Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 265 Please Don’t Rain

A month later, Mekong Plain, Phnom Penh.

"I don't care what difficulties you have, no matter how many casualties you suffer, you must take the northern part of the city before dark today. Brigade headquarters, advance to within 5 kilometers of the front line, regimental headquarters to within kilometer, company commanders, put on your bayonets and lead the charge yourself. Anyone who dares to cowardly fight will be court-martialed and shot after the battle!"

Inside the Southern Allied Forces' headquarters, General Wei was scolding loudly into the phone. His own headquarters had already been moved into the city, and telephone lines had been laid between headquarters at all levels.

Since ancient times, street fighting has been the most difficult to fight. Now the Yugoslav Allied forces have basically taken control of the south of Phnom Penh. What remains is to drive out the French, Vietnamese, Khmer and various other armed forces.

There is no better way but to fight hard. The brave one will win when they meet on a narrow road.

Nowadays, the war in Vietnam is becoming more and more chaotic. Strictly speaking, the place where fierce fighting is still taking place is the later Cambodia region. However, it is precisely because of this that the war is becoming more and more chaotic and worse.

The entire battlefield was divided into north and south, and the sudden strategic retreat of the French also shook the Southern Alliance.

General Long is in charge of the northern battlefield. In fact, their Southern Alliance is indeed more powerful. Whether it is the source of troops, logistical supplies, or even the acceptance and recognition of the local people, they are not comparable to the southern front.

But the French army refused to fight General Long and even gave up the central plains in one breath. General Long's troops moved south, facing the southeastern plains heavily defended by the French army. It was like a dog biting a hedgehog, with no idea where to start.

In fact, the vast areas of the central plains are not under the actual control of the SAARC, and many local indigenous forces are even against the SAARC, making supply and transportation along the way very problematic.

So basically, the current battles on the northern front are just sporadic small-scale battles, and General Long has already focused all his energy on enforcing military discipline, military reorganization, and internal governance, trying to swallow up the central region bit by bit, gradually, and steadily.

The main wars were fought by the Siamese army.

(Let’s put up a map. The upper circle is the north, and the lower circle is the south.)

Because there was no Laos in this era, there was naturally no so-called national identity. Even the concept of Lao people was a fabrication by the colonizers. They were actually Thai people, and that was also the official territory of Siam before.

They were originally recovering their homeland, so it felt a bit like the day when the royal army conquered the Central Plains. The local people and indigenous people had very little rejection of them. In fact, it was a bit similar to the Northern Song Dynasty's recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Of course, the concept of dynasty in ancient Siam is different from that of the Chinese nation. It is not a direct jurisdiction but a political system similar to tribute. After all, it has been under the rule of France for so many years. The French have been carrying out a "de-Siamization" movement during the colonization, and combined with French, they created the so-called Lao language.

Basically, it is just adding some French words into Thai, plus some differences in dialect accents.

Therefore, a situation emerged in which the top was pro-French and the bottom was pro-Thai. The French provided weapons to the pro-French armed forces and the local Miao armed forces, instigated ethnic confrontation and ethnic subdivision, and completely delayed the main force of the Siamese here.

The fighting on the northern front stopped, and the French mainly fought on the southern front.

Because the French army was well-prepared, the SAARC navy, which had not yet formed combat effectiveness, could not expect to land on the beach. After fighting with the French army in the lower reaches of the Mekong River, General Wei immediately realized that this way of fighting would not work, and immediately arranged for the army to move to attack Sihanoukville.

That is the territory of the Khmer people, which later became Cambodia in history.

This place belongs to the Gulf of Siam, and it is easy to deliver supplies to both SAARC and Siam. France rents American warships and does not dare to use its navy to blockade the Gulf of Siam. After all, this place is almost the official territory of SAARC.

However, it is already May and the rainy season may come at any time. Cambodia's rainy season is more severe than Vietnam's. Whoever can occupy more cities before the rainy season will have more advantages in the subsequent war.

The rainy season in Southeast Asia is completely different from the rainy season in China. Once it rains, it is basically impossible to move in the mountainous areas where there is almost no infrastructure.

Although he knew that the outcome of the battle here was no longer determined, General Wei still decided to completely capture Phnom Penh before the rainy season arrived, and then control the entire upper reaches of the Mekong River plain.

The French naturally sent their elite troops to fight again.

The indigenous armed forces led by Mr. Hu also fought here, because the predecessor of Vietnam was the Indochina Communist Party, which had no concept of nation and country. It split into Cambodia and Vietnam, but they are actually one family.

"Wherever the imperialists are engaged in a fierce battle, they are taking advantage of the situation."

To put it simply, it was to destroy roads and French supplies through various guerrilla warfare, and to develop their own bases in the vast rural areas.

