Symphony D.
Deity
OOC: I'm betting on a Far East spotlight this turn. 
NES2 VI - Last Semblance of Order.
- Thread starter das
- Start date
Swissempire
Poet Jester
With my Invasions of Portugal and France and Japan, i find that unlikely
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Things will certainly take an unexpected turn...
Insane_Panda
Deity
Indeed, especially with at least 173 divisions attacking you
Symphony D.
Deity
OOC: Which, depending on your definition of a Division, is anywhere from 1,730,000 to 3,460,000 Allied soldiers... Don't forget tossi and silver might have sent some in addition to this figure too.
alex994
Hail Divine Emperor!
How will you feed 3 million soldiers in China... 
It's not exactly something you can throw money at 
Money in the end is just a rare metal...
It's not exactly something you can throw money at Money in the end is just a rare metal...
Insane_Panda
Deity
The forces are about evenly split between me and Symphony, and I have considerable agricultural surpluses. My fleet maintains open lines of supplies aswell.
Things don't look so good for China do they? Mr. I-am-an-american-rebellion-in-france-my-ass
Things don't look so good for China do they? Mr. I-am-an-american-rebellion-in-france-my-ass
Symphony D.
Deity
OOC: Actually it's roughly 2:1 in your favor. That said, I have my ways. You need to read up on your Che Guevara and Orson Scott Card. 
Anyway, enough spam for now.
Anyway, enough spam for now.
Disenfrancised
Beep Beep
alex994 said:
I'd like to use a
here but I just don't think its sufficent somehow...
Sultan Suleiman once again addressed his people out of the Ottoman Porte in Ankara.
"Abyssinia has been most difficult to bring to peace. But I believe now that they will be pacified.
The nation of Sennar, our longtime ally, is becoming rotten. To this there is little argument. And this state of that nation is what Abyssinia claims to be its reason for attacking in the first place. A reasonable claim, yet wars do not start truly for the reason of helping your neighbour. Diplomacy is the key to assistance.
And we have used diplomacy. But Abyssinia is stubborn. At first, it seemed that they would accept nothing less than the total destruction of Sennar. But I have seen to it that this goal has been broken down.
I have sent a fair peace offer, to settle the comflict between these two nations and save their people from terrible suffering.
Yet there has been no response. So I have done what is the best mix of pro-Sennarese action and pro-peace diplomacy. Peacekeeping forces have been sent to Sennar. They will not aggressively fight the Abyssinians, but will defend and aid the Sennarese.
But it is my hope that these forces will be unnecessary. My forces are instructed to propose my latest peace offer to the Abyssinians. The contested region on the border of the two nations shall remain in Abyssinia, and Sennar shall be co-operatively rebuilt, ensuring future stability in the African nations on our border."
Suleiman finished his speech. The silent crowd burst into applause. Suleiman nodded to them, then stepped back into the building, pondering his actions. He was, of course hopeful for peace in Africa. But Abyssinia was being worryingly uncommunicative. It both acted the aggressor in a war, and acted a victim bullied by a larger power. Very frustrating.
Suleiman reclined on a couch. There was little else to do now. The forces were already sent, all of his actions taken throughout were taking effect. There was nothing to do now, but wait- and plan his next move, for whatever direction the situation would take.
"Abyssinia has been most difficult to bring to peace. But I believe now that they will be pacified.
The nation of Sennar, our longtime ally, is becoming rotten. To this there is little argument. And this state of that nation is what Abyssinia claims to be its reason for attacking in the first place. A reasonable claim, yet wars do not start truly for the reason of helping your neighbour. Diplomacy is the key to assistance.
And we have used diplomacy. But Abyssinia is stubborn. At first, it seemed that they would accept nothing less than the total destruction of Sennar. But I have seen to it that this goal has been broken down.
I have sent a fair peace offer, to settle the comflict between these two nations and save their people from terrible suffering.
Yet there has been no response. So I have done what is the best mix of pro-Sennarese action and pro-peace diplomacy. Peacekeeping forces have been sent to Sennar. They will not aggressively fight the Abyssinians, but will defend and aid the Sennarese.
But it is my hope that these forces will be unnecessary. My forces are instructed to propose my latest peace offer to the Abyssinians. The contested region on the border of the two nations shall remain in Abyssinia, and Sennar shall be co-operatively rebuilt, ensuring future stability in the African nations on our border."
Suleiman finished his speech. The silent crowd burst into applause. Suleiman nodded to them, then stepped back into the building, pondering his actions. He was, of course hopeful for peace in Africa. But Abyssinia was being worryingly uncommunicative. It both acted the aggressor in a war, and acted a victim bullied by a larger power. Very frustrating.
Suleiman reclined on a couch. There was little else to do now. The forces were already sent, all of his actions taken throughout were taking effect. There was nothing to do now, but wait- and plan his next move, for whatever direction the situation would take.
das
Regeneration In Process
Update 9 - Year 1749
Non-Military Events:
Civil (well, largely military at this point to be frank) authority and order - this time, that of EUA - is restored in New Granada with the surrender of the last rebel groups and the ultimate [southern] Amerind acceptance of the American rule.
