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This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.

The People's Liberation Army of China (Chinese: 中国人民解放军; pinyin: Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn) is the primary military force of the People's Republic of China. In the 1990s, the PLA began to divert its resources to hacking to prepare for cyber warfare via its wǎng jūn (cyber army).

Structure[]

The command organ and headquarters of the People's Liberation Army is the PLA General Staff Department (GSD). Within the GSD are several departments that are responsible for individual tasks such as combat, military intelligence, and cyber warfare. In the mid to late 1990s, the PLA was made up of four service branches, including the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force. Moreover, the PRC's Ministry of State Security (MSS) oversees the PLA and is able to conduct investigations of corruption and other crimes within the military. Soldiers of the PLA are ascribed various ranks and medals based on their service, including junior and senior military officers.

History[]

The People's Liberation Army started in the Chinese Civil War as the Chinese Red Army made up of peasant guerrilla forces. In 1937, when the Second United Front (the alliance between the Chinese Communists and Chinese Nationalists) formed, the Eighth Route Army was created as the main Communist fighting force against the Imperial Japanese invaders and collaborationist forces as well as Nationalist forces later on. After the end of WWII, the Eighth Route Army was renamed the People's Liberation Army in 1947 as they resumed fighting the Chinese Nationalists. Li Xinlin's grandfather was a soldier in the Eighth Route Army, and thanks to his service, his family received good connections within the local government of Shennongjia, Hubei province.[1]

In the 1970s, the PLA had financed with the Sigurimi, the state security apparatus of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and exchanged intel on covert actions. In addition, this finance was done via sending them gold ingots (known as "Ali Dragua" to the Albanians) using a PLA shell company called Annenheim Distributions. In the early 1990s, when former members of the Sigurimi took off with the gold after the collapse of Albanian's communist government, the PLA emailed a former Sigurimi official to return the gold, exchanging harsh words with each other.[2] Consequently, these Sigurimi joined former KLA members in the Albanian Mafia, who later in the mid-1990s gave the ingots to Cosa Nostra so that they could launder the money on the Albanians' behalf by having the banker Zamid Dhiyab launder the bullion in a "washing machine."[3]

The Wired Red Wild Card[]

Not wanting to follow her family's desires for her, Li Xinlin left Shennongjia to enroll in the PLA's Electronic Engineering Institute, becoming skillfully instructed in the PLA's hacking methods.[1] With her studying and training, she had become a sergeant (five minimum years of service).[4] At the same time in the 1990s, the intelligence wing of the PLA, the General Staff Departments, began to invest in cyber security as part of general national security under the CPC's Ministry of State Security. Colonel Ma, a leader in the 1st Bureau of the 2nd General Staff Department, executed a cyberattack on the German company Reinbach A.G. by bribing a Reinbach engineer and using a stepping-stone to hack into the German company's server.[5] Meanwhile, Xinlin, a member of the 3rd Department of the GSD, hacked into the United States Justice Department. Two months later after the end of Operation Reinbach, Ma picked out Xinlin from the 3rd Department and placed her into the 2nd Department.[6] In her first job for the 2nd Department, she was assigned to infiltrate Janet Bhai's counterfeiting group to observe the technology and methods that they used as part of the PLA's plan to teach cyber security to future officers.[6]

To disguise her real identity, Xinlin used the alias Feng Yifei and fabricated a backstory about being from Hong Kong and studying engineering at Southampton. Contacting Jane on the Electro Bandits Forum, Feng used the username Violet Spear and requested membership in the Indian woman's group.[7] During her initial infiltration, she was surprised to learn that she first had to help Jane do a hacking job for the Highwaymen before she could become a member of Jane's counterfeiting crew. Specifically, she was assigned to steal avionics data from Reinbach A.G. from their main server. The Chinese spy was also suspicious that Jane already had a backdoor, Annenheim Distributions' server, set up to break into Reinbach's server. Nonetheless, she decided to help Jane since the latter dissuaded her from directly breaking into Reinbach's server. Colonel Ma called Feng when she arrived in Roanapur and commended her abilities, professing that he was proud of her.[6]

When Feng's attempted cyberattack allowed the Highwaymen to access Chinese government emails implicating them in the previous attack on Reinbach A.G., the company traced the cyberattack back to the PLA, angering them. When Reinbach privately contacted the GSD through an overseas firm about the hacking incident by a foreign country, 8th Bureau Assistant Chief Wang Jinyong of the MSS requested to speak with Lieutenant General Liu concerning matters of national security. Consequently, Liu with several other soldiers angrily confronted Colonel Ma in his office about the MSS's investigation and suspicion of the international but private dispute. Second Lieutenant Yeyin read out loud the report that they compiled. Summarizing the evidence, Liu stated that the PLA used a corporation in Leiden, Germany as a stepping-stone during Operation Reinbach two months ago. Because Xinlin attacked Reinbach using the server from Annenheim Distributions, which was used previously in Operation Reinbach, the avionics company correctly concluded that Annenheim was a front company for the PLA's GSD 2nd Department.

