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Very good AAR. I'm quite interested actually also on the long-term effect of Hui/Moslem rule at the elite level in China. Will make for a fascinating dynamic! 加油!

Welcome, and thanks! I probably won't get too much into the nitty-gritty of how that plays out, lest this AAR get overburdened by political discussions.
 
[size=+1]
1938, Fall - Small Moves to the West​
[/size]

Ch13_01_LIFECoverBaby.jpg

[size=-2]The re-branded LIFE magazine celebrates its second birthday[/size]

1 October: I am finally going to rest easy tonight for the first time in a week. Things were so busy last month that it had escaped my attention that I hadn’t received a wire from my family in at least a fortnight (at a minimum I get at least one a week, usually more). It turned out the reason was that New England has just seen its worst hurricane since the Americans’ Civil War[size=-2][1][/size]. The storm started out near the Cape Verde Islands on September 10th and was on a beeline for the Caribbean, but instead of continuing on to Florida it made a nearly 90-degree right turn that brought it straight up to New England on the 20th. Forecasters were predicting that the same conditions that pushed the storm from heading west to heading north were going to continue to push it away so that it would perhaps make landfall in Newfoundland, but they were wrong. As a consequence, people living in the storm’s path didn’t receive the full warnings they would have otherwise[size=-2][2][/size].

Ch13_02_HurricanePaper.jpg

[size=-2]Early counts of the death toll proved optimistic[/size]

The damage was severe and the death toll is still rising as the cleanup continues. Most of the worst effects of the storm were felt in Rhode Island, as Narragansett Bay made a perfect funnel for the storm surge that was the leading cause of damage (and not the high winds, as you might expect). My father lives in an apartment complex called the Dakota just off the Central Park in Manhattan, and from there passed the storm by fairly quietly, but my mother wasn’t quite as fortunate. Recently she has been spending a lot of time over in Greenwich Village since she is a supporter of the Cherry Lane Theatre out there. In addition to providing financial support she frequently makes weekend trips to spend time with her friends in the world of off-Broadway theatre. Normally she would have been back in Manhattan before that Tuesday but had decided to stay a week to work with her colleagues there to get a proper season planned for 1939. Cherry Lane has been in a bit of a slump this year and hasn’t had a major performance since The Bishop Misbehaves in ‘37.

So when the storm hit, she was trapped as it were in a small cottage with some of her art circuit friends, and had a few injuries from broken glass and wood splinters when a knocked-over tree crashed through the wall. Fortunately rescue workers reached the home quickly and she wasn’t sent to a hospital. By the time I had heard all this news she was already happily reunited with my father and cracking wise about the experience. I had to smile after reading her vow that it would take more than a hurricane to close her theatre.

Ch13_03_EvelynRescue.jpg

[size=-2]Emergency workers rescue Evelyn Theriaux from a flooded cottage[/size]

10 October: Ma Hongkui has started a new campaign around Golmud to try and raise support for the KMT party. He has plenty of feedback from Henry that the rise of right-wing hardline governments in Europe has been helping to push the big democracies like the United States into isolationism. Isolationist countries aren’t known for opening up their wallets to foreigners, so Hongkui is looking for ways to get more American attention turned to China. So far no major power has accepted his government as the new Republic of China- partially because it isn’t much of a republic if you never have elections. Hongkui is willing to give democracy a try, but in a controlled environment as it were. That is, he is happy to let people vote if he knows they are going to vote for him. Right now most of those in the upper echelons of power here are members of the Kuomintang party, but few others are. Hongkui plans to turn this around and encourage more people from the lower classes to join up. This will be followed by an increase in the number of local-level elections. If the KMT holds up well, he may think about announcing national elections, but this will require summoning a Constitutional Convention since China’s last legislature, the National Assembly, was dissolved by Chiang in 1924 (basically, the RoC hasn’t even been a pretend Republic for quite some time).

The current campaign consists of posters going up all over town pointing out how the KMT upholds traditional Chinese values and forms China’s last bulwark against Japanese aggression. I’m not sure how many peasants or factory workers will really be interested in membership since it has as yet few tangible benefits, but we’ll see how this goes. I’m sure no democracy starts out perfect.

Ch13_04_MaHongkui_Writing.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Hongkui pens a promotional banner for the KMT[/size]

21 October: Another scandal going around town has sullied the name of Ma Bufang for the second time. Some contractors working on the aviation facilities in Golmud have been complaining about graft on Bufang’s behalf, which has caused Ma Hongkui to have another set of closed-door meetings with him and Ma Buqing. I wasn’t able to suss out much (well, *any* really) details of what was supposed to have happened, but Bufang has been relieved of his duties as the head of the Air Force. Unlike the previous scandal when he lost his Navy post, this is far more serious as the Air Force is on track to undergo significant expansion. I’m not sure who they will bring in to replace Bufang since few men in China have the requisite experience, so it will be interesting to see whom they pick.

