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En Til'Za
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On September 20, 1618, we receive further good news, Champa accepts our offer to become vassals of our Divine Emperor. In October we hear that Yalu converts from Confucianism to Buddhism, but this means nothing to us, as we accept both religions, and in fact, much of Buddhism is more attractive to the warrior cast. By April 1619, we are once againdealing with Muslim rebels in Chin and take the fortress. On the 18th, they are besieged by Imperial troops. They fall by Febuary 1620.

The summer and fall pass uneventfully until October 17th, when the river that marks our boundary with our vassals in Tuangu shifts. There is disagreement whether the river should remain the boundary (to our benefit), or the old boundary line stay in place as nearly as possible. We negotiate a settlement with our loyal vassals (+25 relations).

In April 1621 Chin again revolts, with the province being lost and beseiged before being retaken in September 1622. On June 23,1623, tokugawa Iemetsu is appointed general of our foreign armies (4,5,5). But on May 1, 1623, we refine our offensive tactics to allow for assaults on fortifications (lvl 5 land). On the 14th, Mandalay converts to hindu. This is problematic, as we are only barely tolerating that religion. We are going to have to invest in missionaries one day, but the cost right now is too exhorbinant to afford. But removing the Muslims in Chin has not worked--in fact the population is still gring despite the revolts, seiges, and massacres.

By September 14th, we move to gather more power to the Bakafu, secure in our knowledge no rebels will be able to stand up to the Bakafu. But heretical trachings are another matter, as April 19, 1624, a wave of obscurantism sweeps the realm (revolt risk +3), and this complicates still futher the domestic unrest. In August Santal revolts, and in September Chin follows.

But on January 2nd, events begin that will truly put our reign to the test. China declares war on Dai Viet and we accept the call to allies, at least in word. But on the 8th a more serious threat follows, Manchu declares war on us, and our allies respond to the call to arms.
 

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En Til'Za
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By early Febuary, we have laid seige to Sikhote in Siberia and Tarakan in Southeast Asia. But 70000 Manchu are seen marching on the 33000 defenders of Yalu. We sign a white peace with Dai viet and concentrate on Manchu. Our first objective is to hold Korea. In the meanwhile, we will attempt to take land in Asia and the north. But on April 12th, the defenders of Korea are crushed and Yalu is beseiged. On July 1st, Champa annexes Dai Viet, and Yalu is lost to the Manchu. But we march 25000 men from Mekong under Tokugawa Iemetsu. In November, they engage and defeat 33000 Manchu in Lio Pau, and then we lay seige to Yalu.

On November 28th another wave of heretical teaching ravages the realm. but we will not allow that to deter ourselves from our purpose. On December 2nd, Tarakam falls, Sikhote follows on January 4, 1626. On May 1, Nelena is beseiged, and on Febuary 14the, yalu is retaken by assault and we march 31000 on the capital of Manchu at Jilin. 14000 Manchurians are mauled and slaughteres in totalby our 31000 men. We lay seige to the capital on May 7th.

On September 7, 1627, the Manchu do obseiesance before us for their folly in this war. We take Sikhote from the Manchu in payment for peace, adn witness the execution of the generals of Manchu who led this war against us. They die without honor, not able to control themselves, clinging to life. The samurai never fears death in the service of his leigelord, that is Bushido. Honor is everything, but none of these barbarians have that. That is why they will never defeat us.
 

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Chapter 12

Chapter XII- Rings of Gold (December 1627-1648)

Our victory over Manchu marks yet another glorious moment in the ascent of Nippon. We thank Champa for their loyalty and send them a note of congratulations on their acquisition of Hanoi, for which they call us "closest of freinds" (+193). On Fenbuary 10,1628, we begin construction of a bastion in Birobidjan. This seals our northern border with Manchu and assures they will not simply be able to march into our Siberian possesions at their leisure. In September, noting our reputation is not "respectable." We send a ltter to our friends in Taungu, and they respond to us cordially (+183). Also, we take note on January 1, that our annual income, with all our possessions under Bakafu rule and at optimal stability is 162d per year.

In Febuary, we appoint a new minister Hosokawa Tenjitsu to serve the bAkafu, and his skills are quickly noted (excellent minister +3 all monarch attributes for 12 months). On November 9, 1629, Myosho ascends to the Imperial throne, he encourages us to relax our religious policies in Chin. This allows us to save face and stop the pointless religious war. In due course, we will deal with the Muslims via a different way.

On January 1, 1630, we appoint a tax collector in Birobidjin, but Febuary brings a diplomatic faux pas, as the Emperor invites the Daimyo, and many foreign representatives as well, to a Great Hunt. But somehow, several prominent families from our vassals in Champa were excluded. As a result, we send a gift to Champa to smooth over the diplomatic difficulty (-50 relations), but this does not repair the damage in total (Very good friends, +134).

