American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Afterward, two weeks later, his face had become haggard, and dark circles appeared under his eyes. But for some reason, he seemed surprisingly energetic. He found Ferry again and told him that these new addictive plants were indeed wonderful. Everyone who had taken them said they were good, and they could definitely be sold. The only problem was... the CIA couldn't let General Wang Bao grow these things on the other side of the ocean!

　Because these new things, after harvest, have a far shorter shelf life than opium, many must be consumed fresh, and the cultivation techniques are far more complex than those of poppies. Wang Bao's Miao people, far from civilization in the wild mountains, would have difficulty growing these things effectively, let alone establishing a cold chain logistics system to quickly import fresh "specialty agricultural products" into the United States!

　If the CIA wants to profit from these new gadgets generously given by Philip, it can only rely on domestic production and establish its own plantations in the United States.

　But the question is...why?

　In the past, the Hmong mountain people of Laos, under General Vang Pao, had to fight bloody battles with the Viet Cong regular army and the Red Guerrillas while growing their own opium to support themselves. The CIA only helped them open up a transportation and sales channel, and also collected huge intermediary fees from the Hmong people's opium business.

　Strictly speaking, the Laotian Miao soldiers under Wang Bao were nominally CIA mercenaries, but in fact they had always been self-reliant, fighting wars while carrying out a special form of "mass production movement" - it's just that the varieties of crops they produced were more special.

　But now, if the psychedelic plants that Fili was tinkering with were to replace Laotian opium, then it would become like CIA agents working hard in the United States to find people to grow and sell drugs to make money. Then, they would give the money to General Vang Pao in large amounts to let him recruit troops to fight the Viet Cong!

　Although this approach is very reasonable from the perspective of national interests, CIA personnel are generally very resistant to it.

　How should I put it? It feels like Roman citizens toiling away in Italy mining and farming to support barbarian mercenaries fighting overseas.

　It is really strange - when did the CIA, which has always been known for its cunning and aggressive tactics, become a production-oriented unit?

　"The bureau isn't willing to cultivate its own land to supply Wang Bao's mercenaries? That's easy. Why not have Wang Bao bring his Miao followers to the United States to grow these plants? Because these are newly discovered crops, neither the federal government nor local governments have banned them, so we can grow them legally!"

　Fili said disapprovingly, "I think it would be easier to get these Miao people who grow poppies to grow other drugs instead."

　Major Bill Lyle was stunned by what he heard. Not to mention the sheer absurdity of building large-scale drug plantations in his own country. General Wang Bao's Miao soldiers were clearly mercenaries! How could it sound like you were actually trying to bring these Miao mountain people back to serve as slaves?

　"Ahem, Lieutenant Colonel Jin, we support and fund General Vang Pao so that his army can resist the expansion of the Viet Cong in Indochina. How can we allow all of them to immigrate to the United States? Even if we only issue employment green cards to the Hmong mountain people, I'm afraid it won't work!"

　After a pause, Major Bill Lyle quickly shook his head and said, "Now that they have a way out, they won't fight!"

　"Alas, Major, it seems that you have been busy with drug experiments these days and haven't had time to pay attention to the situation on the front line?"

　Firi sighed and replied, "You probably don't know that the war situation in the Indochina Peninsula has worsened again in the past two weeks! Because of the arms aid delivered by the Soviet fleet by sea, the Viet Cong also launched an offensive on the southern front. The "Blue Khmer Rouge" armed forces we supported in northwestern Cambodia were completely defeated. The leader Son Ngoc Thanh died in the battle, and the rest of the defeated troops fled to Thailand in a hurry. The red flag of the Viet Cong has been planted in Angkor Wat!

　The Khmer Rouge, supported by the Viet Cong, continued to advance across the border, bringing the war further to Thai territory!

　With the situation behind them already on fire, I don't think General Wang Bao and his men can hold out on the Laotian border for much longer.

　Furthermore, given the long-standing cooperative alliance, abandoning General Vang Pao and his Hmong loyalists to the United States and leaving them to be massacred by the Viet Cong would not seem like a good idea either – this would greatly undermine the loyalty and enthusiasm of our overseas allies.

　So, letting these Miao people immigrate to the United States for refuge and at the same time earn money by growing herbs for the CIA seems to be the only win-win strategy..."

