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unmerged(469057)

Second Lieutenant
1 Badges
Mar 26, 2012
165
1
  • Darkest Hour
This will be, primarily, a gameplay AAR, as it's my first, and writing isn't my strongest suit. I don't know a great deal about Chinese history so we will rely on the fact that KR is an alternate TL to ignore any glaring descrepancies in what I write.

The goals are to simply unify China, crush the Japanese, and then see how much interest there is in this AAR to determine whether it continues from there.

The Qing Empire, circa 1936 was a pale shadow of it's former glory. Imperialist interests, both local and European had turned China into a hodgepodge of competing ideologies and political structures. The Xuantong Emperor, Puyi, had spent long years in exile, having lost control of his empire to warring factions years earlier. With the help of the Kaiser, Puyi was installed as the emperor of a toothless China, thought to be powerless to threaten Imperial interests in China he was largely ignored by both the Germans, who he was nominally allied with, and the Japanese, who had economic interests in mainland China, and thought little of the native Chinese.

It was against this backdrop that Puyi called together his cabinet in December 1935.​

"Gentlemen, the time has come to discuss the future of the empire. No longer am I content to watch Chinese live under the rule of Germans, Japanese and ursurpers."

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"But what can be done your majesty? Surely we can't hope to wage war on the Europeans. Time and again we've learned the lesson that comes from such folly." replied Zaifeng, the foreign minister.

Puyi nodded, "You are right uncle. We cannot hope to wage war against the Germans, or even the Japanese. We learned that lesson during the opium wars. But not the lesson you think. We learned that without reform, without modern weapons, modern tactics, and the industry to produce those weapons, we will be doomed to failure. Previous attempts to modernize China and our economy were frustrated by conservative elements within the royal household. Such will not be the case again. During my time with the Germans, I was able to travel liberally. I saw the industrial power of the western world and I soon realized that it is because of that power, and not their martial skills, that they now hold sway in the world. I will announce a reformation to the people shortly. Only through reform and modernization can we hope to eventually bring the rest of China under our rightful rule."

"Will the armed forces be modernized then?" asked Wu Peifu.

"Eventually," replied Puyi, "but for now our attention must be elsewhere. The reforms will demand all of our ability, both scientifically and industrially. I will allow an expansion of the army. But our heavy industry will be put to other uses so you will recieve rifles, ammunition and uniforms, perhaps some small amounts of heavier weapons, but we simply do not have the industrial capacity to carry out my planned reforms and produce all the heavy equipment to outfit more regular divisions. I suggest you take these newly trained militias, as they arrive and try to partially integrate them with your existing divisions. Bulking up our forces but leavening the ranks of the new recruits with units from your experienced infantry divisions."

"As you wish, your majesty".

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"Very well then, the plan now, is to begin researching modern means of production, modern agriculture, and simple computers. Those things will eventually allow us to conduct the military campaigns that we will need to unite China in the future."

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“We have heard reports of tension between Mongolia and the Ma Horselords. In the event that war does erupt between the two, I want all spare army units moved to the Northwest, as a precaution, but also to take advantage of any opportunity that may present itself. If nothing else, so large a force on their border may serve to bring the Shangquing Tianguo to their senses.”

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(These units were strategically redeployed after issuing regular move orders to show their movements with the move arrows for illustration purposes)
 
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Ohhh another Qing AAR! :)

Goodluck! :D
 
(Basically a picture dump. Getting a quick update in before tomorrow, when I hope to put together an update with some actual action. If I can get something decent written tonight, I may try to post it befor calling it a night but doubtful.)

Puyi's modernization program was proceeding according to plan. Despite grumbling from the army about the lack of modernization, Puyi believed, correctly, that the Qing still had time. Time to place themselves on a more even footing with their adversaries, before the army would be put to the ultimate test.

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At last. In June of 1936 research was begun on more modern equipment for the military. The resources wouldn't be available to begin upgrading any of the existing units yet, but the army was promised that as soon as some of the factories currently producing building materials and tooling for additional factory construction became available, or new ones were acquired, new arms for the existing army would begin construction.

