
Update 5: October 1, 1893 - December 31, 1893
South-East Asia
Spoiler :
Fast-developing, newly modernized region, equally strong in all economic, educational, and demographic aspects.
Q4 1893: Under Gregor Duroc’s diplomatic leadership, the Free Boer Republic has started to slowly and carefully rebuild political and financial ties severed during the brief Burmo-Boer naval conflict, mostly at Portobrazilian expense. (Free Boer Republic gains +0.85% Regional Influence, Portugal-Brazil loses -0.85% Regional Influence, Free Boer Republic losses: -1.7 HC, -2.76 IC, -3.85 EC, -0.94 MC)
Mueang factory princes
Cast-iron stupas
Great Myanmar Railway
Q4 1893: After two years of neglect, the Great Myanmar Railway project was resurrected and brought back to life as soon as the monsoon season of 1893 ended on November 1st. This time, luuhcu-owned construction companies tasked with its completion received enough of funds, people, and equipment, which reflected well on the progress, showcased by a single fact: in the last quarter of 1893 alone, Burmese builders constructed more kilometers of railway than in the entirety of 1891. (Regional quest progress: 62.64%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -3.81 HC, -0.94 IC, -10.52 EC, -7.39 MC)
One Emperor to rule them all
Q4 1893: Barely a year has passed since the informal agreement between the Third Burmese Empire and Tokugawa Shogunate was signed, establishing a state of political equilibrium between the two powers in Dai Viet. Now, however, it seems that the Konbaung dynasty is moving to replace that cautious stance with a more assertive one, promoting ideas of Trans-Indochinese solidarity and pan-nationalism across the lands of Myanmar, Shan, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and independent Dai Viet. Capitalist clan structure of the Konbaung dynasty’s state apparatus made promotion of such egalitarian principles relatively hard, especially considering the fact that the Shan States and Siam proper are still controlled by local princes and monasteries bound to the Burmese rulers via ties of semi-feudal vassalage, making general population significantly aloof to any national identities. In Dai Viet, in addition, there was another inertia element to overcome: religion. Most of the Burmese population follow a conservative Theravada school of Buddhism, while Vietnamese population mostly adheres to the Mahayana tradition, widening the gap any pan-nationalists would have to overcome before uniting all Indochina under the banner of the Konbaung Dynasty. (Regional quest progress: 9.48%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -2.79 HC, -4.01 IC, -6.59 EC, -1.68 MC)
Foes or allies?
Q4 1893: The Third Burmese Empire has a long history of rivaling the British for control over South-East Asia and Assam. In 1893, however, it briefly found itself allying the Royal Commonwealth in efforts to contain Boer Indian Ocean expansion. Now that the East-Asian Spice Trading Company is effectively ruined and the Free Boer Republic is no longer a common enemy for the two powers, the Konbaung dynasty’s ambition again yearns eastward. Royal plenipotentiaries have started negotiating with luuhcu clan patriarchs and the kingdom’s nobility, getting them all on board with yet another geopolitical realignment and anti-British stance. As for commoners, setting them against the British proved to be an easy task, although much still needs to be done to develop complete unity of geopolitical views among the state’s political and economic elites. (Regional quest progress: 25.43%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -2.14 HC, -3.06 IC, -5.04 EC, -1.28 MC)
Chosama Island
Q4 1893: Temporary purchase of the Chotham Island by the Tokugawa Shogunate from the Third Burmese Empire was a minor concession, easing Japanese navy’s access to the Indian Ocean. However, the Japanese wouldn’t be themselves had they just rested on that minor gain. A series of jitsugyōka-sponsored public works started almost immediately across the entire landmass, renamed “Chosama” by the Japanese. The navy and the army, trying to not let the industrialists claim the territory solely for their commercial needs, hurried to establish modern port facilities and barracks across the island as well, turning it into a humble, but orderly naval station by the end of the year and tying neighboring Andaman and Nicobar islands closer to the Shogunate, being the closest center of commerce and trade for naturally isolated islands under Burmese suzerainty. (Regional quest completed with success, region South-East Asia gains +5 HC, +5 EC, Tokugawa Shogunate gains +0.5% Regional Influence, Third Burmese Empire loses -0.5% Regional Influence, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -1.12 HC, -0.51 IC, -2.02 EC, -2.25 MC)
Black Waters
Q4 1893: Known for their remote geographical location and brutal tropical climate, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were long used by the British Empire as a universal exile destination for dangerous criminals and political prisoners of will. After the rise of the Third Burmese Empire, this practice didn’t go away, although the conditions of prisoners were much improved thanks to a construction of the so-called Cellular Jail on the Chotham island. Nicknamed Kala Pani (or “Black Waters”) by Bengali migrant construction workers, the Cellular Prison is a compound that for a long time was used to keep rebellious Siamese and Laotian princes in somewhat humane, but still very regimented and isolated conditions. Now that the Chotham Island is leased to the Japanese, the status of the Black Waters prison is being questioned not only at the court of the Konbaung Emperor, but also among many of his vassal nobles.
Torpedo nets
Q4 1893: The Burmese Royal Navy had no experience of dealing with torpedo attacks during its brief and mostly bloodless Indian Ocean campaign, but Burmese observers familiar with the state of asymmetric naval warfare in the Atlantic Ocean point out that torpedoes indeed possess a potential to completely change the balance of powers in modern naval combat. While much still needs to be learned and understood, for now the Burmese decided to come up with their own simple torpedo defense measure: torpedo nets. Such is a name of passive ship defensive devices, hung out from the defending ship, when it’s moored or otherwise stationary in the water, on multiple horizontal booms. Simple and cheap to produce, torpedo nets are starting to become a common sight in Burmese naval bases. (Technology quest completed, Third Burmese Empire adopts “Torpedo nets” for no additional cost, Third Burmese Empire losses: -1.22 HC, -0.3 IC, -3.37 EC, -2.36 MC)
Q4 1893: Under Gregor Duroc’s diplomatic leadership, the Free Boer Republic has started to slowly and carefully rebuild political and financial ties severed during the brief Burmo-Boer naval conflict, mostly at Portobrazilian expense. (Free Boer Republic gains +0.85% Regional Influence, Portugal-Brazil loses -0.85% Regional Influence, Free Boer Republic losses: -1.7 HC, -2.76 IC, -3.85 EC, -0.94 MC)
Mueang factory princes
Spoiler :
1890: For centuries, Northern Burma consisted of an amalgam of princedoms and city-states, known as mueangs. Ruled by semi-independent nobles known as khuns, these tiny kingdoms were organized in a confederacy through the Mandala system of collective hierarchy. When the Third Burmese Empire started its meteoric rise to power and modernization, Shan khuns turned out to be the only political force capable of benefiting from initial accumulation of capital, besides the dynastic clans adjacent to the ruling Konbaung dynasty. Now the Shan states are quickly turning into the densest industrial clusters of all Asia, with so called “factory princes” growing to become the only non-dynastic cartel capable of carrying significant economic and political influence. Now it’s up to rulers of Burma (or other nations) how to use it to their own means.
1891: The Burmese emperor decided that instead of helping loyal luuhcu clan oligarchy outcompete Shan khuns, the latter ones should be incorporated into the clan structure of the realm. Autonomous positions within the imperial administration started being offered to mueang factory princes in exchange for their dynastic intermarriage with luuhcu clans. The integration process may take a while, but at least it’s going in the right direction. (Regional quest progress: 15.86%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -1.05 HC, -1.51 IC, -2.48 EC, -0.63 MC)
1891: The Burmese emperor decided that instead of helping loyal luuhcu clan oligarchy outcompete Shan khuns, the latter ones should be incorporated into the clan structure of the realm. Autonomous positions within the imperial administration started being offered to mueang factory princes in exchange for their dynastic intermarriage with luuhcu clans. The integration process may take a while, but at least it’s going in the right direction. (Regional quest progress: 15.86%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -1.05 HC, -1.51 IC, -2.48 EC, -0.63 MC)
Cast-iron stupas
Spoiler :
1890: As the most recent Burmese conquest, Siam is still a vast country not fully integrated into the Third Burmese Empire. However, as Burmese economic practices, combined with a strange mix of Western sciences gradually penetrate Siamese lands, one unbroken local power seems to be emerging as the biggest beneficiary of this industrialization. Spared of destruction and marauding during the Burmese invasion, Buddhist monasteries are the only organized holders of significant capital in their land, and now they seem to be transforming themselves into the main drivers of local manufacture. Red-robed monks united by the principle of sangha (or “disciplined association”) are proving to be a superior labor force, and lack of access to most modern Western technology is compensated by ingenuity and resourcefulness of these new religious entrepreneurs. However, many Burmese royal advisors are afraid that the Siamese monasteries are gaining a bit too much influence and power and may help to crystallize the dormant Siamese nationalist movement.