An all-out levee en masse done by the Platine rebels arms pretty much everybody there is to arm in la Plata, with numerous quite obvious negative circumstances aside from the even more obvious drop in army quality (-1 Military Leadership, -1 Economy, -1 Living Standards, -1 Confidence).
Julien-Francois I's France, clearly on the ascendant last year, seems to have entered a crisis now, giving up positions (letting Spain, Euskardi and England effectively slip out of tight French control) and apparently expecting the tensions with Russia to die down... while in truth, agitation for war keeps growing. Julien-Francois is increasingly perceived in French nationalist circles as too weak and not up to the challenges that lie ahead (-1 Confidence). The King's far-reaching ambitious social reforms rather backfired - not nearly enough funds were commited to it. Enough people disliked the idea itself as well, and after the failure of it the King's prestige suffered accordingly (-1 Confidence).
Steadily Poland and East Hungary are being rebuilt (+Warsaw economic center). The Russians have also made sure to turn life there back into something bearable. Resistance there still continues, though, as does political uncertainty - the Sobor did not yet decide what exactly is to be done with Russia-Lithuania-Romania's western gains. Meanwhile, continued army growth draws ever more opposition at home (-1 Confidence), where there had been calls for exactly the opposite .
Qing Dynasty falls as China's war with Japan and its allies enters a decisive stage!
(see military events)
Military Events:
Encountering only the slightest of native resistance thus far, the American forces secured numerous lands in the west of North America, but failed to get many colonists willing to settle these newly-gained territories instead of the much more inviting Califorina. Meanwhile, they had also navigated south Alaska and the whereabouts.
In French North America, sporadic attacks on officials, merchants and patrols continue while the government remains inactive.
There have been violent border - or, rather, pre-border - incidents between the EUA and the Incan Empire in the disputed region of Ecuador. However, war seems unlikely to come just yet.
North (unoccupied) Chile was occupied by the Americans, again with little hindrance aside from minor clashes with the separatist resistance. Pre-border clashes with the Incans and the Portuguese took place here as well, but the Portuguese, apart from the first few weeks, made sure to avoid such incidents.
(-1 American division)
The Portuguese Prince Pedro - to the dismay of the many assassins gathering at Rio de Janeiro - almost immediately after visiting the Brazilian capital headed for Cordoba, the center of the Platine rebellion. He reached it just in time to participate in the command of the final assault; after a thorough bombardment and after disease and hunger tore huge holes in the ranks of the defenders, the Portuguese assaulted the city, and despite the great number of the Platines, the former had higher morale due to Pedro's presence, not to mention superior training and leadership to the greener Platine recruits. A fire was also started by the Portuguese as they advanced, to add to the chaos. Long story cut short, the Platine army in Cordoba was slaughtered (though not before inflicting serious, though not too severe, casualties on the Portuguese), and so was Jose Filipe Vega, and with him, especially as the Portuguese pinned down the leaderless bulk of his army in the northern territories, the Resistance Army. Its remnants fell apart due to starvation, desertion and relentless Portuguese attacks.
(-Platine Resistance Army as an independent faction, -9 Portuguese divisions)
Having received somewhat confusing orders, the Kanem-Bornu forces captured some nearby desert territories for no really good reason at all.
(-1 Kanem-Bornu division)
Even as the peace negotiations between Abyssinia and Sennar - or, rather, between Abyssinia and Sennar's Ottoman patrons - dragged on, the Abyssinian forces kept advancing towards the city of Sennar, crushing the bits and pieces Sennarese army that was already disintegrating even without their efforts. Badi IV himself died while trying to flee from his capital dressed as a commoner - one of the many trampled to death by the fleeing Sennarese mob. Abyssinia seemed to have gotten a clean win until the news from the north came. There a Sennarese warlord named Abu Rajab, of the powerful Hamaj clan, defeated his fellow warlords with the help of the gullible Ottoman commander (who, with a large army, was sent to save Sennar), and, having united the northern Sennarese forces and the shards of the regular Sennarese army, declared himself King Rajab I of Sennar. Though his attempt to retake Sennar failed badly, with heavy Ottoman assistance he managed to defeat a tired Abyssinian vanguard force at Barbar, and a larger enemy army at Shandi, having almost come into position from which he could threaten Sennar itself. For various reasons, the Abyssinians have not been exactly eager to attack the large Ottoman expeditionary corps yet, by the way, causing the war to stalemate while Rajab prepared for his final strike...
(-/+ Sennar as an independent nation, -1 Sennarese (Rajab) division, -3 Sennarese (Rajab) irregular divisions, -2 Ottoman divisions, -3 Abyssinian divisions, -1 Abyssinian Imperial Guard division)
Qing Dynasty falls as China's war with Japan and its allies enters a decisive phase!
