Chimera

“The armed forces are sufficiently armed and equipped with quantities of fuel for another thirty days of combat given the declining rate of combat intensity at the border and accounting for attrition of our reserves to Indian air attacks,” the General read out from his papers. Liu grunted his retort as he leaned forward on the table:

“This war will not last days! And you all talk of weeks. Fact remains that incompetency on behalf of many in this room has left us little hope for victory and we must accept this fact! And the thirty days of fuel comes from taking it away from local reserves as well as strategic economic reserves. We may have enough fuel for ninety days for our economy to run, but it takes a lot longer to replace the commercial ships that are being picked off by the Indians as we sit here to discuss and glorify tactical advances that are, quite frankly, meaningless! Meaningless!”

Chen saw everybody in the room shift uncomfortably in their seats on hearing Liu’s words. But Liu was not finished:

“We have now committed eight more divisions of men to the land war in the Tibet region, is that not correct?” Liu looked to the PLA commander, who nodded. So Liu continued: “The Tibetan rebels are already nipping at our heels, sensing our weakness. And what of the Americans and the Japanese? How long before they sense our weakness and begin taking actions in support of the nationalists? Make no mistake. Our neighbors stand waiting for us to become weak before they take advantage of it. We must not allow that to happen. The Indians have begun to wage total war on us by attempting to destroy our post war economy. Either we must do the same to their fleet by taking control of the seas or ensure that their commercial fleets have no use when their entire economy has been burnt to ashes!”

Wencang put his pen down in a visibly irate gesture and looked straight at Liu, finally having heard enough tirades against the conventional force commanders in the room.

“And what of the Indian response, Liu? Hmm?” Wencang said as he leaned over the table aggressively. “Do you think they will simply stay quiet as we nuke their cities and their economy to rubble? If I remember my last intelligence update from your men, their strategic forces were already deployed, were they not? When they see our missiles heading for the sky, what do you think they will do? Would you rather we lose everything we have built over the last sixty-five years to be lost just so that we can do the same to the pathetic Indian economy? I am sorry, but I value our country and its economy far more than I value the destruction of theirs. It will not be a worthy trade!”

“You have a better plan, Wencang?” Liu said menacingly. “If you and your worthless predecessor had done their jobs correctly, we wouldn’t even be in this situation right now! You lost control of our skies!”

“I do have a plan!” Wencang shouted back. “I already showed that it works! Give me control of the rest of the missile stocks being held back in reserve by your 821ST Brigade and its long-range cruise-missiles and I will take care of this once and for all! Only nine missiles used so far and we have already disabled two major Indian airbases and stalled their plans for a ground offensive into our territory in the autonomous region. Give me the rest of that Brigade and I will terminate enemy presence over our skies! We will take out their air-support just as our eight new Divisions hit them right in the face!”

“Don’t forget the Pakistanis…” Chen reminded the room.

“Ah yes! Those fools! What are they waiting for? Call them up and get them to start mobilizing their army. They have enough forces to ensure that the Indians can’t bring in too many reinforcements to any given front in Tibet. Let them fight a two-front war! Let’s see how long they last under that pressure. This is what the Pakistanis have always wanted, haven’t they? Fine! Let them join the fray. You wanted my plan, Liu? This is my plan!”

Wencang said and leaned back in his chair as he grabbed a bottle of water from the table. Liu’s face reflected a mask of pure anger. His eyes told Wencang there would be consequences to this tirade when the dust had settled. Wencang was not intimidated, however. And for now both men realized they had to get along else they would find themselves in trouble with the only man commanding more authority than them in the room.

“Well, General Liu?” Peng asked. “Do you have an objection to this?”

Liu was still seething at his end of the table but he calmed himself down and looked at Peng:

“As much as I admit I appreciate General Wencang’s thoughts and candor, I have to say that I cannot give him the rest of 821 Brigade. It is an essential part of our strategic first-strike force and is indispensable.”

“If the plan works, we will not need that strike,” Peng reminded the commander of the 2ND Artillery Corps.