1891: Despite the fact that most of capital in Burma is concentrated in the hands of royal retainers and high nobles, it appears that the Emperor is in favor of a rather meritocratic approach to social dynamics in higher circles of the society. That was reflected in the decision to award Siamese Buddhist clergy with positions inside the royal administration, perhaps in recognition of their economic success. Despite a long way before complete assimilation, this effort is seen as potentially very beneficial for economic and social development of the region. (Regional quest progress: 14.64%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -0.79 HC, -1.13 IC, -1.86 EC, -0.47 HC)
1891: Despite the fact that most of capital in Burma is concentrated in the hands of royal retainers and high nobles, it appears that the Emperor is in favor of a rather meritocratic approach to social dynamics in higher circles of the society. That was reflected in the decision to award Siamese Buddhist clergy with positions inside the royal administration, perhaps in recognition of their economic success. Despite a long way before complete assimilation, this effort is seen as potentially very beneficial for economic and social development of the region. (Regional quest progress: 14.64%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -0.79 HC, -1.13 IC, -1.86 EC, -0.47 HC)
Great Myanmar Railway
Spoiler :
1891: In a true spirit of modernization, the Konbaung dynasty has started an ambitious new project aimed at connecting Burmese heartland to Siam and the Shan highlands. The project has been plagued by extremely harsh climate conditions, with monsoon season almost putting the construction to a halt. Yet, despite all of the challenges, the Great Myanmar Railway promises to provide a huge boost to the region’s economy. (Regional quest progress: 17.66%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -2.29 HC, -0.56 IC, -5.97 EC, -4.61 MC)
Q4 1893: After two years of neglect, the Great Myanmar Railway project was resurrected and brought back to life as soon as the monsoon season of 1893 ended on November 1st. This time, luuhcu-owned construction companies tasked with its completion received enough of funds, people, and equipment, which reflected well on the progress, showcased by a single fact: in the last quarter of 1893 alone, Burmese builders constructed more kilometers of railway than in the entirety of 1891. (Regional quest progress: 62.64%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -3.81 HC, -0.94 IC, -10.52 EC, -7.39 MC)
One Emperor to rule them all
Q4 1893: Barely a year has passed since the informal agreement between the Third Burmese Empire and Tokugawa Shogunate was signed, establishing a state of political equilibrium between the two powers in Dai Viet. Now, however, it seems that the Konbaung dynasty is moving to replace that cautious stance with a more assertive one, promoting ideas of Trans-Indochinese solidarity and pan-nationalism across the lands of Myanmar, Shan, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and independent Dai Viet. Capitalist clan structure of the Konbaung dynasty’s state apparatus made promotion of such egalitarian principles relatively hard, especially considering the fact that the Shan States and Siam proper are still controlled by local princes and monasteries bound to the Burmese rulers via ties of semi-feudal vassalage, making general population significantly aloof to any national identities. In Dai Viet, in addition, there was another inertia element to overcome: religion. Most of the Burmese population follow a conservative Theravada school of Buddhism, while Vietnamese population mostly adheres to the Mahayana tradition, widening the gap any pan-nationalists would have to overcome before uniting all Indochina under the banner of the Konbaung Dynasty. (Regional quest progress: 9.48%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -2.79 HC, -4.01 IC, -6.59 EC, -1.68 MC)
Foes or allies?
Q4 1893: The Third Burmese Empire has a long history of rivaling the British for control over South-East Asia and Assam. In 1893, however, it briefly found itself allying the Royal Commonwealth in efforts to contain Boer Indian Ocean expansion. Now that the East-Asian Spice Trading Company is effectively ruined and the Free Boer Republic is no longer a common enemy for the two powers, the Konbaung dynasty’s ambition again yearns eastward. Royal plenipotentiaries have started negotiating with luuhcu clan patriarchs and the kingdom’s nobility, getting them all on board with yet another geopolitical realignment and anti-British stance. As for commoners, setting them against the British proved to be an easy task, although much still needs to be done to develop complete unity of geopolitical views among the state’s political and economic elites. (Regional quest progress: 25.43%, Third Burmese Empire losses: -2.14 HC, -3.06 IC, -5.04 EC, -1.28 MC)
Chosama Island
Q4 1893: Temporary purchase of the Chotham Island by the Tokugawa Shogunate from the Third Burmese Empire was a minor concession, easing Japanese navy’s access to the Indian Ocean. However, the Japanese wouldn’t be themselves had they just rested on that minor gain. A series of jitsugyōka-sponsored public works started almost immediately across the entire landmass, renamed “Chosama” by the Japanese. The navy and the army, trying to not let the industrialists claim the territory solely for their commercial needs, hurried to establish modern port facilities and barracks across the island as well, turning it into a humble, but orderly naval station by the end of the year and tying neighboring Andaman and Nicobar islands closer to the Shogunate, being the closest center of commerce and trade for naturally isolated islands under Burmese suzerainty. (Regional quest completed with success, region South-East Asia gains +5 HC, +5 EC, Tokugawa Shogunate gains +0.5% Regional Influence, Third Burmese Empire loses -0.5% Regional Influence, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -1.12 HC, -0.51 IC, -2.02 EC, -2.25 MC)
Black Waters
Q4 1893: Known for their remote geographical location and brutal tropical climate, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were long used by the British Empire as a universal exile destination for dangerous criminals and political prisoners of will. After the rise of the Third Burmese Empire, this practice didn’t go away, although the conditions of prisoners were much improved thanks to a construction of the so-called Cellular Jail on the Chotham island. Nicknamed Kala Pani (or “Black Waters”) by Bengali migrant construction workers, the Cellular Prison is a compound that for a long time was used to keep rebellious Siamese and Laotian princes in somewhat humane, but still very regimented and isolated conditions. Now that the Chotham Island is leased to the Japanese, the status of the Black Waters prison is being questioned not only at the court of the Konbaung Emperor, but also among many of his vassal nobles.
Torpedo nets
Q4 1893: The Burmese Royal Navy had no experience of dealing with torpedo attacks during its brief and mostly bloodless Indian Ocean campaign, but Burmese observers familiar with the state of asymmetric naval warfare in the Atlantic Ocean point out that torpedoes indeed possess a potential to completely change the balance of powers in modern naval combat. While much still needs to be learned and understood, for now the Burmese decided to come up with their own simple torpedo defense measure: torpedo nets. Such is a name of passive ship defensive devices, hung out from the defending ship, when it’s moored or otherwise stationary in the water, on multiple horizontal booms. Simple and cheap to produce, torpedo nets are starting to become a common sight in Burmese naval bases. (Technology quest completed, Third Burmese Empire adopts “Torpedo nets” for no additional cost, Third Burmese Empire losses: -1.22 HC, -0.3 IC, -3.37 EC, -2.36 MC)
Canton-Yunnan
Spoiler :
Booming, but ethnically complex region with huge labor market and giant rural production and craftsmanship.
