Father of France

Chapter 145 Imperialism, Unite!
Li Guangxiong's chopsticks froze in mid-air, soup dripping onto his silk shirt and spreading into an oily stain. He suddenly burst into laughter, revealing his bright red gums: "Clean? Does he think we're like catfish on a chopping board, at everyone's mercy?"

Nguyen Van Hieu lit a cigarette, the sparks illuminating the bullet scar on his forehead. "The French are very angry, or..."

He flicked his cigarette ash. "We're waiting to be wiped out by the Governor-General's paratroopers and the French Foreign Legion. The situation is extremely serious. There are so many Chinese around Saigon. The French are now using the Chinese to tip us off. We'd better leave Saigon."

“Impossible, the boss didn’t notify us.” Li Guangxiong still didn’t believe it. “We have so much influence in Saigon…”

Suddenly, the roar of boats came from outside the window, and the turbid waves of the Chao Phraya River pounded against the wooden piles of the dock.

The two glimpsed the curtains on the second floor of the tailor shop across the street being quickly drawn shut, and suddenly a burst of gunfire erupted in the distance, startling a flock of dark birds into flight. Even outside the teahouse, a large number of armed men appeared.

The bullets easily tore apart the abacus and ledgers on the counter, and coins and scraps of paper rained down. A ricocheting bullet grazed Nguyen Van Hieu's cheekbone, drawing a line of blood.

Suddenly, several searchlights illuminated the canal outside the window, and the sound of motors grew louder as they approached. Three boats, reinforced with steel plates and machine guns, burst through the mist, and the gunmen on board unleashed a hail of bullets from their Sten submachine guns at the heavily guarded riverside windows.

Glass and wooden frames shattered and flew everywhere, instantly silencing half of the gun emplacements lying in ambush on the second floor of the tailor shop across the street.

Just as the light machine gun fire was drawn to the river, the roof tiles of the Phoenix Tower began to fall. Three mercenaries wearing linen hoods and carrying Lebel carbines rappelled in through the window like ghosts—a classic tactic used by the French Foreign Legion to clean up colonial troubles.

The two men fought back fiercely, but a mercenary's bullet ripped their skulls off. Nguyen Van Hieu seized the opportunity to roll away, and Colt fired three shots, pinning the enemy attempting to flank from the back door to the door. Panting, he loosened his blood-stained suit tie, deciding to fight back.

The French-made 81mm mortar shells arced down, plunging the two men, who were still trying to escape, into an icy abyss. "How could they use artillery in a residential area..."

Clearly, the two were unaware that counter-terrorism only required coordinates, and it seemed that the colonist, Koman, didn't care whether or not residents would be accidentally harmed.

The teahouse where the two were located was just an interlude in this round of purges. Gunfire and artillery sounds were heard all over Saigon. Not all the core members of the Pingchuan faction were resisting; in fact, quite a few core members were cooperating.

Many weak people will turn their knives on the weaker, but they are incredibly docile when faced with power. On this day, a corrupt police force of four or five thousand men suffered a devastating blow.

Inside the French military camp in Saigon, Coleman was enjoying the tropical sun, lying under a parasol waiting for his guests. Not long after, Lefebvre led in a Vietnamese man with a pale face.

"Sir, the Levin has arrived." Lefevere pretended not to notice Coman's deliberate arrogance and bent down to Coman, who was thinking that the parasol was indeed a parasol.

"Mr. Li, welcome, welcome." Coman stood up and extended his hand to show his friendliness, saying with a smile, "From now on, the so-called Pingchuan faction will be ruled by you, Li Wenhua. We don't like the other leaders, but Mr. Li is an exception. I believe we will cooperate very well."

Koman's enthusiasm was genuine and he was definitely not deceiving Li Wenhua. In Koman's eyes, the black armed forces like the Pingchuan faction, which followed the model of the three tycoons of Shanghai, were no different from a rabble.

Moreover, this gang is responsible for the massacre of French expatriates, and a purge is necessary to give the overseas Chinese community an explanation.

“I am also very saddened by Yang Wenming’s disrespect for the Paris government and his fate,” Li Wenhua replied sullenly. Another founder of the Pingchuan faction and a series of supporters died in this round of conflict at the hands of the French and the Chinese who cooperated with the French.

Li Wenhua's feelings were quite complicated at this moment. On the one hand, he and Yang Wenming had started from humble beginnings together and had a long-standing friendship. On the other hand, it was also a fact that the Pingchuan faction had two leaders.

Li Wenhua didn't know that a neighborhood could have two gangs, but a gang could only have two bosses.

But he could sense a similar truth, and his heart was not entirely filled with sorrow at the devastating blow suffered by Yang Wenming's faction.

Now the French have directly stepped in to solve this problem for him. From now on, the Pingchuan faction will only have Li Wenhua as its sole leader, and there will be no need to worry about the balance of power among the gangs.

