American Strategic Deception Bureau

　In the past, the hipster style was to drink coffee, but in the future it will be to wear Hanfu and eat antique snacks?

　Chapter 273: Vietnam War Refugee Camps in the Sonoran Desert

　July 28, 1963, Southern California

　Endless desert, scorching hot sand, this is nature's cursed land, the Sonoran Desert.

　Standing beside the highway and looking around, apart from the small oasis at your feet, where a hint of green still remains, representing life, the rest of the place is just rocky mountains that have faded into reddish-brown due to the sun, the gray-yellow dry desert, and the white salt lake reflecting the scorching sunlight.

　Anyone standing here can only feel the desolation and heat, and the deep despair brought by the two.

　In the dreadful 44-degree Celsius temperature, under the blazing sun overhead, Lieutenant Colonel Ferry King gazed at the endless yellow sand, bare rocky mountains, and sparse cacti all around him. He spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm mixed with sand. Then, looking at the desert road, baked like a teppanyaki grill by the scorching sun, and the old iron houses in the distance, reflecting the dazzling white light like building blocks, he finally couldn't help but curse: "Damn it! Who on earth was so smart as to put a Vietnamese refugee camp in the desert?"

　"It seems to be recycling, sir. During World War II, this was a concentration camp for Japanese American citizens."

　Wolf Lee, a fat, sweaty Texas radio operator, gulped down a Pepsi-Cola while reporting to Firi, "The people above probably think that if the Japanese could live here 20 years ago, the Vietnamese should be able to adapt now.

　Back then, the Japanese had to build their own concentration camps. Now, the Vietnamese have ready-made houses to live in, which is already pretty good!

　Japanese American concentration camps?

　Uh, now I remember, more than 20 years ago, at the beginning of the Pacific War, because of rumors that Japanese immigrants in the United States were full of spies, the US government ordered the centralized supervision of Japanese immigrants, forcibly expelled Japanese immigrants from cities and farms, and exiled them to the mountains and deserts.

　These Japanese immigrants, who likely no longer spoke Japanese, carried only their belongings and the clothes they wore, and began their arduous journey into the wilderness amidst a hail of rotten tomatoes, rotten eggs, and clods of stone. Behind them followed government trucks carrying construction materials and barbed wire.

　When they arrived at their destination, they were greeted by a wilderness. Under the supervision of American soldiers at gunpoint, the Japanese had to set up tents, build houses and walls, and surround themselves with barbed wire.

　Despite such harsh treatment, these Japanese immigrants remained loyal to the Stars and Stripes and the land they called "homeland." Many of them joined the U.S. Army and served in Europe, achieving remarkable success. For example, the renowned 442nd Infantry Regiment, despite a 300% casualty rate, received seven Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, and 9486 Purple Stars.

　——Of course, due to well-known reasons, their achievements were buried for a long time and were not brought to light until a long time later by the media.

　When World War II ended, Japanese citizens were also released from the concentration camps, and most of these barracks built in the wilderness were soon abandoned.

　However, according to the law, these concentration camps are government assets and can be used for any purpose the government desires.

　Unfortunately, twenty years have passed since then, and most of the internment camps that held Japanese Americans have long been reduced to ruins due to exposure to the sun and rain and lack of maintenance. Some have even been completely covered by grass and trees, leaving almost no trace of them.

　The reason why this concentration camp in the Sonoran Desert has been preserved relatively intact is that it is very close to Los Angeles and is often used by Hollywood film companies.

　They serve as film sets for some wasteland-themed apocalyptic movies. So most of the houses are still well-maintained and can be lived in after some cleaning.

　So when the first group of 2000 Vietnamese refugees arrived in Los Angeles, they were stuffed into this desert by the immigration authorities.

　The desert is great. There are no residents around, so even if the refugees want to cause trouble, they can't disturb others. Even if there is a plague, there is no need to worry about it spreading!

　It is conceivable that the Vietnamese refugees who originally lived in the Mekong Delta with its crisscrossing rivers and dealt with loaches and crabs would naturally find it difficult to adapt when they were suddenly thrown into the dry and hot Sonoran Desert to see rattlesnakes. It was probably as uncomfortable as Hong Kong people moving to Dunhuang or Yumen.

　The refugee relief rations provided to them every day were mainly biscuits, boiled beans and pasta, which were either dry and hard, or sticky like feces. There was no trace of the rice and rice noodles they were used to, which made these people constipated or had diarrhea.