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Meanwhile, research into modern farming, freeing a protion of the large population of subsistence farmers for other work, or military service, continued.

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As did research into factory modernization. These two fields were still sorely lagging behind modern standards.

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(I'll skip over posting anymore boring research pictures for a bit as it's pretty obvious what I'm doing. I brought all of the big 3 industrial techs up to date. Manufacturing, agriculture and research. Research finished quickly and that team was switched to infantry research.)

To the West, our Northern neighbor, Russia, was beginning to take an expansionist course.

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And shortly thereafter, Austria got into the expansionist act. Creating another large and powerful European nation to vie for supremacy there.

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As our slow progress toward modernizing our army allowed some of our infantry units to pass off equipment to the militia divisions that Puyi had envisioned being rapidly conscripted in Jan of 1936 to help with border defense, shocking news reached our shores. The United States of America, a massive industrial power, long sheltered from strife and conflict by it's two great barrier oceans, had slipped into civil war.

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By spring of 1937 it had become quite clear that the United States, as we knew it, was doomed. Three major factions had split from the central government and controlled the vast majority of the country. Hawaii had left the union, along with the states of New England, and Canada had siezed control of Alaska and the vital Panama Canal zone. Many watched the events closely, as an interventionist United States, if it could be reunited would be a powerful ally, or a fearsome enemy.

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But it appeared that rebellion was spreading like a fever. The Iberian peninsula was quickly engulfed by it's own internal friction when the FAI declared it's independence from Spain and the two engaged in open conflict.

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Conflict in Europe continued. Austria annexed Bohemia, growing even more powerful. The political landscape of the world was in flux.

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The mad Baron Sternberg had been victorious over the Ma, ousting them from power and seizing their lands for Mongolia. Our spies had reported that, though unpredictable, the Baron was fearful of the massive army that we had encamped on his border. Puyi immediately dispatched an emmisary to open negotiations with Sternberg, to guage his intentions and see if we might make arrangements with him to benefit us. While the emperor had every intention of bringing Mongolia back to it's rightful place within the empire, his intention was to move slowly and cautiously. The emissary was instructed to finalize negotiations that had been ongoing with the Shangquing Tianguo, if possible, on his way to meet with Sternberg.

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At last. An opportunity had arisen for our expansion. Our embassy negotiating with the Shangquing Tianguo sent word of good news. Fearing an invasion by our forces, they had agreed to lay down their weapons and return to the fold. Their conditions, which few knew coincided with Puyi's ultimate goal, were for us to renounce our close ties to European imperialist powers and remove many of the Europeans serving China. Under this pretext Puyi gladly agreed and, feigning disappointment, gave the necessary orders.

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Ivir Baggins- It appears to be so. I thought I remembered the event just saying something about imperialists but it does appear to be Russians specifically.

Sternberg turned out to be more generous than we had hoped he would be. He was willing to give vast amounts of the former Ma lands to us, complete with factories, in exchange for some lands that the Mongols had historical ties to.

Many in the cabinet had strenuous objections to Puyi giving Qing land away but Puyi reassured them that the transfer would be temporary, and that the lands would be returned to the empire soon. The factories that were received more than made up for the temporary social unrest.

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Puyi saw another benefit to this exchange. The empire would now hold a border with both Yunnan and Tibet. Lending the threat of force to the negotiations that had been ongoing with both wayward lands to return to the empire.

By the following spring the Tibetans, seeing their ally Mongolia losing a war of aggression they had started against Russia decided that the protection afforded by being a part of the empire, rather than a separate nation, allied to one of Russia’s enemies was worth the loss of autonomy. Long Yun, however, was still stubbornly refusing to give up his ridiculous claim to independence, despite the obvious power of the empire.

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Before our authority in the south could be solidified, word of our plans for the invasion of Mongolia had leaked, leading the Mongols to foolishly declare war on us. This despite the fact that they were waging a doomed war, with their ally Turkestan, against Russia. Despite having two fronts to fight on, our generals were confident that we would be able to crush the Mongols, and their Turk allies.

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(The screens for the next update are ready and cover the war. I hope to get them posted this week.)
 
