Chapter 766 Arrival in Saigon
The straight line distance from British Malaya to the soon-to-be-vanished French South Vietnam is not very far, and the current situation is not urgent, taking a boat is a good choice.
On the azure sea, a large passenger ship hitching a ride on Allen Wilson’s team, of course the other corner of this passenger ship, there is also Vivien Lei with a group of Summer Dream, Yachigusa Kaoru, this is all completely coincidental, there is nothing to say.
Even more coincidentally, Alan Wilson had stumbled upon Fei Wenli’s whereabouts, and pairing up became logical. This did not arouse anyone’s suspicion.
As for why Vivien Leigh and her entourage went to Vietnam, Alan Wilson how to know, through and through is coincidence.
“Really want to prepare to rest? Making the same choice as Greta?” Holding the petite Fei Wenli in his arms, Alan Wilson seemed to be able to feel the passenger ship swaying with the waves, the power of Mother Earth is no greater than this.
“Don’t want to go on, right now I just want to be by your side.” Vivienne rubbed against the man’s chest, the kitten-like motion soothing her that she wished time would just stay.
It wasn’t good for Allen Wilson to come over and visit Vivien Leigh during the day, how could he find an excuse? He is not alone out, accompanied by Su Yang and Tian Qianqiu and other people, a total of seven or eight carefully cultivated buyers.
In the passenger ship Allen Wilson front and back, the target is a little too big, want to visit the national treasure also need to have a justifiable reason.
On the surface, it is for security reasons, so that Vivien Lei and others appear in the line of sight, but the reason for this thing always need to be changed diligently.
There is nothing more exciting than a life like this, and Allen Wilson is one of those people who, when he does something, puts his whole self into it unstintingly.
The same is true for the sailors of the passenger ships; England is never short of men who are interested in the sea, and who know it as well as they know their gardens. The azure sea hides too many secrets in those infinite waves, and conquering it and owning it created the splendor of the British Empire, although that splendor is fading now.
Sitting in the open area of the passenger ship Allen Wilson, the eyes from the distant horizon back, just now he briefly froze, by no means by the mystery of the sea, through froze to let his eyes rest a little time, he was recalling Vivien Lei delicate body, she half lying, delicate body without half cover.
It wasn’t until another passenger on the passenger liner walked by that Alan Wilson was interrupted from relaxing his mind into his speculations.
“Well, you know what you were brought here for.” Allen Wilson coughed lightly, if it wasn’t for the uninvited guest that just passed by, he might have continued to rest for a while.
Don’t know when, Su Yang, Tian Qianqiu several people have sat down, before Allen Wilson has just been fully focused on the froth, is not found when several people came, but this is not relevant, with the always inscrutable micro-expression, after many movie queen training acting, reasoning is not straight also strong.
“It’s actually unknown!” Su Yang opened his mouth and replied, “Lord Zhongtang, this time going to Vietnam and taking us with him, in itself made a few of us a little surprised, I don’t know why.”
“I am a person who knows how to share, especially with my friends.” Alan Wilson’s gaze swept past several people’s faces and said with a warm smile, “There’s a saying in England that blood is thicker than water, and there are quite a few Chinese in Vietnam na. I’m not wrong, how can a true businessman only focus his eyes on what he can see, who says that Xiangjiang businessmen can only do business in Xiangjiang? Likewise, you can’t just focus on Malaya, the whole of Southeast Asia is so big.”
“What Lord Zhongtang said is true!” Tian Qianqiu, the merchant with the same name as a well-known historical figure from the time of Emperor Wu, first spoke up in agreement, “We all understand in our hearts that our current wealth cannot be separated from the support of the British Empire.”
“The British Empire will not support it, I personally support it more.” Alan Wilson corrected without a trace, “You should know that the monarch of Sarawak is my wife, and I’m not willing to radicalize the colony’s ethnic relations, but that doesn’t mean I don’t dare.”
The crowd all nodded, knowing that the Englishman in front of them definitely had the power to do so, and opened their mouths to show their loyalty to the Lord Lieutenant.
“In fact, the nature of this world hasn’t changed, technology doesn’t progress endlessly, there will always be a time of stagnation, and one pot of rice can’t be eaten by an unlimited number of people, there will always be the question of who has more and who has less. I know that the Chinese in Southeast Asia all have not a small amount of economic power, let me remind you, choosing the Soviet system, you businessmen who are defined as buyers, your family property can not be preserved, so even if it is for your own sake, you should figure out exactly who you should stand with.”
Alan Wilson said that some industries in Southeast Asia are controlled in the hands of the Chinese, in fact, there are exceptions to this, and post-unification Vietnam is actually the exception, Vietnam’s collectivization is not considered a success, but it is considered a success in some areas, and the Chinese have been in Southeast Asia since the colonial era, and they are the ethnic group that was brought in by the colonizers to check and balance the locals.
