253: The Pingchuan School, which went from being open to being secretive

Black Virgin Mountain in Tay Ninh Province is 11 kilometers from Tay Ninh City and 17 kilometers from the Cao Dai headquarters.

This is a Buddhist holy site in Southern Vietnam, known as the 'Roof of the South,' with its highest point reaching an elevation of 896 meters.

In a civilian house at the foot of the mountain, more than a dozen men sat on the floor, with abundant fruit platters, food, and coffee in front of them, but none had any intention of eating.

"Now that those people from Bang An have been killed, the Wu Family's daughter is completely unharmed, and the entire Tay Ninh Province's army and public security are searching for people like mad dogs. We can only hunker down and wait for this storm to pass."

A gaunt, white-haired old man, sitting at the head, scanned the men around him: "Long Hai, start with you. Tell everyone about the other news."

A lean, capable man to the old man's left looked up at the sound, first clasping his hands together to salute the old man, then spoke: "The army has completely busted Li Menghe's entire smuggling route. Luckily, our people wore hats and fake beards when they contacted him, so even if he confessed, they wouldn't find anyone..."

"Our people at the Cao Dai headquarters have cleared all their phone content..."

"I found a new route to Cambodia in An Giang Province. We can try to have people take some goods a few times first..."

"..."

These men reported various matters one by one, demonstrating the strictness of their organization.

After listening to the men's reports, the old man nodded and summarized: "Now the entire Tay Ninh Province is being turned upside down by the military and public security. Everyone clean up your loose ends, and for now..."

Before the old man could finish his sentence, a squad of soldiers suddenly rushed in through the main door and windows.

"Everyone put your hands on your head and lie down on the ground."

Under the muzzles of the dark guns, the men slowly lay down on the floor.

The soldiers rushed forward and bound all their hands behind their backs with zip ties.

After all the men in the room were controlled.

A fully armed officer walked in from outside. He held a folder containing numerous photos.

"Expose all their faces."

At the officer's command, the soldiers pulled the men up from the ground, one by one, and brought them before the officer for him to compare with the photos...

At the Seventh Military Region's military district villa, after the bigwigs from both the military and political sides of Tay Ninh Province visited, it quieted down.

That squad of Vietnamese female soldiers was deployed to guard the perimeter of the villa, divided into two shifts.

Half of them stood guard outside, while the other half rested in a room on the first floor of the villa.

Vu Linh Huong had Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao send plenty of delicious food to these female soldiers.

Because she had experience serving in the Vietnamese army, Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao quickly bonded with these female soldiers.

Meanwhile, Li Qinghe and Vu Linh Huong were lying on the villa's rooftop terrace, drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery.

Two days had passed since the near-attack.

The two had stayed within this military district complex of the Vietnamese Seventh Military Region and had not left.

Everything they needed was available here; the military district delivered a large amount of daily necessities every day and even assigned a dedicated chef to cater for the dozen or so people.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao would occasionally come up to report the latest news, not avoiding Li Qinghe.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao now served as the liaison between Vu Linh Huong and Tay Ninh Province, with relevant information being compiled by her and then reported to Vu Linh Huong.

Therefore, Li Qinghe, who was nearby, also had a clear understanding of the situation's progress.

Over these two days, the Vietnamese Seventh Military Region had truly exerted itself to thoroughly investigate this matter.

As the largest armed force in Tay Ninh Province, the Seventh Military Region deployed its elite, and incidentally took charge of Tay Ninh Province's public security.

Due to its economic development, the Vietnamese army had become the largest conglomerate within Vietnam.

To gain more economic benefits, the army's investments covered many sectors, with its reach extending to all aspects of society.

Because they controlled many local economic lifelines, the opinions of some local military units could even determine the appointments and dismissals of local officials.

This time, at the high-level of Tay Ninh Province, the military and the government reached an agreement.

Therefore, integrating the public security forces to resolve the current situation received the tacit approval of the Governor of Xining Province.

However, this integration of forces was highly beneficial for solving the problem.

Through the consolidation of intelligence from both military and public security channels.

They quickly found relevant clues, and with the cooperation of high-ranking Cao Dai officials, they located an undercover agent within Cao Dai.

Over these two days, the military and police throughout Tay Ninh Province were gradually tracing this undercover agent's lead.

The ultimate target pointed to a force that was no longer active in Saigon, but older generations in Saigon would remember this force deeply.

During the wars against France and Japan, it once commanded over forty thousand troops, occupying large areas of Saigon, forming a tripartite standoff with Cao Dai and Hoa Hao in the entire Mekong River basin.

Later, when the South Vietnam government was established, it demanded that all forces in Southern Vietnam obey the unified command of the Saigon regime, but this force ignored the South Vietnam government's directives.

They would even openly oppose the South Vietnam government's policies at times.

This was the force that developed from Saigon to Cholon, primarily through smuggling and gambling—the Binh Xuyen.

Originally, this force, in conjunction with Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, thrived in the Mekong Delta region, and the South Vietnam regime was helpless against them.

However, later the South Vietnam government absorbed some of the armed forces of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao into the South Vietnam army.

Ultimately, through a two-pronged approach, the majority of the Binh Xuyen's thousands of core members were massacred in the streets of Saigon.

Since then, until North Vietnam unified South Vietnam, the Binh Xuyen remained hidden, no longer as high-profile as before.

But within the Binh Xuyen, there had always been a principle: behind the Binh Xuyen massacre was the defection of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao.

This led to the disastrous defeat of the Binh Xuyen.

So, after the Binh Xuyen went from overt to covert, they regarded the armed forces of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao as mortal enemies.

Even after all armed forces were disbanded by the Vietnamese government, they tirelessly sought trouble with Cao Dai.

Because they continued their previous businesses of smuggling and gambling, the hidden Binh Xuyen were very wealthy.

This attack on Vu Linh Huong originated from a white-robed assistant priest beside the Cao Dai archbishop, who was an undercover agent planted by the Binh Xuyen.

Upon learning that the Wu Family would send someone to Cao Dai to discuss cooperation.

He reported it to his Binh Xuyen liaison superior.

After internal discussions, the Binh Xuyen believed it was a good opportunity to turn Cao Dai and the Wu Family against each other.

So, they preemptively recruited five gunmen in Cambodia and smuggled them from Cambodia to Tay Ninh Province via a smuggling route.

It was also through this assistant priest's tip-off that the Cambodian gunmen followed Vu Linh Huong's car as soon as it left the Cao Dai headquarters' temple.

Then, what Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao saw happened.

However, no matter how hard the Vietnamese Seventh Military Region military and public security tried, they couldn't figure out where those Western mercenaries had come from.

Especially after Nguyen Thi Xuan Tao confirmed that those people were not arranged by the Wu Family, the entire Seventh Military Region army became nervous.