The Siamese army is also here, although because they are traveling on mountain roads, almost no heavy weapons are transported here, and they are all light infantry. The elite main force of the Siamese army is not here either.

However, this group of Siamese troops were from southern Thailand, which means they were all Malays. After the war, these people were going to leave Siam and merge into Greater Malaya, so after the fighting broke out, they naturally had their own interests soon after.

Malaya was originally a federal country with great local power. Local political leaders were eager to try and naturally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to grab a piece of meat before these Khmers established their own country.

Cambodia itself also had a national independence movement led by King Ha, but historically it did not resort to the use of force. Instead, it was somewhat similar to a non-violent non-cooperation movement. At the same time, it went to the United States and other Western countries to seek so-called international support to criticize the French internationally.

But the order of things in this time and space has been disrupted, and the situation is so intense that the war has already started in Phnom Penh so early, so naturally we have to intervene.

Inside the city, General Wei was leading the regular army of the Southern Alliance and part of Siam to fight the French army. In the mountains, the Malays, Kinhs and Khmers were fighting guerrilla warfare and killing the enemy. By the way, the three drivers were also trying to poach and trip each other up.

"Boss, isn't this... not a key battlefield here? Is it necessary to fight so hard? Didn't Mr. Zheng call yesterday and say he was ready to take direct action in the Middle East? Wouldn't it be a shame to fight so fiercely now and suffer casualties?"

Chief Wei shook his head and said, "We must capture Phnom Penh before the rainy season arrives. Mr. Zheng's surprise attack on the Middle East may be a brilliant move, but who knows how the French will respond? What if they become so frustrated by their defeat that they refuse to withdraw their troops?"

"The SAARC and the French haven't completely fallen out yet. The United States is always ready to mediate. Even Mr. Zheng can't go too far against the Americans' wishes. Even if France withdraws its troops, there will most likely still be negotiations."

"The entire Indochina Peninsula is plagued by extremely complex ethnic conflicts. Thais, Malays, Khmers, and Kinh peoples all have historical conflicts with each other, and there are no national borders. After the French withdrew, it was easy for the different ethnic groups to fight among themselves."

"Mr. Zheng repeatedly stressed that we, the Chinese in Southeast Asia, are not colonizers and will not seek to colonize them. We must fully respect the interests of all ethnic groups and avoid conflicts with them as much as possible. Taking over Phnom Penh is not only important in terms of military significance, but also has great political significance."

"The Southern Alliance can't possibly swallow up the entire Indochina Peninsula. After all, it has a population of over 50 million. How many people are in the core population of the Southern Alliance? How many are the Chinese in Southeast Asia?"

"Mr. Zheng specifically discussed this with me. SAARC is, after all, a non-state actor. Unless we engage in colonization like the French, direct rule is simply impossible."

"If we hadn't been able to capture Phnom Penh before the French left, would we have been able to enter Phnom Penh after they left? Wouldn't that make us the new colonizers?"

The adjutant was stunned and couldn't help but think about it.

"But...if that's the case, what's the point of Phnom Penh? Phnom Penh isn't a coastal city. So far, all the cities directly controlled by the Southern Alliance are coastal and have commercial hubs at seaports. Mr. Zheng probably wouldn't look down on Phnom Penh, right?"

President Wei: "You know nothing. Of course Mr. Zheng doesn't like this place, but even if he doesn't want this city, giving it to the Khmer people for free during the peace talks would still be meaningful."

"Ah? We brothers worked so hard and sacrificed so many lives to capture this city, and now we're just going to give it to the Khmers? Why?"

"Why? Because the Khmers are weak, because they can't beat the Kinh people, because they have conflicts with Siam, is that okay?"

Seeing that the adjutant still didn't understand, General Wei explained, "SAARC is a non-state actor and cannot engage in colonial rule. In the future of Indochina, the most suitable role for SAARC is to be a referee beyond the state, to divide the pie."

"Phnom Penh is in our hands. Only then can we win over all of them for peace talks and form a super coalition government, or even draw a border for them. Only then can SAARC gain a transcendental position and distribute benefits to them in the way we want."

"For example, if we return Phnom Penh, and even the entire Upper Mekong Plain, to King Ha, what will Mr. Hu and the Kinh people think? Will they be dissatisfied? The Kinh people are strong and the Khmer are weak. Furthermore, Sihanoukville, Cambodia's only seaport, is already in our hands. What do you think the Khmer people will do?"

"And from what I know about Mr. Zheng, he probably won't even want Sihanoukville. At most, he'll invest more in construction here, that's all. Anyway, the entire Gulf of Siam already belongs to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The entire Khmer nation can only and must rely heavily on SAARC."

