Daxia: Difference between revisions

===Xie Dynasty (2,500 BCE- 685 BCE)===

Following nomad attacks on the northern commanderies during the spring of 676, the First Emperor dispatched the eunuch Ma Fuyeng to establish a series of forts on the northern approaches of the Hexi Corridor to deter further attacks. The largest of these fortresses was dubbed Daopian and from there Ma Fuyeng exerted a tenuous hold on the southern marshes of modern day [[Huoxia]] and checked the power of the eastern tribes subordinated to nomad [[Degei]] confederation. In 679 the Degei raided and subsequently destroyed the settlements that had started to form around Daopian. Lacking the means to properly breach the fortress, the Degei settled their tents in a ring to wait for hunger to overcome the defenders. On hearing news of the siege, the Emperor raised a 90,000-man army and rushed to the Hexi Corridor. Degei scouts mistakenly assumed the vanguard of the imperial army to be the whole force that was sent against them, causing them to confidently enter the hilly corridor. By the time they realized the actual size of the enemy force, retreat was no longer an option. Seeing the bulk of the besieging force leaving, Ma Fuyeng's forces rushed out the gates and stormed the nomad camp, overrunning the few defenders left. Trapped in the narrow pass between two forces with their cavalry based force, the Degei desperately fought to break out but were decisively defeated and suffered catastrophic casualties. The Emperor forced the Degei chiefs to abase themselves before him and imposed upon them the humiliating Treaty of Daopian. The treaty stipulated the Degei would become tributaries of the Shang dynasty, henceforth they were forbbiden from raiding imperial lands (they were granted grazing rights) or taking any imperial subject as slaves, they would migrate beyond the Urgal river and settle there, leaving the southern Tanhai plain for Shang colonization. In addition they would be charged with supplying ten thousand cavalrymen (including weapons, armor and saddles) to serve in Shang armies during the war seasons.

 

===Zhong Dynasty (915-1550)===

[[File:Toghon-Temur-of-Yuan-Dynasty.jpg|thumb|Darukh Khan, leader of the 918 Degei Confederation revolt]]

===Qian Dynasty (1550-1946)===

====Glorious Revolt and military rule====

The Daxian involvement ended amid acrimony and disagreement between the army and the monarchy, many objectives had not been met for the cost that was paid. The army was under the control of two strongmen, [[Dai Hanjian]] and [[Qiu Heng]]. Both ended the war as full generals and popular ones at that, they were the main planners and executors of the offensives in west [[Audonia]], the [[Austro-Caldera]] operation and the reclaiming of [[Cheun|Ayermer]]. [[Qiu Heng]] was made chief of staff of the land forces one year after the end of hostilities, both to to install someone seen as a monarchist and to restore the confidence of the army in the leadership. Both him and his colleague [[Dai Hanjian]] believed the home front had been badly neglected by the imperial government and the drug addled emperor [[Hongli]]. They especially disliked the growing popularity of democratic and socialist movements and their demands for a liberalization of the political system. To many in the military, the imperial system and bureaucracy had stopped being a guarantee of stability and transformed into a liability that stood in the way of dealing with internal agitators. The two officers created a secret society named the [[Lodge of the Righteous Serpents]] to gather like minded officers and overthrow the Imperial system and replace it with a military dictatorship. On December 16th 1946 tank columns aligned with the lodge entered the capital from all sides while squads of soldiers went took over ministries. Other groups went to the houses of ministers to arrest them, the minister of defense was shot and killed after he tried to resist his captors. [[Qiu Heng]] himself led the takeover of the imperial palace and the capture of [[Hongli]], forcing the imperial guards to surrender under the threat the emperor and his family would be executed once the palace was inevitably taken. The coup was carried out in two hours and resulted in minimal casualties on both sides, stemming from the element of complete surprise achieved by the putschists and unwillingness on the part of many soldiers to defend the failing monarchy. An ecstatic [[Dai Hanjian]] took to the airwaves and announced the [[Glorious Revolt]] had succeeded and the era of dynastic rule had come to a definitive end; he declared the formation of the Committee of National Restoration that would lead the country with himself as its head and [[Qiu Heng]] as his deputy.

 

The junta moved quickly to assert its authority and shore up popular support; a line up of technocratic ministers were appointed to replace the old dynasty loyal bureaucrats and the Emperor was made to officially abdicate the throne and renounced the Heavenly Mandate before being put under house arrest until 1948 when he died of complications of diabetes; his teenage son and heir died soon after in unclear circumstances. [[Hongli]]'s royal consort, [[Princess Keuto]] of [[Metzetta]] was allowed to depart back to her homeland with two of the emperor's daughters. Many other members of the former imperial family were either put in prison, work camps or sent into exile to [[Metzetta]]. A referendum was organized asking the population if it agreed with the junta's capture of power and despite reported instances of pressuring people into voting, threats of violence and transporting people from rural areas on military buses to voting booths the result was overwhelmingly positive with an approval of 86%. This period is where the political qualities of [[Qiu Heng]] first began to rise to the surface, while [[Dai Hanjian]] was the public leader and face of the junta and was fairly charismatic, Heng was the real operator behind the scenes. Ambitious officers soon began to be sidelined from the ranks of the junta, some were arrested after being accused of plotting a countercoup or of missappropiating army supplies; by 1948 out of ten military zones, eight were commanded by people considered to be part of [[Qiu Heng]]'s political clique.