31 October: Had an interesting evening at The Americaine. I am still slowly working on getting people there interested in Hallowe`en, and this year I was able to persuade some of the regulars to join me in listening to the Mercury Theatre program on the wireless. I had heard that this year they were doing a special episode for the holiday, and they didn’t disappoint! The broadcast was a telling of H. G. Welles’ The War of the Worlds, which features creatures from Mars coming to attack us here on Earth. I’ve read the book, and noticed that they changed the setting from England to a place back in the States. They also framed the broadcast to make it seem like you were listening to newscasts about events that were actually happening[size=-2][3][/size]. This gave us a good laugh at Crosetti’s expense. He arrived late to the public house and most of us were already glued to the wireless as they say with our drinks in hand. When the announcer started `reporting` about American soldiers that were being killed, he got real excited and was about to run out of the building to try and send wires back home to check on his family, but we stopped him and told him it was just a show. His face became really red and he didn’t seem like he wanted to believe us at first, but there were a couple of breaks thereafter in the program where they reminded the audience that everything was fictional. Everyone thought the show was pretty keen, and it will be interesting to see if they can try and top this next year. I had hoped Jie might really enjoy it, but her English wasn’t quite up to following along.

2 November: Trying very hard to keep my hand steady as I write, as I am so drunk! We finally got to listen to the match race we have been hoping for all year: Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral, West vs. East Coast! Beyond the fact that each horse is pre-eminent on his own racing circuit, we all wanted the matchup for another reason: both horses are descended from the great Man o’ War. Henry and I have many fond memories of betting on him during our time at Yale. Man o’ War’s only major loss in his entire career came at the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes. At that time, there were no starting gates; the horses essentially milled around until the barrier was lifted to allow them to proceed. Man o’ War was facing the wrong direction when the race began, and despite having to get turned around and come from behind he did almost win regardless. As far as Henry and I are concerned, he retired undefeated.

War Admiral is Man o’ War’s son and `Horse of the Year` for 1937, while Seabiscuit is his grandson through the stallion Hard Tack. Both horses are actually small for thoroughbreds, the average height is 16 hands, but War Admiral comes in at 15.3 and Seabiscuit at 15.2 hands. The match race took place at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore; to a packed crowd of 40,000 if I remember what the announcer said correctly.

Seabiscuit had a lead by one length for about the first quarter of the race, then they were running neck and neck for the next half, and in the final quarter Seabiscuit broke away and left War Admiral in the dust, winning by four lengths, and setting a new track record! Sadly no money changed hands this time around, as I had already convinced too many folks that the Biscuit would be the horse to watch, but it was great fun all the same. Let’s hear it for the Biscuit! Huzzah! Ha-ha!

[video=youtube;WVT2MPNCqgM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVT2MPNCqgM&feature=related [/video]​

22 November: I was summoned to the government headquarters today as Ma Hongkui is about to launch another military campaign. Now that he has access to the coast, he wants to consolidate the remaining Chinese territories here in the west (with the eastern ones still in Japanese hands). His next stop is then Yunnan province, which is under the control of Long Yun, yet another general.

Ch13_05_DoWYunnan.jpg

[size=-2]Ma troops stand ready to head west into Yunnan[/size]

Yunnan all but proclaimed independence when Yuan Shikai made himself Emperor following the end of the Qing dynasty, but they were willing to unify with the KMT party when Sun Yat-sen came back from exile in the early 20s and was operating from Canton. After Sun’s death, disagreements in the KMT leadership were severe enough to trigger a war between Yunnan and Li Zongren’s Guangxi Clique, a war in which Yunnan was trounced. During the general upswing in Chinese nationalism after the seizure of Manchuria by Japan, they did proclaim renewed loyalty to Chiang along with Kwangtung province, but there was never any love lost between them, and like most provinces, they worked to maintain as much autonomy as possible. Now that Chiang is gone, I am sure that Ma Hongkui fully expected them to come happily back into the KMT’s fold, but it’s the usual problem: people that set themselves up in power (for whatever reason) never want to just give that power up. An ultimatum was sent to Long Yun via Ma Hongbin that they needed to reintegrate immediately. I don’t think the message included an `or else` clause, but such things are usually implied. Either way, `or else` is what’s coming.

Troops from Kwangtung have been realigned to cover Yunnan’s self-proclaimed capital of Kunming, and other troops are positioned to blockade the main routes out of the Plateau of Tibet and into central China. I know the generals are still complaining about the lack of heavy artillery support, so the main method of attack is likely to be massed Infantry charges. I saw firsthand at Chungking how ineffective these usually are, so I suspect that Ma Buqinq will have to rely on the poor morale of the Yunnan defenders if he expects to avoid a bloodbath. Either that or he will have to fight a war of maneuver and try to isolate defenders from their sources of supply.

