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I believe at this point it would be fair if you
a) gave yourself a lot of Generals formerly owned by Chiang, since he surrendered to the dastardly Japs and
b) gave yourself cores on all ares where the ROC has cores, since you are now the largest remaining faction and therefore the legitimate (or at least the one with the best claim to legitimacy) successor to the ROC government
and maybe c) Change your name to Republic of China (since you are no longer just in the Northwest, as 西北 means)

Anyway, awesome AAR and personally I'm looking forward to a China not run by Chiangs Corruptocrats (perhaps another period of cooperation between Guomindang and the CPC is in order... who knows, this might even end in a real multi-party democracy!)
 
frustrating to have the Japanese pilfer the spoils, but you've built a plausible narrative (& packing Chiang off to Taiwan is a stroke of genius). So Guanxi next, then a tour around the Chinese hinterlands?

Good show in the last two updates. I read Ma Hongkui's lamentations about lacking resources and access to a port, and before I finished the sentence I thought: "Hello Guanxi,are you ready for a visit by the Mas?" :)

Going by the paper napkin masterplan, we're talking Guanxi first, then finally the Tibetans? And then, at long last, the Japanese? Will the Japanese sit by idly?

There is pretty much no other option for getting a port that doesn't involve more trouble with the UK or Japan than I want to take on right now, so Li Zongren should pretty much sleep with one eye open! It is a worry if Japan will pile on if I war down there... I've seen them knock out the Guangxi Clique numerous times, but I don't know if that was only because the Clique was honoring its ties with the RoC.

Never saw an actual copy of the post-Anschluss referendum form. It's almost breath-taking in its unsubtlety (almost - knowing what Adolf and company got up to in later years makes the Austrian episode look very tame by comparison).

It was also an open ballot, so you had to vote with somebody looking over your shoulder, and there was a real danger for `no` voters finding themselves hauled away later. I'm almost surprised they even included the `nein` box, but I suppose they couldn't pretend that it was technically a vote without one.

Interesting AAR, I like the narrative style you are using reminiscent of the Rank & File AAR and the fact that you are using Xibi San Ma. Did not know there were many Chinese Muslims or that they were significant warlords, I guess its just one of those things you never hear about in the west. Hopefully the Ma's end up more successful in this timeline than OTL.

Welcome, and thanks!

Ma Bufang ended up running away to Saudi Arabia and Egypt with his family, Hongbin defected to the communists, Honguki ended up in the USA as a horse breeder after being exiled from Taiwan by the KMT for "frustrating the fulfillment of the military plan" , Buqing pretty much ended up in Taiwan with the KMT.

Also of note Wikipedia had a couple amusing quips on Honguki and why he was well fat... and that he hated communists

General Ma Hongkui suffered from severe Diabetes attacks, and in 1949 it was so bad he was not expected to recover. Despite his diabetes, he was addicted to ice cream and ate it constantly.

Ma Hongkui, like the President of China, Chiang Kaishek, was virurently anti communist. Whenever communists turned up in his territory they invariably ended up dead

One thing I liked about them collectively as a group was that their fates ended up being so very different from each other... and only one made it all the way to the bitter end with the KMT's Taiwan exile.

...awesome AAR and personally I'm looking forward to a China not run by Chiangs Corruptocrats (perhaps another period of cooperation between Guomindang and the CPC is in order... who knows, this might even end in a real multi-party democracy!)

Welcome, and thanks!

I believe at this point it would be fair if you
a) gave yourself a lot of Generals formerly owned by Chiang, since he surrendered to the dastardly Japs and
b) gave yourself cores on all ares where the ROC has cores, since you are now the largest remaining faction and therefore the legitimate (or at least the one with the best claim to legitimacy) successor to the ROC government
and maybe c) Change your name to Republic of China (since you are no longer just in the Northwest)

Those are all great ideas, but I'm a bit reluctant to make any edits since I want to play a game that anyone else could replicate without editing anything (aside from the obvious removal of XSM as an RoC puppet). For now, we'll just say `The Three Mas of the Northwest` refers to being northwest in regards to Australia... hehe.

The lack of leaders and cores is highly annoying though. I can appreciate not wanting to devote time to research enough for every country in the game, but how do you not even have enough leaders to supply the starting troops in your OOB? Honestly, just make up names if you have to for some skill 1 / max 2 guys...

One of the reasons I had to keep the Communists alive is that they get to have cores on the rest of China, so you will see me get to take advantage of their cores by proxy in a future update. China would be a lot more fun to play if you had cores for every warlord (or at least more than just PRC and ROC). I think the HPP mod gets around this and adds the cores for the other factions, which would be a great reason to play HPP, if they can finish their FtM version.
 
The lack of leaders and cores is highly annoying though. I can appreciate not wanting to devote time to research enough for every country in the game, but how do you not even have enough leaders to supply the starting troops in your OOB? Honestly, just make up names if you have to for some skill 1 / max 2 guys...
I still use Halstons Leader Generator from time to time when faced with a nation with very little starting Generals. I also use the common last names from the region im playing from a website I found. I go by the assumption that Im changing the history with the nation im playing rather than what the historical outcome of the nation happenend as my alibi. lol. and thats good enough to justifiy my changes lol..personally that is. The game is based on historical leaders at that time rather than what could have happened, so it is limited. It only takes the amount of time to make as many leaders you want to make for the country, as for the pictures i just get a generic general photo for each and assign it to the leader. One that beats the generic ghost picture that appears for it. If your making new history whos to say you cant promote a general from your officer pool. lol
 
I still use Halston's Leader Generator from time to time when faced with a nation with very little starting Generals.

