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.  

In 920 a large army personally led by Darukh Khan descended on the Naxia commandery once more and this time the governor's forces were comprehensively destroyed at the Battle of Hashu, with Kai Kiu barely escaping with his life. An official account from the time states the governor and his surviving retinue rode south without stopping for three days and nights to warn the closest imperial garrison at Kuchig. Back in Naxia, Darukh Khan issued a proclamation where he claimed to be fighting for the restoration of the Chen dynasty, denounced the Zhong as illegitimate usurpers and invited all servants of the state to switch their allegiance. This was a clear threat to the position of the budding Zhong dynasty even if the proclamation was issued by a 'foreign' ruler of nomadic stock, many officials did indeed switch sides. To compound the Zhong's dire situation, the [[United Cities]] honored their agreement with the Degei and sent ten thousand of its Iron Legion under Warmaster Shing to support Darukh Khan's invasion. Crucially the Iron Legion brought with them siege weaponry and had the expertise to employ it efficiently, a crucial military necessity the Degei lacked and one that would be key in any advance further south. Darukh's total forces during the campaign are thought to never have exceeded 100,000 between his own tribesmen, United Cities allies and Zhong defectors.