latelenovela Chapter 301: Support the King or the Prime Minister?
Chapter 301: Support the King or the Prime Minister?
Seeing Zhang Chi holding up his glass, hundreds of crew members hurriedly stood up, raised the glasses in front of them, their faces filled with pride.
Hundreds of crew members also hurriedly stood up and raised their glasses.
"Today, let's drink this cup together!" Zhang Chi was the first to down the entire glass. Although it was just a low-alcohol fruit wine brewed by a nearby winery, he still tasted a hint of spiciness.
This simple happiness made him feel particularly satisfied.
"Let's drink!" Hundreds of crew members raised their glasses, and the sound of toasts filled the entire cafeteria. At that moment, all the fatigue and tension disappeared.
"Okay, there are still several dishes to come, everyone enjoy yourselves!" Zhang Chi knew that if he stayed here, everyone would feel a little constrained.
So after the toast, he left directly, leaving the pilots space to enjoy this rare relaxing time.
Zhang Chi himself strolled around Yangon Airport under the protection of guards.
He looked at the ground crew busy in the hangar in the distance, who were busy maintaining the B-17 bombers that had just returned.
Under their careful care, the planes will soon regain their former glory and go out to carry out bombing missions again.
With a range of nearly 3,000 kilometers when half loaded with bombs, most of the Japanese targets in Southeast Asia will be under its threat. Zhang Chike is still counting on these B-17s to make a few more rounds and achieve enough results so that he can develop the B-29 on the technology tree within the system as soon as possible.
As he looked, Zhang Chi's thoughts drifted far away.
Recently, the King of Siam and the Prime Minister have secretly conveyed friendly messages to him through underground channels. They hope to use Zhang Chi's power to drive away the devils and regain power.
Especially King Mahathat. Before the Japanese invaders came, his power had been taken away by Prime Minister Phibun, and he basically became a mascot. Now he is in a difficult situation.
In order to regain power, the price he was willing to pay was obviously much higher than that of the ambitious prime minister who was "Dong Zhuo's rival".
But the monarchy is destined to be swept into the dustbin of history. With the farce of the 83-day emperor of the Hongxian Empire in the past, all Chinese people have extremely negative views on the monarchy.
If I support King Mahad, will it cause huge damage to my reputation?
As the war in Southeast Asia gradually developed in a direction favorable to the An Min Army, smart people were now preparing to jump off the silent Japanese ship and switch sides. Zhang Chi finally waited for the opportunity to intervene in Siam.
But should we support the king or the prime minister?
Zhang Chi couldn't help but fall into deep entanglement.
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Zhang Chi stood next to an F4U Corsair fighter plane that was being maintained, glancing at the ground crew not far away from time to time.
They were pushing a small cart with strings of yellow 20mm machine gun ammunition chains gleaming in the sun as they were being skillfully loaded into the machine guns inside the wings of fighter planes.
However, Zhang Chi's mind had already flown to Siam, thousands of miles away.
His hand unconsciously pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, but his other hand searched all over his body but couldn't find a lighter.
"Xiao Qi, I'm angry?"
However, he sent the orderly Xiaoqi to work on the construction of the radio station, and sometimes he was not with Zhang Chi, which made him a little uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to ask the guard to pass him a light, his eyes happened to sweep across the eye-catching red words on the white wall of the hangar - "Airport restricted area, no fireworks allowed."
Zhang Chi couldn't help but smile awkwardly. He raised his hand to stop the guard Xiao Li who was about to take out his lighter, and put the whole pack of cigarettes back into his pocket.
"Do you know what the surname of Siam is?" Zhang Chi suddenly asked casually.
The guards around were all stunned, obviously not expecting Zhang Chi to suddenly ask this.
"Isn't their king called Rama III? His last name is Rama?" Guard Xiao Li scratched his head, looking confused.
"It's Zheng." Zhang Chi looked at the guards in front of him, a hint of melancholy in his tone, "The kings of Siam have all used the surname Zheng. There's a history behind this."
"Isn't Zheng a surname among us Chinese? The ancestors of this King of Siam are also of Chinese descent?" Guard Xiao Zhang widened his eyes with an expression of disbelief.
"Yes, the first King of Siam was one of our compatriots." Zhang Chi sighed, as if lost in historical memories. "The first king of the Thonburi Dynasty was Taksin. He was from Chaozhou, Canton. After rising to power, he led the Siamese army to drive out the invading Pegu army and unify the divided Siam."
"During his reign, he was extremely friendly to his compatriots, encouraging them to immigrate to Siam and settle there, as well as to engage in business. This greatly promoted Siam's economic development. He also sent envoys to the previous dynasty several times, requesting that they confer him the title of King of Siam, ultimately successfully restoring tributary relations with the Central Plains."
There was a hint of pride in Zhang Chi's voice, as if he was telling a story that was distant yet close.
"Since King Taksin of Siam is Chinese, shouldn't we Chinese be considered first-class people in Siam? Why is it that Siam has surrendered to the Japanese and is oppressing us Chinese?" Guard Xiao Li asked in confusion.
"That's because in 1782, Taksin was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his close friend Thong Luan." Zhang Chi's voice deepened, as if he were suffocating under the weight of history. "Originally, Taksin's Kingdom of Siam was a typical 'Han ruler, barbarian people' state. The king and the upper echelons of the court were primarily Chinese, ruling over the local natives."
"This model has been in place for thousands of years, dating back to the ancient Zhou Dynasty, when feudal lords were first granted fiefdoms after conquering a region with their armies. Through cultural assimilation, the region was gradually incorporated into the larger Chinese cultural family."
"Taksin's Kingdom of Siam could have continued to develop in this way. Unfortunately, after his death, Thongluan established the Bangkok Dynasty and became Rama I." Zhang Chi shook his head. "Although Thongluan claimed to be Taksin's son 'Zheng Hua' to prove the legitimacy of his kingship and requested the Qing Dynasty to crown him King of Siam, the previous emperor, Hongli, did not investigate further and crowned him King of Siam."
"Although successive Thai kings have used the Chinese name Zheng, Thong Luang is a Siamese after all. The Chinese have once again become second-class citizens in Siam." There was a hint of helplessness in Zhang Chi's voice.
"Then this Tongluan is really a piece of shit." Guard Xiao Zhang said indignantly.
"Yes, Taksin is the great hero who unified the country and established a new dynasty. Tong Luan is a treacherous villain, the old thief Sima." Guard Xiao Li also echoed.
Everyone was talking about it. Since storytelling such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was popular among the people at that time, everyone had a very straightforward view on loyalty and treachery.
Zhang Chi listened to their discussion quietly, but was thinking about deeper issues in his heart. As a Chinese, he had now unified Pegu and driven away the devils. Wasn't this somewhat similar to Zheng Xin's situation hundreds of years ago?
"History is always surprisingly similar, yet has different endings," Zhang Chi murmured to himself. "Zheng Xin's story shows that the Chinese people in this land have had glory, but also setbacks. Now, I have the opportunity to rewrite history and help the Chinese people stand up again on this land!"