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Islands of Perpetual Brightness
Islands of Perpetual Brightness: The Empire of Lusang
View attachment 350062
The Empire of Lusang was formed by Ming Loyalists fleeing the Shun Dynasty who fled to the islands which in another timeline would have been the Philippines. Zhu Xiuling, nephew of the last Ming Emperor on the mainland proclaimed himself the Hongguang Emperor but everyone knew the real power was Admiral Zheng Renshu, the commander of the Ming fleet which had carried the Ming Loyalists to Lusang and after the last Ming Emperor, the grandson of the Hongguang Emperor, Zhu Tao (theYongxing Emperor) died without male heirs in 1753, Zheng Jingyi proclaiming himself Emperor of a new dynasty, the Da Nan (or "Great South") Dynasty and he proclaimed himself to be the Yongmei (or "Eternal Virtue") Emperor from the capital city of Tong Duo (OTL Manila).
The Da Nan Dynasty of Lusang thrived in their new home with a unique mixed Sino-Tagalog culture developing. While Chinese remained the language of government in Lusang, a dialect of Tagalog containing many loan words from Chinese and written using a modified form of the Chinese script became the language of the average citizen of Lusang. Gradually, the Empire of Lusang expanded south, annexing petty statelets along the way until by 1805, Emperor Zheng Yi (the Hezhi Emperor), taking advantage of a succession struggle after the Sultan's death, invaded the Sultanate of Maguindanao and conquered it by 1808.
The Empire of Lusang's interactions with foreigners was complicated by French Cochin and Malacca and Dutch New Zealand encircling it in case of Nan Lusang deciding to piss either one off with the Zheng emperors of Lusang deciding on a policy of pro-French neutrality. During the late 19th century, Lusang made a somewhat successful effort in both industrialization and centralization with the Empire of Lusang becoming a regional power and a hub of trade and banking. The government of the Empire of Lusang was also able to centralize their government to some degree but the Moro nobles in the south continued to retain large amounts of autonomy. In 1886, Zheng Zexian became Emperor Wanzhe (or "Perfect Justice") of Lusang. He was tutored by European tutors brought in by his cosmopolitan father who influenced his governing style. While he had no intention of giving up many of his powers, he made some policies which introduced some elements of democracy in the Empire of Lusang. In 1888, he introduced elections for prefecture and city-level councils as a first step towards popular representation in the Empire's government. While many nobles grumbled about how they had to share power with commoners, the rising middle class of Lusang grabbed this opportunity to assert themselves. In 1896, he proposed a new constitution which would turn the Empire of Lusang into a (limited) constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature comprised of a 300-seat "House of Notables" comprised of a mixture of members appointed by prefecture governments or the Emperor for life and hereditary nobles and a "House of the People" comprised of 500 members elected by the people. The Emperor would retain substantial powers including command of the military, the right to appoint the Chief Minister, declare war, make peace, conclude treaties, dissolve the Lower House, and so forth. In addition, the Council of Ministers was to report directly to the Emperor and not to Lusang's legislature. Even after a failed coup by reactionary forces led by General Hao Xinyue, which aimed to place Zheng Zexian's younger brother Zheng Guanting, who was supportive of the reactionaries, on the throne of Lusang, the Wanzhe Constitution was implemented on July 5, 1897, the 11th anniversary of the Wanzhe Emperor's accession to the throne of the Empire of Lusang. While suffrage was limited initially to the nobility and the middle class, the elections were very competitive as the Xianfa Lianmeng (or "Constitutionalist Alliance"), a coalition of reformist nobles and moderate reformers among the middle class which ideologically could be described as moderate Protectionists, won 238 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People" in the elections held on October 25, 1897. Other major political parties in the first election were the Quanguo Minzuo Dang (or "National Democratic Party"), which was comprised of progressive members of the middle class and nobility and were the main Republican party in the Empire of Lusang with a platform of turning the Empire into a true constitutional monarchy with universal suffrage and a figurehead monarch, and won 152 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People" and the Baohu Zhuyi Lianmeng (or "Protectionist League"), which was comprised of conservatives in both the nobility and the middle class and had a platform of keeping things as they were, won 62 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People". The other seats were largely filled by the Moro National Council, a party dedicated to representing the interests of Moro people within the Empire of Lusang, which won 32 seats but the Minzhu Lianmeng Dang (or "Democratic Union Party"), a party which adhered to Democratic Unitarianism, won 6 seats in the "House of the People". The Xianfa Lianmeng formed a coalition with the Moro National Council with the respected elder statesman Shen Li becoming the first Chief Minister of the Empire of Lusang. Even with the Emperor maintaining large powers, the Wanzhe Constitution and the 1897 elections were still a step towards democracy in the Empire of Lusang.
