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Well, this sure has been a loving day. But the vote goes on. Party Vote:  Military Aristocracy: 10 (Lord Cyrahzax, Crazycryodude, Tulip, Xelkelvos, Lynneth, Rody One Half, Soup du Jour, QuoProQuid, AJ_Impy, habeusdorkus)  Middle Division: 9 (idhrendur, Pacho, Technowolf, Alikchi, frankenfreak, GunnerJ, zealouscub, HereticMIND, Polgas) Foundational Principles Political Principles: 6 (Lord Cyrahzax, Tulip, Xelkelvos, Alikchi, Rody One Half, Polgas) Moral Principles: 13 (idhrendur, Pacho, Crazycryodude, Technowolf, frankenfreak, Lynneth, Soup du Jour, GunnerJ, QuoProQuid, zealouscub, AJ_Impy, HereticMIND, habeusdorkus) Military Campaign Direction A) China: 9 (idhrendur, Tulip, Xelkelvos, frankenfreak, Rody One Half, Soup du Jour, QuoProQuid, AJ_Impy, ThatBasqueGuy) B) The Tarim Basin/Great Steppe: 1 (zealouscub) C) The South: 7 (Lord Cyrahzax, Pacho, Technowolf, Alikchi, Lynneth,HereticMIND, Polgas) D) The West: 3 (Crazycryodude, GunnerJ, habeusdorkus) With 19 votes (20 for the military campaign): the Military Aristocracy is the dominant faction, meaning our campaigns will be more ambitious. Our government shall be run on moral principles. And we shall direct our military campaigns against the Chinese warring states.
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Jan 7, 2021 03:02
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Kangxi posted:With 19 votes (20 for the military campaign): the Military Aristocracy is the dominant faction, meaning our campaigns will be more ambitious. Our government shall be run on moral principles. And we shall direct our military campaigns against the Chinese warring states. This sounds like a fuckin party.
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Jan 7, 2021 03:21
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Oh thank the ancestors we're no longer lapdogs of a bunch of spice-mad merchants. My first missive reads thus: "Dear Lonpo Lasya, All I want from the next decade years is a pyramid mortared with the ground bones of your foes from the campaigns. Also, if you meet Tse along the road... KILL HER" Time to get back to what made Tibet great - kicking rear end, invading China, and building giant fuckoff pyramids.
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Jan 7, 2021 05:11
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I didn't vote for this but I'll accept Tibetan overlordship of the Middle Kingdom 
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Jan 7, 2021 11:55
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Well, someone has to rule China, right?
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Jan 7, 2021 17:10
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Tibetan Shandong or bust.
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Jan 7, 2021 17:52
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Chapter 76: 1700 to 1710 - Tibet Marches East It was a good day in Lhasa.  The Lonpo, Gesar Lasya, chosen head of state of the heavenly republic, enjoyed part of a day free from responsibilities. A Sichuanese opera troupe had come to town, and she had stayed out late to watch their entire performance. She would have to find out the name of that charming actor who played the dan role ... although really, she turned over in her mind the warrior who changed his face between ten painted masks by seamless gestures.  For tonight, at least, she could forget the problems of the Sacred Hierarchy, that always sent so many diplomats like beggars,  and she would not grow bored tonight from the techniques and demands of organizing war.  Maybe she'd even have time to read a novel before bed, of heroism and glory.  or look over some plans for the new fortifications or buildings she had ordered. Why not built another pyramid?  The anxiety of defeat and ruin, for once, seems to be very far away.  The last thought she had as she drifted off to sleep was to thank the chefs for that sauce they used. She awoke on the field of battle.  She found herself on a hilltop and beheld two armies, great and terrible. They mauled and brutalized each other with arrays of camel-mounted cannon and volleys of ranked musket fire on the plain in front of her. From their uniforms and trailing banners that she saw in books, she recognized them - Ethiopians and Egyptians on the one side, and Anatolians on the other. She crouched down, slowly, as if to embrace the dusty earth, having with her no weapons or armor and she wished not to catch the sight of some soldier. They will not take notice of you. Do not fear them. This is the most frightened she has ever been in her entire life. She turns her head. Out of the edges of her sight, she sees the form of Tibet's last great empress, her face cold as death, eyes set forward, a musket slung over her back and a sword at her belt. The minister bows.  