During their visit to South Africa and Israel, Li Weimin and his entourage were welcomed like never before.

The courtesy of unofficial status has a lot to do with the external environment of the two countries. The white South African government, which had declared independence and officially seceded from the British Commonwealth, was isolated by the two camps because of its apartheid policy, and even third world countries such as India and China were not welcomed.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides, with no strategic depth, huge defense spending, and few natural resources at home, Israel has been able to hold on to the present day only thanks to American aid and the support of European and American Jewish groups.

Li Weimin came with real money, which is tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow.

Together with representatives of the "National Defense Industry Commission" of the industrial investment company and the reserve officer training team of Phu Quoc University of Technology, which arrived secretly, they conducted round after round of secret negotiations and reached a series of cooperation agreements with the defense departments of the two countries and several major military enterprises.

The Israeli Air Force and the South African Air Force will help train 500 pilots and ground crews in the next five years. The Navy of the Republic of South Africa, which has just become an army, will accept 300 cadets of the Reserve Officer Training Corps of Phu Quoc University of Technology.

Military enterprises such as Israel's Rafael Company, Aerospace Industries Corporation and Daniel Group will carry out all-round cooperation with Vietnam Industrial Estate Investment Company. The company provides part of the R&D funds and electronic technology, and jointly develops high-precision technical equipment such as helmet aiming systems, sensors, periscopes, laser distance detectors, night vision devices, thermal imaging systems, and sights with the two countries.

On his return, he passed through France and visited the former head of state of Vietnam, Bao Da, who was living in Paris as an ordinary citizen, and was received by Charles de Gaulle, President of the French Fifth Republic, with the help of the family of Mr. Jean-Bonaire and General Eri, a former senior officer of the French Expeditionary Force.

Charles de Gaulle's comeback. Diplomatically one achievement after another. But he has not achieved much in domestic affairs.

Economic development is slow. Unemployment remained high, and his decision to abandon the African colony of Algeril caused widespread discontent among the generals of the army, which led to several assassinations.

His foreign policy is very clear, he wants to be the boss of Europe, and he is left and right on the Vietnamese issue. Li Weimin did not mention politics at all, but only talked about the ties between South Vietnam and France, and expressed the willingness of Vietnamese companies to invest in France.

It's like a few decades after Hong Kong's handover. Just as Britain still dictates Hong Kong's internal affairs, France also believes that it bears some unshirkable responsibilities and obligations to Vietnam, after all, the division between the North and the South was caused by their leadership.

De Gaulle quite directly saw this as a kind of two-handed preparation by pro-French officials and pro-French entrepreneurs in South Vietnam in the light of the tensions. Former French colonial officials and entrepreneurs transferred their assets to France, and he would not refuse such a good thing.

Under intense internal pressure, some of the policies imposed on big business by the end of World War II had loosened some of their policies, and he simply went along with it, promising to revise policies and issue decrees that would allow former colonial entrepreneurs to invest in sensitive sectors and treat French citizens equally.

French military enterprises such as Matera and Thomson, which are in urgent need of funds and orders, have long been eager to see through them. Coupled with the matchmaking between the Jean-Bonaire family and former Indochina colonial officials, one by one the intention of investing in shares was reached.

With the first injection of funds. The Matra Company immediately launched research and development projects such as helicopters and anti-tank missiles, and after attending the launching ceremony without media reporters, Li Weimin and his entourage returned to Vietnam after a long absence.

I didn't go to Saigon, and I didn't go back to Phu Quoc directly, and the Air Phu Quoc plane landed at Vung Tau Airport.

Chen Shiguo, deputy director of the company, Qin Nanjian, general manager, and Major General Nguyen Chi Ren, who officially became the commander of the border guard command on the Jinou Peninsula, personally greeted him at the airport.

Just a short stop, after the plane is refueled, it will fly to Phu Quoc. Island.

Instead of going to the company's headquarters, they used the airport pilot's lounge as a conference room, chatting about the domestic situation in the past few months while eating.

"The strategic village plan can be said to be an imitation of the Japanese army's strategy of returning to tun and merging households in northeast China during the invasion of China, gathering the peasants and cutting off the peasants' connection with the 'Southern Liberation 'guerrillas'. The guerrillas were denied the necessary supplies to survive in the jungle, and could only come out to fight face-to-face with the superior national army, or simply starve to death or die of disease. ”

Nguyen Chi Nhence came back yesterday and as the commander of the garrison, who is responsible for the security of the six provinces, he knows the situation best.

