Father of France

Chapter 197 Reasonable Demands
Koeman had just received a telegram from the rice trading center before he could even make it to the Allied Command headquarters, under the pretext of conducting an interrogation in an attempt to get Masyut Party leader Sukiman to confess.

Koeman is not lazy when it comes to communications, but this time it wasn't a message from Gudrun Himmler.

"Go and summon General Li Wenhua. I'll wait here." Coman knew how to balance work and rest. He instructed Borlang to summon General Li Wenhua of the Pingchuan faction, while he checked Martin's reply.

The content addresses the assessment of the Sahara Atlantic Railway, a question that is relatively easy to answer because France had a similar plan before and has some original documents. As for the investigation of the Lake Chad system, that will definitely have to wait.

The overseas provinces of Algeria in North Africa and Morocco, a French protectorate, have some French-built railways. The Sahara Atlantic Railway merely connects the railways of the two regions, so it can be disregarded.

Therefore, the real period of massive investment began in Casablanca, Morocco, and ended in Dakar, Senegal.

The entire route is 2,600 kilometers long, with the most challenging section being a 1,100-kilometer stretch within Western Sahara, which forms part of the desert coastline.

The coastal route does not traverse large mountain ranges like the Atlas or Ahaghar Mountains; the biggest engineering challenges are sand dunes and occasional rocky headlands. This saves enormous sums on tunnel and bridge construction costs.

The construction of the railway could be almost entirely supplied by sea. Building materials, heavy equipment, fuel, and even fresh water could be transported by ship from Casablanca or Dakar to the nearest coast to the construction site, and then transported by truck over short distances.

This is much cheaper, more efficient, and safer than transporting goods thousands of kilometers by truck from the North African interior.

The total investment is estimated at $1.8 billion to $2 billion. The difficulty lies in the fact that the railway line is not far from the coastline, and it will face environmental challenges, with wind, sand and sea breezes certainly putting a double whammy on the railway.

In fact, the issue of the durability of the rails can be solved with Coman's knowledge. The rails of this great Eastern country mainly come from Panzhihua, where there are super-large vanadium-titanium magnetite deposits that are rare in the world.

This type of ore not only contains iron, but also naturally coexists with a variety of rare metal elements such as vanadium and titanium.

The combined effect of vanadium and titanium gives the rails both strength and good toughness, making them less prone to breakage under impact.

These factors result in a much longer overall service life for the rails compared to ordinary steel rails, leading to significant economic benefits throughout their entire lifecycle. This iron ore mine is primarily composed of titanium, not iron.

Koeman didn't bring a map, so he could only find a world map. After glancing at it, he couldn't help but mutter, "Why isn't the destination Guinea? France still has limitations."

What does this mean? Koeman envisioned this railway heading towards Guinea, but it stopped at the Guinean border? That would greatly diminish the significance of the railway.

Without the backing of Guinea's iron ore reserves, this railway would be difficult to attract investors.

Now that the French African colonies were contiguous, it was certain that anything could be accomplished with enough money. France also integrated its African colonies economically.

In December 1945, shortly before de Gaulle's resignation, France formally ratified the Bretton Woods Agreement and was the first to announce currency parity to the International Monetary Fund. Subsequently, the French government implemented the colonial franc system in its colonies, including its African colonies, with the currency used in Africa being the "French African Colonial Franc".

"Including the section to Guinea, it's less than 3,000 kilometers, which shouldn't be a problem for the first phase of the project." Koman didn't have any tools with him; he was just estimating the distance from a world map. They could use the existing railway to supplement it.

However, this problem is neither too big nor too small. The Marshall Plan from the United States only provided France with a little over two billion euros, and it was impossible for them to invest all of it in this railway. Even contributing one billion euros as a token gesture showed France's responsibility as a major world power.

In the long run, this railway will certainly bring huge benefits to the countries along the route and will eventually benefit France itself, but what about the more than twenty successive French governments?
This railway will directly connect Morocco's agricultural products, Mauritania's iron ore mines, and Dakar, West Africa's most important deep-water port, promoting regional trade and yielding clear economic returns.

It would also consolidate French control over the West African coastline and provide a safe north-south transport route that bypasses the Strait of Gibraltar.

"How about we sell the White Tiger Oilfield directly to Standard Oil of New Jersey?" Koeman calculated his own net worth and realized he certainly didn't have the financial strength to shoulder the burden for the country. He was currently filling the hole that France had agreed to for Soviet energy and timber exports.

However, Koeman immediately dismissed the idea. He was not afraid of making sacrifices when the country needed them, but such a large sacrifice was definitely not an option, and besides, France would not agree to it.

