American Strategic Deception Bureau

　To destroy. If there is a bridge, blow it up; if there is no bridge, blast the roadbed, create artificial landslides, and finally lay landmines... In short, they try every possible way to make this road unpassable.

　In fact, since the withdrawal of the French colonists, this section of the road across the Hai Van Ridge has not been repaired much - people in Hue who want to go south mostly take a boat or the sea route, and the same is true for passengers going north to Hue. The road condition has long been in a mess, and the bridges are shaky.

　Therefore, Firi's sabotage operation was very successful, and the hard work of the road construction workers was destroyed in just half a day.

　In short, seeing the winding mountain road over Haiyun Ridge being so brutally destroyed, the escape route to Da Nang was cut off like this, and the refugee vehicles on the distant highway that had not yet passed Haiyun Pass were filled with desperate howls, curses, and deafening car horns.

　The Hue refugees who had already passed the blasted section looked at the billowing smoke and dust behind them with lingering fear, but there was a look of secret joy on their faces.

　——Just like those illegal immigrants in the southern states of the United States who want to weld the car doors shut after getting in, these Vietnamese refugees who have abandoned their homes and jobs to flee from the Hue Plain certainly do not want the North Vietnamese army to chase after them and continue to attack Da Nang, making their trip in vain.

　Of course, even if they passed Haiyun Pass before the road was cut off, it was still too early for them to be happy: the more than one hundred Miao soldiers brought by Major Bill Lyle from Laos were staring at these "rich people" who escaped from Hue by car with hungry eyes.

　As soon as the refugees' cars passed Haiyun Pass, they were stopped by a roadblock. Then, the ferocious Miao soldiers rushed forward, dragged the refugees out of the cars one by one, opened their suitcases savagely, threw their clothes and other belongings on the ground, and roughly searched them.

　Among them was a guy who looked like an official, and wanted to use his status to scold him. However, the Lao Miao people didn't understand Vietnamese at all. They just knew that they had met a troublemaker, so they slapped the man in the face, and his whole face was swollen like a pig's head.

　In short, by the time they successfully passed the checkpoint, everyone had lost some property, and many people were beaten black and blue.

　As for the women among the refugees, they were all groped badly by the Miao soldiers, and some even had their clothes torn off.

　Even more pitiful were the four young nuns who had fled on a truck. Two grenades were found on one of the beautiful nuns. Under the bayonets of the Miao soldiers, they were forced to leave the refugee group. Then, trembling on the roadside, they stripped off their clothes and shoes.

　Although the weather in Vietnam was hot, even without any clothes on, they didn't feel cold. But the wind was still strong on the mountain. Everyone else hunched their necks, their clothes and trouser legs fluttering in the strong wind, but only their snow-white breasts were exposed, trembling in the wind, crying, and cuddling together, trying to use their companions' bodies to maintain their remaining modesty. Then, they were escorted by the "barbarian soldiers" and slowly walked barefoot into the roadside guardhouse.

　"This is their custom. It's to prevent female Vietcong from smuggling weapons. Sir, you'll never imagine that a female Vietcong guerrilla would pull out a pistol or a grenade from some strange place, like her crotch or her hair bun, and then viciously take your life."

　Seeing that Fili noticed the commotion here, Major Lyle, who was standing nearby, explained, "There's no such thing as civilized war here! War won't keep women away!"

　According to Major Lyle, on the Plain of Jars battlefield in Laos, the warring factions, fueled by a mutually reinforcing dynamic, became utterly brutal and brutal. North Vietnamese Kinh troops, as in ancient times, continued to "drive the Hmong out to reclaim their territory," burning Hmong villages on a large scale. Hmong militias retaliated by attacking Kinh villages and carrying out a variety of heinous and bloody reprisals, showing no sign of becoming more civilized with the advent of the 20th century.

