“Nobody at the COSCO office claimed to recognize him from his photograph. Ten days later, we went into COSCO’s personnel shop under the cover of searching for illegal Mexicans and came up with the name of Ling Ch’ing for him. Undoubtedly, that is not his real name. He was carried on their books as a warehouse man. The Chinese legation in L.A. claimed they didn’t know him when we offered them the body as an unknown John Doe. They accepted the body, though, they claimed, simply because he appeared to be an ethnic Chinese. Our best guess is that he was a watchdog for COSCO or something like that, in Jesus Gonzalez’s camp. We’re not sure at this time just who he reported to. His photograph was identified by a number of the Mexican prisoners in the camp. According to those prisoners, he visited the camp in the company of several other men, usually two others, on a number of occasions before he became a permanent fixture there. A couple of the Mexicans timed his arrival with the arrival of those Russian sniper rifles. They thought he was the bodyguard of some Japanese big businessman.
“We put a bug in the outer wall of the coffin that looked like the head of a screw. We got some interesting conversation before they swept the coffin and found it. That was pretty sharp of them to check it out so thoroughly. We figured they would check the body and then cremate it, but they shipped it back to China after they swept it for transmitters.
“We believe the AK-47s originated in China as copies of the classic Russian design. They were all of new manufacture and typical of Chinese handiwork. Ditto for the ammunition. The ammo was as good as any commercial grade, of better quality than the rifles.
“Our tasks now are to identify Ling’s contacts, his boss, methods of shipment, and confirmation of how this was all put together. Our theory is that Gonzalez and his crew was motivated primarily by money, both supplied by the Chinese and by what they gained from raiding into the United States. We don’t have any proof of that, and that is what we are after. Gonzalez had received a large shipment of farm implements and tractors. We got their serial numbers and paperwork from them. They are of Japanese manufacture, and the Japanese indicated they were shipped to China first, then the Chinese shipped them to Mexico through Long Beach by COSCO. The records we seized from COSCO on the tractors indicate they went to dealers in Mexico from whom Gonzalez purchased them with funds drawn on a Mexican bank. There were very large sums in the account. Gonzalez also had a personal account that we accessed through bribing a bank clerk. The tractors were paid for by another Chinese front company, according to the Japanese. Very convenient. We think the arms were hidden in this shipment, and possibly others.
“Composite sketches of the two men that Ling usually accompanied were made with the assistance of several Mexican prisoners. One of our agents noticed the likeness in COSCO’s files of one of them. Surveillance of these two resulted in their photographs. These are the photographs being passed out now of the two men Ling was generally seen in the company of. One, the larger of the two, is also listed as a warehouse man. It is likely that he is a second bodyguard to Chan. The smaller is carried as a shipping clerk named Chan. I want twenty-four-hour surveillance on each of these two men.
“We have traced a number of the vehicles we brought back from the terrorists’ camp. They were all legally purchased in southern California over a short and abrupt period of time by a variety of individuals all of whom had Hispanic names. That suggests some kind of a network, possibly a gang connection. Put a team on checking out those who purchased the vehicles. See what you can shake out of the bushes. If they all go to the same source, then we just might be on to something. The fact that all of them were purchased in a relatively narrow timeframe strongly supports the network idea and that they were deliberately purchased for Gonzalez to use in the conduct of his raids. We want to know about that network.
“You are being divided into teams. Those of you with Hispanic roots will be undercover. We are going to send you on the streets to see what you can sniff out. Be careful! Go armed all of the time, but without your box tops. That’s my law. I don’t want any of you identified by the opposition. Carry whatever you are most comfortable with, but not less than a 9-millimeter or .38 Special. If you get in trouble with the local boys in blue, go along. Don’t explain anything to them. We will get you out when you make your phone call. We don’t know how deep or where this investigation will lead. Those of you in suits will continue to carry your issue weapon or your standard sidearm, as approved by your supervisors. Your teams are posted on the bulletin board. Supervisory Special Agents are listed as team leaders. This is the first time some of you have worked together. I realize that might cause some of you to hesitate. It shouldn’t; you are all here by special selection. I expect you to all be team players and cohesive teams from this moment on. Any questions? No? Then let’s hit the streets.”
