When the shooting of the Chinese happened, the Vietnamese and French felt threatened from the Chinese in every way.

Diplomatically, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic startled the British and French ambassadors from their beds at midnight that night, and since the founding of the Republic, this level of diplomatic calling has almost never been unparalleled.

Although the French ambassador quickly fell to the French free political axe led by de Gaulle after the start of the war, he still remained in China in the name of France, and the ambassador appointed by the French temporary political axe will be in place next month, but de Gaulle's instructions were that the liberal political axe was the orthodox political axe, so he sternly rejected the recall telegram of the French temporary political axe.

At that time, the shooting in Lao Cai had not yet reached the ears of the two ambassadors, and although the British received a telegram in the evening, telling them to pay close attention to the possible diplomatic problems caused by the shooting and to deal with them cautiously, the British ambassador had just attended a charity performance and donated a pitiful hundred pounds, and he did not even have time to read the telegram when he returned to the embassy.

When the two ambassadors entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic in fear of the worst that China was about to declare war on Britain and France, they were told of the Lao Cai incident.

After strongly condemning the actions of Britain and France, he directly skipped the link of diplomatic communication and demanded that the French Free Political Axe hand over the "North Vietnam region, where the Chinese are relatively dense, to the Chinese political axe" under the custody of the Chinese political axe, so as to properly protect the vast number of Chinese overseas Chinese in North Vietnam and strictly prevent the occurrence of similar incidents. ’。

Minister Liu Shaoqi said that the Republic is very well able to understand that Britain and France are mired in war and it is difficult to properly handle some colonial affairs. He also mentioned that the Constitution of the Republic stipulates that the supplementary provision of the Chinese Affairs Act is equivalent to the Constitution, and there is absolutely no possibility of concession.

The new British ambassador to China, Sir Shermus, who had just taken office, had no idea that China would ask such a tricky question, and he was also less mentally prepared than the awkward French ambassador. As for China's ability to sort out so much evidence in less than a day after the incident, they did not express any doubts or surprises, whether the Chinese deliberately created the incident, or whether it was really as the evidence said, all the responsibility of the French, one thing is certain, China is really angry this time.

"Dear Minister Liu, perhaps, we need a moment to understand the truth of the Lao Cai incident in detail, and even if the facts are as you say, we will need to consider this proposal for a while."

Decisive refusal? Both ambassadors understood that in a time of such a world war, any diplomatic incident could be the best excuse for going to war, let alone such a well-documented posture.

Both of them understand that without some blood this time, the Chinese will not give up. Sir Shek could even imagine that once the events were true, the best possible thing for France would be to acquiesce to the greed of the Chinese.

Any overreaction would be tantamount to seducing the Chinese into joining the Axis in advance and starting an all-out war against the Entente. You must know that this political axe, from the beginning to the present, has not been the traditional Chinese style, timid and cautious, stingy, and ignorant guarding its own land, but has been full of aggression from beginning to end.

As ambassadors to China, they understand far better than the politicians at home who point fingers that China at this time is a completely different United States, and even has greater war potential than the United States, at least they have hundreds of millions of loyal people, and the huge active army is so bloated that it has to find a vent point.

As diplomats, they naturally do not want China to choose Britain and France as the targets of its venting.

Liu Shaoqi just smiled in the end, and said to the two ambassadors to China with a change of angry cordiality, "...... Although we cannot tolerate such persecution by the diaspora, we also have no intention of joining the war in an all-out way, and we will take an appropriate way to calm the anger of the people and give an account to the tens of millions of overseas Chinese compatriots......"

The British and French ambassadors to China, although they were concerned on the spot, did not imagine the problem too serious, and after a brief discussion, one believed that China coveted the area around Lao Cai, and if diplomatic efforts failed, it might directly send troops to occupy it. Another, on the other hand, argues that China may be like the Germans, coveting the local Chinese and overseas Chinese to carry out large-scale insurrections and uprisings, and then China will send troops to occupy these areas.