23 November: The Yunnan campaign is going about as well as I might have anticipated (and if a military neophyte such as myself sees no surprises, I’m sure the real generals also worked it out). The attack on Kunming is running very poorly, but the Mas have enough Infantry gathered for these assaults that eventually they will carry the day as the Yunnan troops have no strategic reserve available. They are trying to stall the advance with local counterattacks, but again, there are enough Ma troops ready for the attack that these are nothing but mosquito bites for all practical purposes.

Ch13_06_InitialAssault.jpg

[size=-2]Massed infantry hopes to carry the day[/size]

28 November: Attacks on Kunming have been running continuously for nearly a week. The Yunnan troops have exhausted their ability to delay this advance and their counterattacks have since died off. As Ma Buqing has decided to focus his schwerpunkt as it were (to borrow a term from Konrad), near Kunming, Ma forces elsewhere along the border are pretty thin, and some reports have come in that local counterattacks to the north are having success. But the battle will be won or lost in the south, and if Yunnan troops in the north penetrate deep into the countryside chasing fleeing divisions, it just pulls them farther away from the areas they should be defending. Alexei has been placed in charge of a large (for the Mas) force that has the objective of forcing Yunnan troops away from the north of Kunming so that the city can be encircled while it is under siege. From what I hear, this is working well.

Ch13_07_EncircleKunming.jpg

[size=-2]General Alexei Kolnigin holds in the south while sending troops to
attempt the encirclement of Kunming from the north[/size]

11 December: Alexei’s troops have managed to push into Kunming from the north side of the city while attacks from the south kept the defenders pinned down. Long Yun and the other leaders trapped in the city have all been captured and their forces in the area are all in retreat. However, this doesn’t end this campaign since the rest of Yunnan’s army is coalescing around Dali and are showing no signs of giving up.

Ch13_08_KunmingFalls.jpg

[size=-2]Yunnan’s capital is taken by Ma troops[/size]

Alexei’s troops have orders to essentially loot the city, but this province is so poor I don’t think there is much of anything they can pull out which will be of use to the industries being built up near Golmud. Of course, Konrad is upset that this campaign has severed his business links down through Hanoi, so now his bar is drying up a bit again. I tried to console him by saying that this campaign isn’t likely to last nearly as long as the one against Chiang, but the words sounded a bit hollow even to me. All too often wars seem to last a lot longer than you would have liked. Alexei already reported that troops he sent out north to catch the forces fleeing the city have met divisions that are choosing to stop and dig in rather than surrender, so perhaps things won’t finish quickly after all.


---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. As of 2010 this is still the most powerful hurricane in New England’s recorded history, except perhaps the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 for which no measurements for comparison are available
2. The final death toll was estimated between 680 and 800 people, with property damage near $40 billion (in 2010 dollars). Over 600 of those killed were from Rhode Island alone
3. While complaints from listeners about the format of the program are well-documented, the alleged panic in the aftermath of people thinking a real Martian invasion took place is in dispute[/size]


[post=13598163]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13516431]Back to previous Update[/post]​
 
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Race horses... Never had any interest in them myself (I did watch Spider Bis... I mean, Sea Biscuit, but I was fairly bored with the whole thing. Then again, back in those days, I believe AAR forums were hard to come by, as were computer games, so that might explain things a bit. :p

War as 'the continuation of politics by other means' certainly seems to be true in China! If you can't get what you want by cajoling people, just send in your poorly-armed masses! We'll see how well the expedition against Yunnan fares. At least the Mas hold the upper hand, so they can always go for a white peace if things get truly bogged down.

Also liked Ma Hongkui's 'pragmatic' approach to democratization. :) Given that any token effort is more than anybody else in the region is doing, it might just be enough to get some sympathy (or support) from the Americans. After all, sooner or later Japan will rear its ugly head and who actually cares about the form of government then, as long as they oppose the Japanese?
 
...an insight into Blitzkrieg Ma-style

War as 'the continuation of politics by other means' certainly seems to be true in China! If you can't get what you want by cajoling people, just send in your poorly-armed masses! We'll see how well the expedition against Yunnan fares. At least the Mas hold the upper hand, so they can always go for a white peace if things get truly bogged down.

I'm actually a bit embarrassed to even show some of my troops in these images, since many are still just 2x INF divisions. I have too many different areas to focus on right now and have been working on troop quantity over quality, which is okay for now but won't work as well when I want to tackle a major power. I do have some ART and AA brigades in the pipeline but for now the brave Chinese peasants have to carry the day on their own.
 
I ran into the same problem with the communists. Low IC and small starting army makes it difficult to campaign on such a large front. Not to mention the serious lack of leaders that leaves half your army leaderless, but that is a discussion for the game's forum.
 
