PanzerJaheger
Only sane man in my class
- Location
- Hong Kong
Isn't this a quest?
If this Is rp then no thanks because I suck at it.
A Little Trouble in Big China - A Chinese Warlord Quest
If this Is rp then no thanks because I suck at it.
- Location
- Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines
Not really roleplay but more you make a plan that will control a character's next moves for 1 turn.
Also, huh.
Seems like there's no mini-update today?
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VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Don't worry I have set the mess up bar fairly high as I accidentally resurrected Qing and got invaded by Japan.
Basically there are bunch of influential RL characters for people to build a 6 point plan for voters to vote. These plans are then magicked by the QM into the updates we see. Say you and I both built a plan for Mao but your's have more voters behind, then my votes will go into your plan as it's for the same character; making the plan more effective or fail less hard. The characters without plan or vote will be managed by the QM.
DanBaque
Let's Have Fun
- Location
- Occupied Catalonian Countries
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's something between a quest and a GSRP game yea. But don't worry about failure, most players have failed at some point or in some way, and there's free characters galore.
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
@PanzerJaheger feel free to join! Dan is right that it's v much a mix of a traditional quest and a character-based nation game.
Also I live, work has just been crazy. Mini/update should be up Friday.
August 1st, 1927 | General Update
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
August 1st, 1927
Teal - Qing Empire
Dark Teal - Qing-aligned Warlords
Light Green - KMT Government
Dark Green - KMT-aligned Warlords
Beige - Manchuria / Mongolian Khaanate
Yellow - Japan
Soviet Red - Russia
Soviet Brown - Mongolia
Soviet Dark Red - Communist Rebellion in Xinjiang
Pink - Great Britain
Blue - France
Orange - Netherlands
Dark Teal - USA
Dark Teal - Qing-aligned Warlords
Light Green - KMT Government
Dark Green - KMT-aligned Warlords
Beige - Manchuria / Mongolian Khaanate
Yellow - Japan
Soviet Red - Russia
Soviet Brown - Mongolia
Soviet Dark Red - Communist Rebellion in Xinjiang
Pink - Great Britain
Blue - France
Orange - Netherlands
Dark Teal - USA
To many, the nineteen month period between January 1926 and August 1927 seemed among the longest in recent history. The greater powers, so long fretful of the awakening of a surgent Chinese Dragon coming to swoop the hard fought colonial cities, found nothing more than run-of-the-mill warlords seeking to bring themselves into the (Chinese) national limelight. Except for those bureaus, offices, and dispatches whose job it was to keep an eye on them, the greater public of the West turned to various situations at home. American life was booming to great prosperity never before seen even as the American Empire descends upon Nicaragua in search of fruit. Acknowledging their loss of the majority of the Hiberian isle, King George is proclaimed as the King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Weimar Germany starts to entrench itself as the legitimate successor of the Empire, as troops increasingly leave German cities. A new wave of coups rock the world, from Greece to Lithuania to Portugal. Finally, the Showa period officially begins in Japan, as the late Emperor (Taisho) is succeeded by his son.
In China, life was the same as ever, as wars fought over ideologies and egos continued unabaded. In the South, the ideological campaign over the hearts and minds of the peasants was increasingly between the Anarchists and the United Left Front of H-KMT (H standing for Hunan Province, given that with the fall of Changsha there was no de jure capital of the leftist KMT) and Communists. The United Front, separately but with equal dedicated, produced a massive amount of propaganda. Criers, posters, and pamphlets (in what few cities had high enough literacy) decried the various northern factions with abandon, accusing them of heinous crimes in hopes of mobilizing them. The Anarchists in the meantime were more interested in the economics of life, as they campaigned for the reduction or elimination of child labour and the increase of adult education via voluntary itinerant anarchist thinkers. Thankfully, except for that dreadful affair in Canton, these two streams of propaganda did not conflict, as it resulted in an increasing amount of semi-rural or city anarchist militias signing up with the United Front to stem the reactionary tide. Though some whispered that the H-KMT were being isolated on either side by the CPC and Anarchists, the powers that be waved their hand and told them to focus on the war.
