He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. - Sun Tzu

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September 15th, 2025

Beijing, China

August 1st Building (Ministry of National Defense)

The refreshed President Jiaxu, finished with his personal family time, when it slowly dawned that even with the situation on the front, the internal social stability of China was still considered to be upheld, as much as reasonably possible, even with the increasing amounts of sabotage attacks, especially using drones. 

Right now, the Central Military Commission had finished the cyber security upgrade for it's Defense Management Center facility, inside the MND 1st August Building. For months, the war effort had been run out of the Presidential Command Bunker under the Zhongnanhai in aftermath of the debilitating Japanese-American cyber attack on the MND building on the start of the war, but as it dragged on, a full utilization of the DMC became more of a necessity with the power, bandwidth, space, as well as personnel needed to manage a global war. In addition, it's also acted as a point of control for the operations of the national war economy, to the point that Jiaxu decided to bring his family to live in one of the facility's specially prepared living quarters. (there was also a nuclear shelter in the basement and underground tunnels connecting it to a number of critical facilities throughout the city). 

Jiaxu walked through a series of doors, hallways and checkpoints until he finally arrived in the bowels of the facility. Then, he signaled for them to resume their duties and to take their seats. "Comrade Generals and Admirals, as always, let's discuss the progress of our operations so far"

The first vice chairman of the CMC, General Hu, began the briefing, "Comrade Chairman, the first phase of Operation Hekou-9 in Vietnam has been a success with our recapture of Hue City. Soon Da Nang will follow in it's wake. On the other side, we did have to tie up one more light high mobility brigade and a construction brigade to further strengthen our supply line via Laos and assist in it's repair. On one hand, our special forces and allied foreign legion also obtained good results, with two teams conducted a daring raid on three highway strip further south, resulting in the destruction of two squadrons of Coalition fighters, while another team had also managed to found one of the Vietnamese (Air Force) underground hangars and took it out. The destruction gave us the badly needed window of opportunity to finally secure Hue and encircle Da Nang, before we will enter a consolidation phase." As he spoke, General Hu showed a number of aerial images of the damage done to the targets. 

Jiaxu was elated to hear that things were starting to go their way in Peninsular South East Asia after several frustrations and reversals in Thailand thanks to the country's multi-layer defenses as well as in Cambodia, strikes against Laotian dams and railways connecting it to China, the effective destruction of the Myanmar Navy, and the rising number of casualties overall especially in the meat grinder of Korea. 

The Minister of Defense and the head of National Defense Mobilization Department of the CMC, Air Force General Fu Zhengji, added. "Cooperative people of ours had continued to increase production of coal and gold in the northern Vietnamese area that we are holding, reactivating offshore oilrigs that were not yet destroyed by the Vietnamese as well as the rest of the oil facilities that we captured so far... as well as reactivating several factories for our own use. In addition, defensive constructions (e.g air bases, (standard gauge) railways, ports, barracks, and supply depots, etc) continued."  

"Very well, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos as well as Myanmar are not Japan, but their resources are doing well to sustain us and our cooperative allies." Jiaxu smiled, but then the generals and admirals noticed a dark shade afterwards. "Especially with increased number of our people in the countryside are not planting as much as they can now after the harvest season..."

The officials present nodded, then convinced the supreme leader on their ways and actions that were executed in keeping the morale inside China good, all according to the dictates of the Party.

Then, back to the tactical situation in Vietnam, Jiaxu warned. "However, as a caveat, let me be clear here, comrades - be careful with our manpower, with our preparations against the United States."

Now it's the turn of the CINC-Southern Theater Command (CINC-South) Admiral Huaping. "We have strengthened our air assault capability by the arrival of two helicopter squadrons in Hanoi, as well as two brigade worth of armored vehicles, including engineering assault types as well as more heavy troop carriers (of a ZBD-24 type) we are surely need to take Da Nang, and as always, air defense systems of various types, here, with Coalition drones are still a considerable threat to our supply lines, in conjunction of their stealth fighters. On the other hand, Comrade Chairman, we are still committed in making up the attrition of South Sea Fleet by linking up with our forces in Cambodia just like when the first plan had been approved."