　In addition, due to the generally low cultural level of these Vietnamese refugees, the average person had not completed prenatal education - among the more than 2,000 people, there was not even a "cultured person" who could speak English fluently, resulting in an extremely serious language barrier problem. Every time the United States distributed rations, allocated housing, and collected daily necessities such as soap to the refugees, it often caused inexplicable chaos and fights among the Vietnamese refugees, and sometimes even deaths. The American officers and soldiers in charge of guarding them complained to Firi that they were "just like monkey keepers in a zoo" recently.

　What's even worse is that after walking around the refugee camp for a few times and swallowing a mouthful of sand, Firi found that it seemed difficult to resettle these refugees locally.

　According to the general process for legal immigrants to integrate into American society, unless they are wealthy investor immigrants, they are usually allowed to stay in refugee camps for a period of time. Officials or charitable organizations will either help them contact relatives and friends in the United States, or find ways to help them find jobs in the United States. Relatives and employers will sponsor the refugees, and then they can move out of the harsh living conditions in the refugee camps.

　In short, you either have to rely on relatives and friends or do hard labor. Once you have a legitimate residence or job, you can gain a foothold in the United States.

　But the problem is that these two paths are basically unworkable at the moment.

　First, it is difficult to find Vietnamese-American citizens already living in the United States to serve as guides for these Vietnamese refugees.

　Originally, Firi thought that although the number of Asians in the United States is smaller than that in the 21st century, there must be at least a few thousand Vietnamese immigrants, right?

　Twenty years ago, when old Syngman Rhee was involved in political activities in the United States, he could gather a Korean-American support group of several thousand people.

　But this is completely different. The history of Chinese and Japanese immigration to the United States can be traced back to the mid-19th century, when Chinese laborers sold their wares and Japanese prostitutes went overseas. And after becoming a Japanese colony, Koreans also took advantage of the Japanese and migrated to the United States.

　Therefore, before World War II, the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States already reached one million, and the number of Japanese immigrants was at least half a million. Although the number of Korean immigrants was relatively smaller, there were still tens of thousands of them in the United States.

　But Vietnam was once a French colony, with few ties to the United States. The colonial education promoted there was entirely in French. For Vietnamese seeking to work or immigrate overseas, their first choice was undoubtedly mainland France or other French colonies—like the Annam Patrol in Shanghai's French Concession.

　In a way, the Vietnamese played a similar role in the French colonial empire to that played by the Indians in the British Empire.

　If Vietnamese people want to immigrate to the United States, they have to learn English again, and it is not as convenient as going to mainland France and other French colonies.

　Besides, there's no particular benefit to immigrating to the United States. In terms of discrimination, the US's discrimination against people of color is probably even more severe than in Europe. In the first half of the 20th century, not only were Asians considered white, but even Poles, Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, and Irish weren't considered white! The term "white" was limited to Anglo-Saxon peoples, and at most, Dutch and German Protestants.

　Well, if there weren't so few French immigrants coming to the United States, Americans would probably even expel the French as "white citizens."

　Therefore, whether President Kennedy was white was actually a very controversial topic in the United States at that time.

　(As an aside, as a descendant of Irish and French descent, Scarlett Johansson, the heroine of Gone with the Wind, was not considered white at the time.)

　Ahem, back to the topic. According to federal government statistics, as of the summer of 1963, there were only about 500 Vietnamese in the entire 50 states of the continental United States. They were mainly students, diplomats and their families sent to the United States by the South Vietnamese regime.

　In other words, the largest concentration of Vietnamese people in the United States at this time is actually the capital, Washington...

　No wonder the Eisenhower administration at the time treated Ngo Dinh Diem, who had some connections in the United States, like a treasure - in 1954, there were even fewer Vietnamese in the United States, and the number of Vietnamese intellectuals who had lived in the United States for a while could probably be counted on one hand, right?

　As a result, the group of Vietnam War refugees who poured into the United States with the outbreak of the Vietnam War became pioneers. Faced with a completely unfamiliar foreign country, they felt at a loss - because there was no ready-made Vietnamese American society that could provide them with a transitional platform for integration into the United States.

　So, is it feasible to let Chinese Americans come and try to act as intermediaries for these Vietnamese immigrants?

　Unfortunately, that doesn't work either.

　In fact, long before the first batch of Vietnamese refugees entered this desert refugee camp, Firi had asked the "old guy" of his "old, weak, sick and disabled quartet", the Cuban Chinese old man Bai Siwen, to bring a group of bosses from Los Angeles' Chinatown to the dock to see if they could recruit some of the refugees to work in Chinatown... But then they came back with nothing, and they all said that these Vietnamese monkeys were not even qualified to wash dishes!

