Chapter 437: The End Of The 1960s
Dark clouds still lingered over Washington, refusing to disperse.
“V for Vendetta” achieved unprecedented box office success in the past year.
In the Soviet Union and its ally countries, the movie was refused release, for fear that it would remind the public of the Prague Spring, or incite another Prague Spring.
It was highly praised in the free world.
Of course, such praise refers to among the public.
Because not a single government of the free world countries endorsed it.
Among them, in London, the story’s setting, Ten Downing Street particularly disliked the movie.
This was a direct allusion to London, to Downing Street.
The Catholics in Northern Ireland, who have long faced systemic discrimination, are the most loyal supporters of “V for Vendetta”; they wore V’s mask from the movie and took to the streets to protest.
The Northern Ireland problem began in 1968, after which riots and unrest erupted continuously in marches by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.
The release of “V for Vendetta” caused the climax of the Northern Ireland struggle to erupt two months earlier than in the original spacetime.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson chose to send the army to Northern Ireland, to the front lines, from Derry to Belfast.
Then came the low-intensity conflict that lasted a full thirty years, the prolonged violent conflict in Northern Ireland from 1968 to 1998.
The entire process resulted in over 3,500 deaths.
Similarly, sending the army to the streets.
The Prague Spring is still talked about to this day.
But what Ten Downing Street did, in duration, harm caused, and social division, was even worse than the Prague Spring.
Yet no one cares, the media won’t report it, and it was forgotten in the dust of history.
This is indirect proof of the free world’s control over the media.
Of course, now all of England is watching.
It takes time to digest the events, but at present, this is England’s most important domestic news, even more attention-grabbing than England’s first astronaut being selected for training at the Kennedy Space Center.
Ten Downing Street believes that this damned V guy exacerbated the conflict.
His existence, his related movie, created the current unmanageable situation, caused Northern Ireland to spiral out of control, and put them in a dilemma where if they didn’t send the army, the Northern Ireland local government would face total collapse.
Downing Street placed all the blame on V.
The Times and The Guardian chose to churn out articles portraying V as a conspirator, an opportunist, not some civil rights fighter, not some “life unending, struggle unceasing.”
Mainstream media from the whiny ones called on the public not to be deceived.
As for why England allowed “V for Vendetta” to be released, it can only be said they were forced into it.
The free world released it, the Socialism camp did not.
London, pick a side.
Which camp do you want to be seen as part of?
Neighboring Paris mocks England’s cowardice and vileness every few days, afraid even of a single movie.
London was purely helpless, backed into a corner, and had to grudgingly allow it after West Germany announced its release.
A country that actually had a Führer isn’t afraid, but look at how scared you are.
Faced with such accusations from Paris, London couldn’t sit still and permitted the movie’s release.
England’s tabloids joked: “V for Vendetta” is the movie with the greatest contrast in history—first in popularity among the public, but dead last in media promotion; the media ignores it completely, yet lines snake out from the theaters.”
The more Downing Street disliked it, the more curious the public became, and the higher the box office for “V for Vendetta.”
Calculated by population proportion, England’s viewer proportion is the highest in all of Europe.
And for all of 1969 besides “V for Vendetta,” what left the deepest impression on the public was the space station.
Living in space, fantasies about space cities began to proliferate.
In various science fiction novels, themes shifted from moon landings, aliens, and moon wars to space cities.
Universities were discussing, from a technical perspective, what designs for space cities were feasible.
The image of space heroes Aldrin and Armstrong was further strengthened.
America conducted its first astronaut selection among allies, and the selected astronauts would go to the space station and the moon.
Each country’s media was concerned about when their nation’s astronauts would reach the space station and the moon.
At the end of 1969, at the New York Mathematicians’ Christmas Party, Lin Ran announced an important framework corresponding to the local geometry Randolph Program.
He introduced the Fargues-Fontaine curve as a bridge, creating a wormhole to connect geometry and number theory.
Although the paper discussed a very narrow scope, just the correspondence between a small piece of number theory and a small piece of geometry.
This mathematical achievement, originally not to be born until 2021, drew thunderous applause from the mathematicians present in New York.
Everyone believed that the map Lin Ran depicted, he had lit up a small piece of it through this paper.
Proving that the depicted map overlaps with the real mathematical world, that they are consistent.
This made all mathematicians genuinely delighted at this step forward toward mathematical unification.
Mathematicians certainly engage in power struggles, with countless tales of such infighting in their personal biographies.
But in the face of truth at this level, personal likes and dislikes, personal selfishness, all must be set aside; truth itself is paramount.
