"What is the nature and strength of the people''s self defense force in northern Thailand?" I said.
Lao Qin said: "when we talk about this armed force, we should start with the KMT''s defeat in the mainland in 1949. At that time, the PLA marched into the southwest, and the KMT''s army was defeated like a mountain. The PLA adopted a circuitous strategy to eliminate all the remaining KMT troops in the territory, but in the end, some KMT remnant troops escaped from the strategic encirclement of the PLA.
"One of them, a regiment of the Eighth Army of the Kuomintang, led by its leader Li Guohui, crossed the border and fled to the golden triangle. Another regiment, led by its deputy leader Tan Zhong, led by some defeated Kuomintang troops, also fled to the golden triangle.
"These two forces became the foundation of the Kuomintang army which later made trouble in the golden triangle for decades. They took the golden triangle as their base and tried to counterattack the mainland, but the foundation of the counterattack was to gain a foothold in the golden triangle.
"After several battles, they defeated the Burmese government army which drove them by a small force, and they were very famous. This also attracted the attention of the Americans and Chiang Kai Shek in Taiwan, who sent Li Mi, the former commander of the Eighth Army, to command the army.
"The United States and Taiwan gave strong support, airdropped a lot of materials and equipment, and Li mi also brought many commanders. He set up an anti Communist base in the golden triangle and wantonly recruited local troops. The main recruits were the Kuomintang soldiers who fled to the golden triangle and the children of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.
"The team expanded rapidly, reaching more than 60000 people in most cases. It is known to the outside world as 300000 people. It is divided into five armies, with a number of divisions and brigades under it, as well as a special combat readiness airport. It has become a huge force to harass the newly established new China.
"After the founding of the anti Communist and national salvation army, it attacked Yunnan once and created a riot. Then it withdrew quickly under the attack of the PLA. It no longer had the dream of anti Communist and national recovery, and began to concentrate on the golden triangle. It was mainly engaged in protecting businessmen, collecting taxes and supporting the development of opium poppy cultivation. Although they did not sell drugs themselves, they provided protection for drug traffickers and made fishing from it Li
"The growth of this team has caused the Burmese government a great deal of unease and carried out more large-scale encirclement and suppression, but each encirclement and suppression ended in failure. Each encirclement and suppression has made the territory of the counter offensive and rescue army expand a lot, and the strength is also growing, which has become a lingering worry of the Burmese government, and also caused great uneasiness of the neighboring Thai and Lao governments
"Just at the time when this armed force was booming in the golden triangle, there was a rumor that Li mi wanted to leave Taiwan for independence under the American rebellion, which caused Lao Jiang''s uneasiness. In the name of a meeting, he put Li mi Zhao back under house arrest in Taiwan and appointed Liu Yuanlin, the former deputy leader of Li Mi, as the commander-in-chief of the anti Communist and national salvation army Under the pressure of the Chinese Communist Party, some troops were withdrawn from the golden triangle to Taiwan, but the main force remained.
"Liu Yuanlin is a narrow-minded man with poor prestige. As a result, he is divided internally. The commanders of the five armies are all from Yunnan. They form a Yunnan people alliance to jointly confront the commander in chief, which makes Liu Yuanlin in a very embarrassing position.
"Soon the opportunity came. The Myanmar government army, which had failed to encircle and suppress for many times, turned to the Chinese government for help. China sent out the PLA and the Myanmar government army to jointly attack from north to west, and the PLA crossed the border to participate in the war. However, the Myanmar government also has doubts about the PLA''s cross-border participation in the war. Although it invited the PLA to participate in the war, it drew a red line on the map, that is, the PLA can not cross the red line to pursue the Kuomintang remnant army.
"It''s like keeping a tiger in a cage. It''s just a threat. However, even so, it still achieved great success. The KMT remnant army was quickly defeated by the Burmese government army''s strong attack and the PLA''s limited lightning attack. During this period, the first, second and fourth army were recruited by Liu Yuanlin, the commander was replaced by a uniform, and the third and fifth army declared independence and seceded from Liu Yuanlin''s control
"After the World War II, the Burmese government army vigorously pursued the remnant army, and at the same time, it created great public opinion in the world, and went to the United Nations to sue Taiwan. As a result, it aroused strong condemnation from the international public opinion and made Lao Jiang very passive. Under the pressure of the Americans, Liu Yuanlin led the remnants of the 124th army to withdraw to Taiwan, and the third and Fifth Army, which announced its separation from Liu Yuanlin, became an outcast. Under the fierce encirclement and suppression of the Burmese government forces, the Burmese people were in a state of great pain.
"As a last resort, Duan Xiwen, the commander of the third army, and Li Wenhuan, the commander of the Fifth Army, who suffered heavy losses, led the remaining more than 3000 troops to flee to the northern mountain area of Thailand, which belongs to the same golden triangle region, and settled there. After entering the mountainous area of northern Thailand, this army caused the Thai government extremely uneasy and wanted to encircle and suppress it. However, there were also people with different opinions within the government who advocated appeasement.