The Wanzhe Emperor also reformed the military of the Empire of Lusang as the Lusangese military relied prior to his reforms on weapons purchased from France and the Netherlands with license-production of said weapons during the early 1890s being the start of a nascent Lusangese arms industry. The Lusangese navy became a formidable force at this time as well due to the Wanzhe Emperor's desire to build a major Lusangese navy as well. The Wanzhe Emperor's military reforms also included a major reorganization of the Lusangese military's structure in which the Lusangese military was reformed with incompetent (or reactionary) officers weeded out and new officer schools being formed for officers from the middle class to rise up in the ranks. In 1909, the Empire of Lusang built it's first Magenta, the Yongmei, named after the first emperor of the Nan dynasty but for the most part, the Lusangese navy was guided by Jeune Ecole naval thought with the Lusangese navy relying mainly on it's cruisers, which were small but powerful for their size. In addition, the Lusangese navy was one of the most enthusiastic adopters of submarine technology as well.
During the Great War, the Empire of Lusang was neutral but pro-Entente, motivated both by the proximity of French Cochin/Malacca and Dutch New Zealand and the fact that the Shun Dynasty was aligned with the BAC and so prospered as a neutral hub of trade and finance. By the time the Wanzhe Emperor was dead in 1922, the Empire of Lusang was now a major powerhouse in the world and a force to be reckoned with. His successor, Zheng Ruogang, who became the Yongjin (or "Eternal Progress") Emperor would continue his father's policies. One of his first actions was to colonize Aozhou (OTL New Guinea), which none of the other countries in the world would claim. Little did the colonists the Lusangese government sent in 1923 to alleviate population growth problems in Lusang know that Lusang and Britannia would soon be fighting each other soon due to disputes over Aozhou and Oceania but for now, the Empire of Lusang was at the height of it's golden age as universal suffrage was implemented in 1920 with the Suffrage Extension Act.
View attachment 350062
The Empire of Lusang was formed by Ming Loyalists fleeing the Shun Dynasty who fled to the islands which in another timeline would have been the Philippines. Zhu Xiuling, nephew of the last Ming Emperor on the mainland proclaimed himself the Hongguang Emperor but everyone knew the real power was Admiral Zheng Renshu, the commander of the Ming fleet which had carried the Ming Loyalists to Lusang and after the last Ming Emperor, the grandson of the Hongguang Emperor, Zhu Tao (theYongxing Emperor) died without male heirs in 1753, Zheng Jingyi proclaiming himself Emperor of a new dynasty, the Da Nan (or "Great South") Dynasty and he proclaimed himself to be the Yongmei (or "Eternal Virtue") Emperor from the capital city of Tong Duo (OTL Manila).
The Da Nan Dynasty of Lusang thrived in their new home with a unique mixed Sino-Tagalog culture developing. While Chinese remained the language of government in Lusang, a dialect of Tagalog containing many loan words from Chinese and written using a modified form of the Chinese script became the language of the average citizen of Lusang. Gradually, the Empire of Lusang expanded south, annexing petty statelets along the way until by 1805, Emperor Zheng Yi (the Hezhi Emperor), taking advantage of a succession struggle after the Sultan's death, invaded the Sultanate of Maguindanao and conquered it by 1808.
