Father of France

Chapter 234 The Marshall Plan Takes Root

The more vested interests remain, the more burdened the new dynasty will be from the start, making it impossible for it to embark on its journey unburdened.

When chaos comes, the land is scorched and people starve to death; for a new dynasty, it is merely a necessary stage.

Whether it was the Xin Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, or the Sui Dynasty, all of them usurped the throne and preserved the original ruling class. How could the continuation of the previous dynasty really involve internal strife? Among the usurped dynasties, the Song Dynasty was considered the pinnacle. But the Song Dynasty was good in every way. Its economy, culture, and business acumen were impeccable. However, its lack of martial virtue was a fatal flaw.

If the Song Dynasty was a dynasty with little connection to the previous dynasty, and truly rose from nothing through war, it would not have been unable to fight after a large-scale civil war.

A nation truly established through conquest, even if its military prowess wanes later, cannot be demonstrated in its founding period. The Song Dynasty's inability to wage war actually began with the inability of the Five Dynasties regimes after the Later Tang to contend with the Liao Dynasty.

A dynasty that is established through conquest will inevitably have a period of expansion, even for minority regimes. No one has the final say as much as I do; if you can't conquer, they would have rebelled against you long ago.

When you are on the battlefield, you are the great Emperor Qian Yuan, you are the Great Qing Dynasty; when you cannot defeat the Anglo-French allied forces, you are the Qing demon.

The internal contradictions of the Qing Dynasty suddenly escalated after 1840, which was due to the defeat in the Opium War.

However, the Opium War did not have a significant impact on the Qing Dynasty. It was just a problem along the coast. Previously, the Japanese pirates had also been rampant for a long time during the Ming Dynasty, so it was easy to shift the blame.

Every defeat in foreign wars was a boomerang for the Qing Dynasty. What made Coman most uneasy was that the Qing Dynasty actually had an ancestral rule against ceding territory. He didn't know who set it down, but he felt that he was truly invincible and that there was absolutely no way that such a rule could exist.

Before his death, Emperor Daoguang specifically stated that he had been defeated in battle and ceded territory, and therefore was not qualified to be worshipped.

Ultimately, China was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War. Many voices began to believe that the Qing Dynasty might be coming to an end. The blow of losing to Japan was greater than the combined blows of losing to Britain, France, and Russia.

Once this batch of sleepers is resolved, Corman will return to the overseas provinces. He must let Lefèvre know where the problem originated and truly show that Vietnam is no match for France.

Without the influence of the major Eastern power, the Viet Minh, though troublesome, would not have found it so easy to drive France away.

“Historically speaking, once a new government emerges after a large-scale civil war, it will immediately expand on a massive scale. Neither Korea nor Vietnam has been spared.” Koeman had to pull out a map of East Asia and once again demonstrate his profound knowledge of both East and West, emphasizing the actions of successive dynasties in Vietnam and Korea.

If a dynasty wants to be qualified in terms of military virtue, Korea and Vietnam are the necessary models to follow.

"There's no way to avoid it; it's just a matter of timing. What we can do is try to have something happen on the Korean Peninsula first. If something happens on the Korean Peninsula first, we can simultaneously make orderly preparations and evacuate French Indochina at the lowest possible cost."

Koeman then whispered to Lefevere, "This is just a prediction. Keep it to yourself and don't spread it around. Your comrades don't like hearing about these things."

Lefève nodded solemnly. He held Corman in high esteem. Corman was by no means an indecisive man, as evidenced by the success of the French military operation in West Java, which focused on food control and successfully quelled the resistance in one-third of Java.

The estimate that more than one million people starved to death in West Java is just a rough estimate.

France did not keep statistics; they only gave a predicted number when asked by Saigon authorities. Lefebvre himself did not know how many people actually died.

Now that the Dutch have witnessed the French army's resounding victory, they are preparing to replicate it in Central Java and East Java.

Whether the Dutch would succeed was unknown. Lefèvre's return to Saigon was also a return to French Indochina to regroup after the French army had fulfilled its responsibility of maintaining the unity of the colonial empire.

"But the Korean Peninsula is in the hands of the United States and the Soviet Union, would they dare?" Lefebvre thought. If Koeman's analysis was correct, shouldn't they first target French Indochina?
"The Korean Peninsula involves the security of the largest industrial center, much like Stalin could not tolerate the loss of Stalingrad."

Koeman patiently explained to Lefevere, “This country doesn’t really value human life that much. It’s similar to modern France and Russia. Revolutionary countries have something in common, except that their history of not caring about human life is much longer than ours.”

When his subordinates had questions, Koman, of course, answered them without hesitation, quickly concluding with a brief account of the historical record of fifty percent of the population ascending to heaven during a dynastic change in a major Eastern power. If things got heated, fifty percent wouldn't be enough; if only two or three forces were involved in the conflict, the situation would be slightly better.