(see spotlight)
(+/-1 Xin Han Confidence, -1 Xin Han Civilian Leadership, -8 Xin Han irregular divisions, +15 Xin Han irregular divisions, 10 Xin Han divisions to Nan Chinese Rebels, 1 Xin Han Economy to Nan Chinese Rebels)
(-Siamese Rebels as an independent faction, -1 Russian Cossack division, -19 French divisions, -26 French Foreign Legions, -4 French squadrons, -3 Portuguese divisions, -9 Russian volunteer divisions, -38 Xin Han divisions, -10 Xin Han Ma Bing, -12 Xin Han irregular divisions, -18 Japanese divisions, -6 Japanese Ikkitousennonimusha divisions)
The final campaign of the Malay War begun with assassination attempts. As soon as he arrived to take command of the Portuguese troops, Francisco de Sousa was atacked by Malay assassins, and though with the help of his soldiers he fought them off, he was wounded in the process. That, as a matter of fact, was the Malay would-be revenge for Dato' Maharajalela's assassination at the hands of a Portuguese-bought traitor. His death weakened the rebels accordingly, but the movement was taken over by Hang Tuah, one of Dato' Maharajalela's most trusted lieutenants, around whom most other Malay rebels rallied out of sheer desperation if not out of simple adulation of that war hero. Anyway, though he rallied the Malays to defend Melaka and though the intensified guerrila activity imposed a heavy toll on the Portuguese troops, de Sousa still managed to tighten his grip on the territories surrounding Melaka, and, using the Portuguese knowledge of strong and weak points of their former fortress, weakened it enough for his decisive assault to succeed. The street fighting in Melaka was brutal, but the Portuguese came out victorious in the end, and Hang Tuah himself was captured. The Malay rebel movement fell apart, though some isolated, uncoordinated resistance continued in the east.
(-Lima Sekawan as an independent faction, -8 Portuguese divisions)
Some overambitious pirates tried attacking Portuguese commerce in South-East Asia again. Only a few of the said pirates survived this ill-advised attack on the world's single most guarded trade routes...
Random Events:
As holy war against Sennar goes on, Abyssinia keeps getting a steady-and-growing stream of volunteers (+10 divisions).
A sudden breakthrough in biology and anthropology is made by the Byzantine discovery of the dinosaurs (well, what's left of them anyway; though if you believe the more wild rumours, they discovered and tamed some living ones for top secret military purposes! ) (+1 Education, Confidence). Meanwhile, several important military works have been published (+1 Military Leadership).
Josef von Dunkelheit's "Glass Account" scheme proves even more succesful than he dared hope (+1 Economy).
The new Han dynasty in China gets some popular support (+1 Confidence).
Japanese propaganda oils the fire of Han (and especially Nan) Chinese nationalism and radicalism (-1 Qing Confidence). Meanwhile, the prestige of the Tokugawa Shogunate is reinforced by the extraordinary military success (+1 Confidence). Japanese army officers gain valuable experience, both from the military operations themselves and from the continued cooperation with the French (+1 Military Leadership); so do the regular soldiers (+1 Army Training).
Prince Pedro's tour of Brazil reinforced the prestige of the Portuguese crown there even further (+1 Confidence). Meanwhile, a new military elite has fully emerged by now, the "African officers", most notably de Sousa, but also his co-exploradores and subordinates (+1 Military Leadership).
Chinese roads detiriorate (-1 Infrastructure).
Swedish sailors suffer from lack of activity (-1 Naval Training).
Domestic opposition to Sancho X of Euskardi grows due to a growth of radical republican/nationalist sentiments (-1 Confidence).
Demands of the war and, some claim, foreign and/or rebel (traditionalist) sabotage cause a detirioration of Japanese living standards (-1 Living Standards).
Despite all the Turkish efforts, corruption and incompetence keep spreading, paralyzing the buerocracy (-1 Civilian Leadership).
The Portuguese blockade and continued offensives cripple Platine economy (-1 Economy).
There is a growth of radical domestic opposition to the Finnish monarchy (-1 Confidence).
As Sennar continues to disintegrate, the social conditions get even worse (-1 Living Standards).
Spotlight:
Beyond the Fall of the Qing.
"We will."
- Julien-Francois I, when asked who will win in the Chinese civil war. Year 1749.
After the death of Emperor Qianlong in 1748, his son Yongqi was to become the new Emperor, but his coronation was rather delayed by the extraordinary circumstance of the Franco-Japanese troops in Beijing and the Imperial court, Yongqi included, being in hiding at Jinan. Gradually, things settled down, but before Yongqi could ascend to the throne General Nian Gengyao launched a military coup d'etat and announced that the Qing dynasty lost the Mandate of Heaven; to save China from the foreign invaders, a new, Han dynasty was needed. Without further ado, Nian Gengyo declared himself the Hanhua Emperor, of the Xin Han dynasty.
Almost immediately, the Hanhua Emperor fled for Shanghai, only barely avoiding capture by the French forces that overwhelmed and captured Jinan, complete with the remnants of the Qing no longer imperial family and of the central buerocracy. Upon arrival in Shanghai, the Hanhua Emperor was greeted with the heavy fire of Franco-Japanese naval artillery, whilst having to deal with a Ming pretender that seemd quite inspired by his example. All this did not exactly contribute to the stability of the new empire. Almost immediately, de facto control over Outer Mongolia and Sinkiang was lost; parts of Inner and Gansu followed further along the way, and the Uighur conscripts deserted en masse, the Emperor, his officials and his troops having more important issues to attend to than that. Specifically, they were all trying to preserve some sort of order in China Proper at the least. With time and in a more simple situation, Hanhua would've succeeded in this task, but as it happened the situation was chaotic and nobody was about to give him time to recover.
