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What if the Nian and Taiping rebellions joined forces?

After this happens, a combined Nian-Taiping army defeated Sengge Rinchen. After this victory, the Russians decide that they could draw the British-French alliance armies out of Europe by siding with the rebels in China.

A modest Russian force invades Manchuria, which, as the Russians predicted, drew alliance forces out of Europe and into China.

However, the shift is too late. The Russians quickly defeat the Qing forces drawn north to fight them, and the rebel forces in the south capture Rinchen and advance north in a great offensive aimed at Beijing.

The crumbling Qing army fights a last stand at the walls of Beijing and the Russians capture the city. Russia annexes most of Sinkiang, Mongolia and Manchuria.

The French, now under Napoleon III, still fight the Rebels in China even after their British allies withdrew. The Russian forces, aided by Chinese mercenaries make the journey back to European Russia where they aid in the counteroffensive against the British Armies, driving them back from Sevastopol.

After this defeat the British sue for peace after learning that the Prussians were contemplating siding with Russia.

Zhang Lexing crowned himself emperor of China in 1860, after defeating the last pockets of Qing resistance. The new Guang Dynasty allied with Russia and Prussia against France, Britian and, later, Japan. The war was given the name "World War", in Britain, "China War" in Russia, and "the Han Restoration", by the Chinese.
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