Chapter 282
Chapter 282
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Public Operations (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The issue of how to handle General Ku Yuanfeng quickly became the hottest topic in the Chinese government.
Once Chongqing failed to reach a clear resolution, discontent grew among the Chinese military officers.
“Is this even something to agonize over? If you said you trusted us, then trust us fully, damn it.”
Even General Ku Yuanfeng, Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army, felt the same unease about the situation.
“If I betrayed the Chairman and sided with the revolutionaries, then the government should naturally trust me in return.”
Ku Yuanfeng couldn’t hide his sense of betrayal toward Chongqing.
In this atmosphere, rumors of another general staging a coup began to circulate.
This time, another heavyweight general was singled out.
The target of the rumors was the renowned General Xue Wei.
Xue Wei was a general from Chiang Kai-shek’s faction who had achieved solid results against Korean forces in the First and Second Sino-Korean Wars, making him an outstanding commander.
“Why would a big shot like General Xue Wei stage a coup?”
People inside and outside the military began questioning the endless stream of coup rumors.
“Could this be a ploy to purge the military again?”
As rumors linking him to a coup popped up daily, General Ku Yuanfeng finally exploded in anger.
“If you’re going to cut us down, just do it. Don’t pussyfoot around spreading coup stories from the shadows like some damn schoolgirl.”
With the military’s top brass openly pointing fingers at the government, the situation escalated toward a direct confrontation between the army and the regime.
Only then did the Chinese government step in to contain the crisis.
“As we stated before, we trust the military’s loyalty. There will be no personnel changes in the army.”
For Chongqing, this was the only way to seal the rift.
Korea watched the unfolding drama and kept adding fuel to the fire.
“Our government is too soft. Isn’t it going too easy on generals from Chiang Kai-shek’s clique who are openly defying orders? What happens if a second Chiang Kai-shek emerges from the military?”
The KCIA relentlessly stoked Chinese anxieties about “civilian control.”
“You’re right. Why keep giving positions to those direct subordinates who got fat under Chiang Kai-shek? What makes you trust them?”
The coup rumors targeting Chinese generals swiftly evolved into a loyalty probe of officers from the Whampoa Military Academy and the Central Army Officer Academy.
This turn of events left the officers from those two academies seething with rage.
“They’re going too far. We didn’t follow the Chairman’s orders and stayed neutral, and now what? They want to verify our loyalty?”
These voices of discontent soon turned into outright fury against the government.
“We can’t keep getting treated like dogs. Let’s make our voices heard.”
Major Hao Bochuan, representing the Central Army Officer Academy graduates, called for the young officers to rise up.
“With things like this, we can’t just sit here with our mouths shut. All right. Let’s stand up.”
The Central Army’s young officers rose en masse, marching through the city streets in protest.
This sudden street demonstration was more than enough to throw the Chongqing government into panic.
“The military is holding street protests? What the hell do we do about this?”
The CIA advised a cautious response to the situation.
“Street protests mean the military is dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. It’s best if the government doesn’t step in directly.”
Instead of confronting the military head-on, the Chongqing government mobilized college students from the Democratic League to stage counter-protests.
When the soldiers shouted through megaphones, the students shouted right back.
The plan was to wear the military down on their own, but the student protests only fueled the officers’ anger further.
As tensions between the government and the military mounted, Pyongyang jumped in to spice things up again.
“Reports say the military is preparing plans for a coup.”
The protests the military was staging now were just a gesture to test public sentiment.
Korea meticulously crafted a “fake” coup plan and plastered it as posters on streets near government offices.
Chongqing was stunned when they saw the posters.
While previous coup rumors had only hinted at suspicious circumstances, this one looked like a genuine blueprint, impossible to dismiss.
In truth, it was a plan devised by Korean military experts, so of course it looked convincing to anyone.
The military was already openly displaying its discontent.
Startled, Chongqing issued personnel orders first.
“Those bastards were already showing their dissatisfaction with the government. Let’s get them out of the capital for now.”
The personnel shuffle began by reassigning Central Army Officer Academy officers concentrated in the capital to remote postings.
“They dare order us out of the capital?”
Chongqing’s orders were enough to enrage the remaining Chiang Kai-shek faction officers in the Central Army.
“We can’t take this anymore.”
Major Hao Bochuan and a few officers went to see General Ku Yuanfeng, the highest-ranking Chiang loyalist.
When they asked the general to lead their “patriotic resolution,” he reacted negatively.
“No matter what, a coup is out of the question.”
Even if the general was fed up with the government, it wasn’t enough to spark a military revolution.