January 1631 brings us news that new land has been cleared in Sikhote (+500 pop, +1 manpower, +1 tax). On Febuary 19, construction begins on a fortress in Telekunda. the following April brings a tax collector o that province as well. In May we renew our royal ties with China. But in September 1633, on the 3rd, the monks bring to us a petition of redress on behalf of the peasants. We order taxes stabilized at 60% of the total koku of the realm. And warn any tax collector who is caught skimming profits or charging additional taxes that it will cost him his head. We illustrate this by ordering the execution of the tax collector of the Kanto for deceiving us (accept petition, -4 stability to -1, +1 centralization).

We follow this by accepting the request of the Tokoui Ikki to annul debts (Serfdom -1, trade/infra -250, stability -1 to -1). Unfortunately all this leads to revolts in Kyushu, Sikhote, Chin, Laos, Mandalay, and Santal by 1636. However, in July, we are presented with the services of a new "conquistador," and he is sent to Kamcatka to clear the land of native influence.
 

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1637 is marked by revolts in Mandalay and Kyushu, along with a plague in Shan (-500 population). the only other event of note is a renewal of our alliance with all partners. In 1638 Kyushu and Santal revolt, but Kamcatka is cleared and claimed. On May 12, 1639, we send letters to our vassals Champa and Tuaga. Both call us "Very Dear Friends" in response. And in June our currency deflates in value, thus reducing the cost of many items (-10% to 46%).

In both 1641 and 1644, waves of unhappiness rush through the realm. Revolts break out in Irrawady, Santal, Kyongju, Kyushu, Laos, and Chin. Also in October 1643, we discover corruption in the bakafu, but with all the political unrest, we are not free to deal with this as we like (ignore, +10& inflation back to 56%). We also advance in our knowledge of teppo weapons (land tech 6).

But on August 17, 1645, Musashi Miyamoto presnts us with a nearly flawless work on what it means to be samurai and how to fight as one. Go Rin No Sho--"The Book of Five Rings"--it is called (+50 infrasturcture, +1 aristocracy, +1 quality). A few excerpts are appropriate to show its brilliance.

-From the "Ground Book
The Warrior's (way) is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he shall have a taste for both ways. Even if a man has no natural ability, he can be a warrior by adhering assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.

-From the Water Book
Strategy is different from other things in that if you mistake the Way even a little you will become bewildered and fall into bad ways....Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm...your spirit settled though unbiased.
When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy.
 

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In October we extend aid to the Imperial family, seeing no need for His Excellency to live in poverty (-75d). And in April 1646, karma rewards us for this generosity by the discovery of another gold province in Siberia--Angara. In May we also take possession of Krasnoyorsk.

However, it seems folly has not entirely left the realm yet. ANd one of these fools was malformed at birth to disguise himself as a samurai. A vassal of the Hosokawa clan betrays Tenjitsu-san to his death and attempts to claim his land. We will not allow this affront to Bushido to stand. This is not the Sengoku Jidai, when such conduct could be covered under the general chaos of war. We give him a choice, stamped with the Imperial cipher.

1) Commit seppoku at once, and commit your family to the monastary to pray for the souls you have murdered.

2) Be branded a rebel, and after the defeat all members of your family and all retainers will be executed by exposure. The fool chooses rebeliion, He does not last long. The streets of Owari are lined with former samurai buried up to their necks by the eta. The families of all these malformed non-samurai who followed a traitor are ordered divorced of the malformed non-samurai and to immediately go to the monastaries or commit seppoku. Many of the wives choose seppoku, kneeling by their husbands in death kimonos and slittign their throats, turning the ground around their former husbands red. The Tokugawa bakafu will not tolerate the rebellious behavior of former days. The Law will be upheld, under all circumstances. Traitors must die a traitor's death, and their families must share the dishonor. That is our wise way from eternity and does it not make perfect sense for it to be so?

In November Torsk is discovered and claimed. In Febuary 1647, a colonist is at last sent to Angara, and the gold begins to flow to our coffers. On September 17th, we renew our alliance with all partners. In October Barabinsk is discovered and claimed. But the last event of the year is almost humorous. China offers us the "privilege" of humbling our Divine emperor to their throne, kissing their feet, and becoming their vassals.We are sorely tempted to deal with this emissary as we would any emissary who sends an insulting offer-take his head- but we do not.We simply tell him that when he sees a real map of the world that he may come to understand why we must think his Emperor delusional to make such an offer.