Everyone agreed there could be no better mathematical gift to usher in the 1970s of the 20th century.
This was the best.
At that evening’s dinner, America’s mathematicians took turns toasting Lin Ran, everyone fantasizing whether the 1970s could complete the work of mathematical unification.
The dawn had already appeared.
The bridge for all of mathematics being discovered was just a matter of time.
Just like after the moon landing success, everyone fantasizing about the arrival of the space age.
No one knew how difficult it was, but everyone was full of beautiful expectations for the future.
This was an era of hope.
No matter what, the frontline smoke of gunpowder couldn’t spread to America’s domestic universities.
In this regard, mathematicians were even more detached from mortal concerns.
After the New York Christmas Dinner ended, it was the White House New Year’s Day banquet.
Lin Ran met Kissinger here, who had returned to the White House from Hong Kong.
“Negotiations are long, negotiations are difficult, negotiations cannot be achieved overnight; this will be a marathon negotiation.”
Kissinger and Lin Ran talked in a corner of the banquet; Jenny stood beside Lin Ran, listening to the two discuss the frontline situation.
Perhaps among everyone present, the only one who truly hoped for the Vietnam War to end was Jenny.
The other White House bureaucrats tactfully conversed in small groups, not interrupting them.
“Yes, this concerns their strategic security; getting them to compromise is impossible.
I think rather than figuring out how to make China compromise, we find a suitable negotiation timing, ease domestic contradictions, reduce frontline intensity, and gradually withdraw Vietnam War soldiers back home.
Leave the battlefield to South Vietnam themselves.
A decent end would be far better than endless war and constantly escalating confrontation.
I’ve heard plenty of complaints about the Department of Defense from Richard Kshona.
He complains that the Department of Defense’s demands are becoming increasingly perverse.”
Richard Kshona is the head of Transit; Transit is the predecessor of GPS, developed by scientists under the Department of Defense commissioned by the Navy, as mentioned before.
America’s earliest nuclear-powered satellite was part of Transit.
Kissinger sighed: “Professor, as you said before, we can make mistakes, but we can’t do things that offend voters and lose ballots.
This won’t shift because of personal will.
Even though we all know that as long as we can win over China, even losing Annam is acceptable to us.
We should stop investing in South Vietnam and sign a peace agreement.”
Kissinger’s subtext was that as long as we withdraw troops, South Vietnam will fall, without any suspense.
This wasn’t disdain for South Vietnam, but a result of the South Vietnamese army’s performance on the Vietnam War frontline in the past.
Their combat effectiveness was so poor that before America intervened, they couldn’t hold against North Vietnam just with material support.
Both combat will and army quality were highly concerning.
Lin Ran said calmly: “All we can do now is wait for the wind to come.”
Kissinger repeated the short phrase with a puzzled look: “Wait for the wind?”
Lin Ran said: “You heard right, wait for the wind; public opinion is like the wind—it comes fiercely, and changes just as quickly, like a gust.
Like the work you’re doing.
Before public opinion shifts, you can’t negotiate anything.
But once public opinion shifts, it can help us quickly achieve our desired goals, exerting the external pressure on North Vietnam that we want.
Now, what we need to do is wait for the frontline war to intensify, for anti-war sentiment among the public to surge.
Once the public’s anti-war voice overwhelms the conservatives’ rejection of socialism, the dawn of peace will appear.
The glorious peace spoken of by President Nixon will also arrive.
There’s no other way.”
Lin Ran’s tone was mild, but the content was utterly ruthless.
Jenny suddenly gripped Lin Ran’s hand tightly; she thought of the soldiers losing their lives on the frontline, the bombed villages, the poor children, and the deteriorating economy back home in America.
These were all the price to wait for the wind Lin Ran spoke of.
Kissinger instantly understood: “I get it, I get it.
I’ll communicate with the president; we need to lay the groundwork, just as you said, professor, wait for the wind.
We need propaganda: signing a peace agreement isn’t surrender; it’s a decent end achieved through diplomacy and military means.
We need to gradually hand over combat responsibilities to South Vietnam starting now, letting domestic conservative congressmen and their supporters believe we’re not abandoning an ally.
But helping South Vietnam become self-reliant.”
This was pure nonsense.
After America withdrew, the first thing the South Vietnam president did was announce his resignation on television, then fly into exile overseas.
Including the air force commander, army generals, etc.—every single one thought only of escape, how to escape quickly.
Not fighting.
