Battlefield China

Chapter 29 End of an Era

General Yang Yin stared at the remaining PLA generals of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Rocket Force as he finished reading over the final terms of the surrender. The looks on the faces of these generals indicated that many of them were not happy with the terms. Several looked like they wanted to openly challenge him for leadership of the country.

General Zhao Keshi, the general in command of the Eastern theater of operations, shook his head and then slammed his fist down on the table. “This is unacceptable! This humiliation is not something I can accept. We must fight on if these are the terms of the agreement.”

General Sun Jianguo blurted out, “I will not accept these terms! My army group will continue to fight if you agree to these terms!” He stared daggers at Yang.

Many of the generals seated before him were senior in age and time served with the military, especially in comparison to Yang. They had resented that President Xi had promoted him to Head of the PLA ahead of them, despite the fact that he was one of the few generals to bring China any military victories. General Yang became concerned over the possibility that the generals before him might openly revolt over the proposed deal.

He took a deep breath and let it out. While he was formulating a response, General Du Hengyan, the head of the PLA’s strategic rocket forces, spoke up. “I have to disagree, General Sun. These are generous terms, and in light of what has happened to President Xi and the rest of the CMC, I don’t see that we have a choice.” As the general in charge of China’s nuclear weapons, General Du held a lot of sway within the PLA. He was also the oldest general in the army. Despite his age, he had taken a liking to General Yang and, like Xi, had seen him as the future of the PLA.

General Sun responded, “You of all people should want to retaliate against the Americans, Du! This is the second time the Americans have used a nuclear weapon against China.”

“And we have already obliterated Oakland and San Francisco, Sun,” Du countered. “Do you not realize that to retaliate further would only invite further nuclear catastrophe on our people? Even now, the enemies are at the gate to this very city. They have us encircled. With the loss of Shanghai, and Guangdong, the war is lost.”

“The war is not lost until we accept defeat!” shouted General Sun. “I, for one, do not accept defeat. We have already been arming the populace, and we’ve formed nearly three million of them into newly created militia battalions. We can continue to create militia battalions until we’ve wiped these invaders from our land.” His eyes smoldered.

General Zhao nodded. “Even now, I’m readying an offensive that will push the enemy back from the capital. You have to let me launch my attack, General Yang. At least give me the chance to try and win,” he said, pleading for one more offensive.

General Yang sighed deeply. He’d personally reviewed the defenses of the city, and they were solid, the best defensive network he’d ever seen. He knew it would be difficult for the Allies to break through, but he also knew with no real way to stop the Allied air forces, it was only a matter of time until they bombed those positions into oblivion.

“They still can’t see that we are defeated?” Yang thought. He wondered how many more lives would need to be lost before they would accept that they couldn’t win.

Sitting forward, Yang looked each general in the eyes. Then he replied, “Zhao, let’s assume your offensive is successful and you push the enemy back from Beijing. Then what? What happens next?” He paused long enough for them to think about that question before continuing, “Our air force has fought valiantly, but they have been defeated and can no longer stop the Allies from attacking us at will. If we have no air cover, the enemy air forces will pound our forces into the dirt. If every armored column is attacked before it can even reach the battlefield, how can we mount a counteroffensive?

“What do we do about Shanghai? Or Guangdong? How are we going to liberate those cities and provinces if our rails and roads are constantly being bombed? How do we supply our forces with bullets when our factories are constantly being attacked?” Shaking his head, he concluded, “No, gentlemen, we have been defeated. Now it’s time to end this war and rebuild our nation.”

“Traitor!” shouted General Sun. He stood and immediately made his way to the door. Several of the generals looked a bit startled at his sudden departure. A few of the guards looked at Yang as if asking for instructions.

Shaking his head, Yang said, “Let him go. Let him cool down. This is clearly an emotional moment for us all. That’s why we must think carefully about our next move — tens of millions of our fellow citizens may die. We have already lost millions of people…can we truly justify continuing the war, knowing that millions more will die with no chance of victory?”

Having built up some more resolve, General Yang stood up, placing both of his hands on the table in front of him as he leaned forward slightly, allowing himself to look down on the remaining military leaders of China.

“Our nation has always held the long view when it came to policy, economics, and our military. We deviated from that view when President Xi led us into this war. Our nation was not only on track to be the dominant economic power in the world — we would have become the dominant military in a couple more decades.”

He paused to let some of that sink in. “We acted too soon,” he explained. “We rushed our plans and deviated from our long-standing policy of thinking long-term. The war is over. The sooner we can accept that, the sooner we can begin to rebuild our nation. This defeat has also given us the opportunity to reshape our country. To reshape our economy and remodel our military. It’s time we threw off the shackles of Maoism and Marxism and learned to fully embrace our own unique Chinese version of capitalism. We can’t let the economic revival of the last thirty years be lost by returning to the old order. It’s time we look to the future.”

It took a few minutes for his words to sink in, but once they had, many of the generals at the table nodded in agreement. They knew change was coming, and if they jumped on board with Yang, at least they’d have a guiding hand in where the country would go next. After another hour of talks, it was settled. They would accept the terms of surrender and bring an end to the Third World War and the Communist People’s Republic of China.

The official end of the war and surrender would take place in a ceremony at the Forbidden City on November 11, 2019, just two days away, exactly one hundred and one years after the end of the Great War, the War to End All Wars. Following the official signing, General Yang Yin would detonate a charge that would destroy Mao’s tomb, figuratively and symbolically ending China’s 70-year communist government and ushering in a new era.