Great idea, but for now I will stick with my conceit that I won't do anything that requires a player to modify the game, so that anybody can replicate what I'm doing. I've already spoiled that a bit by adding in my own mod, but that just provides window dressing and doesn't give me any tangible benefits.
 
[size=+1]
1938, Spring - Kingdom for a Port​
[/size]

Ch11_01_LIFECoverChineseSoldier.jpg

[size=-2]May issue discussing the rise of the Ma Clique[/size]

3 April: There was a great deal of mass traffic confusion today in the city. Some new infantry brigades are fresh from training and ready for action, but there seems to be a major disagreement on where they should be deploying. This morning, all the traffic appeared to be heading to the northwest and Sinkiang, but by the evening we started seeing the exact same trucks and men coming back through town in the opposite direction. Now they are off south, to Kwangtung. I suppose Ma Hongbin hasn’t gotten anywhere down there via diplomacy with Li Zongren, so now the Mas are ready to switch from the carrot to the stick, as it were. I saw Alexei in one of the lead trucks and he didn’t look too happy... in addition to the main military traffic the streets were clogged with curious onlookers, proud of what the Mas have accomplished for them and eager to see their sons, fathers, and brothers off to new feats. I tried to yell `nichevo! ` out to Alexei as they were passing by, but I don’t think he heard me.

Ch11_02_ChineseMarchingCity.jpg

[size=-2]White Russian officers attempt to lead their men out of the city[/size]

20 April: Huge fight this evening at The Americaine. Paddy was crying in his drink again over his beloved Kathleen, as usual (and this evening, Konrad even managed to have alcohol on the premises), and Crosetti had apparently had his fill of it. He started getting irate and told Paddy that with the money they were earning at the mine, Paddy could get any other girl he wanted, and suggested they go out to some local houses of ill-repute and have him take his mind off her. This sent Paddy into a fury and fisticuffs broke out, with the Marquess of Queensberry Rules clearly absent from the premises. At the end Crosetti had picked up a chair and thrown it at Paddy, who ducked and left the chair to smash Konrad’s mirror behind the bar. It took several of us to break the fight up and explain to Crosetti his attitude was all wet, but luckily we were able to get the situation resolved before the local militia was called in by somebody. I stayed late to help Jie clean up and we ended up hanging a curtain behind the bar until Konrad can get a replacement mirror in. I also finally noticed that Jie seems to be growing her hair out a bit; I suspect she may be trying to make herself appear more Western to me, which she may assume she needs to do to be more attractive. I didn’t discuss it with her- I don’t know that much about dames, but I do know conversations about their looks are potential minefields! I left myself satisfied with sweeping up shards of broken mirror and guessing with Jie how many years of bad luck Crosetti was due for.

24 April: I went down to the public house today to have a quick drink for my 40th birthday and received quite a shock. All the tables in the bar were decked out with bananas! I have no idea how anyone there found out that dad used to work for United Fruit, or that I was often ribbed as `banana boy` when I was finishing primary school, but in retrospect I suppose Peter might have known. With the terrible supply situation still ongoing in the major cities, I don’t even know where they found so many bananas; I expect they must have scoured the city. I felt compelled to run back to my lodgings and pick up my camera to take a few photos. Certainly nothing that will ever grace an issue of LIFE, to be sure, but some memories are best enjoyed in private anyway.

Ch11_03_AtTheBar.jpg

[size=-2]Patrick O’Doul and Giovanni Crosetti toast my health with Konrad Schmidt[/size]

25 April: The imams calling the faithful to prayer didn’t help my hangover this morning. The mirror shows me to still be pretty bleary-eyed, but at least I wasn’t singing last night. At least, I don’t remember doing any...

After I get cleaned up I’ll head back down to the army’s training camps and see if I can get any good photos of the troops assembling there.

5 May: Heard some good news from Konrad. Now that the fighting with Chiang is over, things have stabilized enough that he is getting more of a flow of booze. It’s not quite so much coming in that Paddy and Crosetti will stop complaining that life is `just as bad` as it was for them under Prohibition back in the States, but some of us at least choose not to complain. Peter also says that further negotiations with the Coca-Cola Company have been going very well, so we should have some more news on that front pretty soon.

26 May: Had lunch with Ma Hongkui today and found out that Ma Buqing is now fully prepared to start a strike against the remaining Kuomintang supporters in Kwangtung province. Now that Chiang is out of the picture, Ma Hongkui and Li Zongren are the last two major players in the KMT party. I think Hongkui may have been genuinely surprised that Zongren didn’t just join up with him immediately as soon as Chiang capitulated, but I don’t find it that unexpected. Hongkui is not planning on allowing his supporters anywhere near the same degree of autonomy that they were able to carve out from the old KMT leadership, so we can’t expect the warlords in Kwangtung to just hand over what little power they have left. I also heard that Ma Hongbin’s intelligence network reports (and I heard the same from Henry) that Zongren is trying to lobby the Americans to recognize him as the legitimate heir to the Republic of China. Naturally this frustrates Hongkui to no end, as he can run into some major long-term difficulties if the Western powers don’t accept him.

