American Strategic Deception Bureau

　"Those natives on the South Sea islands are lazy, stupid, and cowardly. If you attack them with American weapons, won't you just kill them indiscriminately?"

　Bai Siwen continued with a smile, "Alright, it's decided! Just wait for the younger generation to send you postcards from Southeast Asia!"

　In short, in accordance with Secretary of Defense McNamara's "100,000 Man Plan," Whitehead, armed with draft papers, swept through Chinatowns in Los Angeles and San Francisco, rounding up young Chinese Americans who had been exempted from military service because they couldn't speak English and were currently living on the streets. As long as they had the right limbs, they were all conscripted. Wherever he went, heartbreaking cries of enlisted men rang out.

　Ultimately, most Chinese Americans these days still hold the mindset of "a good man doesn't serve in the military, and good iron doesn't go into making nails." Despite the lack of an imperial examination system in the United States, Chinese parents still stubbornly believe that "all pursuits are inferior, only learning is superior," and they would never see their children serving in the military.

　However, their arms were no match for their thighs, and the black muzzle of the gun was shaking right in front of them. They could only watch as the younger generation was taken away.

　Of course, with such a small population base of local Chinese, it is difficult to gather many soldiers, and it is difficult to form a battalion.

　Therefore, most of the conscription quota for "abnormal Americans" will have to come from Latin American immigrants - especially Cubans...

　-

　The Wave nightclub or training camp in Coral Gables, Florida, operated by the CIA

　This is where Fieri's life journey began and where he first met his wife, Marita, the "Flower of the CIA."

　At the same time, it is also the sad place of Fieri's old boss, former CIA Western Hemisphere Director Jacob Estline.

　Years later, Jacob Esteline, lame in one leg, limped on crutches into the Wave nightclub, the CIA's largest intelligence station in the United States. Looking around at the familiar surroundings, Esteline felt a wave of sadness.

　Just five years ago, he was an ambitious CIA executive, ambitiously planning plots to subvert the country.

　He created the "Wave" training camp, where he recruited Cuban exiles and established a mercenary force named the 2506th Brigade.

　Then, Estelan led this army to conquer the Caribbean and began his own military adventure - first he easily captured the Dominican Republic, gained the glory of victory and huge wealth, and then he was eager to plan an expedition to Cuba... He dreamed that he could be like the founders of Latin America, the great heroes Cortes and Pizarro, who could easily conquer a country with an expedition team!

　Unfortunately, on the Cuban coastline, with the rising mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion, Esteline's dream was shattered, and his mercenary army was destroyed. He was finally able to save his life, which was a blessing from God and a great fortune.

　Many of his colleagues and subordinates were buried forever on the Cuban battlefield, accompanied by the flash of the nuclear bomb explosion.

　The following days were nothing short of a nightmare for Esteline - first he was imprisoned in a Cuban prisoner-of-war camp and suffered greatly; later he was released, and the CIA put all the blame for the 2506th Brigade's defeat in Cuba on him, the front-line commander.

　Thus, during the most tragic period, not only was the veteran agent Esterline fired from the CIA, but his wife also ran away, his personal finances went bankrupt, and his house was seized by the bank, leaving him almost homeless.

　Later, he finally returned to the CIA, but was not given a regular position. He was only asked to work as a temporary worker, doing some dirty work such as drug trafficking.

　Fortunately, after struggling for several years, Estelion seemed to have finally got a chance to turn things around.

　After taking a look around the "Wave" intelligence station, which had long been converted into a brothel and nightclub, the weed-covered and rusty training facilities in the backyard, and the shooting range that was still usable because people occasionally came to shoot, Estelion sighed. "Next, what I need to do is repair these facilities and recruit and organize a Cuban brigade again, just like I did five years ago, right?"

　"Well, there is a difference, Estelion.

　Senior, you're not working for the CIA this time, but directly for the Pentagon. You don't need to raise a mercenary army that fights for money, but a regular army that conscripts citizens to fight for their country.

　Therefore, it is definitely impossible for each soldier to receive a generous military salary of $175 per month. The Pentagon will only give him some pocket money at most.

　But this also gives you the power to impose compulsory conscription, and you can directly conscript men from the Spanish-speaking immigrant community according to the list.

　Of course, how to train these forcibly conscripted recruits until they are convinced and obedient depends on your ability."

　Ferry patted Estelian on the shoulder and said, "I know this is difficult, but I have confidence in your abilities! Secretary of Defense McNamara will come to inspect next month. Whether you can turn things around and completely climb out of this mud pit depends on this time..."

