CHAPTER XI: SHAN
Part 1: No, we Shan't!
(1610-1615)
Shanning the Fire
Welcome to Shan! Or, if you want to get technical: The Burmese princely states inhabited by the Shan people, as opposed to the Siamese Shan states (Lan Na) or Laotian Shan states (Lan Xang.) Historically it doesn't appear they ever unfiied: The more powerful states created a confederation in 1527, faced crushing defeats after 1555, and were annexed into Toungoo ('Burma') in 1563.
This group's done a little better, both in terms of time and geography (it appears they annexed Pegu to the south).
So, let's take a look at what we have:
The chief prince is Sao Hsam II, an above average leader with a gift for tactics. His brother, Narapati, isn't quite so gifted. Tech wise are Diplomacy-10 is fair, but the Military-9 is backwards, and Administration-5 is simply hard to explain. We have Defensive Ideas-0. Zero. Where the heck have we been spending our monarch power?
We are being embargoed by Ayutthaya, Orissa and Assam. To some extent that explains why we have no merchants in Bengal trade node, but it's still a mistake: Even with their interference, Bengal is still worth investing in. I move a merchant there from Hangzhou, while one in Malacca forwards trade along.
We don't seem to like either Orissa or Ayutthaya (CBs), which is great if we want revenge. It seems to be a relatively recent development though, since we have an RM with and grant MA to Ayutthaya.
Then the big one: We are being warned by Ming. In fact, much of SE Asia is being warned by Ming. I am really beginning to dislike this part of the world. Apparently my predecessor dealt with this through covert action, since I have relations penalties with both Ming and Ayutthaya due to it.
Indeed, I have high hopes there.
I'm not sure if supporting the rebellion is necessary or helpful since it's already fired, but it's worth a try. We even take a mission to save the Shan people in Kachin, because that should take care of itself. Still, it IS a little strange Ming has no armies in the area...
That's when I find out Ming only has an army of 6,110, with a MP of 1,009. Those rebellions really wrecked them, and their warning isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
OK, we're not going to get a better opportunity. We have Military power stored up, so let's buy Defensive-1 (Battlefield Commissions, Army Tradition +1) AND Defensive-2 (Military Drill, +25% Morale). Our army is at 22K with a max of 15K, and we have 8 ships. In comparison, Orissa has 16K with 4K manpower and 4 ships. They're allied with Delhi, but Delhi can't get to me. Furthermore, they're in a war with Marathas. This is going to be...
PUed
F***.
Alright, so ... Ayutthaya. It's very strange to imagine them as the junior partner in anything. How big is their army? 42K, 38K manpower, with 23 ships.
I stare at the screen for a good ten minutes. Assume Ming stays out of it. That's...58 on 22. They have a tech advantage (Military-11 to 9). The Ayutthaya navy will chase my fleet to port in the first days of the war. That's over 2-1 against... If the Ayutthaya AI is stupid and bogs down in the Malay Peninsula, I might be able to snipe them to death... I can't afford mercs. Even going to full maintenance takes me over budget... Noone likes me enough to ally... Marathas is also at war with Portugal. They're not going to be able to hurt Orissa... The AI could still be an idiot... Even if they are, Ayutthaya has 38K manpower in reserve. I have 20... If Ming gets involved that might give their AI the push it needs to deal with 'my' rebels... DamndamndamnDAMN...
Damn.
Alright. Maybe we'll get an opportunity later. Maybe Marathas will put on their big boy pants and kick Orissa and Ayutthaya around for me. We send a missionary to Silhet to slaughter cows: Maybe we can drive the Hindu away from our peace loving Buddhists. Also, through the Spring of 1610 I break the RM with Ayutthaya, then MA, then embargo them for good measure. We even embargo Assam because they started it.
Apparently general pettiness makes for good politics, as our advisors declare th is a 'Golden Era for Culture' (+5 prestige), while Manchu offers us first an alliance, then an RM. Manchu won't be much use against anyone but Ming, and even then it's a stretch, but they're alot better than no one.
