Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1023: Storm in Nanyang (Second update, two in one)

"Read the newspaper! Read the newspaper! Our army won a great victory in Suez! We captured the city of Suez with zero casualties. The Navy's Fighter Eagles shot down six Egyptian MiGs in their first battle! Read the newspaper..."

As usual, the streets were filled with the shouts of newspaper vendors, and soon people took out money to buy all the newspapers from the vendors.

Although the war came unexpectedly, people were still very concerned about it when the news came. After all, the war was likely to affect their lives. Traditionally speaking, this was indeed the case. The continuous and increasingly violent wars had affected the lives of all the Tang people in the past few decades. Many of them went to Southeast Asia to escape the war.

But now?
After arriving in Southeast Asia, they found that although wars would break out, they had almost nothing to do with their lives. Whether it was Malaya, Siam, or Egypt, Southeast Asia might be involved in wars, but it would definitely not affect everyone's lives.

Besides, this is a victory!
The news of victory is better than anything else.

A perfect victory is enough to make everyone cheer!

"...A military spokesman said: The "Operation Freedom Defense" launched by the military is not an invasion, but is based on basic international norms - that is, no country should violate basic international norms... Every year, more than 100 billion US dollars of goods from Southeast Asia are shipped to Europe through the Suez Canal. The Egyptian government's closure of the canal and prohibition of our passage not only violates international law, but also seriously damages the vital interests of Southeast Asia..."

Listening to the news coming from the radio, Liu Jieying bit her lips nervously, her big eyes full of worry.

"Binghan is on the Friendship. He is now in Suez, on the front line..."

Liu Jieying and Gao Binghan were high school classmates. After graduating from high school, one of them went to the Naval Aviation School and the other went to a Normal University. Although they were far away from each other, they were in love and had already established a relationship.

The two of them would write to each other every day until a month ago. Although they could still receive letters from Gao Binghan, they were all piled up and arrived at the same time.

At first, Liu Jieying really thought that Gao Binghan was conducting a sea exercise, but on that day in late October, military music sounded on the radio and the same news was transmitted in the air: the Nanyang Army landed in Suez, firing the first shot in "defending freedom."

The army landed in the city of Suez, the Marines captured a small island in the Bay of Suez, military music sounded over and over again on the radio, and victory news came one after another.

Overseas warfare has nothing to do with most people. People just need to cheer for victory. This is exactly why people cheer for war and victory. In the past in Tangshan, they had experienced too many disasters of war. They might have cheered for victory, but their state of mind was completely different. At that time, they were resisting invasion.

And now? It's about invading others!

No, that's not the case.

It should be said that special military operations are being launched in other countries for the sake of international business norms and the vital interests of Southeast Asia.

But the fact that her lover was at the front line made Liu Jieying feel very anxious.

How could the exercise turn into a war?

But now, apart from praying and asking the Buddha to bless her lover to return safely, she had no other thoughts.

While Liu Jieying was praying, most of the discussions about the war were focused on Egypt's unauthorized closure of the canal, so Nanyang was forced to take corresponding military actions. After all, whether it was in the newspapers, on TV, or on the radio, most of them said so, and even if there were a few noises, they were just as loud as mosquitoes.

"We are defending the free passage of international trade!"

"That's right. Little Egypt really overestimates its own capabilities. It actually dared to close the canal and offend the two great powers of Britain and France. It even stopped our ships in the South China Sea. If we don't attack them, who should we attack?"

"That's not the case. This is overestimating one's own abilities!"

On the bus, listening to people's voices, Zhang Yaodong looked out the window, his expression looking a little heavy.

"I don't know what happened to Nanyang..."

As he listened to the excitement of people discussing the war, his argument with his friend flashed through his mind.

"We defeated the Japanese invasion more than a decade ago. How can we invade others?"

"It was Siam before, and now it's Egypt. Egypt, they took back the canal that was built on their land, so what?"

"That's an unequal treaty! Shouldn't it be abolished?"

“Should, should!”

The friend looked at him and said.

"But times have changed. In the past, Tangshan abolished the unequal treaties imposed by others, but now, Nanyang is... well, it is to protect its own interests. Think about it, our trade with Europe is so important, and the Egyptians have the canal in their hands. If it is closed, our overseas trade will be affected, with billions of yuan in losses every year, and hundreds of thousands or even millions of jobs will be affected. It would be strange if the military did not take action!"

Recalling his friends' words and listening to the conversations of people on the bus, Zhang Yaodong found that the people of Nanyang had indeed changed. They had become arrogant, domineering, and...

Is this forgetfulness?

Zhang Yaodong didn't know, but all he saw in the newspapers and on the news was bragging about the war. They analyzed how the Egyptians violated international law and how Nanyang was forced to adopt special military operations to defend free trade.

"Special military operations are really arrogant! They can even find such a reason!"

In an apartment in Chang'an, Wu Mengchuan sneered while having breakfast.

"The people in Nanyang are really becoming more and more overbearing. They really don't know how many bowls of rice and salt they can eat!"