In mid summer of 2021, the Chinese ambassador to Japan called upon the Prime Minister of Japan to hand him a formal note. Foregoing the usual amenities of courtesy, the Chinese ambassador simply handed the note to him. It read:
Dear Prime Minister:
It is our desire to settle certain territorial claims with your government. It is our express desire that this be amicably and most peacefully accomplished. The territories in dispute to which the People’s Republic of China are referring are the Senkaku Islands and the Loochoo Islands, which you call the Ryukyu Islands and seized from China in 1878.
Let me assure you that our intentions are entirely peaceful in reclaiming these territories the People’s Republic of China lost to you by conquest in the nineteenth century. It would be in the best interest of Japanese citizens to evacuate these islands as quickly as possible. We will assume control of all of the former U.S. military bases there in thirty days’ time. Thereafter, we will occupy all the major centers of transportation, utilities, communications and government offices on these islands.
It is our intense desire to offer Japan our protection from further domination by western military and economic interests. Japan has already made tremendous investments in China which are of the greatest importance to both our nations and for which we are profoundly grateful. By uniting our two countries in economic integration, we can form a union that will be the world’s largest market, manufacturing axis, and technological center. Together, we will dominate the world economy. There is no need for you to expend your economic power in further development of military capabilities. Our nuclear umbrella and the People’s Liberation Army Navy will provide Japan with complete military superiority and protection. With time, other Asian nations might wish to join our consortium to form an even greater economic sphere of cooperation.
Sung, Chiang, Prime Minister
The Supreme Council of the People’s Republic of China
Inwardly, the Japanese Prime Minister was seething. In spite of the fact that Japanese high schools do not teach an accurate history of World War II, or only just mention that they were defeated by the Allies, the Prime Minister recognized that it was a replay of Japan’s old game plan of Economic Co-Prosperity Sphere in reverse whereby Japan occupied or controlled much of Asia. It led directly to World War II. Indeed, the atrocities the Japanese inflicted upon tens of millions of Chinese in their invasions of Manchuria and China in the 1930s flashed through the Prime Minister’s mind. The fear that those atrocities that Japanese soldiers inflicted upon civilians of other nations just might come home to roost, to be repeated on his people, caused him to shudder. He thought of Unit 731, their biological weapons unit that experimented on Allied prisoners and Chinese citizens and in some cases, entire towns and regions. A moment of despair passed over him as he remembered the accounts of Japanese physicians conducting live vivisection on patients without the benefit of anesthesia to follow the course of the diseases they induced in allied prisoners and peoples of various countries to determine if there were any racial differences.
“Mr. Ambassador, surely you cannot believe that we will surrender Japanese territory without a war. We will fight for every square meter of Japanese soil. Neither will we accept Chinese suzerainty. This demand is so preposterous that I must consider it a very morbid and sick joke. Surely Sung Chiang is more responsible than to write this. Surely China would not risk war with Japan, particularly while you are invading the Asian mainland.”
“I assure you, Mr. Prime Minister, it is no joke. The People’s Republic of China will reclaim those islands. They are Chinese territory and will once again be part of China. I suggest you present this letter to your Diet to see what their response is, Mr. Prime Minister.”
“Rest assured, I will call an emergency session for tomorrow morning and do just that. Recidivism has no place in the modern world. China will find that the world will unite against its aggression. Good day, Mr. Ambassador.”
The Prime Minister reflected for a moment over expelling the U.S. Marines out of Okinawa, of the Philippines throwing the Americans out after Mount Pinatubo erupted, of Australia’s not allowing any American nuclear powered warships into its harbors, of Thailand’s expulsion of the Americans from their airbases and wondered if they should have done things differently.
Chapter 28
Rest areas were actually depots fully supplied with containerized supplies, configured to specific requirements. Most of these containers were three meters wide by four meters long by three meters high. Those for the light infantry units had small arms ammunition, food, modest amounts of diesel fuel for trucks and water. Those for mechanized infantry contained much more diesel fuel, ammunition for their weapons systems, food and water; those for anti-aircraft platoons had missiles, food and water. The containers are easily set on the back of a flatbed truck where they are quickly secured by numerous nylon straps. Rest stops where both drivers and passengers could rest were located every one hundred kilometers. Large roadside kitchens where the truck mounted troops could dismount and be fed a quick meal were integral to the rest stops. Fuel trucks to supply diesel fuel acted as mobile fuel stations all along the route. Each was a veritable oasis.
