Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 261: The Jing people are from Jiaozhi, and Jiaozhi is the homeland of the Han Dynasty.
The scale of the war is expanding.

For Paris, it is actually in a difficult situation and has no choice but to bite the bullet and go head-to-head with the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation.

If this is just the conflict between SAARC and them over Haiphong Port, then actually everything can be discussed.

However, it was exactly as Zheng Yi thought: If you French are willing to talk to me, I will not fight you, but since you don’t want to talk to me and want to fight directly, then let’s see who wins on the battlefield.

From the French perspective: What are you dissatisfied with? Can't we just talk about it? We are all victorious countries, all allies of the United States, and you just come and attack us, and with such a big fight?

Siam officially declared war on France.

Then this is no longer a matter of gain or loss of a city or a place, but a matter of gain or loss of face.

If the Americans could mediate, that would be the best, and the French could also take advantage of the situation and cede the land north of Haiphong Port, which would not be a big deal.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Yi didn't even give the Americans face, showing complete arrogance and ignorance.

For France, which is now riddled with internal problems, face is actually the core. Once it suffers setbacks in Asia, there will inevitably be a series of chain reactions in other colonies.

After all, France lost its homeland during World War II, and the so-called status of a victorious country was won with the help of the colonial vassal troops, and those vassal troops were willing to help Free France fight.

One reason is certainly that the French have a much deeper control over their colonies than the British, and the British do not have such control at all.

The second reason is that President Dai promised almost every colony that they would be allowed independence after the war.

But now that the war is over, France certainly doesn't keep its word. After all, if France loses its colonies, what's the difference between it and a second-rate country?

However, by doing so, the local forces on the other side of the colony would naturally not accept it. During World War II, France had to militarize the local indigenous people in the colonies. The anti-French movement has never stopped since the end of the war, and it has been one after another.

Once France suffers a major military defeat and loses face, and people see that the French army is actually strong on the outside but weak on the inside, France's troubles will probably really begin.

Historically, it was indeed after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu that French colonies around the world finally realized the decline of France, and anti-French struggles began to flourish one after another, until the French Fourth Empire was completely destroyed.

In fact, this was also Zheng Yi's plan. He did it on purpose and deliberately targeted all the French colonies in the world.

If SAARC really wants to move beyond Southeast Asia, perhaps these former French colonies are far more suitable targets for SAARC expansion than British colonies.

Of course, the premise of all this requires Zheng Yi to fight a "Dien Bien Phu Battle" with the French army in Southeast Asia in advance in this time and space.

Just three days later, the American advisers left.

"Uncle, I just received a telegram saying that Mr. Hu from Vietnam has arrived in Penang. My father asked me to ask you how to receive him."

Zheng Yi: "Did Big Brother meet him?"

"not yet."

"Oh, if not, then don't meet him. Tell Big Brother that he doesn't need any interview. Just leave him alone. If possible, show a little hostility."

Li Jianqiao: "Ah? This... why? Is it just because of concerns about the attitude of the United States? It seems that there is no need to be so. After all, they are now also enemies of the French. Shouldn't the enemy of my enemy be a friend? Didn't the United States also ally with the Soviet Union in World War II? If it was just a simple military cooperation, the Americans should not..."

Zheng Yi interrupted with disdain, "Military cooperation? What kind of military cooperation can we have with them? I do have some respect for Mr. Hu, but how many guns and cannons do they have? Why would I cooperate with them? Should I loan them weapons? Can they afford it?"

Li Jianqiao: "This...but uncle, haven't you always believed that the failure of the British and French colonial systems lies in the excessive exploitation of the indigenous people? After all, they represent the national strength of Vietnam."

Zheng Yi: "Who told you that Mr. Hu and his team can represent the indigenous people of Vietnam?"

"Uh...huh?"

Zheng Yi: "The majority of Vietnam's population is Kinh, who are also Jiaozhi people. Isn't Jiaozhi the former Han territories?"

Li Jianqiao: “…………”

I couldn't help but complain in my heart: There are a lot of Ming Dynasty descendants in Myanmar. You said that what happened three hundred years ago was too long ago, and they are still hesitant and haven't fully acknowledged it yet.