Q4 1893: Hopeful of the new state of market-friendly stability in Southern China, the Boers have returned to the Pear River delta, this time making sure to dissociated themselves from the infamous EAST-C, while simultaneously targeting British Hong Kong bankers and traders in their competition. (Free Boer Republic gains +0.53% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -0.53% Regional Influence, -0.99 HC, -1.61 IC, -2.24 EC, -0.55 MC)
God Worshipping Society
Q4 1893: Taping authorities continued working on not just punishing, but primarily converting or “re-educating” regular God Worshipping Society members to more mainstream Hongite ideology. With some of the more radical preachers either arrested or recruited to become pro-state agitators, the rank-and-file soon followed the case, eventually more or less dissolving in the growing pool of the mainstream Taiping flock. (Regional quest completed with success, region Canton-Yunnan gains +10 HC, +5 IC, +5 EC, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.76 HC, -0.68 IC, -0.95 EC, -0.16 MC)
Guangzhou-Changsha-Wuhan Railroad
Q4 1893: The Heavenly Chancellery is keen to link Wuhan to the Pearl River Delta. Such a railroad, as argued by the Southern King’s people in the bureaucracy, would serve to stitch the country together and allow the fruits of the two greatest industrial hubs of China to be exchanged. Fabric and raw materials from Asia would flow from the Pearl River and be exchanged for the consumer goods produced in Wuhan. Furthermore, by routing it through Chengzhou, Hengyang and Changsha, the Heavenly Kingdom’s economic planners hope to spread the fruit of China’s great transformation into the interior. Workers from these impoverished areas would hopefully flood into the factories, providing the nation with ever more labor to be put to productive uses, and their wages would help improve the livelihoods of those living in some of the poorest parts of Taiping China. Partially with the help of foreign engineering advisors from France and North America, and partially through their own industrial ingenuity, Chinese construction collectives have already accomplished approximately one third of the planned length of this ambitious infrastructure project, promising to finish it before Christmas of 1894 (Regional quest progress: 40.93%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.33 HC, -0.75 IC, -7.48 EC, -4.86 MC)
Stone in the shoe
Pre-calculated firing tables
Q4 1893: As a war on its north-western borders has been averted, the Heavenly Kingdom was happy to keep the pre-calculated artillery tables project financed at its minimum. However, its slow progress seems to be becoming a problem of its own. Due to China’s economic boom, hill levelling, canal digging, and railroad construction are starting to change the landscape so significantly that Chinese topographers had to recompile data arrays for previously inspected territories and feed them to the Divine and Heavenly Engines once again. People at the head of the project now urge the Heavenly Chancellery to assign more people and assets to this project, least it becomes an exercise in futility. (Technology quest progress: 18.24%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.21 HC, -0.95 IC, -9.45 EC, -6.13 MC)
Xīn yǔ, newspeak, and totalitarian linguistics
Q4 1893: Ideologues of Hongite Christianity have recently become known for their willingness to change not only the way their flock acts, but also the way it thinks and perceives the world. But in the late 1893, a first clumsy step was taken toward complete eradication of “impure” thought through changing the way people talk. The Changsha Scholastic School of Popular Linguistics was tasked by the Kings-Under-Heaven to start developing a radically new, synthetic linguistic system, designed to reinforce and promote ideological purity of its speakers. Dubbed xīn yǔ (or “newspeak”), this variation of Mandarine is expected to be censoring speech of its users on the most basic level, defining their world perception via word use and grammar. As witty (albeit, rather dark) as that idea is, it still stands very far away from any sort of practical implementation, as all attempts to introduce the newspeak even to the students of the Changsha Scholastic School of Popular Linguistics has led to nothing but a quiet disobedience and mockery. (Technology quest progress: -1.07%, Taiping Mandate losses: -6.32 HC, -5.67 IC, -7.91 EC, -1.37 MC)
Q4 1893: Hopeful of the new state of market-friendly stability in Southern China, the Boers have returned to the Pear River delta, this time making sure to dissociated themselves from the infamous EAST-C, while simultaneously targeting British Hong Kong bankers and traders in their competition. (Free Boer Republic gains +0.53% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -0.53% Regional Influence, -0.99 HC, -1.61 IC, -2.24 EC, -0.55 MC)
God Worshipping Society
Spoiler :
1890: The original founder of the Taiping movement, Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan may dead, but the original cult he formed some fifty years ago is still alive and as zealous as ever in Guangxi. In fact, recently the members of the God Worshipping Society have been complaining that the original purity of the movement has declined over the past twenty five years, with the council of Kings-Under-Heaven paying only the necessary lip service to the divine image of the Heavenly King who has joined his Father in Heaven. Outraged by decomposition of people’s morals (some men actually live with their wives!) and the practical, but impure policies of the government, these fanatics have started following Taiping bureaucrats and prefects, shaming them and shouting curses at them. Knowing the violent and rebellious nature of Hong Xiuquan’s devotees, it won’t be too long before some blood will be spilled.
Q3 1893: The House of Merciful Vigilance could no longer ignore the problem of increased radicalization of the source cult of the Taiping ideology. Their approach to combatting the God Worshipping Society’s discontent was two-pronged and deeply rooted in Chinese philosophical traditions. From the legalistic perspective, any action against state-enacted public order was viewed as a crime that had to be properly punished. On the other hand, from the utilitarian point of view, the God Worshipping Society’s actions (when they didn’t cross a certain line) could be used for ideological purposes. As a manifestation of the latter approach, a few more cooperative zealots were offered to become political propaganda workers on a few factories or in less well-developed villages. It seems like, at current rate the God Worshipping Society will be fully “domesticated” by the end of the year 1893. (Regional quest progress: 85.14%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.71 HC, -1.76 IC, -2.64 EC, -0.46 MC)
Q3 1893: The House of Merciful Vigilance could no longer ignore the problem of increased radicalization of the source cult of the Taiping ideology. Their approach to combatting the God Worshipping Society’s discontent was two-pronged and deeply rooted in Chinese philosophical traditions. From the legalistic perspective, any action against state-enacted public order was viewed as a crime that had to be properly punished. On the other hand, from the utilitarian point of view, the God Worshipping Society’s actions (when they didn’t cross a certain line) could be used for ideological purposes. As a manifestation of the latter approach, a few more cooperative zealots were offered to become political propaganda workers on a few factories or in less well-developed villages. It seems like, at current rate the God Worshipping Society will be fully “domesticated” by the end of the year 1893. (Regional quest progress: 85.14%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.71 HC, -1.76 IC, -2.64 EC, -0.46 MC)
Q4 1893: Taping authorities continued working on not just punishing, but primarily converting or “re-educating” regular God Worshipping Society members to more mainstream Hongite ideology. With some of the more radical preachers either arrested or recruited to become pro-state agitators, the rank-and-file soon followed the case, eventually more or less dissolving in the growing pool of the mainstream Taiping flock. (Regional quest completed with success, region Canton-Yunnan gains +10 HC, +5 IC, +5 EC, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.76 HC, -0.68 IC, -0.95 EC, -0.16 MC)
Guangzhou-Changsha-Wuhan Railroad
Q4 1893: The Heavenly Chancellery is keen to link Wuhan to the Pearl River Delta. Such a railroad, as argued by the Southern King’s people in the bureaucracy, would serve to stitch the country together and allow the fruits of the two greatest industrial hubs of China to be exchanged. Fabric and raw materials from Asia would flow from the Pearl River and be exchanged for the consumer goods produced in Wuhan. Furthermore, by routing it through Chengzhou, Hengyang and Changsha, the Heavenly Kingdom’s economic planners hope to spread the fruit of China’s great transformation into the interior. Workers from these impoverished areas would hopefully flood into the factories, providing the nation with ever more labor to be put to productive uses, and their wages would help improve the livelihoods of those living in some of the poorest parts of Taiping China. Partially with the help of foreign engineering advisors from France and North America, and partially through their own industrial ingenuity, Chinese construction collectives have already accomplished approximately one third of the planned length of this ambitious infrastructure project, promising to finish it before Christmas of 1894 (Regional quest progress: 40.93%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.33 HC, -0.75 IC, -7.48 EC, -4.86 MC)
Stone in the shoe
Spoiler :
1891: The Miao ethnicity is infamous of being an eternal problem of Chinese imperial bureaucracy, known for their resistance to assimilation and lean toward political autonomy. In order to mitigate this problem, 18th century Qing officials even tried to resettle a group of Miao peasants and mercenaries to the island of Hainan, where a position of kiatong was created for Miao self-governance. Now, however, the Miao seem to be somebody else’s problem. Tokugawa colonial authorities of Kainan are complaining that the warlike Miao communities residing in the mountains disrespect the authority of Bakufu officials and keep insisting on being ruled indirectly, through the kiatong government. Some experts don’t see any problem with some delegation of authority to otherwise non-hostile natives, but military and naval officers see the Miao as just another foe to be utterly crushed.
