Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 263: SAARC’s fatal flaw, France’s unbeatable victory?
"Hey, have you heard that in Penang, they say that our Kinh people are also part of the Nanyang Chinese?"

"That's ridiculous! We Kinh people are Kinh people, and Chinese people are Chinese. We are two completely different races."

"But I heard that the Nanyang Chinese in Penang could eat meat every meal during the war, and they were given dozens of francs every month."

"Really? Eating meat every meal? Wouldn't that make you just like the French gentlemen?"

"We have had contact with a relative in Siam. They say the Chinese in the south live just like French masters, with good food and drink. Over there, everyone eats meat, gets new clothes every month, and has Indians and Malays serving as servants."

"If that's the case...it seems like the Kinh people and the Chinese do have a deep connection."

"What do you mean by deep connection? I've studied Chinese, and more than half of the words in Mandarin and our Beijing dialect are similar. There's no difference at all from that damn Guangxi dialect."

"Yes, Mr. Zheng is right. We Kinh people are the damned Nanyang Chinese. Damn it, brothers, do you dare to do something big with me? Kill the white commander and go to Hanoi to seek refuge with Mayor Yan."

"Okay, done!"

Similar conversations were circulated among the puppet troops in Vietnam. Almost every puppet soldier found it difficult to suppress his inner restlessness after learning that Zheng Yi admitted that their Kinh people were Southeast Asian Chinese.

To put it bluntly, this thing is essentially a color revolution. Although there was no Internet or even television in this era, most of the Jing people were illiterate and could not read newspapers.

However, in the final analysis, Vietnam's geographical location is indeed not far from the SAARC. The Chinese in Southeast Asia have always been connected, and many people are aware of the situation in the SAARC. Moreover, in an era of poor information flow, people are generally simple and honest.

To put it bluntly, anything goes.

In addition, after the SAARC set the tone, it also deliberately spread the word. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the intelligence department took action again and created the "Voice of the Free Kinh People" at an extremely fast speed, focusing on deceiving the Kinh people about how good life in the SAARC was and how good life and life the Chinese in Southeast Asia could generally live.

You should know that the SAARC attached great importance to the construction of media forces in the army. Kodak's branch factory was in Penang. A large number of photos representing the life of the SAARC, and even underground movies, propaganda films specially shot for it, and movies from the anti-Japanese era, began to infiltrate Vietnam through various channels without any money.

If it were truly a normal nation-state, then this narrative would naturally not be able to spread so quickly. After all, the narrative itself is still very far-fetched, and national culture often has an instinctive moat against external cultural invasion.

However, Vietnam during this period was a pure French colony.

At least in most areas controlled by the French, if you insist on saying that you are a Kinh people, then the Kinh people are an inferior ethnic group oppressed and exploited by the French. At most, they can only count on those guerrillas who go into the mountains to fight guerrilla warfare, holding weapons from the 18th or even 17th century, or even cold weapons.

If you admit that you are a Chinese from Southeast Asia, you will immediately have an extremely tough backer who will actually send planes and troops to rescue you, and at least you will hear that life is much better in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

The essence of a color revolution is to take advantage of the poor people in backward areas' yearning for the life of people in wealthy areas.

For a time, people everywhere killed their French superiors to establish themselves, or ran away and surrendered.

You have to know that although the combat effectiveness of the puppet army is not very good, this is similar all over the world. The combat effectiveness of the Vichy French army is not very good either, so the French army basically does not send the puppet army to the real battlefield.

However, it is still very useful to collect taxes, build roads, and collect grain in the rear area, playing an auxiliary role.

As for the puppet army's surrender, although Zheng Yi could not say that he would accept everyone, he would at least send them a batch of canned meat and give them some rewards depending on the situation. A larger puppet army unit could be given about one or two hundred thousand southern currencies.

This was enough to make the French army anxious. After all, although the economic situation of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation was not very good and was in a downturn, the society was generally positive and there was still some money. In order to expand territory, they could spend money.

In 1947, France was suffering from a severe famine. Ordinary people had already begun to starve to death, and the industrial and economic systems were in a mess and had not recovered at all.