　In this guerrilla war that seems to be so long that it seems to have no end, stripping captured enemy women naked, escorting them to the market for public display, humiliating them, and then torturing and killing them depending on the circumstances has almost become the standard method of treatment recognized locally.

　Of course, Major Lyle also knew that this was not the Plain of Jars after all, and the Hue refugees who fled south across the Hai Van Ridge were not Viet Cong spies - at least most of them were not Viet Cong spies. Therefore, the Miao soldiers he brought with him had actually been very restrained, and they were just taking the opportunity to make some money.

　Well, in the context of Major Lyle, a young woman who is alone and without a man to protect her also falls into the category of "oil and water".

　In fact, the Hmong soldiers could see that these four nuns did not look like female Vietcong. So they only forced them to strip naked without any further abuse - if they were really female Vietcong, they would have started driving bamboo sticks into their fingernails!

　“The people in the mountains were very poor. Strong young men couldn’t find wives, so they had to go down the mountain to fight. If they were lucky, they could capture a woman they liked and bring her back.

　Since ancient times, the Miao and Jing peoples have lived like this, fighting each other for land, food, and women, and often resorting to violence against each other.

　Don't worry, I will tell the boys to be careful and not to mess with these nuns here."

　Major Lyle said nonchalantly, "This is not a bad thing. These nuns are helpless anyway. It would be better to assign them to General Wang Bao's soldiers and officers! These mountain people don't care about skin.

　I really like fair and tender city girls..."

　Seeing the young nun being stripped naked and driven into the guardhouse, Fili's lips moved. But in the end, he said nothing, only asking Major Lyle to keep an eye on things later. He just wanted to avoid making any strange noises and getting filmed by reporters.

　——Of course he could save these nuns, but even if he let them go, there was no peaceful place to settle them in this year.

　At present, the entire territory of South Vietnam is engulfed in war, with people suffering and living in dire straits everywhere.

　Even if these nuns were allowed to escape to Da Nang, where the Catholic atmosphere is strong, they might be treated as heretics and slaughtered!

　Compared to being kidnapped by Miao soldiers and taken to the mountains to become a savage woman, I really don't know which ending is better.

　Besides, according to the moral standards of the 20th century, Fili, who kept a group of female slaves at home, could not be considered a good person...

　Well, anyway, the road has been blown up, and this should be the only group of refugees fleeing from Hue via the mountain road.

　There won’t be such disgusting scenes like this in Haiyun Pass again in the near future, right?

　-

　On April 24, General Vang Bao, the legendary Hmong warlord of Laos, arrived at Da Nang Airport by plane and brought with him a battalion of Hmong militia.

　General Vang Pao seemed quite decisive. Upon arriving in Da Nang, he declined the welcoming banquet prepared by General Zun Shiding and drove directly to the Hai Van Ling front to inspect the defenses. After surveying the terrain, General Vang Pao expressed considerable satisfaction and told Phiri that, as long as the US military had sufficient air transport capacity and guaranteed adequate pay and logistics, he could bring in at least 2,000 more Hmong militiamen from Laos.

　Although they were all illiterate light infantry, it should not be a problem for these "mountain people" to fight the Viet Cong in the wilderness of Hai Van Ling.

　The good news above made Firi, who had been worried about the small number of troops in Da Nang, feel a little relieved.

　But following the good news is another shocking piece of bad news!

　——The boss in Saigon has been replaced again!

　It turned out that ever since the young officers assassinated Nguyen Khanh, the commander of the Second Military Region who was leading his troops to Beijing, causing chaos in Saigon, the old general Yang Wenming, who was pushed to the position of leader again by the young officers, saw that the motley crowd assembled by Nguyen Cao Ky, the deputy commander of the Air Force, and Nguyen Van Thieu, the commander of the Fifth Division, seemed unable to defeat the 22nd and 23rd Divisions who wanted to avenge Nguyen Khanh, and gradually showed signs of defeat.