Pre-calculated firing tables
Spoiler :
1892: An ambitious new project has been announced by the Heavenly Kingdom’s high command. They plan to use Chinese analytical and difference engines to create a complete array of firing artillery tables for all locations across entire theaters of future operations, containing lists of angles of elevation a particular artillery gun barrel would need to be set to, to strike a target at a particular distance with a projectile of a particular weight using a propellant cartridge of a particular weight. Dozens of geological expeditions have been sent to different regions of China and its immediate borders, collecting vast arrays of data for the Heavenly Engine. The data-gathering effort may take quite a while, according to the experts familiar with the project, but in the end it could greatly improve the speed of target engagement by Taiping artillerymen.(Technology quest progress: 11.9%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.46 HC, -0.75 IC, -7.55 EC, -5.1 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: With the world slowly turning toward another series of ground-shaking conflicts, Chinese geologists continued busily mapping China and its border regions, only to feed that data arrays into the Heavenly Engine. (Technology quest progress: 19.95%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.63 HC, -0.59 IC, -5.83 EC, -3.85 MC)
Q3 1893: The Heavenly Engine continues grinding through huge arrays of data for pre-calculated firing tables of Taiping artillery corps, but the progress is underwhelmingly slow. Experts point out that more resources should be allocated to the project, if the leadership wishes to see new tables distributed among artillery officers anytime soon. (Technology quest progress: 25.14%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.16 HC, -0.71 IC, -7 EC, -4.62 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: With the world slowly turning toward another series of ground-shaking conflicts, Chinese geologists continued busily mapping China and its border regions, only to feed that data arrays into the Heavenly Engine. (Technology quest progress: 19.95%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.63 HC, -0.59 IC, -5.83 EC, -3.85 MC)
Q3 1893: The Heavenly Engine continues grinding through huge arrays of data for pre-calculated firing tables of Taiping artillery corps, but the progress is underwhelmingly slow. Experts point out that more resources should be allocated to the project, if the leadership wishes to see new tables distributed among artillery officers anytime soon. (Technology quest progress: 25.14%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.16 HC, -0.71 IC, -7 EC, -4.62 MC)
Q4 1893: As a war on its north-western borders has been averted, the Heavenly Kingdom was happy to keep the pre-calculated artillery tables project financed at its minimum. However, its slow progress seems to be becoming a problem of its own. Due to China’s economic boom, hill levelling, canal digging, and railroad construction are starting to change the landscape so significantly that Chinese topographers had to recompile data arrays for previously inspected territories and feed them to the Divine and Heavenly Engines once again. People at the head of the project now urge the Heavenly Chancellery to assign more people and assets to this project, least it becomes an exercise in futility. (Technology quest progress: 18.24%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.21 HC, -0.95 IC, -9.45 EC, -6.13 MC)
Xīn yǔ, newspeak, and totalitarian linguistics
Q4 1893: Ideologues of Hongite Christianity have recently become known for their willingness to change not only the way their flock acts, but also the way it thinks and perceives the world. But in the late 1893, a first clumsy step was taken toward complete eradication of “impure” thought through changing the way people talk. The Changsha Scholastic School of Popular Linguistics was tasked by the Kings-Under-Heaven to start developing a radically new, synthetic linguistic system, designed to reinforce and promote ideological purity of its speakers. Dubbed xīn yǔ (or “newspeak”), this variation of Mandarine is expected to be censoring speech of its users on the most basic level, defining their world perception via word use and grammar. As witty (albeit, rather dark) as that idea is, it still stands very far away from any sort of practical implementation, as all attempts to introduce the newspeak even to the students of the Changsha Scholastic School of Popular Linguistics has led to nothing but a quiet disobedience and mockery. (Technology quest progress: -1.07%, Taiping Mandate losses: -6.32 HC, -5.67 IC, -7.91 EC, -1.37 MC)
Yangtze Region
Spoiler :
Booming heart of China, with powerful agriculture and demographics and strong riverine trade.
Heaven and Earth Society
Kings-Under-Heavens
Q4 1893: The lease of four Indonesian ports from the troubled Dutch East Indies Company marked the highest point of the Long River King’s ambitions, while a major infrastructure projects at home and diplomatic outreach to other Asian countries as a part of the Thale Noi Lake Treaty helped to placate the Southern King and the King of the Yellow River. Despite the Northern King’s frustrations over the outcome of the Taiping-Ma ultimatum, the triumvirate of the other Kings-Under-Heaven was enough to stabilize the government for long enough to enable completion of its bureaucratic reforms. By the end of the year, various departments and ministries created on an ad-hoc basis throughout decades of the Taiping rule were joined into an organized central apparatus, giving the Heavenly Kingdom a better grasp on its internal policies. (Regional quest completed with success, region Yangtze Region gains +35 IC, Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Canton-Yunnan: Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Huanhe Region: Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Korea-Manchuria: Taiping Mandate gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Pacific Directory loses -0.25% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Taiping Mandate losses: -5.05 HC, -4.54 IC, -6.33 EC, -1.09 MC)
Chinese archaeology
Divinity Engine
Q4 1893: Encouraged by successes of fixing issues with the Heavenly Engine, Chinese bureaucrats have given a go to construction of yet another analytical engine, this one specifically hardwired to specialize on economic and industrial development and planning. Due to a specialized nature of this computing machine, it found relatively few applications outside its main field, but, nonetheless, construction of such a computing giant in mere months was a big step for Chinese cyberneticists, raising the country’s prestige abroad and also placating the King of the Long River in his endless competition with fellow Kings-Under-Heaven. (Regional quest completed with success, region Yangtze Region gains +10 IC, +5 EC, +5 MC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.5%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.7 HC, -0.16 IC, -1.58 EC, -1.02 MC)
Beijing-Nanjing-Wuhan Railroad
Q4 1893: The Heavenly Chancellery seems to be of the opinion that linking the great agricultural breadbasket of northern China to the industrial and agricultural hubs of central China and the capital of Nanjing offers similar economic benefits to the Guangzhou-Changsha-Wuhan Railroad currently constructed in the domain of the Southern King. A double row of iron tracks linking the length of the country could also be a potential political declaration of the Heavenly Kingdom’s intention to modernise. Besides, the Taiping general staff has argued that it would also allow the army to move troops rapidly around China in case of a sea blockade. With that in mind, the construction of the Beijing-Nanjing stretch of the railroad has started along the Nanjing-Jining-Jinan-Shijiazhuang-Beijing route, well away from the coast. By the end of the year, the military-critical sections of the railroad were completed, leaving the rest of the infrastructure project to be completed in 1894. (Regional quest progress: 38.27%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.03 HC, -0.91 IC, -9.06 EC, -5.88 MC)
Heaven and Earth Society
Spoiler :
1890: Ever since the Taiping takeover, smoking of opium has been strictly banned in Chinese cities. However, it appears that opium still gets smuggled into China by the semi-criminal anti-Taiping organization known as the Heaven And Earth Society, popularly nicknamed the Triad. Founded as a nationalist organization resisting the Manchu rule over China, the Triads now have shifted their focus to resisting the Taiping dominion, and they willingly use crime of all sorts to finance their activities.
Kings-Under-Heavens
Spoiler :
1890: Regional Kings-Under-Heaven are a second generation of higher bureaucrats that inherited the Taiping Mandate after the departure of the Heavenly King and a subsequent brief period of intrigues between his lieutenants. Now it appears that the Kings-Under-Heaven agree between each other that the “live and let live” approach to co-rulership is the best for now. What they don’t agree is what path should the Taiping state take now in its foreign policy. The Northern King demands that the Qing remnants are finished. The Western King wants to return Inner Mongolia to China, followed, maybe by Tibet. The Southern King’s ambitions lie in Dai Viet, already experiencing some Communard agitation, somewhat similar to the egalitarian ideas of the Taiping. The King of the Long River proposes what he calls Glorious Solitude, emphasizing inner development and limited foreign entanglements. Finally, the King of the Yellow River wants Taiping China to rival the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Pacific Ocean. Regardless of which faction wins, it appears that a lot of efforts would have to be put into placating the other four.
