Fruitcake, the Musical
Chapter One: War in Korea
The Shogun declared war upon Korea in November 1841. His war goal no less than the control of the southernmost state of Korea, Kwanju, home to half the trees in Korea, or at least the trees worth mentioning, as war spoils. As all men knew, Koreans were a lesser race without inherent rights of their own, so this would be acquisition by eminent domain and should the spineless Koreans contest this claim, well, then they'd feel the might of the Japanese war machine. Such a glorious victory would no doubt cause a brief stink of infamy but as is well known, infamy is but another word for success in international politics.
Declaration of war, November 1841
Three armies thirty thousand strong each were tasked with the invasion of Korea, inspiringly named the Imperial Fist, the Imperial Shield, and the 1st Korean Occupation Army and led by the ablest of the Japanese officer corps. The Imperial Fleet provided transport and the Imperial Fist made the initial landfall in Kwanju province itself. The landing was contested by twelve thousand Koreans, whose battle skills were nothing to write home about.
Battle of Kwanju, November 1841
With the immediate area clear of organised resistance, the Imperial Fist began the process of taking control of the province while the Imperial Fleet ferried the 1st Occupation Army to Pusan and, following that, bringing the Imperial Shield north in a daring gambit to land in Inchon, next to Seoul province itself. Meanwhile, the Korean navy, though naming it that is gracing it with more glory than it deserved, evaded the Imperial Fleet to strike Japan in its soft back and brought a small Korean expeditionary force of 6,000 men to Bonin, population 15 men, 12 women, 24 children, and a cow.
Hastening to the rescue, the Imperial Fleet brought the 24,000 men of the Osaka guard to Bonin where the perfidious invaders were wiped out in one battle after the destruction of their transport ships.
Scraping together an army from the north of their country, the Koreans made a desperate attempt at dislodging the Imperial Fist but to no avail. Mitsue Araki stood his ground and destroyed them to the last man save for a few artillerymen too scared of his just retribution to fight.
Attemped relief of Kwanju, Spring 1842
By April 1842 Korea was ready to surrender and offered peace in exchange for Kwanju state. All of Japan rejoiced when the Shogun rejected the offer. The Koreans had chosen to contest the just Japanese claim and under such circumstances he had promised to make them pay. He would no longer be satisfied merely with Kwanju, no, Korea itself would have to be cut down to size.
Expanding wargoals, April 1842
The last great battle of the Korean war took place in Inchon in May, 1842. With Inchon about to fall making Seoul itself vulnerable to attack, the bedraggled remnants of the Korean armies stiffened by twelve thousand new recruits threw themselves against the defenders of the Imperial Shield and were rebuffed. Not for reasons of nepotism had its commander been appointed, though he
was the Shogun's cousin, but because he was recognized as the greatest defensive tactician Japan had seen in generations.
The Imperial Fist was ordered to march on Seoul and in an act of supreme arrogance, the Shogun declared an expansion of the wargoals. Not only would Japan require Kwanju state and the cutting down to size of the post-war Korean military, he demanded the utter humiliation of Korea itself as well.
A few liberal traitors objected to such necessary measures but they were generally ignored..
We'll stop for no less than the humiliation of the enemy, June 1842
As the summer passed ever more of Korea fell under the sway of the Japanese armies and people began wondering just when the war would end. While everybody supported the war effort it was becoming obvious that the fruit situation remained unchanged. What little fruit
could be purchased was used to make canned food for the armies, but this trickle had become so low that the Shogunate was forced to import canned food as well as arms and ammunition to keep the armies in fighting trim. In Edo's summer heat philosophers studied the Rights of Man and found them wanting but pronounced between heatwaves that they would definitely have a handle on them in 1843, or 1844 by the latest if the weather didn't improve.
Even for philosophers, the Rights of Man come second to eating, for is it not said that “Let he who is hungry eat the first stone?” Indeed it is so and the priests agreed and thus an alliance of the priesthoods and the bureaucracy arranged great days of prayer in the temples where the populace could implore the gods to make the world more fruitful, to make others eat less fruit, or for a miracle of economics to convert the many fruit futures into present fruit, but to little avail.
On behalf of the Edo association of fruit sellers I led a delegation to distant India where we attempted to negotiate a greater share of the fruit quota. This mission was doomed from the start, as it turned out, as the British merchants preferred selling to European nations over all others but we did not leave empty-handed. The British governor had heard of our Korean war and was much interested in the changing balance of power in eastern Asia. He proposed that I bring an offer of a British military mission to Japan back to the Shogun, which I did.
