Beiyang Dream

Chapter 46 War Game? Tojo, how about you play the Qing army and I'll play the Japanese army?

Tuesday, April 4, 1890 (Gregorian calendar).

Berlin, Prussian War Academy, Blue Salon.

Chang Desheng sat in the third row, near the aisle, on a hard oak chair. He held a small piece of paper in his hand.

This was sent by Guo Shigui last night, delivered in the dark. The handwriting was so messy it looked like scribbles, but the message conveyed a sense of triumphant satisfaction, like "This deal is finally done!"

"My dear brother Zhenbang: Mr. Zhang Bishi from Nanyang arrived in Tianjin on March 23rd and had a two-day closed-door discussion with His Majesty. His Majesty approved all three matters discussed: the 'Nanyang Bank,' the 'Kaiping Share Expansion,' and the 'Long-Term Coal Contract.' Sheng Xingsun has been instructed to handle these matters properly. The first tranche of 100,000 taels has already been delivered to the Tianjin Customs, and the remaining funds will be paid in three installments, all by the end of April next year. His Majesty is very pleased and has instructed you to focus on your studies and return home as soon as possible..."

After reading it, Chang Desheng didn't rush to laugh.

He first mentally calculated the possibilities:

The initial payment of 100,000 taels has arrived. The remaining 620,000 taels will be paid in three installments, by the end of April next year. This payment schedule is... perfectly timed for my return to China to report for duty!

They really know how to do things properly in Southeast Asia.

At that point, Old Li would be too embarrassed to take back the "Korean Camp Affairs Office" that was supposed to be given to him, right?

Alright, this big project is a success. My relationship with the Southeast Asian financiers is now officially tied.

Next, there's the relationship with imperialism...

He glanced at the hardcover booklet on the table. Dark blue cover, gold-embossed Gothic lettering:

The Exercises for Lord Moltke's Strategy Course

Below that is a line of smaller text, also in gold foil:

For internal use only.

Chang Desheng opened the title page, where there was a line of even more ornate German calligraphy:

To Chang Desheng, in recognition of his outstanding performance – Helmut von Moltke

This is a copy personally signed by Moltke the Elder!

This book was given to him by "Teacher Xiao Mao" last week.

That day, Moltke called him to his office, took this booklet out of his drawer, pushed it in front of him, and said kindly:

"My uncle heard that the War Academy admitted an Eastern student this year. He excelled in all subjects, and his tactical scenario answer sheet was graded excellent by the Chief of the General Staff. He just wanted to see what you looked like."

As he spoke, Moltke took out a photograph from another drawer and placed it next to the album.

It was the "standard photo" of Chang Desheng, wearing the Huai Army uniform, with a long braid trailing behind his head, standing in front of the legation. The legation had over a dozen copies printed and distributed them everywhere, saying it "showcases the style of Qing Dynasty students studying abroad."

"I showed him this picture," Moltke said. "He looked at it for a while and said, 'Interesting.'"

Then he pushed the booklet forward another half an inch.

"You also asked me to pass this book on to you."

Chang Desheng accepted the book, thanked him, and left the office.

As soon as the door closed, he stood in the hallway, his little calculations starting to run wild in his mind:

Would Old Moltke send me a book just because I got good grades on my exam?

Unlikely.

No matter how well I do on the exam, I'll still be going back to the Qing Dynasty. To German army bigwigs like Moltke, my value is probably less than those few Turkish bearded guys in the next class. At least Turkey was a springboard for Germany's "Eastern Expansion Policy" and had an important strategic location.

The Qing Dynasty? It's too far away, beyond our reach.

So, his gift of this book was probably... Wilhelm II's idea!

That German emperor who spends all day pondering "where the German sun should shine" is probably trying to mold me into an "imperialist agent," isn't he?

Chang Desheng's lips twitched as he thought of this.

Thinking to myself: William, if you want to cultivate agents, you have to invest some money. What's the point of giving me this book? It's just a textbook; I already have that...

If you're really sincere, give me something concrete, like a gold mark, arms aid, or military advisors...

Just give me this book...

stingy.

Just as he was figuring out how to squeeze more benefits out of the Germans, the front door of the classroom creaked open.

"stand up!"

Before Chang Desheng could even process what was happening, he yelled out loud – a conditioned reflex he had developed over the past six months.

"Take off!"

The other seven people in the classroom—four Japanese exchange students and three Turks—also stood up in unison.

Lieutenant Colonel Moltke walked in through the doorway.

He walked to the front of the podium and turned around. His dark gray eyes, devoid of warmth, scanned from left to right, lingering on Chang Desheng's face for a mere half-second.

"sit down."

The eight people sat down again in a row.

