The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [378]
"Comrades," Fang said, summoning up his courage for one last display of his inner feelings. "We still have the chance to stop this from happening, as Marshal Luo told us some days ago. We are not fully committed until shots are fired. Until then, we can say we were running a defense exercise, and the world will go along with that explanation, for the reasons my friend Zhang has just told us. But once hostilities are begun, the tiger is out of the cage. Men defend what is theirs with tenacity. You will recall that Hitler underestimated the Russians, to his ultimate sorrow. Iran underestimated the Americans just last year, causing disaster for them and the death of their leader. Are we sure that we can prevail in this adventure?" he asked. "Sure? We gamble with the life of our country here. We ought not to forget that."
"Fang, my old comrade, you are wise and thoughtful as ever," Zhang responded graciously. "And I know you speak on behalf of our nation and our people, but as we must not underestimate our enemies, so we ought not to underestimate ourselves. We fought the Americans once before, and we gave them the worst military defeat in their history, did we not?"
"Yes, we did surprise them, but in the end we lost a million men, including Mao's own son. And why? Because we overestimated our own abilities."
"Not this time, Fang," Luo assured them all. "Not this time. We will do to the Russians the same thing we did to the Americans at the Yalu River. We will strike with power and surprise. Where they are weak, we will rush through. Where they are strong, we will encircle and surround. In 1950, we were a peasant army with only light weapons. Today," Luo went on, "we are a fully modern army. We can do things today such as even the Americas could not dream of back then. We will prevail," the Defense Minister concluded with firm conviction.
"Comrades, do we wish to stop now?" Zhang asked, to focus the debate. "Do we wish to doom our country's economic and political future? For that is the issue at hand. If we stand still, we risk national death. Who among us wishes to stand still then?"
Predictably no one, not even Qian, moved to pick up that gauntlet. The vote was entirely pro forma, and unanimous. As always, the Politburo achieved collegiality for its own sake. The ministers returned to their various offices. Zhang buttonholed Tan Deshi for several minutes before heading back to his. An hour after that, he dropped in on his friend, Fang Gan.
"You are not cross with me?" Fang asked.
"The voice of caution is something that does not offend me, my old friend," Zhang said, graciously taking his seat opposite the other's desk. He could afford to be gracious. He had won.
"I am afraid of this move, Zhang. We did underestimate the Americans in 1950, and it cost us many men."
"We have the men to spare," the senior Minister Without Portfolio pointed out. "And it will make Luo feel valuable."
"As if he needs that." Fang gestured his displeasure with that strutting martinet.
"Even a dog has his uses," his visitor pointed out.
"Zhang, what if the Russians are more formidable than you think?"
"I've taken care of that. We will create instability in their country in two days, the very day our attack begins."
"How?"
"You'll recall we had that failed attempt against Grushavoy's senior advisor, that Golovko fellow."
"Yes, and I counseled against that, too," Fang reminded his visitor.
"And there, perhaps, you were right," Zhang acknowledged, to smooth his host's feathers. "But Tan has developed the capability, and what better way to destabilize Russia than to eliminate their president?