Thankfully, though, China Proper did not yet come under attack (unless you count the coastal bombardments). Fighting was taking place either north or south of it. In the north, very curious incidents abounded; said incidents meant not much good for the anti-Chinese coalition, because most of them involved armed clashes with Russian forces - specifically, with the border patrols, or with the Russian volunteers (the growing Francophobia in Russia translated into Sinophilia, and entire divisions, bored with garrison duty, formed a sizeable volunteer corps alongside Russian civilians. The Russian government didn't encourage them, but didn't hinder them neither - the economic challenge of maintaining such a large army was apparent, and anything that weakened France and/or its allies was neat at the very least), or with regular troops sent to secure the Ussuri province (and Sakhalin, but there were no clashes there), claiming that these have been sold by Hanhua. Both sides exchanged blood, and for a while it seemed as if a war has already begun, but finally, the disgruntled Japanese commanders, clearly not wanting to fight on two fronts in Manchuria, signed a local armistice with the Russian army. The volunteers proved harder to beat, but without any Chinese assistance (after Korea was overran by the Japanese in the aftermatch of some hard fighting with local Qing (now - Xin Han) Ma Bing whose mobility and Korean support prolonged the campaign there badly) and with a horrendous logistical situation, they were eventually overpowered and forced to surrender and go back to Russia. Manchu irregulars remained a problem, but eventually, a methodic campaign of subjugation put Manchuria under Japanese control.
Another cluster of warfare was taking place in Indochina and the whereabouts. In Burma, Rangoon changed hands twice; the huge Chinese army overwhelmed the comparatively small garrison easily, but soon themselves were forced out by an even larger French force (no pun unintended). Said force, however, suffered many casualties as the Chinese had prepared for defense well; they prepared even better further north, from where the French - in part also because of logistical problems and various interesting diseases - proved simply unable to evict the defenders, most of the times anyway. This did, however, make French operations in Siam easier and Chinese, on the contrary, harder. Despite an ingenious defense by the Chinese fleet, the French had superior numbers and firepower, and even a daring maneuver that could've encircled and annihilated a smaller force resulted in mere gradual destruction of the Chinese fleet as opposed to a quick one. However, this did give the Chinese and their Siamese allies more time to prepare, and it was only with many casualties that the French had captured Bangkok. Even then, they failed to catch Boromma Ratchathirat III, the treacherous King of Siam, who fled northwards along with the remnants of the Chinese army and there tried to fight back the French onslaught. However, the French were attacking not just from southern Siam - they also came from Burma and Annam, and in such great numbers that despite the diseases and the immense logistical problems they eventually crushed the Siamese, though Boromma Ratchathirat's body was not found anywhere. And some scattered resistance still continues, the French being unable to comb the jungle with 100% precision.
And finally, in Annam the Chinese saw fit to retreat and the French - to attack, while bands of Annamese peasants attacked everybody they saw. The Chinese retreat was somewhat mishandled and disorderly, but this wasn't quite as important a factor as the French landing in South China. Once more, French numerical supremacy and firepower won the day; the island of Hainan was captured, so were some nearby territories, and the Chinese retreat path was cut off in a daring maneuver. Not all of the Chinese troops were intercepted, but many enough were, and those that escaped were unable to take part in the final battles of the year - those in China Proper.
By then, Hanhua had established some degree of control over these territories that he had not yet fully lost. He also defeated numerous hasty rebellions and appointed new, supposedly loyal commanders to put the army under his factual control as well. Actually, most of them really were loyal. Even General Chiang Kuo-fan, who was trusted with China's southern forces. Said general was ordered to take Macao no matter the losses. There were losses, but Macao wasn't taken - perhaps because it is rather hard to take a fortified port city situated in an ideal defensive position without any ships, especially if the defenders are almost as numerous as the attackers. The Portuguese defeated assault after assault, and these Xin Han soldiers that were still alive and capable of standing without help were quite exhausted; it was in this rather unhappy hour that the French forces landed in the west, threatening Chiang Kuo-fan's tired, bloodied forces with complete destruction. And the southern city councils once more begun plotting a rebellion, popular support for which was growing by the hour... Chiang Kuo-fan made up his mind, explained to his troops that Nian Gengyo was an usurper and that they shouldn't go by his path; that instead, they should go by a different path, ally with the city councils (after all, many of Chiang Kuo-fan's troops were southerners, or "Nan Chinese" by anology with the more general Han Chinese) and build a new China of their own here, if need be - with foreign help. His officers and soldiers alike were desperate enough to try it, and besides, they really loved their commander.