If more forces are involved, a 50% population loss is unstoppable. Even during the Three Kingdoms period, some recovery had already occurred. Before the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, during the time of the Eighteen Warlords, any province or county felt that the Mandate of Heaven was on their side, which was truly deadly.

The end of the Sui Dynasty was also terrifying. You should know that the General of the Heavenly Strategy single-handedly led the Tang Dynasty to its current glory. From the establishment of the Tang Dynasty to defeating various outstanding middle-aged men, it only took six years to unify the world.

Emperor Yang of Sui should really thank General Tian Ce for saving his reputation; otherwise, the Sui Dynasty would have been destined to be a dynasty with an even lower reputation than the Jin Dynasty.

“Take our own country as an example. After the French Revolution, Napoleon soon began to expand. The Soviet Union also spent some time restoring the territory of Tsarist Russia before the outbreak of World War II. So there is a motivation for this. A large-scale civil war will train a group of soldiers who are good at fighting and are not necessarily afraid of war.”

Koeman stated that the Korean Peninsula might be the starting point, and French Indochina should follow. "We need to be prepared to make the most of local resources within five years to allow the mainland to recover and even develop. There are also many resources needed in overseas provinces. Equatorial Africa is in very poor condition right now, and we also need time to develop it. I have already spoken with these wealthy Chinese in Saigon, and they will help you in the same way they helped me."

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the French and Vietnamese National Army troops in West Java will soon withdraw, taking with them the wealth looted from West Java, including but not limited to mosques, and return to French Indochina.

As for the rest, the Dutch are responsible for it themselves. France has already done more than enough. France has already resolved the issue of one-third of Java. Why would they expect the French army to resolve everything? It's not like those are French colonies.

"The current efforts in French Indochina are to buy time for the country. We must complete the integration of French Africa as soon as possible. Integration requires resources and investment. But the country's finances are limited, so we can only think of ways to achieve this here. Relocating a group of immigrants to Madagascar is also for this purpose."

“What the commander means is that we must now use the lives of soldiers to buy time for the integration of our homeland and Africa,” Lefevere said, opening his mouth slightly. “There must always be sacrifices for the country.”

Lefebvre now suspects that Corman's recent presentation of the death toll from another country's civil war was actually a way of indirectly telling Lefebvre, through the example of the great Eastern power, that he should be prepared for the casualties that would result from the French army's persistence in French Indochina.

Of course that's the purpose; what other purpose could there be?
France would not follow Britain's example of leaving British India without a word; it would definitely fight a battle before discussing withdrawal.

Koeman now only wants to avoid a humiliating moment like Dien Bien Phu. If the French army were really besieged in Dien Bien Phu, he might follow the example of the Sui Dynasty's destruction of Ye City and treat Hanoi as the unfortunate one.

This would be bad for everyone, and it would also damage France's ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

"It's good that you know." Koman felt that his last-minute preparations had been effective. "I will apply to you for the position of Chief Executive of the Embankment Military Court. It's a pity that my rank is a bit low, otherwise it wouldn't just be the Executive Court. Embankment still has too many people, and our current ranks are not up to the task."

It's better to share happiness than to enjoy it alone. Koman will definitely help a group of comrades of similar age to himself, preferably those from the Youth Division, or, if the scope is expanded, those from the First Army Group, and even Syrian immigrants.

Thinking about it this way, isn't he just another version of someone from Zhejiang, a replica of the Whampoa Military Academy faction? He actually has the potential to be a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

While Coman was helping Lefèvre connect with wealthy Chinese on the embankment, a gust of wind from Paris finally reached French Indochina. The Socialist government collapsed, and the People's Republican Movement elected Schuman to form a government. Now, after the reforms of the previous Socialist prime minister, Schuman, who could also be called the chairman of the Council of Ministers, took office as the Prime Minister of France.

Schumann's top priority upon taking office was to implement the Marshall Plan. After taking office, Schumann established a special agency to manage aid funds and incorporate them into the national budget. This agency was led by Monnet.

This was something Washington had repeatedly demanded, and Schuman compromised, agreeing to the US conditions and joining the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OECD), which was jointly established by other recipient countries.

Upon assuming power, Schumann immediately convened a National Assembly meeting to discuss the allocation of funds for the Marshall Plan. The first major item was investment in basic industries such as steel, cement, and machinery manufacturing.

The second major item is the restoration and modernization of the railway, port and road networks, which are the lifeblood of the economy. This item includes funding for the Mediterranean railway connection project.

The third largest category is funds for energy imports and food imports, which together account for 30 percent.

In another world, France's Marshall Plan funds were mainly used to import energy, with oil imports alone accounting for 30 percent of the total. Corman did make some contributions, sacrificing some Southeast Asians, including Indonesians, to optimize France's use of Marshall Plan funds.

(End of this chapter)