American Strategic Deception Bureau

　"There are no suitable diplomatic bargaining chips? How could there be no suitable bargaining chips? Wouldn't allowing Red China to return to the United Nations be a powerful bargaining chip?"

　"A seat at the United Nations? The veto power of the five Security Council members? Ah, this bargaining chip has other uses. The president doesn't intend to use it for peace talks on the Vietnam War. Instead, he wants to make other deals with Beijing. For example, getting Beijing to recognize Taiwan's special status."

　After hearing what Firi said, Kissinger blinked and explained, "The president said that although he and I believe that the stability and peace of global human civilization depend on the joint efforts of Washington on the one hand and Moscow and Beijing on the other to achieve bilateral coordination and reconciliation.

　But most Americans hate cowards; they just want a cowboy warrior who can defeat any challenge from the Reds.

　Therefore, even if we want to negotiate with the Red Bloc, we must try our best to get them to make concessions, rather than the United States unilaterally showing weakness."

　"So, how can we force China and the Soviet Union to make concessions? It is the United States that is stuck in the quagmire, not them!"

　Fili curled his lips and said, "Beijing and Moscow probably hope that the United States will continue to fight in Vietnam for another twenty years and completely defeat it."

　The people are poor and their wealth is gone!"

　"Whether or not we can force the other side to make concessions, we should at least try! Even if we can't get Beijing and Moscow to stop their arms aid, as long as we can completely destroy the Vietnamese's fighting spirit, destroy their war potential, and make them bleed to death, this war can be declared over."

　After all, the Vietnamese are just a small nation with a limited population, and the amount of blood they can shed in the war is limited.

　China clearly has no intention of sending troops directly to the war and shedding blood for the Vietnamese—as long as we do not seek a long-term occupation of North Vietnam.”

　Dr. Kissinger said this calmly, then looked around for a moment, put his mouth close to Fili's ear, and said mysteriously, "Let me tell you a secret. The president plans to use a hydrogen bomb to bomb Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, to deal the most brutal blow to the warmongering lunatics of the Viet Cong!"

　But Firi remained calm and showed no sign of surprise - after all, the current situation is different from the past. With the US military dropping nuclear bombs everywhere time and time again, people no longer fear nuclear weapons, or have become numb to the idea of ​​nuclear war.

　Just this past May, just over two months ago, the US military broke restraint and dropped a ton of nuclear bombs on the Indochina Peninsula, with a total yield exceeding 100 million tons of TNT! So, all those radiation-laden mushroom clouds and the like, while they were happening, felt like just that.

　So, even if the Pentagon drops another hydrogen bomb on Hanoi now, what will be the result?

　Chiang Mai in Thailand, Luang Prabang in Laos, and Buon Ma Thuot and Cu Chi in South Vietnam can withstand nuclear explosions, so why can't Hanoi in North Vietnam be bombed?

　The Viet Cong has been numbed by nuclear bombs recently, but their leader Le Duan has not been frightened by the mushroom cloud and stopped opposing the United States!

　"

　Nuking Hanoi? That sounds like a pretty basic idea. Our army had already captured Hanoi twice before, but it hadn't frightened the North Vietnamese leaders, let alone ended the war. Now, razing Hanoi to the ground with a hydrogen bomb—was that going to frighten the Vietcong?

　I think this is simply impossible. The Vietcong have already incurred so much sunk cost in the war for national unification that no leader dares to back down. Even if the current second-generation leader, Le Duan, were killed by a hydrogen bomb, the next North Vietnamese leader would be unlikely to abandon the war. Even if a peace advocate did come to power in North Vietnam, they would be quickly defeated or eliminated because they would be unable to justify themselves internally.

　Just like when the Korean War ended, both China and the United States no longer wanted to fight, but both North and South Korea were eager to continue the war.

　Unfortunately, we could not completely overthrow the North Vietnamese regime because Red China would not allow it, and domestic public opinion did not support us starting a world war.