　So, General Yang Ming-Ning actually sent his confidant to secretly contact the Viet Cong headquarters in Cu Chi without telling the other officers, hoping to borrow troops from the Viet Cong!

　Just like on the eve of the October Revolution in Russia, the desperate Russian Provisional Government actually asked Lenin to borrow troops to quell the Cossack rebellion.

　As a result, Yang Ming-Ning's messenger was caught by CIA spies before he even left Saigon. After being tortured to reveal the truth, the commander of the US forces in Vietnam, Hawkins, and the US ambassador, Lodge, were shocked and felt that they could no longer sit idly by and watch the infighting among the South Vietnamese army. They had to take strong measures to stabilize the situation.

　Otherwise, the Viet Cong might be invited to Saigon to take power one day!

　On the evening of April 24, Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Thu, who had taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, and Foreign Minister Vu Van Mau, along with other civilian bureaucrats of the South Vietnamese government, formally invited the United States to send troops to Saigon to suppress the riots in the capital in the name of the South Vietnamese government, with Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Thu acting in the absence of the president.

　Subsequently, General Harkins ordered the US troops stationed in Vietnam to dispatch tanks and armored vehicles to suppress the melee in the streets of Saigon. US Air Force helicopters also set up loudspeakers, shouting and dropping leaflets all over Saigon, demanding that the various South Vietnamese troops involved in the melee cease fire and return to the camp.

　Seeing that the American soldiers had been dispatched to clear the streets, the various rebels who had been fighting in the streets of Saigon for a day quickly dispersed. Nguyen Cao Ky, Nguyen Van Thieu and Du Mao, the masterminds of the coup, were caught off guard and betrayed by their subordinates while fleeing. They were then taken to the US military to seek credit.

　However, Army Commander Yang Wenming and Chief of General Staff Chen Wendun, who were pushed forward by these young officers to serve as fronts, had already disappeared without a trace.

　Because Yang Wenming's comeback lasted only one day, a Japanese reporter wrote about it as "General Yang's One-Day Reign."

　Afterwards, the US military carried out a day-long suppression operation on the streets of Saigon and finally restored order in the city. Looking at Du Mao, Nguyen Cao Ky and other bad guys who were taken to the US Embassy, ​​Ambassador Lodge was really furious and ordered them all to be thrown into the dungeon.

　Then, at this moment, the rebellion instigated by Du Mao had been quelled, and the Saigon regime was only half breath away.

　The troops that Nguyen Cao Ky, Nguyen Van Thieu, Du Mao, and others had assembled to launch a coup and overthrow Nguyen Khanh were completely destroyed. They either fled with their weapons and became thugs and bandits, or were disarmed and imprisoned by American soldiers. The Saigon government's intelligence agencies were completely destroyed.

　As for the other side of the civil war, the 22nd and 23rd Divisions that were brought to Saigon by Nguyen Khanh from the Second Military Region fled Saigon one after another and retreated eastward in a disorderly manner, apparently wanting to return to their base in the Second Military Region. They were not obeying anyone's orders at the moment and could probably not be relied upon for the time being.

　Now, only the US military under the command of General Huggins is left to maintain law and order in Saigon. But the problem is that there are not enough American soldiers!

　——Although the total number of US troops stationed in Vietnam has reached 16,000, a considerable number of them are civilian and logistics personnel.

　Of the total number of American troops, there were only about 5,000 combatants who could actually go to the battlefield, and they were scattered in many places across South Vietnam. There were only 3,000 American troops in Saigon at most.

　With such a small number of men, General Hawkins found it difficult to defend Saigon, let alone other places.

　Therefore, General Huggins sent a telegram to express his approval of Ferry's action of destroying the Hai Van Ling section of Highway 1 on the Da Nang front.

　After all, the US military controlled the South China Sea. If the US or South Vietnamese forces wanted to counterattack Hue, they could have taken the sea route and carried out an amphibious landing. Only if the North Vietnamese army continued south to attack Da Nang would they have to take Highway 1 and advance southward by land.