Although both of them thought of the worst-case scenario, they did not consider that China's appetite would be as large as half of Southeast Asia. You must know that I am scheming, and hundreds of thousands of troops have only just occupied Indonesia and Malaysia.

When the ambassadors of the two countries sent telegrams of inquiry to their respective political axes, and waited a long time to receive telegrams asking them to continue their attention and try to continue communicating with the Chinese through diplomatic efforts, an absolutely bad news came from the political axe again.

China has sent troops!

Lao Cai, Vietnam.

Chief Reel took one last look at the three-story building of the police station, although it was not very pleasant in the old street all these years, but at the very least, it was far away from war, rich and peaceful, and occasionally dealt with only some petty theft.

It wasn't until the Lao Cai incident, when Hanoi's investigators arrived, that he knew that his career as an official might be over.

"Mr. Is, are we really going to hand over Lao Cai to the Chinese?"

After Reel finished asking the question, he didn't think it was too much, the whole Lao Cai, the French colonial institution only had this police station, not even the minimum management committee, here, like most of Vietnam, although it was a colony, but it was in a laissez-faire state, except for wealth and resources, the French did not put too much energy into managing these ignorant Vietnamese, or cunning Chinese.

And now, the only governing body is about to be evacuated, and even the luggage is loaded into the car, but Reel still asks this question, which can only show that this is the reluctance of the colonists in their hearts to the colonies that are used to being powerful.

"Yes, the Liberal Axe has decided to cede the entire old street to Chinese and let them ......," Isis paused slightly, picked up his pipe again, and said in a muffled voice, "Let them not be entrusted for the time being." ”

Reel stood for a long time, looking back at the nine French and Indian policemen and patrols, and further afield, at the Vietnamese who had been hired, before turning back and finally taking off his hat to the building, a symbol of colonial power.

"France will win back the glory of the past, long live the political axe of Free France."

That was the last thing he said.

Because, immediately after that, there was the rumbling of cars.

Both Isse and Reel looked back a little angrily, such a solemn and solemn moment, do those damn Chinese still want to disturb their departure?

This is simply the greatest shame of France. For a moment, Chief Reel even wanted to snatch a rifle from the hands of the French soldiers next to him, and then teach them a hard lesson. Anyway, after I go back, I will be useless, and I will bear the greatest infamy, the maker of the Lao Cai incident, and may even be sent to China by General de Gaulle to be tried.

Because, whether it is the French Provisional Political Axe or the Free French Political Axe, it is already in the twilight of the Western Mountains, and it is difficult to compete with this Far Eastern giant.

Whew~ There was a neat gasp.

When the French turned around, they saw a scene that made them stunned.

I saw that on the street that was not wide, there were no pedestrians in sight, and there was only an armored car shining with the light of death in the sun, and the muzzle of the cannon was not coarse, and the heavy machine gun pointed at him from afar was so dazzling.

Of course, what is even more dazzling is the golden dragon flag fluttering on the antenna on the top of the armored vehicle, and the iron-blooded military emblem of the People's Army inlaid on the side of the armored vehicle.

Without waiting for everyone's reaction, even the only French soldier did not have the slightest courage to raise the tattered rifle in his hand and aim at the Chinese armored car.

They're coming too fast.

In the stunned eyes of the French, the armored car kept its guns and muzzles pointed at them and drove all the way out of the street, and behind it, another armored car, followed by another...... There seem to be an uncountable number of armored vehicles, and there is still a steady stream of them coming from behind. The open space on the side of the police station, which was originally open, was also full of moving armored vehicles.

To the surprise of the French, all but two of the armored vehicles rushed through the side street without a glimpse and, with a bang, headed for the only improvised road leading to Hanoi.

The two armored vehicles finally stopped in front of the French, and the Isis investigator even jumped back in fright, and looked up again, only to find the Chinese's heavy machine gun muzzle, aiming at his nose.

The doors of the two cars opened, and a dozen or so jumped out of the cars wearing field camouflage uniforms that were different from those of the French army.

