Father of France

Chapter 156 France, a Power of Soft Power
A year after the end of World War II, France finally regained control of French Indochina, and for some time to come, France’s control over French Indochina would not be challenged.

Koeman predicted that France would not have to worry about major troubles in French Indochina until at least the end of the Korean War. The reason was simple: Chiang Kai-shek would certainly not be friendly to the Viet Minh before he had settled things at home. Without foreign aid from the north, the Viet Minh was no match for the French army.

The founding of the People's Republic of China did not mean that the Viet Minh would immediately receive aid; there were still several years to suppress the bandits.

Besides the Kuomintang, there were more than two million bandits within the territory of this major Eastern power, which also consumed a lot of the People's Liberation Army's energy. Guangxi, which is adjacent to Vietnam, was considered a target in the final stage of the bandit suppression due to its geographical location and the Guangxi clique.

As the War of Liberation drew to a close, Guangxi gathered together defeated soldiers from various regions, and its various bandit forces surpassed those of Sichuan, which was known for its bandits, reaching a total strength of 400,000.

Before the major Eastern power completely wiped out the bandits in Guangxi, the Viet Minh could not receive any favorable assistance. In addition, with the outbreak of the Korean War, the major Eastern power chose to defend the resource-rich Northeast, and the Viet Minh's needs had to be put on hold.

The subsequent evolution was also logical. After the Korean War and the suppression of bandits, the Viet Minh underwent a complete transformation, from a bandit gang that was being chased and beaten by the French army into a regular army capable of fighting siege battles.

When Corman returned to Saigon after his publicly funded tour of Angkor Wat, the occupation of the entire French Indochina was already completed, incredibly smoothly. The Viet Minh, with its tens of thousands of armed men, did not pose much of an obstacle to France. After the French army arrived in Hanoi, the French Indochina colonial government was negotiating with the Viet Minh about the issue of postwar sovereignty of the French Indochina.

"Prime Minister George seems intent on inviting representatives of the Viet Minh to Fontainebleau Palace for talks to discuss the future of French Indochina." Lefèvre knew that Corman had returned to Saigon and sent him a summary of what had happened during this period.

“Understood, but the Viet Minh won’t really negotiate with us.” Koeman thanked Lefevere for not forgetting him as their superior, and said with a smirk, “We won’t really negotiate either. Neither side is sincere. We’ll just stick to the original plan and do our job.”

At this stage, France is emulating the British Commonwealth to establish the French Federation, which means complete independence. The British might give up in this situation, but France will definitely fight a battle to test its strength before deciding whether to give up.

Therefore, the plan to arm the Miao and highland ethnic groups must continue in preparation for the upcoming confrontation. It's too early to be complacent; after all, Chang Gong won't last much longer.

How confident they are when they declare a full-scale offensive, how pathetic they'll be when the time comes.

During the full-scale offensive, the artillery corps held an absolute advantage in almost every aspect, but in the more than 1,000 battles large and small during the Liberation War, it only won more than 20, with a victory rate of only 0.02 percent. A total of 8.07 million soldiers were annihilated or captured.

Even so, some people say that Chiang Kai-shek was the pinnacle of American proxies, and compared to the Vietnam War, the fighting power of South Vietnam was comparable to that of an iron-blooded war god in front of Chiang Kai-shek.

At least against the already powerful Viet Minh, South Vietnam didn't achieve such a low win rate. From the start of the full-scale offensive, the situation became increasingly dire for Chang Gong every day.

Upon returning to Saigon, Coman received commendation from General Dassanio. The French Indochina Authority had successfully completed the logging task of 1.5 million cubic meters, filling the timber shortage in the overseas provinces of Algeria. This was completed two months ahead of schedule. So the next problem arose: "The timber shortage in the mainland is also very large, and the demand far exceeds that in the overseas provinces that have not been affected by the war."

“Of course, logging will continue until the end of the year.” Koman found that General Dashanliu’s idea coincided with his own. After all, timber can take a thousand years to dry, ten thousand years to wet, and only half a year if it’s neither dry nor wet.

If the environment is suitable, the preservation time can be quite long, so some redundancy always needs to be added to the construction.

Even if there's an extra million cubic meters, it wouldn't matter if it were stored in overseas provinces for decades. We also need to consider the demand from future population growth. Therefore, continuing the logging mission is not a problem.

Seeing that Coman shared this view, General Dassanio's face was filled with relief. Now that France had reclaimed northern French Indochina, severely compressing the Viet Minh's living space, General Dassanio felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. "The Prime Minister's government has sent some new information: Paris is preparing for next year's World Expo. This will be the first World Expo since the war, and hopefully it will be a good start."

When it comes to World Expos, although France was not the first country to host one, it is certainly the country most enthusiastic about hosting them.

The concept of soft power was proposed by the Americans, but France was the first country to implement it. Whether it was the modern Olympics or large-scale events like the World Expo, France was an important participant in the early stages.

To date, Paris has hosted six World Expos, making it the city that has hosted the most World Expos in the world. Through these large-scale events, France has spread Paris's fame around the world.

