The area around Pak Teng Pier on the banks of the Sai Kung River is one of the most lively places in the city.

In the evenings, men and women, young and old, foreign tourists, decent wives and ladies of American GIs, and cynical girls come here for a stroll.

The river is filled with merchant ships and naval vessels, and across the river is a passenger and cargo terminal at the entrance to the Mekong River, where flags are waving in the wind and colorful lights are showing. The neat acacia trees on both sides of the street, combined with the flashing neon lights on the road, make for a beautiful and inviting night scene.

It is only when the light of the red line of guns and cannons can be seen in the not-so-distant night sky that the people who are indulging in joy are reminded that this carnival is actually in the center of a great war.

More than a dozen kilometers away in the rural areas, thousands of national troops equipped with various weapons continue to fight to the death with the Viet Minh for each other's ideas of "freedom" and "liberation".

Today's South Vietnam is like a coin, with two sides: "war and peace".

On the one hand, the people are trying to survive in the endless wars, and on the other hand, the people are doing their best to live a peaceful life of self-deception.

Under the shadow of war, the "Paris of the East" has not faded at all, and it is still a place full of confusion and obsession in Southeast Asia, and it is still an amorous and romantic capital.

The former Port de France company building near the Saigon Shipyard of Goh Kee Heavy Industries used to be the headquarters of the Industrial Investment Company, but it has become less important when the company's top management moved to Vung Tau and Binh Dong Industrial Estate a few years ago. It has become one of the many customs-supervised terminals under the Industrial Investment Company.

Security guards stationed here. The official identity is not that of the industrial village police. Rather, it is an anti-smuggling police nominally subordinate to the customs.

A detachment of more than 40 people was equipped with two jeeps, four trucks and two small patrol boats.

From the moment he received the order to the present, Xu Kangqing, the leader of the detachment, has not been idle for a minute, urgently assembled, canceled vacations, distributed ammunition, ordered container ships that had just finished loading goods to leave the port, and vacated berths for the docking of ships in Vung Tau Industrial Village......

"A squadron guards the gate, quickly call the driver, and turn all the concrete barricades over; Fang Yan, your squadron is in charge of the West Gate. There is no commanding height, create a commanding height, stack the containers at a high point, and hang the machine gun on it. ”

Live ammunition was distributed, 400 rounds per person, machine guns and boxes of grenades were all moved out, and the square in the center of the reservoir area became an artillery position.

A team member couldn't help but ask: "Team Xu, a few gates are fine, what should I do on the water?" ”

There is a naval base not far away, and in the event of a war with the navy, let alone a detachment. Even if two more squadrons come, the dock warehouse area may not be able to hold on. After all, the opposing side has large-caliber naval guns.

Xu Kangqing is an officer of the first phase of the Phu Quoc Island Reserve Training Team, how can he not know that his own firepower is weak, but he knows even more that even if there is a real fight, the navy will not fire artillery on this side. Because a small half of the officers in the downstream naval base are from the Reserve Officer Training Corps or the Phu Quoc Coast Guard.

He picked up the submachine gun in his hand, and as he walked towards the gate fortifications, he said casually: "Don't worry about the navy, besides, we are not without reinforcements." Hold on for three hours, and Vung Tau's brother arrived. ”

"Isn't Pingdong closer?"

"You can think of it, those guys who want to be officials and want to go crazy can't think of it? The embankment and the Pingdong side must have put their eyes and ears, and they will know as soon as the security team of the embankment police station and the Pingdong Industrial Village has any trouble. ”

The gate was heavily guarded, and the two machine guns in the bunker and a heavy machine gun on the roof of the building formed a cross-dimensional firepower network.

The inside is extremely tense, because this is not a tourist attraction, the docks and warehouses under customs supervision have been fully closed, and outsiders are ignorant of everything that is happening inside.

After Xu Kangqing finished inspecting the fortifications at the gate, he was about to ask the first squadron to bring some more ammunition over, when a member of the team asked nervously: "Team Xu, will the coup army really attack us?" ”

"It stands to reason that no, after all, Ngo Dinh Dieh's special forces are a greater threat to them than us. But we have tens of millions of dollars worth of export goods behind us that have not had time to be shipped, and if something goes wrong, the cargo owners will not only suffer huge economic losses, but also have to pay high liquidated damages to foreign customers. ”

The security team of the Vung Tau Industrial Village rushed here by boat overnight, ostensibly to support Ngo Dinh Diem, but in fact to ensure the safety of several docks and reservoir areas in Saigon.

The special forces stationed in Binh Dong Industrial Village, as well as the police teams of Districts 5 and 6, secretly infiltrated the city by water and were responsible for the security of important facilities such as the Bank of East Asia, the Bank of Saigon, the Saigon branch of the Nanyang Bank, the Saigon branch of the OCBC Bank of Indonesia, and the Viet Hwa Insurance, Viet Hwa Radio and the Voice of the Industrial Investment Radio.

The Independence Palace received the news 20 minutes later than them, and Ngo Dinh Dieh looked at the information sent by the Intelligence Department of the Reserve Officer Training Team on Phu Quoc Island and was suspicious, and Chen Lichun also looked incredulous.

"How is it possible, there are not many people in the intelligence department of the training team."

Wu Dinh Yao dug through a lot of various information provided by the Huaqing Association, and finally found a copy of the materials that the paratrooper brigade might carry out a coup d'état, and said with a frown: "It's not like chasing after the wind, but we don't pay attention to it." ”

The wind and waves have come, Wu Dinh Yen is very calm, and said expressionlessly: "Order the guards to strengthen their vigilance, and order Nguyen Thanh to mobilize the 6th, 7th, 9th, and 21st divisions to enter the city for martial law." ”

The secretary bowed his head and walked out of the office quickly.