The empress's expression is as fixed and unmoving as an Olmec head. You are going to make war with China. "Yes, your majesty." Then we should go take a look. A rush of cold air and the ground falls away from her. The minister Lasya tumbles forth into the void, fearing death by a fall, screaming wildly, until she lands without impact, on the top of another mountain. Beneath her and the empress are towns nestled in pleasant river valleys. This was the kind of place where a priest would give many blessings. The empress points with her knife. That is Chengdu, that is the Jin river. Down that way, is Chongqing. You will have them all. "How?"  The Kingdom of Shu will defeat the Sacred Hierarchy, that sad group of walking corpses. But they will exhaust themselves.  You will invade them immediately. "Wait, do you mean, I-"  Think of it as a war of reconquest, as I once took that city three hundred and thirty years ago. Reconquest is a very good excuse for war.  It will fall to you in less than a month. All the other cities of Shu will surrender to you within the year. The minister Lasya collects herself. Her breathing has slowed and she has remembered her rights and status as head of state, leader of the heavenly republic. "Your Majesty. What is to prevent another betrayal as what happened from your family after your own campaign?" That question might have been a mistake. The empress Lasya grits her teeth and her eyes are filled with poisonous contempt.  You should keep an eye on your own god-damned family. "I apologize, your majesty. I will, your majesty." That definitely was a mistake. The minister prays silently that she goes not go now to her own death.  Moving on. The Sacred Hierarchy will move south in their campaigns, and they will be successful.  In a matter of months, you will have control over the whole of the Sichuan Basin, and of the Yangtze River almost as far as Yichang. The Umung and all the peoples of the southwest will swear allegiance to you. They can rule and police themselves.  This will be without battles at first; a general with misguided loyalty, Qiu Zhenqing, will denounce you.  The tributary peoples will compete for your favor; play them off against each other and make them compete to stay alive.  As for that general that resists openly, he will not head right into the countryside. He will, like a fool, charge right at Chongqing,  and on that approach, you will crush him. Now, off to the next campaign. The minster, by impulse, clings to the apparition like a lost child. Another rush of cold wind, and the minister Lasya tries to contain her nausea. They arrive in a clean and organized city, with gridlike streets enveloped by vast stone walls, and the multistory pagodas which are the hallmark of any city of note. Do you like it? "Yes, a little." This is Hanzhong. It is the capital of the Shun Dynasty. Your troops will burn it all when they capture it. Capitals are for overpowering and destroying; good luck in letting them have it back. The minister crosses her arms awkwardly and looks to the side. She sees an official, pointing to her rank badge, bawling out a farmer for having not brought enough for the grain levy, not enough for the army. Don't worry about the noise. Some of your troops will kill her later, in the sacking of the city. She has a silver brush case and they want it. The minister Lasya says nothing, tries to keep pace with the empress's rapid step.  You will claim all of Sichuan, including the city of Dazhou. Dazhou is run by the Shu. They will protest this. That will be your reason to invade, with the claim that they have taken what is rightfully yours.  We are now heading eastward on this boulevard. If you keep going, you'll go all the way to Chang'an. "Xi'an?" That city has been sacked by us twice times before - once almost a thousand years ago by Songtsen Gampo, and once by myself. You will have it the third time. They pass a line of food stalls. A line has gathered for sweet fruits, and a Beijinger has set up a sugar-coated fruit stand, which has a long line almost circling the block. She wants to stay, to give some warning, to take someone with her, but she feels swept aside again and taken to a distant field of fog. Only the clatter of rocks under their feet accompanying them, no grass or water - somewhere in the Changtang Plateau, she imagines. There is a ruined temple nearby, just a few half-fallen stone walls around a patch of grass. A dead god's open grave.  