In July Keng Tung defects from Ming, followed by Kachin in March 1611. Not only does this fulfill our mission (New mission: Protect our brethren in Mongnai, the last rebel province), but it gives us 5K free troops from the rebels.
I briefly imagine gaining the 14K rebels from Mongnai and trying to hold my economy together long enough to overrun Ayutthaya, but the rebels sense my evil intentions and vanish. At least the province is still occupied, and defects in September 1612.
With the rebellion all but won, I stop supporting them to save our budget - a precarious thing always somewhere around 0 - and look around for more allies. Zhou is willing this time, so we start with a Royal Marriage.
Our king/chief prince is so taken with his bride, we hardly ever see him anymore...
At least someone's happy, and one month later we forge an alliance. It's then we notice that Dai Viet is
wrecking Zhou. Do we help? Or do we form an alliance/RM with Dai Viet? Right. The more the merrier. Now, once they've settled their little grievance, Ayutthaya is surrounded and maybe we can deal with them.
All these RMs puts us well over our Diplomacy limit, so we break up RMs with Delhi and Ahmednagar (bringing our Stab back to 0 each time). This works out so well we get Diplomacy-11 (Canal & Shipyard).
Our third cheap, easy mission is to expand our culture to Chin province, which strangely has a Chin culture. Fortunately we have the Diplomacy power to launch an aggressive marketing campaign called "You really can have too many Chins."
In January 1613 Dai Viet decimates Zhou, stealing three provinces. Zhou no longer has a border with Ayutthaya, and therefore is no longer a valuable ally. I won't do anything about it until I have to though. No, now it's just Dai Viet and us versus Ayutthaya. DV doesn't want to go to war right now: Fine, we'll give them some time to build up and stabilize.
Meanwhile, I'm still looking for an opportunity to do something and come across this charming picture:
Portugal took provinces from both Carnatic and Marathas. Orissa and Ayutthaya ended their war with Marathas, but Delhi fights on despite the distinct lack of a border. Carnatic has an army of 5K... If we can take Cormadel away from them, and hopefully convince the Portuguese to play nice, then we can look at westernizing.
Step one: Build five flytes. Check.
Step two: Raise army maintenance to full. Check.
Step three: Realize that's putting us in the red by 8 ducats per month. Uh...
Step four: Watch a huge revolt (8K) break out in Chittagong. Oh, for crying out loud!
The Fit Hits the Shan
In January 1614 we had four armies: 15K staying behind, and three armies of 5K each awaiting transport. When the Chittagong revolt broke out on one of the 5K stacks, our armies were still buiding up to full morale. I moved reinforcements (the other 5K stacks)in, and suffered two defeats.
So much for a quick war. While our valiant attack force fled across the length of Shan, a second revolt (3K) broke out in Kachin. Thanks guys, that's just what we need.
We have 48 ducats in the treasury, and are still losing 8 per month. That means we start picking up loans in 6 months, and this isn't even a desperate life-and-death struggle. No, it's time for a little discretion. We cut the 15K 'home guard' to 2K, which brings our budget back into positive range. We then send this 2K with a leader to deal with Kachin while the 15K invasion force descends on Chittagong.
In September 1614, the 'invaders' crushed Chittagong. It's a little late in the turn to start a new adventure however, so we'll worry about Carnatic next time.
As for the 'home guard' - the Kachin rebels deliver a humiliating defeat.
Nonetheless, these revolts are a delay, nothing more. Next turn: Carnatic. Even so, that's a terrible risk. Cormadel province is on Portugal (and Britain's) hit list, so they might just DoW me. It's really undefendable without a constant naval presence, which I couldn't have if we ever do get around to fighting Ayutthaya. Like I said, I'm starting to really dislike SE Asia. Maybe we should just go elsewhere.
Johan's Dice
Reign: 5 years
Roll Needed: 2+
Roll: 1
Continue: No
Thank Johan!
Where to?
...Oh.