I ran into the same problem with the communists.

Welcome! Between this and [post=13082845]Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng[/post], people will probably learn all they ever cared to about China!
 
Just an advice, keep your hq's out of the frontline, it adds stacking penalty.

Welcome!

Yes, that is a good tip. I am in the habit of carrying HQs along with everybody else since the travel times in this area are so slow, they are easily left behind and I end up with units out of range. I've already addressed this issue a little by using Army HQs over Corps HQs to get the increased radio range. It probably wouldn't add much delay to hold the HQ back until the battle was over, although it means I have to pay closer attention to my battles.
 
Hooray Seabiscuit!

Looks like heavy fighting at Kunming, but Yunnan seems unable to stop the Ma and their advance. It looks like only a matter of time before one clique rules them all.
 
Looks like heavy fighting at Kunming, but Yunnan seems unable to stop the Ma and their advance. It looks like only a matter of time before one clique rules them all.

Things are going to go slower than I would have liked, but I won't be obligated to call a truce to regroup, I can press on until the end. There's no hurry though since I can't make any moves against a major until they get distracted by WWII, so I still have all of 1939 to build up.
 
[size=+1]
1939, Winter - Contract Negotiations​
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Ch14_01_LIFECoverAirCadet.jpg

[size=-2]January issue discussing the future of Chinese aviation[/size]

3 January: I finally decided to marry Sheng Jie as part of my New Year’s Resolutions for 1939. Back home, the process would be pretty simple- I would stop by and visit her father in private and ask his permission to marry her, then I would find some romantic setting to use to propose to little Jie herself. However, over here in China things get a little more complex when you are dealing with a very traditional family. One problem I have is that it is the parents of the bride and groom who are required to make all the arrangements. With my own family out of the loop, this is going to be a bit difficult. I have found out from Jie in previous conversations on the topic that her parents were willing to make some exceptions to the usual rules for my case, but even so there are still lots of hoops to jump through. In addition to the fact that not only do the parents need to make the arrangements, they don’t even normally speak to each other this early in the process. A middle-man who is known to both families opens up the negotiations. I had been discussing my problems at the government building and Ma Bufang himself, no less, offered to serve in this capacity for me in honor of our brief time together on the road to Chungking. He has been back in Golmud for the last few days providing updates on the situation in Yunnan. So far the army is still pushing up north from Kunming to reach Dali, and a major counterattack from the Yunnan troops to drive a wedge between the forces near Dali and Kunming has been beaten off after its initial success. Ma Hongkui granted him permission to try and help me out after assurances that the front could hold without his direct supervision for a few days (Alexei is more than competent enough to keep the push on Dali going).

Ch14_02_AttacksInYunnan.jpg

[size=-2]Yunnan troops make a push that is quickly repulsed[/size]

Before I sent Bufang off to talk to the Sheng family I had to give him the skinny on my financial assets as it were, so that he could convince Jie’s family that I could take care of her. My typical appearance and the fact that I still live out of a hotel belies the fact that I am doing quite well as it turns out. When my father sold out to the United Fruit Company back in 1909, he received a large cash payment as well as numerous shares of United Fruit stock. He put a little of both aside for my benefit with the proviso that I couldn’t touch either until I reached my majority. But even after that point, I continued to let him manage the money as he has done very well with it. I require very little to serve my needs and basically wire home whenever I need a fresh injection of liquidity to get me by. Anyway, the money was placed in an investment trust which did very well throughout the 1920s. However, my father is an old-fashioned sort who gets suspicious of value that increases for reasons not tied to physical things- for example, the actual profitability of a given company. He’s also somewhat of a student of business history and is well aware of things like the South Sea Bubble and the crash of the tulip market in the Netherlands. As the Dow Jones Industrial index continued to rise through the 1920s he became nervous and started to transfer some of the investment trust portfolio into Homestake Mining stocks throughout 1928[size=-2][1][/size]. Homestake Mining focuses primarily on gold production and did quite well in the aftermath of the Great Depression. My United Fruit stock bottomed out with everybody else’s in the crash, but by 1935 every $1,000 I had in Homestake Mining was now worth $6,200 *and* paying out dividends of $56 a share. I’m going to have to use some of this largess to have a home constructed that is worthy of my status in her parents’ eyes, which might ruin my reputation a bit at the public house as they view me as working-class over there (which I am as far as I’m concerned).