"But if we can't take Phnom Penh before the French withdraw, and Mr. Hu and the Cambodians seize it after the French leave, we will be in a very passive position. The Khmers will definitely not be able to defeat them, and they might even be communistized. Whether we take action or not, it will be very embarrassing."

"Oh……"

The adjutant seemed to understand, scratched his head, and stopped asking.

In fact, when it comes to commanding troops at the level of a general, what really matters is not just military ability. A good marshal must first be a politician.

Just fight.

As he spoke, General Wei picked up the city defense map and began to study it carefully again.

The French's morale was just so-so. Apart from the southeastern plain where the Saigon area was located, they had no intention of defending other places. They were still very confident about taking over the entire Phnom Penh. The only thing was that they didn't know when the rainy season would come, and they were a little afraid that they would not be able to catch up.

[Actually, it would be best to establish a coalition government here after driving the French away. Peace is still good, and it would be even better if any conflicts could be resolved in parliament.]

Thinking of this, President Wei couldn't help but look at the world map on the wall behind him.

If a coalition government could be formed, then with the addition of Burma, Malaya, and Siam, the entire Indochina Peninsula and Greater Indochina would become the SAARC's sphere of influence. Combined with domestic cooperation, the entirety of Eastern Asia would be completely united, far surpassing the Han and Tang dynasties. Old Wei was quite ambitious; after all, this was exactly what he had come to Southeast Asia for.

From the Western perspective, Southeast Asia is generally called Indochina. To put it bluntly, it is the area between India and China. "China" is pronounced as "Chai Na". It was originally a neutral word but later gradually became derogatory.

No matter how you look at it, what SAARC is doing now seems to be unifying Indochina.

Even SAARC has influence in India, just waiting for them to become independent.

Considering that the SAARC is dominated by the Chinese after all, this can almost be said to have connected the entire East to a certain extent.

Who wouldn’t be excited when thinking about this?

Just as he was daydreaming, the phone suddenly rang again. President Wei hurried to answer it, but he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment: "What? Who said they had a fight? How the hell could this happen? Is Dachun stupid? What do you guys do for a living?"

The adjutant couldn't help but ask again: "Boss, what's going on?"

"That bastard Dachun killed the king's men and ambushed Yue X. It's a mess, a complete mess."

"This...an indigenous civil war? What does that have to do with us?"

"The Siamese are behind Dachun! This incident might become a fuse that plunges the entire Indochina Peninsula into endless chaos. Damn, are there Siamese behind this?"

Simply put, it was an internal chaos among the Khmer people. The Khmer Freedom Army and the Vietnamese fought with their own XXX, and they used a rather despicable method, setting an ambush and killing many people.

If it was just an internal matter of the Khmer people, General Wei would not bother to care. That Dachun was essentially a warlord bandit who ruled the mountains. It didn't matter whether he was against the royal family or against X. It had little to do with their Southern Alliance.

But the problem is that everyone knows that Dachun was supported by the Siamese government. His territory was right next to Siam. As early as 1940, the Siamese government supported him to cause trouble for the French. Later, he also did things for the Japanese. During World War II, he even occupied Battambang and Siem Reap for a time.

Of course, Siam was Thailand at that time and was also an ally of the Japanese. Naturally, these places had been vomited back by now, but now the Malays are obviously planning to take this piece back.

In addition, Siam in this time and space is very different from Thailand in the original time and space, and it has the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as a pioneer and backer, so its ambition may be even greater. No one expected that this Damang would actually attack his compatriots when the French had not left yet.

Siam must be supporting this.

So the question is, were the Thais or the Malays behind this instigation? And what did they intend to do after instigating this?
Siam is truly their ally of the Southern Alliance, and is even commanded by General Wei.

Will this be blamed on Siam or on the Southern Asian Association for Regional Cooperation?

Would a deep-seated feud at this time leave no room for compromise later? If Siam was indeed deliberately stirring up trouble, how would the Southern Alliance deal with it?
You have to know that there are many historical conflicts among these ethnic groups, and it is very chaotic. Once they start fighting, it will easily go on forever.

President Wei’s first reaction was: “It’s over. Is the coalition government doomed?”

Furthermore, Dachun also killed people from the royal family. Mr. Zheng specifically mentioned that he had a good impression of the Cambodian royal family, especially King Ha. He was considered a wise ruler. And to be honest, in modern society after World War II, the royal family was more suitable for overseas manipulation than other political systems.

So although it has not been explicitly stated, the SAARC is actually inclined to support the Cambodian royal family and has even donated large quantities of weapons and ammunition to them in the name of alliance.

After Dachun did this, everything was messed up.

"Could it be that the Siamese are deliberately trying to intensify internal conflicts among the Khmer people and to undermine our relationship with the local Khmer people? After all, Siam's goal is to expand its territory, and in this regard, the interests of our SAARC and Siam are actually inconsistent."

