Chapter Thirty-Four: Military Exercises

  After the Xisha Sea Battle, both the South China Sea Fleet and the East China Sea Fleet received commendations from the Central Government. Commander Zhang Yuanpei was even personally met by Chairman Mao Zedong. During his conversation with Chairman Mao, Zhang Yuanpei recounted the course of this battle, especially highlighting the advanced nature and professionalism of the Taiwanese Navy.

  Mao puffed on his cigarette and asked: "Do you think Chiang's troops are more advanced than ours?"

  "Report to the Chairman, I didn't see the army, but just from the navy alone, we can tell that we are far behind. During the battle, we didn't even see the face of the Vietnamese, and the South Vietnamese Navy was sunk by their anti-ship missiles. What shocked me the most is their command system, all traditional paper work has been replaced by advanced electronic instruments. There were many devices that we had never seen before, according to their commander Lin Feng, these warships are equipped with equipment that is about 10 years more advanced than the US. This time I want to hold a military exercise between the mainland and Taiwan, let our soldiers get in touch with some advanced weapons and equipment, what do you think, Chairman?"

  Mao Zedong puffed out a mouthful of smoke and said: "This suggestion is not bad, after all, closed-door car-making is not the right path. In the Korean War, we suffered at the hands of the Americans. This time, let our soldiers take a look at what the armies of the major powers in the world are like today. In recent years, our army has become somewhat rigid and lost its direction and momentum. This exercise will mobilize elite troops for a large-scale land-sea-air military exercise to make our military cadres thoroughly awake."

  In March 1974, after a month of careful preparation, the joint military exercise between the two sides officially kicked off. The background of this military exercise, code-named "Whetstone 1974", was that a certain country suddenly occupied China's offshore islands and the three armies were ordered to launch a military strike and recover the lost territory. The exercise took place in the coastal areas of the Bohai Bay, focusing on the joint capture of maritime and air superiority by the navy and air force, followed by the powerful landing of the marine corps on the beachhead, opening up a passage for the advancing army.

  Lin Feng spent a lot of effort on this exercise, first of all the mental state of the soldiers. Although in recent years, the relationship between mainland China and Taiwan has eased a lot, with frequent economic and civilian exchanges between the two sides, as well as numerous political exchanges every year, the only aspect that has not had contact is the military.

  Chiang's army has been withdrawing from the mainland, and its main ideological education content has always been to counterattack the mainland. The soldiers in the army have to undergo strict thought control. Now, they suddenly want to conduct military exercises with their former "imaginary enemy", which makes some soldiers have different thoughts.

  For this, Lin Feng specially arranged for someone to explain the significance of this exercise to the soldiers participating in the exercise. He also played video footage of the Xisha Sea Battle to all officers and men, indoctrinating Taiwanese military personnel that both sides are Chinese people, and everyone is of the same kind and from the same origin.

  Secondly, Lin Feng also needs to choose the troops to participate in the exercise. After discussion by the Taiwanese military, it was decided that the participating troops would be mainly special forces, with an airborne brigade and a marine brigade as the main force.

  The air force will have a temporary transportation squadron consisting of two strategic transport planes and five tactical transport planes, as well as a fleet of 30 fighter jets, which is also two-thirds of the total strength of Taiwan's Air Force. The Navy, in addition to the Taipei number destroyer that will go to the South China Sea for combat readiness duty, other participants include the Taichung number, Yue Fei number and even the newly commissioned Tuo Chiang-class attack submarine "Han Wu Da Di".

  The airborne troops will be transported by air force transport planes to the exercise location, first landing at Fuzhou Military Airport and then heading north to the exercise area after a brief rest.

  The Marine Brigade will board naval warships to travel to the Tsingtao Military Port, which also includes three new-type landing ships and two transport ships that have performed well in Indonesian rescue operations.

  The mainland also attaches great importance to this exercise, with the participating troops totaling over 100,000 people, all of whom are elite forces from various units. To be honest, many of the mainland's troops look down on Taiwan's military, including some military commanders, and as former victors, they have the right to view Taiwan's military with contempt.

  Vice Chairman of the Military Commission Deng Xiaoping, Chief of Staff Ye Jianying, Navy Commander Xiao Jinguang, Guangzhou Military Region Commander Xu Shiyou, South Sea Fleet Commander Zhang Yuanpei and many other high-ranking generals participated. The PLA's ace - 38th Army as the main force participated in this exercise.

  On March 12, China's elite troops began to gather at the exercise site. The first to arrive in Shenyang Military Region were the vanguard units of an airborne brigade - a reconnaissance company under the brigade, including all their equipment: two "Sunbird" armed helicopters and four light "South China Tiger" armored vehicles.

  Shenyang Military Region Commander-in-Chief Chen Xilian and the airport troops were stunned, watching the equipment and personnel constantly coming out of the "big iron lump". Guard Chen said: "Chief, what is this big thing? My god, it can hold so many things!" Chen Xilian shook his head and said: "I'm not sure either, I heard it's some kind of transport plane. This is the first time I've seen such a large transport plane too. Order our soldiers to go up and help, after all, they are our 'guests'."