Denying the allegation respectfully, Ma proclaimed that the information was simply untrue since his unit had bribed a Reinbach engineer and that Annenheim was simply used to conceal their dealings with the inside engineer. When Ma emphasized that the claim concerning the recent infiltration via Annenheim was untrue, Liu retorted that the truth was not important since Reinbach came to the correct conclusion despite the false reasoning. Still enraged, Liu angrily stared down at Ma as Yeyin said that Reinbach was willing to avoid going public with the news if they received monetary compensation. Also glaring at Ma, Senior Colonel Zhang requested the details of Ma's operation since a double agent might be involved. Still shocked at the whole accusation, Ma claimed that his operation's objective was to infiltrate a group of counterfeiters to understand their technology and methods independent of the accusation. When Ma defended Xinlin by saying that she was not a traitor and even received a medal for meritorious service, Liu cut him off to elaborate that the MSS was using the debacle to conduct an internal investigation of the military intelligence service, and the 2nd Department needed to end the situation lest they be purged if the blunder was discovered.

In order to prevent any evidence incriminating them, Liu declared that Annenheim Distributions could have no ties to them, meaning that Li Xinlin would not exist. Excusing the soldiers, Liu added that he would somehow deflect the MSS for the time being, giving Ma a time frame of 72 hours to kill Feng. Due to this, Colonel Ma secretly called Feng as a courtesy to ask her if she was a traitor to the People's Republic of China since that was what the higher-ups were claiming about her. Rejecting the claim, she clarified that Jane and her friends set her up. Ma assured her that he believed her but said that the General Staff Department was doing everything to expunge the incident. The confused Feng asked him what he meant, and he answered that he would privately inform her family of her achievements and move her family into an upscale apartment in Shanghai using the 2nd Department's funds, saying that he would throw in a Mercedes automobile. Giving a true answer, Ma posited that she would willingly fall in Roanapur for being deemed a traitor and to preserve the PRC's peace, making Feng's jaw drop in utter shock.[5]

Ma had to end the phone call since Yeyin had called for him to summon him per Liu's request. Accordingly, he had Captain Yang hire four brother assassins to kill the rogue Feng. In Roanapur, Yang met with three of the brothers and informed them about Feng a.k.a. Feng Yifei. Although Montero was skeptical of the job since hiring the three of them was overkill, Yang reasoned that his superiors wanted to absolutely make sure of Feng's demise. The PLA captain also stated that the Quartet were the only ones under contract that the PLA could hire to quickly finish the job, so the brothers agreed to the job. As the three left, Yang tried to ask them about their fourth brother, but they departed after they explained their alleged familial relation with each other.[4]

When the Quartet failed to assassinate Feng in their first encounter, Liu was enraged and summoned Ma to the former's office. There, Liu informed him that he was done on his end but expressed his rage about how Ma still had to finish his loose end. He demanded to know why the colonel did not hire better assassins, with Ma reasoning that the 1st Bureau of the 2nd Department lacked the time to gather assets specializing in wetwork. In response, Liu admitted that the MSS had been relentlessly searching through their department's internal documents, mentioning that it would only be a matter of time before their blunder was discovered. Repeating that he had three days to finish the job, he threatened to have their department hire specialized killers if Ma failed. The lieutenant general sternly clarified that the higher ups at Chang'an Avenue would likely come for Ma's head if the situation came to that.[8]

Meeting with the three brothers again at Jackpot Pigeons, Yang told them that Revy, who had saved Feng, aided her unintentionally rather than because she was hired to do so. As Rob talked about how he killed a woman and then raped her dead body and spent time in an Arizonan prison, Yang was greatly disgusted at the conversation. Montero agreed that he did not want to hear it either and asked Yang about extra pay since the Lagoon Company pirates may be protecting Feng. Even though Yang answered that the People's Liberation Army only paid for the job requested, Montero emphasized that the circumstances had changed, so Yang agreed that he would at least speak to his superiors about it. Continuing to relax, Montero told him to keep in touch, and Yang confirmed that he had people searching for Feng and would let his brothers know as soon as they located her.[9]

Later that day, one of Yang's spies in the city spotted Feng walking into an internet café, so he called for a superior to inform Yang.[10] Accordingly, Yang called the brothers and gave them Feng's location.[11] After all four assassins got killed and Feng successfully received safety from Cosa Nostra due to securing the Albanian money laundering account back, the PLA still planned on killing Feng. To her fortune, Cosa Nostra was able to protect her from retaliation by obtaining a document from Rock exposing the covert relations between the Chinese and Albanian governments, using the document as leverage against the PLA.[12]

References[]

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