1891: This year was expected to become the year of Great Reconciliation between the Kings-Under-Heaven, as they and their factions of the Heavenly Chancellery were attempting to come to a series of geopolitical compromises and mutually supportive foreign policy goals. However, all coordination went to nothing when a foreign power tried to infiltrate the state bureaucracy, possibly for the purposes of political espionage, but also for disconcerting negotiations between the Kings-Under-Heavens. The cabinet war that resulted from this ended inconclusively, with the Heavenly Chancellery still functional, but in some disarray. (Regional quest progress: 1.24%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.82 HC, -1.03 IC, -1.77 EC, -0.35 MC, ??? losses: -0.6 HC, -0.88 IC, -1.45 EC, -0.01 MC)
1892: Dismayed over the last year’s cabinet war, the House of Merciful Vigilance of the Heavenly Kingdom chose to send its agents to investigate foreign penetration of the Heavenly Chancellery. To Taiping luck, in July their forces captured Harbin, and with it most of the remainders of the Qing Dynasty’s intelligence archive, indicating that it was the Qing court that was attempting to set off the Kings-Under-Heaven against each other. Once the full roster of Qing agents was found, the retribution was swift and violent. Now that the seeds of betrayal seem to be taken out, it may be the time to continue political consolidation of Taping elites. (Regional quest progress: 11.74%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.86 HC, -4.89 IC, -8.39 EC, -1.67 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: Work continued on realigning the Kings-Under-Heaven and their semi-independent bureaucracies into a decentralized, but unified joint administration, tied by a series of domestic and geopolitical compromises. Conquest of Manchuria went a long way at ensuring happiness of the Northern King, while the Southern King is happy to busy himself with pacification of Panthay and various mercantile opportunities in the Pearl River delta. The most frustrated of all is the King of the Yellow River, who sees Chinese sale of the Trans-Wusuli region and Taiping non-intervention in the Japanese conquest in Korea as a sign of maritime weakness that threatens to bar China from Pacific power projection for years. (Regional quest progress: 33.45%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.4 HC, -3.25 IC, -5.02 EC, -0.87 MC)
Q3 1893: The King of the Yellow River’s earlier frustration was dealt with this year, as the Heavenly Council approved Chinese intervention against the Boers and thus made an important (however small) step toward maritime power projection in the region. Meanwhile, the Southern King’s negative view of siding with the Burmese was somewhat compensated with a permission to ransack offices of the Boer East Asian Spice Trading Company. An aggressive pro-Han foreign policy in Outer Mongolia placated the Northern King, and booming economic growth made the King of the Long River quite content. This semblance of internal equilibrium was what allowed the Heavenly Chancellery to step in with its long-planned efforts to organize more permanent and hierarchical ministries for various aspects of the state. The work is still ongoing, with the Chancellery cadres doing their best to maneuver around the Kings-Under-Heavens and their perceptions of desired power balance, but the qualitative change it promises to bring to the Taiping state apparatus can be huge. (Regional quest progress: 61.64%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.06 HC, -4.17 IC, -6.26 EC, -1.08 MC)
1891: This year was expected to become the year of Great Reconciliation between the Kings-Under-Heaven, as they and their factions of the Heavenly Chancellery were attempting to come to a series of geopolitical compromises and mutually supportive foreign policy goals. However, all coordination went to nothing when a foreign power tried to infiltrate the state bureaucracy, possibly for the purposes of political espionage, but also for disconcerting negotiations between the Kings-Under-Heavens. The cabinet war that resulted from this ended inconclusively, with the Heavenly Chancellery still functional, but in some disarray. (Regional quest progress: 1.24%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.82 HC, -1.03 IC, -1.77 EC, -0.35 MC, ??? losses: -0.6 HC, -0.88 IC, -1.45 EC, -0.01 MC)
1892: Dismayed over the last year’s cabinet war, the House of Merciful Vigilance of the Heavenly Kingdom chose to send its agents to investigate foreign penetration of the Heavenly Chancellery. To Taiping luck, in July their forces captured Harbin, and with it most of the remainders of the Qing Dynasty’s intelligence archive, indicating that it was the Qing court that was attempting to set off the Kings-Under-Heaven against each other. Once the full roster of Qing agents was found, the retribution was swift and violent. Now that the seeds of betrayal seem to be taken out, it may be the time to continue political consolidation of Taping elites. (Regional quest progress: 11.74%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.86 HC, -4.89 IC, -8.39 EC, -1.67 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: Work continued on realigning the Kings-Under-Heaven and their semi-independent bureaucracies into a decentralized, but unified joint administration, tied by a series of domestic and geopolitical compromises. Conquest of Manchuria went a long way at ensuring happiness of the Northern King, while the Southern King is happy to busy himself with pacification of Panthay and various mercantile opportunities in the Pearl River delta. The most frustrated of all is the King of the Yellow River, who sees Chinese sale of the Trans-Wusuli region and Taiping non-intervention in the Japanese conquest in Korea as a sign of maritime weakness that threatens to bar China from Pacific power projection for years. (Regional quest progress: 33.45%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.4 HC, -3.25 IC, -5.02 EC, -0.87 MC)
Q3 1893: The King of the Yellow River’s earlier frustration was dealt with this year, as the Heavenly Council approved Chinese intervention against the Boers and thus made an important (however small) step toward maritime power projection in the region. Meanwhile, the Southern King’s negative view of siding with the Burmese was somewhat compensated with a permission to ransack offices of the Boer East Asian Spice Trading Company. An aggressive pro-Han foreign policy in Outer Mongolia placated the Northern King, and booming economic growth made the King of the Long River quite content. This semblance of internal equilibrium was what allowed the Heavenly Chancellery to step in with its long-planned efforts to organize more permanent and hierarchical ministries for various aspects of the state. The work is still ongoing, with the Chancellery cadres doing their best to maneuver around the Kings-Under-Heavens and their perceptions of desired power balance, but the qualitative change it promises to bring to the Taiping state apparatus can be huge. (Regional quest progress: 61.64%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.06 HC, -4.17 IC, -6.26 EC, -1.08 MC)
Q4 1893: The lease of four Indonesian ports from the troubled Dutch East Indies Company marked the highest point of the Long River King’s ambitions, while a major infrastructure projects at home and diplomatic outreach to other Asian countries as a part of the Thale Noi Lake Treaty helped to placate the Southern King and the King of the Yellow River. Despite the Northern King’s frustrations over the outcome of the Taiping-Ma ultimatum, the triumvirate of the other Kings-Under-Heaven was enough to stabilize the government for long enough to enable completion of its bureaucratic reforms. By the end of the year, various departments and ministries created on an ad-hoc basis throughout decades of the Taiping rule were joined into an organized central apparatus, giving the Heavenly Kingdom a better grasp on its internal policies. (Regional quest completed with success, region Yangtze Region gains +35 IC, Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Canton-Yunnan: Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Huanhe Region: Taiping Mandate gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Communard France loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, region Korea-Manchuria: Taiping Mandate gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Pacific Directory loses -0.25% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.75% Regional Influence, Taiping Mandate losses: -5.05 HC, -4.54 IC, -6.33 EC, -1.09 MC)
Chinese archaeology
Spoiler :
Q3 1893: China is considered the oldest uninterrupted civilization on Earth by some scholars, and it’s no wonder that its history is now attracting the attention of its Taiping rulers. One of the first Kings-Under-Heavens to express his interest to researching his country’s distant past was the King of the Long River. Now, he is looking to put together archaeological groups who could start exploring ancient sites around the Downstream Plan and Sichuan Basin - not the earliest cradles of Bronze Age Chinese kingdoms, but important regions of Chinese history nonetheless. And who knows, perhaps, looking at his successes, other Kings-Under-Heavens could join the suit.
Divinity Engine
Q4 1893: Encouraged by successes of fixing issues with the Heavenly Engine, Chinese bureaucrats have given a go to construction of yet another analytical engine, this one specifically hardwired to specialize on economic and industrial development and planning. Due to a specialized nature of this computing machine, it found relatively few applications outside its main field, but, nonetheless, construction of such a computing giant in mere months was a big step for Chinese cyberneticists, raising the country’s prestige abroad and also placating the King of the Long River in his endless competition with fellow Kings-Under-Heaven. (Regional quest completed with success, region Yangtze Region gains +10 IC, +5 EC, +5 MC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +0.5%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.7 HC, -0.16 IC, -1.58 EC, -1.02 MC)
Beijing-Nanjing-Wuhan Railroad
Q4 1893: The Heavenly Chancellery seems to be of the opinion that linking the great agricultural breadbasket of northern China to the industrial and agricultural hubs of central China and the capital of Nanjing offers similar economic benefits to the Guangzhou-Changsha-Wuhan Railroad currently constructed in the domain of the Southern King. A double row of iron tracks linking the length of the country could also be a potential political declaration of the Heavenly Kingdom’s intention to modernise. Besides, the Taiping general staff has argued that it would also allow the army to move troops rapidly around China in case of a sea blockade. With that in mind, the construction of the Beijing-Nanjing stretch of the railroad has started along the Nanjing-Jining-Jinan-Shijiazhuang-Beijing route, well away from the coast. By the end of the year, the military-critical sections of the railroad were completed, leaving the rest of the infrastructure project to be completed in 1894. (Regional quest progress: 38.27%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.03 HC, -0.91 IC, -9.06 EC, -5.88 MC)
Huanhe Region
Spoiler :
Booming core Chinese region with huge demographic and agricultural capacity.