He put down his chopsticks and continued: "The starting point is good, but unfortunately there are many problems in the implementation. First of all, too much emphasis is placed on political achievements, and weight is not important for quality. The officials below have engaged in countless false projects in order to blindly pursue the speed of construction. In particular, the defense forces simply cannot keep up, and many strategic villages are in a state of absence and cannot play a defensive role.

Moreover, it could not be effectively screened, which led to a large number of guerrillas mixing into the strategic villages, and in turn mastering the strategic villages, so that the Northeast China style of returning to the tun and the household became the North China style of white skin and red hearts. ”

Against the guerrillas, although Lao Chiang was defeated, he accumulated some experience. From his summing-up, we can hear that some of the officers sent back by Taiwan a few years ago played a tremendous role in the defense of the six lower provinces.

Li Weimin nodded slightly, motioning for him to continue.

"Second, it violated the traditional habits of local farmers and pushed many farmers to the side of the 'Southern Solution'. You know, many farmers have to worship their ancestors and take care of their graves. Now they are forcibly concentrated, causing people to move away from the land, to develop feelings of resistance, and to join the 'Yugoslav liberation' guerrillas.

More importantly, the government's lack of resources to provide good medical and educational services like the resettlement villages in Nong and Parrot Point directly led to a decline in living standards and further resentment among farmers. ”

Ruan Zhiren sighed lightly, lit a cigarette and said: "Then there is the lack of striking force, Deputy Chief of Staff Wu Linzhen has analyzed that the reason why the Japanese army was able to succeed in Northeast China is that its strength far exceeds that of the anti-Japanese coalition army, and its will to fight is resolute. At that time, the balance of forces between the two sides reached 30:1, and the Kwantung Army was strong in combat.

The second and third tactical zones could not even reach 5:1, and they could only watch the 'Southern Liberation' launch a large-scale sabotage war. Fortunately, it was in the early stages of the plan. It has caused certain losses to the 'Southern Solution'. No, the entire strategic village plan has long since died in name. ”

Li Weimin pondered for a moment. He asked in a low voice: "Have you estimated the number of North Vietnamese People's Army and the local units of the South Liberation Army operating in the south?" ”

"No less than 20,000, as of the end of last month, more than 10,000 casualties have been inflicted on the national army, and more than 4,800 weapons have been lost. In a sabotage operation in the third tactical area, the other side has initially possessed the ability to attack the M113 armored personnel carrier shock tactics, in short, the current situation is very unfavorable to the government. ”

The chairman frowned slightly. Ruan Zhiren hurriedly added: "The situation in the six provinces is different from other places, and with the efforts of Mr. Guo and Manager Dong, several provincial governors have not implemented strategic villages on a large scale. Instead, they concentrated on clearing the border along the Hezhu Highway and clearing the border between Vietnam and Cambodia, organized highway patrols, strengthened patrols along the Zhulong Highway, and defeated and annihilated several local units of the PLA that tried to infiltrate southward.

In addition, with the cooperation of the intelligence department, the provincial reconnaissance brigades and the police system, the National Army of the Fourth Tactical Region eliminated several infiltrated North Vietnamese People's Army camps and tried every means to reduce their living space. The overall law and order situation is good, at least it has not allowed any liberated areas to develop under our noses. ”

Invest so much manpower and financial resources to risk turning the other cheek with the Ngo Dinh Diem brothers. Concentrate on building a large rear. If the "Southern Solution" is allowed to take root and sprout on the Jinou Peninsula, then what has been done before will be useless.

Li Weimin smiled with satisfaction. Turned sideways and looked at Qin Nanjian.

Qin Nanjian took over the conversation and reported slowly: "In the past period, the company has taken the opportunity of the government's implementation of the strategic village plan to focus on supporting the development of more than 41 'satellite villages'. There are 9 around Binh Dong Industrial Village, 15 around Vung Tau and 17 around Da Nang Industrial Village.

Solve the employment of villagers, assist villagers in developing the rural economy, provide funds and weapons and equipment, and send officers to the security team to help each satellite village form a militia self-defense force, and integrate it into the command system of the security team, so that the three isolated industrial villages have a certain strategic depth. Next, we intend to squeeze out another amount of money to build the necessary forts and field fortifications around the 'satellite villages', and to find ways to secure the three bridgeheads. ”

"Well done, safety is no trivial matter, no matter how far the 'Southern Solution' is from us, no matter when it comes, we must not relax."

"The chairman can rest assured that the company and the industrial village are all our hard work, just like our children. No one should try to snatch it from us without consent. ”

After the implementation of the joint-stock system, not only the veterans present here, but even the ordinary employees of the industrial investment company have become shareholders of the company's subordinate enterprises, and their interests are tied together, not to mention dealing with North Vietnam and the 'Southern Solution' who sells dog meat on the head of a sheep, even in the face of the Ngo Dinh Diem brothers, they are all "the same enemy."