The Empire of Lusang's interactions with foreigners was complicated by French Cochin and Malacca and Dutch New Zealand encircling it in case of Nan Lusang deciding to piss either one off with the Zheng emperors of Lusang deciding on a policy of pro-French neutrality. During the late 19th century, Lusang made a somewhat successful effort in both industrialization and centralization with the Empire of Lusang becoming a regional power and a hub of trade and banking. The government of the Empire of Lusang was also able to centralize their government to some degree but the Moro nobles in the south continued to retain large amounts of autonomy. In 1886, Zheng Zexian became Emperor Wanzhe (or "Perfect Justice") of Lusang. He was tutored by European tutors brought in by his cosmopolitan father who influenced his governing style. While he had no intention of giving up many of his powers, he made some policies which introduced some elements of democracy in the Empire of Lusang. In 1888, he introduced elections for prefecture and city-level councils as a first step towards popular representation in the Empire's government. While many nobles grumbled about how they had to share power with commoners, the rising middle class of Lusang grabbed this opportunity to assert themselves. In 1896, he proposed a new constitution which would turn the Empire of Lusang into a (limited) constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature comprised of a 300-seat "House of Notables" comprised of a mixture of members appointed by prefecture governments or the Emperor for life and hereditary nobles and a "House of the People" comprised of 500 members elected by the people. The Emperor would retain substantial powers including command of the military, the right to appoint the Chief Minister, declare war, make peace, conclude treaties, dissolve the Lower House, and so forth. In addition, the Council of Ministers was to report directly to the Emperor and not to Lusang's legislature. Even after a failed coup by reactionary forces led by General Hao Xinyue, which aimed to place Zheng Zexian's younger brother Zheng Guanting, who was supportive of the reactionaries, on the throne of Lusang, the Wanzhe Constitution was implemented on July 5, 1897, the 11th anniversary of the Wanzhe Emperor's accession to the throne of the Empire of Lusang. While suffrage was limited initially to the nobility and the middle class, the elections were very competitive as the Xianfa Lianmeng (or "Constitutionalist Alliance"), a coalition of reformist nobles and moderate reformers among the middle class which ideologically could be described as moderate Protectionists, won 238 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People" in the elections held on October 25, 1897. Other major political parties in the first election were the Quanguo Minzuo Dang (or "National Democratic Party"), which was comprised of progressive members of the middle class and nobility and were the main Republican party in the Empire of Lusang with a platform of turning the Empire into a true constitutional monarchy with universal suffrage and a figurehead monarch, and won 152 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People" and the Baohu Zhuyi Lianmeng (or "Protectionist League"), which was comprised of conservatives in both the nobility and the middle class and had a platform of keeping things as they were, won 62 of the 500 seats in the "House of the People". The other seats were largely filled by the Moro National Council, a party dedicated to representing the interests of Moro people within the Empire of Lusang, which won 32 seats but the Minzhu Lianmeng Dang (or "Democratic Union Party"), a party which adhered to Democratic Unitarianism, won 6 seats in the "House of the People". The Xianfa Lianmeng formed a coalition with the Moro National Council with the respected elder statesman Shen Li becoming the first Chief Minister of the Empire of Lusang. Even with the Emperor maintaining large powers, the Wanzhe Constitution and the 1897 elections were still a step towards democracy in the Empire of Lusang.
The Wanzhe Emperor also reformed the military of the Empire of Lusang as the Lusangese military relied prior to his reforms on weapons purchased from France and the Netherlands with license-production of said weapons during the early 1890s being the start of a nascent Lusangese arms industry. The Lusangese navy became a formidable force at this time as well due to the Wanzhe Emperor's desire to build a major Lusangese navy as well. The Wanzhe Emperor's military reforms also included a major reorganization of the Lusangese military's structure in which the Lusangese military was reformed with incompetent (or reactionary) officers weeded out and new officer schools being formed for officers from the middle class to rise up in the ranks. In 1909, the Empire of Lusang built it's first Magenta, the Yongmei, named after the first emperor of the Nan dynasty but for the most part, the Lusangese navy was guided by Jeune Ecole naval thought with the Lusangese navy relying mainly on it's cruisers, which were small but powerful for their size. In addition, the Lusangese navy was one of the most enthusiastic adopters of submarine technology as well.
During the Great War, the Empire of Lusang was neutral but pro-Entente, motivated both by the proximity of French Cochin/Malacca and Dutch New Zealand and the fact that the Shun Dynasty was aligned with the BAC and so prospered as a neutral hub of trade and finance. By the time the Wanzhe Emperor was dead in 1922, the Empire of Lusang was now a major powerhouse in the world and a force to be reckoned with. His successor, Zheng Ruogang, who became the Yongjin (or "Eternal Progress") Emperor would continue his father's policies. One of his first actions was to colonize Aozhou (OTL New Guinea), which none of the other countries in the world would claim. Little did the colonists the Lusangese government sent in 1923 to alleviate population growth problems in Lusang know that Lusang and Britannia would soon be fighting each other soon due to disputes over Aozhou and Oceania but for now, the Empire of Lusang was at the height of it's golden age as universal suffrage was implemented in 1920 with the Suffrage Extension Act.
- Whiteshore
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