The sudden words made Mrs. Wu's heart jump. She looked at her husband with a slightly changed expression. She was so nervous that she almost subconsciously looked outside, as if someone had seen her talking. Her face turned pale and then suddenly turned red.

At this moment, she remembered that this was Nanyang. Nanyang was different from other places. Even if she was exposed, she would just be sent back. However, she was unwilling to leave here.

"Ruyun! - What do you think? - Humph, from invading Siam, doing perverse things, helping the King of Siam to restore the monarchy, to now acting as a running dog of British and French imperialism, Nanyang is on a dark road, going further and further!"

Wu Mengchuan seemed to be trying hard to suppress his outburst of anger and said coldly; his eyes were fierce and moved back and forth on his wife's face several times: it was a look that went straight to the heart.

Li Ruyun's face changed immediately, and her heart was beating and trembling. But at the same time, it seemed as if something broke in her chest. She suddenly made up her mind and prepared to reveal everything, including her dream. Her expression became extremely ugly.

However, Wu Mengchuan, who was completely focused on criticizing the hegemony of Southeast Asia and its behavior as a running dog of imperialism, did not notice his wife's abnormal expression; he stood up and paced a few steps, waving his arms vigorously, and said:
"Those who do too much evil will eventually perish. Nanyang is a typical lackey. They really think that they can forget themselves and become arrogant just because they have a few atomic bombs and launched a few satellites. They are now using some bread and milk to buy off the people. They can still deceive some fools for the time being, but in the future, the people will see through their true faces..."

Then he stood still again, looking at his wife's drooping neck, and said to himself:

"Oh, what was coming has finally come! - Oh! My ideal seven years ago -" "Isn't your ideal to let everyone have enough food, warm clothes and a house to shelter from the wind and rain?"

Suddenly, Li Ruyun broke the silence, raised her head and asked:

"Look at what's wrong with Nanyang. Not only can every household have enough food to eat, but they also live in small Western-style buildings, and many people even have cars. Look at what they eat, use, and live in. Which one is not much better than we imagined? Meng Chuan, look, it's this milk. When you were in Shanghai, you said that one day everyone would be able to drink milk. That was your ideal! You said that only landlords and capitalists could afford to drink milk, and the working people couldn't. But who in Nanyang can't afford to drink milk? When a child is born, there are childcare subsidies, free milk powder, nurseries, kindergartens, and schools. Lunch in school is free, and there must be milk and fish. In the past, you didn't even dare to think about such a life. At that time, I remember you said in school - it's just to have enough food, but here in Nanyang..."

"Ruyun, how can you say that!"

Wu Mengchuan walked up to his wife, put his hands on her shoulders, and said earnestly:
"Yes. The people here can eat enough, and they can eat well - but how do they live like this? It's through invasion and plunder. Ruyun, didn't you see them proudly saying in the newspapers that millions of tons of food are shipped back from Africa every year? Those foods are the blood and sweat of the local people. Why are they willing to act as running dogs of British and French imperialism? Isn't it just to plunder with them in the colonies? The good life here is obtained by oppressing the African people! Ruyun, Ruyun!"

These two passionate calls, like an electric current, flowed into Li Ruyun's heart; but when she looked up at her husband, she immediately realized that this passion was not for her, but for the African people, for the "ideal" in his heart, and in an instant, her heart cooled down by half. She almost cried.

"When I came here, I knew that this was a big capitalist paradise. Here, everything people eat, wear and use belongs to the Li family. What kind of country is Nanyang? It's clearly home, the Li family's home. The people here are the people, and they are clearly slaves, the Li family's slaves. From birth to death, they have been working hard for the Li family. Even when they die, they are buried on the Li family's land. People are slaves without knowing it. Now, what is coming has finally come! The capitalists have begun to drive the people here to fight and bully the weak, just like the Japanese warlords drove the Japanese people to invade Tangshan..."

Wu Mengchuan continued to speak. He did not feel Li Ruyun's conflicting and complicated mood at all. He stared into the air with fierce eyes, and suddenly turned angry:
"I hate it so much now. I hate that the people here are so callous and ignorant. They think they live a good life, but what is the reality? They are slaves of capitalists and slave owners. What do they think is the wonderful Nanyang-style life? It's just a dog bone thrown by those bastards! What do they do? They use movies and magazines to tell everyone how wonderful and happy life in Nanyang is. Even the banknotes are printed with children and grandchildren. But they don't know that they are just slaves! I just realized that this is the sinister intention of those capitalists. They use the so-called wonderful life to keep people in the dark and live in dreams! Waiting for others to plunder and oppress!"

Suddenly, Wu Mengchuan stamped his feet and threw himself on the sofa angrily. He frowned and looked at the newspaper beside him, then looked at his wife. He was now very dissatisfied with his wife's silence. He calmed down his tone and said in a questioning tone:

"Ruyun! Why don't you speak? What are you thinking about?"

"I think - a person's ideals will always fail sooner or later!"

"What are you talking about! --You! You..."

"One must always face reality!"

