The Middle Kingdom: A Sinocentric China AAR

Near the end of 1869, a massive revolt breaks out in Japan by reactionaries seeking to force the reformist Meiji Emperor to roll back reforms. The Qing offer to assist in putting down the rebellion, but the Emperor refuses the offer, bearing a far greater enmity for the Qing than for the rebels.



Meanwhile, the Emperor loses interest in the reformists' calls for liberalization, aligning himself back with the Conservatives.



The people had hoped the Emperor was finally coming around to their side, and mass fury followed this decision. An underground printing press even dared to argue the Emperor's unitary power needed to come to an end, circulating widely to readers in Beijing itself. And while those running the press were swiftly arrested and thrown to rot behind bars for their dissent, they were but a symptom of a wider problem.



(OK this event's localization makes absolutely no sense for China, but I'll work around it. XD)

Unfortunately, the next event had far greater fallout; somehow, someone - the Qing were never able to locate the culprits - had apparently disseminated en masse among the Han bureaucracy and military command near-irrefutable evidence that the ban was almost exclusively being enforced on Han Chinese.

While China had never had any protections of the right to peaceably assemble or meet publicly, and Chinese regimes had frequently squashed meetings that were judged seditious in the past, the actual blanket ban in question was the result of a decree by the Daoguang Emperor during the Chinese Anarchy. It had initially been an emergency measure to give military forces the leeway they needed to crush rebel opposition without restrictions, but it had never been revoked.

And now a mass list of political prisoners, apparently one from Qing prison registers, had been leaked by somebody en masse to Han government officials. The list apparently contained the names of all people currently imprisoned for public assembly; and not a single name on the list was of Manchu origin. Government officials had quickly used their power and influence to quietly investigate the matter, many of them themselves working in the fields of law enforcement and having access to classified information. And when none of them could not find any evidence of any Manchu ever having been arrested under the law, the entire Han scholar-bureaucracy and military elite soon united in petitioning the Emperor to repeal the law, and to explicitly protect the right to peaceably assemble in law.





Under the circumstances, the Emperor could not refuse. He feigned ignorance of the discriminatory enforcement of the law, and several prominent Manchu officials were promptly scapegoated and fired. He then formally announced a full repeal of the law, and introduced the first ever law in Qing history to guarantee the right to peaceably assemble. Of course, as has always been true for most such laws throughout history, the law had loopholes big enough to sail an entire fleet of war galleons through, giving Qing authorities broad authorities for prosecuting "riots" and "assemblies posing a threat to public safety" and outright seditious assemblies and so on.

But still, it was if nothing else an incredibly important symbolic step for China, and the movements' demands were satisfied. The scapegoating had largely succeeded in deflecting blame from the Emperor, thankfully. He also repealed a ban on Han settlement in Manchuria, as a further gesture of good faith; though the law had gone largely unenforced for the last several years.



While many rebel movements remained strong, their recruitment numbers dropped precipitously as Chinese faith in the Emperor was restored.



Alas, the Meiji Emperor was not faring as well, with Edo about to fall. Still, the Meiji refuses Chinese offers of aid.



Meanwhile, Zhao Linge had returned to Beijing, and brought with him all the greatest treasures and artworks of Oman (or at least what did not get blown to smithereens by Chinese artillery), which elicited great excitement among the upper classes of Beijing. Plans were soon underway for Zhao Linge to undertake a third great voyage to Africa, this time to teach the barbarians a lesson.

SotV said:

Going after Ethiopia?

Click to expand...

Portugal. =P Sorry if that wasn't clear from the photo.

Zhao Linge embarked on his third voyage, with orders to teach the Portugese Empire a lesson it wouldn't soon forget.



Portugal was a diplomatically isolated nation; its refusal to outlaw slavery despite enormous diplomatic pressure from the British Empire had ruined its international reputation. Taking advantage of this, the Qing propaganda machine justified the war on the grounds of liberating enslaved Portugese from Portugal's tyranny, and this largely worked; Portugal's fellow Europeans mostly turned a blind eye to the Qing aggression.



