After Nine Generals: The Rocket Force Exposed

The purge of nine full generals is only the beginning. Rocket force case files have leaked, a black hole in missile chips, a Villa audio recording exposed, this, internal counterstrike, is still heating up. Power purges, institutional fissures, and a loyalty dilemma are intertwining into a war without smoke. The problem is, this fight isn't over. Don't miss the next drop, subscribe and hit the bell. According to the latest figures, in the first three quarters of 2025, the CCP's discipline and supervision organs opened 789,000 cases. 90 provincial and ministerial-level cadres were investigated, already more than the total for all of last year. This isn't an anti-corruption climax, it's a political earthquake. As these numbers were released, the military simultaneously took action, announcing the outcomes for nine full generals in one go. Stranger still, a bombshell rocket force article surfaced inside the firewall, dumping details from the indictments and all at once, missiles, gold bars, chips, foreign capital, even a Villa recording, all exposed. These two signals appeared back-to-back, perfectly timed and viciously targeted. On the surface it's anti-corruption in the military, but in reality it looks like an internal counterstrike. Who is purging whom? And who is counterattacking? After the Fourth Plenum, Zhongnanhai is staging an invisible internal showdown. A shadow war for power. First, the opening punch, on the eve of the Fourth Plenum, the Ministry of National Defense suddenly took action, announcing disciplinary outcomes for nine full generals in one bundle. This wasn't the usual drip-feed of notices. It was a carefully chosen note and an eerily choreographed, package-drop, with a signal anyone could read. The nine were, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission He Weidong, CMC Member Miao Hua, Former Executive Deputy Director of the CMC Political Work Department He Hongjun, Former Executive Deputy Director of the CMC Joint Operations Command Center Wang Xiaobin, Former Commander of the Eastern Theater Command Lin Xiangyong, Former Political Commissar of the Army Qin Shidong, Former Political Commissar of the Navy Yuan Huazhi, Former Commander of the Rocket Force Wang Haobin, and Former Commander of the People's Armed Police Wang Chening. This list virtually encompasses the chiefs of the three services, equivalent to stripping out the skeleton of the entire CMC in one go. Initial public reaction was unusually aligned. This doesn't look like simple anti-corruption, it looks like Zhang Youxia taking over the military and reshuffling power across the board. What's more notable, almost all nine are linked to the rocket force, the equipment system, or theater command chains. Especially He Weidong and Miao Hua, both at the CMC Corps. Their punishment symbolizes the overturning of the Qi Camp's military layout. According to the latest reports, since the two sessions in March, He Weidong hasn't appeared publicly and was officially expelled from the party and the military by the CMC on October 17. Miao Hua was simultaneously stripped of his full general rank and all related posts. Wang Haobin is under investigation by the military procuratorate. With procurement contracts for certain rocket force missiles and overseas fund flows locked down, Lin Xiangyong and Qin Shidong are reportedly assisting probes. And remain under discipline inspection detention. Foreign outlets describe this as the largest, general-level purge since the Cultural Revolution. The rocket force expose, missiles, gold bars, chips, and a villa recording. Soon after the, nine generals, list dropped, the second punch landed, harder and more theatrical. At the Fourth Plenum, the CCP's top leader narrowly held on to his three supreme posts, yet rumors of him losing control persisted. A public WeChat account inside the firewall, Wind Direction Watch, suddenly posted a blockbuster article apparently citing indictments and verdicts to reveal corruption details of Li Shangfu, Wei Fenghe, and others. The piece vanished from the web almost instantly. Its aim was unmistakable, striking at the core legitimacy of Zhang Youxia's control of the army. Key disclosures included, rocket force, Tiger, Wang Hongyao hiked the price of a certain missile launcher tire from 180,000 yuan per tire to 380,000, with a 200,000 yuan gap laundered via a Hong Kong shell company. The total involved around 430 million yuan. Zhang Xinzhong, then a rocket force base commander and later rocket force deputy commander, in 2015 awarded a navigation ship contract for the, DF-26, to Beijing, Tian X-X-Way, backed