More than a dozen soldiers moved neatly, and as soon as they got out of the car, they all picked up their rifles and aimed at the more than 20 French at close range, and behind, the armored vehicles were surrounded by a meter closer.

Reel only saw a Chinese officer walking over, and when he saw his hateful, panicked, and uneasy eyes, the other party reached out and patted his police badge.

"You#¥%......"

The officer said a word to himself, but Reel only understood one sub-'you', and although he had been in Lao Cai for several years, he never understood Chinese.

Unbeknownst to him, the Chinese lieutenant had only said one sentence, "You have been captured!" ”

Then, with a wave of the lieutenant's hand, seven or eight Chinese soldiers rushed up, one by one, and quickly drove the Frenchmen together, dropped their guns, and crouched there with their heads in their hands.

The language was completely incomprehensible, and even if the Chinese invaded the French colonies, they never thought of sending a French translator to explain to this group of prisoners.

The lieutenant smiled at the fat and uneasy sergeant with fierce eyes, according to the intelligence, he was the 'culprit' of this time, and according to the Chinese Affair Act, he would be 'invited' to Hanjing to be tried as a war criminal by a special agency under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Ethnic Affairs Commission. Perhaps, this French sheriff, who usually takes pleasure in riding on the head of overseas Chinese, will not be shot immediately, but the foreseeable felony is already waiting for him.

The lieutenant looked at the French flag on the roof of the French police station that had not yet had time to be removed, took the 32-year-old semi-automatic rifle of a soldier next to him, pulled the bolt, and took a slight aim.

"Bang!"

The French flag fell, and the lieutenant walked over, stepped on it, and his boots crushed it into the dirt, and then he ordered: "Escort them back, other vehicles, and move on." ”

Saigon, Vietnam.

"General de Gaulle, Hanoi Emergency, 54 kilometers from Hanoi, found the vanguard of the Chinese, a battalion of Indian troops, wiped out after five minutes of resistance. The Chinese offensive was very fierce, even moving armored vehicles and aircraft. ”

De Gaulle, dressed in a glamorous uniform, put down his big pipe, and the anger that had been maintained for many days seemed to disappear completely, replaced by a panic that was almost never seen in the confident commander of the French liberal axe. Extremely unhappy, he took the urgent telegram from the adjutant's hand.

Since receiving information from Lao Cai two days ago, confirming that the Chinese sent troops, it has been a series of bad news, whether it is in the direction of Lao Cai or in the direction of Gao Ping, a large number of traces of the [***] team have been found.

According to sporadic intelligence, the Chinese used at least one or two army groups to launch a large-scale military operation in northern Vietnam.

Then, almost every hour or two, de Gaulle would receive news of the fall of such and such a place, and even if he automatically filtered out the news of the occupation of the county-level city in his heart, he still could not ignore the new information in the direction of Hanoi.

The discovery of the enemy near Hanoi and the fact that they broke through the Indian line can only show one thing, the target of the Chinese is at least Hanoi.

And the so-called five minutes of resistance was definitely a joke, and he could even guess that those Indians, either dead at the guns of the Chinese, must have fled. In the face of the elite Chinese field corps, they will only bully the Indians who are indigenous to Vietnam, and they are not even garbage.

"We are near Hanoi, how many troops can be used? How are the diplomatic negotiations with the Chinese going? ”

De Gaulle only glanced at the report and knew that it was probably what the adjutant was talking about.

"General, the total number of troops we can use near Hanoi at the moment is 40,000. However, half of them were Indians, and about a quarter were Vietnamese servants. Our army and that of the British, there are less than two brigades. As soon as the adjutant turned his mind, he remembered the situation in Hanoi, which had been reported to the general, but now, he seemed to have forgotten.

"How can it be so little? What about our elite French divisions? And what about the Far Eastern Brigade of the British? De Gaulle said angrily.