Soon, the diplomatic groundwork for war was laid, even as Zhao Linge's invasion fleet closed in on the operation's launch point, Mogadishu; in lands recently ceded to China by Oman.



In Mogadishu, a massive Qing invasion fleet had assembled, like nothing China had launched since Zheng He himself. Over 162 ships and 54,000 soldiers had assembled, more than enough to crush the Portugese. The Qing navy was still very backwards, using wooden ships in an age where most European nations were slowly adopting metal ones, but in sheer numbers the Qing fleet was rivaled only by the British Empire.



Meanwhile, the Qing diplomatic machine was still hard at work, ensuring the British understood that the Chinese invasion was the only way to convince Portugal to see the error of its slavery-supporting ways. (thank you Macao, for giving me a direct land border with Portugal... That made them so much easier to influence) It also made sure Germany was at least officially ready to declare war on Portugal, though the Germans refused to commit to any ground invasion of the Portugese mainland.



(Btw, forgot to screenshot this for the global map update, but I did take a screenshot later of the ledger; here it is. Note that Chinese literacy has almost caught up with Portugal woo!)



Finally, the Chinese Empire formally issued a formal declaration of war.



Several of China's allies also declared war, but beyond declaring an embargo against Portugal, their contribution was primarily just symbolic in nature; this would be a war China would have to fight alone. Not that that would be difficult, the Emperor was certain.



Chinese expeditionary forces landed in Portuguese East Africa, and immediately liberated Angoche from barbarian control after a brief siege. Meanwhile, the Qing navy blockaded the coastline of Portugese East Africa.



Macao, Portugal's trade outpost in China, surrendered to the Chinese New Model Army without a shot being fired.



The Qing advanced swiftly through East Africa without any serious resistance at first, splitting into two groups for faster sieges. As the army advanced, all Portuguese slaves the Qing found were set free; a few accepted offers to join the Qing army, serving as much-needed reinforcements to replace those lost to attrition, though most simply left for their former homes.

But soon the Portuguese Army finally showed itself. The Qing dared not attack the Portuguese in the mountains, and so they waited for the barbarians to make the first move.



The Portuguese attacked the Chinese in the mountains, and the two portions of the Qing divisions reunited to defend against them. However, the Chinese, who had expected an easy victory, were caught by surprise. Jorge da Costa, was a military mastermind, who fully employed Portugal's superior knowledge of the local geography to mount an incredibly ferocious assault despite being drastically outnumbered by the entrenched Chinese defenders.



The battle in the mountains went on for over a month, with both armies soon on the verge of collapse due to the incredible casualties.



But in the end, the Portuguese army broke first, calling off the attack. Still, it had been an impressive show of military skill; despite the Chinese army having had both a terrain and numerical advantage, the Chinese had suffered significantly heavier casualties.



But again, China could afford the casualties; Portugal could not. After regrouping and receiving reinforcements, the Qing went on the offensive, and the Portuguese generals proved far less proficient at defense. The Portuguese army was crushed.



Meanwhile, a biological theory of evolution had caught on among Chinese scientists and scholars, overcoming early resistance; thus revolutionizing biological sciences forever. The Chinese Renaissance had sparked the beginning of a new age of Scientific Revolution for China. (woooo my terrible literacy will finally start to go up at a reasonable rate!)



Meanwhile, new rifle designs entered mass production at last, aiding the war effort against Portugal.



Portugal was losing the war badly as China continued to occupy Portuguese East Africa, freeing slaves as they went.



Meanwhile, the Qing economy was advancing significantly. The haphazard Chinese economy was rapidly taking a more structured form, aided by Qing economists. Stocks and bonds were now publicly traded, factories were booming, Chinese merchants were profiting greatly from expanded international trade, agricultural distribution had been revolutionized by railroads, and China was increasingly beginning to invest in foreign markets, expanding its international influence. Still, China had a loooong way to go; less than 1% of its population was employed in factories, and while they were fabulously wealthy, China's new capitalist class was incredibly small. But even for those living in the countryside, this new market structure significantly increased their standard of living.