Ch14_03_ShengFamily.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Bufang (standing, far left) treats the Sheng family to a lavish dinner to open marriage negotiations.
Jie’s father Qiang is fourth from left; her mother Wen is fifth from left.
Following tradition, Jie must await the results of the discussion at home[/size]

I already wrote Bufang a cheque for $300[size=-2][2][/size] drawn on the Bank of China for him to use to get suitable gifts to present to the family when he has the meeting to offer my proposal to them. I had my own ideas on what would be good, but I thought it would be best to have a native handle it as I wouldn’t want to unwittingly commit a faux pas at this delicate stage. If her family agrees to our union in principle, then they will provide Bufang with a special document containing all the circumstances of Jie’s birth which I then need to hold onto for at least three days. Normally I should leave this at my home’s altar honoring my ancestors, but I’ll have to try to make up something to stand in for that in my hotel room. If I don’t see any inauspicious omens in this time, then I have to pass this along to a reputable astrologer who needs to confirm that we would be a good match (and I’m sure with enough money, any couple can just happen to be a good match). So once I have the astrologer’s okay, then I write up the document containing all the details of my birth so that Jie’s family can run through the same steps. If that all works out then we can finally meet to make arrangements without Bufang as the go-between, but even this would be unusual, since normally it would then be my parents and hers meeting to make the betrothal arrangements. At this stage in the process it would not be unusual for the bride and groom to not even have met for the first time yet. I’m expecting this to go well since Jie has mentioned her parents aren’t too prejudiced about her marrying a non-Chinese.

5 January: Word came in over the wireless that the search is being called off for aviatrix Amelia Earhart, and she has been declared dead in absentia along with her navigator Fred Noonan. It doesn’t seem like we have too many of the fairer sex doing feats of bravado; she will be missed.

7 January: Got some interesting snapshots today of training going on outside the city. The Mas are trying to create some brigades of combat Engineers, which they feel might be a better supplement to their forces when making urban assaults than the heavy artillery most of the generals have been asking for. Today they were mainly setting off smoke bombs and doing a lot of gagging from the fumes; later this week they will practice making bridges in the field on one of the many rivers around Golmud. In the meantime I’m still on pins and needles waiting for word to come back from Ma Bufang on what happened with his meeting with the Sheng family.

Ch14_04_Engineers.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Engineers get vital training in construction work[/size]

8 January: This evening there was a minor fight at the public house. Some people were there with their families to watch Little Miss Broadway when some of the more rougher evening crowd started to trickle in to have a stiff drink or two (or three, depending on the state of the booze supply for that day). One of the men who was there with his children started to complain to Crosetti about the language the latter as using in front of his kids (who were apparently part of one of the few working-class families in the city that speak any English at all). Of course, if we had known in advance we might have warned the man that Crosetti is a bit of a hothead. As it was he was mad enough that he was about to lay into the fellow but we were able to hold him back forcibly and calm him down.

The incident did bring home some of the problems that Konrad faces trying to attract a wide base of customers so he can maintain his bottom line: a lot of these different types don’t mix well. Some of us were of the opinion that if he could get a few outside investors, he could split off his business: keep the bar running for his original patrons but migrate the movies into a different building where he could also perhaps serve better-quality food if he built a place with a real kitchen (currently he occasionally has somebody cooking rice or noodles for him right in the street out back). We started joking around about what he might call such a business- my favorite was The Sour Kraut. Konrad didn’t appreciate the jest but he did seem to think the idea had some merit. Later when I returned to my digs at the hotel, I had word from Ma Bufang that the Sheng family agreed to open negotiations to discuss my marriage proposal, and I would get the document with Jie’s astrological data soon. Certainly a very noteworthy day!

18 January: Still awaiting new word from the Sheng family. In my room at the hotel I had set out some pictures of my parents and kept incense burning while I was on the watch for any bad omens. Of course, I’m not entirely sure what would qualify as a bad omen, but I wasn’t going to ask, lest I see any. I’m now awaiting word from the Shengs’ astrologer to find out if I’m acceptable. If I’m lucky I might be able to have the big meeting with her family at the end of the month.

I was also able to have dinner with Claire Chennault tonight down at `Polo’s Place`. He’s back in town after overseeing the construction of a new airfield in the old Kwangtung capital of Guilin. It transpired that he did in fact go into forced retirement from the Army Air Corps back in ’37 and worked his way over to China. He had been hoping to get an aviation job with Chiang Kai-shek but that fell through when the Japanese (and later Ma Hongkui) attacked. He found himself trapped in Nanking but managed to get out after the Japanese took control of the city (the Japanese are still unwilling to antagonize Westerners- well, at least no more than necessary). Still wanting to remain in China, he then worked his way to Golmud where Ma Hongkui has him very highly placed in the Air Force. However as of yet there is no real `Air Force` being run by the Mas (Chiang’s aircraft ended up being seized by the Japanese), but civilian aviation is taking off. Currently he is head of the Civil Air Transport Company that he founded here and is overseeing the continued buildup of airports all across western China. With the recent completion of the airstrip in Guilin, there is now government service and limited civilian commercial service running down from Golmud to Minxian, Meishan, and Guilin in Kwangtung. He is quite happy in China and looking forward to further aviation developments.