Siam's interest was of course to expand its territory, the bigger the better. It is even possible that Wu Aihua had a daydream of swallowing up the entire Indochina Peninsula.

President Wei was not sure what was going on for a moment.

"Do you want to contact Mr. Zheng?"

President Wei: "Mr. Zheng is in the Middle East, so it's hard to contact him. And judging by the date, I'm afraid something big is about to happen in the Middle East. How can we contact him and distract him?"

"Forget it, let's not think about it anymore. No matter whether it's Siam, Malays, or Thais behind this, the Nanyang region is ultimately ruled by the SAARC. No matter who it is, if they misunderstand the SAARC and Mr. Zheng's humility and courtesy, we will just correct them directly."

"Here in Phnom Penh, we must fight as we must. Don't stop. The Guard Company and the First Regiment, follow me."

"Where are you going?"

"Let's go to Siem Reap. Regardless of whether this group of people are agents supported by Siam or not, these bandits and warlords are harmful to Southeast Asia. I will go and destroy them."

"Ah? Just one regiment? You're going there in person?"

General Wei: "One regiment is enough. Phnom Penh can't spare any troops. Besides, if we make a big move, we can't hide it from the Siamese soldiers. I don't believe they can do anything with just a few bandits. What kind of power can they have? I will go in person. At least no one can blame me except Mr. Zheng. I will bear the brunt of the consequences myself."

The adjutant said anxiously, "But they are Siamese agents after all. Can you at least discuss this with Mr. Zheng before taking action? What if there is any impact..."

President Wei: "Fuck, Siam is even supporting agents. They are agents themselves. Why should they support other agents?"

After saying that, President Wei got directly into the jeep.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Solve the problem before it becomes a serious problem. It is better to act first and report later to avoid trouble in the future.

If we don't kill them now, we will not be able to kill them later.

The reason why he didn't tell Zheng Yi was that he was afraid that if this matter affected the relationship between the Southern Alliance and Siam, Zheng Yi would put all the blame on him.

Anyway, he has just joined SAARC not long ago. When the time comes, we can just tell the outside world that he is here to help and SAARC cannot control him. That's it. At worst, he can return to his country or go to the United States. That's the worst that can happen.

Looking up, Chief Wei glanced at the sky, which was still obviously gloomy, and couldn't help but mutter, "Please don't let it rain! Let me kill Dachun and take down Jinbian before it rains."

........................

On the other side, in the Middle East, Haifa.

Zheng Yi followed the local customs and came to the so-called holy place, the Wailing Wall, at the invitation of Mrs. Mei. After sitting down, he prayed silently for today's actions.

Ten minutes ago, the most elite paratrooper brigade of the Malay Legion had boarded the plane with the two heroes of the Arab world to carry out their respective military coup missions.

Recently, Egypt and Jordan have become increasingly restless and have purchased large quantities of weapons from Britain and the United States. Although the Jewish people have not openly announced the establishment of the State of Israel, everyone with a discerning eye knows that war is imminent and they are just waiting for an opportunity.

Israel is also impatient and is ready to take the lead in breaking the deadlock.

In a month, the Malay Corps came directly from India. It was not kept secret. They went to help train and even encircle Israel in a big way. Penang had prepared excessive military industry for the anti-Japanese war, and it got the order again, which extended its life. Other Arab countries were really frightened by this.

After all, for most countries in the Middle East, SAARC is fighting against France, and fighting successfully.

And surprisingly, everyone knew that Zheng Yi was an expert in oil exploration. Almost all countries in the Middle East hoped that Zheng Yi could go to their country to help look into oil and so on, and they all extended invitations to Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi was too busy, so many people sent envoys to Haifa to visit Zheng Yi in person, especially Saudi Arabia. The old king even publicly said that Zheng Yi was the Saudi people's eternal friend. He was extremely enthusiastic about him and asked him to make time to go to Saudi Arabia no matter what, as if asking him to show his hospitality.

Because Zheng Yi was in Jewish territory, this invisibly increased the opportunities for Jews and Arabs to get along in a friendly manner. Even in the past month, the number of individual conflicts between Jews and Palestinian Arabs has decreased a lot.

Zheng Yi also took the opportunity to promote the construction of Haifa City, and proposed the idea of ​​building a new Penang in Haifa, with the SAARC providing technology and workers, the Jews providing land and financing, and the Gulf countries providing oil, so that all ethnic groups could live in harmony there.

Although no Arab country has responded to this matter so far, its visibility has at least been spread.

Now, we just have to wait for changes in Syria and Tunisia so that the Jews can take up the banner of helping the Arabs fight against colonialism.

Unconsciously, Zheng Yi also looked up at the sky.

"Please don't let it rain."

(End of this chapter)