London and Tokyo were reduced to ruins by aerial bombs, but after cleaning up, they were able to resume industrial production.

Paris was a place of complete relocation and destruction. Due to the relocation of the Germans and the deliberate destruction by the French guerrillas, the damage to the buildings was certainly not as serious as in Tokyo, and the people of the entire city did not have to live in shacks, but there were really not many factories and machines left that could carry out industrial production, and even basic electricity supply was not available.

Luxury goods such as red wine, clothing, and bags were not affected by the war at all. Even during the Second World War, the Germans still praised French red wine.

But these things are useless in times of famine!

Being so poor, they could only intensify the exploitation of overseas colonies to feed the local people. Various taxes and exploitation on the colonies generally increased about ten times compared with the pre-war period.

At this time, there is no time to worry about draining the pond to catch all the fish. After all, for any normal regime, nothing is more important than filling the people's stomachs when a severe famine occurs internally.

Under Zheng Yi's efforts, the French army's logistical supply had been completely paralyzed. The limited number of French troops not only had to deal with the Siamese army, the South Allied army, the Northern Army, and the Viet Minh guerrillas, but also had to deal with the rebellious puppet army.

And this is only the situation within the French surveillance area.

On the southern front, the armies of Siam and General Wei had reached the outskirts of Saigon and even semi-surrounded it. The French troops in Laos collapsed at the first blow and almost all fell to Siam.

Compared to being a colony of the French and enduring their ruthless exploitation, the Great Thai narrative of Siam at this time naturally did not seem so repulsive to the Lao people.

The Lao and Thai people are really the same ethnic group with the same language and culture. This is completely different from Zheng Yi's insistence that the Kinh people are also Chinese. In addition, the French army's attention is now all focused on the coastal Vietnamese area, and they really can't take care of Laos, which gave Wu Aihua a great advantage.

Moreover, the Siamese army was growing larger and larger. Although most of them were a motley crowd recruited from the old tribe, at least after increasing their strength and absorbing a large number of puppet troops, the Siamese army dared to claim to have three hundred thousand troops entering the country.

After a major reorganization, more than 20 divisions were formed, which was scary to look at.

Because of his achievements in expanding territory, Wu Aihua's position in Siam became increasingly stable.

There is no need to mention the northern line. Northern Vietnam is more Confucian, and it is indeed the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The most important thing is that all the military supplies on the Southern Alliance side are purchased with money, not levied.

Although the currency issued was the Saarcd currency, there was a black market in Hanoi for exchanging it for US dollars, and the currency value was still strong. The large amount of military supplies consumed even boosted the local economy.

This is more effective than any political propaganda.

The key is.

A large number of people from Guangxi are rapidly increasing at a rate of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people every day.

Especially, the Jing people in Guangxi.

The Jing people in Guangxi have become the best lubricant between local Chinese and the Jing people.

Moreover, these people from Guangxi who poured in could go to the battlefield as soon as they touched a gun and could shoot as soon as they picked up a cannon. They were very good at various formations, and their military skills were not inferior to those of the regular army of the Southern Alliance. Each of them looked like they had fought in a veteran battle for more than ten years.

Anyway, the South Asian Alliance has plenty of guns, especially those captured Japanese weapons, and they have as many as they want.

The French have lodged a very solemn protest at home through diplomatic channels regarding this matter.

But who can control the movement of border residents?
Even a fool knows that it is pure nonsense to say that the three giants of the Guangxi clique are completely unaware of this wave of personnel movement, or even unable to control it if they want to, but they said so, so what can you do?

After all, there was war in the country. In fact, there was an opportunity to go to Southeast Asia and become a Southeast Asian Chinese. Most people were willing to bring their families with them. Who knows how many of them had served in the military and carried guns?
Although there is still a lack of heavy firepower, even larger mountain artillery is in short supply, but Vietnam's terrain does not require so much heavy firepower equipment. The SAARC's rocket launchers are still very advanced. Besides, no one knows how many "Rage" rocket launchers Hanoi has hidden.