This focus, for better or worse, would be conducted at full speed. Yet again Liao Zhongkai sought it appropriate to retrain the officer corps, even after gutting it only years earlier. Many officers, taken from their formations, were given only a rudimentary retraining (given the sheer size of the army and the government's timeline) and sent back to find that they've been replaced by elected CPC or Anarchist officers. Further, a desire to increase the number of sharpshooters was limited not by either volunteers or skill, but rather equipment. Often reduced to using Zhuhai Rifles, sharpshooters soon developed a special place in Hell for the K-KMT rank-and-file, as priorly safe hills and forests soon turned into stressful pot-shot central.
These mixed results were offset by the skills of Borodin who, sidelined as commander of the official military supply chain, made the best of his time in China by turning the United Front's military into a bit of a supply chain miracle. Donkey chains brought necessary food, clothing, and ammunition when needed to military formations, whereever said formations were. That said, it did help that the United Front were reduced to some of the most infrastructurally dense areas in China. However, when Liao went to Borodin in hopes that the Soviet liaison would secure some more Soviet engineers or technical experts for the United Front, Borodin gave the President a very cold reception.
That would not stop the H-KMT, as they increased the numbers of soldiers again. Leveraging what networks remained within their territory that weren't coopted by the Communists or Anarchists, the Second Army of the KMT was reformed, insofar as it could be. Entirely green, with unfired guns and newly minted officers, this army had little or no connection to the body that was smashed at Ngchow. Further calls to volunteers managed to gather enough forces to reinforce the Third Army under Fakui in Canton. The flow into the recruitment office was beginning to slow, and some recruiters began to worry that the H-KMT would have to begin to rely on their Communist allies and Anarchist fellow-travellers (sometimes) if the war continued on for an extended period of time.
Liao further sought to mobilize the massive population of China to extract greater numbers of weapons from the industry of Hunan. Howell production, along with artillery and aerial knockoffs, increased dramatically (relative to the previous size). The quest for standardization died immediately, as Liao was told in no uncertain terms that he could have more guns, or similar guns, but not both. Liao was happy to get more guns. Liao also didn't bring up automation, knowing that an Anarchist strike was just crushed protesting current conditions. With the war effort, electrification plans were halted as it was found too expensive to do on the central budget in the wake of greater employment and production quotas every year. The plan is shelved to after the war.
Given that it was a United Front, the President of the H-KMT sought to actually ensure that it remained united. The divisions between the CPC and the leftist KMT seemed only to grow every year, and Liao hoped that making a good impression onto his subordinates would create an atmosphere of cooperation between the two parties. Thusly, Liao made several public speeches in Hunan, newly liberated Canton, and Henyang, praising the spirit of the Communist and the H-KMT worker, fighter, and farmer in equal measure. This grew Liao's popularity, especially after it was declared that Chen Duxiu would be the next President of the Examination Yuan, placing him in control of the education of the people of China. Duxiu, for all that can be said, was exceedingly and surprisingly apolitical in his role, dismissing talk of Communist propaganda by sticking to current curriculum, only seeking to make those existing civil servants more held to a higher standard.
Sadly for Liao, most of the above popularity evaporated when the H-KMT sought to dissolve the Revolutionary Committee. The pushback, especially by young members of the H-KMT's politburo was fierce, as they saw it as the primary agent of ensuring communism within the H-KMT. After some clever maneuvering on the part of Liao, the Revolutionary Committee was dissolved, however those young communists were incredibly bitter over it.
This bitterness of the youth did not give Chen Duxiu even a single pause as he ran full speed into opposition of the Qing, decidedly leaving the question regarding the Anarchists alone for the time being. The reformation of the Qing, the big bad of the communists in China since the formation of the Party, held a special place of hate within Chen, as he railed against the reactionary monarchy in speech after speech, in march after march, and in pamphlet after pamphlet. The warlords of the K-KMT were only servants of the new Emperor, who sat prettily on his throne as hundreds of thousands of Chinese died in pointless conflicts.