Are you bringing up this damn Han Dynasty thing from two thousand years ago again?
This is too nonsense.

Zheng Yi himself felt that this statement was far-fetched, but when it comes to political declarations, what matters is shamelessness.

History is originally a political declaration that serves future generations. It is always the case that one shoots the arrow first and then draws the target. Zhu Di can avenge Liu Bang, so why can't I do something for Zhao Kuangyin?
He then said, "This place was originally the military governor of the Zhenhai Army during the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, the weak and incompetent Song Dynasty allowed this place to fall into the hands of barbarians. However, if you look closely, Jing and Han are originally from the same source. Jing dialect can actually be considered a dialect of our Chinese language. If that's the case, why can't the Jing people be Nanyang Chinese?"

"Since we are Chinese from Southeast Asia, why should we follow someone with the surname Hu? We had a great ambition long before the establishment of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to protect all Chinese from Southeast Asia, to stand up straight, to be human beings, and to lead all Chinese from Southeast Asia to live a good life. How could we forget Vietnam?"

As he spoke, Zheng Yi couldn't help blushing, and suddenly burst out laughing.

This statement is indeed a bit far-fetched.

However, it is true that the Jing language is similar to Chinese. In fact, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and almost all ethnic groups influenced by Confucian culture find it particularly easy to learn Chinese. The Jing language is indeed similar to the Guangxi dialect.

So although it is far-fetched, it is not completely aimless.

In fact, Zheng Yi has been struggling with the choice of ideology and the issue of getting along with local indigenous people for several days. It seems that it was only in recent days that he finally made up his mind and chose the strategy of completely refusing to recognize Mr. Hu and starting a new business in the local area.

There are certainly many disadvantages, because I am afraid that most Kinh people may not be willing to admit that they are Nanyang Chinese. After driving away the French, there may be more trouble here. Moreover, if things go wrong, the originally harmonious relationship between Kinh and Chinese will be greatly affected, or even lead to confrontation.

After all, the Vietnamese nation is quite powerful in Southeast Asia. Even in later generations, they have always had the ambition to unify the Indochina Peninsula and always wanted to take the entire Indochina Peninsula into their possession. Many times, they are as inexplicable as the Indians.

In fact, the biggest aspirations of Kinh intellectuals during this period were still national and ethnic independence, anti-colonialism. Strictly speaking, the anti-colonial forces in Vietnam today are still called the Viet Minh, not Viet X. The Viet Minh, to put it bluntly, was a coalition of people from all walks of life, from all walks of life, and from all tribes, who resisted the French army. Later, as fighting continued, thanks to substantial external assistance, it evolved through a complex series of developments into the Viet X that later generations are familiar with.

Viet Minh.

Since it is an alliance, why can't we include the Nanyang Chinese people like me?

As for the alliance, since he has joined it, the one who will become the leader in the future will definitely be his.

After all, the Viet Minh is becoming more and more aggressive. No matter from which perspective, this is not a good thing for Zheng Yi.

And to be fair, the Vietnamese army before 1950 was actually useless. The so-called anti-French war was no different from the anti-colonial struggle of black Africans, and their organizational program was a mess.

After all, the Anti-French War was not fought by these natives.

The vast majority of middle-level officials are just filling in the gaps and are not idealists.

His mind was full of corrupt thoughts like drinking a few cups of coffee and red wine after capturing a big city, and finding more women to serve him. During battles, the command center was always far away from the front line, and would run away as soon as the war went against his will.

Even these middle and senior-level cadres generally take pride in being able to speak French, discriminate against those who cannot speak French, form a French-speaking clique, and even look down on the Chinese advisory group who cannot speak French.

To put it bluntly, these are intellectuals who have never experienced the baptism of blood and fire. Apart from the title of idealists, they are actually just petty bourgeoisie.

In Zheng Yi's opinion, the top of this group of people is actually quite good, and he has a relatively high opinion of Mr. Hu himself. Although he lacks some international perspective, this is also very normal.

The lower class people are relatively good. The Vietnamese people did generally show relatively tenacious fighting qualities in the anti-colonial war.

The problem lies with the large number of middle-level managers who are messing around.

The problem is that a large number of intellectuals think they are idealists, but in fact most of them lack pride and courage.