  The guard grumbled reluctantly, "What guests, aren't they our former subordinates?" Chen Xilian glared and said, "Nonsense, don't talk randomly, have you all forgotten what I told you before?" The guard quickly lowered his head and directed others to load and unload equipment.

  The airborne troops have all arrived at the headquarters of the Shenyang Military Region, and the Taiwanese troops are all wearing the "07" style training uniforms, which look more "fashionable". The mainland army has also just changed into new "71" style military uniforms. This "71" style uniform has significantly improved in terms of quality and wearability, and is considered a major leap forward in the development history of our military clothing materials.

  This afternoon, the Taiwanese Navy's exercise fleet arrived at the Lushun Military Port, with the most eye-catching being the 8,000-ton attack nuclear submarine. The Emperor-class "Han Wu Da Di" attack nuclear submarine has an underwater speed of 40 knots and a diving depth of 500 meters. The nuclear reactor can be used for 33 years after loading once. It is equipped with 4 533mm torpedo tubes and 16 "Yan Wang" cruise missile vertical launchers. The onboard electronic equipment will be installed with the most advanced combat system. This class of submarine can launch Taiwan's Navy's reusable autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle, which is being developed for underwater reconnaissance, mine clearance, and anti-submarine warfare; it can also quickly deploy a 6-person "Jiu Wei Hu" assault team, which is equipped with its own small submarine, with a range of 225 nautical miles, and can directly dock with the Emperor-class nuclear submarine.

  The warriors of the Marine Brigade arrived in Lushun smoothly on three "Ling Snake" amphibious assault ships and two "Xuanwu" transport ships. Lin Feng followed the missile cruiser and destroyer into this historic military port. On the shore, Commander Zhang Yuanpei of the South Sea Fleet and Major General Ma Zhongquan, Commander of the North Sea Fleet, were waiting to greet Lin Feng's arrival. When Zhang Yuanpei saw Lin Feng walking down the gangway, he smiled and walked up: "Welcome, General Lin! This is Major General Ma Zhongquan, Commander of the North Sea Fleet."

  Lin Feng smiled slightly: "General Ma, this exercise will be conducted on your turf, and if my people cause you any inconvenience, please bear with us." Ma Zhongquan laughed heartily and said: "General Lin is too polite. Old Zhang has told me a lot about you. The latest instructions from Chairman Mao have been passed down, and our main goal this time is to learn from the friendly army's new combat methods and equipment."

  On the afternoon of March 15th at 3:00, a tri-service joint military exercise codenamed "Blade 1974" officially began. The PLA's 38th Group Army, Shenyang Military Region Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Troops played the role of the defensive "Red Army", while Taiwan's exercise troops played the role of the attacking "Blue Army". The exercise location was in the Liaodong Peninsula area, with the content being a tri-service joint landing operation.

  This exercise command center was set up on the Yue Fei missile cruiser, and many high-ranking generals of the Republic gathered together to observe the exercise process through a modernized communication satellite system, which was quite shocking for the PLA's high-ranking generals who were used to traditional warfare.

  The exercise did not go as expected, with the red army's planes being shot down by the blue army's destroyer's air defense missiles at 3:15. A small number of aircraft were also shot down by advanced blue army fighters using long-range missiles without making contact. The blue army's aircraft took advantage of their absolute technical superiority, using their stealth and high maneuverability to easily break through the red army's air defense positions.

  At 3:30, the Blue Army's transport fleet, after gaining air superiority, used seven transport planes to airlift the airborne brigade behind the Red Army's position, and with the previous landing force, quickly defeated the "Red Army" troops at the Tanjialing position. By this time, the "Blue Army" temporarily won the first phase of the exercise, and the "Red Army" retreated to the second line of defense.

  At 4:05, the "Blue Army" special operations team successfully infiltrated behind the Red Army's defense line. The special operations team found the Red Army's heavy artillery position and command post. After transmitting the necessary intelligence back to the Blue Army command, the special operations team secretly hid and guided cruise missiles to directly attack the Red Army's command post and heavy artillery position using small electronic devices in their hands.

  At 4:10, the "Red Army" command post was destroyed, and each unit fell into a state of disarray. Although each unit fought to the death, their resistance quickly proved ineffective in the face of the "Blue Army's" powerful attack without command and heavy artillery support.

  The exercise command post, the senior generals of the PLA all looked ugly, the "Red Army" lost too badly. Although the exercise cannot represent the actual combat effectiveness, it also reflects that there is a big difference between the PLA and the Nationalist army.

  Vice Chairman Deng smiled and said: "General Lin, you should really thank them for giving us such a vivid lesson this time. I think this exercise is very good. We have now discovered our own shortcomings, which is better than suffering losses on the battlefield in the future. General Lin, are these equipment all produced by yourselves?"

  Lam Fung hastily replied with a few humble words: "Vice Chairman Deng, all these equipment are produced by ourselves. The quality of the soldiers in the PLA is very good, but their equipment is too outdated. In the future, we should cooperate in this aspect."