Koeman expressed his regret at not having met Li Wenhua sooner, while promising that he was only defending the prestige of France and had no personal grudges against the Pingchuan faction. Now that the culprits who massacred French expatriates had been brought to justice, Li Wenhua was naturally safe. "Perhaps there will be new developments, and today's enemy can become tomorrow's friend."

“Sir,” Li Wenhua hesitated for a moment before saying to Koman, “the Chinese on the embankment have too close ties with their country and are not trustworthy.”

Koman nodded solemnly and said lightly, "Problems must be solved one by one. Mr. Li is doing this for our own good, and I will keep that in mind." After Li Wen left, Lefebvre reappeared with the files on the recent purge of the Pingchuan faction. "Sir, Mr. Li is right. There is a risk with so many Chinese in Saigon."

"That's why I spared him and didn't wipe out the Pingchuan faction," Koman said, flipping through the file. "So, is class greater than ethnicity, or is ethnicity greater than class?"

Lefebvre opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found himself unable to utter a word. In the end, he replied helplessly, "I don't know."

“Normally it’s the latter, but in reality it’s the former. And in our time, there’s a group of people who have already shown their class filter.” Koman persuaded, “As long as the Soviet Union exists, the national identity that many countries have been hiding as being more important than class will likely be exposed. At that time, there were political parties in French Indochina with the same ideology as the Soviet Union.”

In French Indochina, where class is more important than ethnicity, the Chinese community, though not all wealthy, generally enjoyed a higher standard of living than the Vietnamese.

If the Viet Minh were to march south at this time, the Chinese community on the Saigon embankment would certainly not be willing to welcome them, because these Chinese really did own a cow.

Similarly, if ethnicity is considered more important than class, then the Chinese are not even citizens of French Indochina, nor are they a minority; they are simply residents of an imperialist country weaker than France, a usurious imperialist power. From a nationalist perspective, the Chinese should not even exist.

Therefore, regardless of whether class is greater than ethnicity or ethnicity is greater than class, in the 1946 version of French Indochina, the Chinese were not included.

As long as Chiang Kai-shek withdrew the North Vietnamese troops, the Chinese would have no choice but to follow the French colonial government in order to continue their current lives.

There are still a few months before Chiang Kai-shek withdraws his troops, at which point the Chinese people who are not on the same side will become more credible.

Therefore, in Koeman's eyes, the Chinese are more credible than the Pingchuan faction. He would never portray the Chinese in the embankment as a country within a country, but the potential that should be unleashed should not be restricted.

The Pingchuan faction should try to balance its power with the five major Chinese clans and gangs on the embankment, and not expect one to dominate the other.

With the credit he had earned by exchanging the heads of the Pingchuan faction, Coman went straight to the Governor's Palace to report to Acting Governor Dassanio. He explained the difficulties he had faced in this operation and how, after considering the overall situation, he had not completely wiped out the Vietnamese forces in Saigon, but had already avenged the French expatriates who died in the massacre last September.

Koeman never objected to trading someone else's life for his own promotion; after all, he was a low-ranking officer and had to seize every opportunity that might help him get promoted.

A major bandit gang that had been entrenched in the largest city in French Indochina was greatly weakened by the decisive actions taken by the French to quell public anger.

This group, which resurfaced in the 1950s due to its loyalty to France and Emperor Paul, evolved into a black armed force of over 40,000 men. It was pruned by Koeman in its infancy. As the saying goes, a sapling will not grow straight if it is not pruned. Now, all that remains are the Levin Unified faction, which has gone through the steps of "inviting guests, beheading, and taking them in as dogs".

Yang Wenming's faction, who thought they could rival the colonizers, are now either dead or imprisoned, awaiting a fair trial by a military court as a fitting end to their story.

"Li Wenhua's faction is relatively submissive. Of course, we do not deny that there may have been accidental injuries during the operation, but how can there be no accidental injuries in such a situation?" Koman reported with intonation. "More than 800 core members and supporters of Yang Wenming's faction have been decisively purged. Those who surrendered have been imprisoned and will soon undergo a fair trial."

“Well done, Koman.” Dassanliu listened attentively and expressed his appreciation for Koman’s perseverance and courage. “The innocent expatriates have finally waited for this day.”

“Yeah.” Koman thought he should squeeze out a couple of crocodile tears to be appropriate, but he tried and failed. He figured it was enough to keep a serious face. What was the point of crying now? Dead people can’t see it.

"General Dashanliu, there is a telegram from the British." At this moment, Cédile, a senior French official in South Vietnam, suddenly appeared and handed Dashanliu a telegram from Yingjun in Jakarta.

Upon hearing this, Dassault immediately took the book and began to read. As the largest colonial empire at present, Britain is still in the mindset of defending the British Empire. Previously, it helped France regain control of southern French Indochina, and at the same time helped the Dutch regain control of the Dutch East Indies.

To date, the British have not been traitors to the old European colonial empires, and have played a leading role.

The current situation in Indonesia is that the British army, in conjunction with the Dutch colonial army, is suppressing the local independence forces. However, as the largest and most populous region in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has left Britain and the Netherlands feeling powerless.

(End of this chapter)