　-

　A month later, at the Florida "Wave" training camp

　Secretary of Defense McNamara, who flew in from Washington, was stunned when he saw Estelline skillfully giving orders in Spanish, directing a group of Latin American immigrants who didn't know much English to complete various tactical actions such as forming lines, shooting, and marching quickly.

　"Oh my God, how could there still be so many young people of military age in our country who can't speak English and use this to avoid military service?"

　He turned to look at Firi and said in astonishment, "But statistically, they're no different from idiots and retards?"

　"Yes, Mr. Secretary of Defense. And, as far as I know, when implementing the 100,000-man plan, recruiters often prefer to recruit physically strong idiots. Um, citizens with low IQs, and are unwilling to recruit those minority citizens who cannot speak English.

　Because they think that idiots who speak English can at least communicate, but people who don’t speak the same language can’t communicate at all.”

　Firi replied, "But when it comes to training grounds and battlefields, it's a different story. Our instructors have extensive and successful experience in training foreign soldiers, but when it comes to training fools... With all due respect, Mr. Minister, no one really knows how to handle this."

　"You're right. If I had known there were so many hidden human resources, I wouldn't have recruited fools to make up the numbers."

　Seeing that there was no one around, Secretary of Defense McNamara whispered to Ferry, "Those idiots are really useless. I know that."

　Although he was described by the media as a human computer that only knew how to sit in an office and crunch numbers, unable to grasp the complexities of society, as the president of a car company that once thrived, how could McNamara completely ignore market research and user feedback?

　After forcing a large number of mentally retarded recruits into the front-line troops, the Pentagon has been receiving a lot of bad reviews!

　The officers were all complaining that these idiots couldn't drive, change tires, cook, or read maps, and they always accidentally shot their teammates when they shot. Some of them couldn't even do the most basic thing of checking the warehouse, and they watched helplessly as thieves emptied the entire warehouse, not understanding what was going on.

　Well, it's probably the same reaction as those stupid Husky dogs that guard the house and see that their dogs have been stolen.

　According to a scathing comment from the British newspaper The Times, the only consequence of "McNamara's 100,000 idiots" joining the army and sending them to the battlefield was that "the average IQ of the soldiers was lowered, but the average casualty rate was increased."

　But Secretary of Defense McNamara still insisted on his "100,000 People Plan", insisting that he was doing it to "save these low-IQ people from poverty" and to allow these idiots to learn one or two skills in the army so that they could better support themselves and make a living after retirement.

　This is not just a matter of him being stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistakes. The core of the problem is that he simply cannot come up with an alternative plan!

　In fact, faced with the shortage of manpower caused by long-term wars, everyone knows the correct solution: that is the "Marius Reform" of ancient Rome, which changed from a conscription system to a recruitment system - the United States of America, which calls itself the "New Rome", just needs to copy it.

　But the problem is that in the United States, any major institutional reform requires long-term games and struggles among various political forces, fierce competition or mutual dragging, and it takes several years or even decades before it can be truly implemented.

　If the US military wants to change from a conscription system to a volunteer system, it will not only require a long process, but also require strong political forces to lead the push.

　It just so happened that this year was 1966, the midterm elections, and the ruling Democratic Party, facing an unfavorable election situation, was very reluctant to implement any major controversial reforms. Although ancient Rome defeated the barbarians with the Marian reforms, warlords' fighting followed immediately afterwards. Anyone who has studied history understands this.

　Therefore, the US military's change from a conscription system to a recruitment system will inevitably cause heated public debate and attract a lot of opposition.

　This is just like the legalization of drugs in the future. If you want to promote this kind of thing, there must be legislators who dare to take risks, even at the cost of their own lives!

　Unfortunately, with the midterm elections approaching, the Democrats clearly prefer to remain calm and postpone the trouble.

　As the opposition party, the Republican Party is lucky enough not to cause trouble to the US military. How could it possibly take the initiative to solve problems for the Pentagon?

　As a result, the conscription system that can quickly raise troops cannot be implemented in a short period of time, while the demand for troops on the Asian front is urgent.

　Like a spark, it cannot be delayed for a moment. As the Secretary of Defense, McNamara did not get policy support, which was really like a good cook without rice.

　Otherwise, he would not have been forced to come up with the apparently unreliable "100,000 People Plan" and send fools into the army.

　Now, Colonel Jin helped him improve the "100,000 People Plan" and came up with a more reliable solution, so he was naturally overjoyed.

　It must be said that although McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, had many flaws, primarily his belief in the omnipotence of numbers, he was at least not particularly jealous of others' talents. Otherwise, Firi wouldn't have dared to be so proactive in front of him.

