Daxia: Difference between revisions

Having unseated the Chen dynasty by treachery and with the stain of defeat on the battlefield against Northern Shang, Emperor Gong of Zhong wanted nothing more than to raise new armies to reclaim what he saw as imperial territory in revolt. However the destruction caused by his own insurrection, the pressure on a depleted treasury to pay the wages and bonuses of his standing army and a restless population that were tired of war and high taxes were insurmountable obstacles to realizing his ambition of fully reunifying the empire in the short term. By 918 the northern nomad commanderies were close to revolt, with pro-Corummese nobles and officials being forced to flee their lands by a certain Darukh Khan agitating to reunify the tribes under his command. Darukh Khan was the son of a local Degei chief and functionary and had served in a Chen cavalry unit. Angered by the reduction of imperial stipends going to local chiefs and the resulting disruption of local patronage, Darukh Khan renounced his Corummese titles and began arresting Zhong tax collectors. Darukh Khan proved to be a charismatic orator for he was able to convince thirteen other clan chiefs to follow suit and mount an attack on the garrison town of Baliq where they killed the town guards, shaved the moustache of the local magistrate before kicking him out of town and forced the townspeople to prostrate themselves before Darukh. Darukh proclaimed himself Great Khan of the Degei and Emperor of the Ching dynasty, with both titles implying universality of his rule, Corummese historians name him as the Fourth Great Impostor of the period for his ambition was to rule not just his fellow nomads but to advance south into the empire. In his desire not to be seen merely as a savage invader and out of his own personal sensibilities, Darukh Khan retained many aspects of Corummese customs and political culture. The Corummese language continued as the language of government in his territories, while the Degei dialect was mostly used in the army. He opened his own school to train bureaucrats for government, modeled on the Corummese service schools. Baliq was turned into his capital and he built extensive infrastructure, a palatial complex and stone brick walls; something unheard of in Degei settlements. In doing all this it is clear he did not want to destroy the empire, but initially emulate it and late fully seize it and use its resources for his own ends.