The Scourge of the Han People
Q4 1893: Quite happy with the success of its pricing board, the Heavenly Chancellery made sure to throw amassed resources of its state construction companies to building modern dams along the flow of the Huanhe River before the spring flood came. The effort was successful, and by the end of the year statisticians of the Heavenly Kingdom started to notice significant regional economic growth, especially in the sphere of agricultural production. (Regional quest completed with full success, region Huanhe Region gains +35 EC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +2.25%, Regional Growth Trend +0.25%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.8 HC, -0.63 IC, -6.3 EC, -4.09 MC)
House caves of the Yellow Earth Plateau
Q4 1893: The Huangtu (“Yellow Earth”) Plateau covering most of the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces also features the largest agglomeration of earth dwellings in the world. Known as yaodong (“house caves”), these buildings are literally dug in hillsides, with only facades and front-facing courtyards featuring any sort of erected structures. Naturally well-insulated and cheap, yaodongs are primarily dwellings of choice for poor villagers, but architectural planners from the Heavenly Chancellery suggest that they might be perfect blueprints for the future of Chinese rural and even urban architecture across the country: cheap, quick to build, and ecologically sustainable. Meanwhile, critics point out that yaodongs, for all their virtues, have several flaws. They provide citizens with too much privacy (“who knows what kind of sin may be taking place in a windowless cave!”) and also can easily become mortal traps in case of fire or an earthquake (after all, it was the prevalence of yaodongs that caused 830 thousand deaths during the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake). Now the Chancellery’s bureaucrats need to decide how they wish to handle the housing issue that’s been plaguing the most populous nation in the world for centuries.
Cadres for the Heavenly Kingdom
Q4 1893: Wishing to establish a proper educational pipeline for preparing qualified cadres for the Heavenly Chancellery, Taiping authorities reached out to village schools and child labor unions, looking for strong-willed, capable, and loyal youth that could become the second generation of Taiping low-level leaders. This finished the creation of a holistic system that promises to supply Chinese regime with magistrates for years and decades to come. (Regional quest completed with success, region Huanhe Region gains +15 IC, region Yangtze Region agins +10 IC, region Canton-Yunnan +10 IC, region Korea-Manchuria gains +5 IC, Taiping Mandate losses: -5.31 HC, -4.76 IC, -6.64 EC, -1.15 MC)
Henan Wooden Clappers
Q4 1894: Henan Bangzi (“Wooden Clappers of Henan”) is a type of Chinese opera genre, loved among common people for its traditional simplicity. Most of Henan bangzi performances require no makeup and very little (if any) musical arrangement, making it a perfect version of popular art. During the Qing Dynasty era, it was known as Yuju opera and often was looked down upon by rich donors. The Taiping War and institution of the Heavenly Kingdom barely changed the status of Henan Bangzi: just like many other displays of natural human emotion and joy, musical theater was seen negatively by the first generation of Hongite purists. Now, as the nation is moving away from Hongite orthodoxy of the early days of the Rebellion, some voices are heard suggesting that the Wooden Clappers of Henan deserve bureaucracy’s attention and even promotion among the common folk as a Taiping-friendly version of traditional Chinese art.
Heavenly Engine
Q4 1893: After all the struggle with repair and security of the Heavenly Engine, the project was finally completed and signed off this year, synergizing nicely with the construction of a brand new Divinity Engine built in Wuhan. (Regional quest completed with success, region Huanhe Region gains +15 IC, +0.5% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.4 HC, -0.32 IC, -3.15 EC, -2.04 MC)
Muscular Christianity
Q4 1893: Brother Hong’s version of Christianity lying in the foundation of the Taiping ideology is in many ways heterodox and even alien to Europeans. Yet, Christian undertones of the new Chinese popular philosophy, as well as gradual modernization of the country, attract a number of European and American missionaries to China. There they carefully proselytize among locals, hoping to not contradict any major formulas of Hongite faith directly. One resulting trend that has taken a hold in the Central Plains of China is known as “muscular Christianity.” In essence, it’s simply promotion of athleticism, physical education, and amateur sports in their Western fashion. The trainers (who just happen to also be Protestant preachers, usually from Deseret or the North-American Union) explain to their trainees that it’s a duty to God (and, of course, to Brother Hong) to keep one’s body in His image. The “muscular Christianity” athletic clubs attract quite a lot of following recently, but also cause discontent among more tradition-minded locals, who’d rather have Taiping citizens follow the ancient Chinese “boxing” practices.
Alternating current
Q4 1893: Despite all the scepticism of the world engineering community, the alternating current research ongoing in Wuhan attracted interest of some of the world leaders in power generation. Teams of researchers and engineers from Japan and North Germany reached an agreement with South-Chinese single daughters and the Southern King himself to come to Canton and participate in the development of that promising new technology. Significant progress indeed was achieved, and experts expect first AC generators to become industrially available by spring of the next year. Meanwhile, some ideologic hardliners in the Heavenly Kingdom question the Southern King’s decision, as it opened the door for the nation’s competitors to its technological knowledge bank in this potentially game-changing field. (Technology quest progress: 95.88%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.23 HC, -0.28 IC, -2.76 EC, -1.79 MC, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -1.22HC, -0.27 IC, -3 EC, -2.29 MC, North German Federation losses: -0.95 HC, -0.22 IC, -2.63 EC, -2.14 MC)
The Scourge of the Han People
Spoiler :
1890: The Yellow River was nicknamed “the Scourge of the Han People” for regularly going over its level and flooding nearby fields. With the number of peasants greater than ever thanks to the Taiping agriculturalist practices, now these floods are becoming ever more devastating. So far, major famines have been prevented thanks to redistribution of food by local authorities, but more and more people demand that the King-Under-Heaven does something to remedy the disaster, even if it means praying more to the Heavenly King and his Father.
1891: The Taiping administration has embarked on a progressive and well-planned out agricultural modernization campaign, with simple, low-scope technological improvements being introduced in selected communities across the country and flood dams being built along the Huanhe river. However, the plan that was good on paper suffered from poor implementation, partially due to bad decision-making by lower-tier managers, and partially from the resistance of peasants to changes (especially considering how many such changes have already occurred in their life over the past few decades). Another flooding of the Huanhe valley only added to this arrange of woes and challenges. Experts point out that the plan adopted by the Heavenly Chancellery is still very sane, but requires a larger concentration of economic efforts and/or significant improvements in technology and practices used in Chinese state enterprises. (Regional quest progress: -3.21%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.32 HC, -0.94 IC, -9.44 EC, -6.38 MC)
1892: The King of the Yellow River seems to have learned the right lessons from the last year’s disasters. In order to award more progressive peasants, he has persuaded other Kings-Under-Heaven to let him ease religious requirements of gender segregation for most productive village workers, allowing them to live with their husbands and wives, under the assumption that such good workers have already proven to be good Christians, foreign to any caral temptations. Meanwhile, the first generation of trusted cadres was trained and thinly distributed across the country to supervise high-priority rural projects that are expected to showcase the successes of Taiping “modern agriculturalism” to passive peasantry. This indeed helped to recover the Huanhe valley from the last year’s flood, and first model villages are starting to draw envy and admiration of regular commoners, although a lot is still to be done before the changes become widespread enough to affect the whole region. (Regional quest progress: 6.67%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.3 HC, -3.18 IC, -9.38 EC, -4.12 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: For now, construction of dams and canals to protect farmers from Huanhe floods has stopped. Instead, the government concentrated on making sure that peasant communes and even rare single farmsteads could effectively recover from such events and earn money while doing so. The All-China Pricing Board helped with the latter effort, opening a futures trading opportunity for top suppliers and providing countless villages with a steady, predictable flow of humble wealth. That effort was largely helpful, and in upcoming years could transform agriculture in the Huanhe river valley. (Regional quest progress: 42.76%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.35 HC, -2.57 IC, -7.24 EC, -3.15 MC)
Q3 1893: Agricultural reforms and modernization programs sweeping through the Central Plains continued rolling at a healthy pace, as was proven by a great harvest this fall. However, some of the more cautious observers (or alarmists, as some call them) point out that this is the last chance for the Heavenly Chancellery and the King of the Yellow River to do something about the Huanhe River’s annual floods and addressing their consequences. Come spring, they say, the newly enriched peasantry may lose everything they have earned over three years of struggle. (Regional quest progress: 96%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.38 HC, -1.79 IC, -6.65 EC, -3.42 MC)
