Father of France

Chapter 225 The Promised Land
When people set foot on the new promised land, not everyone was happy. The air was filled not only with the smoke of battle, but also with a deeper, silent hostility from the locals.

Amid the ruins outside the port, some locals stared coldly at the new immigrants. These were survivors of the previous French crackdown.

France has never been ruthless in dealing with such issues, and its plans never take into account the local people's situation, just as France has never cherished the culture of its colonies.

The next plan was clear and ruthless: after suppressing a large-scale uprising and causing a sharp decline in population, a large number of reliable, or at least honest, farmers would be relocated from another turbulent colony—Southeast Asia.

This would consolidate French control over Madagascar, dilute the local population, provide cheap labor for agricultural development and infrastructure reconstruction, and alleviate population pressure in French Indochina. It was a multi-faceted and systematic project.

Regardless of what the locals thought, the plan would continue once it began. After a brief, unenthusiastic welcome, the immigrants were taken to temporary barracks.

The tools they received were crude, and the land they were allocated was often newly "redistributed" from the local indigenous people, or barren, uncultivated corners of land.

With the arrival of immigrants, the Governor-General's Office of Madagascar began to seriously plan the five-year plan. The attempt to reshape Madagascar was so obvious that it had the flavor of "we made the decision, and they carried it out."

The entire plan was filled with grand blueprints from colonial officials and military representatives.

The discussions were filled with rationality and passion, as if they were describing a purely engineering project, rather than a social reconstruction on land that had just been ravaged by bloodshed.

"The first phase is land consolidation and allocation. We have already mapped the land that was unclaimed or reclaimed during the rebellion. These fertile alluvial plains and gentle slopes will be allocated first to the newly arrived Indochinese immigrants to establish model villages."

"At the same time, the western grasslands will be developed into large-scale cash crop plantations. Coffee, vanilla, cloves... We need reliable commodity exports to restore the colony's finances to health as soon as possible. Immigrants will provide us with the necessary, disciplined labor force."

"What about security? It's like adding fuel to the fire for the locals to see their land being divided up by outsiders," a French garrison officer asked, adding that this might increase the army's workload.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant Colonel, I believe the locals are not so forgetful," the colonial official said confidently with a smile, facing the skepticism. "Infrastructure first. We will utilize immigrant labor corps to prioritize the repair and construction of the road network connecting these key areas. This will not only facilitate logistics and trade but also allow our troops and military police to move quickly, ensuring that any signs of instability can be nipped in the bud."

"Of course, for new immigrants, labor alone is not enough. We need to establish bilingual schools, give priority to immigrant children, and encourage some local children to enroll. In the long run, this will cultivate a new generation of elites who are drawn to Paris. We must use plowshares and bulldozers to erase the memory of rebellion and stitch this land back together with new settlements and economic chains. We must make Madagascar no longer a hostile island, but an organic, vibrant, and vital part of the French Federation."

This is also the Paris government's expectation for the future reconstruction of Madagascar, although many people present may not know the source of Paris's concern for Madagascar.

Of course, it was Saigon, the largest city in French Indochina. What could Paris, where the government changed every few months, possibly care about? The consensus that the colony was preserved was that God had not abandoned France.

It's no wonder the telegraph is such a great invention. Through modern communication, Corman learned that the first immigrants had arrived in Madagascar. He finally woke up from his grand dream of having everything, changing the world, and conquering nature. He even had time to check on the progress of Ava Gardner's directorial debut.

Actually, movies that clearly carry a savior mentality and are full of stereotypes are actually a strength of Americans. I don't know if it's because Americans lack culture, but similar movies are full of deliberate intentions that are easy to see through at a glance.

For example, the obviously ugly makeup is something I've never seen in movies from any other country besides American films.

I don't know if it's because of their strong national power that they feel there's no need to hide it, but they have a kind of composure that says you have to endure whatever they're fed.

“You have a misunderstanding about American movies. Actually, Hollywood movies are quite friendly to Asians.” Ava Gardner couldn’t stand Corman’s shameless statement. Although she hadn’t made it to the core of Hollywood before Corman snatched her away, it was still her dream.

Are you trying to say that the image of Chinese people during the World Wars was acceptable?

Koman chuckled and retorted, "You should look at how the United States portrayed the Japanese during the war. That's the true idea behind American movies. As for your opinion that the Chinese are portrayed well, if they can portray the Japanese like that, it's not difficult to portray another ethnic group. In the eyes of the United States, they're all pretty much the same anyway."