CH11_04_Armyready.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Clique troops are prepared in the south[/size]

Zongren’s group is actually referred to as the *New* Guangxi Clique by the locals. The *Old* Guangxi Clique seized power in Kwangtung when the Manchus were thrown out, but a massive power struggle amongst the warlords there led to some small wars in the very early 20s, the outcome of which placed the current crop of generals in power. After Chiang’s Northern Expedition to suppress the Communists at the end of that decade, he attempted to reorganize the Army in a manner that would have reduced the influence of the warlords supporting him, which in turn led to a small civil war back in ’29 when the Clique directly challenged him. He won, but Zongren regrouped and was ready to start a fresh war when he put his differences with Chiang aside after Japan moved into Manchuria. Now he finds himself in the ironic position of being a pretender to Chiang’s throne, as it were.

30 May: Henry finally gave me a cover for LIFE this month! I was quite thrilled to see the end result when Peter managed to slip me a copy. Ma Buqing has had several new infantry divisions added to his forces, and I took quite a few pictures of the troops before they were shipped off down towards Kwangtung. The one that made the cover is a fellow named Li Xin, a young man from right here in Golmud. I didn’t get the chance to speak with him at length, since I was a bit rushed to take my pictures. The little I know is he enlisted to try and help protect his family from the Tibetans which are still camped right outside the city here, so he was a little surprised to be getting shipped out down to the south. I still have no idea when Ma Hongkui will feel that they should be dealt with- there are certainly troops and to spare for that task now that Chiang is out of the picture. I hadn’t told Xin that I wanted the photos for some articles I was trying to write, so I don’t know if he will ever find out about his moment of fame. Of course, if they taught the Roman classics in the primary schools around here, he’d know that such fame is fleeting anyway, ha!

Speaking of Peter, we ended up doing a round of Pinochle last night since there weren’t enough interested parties to have a go at bridge, and I won a few bills off of him. He made a point of paying in Canadian currency as a bit of a jest, so I had an opportunity to check out the latest printing. Our money (it still feels like `our` to me, even though I haven’t lived there since I was around 10) has been traditionally printed by various chartered banks throughout the provinces, but this was all consolidated when the national Bank of Canada was founded a few years ago in ’35 and took over the issuance of all federal notes. They had just finished getting their first printing into circulation when a law was passed in ’37 requiring all the banknotes to be bilingual in French and English, and of course there is the new ascension of George VI to the throne in the UK to deal with. It was interesting to see the new bills, I’ll likely be sure to keep some as a curiosity.

Ch11_05_1937_1fCanadianBanknote.jpg

[size=-2]Francophones force a reprint of Canada’s currency[/size]

31 May: I found out that the invasion of Kwangtung isn’t quite going as the Mas might have hoped. No surprise to me, really, since Li Zongren commands the second largest force available in China after the troops Chiang had mustered. As a consequence, Ma Buqing has had to leave a large covering force in Alexei and Ma Bufang’s hands outside Guilin while a smaller force heads to the coast to try and secure a decent harbor anywhere in the area. Zongren is apparently confident enough that he can stage an assault from his nominal capital, but I know Buqing has sufficient reserves that he can cover the lines.

Ch11_06_GuilinAttack.jpg

[size=-2]Li Zongren orders counterattacks from Guilin[/size]

6 June: The Mas are getting pushed back a little in Kwangtung, as the breakout from Guilin has had some success. I don’t think anyone here is worried though, since they would gladly trade a dozen provinces to Zongren if it meant getting a port. And from what I hear, the push to the coast is still making headway.

Ch11_07_Advancing.jpg

[size=-2]Undaunted, troops continue to push forward[/size]

13 June: I arrived at the government headquarters just in time to see Ma Buqing storm out in anger. He had just staged a successful counterattack to reclaim the lost land around Guilin (even though this region has no immediate strategic value) when Ma Hongkui announced a negotiated settlement with Li Zongren. This settlement calls for status quo borders, so the Mas are technically coming out ahead, but the elusive coast is still out of reach. I think this episode has strained the relations between Hongkui and Buqing, as the latter is likely feeling that Hongkui doesn’t have faith in him to prosecute a conflict in Kwangtung to a rapid conclusion. Given his stellar performance though during the grab of western China, I can’t see why his determination would be faulted, or the morale of the troops either for that matter. But all that’s been accomplished so far is to grab Bose, which is a city of minor importance but the last area of any significance in that direction until you reach the precious coast. Guilin and Canton are the only other areas of Kwangtung worth fighting over... I don’t know if you want to argue that this leaves the score 1 - 0, 0 - 1, or 0 - 0 between the two Cliques (sorry, football is on the wireless).

Ch11_08_FirstKwangtungTreaty.jpg

[size=-2]The Mas take Bose and little else[/size]

20 June: Just finished listening to the final match of this year’s World Cup final at the public house. The Italian team was aces again and carried it away 4 - 2 against Hungary. Naturally Crosetti was strutting around like a peacock and bragging to anyone who would listen. Hard not to blame him, though, since Italian footballers have been completely dominant this entire decade. They skipped the inaugural Cup in ’30 as I understand it, but then won in ’34, took the gold in the ’36 Games, and now this. It will be interesting to see if they can keep their streak up through ’42[size=-2][1][/size]. I can imagine it will be weeks before we hear the last about Silvio Piola and the other footballers on the Italian national team from Crosetti.