　——In Vietnam, there are indeed many overseas Chinese and Chinese descendants who are engaged in industrial and commercial activities in major cities and commercial ports.

　Before the outbreak of the Vietnam War, the Chinese, who accounted for only 7% of Vietnam's total population, controlled more than 80% of Vietnam's retail industry.

　But the problem is that this batch of Vietnamese refugees transported from Phu Quoc Island basically have no urban industrialists or businessmen. Instead, they are all Hoa Hao believers from rural areas. They are also ordinary farmers and farm women at the bottom of society and the most ignorant in Vietnam.

　In other words, these Vietnamese are the purest lower-class indigenous people, who are basically illiterate and cannot even speak a word of Chinese.

　This kind of foreigner who is completely unable to communicate cannot be hired even if he looks similar to the Chinese!

　The reason Chinese bosses in the United States are willing to hire Chinese illegal immigrants or sponsor new Chinese immigrants is that they are paid low wages and can at least communicate in Chinese. Although it is not possible to have these guys who don't speak much English stay at the front desk to greet customers, it is basically no problem to let them stay in the kitchen or inside the store to do some hard and dirty work such as washing dishes and doing laundry.

　In addition, any ethnic group has the instinct to stick together for warmth, so Chinese bosses generally welcome more compatriots to come to the United States.

　But now, they are asking them to hire a bunch of Vietnamese people who don't speak the language? Isn't this asking for trouble?

　By the same token, it is impossible for a small group of "superior Vietnamese" in Washington to recruit and guarantee these Vietnamese refugees - on the one hand, they do not have the kindness to sympathize with the untouchables, and on the other hand, they do not have shops or farms in the United States and cannot recruit so many people.

　Even more troubling is that while Congress passed the Vietnam Immigration and Refugee Assistance Act, granting Vietnamese and refugees special status to enter the United States, the United States, which had only officially entered the Vietnam War that year, under the banner of "political correctness" and because it "could not abandon its frontline allies in the liberal camp," had to give the green light to Vietnamese immigrants, allocating large sums of money to provide assistance, relief, and support in all aspects.

　But the problem is that due to the long-standing exclusion of people of color, and in order to prevent Vietnamese refugees from forming new minority communities and reducing their impact on local society, the government actually requires that Vietnamese refugees be dispersed and resettled throughout the United States to live together with other ethnic groups!

　Because the White House think tank believes that this will be more conducive to the integration of Vietnamese into American society...but they have never thought about how these Vietnamese who cannot speak a word of English can integrate into the American white community and find a job that can support their families while suffering from racial discrimination?

　In addition, given the efficiency of local governments in the United States, decentralized resettlement is many times more troublesome than centralized resettlement.

　Of course, the first batch of Vietnamese refugees has just arrived in the mainland United States, and the next batch is still lingering in the refugee camp in Guam. The specific resettlement issue is not urgent for the time being - the more pressing problem is that Firi does not even have a translator who knows both Vietnamese and English!

　Well, of course he can use the spell of "knowing languages" in private, but he can't cast the spell in front of outsiders!

　Without a common language, communication is extremely difficult, and vocational training and employment counseling for refugees are out of the question...

　In short, after braving the scorching sun, breathing the dry air filled with sand and dust, and walking around the refugee camp several times and listening to a lot of complaints from National Guard soldiers, volunteers, and charity workers, Fili felt that his head was as big as a bucket, but he had no idea where to start, and was completely confused and at a loss.

　Please, even if he is considered the first choice of firefighter by the White House, he can't clean up every mess!

　However, these seemingly fierce green beret soldiers actually generally have fragile and even broken hearts.

　When Phiri asked them why they didn't continue fighting in Vietnam but returned home to take up such sinecure, a second lieutenant replied: "Sir, this war is driving us crazy. We have completely lost ourselves. Just because we may die at any time, everyone acts as if they can do anything, no matter what they do. I think there may be another direction, maybe the opposite is important. Because we may die at any time, maybe we should be more careful about our actions, because everything is more important..."

　Well, although it is a bit nagging and incoherent, the mental sequelae brought about by the long-term security battle have been fully exposed in this passage.

　Although the United States didn't officially deploy regular troops to participate in the Vietnam War until this year, the "special operations war" had already been raging in Vietnam for over two years. The American advisors and special forces deployed to Vietnam also endured two years of endless purgatory in the security and counter-guerrilla warfare.