What followed could be described as a regional-separatist rebellion combined with a military mutiny united around an ambigous liberal ideology (brought to South China by the students returning from Europe, where they came under strong French cultural and by extension political influence). It was indeed quite Francophilic - not just because of the ideas brought, but also to help win over the French support without which Chiang Kuo-fan, who was granted - with some limitations and provisions - the position of the rebellion's supreme leader, hadn't much of a chance. Though further inland, pro-Xin Han militias formed, that was all the resistance that Chiang Kuo-fan encountered - the urbaners supported him, the Xin Han forces already there either followed him or were quickly crushed, and no new forces came as Hanhua struggled to stop the Franco-Japanese onslaught further north.
Though really, things were completely different from what I just said. Since taking Jinan, the French made not a step southwards; instead, the Chinese kept trying to dislodge them. Despite some occasional successes, far superior French firepower for the umpteenth time thwarted the Emperor. The real onslaught, meanwhile, was coming from the west. Delayed by the guerrila risings, the Japanese nonetheless succesfully outmanuevered the Chinese. The delays did allow the Xin Han forces to prepare well for the Japanese, who suffered many casualties, but the French at this point launched an offensive of their own, and the Chinese had to fall back beyond the Yangtze, though this was carried out quite well and the destruction of the bridges across it forced the Japanese to call off their planned further offensive (as did the awful logistical situation made worse by the guerrila war). The Xin Han situation was quite awful, though, and the war is as good as lost for the new Emperor by now...
NPC Diplo:
*secret*
From: Mongol and Uighur tribes
To: the Union of Russia-Lithuania-Romania
The Qing dynasty that once protected us has fallen, and the new Chinese Emperor is clearly unable to give us the protection we need. Thus we request your protection and promise to send many troops to help you in any of your wars.
*secret*
From: Nan Chinese Rebels
To: France, Portugal, Japan
We request your assistance against Nian Gengyao!
OOC:
You cannot have more than one project at a time.
I cannot emphasize this enough. I thought I can, but apparently not. ALWAYS! POINT! OUT! HOW! MANY! DIVISIONS! AND/OR! SQUADRONS! YOU! HAVE! IN! ANY! AND! EVERY! SPOT!
Have a nice day.
Non-Military Events:
Civil (well, largely military at this point to be frank) authority and order - this time, that of EUA - is restored in New Granada with the surrender of the last rebel groups and the ultimate [southern] Amerind acceptance of the American rule.
An all-out levee en masse done by the Platine rebels arms pretty much everybody there is to arm in la Plata, with numerous quite obvious negative circumstances aside from the even more obvious drop in army quality (-1 Military Leadership, -1 Economy, -1 Living Standards, -1 Confidence).
Julien-Francois I's France, clearly on the ascendant last year, seems to have entered a crisis now, giving up positions (letting Spain, Euskardi and England effectively slip out of tight French control) and apparently expecting the tensions with Russia to die down... while in truth, agitation for war keeps growing. Julien-Francois is increasingly perceived in French nationalist circles as too weak and not up to the challenges that lie ahead (-1 Confidence). The King's far-reaching ambitious social reforms rather backfired - not nearly enough funds were commited to it. Enough people disliked the idea itself as well, and after the failure of it the King's prestige suffered accordingly (-1 Confidence).
Steadily Poland and East Hungary are being rebuilt (+Warsaw economic center). The Russians have also made sure to turn life there back into something bearable. Resistance there still continues, though, as does political uncertainty - the Sobor did not yet decide what exactly is to be done with Russia-Lithuania-Romania's western gains. Meanwhile, continued army growth draws ever more opposition at home (-1 Confidence), where there had been calls for exactly the opposite .
Qing Dynasty falls as China's war with Japan and its allies enters a decisive stage!
(see military events)
Military Events:
Encountering only the slightest of native resistance thus far, the American forces secured numerous lands in the west of North America, but failed to get many colonists willing to settle these newly-gained territories instead of the much more inviting Califorina. Meanwhile, they had also navigated south Alaska and the whereabouts.
In French North America, sporadic attacks on officials, merchants and patrols continue while the government remains inactive.
There have been violent border - or, rather, pre-border - incidents between the EUA and the Incan Empire in the disputed region of Ecuador. However, war seems unlikely to come just yet.
North (unoccupied) Chile was occupied by the Americans, again with little hindrance aside from minor clashes with the separatist resistance. Pre-border clashes with the Incans and the Portuguese took place here as well, but the Portuguese, apart from the first few weeks, made sure to avoid such incidents.
(-1 American division)
The Portuguese Prince Pedro - to the dismay of the many assassins gathering at Rio de Janeiro - almost immediately after visiting the Brazilian capital headed for Cordoba, the center of the Platine rebellion. He reached it just in time to participate in the command of the final assault; after a thorough bombardment and after disease and hunger tore huge holes in the ranks of the defenders, the Portuguese assaulted the city, and despite the great number of the Platines, the former had higher morale due to Pedro's presence, not to mention superior training and leadership to the greener Platine recruits. A fire was also started by the Portuguese as they advanced, to add to the chaos. Long story cut short, the Platine army in Cordoba was slaughtered (though not before inflicting serious, though not too severe, casualties on the Portuguese), and so was Jose Filipe Vega, and with him, especially as the Portuguese pinned down the leaderless bulk of his army in the northern territories, the Resistance Army. Its remnants fell apart due to starvation, desertion and relentless Portuguese attacks.