The final took place in Paris, and just like with the Games, there were some issues that developed. Apparently some countries thought that there was a bit of a gentleman’s agreement in force that would have the Cup’s host city alternating between Europe and South America, but after the first one in Uruguay, this year makes it twice in a row for Europe. As a consequence Uruguay and Argentina declined to participate, which left the matches a bit Eurocentric. Out of the 16 participants only Brazil, Cuba, and the Dutch East Indies fielded teams outside the Continent. Austria was due to compete, but after the Anschluss they instead combined their team with Germany’s. Oddly enough this gave their scheduled opponent Sweden a bye into the next round, instead of having the Swedes simply play a match against a nation that hadn’t previously qualified. I hear that Franco’s Spain also was planning to participate, but apparently couldn’t pull a sports program together fast enough in the aftermath of their recent civil war. We’ll have to wish the Spaniards well in ’42, if they don’t get a showing at the next Games in ’40. Sadly there was no Canadian team, as usual. We’ll have to hope that those back home can either get more into football or that someday one of our more native sports can take higher prominence on the international stage.

Anyways it’s been a great two weeks of football. Although there were a few blowouts, like Sweden’s 8 - 0 match over Cuba, there were more than enough nail-biters as well. The Italian team did have several close shaves in the early rounds, like their 2 - 1 opener over Norway. You can just imagine the mood swings Crosetti went into over that one!

[video=youtube;9hPvR6rYsqU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hPvR6rYsqU [/video]​


---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. Italy continued to do well after the wars. As of 2010, they have 4 World Cups, second only to Brazil with 5. Brazil hopes to use their `home field` advantage as the host in 2014 to bring this to 6[/size]


[post=13516431]Forward to next Update[/post]
[post=13406583]Back to previous Update[/post]​
 
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Agreed, a nice mix of the game/war and the personal musings of Jacques. I also liked the effort you put into matching the story (the fight between Paddy and Crosetti leading to the broken mirror) with the picture (bar w/drapings behind the counter). :)

So, Jacques is finally starting to realize something's afoot with Jie! Good progress for the chap, well done! ;)

On a gameplay-related note: why did you peace out before you obtained your coveted port? Are you roleplaying that stringently, or was there a more urgent (and hidden from the narrative) reason for doing so?
 
again, a brilliant mix of the personal and the war .. you're really getting into the swing with this now

Agreed, a nice mix of the game/war and the personal musings of Jacques. I also liked the effort you put into matching the story (the fight between Paddy and Crosetti leading to the broken mirror) with the picture (bar w/drapings behind the counter). :)

Thank you both!

On a gameplay-related note: why did you peace out before you obtained your coveted port? Are you roleplaying that stringently, or was there a more urgent (and hidden from the narrative) reason for doing so?

I alluded to it just a little bit. XSM starts in '36 with 14 divisions, while the Guangxi Clique starts with 25 (if I remember correctly). I finally have a trickle of Infantry coming out, but the flow is still small enough that I have to build up new divisions slowly, one brigade at a time. You can see from the terrible values on my counters that I don't even have Artillery yet in any of my divisions. So basically I'm outnumbered nearly 2:1 with low-quality troops, very similar circumstances to the fight with Chiang. My strategy must therefore be similar: avoid fights as much as possible and try to swoop up as much undefended land as I can. And as had happened also with Chiang, the Guangxi Clique keeps most of their troops on their new border with Japan, so I have a small window of when I can gain some ground before they start to reshuffle too many troops my way. The trick is to get an end to the fighting just before I hit a major reversal of fortune. You can see in the last picture that some of Li Zongren's troops are sitting in Ma territory; I had just lost a battle up there and decided to call a truce before they were able to finish moving into my land and occupying it. Now I will just wait for them to redeploy back against Japan before I make another move.

My military output is on the increase, so pretty soon I can start to prosecute my wars to their full conclusion. Of course, these new troops will soon find themselves too busy doing other things to fight my enemies, but you'll see that later. This gimmick is also why I had to keep the Communists alive, since having them as my puppet means I can demand land they have cores on in my peace deals. I did try to make some peace offers with Chiang in the hopes that he would then reshuffle to attack Japan and I could push forward again, but he wasn't going for it. Zongren seems to be far more gullible. Oh, and I should mention that in this brief little war (more of a border clash really) the Reds did try to send some help my way, but everything was over before they arrived from the north.
 
Very clever strategy :) I didn't know you can claim puppet's cores.

Hehe something new you can add to [post=12759598]Luxembourg's[/post] playbook then!

I actually never knew this until I started running all my XSM test games. I kept getting puzzled as to why I could get land with XSM in ordinary peace deals, when usually you get nothing at all, even if you occupy 99% of your enemy's territory. Eventually I sussed it out.

What I'm doing here is just about the only time you can ever really make much use of this, since few nations outside of China have any serious amount of extraterritorial cores.
 
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[size=+1]
1938, Summer - Small Successes​
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Ch12_01_LIFECoverShirleyTemple.jpg

[size=-2]The aging(!) Shirley Temple still remains the top box-office draw of 1938[/size]

10 July: I had a meeting with Ma Hongkui today, although he kept me waiting a little. But when the `king` as it were needs you to wait, you wait. His previous meeting with a gathering of bankers apparently ran long so I spent some time talking to his wife, who is his fourth as it turns out. Even now she still wears the black armband to honor those killed in the early attack by the Tibetans (who continue to be a looming presence uncomfortably close to the city, but no fighting has taken place since that fateful battle).