Good Luck against the Baron!
 
Puyi shook his head in disbelief when the initial reports from the front reached him. It seems that the Mad Baron was mad indeed. He had declared war on the empire while having most of his army, and his ally’s fighting the Russians deep in Siberia. The imperial armies advanced against little or no opposition on all fronts.

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Sternberg ordered units to be boarded onto trains and deployed directly to the front lines in a desperate effort to hold back the onrushing Qing tide but the effort proved to be counterproductive as each unit was set upon before having any time to set up defensive positions or receive support from other units in the area.

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Jining fell early, giving vindication to Puyi’s earlier reassurances to skeptical members of his government, who felt that the deal he had reached with the Mongols had been foolish. Meanwhile, lightly equipped but superbly conditioned Mountain troops under Xu Yonchang raced ahead of the main army in a mad dash to reach Ulaanbaatar before Mongol units could be recalled to defend the city. Ulaanbaatar was the capital city and cultural center of Mongol society. With it taken the Mongol spirit would undoubtedly be broken and their continued resistance to Qing rule would likely wither.

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To the west the front continued to advance against the Mongol armies. Sweeping them aside when they tried to delay the advance of our armies. The Turks were in even worse shape, having sent most of their armies north with Sternberg, their cultural centers Tashkent and Dushanbe were woefully defended, if at all.

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On August 16th, having dispatched a division to secure the undefended city of Tashkent, the assault on Dushanbe began.

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After over a week of fighting, and with Tashkent secured, the defenders of Dushanbe were finally defeated.

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With operations in Turkestan going well news was not as rosy in Mongolia. The race to Ulaanbaatar had been lost. With the difficulty of the terrain near the city Field Marshall Chen Jitang made the decision to rest and organize his troops for a massive assault on the Mongol Capital.

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On September 12, Dushanbe, the capital of Turkestan fell to imperial troops. The government of Turkestan quickly sought terms from the emperor to end what had been a fruitless period of warfare, before Russian troops could arrive to occupy more of the country.

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Five days later the last resistance in Ulaanbaatar was extinguished. With thousands of dead on both sides the last division defending the capital finally threw down their arms and ran. Only 1400 of the initial 8000 defenders remained alive when the retreat began.

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On Oct 2 imperial divisions entered the city and planted the imperial dragon.

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Meanwhile, Long Yun continued to tell us to “get bent.”

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The Empire, as of October 7:

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The celebrations were short lived however. Fearful of a modern and resurgent Qing empire, the Japanese determined that they had to act quickly if they were to have any hope of entertaining imperialist ideas on the mainland.

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Good Luck against the Baron!

Thanks. It actually ended up being easier than it should have been due to them not really being home for the fight. I actually thought about restarting the game, but didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to explain any descrepancies that would have shown up in screenshots.


Is that a Republic of China I see in the south?

Nah, it's just Legation Cities. They got into a brief war with AoG and ended up with those coastal provinces.
 
The Japanese had declared war. The Legation Cities and Transamur joined the conflict at the behest of their masters. The Fengtien Republic had declared full independence from Japan prior to the initiation of hostilities and were in secret negotiations with the empire to embrace our cause.

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Looking at the tactical situation, the Japanese had very little territory on the mainland. It was felt, within the general staff, that if the Japanese presence in northern Korea could be overrun that the Japanese would sue for peace. Negotiations with the Fengtien Republic were showing optimistic signs and if they could be convinced to reconcile with the Emperor, our access to the Japanese strongholds in Korea would be presented.

In late October this access was granted as the armies of the Fengtien laid down their arms and embraced the troops of the empire.

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Long Yun continued with his stubborn ways. If he couldn't be convinced to give up his claims by the time the Japanese were beaten then our armies would be forced to put matters to him more bluntly.

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Our first troops disembarked from their trains near the new border with Japanese occupied Korea and began to organize and march on the Japanese controlled areas. The Koreans had declared formal neutrality in the conflict but we were sure that they would side with the Qing if we were victorious.

