The People Rise Up

(Source)

Cheng Zhiqiang, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party was sitting at his desk, sipping a cup of tea. He felt very satisfied, he had just returned from the trial and execution of the former commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, Admiral Chang Bojing. Though the man had been politically reliable, he had proven to be a disaster as a naval leader. The massacre of the expedition to land troops on the breakaway province of Taiwan had been an outright disaster.

He looked up at the knock on his office door, "Yes?"

His military aide looked in, "Comrade Chairman, I have reports of civil unrest from Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Nanjing. Also in some of the smaller towns and cities throughout China."

The Chairman set his tea cup on the desk. "Civil unrest? What sort of civil unrest Comrade Colonel?" The Chairman's voice had gone as cold as the wind from the north in January.

The colonel hesitated, in olden times the leaders of China had been known to shoot the messenger, the events of the past few months made the colonel think that those times had returned. "Riots Comrade Chairman, the people are rioting in those cities."

All of the months of convincing the people that sacrifices would have to be made, that strenuous efforts were required to reunite Taiwan with the mainland, that were also required to quell American resistance to just that contingency, had all been in vain apparently.

"Call out the Army, crush those riots!" Cheng stood up, yelling in fury.

The colonel seemed nervous as he answered, "I'm sorry Comrade Chairman, but the Army has joined the people."

It was then that Cheng noticed the pistol in the colonel's hand, aimed at Cheng's midsection. Suddenly the office felt cold, as cold as the grave.

Billy Kasparian saw Jack Bishop's Jeep coming up the heavily rutted road. Winter was nearly over and without maintenance crews servicing the roads, they had suffered badly. Billy had to wonder what the Hell Albany was thinking.

His wife Ida came up behind him and said, "That's pretty much the last of the coffee. I have a recipe for parched corn coffee, but I'm not sure if it tastes any good. Guess we'll need to experiment."

Billy nodded and said, "I suppose if the Iroquois drank it, that makes it a traditional upstate New York beverage." He finished the cup of coffee then set it on the table. "Damn, I'm gonna miss that. Do we have any left?"

Ida nodded and said, "I suppose Jack will want a cup?"

As the door swung open, Jack Bishop said, "I sure would, but you folks go ahead and finish it, I've got a bit left so I won't be drinking up what you've got."

"How's things out there?" Ida asked.

Jack shook his head, "Reports out of Albany aren't good, the police tried to put down a few disturbances and the people went nuts. Last I heard, there were a lot of dead politicians in the capital, a few dead policemen as well."

"Damn, that ain't good." Billy offered.

Jack remembered something, "Remember that Chinese lady?"

Ida asked "What about her?"

"Seems she's wanted for murdering a cop."

"No shit?" Billy said.

"Yup, no shit. What the Hell is going on back east?" Jack shook his head as he said that.

"So that's the situation Mr. Rutherford, the Chinese have been driven out of New York, they're cut off in the Twin Cities and they've pulled back into British Columbia from Washington state." Colonel Tanaka looked at the former President, knowing that he'd want to know about his home state of California.

Wilson James Rutherford, "Jim" to his friends, sighed and stood up. "I suppose California has gone completely to Hell. That asshole governor out there couldn't organize a, sorry, I almost said 'Chinese fire drill' but that seems insensitive even in these times."

"We all grew up saying stuff like that Mr. President." Admiral Fairchild offered.

"Doesn't make it right, so, Colonel, California?"

"The cities are cut off, the L.A., San Francisco, and Sacramento metro areas are running out of everything. The people out in the countryside have cut them off from all supplies. Folks are probably going to start starving when stocks run out."

"What about resupply by sea?" Rutherford asked.

"The Navy stayed loyal to the Constitution. The Marines control San Diego, they actually drove off a Mexican invasion two months ago."

"What?!"

"I know Sir, that was a shocker. But it wasn't the Mexican government, it was the cartels. They thought they could start throwing their weight around. The Marines, Navy, and surprisingly, the Mexican Army, cut them to pieces. Seems that most of Mexico is in chaos right now, martial law has been declared and drug gangs are fighting each other and the Army. And losing badly by the way." Fairchild responded to the President's shocked look at the news of the Mexican invasion.

"As to resupply by sea, the admiral is right. The Chinese thought they'd sail right in and take over. Most of those ships were sunk within sight of shore, what few Chinese made it ashore were butchered when they landed. The government of California might lean pretty far to the left, but most of the people don't. Sacramento's latest rulings concerning water supplies from the Central Valley to the cities pissed a lot of people off." Tanaka continued the briefing.

"What about the California National Guard?" Rutherford asked.

"Split by a third, a third, and a third. Some backed Sacramento, some backed the people, quite a few stayed home. It's a mess out there Sir."

"Where's Texas in all this?" Rutherford asked again, he had a feeling that Texas might leave the Union rather than deal with this mess.

"Texas stood by the Constitution Sir. Especially after the Mexican cartels invaded California. Some folks in Austin wanted to secede, cooler heads prevailed. There were riots, but the Texans got things under control without any outside help. They've even offered an expeditionary force to go into California." Tanaka paused as he relayed that last bit of information, "Personally, I think that's a bad idea." Tanaka finished.

Rutherford nodded, "Yup, can't have one state go charging into another. Now if the governor of Texas would agree to put his Guardsmen under Federal control?"

"They might buy that, hard to say, those Texans are a stubborn bunch." Tanaka looked at Fairchild as he said that.

The admiral grinned and said, "Yes, yes we are."