Chapter One
June 14th, 1972
Beihai Park, Beijing
Morning was the favored time for him to come to this place, the weather suited him personally, cool yet comfortable with no chill in the air. He stood between the two large concrete lion statues, facing directly towards the center gate, the red and yellow bricks in sharp contrast to the gale gray of the statues. Within the other two gates stood single soldiers, not facing him, but looking within towards the garden.
The small army truck arrived at the foot of the great entrance, quickly shutting down as not to disturb him, though he was well aware of it's arrival. The dozen young men exited from the truck and a senior officer that was riding in the front used hand gestures to get them into ranks. They were all officers of the various branches of services, mostly Army, but they all quickly fell into two ranks and followed the Colonel that was leading them.
Colonel Wei saw the back of the man ahead of them, his figure easily recognizable to anyone within China. As they approached, several body guards appeared from the edges and gave tense looks at the approaching group. The man between the Lion statues, without looking, raised his right hand in a short gesture. The guards stepped back but kept watch. With a raised right hand, Colonel Wei brought the group to a quick stop, 15 paces from the man. Then he stepped forward and stopped himself, 6 paces from the man.
"Comrade Chairman, the group is here as directed." Chairman of the Central Committee of the People's Republic of China slowly turned, with a short quick nod he said, "Your dismissed Colonel." Mao ZeDong then walked slowly forward into the Beihai Park Garden's, he stopped, "Follow me," was all he said.
The group of young Officer's then quickly marched ahead to catch up to the most feared and respected man in China. They walked a considerable distance in silence, the young Officers new better than to say a word without being spoken to, half of them thought they were being led to a fire squad. As they walked in silence, they took notice that Chairman Mao would stop and look at various plants, scampering animals, the sky itself. They took notice to try and remember what he was watching in case he would ask them.
Eventually the group made it's way to Qionghua Isle in the middle of the vast garden complex, it's man made 'celestial hill' stood prominently over the park and that's where Chairman Mao stopped. He motioned for the group to come forward and to his right side.
Within the 'White Pagoda' Mao stood at a prominent position and looked at the vast expanse of the park. "Please, be seated' he gestured again towards the ground, the group of Officers all sat in unison.
"As you know, the American President Nixon was here in February, this, an unprecedented political movement by the Americans, " Mao stated. "While the Americans have always been unpredictable in their actions and reactions, they have been predictable in overall strategies. This is something you will begin to study and understand in the following months upon leaving here."
"To answer the question in your mind as to why you are here. You were all chosen by a select committee of senior members of the Central Committee based upon your academic and applicable achievements during your entire academy years and your first years of service."
He turned and faced the group, his face was that of stone, his eyes betrayed nothing of what he thought or felt at that moment. But they could all see, Mao was dead serious.
"China is slow to move as a unified Nation. Our history while it is rich and well recorded, it shows we have been fragmented and our own greatest obstacle to advancing to total independence and respect. But since the Long March, the Second World War, we knew in ourselves that our goal would be attainable. With the victory over the imperialist puppets of the Kuomingtang and establishment of one Nation in 1949, we knew then that China's destiny was to be prominent upon the World."
"Your part of China's history will be with the Military. Your part will be to ensure the survival and growth of the People's Liberation Army, and you will also be critical elements to the planning and execution of our overall strategy. Twelve of you were hand picked. Twelve because we know that circumstances will not allow all of you to see this to the very end. While we are sure in our own destiny of China, we can not be sure of what destiny has in store for ourselves. War, disease, accidents, all will have their attrition upon this group, but the core goal shall remain with at least one of you."
"The Army has been the backbone of this great Nation, and preservation, care, and growth of our Army will be entrusted upon you all. This is to include our Naval and Air Forces." Mao paused….. "your future has been chosen for you by myself and others, but this is for the greater good of China. You may have had thoughts or desires of returning to a life previous to becoming military Officers, but the rewards of seeing this Nation grow under your leadership and steering, will be the rewards of your great sacrifice."
Mao began to pace slowly, as a tenured professor would often do in front of a class of students, "China's strategy and it's destiny is that of being the pre-eminent Nation among all others. China will not ever again, bow to the English, be slaves to the Japanese, secede land to the Russians, or fear the invasion of a foreign power. How we achieve this will be long and slow. I myself will long be gone before the branches of the tree even begin to grow out and bear blooms of fruit to come. It may very well be your own children who harvest this fruit."
"What we realized a few months ago, is that America will be our greatest challenge to overcome on the stage of the World. America is too strong economically and materially at this time to challenge. America will have to be destroyed from within. Japan's Admiral Yamamoto was correct when after the Pearl Harbor attack he feared that Japan had awakened a sleeping giant. Indeed they did, and suffered greatly for their lack of patience and strategy. China will not make that same mistake."
"China has no worries about Europe's NATO, the massive Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact is too large and will collapse upon itself. The Russian's failed already at their chance of seizing all of Europe. They should have done so by the mid 1960's, but the lack of trust among themselves and their Warsaw Pact allies made them dig into the European bunker mentality."
"Russia will never be able to achieve total Global dominance, despite that stated goal of theirs. Vietnam should have been won years ago by our communist brothers. But Russian interference kept them from fully mobilizing and moving South out of fear of the American nuclear threat. But we see already the seeds of discontent in the United States that will bring out the American forces soon. Then the puppet regime in the South will soon fall afterward."
"China will not ever face a threat again, so long as we continue to drive towards our hereditary goals of destiny. As long as we keep our strategy focused, our people focused upon that goal, as a people, as a Nation. Tactics and strategy shall change, but the goal shall remain the same. Your mission is to ensure our military forces survive any and all internal dissent, and to keep all the enemies of China at bay."
Mao stopped his pacing, turned and looked out upon the vast small lakes. "There are three lakes that make up one large lake within this park. One flows into the other. When this park was constructed, the lakes were not dug all at one time, but over time. When one was finished, then the other was constructed and the water from one was allowed to flow into the new lake, and that water occupied the next. And so on for the following lakes. This is how our goal shall be achieved. One by one, we will dig and build slowly, and then when the time is right, we will occupy with a constant stream until it is full."
"The Army of the People's Republic will act as water, flowing constantly. You see, we will not invade, but we will occupy. That is your final strategy for which you must plan for." Then with a dismissive hand gesture, Mao waved towards the group, who stood immediately, saluted and marched quickly away back to the waiting Colonel and the truck which would drive them into the destiny of the World.
Mao stood silently for a moment then said, "Do you believe they understood their importance and mission?"
A silent figure appeared from behind a large pillar of the White Pagoda. "I'm sure they did, as military Officers, they paid far more attention than did the group of political students from yesterday. They understand sacrifice. It will be difficult to main a focused political body on China's goal, though I believe, a few do understand and will live for the destined goal as well."
Mao turned and faced the man, "Deng Xiaoping, while we ourselves often disagree with many avenues of the day, we agree on the way to supper. You were correct in this decision for a military group. China will need many leaders in every aspect of it's life, we must ensure China's destiny will not go unheeded by personal ambition."
As he began walk away from Deng, Mao stopped and without looking back said, "Your personal revenge for all of those years will be seeing China rise as I will be long gone, maybe sooner than I myself anticipated." The two men would never speak privately again, but Deng Xiaoping understood well what must be done to defeat America, and it started with reforms within China itself.
He despised Mao in many ways, for many good reasons, but he knew that Mao was correct in his understanding that the goal must remain the same, but the strategy and tactics must change along the way.