Although this powerful weapon has not appeared on the battlefield so far, the French would not believe that Hanoi really does not have multiple rocket launchers to solve the case.

The historical record of wiping out an entire Japanese army with a single launch was so dazzling that the French, overwhelmed by the power of "Rage", did not dare to actually gather their armored forces for concentrated use.

After all, even the air supremacy in the sky is in the hands of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and Hanoi has already begun to build a military airport.

Just like blowing air, the military strength of the Southern Allied Forces quickly expanded to ten divisions along the Hanoi and Haiphong Port lines. Although there were many unqualified soldiers among them, the problem was that there were also many unqualified soldiers in the French army.

But at least the French army couldn't tell, and no one could tell, how many of them were local Jing people, how many were veteran Yunnan and Guangxi troops, and how many were veterans from Guangxi who had changed their skins.

Even the command system is ready-made. General Long is in charge personally, and all the middle-level command systems are completely copied and pasted from the Yunnan Army and the Guangxi Army. The Yunnan and Guangxi factions cooperated a lot in the War of Resistance Against Japan and had long developed a friendship. Now that everyone is in a foreign country, there is no prejudice against each other and they correct things during filming.

I dare not say they are elite, but at least they are regular troops, which is enough to give the French army a hard time.

In comparison, at least from the perspective of the military system, the French Expeditionary Force, which seemed to be a patchwork ragtag army, was not regular enough.

After only two months of fighting, the northern front had already achieved victory after victory. The French army had basically lost all of northern Vietnam, and did not dare to engage in a decisive battle with them.

As for the French, they are always accustomed to raising their hands when facing strong enemies. A large number of French landowners and mine owners have taken the initiative to ask people through their connections whether the French and French companies can join the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation.

The entire French colony was in flames. Faced with the relentless pressure from the Southern Alliance, the French army had no better way than to continuously increase reinforcements and try to maintain its position. The French army's strength soon exceeded 100,000.

These 100,000 French troops refer to the real French troops coming from mainland France. In addition, there are more than 300,000 foreign legions, that is, the black brothers.

hum~
As the plane slowly landed at Saigon Airport, General Tassigny, a four-star general known as the pride of France and the national ace, slowly walked down and swept his cold eyes over the team that greeted him.

At the airport, the orchestra that was originally playing music shuddered in unison when they were glanced at by the old general's cold eyes. They unconsciously played a few wrong notes and were interrupted and cursed by him on the spot. He even singled out and dismissed an officer who had not buttoned his buttons properly among the officers who came to greet him.

"I'm almost sixty years old this year, boys. I've been seriously injured and saved from death many times in both world wars. I've broken six bones and suffered countless gunshot and artillery wounds.
I thought that after the victory of the war, I should have been able to enjoy my old age and become a happy retired old man. Who would have thought that even the monkeys in Asia could become the mortal enemies of us French people, forcing me to personally take action?

A group of French officers lowered their heads in shame, especially Leclerc, whose face turned as red as a monkey's butt.

Shame!
If he wasn't useless, why would the old general come in person?

One hundred thousand French troops, three hundred thousand foreign mercenaries, plus this French military god, France, which has not yet recovered from the war, has really suppressed its capital in this war.

Tassini continued, "You should know that France is currently facing a severe food shortage. Roughly one in ten people in the country are not getting enough to eat, and many are malnourished and at risk of starvation."

"I know many of you have already given up, and the rumors are growing, especially among Colonial Office officials. I heard some have already started depositing their assets in the Bank of Penang. Is this aiding the enemy?"

As for the French, this is a very normal thing. In fact, the capitulationist tendencies of the French in Vietnam are now very obvious. The charter flights back to their country have been full for a long time and there is no way they can be accommodated. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation also intends to let them go without fighting a single battle.

But Tassini said, "From now on, I will take charge of the Indochina war. All passenger flights returning to France will be grounded. No one can return home for any reason."

"This battle is a battle of life and death for France. I have brought my only son here and asked him to join the troops on the front line."

