[People News]At present, the investigation into Zhang Youxia, First Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission, has placed China’s political situation at an extremely subtle and dangerous moment. According to disclosures from multiple channels, former military insiders, and internal information circulating on social media, the CCP’s military is in a highly unusual state. Some internal sources point out that the current military is in a kind of “radio silence before a war,” which is regarded as a precursor to large-scale action or a drastic political upheaval. A mysterious coded phrase spreading rapidly within the military may be the origin of this precursor.

Political Code Phrase—“Are you the regiment propaganda officer?”

Self-media personality Zhen Fei received a tip from an officer formerly with the PLA 31st Group Army, saying that when military generals gather privately, they often greet each other or joke with a line that sounds inexplicable: “Are you the regiment propaganda officer?” This line comes from the highly influential 1980s military film and television work Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain (Gaoshan Xia de Huanhua).

Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain is a film adapted from the novella of the same name by Li Cunbao, a writer holding the rank of major general. The story recounts the experiences of a CCP border defense company before, during, and after the Sino-Vietnamese war.

Let us first introduce the film’s plot and character relationships, so that everyone can understand that “Are you the regiment propaganda officer?”—a line that sounds random—actually carries profound political implications.

In the film, there is a character named Zhao Mengsheng. He was originally a cadre in the political propaganda department, a typical “civilian official” or “political work type.” Relying on connections as the child of a high-ranking cadre, Zhao parachutes into a grassroots company as a deputy political instructor. Nominally, he is there to “experience life,” but in reality it is to “gild” his resume so he can be transferred back to a big city as soon as possible. Company commander Liang Sanxi holds deep contempt for this kind of connected, non-combat, opportunistic “propaganda officer.” When the two first meet, Liang Sanxi asks with a sarcastic tone: “Are you the propaganda officer?”

Later, during a mission, due to severe water shortages, deputy company commander Jin Kailai risks his life to cut sugarcane to save the entire company, but steps on a mine and dies. Yet because this act violated discipline, he ultimately was not even awarded a Third-Class Meritorious Service citation. In contrast, the political work cadre Zhao Mengsheng, who did nothing, received a First-Class Meritorious Service citation.

Confrontation and Anger Within the Military

Why has this line from forty years ago “come back to life” in the military in 2026?

Sources analyze that it reflects intense confrontation and anger within the PLA today, containing three layers of meaning:

  1. Contempt for those “Xi faction” generals who have no real combat experience and rose solely on the basis of political-work backgrounds and political loyalty. Xi Jinping is one such figure.

  2. A code phrase used to probe identity and stance. Asking this is asking: “Are you on the side of Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin, who don’t understand the military, or on the side of the veteran commander Zhang Youxia, who has military merit and high prestige?”

  3. This code phrase implies that civilian officials who do propaganda and write reports are “traitors” within the military. For example, CMC Discipline Inspection Commission Secretary Zhang Shengmin is a civilian official, and many revelations point to him informing Xi Jinping about Zhang Youxia.

On January 24, Zhang Youxia was arrested, and that very night the party media Xinhua cited an editorial from the PLA Daily. It is said that once relevant personnel heard it was Xi Jinping’s instruction, they “were so scared their legs trembled and they hurried to get it done.” But the person arrested was the military boss Zhang Youxia, so officers and soldiers across the entire military blamed the PLA Daily. Coincidentally, the president of the PLA Daily also came from the background of a regiment propaganda officer, so this president became a target of the “Are you the regiment propaganda officer?” sarcasm and was accused of being a traitor.

Sources believe this reflects a consensus in the military: political-work cadres cannot hold up in war; when it comes to claiming credit and seeking rewards they respond enthusiastically; and people inside the military are mocking them. The spread of this sentiment also shows that Xi Jinping’s forceful push for “political-work-based army governance” has triggered collective backlash from grassroots commanders.

Rumors of Zhang Shengmin’s Resignation

A core figure directly related to this “propaganda officer” code phrase is Zhang Shengmin, Secretary of the Central Military Commission Discipline Inspection Commission.

According to the latest revelations, Zhang Shengmin—regarded as Xi Jinping’s “anti-corruption sword” within the military—has now resigned. Zhang Shengmin’s own resume closely matches “propaganda officer”: he started as a grassroots propaganda officer and was promoted because he wrote well and was good at composing lyrics; in the eyes of army commanders, he does not belong to the combat faction at all.