Chen Lichun said eagerly: "We should strike first, immediately send troops to surround the paratrooper brigade, dismiss Ruan Zhengshi, Wang Wendong, and Ruan Zhaohong from their posts, and send them to a special military court." ”

Like Chen Shiguo and others, Ngo did not believe that it was only a few young Zhuang officers who wanted to carry out the coup.

If we do not know how many people are involved and whether there is American support behind them, we must not act rashly. You can't startle the snake. So just ordered the Chief of Staff Nguyen Khanh to mobilize several divisions. Either subordinate to the 2nd Tactical Zone. Either it is part of the 4th Tactical Zone, and there is a 7th Division around Saigon.

Ngo Dinh Yen was silent, Ngo Dinh Yen called to order the special forces to assemble urgently, ordered Chen Jinxuan to collect information related to the paratrooper brigade, and then called senior officers of the national army and the police superintendent one by one, until a battalion of the special forces rushed to the Independence Palace to fortify with the guards, and the two brothers breathed a sigh of relief.

Why don't you send the national army over, I just don't know if those troops can be trusted.

Chen Lichun finally reacted. lit a cigarette and said angrily: "It's true for the people, he knows that there is danger here, but he doesn't order the security team of Pingdong Industrial Village to support, what is he thinking!" ”

In addition to informing the paratrooper brigade of a possible coup d'état, Li Weimin also sent a sincere telegram.

The content is the same as Ngo Dinh Diem's worries, which is nothing more than how many people are involved and whether there is any support from the United States, and strongly recommends that Ngo Dinh Diem immediately withdraw from the Independence Palace and rush to Vung Tau or Can Tho overnight according to the evacuation plan he formulated. Tomorrow in the name of inspection, explain why you left Saigon.

Let the coup army pounce on the air, and let all those who engage in the conspiracy come to the surface. The armies of the 1st, 2nd and 4th tactical areas will then be organized to counter the rebellion, and if necessary, the reserve forces of the industrial villages can be mobilized.

This plan is impeccable, and the key is not for Ngo Dinh Diem.

He was convinced that the Department of Industry and Investment would stand firmly on his side, but he did not believe some officers of the national army and the Americans, and was worried that he would never come back after leaving. After all, the strength of the industrial investment system is still too weak compared to the United States, and once those officers of the national army are bought by the Americans, they will have no chance to counterattack.

It was precisely because he was determined that he would rather wait for the coup d'état of the paratrooper brigade than flee from Saigon that Li Weimin sent this telegram, and on the pretext of sitting on Phu Quoc Island to make corresponding preparations for fighting a civil war, he only transferred the security team of Vultung Tun Industrial Village to support, and did not give a mobilization order to Pingdong Industrial Village, and did not even recommend transferring the Fifth Infantry Division back to defense.

Unconsciously, the Department of Industry and Investment has developed into a decisive force.

The Phu Quoc Special Economic Zone has been built into the base camp of the industrial investment company, and the areas around Dishi, Ha Tien and Jinou on the southern coast have been built into an impregnable wall of the industrial investment system, and its influence on the provinces of Fangding, An Giang, Phuoc Long, Jianjiang and Bo Liao has become more and more influential.

Since the first half of last year, Ngo Dinh Diem has felt that the relationship with Li Weimin is not as good as before, and there are many differences on some issues, so much so that he has not been to Saigon for a long time, and rumors have been spread outside that the industrial investment company is dissatisfied with the government.

Ngo Dinh Ngai has raised the issue of the industrial investment company on more than one occasion, saying that the development is too fast, that there are too many Chinese in several industrial villages, and that the government's control over the industrial villages is getting smaller and smaller, and that it is necessary to nationalize the industrial investment company as soon as possible and control the growth rate of the Chinese.

However, as the United States continues to cut aid to Vietnam, the government has become increasingly dependent on industrial investment companies.

Last year, 50 percent of government and military spending came from U.S. aid, and nearly 30 percent came from the Industrial Investment Corporation and the Chinese community on the embankment. More importantly, the relationship between the industrial investment department and the U.S. government is well known, and the reason why the lower six provinces can maintain stability has a lot to do with the investment of the industrial investment company regardless of the cost.

Pulling a hair and moving his whole body, he didn't dare to move and couldn't move.

The possible coup d'état by the paratrooper brigade has relieved Ngo Dinh Diem.

At least in this incident, Li Weimin did not fall into the trap, let alone support the coup officers, and still stood on the side of the government. In other words, there are only some differences with Li Weimin on the way they govern, and there are no irreconcilable contradictions.

As for the Chinese, Diem really didn't take it to heart.

In his view, the Chinese are just fighting for some political and economic rights. In today's national independence, not to mention that the Chinese are still a minority in the total population of South Vietnam, even one million more will not threaten the current government's rule over the country.

"Brother and sister, there is some truth in the consideration of the people. In any case, the coup d'état has not yet taken place, and if it can be resolved peacefully, it must be resolved as much as possible. If he had been so upset with me as the rumors, he would not have sent a telegram to remind me, let alone strongly advise us to go to Vung Tau. ”

Which is more important, Ngo Dinh Ngai still understands.

Not to mention that Li Weimin still supports the government, even if he shakes or even supports those oppositionists, all he can do now is to appease and win over, and immediately turned back and said: "Lichun, the third brother is right, he has done nothing wrong with a good heart for the people." (To be continued.) )