The Shogun grasped the opportunity with both hands, setting aside land to establish a temporary mission in rural Shizuoka, and my influence grew significantly as a result.
Military Mission, October 1842
It has been said that if you extend a devil a fingernail, he'll gleefully manicure it and present you the bill, and that goes for both greater and lesser devils. As a case in point, the Ottoman Empire, one of the Great Powers of Europe, sought to use the pretext of the British military mission as justification for the establishing a permanent diplomatic presence on sacred Japanese soil and they sought it not just for themselves, no, they sought it for all the European Great Powers for the benefit of all or so they said.
In this they overestimated their own strength and misunderstood Japan fundamentally. Granting foreign powers a permanent presence in Japan was quite simply not up for negotiation, not even on a limited scale in a single legation quarter. This would not be!
All Japanese say NO to a Legation Quarter! December, 1843
In the midst of winter, the Shogun ordered the city of Seoul reduced to rubble and had a platform raised high in the midst of the ruins. Travelling to Seoul with his closets retainers and the most powerful members of the bureaucracy, he seated himself in a throne on top of the platform and uttered the immortal words to the gathered Korean nobles waiting in the rubble: “I can see your house from up here”. The humiliation of Korea was complete.
As the Shogun had predicted, Japan was viewed as an infamous but successful nation as a result of the Korean war but more importantly, the Emperor's goal of raising the prestige of Japan in the eyes of the world had been a complete success. The infamy would be forgotten soon enough but glory, now, that is for ever.
With the victorious Imperial Fist and Shield armies returning home and further Korean Occupation armies settling down to the day to day task of crushing Korean militancy in its cradle, 1843 seemed to speed up after the war's end, one day following another in rapid succession. To start with the Koreans kept their heads down, but everybody knew it was only a matter of time before rebellion against Imperial authority would rear its ugly head.
With the Imperial government just looking for an excuse to order a crack down, troublemakers in Taegu provided the pretext already in December 1843. What started out as just another fruit-rally such as most Asian countries save China had gotten used to turned violent when the local prefect was beaten to death, peeled, and carved up in small portions, which were thrown at the Japanese soldiers hastening to the scene.
The crack down was immediate, brutal, and efficient. Taegu would remain a hotbed of insurrection for many years but most people learned the lesson our Imperial Master taught: Keep your head down or lose it.
Kulturkampf in Taegu, December 1843
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Teacheable moment: Rebels in Victoria 2 range from minor annoyances to major threats. The most dangerous rebels are in the long run the liberal traitor hordes grown mighty due to high consciousness, liberal tendencies, and/or unemployment, who won't be happy with anything but a full democracy but with the eyes of 1843 that is far off in the future and can be dealt with using non-democratic means if one is prepared (or succumbing to democracy and liberalism oneself, but that is a pretty wimpy solution).
Japan is staunchly conservative in leadership and population. At
this point in time the two greatest sources of rebellion Japan may face are reactionary rebels – those who fundamentally don't think Japan is conservative
enough and Korean nationalist rebels.
Every single Korean nationality pop in Japan will be contributing members to the underground nationalist movement on a monthly basis depending on its militancy and there is absolutely nothing to do about that. As such, my policy when playing a conquest oriented game is to crush militancy wherever I can even if it allows consciousness to increase. High consciousness non national culture pops carry their own dangers but those are long term dangers. I'll also happily choose options that kill off vast numbers of foreign cultured people on the grounds that, hey, at least it reduces the odds of unemployment becoming a problem in the affected areas. The only time I will choose a militancy increase over a consciousness increase in an event dealing with foreign culture pops is when choosing the militancy increase will kill off a substantial number of people, I would rather be without (and yes, there are such events – not many, but some).
Well, and when they make a better story, but that goes without saying.
Note that killing off the rebels that do eventually spawn means there are fewer rebels left in the underground movement so it
is possibly to kill off rebel movements or keep them at a manageable size the hard way so long as you kill them faster than the movement grows. In practice, however, it is better to avoid that micromanagement hell and choke rebel movements of recruits by providing reasonable living conditions, employment, and every militancy limiting incentive you can bring to bear. Well, everything save giving in to their unreasonable demands.
You don't
have to play Victoria 2 as a ruthless despot but for the right nation it can be rather fun.
Writer's note: This is a beta AAR. Do not expect exploits, balance issues, or truly weird behaviour that arise during this AAR to be present in the final game with the launch day update applied. Prove responsible and don't jump to premature conclusions – things change during a beta and everything looks wonky at one time or another. I don't know how the final product will play and neither do you after reading this.