Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1228: Seoul Storm (rd update, please subscribe)

What did Seoul look like in 1961?
It is poor and backward. Even in the most prosperous places, there are not many buildings. Even if there are, most of them are remnants of the Japanese colonial period. Even though the war has ended for more than ten years, traces of the war are still left on a few buildings.

“This is Seoul!”

Jin Yongzhe looked at the city outside the window and thought silently. He had just reported to the Ministry of Education and would have to follow the arrangements of his superiors. However, he was not in a hurry. Instead, he looked at Seoul with a tourist's mentality.

Although Seoul is poor and backward, the atmosphere of Southeast Asia can be seen everywhere here.

This seems a little strange.

But it's actually not surprising at all.

On the streets of Seoul, most of the vehicles running around are made in Southeast Asia. Even if there are American cars, they are almost all trucks discarded by the US military or American aid cars.

As for the clothes people wore, they were almost all of Nanyang style, the posters in the cinemas, and the programs on the television were almost all of Nanyang style. Even the language people spoke became Mandarin.

In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, it is more like Southeast Asia to a certain extent rather than South Korea, or a place deeply influenced by Southeast Asia.

After wandering around the streets for a long time, Jin Yongzhe finally came to the Ministry of Education near dusk. As soon as he got off the bus, he saw his friends waiting outside. When he reported a few hours ago, he unexpectedly met his senior from Nanyang University, who was also his good friend.
In a nearby noodle shop, Liu Bidong looked at his good friend and said:
"Hey, it's basically just some country folks who still speak Korean now."

Then he looked around and said:
"Listen, everyone is basically speaking Chinese."

"It's to go out to work."

Kim Yong-chul says:
“When I was in Nanyang, I heard that people were learning Chinese in order to work abroad.”

"Yeah, what should I do if I don't go abroad?"

Liu Bidong said:
"Since 1957, U.S. aid to South Korea has been decreasing. South Korea has had trouble even ensuring basic livelihoods, let alone developing its economy.

Due to the difficult living conditions in the people's livelihood, naturally, South Korea's already small-scale industry was further hit. South Korea's industry fell into a vicious cycle in which factories continued to close down due to sluggish social demand, and the surge in the number of unemployed people led to a further decline in industrial demand, and the number of unemployed people continued to increase.

Even the mining industry, which job seekers used to avoid, has seen a large influx of job seekers. According to statistics, in 1959, high school students accounted for half of the miners in South Korea, and college students accounted for nearly a quarter!

Jin Yongzhe was stunned by his friend's words and said.

"Is it that serious?"

"South Korea currently has a population of 2200 million, but 250 million people are unemployed."

Looking at his friend whom he had not seen for many years, Liu Bidong said with emotion:
"Three years ago, I returned to China with great ambitions. I wished that Korea could become as prosperous as Southeast Asia overnight. But now..."

With a long sigh, Liu Bidong said:
"Three years have passed, and South Korea has not gotten better as I had hoped. Instead, it has gotten worse. If it weren't for the barbed wire and landmines on the 38th parallel, I don't know how many people would have fled to the north. South Korea is really hopeless. There is not even a shred of hope."

After thinking for a while, he added:
"Actually, it's not really a hope. For ordinary people, going to Southeast Asia is the biggest hope. If that doesn't work, even going to Africa is fine!"

hopeless!

This is South Korea today - even after Syngman Rhee was overthrown on April 19 last year, South Korea's extreme poverty has not improved significantly.

“But you must be able to speak Mandarin.”

"Yes, you need to be able to speak Mandarin, so, listen..."

Liu Bidong glanced at the diners in the room and said:
"Did you hear that?"

What did you hear?
Is it their conversation?
Everyone was speaking Mandarin, some were awkward, some were fluent, men and women, they were all speaking Mandarin.

"The trend of learning Chinese characters and Chinese language in South Korea now is even higher than that in the Joseon Dynasty. Since the Joseon Dynasty, whether or not to use Chinese characters was considered the boundary between intellectuals and ordinary people. But now, whether or not to use Chinese characters and speak Chinese is the difference between having hope and having no hope. Now, in some places, even in blind dates, the woman's requirement is to be able to speak Chinese and use Chinese characters, because it means that the man has the opportunity to work abroad and improve his family's life."

Because Liu Bidong was born into the Liu family, a family of scholars, when he mentioned that Korean was considered an inferior language compared to Chinese characters, Jin Yongzhe thought to himself - it turns out that the ancients thought so too!
It seems that I am not the one who worships the West!

Ok!

I'm still normal!

"When Japan colonized South Korea, they forced us to learn Japanese. But until the end of the colonial rule, only more than 50% of the population spoke Japanese. But now, almost % of people in South Korea speak Chinese. Although there are many old Confucian scholars among them, even farmers in the countryside, although they have not been able to learn Chinese thoroughly and systematically, they have learned some basic things through observation and osmosis." As an official of the Ministry of Education, Liu Bidong naturally understood these situations.

