As none of the batteries were able to significantly damage the Schutztruppe, I ordered the Horse Artillery to bombard them as well, reducing two of the Brigades to only 25% effectives, and the third to half. The First Regiment struck at the the nearer one, while a new Rifle Brigade and the Second Brigade defeated the other two, although they took heavy losses in the process. Although I doubt starving the city will prove truly valuable, I decided to move some of the Rifle Brigades and Divisions into the fields surrounding the Tsingtao.
That decision proved somewhat fateful - four Schutztruppe Infantry Brigades attacked those Brigades to the southeast, destroying three, but failing to eliminate the fourth. Scattered reports (all that could be found, as few senior officers survived the attacks) believe that one enemy Brigade was nearly destroyed.
Twelve French Colonial Cavalry Regiments moved through our territory and into the Hong Kong environs, followed by sixteen Colonial Infantry Brigades and three Sentry Brigades. When questioned on their intent, our officers were informed that the German Empire and their Austro-Hungarian allies had declared war on the French Republic, and they were going to conquer Tsingtao.
Only a handful of artillery shells managed to land anywhere near the Germans on our next try at bombardment, and I declined to attack. I did insist that the Maxim MG Battalion currently training in Peking be put through accelerated education, and ordered the Zhengzhou region to recruit more Horse Artillery Batteries. Tsingtao stayed quiet that month, neglecting to attack us, while the French continued moving through Chinese and British territory.
The Torpedo Boat
Flandre Scarlet and the Protected Cruiser
Ciel joined their respective fleets. I have considered sending them north to aid in the bombardment of Tsingtao, but their poor fire control and lack of real firepower (the Cruisers only have the firepower of Field Cannon Batteries, after all) led me to have them maintain station in case the German Pacific Navy decides to take an interest. I did decide, after a very desultory bombardment, to test Tsingtao's defenses with Light Cavalry - although none of the three Regiments survived, together they inflicted enough casualties to put a full Brigade out of action, and the loss of so many soldiers led the governor to put the Marines on the wall. A Schutztruppe Kavellerie tried attacking the same group of Riflemen attacked with success previously, but was destroyed.
Having completed designs for an improved Torpedo Boat, the naval engineers began work (again) on a super-heavy Cruiser that could be built. Now that the world is (somewhat) watching us - I saw Spanish and American observation boats during the last bombardment - I have also instructed them that they are to make it small; I do not want the full weight of international distrust on our shoulders when we can barely take one city that lies within our borders!
It was not, unfortunately, until after the First Regiment had been destroyed in a fruitless attack that I received word that a spy had been successfully planted in Berlin, and had sent along the most recent garrison list for Tsingtao: One Marine Brigade, Thirteen Schutztruppe Infantry Brigades, and one battery of Mountain Guns. I pass orders that no Brigade or Regiment is to attack unless specifically instructed by me.
The Germans fail to attack again, two more Rifle Brigades and a HA Battery are added to my ranks, and artillery bombardment is still rather ineffectual. The French have moved to the Coal-strewn Hills to the south of Tsingtao, and I look forward to seeing how European-trained troops fare against the Tsingtao defenses.
The Japanese Empire demands 10 tons of gold from China, and it is granted, although I ignore that information when it comes my way - I was busy watching the killing grounds to the south of Tsingtao. Of the twelve French Regiments, two survived (defeating the enemy directly to their front), and the defenders, while injured, have had great increases in morale and marksmanship due to the successes in repulsing 'trained' soldiers.
The ships
Marisa Kirisame and
Sion Eltnam Atlasia are commissioned, and I order more Regiments to be rushed to the front. The bombardment continues more-or-less ineffectively, but I have decided that Tsingtao must be taken, and soon. The Second Regiment attacks, and while nearly destroyed, eliminates a Brigade from service to the enemy; the Third Regiment attempts the same, but is wrecked and inflicts little damage. Four Rifle Brigades attacked after that, including the Third Brigade - only the first, attacking the local Marines, is able to complete its objective. Three Brigades shot (literally ...), and I order three Light Cavalry Regiments to attack: none survive, and none are able to defeat their opponents.