After the Sacred Hierarchy concludes its wars in the south,  You will invade when the weather is right.  The Chahar Mongolians will side with them, as you'd expect, but also our tributary will betray us. Keep an army in the west so you are prepared for them.  As Hanzhong is right on the border, you can take it in a month. You will burn it all. The rapid changes in location are too much for minister Lasya. She fumbled like a drunkard for some footing so she can stand. The empress only looks at her struggling, regarding it as an idle curiosity. Are you done? "Yes, your majesty."  Good. I'll let you know another good thing - this war will be very easy for you. The Miao will surrender after one battle.  Altishahr will be broken - again, after one battle.  Your armies will rampage across the Tarim and the Central Plains, and they will have only minor resistance.  Really, you should pay most of your attention to the supply lines.  You are engaging in a great holy war here, the same as we once did.  But there is only one serious opposition - the Shun will send an army desperately across the Tarim Basin to engage the rear. They can sweep aside the first army. There isn't much you can do about that, but attrition - hunger, starvation, and disease - will thin them out. Make sure all your troops are treated against smallpox, by the way. And if you have one army in reserve near Guge you will be fine.  Can't win em all. But really they'll exhaust themselves. That army will just disperse into the wastes.  After that, well it's up to you. I've given you enough help.  The Miao will give you tribute,   The Mongolians will try another desperate measure. You, personally, will defeat them at Ladakh, where they are too exhausted and hungry to resist you.  Korea will have some of their territories for the trouble.  The fog lifts slowly, and the distant ground appears, like a painter daubs broad strokes on a blank canvas. They are still on the top of a hill, as they have been so often in this vision. As the field of vision grows, the minister sees what looks like a burned log, and then another, and another, and then more laid out in rows, and she smells the sickly sweet stench of death and realizes again where she is. The bodies of nobles and commoners lay all around her, the banners of their saints and gods fluttering in the wind. They are all equal now. The war on the other side of the world is over. The minister says nothing. The empress observes.  You will have to separate yourself from this at some point. You can't kill everyone yourself.  Now, my last points of advice - Korea can have the cities of Baoding, and... what is the other one? Zhongdu? "B-Beijing, your majesty." Beijing. You don't want them to get too strong, as you may oppose them later.  Take at least the southern rim of the Tarim Basin from Altishahr. It will be useful in securing your northern frontier and preventing any further invasions there.  Do your duty, and do not let yourself grow spoiled from the fruits of your empire.  There are always people who will say that you do too much, that you are infringing on the liberties of the aristocracy. You can ignore them. So long as you build up a group of people who support you and are loyal to you, you have some safety. Your rites are now of and for violence.  You and I both know that history is not made by being kind to all the aristocracy. And you don't have to take everything around you at once, just make them vassals to start. That will improve your position in greater China for decades, if not centuries.  From there, your influence will cover most of the Yellow Earth plateau and the central plains. That will be a good start after the first ten years, although I did more with four.  Keep good and loyal people, and not only those who will say whatever they think will please you.  And keep your empire strong; where the weak may have to move from one vassalship to another to survive:  Or, like the Taira, you will fall into a period of civil war and contention between warring aristocratic fiefdoms.  If you do remember something from the life of my failed relatives and the end of the Purgyals: if you are a bad government, take care when you seek to mend your ways because it is then that you will hang and your body will sway slowly in the wind. The empress turns to leave into the fog. "Your majesty!" Improbably, the empress turns around and leans in closer to listen, tilting her head in a mocking gesture -- perhaps she delights in the displays of fear and uncertainty that the minister has shown so far. "Why are we doing this? Won't it all just fall apart again?" The empress laughs. The minister awakes, trembling, nauseous, and hurriedly wipes the drool from her chin.