(-Platine Resistance Army as an independent faction, -9 Portuguese divisions)
Having received somewhat confusing orders, the Kanem-Bornu forces captured some nearby desert territories for no really good reason at all.
(-1 Kanem-Bornu division)
Even as the peace negotiations between Abyssinia and Sennar - or, rather, between Abyssinia and Sennar's Ottoman patrons - dragged on, the Abyssinian forces kept advancing towards the city of Sennar, crushing the bits and pieces Sennarese army that was already disintegrating even without their efforts. Badi IV himself died while trying to flee from his capital dressed as a commoner - one of the many trampled to death by the fleeing Sennarese mob. Abyssinia seemed to have gotten a clean win until the news from the north came. There a Sennarese warlord named Abu Rajab, of the powerful Hamaj clan, defeated his fellow warlords with the help of the gullible Ottoman commander (who, with a large army, was sent to save Sennar), and, having united the northern Sennarese forces and the shards of the regular Sennarese army, declared himself King Rajab I of Sennar. Though his attempt to retake Sennar failed badly, with heavy Ottoman assistance he managed to defeat a tired Abyssinian vanguard force at Barbar, and a larger enemy army at Shandi, having almost come into position from which he could threaten Sennar itself. For various reasons, the Abyssinians have not been exactly eager to attack the large Ottoman expeditionary corps yet, by the way, causing the war to stalemate while Rajab prepared for his final strike...
(-/+ Sennar as an independent nation, -1 Sennarese (Rajab) division, -3 Sennarese (Rajab) irregular divisions, -2 Ottoman divisions, -3 Abyssinian divisions, -1 Abyssinian Imperial Guard division)
Qing Dynasty falls as China's war with Japan and its allies enters a decisive phase!
(see spotlight)
(+/-1 Xin Han Confidence, -1 Xin Han Civilian Leadership, -8 Xin Han irregular divisions, +15 Xin Han irregular divisions, 10 Xin Han divisions to Nan Chinese Rebels, 1 Xin Han Economy to Nan Chinese Rebels)
(-Siamese Rebels as an independent faction, -1 Russian Cossack division, -19 French divisions, -26 French Foreign Legions, -4 French squadrons, -3 Portuguese divisions, -9 Russian volunteer divisions, -38 Xin Han divisions, -10 Xin Han Ma Bing, -12 Xin Han irregular divisions, -18 Japanese divisions, -6 Japanese Ikkitousennonimusha divisions)
The final campaign of the Malay War begun with assassination attempts. As soon as he arrived to take command of the Portuguese troops, Francisco de Sousa was atacked by Malay assassins, and though with the help of his soldiers he fought them off, he was wounded in the process. That, as a matter of fact, was the Malay would-be revenge for Dato' Maharajalela's assassination at the hands of a Portuguese-bought traitor. His death weakened the rebels accordingly, but the movement was taken over by Hang Tuah, one of Dato' Maharajalela's most trusted lieutenants, around whom most other Malay rebels rallied out of sheer desperation if not out of simple adulation of that war hero. Anyway, though he rallied the Malays to defend Melaka and though the intensified guerrila activity imposed a heavy toll on the Portuguese troops, de Sousa still managed to tighten his grip on the territories surrounding Melaka, and, using the Portuguese knowledge of strong and weak points of their former fortress, weakened it enough for his decisive assault to succeed. The street fighting in Melaka was brutal, but the Portuguese came out victorious in the end, and Hang Tuah himself was captured. The Malay rebel movement fell apart, though some isolated, uncoordinated resistance continued in the east.
(-Lima Sekawan as an independent faction, -8 Portuguese divisions)
Some overambitious pirates tried attacking Portuguese commerce in South-East Asia again. Only a few of the said pirates survived this ill-advised attack on the world's single most guarded trade routes...
Random Events:
As holy war against Sennar goes on, Abyssinia keeps getting a steady-and-growing stream of volunteers (+10 divisions).
A sudden breakthrough in biology and anthropology is made by the Byzantine discovery of the dinosaurs (well, what's left of them anyway; though if you believe the more wild rumours, they discovered and tamed some living ones for top secret military purposes!
) (+1 Education, Confidence). Meanwhile, several important military works have been published (+1 Military Leadership).Josef von Dunkelheit's "Glass Account" scheme proves even more succesful than he dared hope (+1 Economy).
The new Han dynasty in China gets some popular support (+1 Confidence).
Japanese propaganda oils the fire of Han (and especially Nan) Chinese nationalism and radicalism (-1 Qing Confidence). Meanwhile, the prestige of the Tokugawa Shogunate is reinforced by the extraordinary military success (+1 Confidence). Japanese army officers gain valuable experience, both from the military operations themselves and from the continued cooperation with the French (+1 Military Leadership); so do the regular soldiers (+1 Army Training).
Prince Pedro's tour of Brazil reinforced the prestige of the Portuguese crown there even further (+1 Confidence). Meanwhile, a new military elite has fully emerged by now, the "African officers", most notably de Sousa, but also his co-exploradores and subordinates (+1 Military Leadership).