　The invasion of Laos on the northern front defeated this landlocked mountainous country with great force. Only Vang Bao, a Miao general supported by the CIA, retreated to Sayaboury Province with more than 10,000 defeated soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Miao people, barely surviving.

　Following the great victory on the northern front, in early 1965, the "Red South Vietnam" or "Republic of South Vietnam" regime in Saigon also launched a new round of offensives on the Cambodian battlefield in the south, targeting the "Blue Khmer Rouge" armed forces, the only ones still resisting in Cambodia.

　Before that, at the end of October 1964, a huge Soviet merchant fleet loaded with arms, medical supplies and various military supplies, escorted by dozens of Soviet warships, forced its way into Sihanoukville, which had been controlled by the Viet Cong, to deliver logistical supplies to the Viet Cong's southern forces: It can be imagined that the huge shipping capacity of so many Soviet 10-ton ships was definitely more than ten times that of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was still under construction and expansion.

　In addition to massive supplies, the Soviet Navy also provided the Viet Cong with a number of armed speedboats equipped with machine guns, rocket launchers and small-caliber artillery for inland water combat in the waters of Tonle Sap Lake. It even dispatched hundreds of instructors and volunteers to directly participate in the Vietnamese army's upcoming dry season offensive.

　This will inevitably lead to a rapid increase in the actual combat effectiveness of Saigon's "Red South Vietnam" armed forces in the short term.

　Thus, a difficult choice was placed before the US military in Vietnam and the Pentagon: intercept? Or not intercept?

　In other words, facing the Soviet fleet appearing in the South China Sea, should we fight or not?

　President Johnson, who was facing the election just a week away, hesitated several times but ultimately did not dare to let the US Navy, which was carrying out the siege and blockade mission, brazenly open fire on the Soviet fleet flying the red flag - this would have the risk of triggering a nuclear war and would have scared away centrist voters!

　After all, the South China Sea is not the Caribbean Sea, and it is not worth it for the United States to launch a Third World War over it!

　Therefore, the US troops on the front lines of the Vietnam War could only watch helplessly as this huge amount of Soviet arms aid fell into the hands of the enemy.

　The various Viet Cong forces in southern Indochina were able to temporarily escape the transportation bottleneck of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and obtain the weapons and ammunition needed to launch a major campaign. Prime Minister Nguyen Huu Tho, stationed in Saigon, immediately issued a call to "strike to Angkor Wat for the Spring Festival."

　Although in December 1964, about two months later than the other dimension, the Soviet leader Khrushchev of this time and space was backstabbed by his confidants in a palace coup tacitly approved by the Soviet military, and was forced to step down in an instant and was sent to a remote farm to retire.

　—It is said that the future "Prince of the Empire," Brezhnev, originally intended to assassinate Khrushchev. However, other high-ranking politicians said that this would set a bad example. Otherwise, the Kremlin would become a death arena. So, Khrushchev was spared.

　However, this political change in the heart of the Red Camp did not affect the dry season combat plan for this year, which was collectively planned by North Vietnamese leader Le Duan and the entire North Vietnamese high-level leadership. It was carried out vigorously and smoothly, and did not hinder the rapid advance of Vietnam's red armed forces on the two fronts of the North and the South.

　On January 1, 1965, the Viet Cong's elite southern force, the "Gold Star Division," and several local troops, totaling about 18000 people, were commanded by General Le Zhongxun, who had just withdrawn from the Central Highlands battlefield, and launched the Fourth Battle of Siem Reap against the "Blue Khmer Rouge" armed forces entrenched in northwestern Cambodia.

　After a year of repeated battles between the Red and Blue factions, coupled with relentless bombing by the US Air Force, Siem Reap, home to the ruins of Angkor Wat, was reduced to near ruins. Citizens fled for their lives or rose up in rebellion, joining the Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Now, facing a massive, land-based offensive by the main force of the Vietnamese army, the Khmer Rouge and Thai forces, already suffering under intense pressure, finally gave way.

　On January 7, 1965, after being repeatedly bombarded by Vietnamese gunboats for a week, the Thai troops stationed on the shores of Tonle Sap Lake were blown up and dispersed, resulting in the total collapse of the blue side's defense line in the Siem Reap battlefield. Le Zhongxun took the opportunity to order a general offensive by the Vietnamese army, and within 24 hours, the elite main force of the Khmer Rouge was wiped out in one fell swoop.