"On the contrary, with me here, you don't have to worry about anyone hiding your military achievements. I promise you with my name that every soldier who fights hard will be promoted to a higher position."

"Victory or death, in the dictionary of our French army, there is no word of surrender!"

After he finished speaking, no matter what everyone was thinking, they all applauded the old general's passionate speech.

A female reporter raised her hand and asked, "You said the word 'surrender' doesn't exist in your vocabulary. So, what do you think of the French surrender in World War II?"

Tasini: “…………”

You can tell at first glance that this reporter is from the British BBC.

Of course, victory in a war cannot be achieved by simply cursing and making speeches. After delivering his speech at the airport, Tassigny immediately called all the French officers, both big and small, to the operations room for their first meeting.

As soon as he opened his mouth, he spoke bluntly, "Everyone, I'm from Paris, and I can assure you that the pressure at headquarters is enormous. There are even major disagreements within Congress about whether to fight Vietnam and how to fight. Facing the aggressive SAARC, we are at a great disadvantage."

"The most crucial thing is the attitude of the United States and the United Kingdom. The British are almost siding with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and are already laughing at us. The Americans are watching the fire from the other side of the river, saying they want to maintain neutrality. However, we in France no longer have any French troops, and SAARC is actually closer to Vietnam than we are."

"Also, according to reliable sources, the Southern Alliance had already been purchasing warships long before the war officially began, claiming they were converting them for civilian use. They even acquired two Italian shipyards, even damaged ones. While the Singapore shipyard hasn't officially started construction yet, the Southern Alliance itself has no shortage of craftsmen and seafarers."

"In at most half a year, the Southern Alliance will be able to initially form a navy. Although there is a high probability that it will not have an aircraft carrier, it will be enough to have an impact on our maritime transportation. You know, our navy is still rented.
Once a land war turns into a naval battle, there will be even more uncontrollable factors. According to reliable intelligence, Zheng Yi once promised the US that the war would end within six months. Given the relationship between the US and SAARC, it is difficult to say what will happen by then."

"You are all generals on the front lines. Tell us what you think of this battle."

After saying this, the generals on the front line looked at each other and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

How did the war turn out like this?

As the saying goes, dragons swim and dive, fish and shrimp play. At this moment, these people all felt this way. If it were still before World War II, they would never have suffered such a strong anger from the Asian natives. There was no need to talk nonsense, just send the navy to attack Penang.

Tassigny: "How does the combat capability and military quality of the Southern Allied forces compare to our French army?"

Lieutenant General Sha Lang: "Not much difference. The few elite troops are probably not much different from our local expeditionary force. They should be the elite of the Guangxi Army and the Yunnan Army. The quality of most troops is not as good as the expeditionary force."

"The Chinese troops in the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation are slightly better than the foreign mercenaries in terms of overall quality. The local Kinh indigenous troops are slightly weaker than the puppet troops. The current puppet troops...are all unreliable."

Leclerc: "The Southern Alliance has more men and is better at mountain warfare, but they generally lack heavy weaponry. They do have rocket launchers, some motorcycles, and powered delta-wing aircraft, but they have few artillery pieces and even fewer armored vehicles. In a large-scale head-on confrontation on the plains, they are no match for our army."

"But they are more flexible and... have the support of the local indigenous people. In mountainous and forested areas, our army is completely no match for them. They often harass our lines of communication. Moreover, they have an air force advantage, so it is not easy for them to counterattack Hanoi and Haiphong Port."

Tasini snorted coldly when he heard this, but did not comment on it.

In fact, this has definitely been beautified. The French army now has absolutely no ability to organize a counterattack.

He was too lazy to expose the truth and simply said, "You have a point. Our army and the SAARC army do have their own strengths and weaknesses. However, it seems to me that you have overlooked the SAARC's greatest weakness."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this: "What is it?"

Tasini: "Persistence? The SAARC's war model is completely unsustainable. Think about it, why did Zheng Yi promise the United States that he would defeat our French army within six months? Are they really that confident?"

"The Southern Alliance has two sources of troops. One is the Yunnan Army and the Guangxi Army, which come from the north."