The Ma Clique is finding itself in a good position financially after Chiang’s capitulation. There are four major banks in China: the Bank of China, founded by the Qing in 1905 and based in Peking, the Bank of Communications founded by the Qing in 1908 and based in Shanghai, the Central Bank of China founded by Sun Yat-sen in Canton in 1924, and the Farmer’s Bank of China, started in 1933 in Hankow (a British concession). Chiang relocated the Farmer’s Bank to Chungking as soon as the Japanese attacked him last year, so it fell completely into the Mas’ hands when they took control of that city. The Bank of China and the Bank of Communications had branch offices established in Hong Kong in the early part of the decade, and when the Japanese attacked, the Bank of China rapidly created even more new branches all across Southeast Asia in diverse places such as Batavia, Kuala Lumpur, Rangoon, and Hanoi, among others. With these branch offices in place, officials were able to move a lot of China’s money offshore before Shanghai fell into Japanese hands. Hongkui is having a meeting with these men today to enlist their support in getting some of this money back to Ningxia province and Golmud. If he succeeds, most of China’s prewar money will be in his possession, which would include that from the Central Bank of China if he reincorporates Kwangtung.

After those negotiations concluded he invited me over to share some ice cream (vanilla, which I detest- but you don’t complain to the king!) and have a general discussion. He had a copy there of the issue of LIFE that printed my article and was fairly pleased with it. I was informed that he is happy to continue to grant me access to the higher levels of the government so an unbiased account of events here can be reported in the West.

Ch12_02_MaHongkui_IceCream.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Hongkui’s wife serves up ice cream to start our meeting[/size]

I felt emboldened to ask a few questions that were uppermost in my mind. Currently in the West the little that is known about Ma Hongkui is that he is virulently anti-Communist and fanatically loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. Given these circumstances it would appear that his actions so far are entirely contrary to his character. When I raised this issue, it gave him some pause for thought but he was happy to offer me some clarifications.

`Yes, Kai-shek and I were close, closer than brothers perhaps. But it is true that the only ones who can really hurt you are the ones you care about the most. I supported him to the best of my ability throughout the difficult times in the last decade, but he had too many faults for me to turn a blind eye to. Your friend Henry has done much to get American money to support the KMT and the Republic, but where has that money gone? On my last trip to Nanking I noticed that nothing has changed there in years. I started to become worried. ` He took a moment for additional reflection and then went on.

`Problems became obvious for me when we made a motorcar trip from Nanking to Chungking to review the garrisons there. Not once did he even look out the windows of the car to see the life of the peasants right outside. When we reached the city, I saw that there were still no telephones in the government offices, even though I knew money had been earmarked for this purpose. The people are also still hauling water up from the river to drink, even though I knew again that money had been allocated to provide piped drinking water. `

`Yes, I saw. `

`The final straw was when I asked him about the project to improve the infrastructure links with my own Ningxia province to the capital. Without a moment’s hesitation, he said everything was arranged, but when I returned back to Golmud, I found out this was a lie. I would hope it is also known in the West that I have no tolerance for corruption. They may write about how I betrayed Chiang Kai-shek, but he was betraying us all with his graft. I loved him dearly but I loved China more. `

`And the Communists? `

`That is a fair question. The easiest way to understand it is to think of the Communists as coming in two types. The first type are ideological simpletons who genuinely care about trying to create a fair society for all. The second type is far more dangerous. These kind will give lip service to the idea of equality for all but really are just looking out for themselves. They rail against the abuses of the upper classes but will put themselves in their place at the first opportunity. You can see this already in Russia. Only a fool would claim that Stalin is on an equal footing with the lowliest Ukrainian kulak- and we know already he had no qualms about starving them in ’32 when he sold off all their food to buy industrial equipment.

The more radical Communists are also placing themselves at war with Capitalism, but Capitalism is a requirement for effective industrialization. The profit motive of Capitalists will obligate them to industrialize in the most efficient way possible, but when industry is instead forced to look to the `greatest good for all`, it is shackled and stagnates. Likewise, the worker in the factory will work hard if he thinks he will get ahead by doing so, but he will not work as hard to support his brother. This is just an unfortunate fact of life- people are selfish, and we have thousands of years of written history to prove it. No group will put another ahead of its own interests. Communism as an ideology is doomed to ultimate failure. It will only work in small agrarian settings where people know each other well enough to want to be more self-sacrificing and there is no complex economy that relies on competition to thrive. Lenin may have joked that Capitalists would sell him the rope he would use to hang them, but the underlying truth is, he would *have* to buy it- Communists could never produce the rope themselves!

So it is true that I have been having the Communists who would be a real danger to our way of life here executed. But with the round-up of Mao Tse-tung and his ilk back in ’36, the dangerous Communists have all been purged from China. All those that are left are the idealistic ones who won’t look beyond the confines of their own villages and won’t be making trouble in our factories. They will form a good safety valve, as anyone not happy with the progress we are making here can simply move to Yan`an. And if any of those sheep decide to become wolves, the example of Mao is one I am happy to repeat without limit. Of course, Stalin remains a threat to both Europe and Asia. The Communists in Russia are full of talk of world-wide revolution, so we will have to watch that situation closely and always be prepared to protect China. `

We concluded our interview with more mundane topics, but he ended things with a question of his own that I was unprepared to answer:

`So, when will you marry Sheng Jie? `

You can’t argue with the king.

