Chapter 250: Easily pull out natives?
"Lieutenant General Morden, do you think Free France can win the final victory?" Governor Degu felt that he should have a good discussion with Lieutenant General Morden.

With so few people in Free France, what future is there in following them?
Although the Allied forces are quite strong, what does this have to do with Free France?
Isn't the dignity of the French army still maintained by Vichy France?
"Compared to Marshal Pétain, I think Free France has more backbone. At least it doesn't have to beg for mercy from the German army."

"Even half of our territory has been occupied by the German army. For soldiers, this is our shame." Lieutenant General Morden said seriously.

"Didn't Free France bow to Britain and the United States?" Governor Degou felt that this guy was a little stubborn.

"Besides, France is no longer the France it once was."

"The world's best army was beaten and surrendered in just over a month. Is this still the French army that swept across Europe?"

Governor Degu's words were a bit too harsh. After all, the French army was also a world power.

It also has many colonies.

Although their spirit and vitality were broken by the German army, their combat effectiveness is still acceptable.

"You are right. The French army today is indeed not the same as it was back then."

"They are more concerned about self-preservation. Even surrender can be said to be so refreshing and refined." Lieutenant General Morden said sarcastically.

Isn't the reason why he identifies with Free France because only Free France is still fighting?

"Lieutenant General Morden, perhaps you have wronged Marshal Pétain. His considerations at the time were based on reality. Many people were tired of war and did not want to continue fighting." Governor Degou felt that he should still say a few good words for Marshal Pétain.

I can't really be misunderstood like this.

"You are right, but we did not suffer too heavy losses at that time. We still had the navy and could have continued to fight." Morden stubbornly believed that if Marshal Pétain had not chosen to surrender, the British army would not have launched a surprise attack on the French fleet.

This caused serious damage to the French naval power.

Seeing that he could not convince the other party, Governor Degu sighed.

"What do you think if the indemnity is reduced? One hundred million taels of silver is too much, it is impossible to take it out. The maximum is 30 million francs. Do you think the Sichuan Army will agree to it?"

The French army has plundered a lot of money in French Indochina over the years, but not as exaggerated as 100 million taels of silver.

Thirty million francs was their limit.

At least Governor Degu himself had to pay a lot of price.

"Your Excellency Governor, the Sichuan Army has no sincerity in negotiations. It will be useless even if you agree to their demands." Lieutenant General Morden said sarcastically.

"Instead of doing this, it would be better to use the 30 million francs to recruit those guerrillas, and maybe even block the Sichuan Army's offensive."

"Let me think about it." Governor Degu knew that the other party was telling the truth, but after knowing Lieutenant General Morden's true thoughts, he felt that it would be better to negotiate peace.

At least it can maintain a little dignity for Vichy France.

If we continue to fight, I'm afraid there will be no dignity at all.

"Your Excellency Governor, my suggestion is that if we really cannot win, we should choose to surrender to General Stilwell. At least this can ensure our dignity. If we are really captured, it would be a real shame." After saying this, Lieutenant General Morden turned and left.

Governor Degu was left standing there in a daze.

…………

"Have the French army agreed to let us enter Hanoi?" Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano of the 4th Division of the Japanese Army said to Major Nojiri and Major Sato while looking at the telegram in his hand.

"Ah? You agreed so soon? Didn't you strictly deny us from entering Hanoi before?" Major Nojiri asked in confusion.

"It's because your methods are too crude. If the Sichuan Army Corps hadn't done a great job in finishing the Bangkok incident, I'm afraid what you did would have been discovered long ago. By then, there would definitely not be a good ending waiting for us." Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano said unhappily.

At this time, Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano had already accepted his fate.

Because not long ago, all the special envoys sent by Terauchi Hisaichi were killed by that bold guy Sato.

So even if he changes sides now, I'm afraid he won't have a good ending.

Being transferred to the reserve is considered a light punishment.

The probability is that he will be executed.

Because he is the military chief and the first person in charge.

After some ideological struggle, Kitano Kenzo finally decided to actively cooperate with them to complete the tasks proposed by the Sichuan Army.

With 200 million yen, he can get at least a million yen in profit, all in US dollars.