　Firi shook his head and pessimistically commented in a low voice, "What's more, the Pentagon was reluctant to let the Strategic Air Force's B-52 bombers carry nuclear bombs to bomb Hanoi because the Viet Cong deployed Soviet-made "Sam" series air defense missiles near the capital Hanoi. Our bombers might be shot down by Soviet missiles, and the nuclear bombs carried by the planes would also be at risk of falling into the hands of the North Vietnamese Workers' Party.

　Now, isn't the president concerned about this?"

　"There's no need to worry about this problem anymore, because the president doesn't plan to deploy the strategic air force. Instead, he's planning to bombard Hanoi with intercontinental missiles equipped with nuclear warheads! Obviously, SAM air defense missiles are incapable of intercepting intercontinental missiles!"

　Dr. Kissinger said with a relaxed expression, "If we can make the North Vietnamese leadership disappear from the face of the earth and the North Vietnamese communist regime fall apart, then it would naturally be the best. Even if they escape the nuclear attack, at least they can be scared half to death, and Beijing can also be scared by the way!

　If the leaders in Beijing are so frightened that they have to hide in their bunkers and work, then they will be eager to accept our olive branch next time.”

　Ah, is this... the future King of Understanding's favorite "maximum pressure" strategy? Using nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles to create empty cards?

　On the one hand, they conducted a combat test of the intercontinental missiles, and on the other hand, they used the North Vietnamese capital as a target to make an example of others and intimidate Beijing?

　Taking advantage of the fact that the equipment to intercept missiles has not yet appeared, we are arrogantly declaring that there is no inch of land in the world that cannot be reached by American nuclear missiles?

　"I think that compared to completely intimidating the opponent and crushing the enemy's fighting will, this is more likely to trigger reciprocal retaliation from the socialist camp. For example, China or the Soviet Union dropped nuclear bombs on South Vietnam at the request of North Vietnam," said Firi with a frown.

　"Reciprocal retaliation? Nuclear counterattack? Yes, that's right. If the North Vietnamese leadership is still alive, they will definitely beg China and the Soviet Union for nuclear bombs.

　But why should we worry about this? They certainly can't get even one nuclear missile!

　In the past, North Vietnamese territory seemed like a safe zone, bound by the Geneva Armistice. No matter how fierce the fighting raged, North Vietnamese leaders stubbornly believed that their territory would only be bombed and raided, but would never be occupied by our army.

　So no matter how many defeats they suffered in the south or how many people died, they could calmly return to the north to recuperate and restore their strength.

　This is also the spiritual pillar that supports the North Vietnamese side to fight the war to the end no matter how much sacrifice they make or how great the losses they suffer!

　Now, the US intercontinental missile nuclear warheads will destroy their illusions and spiritual support - our army is certainly afraid to take over North Vietnam and trigger the Chinese army to move south. But using nuclear bombs to turn North Vietnam's Red River Delta into a radioactive wasteland will not be enough.

　Can't soil achieve the same effect?

　Of course, after its capital Hanoi was destroyed by intercontinental missiles, North Vietnam would definitely ask China and the Soviet Union for help, hoping that China and the Soviet Union would launch a nuclear counterattack for North Vietnam.

　But the problem is that China's atomic bombs have no actual combat capability - they have neither intercontinental missiles nor advanced bombers that can penetrate our air defense network. The Soviet Union does have intercontinental missiles, but will Red China allow Soviet intercontinental missiles to pass through its territory?

　Kissinger smiled confidently. "They've been exchanging fire intermittently on the Sino-Soviet border for several months now. The hatred and hostility between them has reached an explosive point. How can they possibly become friends again immediately?"

　(In March 1969, the Sino-Soviet Zhenbao Island War broke out, in June, the Tacheng conflict occurred, and in August, the Tieleketi War occurred. The Sino-Soviet conflict reached its peak.)

　"However, the Viet Cong, having been hit by the hydrogen bomb, would certainly not understand China's difficulties and would only resent China's refusal to help.

　Therefore, if we bomb Hanoi, it will not unite the socialist camp, but will only further widen their contradictions!"

　Kissinger waved his hand casually,

　This will create more opportunities for the United States to sow discord, allowing China and the United States to draw closer and join forces to fight the Soviet Union's "reversal triangle." This will gradually transform from an absurd fantasy into a potential option that can be realized..."