29 July: Japan seems to be at war with the Soviet Union, even though there has been no official declaration of hostilities. There have been long-standing disagreements regarding the common border of Manchuria, Russia, and Korea that go back to Imperial Russia and the Qing dynasty. New reports from the wireless say that Soviet forces have occupied the hills near Lake Khasan, an area that overlooks the Korean port of Najin. Since Korea is effectively a Japanese colony, this kind of a move threatens their strategic interests. I can imagine the Japanese still feel emboldened by their victory over the Russians in the 1905 war, but the new Red Army isn’t the Tsar’s army. Their new opponent is one born from an extreme trial by fire. It may be weakened by the great Purge that Stalin did of the officer corps at the start of ’37, but I am sure it is still a force to be reckoned with.

Ch12_03_KhasanDefenders.jpg

[size=-2]Soviet troops rally to defend Lake Khasan[/size]

13 August: Heard a great horse race over the wireless. It was a match race with Seabiscuit vs. Ligaroti, who is a South American import from Argentina. The event was billed as a `Father vs. Son` matchup, since Seabiscuit is owned by Charlie Howard, and Ligaroti is owned by the American actor Bing Crosby and Howard’s son Lin. The matchup was a close race, and was head-to-head for most of the end (fairly unusual in such races), but Seabiscuit won by a nose as they say. The announcer indicated that the two jockeys seemed to be fighting each other as their horses neared the finish, but there were no disqualifications and the race was official[size=-2][1][/size]. I ended up winning some bread from the guys at The Americaine as I was the only one who bet on `The Biscuit` as he is sometimes called. `38 has been a rough year for him and many feel he has been underperforming, but I was ready to take a chance. Of course, as the champion of the West Coast racing circuit, many of us are hoping that he will be matched up against War Admiral, the champion of the East Coast races, but who knows if that will ever happen.

15 August: Japan and the Soviet Union have just concluded their little two-week war. The Japanese army did have a bit of early success clearing the Reds out from the hills near Lake Khasan with a bold surprise attack at night (surprise attack seems to be their chief strategy), but the Red Army regrouped and dealt the Japanese a resounding defeat. Oddly enough I received word from Henry that the Japanese ambassador in Washington asked for assistance from the Americans in negotiating an armistice, so maybe people on the Japanese staff still have fond memories of when Theodore Roosevelt went to bat for them after their last tussle with Russia. Still, this surprises me since the Japanese seem to be determined to burn through any good will they may have with the Western powers by their continued hostility in China.

20 August: All the regulars (including myself, truth be told) had a good laugh at Konrad’s expense today down at The Americaine. Most of us happened to be there when he was opening up a new shipment of films that he was ready to show (Snow White, which I finally saw, is getting past its prime, for me anyway). He told us these were supposed to be newsreels, but when he opened the package, we discovered to his great dismay that instead it was filled with all the latest Shirley Temple movies: Wee Willie Winkie, Heidi, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and Little Miss Broadway. Konrad’s face got really red and we couldn’t stop ourselves from laughing even though he swore up and down they were supposed to be newsreels. I don’t think this experience will really hurt his bottom line, though, as plenty of people came by to watch the Disney film, so I suspect he can still turn a profit on these. I could tell Jie was already excited at the prospect of watching them with me.

7 September: Ma Hongkui invited me over to the government headquarters to be there to take notes for him during a new military adventure. He’s decided the time is ripe to break the treaty that he had arranged with Li Zongren. Ma Buqing is personally taking charge of the situation in Kwangtung. Since last June, fresh Infantry divisions have been taking up position near Guilin. Ma Hongbin’s spies report that Hongkui’s predictions are coming true- there is great indecisiveness in the KMT leadership in Kwangtung, indecisiveness that is being fostered by generals there who have been receiving large payouts from Golmud (the Mas have been putting the money from China’s banks to lively use). So there is a split there between a faction that wants to deal with the Japanese and those that want to take the Mas as the more serious threat. Currently the `Japan First` faction there has transferred the bulk of Kwangtung’s infantry reserves over to the Japanese border and to form a strategic reserve around Canton. The province’s provisional capital of Guilin is reported to be guarded with untried Militia brigades. Buqing’s orders are to lay a siege to the city while the same Cavalry forces that I joined in the race to Chungking are sent to race to the coast. I stayed with the general staff there for some time as they poured over their maps, and the initial results seemed quite good. Buqing was only tasked with making enough of a threat that the Cantonese reserves would be drawn up to Guilin, but the Militia there are proving so weak that the city may fall, even without any heavy artillery support.

Ch12_04_GuilinBattle.jpg

[size=-2]Hostilities in Kwangtung resume with an attack on Guilin[/size]

14 September: Word has come in that Guilin has fallen and the Cavalry has reached the coast. It looks like this time the Mas can finally get access to the sea! The people here are pretty jubilant and the KMT troops in Kwangtung seem to be in full retreat, so Ma Buqing has orders to seize as much territory as he can grab. Li Zongren may be offered another truce at this stage, which he may have no choice to accept. The generals there in the Mas’ pockets can pressure him to do so, and he has little choice, as the alternative will be a long, drawn-out affair he would be unlikely to win unless he sells out to Japan. There is no way Li Zongren can get enough forces over to this area now without practically handing the Japanese an invitation to march in.