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Jan 12, 2021 01:40
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Lasya! 
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Jan 12, 2021 02:28
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gently caress yes.
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Jan 13, 2021 05:38
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VOTE: 1710 As recorded by the court historian, Ngawang Gyaltsen Lobsang  The Lonpo Gesar Lasya upon the conclusion of her expeditions against China became a celebrated figure across the entirety of the heavenly republic; she has thus redeemed the honor and reputation of the Tibetan army, and her armies have achieved many and glorious exploits in routing and subduing the perfidious forces of the east and in reestablishing the moral character of the heavenly republic. At her table, old officers and distinguished nobles alike drink toasts to her accomplishments and thus praise her as the greatest captain since the days of legends and living gods.  The northern and eastern frontiers of the heavenly republic, which had always been a source of uncertainty and fear for centuries, have been reliably pacified; and commerce thus flows freely east from the plateau through to the Sichuan Basin and from there to the four corners of the continent. (Yes, the trade routes have been changed - thank you to xthetenth for that major contribution to the mod!)  Lhasa again became a discussion for the wise; to discuss the understanding of the laws of nature; the most modern discourses of political philosophy; and the benefits of both ancient and modern wisdom.  One may hope that this may lead to a "century of lights" for both the heavenly republic and indeed the entire world;  As an army marches to the steady beat of the drummer, so the heavenly republic continues its General Progress which shall continue, unabated, forever. Vote on the following matters which concern the heavenly republic: 1) Should Tibet move against  A) The East -- meaning a focus against Wu, the last of the great Chinese kingdoms?  B) The South - a small patchwork of more easily conquerable kingdoms -- and this may bring us into direct contact with the treaty ports owned by Ethiopia, Egypt, and Anatolia.  2) The Shun Dynasty has an extremely high liberty desire and will almost certainly revolt at the nearest opportunity; when it does, will we try and A) annex more of their territory or B) keep them as a vassal? 3) Ally yourself with ONE of the following parties: The Military Aristocracy is pleased, but not content. The majority of the aristocrats have become intoxicated with success that had been so rare for so long, and think that the heavenly republic should continue to expand as much as possible. The Middle Division consists of merchants and smaller householders. They are content with the degree of expansion that has taken place so far, and would only approve of shorter campaigns and smaller acquisitions of territory, to avoid overstretching an already fragile budget. code:
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Jan 17, 2021 03:03
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1 B 2 A
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Jan 17, 2021 03:08
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1 B 2 A Personally I'm enjoying the rise and rise of Bonapartism
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Jan 17, 2021 03:11
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AJ_Impy posted:
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Jan 17, 2021 03:21
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1 B These statelets are easy pickings and Anatolia and Egypt are nearly awiropean barbarians,we should push south 2 A Direct control is neccesary to keep these lands under check. Maybe later they can be released as a sister republic, once their bureaucracy has been properly educated
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Jan 17, 2021 03:44
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1 A We must crush the primary source of resistance to our grand plan, so as to crush the resolve of all others. 2 A If they come at the Lonpo, they best not miss.
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Jan 17, 2021 03:49
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Tulip posted:
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Jan 17, 2021 04:05
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B A The most holy serene Empire in all the world
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Jan 17, 2021 04:49
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1: B Even if we do not take the treaty ports themselves. Being next to them may prove advantageous financially and politically if we were to set our sights to lands only told to us by merchants, diplomats, and through second-hand stories. 2: B Too much expansion too soon may find ourselves collapsing upon our own weight once more. Keeping them this close is sufficient for now
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Jan 17, 2021 04:51
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A A
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Jan 17, 2021 05:10
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Some better shots of the foreign-owned ports: From left to right: Qiong Prefecture, Hainan (Anatolia); Shiuhing (Ethiopia), and Middag (Egypt).  From north to south: Gaizhou (Anatolia); Zhenjiang (Mogadishu).