　Under the current circumstances, there is no way to consider any future counterattack, so it is better to destroy the Haiyunling Highway.

　However, even if Phi, with the assistance of General Zun Shiding and the help of General Vang Pao, managed to hold on to Da Nang in the north and stop the North Vietnamese army's low-level, beggar-like steel torrent, what should be done with the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, which had already swept through several provinces south of Saigon?

　Although Huang Wengao, commander of the Fourth Military Region trapped in Can Tho City, had agreed to send a telegram in support of the Nguyen Ngoc Thu government after being persuaded by American diplomats, he was now in a difficult situation. He had only a few thousand remnants under his command and was constantly being beaten by the Viet Cong guerrillas, suffering repeated defeats.

　Ever since his defeat and escape back to Can Tho City, Huang Wengao has been crying for help all day long. How could he provide military support to Saigon and stabilize the situation in the south?

　At present, Vice President Nguyen Ngoc Thu, who is nominally the leader of the South Vietnamese civilian government and acting as president, is helpless in this regard.

　However, Wu Wenmu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, came up with a brilliant idea and put it into practice with great enthusiasm.

　"Let Huang Wengao leave Can Tho City and transfer to the Second Military Region to take over and pacify the two divisions left by Nguyen Khanh. Then let the leader of the Hoa Hao sect be the commander of the Fourth Military Region? The leader of the Cao Dai sect as the commander of the Third Military Region? Hand over half of South Vietnam to religious armed forces?"

　Upon hearing this news, American advisor Philip, who was in Da Nang, and his assistant, General Tsun Shiding, were both shocked. General Tsun Shiding even muttered, "Isn't this... barbarians guarding the country's borders, and evil cults protecting the country? How could the country have been reduced to this state after the president's death?"

　Well, I have to say, although it sounds a bit embarrassing, when facing the Viet Cong, this method of fighting fire with fire is somewhat effective.

　——Inspired by the Saigon authorities' offer of "recruitment", the religious armed forces of Hoa Hao and Cao Dai began to intensify their attacks on the Viet Cong.

　On April 25, the Hoa Hao militia attacked Ha Tien Port on the Vietnam-Cambodia border and expelled the local Viet Cong troops after several days of fierce fighting.

　On April 26, the Cao Dai militia seized Hei Po Mountain, the highest peak in southern Vietnam, from the Viet Cong and took control of the entire Tay Ninh Province.

　On the same day, Bien Hoa's Catholic militia also repelled a sneak attack by Viet Cong guerrillas and defended the safety of Bien Hoa Airport.

　At the same time, the North Vietnamese army that broke through the demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel north and headed south also stopped advancing after rushing into Hue.

　Firi organized a group of ragtag troops gathered from various corners and waited on Haiyun Ridge for several days, but did not see any North Vietnamese army attack.

　According to the North Vietnamese army radio messages intercepted by the CIA and the investigation by the US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, the four main North Vietnamese divisions that moved south were waging a security war on the Hue Plain, attacking the landlord militia and monk armed groups everywhere, as well as the remnants of the South Vietnam First Military Region that had collapsed and degenerated into gangs.

　Some international observers have suggested that North Vietnam's appetite may be limited, and that their strategic goal would be achieved by simply absorbing the Hue Plain, home to a million people, and the ancient capital, with its immense political symbolism. This would satisfy the Hanoi authorities.

　As a result, the South Vietnamese situation, which had already collapsed, unexpectedly entered a brief period of stability in the last few days of April...

　During the first 48 hours after arriving at Hai Van Ling, Ferry was very worried about the attack by the Viet Cong guerrillas, but then he gradually calmed down.

　By this day, he was even expecting a Vietcong attack, but he waited and waited at Hai Van Pass, but the Vietcong guerrillas did not come.