That must not be confused with the Chinese Revolution. After all, the Chinese Revolution went through a century of ups and downs, more than twenty years of hardships and tribulations in blood and fire, and became the strongest group in history.

In Vietnam, at least in this time and space, most people are intellectuals who received a French education and who jump into the action on impulse.

Maybe after decades of suffering they can also become iron-blooded warriors
But it hasn't been polished yet.

If it is not ground, you can use it for your own benefit.

Besides, there are a large number of compradors in the city. As compradors, it doesn’t matter who they serve, so why can’t they be compradors for themselves?

In the eyes of the French, you will always be outsiders and slaves. The French treat the comprador class much worse than the British.

But in the eyes of the people of the Southeast Asian Association, you can also be Nanyang Chinese!

You should ask how the Chinese in Southeast Asia are doing, especially in the area south of Siam.

"Then, Uncle, how do you plan to establish an indigenous armed force in Vietnam, or even a pro-SAARC regime? Who can take on this important task?"

Zheng Yi: "Ask your father if he can contact Mr. Yan Zijun and ask him to come to Bangkok to see me? I mean, let him serve as mayor of Hanoi. Of course, this requires him to take certain risks. If he doesn't want to, I respect his opinion."

Li Jianqiao: "Mr. Yan Zijun, Chairman of the Vietnam Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese National Salvation Relief Association? Where is he now? Saigon?"

Zheng Yi: "I think...right? I'm not sure either. So I told you to ask your father. Hasn't he always been in charge of the external affairs of our Southern Alliance?"

The Chinese in French colonies were generally far less powerful than those in British colonies. There were few tycoons, but few did not mean none existed. A tall man could still be picked out from among the short ones.

Moreover, unlike the Chinese tycoons in British colonies, they were generally lackeys of the British and had weak positions on many issues. In fact, many of them had British compradors. A typical example was Li Xiaoshi in history. He loved his country, but also loved Britain.

During some special periods, ordinary Chinese people called them traitors.

Although the Chinese leaders in French colonies were generally not as wealthy as those in British colonies, their positions were generally more resolute, patriotic, and anti-French.

Zheng Yi did not have much contact with overseas Chinese in France, but he had met Yan Zijun several times.

This man was originally from Yongchun, Fujian. He went to Southeast Asia when he was young because he was poor and mainly engaged in cloth business. Like Li Jiqian, he was one of the earliest members of the Tongmenghui and a follower of Mr. Sun.

After the September 18th Incident, he had been committed to raising funds for Ma Zhanshan and the 19th Army, criticizing the Kuomintang's policy of non-resistance, and even had a complete break with the Kuomintang. Because he was an early veteran of the Tongmenghui, this matter caused a big stir for a time.

Therefore, this person's strength is nothing compared to the British overseas Chinese tycoons. In fact, in Singapore or Malaya, he can only be regarded as a second-rate rich man, not a tycoon, but his reputation is quite great.

After the outbreak of the full-scale Anti-Japanese War, he also rose to the position of vice president of the Fujian Chamber of Commerce of the Nanyang Chinese Federation. In theory, he was on equal footing with Zhuang Xiyan, Chen Jianxian and others, second only to Tan Kah Kee. He had a very high seniority, and Chen Liushi had to call him uncle when he met him.

During the Pacific War, this man fled to Penang because he refused to support the Wang Puppet Government. Zheng Yi personally met and settled him, but he ran back to China after staying in Penang for only a few days. After all, he didn't have much money, and he might not feel comfortable staying in a place like Penang that was full of "British running dogs."

It is said that he was a guest of Liu Jianxu and made great contributions in the war.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to Vietnam. Since he did not come to Penang, Zheng Yi was not quite sure where he was or what he was doing.

These Chinese in the British colonies and the Chinese in the French colonies were generally not very familiar with each other. They warmly welcomed those who were willing to come to Penang to seek refuge, but they were too lazy to pay attention to those who were unwilling, and they really did not treat them as their own people.

But now that Zheng Yi has reached out to French India, he naturally thinks of this person first.

Although I still don’t know whether this person can accomplish great things, there is no other choice at the moment.

(End of this chapter)