by U.S. funds. The presiding judge read that early-stage failure rates rose 3.6 times. Zhang was also found to have taken 117 million yuan in bribes and to own a roughly 8.5 million U.S. dollar condo in Manhattan. A chilling intelligence leak. In October 2022, the U.S. Congressional Research Service submitted a 225-page, rocket force order of battle, to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The serial numbers of six bases and missile counts differed from CCP top-secret documents by no more than 3 percent. An appendix listed, cooperating, R1, R8, with R3, and R5 corresponding to Zhang Xinzhong and Wei Fenghe, and indicated 12 million U.S. dollars in, consulting fees, routed via a Hong Kong intermediary to Zhang's wife. On July 28, 2023, the South China Morning Post quoted sources that three military leaders, including Zhang Xinzhong, had been taken by CMC-antigraft investigators, suspected ties to the rocket force case. Former rocket force commander Zhou Yening, detained in December 2023, 328 kilograms of gold bars with Central Bank serials, ex-Shanghai Gold Exchange, seized in his Bouding basement, plus 78 cases of 1960 vintage Mutai and 59 top-secret documents covering firepower plans through 2025. Page 9 of the judgment reportedly recorded his statement, the gold bars were, entrusted by the U.S. side for safekeeping, intended for his grandson's study in America. Former rocket force commander and defense minister Wei Fenghe, between 2016 to 2019, he split the DF-31AG simulator software into 12 subcontracts, awarding a British Virgin Islands company. The controlling entity was alleged to be a subcontractor for Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contractor and the Pentagon's biggest beneficiary. The bribes allegedly included about 274 million yuan and a hillside villa in Los Angeles. The expose also claimed that upon receiving the villa in the U.S., Wei's son left a voice message for his father, the house is in hand, can the original code be sent now? The FBI allegedly captured this audio and returned it via diplomatic channels, it was played in court as Exhibit 1. Li Shangfu, former head of the CMC Equipment Development Department and defense minister, in a 2020 tender for composite materials for a hypersonic vehicle, the reserve price was leaked to Beijing, Hang XX Tech, whose feedstock came from a U.S. carbon fiber firm, with markups of 70% via re-exports. His son allegedly holds a Singapore passport, while a Swiss trust account received about 138 million U.S. dollars per quarter for three years. Page 43 of the verdict reportedly stated, After learning of the investigation, Li still arranged, via intermediaries, three transfers of encrypted hard drives to a U.S. agent, particularly egregious circumstances. Line these nodes up by time and post and the sensitive point pops out, many land precisely between November 2015 and September 2017, Zhang Youxia's tenure or transition period as head of the, then, General Armaments Department. In other words, the piece appeared to discuss a rocket force corruption plus leak chain, but the true fire line shot through the, institutional and oversight breakpoints, under the General Armaments Department. The narrative flips on its head. First half, nine generals are officially felled, as if Zhang Youxia forced Xi to relinquish the CMC chair. Second half, rocket force verdict details are aired, as if Xi is parading the military At a theatrical real-world juxtaposition, at this year's, 9-3, parade, observers expected the DF-31AG to shine, it was absent, hastily replaced by the, 31BJ. Perhaps it was military stage fright. When your simulator's original code has been siphoned off by an outsourcing chain and your core navigation chips are penetrated by foreign capital, who dares, flex, the crown jewels before the world. This isn't a, technical hiccup, it's a fear that the entire delivery chain has been laid bare. The point is timing and target. The article wasn't spraying rumor, it followed indictment and verdict numbering, page by page, nailing the story to procedural rails. That's why it went up fast and came down faster. Dropping it right after the 4th Plenum and the 9th General Announcement neatly pointed back at the General Armaments era, like a political countercharge. You say military control is shaky? I'll expose the systemic holes from your watch and turn the tables. The Counterstrike. After the 4th Plenum, Beijing's political air remains eerie. The meeting's facade was, the 15th Five-Year Plan, but the instant it ended, military purges surged like a tide. Per the CCDI Bulletin, the first three quarters of 2025 saw 789,000 