Zhang Lianbo resigned from the army on the grounds of poor health, becoming the fourth retired Nong general after Huang Yasheng, Huang Duqing and Zhang Yinggui, and the first chief of staff concurrently served as the acting commander of the 5th Infantry Division.

He was not an ordinary general, but a general who had made great achievements in war, fought so hard that the Yuran guerrillas had to withdraw from the Parrot Point area, and even the Americans praised him and was hailed as the "Tiger of Xining."

"There are people from above and below" has caused a huge sensation within the national army, which "only goes up but not down."

Just when many people thought that he would enter politics like Zhang Yinggui, run for Congress, or run for governor in Jinou Province, which is undergoing political reform and has a large number of nongs, he really went to the United States to see a doctor, and left as suddenly as former Economic Minister Liu Jiachang.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with his health, but he had more important things to do.

Many people do not notice that General Timmus, deputy head of the USAID mission in Vietnam, Carlos, head of the U.S. Aid Management Corps, Colonel Vu Kinh, deputy chief of staff of the 4th Tactical Region, and Nguyen Gong Servant, deputy general manager of the Industrial Investment Corporation, left Vietnam at about the same time as him, taking with them a large group of attachés.

After two years, the South Vietnamese will have to protect themselves, and the bigwigs will only finalize the direction and time frame, and the military and economic assistance before the withdrawal of all US troops will be slowly discussed by those who are in charge of specific affairs, and a set of practical plans must be come up with in the shortest possible time.

Military assistance negotiations were held in Hawaii, where the US Navy's Pacific Command is based, and in addition to the Deputy Commander of the Military Assistance Command, Admiral Timms, and his attachés, there were representatives of the Pentagon and the Pacific Fleet Command.

The financial aid negotiations took place at Michigan State University and involved not only representatives of the U.S.-S.A.S.A. and the Agency for International Development. There are also congressional representatives such as Senator Mansfield, Rep. Howard, etc.

The military assistance negotiations are divided into two parts: weapons and equipment assistance and training assistance. The members of the "Defense Equipment Requirements Committee" no longer waste time in Washington. All rushed to Hawaii to meet Zhang Lianbo, the head of the negotiating delegation.

There are astonishing obligations in the future, and it is now justified to ask for assistance, no matter what is requested, it is not a lion's mouth.

"No, no, gentlemen, you are asking too much. If all things are equal, you will have the most powerful air force in Asia, and one of the most powerful navies in Asia. ”

"General. We also face the most serious threat in all of Asia. And you can't take into account the existing aircraft, ships, tanks, armored vehicles and artillery of the government army. ”

"Friend, we are more than willing to help, and the equipment on the list is not completely impossible to hand over, the question is whether you have so many people who can skillfully handle these weapons."

Zhang Lianbo pointed to the next door and smiled meaningfully: "So we not only need equipment assistance, but also training assistance. ”

In the conference room next door, training assistance was being negotiated, and Tims looked back, still shaking his head: "Zhang, the Air Force and Navy are not the Army. If you follow this list, you need to recruit at least 40,000 systematically educated young men. And they will not necessarily be able to learn to skillfully use these modern weapons in two years. ”

Deputy Chief of Staff Wu Jingzhi took over and said in fluent English: "General, whether the equipment is modern or not is only relative, and these planes and ships on the list may be advanced for us, but they are really not considered to most of the 'Freedom-World' allies." As for the soldiers you are worried about, it is definitely not a problem for us.

In the next step, we will introduce compulsory military service in six southern provinces and 11 industrial villages, with male citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 required to perform military service, and female citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 to undergo reserve training, and to join active duty if they receive a conscription order. ”

Wu Jingxu, the fourth young master of the Wu family, was selected to participate in the negotiations because he could speak fluent English, and he adjusted his military uniform, and added proudly: "The general may not know very well, as early as 1955, we began to implement the construction of reserves in various industrial villages, not only more than 100,000 army reserve officers and soldiers, but also more than 20,000 navy and air force reservists.

We have more than a dozen ocean shipping companies, the tonnage of ships of Greater China Shipping, Vietnam COSCO and Far East Shipping, ranking fourth, eighth and fifteenth among all shipping companies in the world, and the captain, first officer, second officer, chief engineer and crew have all received naval reserve training.