Chinese roads detiriorate (-1 Infrastructure).
Swedish sailors suffer from lack of activity (-1 Naval Training).
Domestic opposition to Sancho X of Euskardi grows due to a growth of radical republican/nationalist sentiments (-1 Confidence).
Demands of the war and, some claim, foreign and/or rebel (traditionalist) sabotage cause a detirioration of Japanese living standards (-1 Living Standards).
Despite all the Turkish efforts, corruption and incompetence keep spreading, paralyzing the buerocracy (-1 Civilian Leadership).
The Portuguese blockade and continued offensives cripple Platine economy (-1 Economy).
There is a growth of radical domestic opposition to the Finnish monarchy (-1 Confidence).
As Sennar continues to disintegrate, the social conditions get even worse (-1 Living Standards).
Spotlight:
Beyond the Fall of the Qing.
"We will."
- Julien-Francois I, when asked who will win in the Chinese civil war. Year 1749.
After the death of Emperor Qianlong in 1748, his son Yongqi was to become the new Emperor, but his coronation was rather delayed by the extraordinary circumstance of the Franco-Japanese troops in Beijing and the Imperial court, Yongqi included, being in hiding at Jinan. Gradually, things settled down, but before Yongqi could ascend to the throne General Nian Gengyao launched a military coup d'etat and announced that the Qing dynasty lost the Mandate of Heaven; to save China from the foreign invaders, a new, Han dynasty was needed. Without further ado, Nian Gengyo declared himself the Hanhua Emperor, of the Xin Han dynasty.
Almost immediately, the Hanhua Emperor fled for Shanghai, only barely avoiding capture by the French forces that overwhelmed and captured Jinan, complete with the remnants of the Qing no longer imperial family and of the central buerocracy. Upon arrival in Shanghai, the Hanhua Emperor was greeted with the heavy fire of Franco-Japanese naval artillery, whilst having to deal with a Ming pretender that seemd quite inspired by his example. All this did not exactly contribute to the stability of the new empire. Almost immediately, de facto control over Outer Mongolia and Sinkiang was lost; parts of Inner and Gansu followed further along the way, and the Uighur conscripts deserted en masse, the Emperor, his officials and his troops having more important issues to attend to than that. Specifically, they were all trying to preserve some sort of order in China Proper at the least. With time and in a more simple situation, Hanhua would've succeeded in this task, but as it happened the situation was chaotic and nobody was about to give him time to recover.
Thankfully, though, China Proper did not yet come under attack (unless you count the coastal bombardments). Fighting was taking place either north or south of it. In the north, very curious incidents abounded; said incidents meant not much good for the anti-Chinese coalition, because most of them involved armed clashes with Russian forces - specifically, with the border patrols, or with the Russian volunteers (the growing Francophobia in Russia translated into Sinophilia, and entire divisions, bored with garrison duty, formed a sizeable volunteer corps alongside Russian civilians. The Russian government didn't encourage them, but didn't hinder them neither - the economic challenge of maintaining such a large army was apparent, and anything that weakened France and/or its allies was neat at the very least), or with regular troops sent to secure the Ussuri province (and Sakhalin, but there were no clashes there), claiming that these have been sold by Hanhua. Both sides exchanged blood, and for a while it seemed as if a war has already begun, but finally, the disgruntled Japanese commanders, clearly not wanting to fight on two fronts in Manchuria, signed a local armistice with the Russian army. The volunteers proved harder to beat, but without any Chinese assistance (after Korea was overran by the Japanese in the aftermatch of some hard fighting with local Qing (now - Xin Han) Ma Bing whose mobility and Korean support prolonged the campaign there badly) and with a horrendous logistical situation, they were eventually overpowered and forced to surrender and go back to Russia. Manchu irregulars remained a problem, but eventually, a methodic campaign of subjugation put Manchuria under Japanese control.
Another cluster of warfare was taking place in Indochina and the whereabouts. In Burma, Rangoon changed hands twice; the huge Chinese army overwhelmed the comparatively small garrison easily, but soon themselves were forced out by an even larger French force (no pun unintended). Said force, however, suffered many casualties as the Chinese had prepared for defense well; they prepared even better further north, from where the French - in part also because of logistical problems and various interesting diseases - proved simply unable to evict the defenders, most of the times anyway. This did, however, make French operations in Siam easier and Chinese, on the contrary, harder. Despite an ingenious defense by the Chinese fleet, the French had superior numbers and firepower, and even a daring maneuver that could've encircled and annihilated a smaller force resulted in mere gradual destruction of the Chinese fleet as opposed to a quick one. However, this did give the Chinese and their Siamese allies more time to prepare, and it was only with many casualties that the French had captured Bangkok. Even then, they failed to catch Boromma Ratchathirat III, the treacherous King of Siam, who fled northwards along with the remnants of the Chinese army and there tried to fight back the French onslaught. However, the French were attacking not just from southern Siam - they also came from Burma and Annam, and in such great numbers that despite the diseases and the immense logistical problems they eventually crushed the Siamese, though Boromma Ratchathirat's body was not found anywhere. And some scattered resistance still continues, the French being unable to comb the jungle with 100% precision.