　The Khmer Rouge leader Son Ngoc Thanh led a small number of remnants, avoided the shores of Tonle Sap Lake, and retreated northwest along the highway to the transportation hub of Sisophon, attempting to gather the defeated troops here, regroup, and rely on the aid of the United States and Thailand to continue to deal with the Vietnamese army and the Khmer Rouge.

　However, Vietnamese commander Le Zhongxun had clearly outmaneuvered the third-rate rebel leader, Son Ngoc Thanh, and had anticipated his actions. Therefore, he dispatched a small force to seize the intersection of two highways in Sisophon, cutting off the Khmer Rouge's escape route through the city to the Thai-Cambodian border.

　So, outside the city of Sisophon, the desperate Shan Yucheng died on the battlefield. The Vietnamese army commanded by Li Zhongxun took the opportunity to continue their rapid advance, occupied the border port of Poipet between Cambodia and Thailand along the highway, and then broke through the national border and attacked the border port of Aranyaprathet on the Thai side!

　Although Aranyaprathet is just an ordinary border city in Thailand, as a medium-sized country in Asia, Thailand's size is ultimately limited and cannot be compared with truly great countries. From Aranyaprathet to the Thai capital of Bangkok, it is only about 200 kilometers away!

　On January 15, 1965, upon learning the terrible news that the Cambodian front had collapsed and the Vietnamese army had entered the country, the panicked Thai government immediately ordered an end to its military intervention in the Cambodian civil war.

　, gathering troops to prepare for a national defense war. As a result, the Thai troops previously stationed on Koh Kong Island boarded ships again and fled without a fight. The Thai intervention forces not only completely withdrew from Cambodia, but also brought the war back to their own country.

　Meanwhile, the Viet Cong maintained relatively stable rule over Laos and Cambodia. Although Le Duan refrained from publicly establishing an "Indochina Federation" to avoid offending China before the US troops left, he nonetheless maintained de facto control over both countries under the banner of a "fraternal party."

　There was no other way. Just like the Eastern European nations liberated from Nazi Germany by the Soviet Red Army, which had no choice but to bow down to the Kremlin after World War II, and to obey its orders. Not to mention the Laotian revolutionary group, the Pathet Lao, which was tightly controlled by North Vietnamese authorities from its inception. Even in Cambodia, despite Pol Pot's strong xenophobia and independence-minded attitude, and his deep dissatisfaction with Vietnamese interference, he was powerless to resist.

　After all, it had only been two years since Pol Pot became the supreme leader of the Khmer Rouge. During this period, the Khmer Rouge had never captured any major city on its own, nor had it even achieved any impressive military results, which led to Pol Pot's prestige being seriously lacking.

　Even more devastating was the fact that, as the Vietnamese army again entered Cambodia in force, a number of early leaders of the Vietnamese Communist Party of Cambodia, who had withdrawn from Cambodia with the Vietnamese army and retreated to North Vietnam ten years ago, also returned to Cambodia to participate in the formation of a new government, competing with the younger Pol Pot for power...

　Faced with these experienced and powerful old Khmer Rouge veterans, the will from Hanoi behind them, and the strong pressure from Beijing and Moscow, no matter how much Pol Pot secretly criticized them as "Cambodian traitors" and "Vietnamese running dogs", he could only bow his head now.

　What else could they do? Would they go against the political correctness of the entire Red Camp and provoke internal strife at a time when the US military faces a formidable enemy?

　At this time, the US Air Force and Naval Aviation were still relentlessly bombing the entire territory of Cambodia, dropping tens of thousands of tons of various bombs, wantonly destroying Cambodia's cities and rural areas, and at the same time carrying out "de-ruralization" and "de-urbanization", making the Khmer people full of hatred!

　Under these circumstances, any attempt to provoke divisions within the Red Camp was unacceptable. If Pol Pot had insisted on refusing to listen to the Vietnamese even though he knew the situation was so dangerous, the Khmer Rouge organization would probably have seriously considered whether to change its leader.

　As such, since the Vietnamese were able to effectively absorb and control the occupied territories and suppress all dissidents, with no worries in the rear, further expanding the scope of the war, or in other words, intensifying the "export of revolution," became an inevitable strategic choice.