This time, France's theme is world urban development and housing. Koeman may not care too much about the specific theme, but it's clear that Paris will want to project an image of having emerged from the war when the World Expo is held, which means he needs to work even harder.

In other words, French Indochina was to shoulder the heavy responsibility of providing raw materials, since the forests of French Indochina would eventually be destroyed by the Americans anyway, so it was better to contribute to the French Empire.

After leaving the Governor's Palace, Corman went to the French military headquarters to check on the progress of the dialogue between the Hmong and the highland peoples, and then prepared to have a talk with Eva Gardner. Before he could leave, Lefebvre appeared again, "Sir, Boss Gu is looking for you. He says he has brought back more than a hundred households of porcelain workers. Do you want to take a look?"

“We have to see. There are over a hundred households, quite a lot of people.” Upon hearing this, Coman immediately abandoned his idea of ​​indulging in debauchery during the day. He realized that properly settling the lives of these porcelain workers and enriching the French luxury goods industry was of utmost urgency.

Jingdezhen reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. Its subsequent development was a downward spiral, as the absence of a proper government inevitably affected Jingdezhen.

Even after the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, Jingdezhen did not recover. Chang Gong's achievements in economic development were obvious to all, but inflation was severe and the people were suffering. The porcelain industry lacked funds for production, and the supply of fuel and raw materials was difficult.

The porcelain capital has shrunk by almost 90% compared to its size at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Gu Qing, in the guise of a successful overseas Chinese, sent people to Jingdezhen and found a desolate scene.

"Sir, these more than one hundred artisans include those who make clay, paint, kiln, and color—all the artisans in the porcelain industry. This will surely lead to a great development of the porcelain industry in Saigon," Gu Qing said, praising the artisans as he led Koman to visit them.

“Saigon doesn’t need these people; they have a much broader stage to perform on.” Coman shook his head with a smile. “The threat from the Viet Minh still exists, and French Indochina is not stable. France values ​​these exceptional talents highly, and I will apply for French citizenship in Paris.”

Actually, it doesn't have to be so complicated. Koman could have sent these people to the North African overseas provinces, but there's no need to rush it now.

Upon arriving at the place where these artisans were settled, Koman gained a new understanding of the more than one hundred households. At first glance, there should be over a thousand people. He turned his gaze away and asked, "Are all of these people potters?"

Seeing Gu Qing nod, Koman thought to himself that this number of over a hundred families was quite large, indicating that it was slightly different from what he had imagined.

"One-tenth of the porcelain makers in Jingdezhen have come. Many of them have inherited their craftsmanship from the reign of Emperor Qianlong," Gu Qing replied with a self-satisfied tone. Since Koman had outsourced the logistics to the French army in Java, he was naturally going to work hard.

Upon hearing this, Koeman immediately became much more serious and solemnly said, "It seems that this is indeed something we should take seriously. If you have any questions, you can tell me directly."

The pinnacle of porcelain production in this great Eastern country was undoubtedly during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Although the emperor's aesthetic sense has been criticized by some, it is undeniable that aesthetic sense and porcelain-making techniques are not directly related.

On the contrary, it was precisely because of Emperor Qianlong's own requirements for the porcelain industry that porcelain reached its peak during the Qianlong period.

As for the various fancy porcelain pieces made during the Qianlong era, many of them were deliberately manufactured to show off the skills required by Qianlong.

The reason for making it is to combine various techniques into one piece; piling up too many elements results in that shape.

Therefore, do not assume that the porcelain-making craftsmanship during the Qianlong period was not good just because some of the more ornate porcelain pieces lack artistic conception. On the contrary, the ornate designs are proof of the superb craftsmanship of the porcelain industry.

Porcelain with a rich artistic conception could certainly be made during the Qianlong period, but it could not satisfy Qianlong's desire to show off. Don't think that the capability was lacking.

According to official descriptions, porcelain craftsmanship reached unprecedented heights during the Qianlong era, representing the pinnacle of ancient porcelain manufacturing.

“But I remember there should also be people skilled in Suzhou embroidery.” Koman’s good mood lasted only a moment before he immediately revealed the shameless face of a colonizer, waiting for Gu Qing to explain.

“Unlike porcelain makers, Suzhou embroidery artisans don’t have a clearly defined cluster of craftsmen, making it very difficult for us to find them,” Gu Qing hurriedly explained.

“It seems we have no choice but to go through official channels.” Koeman understood but wouldn’t give up. After a moment’s thought, he smiled and said, “Paris is preparing to host the World’s Fair, the first World’s Fair since the war. As a major victorious nation, we will focus on inviting your country. Mr. Gu, wait for me to tell you the categories of handicrafts you want to see.”

If the state is not in harmony, the army cannot be deployed; if the army is not in harmony, the troops cannot be deployed; if the troops are not in harmony, the troops cannot advance into battle; if the battle is not in harmony, victory cannot be achieved. As long as the quality meets the high-premium criteria, Coman must strive to achieve it.

(End of this chapter)