And finally, in Annam the Chinese saw fit to retreat and the French - to attack, while bands of Annamese peasants attacked everybody they saw. The Chinese retreat was somewhat mishandled and disorderly, but this wasn't quite as important a factor as the French landing in South China. Once more, French numerical supremacy and firepower won the day; the island of Hainan was captured, so were some nearby territories, and the Chinese retreat path was cut off in a daring maneuver. Not all of the Chinese troops were intercepted, but many enough were, and those that escaped were unable to take part in the final battles of the year - those in China Proper.
By then, Hanhua had established some degree of control over these territories that he had not yet fully lost. He also defeated numerous hasty rebellions and appointed new, supposedly loyal commanders to put the army under his factual control as well. Actually, most of them really were loyal. Even General Chiang Kuo-fan, who was trusted with China's southern forces. Said general was ordered to take Macao no matter the losses. There were losses, but Macao wasn't taken - perhaps because it is rather hard to take a fortified port city situated in an ideal defensive position without any ships, especially if the defenders are almost as numerous as the attackers. The Portuguese defeated assault after assault, and these Xin Han soldiers that were still alive and capable of standing without help were quite exhausted; it was in this rather unhappy hour that the French forces landed in the west, threatening Chiang Kuo-fan's tired, bloodied forces with complete destruction. And the southern city councils once more begun plotting a rebellion, popular support for which was growing by the hour... Chiang Kuo-fan made up his mind, explained to his troops that Nian Gengyo was an usurper and that they shouldn't go by his path; that instead, they should go by a different path, ally with the city councils (after all, many of Chiang Kuo-fan's troops were southerners, or "Nan Chinese" by anology with the more general Han Chinese) and build a new China of their own here, if need be - with foreign help. His officers and soldiers alike were desperate enough to try it, and besides, they really loved their commander.
What followed could be described as a regional-separatist rebellion combined with a military mutiny united around an ambigous liberal ideology (brought to South China by the students returning from Europe, where they came under strong French cultural and by extension political influence). It was indeed quite Francophilic - not just because of the ideas brought, but also to help win over the French support without which Chiang Kuo-fan, who was granted - with some limitations and provisions - the position of the rebellion's supreme leader, hadn't much of a chance. Though further inland, pro-Xin Han militias formed, that was all the resistance that Chiang Kuo-fan encountered - the urbaners supported him, the Xin Han forces already there either followed him or were quickly crushed, and no new forces came as Hanhua struggled to stop the Franco-Japanese onslaught further north.
Though really, things were completely different from what I just said. Since taking Jinan, the French made not a step southwards; instead, the Chinese kept trying to dislodge them. Despite some occasional successes, far superior French firepower for the umpteenth time thwarted the Emperor. The real onslaught, meanwhile, was coming from the west. Delayed by the guerrila risings, the Japanese nonetheless succesfully outmanuevered the Chinese. The delays did allow the Xin Han forces to prepare well for the Japanese, who suffered many casualties, but the French at this point launched an offensive of their own, and the Chinese had to fall back beyond the Yangtze, though this was carried out quite well and the destruction of the bridges across it forced the Japanese to call off their planned further offensive (as did the awful logistical situation made worse by the guerrila war). The Xin Han situation was quite awful, though, and the war is as good as lost for the new Emperor by now...
NPC Diplo:
*secret*
From: Mongol and Uighur tribes
To: the Union of Russia-Lithuania-Romania
The Qing dynasty that once protected us has fallen, and the new Chinese Emperor is clearly unable to give us the protection we need. Thus we request your protection and promise to send many troops to help you in any of your wars.
*secret*
From: Nan Chinese Rebels
To: France, Portugal, Japan
We request your assistance against Nian Gengyao!
OOC:
You cannot have more than one project at a time.
I cannot emphasize this enough. I thought I can, but apparently not. ALWAYS! POINT! OUT! HOW! MANY! DIVISIONS! AND/OR! SQUADRONS! YOU! HAVE! IN! ANY! AND! EVERY! SPOT!
Have a nice day.
das
Regeneration In Process
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Wow, what a defeat. Well done Sym and Panda, I suppose I wasn't really up to the task of China in the first place. And I thought that I'd be peaceful for once...
Anyway, I'm resigning China. I'll be lurking for a while, because my next NPC opportunity won't happen for a couple more decades...
Great update, too.
Anyway, I'm resigning China. I'll be lurking for a while, because my next NPC opportunity won't happen for a couple more decades...
Great update, too.
das
Regeneration In Process
Countalorkin THEORETICALLY was playing, but he sent no orders for this or the previous turn. So its free.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
OOC: Excelent update. Now, I've established Finland. I'm going to leave that to it's own peace and do another rebellion somewhere, another spoon to mix the Chinese mess might be intresting, but we shall see.
Wubba360
Emperor
das what happened with the divisions I trained in my orders. I also orders to train more Imperial guards of Shiba. I think you need to add a few more because I know I put my orders to train ten more divions and 5 of those were to be imperial guards. So If you could edit my stats accordingly.
Great Update
Great Update