Just as many colonies in the British Empire had a role for Indians, this was certainly true in the French colonies, and in later times I have not heard of any ethnic Chinese in Vietnam who were particularly powerful, so it can be seen that the economic status of the ethnic Chinese was wiped out in the midst of the turmoil that followed the unification of Vietnam.
This is something that even Suharto in Indonesia did not do, but Vietnam did. But now in Vietnam, as in other Southeast Asian countries and regions, the economic power of the Chinese is not small, concentrated in Hanoi and Saigon, mainly in the big cities.
This time to Vietnam to borrow the power, certainly through these already in the Malayan colony has made some achievements in the buyers, and the local Chinese businessmen to establish a layer of intimate relations.
As for the official level, and the French communication, do not need Su Yang these buyers care, he will arrive in Saigon and talk to the French, two-pronged approach not to worry about the big things.
Saigon is now the largest city in Vietnam, with a larger population than Hanoi in the north.
After all, Saigon is located in a great location, after all, is the mouth of the Lancang River, geographically analyzed, if Vietnam and Cambodia if a country, Saigon’s geographic advantage will be increased even more, completely left Hanoi behind.
From this point of view, the existence of Cambodia should be thanked for compressing Saigon’s geographic advantage and preserving the balance between North and South Vietnam. The relationship between Saigon and Hanoi is like that between the magic capital and the imperial capital, with the former having an overwhelming geographical advantage.
Saigon in this era, in the eyes of Alan Wilson, who had already landed, was not as good as Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Malayan colony at this point in time, with all of its city planning. What was better than Kuala Lumpur was that Saigon had more people.
Hanoi in the north, although currently still in the hands of the French, but Allen Wilson also knows that now Hanoi’s hearts and minds, who all know that the French army will soon be withdrawn from North Vietnam, it is estimated that many of Hanoi’s citizens are embroidering red flags all night.
But the tangled citizens of Hanoi do not have to worry, sooner or later Saigon is also the same, the U.S. Army withdrawal will also leave behind the world-famous painting of the Saigon Iron Fist, so that the whole world will know that the U.S. Army’s moment of gray also has a classic to pass on.
Even at this time Alan Wilson, have been a little impatient, hoping to fast forward to Saigon Iron Fist.
Of course this is just a thought, Allen Wilson knows in his heart, in fact, the United States retreat, has tried to take the South Vietnamese who have served the United States, the United States more than two million people of Vietnamese descent within the country is proof.
For Vivien Lei several people arranged a safe and convenient apartment, and then Su Yang and other people settled, Alan Wilson went directly to the location of the British Military Advisory Group.
The role of the British Military Advisory Group in Vietnam during this time, if the truth is that there is no role. Watching the French defeat is to be considered a role, then even if there is a role.
On the way to the location of the British Military Advisory Group, he also saw some South Vietnamese girls holding the hands of the French, I do not know what they are talking about, is it to let the French soldiers to take themselves away when they withdraw?
“The French are all hard on the women of their own country, most of them can’t leave.” Alan Wilson shook his head slightly when he saw this scene, France can be far less responsible than the Americans when it comes to evacuation.
He was qualified enough to insult France, he had just returned to Europe nine years ago and had performed acts of justice in the streets of Paris.
The British military advisors had offered little more than to inform that Hanoi was still in French hands and had not yet fallen into the hands of the Viet Cong.
Alan Wilson expressed his gratitude, and that would have been considered relatively important news, the role of the British military advisory group to Vietnam was limited to seeing the French fight a losing battle, and he didn’t expect to get any secret information.
“Alan, what brings you to Saigon yourself?” A lieutenant colonel named Klein inquired, “You’re the commissioner of Malaya, do you usually have so much time to walk around?”
“London promised the French some degree of help in withdrawing their troops. I didn’t feel comfortable coming over to see for myself.” Alan Wilson replied with a smile, uneasy is true, but help depends on what angle. “Is General Navarre still around? I wonder how he’s feeling.”
Several military advisors shook their heads, truthfully in the future General Nawal’s military career would definitely be affected. After all, the defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu could not be said to be meritorious in any way, “We feel that he is not in a good mood. Do you want to meet with him?”
“Why not, he’s the commander of the French army here.” Allen Wilson snorted and chatted for a while before Allen Wilson left this military base, now it was time to meet up with his old friend.
After a day’s interval, Allen Wilson had arrived at the French Army Command in Saigon, led by a few gendarmes, he met Nawal at this time, in fact, General Nawal’s appearance was definitely enough for a famous general’s demeanor, but after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu it was only demeanor that was left.