That a rebellion broke out in Shanghai, where pictures of the Emperor were burned, was not a coincidence. Luckily for everyone involved, a mixture of British and Japanese forces quickly (and brutally) crushed the nascent rebellion, leaving over a thousand dead and the slums burning for two days. Although fomented, further fires of rebellion dimmed as a trio of concessions in Hankow (British), Kew Keang (British), and Tietsen (Belgian) were returned into the Empire. Unexpected to all parties (happening at the request of both European countries) for now the Emperor was hailed as finally coming out of the shadow of European imperialism, regardless of the truth. This would be awkward for Zhou Enlai, as he did his best to spin the war and efforts of the CPC and H-KMT in a way in which would secure support.
Stalin was not impressed.
Luckily for Enlai (a sentence that has been stated far too much to be ignored) the Qing, after the abortive Shanghai Rebellion (1927) and proper noises on the diplomatic front, made a play by rapidly expanding and mobilizing the armies of Duan Qirui and Zhang Xun then marching south, decrying the excesses of Communism. Stalin, ever paranoid, decided enough was enough. Between the invasion of Mongolia and the Qing's recent invasion, China had become a dangerous unknown on the Soviet border. Contacting a Chinese officer in Japan by the name of Sheng Shih-ts'ai, the Soviet flew him to Urumqi. There, Sheng assassinated the unpopular but highly competent Qing governor Yang Zhengxin, beginning a mutiny. This dissolved the hard-fought and (relatively) long peace in the region, as yet another civil war brewed. On one side, Sheng Shih-ts'ai, supported by CPC-tied mutineers, H-KMT militias, and Red Russian mercenaries. The other, what was quickly called the Xinjiang Triumvirate. This was a highly volatile junta headed jointly by Provisional Governor Fan Yaonan (a rather paranoid individual never trusted by Yang although high in the Xinjiang administration), Provisional Vice Governor Jin Shuren, and General Ma Zhongying. The Triumvirate was supported by Yang's White Russian mercenaries, loyalist soldiers, Hui militias, and Kumulik Uyghurs.
This, understandably, panic'd Zhang Zhongchang insofar as he could be. This really meant that he smoked slightly less opium as he spent a larger section of bribes paid to him for numerous crimes on Japanese weapons and ammunition. He even managed to secure further IJA cooperation in developing armoured vehicles and new artillery in Manchuria and (not-so-secretly) Mongolia. To assist this, Zhongchang traded favours with the Japanese to expand Manchurian railroad towards Mongolia, ostensibly for the purposes of someday reaching Beiping.
Meanwhile in the Qing Empire, life seemed to actually improve (to the shock of international and domestic observers). Beyond the wars, civic disruption, threats on all sides, and court intrigues, life in the country for the most part stabilized. Crops came in with only the standard tithes, taxes, and thefts, and children could even go to school (instead of being conscripted literally or figuratively to one of the many factories in the cities). Anti-leftist propaganda was everywhere, but that was to be expected. The villages even had entertainment, as CPC/H-KMT monks and Qing monks would scream bloody murder at each other, justifying the actions of both parties before a rather festive village. The food which left these farms would go to the growing Qing armies, and both Prince Chun and Marshal-Admiral Wu were more than pleased to take in the respondent prestige from this success.
For their part, Wu and Zhang Xueliang contributed to the rising star which was the Qing. Talks with Westerners were successful, as Americans, French, German, and British companies were all hungry to eat a piece of the Chinese pie without threat of KMT instability or CPC nationalization. Licensed factories popped up across the coast, building artillery, arms, and trains. Roads were repaired and widened, officer schools continued to be opened and expanded, and weapons were imported in bulk, building trust between the Qing and various Western arms companies.