The Bach Ho oil field off the coast of Saigon is currently the largest energy base that France can control. While the Soviet Union's transactions were quantifiable, France's energy consumption continues every year, and no government would agree to sell its only large oil field to the United States.

"Judge, General Li Wenhua has arrived." Borlang's timely appearance dispelled Koman's misconceptions.

Koeman was just a captain, while Le Van Hua was a brigadier general—their ranks were worlds apart. If he were a brigadier general, he would be in the Saar region right now, taking Gudrun Himmler on a rocket. However, after the Pingchuan faction was reorganized, Le Van Hua was also controlled by the French officers in his direct command. How could the colonizer and the colonized be completely equal? ​​Respect is always relative.

Fortunately, respect is never an issue for Koeman. As soon as he saw Le Van Hoa appear, Koeman gave him a military salute to show his respect for General Le Van Hoa's status.

"Coman, I didn't expect to see you here." Li Wenhua immediately felt a sense of goodwill and returned the salute, asking gently, "What brings you here?"

“I was planning to interrogate a high-ranking official of the Republic of Indonesia, but my rank is relatively low and I might not be able to exert any deterrent effect, so I thought of a general.” Koman lied without any difficulty. How could he be such a boring person? The real reason would only be more boring. “Your co-founder, Yang Wenming, has been released.”

Li Wen raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "I thought he was destined never to appear again, but I never expected to see him again."

"It was the result of Emperor Bao Dai's request to the Governor-General's Office and Prime Minister Goh Dinh Diem's ​​personal communication." Koman had only been in Jakarta for a few days, and although he had done a lot, not much time had passed.

If we were to speculate on the reason, it might be that Emperor Baoda was unwilling to be a mere puppet and always wanted to demonstrate his presence.

Thinking about it this way, the other founder of the Pyeongcheon faction who was sent in by Coman was actually a good candidate, as he already had considerable influence in Saigon.

Riding together in the prepared Citroën sedan, Koman introduced his work over the past few days since arriving in Java, while Li Wenhua also shared his achievements since arriving.

“Your troops don’t have very good discipline,” Koeman said with a smile. “Of course, this isn’t a big problem. Our military court can handle this. And the responsibility doesn’t lie with the general. Some French officers in the units also bear responsibility for not playing their proper role.”

The Citroën headed straight for the location where Sukiman, the leader of the Masyomei Party, was being held, as was the detention center of Indonesian Vice President Hatta. As for Sukarno himself, he was being held by the Dutch on an outlying island, not in Java.

The prison holding this group of high-ranking Indonesian officials was, of course, built by the Dutch, but it looks quite old. If it were Koeman, he would have blown up the prison and destroyed the evidence before leaving.

That's how Suharto treated the Indonesian Communist Party anyway. He did it in a way that was in line with local customs. He even suggested to the Dutch prison guards, "If we ultimately fail, all traces of modernity brought by the Dutch should be erased."

Even without emulating Suharto, it's perfectly normal for Koeman to think this way. It's like that a country in French Africa refused to join the franc currency zone after gaining independence, so France ultimately chose to destroy all the facilities it had built. This is similar to Koeman's current actions in West Java, which are simply aligned with the country's ideology.

"Sir, your sword?" The Dutch prison guard asked a redundant question, but thankfully he wasn't asking Koeman to hand over his sword. His real question was, "Is this a captured Japanese sword?"

"No," Koman replied with a smile. "Those shoddy, crafted Japanese swords—how many heads can they possibly cut off without leaving a mark? What's the use of just being pretty?"

With the permission from the coalition command, Koman was not stopped and easily saw these early pioneers of the Republic of Indonesia. Sukiman was alright, but what about Vice President Hatta?

If it weren't for the name Muhammad, Koman would have thought he was an immigrant; his face had more East Asian features than those of an Austronesian.

Koman placed the knife in Li Wenhua's hand, examined it for a moment, and said, "Currently, religious extremism in Indonesia has caused enormous harm to all sectors of Indonesian society. As representatives, what do you have to say?"

Both men were political figures who remained in power until the Suharto era, and they contributed to the overthrow of Sukarno.

Needless to say, in terms of their attributes, many of the religious figures that West Java is currently focusing on dealing with regard the two as spiritual leaders.

"I'm giving you one chance now, just one chance: step forward and declare that the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia was a mistake, and unequivocally oppose Sukarno's mistakes." Koman glanced at the prison and the recorder he had brought with him, and then made a reasonable demand to Sukiman and Hatta, which would reduce their political careers to zero.

(End of this chapter)