Norinco VN20 heavy infantry fighting vehicle, storywise adopted into PLA service as ZBD-24

"Indeed that objective is still not rescinded" said Admiral Sun, the second vice-chairman. "While with so many priorities at hand especially with Operation Zheng He, we did have to adjust, now to tie as many as Coalition forces as possible, especially Americans, despite so far there are only one American infantry division - the 23rd Americal - present in Vietnam, and keeping our overland supply line in Mainland SE Asia secure." 

"Make sure that our people got rotated, especially those with experience in city assaults. Some of them will be needed here in the Homeland to train the new recruits as well as our foreign volunteers."

Huaping replied to his Chairman. "We're rotating out two heavy brigades as I am speaking, Comrade Chairman." 

Later on. "Well then, let's move on to talk about India. How are things shaping up?" asked the Chairman.

"We're still trying to convince Pakistan to finally join us - as much as their assistance so far has been invaluable in tying up many parts of Indian military in Kashmir, plus multiple drone and cyber operations." answered the Defense Minister. 

"Not what I want as an answer. I want you to do better than this, coordinate with the Foreign Ministry as well as the Guoanbu!" 

"Working on it.. Comrade Chairman" Zhengji responded. Jiaxu then continued. "It's tactical situation, now."

It's now the turn of CINC-West General Lu Guangbi to speak, as the apex commander for Indian theater of operations, who in practice also in coordination with and support from the Southern Theater Command.

"The loss of 54th Mountain Division near Kathmandu as well as the 52nd near Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh, India) had certainly hurt us, but it will not deter our effort of keeping our command for the Himalayas, Zangnan (South Tibet = the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh), and Aksai Chin; The latter had seen more success in our side with four recent attacks aiming for Pangong Tso Lake has been repulsed. In addition, we are still heavily engaged in jungle combat - those Indians are not going to yield, obviously. The 43rd and 49th Light Combined Arms Division, with two IAIB brigades attached to it had been inducted in force to stiffen our forces there especially to take back our fire control on the corridor used to supply the rebels in Myanmar... We're counting on them, being our best jungle fighters, not just trained here in Yunnan, but also back then in Venezuela as well as Brazil before 2018."

To his surprise, however, Jiaxu responded as the following at the CINC-West. "Effective tomorrow, you will be no longer in command of Western Theater, Comrade General. This decision is final."

The room went silent for a while, but then Jiaxu continued. "Your replacement has been appointed yesterday, Comrade General Ma Zhaoyu. He is on his way and you will show and brief him on the situation exactly as is."

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September 14th, 2025.

Nerima, Tokyo, Japan.

1/LT Arima Kousei

It's a week already after we saw Kenji left Japan, according to his orders, for an intensive condensed course in Fort Sill in Oklahoma, USA, as he started his new duty with the Yamato Gunners; a nickname that Field Artillery brown berets were calling themselves along with "Emperor of Battle", just like how the Armored Corps called it's members as Big Steel Family, or the Infantry Corps with their "Empress of Battle".

Today I found myself awake two minutes before the alarm clock went off. followed by Kaori stirring. She looked up as I finished a short prayer before rose up herself and had her own prayer after yet another uneventful-ish sleep, knowing our circumstances. Especially as last two days saw another wave of drones, missile and bombing raids by the Chinese, including from their submarines as well as stealth bombers, with Tokyo was not spared and a couple strikes even managed to hit part of Tokaido Main Line, at Numazu, to my horror. 

Even with my parents turned out to be unhurt...

Thank God! my reaction when Mum and Dad managed to reach me from Numazu when the all-clear signal blared after the last attack, yesterday.

It was the lucky hit, those Red bastards... said my father on the phone back then. and we lost our mayor... today will be her wake and funeral...

Before I could say anything, Mum took her turn. "Don't mourn her... think about your soldiers. Kaori too." A sense of "click" came afterwards.

Joined together in the bath, we dressed accordingly in our field camouflage in a proper manner, including making sure that our service HK pistol was in a clean and safe condition, and when we went downstairs, Mr Miyazono greeted us.