Has the US done this kind of thing less often? The US is most adept at grafting its image onto others. In the 1970s and 80s, the Japanese economy had a severe impact on the US, and the US strictly guarded against the intrusion of Japanese culture, but deliberately opened up the dissemination of Hong Kong films. Wasn't that just to muddy the waters?

In the 21st century, many countries have followed suit. As the influence of a major Eastern power has grown, they have begun to try to replicate this strategy with South Korea, aiming to offset the influence of other East Asian countries with genuine cultural dissemination capabilities. Unfortunately, this tactic has been used twice and is no longer particularly effective. Furthermore, times have changed. Japan has little ability to break through the information cocoon created by the United States, while the major Eastern power controls a short video platform, leaving loopholes in the US information cocoon.

Furthermore, with great power comes great responsibility. If someone is not worthy of their position in a small place, they will be abandoned once they lose their role, and the effect of forcing growth will backfire.

The fact that a group of old men acted in movies in Hong Kong serves as a cautionary tale for South Korea. In fact, the South Korean entertainment industry is also aging rapidly, seemingly even faster than Hong Kong back then.

These are principles that Ava Gardner, a peripheral actress who hasn't made it into the core, couldn't possibly understand, and she certainly didn't want to understand. She used her actions to argue and provoke, stepping forward and hugging Koman's head, saying, "Apologize."

"I'm sorry." Clearly feeling the pressure on his face, Koman stretched his neck and apologized in a muffled voice, "I believe that as a human being, I have the basic right to breathe."

“You’ve never cared whether I can breathe or not.” Ava Gardner stood motionless, angrily rebuking the man’s double standards, but a deep breath that followed made her shudder.

This is no ordinary act of defiance; a strong counterattack is necessary, otherwise the man in front of us will only become more arrogant until things spiral out of control.

"I just don't understand, what's wrong with eating a baguette?" Coman kept rambling on, not afraid of anyone. He was only twenty years old, the age when a newborn calf is not afraid of a tigress.

I thought that once I finished all my current tasks, I would have a peaceful period. But things didn't go as planned. A woman who lived in Switzerland couldn't resist my repeated invitations and finally returned to Paris to start her second business.

When the telegram arrived from Paris, Koeman examined it for a long time and concluded, "This means the French Communist Party has been kicked out of the government, and there seems to be no danger."

"Who sent the telegram?" Ava Gardner came out wearing a men's shirt, her eyes full of inquiry.

"Uh, Madame Adile's telegram says that Ms. Chanel has returned to Paris, and we had previously discussed a collaborative project."

Koman opened his mouth, finally finding a suitable way to address his stepmother, "Besides being young and full of vitality, Mrs. Adile has basically no other abilities, darling. Is it possible? Of course, I'm not forcing you, but I think luxury brands suit your physical attributes."

"If I go back, you won't run off somewhere again when I come back this time, will you?" Ava Gardner frankly admitted that she didn't want to go, but since the man had begged her, she couldn't refuse.

"I'm not going anywhere in Saigon until the immigration is over," Coman grinned and assured him. "I hope I'm not so unlucky as to have another colonial riot. These things don't happen all the time."

Koeman has only recently been promoted, and even if there are colonial uprisings, he won't be as proactive this time as he was in Madagascar. He's the kind of person who can work while eating grass, but the kind of selfless dedication to propaganda that the Soviet Union did? Sorry, he's not that kind of person.

Once this wave of Madagascar immigration is complete and no problems arise, Koman will return to his overseas province to properly manage North Africa.

At this time, there were indeed conflicts brewing, but they were not directly related to Koeman. Just a few days earlier, the United Nations had established a special Palestinian Commission to begin consultations on the issue of Palestinian independence. The core of the consultations was whether the Jewish claims should be adopted.

Chinese immigrants from Saigon to Madagascar found the Promised Land, and Jews from Palestine also found the Promised Land.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union believed that the fate of Jews was extremely tragic and that the voices of this tragic group should be heard.

Of course, independent Arab countries, including Syria which had just gained independence from France, strongly opposed it. However, compared with the attitudes of the United States and the Soviet Union, the opposing countries seemed somewhat like chickens and dogs.

The only connection between this matter and Koeman is that many of the Syrian soldiers are from the French First Army, which could become a variable in this brewing storm.

(End of this chapter)