"In fact, it is very convenient for us to learn Chinese. Many Confucian scholars and their families can speak Chinese and write Chinese characters. Therefore, once Chinese becomes popular, it is easy to spread. In addition, with the influence of Southeast Asian movies and music in recent years, Chinese is spreading in Korea at an alarming speed. Perhaps..."

After thinking for a while, Liu Bidong said:
"In another 20 years, no one in Korea will speak Korean anymore."

"It doesn't matter if you don't tell me. Nanyang's economy and science are so advanced. Only by learning from Nanyang can Korea have hope. Only by strengthening ties with Nanyang can we get rid of poverty!"

Kim Yong-chul continued:

"Just like Siam, relying on learning from Southeast Asia, Siam's per capita GDP has more than doubled in the past few years! Malaya, let alone a Chinese country, has a per capita GDP of an astonishing $300. Kyushu's per capita GDP has also exceeded $250. It can be said that their economies have made great progress."

When explaining the changes that learning from Nanyang can bring from an economic perspective, Jin Yongzhe emphasized:
"So, if Korean is eliminated, it will be eliminated because it is out of date."

Nodding, Liu Bigong said:

"Yes, everyone thinks so. Even parents ask schools to increase the number of Chinese language classes, because if children want to have a good future, studying abroad is the best choice."

Like everyone else, the two of them chatted, drank, and ate, and in the end, they even had a bowl of noodles with mixed sauce. After leaving the noodle shop, they continued walking and chatting until late at night, and then found a roadside wine stand and continued drinking there.

As long as Koreans have money, their drinking party will continue. At the beginning, the two were still talking about Korea, but later, they talked about Southeast Asia and the economy, and they talked from midnight to the early morning.

Just as they were chatting, suddenly, a burst of fierce gunfire came from the Han River Bridge in the distance. At first, the two men did not react, but after hearing the gunshots, they soon recovered from their drunken state. They looked at each other in astonishment, and then turned their gaze to the Han River Bridge.

"What, what's going on?"

After a while, the gunfire on the bridge stopped, and military vehicles drove across the bridge and into the city.

When the army entered the city, Liu Bizhong and Jin Yongzhe almost watched them pass by.

For Liu Bizhong, Jin Yongzhe and others who witnessed the army entering the city, they didn't know what they saw, but they were drunk and sobered up by the sound of gunfire.

The only remaining bit of rationality told them that a coup had taken place in South Korea once again.

That day was May 16th.

In the early morning, more than 1 officers and soldiers from the 1st Brigade of the South Korean Marine Corps, the 6st Airborne Special Operations Regiment, and the 3600th Corps Artillery Regiment marched into the urban area of ​​Seoul from Gimpo and Uijeongbu respectively. Except for a brief exchange of fire with the military police at the Han River Bridge, they did not encounter effective resistance and successfully occupied important places such as the Army Headquarters, Seoul City Hall, the Police Station, and the radio station. They also broadcast the "Convention" on the Central Broadcasting Station in the name of Army Chief of Staff Jang Do-young, announcing that the military would take over the administrative, legislative, and judicial departments.

This military coup seemed to come out of the blue, but everything seemed to have been carefully prepared. Just when the people hadn't figured out what was going on, the streets of Seoul were full of soldiers issuing declarations. They sat in jeeps and read out the declarations loudly through loudspeakers, saying that launching a military coup was a necessity of reality.

At the same time, a large number of teachers and students from the Army Officer School paraded in uniform on the streets of Seoul to express their support for the military coup.

The citizens watched in amazement as the cadets paraded through the streets, watched the army take control of the city, and listened to the "convention" broadcast on the radio.

When Park Jung-woong walked into the Blue House, embassies of various countries were all obtaining information about the military through various channels, including the American Embassy and the Southeast Asian Embassy.

"The most important thing now is America's attitude!"

In the Nanyang Embassy, ​​intelligence officer Jin Guolei said:

"As long as the United States supports them, they will definitely succeed. After all, the military command of the South Koreans is in the hands of the United Nations forces."

What is the United Nations Army? It’s obviously the US Army!

In fact, Nanyang is also a member of the United Nations Army. After the armistice of the Korean War, in order to help South Korea with reconstruction, Nanyang joined the United Nations Army and set up a military hospital in South Korea to help local people. Until now, there are still dozens of Nanyang soldiers in Seoul. Except for a few who are representatives to the United Nations Command, most of the others are military doctors.

Fang Guoliang, who was standing aside, said:

"Yes, the attitude of the US military is very important. I will contact the headquarters now."

Soon, news came that South Korea's request to Magruder, the commander of the US forces in South Korea and the United Nations forces, to dispatch US military police to stop the coup troops was rejected.

When the news reached the embassy, ​​Jin Guolei's first reaction was:
"It's over, Zhang Mian is finished, this coup must be supported by the Americans!"

(End of this chapter)