"Good morning!" 

The breakfast with Mr and Mrs Miyazono was eerily silent, with the TV turned off and our phones were also put separately on the nearest cupboard. 

Even with one of my favorite menu I love since I start dating Kaori was on the table - the simple rice with raw egg plus some vegetables from Nerima Victory Garden to balance everything - all of it's tastes seems to be gone from my mouth - but we soldiered on, and after we cleared the table, the rucksacks were soon readied on the ground floor. It was 07.15 in the morning. 

Then, we proceeded to a morning prayer and just another resetting of our phones out of security, before it's time to go.

"Fight well, you all" both Mr and Mrs Miyazono couldn't held their tears as they had to let us go for the second time. And so, it's time to head for Nerima Station. Operated by the private railway company Seibu Railway, it also served a subway route operated by Toei Subway - one out of two operators of Tokyo subway, the other being Tokyo Metro. 

Both underground and over ground part had it's own share of service personnel all with the same class of uniform as us, mostly Army, but also Navy.

The first order was to look for Watari and Tsubaki, who told us that they got the same schedule.

"At ease!" commanded Kaori as she found two troopers from her platoon who lived in Nerima and nearby wards gathered near an ekiben store, and sure enough, Tsubaki was there, kitted up and ready. It's also mean that it's time for Kaori and I to separate.

Greeted by multiple salutes from my fellow black berets including Watari and two leading privates we presented ourselves to a MP team.

"You will head for Ikebukuro; we have arranged a military only train, where you will take Yamanote Line to Tokyo Central, where there will be another train that will bring you to Yokohama"

A female MP who stood on the side of the first, male MP who explained first continued. "If you have any question, we'll give you 10 seconds to ask."

Even with the arrangement that brought us into a seaport city instead of an airport/airbase like Narita, Haneda, and Yokota - the latter was where Kenji and many others had departed for America, practical considerations outweigh any questions, and so it's time to head for the designated platform showed on the departure board.

Military Special Train, Arrival Time: 09.10
NO UNAUTHORIZED PASSENGERS - UNITED WE STAND!

There were already servicemen and women on board as the train screeched into a halt.

As the train proceeded to leave Nerima, the atmosphere of alert engulfed everyone, as from the window a flight of some kind of jet drones, recognizable from their windowless frames plus two manned F-15 fighter jets and most probably American F-22s circled the sky. It's also obvious that a smooth change of shift in manning our AA batteries circling the capital had so far deterred further raids.

"Look at this, sir" Watari pointed at the passenger information display overhead showing the morning news, somewhere on the Sea of Japan. "It's confirmed two H-20s shot down!"

"... there's no information yet on the chronology of this successful joint interception by Air Force and Navy..."

"Good!" I exclaimed, as multiple videos showed the wreckage of the said Chinese-made stealth bombers floating across the Sea of Japan, further confirmed by a Twitter post by the Aerospace Defense Force Command. "Mayor Akashi has been avenged."

"Cope and seethe, you wumaos (Chinese propagandists)" I snickered as I scrolled down and saw multiple pro Chinese comments in that Twitter post by our air and space branch. Watari smiled in return, knowing the story of the successful raid in Numazu.

We're grateful for the uneventful arrival in Ikebukuro for our second leg with Yamanote Line, much more that one station away from the terminus, I overheard two Navy men said the following. "This very line was just nearly hacked one minute ago, thank Kami-sama for the National Guard CDF folks as always. The Reds were targeting the signals."

The first incoming JR East military special train was nearly packed to the brim, forcing station employees along with the MPs to forbid many to board. We did manage to board, through, all of us four. 

The route map of JR East Yamanote Line

The trip was noticeably slower as the train passed through dense Tokyo urban districts, while still bypassing some stations, including Ueno Station at the eponymous district famous for it's famous cultural and educational places like the Ueno Zoo. Oh how much I missed it, with my last date-performance as part of the promotion of our employer with Kaori in Ueno was two years ago!