　Coincidentally, Thailand is currently experiencing a period of heightened social conflict. As Southeast Asia's most successful country in modern Westernization, Thailand has achieved some success after years of capitalism, developing some industry and commerce in its cities and establishing a rudimentary capitalist economic system. However, rural Thailand remains mired in feudalism, with a social structure consisting of landlords and tenants.

　Generally speaking, it is similar to the late Russian Empire.

　As a result, under the impact of the wave of industrialization and the capitalist economic system, irreconcilable contradictions generally exist between Thai landlords who still remain in the feudal social structure and Thai farmers who are on the verge of bankruptcy, and are rapidly intensifying.

　Since the ruling class headed by the royal family is unwilling to harm the interests of the landlords at any cost, they can only "make the peasants suffer", letting Thai farmers starve to death, forcing their daughters to sell their bodies, or simply forcing their sons to have their penises cut off and become transvestites, barely surviving by engaging in special tourism.

　But now, the revolutionary army holding red flags has reached the doorstep. Even the most honest tenant farmers would probably become greedy, right?

　Not to mention, left-wing revolutionary forces already existed in Thailand. They were filled with resentment at what they saw as a bleak social situation: royal aristocrats and feudal landlords, relying on their bloodline to monopolize most official positions, while "small-town test-takers" from humble backgrounds, despite their vast erudition, found no avenues for advancement. Naturally, these intellectuals, driven by resentment, turned to anti-establishment forces, hoping for a chance at revolution.

　The upper class was stagnant, the middle class had no way to rise, and the lower classes were living in dire straits. Furthermore, at this time, the Thai government, deceived by the United States, brazenly intervened in the Cambodian civil war, only to suffer a crushing defeat. Not only did they fail to seize an inch of land, but they also allowed the war to spread to their own territory.

　In the eyes of the Thai left, this is simply a replica of the experience of the Tsarist Russian Empire during World War I and a reappearance of the social environment before the October Revolution!

　That time and that moment, exactly this moment!

　In this case, let us act immediately and vigorously! Raise the red flag and overthrow all reactionaries!

　So, relying on the funding of the Viet Cong, on February 1, the Thai Communist Party launched an armed uprising and established the "Thai People's Liberation Army", or the Thai Red Army, in the Phippanan and Phetchabun mountainous areas in northern Thailand. This mountainous area belongs to the Luang Prabang Mountains and is connected to the mountains of Xayaburi Province in Laos.

　Mount Pupaya, where the Thai Red Army's headquarters is located, is directly located on the border between the two countries. This makes it convenient for receiving military assistance from Vietnam, and allows the Thai army to escape across the border and retreat into Laos for refuge and rest at any time if the war situation is unfavorable.

　Although this Thai Red Army had only more than a thousand people and was weak, it could only occupy remote areas and was far from enough to overthrow the rule of the Thai royal family.

　But the problem is that the mountain base they established happened to be stuck on the transportation line between General Wang Bao's current territory and mainland Thailand.

　What's even more terrible is that the Thai army, which is currently preparing to resist the frontal attack of the Vietnamese army, may not have the spare energy to wipe them out for the time being.

　"Look, Major Lyle, the Thai communists are located right here, and General Vang Pao's final stronghold, Xayaburi Province, happens to be right next to them. The only road transport line from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, to Xayaburi Province could be cut off by the communists at any time."

　Ferry took out a military map of the Indochina Peninsula and said to Major Bill Lyell, "Even if General Vang Pao can send troops to drive out the Thai Communist guerrillas and temporarily open up the supply line, he only has one division, while the other side has three North Vietnamese divisions.

　If Wang Bao used all his troops to eliminate the Thai communists in the rear, what would he do if the North Vietnamese army attacked from the front?

　Furthermore, after General Vang Pao and the Hmong who followed him fled west across the Mekong River to Xayaburi Province, the supplies they had accumulated over the years must have been completely lost during the migration. Even if they wanted to eat their savings now, they would have nothing to eat!

　How long do you think General Wang Bao's troops can hold out after abandoning their hometown, fleeing to a strange foreign land, and losing their logistical support?

　Apart from evacuating them and settling them as refugees, what other use can these homeless Miao people have?"

　"Perhaps we can rely on air transport. We can repair a field airfield in Xayaburi Province and use transport planes to deliver supplies to General Wang Bao..."

　Major Bill Lyle hesitated for a moment and spoke a little unsurely.