"China is currently in the midst of a civil war, and changes may occur at any time. The troops stationed in the north must not remain for long, as this will inevitably lead to changes."

"The second is the Chinese in SAARC. However, as far as I know, SAARC's military system is universal conscription. All men will have a fixed period of military training, but it is not long. This is why they are generally good at light weapons and lack the use of heavy weapons."

"Not to mention the Yunnan and Guangxi armies in the north, even the Southern Alliance's own army, this kind of universal conscription army is only good at defensive warfare, not long-distance delivery. Over time, morale will be lost. After all, they all have jobs."

"Secondly, the SAARC's military expenditure is no less than ours, in fact, it's even more. The war requires military pay, and in order to win over the people, even basic logistical supplies are purchased from the local Kinh indigenous people."

"They certainly won over the people, but can the SAARC really afford the expense? The scale of the war is certainly not small. A short war might be fine, but a longer one would give SAARC a healthy financial income. But right now, the only real revenue generators are Penang and a few oil wells."

"On the contrary, although France has had a bad year this year, happened to encounter famine, and its economy has collapsed, we are not a major European country. The longer we can hold on, the healthier our financial resources will be than those of SAARC."

"Now, even without considering the indigenous Wei army in Vietnam, the combined forces of our two sides are already at least 700,000 to 800,000. I don't believe the SAARC's finances can sustain this for much longer."

"Finally, although the SAARC does have a relatively complete military-industrial system that can produce large quantities of gunpowder, bullets, artillery shells, and even rockets, and has no shortage of firearms production capabilities, as far as I know, they have spent a lot of effort and invested a lot of money in military-industrial transformation since the end of the war."

"If the war lasts too long, the military industry that has been transformed with great difficulty will inevitably be pulled back, affecting the economic layout of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. This is not worth the loss for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. The money they are spending now also has a huge amount of loans. Once the risk of debt default arises, it is very likely that a chain reaction will occur."

Of course, there is also an unspoken political reason, which is that if a war of this scale lasts for a long time, the Americans will definitely mediate again.

"Therefore, we believe that the reason why the SAARC side promised the Americans that the fighting would end within six months or even three months is because they simply do not have the ability to engage in a long-term war."

"In just over three months, Vietnam will enter its rainy season. When the rain is heaviest in July and August, both our army and the South Korean army will have to stop and rest, no matter where the battle line is. It will take at least October for the rainy season to pass."

"After the rainy season truce, the fighting will inevitably become more intense, and it is very likely that the fighting will continue into the next rainy season."

“So I believe that the strategic goal of the SAARC is to end the fighting before the rainy season arrives!”

Of course, in reality, the French will not be much stronger than the SAARC if they want to fight a protracted war. If the fighting really ends before the rainy season arrives, the two countries will most likely shake hands and make peace under the mediation of the Americans.

Tassini: "Therefore, I have decided that, first, all French troops must withdraw from the Red River Plain and completely cede the entire Red River Plain, as well as the northeastern and northwest regions, to the Southern Alliance."

"Second, in the north-central and south-central regions, we will mainly engage in small-scale battles with the local indigenous peoples, and try our best to avoid conflicts with the regular SANK forces. We will also give leniency to the local indigenous armed forces, especially the Viet Minh members."

"Third, in the direction of the Central Highlands Plain, we will engage in positional warfare with the Southern Alliance forces, establishing a standoff and striving to hold on as long as possible. As for the Southeastern Plain, which is the plain area centered on Saigon, I will personally guard it. Effective immediately, we will rush to repair fortifications, use large amounts of steel and concrete, dig trenches, and establish a battle line of defense."

"Fourth, in the Mekong River plain further south, the French army took the initiative to attack, but only against the Siamese army, not the South Asian Alliance army. They allowed the local Kinh ethnic armed forces, especially the Viet Minh, to establish their own base in the Mekong River plain, especially at the border with Siam."

"Does anyone have any comments on this battle plan?"

For a moment, everyone looked at each other in confusion.