However the growing rivalry between Wu Peifu and Zhang Xueliang seemed to grow in step with the Qing's prosperity. It began this year when the Emperor, at the invitation from the Young Tiger, toured the walls of Jehol with great applause from the Young Tiger's legions, who were pleased to gain some imperial recognition for their services. This pleasure would exploded when the Emperor appointed the Young Tiger a Marshal of the Empire, finally fulfilling his nickname(s). This, combined with a formal examination of the (many) failures of the Manchurian war and the ascension of Marshal Xueliang as the Special Plenipotentiary of Industry led the Court of believe perhaps the Emperor had a new favourite, and in the wake to the people's reaction to the return of the various concessions was rethinking Imperial policy on Japan.
Whether as a reaction to these rumors, independently, or on purpose, Marshal-Admiral Wu Peifu would not allow himself to be eclipsed by someone who was barely out of childhood. Thus Wu signed his own independent contracts with the USA and Britain, securing further machine gun, rifle, and carbine contracts. Further, Wu would leverage tariffs on all land train going through Greater Zhili, which meant that most goods going into or out of any northern Qing factory had to pay Wu twice, unless palms were appropriately greased or fealty appropriately granted. Loyalties of industrialists switched en masse, as the industries of Jehol were squeezed trying to bring anything into the rest of the Empire. This hurt the Young Marshal right where it hurt, as his personal (highly industrialized) pearl stagnated outside of foreign expansion under Wu's firm pressure.
Finally, in the far south, the antics of Du continued. Where most would see war as a pointless action resulting in death and destruction, Du saw it as it really was. A chance for profit. Thus, the gang leader took to expansion with a vengeance. The iconic Boar Rifle was upgraded to include percussion caps, which was a huge improvement for all involved. However, surprisingly, an attempted recall of the black powder rifles resulted in exactly none returning, as the rifles were either prized by destitute peasants or were already nationalized into service of one of too many militias fighting across Southern China. Demand was such that, including the percussion cap workshop, the general Boar Rifle workshop was expanded into a primitive hand-made factory. However Du bit off a little too much when he attempted to fashion military rockets. After killing a pair of veteran powdersmiths trying to develop military-sized payloads, Du eventually gave up and sold rebranded fireworks to the H-KMT. By the time they found out in the battle of Ngchow, they neither knew where they came from nor knew what to do with them.
Du's plans in Macao mostly fell flat as instability rocked Portugal. The fall of the incredibly unstable Republic of Portugal and it's replacement by the Ditadura Nacional resulted in iron-handed policing, the attempted elimination of dissident, and other such typical acts of a tyranny. Further, an abortive military coup was quickly stomped in Lisbon, creating a tense situation within Lisbon who wanted to in no way delegitimize their young autocracy. Thus, when Du came, hat in hand, to deal with the authorities in Macao he was quickly and firmed booted back to Zhuhai. The DN made no bones about it that they were completely unwilling to work with foreign crime syndicates. So died a number of plans, from the establishment of the Macao-Zhahai Watchmen, to the continued unofficially official, sanctioned actions of Du in Macao. The good news was that the Taiwan Tongs expanded dramatically, encompassing entire Chinese villages within the Japanese colony.
Understandably upset by this abrupt turn around, Du continued on his crusade of self-improvement as the Tongs expanded their industries. In between teaching young Anarchists and gangers how to properly stab, Du wrote passage after passage, establishing a third (fourth?) way of running a nation. As Zhuhai's salt production, clinics, fish farms, and various other successful business expanded, Du finished his book. Although he had to print it himself (which he did), he couldn't get anyone to read it except his good friend Chiang Kai-shek. But Du wasn't bothered, he was never bothered. By the end of the year, he had a couple hundred books printed, along with a dozen very rough English and Portuguese translations.
Who do you support?
Hunan-KMT China:
Liao Zhongkai: Han Politician, Left-KMT, President of the Republic of China, Special Plenipotentiary of Industry of the Republic of China.
Mikhail Borodin: Russian expat and general of the KMT. Borrowed from the Soviets until next turn.
Tang Shaoyi: Han Politician, Left-KMT, Special Plenipotentiary of Diplomacy of the Republic of China.
Wang Chao-wei: Han Politician, Left-KMT.
Ji Hongchang: Han General, Commander of the First Army.
