The Unconquered Sun

[Cataphrak]

General Staff Headquarters of the Provisional Military Government of the Republic of China, Kunming, Yunnan Province
February 21st, 1958

The atmosphere in the General Staff Headquarters planning room was one of the most absolute shock.

Wei Lihuang looked at the reports spread out on the map table, and then back to his chief. "Are you sure these reports are accurate?"

Claire Chennault, on the other hand, was still glaring at the papers, as if sheer force of will could change what was on them. "If it's true, then the political implications..."

Everyone in the room knew what the political implications were. Nobody needed to spell them out. Chennault did anyway. "If what they're saying is correct, then the Republic of China has not only ceased to exist, but that it ceased to exist over a decade ago."

They all knew that, yet the summation plunged the room into a stunned silence even so. Everyone knew that General Sun's meeting in Hong Kong was going to be momentous one way or the other. The spectre of foreign warships loitering off the Chinese coast was one which was not dispelled quickly. Yet if anybody had expected him to return with the bombshell that he had dropped, they hadn't shown any sign of it since his return.

So the silence fell again, as it did the first time the Commander in Chief broke the news, and the second, and the third, and the tenth.

"If!" Du Yuming interjected, leaning over the edge of the table, his eyes aglow with indignation. "What are we doing, running around like headless chickens just because we've gotten some dispiriting rumours? If the Generalissimo could see us now, he would be ashamed to see his best officers panicking like this!" He shook his head defiantly. "I for one, will advise strongly that we do not act on these reports until they've been confirmed!"

"They have been," General Wei answered. "Or at least, the closest thing. The Juntong say that their interceptions of coastal broadcasts matches the reports."

The Chief of the General Staff answered with a scowl. "Is that all the proof we have then? The fragments of a few broadcasts from some bandit radio station? News from this Federation of Korea, and this Socialist Republics of America?" For a moment, it seemed as if he was actually about to spit on the floor. "It will take more than a few eavesdropped sentences to convince me, and it will certainly take more than the word of a pack of Japanese Collaborators and Americans!"

"We don't know if these Koreans collaborated with the Japanese," Wei replied mildly. "As for-"

"As for the Americans?" Du let out a snort of derision. "A people for whom lying comes as easily as breathing!"

Chennault gave the Chief of the General Staff a very dangerous look. "You wanna take this outside, you fat, pig-eyed little prick?"

"Gentlemen!" General Sun's voice cut through the tension like a sword. "Enough!"

The Commander in Chief looked Du in the eye until he backed down, then glared at Chennault until he did the same. This was bad. He hadn't seen tempers running this high since they'd lost contact with Bill Slim in '52. He needed to get them to focus on something other than each others' throats.

"Gentlemen, the political implications are clear, but the important thing is what we do with them," He gave his officers a pained expression. "We've spent the past two years telling everyone we ran into that we were the representatives of the legitimate authorities, now it turns out the legitimate authorities don't even exist anymore. What-" he faltered for a moment, as if the weight of his words hit him square in the gut.

"What do we tell them now?"

Nobody seemed to have an answer to that. In many ways it was an impossible question. The provisional government's legitimacy had been founded on Jiang Jieshi's Republic. They were the authorities because of the ranks he had bestowed upon them. Their troops followed them because they had been assigned to them by the Military Affairs Commission, a body which by all reliable accounts, had ceased to exist over a dozen years ago. So long as there was a realistic hope that the Generalissimo and his Republic existed somewhere in China, they were the Acting General Staff of the Provisional Military Government.

Without that hope, they were just old men in funny hats.

How did you tell two hundred million people that the country they thought they were fighting for no longer existed? That the flag they lived under was a lie?

"You tell them the truth," said Long Yun, the Governor of Yunnan, barely above a whisper. The old man had once been a general too, but that had been a long time ago. Now, he was here mostly as a courtesy. Yet when he spoke, the rest of the room listened. Nobody else had any better answers.

"You tell them the truth," he repeated, louder this time. "That you are the Republic."

There was a moment of stunned silence, no less than the one that had come before. "But the Republic is gone!" someone - General Liao, maybe - had protested.

Long Yun answered with a sneer of disgust. "Pfah! You youngsters! Did you think that when Yuan Shikai made himself Emperor and said the Republic was abolished that patriots like Cai E and Sun Yixian just gave up? Do you think they simply wailed 'The Republic is gone!' and went home? No!" The old man's hand slammed down against the map table like a thunderclap. "No! They stood up, and they declared that if Yuan Shikai was no longer the Republic, that they were the Republic!"

"And look where that got us," Du Yuming interjected sourly. "Twenty years of fratricidal war. Every two-cash bandit lord declaring himself and his little corner of some backwater province 'The Republic', and tearing the country apart."