It’s great to have him working in Golmud, as we now have me, Peter, Max, and Claire as a fearsome foursome in regular bridge sessions. I usually end up paired with Peter as I’ve known him longer, but sometimes I’ll work with Max to practice my weak German. Peter and I are usually Rothschild Contract bidders, so that works out well, but Max uses some sort of system developed in Germany called the Tuebingen Pass system, which sometimes causes trouble for Claire as it is all new for him to learn. Still, it’s all in good fun until the money comes out! I was also able to parlay Claire’s experiences into another article that earned me a cover for LIFE, as Henry thought that the development of Civil Air Transport and the burgeoning Chinese aviation industry made for some good press. Right now most of the pilots are American expats like Claire, but he’s working on getting flight schools up and running.

20 January: Finished a lengthy meeting with Jie’s family today where we worked out the terms of our formal betrothal. I had some telegrams with me expressing the approval from my parents, and Ma Buqing attended as a show of moral support in place of his younger brother (and to perhaps add the looming presence of the government in my favor to the proceedings). Ma Bufang had wanted to be here, but had to get back to Yunnan over a week ago to supervise the siege of Dali.

Ch14_05_SiegeDali.jpg

[size=-2]Unsupported Infantry has little staying power on the attack, but victory is certain[/size]

I almost ran into a bit of trouble of not properly negotiating Jie’s dowry. I could really care less what her family chooses to provide for her, as it’s the girl I care about, but it looks embarrassing for my side if I don’t haggle. I was actually kicked a few times by Buqing when it looked to him like I wasn’t being serious enough in the bargaining. The next step is to set a date for our wedding, but this needs to be delayed as the local astrologers have to calculate the most auspicious times to do so. They are reluctant to start this process now since the new lunar New Year is coming up next month, and when it does, the revised astrological almanac is going to be published that they need to use in their calculations. So it’s more waiting, but I am becoming used to that at this stage.

3 February: Ma Bufang reports that the siege of Dali is over. His troops were nearly exhausted by the attack, so the same Cavalry division that we had accompanied to Chungking was sent in to take the city and handle the negotiations for the formal surrender. This will be good news for Konrad, as the Mas will now be directly in charge of the transport links running down to Hanoi, which will help him get some booze. He does still appear to be interested in splitting up his business, so we just have to find the right group of investors to help him out with that.

Ch14_06_EndofYunnan.jpg

[size=-2]The last warlords in Yunnan province finally capitulate[/size]

10 February: Had to dash off a quick wire to my mother today, as it will be her 60th birthday back home. I’m a bit embarrassed that I haven’t made the time to try and arrange something special for her. I’ve been quite busy here with everything going on, but it’s no excuse (and neither is the fact that we’re on different continents at the moment!) I’ll have to make it up to her next year.

19 February: The lunar New Year begins today, making this the year of the Earth Rabbit. This starts the Spring Festival, which means I get more moon cakes from Jie and everyone is celebrating. Ma Hongkui sponsored a major party this year to both continue his quest for wider KMT support and to get the people in a good mood after the victories in Yunnan province. This is very timely as things are still somewhat hard as metal shortages continue to plague Golmud’s industries. There are major plans in place to get a harbor facility built down near the coast, but that will take time, and the transport links down there aren’t of the best quality (read: nonexistent).

Ch14_07_LionDance.jpg

[size=-2]Local Lion Dancers prepare for the big event[/size]

The New Year celebrations are designed to be part of a cultural renaissance for the city. In addition to things like the traditional Lion dances, Hongkui is also promoting local cinema. When the Japanese occupied the east coast after Chiang capitulated, China’s cultural and intellectual elite basically had two choices: move to Hong Kong or Golmud. Hongkui has done a fairly remarkable job of persuading many of them to come here even though there is little infrastructure in place to support their activities, but such things are now on the increase. I suppose many of these folks would prefer if the fruits of their labors were entirely enjoyed by the Chinese and not shared with the British, and Hongkui now has enough of China’s banks in his pocket that those pockets can be quite deep. Perhaps his greatest cultural coup came from getting film director Yuan Muzhi and the Mingxing Film Company to relocate here. They are most famous locally for the movie whose title translates as `Street Angel`. This film starts Zhou Xuan (a very remarkable singer) as one of two sisters who fled to Shanghai from Shaanxi province after the Japanese attacked back in July of ‘37. She sings a few numbers in the film and her voice is absolutely captivating. As part of the celebrations a local premiere of Street Angel was held here in town, which I attended with Jie and her family. Many of the principal actors are now residing here and attended the premiere; as a consequence, I was able to use the little clout I have to arrange for Jie’s family to meet Zhou Xuan, which raised my stock considerably in their eyes. Not that I needed it, as they’ve already agreed to our wedding!