The revelations say that Xi Jinping originally relied on Zhang Shengmin as an “executor” to carry out arrests and supervision across various theater commands. But in the face of the strong military reaction after Zhang Youxia’s arrest, Zhang Shengmin felt unprecedented fear. Former military insiders analyze that if Zhang Shengmin insisted on going down to military regions to conduct inspections, an enraged army commander might directly “shoot him dead,” and do it cleanly.

At present the entire military is at Level-1 combat readiness, but the various military regions have completely ignored Xi Jinping’s demand to “issue statements of support.” This silence is described as “enduring,” a wordless united resistance from the grassroots against the top leadership.

The People Call for General Cai E

Even more striking, the overseas blogger “Tianji Guide” issued an “Open Letter to All PLA Officers and Soldiers,” titled “Only by Emulating Cai E Can China Be Saved.”

Cai E was a late-Qing and early-Republic politician and military leader. He responded to the Xinhai Revolution, and later launched the National Protection War against Yuan Shikai’s restoration of monarchy to defend constitutionalism. He was called the National Protection General and praised as a military god.

Against the backdrop of Xi Jinping pursuing a third term at the 21st Party Congress and attempting to break the collective leadership system, openly calling for Cai E is undoubtedly an open appeal to the military for aspirants to stand up like Cai E and “protect the nation and punish rebels.”

“Tianji Guide” offered Chinese soldiers two major steps to resist Xi Jinping’s purge of the military and his dictatorship-style seizure of the country:

First, the five theater commands and major service branches should emulate General Cai E, declare independence and self-governance, establish an anti-dictatorship National Protection Military Alliance, refuse to take orders from Xi Jinping’s Central Military Commission leadership, until Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli return to the CCP Central Military Commission.

Second, the Central Theater Command should dispatch its subordinate 82nd Group Army to Beijing to surround Zhongnanhai, force Xi Jinping to resign as Chairman of the Central Military Commission and General Secretary of the Party, and severely punish participants in this illegal coup.

“Tianji Guide” believes that Chinese soldiers emulating General Cai E to rise up and protect the nation and defend the republic—regardless of success or failure—will be recorded in history and remembered forever.

By coincidence, in recent days Du Wen, former executive director of the Legal Counsel Office of the government of China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has also issued a call to PLA generals—including Zhang Youxia, He Weidong, Miao Hua, and Liu Zhenli—urging them to “fight with all your might and seize the butcher’s knife.” Du Wen solemnly promised that if the generals take action, he will do everything possible to rescue their families, and he published his contact email address.

In fact, slogans such as “The people call for General Cai E” have already appeared among the Chinese public. Ancient Chinese taught that warfare depends on timing, terrain, and unity of people. Where public sentiment lies is a key factor determining success or failure. At present, if generals rise up, the “unity of people” requirement of military strategy is already met.

Critical Node—Reconciliation or Collapse?

With developments reaching today, the situation has entered the final round. According to the military’s Level-1 readiness response mechanism, there is a phased advancement requirement every 72 hours or 48 hours.

At present there are two possible trajectories:

  1. Xi Jinping is forced to compromise: because the military broadly adopts “united silence” and “passive resistance,” Xi Jinping may control Zhang Youxia’s person, but cannot mobilize the troops. If the stalemate continues, fear in Zhongnanhai will rise geometrically, and in the end Xi may be forced to reconcile with military forces, and even release Zhang and Liu.

  2. Comprehensive collapse and turmoil: if Xi Jinping insists on intensifying the purge and uses the spy system controlled by Cai Qi to continue arresting military generals, it may trigger an armed coup by grassroots units. As the revelations say, the military’s dissatisfaction with “propaganda-officer” governance has reached a critical point, and no one can guarantee whether tomorrow a “Cai E-type” figure will suddenly appear outside Beijing.

History often shows astonishing similarities. From the secret police of the Ming dynasty, to the National Protection War of the Republic era, to today’s gunshots and code phrases in Beijing—totalitarianism is also extremely fragile. Xi Jinping tries to maintain rule by制造恐怖, but today he faces a silent yet potentially explosive two-million-strong military.

Can Zhang Youxia be rescued? Will Beijing see a true political upheaval? The whole world is watching.

(First published by People News)
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