Nevertheless, here's our second transit station awaiting us, the Tokyo Central. 

"Tokyo Central, Tokyo Central, all personnel detrain!!" announced the engineer over the train's PA system.

Military police officers in coordination with Tokyo police ensured that we had our electronically signed and authenticated travel orders on our hand at all times. And because we had a shorter ride compared to our withdrawal from Hiroshima, this time we're not given a bullet train ride. 

"Attention, doors will be closed!"

And so our final leg. 

Tokyo and Yokohama suburbs were so closed and it's difficult to figure out where are the city limits. And unlike the previous trip, the MPs and JR East personnel on Yokohama Station were so much under a need to get things done to shout at us. 

"Hurry up! Empty this train in two minutes, minna!"

Many of us had to walk a little bit further to reach our assigned truck or bus who will convey us further to the port area out of interest of reducing our exposure to attacks, especially by drones!

"Jammers are at work here, people" I can heard SFC. Minato's briefing to the now complete set of crew of the platoon, minus Sgt. Kirigaya and his crew - it has been confirmed that they had been promoted and then reassigned for training duty in Japan as well as further treatments. Further information available for Team Kirin was that the said replacement crew set has been assigned, fresh from the allied armor school run mostly by Americans in Fort Moore, used to be Fort Benning prior to 2023. A branch was also operated in it's historical place prior to 2011, in Fort Knox as America and other allied forces were expanding in number.

It also explained why on the last leg of the train trip, announcements from the Eastern Army command conveyed to us include an instruction to completely turn off our mobile network. 

Led by a military police Bushmaster armored truck, the first convoy left the station.

No need to worry about Kaori... whispered a voice on my head as the truck where the 1st Platoon of Team Kirin were assigned to rolled down the roads. Police and MPs cleared out the routes. According to Tsubaki, this included any suspicious packages that might as well be IEDs planted by Chinese saboteurs. Somehow, she managed to sat on Watari's side.

Not for long, we could see massive cranes looming over the buildings ahead and then we dropped off next to a building on the docks. 

I walked away with a new HK M27 IAR - handed down from the US Marine Corps and refurbished thanks to it's replacement with the US military-wide M5 rifle chambered in 6.8x51mm NATO while Watari and Kitazawa remained with their trusty HK MP7. In the meantime, I finally got my sight on Kaori and her platoon as they were organizing their equipments. The vehicles? They were all in the US and are waiting for us to use and train. 

A short speech from Captain Kawashima as the Team Kirin was assembled as a whole team, and up ahead, a massive contraption that reminds me of seaplanes of old, made in the good old USA named Liberty Lifter. Higher up duly informed us that there were many points of departures of these planes, not just from this very port but also the nearby beaches around Yokohama Bay, an advantageous position compared to the traditional land-based, runway-dependent military airlifters and mobilized long-range airliners, while not a replacement for the latter.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Liberty Lifter

A development from largely old Soviet concept that spawned the famous "Caspian Sea Monster" the twin-hulled, General Atomics designed Liberty Lifter upped the ante by it's capability to fly like a traditional airplane up to ten thousand feet. 

The call was blared, I looked behind at the city, and at the ground, one last step away into the nose ramp and it's monstrous-looking cargo door opening, leading into the seaplane's cargo and passenger room. 

Kaori and I only flew abroad once, and it was a holiday trip to South Korea back during our college days; never a trans-Pacific one like what's about to come, and definitely, I never thought that this was because of a duty of great responsibility instead of a leisure trip in a comfortable airliner. Furthermore, Tsubaki and Watari never left Japan at all, until this very day.

Our future, our loved ones behind... praying for us, Defenders of Japan.

Then, I checked my hand for my wedding band. 

A promise to always be with my beloved in every situation, until death separated us. But now, it went further. A promise for both of us to return, to finally bring this war to our victory.

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A/N:

And so, this is the end of the first book of Red Sun Rising universe. The war continues, and will Kousei, Kaori, and their friends be ready for what is in store ahead after their training in the United States? And how about Takeshi and Emi? Stay tuned for it's sequel!

Thank you for reading!