United Cities: Difference between revisions

The reigning Chen dynasty of [[Corumm]] saw a succession of revolts and uprisings starting in 877. The rise of the Four Great Impostors who sought to claim the imperial throne posed an existential threat to it. The second of these pretenders, Tengu Peg Leg, first rose in the city of [[Heng]] in 881. Claiming descent from the last Shang emperor, he and his supporters took over the city administration by force and gained the support of its citizens by abolishing taxes for three years and promising to give every citizen five slaves from towns he conquered. Other cities in the region expelled their imperial garrisons and approached Tengu for protection and relief from imperial taxation . With these defections the territory controlled by Tengu's loyalists grew to cover all of the Corummese northwest. He declared himsef emperor with [[Heng]] as his capital and styled his domain as ''Northern Shang''. The loss of important economic centers like [[Heng]] and control of important trade routes to the north represented a heavy blow to the Chen dynasty's finances and hobbled its capacity to respond quickly.

[[File:HengSlavery.jpg|thumb|A depiction of slaves building fortifications. Slaves were the main workforce on all major construction projects]]

Alarmed by the rapid rise of Tengu and the rapid defection of the northwest provinces to him, the weakening Chen dynasty appointed a certain nobleman named Da Beipan, who would later found the Zhong dynasty, to the post of Supreme Captain of the West to deal with the rebellion. Da Baipan mustered and trained his imperial forces of roughly 130,000 men for six months before moving his army into Tengu's territory. Da Baipan proceeded to invest the walled city of Sho Battai, attempting to storm the city twice but being repulsed. Settling on starving the city out, he was confident that Tengu's army was smaller than his own and would not approach to give him battle. This would prove to be a mistaken assumption as Tengu's 200,000 strong army force marched its way towards Sho Battai barely two months into the siege. Outnumbered and with the possibility of being pinned against Sho Battai's walls, Da Baipan abandoned the siege and began making his way back to Zhong territory.  

=== Geography ===