150,000 to 170,000, because the North Vietnamese army has exceeded 400,000. ”

Eisenhower was silent, and Li Weimin was embarrassed.

After translating word by word, Ngo Dinh Diem spoke of the importance of Laos and Cambodia: "North Vietnam will certainly cross the territory of Laos and Cambodia to attack our Mekong region. If North Vietnam attacked, we would not be able to resist because there was a very long border line between the three countries. ”

Eisenhower said perfunctorily: "Mr. President, if that happens, the United States will do everything in its power to help our allies, and we have the Southeast Asia Defense Treaty Organization, and your country is not alone. ”

Southeast Asia Defense Treaty Organization, what are you kidding?

Ngo Dinh Diem was extremely depressed and said solemnly: "Mr. President, I have carefully studied that treaty and found that it only has a good deterrent effect. If South Vietnam were to be attacked, Pakistan would be too far away to count on, and only the Philippines and Thailand would be able to rely on. However, the Philippines has only 60,000 troops and can only defend itself. Thailand has 150,000 troops, and if North Vietnam attacks Thailand through Laos at the same time, Thailand will not even have enough troops to defend itself. ”

The Southeast Asian Defense Treaty Organization is not the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Eisenhower could not have known that none of those allies could be counted on.

When it comes to money, he won't budge and says bluntly: "Mr. President, the United States is doing everything it can to help our allies, but remember that we have many other international obligations, such as Europe and South Korea. Our financial aid is not unlimited, and we need to use our resources wisely. It is my regret to inform you that Congress is considering very little economic aid to South Vietnam. ”

After the translation, Li Weimin noticed that Wu Tingyan's face suddenly turned blue, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to him.

Because the economic aid of the United States accounts for more than 60% of the South Vietnamese government budget. Without reducing aid, South Vietnam still lacks funds to strengthen its armed forces in rural areas, and it is now questionable whether the existing 150,000 Nationalist troops can be sustained, let alone consolidating the gains of the purge against North Vietnamese infiltration.

Of course, Ngo Dinh Diem could not give up and immediately adopted a roundabout strategy.

Eisenhower opposed the transfer of the security forces from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Defense on the grounds of reducing "administrative friction", and even suggested that the number of security forces should be gradually reduced by 40 percent, citing the need for civilian control.

The essence of the dispute remains the amount of military aid, because once the security forces are under the control of the Department of Defense, they should be no less equipped than the regular army, and the United States should increase military aid as a result.

Unhappy, Wu Tingyan was extremely lost.

In order to appease Diem, Eisenhower arranged for a meeting with the commander of the Pacific Fleet.

It's all high-pitched, claiming that if the Soviet Russian camp attacks its allies, the United States will consider using nuclear weapons. If North Vietnam were to attack and the United States could not stop the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States would not hesitate to use whatever weapons it could use, claiming that the existing American military forces could defeat any challenge from the Soviet and Russian blocs.

As ambassador to the United States, Chen Wenwen failed to play his due role when he knew that the United States would need less aid. Wu Tingyan was very disappointed and did not want to see him, so he closed the door and studied countermeasures with Li Weimin.

"They all say that the United States is very generous and generous, but in fact, compared to Soviet Russia and China, they are really not generous. From what we have learned, Soviet Russia's assistance to China was unreserved, and China's assistance to North Vietnam was equally unreserved. They are determined to cut aid only for the sake of the moment, and it seems that we will have to fend for ourselves in the future. ”

Wu Tingyan took a puff of cigarette, shook his head and said: "The industrial investment company has just developed, and in the long run, it can't kill chickens and take eggs now. ”

The number of security teams in industrial estates is getting bigger and bigger.

Not only the Ministry of the Interior has opinions, but even many generals and colonels of the National Army have tried to integrate the security forces of the Phu Quoc Special Administrative Region into the Fourth Tactical Zone on the grounds of nationalization of the army. The creation of a joint command is expedient, and these issues must be resolved once and for all.

The board of directors had been held before he came, and Li Weimin smiled casually: "Mr. Yan, industrial development is important, and national defense and security are even more important. In July next year, the three-year tax holiday for some companies will arrive, and we will be able to squeeze out about $40 million a year to support the government, including the income from mineral resource extraction. ”

A 20 percent cut in aid translates into about $40 million in dollars.

Wu Tingyan was stunned, and Li Weimin continued: "The support government does not need to use foreign exchange, or even give all cash, and can replace it with goods produced and services provided by enterprises in the industrial village. For example, it provides military uniforms, some commonly used ammunition, fuel, cigarettes, medicines and other materials, and also provides weapons and equipment, especially vehicles, ship maintenance and other services for the national army. ”

At the critical moment, it is still reliable for oneself.

Wu Tingyan weighed it and asked in a low voice: "Will the Reserve Officer Training Team and the Reserve Force be affected?" ”

"The impact will definitely be a little bit, but it's not a big problem. In addition, it must be made clear to the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defense, and the General Staff that this fund was squeezed out of the teeth by the industrial investment company. Several of them discussed a distribution plan, and the distribution plan for the resettlement of the required materials was pulled to our designated industrial village, and after the completion of the project, they could no longer work and invest in the company's ideas. ”

"Equivalent to a tax package?"

Li Weimin nodded and confirmed with a smile: "With the development of various industrial villages, the corresponding share will gradually increase. The increase depends on the overall level of development. A meeting could be held once a year to discuss this issue. ”

It can not only solve the urgent need after the United States cut aid, but also ease the contradictions between the industrial investment system and various government departments and the national army, Diem Dinh Yan weighed it and said with a smile: "This can be done." ”

On the surface, it seems that the industrial investment company has suffered a loss, but in fact it is not.

Because in this way, it is equivalent to giving the industrial investment company the right to tax. The management committees of each industrial village collect on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, pay for it in a unified manner, and pay it in the form of commodities and materials, which can not only keep the Ministry of Finance out of the door with confidence, but also ease the relationship with various ministries, and can also expand domestic demand to a certain extent and promote the development of enterprises in the industrial park.

With this "reassuring pill" given by Li Weimin, Wu Tingyan's mood is much better.

He was invited to give a speech at Congress, visited two monasteries in New York and New Jersey, visited an old friend of the Government Research Agency at the University of Michigan, visited the staff of the representative office of the Industrial Investment Corporation and the branch of the Bank of East Asia in Detroit, visited members of the "Association of Friends of Vietnam", met with representatives of the Vietnamese Youth Association and the Chinese Youth Association studying in the United States, and stayed in the United States for 21 days before returning to Saigon.

During this period, Li Weimin has been playing the role of official spokesman.

At a news conference in New York, he mentioned that the company had reached agreements with several provinces in southern Vietnam for the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, and that an oil company would be formed to explore and exploit oil.

For so many years of French colonial rule in Indochina, I don't know how much iron ore has been mined, but no oil has been extracted. Public opinion was in an uproar, and no one believed that Vietnam had oil, which was a big joke.

Li Weimin did not return to China with Wu Tingyan, but stayed to visit major oil companies in the United States to seek joint ventures and cooperation.

As you can imagine, none of the investors have been found, and a lot of oil exploration and exploitation talents have been recruited. The happiest are those equipment manufacturers, who have received more than $6 million in equipment and technology transfer orders. For them, it doesn't matter whether there is oil in Vietnam or not, what matters is that there is money to be made. (To be continued.) )