03:30 NST, 22 January 2021.
Jinggangshan City, ~ 70 km west of Ji'an
Colonel Jason Lau was the commanding officer in Jinggangshan, a city hemmed in by thousand-feet hills all around, with only a regiment of men under his command, and no tanks to help out either. Jinggangshan is a small city, said the central command, so but a token force is enough. They were wrong.
Major Lau was waken up rudely from his slumber by the sound of mortar shells hitting the city, rocking everyone awake. They're under attack. "Major, we have bad news," a lower ranking officer knocked on his door, "We're attacked by the Kongsinese Maoists, numbering no less than 4000."
Shit. He knew that this will happen. but definitely not this early on, and not this severely outnumbered. He put on his uniform, and made his way over to the situation room, wherein a group of commanders have already gathered to discuss the situation. "Morning, gentlemen. May I have a quick briefing?"
"Yes, sir." A lieutenant colonel replied, "We are under attack by the Maoists from the east, south and north. It would seem that they have mortars, and are capable of shelling Jinggangshan. The insurgents have already taken this junction, along with this road, which means that we are cut off by road. We have already called in air support, but Ji'an says it will take at least half an hour, and this is further complicated by the fact that these guerillas do not use vehicles widely. This means we will have to wait until sunrise for the airstrikes to be effective, and even then, it is a big if. We estimate that there are no less than 4000 insurgent fighters currently attacking the city, which means we are outnumbered badly.
We have a regiment of men in Jinggangshan, and they have all now taken up defensive positions here, here and here. It is planned for these companies to pull back across the bridge, should the situation worsen. However, we will not be able to hold for long, even if that goes ahead. Current estimates put us at a week of fighting at most."
The situation was dire. Not only was the garrison caught off-guard by this attack, it also does not have enough men to stave off being outnumbered nearly three-to-one, and doesn't even have the big guns that Nacrad relies on. For now, they must hold on. Everything will get better in a few hours, when the Sun comes back up, right?
Wrong. The worst is yet to come.
Insurgent positions
Note: Dialogue in this section is assumed to be in either Mandarin Chinese or Gan Chinese, and is accordingly translated.
Chen was a former Kongsi People's Army servicemember. Having been in this army for years, he joined the insurgency as soon as the Internationale was played for one last time. Looking northwards into the valley, this town of a hundred thousand lay serene, almost undisturbed by their attack. But this is far from the truth. From this rocky outcrop he can hear machine guns going off, slaughtering his comrades-in-arms and the Nacradian imperialists alike. Jinggangshan almost seemed to be that one Place Far Away. He still vividly remembers the tales of the original Kongsinese Red Army's struggle against the Republic of China's military told by his father, only now he is standing far away shelling it.
"Sir, the gun is now positioned. Any orders?"
His train of thought was disrupted. Brought back to the present he looks towards this city, and the silhouettes of the moonlit mountains that surrounded. He looked back towards the artillery gun, a 75 millimeter gun that was probably older than the country he once belonged. "Load high-explosive," sternly he commanded, "and fire when ready. Conserve ammunition."
Memories flooded into his head. Perhaps, he thought, the moonlight catalyses memories. He remembers using this gun in the siege of Ganzhou, a siege that took a heavy toll on the lives in a mere 2 months' time. He remembers the airstrikes, the death toll. He remembers seeing his wife and children, tragically blown to pieces by a rogue bomb -- or was it a shell? He can't remember. It's time to make them pay.