"Are you a two-cash bandit, Du Yuming?" The governor of Yunnan shook his head. "Is this some little corner of a backwater province?" He shook his head again. "Look around and realise who you are! This room is filled with the greatest collection of military talent since the days of the Qianlong Emperor. You control a quarter of China's territory, a third of its population, and half of its arable land. You control the Pearl River Delta, through which two thirds of all trade once flowed into the country. You control the military academies at Huangpu and here in Kunming. You control Guangzhou, where the Republic was born! You have a veteran and well-equipped army and air force with modern weapons! You have even exceeded what Jiang Jieshi was able to do during the Golden Decade by holding free elections and negotiating with western powers on equal footing!"

He was almost roaring now. To those in the room, Long Yun stopped being the stooped, shrivelled old man he was, and took on the shape of the fierce-eyed, straight-backed young warlord he had once been. "Look around you! You are the Republic!"

Sun Liren watched the idea spread, like the warmth from a fire. He didn't know if it was just wishful thinking, or a genuine understanding, but one by one, the members of the General Staff seemed to approach the idea, accept it, and take it into themselves, until all that remained was for Sun Liren himself to say what everyone in the room now knew as certainty.

"Governor Long Yun is right. We are the Republic."

[Cataphrak]

Headquarters of the Military Affairs Commission, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
April 10th, 1958

Sun Liren looked across his desk at the man who was supposed to be his most trusted subordinate, his eyes narrowed in a cold, hard stare.

"Why did you do it?" he asked.

General Du Yuming glared right back. "For the good of the Republic. I thought that's what we were all supposed to be fighting for now."

The Head of the Military Affairs Commission only stared back harder. His knuckles were white behind his desk, but none of that showed on his face. "And you decided to do this by authorising a massive increase in army manpower and equipment behind the back of the civilian government? Behind my back?"

"The civilian government?" Du answered incredulously. "Those worthless do-nothings would have let the army rot away to nothing if they thought they could get away with it. The army looks after itself, it always has. That's how we were able to beat the Japanese, how we were able to build the finest fighting force in Asia." He hit the desk top with one beefy fist. Sun noticed that his knuckles were clenched white too. "I will not allow this magnificent army to be destroyed by a collection of lawyers and demagogues!"

"Those lawyers and demagogues, as you call them, are the voice of the people," Sun replied with a sharp, icy evenness. "No matter how useless they may seem now, they represent a democratic tradition which has taken half a century of political tutelage to kindle. That tradition must be safeguarded, not... not beaten unconscious and robbed!"

The Chief of the General Staff crossed his arms and sat back. "It was for their own good. If not us, then someone else. Mao's bandits in Beijing, those bloated landlords squatting in Nanjing, or your new friends the Victorians. I hear they are no better than the Japanese in the way they deal with their enemies." He shook his head. "We are surrounded by threats! And the Legislative Yuan would do nothing!"

"The Legislative Yuan approved your changes." Sun replied quietly.

For a rare moment, the Headquarters of the Military Affairs Commission was treated to the impossible spectacle of Du Yuming struck dumb.

"What?"

"When the Premier found out about what you had done, he put drafted a bill and it to a vote, so it looked like it had gone through the proper channels." Sun explained, voice still barely above a whisper. "It passed. Only the Democratic League voted against it."

"Then-"

"Officially, the vote authorised the new production, but any journalist with a pulse won't need to dig very deep to learn that you gave the order a month before the bill was even presented." Sun leaned forward, making sure the blood had gone back into his hands before he set them back on the desk. "The Evening Post will probably get to it first when they see the spending figures, which means Republic Daily will have to cover it too. We're just lucky the Tomb Colony is too busy trying on white bed sheets over this business with Victoria to sink their claws into this one."

The Chief of the General Staff deflated visibly. "So what now?"

Sun sighed. "I still need to make an example," he replied. "The people need to have faith that their votes mean something, and the army needs to know that this sort of blatant powerbrokering on the part of senior officers can no longer be tolerated." He paused, both for effect, and to steel himself for what he was about to say next. "As of this moment, you are hereby transferred from the General Staff to the position of Chief of Civil Defence."

Du Yuming turned white as an englishman. Officially, the two posts were of equal seniority. Both held seats on the Military Affairs Commission. But the truth was that it was a demotion, and a severe one. The Chief of the General Staff exercised authority over the whole of the Republic's standing army. The Chief of Civil Defence exercised authority over...

"But that's nothing!" Du protested. "It's an empty post with nothing to do! A sinecure! You might as well have me retire!"

"I will," Sun replied, "but not yet. Officially, you have done nothing wrong. Unofficially, you have been an able brother-in-arms for fifteen years, and it would be shameful to both of us if I were to simply throw you to the tigers. You will serve as Chief of Civil Defence for a year, then you will announce your retirement. In gratitude for your many years of courageous and able service to the Republic, I will petition the Legislative Yuan to award you the title 'Marshal of the Republic' and a pension fit for the national hero you are. But you will not hold a command again."

The now-former Chief of the General Staff swallowed, hard. "Who will replace me?" He asked, his voice very soft.

"Li Zongren approached the government last month, offering to return to active service. I think I will accept. He will take your place."