[video=youtube;RlEu2lcE9sg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlEu2lcE9sg[/video]​

2 March: The astrologers have finally worked out a set of acceptable dates for our wedding. I picked out Thursday, November 30th, as the Thanksgiving holiday will be celebrated at that time back in New York, so I explained to the Sheng family that this day would be held as auspicious by my side of the family. Right now it seems so far away, but I am sure it will come soon enough. One consequence of the betrothal is that her family has forbidden her to continue to work for Konrad, feeling that this job is beneath her future status. In order to help preserve the good omens I’m told we have running, I’m not going to be allowed to see her anymore until the wedding. I’m finding this out after the fact, so I don’t even have the luxury of giving her a good-bye kiss to hold me over until then! Well, when the wedding comes, I’ll have plenty to be thankful for.

In the meantime I also have a great deal to keep me busy. As part of the wedding contract, I have to get a house built not only for us, but one for the Sheng family as well. Dealing with those issues will hopefully keep me distracted from missing my little Jie, but I doubt it.

27 March: The nation of Czechoslovakia is no more. The Hungarians pressed the government in Prague to resolve some border disputes in the Carpathian region, in a move that oddly enough had fairly widespread international support. The disputed area is one that was traditionally Hungarian for the last 1,000 years or so but was taken away as part of the Treaty of Trianon. The negotiations were hotly contested, with Poland prepared to offer military support to the Hungarians and the Romanians ready to help the Czechs. The Czechoslovak government really had its back against the wall, as any further territorial losses after the Sudetenland would likely leave it completely unviable as a state. They simply had no choice but to refuse the Hungarian offers to dismember their country.

Ch14_08_PolishBand.jpg

[size=-2]Polish band celebrates the annexation of the town of Zaolzie, a minor concession awarded to them as part of the First Vienna Award.
Little did they know they would have little else to celebrate in the near future.
The sign reads `For 600 years we have been waiting for you`[/size]

Instead of going to war, the countries declared failed negotiations and invoked a clause in the previous Treaty of Munich that called for Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom to settle the issues with a final arbitration. This might have possibly then worked out in the Czechs’ favor, if not for the odd fact that both France and the UK declined to participate. This left the fate of the area completely in the hands of the Germans and Italians. Admiral Horthy, the Hungarian leader, won over Italian support by positing an expanded Hungary as a strong ally in the region to counterbalance Germany. However, since he was also quoted as saying something to the effect that if he ever found himself at war with the Czechs, he would be defeated before he had time to climb out of bed, I have a hard time thinking that Mussolini would have found such an alliance compelling[size=-2][3][/size]. For their part, the Germans pushed the Slovaks to declare full independence, and took recognition of Slovakia plus the last rump of Bohemia as their fee so to speak for granting Hungarian demands in Carpathia... and sic transit Czechoslovakia. The knife of the diplomat can cut more deeply than any bayonet.

Ch14_09_EuropeMap.jpg

[size=-2]The short-lived Czechoslovak Republic comes to an ignominious end[/size]

28 March: The Germans have successfully pressed another territorial claim. The port city of Memel, at the eastern end of East Prussia, was occupied by the victorious Allies after the Great War and it remained that way even after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. France and Poland wanted to make the place an international city despite its overwhelming German population, but the neighboring state of Lithuania also claimed it, and sent troops to occupy the city back in 1923. The dispute over the city was referred to the League of Nations, which decided the following year to formally grant the city to Lithuania with the minor proviso that it have some autonomous rights. Now the German Chancellor has somehow convinced them to turn the area over to full German control. The only territorial issue the Germans have remaining is the city of Danzig and the so-called Polish Corridor, unless they want to make a fuss over their old colonies in the Pacific Ocean. However the Allies have already granted those to Japan as their reward for their minor participation in the Great War. If I was Polish President Ignacy Moscicki, I’d be sleeping with one eye open right now (well, or Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, at least).


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[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at a peak of 385 in October of 1929, and bottomed out at 41 during the worst of the Great Depression. The value reached 1,000 in 1972 and hit 10,000 in 1999. The General Electric Company has the honor of having the longest continuous presence in the index, having been added in 1907
2. A value of about $4,600 in 2010 dollars
3. Specifically, he is alleged to have said `A Hungarian military intervention would be a disaster for Hungary, because the Czechoslovak army has currently the best arms in Europe and Budapest is only five minutes from the border for Czechoslovak aircraft. They would neutralize me before I could get up from my bed`[/size]


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Another great update.

The Ma rule much of China geographically...I can't help but still notice, though, that the most valuable regions are still in Japanese control.
 
A lot going on: the marriage, the continued expansion of the Mas' state (both territorially and in terms of industry, culture), the possibility that Konrad might be going into the theatre business... And the sad, sad affair of European politics.