　The American pilots who had just transferred from Thailand carried out several aerial reconnaissance missions on the northern foot of Hai Van Ridge, but each time they found nothing. In the end, they could only conclude that there was no sign that the North Vietnamese army had approached Hai Van Ridge in recent days.

　As a result, except for Phi Li, the American troops stationed in Vietnam who were urgently transferred from all over Vietnam, the Miao soldiers of General Wang Bao who were airlifted from Laos, and the remnants of the Second Division that Zun Shiding had finally transferred from the Zhu Lai base, could only wait endlessly on Haiyun Ridge.

　By now, four thousand troops had been deployed on the Haiyunling defense line, but apart from digging trenches and setting up tents, they were unable to do anything else.

　For soldiers from various countries camping outdoors, the most dangerous enemy was not the Viet Cong guerrillas who were out there somewhere, but the insects in Vietnam. They flew around in swarms, crawled around, approached quietly, and buzzed. Then they stung and bit people, and almost everyone suffered from them.

　Mosquito nets and insect repellent are useless in the face of these annoying little creatures, and flapping sounds and shouting can be heard from every tent at night.

　During the day, everyone feels depressed, irritable, tired and weak, and can't muster the energy to do anything.

　So much so that this morning, when General Sonmurodin came to inspect, he suggested, "Since the North Vietnamese won't come after us, how about we go after them?"

　But this was impossible because the only road over the mountain had been destroyed, and the rest of the trails were also damaged and covered with a large number of mines.

　When Firi first arranged the Haiyunling defense line, he adopted a completely static defense strategy and did not consider the need for active attacks at all.

　Therefore, the only thing the soldiers could do on Haiyun Ridge was to wait, wait endlessly, day after day.

　Oh, it’s so boring. Let’s go out for a walk and have some fun.

　After saying hello to General Wang Bao, Firi drove a jeep straight away and left Haiyun Pass, which was full of fortifications and camps.

　Just as every war brings abnormal prosperity to certain places, a noisy market has now appeared on the road not far behind the position. Groups of vendors gathered here, shouting loudly, selling various fruits, homemade liquor, wrinkled hand-rolled cigarettes, towels, straw hats, and various small items that Fili can recognize or not recognize to the soldiers.

　They all seemed to know that even the seemingly impoverished Miao soldiers had just received a "generous" reward of $100 each from the Americans. Even after their superiors had deducted some of the money, they should still be well-off with plenty of money and strong spending power.

　Some Vietnamese people also set up open-air restaurants here, set up simple stoves, and cooked various meals and snacks. The pungent smell of fish sauce could be smelled from a long distance away. Although the fish sauce was only unpleasant to the smell and not to the taste, Fili could not stand the smell after all.

　The soldiers, who had eaten and drunk their fill, were playing cards, smoking, chewing betel nuts, and spitting the red betel nut juice onto the ground.

　Of course, in addition to eating and drinking, soldiers who are under tremendous mental pressure also need to satisfy their other physiological desires.

　As early as the second day after the construction of the Haiyunling defense line began, several tent brothels appeared here, which were called "bounce houses" in local slang.

　At the entrance of each tent, young Vietnamese women imitated Western fashions, wearing short shorts and heavy makeup, striking alluring poses and indicating prices with their fingers, just like the streetwalkers in many big cities today. There were also some more uninhibited middle-aged women, lying naked on straw beds, lazily waving wicker fans to shoo away flies circling overhead.

　When the handsome Ferry drove past their tent in a jeep, he immediately attracted a burst of laughter and kisses.

　Obviously, as an American officer with the temporary rank of colonel, Firi certainly looked down on these vulgar women who served ordinary soldiers.

　Moreover, in the past few days, many American soldiers have been infected with sexually transmitted diseases by them and have had to take off their pants to allow medical soldiers to inject penicillin.

　So, he just took a few glances and continued driving down the mountain, heading straight to Da Nang.