1891: The Taiping administration has embarked on a progressive and well-planned out agricultural modernization campaign, with simple, low-scope technological improvements being introduced in selected communities across the country and flood dams being built along the Huanhe river. However, the plan that was good on paper suffered from poor implementation, partially due to bad decision-making by lower-tier managers, and partially from the resistance of peasants to changes (especially considering how many such changes have already occurred in their life over the past few decades). Another flooding of the Huanhe valley only added to this arrange of woes and challenges. Experts point out that the plan adopted by the Heavenly Chancellery is still very sane, but requires a larger concentration of economic efforts and/or significant improvements in technology and practices used in Chinese state enterprises. (Regional quest progress: -3.21%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.32 HC, -0.94 IC, -9.44 EC, -6.38 MC)
1892: The King of the Yellow River seems to have learned the right lessons from the last year’s disasters. In order to award more progressive peasants, he has persuaded other Kings-Under-Heaven to let him ease religious requirements of gender segregation for most productive village workers, allowing them to live with their husbands and wives, under the assumption that such good workers have already proven to be good Christians, foreign to any caral temptations. Meanwhile, the first generation of trusted cadres was trained and thinly distributed across the country to supervise high-priority rural projects that are expected to showcase the successes of Taiping “modern agriculturalism” to passive peasantry. This indeed helped to recover the Huanhe valley from the last year’s flood, and first model villages are starting to draw envy and admiration of regular commoners, although a lot is still to be done before the changes become widespread enough to affect the whole region. (Regional quest progress: 6.67%, Taiping Mandate losses: -4.3 HC, -3.18 IC, -9.38 EC, -4.12 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: For now, construction of dams and canals to protect farmers from Huanhe floods has stopped. Instead, the government concentrated on making sure that peasant communes and even rare single farmsteads could effectively recover from such events and earn money while doing so. The All-China Pricing Board helped with the latter effort, opening a futures trading opportunity for top suppliers and providing countless villages with a steady, predictable flow of humble wealth. That effort was largely helpful, and in upcoming years could transform agriculture in the Huanhe river valley. (Regional quest progress: 42.76%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.35 HC, -2.57 IC, -7.24 EC, -3.15 MC)
Q3 1893: Agricultural reforms and modernization programs sweeping through the Central Plains continued rolling at a healthy pace, as was proven by a great harvest this fall. However, some of the more cautious observers (or alarmists, as some call them) point out that this is the last chance for the Heavenly Chancellery and the King of the Yellow River to do something about the Huanhe River’s annual floods and addressing their consequences. Come spring, they say, the newly enriched peasantry may lose everything they have earned over three years of struggle. (Regional quest progress: 96%, Taiping Mandate losses: -3.38 HC, -1.79 IC, -6.65 EC, -3.42 MC)
Q4 1893: Quite happy with the success of its pricing board, the Heavenly Chancellery made sure to throw amassed resources of its state construction companies to building modern dams along the flow of the Huanhe River before the spring flood came. The effort was successful, and by the end of the year statisticians of the Heavenly Kingdom started to notice significant regional economic growth, especially in the sphere of agricultural production. (Regional quest completed with full success, region Huanhe Region gains +35 EC, Regional Growth Fluctuation +2.25%, Regional Growth Trend +0.25%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.8 HC, -0.63 IC, -6.3 EC, -4.09 MC)
House caves of the Yellow Earth Plateau
Q4 1893: The Huangtu (“Yellow Earth”) Plateau covering most of the Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces also features the largest agglomeration of earth dwellings in the world. Known as yaodong (“house caves”), these buildings are literally dug in hillsides, with only facades and front-facing courtyards featuring any sort of erected structures. Naturally well-insulated and cheap, yaodongs are primarily dwellings of choice for poor villagers, but architectural planners from the Heavenly Chancellery suggest that they might be perfect blueprints for the future of Chinese rural and even urban architecture across the country: cheap, quick to build, and ecologically sustainable. Meanwhile, critics point out that yaodongs, for all their virtues, have several flaws. They provide citizens with too much privacy (“who knows what kind of sin may be taking place in a windowless cave!”) and also can easily become mortal traps in case of fire or an earthquake (after all, it was the prevalence of yaodongs that caused 830 thousand deaths during the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake). Now the Chancellery’s bureaucrats need to decide how they wish to handle the housing issue that’s been plaguing the most populous nation in the world for centuries.
Cadres for the Heavenly Kingdom
Spoiler :
Q1-Q2 1893: The Heavenly Chancellery has rightfully recognized that improving education standards for the entirety of Chinese population could take decades of work and an abyss of funding. Therefore, for now it wants to concentrate on training a corps of well-motivated consultants, experts, and social agitators, named in formal papers simply as “the cadres.” The program for training just such jacks-of-all-trades was initiated this winter in the Henan province, with its branch schools opening throughout the entire region. Political experts also point out that the program’s origination in the Huanhe River region, despite its all-Chinese reach, could elevate the King of the Yellow River among other Kings-Under-Heaven. (Regional quest progress: 10.81%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.72 HC, -3.69 IC, -5.69 EC, -0.98 MC)
Q3 1893: Correctly realizing that ruling China is a great balancing act of some sorts, the Heavenly Chancellery pushed for a greater dispersal of cadre preparation schools throughout all China. Not only did it help to limit elevation of the ing of the Yellow River, but it also produced stunning results, perhaps because it allowed the program to tap into other regions’ subclass of educated and enthusiastic experts, ripe for joining the state apparatus. Observing instructors point out that same level of success may be hard to keep throughout the entire training program, as enrollment is projected to drop once the most enthusiastic volunteers join the cadres in full force, but they still admit, that most of the staffing problems faced by the Heavenly Chancellery may be resolved relatively soon. (Regional quest progress: 52.71%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.13 HC, -2.2 IC, -3.30 EC, -0.57 MC)
Q3 1893: Correctly realizing that ruling China is a great balancing act of some sorts, the Heavenly Chancellery pushed for a greater dispersal of cadre preparation schools throughout all China. Not only did it help to limit elevation of the ing of the Yellow River, but it also produced stunning results, perhaps because it allowed the program to tap into other regions’ subclass of educated and enthusiastic experts, ripe for joining the state apparatus. Observing instructors point out that same level of success may be hard to keep throughout the entire training program, as enrollment is projected to drop once the most enthusiastic volunteers join the cadres in full force, but they still admit, that most of the staffing problems faced by the Heavenly Chancellery may be resolved relatively soon. (Regional quest progress: 52.71%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.13 HC, -2.2 IC, -3.30 EC, -0.57 MC)
Q4 1893: Wishing to establish a proper educational pipeline for preparing qualified cadres for the Heavenly Chancellery, Taiping authorities reached out to village schools and child labor unions, looking for strong-willed, capable, and loyal youth that could become the second generation of Taiping low-level leaders. This finished the creation of a holistic system that promises to supply Chinese regime with magistrates for years and decades to come. (Regional quest completed with success, region Huanhe Region gains +15 IC, region Yangtze Region agins +10 IC, region Canton-Yunnan +10 IC, region Korea-Manchuria gains +5 IC, Taiping Mandate losses: -5.31 HC, -4.76 IC, -6.64 EC, -1.15 MC)
Henan Wooden Clappers
Q4 1894: Henan Bangzi (“Wooden Clappers of Henan”) is a type of Chinese opera genre, loved among common people for its traditional simplicity. Most of Henan bangzi performances require no makeup and very little (if any) musical arrangement, making it a perfect version of popular art. During the Qing Dynasty era, it was known as Yuju opera and often was looked down upon by rich donors. The Taiping War and institution of the Heavenly Kingdom barely changed the status of Henan Bangzi: just like many other displays of natural human emotion and joy, musical theater was seen negatively by the first generation of Hongite purists. Now, as the nation is moving away from Hongite orthodoxy of the early days of the Rebellion, some voices are heard suggesting that the Wooden Clappers of Henan deserve bureaucracy’s attention and even promotion among the common folk as a Taiping-friendly version of traditional Chinese art.
Heavenly Engine
Spoiler :
1890: The construction of the first Chinese analytical engine in Zhengzhou five years ago did not only uplift Taiping China to its major power status, but also was a pinnacle of the Northern King’s influence in Taiping internal politics. Today, this giant machine is helping the nation with its economic boom, resolving problems ranging from engineering to popular census to manufacture administration. However, it seems like too many things in China still are being done the old way, and the Heavenly Engine, as it was nicknamed, doesn’t get nearly enough work to keep it running all the time. All engineers agree that keeping the machine dormant even for short periods of time may wear it out, so they suggest finding to find at least some way of keeping the machine busy. Now the question is what sort of programmes should be used to occupy the Heavenly Engine with the most effectiveness.