Kunming-KMT China:
Li Liejun: Han General, Warlord of the Jiangxi Clique, and KMT-aligned warlord.
Long Yun: Yunnanese Warlord, Warlord of the Yunnan Clique, and KMT-aligned warlord.
Li Zongren: Zhuang General, Warlord of the Nanning Clique, KMT-aligned warlord.
Liu Xiang: Han General, Warlord of the Sichuan Clique, KMT-aligned warlord.
Chiang Kai-shek: Han Warlord, Leader of the Kemingtang, ex-Political Governor of Shanghai.
Bai Chongxi: Hui Warlord, ex-leader of the Landowner Revolt in Guangdong.
Qing China:
Duan Qirui: Han General, and disgraced member of the Imperial Court.
Ma Fuxiang: Hui Warlord, Leader of the Ma Clique. Noted reactionary.
Wu Peifu: Han General, Leader of the Greater Zhili Clique, Marshal of the Qing, Admiral of the Beiyang Navy. Powerful member of the Imperial Court.
Zhang Xun: Han General, Leader of the Manchu Restoration Movement, member of the Imperial Court. Lord of the Privy Seal.
Prince Chun: Manchu Prince, father of the Qing Emperor. Prime Minister of the Qing.
Xu Shichang: Han statesman, propaganda minister.
Zhang Xueliang: Han General, the Young Marshal, Leader of the Jehol Clique, Special Plenipotentiary of Industry. Powerful member of the Imperial Court.
Chen Kwing Ming: Han Politician, Former Governor of Canton.
Xinjiang Triumvirate: Han Politician, Han Politician, and a Hui General. They all really don't like each other, but hate communists more.
Manchukuo:
Zhang Zongchang: Han Warlord, former bandit, "Basest Warlord in China", and leader of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.
Tong Zhuhai:
Du "Big-Eared Du" Yuesheng: Han mob boss who has a controlling interest in Zhuhai and worked with elements of the Republicans. Ties with elements of the Chinese Revolutionary Party (Kemingtang).
Communist Party of China:
Chen Duxiu: Han Leader of the CPC, Leader of the CPC within the Yuan, President of the Examination Yuan.
Zhang Guotao: Han General of the CPC-KMT.
Zhou Enlai: Han diplomat and educator, CPC's ideological Mr. Fix-It.
Fang Wenglin: Han General of the CPC-KMT, Commander of the Second Army.
Zhang Fakui: Han General of the CPC-KMT, Commander of the Third Army.
Sheng Shih-ts'ai: Han Warlord of the CPC-KMT, Mutineer.
Mao Zedong: Han Partisanlord of the CPC.
Chinese Brotherhood of Anarchists:
Li Shizeng: Han leader of the CBA, virulent anti-communist. Anarchist thinker.
Cai Yuanpei: Han anarchist thinker and philosopher.
- - -
I'm sorry for taking so long, work is kicking my butt. That said, now that I am working shifts, I cannot keep up with the sheer size of many of these orders. Not that I dislike them, but for the sake of continuing this Quest in any sort of speed, I have to ask that plans be officially reduced. I'm actually home sick today, it's the only way I could do this update (don't say I'm not dedicated haha).
Orders should now have NO (0) subpoints. However the limit for normal points is still six (6).
Eg. Mao Zedong:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
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ZealousThoughts
The Wanderer
- Location
- United Kingdom
Well I am sure the Marshal-Admiral is happy that his measures to ensure that the central plains ate kept rich and stable went well despite efforts to put those riches in contested territories.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
I feel a need to assasinate Li Shizeng, this ungrateful bastard who doesn't get that if your (half-)Communistic Motherland gave you a right to express your beliefs, you should use it to express only such beliefs that aligns with interests of your (half-)Communistic Motherland.
Preferably, Right-KMT should be blamed, to mobilize Anarchist movement for war.
Preferably, Right-KMT should be blamed, to mobilize Anarchist movement for war.
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Just a side question, how would the empire and the court react to armed conflict closer to home.
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
Just a side question, how would the empire and the court react to armed conflict closer to home.