　"You did a great job, Colonel Jin! Fighting for our country is everyone's responsibility! Simply not being able to speak English shouldn't be a barrier to serving our country! Language barriers don't prevent them from becoming good soldiers, and the Department of Defense doesn't lack officers who can speak foreign languages!

　In fact, we can just send those disabled officers who are missing limbs back to the battlefield! I’m sure they will be very happy! ”

　As Secretary of Defense McNamara said this, he called over the lame Estelline who was in charge of this group of Hispanic recruits and asked about the details of the recruitment and training. He also praised Estelline for his "disability but strong will", and then went to watch the shooting training of a small group of Chinese recruits next to him.

　He pondered for a while and then told Fili his additional opinion, "In addition to Chinese and Hispanics, we can also make full use of those Japanese immigrants who are not good at English!

　As far as I know, Hawaii is teeming with Japanese, and Idaho has a significant number of Japanese citizens. Perhaps I should quickly reinstate the 442nd Infantry Regiment from World War II and call back some of those Japanese veterans to serve as instructors. After all, Japanese lives are worthless, and their deaths won't elicit widespread public sympathy. Even if we suffer another 300% casualty rate, the public won't sympathize much...”

　After hearing Secretary of Defense McNamara's cold-blooded words, Ferry couldn't help but sigh inwardly:

　As expected, imperialism has always been a bloody, cruel and bloodthirsty monster that needs to use the flesh and blood of every citizen to satisfy its greed.

　As an accomplice, I naturally have to help the evildoer!

　"Mr. Minister, if you want to recruit Japanese soldiers, then besides domestic resources, Okinawa seems to be a potential manpower pool! The Okinawa Islands are not Okinawa Prefecture in Japan, but a trusteeship of our country!"

　Firi earnestly suggested, "Twenty years ago, when the Battle of Okinawa began, the Japanese Empire recruited approximately 10,000 local militiamen. Now, shouldn't our country be able to recruit a few thousand from Okinawa? As far as I know, many US troops deployed to Vietnam were first trained on the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa to adapt to the Asian battlefield. In that case, wouldn't it be easier to recruit directly from Okinawa?"

　"Well, that's a good idea, but it's a bit too late. The Second Battle of Jakarta has already been fought."

　Secretary of Defense McNamara took off his glasses, wiped them, and sighed, "Otherwise, the Japanese would have gone to India!"

　Chapter 370: The Destruction of Indonesia

　Although Indonesia and Vietnam are both located in the broad "Nanyang" region, both grow rice and are covered by tropical rainforests.

　But there is one most striking difference between the two countries: Vietnam lies entirely north of the equator, making it a true Northern Hemisphere country. Indonesia, on the other hand, lies south of the equator on the island of Java, and its capital, Jakarta, is a Southern Hemisphere city.

　Therefore, the dry season and rainy season on Java Island are exactly the opposite of the dry season and rainy season on Indochina Peninsula.

　While Vietnam enjoys sunny weather in January every year to prepare for the Spring Festival, Indonesians have to face torrential rain and floods every January.

　Wars in Southeast Asia have always been turn-based, with the armies of each side fighting in the dry season and trucing in the rainy season, from ancient times to the 20th century.

　As a result, when the rainy season arrived in the Vietnam and Thailand battlefields and the parties entered a truce period, Indonesia happened to be in the dry season suitable for combat.

　So, on June 6, 1966, at the strong request of its Australian allies and the Dutch, the US government, which was determined to dismember Indonesia, officially launched the Second Battle of Jakarta to destroy the Indonesian central government - even though it was a pro-American government that had only been supported last year.

　General Westmoreland, commanding the troops from his headquarters in Singapore, adhered to the principle of "the more capable, the more work" in employing personnel. He pulled the 1st Marine Division, which had just captured Bangkok, back from the Thai battlefield, revisited the old battlefield, and crossed the sea to Jakarta. Meanwhile, the US Army, already stationed in Surabaya and Solo in western Java, began advancing towards the capital, Jakarta, in eastern Java.

　Faced with a formal standoff with the US, Indonesia's right-wing military junta and army, as usual, performed poorly, collapsing at the first sign of American power. Before the first US Marine could even set foot in Jakarta, the junta's leader, General Nasution, declared Jakarta an undefended city and requested the US not to bomb it. He then fled the capital, taking refuge in inland Bandung.

　Seeing that the government leaders had fled, the Indonesian nationalists who had been besieging the US Embassy just a moment ago also showed their weak nature and scattered in an instant. Apart from smashing a few glass windows, they did not achieve any results, but instead they were fighting among themselves.