　——He is worthy of being a master of international strategy in the Cold War era. Although he was somewhat presumptuous, this tactic of extreme pressure did hit the soft spot on the other side of the Iron Curtain, and tested the value of the term "proletarian brothers" in the most cruel way.

　At that moment, the courtyard's loudspeaker was playing President Kennedy's speech welcoming the Apollo 11 crew: "This week is the greatest week in history. Warriors returning from space, you have made tremendous contributions to human civilization and progress. Your adventure will be recorded in history forever! Because of your achievements, people all over the world have become closer!"

　Were we getting closer? Were we showing each other closeness by giving each other hydrogen bombs and mushroom clouds?

　Listening to the president's speech on the radio, Firi sighed and thought so.

　The author's words:

　It's like boiling water!

　For a moment, screams rang out one after another, and countless Vietnamese people covered their twitching eyes tightly, hunching their bodies in pain like shrimps.

　Those standing outdoors would have their clothes ignite in the radiation, causing severe burns to their exposed skin in an instant. Even those staying indoors would feel the burning pain. However, those who managed to scream and writhe on the ground were considered lucky. Many more would die instantly before they even realized what was wrong.

　When the light representing death faded away, there was a roar like thunder, which made the whole world tremble in terror.

　The next moment, accompanied by a resounding explosion, a devastating shockwave swept across the four directions, reaching speeds of over a hundred meters per second! Mixed with deadly rays, particles, nuclear dust storms, and shockwaves, it carried a howling sound from the underworld, fiercely crushing both sides of the Red River flowing through Hanoi City!

　In the blink of an eye, the entire North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi was razed to the ground, like rice after the autumn harvest. The fragile wooden and thatched huts collapsed, toppled, and even shattered easily in an instant, like pieces of cardboard. The residents who remained in the urban area near the epicenter were burned to a charred, inorganic mass, or like ants in a typhoon, swept up and thrown into the air by the scorching winds. Many were reduced to ash before they even touched the ground in the indescribable heat. In the end, only a few of the sturdiest reinforced concrete buildings remained, like reefs jutting out of the sea, towering over a vast expanse of charred, scorching bricks and rubble.

　Fortunately, after repeated bombings by the US Strategic Air Force, North Vietnam had already evacuated most of Hanoi's citizens and relocated the central government from the capital. However, due to the need for road and rail transportation, many Vietnamese people still had to stay in this transportation hub.

　As a result, they were all killed in the explosion: those close to the bomb's epicenter were vaporized. Vietnamese farther away were blinded, some with their eyeballs shattered and melted, and subjected to lethal doses of radiation, writhing in agony.

　In the end, there might not be more than one lucky person out of ten who could survive the deadly radiation around Hanoi.

　At the same time, a huge, bright orange-red fireball rapidly rose from the sky above the ruined city of Hanoi, piercing through the clouds and soaring into the sky like a second sun. It was like a flame spewing from hell, turning the earth into deadly molten lava!

　People within a radius of hundreds of kilometers felt the dazzling flash that was brighter than the sun, heard the deafening explosion, and even felt the ground shaking beneath their feet... This was almost like notifying them that the end of the world was approaching!

　Even in Haiphong Port, over 200 kilometers away, people heard a powerful muffled thud, and some unlucky families had their windows broken. As for the cities and villages closer to Hanoi, they were reduced to a raging sea of ​​fire in the blink of an eye!

　Such a large-scale fire was already difficult to control, and the shockwave from the nuclear explosion stirred up a huge wind in the area—the scorching winds also spread the deadly fire rapidly in all directions. Wherever the fire spread, there was a huge fire in an instant.

　Looking around, the military camps were burning, the warehouses were burning, the houses were burning, the woods were burning, everything was burning!

　The SAM-2 air defense missiles donated by the Soviet Union to North Vietnam were completely unable to play any defensive role in the face of the nuclear warheads carried by the US Minuteman intercontinental missiles. Along with the accompanying radars and power generation vehicles, they were burned into twisted and charred metal wreckage on the ground.