Chang Desheng thought to himself: This Teacher Mao looks unusually serious today. It can't be anything good!

Sure enough, Moltke didn't open his lesson plan as usual. He walked behind the podium, placed his hands on the edge of the table, leaned forward, and scanned the eight faces below him once more.

"Gentlemen, the academy will be organizing a war game exercise soon."

Chang Desheng's eyelids twitched.

Another war game? We've done it three times this semester already? From company-level offense and defense to regimental-level offense and defense... why now again?

Moreover, judging from Xiao Maoqi's demeanor, this time the level is not low, it should be a division level, right?

He glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the area diagonally behind him.

Hideaki Tojo sat upright, but the muscles in his neck were tense... looking at the "special recruitment core".

Chang Desheng and Tojo Hideki exchanged glances in the air.

The same sentence was written in their eyes:

Let's compare?

Little Moltke tapped the podium with his knuckles.

Two loud thuds were heard, and everyone's eyes turned to that direction.

"Eight people, divided into two groups. Four people per group."

He paused for a moment.

"You will each play the role of the general staff of two Eastern countries. Note that this is not a tactical unit, but a strategic level. Your mission is to command your respective national armies to seize a peninsula that will determine the fate of both countries, based on the sand table and map."

He paused here, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Chang Desheng's face and the faces of the four Japanese exchange students.

"This war game is a test of your learning outcomes over the past six months and also the most important learning project of this semester. I hope that through this war game, you can truly understand how a country's general staff operates..."

He emphasized his words.

"It's not about how to fight a war, it's about how to plan a war."

Chang Desheng mentally rummaged through his thoughts.

At the General Staff level? Planning a war?

This is a high standard.

Last week it was just a company-level war game. This time it's going straight to the strategic level, still about two countries vying for a peninsula...

and many more.

Two Eastern countries are vying for a peninsula.

Where the hell could this be?

The Korean Peninsula!

Who else could these two countries be?

Qing Dynasty and Japan!

Chang Desheng immediately understood.

This is Wilhelm II stirring up trouble.

That emperor loved watching others fight, as he wanted to sell weapons and seize territory.

How about having students from the Qing Dynasty and Japan reenact the Sino-Japanese War on a sand table beforehand, so you can see who has a better chance of winning?

The question is, can he reveal his hand during the sand table simulation?

Barbed wire, trenches, machine gun emplacements, mortar indirect fire... this set of "World War I" equipment was intended to ambush the Japanese on the real battlefield.

Can it be revealed in a war game?

No!

Without revealing their true intentions, could they command the Qing army to fight the Japanese army using conventional methods?

That's a bit difficult. Given the Qing army's organization, equipment, and logistical capabilities, a direct confrontation with the Japanese army, which had undergone the Meiji Restoration, wouldn't be a good chance of victory. Unless they use cheat codes—but simulation games don't allow for cheat codes.

Difficult.

Just as he was struggling with this, Tojo's voice came from behind him: "Teacher, I have a question."

Moltke: "Speak."

Tojo Hideaki stood up, his back ramrod straight, hands clasped along his trouser seams—the standard Japanese military attention posture. "In this war game, how detailed of a combat plan do we need to develop? If…if the plan includes certain tactics that our army might employ, wouldn't that involve…leaking secrets?"

He asked the question in a very tactful way, but the meaning was very clear: If I write down the tactics that the Japanese army really intends to use in the war game, and then it gets out, whose credit will it be?

Little Moltke smiled.

"Cadet Tojo, I understand your concerns," he said. "But the essence of wargaming is mental training, not a rehearsal for actual combat. The plans you've developed are reasonable simulations based on publicly available intelligence and common military knowledge, not real combat orders. The academy will strictly safeguard all simulation materials and destroy them uniformly after the exercise."

"Furthermore," he added calmly, "during the war games, the academy will assign an experienced General Staff officer to each of the two groups as an advisor. They will teach you how to conduct war games in secrecy."

Chang Desheng sneered inwardly: "Sounds nice, but who believes it?" This war game, ostensibly for teaching purposes, was actually an assessment by the Germans—an assessment of the possible forms of future conflict in the Far East, and an assessment of who to bet on.

As for whether it's kept secret or not, what does that have to do with William?

The classroom fell silent again.

Chang Desheng's mind works very fast.

Revealing our hand makes things difficult if war breaks out in North Korea. But if we don't reveal our hand, the war game becomes unplayable.

He needs to come up with a solution.

Got it!

Chang Desheng took a deep breath and raised his right hand.

"Chang Xuesheng, please speak." Xiao Maoqi looked at him.

"Teacher," Chang Desheng stood up, holding onto the edge of the table, "I have a suggestion."

"speak."