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The Russian embassador sent word that Russia, being at war with Japan themselves, would be willing to enter an alliance with the empire if we would be amenable to returning control of some areas of Russian territory that had been annexed with the fall of Turkestan. We were more than happy to do so. Russia would be a powerful ally and the land was not Chinese land anyway. We had simply not gotten around to turning it back over to the Russians. The problem was rectified.

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Our forces crashed into the pitifully undermanned Japanese defences all along the former Fengtien border with Korea. The results were as expected. Our battle hardened troops overran the Japanese positions using massed human wave assaults.

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The Japanese, seeing that they couldn't hope to defeat our well trained and motivated armies soon sued for peace. They offered a non agression pact, as well as giving up all claims on mainland territory. Having another group of foreigners on Chinese soil, we decided to accept the terms they offered and agreed to a cease fire.

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(The war was really a joke. I still haven't been tested yet. The Legation Cities agreed to a demand for territory but the game locked up when they accepted so I'll have to go back and redo that part but I'm hesitant to start a war with AoG until the Germans get embroiled in Europe. I haven't played past that point.)
 
I am surprised that the AOG hasn't been presented with the opportunity to surrender yet. In my version of Kaiserreich, they are always the first to go. Did the team change something for the Darkest Hour version?
 
I am surprised that the AOG hasn't been presented with the opportunity to surrender yet. In my version of Kaiserreich, they are always the first to go. Did the team change something for the Darkest Hour version?

It's random which nation goes first really.
Can happen in any way.

We have designed it in a way so that the player will get a new experiance every time he or she plays :)
 
I am surprised that the AOG hasn't been presented with the opportunity to surrender yet. In my version of Kaiserreich, they are always the first to go. Did the team change something for the Darkest Hour version?

In the only other game I've played as Qing they didn't either. The event chain lets you go after Shangquing Tianguo, Tibet, Mongolia, and Fangtien by event. I looked in the event files, to see if there's an event for it, and there is a "brotherhood" event but I don't know enough about the new country tags to understand who has to no longer exist to fire it. I may do so manually at some point. In my last game I ended up at war vs. Germany, and that worked out ok for me so I may just end up doing it the same way and DOWing them.
 
In the only other game I've played as Qing they didn't either. The event chain lets you go after Shangquing Tianguo, Tibet, Mongolia, and Fangtien by event. I looked in the event files, to see if there's an event for it, and there is a "brotherhood" event but I don't know enough about the new country tags to understand who has to no longer exist to fire it. I may do so manually at some point. In my last game I ended up at war vs. Germany, and that worked out ok for me so I may just end up doing it the same way and DOWing them.

I think you just got very unlucky with the war with Germany. In every version I have ever played of Qing, they never get involved. If you don't get a war with Germany, what are your plans for after the unification of China. You got lucky and have Russia as an ally IIRC, so you have a good start to an independent alliance.
 
I think you just got very unlucky with the war with Germany. In every version I have ever played of Qing, they never get involved. If you don't get a war with Germany, what are your plans for after the unification of China. You got lucky and have Russia as an ally IIRC, so you have a good start to an independent alliance.

I actually have no plan for after. I've never played past that point. In my only other game I quit after taking all of Germany's far east and Indian ocean possessions.

Syndicalism is running rampant however, and it runs counter to the empire's ideology so I may spread the enlightened joy of authoritarian democracy. Due to that fact I prefer not to war Germany. If I do, I will probably acceptall a peace deal with them after pushing them out of Asia. But only if they're losing in Europe.
 
I actually have no plan for after. I've never played past that point. In my only other game I quit after taking all of Germany's far east and Indian ocean possessions.

Syndicalism is running rampant however, and it runs counter to the empire's ideology so I may spread the enlightened joy of authoritarian democracy. Due to that fact I prefer not to war Germany. If I do, I will probably acceptall a peace deal with them after pushing them out of Asia. But only if they're losing in Europe.

If you don't want to war with Germany, there is still plenty you could do. For starters, When WWII starts (can't remember if it has yet in this AAR), join it. If you are still allied with Russia, do it as a fourth, independent, alliance that you will slowly build up. If not, maybe consider joining Mitteleuropa.