　For these American special forces who lack experience in counter-guerrilla warfare, it is difficult for them to understand why the Viet Cong can never be completely wiped out?

　It was obvious that under the boundless wrath of the U.S. imperial army, the rural bases of these red devils had suffered large-scale devastating blows time and time again - napalm incendiary bombs that set off a raging sea of ​​fire, Agent Orange that withered the grass and trees, the murderous Catholic militia, the American-equipped riot control troops, and the elite airborne divisions, Marines and rangers, which had long turned their bases into a living hell.

　However, these little red devils are just like cockroaches that can't be eliminated. No matter how many times we kill them, they will always crawl out from the ruins again!

　Why is this happening? Unless those red devils are truly not human, how can humans survive in such a hell?

　They are so evil, they must be colluding with the devil! Otherwise, how could there be fish that slip through the net after every battle!

　What made the American special forces even more confused was that facing these red demons that they seemed to be always elusive and endlessly elusive, those ignorant and barbaric Miao mountain people, with just some CIA-funded guns and ammunition, were able to easily beat the Viet Cong guerrillas into a pulp.

　——The main reason is that the US military does not understand the differences between the various ethnic groups in Indochina. But their own people can see it at a glance.

　But the arrogant American soldiers would not admit their incompetence. They would only think that the Viet Cong were really weird and made them feel creepy.

　Finally, between March and April of this spring, the most indignant and shocking scene for the US troops stationed in Vietnam appeared before their eyes.

　While the Americans were diligently wiping out the Viet Cong guerrillas, battling "talking trees" and various insidious traps and devices, the South Vietnamese army, who were theoretically supposed to be helping them, were busy fighting for power and killing each other. They even destroyed their own country!

　What is even more outrageous is that when the U.S. military, which could no longer bear it, finally took action and tried to restore order in Saigon, a part of the South Vietnamese army, which was equipped with U.S.-aided weapons, suddenly changed its stance and returned to Saigon under the red, blue and gold star flag of the Viet Cong, driving the unsuspecting U.S. military into a prisoner-of-war camp.

　Many American special forces were devastated by what they saw: We spent money, sent troops, and shed blood and fought bravely, but what on earth did we "protect" and "aid"?

　Afterwards, a considerable number of remnants of the US troops stationed in Vietnam who had managed to escape the Viet Cong's pursuit and blockade and escape from the Vietnam battlefield were tired of this absurd war. They no longer had any thoughts of gaining meritorious service and receiving awards or medals. They just wanted to find a safe place to finish out the rest of their service.

　So, when they heard that there was a chance to leave the front line and serve as guards in refugee camps, these soldiers rushed to it like the French who escaped from the trenches in World War I. After all, disciplining a group of unarmed refugees who were at the mercy of beatings and scolding made these soldiers feel much more at ease than fighting wits and courage with the Viet Cong guerrillas who seemed to be good at escaping, and having to be on guard against those suspicious "friendly forces" who were well-equipped with guns and had unpredictable intentions.

　The only thing that made them slightly criticized was... why was the Japanese flag hung in the refugee camp?

　Uh, that thing is actually the national flag of the newly established Guangnan Kingdom.

　There is no way. The former South Vietnamese regime with its capital in Saigon has disappeared from the map along with the three-line flag with a yellow background. The "Guangnan Kingdom" that now inherits its legacy has a historical national flag that is exactly the same as the modern Japanese sun flag - except that it is not a red sun with a white background, but a red sun with a yellow background.

　But the problem is that the Guangnan national flag with a light yellow background looks like a faded Japanese sun flag to outsiders!

　Firi didn't know how to explain this, so he could only laugh it off and say that he shouldn't dwell on the past.

　In any case, Japan has already become a colony under the exclusive military occupation of the United States. What is there to be hostile to and wary of?

　-

　However, the issues of guarding and management were initially resolved, but the problem of translation remained unsolved.

　Firi still doesn't have a single translator who can speak Vietnamese.

　Huh? Didn't he just add a Vietcong woman, Zhao Qiuniang, to his secret harem?

　But the problem is that Zhao Qiuniang, the "female Vietcong", is too fake. Not only is she Chinese, but she has only been in Vietnam for less than a year. In essence, she is just a standard Chinese who drifted overseas to avoid starvation... So, she is not

　Can speak Vietnamese!

　However, as the saying goes, there is always a way out. Although Zhao Qiuniang, a "female Vietcong" who couldn't speak Vietnamese, was really useless, an unexpected savior provided Fili with the language talent he urgently needed - this savior was Marilyn Monroe...

