Tsu Weigia
Tsu Weigia was the first president of Huoxia and the only surviving member of the Five Generals who lead the Huoxian Rebellion against (tacoland).
Tsu Weigia | |
|---|---|
 Tsu in 1898, as President and Generalissimo of Huoxia. | |
| Other name(s) | Soo Wei-Gia (Latinized) |
| Nickname(s) | The Fifth General |
| Born | October 11, 1872 Sailghi Iju, Huoxia (then Tangsha) |
| Died | November 2, 1908 (aged 36) Nuran, Huoxia |
| Allegiance |
|
| Service |
|
| Years of service | 1863-1908 |
| Rank |
|
Early Life and Career
Tsu was born in Sailghi Iju, the historic capital of the province of Tangsha in 1872 to a mixed family, with a Tiauska mother and a (tacoland) father. Sailghi was a treaty port licensed to Burgundine traders, and Tsu's father, Tsai, was an officer in the military garrison of the city under the authority of the (taco) government. As a result, Tsu was expected to join the military, but he instead focused on the arts, becoming enamored with western dress and concepts. Hoping to sate his son, Tsai agreed to let him attend a western university in the city in exchange for his enlistment at 21.
Tsu graduated in three years with a Masters' in History, specializing in Levanto-Coscivian history and Burgundine history in particular. This made him highly desirable as an officer given the political situation in Sailghi and Tangsha Province in general, and he was quickly enlisted as a Lieutenant in the (army) and was assigned as a shift leader for dock security.
Radicalization and Revolution
Later in the same year, a group of political radicals opposing concessions to foreign powers rose up in Sailghi, encouraging a province-wide uprising against both the central government and Burgundine traders. Tsu was part of the crackdown in response, but his unit defected. The city was abandoned shortly thereafter by (taco) in preparation for a siege, and he was forced to surrender himself to the rebels.
The original heroic myth went that Tsu's family died in the bombardment of Sailghi, prompting him to join the rebellion, but it became clear after his death that he had switched sides largely to avoid the conditions of incarceration or potential lynching, and only learned of his family's deaths months later. He served first as a colonel (although this title was purely honorary, as he initially only commanded a unit of 300 men, then 800) in the revolutionary forces, and quickly distinguished himself as a blunt, bloody commander whose talent lay primarily in complex infantry assault tactics, largely drawn from western books. While this did not earn him the love of his men, he gained results where other Revolutionary Army officers failed, and was given a full regiment of defector troops by the (then) Four Generals of the Revolution.
After this appointment, he approached the Burgundine Embassy in Sailghi (relocated since the original had been burned during the original riots) and used his previous personal relationships with several merchants he arranged for a ceasefire with Burgundie and the purchase of several artillery pieces on credit, which he kept as a personal battery for use during his attacks. This later would come in use, as he utilized these pieces to hamstring both (taco) units and those of his superiors. Of the original Four Generals, two had been killed within the first year of the war, and Tsu was offered a generalship by the others in order to bring greater support from the Tiauska community, which has a large degree of mixture with the southerners and were largely unwilling to join the revolt. Tsu accepted, and arranged for both of them to be killed, one by his own artillery.
Tsu assumed command of the remaining rebel forces, promising to arrange a return to the status quo to the Burgundine companies invested in Huoxia in exchange for the mediation of a treaty with (taco). Eager to both regain numerous assets and weaken (taco), the merchants successfully pressured for a ceasefire. Afterwards, Tsu reneged on his promises, accepting a trade deal with Kiravian merchants due to the growing trade route through Æonara, leaving his foreign creditors in financial ruin.
Presidency
Immediately after the formal declaration of the Republic of Huoxia, the Kloi Empire (lorecheck) launched an invasion seeking to take territories along the inner Chanyan/Xanyan River (ᡧᠠᠨᠶᠠᠨ, White, in ref. to rapids). In response, Tsu lead his army west, resolving the campaign with the 1896 Treaty of Tanxi. He returned to Sailghi in time to eject a final attempt by Burgundine mercenaries to recoup their losses by stealing a number of ships in port. Afterwards, with no other authority left to challenge him unless (taco) intended to launch a new invasion, Tsu declared himself President to the approval of his staff, who composed the entirety of the National Legislature.
Tsu maintained staunch neutrality during the Great War, which had begun during his western campaign; instead, he initiated a massive military and industrial program to produce native artillery, ironclads, cloth, rifles, and expand the whaling enterprise - something he personally considered a potential workaround to the crude oil industry, somewhat bizarrely. Some of these programs were successful, increasing employment, and while whaling never became the megalithic industry Tsu envisioned, Huoxia briefly maintained a full ten percent of the global whaling trade, much of it run by occidental whalers flying the Huoxian flag in order to evade harassment by Kiravian patrols and attain the lower port fees Tsu insisted upon.
In addition, the President reorganized the military, purging several anti-occidental elements and hiring foreign advisors. He also encouraged funding for universities, particularly in military research, medicine, and mechanics; while intended to primarily benefit the military, had numerous incidental benefits for the civilian population's standards of living and education. The same went for the rail system, which was reworked from the ground up with a military security mindset and connecting a string of towns and bases from which Tsu could project power. Roads were also paved and standardized in Nuran, which Tsu made his capital as a forward base in preparation for an eventual intended invasion of Oyashima.
After the successful revolution in The Cape, Tsu outwardly embraced similar values to Kalma, casting aside his Kiravian allies similarly to the Burgundines before them. This was largely due to his desire to obtain armaments, but in the last years of his presidency, he made some real Restarkist reforms. After the beginning of the Fhainnin Civil War in 1906, Tsu absorbed Counter-Equatorialism into his personal ideology, aiming to make closer ties with the new Fhainnin government and mediating its acceptance of the independence of the former colony of Oráistír. It appeared by 1908 that he was preparing to formally announce Huoxia's status as a tutelary state preparing for later democratization, although he never gave up an ounce of power while alive, so it is unknown if he would have allowed Huoxia to be ready until after his death.
Death and Legacy
Tsu took ill from food poisoning in late 1908 and died within a month at 37, leaving the government unprepared for a transition to the next leader. It was never confirmed if he was poisoned, but he had made himself innumerable enemies and his writings confirmed both numerous treacheries and plans to continue waging war for 'at least the next thirty years continuously' after he deemed the military ready to do so. After his death, he was enshrined as one of the Five Generals of the Huoxian Revolution, but his legacy was soon forgotten, with the capital temporarily moved to Changsi and his subordinates tearing the constitutional republic he had been building into shreds within a few decades.