Ngo Dinh Diem is no longer popular, but the government and army can still keep running.

Once the situation gets out of control, North Vietnam will not hesitate to move south.

From 1954 to the present, the U.S. government and its allies have provided so much assistance, isn't it just to resist the expansion of the Soviet Russian camp and prevent South Vietnam from being occupied by North Vietnam?

When the officers of the Paratrooper Brigade staged a coup d'état, Ambassador de Brow, General Lionel, and Professor Fischer were in a hurry, and as soon as they received the news, they contacted the CIA's Saigon intelligence chief, William Colby, for an update and to report to Washington.

Although the CIA has developed many internal lines within the government, and the military advisory group has nearly 1,000 military advisers in the national army, the young Zhuang officers such as Nguyen Chinh Thi and Wang Van Dong have done it too suddenly, and the CIA agents, informants, and military advisers have no idea about it, the gunfire in the direction of the presidential palace is so intense, and the second and third county police stations are fighting each other, and the bullets are not long-sighted, and no one dares to inquire about the news in the middle of the night.

At 2:20 a.m., the radio began to broadcast the statements of the coup forces repeatedly.

Ambassador de Brow directly believed that Diem was finished, and in order to ensure the safety of American diplomats, military officers and citizens, he immediately ordered the personnel stationed in the United States to enter a state of emergency, quickly evacuate to relatively safe areas such as embassies, consulates and industrial villages, and sent a second telegram to Washington asking whether to make contact with government officials.

They were frustrated, but Pan Hongshan's unconscious old man was greatly encouraged.

A few days after he was freed, he was about to engage in some activities, when he heard that the Ngo Dinh Diem brothers had been overthrown, he opened the telephone book and called one by one, and in the morning he took a group of professors, students, lawyers, engineers, and other opposition parties to the gate of the Independence Palace to express his condolences to the officers and soldiers of the coup army, and to carry out large banners, shout slogans, and distribute leaflets. In high spirits, it is time to open champagne to celebrate.

On the way to the hotel to meet Ambassador de Brow, he learned that Comrade Lao Pan had started jumping up and down again, and Li Weimin was made to laugh.

"Mr. Tan was too happy too early, and now it is not President Yan who is riding the tiger, but the coup officers such as Nguyen Chinh Thi and Wang Van Dong. Last night was ambushed, suffering heavy casualties, and the morale of the officers and men was low, and dozens of armored vehicles and trucks of the vanguard of the 7th and 21st Divisions had entered the city. ”

If Lao Pan falls into the hands of Wu Dinh Yao again, not to mention whether he can come to Phu Quoc Island to go to prison, maybe it will be a question of whether his life can be saved.

Li Weimin sighed lightly. Closed the car window and said: "Pingxiang, your worries are very reasonable, others can ignore them, Pan Guangdan, we can't sit idly by." After arriving at the hotel, he immediately contacted Mr. Guo and asked him to find a way to send Pan Guangtan to Phnom Penh. Tell Hongshan and Youcai again, don't let him come back after the person is delivered. ”

The old guy has a tendon in his head, and it must be useless to persuade him.

The so-called find a way. It was to let his colleagues in Saigon arrest people before Dinh Die, kidnap them and take them to Cambodia to give them to his son for "custody".

Sang Pingxiang smiled understandingly: "Okay." ”

A coup d'état is underway. Fearing that opposition elements in the air force would bomb the Independence Palace or support units, Ngo Dinh Diem ordered the closure of airports in Tan Son Nhat Nhat Bahru and Vung Tau in Tan Son Nhat and Bien Hoa and Vung Tau.

Nguyen Chinh Thi, Wang Van Dong and other coup officers were also worried about the Air Force's support for Ngo Dinh Diem, and feared that the Air Force airlift unit would relieve Ngo Dinh Diem from the siege, so they ordered the airports to close in the name of the General Staff. The aircraft of the aviation divisions were ordered not to take off.

Saigon could not go back, so Ambassador de Brow could only make an urgent appointment with Li Weimin to learn about the latest situation and discuss countermeasures together.

"Lee, thank goodness. You're finally here, and Mr. Ambassador is upstairs talking to the President. Professor Fisher waited until the car slowly stopped, and he hurried up to open the door.

Li Weimin walked with him to the lobby and asked in a low voice, "Which president?" ”

"President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Independence Palace telephone line has been cut off, and it can't be reached at all."

"What's Washington's opinion?"

"We don't know anything about what's going on in Saigon, and Washington doesn't know anything about it. Until the situation is clear, no guidance will be given. ”

At one o'clock in the morning, they received a briefing from Wu Andong about the coup, the content of which was ambiguous.

By the time they were ready for CIA Saigon intelligence agents to verify, an exchange of fire had begun at the Independence Palace, and the General Staff, National Army Radio and the First District Police Station had been seized by the coup forces. In other words, they now only know what is being broadcast on the radio, and they really don't know anything about the situation.

Walking into the conference room of the hotel, Ambassador de Brow had just put down the phone, and he asked with a serious face: "Mr. Li, what Washington wants to know most is whether Ngo Dinh Diem is dead?" ”

Li Weimin nodded slightly towards General Lionel and said solemnly: "Mr. Ambassador, from the latest information we have learned, the coup army's attack on the Independence Palace has been frustrated, and the presidential guard is still in a standoff. If nothing else, President Yan is safe now, but in order to prevent President Yan from mobilizing reinforcements, the coup army cut off the telephone line and power supply of the Independence Palace, and even the radio antenna was blown up, so that President Yan could not contact the outside world. ”

"So they have the situation now."

