They arrived in his personal offices the next floor down in the building. No one spoke until he did and that was when the door was closed. “I want this campaign concluded as soon as possible. How can we do it?”
The senior general stepped forward. “The fighting has drained our ranks comrade. We still have the largest force in the area, but the kind of lightning action the Chairman desires would require doubling our attacking force. To do that, we will have to draw down our forces here in the North and around Seoul. Since there is no way the Americans can adequately resupply Seoul, that could be accomplished easily. It is much easier to hold ground than to take it,” he said, forgetting the Americans had been very effective at holding ground up to now with a much smaller force.
“That means drawing down our reserves,” another officer said.
“True, but there is no offensive inside North Korea. Our provincial police will have to keep order.”
“Our submarines have orders to sink all their shipping and the air force to attack supply aircraft. That should keep the resistance to a minimum,” the naval officer said.
“Have we heard from our submarines?” the Minister asked.
“Not as yet. They are under radio silence but should be returning to port within a few days,” the naval officer said. He purposefully did not mention that one submarine was already overdue. Nor did he mention no shipping had been coming into port over the last week. Most of their supplies came from the People’s Republic of China, so the lack of shipping had little effect on what they were doing.
“What about air dropped supplies?”
“Our planes are shooting down any supply aircraft or large transports coming into or out of any major city. Nothing should be getting through,” said the air force officer. Once again, he neglected to tell his minister that they were only in the air during the day. The night sky had a few patrols, but none had any really reliable systems. He knew some supplies were getting through, but it couldn’t be much.
The Minister thought a moment. “Comrade General, call in more troops to launch a main assault. I want this fighting over before the Chairman’s deadline.”
The men saluted and left the room. A massive movement of men and equipment began within the next 24 hours.
Kee Yuan Ho was dog tired. Kee had been contacted, but had no idea when the next contact would be. The first told him to return to the terminal for another assignment. Once there, he was assigned to drive to the People’s Republic for a load of machine parts for the war effort. A party official came along. When they reached their destination for onloading the parts, Kee was told it would not be ready until the next day. The party official simply shrugged his shoulders and left for one of the better hotels in the area. Although Kee would have been allowed to do the same, he did what he always did — pulled out a bedroll and slept on the back of his truck. This simple gesture earned him some respect within the party since it spared the party some expense and demonstrated his reliability. Kee offered a spare roll to the party official, but it was politely declined. Obviously he didn’t need to prove anything. The one other thing it did was give Kee the chance to be alone for a while.
Kee unrolled the mat and sleeping bag. He strung a wire from the top of the trailer to the end and draped a tarp over it for some protection from the elements. With all the electric lights around the compound, his flashlight was not needed. He was able to set his little shelter up and rest comfortably. As he lay on his mat, he looked out to see the men busily working around the area. Even here the people seemed happier and more industrious than in his country. Some of the men joked and roughhoused around. Some even sat and enjoyed a meal together. In his country such things were discouraged. People were there to work for the state and not much else.
After a few minutes he realized he was hungry. The terminal had a small kiosk where workers were fed. He dropped off the flatbed and made his way to it. The cook behind the counter recognized him from previous visits. He seemed excited to see him.
“Good to see you back again. You hungry?” he asked.
Kee nodded. “It’s been a long drive.”
The cook rolled his eyes. “Aren’t they all. We have a good fish stew tonight. I give you extra portion,” he said with a smile. He produced a large bowl of steaming rice covered with a fish broth. It smelled heavenly. Kee thanked the man and took a seat at a small table in the corner. The hot bowl warmed his hands. He took his chopsticks and quickly devoured the contents of the bowl. Then he tipped the bowl to his lips to drink the broth. Even the food here is better, he thought.
As he set down the bowl the cook came from behind the counter and walked over. He had something in his hand. “I have never seen anyone eat as fast as you. You must have been very hungry,” he said.
“It was wonderful,” Kee said. “I live alone and haven’t had cooking like yours in a long time.”
The cook beamed. “I learned from my father. I enjoy making people’s day more pleasant, so I cook special. Here, I have something for you,” he said handing over a small chocolate covered cake. He kept his back to the other men as he handed it over. “I had one more and held it for you. A little extra for the drive from Korea,” he said.
“Kee looked at the cake. It was very rare that he could have chocolate and it meant a lot to receive such a gift. “That is very kind of you.”
The old cook waved him back. “No, I have seen you come here for several years. You work hard. Much harder than some of these,” he said pointing around. “I am closing up for the night, so you take it. Tomorrow I bring more for you and your rider,” he said.
Kee thanked him again. The old man took the empty bowl and went back to his kiosk. After a few minutes cleaning up and putting things away, he pulled down the front flap of the small shack and locked the door. He gave one last wave as he walked toward the front of the terminal and home.
Kee got up and walked back to his little canvas shelter. There he took off his shoes and clothes and slid into the bag. He had bought the bag in China as well and it was down filled, making it snug and warm on cold nights. Sitting with his back against the windscreen of the flatbed, he ate the chocolate cake and savored the rich flavor. He ate it slowly so he could keep the taste in his mouth a long time. Then he licked the excess chocolate off his fingers and washed it down with water from his canteen. It had been a nice ending for the day.
Kee sat a while, looking out along the terminal floor and the other trucks. But soon his eyes grew heavy and he eased down on the mat to fall into one of the deepest sleeps he had ever experienced. He was awakened when he felt a prodding in his ribs. He opened his eyes to find one of the terminal managers trying to get his attention. “We’re ready to load you now,” he said.
Kee quickly dressed and packed up his mat and canvas. In a few minutes an old wheezing forklift started placing pallets of heavy equipment on his truck. As they did, Kee and another man began securing each pallet with chains and straps. It took only 30 minutes to get the flatbed filled to capacity and beyond. The party official showed up with 5 minutes to spare. It was obvious he was not planning on giving any assistance. Instead, he spent his time talking to the Chinese political officer for the terminal. As soon as all was tied down securely, Kee climbed in his truck and tried to start the engine. Despite his best efforts, the engine failed to turn over.
Kee stepped out of his truck and unhooked the locks for the cab. The entire cab tilted forward and he worked his way over the engine step by step, making sure the wires were tight and nothing was cracked or loose. By now the foreman was beside the truck.