Wells Fargo is the airline with the largest number of routes and the largest fleet in Asia, and its captain, co-pilot, navigator and ground crew are also trained in reserve. And we have our own seafarers' school, there are training institutions for training junior pilots. ”

The Vietnam Industrial Investment and Development Corporation, which was developed during the war, is known as a miracle of economic development.

There are more than a dozen large multinational companies that can name without thinking, and the tonnage of ocean-going ships of Greater China Shipping ranks fourth in the world and first in Asia, with branches or offices in more than 4 countries and regions around the world, and has its own warehouses and terminals in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, the United States, South Africa and other countries and regions.

Wells Fargo is Boeing's largest civil aircraft customer in recent years, with more than 120 Boeing 707 passenger aircraft, more than 40 branches around the world, and even obtained the right to operate an airport on the west coast of the United States.

It is not only engaged in air transportation, but also engaged in aircraft modification and maintenance services.

It has three large overhaul plants in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore, which provide overhaul services for passenger aircraft for civil airlines and for the Air Force of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Air Force and the United States Naval Air Force.

The young officer's family was equally prominent, and his brother was known as the "Shipbuilding King".

His family's "Goh Kee Heavy Industries" is the largest shipbuilding and terminal equipment builder in Southeast Asia, with two large shipbuilding bases in Vung Tau and Phu Quoc Island, which can not only build cargo ships and oil tankers of more than 10,000 tons, but also build drilling ships and offshore oil production platforms.

Thinking of the ubiquitous "Made in Vietnam" on the shelves of shopping malls and supermarkets in the United States, General Timms suddenly realized that they were not the same as the Saigon gang.

Looking at his thoughtful look, Wu Jingxu added: "As early as four years ago. Eleven industrial estates and Phu Quoc Special Zone have started to implement compulsory education for six years. All school-age children living in industrial villages are required to have six years of primary education. In addition to elementary schools. To date, we have 428 secondary schools, 78 vocational schools and 16 community colleges.

If you include the embankment and Hoi An, there are more than 200,000 middle school students and nearly 60,000 university students. Therefore, for us, whether we can recruit enough soldiers who have received systematic education is not a problem, the key is how to train. ”

One of the four destroyers is indispensable, frigates, minesweepers, troop carriers, supply ships, dock landing ships, landing craft, patrol boats...... There are more than 70 large and small ships combined, and it is possible to form two small task forces.

They were very resolute. Tims decided to give the high-ranking officials in Washington a headache, picked up his glass and said: "Navy equipment is put on hold for the time being, let's talk about Air Force weapons first." ”

Zhang Lianbo was ready to fight a protracted battle, and smiled happily: "No problem." ”

The EC-121 AWACS is too expensive to pay, and they are reluctant to give it.

The "Defense Equipment Requirements Committee" heard that the Grumman company's second-generation naval early warning aircraft completed its test flight two years ago and will soon equip the troops, and the E-1 early warning aircraft that is now in service is about to be slowly phased out. So the E-1 AWACS aircraft was included in the list, and there were 5 of them.

The EC-121 is expensive, the E-1 is not cheap either, and Tims can't call the shots.

Compared to arms aid negotiations. The training assistance negotiations were much more pleasant, on the number of military advisers to be assigned to Tactical Region IV. The number of training courses to be set up and the number of people to be arranged to study in military academies in the United States and other countries of the free world were quickly finalized.

The negotiators kept reporting to Washington on their progress, but Li was not particularly concerned about that.

His mind is now focused on American public opinion, and the staff of the Washington office of the Industrial Investment Corporation are all watching television, listening to the radio, or browsing the newspapers they can buy in the market, and gathering and analyzing the news they are interested in.

He Tianming knocked on the door and walked into the room, greeted Wu Lijun who came from yesterday afternoon with a smile, and then concluded: "Mr. Li, from the analysis of recent public opinion, most Americans are not really opposed to sending troops to Vietnam, and they are still sympathetic to us, but they are strongly dissatisfied with President Yan, and at the same time they are worried that sending troops will fall into a dilemma. ”

Li Weimin looked at the schedule and asked with a smile, "What do you mean?" ”

"Most Americans believe that if the South Vietnamese can make a concerted effort, then the U.S. military may be superfluous; And without this concerted effort, it will be difficult for the U.S. military to accomplish its mission in the face of an indifferent and even hostile people. ”

"Ordinary people tend to be more sober than government officials, and their concerns are very justified."