　"Airlift? Do you want General Wang Bao and his Miao warriors to become the French at Dien Bien Phu? Or the Nazi Germans at Stalingrad? He now has to feed not only 10,000 soldiers, but also hundreds of thousands of military families and Miao refugees!"

　Fili shook his head and retorted, "Xayabouli Province is a land of high mountains and dense forests, with very few resources. If all the hundreds of thousands of people around Wang Bao were to rely on the weather for their livelihood, how many transport planes would that require? Could General Westmoreland provide them?"

　Eleven years ago at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, the French Air Force had already performed above average, but it was still struggling to provide logistics support for 15,000 personnel.

　Today, the Pentagon can't afford to permanently deploy hundreds of transport planes, burning astronomical amounts of aviation gasoline every day, just to organize a national-level strategic airlift for General Vang Pao—this isn't the Berlin Airlift! How can Laos have the strategic value of Germany?

　A more reasonable approach would be to open up a supply line from Myanmar, bypassing Shan State and transporting ammunition and supplies to General Wang Bao, who is entrenched in Sayaboury Province... But we all know that this is impossible. How could Myanmar possibly stand on the side of the United States?

　In response to this, Major Lyle nodded silently to show his approval - Myanmar at this moment is still under the guise of "socialism"!

　Although there are currently almost no truly socialist countries willing to acknowledge Myanmar as their fellow traveler...

　But at least for the time being, the United States has no way to win over Myanmar and make this country stand on its side in the Vietnam War.

　Why is this so? Because Myanmar during the Cold War was a very strange patchwork:

　First, Myanmar is clearly ruled by a military junta, yet it's engaging in nationalization and claiming to be a socialist country, while simultaneously distancing itself from the Eastern Bloc. I wonder where exactly this "socialist" nature lies? Is it simply a ploy to deceive Red China to the north?

　However, this paper-made false red flag could not fool any discerning person. In the late Cold War, mainland China's view of Myanmar was as follows: "So-called Burmese socialism is, fundamentally speaking, nothing more than a theoretical basis for its own authoritarian rule, catering to narrow nationalist sentiments under the banner of socialism. The real purpose of implementing nationalization is to plunder foreign capital in a killing-the-chicken-to-get-the-eggs manner, forcibly confiscating British, Indian, and Chinese-owned businesses in Myanmar in order to amass huge wealth and fill the government's fiscal deficit. Subsequently, Myanmar implemented a closed-door policy, excluding normal trade, which ultimately destroyed Myanmar's economic system, causing the country's economy to decline year by year and the people's lives to fall into hardship..."

　Secondly, Myanmar pursues a neutral foreign policy and is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, yet it opposes its becoming a third force in the world. This is primarily because it doesn't want India, the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, to dictate terms to Myanmar. During British colonial rule, Myanmar was part of the British Indian colony. Consequently, in the early days of independence, India actually considered annexing Myanmar.

　As a countermeasure, Myanmar naturally joined the Non-Aligned Movement while singing a different tune within the Non-Aligned Movement.

　Of course, these awkward behaviors are essentially a reflection of the Myanmar government's fear of the current global two-pronged confrontation, perhaps even a bout of social anxiety. Consequently, it is trying to distance itself from the global struggles, living its own quiet life behind closed doors.

　But the problem is that what you fear often comes to pass in this world - the US and British Western forces supported the Karen and Kachin peoples in Myanmar, forming ethnic armed forces to create divisions; Red China exported revolution to Myanmar and supported the Communist Party of Burma to turn northern Myanmar into a mess, leaving Myanmar without even a single day of peace.

　But even so, just like Myanmar in the future

　Just like Myanmar has never had the courage to openly oppose China, it now has no courage to be an enemy of China and Vietnam at the same time and become an ally of the "free camp" fighting side by side with the US troops stationed in Vietnam - because if it rashly provokes a powerful neighbor like this, it will really be beaten up!

　"Alas, it seems that General Wang Bao really can't continue to hold on in Xayaburi Province. His only way out is to flee abroad as a refugee... But if that happens, our forces on the Indochina Peninsula will be completely defeated and disintegrated!"

　Major Bill Lyle tapped the map and complained bitterly, "The Pentagon has already deployed 300,000 troops in Vietnam, but still failed to contain the Viet Cong's offensive. They also lost Cambodia and Laos, turning the entire Indochina Peninsula almost red!