Shen, De-ming, Army Front III Commander, gave the order to his HIV battalions to mobilize, along with General Chang’s general order. In each village and town in his assigned provinces, the platoons and companies assembled. The assigned transportation assets, troop carrying trucks, gathered the companies to transport them to the battalion assembly points. Traveling mostly at night to reduce observation from satellites, large convoys wound their way westward into Sinkiang. Supplies would be continually ferried forward in convoys that never stopped making a great circle, expanding ever westward. Shen De-ming had studied the Red Ball Express of the Americans in support of Patton’s Third Army in Europe during World War II. It has long been remarked in the strategy of attrition warfare in military circles that amateurs think of tactics while professionals think of logistics.
Shen, De-ming was not about to repeat the critically disastrous mistakes committed by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa in World War II. Years of cumulative study of the regions and their peoples, of their resources, transportation nets, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses went into the planning by his staff. The depots were stocked with cold weather clothing, special fuel additives and lubricants for sub zero temperatures, snow goggles, small portable stoves that burned diesel fuel for instillation in fire resistant polyester lined tents, and everything he could think that might be useful in a winter campaign. He had no illusions that it would be a tremendous undertaking, one of the greatest in military history. Starting out as a late summer campaign that would quickly become a winter campaign, crossing over some of the highest and most rugged mountain ranges in the world, to descend into high desert plateaus where strong winds never ceased, winds that sometimes reached hurricane speeds, conditions that would test and destroy all but the most prepared of armies. Myriads of rivers fed by glaciers occurred in steep mountain valleys, rivers would present considerable difficulties in crossing. Lakes were present in some valleys, fed by these rivers on one end, and draining them at the other. These rivers would become raging torrents from melting snows and glaciers in the coming spring. His troops would see temperatures higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months. In winter, the same location could have temperatures as cold as thirty degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Rains could turn the plains into seas of mud. In the central part of Kazakhstan, pastoral peoples mostly lived in small settlements that were widely disbursed. Shen’s troops would seize the fall’s harvest of fruits and vegetables, of grain and livestock in the mountain valleys. Even mobile slaughter plants on tractor trailers were part of the plan to take advantage of local livestock resources. Meat was becoming increasingly important to the Chinese diet. It was irrelevant if the meat was from cattle, sheep, goats, yaks, camels, or horses. Heavily spiced, no one could tell the difference.
General Shen, De-ming gave the order. The first three vehicles were infantry fighting vehicles, behind which came two Chinese built Russian style T-80 tanks and three trucks filled with light infantry. These were acting as the point vehicles, traveling a kilometer ahead of the main column. Behind them stretched a hundred trucks carrying infantry, tents, extra clothing, food and ammunition. Truck mounted anti-aircraft missile batteries, free rocket over ground launchers on flatbed trucks, quad mounts of heavy 12.7 mm machine guns on light trucks, radar trucks searched the skies as they moved, communications trucks monitored radio traffic, and self-contained galley trucks already began preparing the next meal in cooking containers clamped shut. Already cool winds were blowing, and a light snow fell two days earlier. They drove out of Huocheng, in Sinkiang, headed west. Tanker trucks were interspersed in the column, carrying either diesel fuel or water. When freezing weather set in, pumps and heaters would circulate the water in the tankers to prevent freezing. The vehicles maintained strict discipline, one hundred meters between each vehicle. Engineering battalions with road graders, bulldozers, and recovery vehicles were in each column to clear avalanches, landslides, and roadblocks. Bridging equipment would enable crossing raging mountain rivers where bridges were destroyed.
In the past five years, the market for goose down from China had become more and more expensive, as the military preparations absorbed greater and greater amounts to manufacture down clothing. State of the art synthetics produced in massive quantities also went into the manufacture of tremendous numbers of winter garments, sleeping bags, gloves, hats, and tent liners.
A similar column departed Kashi, approximately four hundred miles to the south. One hour later, an identical column departed behind each of those two columns. Behind that column came another, and another and another. Each column was task organized for its specific mission. The lead columns out of Huocheng had as the first objective the road net around Almaty, the capitol of Kazakhstan. The Kashi columns followed the Wulu-Kyzylsu River road west. Their first major objective was to cut the road net around Dushanbe, the capitol in the center of Tajikistan. All of the villages in the valley were destroyed as the Chinese columns passed. Homes and barns were searched for food stuffs and then burned. Livestock was shot and eviscerated on the spot by the mobile abattoirs, then hung in refrigerated trucks if not immediately prepared for consumption in the galleys. When one segment of the column stopped to conduct search and destroy or foraging activities, the remainder of the column simply left them the assigned light infantry company for security and moved ahead.