"The General Staff, the State Radio, the Ministry of the Interior and several police stations in the city were all occupied by the coup army, and even issued a series of orders in the name of the General Staff. And some troops stationed in and around Saigon are on the fence about the coup. There was no counterinsurgency or public opposition. From these perspectives, the coup officers have basically grasped the situation. ”

General Lionel exclaimed: "My God, they actually succeeded!" ”

Li Weimin shook his head: "General, I think the coup army will not succeed so easily, because President Ngo Dinh Diem's reinforcements are on the way to the city to quell the rebellion, and the coup army is weak, they only block part of the road, and lack of heavy weapons, it is difficult to resist the armored forces of the 7th and 21st divisions." ”

Ambassador de Brow beckoned him to sit down and asked, "Mr. Chairman, do you think Ngo Dinh Diem can still perform miracles?" ”

"How can I say that, judging from the current situation, this coup d'état should not have been attended by high-ranking generals, but is purely the product of a small number of officers who are dissatisfied with reality. They didn't have the influence and the appeal, they didn't make good use of the radio stations they occupied, and they were still broadcasting that statement over and over again from just after 1 a.m. to now. Didn't get more support.

What's more, they failed to take the presidential palace in one fell swoop. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Zhao Hong, one of the leaders of the coup, was even killed in the attack on the presidential palace, and the morale of the army is unstable, and I can imagine that the soldiers must be somewhat nowhere to be found now. ”

"There is no doubt that your channels of information are smoother than ours. Mr. Chairman, if you can. Can you get your subordinates to give me a relatively comprehensive report as soon as possible. ”

There was such a big incident in Saigon, and the top US administrative and military officials in Vietnam were not there.

Li Weimin could understand his urgency at this moment, and agreed: "No problem, this is what we should do." ”

Without him opening his mouth, Sang Pingxiang followed the ambassador's secretary to the next door to do these literary work.

Knowing the latest situation of Dim Dinh Entem's unfinished business, Ambassador de Brow discussed the future situation with Lee Weimin: "Mr. Chairman, yesterday we talked about President Dim Diem's way of governance. It can be said that his stubborn insistence on the outdated set was the direct cause of this coup. I don't know which direction the situation will go, only if he succeeds in thwarting this coup. Then more people will be swept up in the future. ”

General Lionel added: "There will be a large number of officers implicated, hundreds of people will be arrested. They are all military men, not opposition in the general sense of the word. ”

Professor Fisher sighed lightly, "If the army is in chaos, the country will be finished. ”

According to the usual practice of the Wu brothers, after the support forces broke the siege, a bloody crackdown would be launched. It is not terrible to lose the morale of the people, and the morale of the army is unstable, who will clear out the infiltrated North Vietnamese People's Army and the resurgence of the Vietminh guerrillas.

Of course, Li Weimin knew what they were worried about, and asked with a wry smile: "Mr. Ambassador, general." Should we support the coup officers? ”

"How is that possible, I just want you to use this opportunity to make the impact you deserve. Persuade the Ngo Dinh Diem brothers not to suppress too many people, not to expand the scope of the attack, and at the same time to promote democratic reforms, so that the flower of freedom can bloom in South Vietnam. ”

People are in officialdom, and they can't help themselves.

Now that Ngo Dinh Diem has embarked on the road of dictatorship, there is no turning back.

After all, this is Vietnam. Not the United States, where compromise and tolerance have no market. He is willing to let others go, and others are not necessarily willing to let him go. Unless he can voluntarily relinquish power, the whole family goes into exile. And expecting him to voluntarily give up power is tantamount to a fool's dream.

Li Weimin shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Mr. Ambassador." President Yan is more stubborn than you think, and there are no compromises in his dictionary. Do you know why I didn't go to Saigon for more than a year, because there was a serious difference in the governing philosophy, he couldn't convince me, I couldn't persuade him, so it was better not to see him. ”

"Mr. Chairman, do you have a disagreement with Diem Diem?"

"You can ask the professor about this."

Not only did there be disagreements, but there was also a quarrel, in the Independence Palace, that quarrel was fierce, but not many people knew.

Professor Fisher nodded slightly, and patiently explained: "In March last year, Li suggested that President Diem go out to inspect and inspect and have more contact with the people. Ngo Dinh Diem knew that this was a good intention and gladly accepted the suggestion. As a result, during an inspection, he was messed up by Ngo Dinh Yao, and Li was very angry and had a fierce argument with Wu Ting. ”

"Messed up?"

"Yes, the first stop was to inspect the embankment business district, and the merchants were very happy to learn that Mr. President was going, but they were asked by Ngo Dinh Dieh's special forces to do some deceptive things, such as the president asked about the price of goods, and said cheaply. When asked about the standard of living, it is better to say.

The second stop was to inspect a village on the outskirts of the country, and in order to show how well the village was developing, they actually transplanted a large orchard from several other villages, and then transplanted it back after Diem had finished inspecting it. As a result, the citizens and farmers complained that even the transplanted fruit trees did not survive.

They deceived and deceived Wu Tingyan, Li was very angry after knowing these things, and ran to the Independence Palace to ask Wu Tingyan, is it interesting to lie to himself? From these two incidents to the previous decrees, Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Ngai were embarrassed and broke up, and they never went to Saigon again. ”

When Ambassador de Brow heard about this for the first time, he asked with a look of surprise: "Mr. Chairman, so you are also an oppositionist?" ”

Li Weimin said with a self-deprecating wry smile: "Mr. Ambassador, in everyone's minds, I am the staunchest supporter of President Yan, not even a centrist, where is the opposition. And disagreements are disagreements, personal friends are personal friends, I call him every New Year's holiday, and he entrusts Mrs. Yao to come and talk to me about anything. (To be continued.) )