1891: Taiping authorities chose to abandon mathematical metaphysics and concentrate the engine’s resources on balancing out national planned economy. The new set of statistical programmes have started giving rather encouraging results, already having prevented coal shortages during an industrialization effort in the province of Hunan. (Regional quest progress: 34.29%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.51 HC, -0.33 IC, -3.30 EC, -2.23 MC)
While newly written programmes were still being tested in a prototype run, it became obvious that the Heavenly Engine was malfunctioning intermittently. To the horror of anointed inspectors sent by the Table of Kings-Under-Heaven, it appears that some dark forces have been trying to sabotage the analytical machine. Had it not been for the agriculture programme project and the selfless, thorough work done by the quality assurance engineers assigned to it, the Heavenly Engine could have been completely and utterly ruined! Even now, it may be the matter of paramount importance for the Taiping secret service to ensure the mysterious saboteurs don’t finish what they’ve started. (Regional quest progress: -108.36%, ??? losses: -1.27 HC, -1.61 IC, -2.70 EC, -0.88 MC)
1892: Fixing last year’s sabotage of the Heavenly Engine has proven to be a heavy task for Taiping engineers, and their reports indicate that, besides simple mechanical damage, some advanced engine-clacking techniques unknown in China were used to the perpetrators to infect the main analytical modus with running errors. Luckily, no more sabotage attempts took place throughout the year, allowing Taiping programme typists to work undisturbed. (Regional quest progress: -50.05%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.3 HC, -0.28 IC, -2.83 EC, -1.91 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: Defect fixing efforts surrounding the sabotage of the Heavenly Engine have continued this year, with maintenance windows scheduled on a monthly basis, in between necessary workloads. Official reports show that growing sophistication of Chinese programme encoding techniques is helping with defect resolution, although Taiping quality assurance engineers familiar with this highly sensitive project point out that the connection could be the opposite one: by encountering more sophisticated engine-clacking techniques used by foreign saboteurs, Chinese encoders have no chance but to improve their own.(Regional quest progress: 7.64%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.28 HC, -1.73 IC, -2.68 EC, -0.46 MC)
Q3 1893: Now that the earlier damage done to the Heavenly Engine has been dealt with, Taiping government has started to invest into developing its programme modules that could help with optimization of infrastructure network and planned economy, with special attention being granted to the new industrial project outfitted in Wuhan. The progress was stunning, and only last-minute redirection of qualified cadres to anti-Boer nationalization efforts in Canton didn’t let the Heavenly Engine’s engineers and statisticians finish their work by October. (Regional quest progress: 79.5%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.88 HC, -0.2 IC, -1.94 EC, -1.28 MC)
1891: Taiping authorities chose to abandon mathematical metaphysics and concentrate the engine’s resources on balancing out national planned economy. The new set of statistical programmes have started giving rather encouraging results, already having prevented coal shortages during an industrialization effort in the province of Hunan. (Regional quest progress: 34.29%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.51 HC, -0.33 IC, -3.30 EC, -2.23 MC)
While newly written programmes were still being tested in a prototype run, it became obvious that the Heavenly Engine was malfunctioning intermittently. To the horror of anointed inspectors sent by the Table of Kings-Under-Heaven, it appears that some dark forces have been trying to sabotage the analytical machine. Had it not been for the agriculture programme project and the selfless, thorough work done by the quality assurance engineers assigned to it, the Heavenly Engine could have been completely and utterly ruined! Even now, it may be the matter of paramount importance for the Taiping secret service to ensure the mysterious saboteurs don’t finish what they’ve started. (Regional quest progress: -108.36%, ??? losses: -1.27 HC, -1.61 IC, -2.70 EC, -0.88 MC)
1892: Fixing last year’s sabotage of the Heavenly Engine has proven to be a heavy task for Taiping engineers, and their reports indicate that, besides simple mechanical damage, some advanced engine-clacking techniques unknown in China were used to the perpetrators to infect the main analytical modus with running errors. Luckily, no more sabotage attempts took place throughout the year, allowing Taiping programme typists to work undisturbed. (Regional quest progress: -50.05%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.3 HC, -0.28 IC, -2.83 EC, -1.91 MC)
Q1-Q2 1893: Defect fixing efforts surrounding the sabotage of the Heavenly Engine have continued this year, with maintenance windows scheduled on a monthly basis, in between necessary workloads. Official reports show that growing sophistication of Chinese programme encoding techniques is helping with defect resolution, although Taiping quality assurance engineers familiar with this highly sensitive project point out that the connection could be the opposite one: by encountering more sophisticated engine-clacking techniques used by foreign saboteurs, Chinese encoders have no chance but to improve their own.(Regional quest progress: 7.64%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.28 HC, -1.73 IC, -2.68 EC, -0.46 MC)
Q3 1893: Now that the earlier damage done to the Heavenly Engine has been dealt with, Taiping government has started to invest into developing its programme modules that could help with optimization of infrastructure network and planned economy, with special attention being granted to the new industrial project outfitted in Wuhan. The progress was stunning, and only last-minute redirection of qualified cadres to anti-Boer nationalization efforts in Canton didn’t let the Heavenly Engine’s engineers and statisticians finish their work by October. (Regional quest progress: 79.5%, Taiping Mandate losses: -0.88 HC, -0.2 IC, -1.94 EC, -1.28 MC)
Q4 1893: After all the struggle with repair and security of the Heavenly Engine, the project was finally completed and signed off this year, synergizing nicely with the construction of a brand new Divinity Engine built in Wuhan. (Regional quest completed with success, region Huanhe Region gains +15 IC, +0.5% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.4 HC, -0.32 IC, -3.15 EC, -2.04 MC)
Muscular Christianity
Q4 1893: Brother Hong’s version of Christianity lying in the foundation of the Taiping ideology is in many ways heterodox and even alien to Europeans. Yet, Christian undertones of the new Chinese popular philosophy, as well as gradual modernization of the country, attract a number of European and American missionaries to China. There they carefully proselytize among locals, hoping to not contradict any major formulas of Hongite faith directly. One resulting trend that has taken a hold in the Central Plains of China is known as “muscular Christianity.” In essence, it’s simply promotion of athleticism, physical education, and amateur sports in their Western fashion. The trainers (who just happen to also be Protestant preachers, usually from Deseret or the North-American Union) explain to their trainees that it’s a duty to God (and, of course, to Brother Hong) to keep one’s body in His image. The “muscular Christianity” athletic clubs attract quite a lot of following recently, but also cause discontent among more tradition-minded locals, who’d rather have Taiping citizens follow the ancient Chinese “boxing” practices.
Alternating current
Spoiler :
Q3 1893: Despite the sheer size of the Chinese economy, that part of Asia is rarely associated with industrial innovation. That perception may change soon, as extensive Single Daughters’ Wuhan factories are starting to experiment with an emerging form of electric power generation based on the flow of electrical charge carriers that periodically reverses direction. That approach is different from the mainstream source of electricity, known as the direct current. Foreign sceptics already call Chinese experiments laughably useless and quite dangerous, but first industrial tests show great potential of the new power generation method. (Technology quest progress: 37.71%, Taiping Mandate losses: -2.45 HC, -0.55 IC, -5.44 EC, -3.6 MC)
Q4 1893: Despite all the scepticism of the world engineering community, the alternating current research ongoing in Wuhan attracted interest of some of the world leaders in power generation. Teams of researchers and engineers from Japan and North Germany reached an agreement with South-Chinese single daughters and the Southern King himself to come to Canton and participate in the development of that promising new technology. Significant progress indeed was achieved, and experts expect first AC generators to become industrially available by spring of the next year. Meanwhile, some ideologic hardliners in the Heavenly Kingdom question the Southern King’s decision, as it opened the door for the nation’s competitors to its technological knowledge bank in this potentially game-changing field. (Technology quest progress: 95.88%, Taiping Mandate losses: -1.23 HC, -0.28 IC, -2.76 EC, -1.79 MC, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -1.22HC, -0.27 IC, -3 EC, -2.29 MC, North German Federation losses: -0.95 HC, -0.22 IC, -2.63 EC, -2.14 MC)