　Several people were trampled to death.

　Next, before Nasution fled to Bandung, the number of Indonesian officials who surrendered to the US military on the beach was enough to rebuild a government.

　Minister Suharto, who had returned to Jakarta with the US military, immediately recruited these individuals as his initial team. Unfortunately, Suharto's trusted confidants had been wiped out in the previous year's civil war. Even if he were suddenly promoted to a high position by the US military, he would still be like Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam, without a ready-made "retainer group" to rely on. He could only make do with recruiting defectors.

　Afterwards, the 1st Marine Division marched into Jakarta with familiarity, crushed the spontaneous resistance of a small number of patriotic soldiers, and joined forces with the US Army that came from East Java along the highway. With only less than 50 casualties, it won the victory in the Second Battle of Jakarta.

　Meanwhile, General Nasution, who had escaped Jakarta, took with him about a division of the Indonesian Army and laid siege to Bandung, preparing to be beaten. While scrambling to repair his positions and prepare to hold them, he desperately sent telegrams to the world for help, attempting to request international intervention and mediation from major powers.

　However, General Nasution had just invited the US military to overthrow President Sukarno last year, and then massacred the Indonesian Communist Party, the third largest red political party in the world, and carried out a wave of anti-Chinese massacres. The bloodstains have not yet dried, causing his reputation in the Eastern Bloc to be infamous.

　Neither China nor the Soviet Union had the slightest intention of speaking for him, but just watched sarcastically as the United States dealt with this useless dog.

　Only French President Charles de Gaulle jumped out to show his presence and said some ambiguous and empty words, but of course it was all in vain.

　Then, the US military had no intention of fighting a ground war with General Nasution, this pro-American old dog abandoned by the White House, who tried to resist stubbornly. Instead, it ordered the naval aviation to take off attack aircraft from the aircraft carrier and continuously bomb the Indonesian military camp in Bandung.

　- As an American-equipped army that follows the American training model and combat style, the Indonesian Army, like any other pro-American armies in the Third World, has air defense as its biggest weakness. It does not even know how to fight if it loses air superiority.

　In short, they do not have the fate of the American Imperial Division, but have its problems, and their fighting will is much weaker than that of the genuine American military.

　Even in a situation with an overwhelming advantage, the American army, which relies on firepower but lacks it, often fights in a very embarrassing way.

　If we encounter a huge headwind with a huge disparity between the enemy and us, we will have no idea how to fight.

　As for Indonesia's navy and air force, because they had stood on the wrong side before, they were destroyed in the last civil war and have not had time to rebuild yet!

　Therefore, after three days of high-intensity bombing by US aircraft carriers and B-52 bombers of the US Strategic Air Force, the Indonesian Army in Bandung directly blew up the camp and mutinied. The desperate soldiers tied up Nasution and his family, put them on trucks, drove to Jakarta, and surrendered to the US military.

　At this point, the overall situation in Indonesia had been determined. Suharto, who had once thought he had lost everything, finally succeeded in moving into the Presidential Palace in Jakarta after more than half a year of ups and downs - to be precise, the ruins of the Presidential Palace, and held his own interim presidential inauguration ceremony.

　But he, who originally dreamed of becoming the President of Indonesia, can now only be a "Javanese President" with the territory he can rule shrinking by more than 70%. Even Java Island, Suharto can no longer get a complete piece of it. A piece of it was cut off by the Americans...

　-

　As the world's largest archipelago, Indonesia boasts over 17,000 islands and a total land area of ​​191.9 million square kilometers, making it a vast nation. It's also the widest country in Southeast Asia, stretching from New Guinea in the east to Sumatra in the west, spanning over 5,000 kilometers and spanning three time zones. This is more than twice the straight-line distance between Beijing and Urumqi.

　Such a large number of islands means that the country's territory is extremely fragmented. The ocean barrier makes communication between the islands very rare. Those islands that are not on the main shipping routes are generally very isolated, which has created a large number of ethnic groups in Indonesia. There are more than 300 ethnic groups in the country.

　For example, on Sulawesi Island, there are over twenty ethnic groups, large and small. On Java Island, the most populous, ethnic composition is relatively homogeneous, with the largest Javanese ethnic group in Indonesia living here. Although their area of ​​residence is only 70,000 to 80,000 square kilometers, they make up over 40% of Indonesia's total population.

　But even though the Javanese had a large population, the vast ocean greatly weakened their ability to expand.