The factories themselves largely operated on an oligopoly basis, with each capitalist individually having control of a massive sector of the market; an inevitable consequence of how few of them there were. (though the government still owned a 51% share in everything)



Finally, with most of Portuguese East Africa under occupation, and the Qing having unilaterally dismantled most of their slave trade, Portugal sued for peace. The Qing demanded the Portuguese hand over Zambezia to Qing control in return for the withdrawal of Chinese forces from all other occupied territories; they also insisted that Portugal refrain from trying to re-enslave those slaves whom the Chinese forces had freed. Portugal was faced with little choice but to accept. And with that, the war was over, to the total humiliation of the once proud Portuguese Empire.

(why no I didn't target Portugal's only rubber-producing state in East Africa using my foreknowledge of where rubber RGOs would be discovered, why would you ever think that? XD )

LanMisa said:

Since I only played a single Vicky II campaign so far I am not sure: Do the Portuguese control Macau or something similar? If so, then you should retake your rightful Chinese territorities from them sooner or later.

Click to expand...

Yes. However, Macao wasn't like the other treaty ports in China, at least not until later on. Up to 1863, Portugal paid regular rent to China in exchange for use of the land; it wasn't a colony seized by conquest, it was a port China willingly rented to Portugal of its own free will. Though of course, in real life history, that changed after China lost several wars, and eventually China signed an Unequal Treaty with Portugal that turned Macao into a treaty port; but in this alternate history, that never happened. Unfortunately the rent isn't simulated, but for roleplaying purposes we can assume Portugal is still paying China rent in exchange for the port.

Nikolai said:

If Japan can't protect it's citizens and the Chinese businessmen in the country, China must intervene.

Click to expand...

At that point China had no foreign investment in Japan, so that wasn't an issue. I only (re-)invented railroads, and thus it became possible to invest in Japan, around the time the reactionary revolt succeeded. And the only Chinese citizens there would be ambassadors and the ones living under Chinese control in Kyoto. XD (since Victoria 2's immigration model assumes the only international immigration is to the Americas, however ridiculous that might be...)

GulMacet said:

Well... I think there are some fundamental misconceptions regarding imperial Chinese government and society here. The Emperor does not hold (much) power. His job is a formal role, responsible for the ceremonies to appease Heaven/the Ancestors. The true power lies in the state machinery, staffed by the scholar-bureaucrat class. Of course, the Emperor can issue edicts, but the people in charge of executing them can interpret them any way they can get away with. The Emperor does not have the Divine Right of Kings, unlike his European counterparts - he is merely the chief bureaucrat on Earth, a position for which he is nominated by Heaven. And like any government post (at least in theory), he can be removed due to incompetence. In a neat little bit of circular logic, this was used to legitimize rebellions: We removed the Emperor because he lost the Mandate of Heaven. How do we know he lost the Mandate of Heaven? Because we were able to successfully remove him. In times of chaos and disorder, this works as a sort of meritocracy - the man who can kill/vassalize/outscheme all other competitors becomes the new Emperor.

Click to expand...

I don't think it's entirely accurate to say the Emperor didn't have much power as a general rule. My understanding is that the Emperor's power varied based on their personal competence and the political circumstances of the times - some could effectively wield almost absolute power, while others had effectively no power at all (see: Emperor Guangxi, after Empress Dowager Cixi's coup). Mediocre ones like Daoguang and Xianfeng fell somewhere in between in real life. I am assuming for the purposes of this AAR that altered historical circumstances made Daoguang and Xianfeng far more effective in enforcing their authority.