　As time passed, the smoke from the raging fire lingered and rolled, covering the vast land. The slender column of smoke produced by the hydrogen bomb explosion gradually changed from white to red, gold, and purple, a brilliant and colorful scene filled with the cruel beauty of death.

　Next, the top of the enormous column of smoke began to expand, becoming like a mushroom, and it continued to grow larger and larger... finally forming a terrifying mushroom cloud. It expanded rapidly and spiraled upward, reaching a height of more than 20 kilometers, piercing from the ground to the upper reaches of the atmosphere!

　——Not only did millions of Vietnamese people see this hellish scene of a burning sky and devastated earth; even the border residents of Guangxi, China, across the border, and Soviet merchant ships in Haiphong Port, could clearly see this mushroom cloud that was twice as tall as Mount Everest!

　This scene left the Chinese people, who believed they had been threatened by "US imperialism and Soviet revisionism" with nuclear weapons for many years, stunned for a moment.

　As for the high-level officials of Beiyue who were on the edge of this Shura field, they were horrified and heartbroken by the destruction that came out of nowhere.

　For example, Le Duan, the second-generation leader of North Vietnam and the Red Commander of Indochina, immediately after the nuclear explosion, ignored the guards' obstruction and stumbled out of the underground shelter and broke into the observation post on the hilltop. Looking at Hanoi, which was destroyed by the hydrogen bomb in the distance, he was completely distraught, uttering incoherently and sobbing: "Americans! How dare you... How dare you..."

　——This is Vietnam’s thousand-year-old capital, and it was flattened by a nuclear bomb!

　In terms of history, this city is much older than Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea.

　Even Japan

　Kyoto is not as ancient as Hanoi.

　Among the capitals of East Asian countries other than China, only Pyongyang in North Korea is older than Hanoi in Vietnam.

　But now... the whole of Hanoi was bombed to pieces, and all the ancient monuments with two thousand years of history and the cultural heritage since the founding of Vietnam were wiped out!

　It's still unclear whether the hydrogen bomb dropped by the United States on Hanoi using an intercontinental missile was a "clean, environmentally friendly nuclear weapon," where the radiation dissipated after a few days, filling the crater with water suitable for swimming, or a "heavy environmental destructive bomb" with deliberately increased nuclear contaminants.

　If it is the former, it would be fine. At most, the city can be rebuilt from the ruins. The Vietnamese are already very experienced in similar things.

　But what if the US really turns its back on Hanoi and launches a heavily contaminated nuclear warhead?

　Then, North Vietnam had no choice but to move its capital!

　Even the entire delta of the lower Red River, North Vietnam’s most important grain-producing area, will be contaminated by radioactive substances flowing from upstream!

　——Can rice grown with radioactive water still be eaten?

　Even more dreadful is that if the US decides that a nuclear bombing of Hanoi is not enough and instead plans to launch several more heavily polluting nuclear weapons deep into North Vietnam, fundamentally eradicating the Vietnamese people's living space... then the Vietnamese people could really be bled dry!

　The power of a nuclear bomb is so terrifying!

　This is the sword of the world's overlord that small and poor countries cannot resist at all!

　Thinking of this, Le Duan's spirit couldn't help but collapse: when the imperialist invaders completely tore off the cloak of humanitarianism and completely exposed their hideous true faces, the degree of their brutality and bloodthirstiness far exceeded the imagination of the people of these third world countries!

　Vietnam has completely annoyed and angered the United States!

　What could be done? A ceasefire or peace with the US was out of the question. The North Vietnamese Workers' Party had already invested so much in liberating the country that it could no longer afford defeat. Furthermore, Le Duan would never accept defeat—he would rather commit suicide by poison than endure the humiliation of seeking peace.

　Then, when peace is hopeless, the only option is to fight nuclear war with nuclear war, relying on nuclear attacks to deter the enemy from continuing to deploy nuclear weapons.

　Of course, the impoverished North Vietnam certainly did not have nuclear weapons, but China and the Soviet Union now have nuclear arsenals.

　Now, the test is whether the leaders in Beijing and Moscow really regard the North Vietnamese Workers' Party as "comrades and brothers"...

