Shadow of the giant

international vids show Moscow and St. Petersburg
in your hands, either the government will sue for peace or the people will
revolt. Or both."
    Well, it had worked for the Germans in France in 1940. Why
not here?
    The loss of Vlad had a devastating effect on Russian morale.
Especially because the Russians all knew that Julian Delphiki himself had
planned the counterattack, and Petra Arkanian was leading the army that was
"sweeping across Russia."
    More like "chugging across Russia."
    At least it wasn't winter.
     
     
    Han Tzu gave the orders, and his retreating troops moved to
their positions. He had timed his retreat exactly right, to lure the Russians
to the exact spot he needed them to reach at the exact time he wanted them
there. Well ahead of Vlad's original schedule—the only deviation from his plan.
The satellite information forwarded to him by Peter Wiggin assured him that the
Turks had withdrawn westward, heading toward Armenia. As if they could get
there in time to make any difference at all! Caliph Alai had apparently not
solved the perpetual problem of Muslim armies. Unless they were under iron
control, they were easily distracted. Alai was supposed to be that control. It
made Han Tzu wonder if Alai was even in command anymore.
    No matter. Han Tzu's objective was the huge, overextended,
weary Russian Army that was still rigidly following Vlad's plan despite the
fact that their pincer movements had encountered an empty Beijing, with no
Chinese forces to crush or Chinese government to seize. And despite the fact
that panicky reports must be coming from Moscow as they kept hearing rumors of
Petra's advance without knowing where she was.
    The Russian commander he was facing was not wrong to persist
in his campaign. Petra's advance on Moscow was ultimately cosmetic, as Petra no
doubt knew: designed to cause panic, but without sufficient force to hold any
objective for long.
    In the south, too, Suri's Thai army would do important work,
but India's army wasn't a serious threat in the first place; Bean, in Armenia,
had drawn off the Turkish armies, but they could easily come back.
    Everything came down to this battle.
    As far as Han Tzu was concerned, it had better not be a
battle at all.
    They were in the wheatfield country near Jinan. Vlad's plan
assumed that the Chinese would seize the high ground to the southeast of the
Hwang Ho and dispute the river crossing. Therefore the Russians were prepared
with portable bridges and rafts to move across the river at unexpected places
and then surround the supposed Chinese redoubt.
    And, just as Vlad's plan predicted, Han Tzu's forces were
indeed gathered on that high ground, and were shelling the approaching Russian
troops with reassuring ineffectiveness. The Russian commander had to feel
confident. Especially when he found the bridges over the Hwang Ho ineptly
"destroyed," so repairs were quick.
    Han Tzu couldn't afford to have a grinding battle, matching
gun for gun, tank for tank. Too much materiel had been lost in the previous
wars, and while Han's soldiers were battle-hardened veterans, and the Russian
army hadn't fought in years, Han's inability to get his army back to full
material strength in the short time he had been emperor would inevitably be
decisive. Han was not going to use human waves to overwhelm the Russians with
numbers. He couldn't afford to waste this army. He had to keep it intact to
deal with the much more dangerous Muslim armies, should they get their act
together and join in the war.
    The Russian drones were easily a match for the Chinese; both
commanders would have an accurate picture of the battlefield. This was
wheatfield country, perfect for the Russian tanks. Nothing Han Tzu did could
possibly surprise his enemy. Vlad's plan was going to work. The Russian
commander had to be sure of it.
    His forces that had been concealed behind the Russian
advance now reported that the last of the Russians had passed the checkpoints
without realizing what the small red tags on fences, bushes, trees, and
signposts signified.
    For the next forty minutes, Han Tzu's army had only one
task: To confine the Russian army between those little red flags and the
highlands across the Hwang, while none of the Chinese army strayed into that
zone.
    Didn't the Russians notice that every single civilian had
been evacuated? That not a civilian vehicle was to be found? That the houses
had been emptied of belongings?
    Hyrum Graff had once taught a class in which he told