Chapter 25: Preparing for Battle

  The geographical conditions here are very complex, as the south of Tibet is located on the southern slope of the eastern section of the Himalayas, with a complex terrain, an elevation range from 5,000m to 150m, and a subtropical and tropical monsoon climate. It is influenced by the southwest monsoon of the Indian Ocean, with large rainfall, warm and humid all year round, and superior water and heat conditions.

  Located in the southern border of Motuo County, Baxika Town has an average annual rainfall of 4500mm, one of the places with the most rainfall on land in China. It was once called "the rain capital" by official textbooks for a long time. The region is extremely rich in hydropower resources, with main rivers including Yarlung Zangbo River, Kamen River, Xibaxia Qu, Danba Qu and Zayu River, making it one of the regions with the richest hydropower resources in China.

  The world's largest canyon, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, is located in this region. The forest coverage rate of the Shannan area exceeds 90%, which is an important part of the southwestern forest area of the country's three major forest areas. This is also our Tibet's most important grain-producing area. If we take it back, then the Tibetan region will not need to transport food from so far inland.

  "Commander, if this place is so good, then why did we lose it?" the soldier who had just asked the question continued to ask.

  "Has everyone just understood?" Cheng Feng asked, "So next I'll tell you about the historical story of Zangnan".

  Tsangnan is the birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso. His birthplace is in the heart of Tsangnan's city, Dawant, which is also where we are about to occupy. In 1913-1914, at the Simla Conference convened by Britain in Simla, India, attended by representatives from Britain, Tibet and China, British Indian colonial government foreign minister Henry McMahon secretly signed the Simla Treaty with Tibetan local government representative Shatra, inserting a unilateral boundary between India and Tibet that was not agreed upon by the Chinese government.

  At the same time, the infamous McMahon Line was also demarcated. This line assigned more than 900,000 square kilometers of territory that had historically belonged to China to British India, and the northeastern boundary of British India as defined by this line extended from the southern foot of the Himalayas northward into the Himalayan mountain range (and even further north), compressing the area in Tibet over which China had traditionally exercised administrative authority more than 100 kilometers northward.

  The government representatives of the countries participating in the conference refused to sign the treaty formally due to the opposition of the central government, and the meeting broke down. The illegal Simla Treaty has no legal effect. Later, our government issued a statement several times, not recognizing the Simla Treaty and the McMahon Line, which is that illegal national border line I just mentioned, and also the line behind the 581 highland we took out today."

  "In 1948, taking advantage of China's preoccupation with the civil war, newly independent India began sending troops into the Aksai Chin region. On February 2, 1951, Indian troops occupied the heart of Aksai Chin, Dawang, and forcibly expelled the Tibetan administrative personnel stationed there by the Tibetan authorities. In 1954, the Indian government established what it called the North Eastern Frontier Tract in the region and revised official maps to show the McMahon Line, which China refused to recognize, as a fixed boundary for the first time. By 1960, the Indian military had complete control over the area south of the McMahon Line that belonged to Tibet."

  Due to the Indian government's series of aggressive actions, our government launched a self-defensive counterattack against India on October 11th and November of the last century in 1962 after multiple diplomatic negotiations. Our troops won a swift victory, recovering most of southern Tibet including important towns such as Dawa, Bomi, Mainquka, and Wamiao, advancing to near the traditional customary line. Later for various reasons, our troops voluntarily withdrew back to within the McMahon Line. In 1964, Indian troops reoccupied the region, forming a standoff with our troops again near the McMahon Line. In 1972, India changed the name of this "Northeast Border Special District" to "Arunachal Pradesh Central Directly-Governed District".

  In February 1987, India declared the establishment of 'Arunachal Pradesh'. We have repeatedly solemnly declared that we do not recognize the illegal 'McMahon Line' and 'Arunachal Pradesh', and demanded that India withdraw all military personnel who crossed the line. Since entering the 21st century, the situation on the Sino-Indian border has tended to ease, and the Sino-Indian border issue negotiations have entered a normal track. As of April 2007, China had held 10 rounds of special representative talks on border issues with India.

  Up to now, the issue of South Tibet is still unresolved. Today, we were originally prepared to make peace and not go to war with India, and wanted to recover these areas in a peaceful manner. However, there are always some people within the Indian government who do not wish to do so, and instead want to fight us once more, and continuously nibble away at our territory. We have really reached the limit of our patience before taking action. I tell everyone, this time we will not only take back Tawang, but also firmly defend it, making Tawang truly become part of our national territory.

  "We recovered this area in 1962, but for various reasons we gave it up again. Later, India occupied it and many of the local people who had supported us were retaliated against by the Indian army, so now they are afraid to contact us."

  "So this time, according to the superiors, we are going to retake these places and resolutely defend them. That is to say, we will not leave again. I believe that as long as the common people know about it, they will definitely support us actively like in 1962. You think so, right? Although he himself had no answer to whether or not to continue defending Tsona Dzong and Damxung, he couldn't say it directly, because these soldiers wouldn't understand immediately."

  "Thank you, Commander. Now we understand. Let's go, you should get some rest early." The soldiers all saluted Cheng Feng and then left one by one.

  Returned to the tent and sat down on a stool, began to carefully recall all the things that happened today, from start to finish sorted out everything, then went to bed to prepare for sleep.

  Just as Cheng Feng was about to fall asleep, the alarm sound suddenly came from the earpiece, and Cheng Feng woke up immediately, followed by the command from the front.

  "Be on guard, be on guard. According to previous intelligence, the enemy may launch a large-scale movement towards you. The enemy army in front of us has already divided into several routes and is charging towards us. In the direction of attack by your brother unit on your right wing, fighting has already broken out. The situation ahead is very chaotic. You must make preparations. Headquarters will dispatch an additional drone to patrol above you, providing about 30 minutes of on-site intelligence support."