If we take this back home, several generations will never have to worry about food and drink.

Since there is no future, I might as well make money.

In fact, he has no future.

At most, I'll be given a nominal title of general when I retire?
As for real power?

A carrot and a pit!

With such little real power, it is not his turn.

There are quite a few members of the Sabre Six in front of him.

Not to mention the chief members of the Sabre Group, they will be given priority for any promotion.

Another point is that all the famous generals who arrived at the Japanese Army's 4th Division did not know how to fight.

Including him, now he is only thinking about making money.

"It's okay. The base camp has no time to take care of other things right now." Major Sato seemed very calm and didn't seem panicked at all.

Because Yuta Jingxia brought him a lot of information, including that the headquarters was sending an additional 200,000 troops to Tianzhu.

Among these 200,000, a portion were drawn from the Chinese battlefield.

In addition, a group of new soldiers were recruited and mixed into a new special division.

A part of this special division was to supplement the Southern Army. Because the situation in India was very good, Hebian Masamitsu kept sending telegrams requesting the headquarters to increase troops.

It was even proposed that all the seized steel and other materials should be shipped back.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the headquarters decided to quickly reinforce the Japanese troops in India.

After all, the Japanese army's demand for steel is very strong now.

In particular, the navy has proposed more than once the need to build new warships.

But because the Yamato had consumed a large amount of steel, Hideki Tojo rejected the navy's request.

But after the Battle of Midway, the navy was weak. If it did not seize the time to build new warships, it would probably be on the verge of defeat.

Now that we know that a large amount of steel needs to be shipped back, we are naturally very concerned.

Not to mention that Chuichi Nagumo was still in the Mediterranean, fighting with the Allied forces.

On the Pacific battlefield, Isoroku Yamamoto was still trying to find the main fleet of the US military.

Therefore, Terauchi Hisaichi has no way to deal with the Southern Army now.

It is precisely based on this confidence that Major Sato is not panicked at all.

"And I don't think Hanoi is a very good place," Major Sato began.

Hearing this, Kitano Kenzo looked at him in confusion. Why did he think it was not a good place?

"Don't forget our mission, which is to capture the French Indochina Navy. We cannot capture naval warships in Hanoi." Major Sato believes that this mission can only be accomplished by going to Haiphong Port.

"You are right, but there is one thing. The previous action in Bangkok has made the French army very wary of us. Going to Haiphong Port now might expose our true purpose." Kitano Kenzo shook his head. He believed that the same plan could not be used repeatedly.

The enemy is not a fool.

Why did all the Siamese naval officers and soldiers die?
And they all attended the banquet hosted by the Japanese army for no reason?

Is there nothing fishy going on here?
After hearing this, Major Sato thought about it carefully and found that it made sense.

"But if we enter Hanoi, I'm afraid we won't be able to successfully defeat the French Indochina Navy."

After all, there are 200 million yen in front of us. If we lose it, wouldn’t it be a huge loss?
"Don't worry, we can capture the French governor and force them to surrender," Kitano Kenzo explained.

"Wait, in that case, wouldn't we be rebels?" A cold light flashed in Major Nojiri's eyes.

"You don't think that after the same thing happened twice in a row, the headquarters would still be foolish enough to believe that this was just an accident?" Kitano Kenzo sneered.

"Don't be naive. Those people in the base camp are not fools. They will only think that we have betrayed and have become part of the Sichuan Army."

Hearing this, Major Sato suddenly felt that it was so difficult to get those 200 million.

No wonder the other party agreed so readily?

Thinking of this, Major Sato couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

The asking price was too low.

"There are only two paths waiting for us now. Either we go all the way on one path, or we cut ties with the Sichuan Army as soon as possible and help the French army defend Hanoi, or even defeat the Sichuan Army." Kitano Kenzo said again.

"Mr. Commander, what do you think?" Major Sato asked back.

"The first path is too risky. Even if we choose to join the Allied forces, in what capacity?" Kitano Kenzo shook his head.

"Are you going to choose the second path?"