　After arriving in Da Nang, Firi first went to the residence near the airport and the headquarters of Major General Zun Shiding to inquire about the news.

　Next, he drove to the Blue Dahlia Bar in the city, which is considered a high-consumption place in Da Nang. The facade is magnificent, and there is a lush green garden outside. The lights in the house are dim. A group of Chinese bar girls wearing Vietnamese national costumes "Ao Dai" long skirts and with beautiful faces are sitting inside seductively, flirting with several wealthy Chinese businessmen and French guys.

　——That’s right, even after the signing of the Geneva Agreement and the disappearance of the French Indochina colony, many descendants of French colonists still remained on the land of South Vietnam and continued to operate their tropical plantations and mines, which also made the South Vietnamese regime always have ties with France.

　From the outside, these Frenchmen looked very similar to the red-neck farmers in the southern states of the United States. Their skin was tanned red by the sun. They wore loose cotton shirts and khaki shorts. They drank ice-cold white wine happily while talking loudly.

　It looks very comfortable.

　Accompanied and flattered by the bar girls, these Frenchmen danced and laughed heartily, completely bewildered by the fact that they were in a city surrounded by war. Of course, Firi knew very well that they were probably not as carefree as they appeared. The evidence was that a considerable number of the most well-dressed drinkers, like stars surrounding the moon, surrounded Dr. Kissinger at the bar, carefully inquiring about the latest news from the outside world.

　"Sorry, I have something to do, beautiful! Please, please make way."

　Fili pushed aside a barmaid who was trying to strike up a conversation with him, as well as two French plantation owners who were blocking his way, and walked over to Dr. Kissinger. "Good afternoon, Doctor. I just came down from Haiyunling. Is there any news worth noting today? Has the country decided to send troops to Vietnam?"

　"How can we officially send troops so quickly? As long as the shells haven't hit the US mainland, Congress will always be slow to act."

　Dr. Kissinger yawned and replied to Firi. Although he was slightly tipsy with an empty bottle in front of him, his mind was clearly still clear. "Besides, even if troops were dispatched from China, Saigon would undoubtedly be the first place they would be deployed. Da Nang would have to take a back seat—unless the North Vietnamese army launched a fierce attack on Hai Van Ridge. By the way, how's the situation at Hai Van Ridge today? Is there any fighting?"

　"It was as peaceful as ever, not even a gunshot could be heard. It seemed as if Ho Chi Minh was truly content with Hue and had no intention of continuing his attack on Da Nang."

　Fili shrugged, sat down on a small swivel chair offered by a hostess, and asked the bartender to bring him a beer. "General Zunshi Ding complained that it was such a waste to pile up so many troops in Haiyun Ridge at once and do nothing with them.

　While we were huddled in Hai Van Ridge, playing staring games with the North Vietnamese across the mountain, Pleiku and Kon Tum in the Second Military Region to the west had been battered by Viet Cong guerrillas, crying out for help. Zun Shiding thought they could use an airplane to transport some troops to Pleiku to help.

　Even if there are extra troops in Da Nang, they can't be wasted on the western plateau! Vietnam's rainy season is coming soon, and no one will be able to move. Even if the Vietcong take Pleiku, they won't be able to continue their advance on Da Nang before the rainy season ends at the end of the year.

　For the Pentagon, General Son Soo-ding's sole mission was to hold Da Nang, resist the North Vietnamese advance southward, and allow the United States to use Da Nang as a landing point when it officially dispatched troops to aid the Vietnam War. "That was all that mattered. Losing more cities was none of his business."

　Dr. Kissinger shook his head and exchanged some mutual intelligence with Firi, and found that the situation in South Vietnam seemed still chaotic and unclear.

　Hoa Hao and Cao Dai armed forces continued to engage in fighting with Viet Cong guerrillas throughout the Mekong Delta, with both sides winning and losing, but neither side made any major progress.