Next,
eight Rifle Brigades - including the Second Brigade - attack: two survive, one of which is newly created the Sixth Brigade. From the after-action reports, the Germans had fortified certain positions and wrecked any streets that did not lead to them; forced into a headlong, battering attack against prepared defenders with repeating rifles, while armed with breech-loading weapons themselves, the Riflemen were forced to come to melee range if they hoped to survive, let alone win.
Following this last series of attacks, I take stock of the surviving forces. On paper, there are
twelve Rifle Brigades and
twenty-three Rifle Divisions,
Five Maxim Battalions, and
one Light Cavalry Regiment. In reality, the force totals are much worse: the Second Regiment is all but shattered, and only six of the Brigades are even approaching effective combat strength. Four Rifle Brigades are ordered to the front lines, regardless of fighting ability (from Zhengzhou, Nancheng, Kunming, and Gertse).
As our spy had given us a signal to use to have an agent send us the current garrison strength, I used it: Four Sentry Brigades, one Kavellerie Regiment, the Mountain Guns, and Eight understrength Infantry Brigades (having at best 50% [3/6]) of the men active. The French are near enough that I grew concerned - if we didn't attack, and let the French attack, despite the inexperience of the attackers, they possessed enough numbers to defeat the Germans. If we did attack, there was a good chance we would fail to take it and only reduce it enough to let the French take it. With four fresh Brigades and three fresh Regiments outside the German territory, I decided to take the gamble: all ready troops would attack, including Divisions if it became necessary.
I took a walk away from the city, enjoying the hills and forests. I actually managed to stumble into a sound pocket, where the fighting from the city could be heard clearly despite the distance. I'd heard of similar occurrences (and the reverse) in that 'Civil War' the Americans had some forty years ago. I stayed on my walk for three more days, although I could tell that the fighting had ended on the second day I'd been out. A rider came and told me that Tsingtao had fallen. When I got back, the first thing I looked at were current force totals:
21 Divisions, 4 Regiments, and 9 Brigades.
We began rebuilding Tsingtao, and rearming as well. The Russians decided to throw themselves into the war with Spain at Austria-Hungary's request, while the British and Boer Republics signed a peace treaty - without, so far as I could tell from the nervous British envoy, any significant territorial gains for either side. We had sent an envoy to the Germans with the surviving officers from Tsingtao with orders to get a peace treaty at any cost; very light - only 32 tons of gold. The engineers have told me that they believe they can soon actually create designs for a Heavy Cruiser we *can* build, not just paper designs. Due to advances in engine technology, torpedoes, guns and fire control, and shipbuilding designs from German and British examples, however, they also believe they can have a working model for an efficient Destroyer design ready to go into production within a year.
Despite their partners bringing Russia into the war, Germany made peace with Spain (forcing the Austro-Hungarians to sign as well) - the Russians simply had the Lowland Countries join the war, and their Pacific Fleet (two old Petropavlosk warships, six newer Perseviets, and two Vladimir Monomakh Cruisers) were seen to be steaming to the south.
The end of the year saw the
Reimu Hakurei and
Miyako Arima steam to join their fellows - the
Reimu would be the last of the old Torpedo Boat designs completed. In January, a Japanese spy and and a spy from the Central American regime were executed, and the PC
Aozaki Aoko was completed. The British demanded another ten tons of gold, and the Russians brought Portugal and Uruguay into the war with Spain.
Then, finally, naval engineers completed working designs for a proper Destroyer. Although minor changes would probably be made as flaws were seen, these ships would form the scouting arm of the modern Chinese Navy, and the small fleet of now-obsolete Torpedo Boats steamed for Tsingtao, the only port with large enough facilities to dismantle and rebuild the vessels completely. The Fuchou engineers then began work on performing similar upgrades to the Cruiser fleet, although it would take some more theoretical work before it would be completed.
Meanwhile, Yekaterinburg in Russia hosted a second set of Olympic Games, while our forces increased by two Brigades and one Division. Consulting with the Portuguese diplomats still at the Forbidden Palace, it seems that sometime within the past year, Huesca was taken by the French, and Barcelona by the Russians. I shall have to make sure to keep a closer eye on international affairs. France and Germany signed a Peace Treaty at the end of the month, while Persia joined Russia's war against Spain.