Thousands of officials, soldiers, and elites took part in the chaotic evacuation, including surging toward the America embassy, boarding helicopters or ships.
On April 29, 1975, Dutch photographer Hubert van Es captured an America helicopter assisting evacuation from the rooftop of an apartment building at 22 Gia Long Street in Saigon, South Vietnam—this photo is also America’s most famous photo of Vietnam War failure, embodying failure, chaos, desperate flight, and the weakness of South Vietnam’s resistance will.
What Kissinger thought was a frontline stalemate, with South Vietnam shifting from offense to defense.
But at least they could hold, right?
Evidence of Kissinger’s mindset can be seen in history.
In the original spacetime, Nixon planned to complete withdrawal in 18 months, but Kissinger opposed it—not the withdrawal itself, but withdrawing so quickly; he believed if withdrawn in 18 months, South Vietnam couldn’t cope.
Kissinger’s proposal was to let the South Vietnam army conduct ground combat independently under their air support, with US Military not participating, as a test and training for South Vietnam’s independent development.
However, even though Kissinger had slowed the withdrawal pace and given the South Vietnam army ample training opportunities.
Even pulling them to Cambodia for combat training.
The actual situation was that once America left, South Vietnam collapsed completely in a few weeks.
South Vietnam held out for less than half a year.
Kissinger continued: “So professor, I need your help; I hope you can write a letter to the Yanjing side for me.
Next time I negotiate with the Chinese Representative in Lion City, I believe this letter will come in handy.”
Lin Ran readily agreed.
Just writing a letter.
What’s not to agree to.
After Kissinger left, Nixon followed.
“Professor, happy new year.” Nixon held a wine glass. “Miss Hearst, you too.”
Lin Ran raised his glass in response: “The past year was truly terrible, with too many unexpected events.”
Nixon’s originally relaxed expression tensed up; he frowned: “Yeah, as long as V isn’t caught, I won’t feel at ease.
This guy is even more annoying than Johnson.”
He meant the former president Johnson, who every few days accepted media interviews and snidely mocked him.
Within the party, Fred challenged him; the Donkey Party, Johnson was stirring.
This spacetime’s Johnson, compared to the original spacetime’s Johnson, had more political legacy, better reputation, and accordingly, greater ambition.
He could still run once more.
Failing to be reelected was certainly humiliating, but returning to the White House after failure— wasn’t that enduring hardship for glory?
Nixon could disregard Fred, but Johnson was absolutely a formidable rival, a major threat.
Nixon’s words were also a reminder to Lin Ran: I hate Johnson, so don’t you go advising him.
I ascended to the peak of my life and became president thanks to the Huntsville Longzhong Plan; if Johnson asks you, you can’t help him again.
“Mr. President, you are the president now; you don’t need to pay too much attention to the media’s voice,” Lin Ran reminded.
“Professor, do you still think we can only choose one side between South Vietnam and China?” Nixon understood Lin Ran’s subtext, nodded, and then asked.
Lin Ran nodded firmly: “Yes, Mr. President; the Korean War proved this.
We can only choose one between the two.
We can’t simultaneously achieve victory in the Vietnam War and win China’s support.
Lin Ran seemed to be issuing a terminal diagnosis: “Mr. President, absolutely, absolutely, don’t hold any hope for South Vietnam, not even the slightest.”
Nixon painfully closed his eyes and drained the champagne in his glass.
Why champagne?
Because the New Year’s Day banquet celebrated 1969 as a year of great victory for Nixon’s White House.
Though besides Nixon himself, no one else could say exactly where the great victory was.
Lin Ran continued: “Chairman once said, those who keep the people keep the land; those who lose the people lose the land.
Similarly, gaining Annam but losing China, we will eventually lose both.
Gaining China but losing Annam, we will eventually gain both.”
Nixon walked away thoughtfully.
When McNamara came to exchange greetings, Jenny interrupted: “Professor, shall we walk in the Rose Garden?”
The Rose Garden is a garden next to the White House Oval Office and the White House West Wing offices.
McNamara tactfully said: “Professor, you’re welcome to visit the Pentagon; I have so much I want to consult you on.”
In the Rose Garden, Jenny sighed: “Professor, humanity is too complex, and politics too dirty.”
Lin Ran looked at the twinkling stars in the sky, recalling his last day in 2019, also in America, where he specially chose a spot to watch the starry sky; he pointed to the sky and said:
“So this is one of the beauties of the universe, one of the meanings of aerospace.
It lets us forget Earth’s troubles and appreciate the beauty created by the Creator.”
