On August 15, 1945, when Japan announced its surrender, Ho Chi Minh became the new chairman of Tan Chao Dinh in Son Duong County, Tuyen Quang Province, a North Vietnamese base area, at the age of 55.
Subsequently, on August 24, the last emperor of the Nguyen dynasty, Nguyen Phuc, also abdicated.
On September 2, Ho Chi Minh inspected Vietnamese guerrillas in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi and proclaimed Vietnam's independence to 500,000 people. However, on the issue of choosing allies, Ho Chi Minh's decision was a big surprise.
He openly stated that Vietnam would follow in the footsteps of its suzerain, France, and would even prefer to be a colony of France rather than be occupied by the squadron. The following year, the authorities of Ho Chi Minh and Charles de Gaulle signed two provisional agreements, making concessions on sovereignty, economy, and culture, and France recognized Vietnam as an independent state.
Although Ho Chi Minh traveled back and forth to China many times during his youth and had deep friendships with Zhou Gong, ** and others, he made such a decision at a critical moment. So, what was the final result of Ho Chi Minh's strategy to woo France?
Ho Chi Minh's relationship with China and France is complicated. He was born in Nam Tan district, Anh Son province, on the northern coast of Vietnam, the son of Nguyen Thanh Huy, who was later converted to a Kampo physician and a farmer.
Vietnam was once a vassal state of ** and was deeply influenced by the Qin and Han dynasties, Tang and Song dynasties. Ho Chi Minh has been fluent in Chinese since he was a child, and has studied Chinese culture and Chinese poetry in depth.
In recent history, Vietnam, North Korea, and China have almost the same history of humiliation, all of which were forced to open their borders under the guns of the Western powers. The French invasion of Vietnam began during the Second Opium War.
The invasion of French colonists changed the fate of Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh's family. In 1858, they invaded Da Nang with armed forces, and in less than 10 years, they colonized the six provinces of Nam Chi.
Next, they encroached on the treaty ports of the Red River Valley. Finally, in 1883, the French completely occupied Vietnam. As a result of this relationship, Ho Chi Minh began to participate in the secret anti-French movement at an early age and joined the Comintern.
During his journey, he became acquainted with many Chinese comrades, including Zhou Gong and others, who became like-minded comrades-in-arms. In the years that followed, these Chinese comrades, especially Zhou Gong, gave Ho Chi Minh a lot of help.
In 1921, Ho Chi Minh began his Chinese years, first entering the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou under the pseudonym "Li Rui", serving as an interpreter for Mr. Zhongshan's Soviet adviser Borodin, and with the help of Zhou Gong, ** and others, he actively prepared for the establishment of the Viet Cong.
In Ho Chi Minh's training class, Shao Qi, Peng Pai, Chen Yannian and others often came to give lectures. After the defeat of the Revolution, Ho Chi Minh followed Borodin back to the Soviet Union and entered Lenin University.
In 1930, Ho Chi Minh returned to Hong Kong Island in China and officially founded the Viet Cong. In June 1931, Ho Chi Minh was on Hong Kong Island** and was released in the spring of 1933.
Passing through Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh contacted Yan'an through Mr. Thanh Ling and then arrived in Moscow. In the winter of 1938, Ho Chi Minh traveled from the Soviet Union to Yan'an, the holy land of the revolution, via Dihua and Xi'an in Xinjiang, where he was warmly received by Wang Jiaxiang and met with Mao, Zhu and other leaders.
Soon, Ho Chi Minh assumed the pseudonym "Hu Guang" and followed the chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army to Guilin, Guangxi, and met Zhou Gong in Chongqing, who had been absent for a long time. During his time in China, Zhou Gong and ** provided great help to Ho Chi Minh's work.
In September 1940, at the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army took advantage of the surrender of France and occupied Vietnam. At this critical moment, Ho Chi Minh, with the help of Zhou Gong and **, contacted Feng Zhijian, Hoang Van Huan and others of the Viet Cong, and in the spring of the following year, he sneaked back to Vietnam from Guilin through the Guangxi border after a 30-year absence, and established a base on the northern slope of Ha Quang County, Cao Bang Province.
In August 1942, Ho Chi Minh again entered Guangxi to accumulate strength, but unfortunately **. Ho Chi Minh contacted Zhou Gong in the hope of getting help. Zhou Gong adopted the "curve rescue" strategy and successfully rescued Ho Chi Minh.
While in prison, Ho Chi Minh wrote the poem "The More Turmoil There Is". After being released from prison, Ho Chi Minh established a solid base in the Sino-Vietnamese border area with the help of Yan'an, and gradually infiltrated the armed forces into the country based on this.
Eventually, the establishment of Vietnam was announced to the world at the time of Japan's defeat. So why did Ho Chi Minh choose to form an alliance with France?
The gathering of Zhou Gong, Zhu Zong, and Ho Chi Minh fully demonstrated Ho Chi Minh's understanding of Chinese culture. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, North Vietnam, as one of the 16 surrendered areas in the Chinese theater, was presided over by Lu Han, commander of the First Front Army.
Although the Soviets recognized Chiang, Ho Chi Minh did not like him because he believed that Nanjing was not Yan'an. Therefore, he did not want Chiang's army to occupy North Vietnam for a long time.
At that time, Yan'an was at a disadvantage militarily, economically, and territorially. If Chiang's army occupied North Vietnam, the other victorious powers, such as the United States and the British, would also want a piece of the pie, and the French would take advantage of the victory to reoccupy South Vietnam.
Therefore, Ho Chi Minh resorted to a "delaying tactic", which was a deliberate decision for him. Similar to Chiang's perfidy, at the end of the year the French army tore up the agreement and launched a full-scale aggression against Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh was duty-bound and led the people to start the war of resistance against France. However, the Vietnamese army could only defend in front of the powerful French army, not counterattack. In this critical situation, Ho Chi Minh again thought of the Chinese comrades and secretly went to Beijing for help.
Under the careful planning of *** and ***, Wei Guoqing, Chen Geng and other generals led the advisory group to secretly go south, and our army's engineers, anti-aircraft artillery, railways and other professional troops also came to support, and continued to provide **, money, food and materials.
At the Geneva Conference in 1954, Zhou Gong's assistance reversed the situation on the battlefield in Vietnam and France. After the victory in Dien Bien Phu, the representatives of Vietnam and France negotiated at the Geneva Conference, and the mediation of Zhou Gong allowed the "P5" of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France to witness the signing of the French withdrawal agreement.
Ho Chi Minh's "strategy of delaying the army" was realized, and the victory of the War of Resistance against France was inseparable from the selfless support of Zhou Gong and other Chinese comrades. As a result, China and Vietnam have established a relationship of "comrades and brothers."
Zhou Gong and Ho Chi Minh met in France and were Ho Chi Minh's lifelong confidants. Ye Shuai and Ho Chi Minh also met in 1930, and Ho Chi Minh regarded Ye Shuai as an old leader.
In 1960, Ho Chi Minh visited China and asked the chairman for permission to travel to Vietnam for a few days. The chairman was puzzled by this and asked about the identity of Ho Chi Minh ***.
Ho Chi Minh explained that ** is his old leader. In the early hours of September 3, 1969, at the age of 79, Ho Chi Minh died. When the chairman heard the news, he couldn't hold back his tears.
The marshal and the prime minister also flew to Hanoi to say goodbye to this old friend for more than half a century.