Chapter 482: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 492 The Old Man: Someone Is Raising Gu in Southeast

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The riot completely swept through all of French Indochina.

This armed struggle, plotted by the Unity Party (Zhongnan Yixin Society), bloomed everywhere at a breathtaking speed.

The Hongji Coal Mine in the north.

Coal miners covered in coal dust threw down their picks and joined the riot.

The French overseers and mine guards who usually threw their weight around were instantly submerged by the tide of miners.

The Red River Wharf.

Shirtless dockworkers suddenly rose up and hurled French Army supplies straight into the rolling Red River.

Unity Party cadres hidden among the workers drew submachine guns and bolt-action rifles and swept the French sentry towers at the wharf with close-range fire.

And across the vast countryside, beacon fires spread everywhere.

Peasants oppressed for decades, wielding sharpened bamboo poles, firewood knives, and homemade hunting guns, charged at isolated French outposts.

The French garrison, usually high and mighty, faced with dozens or even hundreds of times their number of angry villagers, had no choice but to tremble and raise their hands in surrender.

In the end, all the torrents converged on the Hanoi Governor's Office.

The crowd surrounded the Governor's Office so tightly not even water could leak through; slogans and curses echoed across the sky.

The French Guard Company outside the Governor's Office fired a few shots, then threw down their weapons under the heavy encirclement.

Boom—!

The tightly closed iron gate of the Governor's Office was rammed open by a truck.

Dozens of Zhenbei Zongdui fighters in coarse military uniforms, carrying rifles, filed in and quickly controlled all key routes.

In the splendid Governor's Study, Governor De Gu, wearing a crisp naval white dress uniform, sat in a chair, as if waiting for them to arrive.

No way to heaven, no door to earth.

Governor De Gu was escorted to the hall of the Governor's Office.

In the hall at that moment stood an old man dressed simply and with a steady bearing, his back to him.

Governor De Gu looked at him, his eyes full of doubt and unwillingness.

"You're the leader of the Yixin Society? Turn around, let me see! Who exactly are you? Don't always hide in the dark!" Governor De Gu, held by two fighters, lunged forward wildly and shouted.

The old man turned around and smiled at De Gu:

"Governor, I haven't been hiding in the dark; we met at a wine party in Hanoi three years ago."

"You don't remember? You once praised the rich flavor of the coffee from my plantation."

"But back then, you weren't governor yet."

"Also, I must correct one thing: our Zhongnan Yixin Society is now called the Unity Party."

Governor De Gu was struck as if by lightning, frozen in place, a scene flashing quickly through his mind.

He never did recall the man's appearance, but a familiar and bitter coffee taste indeed rose in his mouth.

He never imagined that a plantation owner would be the hidden hand stirring up the winds and clouds of the entire Indochina Peninsula!

A few days later.

The Youth Expeditionary Army camp outside Hanoi.

The atmosphere here had always been tense, but unlike the chaos inside the city, everything here appeared quite orderly amid the tension.

Outside the camp perimeter, dense barbed wire was strung up, and deep trenches and ring-shaped fortifications surrounded the entire camp like an iron barrel.

The muzzles of all the Sanhao Tanks faced outward, serving as the strongest steel firepower points.

On the machine gun positions sandbagged up, ammunition belts for heavy machine guns were already hung; Youth Army soldiers wore their steel helmets low, fingers resting beside the triggers.

For several days, sporadic gunfire and explosions from inside Hanoi kept this wild camp on high alert.

Lv Muzhi issued a death order to the entire army: no one may leave the camp without permission, and no one may interfere in any local bloodshed.

The Youth Army's only duty was to nail themselves down near the railway line and secure the safety and smooth flow of the transport artery.

Inside headquarters, Lv Muzhi was listening to Sun Liren's report.

Sun Liren took off his military cap, his tone carrying a hint of amazement.

"Commander Lu, this Zhongnan Yixin Society is formidable... no, now called the Unity Party, their power is terrifying."

"These past two days, the entire Indochina Peninsula has been in utter chaos, with riots everywhere."

"The Thai Army occupying territory in Laos and Cambodia in the west has also been bitten by them a few times, and is now at their wits' end."

Lv Muzhi blew the foam off his tea:

"Have any of our people been drawn in? Any casualties among the brothers?"

Sun Liren immediately shook his head: "The brothers are all staying put in the camp; the heavy machine guns and tanks are holding the front, not even a mosquito can fly in, and none of our people have gone out."

Lv Muzhi nodded slightly, about to speak, when a cipher communications soldier reported in and ran in quickly.

"Report to Commander Lu! Reliable news from inside the city: the Unity Party executed Governor De Gu by hanging on the square in Hanoi!"

"At the same time, the Unity Party formally announced the abolition of all French colonial laws, took over the government of French Indochina, and established the 'Zhongnan Republic'!"

"What?!" Sun Liren exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.

Hanging an imperial governor, overthrowing colonial rule, declaring independence—this was tantamount to detonating a bombshell in current Southeast Asia.

Sun Liren turned to Lv Muzhi: "Commander Lu, now it's really chaotic; what should we do? Should we retreat back to the country?"

Lv Muzhi gently put down his teacup and pointed at the teacup on the table.

"What's there to panic about? The sky isn't falling. Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink."

"Immediately issue a public statement: the Youth Army's southward advance is solely to protect the Huaxia transportation lines, and we maintain absolute neutrality toward any change in the local regime."

"Whoever wins, we back them!"

"They're busy purging the French right now; as long as they don't provoke the Youth Army, that's their attitude toward us."

"We hold our position and wait for them to come to us to negotiate."

The news that French Indochina had suddenly undergone a change of power and a new country had been established spread like a tsunami across the entire world in an instant.

Vichy France, battered on the European battlefield, and Free France, in exile, issued a joint statement on the very same day—a rare occurrence.

The statement used extremely harsh language, strongly condemning this as a "bottom-line-less rebel force," and threatening that once they had free hands, they would surely dispatch a great army to completely suppress it.

The British also jumped up and down in protest.

After all, the Unity Party's columns in Burma and Malaya were rioting everywhere, shaking the Great British Empire's colonial system to its foundations.

The British issued a public statement on Downing Street, claiming they would absolutely not recognize any illegal regime established through violent means.

At the same time, Hankou, Xia Guo.

The old man held the latest intelligence in his hand, pacing back and forth as he read.

This matter was truly somewhat strange.

But the old man was more worried: they had finally managed to reach an agreement with Free France to go south and protect the railway line.

After expending tremendous effort, Lv Muzhi finally opened up the railway, allowing foreign supplies to enter Xia Guo via French Indochina.

But now the French have been kicked out; if this newborn country submits to the Japanese and cuts off the railway line as well, what are we to do?

Will this newborn country be an enemy of Xia Guo?

The old man stopped to think, then turned to look at Chen Cheng beside him.

"You say this so-called Unity Party and Zhongnan Republic—why is it that, neither biased nor impartial, they just happened to found their country right when Lv Weiyue's great army arrived?"

"Also, the Indochina Peninsula is now in utter chaos, with all kinds of forces—how does it feel like someone is raising gu there?!"