Confucian societal order is characterized by this: 士农工商. It means (in decreasing order of importance): Scholars, Peasants, Craftsmen (what we today would call workers), Merchants. Unlike European feudalism, Merchants are seen as the lowest class, because they only move things about for money and create nothing. In imperial China, merchants were tolerated at best and legally discriminated against at worst (for example, merchants and their descendants were not allowed at the imperial examinations), even though they were responsible for a large part of wealth generation. Trying to enforce this ideal of a backwards agrarian society ruled by a closed-off literate elite was a major factor in the decline of many dynasties - and quite frankly, I don't see any reform happening as long as the ones who benefit most from this social order are in charge of the state machinery.

Click to expand...

Oh, thank you very much! I knew merchants were seen as the lowest class in Japan pre-Meiji, but I didn't realize much the same was true in China. I might go back and edit some of my earlier AAR entries to take this into account.

Of course, I also realize that this is a game and you are merely depicting what happens in it, realistic or not - and Victoria 2 is the most disappointing of the Paradox games to me, partly because the era it is set in is one of great changes which are difficult to model, and partly because of plain bad design.

Click to expand...

Personally, I really like Victoria 2, because I can't think of any other Paradox game that focuses so much on internal politics and economics. EUIV, for example, is a game I often find downright boring in peacetime; that isn't really the case at all for me in Victoria 2.

LanMisa said:

Yeah, I know. As far as I remember the same is true for Hongkong - a small fishing village before the Great Britains made it their staple port for Chinese trade. And Macao wasn't even inhabited before the Portuguese came - I read somewhere that the island was empty before Portugal began to construct their outpost there. Nonetheless, it's territory right in front of your own. And I'm pretty sure that you don't want any European power to have a Marine base right in front of your coast.

And, as I said before, I just want to see Portugal suffer (in Paradox games - I have nothing against them in Real Life).

Click to expand...

Portugal's colonial Empire is definitely going to lose a lot of land. XD But I can't seize it all in one go, sadly, because I'd go way over the infamy limit. And I don't really want to go over the infamy limit until I have invented Mass Politics so I can enforce Dismantle on any nations that Infamy War me.

Macao for now is just free warscore for me; Portugal is utterly incapable of defending it, let alone using it as a naval base against China.

Part 37: The Baden and Burmese Questions​

Meanwhile in China, as the war had raged, Analytic Philosophy had taken the fore of Chinese academic society, arguing for an emphasis on clarity and argument, and respect for science. Chinese academies were meanwhile slowly undergoing a massive transformation encouraged by the exam system's reforms and changes in scholary thought, and slowly becoming more modern universities. The Chinese Renaissance had truly transformed into the beginnings of the Chinese scientific revolution.



And the improvements in Chinese education allowed peasants and soldiers on the ground to better understand Confucian principles of paternalism and how they obviously meant they should be willing to keep fighting in defense of China no matter the odds.



However, despite all the changes sweeping China, China remained a very agrarian society. Tens of thousands of craftsmen were hard at work in the Chinese factories, but ultimately they were an infinitesimally small portion of the huge Chinese population.



In Japan, the Meiji Emperor had been reduced to a puppet by a new military Junta, who had coerced the Emperor into naming their leader Shogun after Edo's fall. The Shogun had initially showed incredible hostility to China, but soon enough the Qing were able to persuade/threaten the new Shogun to resume sending tributary missions to Beijing.

Meanwhile, tensions over Burma had been escalating in recent times. Officially, the Chinese Empire had recognized Burma as a part of the British Empire over two decades ago, in the 1843 Sino-British Treaty of London. However, many Chinese people were beginning to call for China to annul the treaty, viewing it as a treaty that had been unfairly forced on a weaker China of the past. And an investigation by the Chinese state presses into the conditions of Burma painted a grim picture of British rule - it alleged that the British were squeezing Burma dry for every grain of rice. Burmese farmers lost their land en masse to British loan sharks, both white and Indian; while the Burmese economy grew, practically the only ones to benefit were British, Indian, and mixed race people, with almost the entire native Burmese population trapped in an ever-increasing poverty. Even lower class jobs were often only available to immigrants from India, as the racist British Raj had apparently decided to privilege Indians at the expense of Burmese. Under such circumstances, entire villages of Burmese had been outlawed by the British Raj, after their poverty forced them to resort to banditry. Most Burmese weren't even allowed to serve in the military.

