Canpei: Difference between revisions

|capital =            [[Bianyuan]]

By the time the Liang kingdom was reunifying under the leadership of northern elites, the Shang state was leading its own efforts to reunify the lands of the old Xie dynasty. The very first attested instance of [[Daxia]]n habitation of the Guangbei plains to the north is from an Shang dynasty imperial proclamation in 220 CE; granting official town status to the city of [[Bianyuan]] which sits at the southern mouth of the Hongse river. Imperial surveyors traveled northbound along the eastern bank of the river encountering small nomadic settlements, its people probably related to the [[Degei Confederation|Degei tribesmen]] living across the river. Imperial authorities erected five wooden forts alongside the river to serve as frontier posts, this territory would be known thereafter as the Right-Bank Frontier province with [[Bianyuan]] serving as its first seat. [[Bianyuan]] and its hinterlands were dominated by the Houxi clan, linked by marriage to the Imperial family by marriage to a second cousin of the Emperor Cao Mei. The Houxi were thus the beneficiaries of imperial patronage and their province received generous subventions that it otherwise would not be granted given its low population. From 803 CE onwards the Houxi held a monopoly on the office of Imperial Viceroy. It was Viceroy Chang Houxi who first ordered an expedition be mounted across to the other side of the Hongse into what is known as the Koron forest, where Huoxi began setting up numerous logging camps. The exploitation of forested areas became an important source of revenue for the Houxi family who built a palisade and town named Hochi across the river to serve as the logistic center of the operation.  

Shang officials regarded the southern lands held by the Liang kingdom as Shang territory, they held that as the conquerors of Old Sui, the lands belonged now to Shang. A long epistolary conflict occurred for an entire year, with officials on both sides trading both legalistic arguments and barbs by letter. When one Liang minister undiplomatically referred to the Shang emperor as a ''cow in heat'', war became inevitable. By this point the Shang dynasty had subjugated all of the [[Daxia]]n heartlands and possessed a large and well seasoned army.

The region held special importance due to the conquests of the [[Oduniyyad Caliphate]], which advanced to the borders of Guangbei which required the Chen dynasty to expend precious resources to garrison the border and the as of yet fairly depopulated province. The crumbling of Oduniyyad central authority in [[Alshar]] during 860 brought no respite as the new Muslim dynasties proved equally inclined to wage holy wars.

Generalized unrest within the [[Daxia|Chen dynasty]] began in 877 with a seriers of would be usurpers, collectively known as the Four Great Impostors. The most powerful of this was a nobleman by the name of Tengu Peg-Leg who took control over the city of [[Heng]]. His rebellion spread like wildfire across the north and [[Bianyuan]]'s Huoxi clan were among the first noble families to pay him homage. Tengu's assassination marked the end of his Northern Shang state and its transformation into the confederation of the [[United Cities]], of which [[Bianyuan]] and its environs were a founding member. In this period the city of [[Bianyuan]] was known as Brink and functioned as a mostly independent city-state and all the territory in the northwest of the [[United Cities]] was under its hegemony. The practice of slavery was imported from [[Heng]] and the Huoxi clan became one of the great slaver families of the region, taking people into bondage from far and wide. Under the loose coalition of cities, taxation was much lower than under Imperial rule, boosting the economy of the city. Brink-Bianyuan began establishing colonies and cities across modern day Canpei to feed itself and source whatever it could not acquire locally. Over time a localized identity would emerge, with interlocking feelings of patriotism between the colonies and the mother city.

Following the formation of the government of national emergency, the lower house was abolished and all its powers and duties were transferred to the High Council of State. The council is the nation's sole legislature, composed of five hundred members. Of these, a third are chosen by the sitting president and the rest are elected by direct vote of the population. All members of the council serve for five year terms and there is no limit on how many terms a legislator can serve. Current criticism of the legislative focuses on its submission to the executive under the current system of dominant party, moreover the abolition of the lower house removed more of the safeguards of plurality and against undue accumulation of authority by the executive.

The National Union of Canpei(NUC) is the largest and oldest party in the High Council of State. An avowed conservative party, it leans towards traditional values and moderate state intervention in economic affairs. However unlike typical conservative parties, the NUC does not heavily feature nationalist themes in its ideology. After the [[Daxia]]n invasion that restored it into government, the party 'sanitized' its foundational documents and adopted an almost subservient direction to [[Daxia]]n priorities. The NUC has a two thirds majority on the High Council. Opposition to the ruling NUC comes from a variety of smaller parties such as the centrist Party of the Democratic Center and the leftist Broad Leftist Front. Both of these parties are under constant political and judicial pressure, losing their party registry several times, having some of their leaders and lawmakers arrested under various charges such as 'slandering the judiciary'.

===Industries and Sectors===