Chen Shiguo is different from others, he doesn't pay much attention to money, but is really patriotic, and he is really reluctant to let so many people of insight develop a national industry with great difficulty.

He took a sharp puff of his cigarette and said in a low voice: "Chairman, Wu Tinglian went to the United Kingdom yesterday morning to continue to serve as the ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United Kingdom. ”

Ngo Dinh Lim sits in Can Tho as a "government adviser" and is dubbed the "King of Nam Chi" by the opposition.

It not only helped the "industrial investment department" unify the thinking of military and political officials in the six lower provinces, and did many things that were inconvenient for the industrial investment department, but also carried a lot of infamy for the "industrial investment department".

At that time, the "industrial investment department" did not sit on the throne, and in the eyes of Wu Tingyan and Wu Tingyao, it was to help the Wu family consolidate their political power, but now that the "industrial investment department" has its own position and is almost out of control, they will naturally not be stupid to be a shield again.

Expected, but I didn't expect it so soon.

Li Weimin touched his chin and muttered: "In this way, the government will adjust the governors of the provinces next, and maybe it will order several other divisions to change guards with the garrison of the fourth tactical zone." ”

Chen Shiguo shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I don't know if the provincial governor will be adjusted, but according to the latest news we have received, President Yan does not plan to send the national army to change the defense, but directly withdraw several divisions from the fourth tactical region and transfer them to strengthen the forces of the first, second and third tactical regions." ”

Li Weimin reacted and said to himself: "A good move is to retreat into advance, Wu Tinglian is gone, and then transfer the national army of the six provinces, which not only transfers the responsibility for the defense of the Jinou Peninsula to us, but also allows us to bear more military expenditures, and can also confirm our infamy as an 'independent kingdom'." ”

"So I'm worried that once he builds up public opinion, we will be very passive."

Qin Nanjian said in a low voice: "The Southern Liberation is planning to carry out a sabotage war against the strategic village, and the clearance operation has been repeatedly frustrated, and the national army has suffered heavy losses. From this point of view, it is understandable to withdraw the three divisions from the Fourth Tactical Region and strengthen the forces in other places, and perhaps even the United States will support it. ”

Regardless of the contradictions with the Wu brothers, their position on the issue of dealing with North Vietnam is the same.

Li Weimin pondered for a moment and said lightly: "Mr. Guo, Ah Ren, this is a serious challenge for us, and it is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as they can win public opinion and the broad sympathy of the whole society, it will not be so easy for them to come back after they have withdrawn. ”

Yes, people will have ambitions, but there is a difference between ambition and ambition, some people are for themselves, and some people are more for the country.

In the past so many years, the industrial investment company has devoted itself to the development of industry, and has made so many achievements, miraculously building desert islands into heavy industrial bases, building pieces of wasteland far away from the downtown into "new cities", and even spending huge sums of money to build the first highway in Southeast Asia.

Almost all of the "people who do the right thing" in South Vietnam are in the industrial investment companies, which have employed millions of people, generated more than 95 percent of the import and export volume, are in charge of more than one billion dollars in foreign exchange, have independent administrative, judicial, and public security powers over 11 industrial villages, and not only completely control the country's economic lifeline, but even have its own military power.

The Wu brothers excluded dissidents, cronyism, and insisted on not carrying out democratic reforms, and the government they led was extremely corrupt and became more and more unpopular.

Vietnamese veterans of the company, such as Tran Shiguo, Vu An Dong and Nguyen Chi Nhan, have privately discussed this possibility more than once, and agreed that running a country is no different from managing a company, and that if it weren't for the fact that Li Weimin was Chinese, or if the time was not ripe enough, he would have made his voice heard like the opposition.

Li Weimin's words made his eyes light up, and he said excitedly: "Chairman rest assured, I have asked the planning department to study countermeasures." If we can't keep it first, we will mobilize the enterprises and workers in various industrial villages to make donations to raise military funds for the defense of the six lower provinces after the withdrawal of the national army. ”

The large-scale fundraising of military spending is fake, so as to tell everyone that it is true that it is not the industrial investment company that wants to create an independent kingdom, but that the government does not want to manage the six provinces.

Li Weimin smiled and said tacitly: "You can discuss and handle these things, and if necessary, you can suggest that the Ministry of National Defense abolish the establishment of the Fifth Infantry Division and let the officers and men of the Fifth Division return to their hometowns to join the militia self-defense force." (To be continued.) )