Which Empire and Court? But you'll have to gamble and find out.
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
What a sweet thing to say to a chronic gambler. First the northern republic dissolved, second the Manchuria régime fell, third time is the charm?
Btw how did you feel about this quest in general? Derail from the start, what rail, or the was a line we should have stopped but let's just see where this goes?
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KleverKil'Vanya
Ortillery Operator
I don't understand this quest at all, who is being played by the voters and why does every turn read as a disaster in some way with utterly idiotic people gallivanting around fucking up anything and everything as they please?
DanBaque
Let's Have Fun
- Location
- Occupied Catalonian Countries
- Pronouns
- He/Him
1. It's something between a GSRP and a Quest, so there's multiple players, each of which chooses a person who to support from turn to turn (and other people can suggest some other plan for that person, which can also win). Then people vote for the plan and person they most like.
2. Because players make mistakes, often.
Excellent update, very interesting. I see that at least some anarchists are not full-on idiot splitters, so no real need to actually crush that movement as if it were an enemy.
Also, Zhou Enlai is once again 100% the man.
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
What a sweet thing to say to a chronic gambler. First the northern republic dissolved, second the Manchuria régime fell, third time is the charm?
Btw how did you feel about this quest in general? Derail from the start, what rail, or the was a line we should have stopped but let's just see where this goes?
I hope I didn't offend you re the gambler quip, I didn't know you were.
Also I'm happy with the quest. It is/was healthy, active, and interesting. I don't come into a game with any assumptions as to what should happen. I'm just happy to facilitate this game and write a bit.
As DanBaque said, it's a bit of a mix between a traditional quest and a GSRP. There is a roster of characters that can played by players (often players repeatedly play the same character although they don't have to). Some of the characters could also be played by different players.
For me success isn't the goal, but the story that is told. So failures are appreciated on my end as much as successes.
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
No offense taken.
Because tunnel vision is easy and no one here is an expert in national politics.
- Location
- Denmark
@Dadarian Thanks for the update.
I have two questions about it.
First, how did the split of land between K-KMT and Qing end up being?
Second, how did Chun's espionage efforts go?
@VoidZero @ZealousThoughts
How do you guys think that we should handel this new rebellions?
Also, what do you think that we should focus on as Qing, now that we do not have a land border with H-KMT?
I have two questions about it.
First, how did the split of land between K-KMT and Qing end up being?
Second, how did Chun's espionage efforts go?
@VoidZero @ZealousThoughts
How do you guys think that we should handel this new rebellions?
Also, what do you think that we should focus on as Qing, now that we do not have a land border with H-KMT?
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
Entirely K-KMT so far. The Qing are a mighty beast that is (as of this update) now bearing down on the H-KMT. The primary military contributions this round have been in Canton and it's evacuation.
The divisions between leftist groups (theoretically like Anarchists and Communists, or Leftists and Communists, or Anarchist and Leftists) were aggravated by Chun's men. The goal of an espionage order is not having your name attached to it after all.
- Location
- Denmark
Thanks for your answers, though I have already another question.
How well-equipped would Qing to do some sort of naval invasion of H-KMT, since we cannot attack them through land?
DanBaque
Let's Have Fun
- Location
- Occupied Catalonian Countries
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm? You worked with the R-KMT, so you could invade through land as long as the player doesn't say he's personally hostile. The land probably wouldn't go to you, but you could certainly invade.
Edit: unless you make a deal with him for land
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- Location
- Denmark
True, though that gives me a idea.
@Terrafirma
How would you feel about some sort of trade, where you handed over some of your newly conquered land near Qing in return for military support, perhaps mostly as in the form of military supplies, but potential also troops?
Dadarian
The King of Queen's
- Location
- Queen's on the Shore
You have warships, the H-KMT have no warships. Other than that there is no marine training in any formation of the Qing.
BurningLaugh
Shape Shifting Master of Hiatus
- Location
- The Land of Retconnia
Let The Games Begin Yet Again!
I'll be in my workshop devising a plan
I'll be in my workshop devising a plan