"In addition, the New York Times reporter David Hoberstein that you asked people to inquire about is not an anti-war faction as we thought before, but only opposes Washington's policy toward Vietnam, believes that there are many problems in US-Wu relations, and believes that President Yan should be as tough as Ambassador de Brow, not as weak as Ambassador Nordin."

"That's good news, a veteran journalist, a Pulitzer Prize winner, he's a big influence."

"He published another article today in response to McNamara's statement."

Ho Tien Minh picked up the newspaper and read in a frustrated voice: "If the South Vietnamese government does not make great efforts and cannot win widespread support, the war there will not be won." Fundamentally, this is their war. Only they are the winners or losers of the war. We can help them, we can equip them, we can send our people there as advisers.

However, they must win this war, in this war of the Vietnamese people's **** C party...... All we do is provide assistance, and that is important to be clear. However, I cannot agree with those statements that we should evacuate, and the evacuation is completely false. ”

"It's kind of interesting to disagree with the evacuation." Li Weimin was happy, sat down and listened attentively.

Ho cleared his throat and continued: "I am convinced that almost no one among the Americans who have made sacrifices in Vietnam will be interested in this idea. Because this view means that those Vietnamese who have entrusted their lives to us will suffer like never before under the rule of the Communist Party. At this time, those of us who are very lucky, with our blue-skinned passports, are flying away without any danger.

A people who are supposed to live better will be reduced to a monotonous, lifeless, controlled social life. The withdrawal also meant that the prestige of the United States in the whole world had plummeted, and the pressure on the other Southeast Asian countries in the Soviet and Russian camps had greatly increased.

Finally, the withdrawal will also mean that the world's enemies of the West will be emboldened to try to riot in the light of Vietnam's example. Just as our 1950 promise to North Korea prevented the Communist C-Party forces from openly crossing the border, a victory against the Communist C-Party in Vietnam would have played an extraordinary role in stopping the so-called war of liberation. ”

Only by experiencing it with one's own eyes, seeing it with one's own eyes, and hearing it with one's own ears, will one know that there is a reason why the United States was involved in the Vietnam War step by step. Today, when the two camps are facing each other and the Cold War mentality is in vogue, David Hoberstein's hawkish remarks basically reflect the views of the vast majority of Americans.

Later generations concluded that the U.S. government ignored several basic questions when making decisions, such as whether the fall of South Vietnam would lead to the fall of Southeast Asia as a whole. And will this really pose a mortal threat to Western security? In what form will war develop - conventional or guerrilla warfare? Or if the U.S. military fought in conjunction with the South Vietnamese, the U.S. would have won the war?

As for the first question, it needs to be studied in a specific context.

At the height of the revolution, Laos was largely hopeless, Cambodia was not optimistic, and if South Vietnam was occupied by North Vietnam, Thailand was likely to fall.

Indonesia is the hardest hit area of the revolutionary export, and it will become a communist-industrialist-righteous country at any time, and Singapore's "China-Movement" is much more powerful than the "China-Movement" on the embankment, and it almost ousted Lee Kuan Yew from power in the prime minister's election. The political situation in Malaysia and the Philippines is also unstable, and the United Kingdom and the United States have struggled to clear the Malaysian and Philippine countries.

It turns out that historically, the United States decided to withdraw from Vietnam because of too much domestic anti-war pressure, and second, it had a lot to do with the fact that the political situation in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines had basically stabilized.

Whether it will really pose a mortal threat to the West can be felt from the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Crisis. In the face of the aggressive Soviet Russian camp, the Americans were really afraid. This can be seen from the fact that all elementary schools in the United States are taught about nuclear war survival.

In what form the war will take and the lessons of the Korean Peninsula are there, and no one dares to guarantee that North Vietnam will launch a full-scale offensive.

As for whether the U.S. military and the South Vietnamese could win the war by working together, World War I and World War II were all victorious countries, and the more they fought, the stronger they became, the more they fought, so that the Americans had an indescribable sense of superiority, pride, and self-confidence, believing that they could win all enemies and that they could win all kinds of challenges.

In the first half, the national army was in the front, and in the second half, Li Weimin decided to let the Americans, who have a great sense of responsibility and mission, take the front.

He took the newspaper and looked at it, and said casually: "Tell President Qi and let him set up a team to guide public opinion." The United States does the work of several major news organizations, and the Saigon side does the work of a journalist, so let him do it freely, and the funding will not be a problem. (To be continued.) )