Li Ruyun picked up the glass of milk on the table and said:
"It doesn't matter if it's numbness or bribery. If everyone in the world can be bribed in this way, then what's wrong with that? At least everyone has milk and lives in a foreign-style building. If you think this place is not good, you can just leave and take a plane to Hong Kong Island. Air tickets are not expensive now! Just leave now!"

"You, you are simply unreasonable!"

Wu Mengchuan shouted like a scold, but after a few words, he stopped talking and picked up a newspaper to cover his face - he was not really reading the newspaper, but just using the newspaper to hide his dissatisfaction with his wife.

But the content in the newspaper was very eye-catching - "zero casualties"!
A few words came into his sight. He was so anxious that he even wanted to throw the newspaper aside, but he still looked at the newspaper for a long time before speaking.

"One day, I will go back, I will definitely..."

"I won't go back!"

Li Ruyun cast her charming glance at her husband's face, picked up the wallet from the shoe rack, and said:

"When the time comes, if you want to go back, go back by yourself!"

"You, you are a married woman, marry..."

Wu Mengchuan looked up in surprise, and when he saw his wife holding the bag, he waved his hand vigorously and said in a stern voice:

"It's up to you. That's your freedom! Free marriage, come and go as you please!"

Her husband's answer made Li Ruyun's pretty eyebrows droop, and tears almost flowed from her eyes, but she just silently put on a pair of high heels, and then walked out of the apartment with a swaying graceful figure.

……

Generally speaking, the war did not cause any impact on Southeast Asia. At most, people just talked about the war after dinner, and that was the extent of their concern for the war.

"On the whole, the current domestic attitude towards the war is very clear and is absolutely supportive. After all, closing the canal is related to the vital interests of Nanyang."

Listening to Yu Xiangdong's report, Li Yian nodded slightly, and then said:
"What about Britain? What's the reaction there?"

In fact, compared to Nanyang, he cares more about Britain. After all, Britain is the protagonist of the "Suez Canal Crisis", and Nanyang is not suitable to take over the limelight for the time being!

"Although the British public initially believed that the purpose of Britain's military intervention was to prevent the Egyptian-Israeli military from engaging in a firefight, anti-war protests emerged almost immediately. Michael Foot, a well-known BBC host, called Conservative MP Robert Boothby a criminal who supported the war on TV. Parliament was also in an uproar. Labour Party leader Gaitskell said that this was an irreparable loss to the country's reputation and prestige. Several Labour Party MPs even directly compared Eden to Hitler, which almost turned the debate into a boxing match. However, Eden insisted that this was not a war but an "armed conflict." The Labour Party and trade unions organized a nationwide anti-war protest that day."

Sure enough, this is very British.

Li Yian sneered.

"This is Eden's mistake in decision-making. He thought too much and tried to be clever. He made a big mistake by not taking action in July when Nasser had just nationalized the country and the British were outraged. He delayed it until October when the enthusiasm had dissipated and many British people had accepted the fait accompli and were unwilling to start a war. In particular, air traffic has not been affected in the past few months. More importantly, the Eden government's overly strict confidentiality measures made the British people completely unaware of the coming of the war. Even a few days ago, Eden called on the radio to resolve the issue peacefully. Such hesitation will not solve the problem."

Although he looked down on Eden compared to Churchill, Li Yian, who was determined to help the British Empire regain its reputation so as to profit from it, would naturally not sit idly by and watch his failure.

"The biggest problem for the UK and even Europe right now is oil. After the Suez Canal was interrupted, their oil supply will definitely become a problem, and oil price increases are inevitable. Well, we should transfer all our large tankers to transport oil to Europe. We cannot let Europe stagnate due to lack of oil. We must do our utmost to ensure Europe's oil supply."

In fact, it is not just about transporting oil, but also about taking the opportunity to seize the market. Crisis, danger is accompanied by opportunities. Li Yian has been eyeing the European oil market for a long time. How could he miss this opportunity now?

Now is a good time to put the dozen or so large oil tankers in the South China Sea to use.

What is a crisis?

It may be said to be dangerous, but in fact it is an opportunity!
"We should learn from the Russians in this regard. You see, when they saw that the situation in Hungary was developing in a direction that was unfavorable to them, they decided to send troops at the first opportunity."

When mentioning the Russians, Li Yian picked up the report on the table again and said.

"In just a few days, Russia has already sent out troops twice in succession. The troops sent a few days ago have not yet been called back, but Russia immediately mobilized a full 17 divisions to "restore order in Hungary" instead of waiting until the situation deteriorates further and becomes unmanageable. Such decision-making power is beyond the reach of Eden and his men!"

Feeling the hesitation of Eden and others and the decisiveness of the Russians, Li Yian cast his eyes on the map. The map on the wall at this time was a map of Hungary. Compared with Egypt, he was more concerned about Hungary. After all, the problem of Egypt was very simple. It was bound to win militarily. The rest was nothing more than a political problem, that is, how to withstand the interference of the United States and the Soviet Union. But Hungary was different. The layout in Hungary directly affected the results in Egypt, so the breakthrough was still in Hungary.

Staring at Hungary on the map, Li Yian said.

"Now, this is the key!"

(End of this chapter)