　In fact, the Javanese couldn't even unify the 110,000 square kilometers of Java Island. The Sundanese held sway in the west, while the Madurese on Madura Island occupied a portion of the island's east. Furthermore, in Java's cities, one could find Minangkabau people selling snacks, Sasak people selling iced coconut water, and Bugis people skilled in shipbuilding, among others. Of course, the Chinese, skilled in business, were also present.

　Historically, the Indonesian region has always been extremely fragmented, so fragmented that in ancient times it was impossible for it to remain under a unified regime for a long time.

　It was only thanks to the emergence of the Dutch colonists, their arduous journey, sweeping across the South Seas, and gradually defeating and conquering the various ethnic groups around the Java Sea that they were able to create a "Greater Indonesia" that encompassed the entire Malay Archipelago for the first time in the late 19th century.

　Next, Sukarno and other Indonesian independence pioneers wanted to drive out

　On the one hand, they wanted to drive out the Dutch and get rid of colonial rule, but on the other hand, they wanted to inherit the "Greater Indonesia" left by the Dutch. They did not want to see Indonesia return to the ancient situation of many warlords competing for supremacy and division among countries. Instead, they hoped that the entire South Pacific Islands and even the Malay Peninsula would be included under the rule of the same country.

　To this end, they put forward the slogan of "Greater Indonesia" and even went so far as to designate Malay as the national language of Indonesia, rather than Javanese. This was because Javanese, while spoken by many people, was not widely spoken. Malay, on the other hand, was more widely spoken and had simpler grammar to learn.

　Since Indonesia's independence, Sukarno has been shouting the slogan of "Greater Indonesia" for over a decade, but with limited success. Strong independence movements have emerged in Aceh to the west, Sulawesi to the north, the Maluku Islands to the east, West Irian (western New Guinea), and Timor. Even Bali, close to Java, has been at odds with the Javanese, who believe in Allah, due to its adherence to Hinduism.

　Thanks to Java's overwhelming advantage over other islands in population, wealth, and military resources, the Indonesian military, traditionally incompetent in foreign wars, was able to launch relentless attacks against ethnic separatist forces in marginalized areas of the country, barely maintaining the superficial unity of this sprawling nation.

　But now, with the massive offensive of the US and Australian forces, Indonesia's navy, army and air force have all been destroyed, and the pillars that maintained its unity have disappeared.

　Following the Australian kangaroo's "cartoon expansion," and with Secretary of State Rusk, who once crossed the 38th parallel in Korea, reverting to his old ways, the entire Indonesian nation was dismantled by the US military. Within this 1.9 million square kilometers of land, the West Irian Federation, sharing the same island as Papua New Guinea, was born; the North Sulawesi and South Sulawesi Federations, splitting Sulawesi Island to the south and north; and the two nations of North Maluku and South Maluku, equally dividing the Maluku Islands. Then there were East Timor and West Timor, each occupying half of Timor Island, and the US trusteeship of Bali.

　Next up is the "Federation of South Kalimantan," with its capital in Balikpapan. This encompasses most of Borneo under Indonesian rule, plus surrounding islands like the Natuna Islands, making it the largest piece of land to have been separated from the remains of Indonesia. Local Chinese once proposed restoring historical Chinese states in Borneo, such as the Lan Fang Republic and the Dai Yan Kingdom. However, this proposal was rejected by the White House, which argued that the Chinese were also colonizers and should not establish an independent nation.

　Next, Suharto, the "President of the Republic of Java," ruled from Jakarta over the core of the old Indonesia. However, while his country still had 60% of the population, its territory was reduced to only 10%. Even northeastern Java and Madura Island were ceded to the Madurese "Republic of Madura," leaving Suharto's "Republic of Java" without even a single piece of Java.

　Sumatra Island was divided into three parts. The northernmost part was the Sultanate of Aceh, the central part was the Federation of Sumatra with Padang as its capital, and only the southern part of the island centered on Palembang, across the sea from Java Island, was assigned to the Republic of Java and continued to be ruled by Jakarta.

　Thus, under Suharto, the vast Indonesia of Sukarno's rule was reduced to the Republic of Java, encompassing only half of Java Island and a small portion of Sumatra. The long-cherished dream of a "Greater Indonesia" was completely shattered.

　The entire South Pacific archipelago has since become fragmented and restored to its original historical appearance, which is also conducive to the interference and influence of major powers outside the region.

　Australia, which forcibly "leased" many islands from Indonesia and built a number of military bases, is certainly very happy for President Trump, who believes that it is the greatest geopolitical victory since the founding of the country. Although China to the north has condemned it verbally, it is probably more secretly happy in its heart.

　After all, the more fragmented Nanyang is, the easier it is for foreign countries to intervene - and Chinese people going to Nanyang has been a tradition since ancient times...