　I wonder which country will be the next to be conquered by the Eastern Bloc? Thailand?"

　"According to my estimation, Thailand should be able to hold on for a while. The country facing the most serious crisis right now is probably Indonesia."

　Firi shook his head and replied, "Did you know that President Sukarno recently publicly stated that he would hand over power to the Indonesian Communist Party after his death? If that happens, once this thousand-island country is dyed red, the red flag with the sickle and hammer will be planted on the doorstep of the Australian kangaroos! I really don't know what kind of reaction it will provoke!"

　Chapter 317: Is this the best way to run it?

　For the United States at this time, the Asian battlefield across the ocean was in an extremely unfavorable situation.

　Although the Pentagon dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops to join the battlefield and even captured the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi at one point, it still could not stop the Viet Cong from continuing to capture cities and territories on all fronts. Red flags were quickly being raised throughout the Indochina Peninsula.

　However, compared with Indonesia, the "Thousand Islands Country" on the other side of the South China Sea, the situation in the Indochina Peninsula is not the most desperate.

　Judging from the current situation, if the United States fails to intervene as soon as possible, this vast and largest country in Southeast Asia will be forced to "peacefully become communist" under the instruction and promotion of President Sukarno!

　The reason why Indonesia became communist was largely due to the United States' own stupidity in forcing Sukarno to death.

　If we turn the calendar back twenty years, it would be hard for anyone to believe that Sukarno, a Japanese running dog, would actually become a communist!

　——As the "founding father" of modern Indonesia, Sukarno, who now rules Indonesia, is also a very interesting person.

　Specifically, he has extremely flexible political positions and a talent for fence-sitting that is comparable to that of a chameleon.

　Initially, Sukarno was a Japanese agent on the island of Java. During the Pacific War, to free Indonesia from Dutch colonial rule, he actively collaborated with Japan, assisting the Japanese army in plundering various tropical specialties and strategic materials and suppressing spontaneous resistance from the local people.

　In other words, Sukarno's status and position at that time were no different from those of Wang Jingwei in Nanjing and Emperor Puyi of Manchukuo.

　For the early Indonesian red revolutionaries at that time, Sukarno was also holding a butcher knife and had blood on his hands, and was clearly an extreme right-wing figure.

　After Japan's defeat and surrender, Sukarno, seeing his opportunity, immediately staged a "yellow robe" act. On August 16, 1945, a group of "radical youths" suddenly appeared out of nowhere, kidnapped Sukarno, and forced him to declare Indonesian independence. Sukarno initially refused, saying, "Don't harm me." But after being locked up in a small dark room for a whole day, he finally reluctantly agreed.

　In this way, on August 17, 1945, taking advantage of the political vacuum left after the collapse of the Japanese Empire, Indonesia declared independence and established a republic, with Sukarno as the president. The process of Indonesia's independence was truly lightning fast.

　Similarly, in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh struggled for another half a month. With the Japanese army lying flat on their backs, they finally achieved independence on September 2.

　As to whether Sukarno followed Zhao Kuangyin's script or Li Yuanhong's path at the time, only God knows.

　Then, just as what happened in Vietnam, after the defeat of the Japanese Empire, the "Old Ones" from Europe returned to Southeast Asia - just as the French expeditionary force returned to Vietnam, the Dutch expeditionary force also returned to Java and suppressed Sukarno's rebellion by force.

　On the one hand, they accused the Dutch of being evil colonizers, and on the other hand, they denounced Sukarno as a puppet remnant of Japanese war criminals... Neither side looked like a good person.

　In particular, in order to quickly form an armed force, Sukarno also recruited a large number of Japanese soldiers to serve as the backbone of the Indonesian army!

　Indonesia then fought a four-year, ruthless war of independence against the Dutch. It was, by and large, a grueling guerrilla war with few bright spots. The Dutch, trapped in the major cities, fenced off their territory and collected military pay, while the Indonesian insurgents flourished in the countryside but could never penetrate the cities.

　As for the tactical and strategic thinking of both sides, they were abysmal—in Vietnam, Chen Geng viewed the local comrades and the French colonial army as weaklings. But if the early Vietcong guerrillas were placed on Java Island, they would probably be considered elite soldiers.

　Of course, the equipment level and combat effectiveness of the Dutch army were obviously much worse than those of the French Expeditionary Force.