By the way, if that was Horthy's assessment of Czechoslovakia ('the best arms in Europe'? Really? I know they had some good stuff, but if you could pick from the Russian, German, British, French and Czechoslovak arsenals, would you really equip your armed forces with Czechoslovak stuff only? I highly doubt it...), then I'm amazed he lasted as long as he did. That's a serious lack of perspective - then again, perhaps that's why he was lured into the war on Germany's side...

Great details on the ceremonial dance surrounding the betrothal. Sure sounds like a complicated and time-consuming effort. I guess it does mean that, once you're married, you already have a huge commitment made to that marriage from day one. :)
 
as ever, completely engrossing at every level, from the marriage preparations to the war with Yunnan and back to Poland's little bite out of Czechoslavakia

Another great update.

Thanks! I'm particularly surprised that Poland was so happy to participate in Czechoslovakia's dismemberment, surely they weren't so naive to think they wouldn't be next. Wiping away nations with the stroke of a pen is a dangerous activity to support.

The Ma rule much of China geographically...I can't help but still notice, though, that the most valuable regions are still in Japanese control.

Sadly that will remain the case until they get distracted with either a war against the USSR or the USA. Unlike some other nations China could end up at war with, a struggle with Japan is going to be one to the death, so the Mas can't strike until they are confident they can win. One of the biggest problems is that trade with the Soviet Union has to be entirely at sea (WAD, but a bug as far as I am concerned), so Convoy losses will be murderous and the existing resource shortages are going to preclude having a nice pre-war stockpile built up. But I can promise one thing: the Mas industrialization program is going to mean that at the end of the day the west half is the half of China worth owning!

By the way, if that was Horthy's assessment of Czechoslovakia ('the best arms in Europe'? Really? I know they had some good stuff, but if you could pick from the Russian, German, British, French and Czechoslovak arsenals, would you really equip your armed forces with Czechoslovak stuff only? I highly doubt it...), then I'm amazed he lasted as long as he did. That's a serious lack of perspective - then again, perhaps that's why he was lured into the war on Germany's side...

Great details on the ceremonial dance surrounding the betrothal. Sure sounds like a complicated and time-consuming effort. I guess it does mean that, once you're married, you already have a huge commitment made to that marriage from day one. :)

I can only assume that having such a long border with Czechoslovakia biased his opinions a bit. But the whole thing is odd- if Hungary is ranking itself below Czechoslovakia as a military power, why did the other Axis members worry so much about them? From what I read the Germans were quite concerned about a Polish-Hungarian alliance blocking their moves to the east and wanted to prevent those two nations from having a common border. Only the complete dissolution of Czechoslovakia sweetened the pot enough to overcome those concerns.

On the other topic, I can imagine that Jacques would be quite happy with a nice Western-style elopement at this point, but there's no point in antagonizing your bride's family needlessly. And you're right, the traditions certainly mean that marriage isn't for the faint of heart!
 
re the politics of Central Europe in the 1930s. Also worth remembering that France was playing diplomatic footsie in the region too. It briefly created a 'little entente' (if I recall correctly Czech+Hungary+Rumania) as a sort of balance to Germany. The fundamental flaw was all that alliance had a beef with each other and all, quite feasibly, believed that in the event of war France would opt to stay on the defense (why else build the maginot line?).

Its contentious material, but there are grounds to suspect a German-Polish alliance was feasible. Certainly all Soviet wargames and manouvres from the late 20s on were framed on the assumption of such an alliance being in place. Now they were often paranoid, but equally via the Comintern network and the NKVD, they were often well informed. A 'normal', rational authoritarian Germany could well have acted in a manner not at all to the disadvantage of a regime like Pilsudki. The problem was that Germany's political leadership was neither normal nor rational.
 
re the politics of Central Europe in the 1930s. Also worth remembering that France was playing diplomatic footsie in the region too. It briefly created a 'little entente' (if I recall correctly Czech+Hungary+Rumania) as a sort of balance to Germany. The fundamental flaw was all that alliance had a beef with each other and all, quite feasibly, believed that in the event of war France would opt to stay on the defense (why else build the Maginot line?).

It's a shame that France and the UK backed out of the negotiations, since it was pretty much their last chance to honor their Eastern European commitments short of war. I'd be curious to find out if any readers know why they chose not to participate; I didn't see anything discussing it in the short amount of time I looked.
 
Very good AAR. Im quite interested actually also on the long-term effect of Hui/Moslem rule at the elite level in China. Will make for a fascinating dynamic! 加油!

It makes me wonder, if you consider how the chinese adopted Communism after the Communists won the civil war. Would it be possible for the Chinese to adopt Islam if the Ma's managed to unite China? After all Communism I would argue was just as alien to the Chinese as Islam.
 
The Little Entente was Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and was deisgned as an anti-Hungarian/anti-restoration block, for all good that did to the region.