The next month saw Tsingtao completing its Rail Terminal and beginning work on city-funded Libraries, and the Destroyer
Koakuma and the Protected Cruiser
Sion Tatari were completed. A Rifle Brigade, Infantry Division, and Horse Artillery Battery also started service. Vladivostok hosted a World Fair at the end of the month, drawing thousands of tourists even to our country, as interest in this part of the world increased.
The six Torpedo Boats steamed into Tsingtao at the beginning of the month - at month's end, all six had been refurbished enough to steam back out to join the Cruiser fleet. Complete refurbishment could take place in Fuchou or Macau - it was primarily the rebuilding that had necessitated Tsingtao's harbor and drydock. Later, La Plata and Mexico joined Russia's vendetta toward Spain, and Elizabethville, a Belgian colonial center, produced a marvelous diamond.
Fuchou produced its final (for now) Protected Cruiser, the
Tohno Makihisa, and began work on a small fleet of Steam Transports, should they be required. While my intentions have been to invade the French colonies to the south, I am not totally averse to invading the Spanish islands, should it prove worthwhile to join Russia's cause, and assuming the Japanese do not take offense. A new Regiment was raised in Lanzhou, while orders from the Dowager Empress to complete the Libraries in Tsingtao as soon as possible, and fully integrate it back to the Empire led to a large infusion of funds and workers. There hasn't been a proper rail line to the city yet, but a line to Lhasa has taken priority until now - once it is completed, the Engineers can be retasked. In international news, the Russians appear to have taken the Spanish colony of Tacloban (or some such miserable name) in the Philippenes, and have also revolutionized industrial affairs with a new melding of man and machine, displayed most prominently in Odessa.
Over the next two months, three Rifle Brigades joined our forces, two Transports were commissioned, and the DD
Cirno sailed from Macau. Unfortunately, our Spy in Berlin was captured in a counter-intelligence sweep, but the Germans appear to have learned that it would not benefit them to make a disturbance over it - in any case, the spy had been put in place primarily that I could learn of Tsingtao's defenses, so his capture is of little importance. However, Spain is rapidly losing trading partners - Scandinavia, Chile, and the Central American coalition have all decided to make war upon them.
A Spy was successfully planted in Paris, and a relatively secure telegraph line set up from Tsingtao through Russian territory. Fuchou completed its last Transport and began work on another Cruiser, while Tsingtao again received Imperial aid, this time in the development of its Financial centers. New Granada and Italy are the two newest members of Spain's Aggressors. Next month, the Boer Republics joined in, and then Fuchou completed its last Protected Cruiser,
Aozaki Touko. The Protected Cruisers (except
Touko), in their haste to avoid an problems with the British while steaming for Tsingtao, lingered too long in Japanese territorial waters and were firmly escorted out. Distressingly, it seems that someone has spies planted within the palace - specifically, spies with access to the military offices of the Empress's loyalists, as several maps with troop strengths were stolen from those rooms.
When the Cruisers - again, save
Touko - arrived in Tsingtao, they were greeted by a massive supply of steel and other supplies, and all the engineers from Fuchou as well - they were to be upgraded as much as possible, as soon as possible, to better armoured, more heavily gunned vessels. Macau's engineers were unavailable, as they were just finishing up the
CNS Daiyousei and beginning work on another Destroyer. Unfortunately, spies revealed
twenty-five specific brigades in Haiphong, although a much lower number in the other French colonies, generally four to five brigades each. Observation of foreign diplomats reveals that the French and Americans have signed alliances (with the Scandinavians and Russians respectively) against the Spanish, while the Scandinavian coalition has based a "Cruise Liner" company in Trondheim and unveiled "Motion Pictures" in Oslo. Meanwhile, the Russians conquered the Spanish city of Santander, the Dutch and Belgians Villa Cisneros and Rio Muni, and Mexico, Guam. The once far-flung Spanish Colonial empire is rapidly diminishing, although Manila seems invulnerable so far.