In a flash, the anger returned to Du Yuming's features. "Li Zongren! That tone-deaf old man is a relic! A has-been! And he's practically a communist himself!"

"What ever you may think of him, he was once the Hero of Taierzhuang," Sun replied. "And to the people, that is still who he is."

"Taierzhuang was twenty years ago!" Du protested. "He will undo everything we have built just to turn the NRA into a copy of his beloved Soviet Red Army!"

"That is a risk I am willing to take," Sun replied, even as he forced down the unease rising in his gut. "For the good of the Republic. Dismissed."

[Cataphrak]

1830 China Standard Time, June 15th, 1970
From: MG Liu Xiaoyun, Commandant CMA Huangpu
To: Marshal Sun Liren, Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission

Sir,

With the internal announcement of your impending retirement, it is my honour to remind you that your order of January 14th 1961 (forbidding the erection of memorials to serving officers) will cease to apply to you. Having consulted with the teaching staff, we have agreed that it would be appropriate to erect a statue of some sort in your honour on the grounds of the Central Military Academy. The ornament in question will likely be of the same style and scale as those already present of Chuikov, Li Zongren, Jiang Jieshi et al, although a slightly larger monument is not out of the question.

With your permission, we will begin soliciting designs and proposals from the relevant artists immediately.

1900 China Standard Time, June 15th, 1970
From: Marshal Sun Liren, Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission
To: MG Liu Xiaoyun, Commandant CMA Huangpu

Major General,

I believe most strongly that I have done nothing to justify or otherwise demand any sort of memorialisation of that nature. Under no circumstances is a monument in my honour to be constructed on the grounds of the Central Military Academy or anywhere else.

You may consider this an order.

2100 China Standard Time, June 15th, 1970
From: MG Liu Xiaoyun, Commandant CMA Huangpu
To: Marshal Sun Liren, Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission

Sir,

With utmost respect, I do not believe your opinion regarding the significance of your own role in the recent history of the country can be substantiated. I am given to believe that the general understanding is that you are considered the primary architect of the reunification of the Republic.

The officer cadets are singing that Without Marshal Sun, There Would Be No New China. If this is any indication, then a modest statue would surely be more than warranted.

0200 China Standard Time, June 16th, 1970
From: Marshal Sun Liren, Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission
To: MG Liu Xiaoyun, Commandant CMA Huangpu

Major General,

Attached are the service records of twelve enlisted men who served under my command. As you can see, all of them were volunteers from relatively poor families. Three of them were killed in Burma. Two died in the First Zhejiang War, Three died in the Second Zhejiang War. The remaining four were killed fighting the PLA in 1966. All of them died upholding the highest traditions of the service, while performing acts of heroism and gallantry above and beyond what was expected of them. They died following my orders, fighting for a victory they would never have a chance to see.

It was men like these who restored the Republic. I cannot answer for their courage, their devotion, or fortitude. I can only answer for their deaths. If you must have a monument built, dedicate it to them.

I expect this understanding of the state of affairs to made clear to your colleagues in the CMA faculty and the CMA corps of cadets in the strongest terms. Generals do not win wars, they can only direct the ones who do. If anyone deserves statues and songs in their honour, it is those who carry out the orders, not those who give them.

There will be no further discussion of this matter.

[Cataphrak]

Headquarters of the Military Affairs Commission, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
July 27th, 1971

"I guess you won't be retiring after all, sir," the aide remarked as Marshal Sun looked over the front-page story of the Republic Daily. For a moment, the older man seemed on the verge of agreement, only to suddenly throw the newspaper back onto the desk with a purposefulness which was almost violent in its intensity.

"The hell I won't," he declared, his voice soft, but unambigiously clear.

The aide cleared his throat nervously. "With all due respect sir, if this whole business with the Soviet Union comes to war, then-"

"Then what?" the old soldier replied, almost absently as he pulled out a bundle of papers from his desk and put them in his secure briefcase.

"Then-" The aide stumbled over his words for a moment. Surely, the Marshal was merely being obtuse on purpose. Surely he must see- "Then the SRA might get drawn in, and all of the Soviets' other allies. The Republic-"

"-The Republic will be fine, Major," the Marshal replied. "If things go well, they go well, and my successor gets to start building his own reputation. If they go poorly, then ten or fifteen thousand boys will die for no good reason, but the Republic will be fine - unless some idiot at the Pentagon intends on trying to drive those ridiculous missile-launching tanks of theirs through the mountains of Guangxi."

The aide almost failed to suppress a giggle at that particular mental image, even given the dire topic at hand.

The Marshal pretended not to notice. He snapped his briefcase shut, and shook his head. "I've served the Republic for nearly fifty years. I've fought in a dozen wars for it, and I've believed in every single one. I'd like to keep that record."

With that, he stood up, his briefcase held firmly in one hand, as he stepped around his desk.

"Sir? Where are you going?"

"Home. If I'm wrong and the Republic is in peril, and the Widow thinks an old man and his collection of dead friends can help, then by all means, she can call me back. Until then, I'm going home."