"General, five days ago, you personally signed the order to transfer a group of Hanoi garrisons to try to go south to harass the Yue army that was sneaking up on the left flank of Saigon......" The adjutant still clearly remembers that a few days ago, General de Gaulle said happily that this was a surprise army, saying that he wanted to attack Saigon and attack left and right, and he could also send surprise troops to follow and wait for an opportunity to attack the rear.

But now...... The adjutant could only sigh that no matter how good the plan and stratagem were, it would not change as quickly.

"Do we have any troops nearby that can be mobilized? Think about it. De Gaulle ordered, and then added, "Perhaps, I should summon my chief of staff, who should know better." ”

The adjutant sighed in his heart, analyzing with his military qualities, the Chinese Southeast Asian Expeditionary Force at this time was almost invincible, and he even foresaw a more tragic defeat, of course, a more hearty victory for the Chinese.

The timing chosen by the Chinese is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But he still stubbornly said, "General, we are within 200 kilometers of Hanoi, and we have less than one brigade of elite troops and three divisions of Indian troops. ”

Boom!! De Gaulle grabbed an antique clay pot on the table, said to be Indian, threw it on the ground, and shouted, "Support Hanoi, let them support Hanoi immediately." ”

De Gaulle knew very well that both he personally and the Free French political axe could tolerate Lao Cai, and even Lao Cai being occupied by the Chinese, but if Hanoi was lost a little, the whole of North Vietnam would be lost.

North Vietnam was occupied by the Chinese, the Vietnamese department was attacked by himself, and the Free French political axe, did they really want to retreat to India and form a political axe under the crotch of the British?

The answer is yes.

Only on the morning of the third day, the morning after de Gaulle received the arrival of the main forces of the Chinese on the outskirts of Hanoi, General de Gaulle, who had just gotten up, received information that the defenders of Hanoi had held out for less than four hours under the attack of the absolute superiority of the two Chinese armies.

And these four hours also include the time for Chinese to enter the city.

"Send a higher-level negotiating team to the Chinese, we need to figure out what exactly their goal is, as long as their goal is not Saigon, we can negotiate." No matter what the cost, we need to hold the Chinese back. ”

While mobilizing the only forces he had, de Gaulle personally went to the British Southeast Asia Combat Command to discuss a plan to send troops to stop the Chinese.

"Dear General William, we should discuss how we should counterattack, or at least defend, once the Chinese move south from Hanoi."

In front of the British commander of the Southeast Asian theater, de Gaulle's face was full of unprecedented compliments and humility.

Commander William, who was wearing a general's uniform, frowned, his fingers unconsciously tapped the table, and said with a half-loud staring at de Gaulle's eyes, "Dear General de Gaulle, I want to block the Chinese so much that I am even willing to sail their ships full of opium to their harbors like they did decades ago, and then fill the ships on the return voyage with damn Chinese and sell them to the United States, or even African plantations...... But, my honor, what should we do to stop them? The empire's 200,000 elite soldiers, India's 300,000 cannon fodder troops, have been mixed with my own army of locusts, from Laos, to Burma, from the Strait of Malacca to Vietnam, our greatest enemy is always trying to annex the whole of Southeast Asia. If the troops are divided to block the Chinese at this time, it is not said whether it can be effective, once it cannot stop Yu himself, the result is predictable. ”

After a slight pause, General William, who is said to have royal blood, continued, "According to the latest intelligence, a field army of the Burmese has been in Laos with an elite army of the Chinese, and they are also encroaching on the territory of our British Empire, and we also do not know where their bottom line is. Cambodia or Saigon, Yangon? This is a problem. ”

"What do you mean?" De Gaulle by no means thought that he was inferior to the damned pseudo-royals in front of him, but the biggest reality now is that the French Free Axe has so few troops that he has to bow his head.

William waved his hand and said, "Negotiate with the Chinese and find out their bottom line, the Chinese of the two group armies, we need at least three group armies or even more troops to block, this is unrealistic." ”

"If you find out their bottom line?"

William: "I've drawn up a huge plan, and maybe it needs to be approved by Downing Street......"

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(To be continued)