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Jan 17, 2021 05:24
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1 B 2 A Wu is as of yet not a direct security issue, while the south provides easy pickings and trade connections with other great powers whom we have no reason to fight with. Shun is, of course, in need of further humbling. Our real next target is the long-overdue harvesting of the Corpse Empire to the West, but that will have to wait.
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Jan 17, 2021 05:48
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Religious Ideas! Sorry, I mean
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Jan 17, 2021 06:58
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1. A 2. B
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Jan 17, 2021 08:57
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BB
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Jan 17, 2021 11:56
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BA
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Jan 17, 2021 16:32
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1 B 2 A
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Jan 17, 2021 17:01
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1 B 2 A
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Jan 18, 2021 03:30
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habeasdorkus posted:
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Jan 20, 2021 01:20
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habeasdorkus posted:
Yeah, that.
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Jan 20, 2021 01:41
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 THE VOTE IS CLOSED. Party Realignment: A) Military Aristocracy: 18 (AJ_Impy, Tulip, Lord Cyrahzax, Pacho, habeasdorkus, QuoProQuid, Soup du Jour, Xelkelvos, Crazycryodude, Rody One Half, Coward, idhrendur, frankenfreak, Chatrapati, Jeoh, Gravity Cant Apple, HereticMIND, Livewire42) B) Middle Division: 0. Nobody. No flag for the party in this post. Womp womp. Military Direction: A) Eastern China (Wu): 6 (habeasdorkus, Crazycryodude, Coward, idhrendur, HereticMIND, Livewire42) B) Southern China (Miao, Yue, etc.): 12 (AJ_Impy, Tulip, Lord Cyrahzax, Pacho, QuoProQuid, Soup du Jour, Xelkelvos, Rody One Half, frankenfreak, Chatrapati, Jeoh, Gravity Cant Apple) Vassal Policy: A) Annex more territory: 15 (AJ_Impy, Tulip, Lord Cyrahzax, Pacho, habeasdorkus, QuoProQuid, Soup du Jour, Crazycryodude, Rody One Half, Coward, Chatrapati, Jeoh, Gravity Cant Apple, HereticMIND, Livewire42) B) Retain vassalization: 3 (Xelkelvos, idhrendur, frankenfreak) With 18 votes, the Military Aristocracy is dominant. Military expansion will continue, without any serious reservations. Our campaign will move towards southern China. If Shun rebels, we will annex more of their territory.
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Jan 20, 2021 03:00
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The revolution feeds itself.
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Jan 20, 2021 05:07
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Speaking of which, do you have to be a monarchy to get the capital R Revolution?
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Jan 20, 2021 09:10
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Rody One Half posted:Speaking of which, do you have to be a monarchy to get the capital R Revolution? traditionally in non-emperor EU4, yes. With all the moding in this campaign, who knows
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Jan 20, 2021 09:51
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I have an announcement to make. For the next couple weeks, I will have a heavier task load at work and this will delay the update. I'll likely be too exhausted after the workday to do much of anything for modding or writing for a little while at least. Thank you all again for your patience. I hope to get back to working on this again soon.
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Jan 21, 2021 00:30
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Hey. No worries. RL takes priority.
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Jan 21, 2021 01:23
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Yep, no worries on delays. We'll be here when you have time and energy again.
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Jan 21, 2021 03:38
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Chapter 77: 1710 to 1720 - Heaven Will Be Mine Lin Zhen (1665-?) (林珍) was a Han Chinese scholar-bureaucrat, calligrapher, and military officer. She was commander of the Hangzhou city garrison at the capital of the state of Wu. While this was of middling rank in the governing administration, it gave her a position to observe the movements of the Eastern Wu kingdom and the cultural phenomenon of her day. Her memoirs are a valuable source of information on the events surrounding the end of the Second Warring States period. Her works, known for the vividness of their descriptions, have also been material for multiple adaptations, such as the Return to Dragon Mountain series of wuxia novels and the 2001 film The Fortress. March 1710  News has come that the Anatolian Empire has formally outlawed the practices of chattel slavery and indentured servitude. Even war captives are banned from the most onerous duties. One thinks, of course, of the efforts of Dong Zhongshu, or perhaps Wang Mang, who had attempted to impose limits on slavery at the peak of the Han Dynasty almost 1700 years ago. One hopes if their efforts will be better than that failed effort at restoring the glories of the past.  Even the Tibetans, as barbarous as they are, have outlawed the worst of the practice, and that is much cause for celebration. I understand that was a result of their colonial possessions far across the southern oceans. Still, I am comforted to learn of any news of moral rectitude and right governance. Such is the modern age we live in.  If I were a younger woman, I might have gone to pay the Tibetan colonies a visit now. I've seen some marvelous watercolors of their great forests, and delicate flowers that I have seen nowhere else.  But I still have my responsibilities. The Tibetans' armies prowl along the borders like some great horde -- I have my duty to keep the city safe. December 1711  The Tibetans have struck. Their army had moved through their tributary kingdom of the Lolo and the Ni, and they have marched on southern Yue.  It was not really a war, with so many brave and loyal soldiers marching to their defeat and singing songs to be remembered. Their army had been reduced to nothing as if I had hurled a stone into the eastern sea. Finished.  The rice and tea fields, the anise, and many of the tributaries of the Pearl River are now all under Tibetan administration. As is the city of Nanning. The frontier grows back.  I hear distant stories of peasant revolts and general upheaval; one learns much about their causes from listening to their folk tales and the judicial records of rebellions past. There are indeed many cases where rebellion was righteous.  In this, and in many other things, one must investigate the causes and observe the underlying principles of things. From those, we can make observations, set standards, and establish laws.  The other news is that there is some disagreement between Min and the Ethiopians over their trading rights and the ports - the Min lost many territories after we took much of old Fujian from them years ago, so this will likely not end well for them. They have neither the troops nor the expenditure for a protracted war. Here, there is a break in the manuscript. January 1715  Hangzhou is becoming quite prosperous; the streets are full of life and the chatter of the crowds. The West Lake is still a favorite of painters and dallying couples, the temples at the flying peak are peaceful and well-maintained, the restaurants and drinking houses are full and happy. I imagine few places in the world are like this, and I am so grateful for being here.   Even so, like a moth drawn to a lighted lamp, I cannot stop myself from searching out and obsessive about the terrible news of the world. I've asked about this old story about the Gujarat kingdom, a component part of the old Sacred Tibetan Empire. It seems they had gone to war over some of the exclaves of the Sacred Hierarchy, just to the east. They had expected the Tibetans to join in, for the opportunity to gain some territory easily, and with great speed and to honor an alliance that had held for the better part of a century. The Tibetans refused, leaving the Gujarat kingdom at the mercy of the rest of the Sacred Tibetan Empire. I cannot fathom where and how this happened. Wasn't the heavenly republic so opposed to the religious organizations before? Why have they done this?  Alliances are not entirely about their use and greater strategy - they are about loyalty and building stronger ties and forming relationships - and they are as constraining as much as anything else. Our empress, I am told, does wish more from her vassals. So perhaps there is something else here that I do not know, as I have no information about the court of the heavenly republic.  Still, we must ready our cannons and make sure our fortresses are in good repair.  Though I wish bitterly we had more horses. The campaigns against the Miao and Min left us with shortages of everything.  For all the wild campaigns of the visitors from the far west, their ports are useful for all kinds of goods. And if you know the right people, firearms and explosives.   In growing aware of more of the events of the world, it is very easy to feel that it has become more out of joint. Great empires and distant places all fall into turmoil.  Without loyal allies, one is ambushed from ten sides.  The Min are fighting a losing battle against the foreign empire in their trade posts. I do not think that they will be destroyed completely - it is too expensive to maintain an army of occupation for so far away, even for a kingdom so reduced and weak as Min.  While paying tribute to avoid further conflict is the worst outcome in and of itself, I can't help but think somebody else would attack them - not only for their own benefit but to deny the other foreigners additional tribute. December 1716   The Tibetans have annexed Min. It was over in a matter of weeks. As for us, we recovered Quanzhou. The locals are a bit annoyed by us but we have made some recovery.   The reason why I turn over such events and catastrophes in my head is that I think it could be us. It will be us next. The great powers of the world move with impunity. Heaven and earth are impassive to human affairs, and treat us all like straw dogs, to be used once in ritual and then discarded.  They are getting ready. I know they are making ready.   Empires move according to one logic - to consume, to obliterate, to outlast. Call it a Heavenly Republic or not, I know what they are, the nature of that organizations, and how the extension of their empire is a means of their own control.  No empire lasts forever, as no earthly thing does. But we do not have the luxury of waiting for any miracle of anger to tear apart the enemy for us.   My assumption is that they will either attack one of our tributaries, such as Liang, or one of our vassals. That would be the Miao or Xi. If the Tibetans attack us with impunity, they will be in an even stronger position to attack those territories we directly control. I will write a petition to our august empress. It is our best hope. The following portion of the memoir is undated, but it was believed to have been written much later - likely in the 1720s, possibly as late as 1730.  The Tibetan invasion came about four days before I was scheduled to deliver the petition to Her Imperial Majesty.  We, of great Wu, the heirs to the imperial tradition of all China, were able to call upon all of our tributaries and allies to assist - Ayutthaya, Dai Viet. The Tibetans were allied with Korea, a serious power in their own right. Our army would be first sent against Korea before turning south, as it would have taken longer for the Tibetans to march overland.  The Miao army, our guard along the frontier, was gone. All of it was gone.  Ayutthaya itself fell after a month's siege, their cannon blasting the old stone walls into powder. While the storming of the walls and the heavy bombardment was horrible enough, and that city already had suffered enough; at least they were spared the starvation of a siege or another brutal pillaging. I think of what happened to Ayutthaya and I fear what may happen to my Hangzhou.  The Thais, at least, were putting up a spirited resistance, demonstrating loyalty to their great king. But it was too late.  Our frontier was wide open. The army had not yet returned from fighting the Koreans in Shandong.    The Thais, our loyal and steadfast allies, fought with bravery and discipline but they suffered defeat due to massed artillery fire and naval superiority.  The bandit minister herself, Gesar Lasya, led an army headed right for Hangzhou, our great capital. She had to combat, of all people, a deranged bandit queen who imagined herself the reincarnation of Gyalyum the Benevolent. As if all the world was becoming that empire.   On all sides, the bandit armies slowly advanced, and I prayed desperately for the return of our army from Korea. I had asked a minister-general if there were any reserves, if there was another army, anything. "There are none," he said. "All we have are the city garrisons." I had to restrain myself from shouting at him. Was our treasury so exhausted, were our armies so scattered, that we could do nothing? My responsibility was to guard the city and protect those within it and so I would do to my ability. The city was soon visited by those most pitiful cases of those who had fled the invading hordes of banditry. They brought with them no tools or belongings, at best the ragged clothes on their back, and there was only so much food coming into the city for them all.  Dai Viet was soon forced to surrender and pay tribute.  I was drinking all the coffee in my stores and spending days awake out of exhaustion.  and only wait as disaster approached.  The news of the Thai surrender came soon after; I can't blame them for ending the war when they did else I'd be a hypocrite.  The Tibetans 'only' demanded more territory - Chiang Mai and some land very near the Malay peninsula.  and some islands out in the ocean. I do not understand why.  The days all sped past, one after the other. I spoke with the governor-general of Jiangnan and he was sweating all the time, wiping his forehead with a fine cloth. "What am I to do?" he confessed. "Nobody will listen to my orders anymore. I sent messages to towns and find the Tibetans have overtaken them."  We had sent the navy out for aid and the Tibetans and Koreans were waiting for them. The people of the city had gone out on the shore to watch and I heard the desperate wailing of our people as our ships were sunk and they went back to the harbor. I had gone into the court of Her Imperial Majesty, and I was with a general, whose... whose name I have forgotten. I had prepared measures of the surrender of the city to the Tibetans; he had refused, saying we should fight it out. We could light beacons to alert the army of the north or call for some other aid. He, in his own right, insisted that an empress could make her last stand among the troops; I refused, saying that we could not hold out much longer and all the city would be lost as fine paper to a fire. Her majesty only looked at us, almost to the point of tears, but was silent. "Do as you wish," she said, "but by the grace of heaven, end the war."  Two months. The siege was two months then I surrendered the city to the Tibetans.  All that was left was Nanjing, held by some rogue general who had refused even our orders. The Tibetan general came to our city herself, on a victorious inspection tour. I had seen the face of that other empire that day. She came over, inspected our troops, looking them over with an impassive expression as if she were judging which bit of cabbage to buy at the market. She was old... was this all for one person's vanity? There is another story. I had not seen it, but I will write it. I am told that she went into our beloved empress' chambers, looked at the crowns, and tried them out. Then she committed acts of sacrifice.  There is not much else to say after that; pirates now roam 'their' coasts as they once bothered ours.  Empires are a force unto themselves - they expand and conquer and all the rest of us are left to survive in the middle or pick up what is left.  The surrender allowed us some autonomy; I don't doubt they'll be back for us again soon.  The Miao are now subjects of Tibet. My beloved Hangzhou is still a capital - faded, but still like a favorite artwork defaced, a song half-forgotten, or a favorite animal mutilated.  And as for the Heavenly Republic? That too is gone. The Knuckle Smashers and other soldiers, who swore their loyalty only to her, took their muskets and shoved the councilors and debaters out into the street, silencing that assembly forever. All of the generals and aristocrats who supported her and sang her praises may have led her to take on greater ambitions.  That Gesar Lasya - what a name! - walked into the chambers of debate, and pronounced herself emperor. One of them might have shot her, but the poor fellow missed. She may call herself emperor and reign for life. We'll see how long that is. If all the world was about empires, I would feel despair. Anatolia, on the other side of the world, has done something different.  they have taken their emperor and his family and strangled them with silk scarves.  A state with no emperor, with the aristocracy in ruin. Heaven knows what that must be. It is something so alien to me that I cannot express what it is. Has heaven itself gone upon the earth?  I have lived a terrible life in the mountains; I make for an awful hermit. I can counsel others to make peace within themselves but I think myself a coward for it. I lack the patience for discipline now, and when a Taoist priest told me to leave the women alone and that there is no time for romantic frivolity in such sorrowful times. I told him to go gently caress all his ancestors. Call me mad, but there is another kind of place in the world now, something far away from emperors and empresses. perhaps I may leave here and pay it a visit.  
Kangxi fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Feb 6, 2021 |
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Feb 6, 2021 02:02
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The Heavenly Republic was founded as an answer to a simple but serious question- what is Tibet to do when no worthy sovereign occupies the throne in Lhasa? For generations, we provided that answer, allowing the gods to choose the leader we needed. But now...but now Gesar Lasya has provided something far more definitive, achieving for Tibet victories and miracles we thought were lost forever. In a trial of fire and war, we now have an Empress who has proven to stand above and beyond even the greatest of the Purgyals! The republican regency is over- we at last have a ruler worthy of Tibet, of China, and of far beyond.
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Feb 6, 2021 03:09
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So this is how liberty dies.
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Feb 6, 2021 03:36
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Freudian posted:So this is how liberty dies. With unanimous votes for unlimited military expansion. Another vote soon: we'll need to see how this celestial empire will hold itself together.
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Feb 6, 2021 17:39
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