"No, the Sichuan Army is difficult to defeat. Even if we can defeat them, we will suffer heavy losses ourselves. With the style of the Fourth Division, it is impossible for them to fight such a losing battle." Kitano Kenzo shook his head and said.

"So what do you mean?" Major Sato was a little confused.

"Go north and enter the territory of China." Kitano Kenzo said while looking at the map.

Sato and Nojiri looked at each other and did not agree immediately, saying they needed to think about it.

After leaving the division headquarters, Major Sato immediately said.

"We cannot keep this division commander. He has no good intentions. He wants all of our Fourth Division to be killed."

"So what do you mean?" Major Nojiri nodded, obviously agreeing with him, but with a confused expression.

"According to the original plan, we will first enter Hanoi, force the French army to surrender, and try to capture the French naval fleet. At the same time, we will announce our joining of the anti-war coalition forces. However, we will never participate in any war."

"Another thing is to add money. Two hundred million yen is too little." Major Sato took a deep breath and told him the plan in his mind.

It is impossible to stick to one path till the end, so what about temporary rebellion?
I'm afraid that by then, they will be the ones who die.

The only choice is to join Yuta Inoue's anti-war alliance and avoid the war.

Wait until the war is over before choosing to go back.

I have to say that Major Sato's plan is much better than Kitano Kenzo's.

"Where is the division commander?" asked Major Nojiri.

"Create an accident and let him die at the hands of the guerrillas." Major Sato pondered for a while and felt that keeping him would be a disaster as the two sides were not on the same page.

Because Kitano Kenzo asked for a larger share of the money more than once.

This had already made Major Sato somewhat dissatisfied, and this time he proposed to take the troops north.

Although the purpose is to make money and rob the Chinese.

But he simply disdains to do such low-level tricks.

You can obviously make a huge sum of money in one go, so why do you want to do something with high risk and low returns?

Since it is a high-risk thing, we naturally have to look at who brings more benefits.

"How much is appropriate?" Major Nojiri couldn't help but ask.

"At least add another 100 million, otherwise there's no deal." Major Sato thought for a while and said.

Soon, Yuta Jingxia conveyed Sato's intention to Cun Yunsheng.

"How greedy! Another 100 million yen! That's a lot of money."

Even though the Japanese yen is depreciating, 300 million yen is more than 30 million US dollars.

If it weren't for this period of time and the funds accumulated in the black market, I'm afraid I really wouldn't be able to get it out.

"Commander, these Japanese are so greedy, why don't we reject their proposal?" Meng Fanle hurriedly advised.

Who knows Cun Yunsheng shook his head and said.

"We can agree to their terms, but I also have a request, which is that they need to train enough armored troops and artillery for us."

The 4th Division is an elite division. Although they like to do business, their training intensity is real.

The actual combat effectiveness is also good!

Letting them come to train will definitely improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.

"Wait? Commander, if I remember correctly, the 4th Division has nearly 30,000 people, and we have less than 20,000 people. Are they training us?" Meng Fan asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Who knows Cun Yunsheng chuckled and said.

"That's right, it's not us, but the natives. The natives in these places have very weak combat capabilities. They need systematic training to improve their combat capabilities, but we simply can't allocate so many soldiers to help them train."

"And the Japanese Army's Fourth Division is very suitable to serve as instructors. With 30,000 people, they can train 300,000 natives, no, 500,000 natives without any problem."

"By then, with these 500,000 natives, will Stilwell still dare to speak to us so loudly?"

Although they are called indigenous people, in fact the main backbone is definitely the local overseas Chinese.

After all, there are eight million overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.

Hearing this, Meng Fan opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say for a moment.

I didn't expect that my boss would play such a big game.

"But how do we deal with the weapons and equipment of these 500,000 natives?" Meng Fanle asked helplessly.

It’s easy to recruit people!
You can recruit them as long as you pay money.

What about key weapons and equipment?
If trained according to the Japanese military standards, 500,000 people would be a considerable number.

"So, the Fourth Division needs to fight for its reputation and take Hanoi intact. By then, with the industrial base left by the French army and a period of accumulation, arming 500,000 natives will definitely not be a problem." Cun Yunsheng said casually.

(End of this chapter)