　Chapter 275: Monroe Bodhisattva Comes to Help

　"Ms. Monroe?! What brings you here? Aren't you going to marry Mr. DiMaggio the day after tomorrow?"

　At the gate of the Vietnamese refugee camp, Fili was caught off guard and shocked to see Marilyn Monroe, wearing a sun hat and sunglasses, jumping out of a Ford sedan, along with her bridesmaid, Marita. "The Sonoran Desert sun isn't very kind to your delicate skin! Really, you're pregnant, and you're not careful? Marita, why didn't you try to persuade Miss Monroe?"

　As he spoke, he glanced at Marita, who was carrying Monroe's bag behind her, with a reproachful look.

　- After announcing her decision to marry DiMaggio on August 1, Monroe invited Marita to be her bridesmaid at the wedding.

　On the one hand, she wanted to thank Fili and Marita for their care and support over the past year, and to further deepen her friendship and connection with them. On the other hand, for Miss Monroe, having Marita, "the CIA flower who almost became the First Lady of Cuba," as her bridesmaid at her wedding was a matter of great honor, seemingly more impressive than having a Hollywood actress as her bridesmaid.

　Not to mention, due to a series of slightly outrageous incidents in the past, Monroe's popularity in the circle of Hollywood female stars is not particularly good.

　Furthermore, this wedding was a hasty one, as it was a pregnancy-fueled affair. The actresses also had their own jobs and weren't sure they'd be able to take time off for Monroe's wedding. So, Marilyn Monroe decided that instead of having a second-tier, third-tier, or even 88th-tier actress awkwardly play a fake sister to her at the wedding, lowering her status as a Hollywood diva, she'd rather have Marita be her bridesmaid.

　"Don't worry, I'm in great shape now, and I've already put on sunscreen! Little hero, your skin is obviously whiter than mine, and you're not afraid of the sun, so why should I be afraid?"

　Marilyn Monroe, wearing a sun hat and a red plaid shirt, took off her sunglasses coolly, patted her snow-white arms without any concern, touched Ferry's forehead, pinched his cheek, and said happily,

　"Don't look so grim! Cheer up! I came here today specifically to help you! Marita said you're short of Vietnamese-speaking translators, and I happen to have a few here! They were all left behind by the 'Evil Dragon Lady' in Vietnam, so I'm sending them to you right now!"

　Next, when he saw two timid and familiar short faces coming out from the back seat of the car, Ferry suddenly understood.

　Before that, Chen Lichun sold her villa in Malibu Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, to Marilyn Monroe for $30,000 and flew to Washington to visit her parents. She also handed over the Vietnamese servants who managed the villa to Monroe.

　Well, these servants were brought from Vietnam by Chen Lichun, so they naturally speak Vietnamese. Since they serve a "Westernized" and high-ranking official like Chen Lichun, and they are to be shown off abroad, they are all educated and have some culture, not the kind of completely illiterate people.

　Now abandoned by their mistress in a foreign land, their home a battlefield, they were all terrified and disoriented, desperately hoping for food. When they heard the new mistress had found them a job with government pay, they naturally didn't dare refuse and immediately came.

　But the problem is that Vietnam used to be a French colony. They can only speak relatively fluent French and don't know much English.

　However, this problem is easy to solve. It is relatively easy to find a few French-speaking college student volunteers in Los Angeles. Given the enthusiasm of American society today for participating in the Vietnam War and the fact that resettling refugees is an absolutely positive charitable act, all universities are supportive.

　(In real history, during the first year of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, domestic enthusiasm for participation was very high. In 1966, support for the war was still the main trend. It was not until 1967 that public sentiment reversed, and by 1968, the anti-war movement finally became mainstream.)

　What's more, Miss Monroe had anticipated this problem and brought a French translator with her. This man was a third-rate Hollywood agent who had worked as an assistant to a French actor. His French was good, but he was not doing well. When he heard that Goddess Monroe had a call, he came immediately.

　"Oh, that's wonderful, Miss Monroe. You are truly a living bodhisattva to me and these Vietnamese refugees!"

　Finding that Monroe had helped him solve his urgent problem, Ferry was immediately overjoyed. He grabbed Monroe's hand and thanked her profusely.

　Next, after barely communicating with the refugees through these makeshift translations, Firi finally understood that these seemingly similar Vietnamese refugees actually had an organization and a leader, and were not a group of scattered individuals as he had initially imagined.