These press reports stirred up a firestorm among China's population, convincing millions of Chinese readers that the British were slowly converting Burma to barbarism, and it was China's duty to save its former tributary. Chinese generals joined the chorus, quietly urging the Emperor that the time was now to assert Chinese hegemony in East Asia; they said that the modernized Chinese army was now more than a match for the British East India Company's army. They also argued that creating a buffer zone in the Burmese mountains was necessary to ensure Chinese security from potential British aggression; Burma's mountains were a much more defensible terrain than what China currently had available.



And Ethiopa had crushed Egypt in the recent war, seizing control of almost all of Sudan.



Finally, after peace was made with Portugal, the Emperor agreed China was ready to teach Britain a lesson. On the advice of his generals, he did not want to fully liberate Burma; merely to liberate the eastern regions, which would serve as a buffer zone. Such an operation would be much easier to pull off against the British than a full scale conquest of all Burma would be, while still creating an effective buffer zone and forcing the British to give China greater respect. This would not be an easy mission; in a protracted long-term conflict, Britain's naval superiority could potentially cause horrific damage to a China still heavily reliant on imports for food and some military goods. The Emperor needed a quick, decisive operation that would force Britain to renegotiate the treaty.

For such an operation to succeed, China would need German support; and so the Chinese embassy in Berlin set to work persuading Germany, and its de facto leader Bismark, to support the war.

Bismark and the rest of the German government were concerned greatly by the continued British control of Heligoland, which threatened German control of the Kiel Canal. China promised Germany control of Heligoland in exchange for their support against Britain. Negotiations were intense and dragged on for months, but the Chinese embassy reported to the Emperor their confidence that Germany would come around.



The rest of the international community was less enthusiastic however, and Chinese condemnations of British imperialism fell on deaf ears. Still, China did not need the support of powers like France or Russia for this endeavor.



However, in Europe the Baden Question had caused just as much strife as the Burmese Question in Asia. German nationalists were insisting Baden was a core territory of the new German Empire, while the Austrians insisted Baden be allowed its independence. Finally, the Germans declared war on Baden, Austria replied by declaring war on Germany, and Germany called for China to join the war effort.

And so the brief peace in Europe was shattered again, even as China prepared to invade, er, liberate Burma.

(Also, note: I'm going on hiatus for a week, possibly a few days more, due to RL stuff. I might still reply to peoples' posts, but I won't have the time to write long updates)

LanMisa said:

Good luck at solving your Real Live problems then! We will await your return.

On the game side, you seem not to care about friendships, no? You already fought Portugal, Russia, France, Mexico; now you fight Great Britain as well...and the USA are on your target list as well! Is Burma that important for you or do you just love to jump around, attacking everybody you don't have a truce with? Or do you purposefully want to weaken GB before they become too strong?

Click to expand...

All the barbarians need to be driven back to Europe from whence they came. =P

They're all going to hate me anyway once I research mass politics and rip the infamy limit to shreds. XD

In the long term, all the Europeans are my enemies in this AAR, except those who I succeed in sphereing, though I intend to stay allied with Germany as long as possible because at the moment I can't project power into Europe well. And I will probably try to ally a few other European powers for the first Great War. I'm hoping my puppets are able to westernize, so they don't stay mostly useless during wars.

The infamy limit is a real stumbling block though. I can pretty much only expand one state at a time if I don't want to go over it, so yeah, I need to alternate between attacking different nations I don't have truces with. As much as I'd love to take all of Portugese Africa at once, Germany would instantly break alliance if I did that and my game would get much harder.

For now I'm just trying to strengthen China's position and weaken Europe's position as much as I can without going over the infamy limit.