Chapter Twenty-Three: Dr. Manchu
In 1692 Mahmud IV
(left) became the Khan of a very troubled Golden Horde. Russia was pouncing of every possibility to grab territory in the west. In the east much of Siberia had been colonised, but the Horde couldn’t get hold of a passage to the ocean. Britain had already claimed the coast of Kamtsjatka. In recent years however, Vinland had taken over Kamtsjatka, including a rebellious Tartar region.
In 1690 Mongke Temur I
(right) became emperor of the Manchu empire that was as troubled by invaders as the Golden Horde was.. Japanese off-springs Ashikaga, Japan itself, Korea, they al wanted a piece of the prosperous Manchu territory. In recent years Vinland had established itself at Manchu’s northern border, “minding its own business”.
Mongke Temur I turned his attention north in order to think about a pre-emptive strike against another lot of invaders.
Previous wars during the 1690’s had been unsuccessful for the Horde, but the two antagonists Mahmud and Mongke (who had Mongol ancestors) tried to collaborate an attack. Unfortunately, two weeks after the Horde had attacked Vinlandic Kamtsjatka, Mongke had to postpone his attack due to a rebel army looting the south of Manchuria.
When Manchu finally invaded Vinland, The Horde was already on its knees. The returning Vinlandic Siberian armies invaded Manchu from the west, before taking on the Manchu army in the rear. Manchu ally Korea was unable to put up a fight and was completely controlled by Vinland. The Vinlandic general Kristof ‘Siberius’ Hansson took his time to meticulously direct the two armies under his control around Manchuria and Korea, in order to wipe out any resistance.
Genoa, that held an island in Kamtsjatka, declared war on Vinland in 1708, that was at that time handling a second Mongol declaration of war. They were preying on weakening the Vinland apparatus, in order to gain a stronger trading position in the region. They were backed in their decision by Russia. Russia had ports in the Baltic, in the Adriatic Sea, they controlled the sea of Marmara and the Bosporus, the Black Sea and even had ports in the Persian Gulf. Russia wanted to see Vinland troubled by war exhaustion.
Genoa and the Papal States (Genoa’s ally) were no match for Vinland and its allies. Romagna ended up in the hands of Urbino, Vinland’s vassal. Russia was blockaded until the war exhaustion due to a world spanning blockade forced them to grant independence to Athens. The Russian army had a size of over 300.000 men and rebels hardly stood a chance. Spies informed Vinland that even at the direst of moments, there were only about 10.000 rebel soldiers roaming the country. Only to be utterly swamped in a sea of Russian cannon fodder. Vinlandic victory was solely earned by the navy.
The Doge of Genoa declared war on Vinland just a day after the peace treaty, claiming he had been forced to sign, and had temporarily not been sound of mind. Thanks to improved relations with the French emperor and military access, Genoa was sacked, and the doge had to agree on the independence of Crimea and Theodoros.
Somewhere along the way, untrustworthy vassal Makassar tried to break free for the second or third time and ended up annexed.
The Vinlandic cabinet and its college of diplomats achieved the peaceful vasalisation of Athens, Crimea and Theodoros, but failed with Catalunya. (Badboy going down by 2.05 every year, in 1720 at about 58.)
Japan had taken advantage of the situation and by 1720 Manchu lost all but 3 regions and Korea was non-existant.
