Part 9: The Vietnam War
In older dynasties, such as the Han dynasty, and for a brief period even the Ming dynasty,
Dai Nam has been a part of Chinese territory. However, enforcing Chinese authority in Vietnam had always been difficult at best - the Ming rule over Dai Nam had lasted only 20 years before a rebellion drove them out. Even the Mongols themselves had been foiled in their attempts to do anything more than turn Dai Nam into a tributary, during the Yuan dynasty. Despite the small size of their nation, the people of Dai Nam had proven time and time again to have a fiercely independent spirit that defied all attempts by various Chinese dynasties to assimilate them into China proper. If the New Model Armies succeeded in crushing that spirit, it would bring great glory to the Qing, validate his attempts to modernize the military before its detractors, and prove to the Europeans that the Chinese army was now a force to be feared. Or so he believed, at least. The Emperor continues expanding the military, and orders the commission of a small transport fleet, as preparations for war commence.
Oddly, the Chinese peasantry is less enthusiastic about the preparations for war then the Emperor is. A massive peasant uprising has broken out, with over 36,000 angry Chinese having risen in rebellion and laid siege to Chenzhou. There is no one grievance uniting them - many are starving peasants, infuriated by high taxes. Others are bankrupt artisans, who blame the Qing for their financial woes. Others are anti-Manchu dissidents seeking an end to ethnic oppression by the Manchu. But uniting all of them is a common belief that the Emperor's reforms, and his openness to foreigners, were the wrong path, and a desire to return things back to the way they were. They all agreed, in their eyes, the Qing had lost the Mandate of Heaven.
The Emperor did not even know any of this, though. All his agents reported was disorder caused by ungrateful lawless peasants, who sought mob rule and looted all they touched. General Fu Shangzhi, commander of the third division of the New Model Army, was dispatched to restore order in Chenzhou. However, Fu Shangzhi's expectations of an easy victory, inspired by the Emperor's instructions, were ill-concieved - the peasants were much more heavily armed and organized than a normal riot, and casualties on both sides were enormous. Worse, the "peasants" maintained their organization even after the battle was ended, and Shangzhi had to chase them down in Yingzhou before he was able to disperse the rebels permanently.
From captured prisoners, Shangzhi obtained strong evidence that anti-Manchu members of the local aristocracy had helped organize and arm the rebellion and presented these findings to the Emperor - a few arrests were made, but overall the Emperor had more pressing matters at hand.
Many foreign diplomats registered protest at the Chinese invasion plans, particularly the Russians and the French; the French reportedly had their own designs on Vietnam, and the Russians continued to view Qing as their rivals. However, the British were forced to remain silent, due to the fact that they were themselves at war with Vietnam, and defending their enemies would have been seen as absurd. The Qing diplomats cleverly took advantage of this, justifying their invasion to the Europeans on the grounds that Dai Nam had violated Britain's rightful sovereignty over Burma, and that the Chinese would punish Dai Nam for their interference. As Dai Nam was a tributary of China, after all, it fell to China to ensure the Vietnamese government complied with China's foreign agreements.
Regardless of China's increasing international infamy and various domestic rebellions, the Emperor went ahead with preparing to attack Dai Nam.
The navy of Dai Nam was nonexistent - reports indicated the British Royal Navy had annihilated it with ease.
Thus, the Emperor and his generals plan a two-way invasion - the first division of the New Model Army, under General Oboi Xiangying, would attack from the sea, and cut Dai Nam in two. Meanwhile, irregular militias from the Empire's substates would mount an invasion from the north, aimed at the capital, Hanoi. A similar plan had once been tried by the Yuan, in hopes of surround their Vietnamese enemies; the plan had failed spectacularly, but the Daougang Emperor hopes modern weapons technology would prove a decisive advantage.
It soon became clear that the invasion would need to move urgently, as the British finished crushing Burma and announced their intention to establish a colony in Dai Nam as punishment for their "unprovoked aggression" against the British Empire. If China could not finish the war quickly, British forces might steal their victory from under their noses.
The rulers of Dai Nam had been scrambling to attempt construction of a new navy in the face of the British invasion, but it was too little too late as Qing forces were spotted offshore.
The Qing navy made port in Hue and laid siege to the local fortifications, seeking to establish a base of operations before they moved deep into the jungle. Meanwhile, militias swiftly took over Hanoi, with minimal fighting. The Dai Nam armed forces had left their homes practically unguarded, in their heroic but misguided efforts to aid Burma.
Qing scouts spotted fierce fighting between the remnants of Dai Nam's army and the British in Siam, and this only further intensified the pressure on Oboi Xiangying to finish the war with lightning speed, before the British could push through the jungles or send a naval invasion. The war had begun on April 8, 1847 - Hanoi fell on June 2, after less than a month. In August, the Qing had their first real battle, against Dai Nam's vassal, Cambodia.
With that swift victory, all hope for Dai Nam seemed lost, as the Qing forces laid siege to the last two holdouts of Dai Nam.
Inspired by the victories, the Emperor announced yet further reforms, which used advice from British advisors to create a more modernized system of officer recruitment and training, and to reduce class discrimination in the selection of officers. This infuriated many in the military, but the Emperor's announcement of a drastic increase in military spending and salaries helped stem the resentment.
Soon, the war was over, and the Qing had conquered Dai Nam before the British could arrive. British forces on the ground were furious at being thwarted, but the British government in London was mainly just impressed at the shocking speed and success of the conquest, and many proposed stronger ties with China. A few British officials were even beginning to say that China was well on the path to becoming "civilized," and that the British should assist them in doing so. Others were simply worried about the severe threat to India China's New Model Armies could pose, and believed friendly relations with China were a necessity to secure Britain's interests. Still, though, the British looked down on China as an inferior; they infuriatingly demanded China allow Cambodia independence, in order to appease furious hawks in the British army and government. The Chinese consented to the demand.
Still, with the victory, it seemed the Emperor, and China's, prestige was assured. The New Model Army had proven its worth (or so the Emperor declared, despite the war ending with barely any resistance by Dai Nam and only a single real battle). In the celebration of the great victory, the Emperor announced a mass commutation of all life sentences for those imprisoned in Chinese prisons (at the urging of liberal advisers who felt this would keep the peasants happy and prevent further riots). The actual effects were minimal, as most people so imprisoned simply had their sentences commuted to decades in prison rather than life, but politically this convinced many Chinese peasants and soldiers that the Emperor was gracious and merciful - or so the Emperor hoped, at least.
For the people of Dai Nam, it was a time of national mourning and humiliation - their allies had been colonized, their cities looted, their armies annihilated, as two competing empires fell upon them at once. And so the long history of Vietnamese independence came to an end - for now, at least.
(wooo more research points!)