Hao Bochuan was deeply disappointed by the general’s refusal.
“General Ku Yuanfeng, I never took you for someone who didn’t care about your juniors’ well-being.”
What were they supposed to do without the general?
Like it or not, they needed a general to pull off a coup or revolution.
“No, do we really need a general?”
The young officers quickly changed their thinking.
It’d be nice to have one figurehead, but it wasn’t a fatal problem if they didn’t.
“Once it’s done, we can bring the Chairman back.”
If they just brought back the Chairman in Japan, he’d handle the aftermath.
Under this calculus, the young officers began preparing their coup.
“Korea’s Patriotic Military Committee was led by young officers, excluding Lee Seong-jun, and they pulled off the revolution. No reason we can’t do the same.”
The young officers’ coup plotting didn’t escape the CIA and KCIA’s notice.
It was absurd to think such a noisy commotion could evade the great powers’ eyes.
The CIA informed the Chinese government.
“A c-coup?”
They’d issued personnel orders to prevent a coup, and now a coup was actually being planned.
The Chinese government hurried to respond.
“As of now, all unit bases are sealed. No unit movements or training until further orders. Make sure everyone understands that.”
Chongqing’s response put the coup plotters in a panic.
“Chongqing’s onto us. Let’s launch the revolution before it’s too late.”
Sitting around would just land them all in military court anyway.
In a last desperate gasp, the coup forces mobilized one battalion’s worth of troops, but that was nowhere near enough to topple Chongqing.
“Are these lunatics seriously trying a coup with that pathetic force?”
China’s coup fizzled out in just two hours.
But its aftermath was devastating.
The Chinese government had exposed to the warlords and the public that it couldn’t even properly control its own power base, the Central Army.
“What kind of amateurs are running the country?”
“Guys who’d be perfect buried in university books are trying to govern, and that’s why the nation’s in this mess.”
Economic woes from friction with Korea, EA’s military threats, and now an internal military coup.
The new regime’s prestige had already hit rock bottom.
The United States viewed the situation gravely.
“At this rate, we can’t push the plan to elevate the Republic of China as a counterweight to EA.”
To restore China’s image, Washington proposed having Lyndon Johnson himself visit Chongqing.
The leader of the world’s top superpower visiting China for a summit.
The Chinese government’s plummeting prestige finally began to recover somewhat with news of Johnson’s visit.
Of course, it wasn’t up to American expectations.
“It’s gone from the bottom to a low point. Can’t compare it to the highs.”
Korea didn’t sit idly by.
A barrage of ads appeared again in Washington.
“Our president ignores serious domestic issues to go discuss Chinese problems in China. Why not just run for president from Chongqing in the next election?”
Pyongyang gleefully hammered at Lyndon Johnson’s sore spots.
“His Excellency the President’s visit is a choice for national interest and essential for our long-term strategy.”
“What? Chinese issues are more important than domestic human rights problems?”
The U.S. government tried its own public relations battle, but it was futile.
With the waves of the 67 Revolution running high, spending three days and two nights on China was outrageous.
Unable to withstand public pressure, Lyndon Johnson canceled the U.S.-China summit.
“What? The U.S.-China summit’s canceled?”
China collapsed under the shockwave.
“We thought they were at least doing diplomacy, but it was all just hype. Was the summit with the U.S. president even real PR?”
If the Democratic League had controlled the media, things might have been better, but the party that came to power criticizing Chiang Kai-shek’s authoritarianism couldn’t do that.
The Democratic League was battered from all sides.
Korea seized the moment of the government’s leadership collapse to amp up its propaganda.
“Might as well have had the military brass in charge.”
Korea openly floated lines that could incite a coup, unnerving Chongqing.
That was their true intention anyway.
“Why not stage a coup?”
Through such operations, Korea widened the rift between the Chinese government and military, sowing discord and fueling political instability.
With the chaos dragging on, the possibility of a military coup never faded.
Then they’d hit the press again.
“Isn’t the country in chaos because the government’s incompetent?”
Unable to endure the opinion-shifting, the Chinese government attempted media controls.
Korea slapped up wall posters all over the cities.
“Damn, they’re no better than Chiang Kai-shek. Why the hell did they drag down Chairman Chiang?”
Korea’s relentless shaking dragged the Democratic League’s approval ratings to the depths.
With the people’s support as their only lifeline, this blow hurt to the bone for the Democratic League.
Even the warlords started changing their tune right away.
“Why should we obey orders from amateurs like you?”
No words captured China’s reality more accurately.
The new regime’s dream of a unified China thus came to a shattering end.