The General Who Disobeyed Orders

The General Who Disobeyed Orders is a story by u/butterenergy which details the last days of the People's Republic of China, as Beijing falls to civil war and a Japanese invasion.

## Story

"The Japanese are landing near Tianjin. They fight with the fanaticism of demons, and they are headed towards the capital.

A skirmish between the Americans and the Japanese has already occurred. The US is ordering an immediate evacuation from the area, they have no appetite for war. The Americans have just left us to die.

Rally all the soldiers, we make one last stand in Beijing…"

…

It was the waning days of the Chinese Civil War. Despite every front closing in on him, the increasingly delusional military dictator Zhong Lei believed that the final victory could still be won, that China can rebuild, and crush the imperialist West once and for all. Never mind the fact that the West supporting him was the only reason their regime was still functional, but now the Americans were leaving, and those who were left were fighting for the other side.

The Japanese army was barreling towards Beijing at a breakneck speed. The Pyongists were advancing from the north, and the Heavenly Armies of Father Ying to the south. The Japanese had come back with a vengeance, enacting revenge on the nation which had destroyed their homeland.

Beijing was now under siege, what was left of the Chinese military complex was ordered by the delusional Zhong Lei to relieve the city, beat back the Japanese, somehow win the civil war, and finish off the Japanese race.

But almost everyone else saw that the war was lost. Swarms of ruined tanks littered the countryside, out of fuel, out of maintenance, and slowly rusting back into the earth. What was left were battered legions of men, carrying makeshift rifles and last-minute improvised weapons.

As they approached Beijing, it became clear they were in no shape to relieve Beijing, much less defeat the Japanese, much less win the war. Realizing this, Mao Zemin, leader of the 6th army, decided that he would take actions into his own hands.

China had long been lost; the Party had long been lost. The Golden Age, no matter how much they yearn for it, was now gone, perhaps forever. Mao Zemin turned back to face the city; what mattered now is that the Chinese civilians would be kept safe from harm.

Gunfire erupted all around him, and Zemin ordered his troops to organize an evacuation of the city, opening up an escape corridor so the civilians could evacuate the burning city. Helping civilians escape the burning rubble of the falling city. The Japanese were closing in on the east, and Zemin was busy evacuating the West. Of some 20 million people in the city, they were able to save 20,000.

From the outskirts of the city, they could see the city behind them in flames, Japanese bombing runs had begun, having cleared out the defunct Chinese Airforce, and beginning heavy bombing of the city below. Within the days and months, Zemin believed, those who did not make it out would be massacred. He looked at the 20,000 he was able to rescue, and the 20 million likely still in Beijing. But he couldn't turn back now, he couldn't risk the 20,000 he had rescued to safety, they saw the city which once commanded the world go down in flames, and turned from it.

Guarded with men with makeshift rifles, they began a long trek towards Tianjin, where the Americans were making a last moment evacuation. The city had become a haven, for the Japanese didn't dare provoke the Americans. But now they were leaving, and soon the haven would fall. Zemin didn't trust for a second that the Japanese would show any form of mercy, and the Heavenly Kingdom could not be trusted to treat them well, so the evacuating Americans were their best bet.

"Americans!" Zemin cried out. "I bring you 20,000 civilians. Please, take them to America, keep them safe there. There is no future left here in the East, please provide them a future in the West."

This was the first time many of the civilians had ever seen Americans, they had been told they were ghoulish creatures with faces as pale as porcelain. But now they saw how diverse the Americans were; white, black, brown, and even yellow faces could be seen in the crowd.

One of the Chinese American soldiers translated the words of Zemin to his commanding officer, the officer contemplated it for a second, and radioed some unknown words into a radio. The Chinese American soldier reached out his hand to Zemin, and the fact that a fellow Han, brother of blood, could be accepted and belong in a society like the Americans broke the perception of many watching. Zemin accepted the handshake.

In the coming days, the civilians would be evacuated onto transport ships, which they had ordered extra for. They would ferry to Taiwan, who had opened diplomatic ties with the United States, before eventually resettling them in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle.

Zemin himself would not leave for North America; his heart belonged in China. And he would die fighting for the last breaths of the nation he loved. But when push came to shove, he showed himself to be loyal to the Chinese people more.

The Americans had mixed feelings about the encounter. Zemin, in many ways was the last contact the Americans ever had with the collapsing remnants of the CCP. In a way, it was a mending of relations in the last days of Communist China, agreeing to come together for the well-being of civilians. The two rivals who battled for much of the first half of the 21st century would unexpectedly find themselves on the same side of a conflict in their last years. And now they had mended relations, maybe. Bittersweet friend or hated rival, it also allowed the Americans to say goodbye.

The CCP would collapse entirely after this.