cases under investigation nationwide, 90 of them provincial-ministerial level, already surpassing last year. More striking, the military has become the, main battlefield. Of the active full generals absent from the Plenum, roughly 40% have been placed under investigation by the Military Discipline Commission, many being transferred to military courts. This isn't a one-off, it's a systemic purge. Independent commentator Kai Xingkun notes the military anti-graft campaign began at the 2024 Yenan Political Work Conference, which emphasized, those not absolutely loyal to the party must be removed. That set the order. This year the sweep entered deep water, the goal isn't merely anti-corruption, but a total personnel relayout to rebuild the CMC's control chain. Loyalty is deadlier than clean hands. China watcher Wang He is blunt, corruption is the pretext, loyalty is the lifeline. In today's system, almost no senior general is spotless. Who falls is decided by which side he's on. Judging from the purges, even picking a side may not save you. Former Central Party school professor Kai Xia said on the Fang Fei Time channel that this grand purge isn't wholly led by Xi Jinping, it also includes Zhang Youxia's, preemptive counterattack. In July 2023, a massive Rocket Force scandal erupted. The Military Discipline Notice then called for reports of equipment procurement issues after October 2017. That date is sensitive, it's when Zhang Youxia moved up from head of the Equipment Development Department to CMC vice-chair. That was like dangling a Damoclean sword above Zhang Youxia, Kai said. Facing the threat, Zhang didn't wait to die, he struck first. After Li Shangfu was probed, nine full generals including He Weidong and Miao Hua fell in quick succession, possibly Zhang's countermove. Kai further claimed, He Weidong and Miao Hua secretly planned to form a private guard in the Tianjin, Langfang area, not subordinate to any theater, to provide an emergency armed force for Xi Jinping. But the plan was obtained by Zhang Youxia and used as grounds for their purge. She added, during the third plenum, Xi's health instability opened a window for interparty maneuvering. Zhang seized the moment to expand his space, ultimately forcing through disciplinary decisions on nine full generals before the fourth plenum to lock in a fait accompli. Yet the outcome reflects a delicate balance, while Zhang Xingmin rose to CMC vice-chair, he did not obtain a politburo seat. Kai sees a balance of terror, neither side can utterly crush the other, coexistence is temporary. Her view, today's power structure is deeply uncertain, the personnel shock has severely eroded the military's cohesion and combat effectiveness. The political metaphor of unfinished projects in the ranks. Why would star-shouldered generals be so brazen, turning national defense into an ATM and missiles into merchandise? The answer is ancient, Chinese county granaries once required three keys, held by the magistrate, the deputy, and the warehouse head, so all three had to be present to open. Our ancestors' new and unmonitored storehouse gets eaten hollow. Today's PLA resembles an unlocked granary, power without oversight. Do ordinary citizens have the right to know the rocket force's annual spending? No. The right to know who approves procurement and who signs contracts? No. Everything is stamped, state secret. So when a general swaps missiles for a US villa or intelligence for his grandson's passport, who can pursue it? Who dares to speak? Speak, and you're charged with, picking quarrels and provoking trouble. A, closed system, needs no enemy infiltration, it rots to collapse on its own. This is not merely the rocket force's tragedy, it's the system's mirror. Strong army dream becomes an unfinished shell. Over the past decade, Xi's two favorite slogans have been, institutional confidence, and the, strong army dream. He said China's system can, concentrate forces to accomplish big things. Indeed, force has been concentrated, 1400 million people sweat to build missiles. And the result? Domestic weapons, with US chips, patriotic generals, selling simulator source code, and an arsenal turned cash machine. The so-called, strong army dream, now looks like a systemic unfinished building. Missiles unfinished. Institutions unfinished. Loyalty unfinished. Like China's ghost towers, the foundation remains, floors have collapsed, slogans still hang. That the, strong army dream, rots on Xi's watch is historic irony. He wanted to be chief designer and general contractor, yet he built a, great wall of steel, that's a paper-thin facade. What do you think? Leave a comment and tell us.