"In the end, the peace faction gained the upper hand. After years of arduous negotiations, this desperate armed force finally announced in the mid-1970s that it would give up the ideal of fighting against the Communist Party and saving the national army, and that it would collectively give up its Chinese nationality and join the Thai nationality to be loyal to the king of Thailand and become his subjects.
"But at the same time, they don''t turn in their weapons, which is also the result of the negotiations. They set up the people''s self defense force in northern Thailand, which is actually an armed force, but this armed force must obey the order of the king of Thailand, that is, obey the Thai government. After that, this team took part in the battle of the Thai government forces to encircle and suppress the armed forces of the Communist Party of Thailand, and made great efforts to capture the political commissar of the guerrillas of the Communist Party of Thailand alive, which was also praised by the Thai government"Up to now, this armed force has more than 1000 people with excellent weapons for a long time. At the same time, their families have grown to hundreds of thousands. Although all these people are Thai nationality, they are all Chinese. Many of them were educated youths from Yunnan who came across the border during the cultural revolution. Many of the educated youths who joined the army at that time were here. Some of them joined the army, some became teachers, and some became doctors. "
After listening to Lao Qin''s remarks, I could not help feeling a lot. After a moment''s silence, I said, "did you inquire about wood''s whereabouts through these educated youth friends you used to know?"
Lao Qin didn''t answer my question, took a smoke, and then said, "in the past, we didn''t border on the jurisdiction of the people''s self defense forces in northern Thailand, but recently, with the continuous expansion of our territory, our jurisdiction has only been separated by a river, which is the boundary between Thailand and Myanmar Although we are only separated by a river, we have become neighbors, but we have no contact with each other, and even occasionally there are some small conflicts
"The reason why we have not become friends is that we are bandits, drug dealers and evil forces endangering the society in the eyes of each other. They regard themselves as regular forces and disdain to deal with us as friends. Secondly, the commander-in-chief deeply hates their collective joining of Thai nationality, especially their participation in the encirclement and suppression of the Communist Party of Thailand. He always has deep hostility in his heart, which he said many times They are not Chinese, do not admit that they are Chinese, and are not willing to take the initiative to give them an olive branch. "
Hearing Lao Qin say this, I can''t help getting nervous: "is wood going to start a fratricidal fight between two armed Chinese? Does he want to instigate the northern Thai people''s self defense forces to launch a surprise attack on us when he is there? "
Lao Qin didn''t speak, his brows locked.
I went on to say, "if this is true, it would not be a tragedy. Although they are Thai nationality, they are all Chinese, the descendants of the remnant army of the Kuomintang, and the blood of the Chinese is flowing in their veins."
Lao Qin took a hard breath and said, "my analysis with the commander in chief shows that it is possible. According to the report of our investigators, since yesterday afternoon, the other side on the other side of the river suddenly mobilized frequently, and their troops along the river suddenly increased greatly. They were ready to cross the river at any time
"Correspondingly, our troops along the river have also increased a lot, and we are ready for them to cross the river for a surprise attack Now the two sides are facing each other across the river. If there is a slight slip or friction, it will lead to a big war. "
Hearing this, I feel more nervous.
Seeing my nervous expression, Lao Qin suddenly laughed.
I don''t understand why Lao Qin can still laugh at such a time. Isn''t he nervous?
"Even though it''s time to be in a state of tension, I still don''t think things are too bad to handle." Lao Qin said.
"Why do you say that?" I said.
"Because they are also Chinese. Even though they have joined the Thai nationality, they are only the last class citizens of Thailand. Their blood is still the blood of Chinese people. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, this is an unchangeable fact. I don''t believe they will be willing to listen to wood''s words and make up their mind to kill each other with us. After all, fighting is killing people, Our life is life, their life is also life. "
Lao Qin continued:" what''s more, although we are hostile to each other and have no contact with each other, we have never had a conflict of fundamental interests with each other, and we have never done anything to attack each other secretly, and there is no root of resentment. "
"Are you so optimistic?" I said.
"Of course, I can''t be blindly optimistic. Even if I think so, I still have to be on guard and not be careless. We are now preparing for two things, one is ready to fight, the other is ready to fight. As long as they don''t take the initiative to attack us first, we will never attack them. If they have to fight, we can only accompany them. Although their strength is not weak, we may not be vegetarian
"At the same time, I am searching for the latest news through some channels and people on their side. If possible, I can also do the work of their upper decision-making level Of course, these are just our preparations on the one hand, and we should be ready to play at any time After all, strength is the capital to speak. "
"Oh..." I nodded. "What capital does wood have to incite them to attack us?"
This is what I want to know most at the moment.