The Bear and the Dragon

several repeater stations. It took another ten minutes because the Defense Minister, he was told, was in a Politburo meeting. Finally, the familiar voice came over the radio.

“This is Marshal Luo.”

“This is Major General Ge Li, commanding Three-Oh-Second Armored. General Peng Xi-Wang is dead,” he announced.

“What happened?”

“He went forward to join the reconnaissance section to see the front, and he was killed by a sniper bullet. The recon section ran into a small ambush, looked like a single Russian personnel carrier. I drove it off with my own tank,” Ge went on. It was fairly true, and it seemed like the sort of thing he was supposed to say.

“I see. What is the overall situation?” the Defense Minister asked.

“Thirty-fourth Shock Army is advancing-well, it was. I paused the advance to reorganize the command group. I request instructions, Comrade Minister.”

“You will advance and capture the Russian gold mine, secure it, and then continue north for the oil field.”

“Very well, Comrade Minister, but I must advise you that Twenty-ninth Army, right behind us, sustained a serious attack an hour ago, and was reportedly badly hit.”

“How badly?”

“I do not know. Reports are sketchy, but it doesn’t sound good.”

“What sort of attack was it?”

“An air attack, origin unknown. As I said, reports are very sketchy at this time. Twenty-ninth seems very disorganized at the moment,” Ge reported.

“Very well. You will continue the attack. Forty-third Army is behind Twenty-ninth and will support you. Watch your left flank-”

“I know of the reports of Russian units to my west,” Ge said. “I will orient a mechanized division to deal with that, but …”

“But what?” Luo asked.

“But, Comrade Marshal, we have no reconnaissance information on what lies before us. I need such information in order to advance safely.”

“You will find your safety in advancing rapidly into enemy territory and destroying whatever formations you find,” Luo told him forcefully. “Continue your advance!”

“By your command, Comrade Minister.” There wasn’t much else he could say to that.

“Report back to me as necessary.”

“I will do that,” Ge promised.

“Very well. Out.” Static replaced the voice.

“You heard him,” Ge said to Colonel Wa Cheng-gong, whom he’d just inherited as army operations officer. “Now what, Colonel?”

“We continue the advance, Comrade General.”

Ge nodded to the logic of the situation. “Give the order.”

It took hold four minutes later, when the radio commands filtered down to battalion level and the units started moving.

They didn’t need reconnaissance information now, Colonel Wa reasoned. They knew that there had to be some light Russian units just beyond the ridgeline where Peng had met his foolish death. Didn’t I warn him? Wa raged to himself. Didn’t Ge warn him? For a general to die in battle was not unexpected. But to die from a single bullet fired by some lone rifleman was worse than foolish. Thirty years of training and experience wasted, lost to a single rifleman!

There they go again,” Major Tucker said, seeing the plume of diesel exhaust followed by the lurching of numerous armored vehicles. ”About six kilometers from your first line of tanks.”

“A pity we can’t get one of these terminals to Sinyavskiy,” Bondarenko said.

“Not that many of them, sir,” Tucker told him. “Sun Microsystems is still building them for us.”

That was General Ge Li,” Luo told the Politburo. ”We’ve had some bad luck. General Peng is dead, killed by a sniper bullet, I just learned.”

“How did that happen?” Premier Xu asked.

“Peng had gone forward, as a good general should, and there was a lucky Russian out there with a rifle,” the Defense Minister explained. Then one of his aides appeared and walked to the marshal’s seat, handing him a slip of paper. He scanned it. “This is confirmed?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal. I requested and got confirmation myself. The ships are in sight of land even now.”

“What ships? What land?” Xu asked. It was unusual for him to take an active part in these meetings. Usually he let the others talk, listened passively, and then announced the consensus conclusions reached by the others.

“Comrade,” Luo answered. “It seems some American warships are bombarding our coast near Guangszhou.”

“Bombarding?” Xu asked. “You mean with guns?”

“That’s what the report says, yes.”

“Why would they do that?” the Premier asked, somewhat nonplussed by this bit of information.

“To destroy shore emplacements, and-”

“Isn’t that what one does prior to invading, a preparation to putting troops on the beach?” Foreign Minister Shen asked.

“Well, yes, it could be that, I suppose,” Luo replied, “but-”

“Invasion?” Xu asked. “A direct attack on our own soil?”

“Such a thing is most unlikely,” Luo told them. “They lack the ability to put troops ashore in sufficiently large numbers. America simply doesn’t have the troops to do such a-”

“What if they get assistance from Taiwan? How many troops do the bandits have?” Tong Jie asked.

“Well, they have some land forces,” Luo allowed. “But we have ample ability to-”

“You told us a week ago that we had all the forces required to defeat the Russians, even if they got some aid from America,” Qian observed, becoming agitated. “What fiction do you have for us now, Luo?”

“Fiction!” the marshal’s voice boomed. “I tell you the facts, but now you accuse me of that?”

“What have you not told us, Luo?” Qian asked harshly. “We are not peasants here to be told what to believe.”

“The Russians are making a stand. They have fought back. I told you that, and I told you this sort of thing is to be expected-and it is. We fight a war with the Russians. It’s not a burglary in an unoccupied house. This is an armed contest between two major powers-and we will win because we have more and better troops. They do not fight well. We swept aside their border defenses, and we’ve pursued their army north, and they didn’t have the manhood to stand and fight for their own land! We will smash them. Yes, they will fight back. We must expect that, but it won’t matter. We will smash them, I tell you!” he insisted.

“Is there any information which you have not told us to this point?” Interior Minister Tong asked, in a voice more reasonable than the question itself.

“I have appointed Major General Ge to assume command of the Thirty-fourth Shock Army. He reported to me that Twenty-ninth Army sustained a serious air attack earlier today. The effects of this attack are not clear, probably they managed to damage communications-and an air attack cannot seriously hurt a large mechanized land force. The tools of war do not permit such a thing.”

“Now what?” Premier Xu asked.

“I propose that we adjourn the meeting and allow Minister Luo to return to his task of managing our armed forces,” Zhang Han Sen proposed. “And that we reconvene, say, at sixteen hours.”

There were nods around the table. Everyone wanted the time to consider the things that they’d heard this