“The launch went well, Mr. President. We have three satellites now orbiting over the region, and everybody in the world knows what is going on over there.”
Evening television broadcasts on the daily news now came from the several satellites of different nations. The French and Germans had rushed commercial satellites into orbit as well as the United States. Commercial companies always seemed one step ahead of governments in employing the latest technology. Broad band digital satellites launched by private companies in Japan were in place two weeks after the nuclear blinding. Apparently, some of the international satellite companies kept spare satellites on hand, or were ready to launch new models by an act of accidental timing. International satellite companies offered varying commentaries with their television broadcasts. All of them showed the tremendous devastation now, not only of Korea, but of India and Pakistan, from the nuclear exchanges. The effects of fallout were not visible to the television camera of Big Eye, but experts made their comments anyway. A couple of the networks dug out archival films from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that ended World War II. They showed the tremendous number of humans burned and with radiation sickness. They pointed to increases in cancer deaths, and medical experts were rolled out by the dozen to explain how radiation sickness reduced the body’s ability to fight normal infections and how the more rapidly dividing cells were damaged. The damage to the intestinal tract, the respiratory tract, the germinal layer of the skin, the thyroid glands, and lymphatic tissue were all demonstrated time and again. The medical community seemed determined to scare the hell out of the rest of the world.
A few brave, or perhaps ignorant, or too ambitious for their own good, or perhaps uncaring for their own health, reporters from half a dozen countries were now on the ground in southern Korea. They reported with glaring detail the burned landscape, the masses of the dead, the destroyed cities and towns. They broadcast Geiger-Mueller counter readings on a daily basis as they advanced northward with the South Korean Army. They also reported that the surviving South Korean forces were now advancing steadily and making good progress. Inchon was retaken. Seoul was being retaken. Neither side had elected to strike Seoul with nuclear weapons. It was simply too rich a prize with its manufacturing capabilities and being the intellectual center of South Korea. South Korean battalions on their own initiative were bypassing Seoul, moving towards Uijongbu to cut off the retreating North Koreans. South Korean units in the Taebok Mountains were playing havoc with the retreating North Koreans. They did not repeat McArthur’s mistake in late 1950 of leaving units and stragglers, often up to battalion size, in their rear to harass their lines of communication. North Koreans were systematically hunted down and killed. Each valley was cleared of North Koreans before moving to the next. Several journalists suggested in every daily report that massive aid, food, shelter, construction supplies, fuel, medicines, and construction machinery, would be necessary if the survivors of the war were to survive the coming winter. As in all wars, it is the civilians that suffer the most.
Street combat in Seoul resulted in thousands of North Korean prisoners. Many small groups of captives were herded into deserted sections of the city and executed without remorse. Everyone was hungry, and South Korean soldiers who had lost families, friends and comrades-in-arms saw no reason to feed those who had done everything possible to destroy their homes and their peninsula. Officers, in particular, often suffered cruel deaths, as they were tortured for information before dying. A few conscripts were fortunate enough to fall into the hands of sympathetic ROK soldiers who treated them as Prisoners of War and placed them in temporary POW compounds. Most South Koreans felt nothing but a deep, unabiding hatred for their northern brothers as a result of the treachery inflicted upon their people.
Captain Koon’s little band had grown into a full-sized company as more and more sections, squads, and even civilian volunteers joined him. In the short period of three months, his reputation had grown, and he expanded his operations over the entire district. He promoted Sergeant Park to Lieutenant Park and made him a platoon leader of fifty men and women. Now, he moved northward, harassing the retreating North Koreans. Major Bradley gave Captain Koon his major’s insignia and told him he deserved a promotion. The two men had formed the bond of combat. Bradley became more or less his adjutant, an executive officer, and second in command. Now reasonably conversant in Korean through what amounted to deep immersion, Bradley sometimes led platoon-sized raids as diversions while Captain Koon conducted larger hit and run operations.