 

If Dai had any misgivings about the growing influence of his friend he gave no indication in public or private conversation that survives; he gave the post of Minister of Defense to Qiu in 1949 and allowed him to staff its structure as he saw fit. Shortly after Qiu began speaking of setting up a [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)|political structure]] to gain more legitimacy in the eyes of influential Western nations, whose financial help might be needed to continue army expansion. The junta leader seemingly disagreed with these notions and intimated that he would get the job done and if necessary would stay on the job for twenty years. The insinuation of quasi imperial ruling for life was not lost on [[Qiu Heng]] who may have begun quiet preparations to oust Dai, or perhaps have him assasinated. According to medical records [[Dai Hanjian]] fell gravely ill from a bladder infection of worrisome intensity. Despite all attempts to save his life, the junta leader died on December 12 1951 at the age of 56. Authors critical of [[Qiu Heng]] suggest he had Dai poisoned with arsenic to get him out of the way of political reforms and stop his succession plan which may not have included Qiu in it anymore; no conclusive evidence has ever been found to corroborate this accusation. As deputy leader of the Committee of National Restoration, Qiu was sworn in two days later as leader of the junta and the country.

 

[[Qiu Heng]]'s rise to the leadership of the country saw for the first time the ascendance of politics over purely military leadership; [[Qiu Heng]] saw the perpetuation of the military junta system as inherently unstable, absent an electoral mandate and the legitimacy it could bring, any ambitious general in charge of a military zone could feel themselves justified in attempting to take power the same way as the junta did in the first place. Since Qiu distrusted the established but outlawed old political parties and their cadres, he decided instead on building a new party from the ground up without 'any of the old chaff'. As the base of his new party of state he chose a pro-military civic association called the [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)|National Daxian Rally]] or NDR that had existed since 1945 but had never reached much relevance. The NDR had been started at the behest of military intelligence and was originally led by people close to it. Qiu directed the Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Finance to direct significant financial resources to the NDR to support its growth into a real national party that could hold on to power. The junta leader himself joined the NDR in the summer of 1952 and was elected its leader 'by acclamation' of the party delegates. This was followed by a massive bump in party membership as government employees joined en masse(to curry favor, preserve their jobs or genuine agreement) and trade unions and government contractors enjoined their affiliates and employees to do the same. In this early stage the biggest labor union of the country, the then All-Daxian Workers Central Union negotiated generous terms on collective bargaining and perks for its members in exchange for its unrestricted support for the new political machinery. Qiu Heng announced the first national elections for President and a new National Assembly would take place concurrently in mid 1952, he also announced his candidacy at the head of the now renamed [[National Reconstruction Front (Daxia)|National Reconstruction Front]] or NRF. To contest in these elections, Qiu's junta released the leaders of the Daxian Liberal Party, while of the more popular communist cadres only a handful were released. The campaigning was anything but fair, opposition events were routinely cancelled or when they went ahead they were not televised or were broken up by thugs. Several campaign aides of the communist party were assassinated and offices of the Liberal Party attacked by mobs (historians agree the mobs were paid by the government). The NRF campaigned mainly on a platform of nationalist xenophobia; its political rivals were painted as inwardly thinking like [[Burgundie|Bergendii]] wearing Daxian faces, lovers of all things foreign and traitorous internationalists willing to sacrifice the [[Daxian people]] in exchange for utopias being created abroad. On economics the party swung hard towards economic protectionism with policies such as the creation of nationally owned companies on strategic sectors like oil to massively employ people.

 

Despite the clearly tilted electoral campaign, [[Qiu Heng]] enjoyed geniune popularity with the population for his wartime achievements, his role in overthrowing an unpopular monarchy and his penchant for curbing and publicly punishing the excesses of other military officials. In one such instance he demoted a general to the rank of private for proposing that farmers protesting against the building of a railroad through their lands should simply be mowed down with machine guns; the dressing down and demotion was televised. Despite his reserved personality, he actively promoted his public persona as the 'People's General' with working tours of the countryside, visits to factories, children's nurseries and schools; polls of the time giving him a seventy percent preference of the vote may have been skewed but their trajectory was nonetheless true, his advantage over his rivals was an insurmountable chasm. The May 1952 polls resulted in an overwhelming victory for him; the NRF and [[Qiu Heng]] won with 73% of the vote, the Liberals won 13%, the Communists won 9% and the Peasant and Farmers Party won 5%. The NRF and the army could comfortably rule alone and had pushed the opposition to the margins of political representation, the Peasant and Farmers Party soon after decided to merge with the NRF arguing their objectives were better served as part of the governing party. The 1952 election was a watershed in the politics of Daxia, it marked the beginning of an almost uninterrupted thirty four year period of rule for the NRF, its percentage in national elections would not dip under eighty percent until 1984 when [[Yang Qiu]] secured 'merely' sixty nine percent of the vote during his reelection campaign.