With the upgrading of the
Aozaki Touko at Tsingtao, the creation of a new Regiment at Ulan-Bataar, and a new Rifle Brigade at Zhengzhou, the effective available fighting strength of the Chinese Army stands at
9 Divisions, 19 Brigades, 6 Regiments, 4 unattached Maxim Battalions,
9 Field Cannon Batteries, 21 Horse-drawn Artillery Batteries,
21 Armoured Cruisers, and 9 Destroyers. The end of the year appears to have drawn out the lunatics: the "sick man" of the Ottoman Empire declared war on the British Empire, the British declared war on the French, Japan and Brazil signed Alliances with the USA against Spain, and Abyssinia and Russia did likewise. The British, perhaps intending to strike the French colonies, sent three Colonial Infantry through the Macau region, where they were attacked by a French Col. Cavalry Regiment and a Foreign Legion detachment - which they destroyed - and then by three successive French C. Cavalry Regiments, which destroyed them. A British River DD was destroyed by a French Arquebuse DD, and a new class of British Destroyer, the "Acheron," was seen north of Taiwan. It seems, also, that the French were able to conquer the city of Rangoon, near Britain's Indian colonies.
The year 1905 dawns, and there is little going on in China. Railroads continue to be built, and a new regiment of Light Cavalry leaves Lanzhou. What is of more interest is the growing turbulence in the international scene. Spain and Persia, having little success against each other, sign a peace treaty, while Argentina and Scandinavia sign an Alliance against Spain. The United States and the Ottoman Empire signed an Alliance against the British Empire, and then the Ottomans brought the Scandinavian Alliance in against the British as well, and the Lowlands decided to attack a seemingly weakened Empire. Some of our ships, still in British territorial waters near Shanghai, were escorted out, and an offering of 10 tons of gold was made to the local commander. A British infantry brigade defeated a French cavalry regiment, and their newspapers made everyone aware of the coup they pulled off, capturing the cities of Murzuk and Constantinople and pacifying the surrounding regions. A new Cruiser type - Cressy, from my reports - was seen to the east of Taiwan.
The end of January saw another theft of our military plans - I strongly suspect whoever is doing so is doing it just to prove he can. In any case, Tsingtao's Factory district is finished and a mine to take advantage of the massive coal reserves in the hill to the south is started.
Russia and Portugal were brought into the war with the British, by the Ottomans and Americans respectively. A Chilean agent was captured trying to suborn several of the embassy guards and executed. The British conquered the regions dominated by the cities of Tripoli and Ghardaia, expanding their African holdings, while the French captured Lagos, Aba, and Kano - and took the city of Strassburg at some point. The South American "La Plata" group is taking an interest in the area - three Torpedo Boats were escorting a Transport south of Hong Kong.
The Destroyer
Rumia steamed out of Macau - the last DD to be commissioned for some time, while two more Rifle Brigades left Nancheng and Kunming. Spies entered all the French colonies to assess their strength in preparation for a short victorious war. Haiphong's garrison consisted of 5 Infantry Brigades and 1 Cavalry Regiment; Hanoi also had 5 Brigades, but no Cavalry and instead, 2 batteries of 155mm artillery pieces; Hue also had 5 Brigades in residence, as well as a single battery of 75mm guns and two Destroyers in port. Vientiane only held 3 Brigades and 2 155mm Batteries; Rangoon, still newly-conquered, held 3 Brigades, Saigon, jewel of the territory, held 4 Brigades and 1 155mm Battery. And Phom Penh clutched 7 Brigades and a battery of 155mm guns.
Internationally, Portugal and Spain signed a peace treaty, neither being able to significantly damage the other, and Spain also made peace with the Central Americans. Scandinavia signed a Military Alliance with La Plata against - who else? - the British. The United States signed Alliances with Italy (against the British) and Austria-Hungary (against Spain). The French captured the British-occupied colony of "Freetown," while the British conquered Pago Pago and Aba.
Anyway, I'm playing it on Chief Petty Officer/Regent, and it's likely to be my last game at that level (fitting, I think, since my first attempt at a story was supposed to be my first try at Regent ... I almost wish I'd kept that one going). Some Author's notes:
