A Little Trouble in Big China - A Chinese Warlord Quest
- Location
- Vicksburg, MS
I'd be all for it!
- Pronouns
- Male
Long live the china quest!!
BurningLaugh
Shape Shifting Master of Hiatus
- Location
- The Land of Retconnia
I shall not the rest till the Qing rule once again.
In short, yes I would like to keep playing.
In short, yes I would like to keep playing.
- Location
- Florida
Reporting for duty. Glory to the Right KMT!
August 1st, 1927 | The Great Anti-Left Campaign
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
August 1st, 1927 | Part One, The Great Anti-Left Campaign
The end of the Second Sino-Japanese War might have been to the relief to the Imperial Japanese Army, defeated and beleaguered after their failures at Jehol, it brought no relief to the average Chinese soldier. Millions of men, divided between dozens of generals, partisans, and warlords, gathered for the Great Anti-Left Campaign (as some would call it). The closure of the Hunan Pocket, a brutal but short affair, what characterised by the battles of Changde and Changsha. At Changde, a large mixed-formation group of regular, conscript, and partisan troops loyal to the C-KMT were flanked and attacked by the joint armies of Li Liejun and Zhang Xun. The cohesive actions of the two armies, deeply implying the coordination between the Right-Republican and Imperial camps, left no room for the brave but ultimately futile efforts of the leftists. The battle lasted only four hours before the combined firepower of the Rightist Coalition broke the spirit of the men. THose not run down by horsemen or surrendered en masse found themselves after a long flight in the (now) fortress city of Changsha.
Led by a young cadet named Lin Yurong, a cadet of the Changsha Officer School and Youth Communist Party member, the vast but ultimately poorly armed mobs of the left were determined to stop the coalition. Bolstered by Communist rhetoricians, partisan suppliers, and the ever present young cadet, Changsha resisted the artillery of the Coalition for first one day. Then two. Then a third, and a forth, and a fifth. Fighting seen to the south indicated a chance for relief, as artillery shells screamed into the industrial warehouses and household roofs of Changsha. Sadly it was not to be, as the arriving army would not be the relief of Ji Hongchang, but rather yet another Rightist in the form of Tang Jiyao.
It took another three days for Changsha Officer School to fall, with the red flag being taken down just as the last sunlight faded on the seventh day of the siege. Beneath the rubble of Changsha, it was said the young Lin Yurong cursed the Rightists with his dying breath, wrapped in a red flag. This curse, although spread by superstitious peasants, began to take hold when the leader of the Right-Republicans, and indeed of the Rightist Coalition, Tan Jiyao, passed away of pneumonia in the early hours of January 19th. An ambitious and ruthless political operator, Long Yun, would seize control of the Yunnanese Army, rising from a humble lieutenant to a warlord in his own right.
This would not be the end of either nation's woes, as the fighting in Guangxi is renewed. The gathered armies of Lu Rongting, Liu Xiang, and Bai Chongxi, in a move as much out of desperation for food and pay as out of aggression, invaded the lands of the C-KMT. Fighting the combined (although not always organised) units of Cheng Qian and Zhang Guotao, the Rightist beat back the leftists time and again. However, it was not always to the Rightist benefit, as partisans would sabotage traintracks, roads, and shoot up donkey caravans resulting in all three armies being reduced increasingly to 100,000 strong gathered roving bandits. What would make the difference would be the swinging arm of Chiang Kai-shek, who would bring his reserve conscripts around and finally trap the leftists at Ngchow. At the confluence of the Gui and Xun rivers, where Chiang blocked their retreat, the dual generals of Qian and Guotao were forced to fight in a traditional method against a force much larger and better armed than they were.
The Xi River, which the Gui and Xun met to create, ran red for days. The Battle of Ngchow would see the elimination of not only the Second Army of the C-KMT, but also the Right-Republican Army of Nanning. Lu Rongting was never found, and one of his colonels, Li Zongren, limped his remnants back to Nanning while the other two armies laid upon Ngchow in search of food and wealth. It was only later that Zhang Guotao, having survived the battle found out he was replaced by the newly deceased Cheng Qian. Surviving elements of the Second Army would coalesce in Hunan under Wang Fanglin. Although aircraft were present at the Battle of Ngchow, they were deemed too vital to lose and were sent back to Hunan by Qian.
The Battle of Canton was no less bloody. Governor Chen Kwing Ming, knowing his time was coming, send desperate blockade runners from Canton to the Qing Court, begging for aide. This Chun (through Marshal-Admiral Wu) would graciously provide the pearls of the revived Beiyang Fleet, the Chao Ho and Ying Swei, along with a pair of divisions. This, alongside anarchist militias (who were created at the whims of Cai Yuanpei) and Tong gangers resulted in an eclectic but not entirely doomed armed force. Thus, when the conscripts and partisans of Zhang Fakui (newly minted out of Hunan) arrived ready to defeat the tiny army of Chen Kwing Ming, he had his nose bloodied by naval fire support and a surprise charge of a mixed Tong/anarchist unit armed with Zhuhai Boar Rifles. Alas, Chen Kwing Ming's desire not to be crushed was not to pass, as the pure numbers of General Fakui was too much, and individuals with any wealth or connections (including Kwing Ming himself) fled either to the Beiyang ships or to Zhuhai itself as the proper Qing divisions were routed after a series of running skirmishes. Canton, or at least the heart of it, returned to leftist hands.
But greater Canton was in the hands of anarchist communes and Tong chapters. Leftist patrols needed to be in groups of five or more, or else risk being suddenly ambushed by angered civilians who had no interest in governance. Further Fakui found Zhuhai, once a small fishing village but now a Tong stronghold, now bristling with primitive but effective rockets, rifles, and angry faces. Deemed too much of an issue at this moment, Fakui kept himself greatly occupied with the governing of an apparently hostile city.
This would be supported by the one and only Cai Yuanpei, who sought to rid China of the scourge of communism. Connecting urban and agrarian anarchists throughout the breath of Canton, Yuanpei mobilised the southern Chinese anarchists in a distinctly anti-communist manner. Perhaps the most important result of this, beyond the opposition within Canton, would be the abandonment of many of the rural communes from the C-KMT, which was increasingly isolated in Hunan. A further general strike by anarchist workers was broken by communist union members, who (literally) browbeat the anarchists back into the factories.
(The above is a mini of the fighting that has occurred within the South. It took me a lot longer than I expected to collect everyone's orders in a cohesive way so I'll have to finish up the rest of the update tomorrow).
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PanzerJaheger
Only sane man in my class
- Location
- Hong Kong
For the Right KMT!
Better Dead than Red than Red letter A!
Better Dead than Red than Red letter A!
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
There's a method to the madness, have faith it'll be explained tomorrow(ish).
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
I...hey. Remember the folk playing as whoever is in charge of Manchuria writing attack Mongolia as revenge?
Russian occupied and currently Communist Mongolia?
...the Japanese will be busy, thank God.
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Proxy war I guess? Imperial isn't keen on another war right now and Red Russia is looking at C-KMT burning. What does Mongolia produce anyway? Apart from horse riders and sand.
- Location
- Vicksburg, MS
In fairness, Communist Russia at the time would probably have seemed a lot weaker than Tsarist Russia which had just been beaten by a weaker Japan one generation prior. I think the bandit lord is playing a bit of a brinksmanship game where he thinks the stakes are low enough that Red Russia won't risk war with Japan over a spat between puppets, especially since they didn't do much to combat the loss of their hold in Sakhalin nor their railroads in China's northeast in this timeline.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
In fairness, Communist Russia at the time would probably have seemed a lot weaker than Tsarist Russia which had just been beaten by a weaker Japan one generation prior. I think the bandit lord is playing a bit of a brinksmanship game where he thinks the stakes are low enough that Red Russia won't risk war with Japan over a spat between puppets, especially since they didn't do much to combat the loss of their hold in Sakhalin nor their railroads in China's northeast in this timeline.
Even so. Whoo boy Japan expects a Chihuahua out of their puppet. What they got instead is a Pitbull with rabies!
rofl:rofl:rofl::lolOh boy. Hope Right KMT is strong enough to go toe to toe with Qing China after this mess.
Edit: Wait. You're Manchuria governor guy, @Kipeci?
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- Location
- Vicksburg, MS
I provide loose suggestions for him since everyone else seems to more or less neglect him (probably due to him being a heinous bandit-king figure of a despised puppet state?) and I think he's an interesting figure to keep active.Even so. Whoo boy Japan expects a Chihuahua out of their puppet. What they got instead is a Pitbull with rabies!
Oh boy. Hope Right KMT is strong enough to go toe to toe with Qing China after this mess.
Edit: Wait. You're Manchuria governor guy, @Kipeci?
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
And this how we'll win.
In the name of the Holy Trinity: Marx, Engels and Lenin, I curse you, capitalist pigs! Let your gunpowder always be wet, let your artillery pieces jam. Let you squablle amongst yourselves, betraying each other and tearing each other apart! Let your bodies rot, plagued by every illness known to humanity, so everyone can see your rotten imperialistic nature!
Amen.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
Ten thousand plagues on the reactionaries! May they and their children and their children's children forever step on a Lego when they get out of bed!
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Ah what a defeatist slogan! Lego is a capitalist Invention and saying reactionaries' offspring have them implies the failure of the great work defeating the reactionary idea.
Obviously the little comrades will step on Lepin.
Cybandeath
Lord Darkness, and Representative of Mad Science
- Location
- The United States of America
I still don't know what the fuss is about stepping on legos, I for some reason don't find it painful *shrug* uncomfortable maybe but not painful.