Although psychologically everyone feels that this is too cowardly, and this does not look like a military war, but more like a political war.

But it seems that if we fight like this, it is indeed foolproof.

In fact, from a strategic point of view, France is clearly planning to give in.

First of all, the Red River Plain was completely abandoned. The Red River Plain is Hanoi and its surrounding areas. Hanoi and Haiphong Port are located in this location. Further north, the northeast and northwest regions are mountains and forests close to China. The northeast is adjacent to Guangxi, and the northwest is adjacent to Yunnan.

This area, as Zheng Yi said, was the location of the Zhenhai Army Jiedushi during the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, the Southern Asian Association for Regional Cooperation had its eyes on this place from the beginning. It has access to the sea, occupies the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, and has a large plain rich in grain. It can be directly connected to the country, thus providing a way out for Yunnan and Guangxi provinces.

Isn't the reason why the Yunnan Army and the Guangxi Army were willing to go to war for this reason? It can't be that they did it entirely because of the friendship between Zheng Yi and them.

To put it bluntly, it is the core interest of SAARC in Vietnam.

Simply giving up and not fighting is clearly handing the country over to the Southern Alliance. In fact, the basic purpose of the Southern Alliance in fighting against the French army has already been achieved.

Even if everyone stops fighting at this point, it will undoubtedly be a win for the Southern Alliance.

The central region already has a large number of local chieftain forces. If they do not fight and allow the local indigenous people to develop, it will be a buffer zone, supporting the local indigenous forces. If Zheng Yi wants to take over, of course he can. Otherwise, he can attack and fight against the Kinh people, then the ideology he has promoted will be directly bankrupt.

Or we can just incorporate it and give you this small piece of plain. Anyway, this area has many mountains and little land. Although it is along the coast, there are not many good ports. At most, you can just fish, and there are no decent cities. But if we use this kind of conciliatory approach, the economic pressure on the Southern Alliance will definitely be greater.

To put it bluntly, the French army in this area has also become cowardly. A little fighting will only serve to make more money than to make acetic acid, and will cause a certain financial burden to the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation.

What the French really want are only the western plains and the southeastern plains. To put it bluntly, these are the fundamental interests of the French.

After all, the French army consists of 100,000 French troops and 300,000 foreign mercenaries, which adds up to 400,000.

The 400,000-strong army was determined to dig trenches and build defense lines. The location itself was not close to Hanoi and Chiang Mai, and the SAARC's air force advantage was not obvious. There were at least six large deep-water ports for transportation, and the supply lines were difficult to cut. The SAARC was still at a disadvantage in armor, and it was extremely disadvantaged to fight in the plains with its main force of light infantry.

If they just retreat, with France's existing artillery advantage, even if Zheng Yi and General Wei were gods, they would not be able to break through the defense line within half a year. Waiting for the rainy season would not be a problem at all.

The final Mekong Plain must be seized, but in fact it is already trying to sow discord.

Attack the Siamese army instead of the Yugoslav army. Those Siamese soldiers are not stupid and will definitely go directly west to rescue their fellow countrymen.

The French army can no longer care about the Lao people. After all, the coastal areas are the essence of a colonial empire. If they can defend the coastline, they will have plenty of ways to control the Lao people in the future.

If the Southern Alliance is really defeated in the future, it is not impossible for them to march directly south to attack Siam.

Of course, what is more important is that they deliberately allowed the Viet Minh, that is, Mr. Hu's group, to operate in this area.

This trick is very dirty.

Although the Southern Asian Nations League said it would not play along with the Viet Minh, their ideological narrative made it almost impossible for them to send troops to fight the Viet Minh. After all, the Viet Minh was also fighting for national independence, and it still had a large market and was very popular among the Kinh people at the grassroots level.

Even if SAARC does not agree with their narrative, it will always have to form a coalition government with them in the future, just like they are doing with France now.

To put it bluntly, France no longer wanted this place and deliberately wanted the Viet Minh to disgust South Asian Alliance and Siam.

Especially Siam.

After all, red tides have no national borders. It's like an infectious disease. Once it spreads to Siam, it will naturally be very chaotic.