"Look," Chang Desheng pointed to himself, then to the four people behind him, and forced a smile, "Tojo, Iguchi, Yamaguchi, Fujii and I are likely to be opponents on the battlefield in the future."

Little Moltke raised an eyebrow, said nothing, and gestured for him to continue.

"So," Chang Desheng continued, speaking a little faster, "if we each play the role of our own country's general staff and compete in war games, we'll inevitably be constrained. We'll be afraid of leaking secrets, afraid of revealing our true thoughts, afraid of the other side seeing through our tactical style... Tojo-kun just mentioned this concern as well."

Hideaki Tojo looked at him, a hint of wariness flashing in his eyes.

"So I was thinking," Chang Desheng's smile widened, revealing two rows of white teeth, "why don't we... switch roles?"

"Switch identities?" Moltke repeated, his tone tinged with interest, as if he had discovered something fun.

"That's right." Chang Desheng nodded, gesturing with his finger in the air. "I, along with Muhammad, Ali, and Hassan, will play the Japanese General Staff Headquarters. Tojo, Iguchi, Yamaguchi, and Fujii, you four will play the Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Minister's Office."

He paused, looked at Tojo, and stared straight at him: "Tojo-kun, what do you think? You command the Qing army, and I command the Japanese army. Let's switch positions and see just how difficult their job really is."

Hideaki Tojo was stunned.

Playing the role of Qing soldiers?

This idea... sounds absurd at first glance. Me, a top student at the Japanese Army War College, to command that corrupt and backward Qing army that I despise from the bottom of my heart?

But then I thought about it again, and it was brilliant!

First, I can use my skills freely without worrying about revealing the true tactics of the Japanese army.

Secondly, I can take this opportunity to conduct an in-depth analysis of the defensive strategies that the Qing army might adopt.

Third, I was able to observe Chang Desheng's tactical thinking up close.

Fourth, if I use the Qing army to win, or even defeat, the Japanese army under his command...

What does that mean? It means that I, Hideaki Tojo, played a bad hand and won (or drew) against Chang Desheng's good hand... That's a huge win!

Having figured this out, Hideaki Tojo took a deep breath and stood up.

"Chang Jun's suggestion..." he began slowly, enunciating each word clearly, "is very interesting."

He nodded, a deep, emphatical nod.

"I agree," he said. "Then let's... use each other's cards to finish this game."

Little Moltke laughed, a laugh that screamed "my wicked scheme has succeeded!"

"Excellent idea." He nodded, walked back to the podium, picked up the chalk, and said, "Thinking from the opponent's perspective is the highest level of training for officers in the General Staff. So... it's settled then!"

The chalk squeaked as it scraped across the blackboard. He wrote two lines:

Blue Army (Japanese Command Group): Chang Desheng (Commander-in-Chief), Muhammad Esaad (Infantry), Ali Bey (Artillery), Hassan Pasha (Assassin/Logistics)

Red Army (Qing Dynasty Command Group): Hideaki Tojo (Commander-in-Chief), Shogo Iguchi (Infantry), Keizo Yamaguchi (Artillery), Shigeta Fujii (Engineering/Logistics)

After finishing writing, he turned around, dusted off his hands, and said, "The scenario will be released tomorrow morning. The simulation will last for three days, starting tomorrow. On the afternoon of the last day, both sides will present their plans, and the judging panel will provide feedback. Advisory officers: Major Goltz will be in charge of the Blue Team, and Lieutenant Colonel Hindenburg will be in charge of the Red Team. Any further questions?"

No one spoke.

Chang Desheng sat back in his chair, leaning against the hardwood backrest, and let out a long breath.

This is a great deal!

Use the tactics of the Japanese army to fight the Qing army commanded by Tojo.

I know all too well how the Japanese devils fought in the First Sino-Japanese War!

I'll just arrange things the way they were fought in the First Sino-Japanese War! This is the collective wisdom of the Japanese General Staff, and it's pretty much the same.

And I, I can take this opportunity to learn how Tojo commands the Qing army… or rather, I want to see how Tojo, this elite of the Japanese Army Academy, envisions an enhanced version of the Qing army to deal with the Japanese offensive. I reckon he did a lot of simulations while studying at the Army Academy!

To be honest, even Chang Desheng himself felt it was difficult! Given the Qing army's organization, firepower, and mobility, they would most likely lose a head-on confrontation with the Japanese. But the Japanese devils had certainly studied the situation more thoroughly and must have more sophisticated countermeasures.

If I learn this, I'll have hit the jackpot.

This is tantamount to having the elites of the Japanese Army Academy help me formulate the plan for the Sino-Japanese War...

This job is way more interesting than rushing to meet deadlines at the design institute!