Chapter 469

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Hanoi, French Colonial Governor-General's Office.

Governor De Gu received news of the fall of Lang Son and the death of Manerite, and overnight sent a telegram requesting peace to Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito of the Fifth Division.

Since we can't win, let's join them!

This is the survival wisdom Vichy France summed up in Europe.

Nakamura Akito had no intention of driving the French out completely; he accepted the peace request, and both sides would coexist in the colony, after all he still needed the French to help maintain basic social order.

At the end of September 1940, Nakamura Akito led fully armed Japanese soldiers, swaggering into Hanoi, to negotiate with Governor De Gu.

The Vietnamese residents inside the city actually danced with joy, welcoming the Japanese army into the city.

They thought the Japanese drove out the French colonists and came to liberate them.

After all, both being Asian yellow-skinned people, the blond, white-skinned French were more like enemies.

However, the local residents would soon realize that the Japanese army was more like demons and enemies than the French!

Both sides sat down at the negotiating table; Governor De Gu's hands were trembling slightly, while Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito's face was full of the victor's pride.

A document titled "Japan-France Joint Defense of Indochina Agreement" was soon placed on the table.

The agreement stipulated: the Japanese army and the French army would jointly defend Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in Indochina.

The Japanese army not only enjoyed unrestricted garrison rights in Indochina, but also possessed enormous economic privileges.

As soon as the signing ceremony ended, Nakamura Akito impatiently knocked on the table:

"Your Excellency the Governor, since it is joint defense, the Imperial Japanese Army has paid a huge price to protect France's colonies."

"This price cannot be borne by us alone."

"You need to produce rice, minerals, rubber... all strategic resources that can be produced on this land must be supplied to the Japanese army according to the agreement!"

Governor De Gu had already requested instructions from the Vichy government via transoceanic telegram regarding whether they agreed to the agreement's content; the reply consisted of only two words: Agreed.

Thus, another exploiter was added atop the heads of the people of French Indochina.

The local residents would suffer double exploitation from both the French colonial authorities and the Japanese army.

"Whatever is stipulated in the agreement, we will carry out. However, General Your Excellency, I have a request." Governor De Gu lowered his posture.

"In the mountains of this land, there are still a large number of resistance forces that do not submit to rule."

"I hope the Japanese army can assist us in wiping out these rebels; it is good for both of us."

Nakamura Akito frowned: "You mean the guerrillas?"

Governor De Gu spread out a map.

"That's right. These guerrillas are a mixed bag; there are Vietnamese Kuomintang supported by Xia Guo, and there are Bolsheviks."

"The largest force among them is an organization called the 'Zhongnan Yixin Society'."

When De Gu mentioned this name, he glanced at Lieutenant General Nakamura and said solemnly:

"This organization is extremely inflammatory; their slogan is: Asia is the Asians' Asia."

Lieutenant General Nakamura laughed heartily: "That's just right! It coincides with our Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere! I think we will be friends with them!"

Governor De Gu was stunned: "You can certainly try; their goal is not only to drive out the French, but the British in Burma are also their hostile targets, and their ultimate goal is to establish a great power that unifies the entire Indochina Peninsula."

According to De Gu's introduction, the Zhongnan Yixin Society's traceable activities began in 1930, and have developed for ten years until now.

Members are spread throughout Southeast Asia, and they have a guerrilla force of tens of thousands.

Just in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in French Indochina, the Zhongnan Yixin Society's guerrilla armed forces number twenty thousand.

Even more terrifying is that this theory of "Asian Unity" is very popular in Southeast Asia.

The small countries of Southeast Asia have long been colonized; the awakening of national consciousness has made them begin to be dissatisfied with this status quo.

If they want to avoid being oppressed by great powers, the various countries of the Indochina Peninsula first uniting to become a great power is the most effective method!

From British Burma to Malaya, and even the Dutch East Indies, there are quite a few secret branches of the Yixin Society.

Over the past ten years, they have attempted to unite the national forces of the entire peninsula to fight against all colonists and imperialism.

After hearing this, Nakamura Akito sneered disdainfully.

"Enough, enough, Yixin Society? I've remembered it! I don't care whether the Indochina Peninsula can be of one heart, but in the face of the Fifth Division's steel and artillery fire, these slogans are meaningless."