As the saying goes, if the Viet Minh can occupy most of the Mekong Plain, then although France will be humiliated, it can legitimately ask the United States for support and assistance, and then take ruthless action against this bandit.

As for the Southern Asian Alliance, could the Southern Asian Alliance be so ruthless as to deal with the Viet Minh, which had already grown stronger?
This move was intended to win the support of the United States and even to alienate Siam and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Therefore, according to this layout, the French army is almost infallible. In fact, this is already the condition offered to the Southern Alliance. The limit is half a year. After half a year, the whole of Vietnam will be divided into three parts, the north will be given to the Southern Alliance, the middle will be given to France, and the south will be given to the Viet Minh natives and Siam.

Of course, because of the red color of the Viet Minh, there is a high probability that the French will swallow this part after seeking support from the Americans, and Siam can take advantage of the situation. It is not certain whether it can hold on, but it is still possible to rescue a large number of old compatriots in a short period of time.

Everyone can protect their reputation and dignity.

If you don't accept it, we will all just wallow in the quagmire and fight to the death. Anyway, I have brought my wife and children here, and I am acting like I am going to burn my boats. Come on, who is afraid of who? Anyway, it is pure delusion for you to end the war in half a year.

Such a deployment of troops can indeed ensure that the French army is invincible.

But for the French army... can this really be considered a victory?
When did the great French Empire, facing an Asian native, a non-state actor that was not even a country, remain undefeated and thus win?

And for some reason, Leclerc, his old rival, couldn't help but recall what the British had once said to him.

[Southern Alliance leader Zheng Yi, will he really accept such a loss? Does he have any other tricks up his sleeve?]

In fact, what the French troops did not know was that Zheng Yi had already handed over all matters related to the war to Yan Zijun, General Wei, General Long, and General Ma.

He wasn't even in Southeast Asia, but had already landed at the newly renovated airport in Tel Aviv.

"Hello, Mr. Zheng, welcome to Israel."

"Mr. Gu, Mrs. Mei, hello. It's an honor to meet you. Let me introduce you to General Anand, a very outstanding military commander from our SAARC. The Chinese and Malay military advisory groups are all on the plane."

"Given the actual situation in your country, the current war situation is indeed tense. In addition to providing you with weapons and establishing a military training system, the Malay Legion of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will have a 30,000-man army and an entire aviation brigade as mercenaries to fight for you."

Mr. Gu: "Indeed, thank you very much, Mr. Zheng. Don't worry, the price will be as we agreed before, $500 million, to be settled within a week. If we really go to war with the Arabs, we will calculate the employment costs during the war separately."

Zheng Yi: "Sure, sure. We're all friends, right?"

Mrs. Mei suddenly said, "Mr. Zheng, the matter Mr. Li and I raised earlier has been discussed and unanimously agreed upon internally. I wonder what you think, Mr. Zheng? We sincerely hope to learn from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Chinese in Southeast Asia how to coexist peacefully and prosper together in this foreign land, surrounded by so many religious groups."

Zheng Yi: "Joining SAARC? I agree in principle, but we'll discuss the details later. As for the city, let's talk about Haifa. Let Haifa join SAARC and be directly managed by SAARC, mainly imitating Alor Setar. If there are a large number of Arabs living here in the future, will you have no problem with it?"

President Gu: "If we can get eternal peace, we are certainly willing to accept it."

Zheng Yi nodded and said with a smile, "However, besides Haifa, there is actually a place in the Middle East that is more mature and more suitable for our Southern Alliance's base. I came here this time to invite President Gu and Mrs. Mei to accompany me there for an inspection."

"Oh? Mr. Zheng, it seems you have really decided to get involved in the Middle East. Welcome, welcome."

Zheng Yi: "After all, I'm in the oil business. The Middle East is a treasure trove. How could I miss the opportunity to invest here?"

"Mr. Zheng, what do you like?"

Zheng Yi said, "A French colony, the largest and brightest pearl in the Middle East, Tunisia."

(End of this chapter)