Ch12_05_TroopsAtSea.jpg

[size=-2]Ma Clique troops finally reach the sea[/size]

28 September: The last few days have been so busy I hardly know where to begin. Firstly, we had a huge celebration over the opening of the new Coca-Cola factory that was just finished in the city. I know Ma Hongkui might have been happier if the plant was one for producing military equipment or the like, but he mentioned to me in passing that he’s satisfied enough that building this factory has given his engineers and construction crews enough practical experience that it will be easier to start making more such industrial complexes in the future.

Looking through my notes I see that I mentioned that last year in June we set up a meeting with a Coca-Cola representative to get development of some kind for their product out here. The fellow they sent from Germany, Max Keith, was convinced they should do business with us. Keith is apparently unhappy with what has been unfolding in his native land and made arrangements for himself to be the one to come down with his family and start work on a plant. It wasn’t too much of a stretch for Coca-Cola to be convinced to do business out here since they were already established in China.

Originally they cut a deal in ’27 with the Watson Mineral Water Company, a British bottling plant operating in places like Shanghai and Hong Kong[size=-2][2][/size]. This company was founded in 1903 and did quite well providing clean water to Chinese cities, clean water of course being an important facet of industrialization (and still lacking in Chungking, as I saw firsthand). Coca-Cola saved themselves some trouble by having Watson Water handling the bottling and delivery of their cola beverage under their direction. They did this from their facility in Shanghai, and staff from there was working with Max on setting up a new plant over here. When Japan officially declared war on China, it was decided to try and transfer as much of the equipment as possible over to Golmud. This was done fairly successfully and the last several months have been a flurry of activity working to get this gear incorporated with the new construction here in in the city already.

Ch12_06_CokeDeliveries.jpg

[size=-2]Coca-Cola delivery trucks in Shanghai, before their move[/size]

This new plant is a boon to the local community, since a lot of factory workers have been out of work due to the shortage of things like iron ore. Water and flavored syrup is a lot easier to come by around here, so plenty of people are back to work. I was also able to arrange an incredible surprise for my little Jie. Last month I took a nice photo of her that I said was going to send back to my parents in New York, but I actually sent it to the local artist that Max had contracted to do some advertising. That fellow used the photo to do a wonderful painting that forms the basis of a print ad on posters all over town. Now everybody can see how wonderful she is!

Ch12_07_CocaColaPoster.jpg

[size=-2]Sheng Jie is immortalized for the ages[/size]

The bottling plant is now churning out Coca-Cola full swing, so Konrad has a local source to keep his taps full, even if it isn’t always filled with booze. We had a huge party at the public house to celebrate with several cases of bottles from the first production run. During the party I ended up doing something that Peter found quite hilarious. I was passing a bottle to Jie and I told her `Have a Coke! ` Her face lit up and I said on a whim `Have a Coke, and a smile! `. Peter thought this quite amusing and said it would make a smart jingle, and perhaps I should quit the print business and go into advertising. I laughed just to humor him but I didn’t think it was really that catchy.

So while we were still enjoying the euphoria of the factory opening up, we had some more grim news from Europe. The German Chancellor has been painting himself as some sort of messiah for the German peoples, and his rhetoric has gotten even worse after the Anschluss six months ago. He now claims that the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia are being oppressed and is agitating for action. Originally, these peoples were under the nominal rule of Austrians when the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in the aftermath of the Great War, they found themselves being ruled mostly by Czechs in the newly formed state of Czechoslovakia (the Slovaks are also somewhat unhappy with this arrangement). Just as the rising National Socialist party in Germany helped form a matching organization among the disaffected Germans in Austria, so too has it done with the Sudeten Germans. The leader of the Sudeten German Party, Konrad Henlein, has been agitating for greater autonomy from Prague, something Czech President Edvard Benes can’t really accept since so much of that area is vital to Czechoslovakia’s strategic interests. The perfect recipe, then, for Germany to get involved.

Ch12_08_GermanMap.jpg

[size=-2]Germany `saves` the Sudeten Germans from oppression by Prague[/size]

So we’ve heard on the wireless that a meeting was concluded at Munich involving Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Nobody from the country in question itself appears to have been invited. The net result of this is that the German Reich is being allowed to annex the Sudeten region, which according to Peter will be very crippling to the young Czechoslovak state. Aside from the fact that nobody from Prague was invited, this treaty is also odd since both Britain and France have military alliances with Czechoslovakia. I suppose since the entire country wasn’t annexed like Austria was they perhaps feel like they did in fact honor their agreements. Somehow I doubt that the same sentiments are being felt in Prague. We’ve been listening to Prime Minister Chamberlain’s remarks as regards to the settlement, and he said something along the lines of `We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. ` Noble words nobly spoken, but I saw Max and Konrad exchange a lot of worried looks so I don’t think either is convinced that this actually means peace. But I suppose it does for now, since there was a real potential for war there if Britain and France had decided to use their agreements with Prague to force the German Chancellor to drop his support for the SdP. Perhaps Europe can now rest easy, but I’m not so sure. Anyone who pulls out a map can see there is still at least one other `problem` facing the German peoples, which is the issue of the Polish Corridor. If Poland ever makes trouble for the Germans regarding their access to Koningsberg, you can imagine the Chancellor will step right in with no hesitation. If that comes to pass, I wouldn’t then expect the Poles to feel they will be treated any differently than Czechoslovakia and they should be prepared to get carved up by the diplomat’s knife. But in the meantime these selfsame diplomats can return to their capitals to great acclaim.