"If they dare to provoke me, I will dig them all out and exterminate them!"

Nakamura Akito's top priority now is plundering resources; as for those resistance forces hiding in mountain gullies, he did not take them seriously at all.

Because the Japanese army joined the Axis Powers alliance, the United States is increasingly dissatisfied with Japan and has already banned the export of steel to Japan.

In the eyes of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, if the United States dares to ban steel exports today, it dares to ban oil exports tomorrow!

The Japanese army cannot sit and wait for death; it must quickly seize the resources of Southeast Asia in hand!

Soon, more than thirty thousand Japanese soldiers surged into Indochina like hungry locusts.

The French colonists, in order to meet the needs of the Vichy government at home and their ally Hans, also began a frenzied scramble.

The people of Indochina, who originally lived a hard life, instantly fell into hell.

They not only had to give grain to the French, but also pay taxes to the Japanese, suffering double exploitation.

Two grain taxes crushed a large number of families that were originally barely making ends meet, and destroyed countless poor families.

One afternoon in late October, in a small town named Suli Town in Northern Vietnam.

A Japanese squad, accompanied by a French infantry platoon and a colonial army infantry platoon, over a hundred men strong, rushed in with great momentum.

The devil squad leader Second Lieutenant Tanaka Kazuo stopped in front of the town hall and, through a translator, asked the French platoon leader Pierre:

"Why hasn't the grain from Surizhen been handed over after the autumn harvest?"

Company Commander Pierre shrugged. "Second Lieutenant, there are over eight hundred people in the town, and the fields only produce so much grain."

"They say they'll either hand over the French Army's share or the Japanese Army's share, but they absolutely cannot pay both, otherwise they'll starve to death."

"The surrounding dozens of villages have the same attitude; they don't accept double taxation."

After hearing the translator's words, Tanaka Kazuo's complexion turned grim and cold.

"They don't accept?"

"In the dictionary of the Imperial Japanese Army of the Great Japanese Empire, there are no three words 'don't accept'."

"Since they don't want to hand over grain, keeping their lives is useless anyway."

Tanaka Kazuo ordered the Japanese soldiers behind him: "Search all residents and gather them in the Square!"

"Let them see blood, let the surrounding... no, let these natives see what happens when resisting the Imperial Army!"

French Army Platoon Leader Pierre was shocked; he thought they were just here to intimidate, but unexpectedly the Japanese were directly going to draw blades.

On Zhen Zi, there was a sudden commotion of chickens flying and dogs jumping, with crying and pleading voices rising together.

Terrified residents were driven by bayonets, stumbling as they gathered in the middle of the Square.

Behind a dilapidated grass hut, a mother tightly covered her seven-year-old son's mouth.

"Run quickly... crawl out through the dog hole."

"Your father is in the Yixin Society; go find him at the back mountain!"

The child's face was full of tear tracks, and under his mother's pushing, he quietly crawled out of the dog hole without a sound.

Not long after the child escaped, Tanaka Kazuo personally carried out the execution.

More than ten selected tax resisters fell into a pool of blood.

The townspeople knelt on the ground trembling, not daring to raise their heads.

French Army Platoon Leader Pierre finally couldn't bear it anymore; he stepped forward and stood in front of Tanaka Kazuo.

"Second Lieutenant, enough! Please stop!"

"If you kill everyone, who will farm the land for us? Who will provide grain?"

"We're not here for a slaughter competition; we can't drain the pond to catch all the fish."

Pierre's words made Tanaka Kazuo stop his blade; he wiped his blood-stained military sword with a handkerchief and laughed hehe.

"Platoon Leader Pierre, your suggestion is very pragmatic; in terms of managing colonies, the French indeed know more."

"Since that's the case, then leave them a path to survival and let them continue to work."

Tanaka Kazuo put away his blade, then waved his hand at his subordinates.

"Start looting! Find all the grain and property for me!"

Seeing the Japanese start to openly rob, Pierre was not to be outdone, and waved his hand at his own subordinates.

"Move quickly, take back the grain tax that belongs to France as well."

"Don't let these rough Japanese soldiers rob everything clean!"

Wails filled Surizhen; the Japanese Army and French Army ran back and forth in Zhen Zi, looting property, laughing and scolding.

Truly Satan in Hell, demons in the human world!