　At that moment, Defense Minister Vo Nguyen Giap, donning a protective suit, approached. He first handed Le Duan a protective mask, then squinted for a moment at the distant Hanoi, shrouded in smoke and reduced to a radioactive ruin. Then he turned and whispered a few words of comfort to Le Duan.

　But Le Duan had no intention of talking nonsense with him. He just glared at him with bloodshot eyes and shouted: "Comrade Vo Nguyen Giap! Our revolutionary cause and national liberation cause have now reached the most dangerous moment!

　Washington is using the powerful firepower of World War III to ravage a small, backward and poor country like ours!

　To fight against the ferocious US imperialism, Vietnam cannot be without nuclear weapons! The socialist camp must provide us with nuclear weapons!

　What about nuclear non-proliferation principles? Get lost! Vietnam is already engaged in a full-scale nuclear war!

　Whether it's Beijing or Moscow, we'll obey whoever can give us nuclear bombs or nuke the US military for us!"

　Listening to Le Duan's almost insane words, and looking at the capital in the distance that had just experienced a nuclear catastrophe, Vo Nguyen Giap sighed and nodded heavily.

　Foreigners simply cannot understand America's worldview of being invincible.

　Even a pessimistic eccentric like Kissinger, who emphasizes realism and opposes chanting, often loses touch with reality when looking at international issues.

　In short, the upper class in big and powerful countries has been doing this for a long time, and it is difficult for them to understand the mentality of the rulers and people of small and weak countries.

　The US top leaders have never understood the political spectrum and public opinion demands within third world countries, and they don't care at all - just like the Confucian scholars in ancient China, who always stubbornly believed that reading the books of sages would make them understand everything, and that all other miscellaneous studies were useless and should be despised.

　Chinese Confucian scholars use Confucian etiquette to screen the world, and the gentlemen in Washington use political correctness to label the world. In essence, they are both equally idealistic.

　Of course, the Soviet Union's use of its severely rigid ideology and planned economic system to force its younger brothers to adapt to the new environment would only make them more idealistic.

　As for the outcome? Unfortunately, the human world is still materialistic...

　For example, the strategy of using the nuclear bombing of Hanoi to exert "maximum pressure" and force North Vietnam to the negotiating table was not proposed by Dr. Kissinger, but rather a "divine decision" made by President Kennedy under the persuasion of his advisors. However, Kissinger also believed it was feasible.

　After all, in 1969, China and the Soviet Union were in a state of hostility and tension, and seemed to be on the verge of an all-out war.

　Along the long border from Manchuria to Central Asia, armed conflicts broke out one after another, with millions of troops from both sides facing each other in the air, ready for battle.

　In order to stop the Soviet armored forces' "steel torrent" from moving south, China even went so far as to build large-scale "artificial mountain" fortresses in Inner Mongolia.

　The "Third Line War Preparation Project" built in various parts of inland southwest China during this period was clearly intended to defend against the Soviet Union rather than the United States.

　Based on the above intelligence, the US top brass judged that Sino-Soviet relations were on the brink of war and were simply unable to take care of their little brother Vietnam far to the south.

　- Just like the European powers during the First World War, after the bloody battles at Verdun, the Somme River and the Dardanelles, they no longer had the strength to take care of their overseas colonies and could only watch the natives cause trouble and the United States and Japan infiltrate.

　Then, just as the United States would never give nuclear bombs to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, China and the Soviet Union should not give nuclear bombs to Vietnam.

　Otherwise, Vietnam would have upgraded from a vassal state and a tool to the level of being able to sit at the table for meals and discuss politics with the suzerain state.

　In fact, the fact that the Soviet Union once supported China in developing atomic bombs had already shocked international observers in the White House.

　Fortunately, Sino-Soviet relations broke down and the Soviet Union's aid to China's nuclear industry became half-hearted, otherwise the American think tank would have been shattered.

　In short, under the current circumstances, as a tiny country, Vietnam is certainly unable to withstand a nuclear war independently.

　As for China and the Soviet Union directly dropping nuclear bombs on US troops stationed in Vietnam? Given the current state of Sino-Soviet relations, how could such cooperation be achieved?