[video=youtube;xDeXOms1k6E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDeXOms1k6E[/video]​

30 September: Resistance is starting to stiffen a little in the far south, so I expect that Li Zongren will be offered a new peace deal soon. With so much of his staff actually working for the Mas, it seems to be expected that he will accept. They can easily make the case that with all the assets that were lost when Guilin was taken, time is needed to rebuild and look for external aid. His new headquarters is in Canton, but now that Ma Buqing’s troops have reached the Gulf of Tonkin, Canton can be taken at a later time since the Mas are desperate to start work on their own port facilities. With the money they have at their disposal, financing shouldn’t be a problem and I expect many of the British-controlled companies in Hong Kong will be more than willing to lend a hand.

Ch12_09_GuangxiPeace.jpg

[size=-2]The second conflict with Li Zongren ends favorably for the Mas[/size]


---
[size=-2]Editor’s Notes:
1. Ligaroti’s jockey, Noel Richardson, claims he had to defend himself after Seabiscuit’s jockey, George Woolf, started using his whip on him. Other evidence indicates that Woolf only started using the whip after Richardson began grabbing at Seabiscuit’s saddlecloth. Since this was a match race and not part of the regular circuit, racing officials declined to take any action
2. Watson Water claims to have pioneered the `office sized` bottle in the 1950s which led to the widespread adoption of the standard office water cooler in use today[/size]


[post=13568069]Forward to next update[/post]
[post=13479245]Back to previous Update[/post]​

 
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Good progress in the south, you'll unite China yet!
 
[size=+1]
`So, when will you marry Sheng Jie? `

You can’t argue with the king.


But apparently you can be coy and remain silent on the matter. :p

Good update, I like the way in-game events turn up in the narrative (the reference to the building of the Coca Cola plant leading to more practical experience in such matters, for example). Your second round of 'back-stab-the-Guanxi-Clique' is going rather well and I'm getting more confident that, eventually, you might be able to hold off the Japanese, when they inevitably turn their attention on you. :)
 
Again, really like the context stuff and your informal briefing (somewhat self-serving?) by Ma on his motives.

Hehe... well, everybody is the hero of their own story.

You should start building railway road from Golmud to the coast in order to export Coca Cola :)

Hehehe... an option, but I think I'd rather be exporting soldiers. More Infrastructure is definitely required. Golmud doesn't have enough throughput to support an attack against a major power, and if I have any ideas about hitting the Home Islands of Japan, I have to get a decent link running down all the way to the coast somewhere. This is going to take a huge amount of effort. In my own opinion the production of Infrastructure is currently unbalanced. The nations that can easily do it, can get by without it, and the nations that need it the most, can almost never do it. It's bad enough that it just takes forever to even improve a single level, but the fact that you have to jump through a lot of hoops to even get Advanced Construction Engineering means you often can't even get started in 1936 as you badly need to. If I was going to change it, I would probably twiddle it so a nation with 0 Construction practical can get a 1-level increase in 9 months (if needed, increase the base IC cost to compensate), and make Construction Engineering the only prerequisite for Advanced Construction Engineering.

Good progress in the south, you'll unite China yet!

...and your second bite at the Guangxi is going well too

Yep, I think I will be mostly done with that task (aside from the Japanese holdings) sometime in 1939.
 
But apparently you can be coy and remain silent on the matter. :p

Hehe... well, development on that front may come in another update or two.

Good update, I like the way in-game events turn up in the narrative (the reference to the building of the Coca Cola plant leading to more practical experience in such matters, for example). Your second round of 'back-stab-the-Guanxi-Clique' is going rather well and I'm getting more confident that, eventually, you might be able to hold off the Japanese, when they inevitably turn their attention on you. :)

Thank you! The Japanese are an ever-present worry, and I don't think I would be in any position to make headway on them until they get distracted by somebody else.
 
Great AAR. Usually I am no big fan of diary-style AAR but this one is incredibly well made. It constantly kept me engaged. A true page-turner.

Excellent backstabbing. You are taking huge risks, yet so far they have turned out extremely well. But I have to wonder why the Japanese don't stop the Mas. They should know that appeasement doesn't work when faced with a ruthless aggressor. ;)
 
Great AAR. Usually I am no big fan of diary-style AAR but this one is incredibly well made. It constantly kept me engaged. A true page-turner.

Welcome, and thanks!

Excellent backstabbing. You are taking huge risks, yet so far they have turned out extremely well. But I have to wonder why the Japanese don't stop the Mas. They should know that appeasement doesn't work when faced with a ruthless aggressor. ;)

What they do is always going to be a big question mark. I have seen them take out the Guangxi Clique and Yunnan, but that may only be contingent on having those countries honor military alliances with the RoC. I'm gambling that the Japanese won't make another move until they declare war on the Western powers, but my hunch is the odds are in my favor on that one.
 
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!