On March 24th, Kamcatka is colonized (10VP). But on July 5th, Katori, the conquistador of Angara dies. We salute his bravery and honor him for extending our realm. On August 3rd we complete diplomatic maneuvers with Malacca (+50 relations to +200, +1 diplomat). We follow this on the 12th by bringing Malacca into the status of vassal along with Champa and Tuanga. The cause of Empire advances now through peace as well as the might of our invincible samurai.
 

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driftwood,

Yep, only +50 infra. I rechecked the file. And I agree, that IS miserly. I think Nippon gets the short end of the AI in a lot of ways--Manpower worst of all. Starting manpower was 21000. There were 283000 men in the field during Sekigahara ALONE. And that was just from the homeland without considering all the rest of the territory I have acquired. Not to mention Takeda Shingen, one of the greatest tacticians to ever live, was only a 3,1,3. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is consistently ranked as one of the three greatest generals, a man who fought in 50 campaigans and only lost a single battle, was ranked lower than that (they gave him a seige bonus for the Osaka seige, but other than that he's average).

OK, I better get off my soapbox. :p
 

driftwood

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Yeah, I thought they were going to fix Japan's manpower problem. I read somewhere or other that Tokugawa Ieyesu fought a string of inconclusive battles against Hideyoshi, before agreeing to become his general. Do those count as victories, losses, or what? :)

The manpower problem is like Poland's inflation problem. To simulate the poverty of Poland's government, all the provinces were made dirt poor, when in reality they were pretty prosperous and the financial problems were the fault of the government. So the player really gets shortchanged if they govern well. (At least that's what I gleaned from the EEP Central Europe thread.) Just like players of Spain get screwed by the forced bankruptcies.

driftwood
 

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Tokugawa actually won those battles. However, he knew that Hideoyohi was gaining in influence and strength, and that this would not last forever. So he reached a deal with him where he became Kanto Kanrei and Kubo, and second in authority in the bakafu, and designated as heir, in return for giving Hideoyoshi his loyalty. Unfortunately, (as I portrayed) the inheritance deal went up in smoke with Hideoyori's birth. That set up Sekigahara.
 

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Originally posted by driftwood

Did you really only get +50 for the publication of the Book of Five rings? Was that supposed to be +500? +50 seems pretty miserly.
driftwood

Funny Go Rin no Sho is at all considered a historical event. Even though the book is very well know now-a-days (mostly because it was marketed in the west as a secret guide to the success of Japanese business men in the 80's) at the time it was originally written it was propably known only by few people. After all it was ment only for the students of M. Musashi (and it is even a little controversial whether Musashi himself wrote it or not).

The so called bushido (term which was really popularizad by Nitobe Inazo in late 19th, early 20th century, who propably never touched the sword) was never a real written code and was interpreted in many ways by different people. The first survived document where bushido term is used (before and after that budo, otokodo, dando and samuraido can be found to be used in similar sense) is the Koyo Gunkan, which contains Kyujukyu Kakun, or 99 precepts of the Takeda Clan and other writings considering the Takeda clan. It was compiled by Obata Kagenori (started compiling it in 1615) who was a son of a strategist in Takeda clan. It had a lot of influence to the bushi of peacefull Tokugawa era. Most of the texts are written in the Sengoku Jidai, but like said, were not really made available untill the 17th century..

Kyujukyu Kakun (which is very interesting! It was propably written by Takeda Shingen's brother Nobushige) and an article about the Koyo Gunkan can be found in the excellent book Sword and Spirit - Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan vol. 2 (ed. by Diane Skoss) among other interesting articles. I can also recommend the vol. 1, Koryu Bujutsu also ed. by D. Skoss.

Other books which were rather well spread and topics of discussion within the bushi class during the Tokugawa era are Budo Sho Shinshu by Daidoji Yuzan and Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (both are translated to English also, although Hagakure not completely). Both of these books are written late 17th, early 18th century.

P.S. The AAR has been very interesting to read and I've enjoyed it a lot although so far I haven't played the game and have really no idea if +50 is good or not, but I was suprised too see Go Rin no Sho as a historical event :)
 

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Originally posted by shawng1
driftwood,

Yep, only +50 infra. I rechecked the file. And I agree, that IS miserly. I think Nippon gets the short end of the AI in a lot of ways--Manpower worst of all. Starting manpower was 21000. There were 283000 men in the field during Sekigahara ALONE. And that was just from the homeland without considering all the rest of the territory I have acquired. Not to mention Takeda Shingen, one of the greatest tacticians to ever live, was only a 3,1,3. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is consistently ranked as one of the three greatest generals, a man who fought in 50 campaigans and only lost a single battle, was ranked lower than that (they gave him a seige bonus for the Osaka seige, but other than that he's average).

OK, I better get off my soapbox. :p

Yes this bothers me as well. It seems that just because they weren´t european their skills are underrated when in truth these were some of the finest generals of the era. This should be fixed no??