A Salian England

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The Ming Dynasty

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty was deposed in 1368 by a rebellion led by Zhu Yangzhang (1328-1398), who was crowed Emperor, beginning the Ming Dynasty, and established the Chinese capital at Naking. His grandson succeeded him as the Jianwen Emperor (1377-1402), who was in turn deposed by his uncle, Yongle Emperor (1360-1433). Emperor Yongle reorganized the provinces, brining peace to China, and devised a long and extensive plan to strengthen and stabilize the frail new economy, which included in the reclaiming of Lower Yangtze Delta and the rebuilt of the Grand Canal of China. He also gathered many scholars to his staff and moved his capital to Beijing, where he constructed the Forbidden Palace. When it came the time to appoint an heir, he choose his oldest son, the athletic warrior Gaoxu (?-1442), Prince of Yunnan.
Yongle possessed a great hatred for the Mongols, and forbade the use of common mongol names, customs and cloths. He also waged constant wars against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, located in Mongolia. These experiences led to Yongle making a lot of effort to form a Chinese cavalry. In 1405, Yongle sponsored a massive and long term expedition leaded by fleet admiral Zheng He, which visited many nearby nations, extracting diplomatic agreements, and discovered many distant lands, and even initiated diplomatic contact with the Templar Order, learning much of European politic scenery, during his sixth journey, while he visited the kingdom of Ethiopia between 1421-1422.

In 1406, both a Vietnamese prince of the deposed Tran Dynasty and a Chinese ambassador were murdered in Vietnam, resulting in China invading Vietnam with an army of 500,000 and thus annexing Vietnam, executing the Ho Dynasty of Vietnam in 1407. Efforts to turn Vietnam into a Chinese province were met with great resistance, and in 1418 a major rebellion occurred, leaded by Le Loi (1384-1424). After a great defeat in 1421, Emperor Yongle invaded Vietnam in 1424 with an army of nearly 1,000,000. After some months, Le Loi was killed in battle, and Vietnam once more annexed, although not pacified.

When Yongle died in 1433, he was succeeded by his heir, the athletic Gaoxu, who continued his father’s policies, and in 1440 he brought down an rebellion in Vietnam, during each he contract an illness which slowly corroded his health, finally killing him in 1447. His third son and chosen heir ascended to the throne as Emperor Zhanji (1427-1472)], and had soon to face an rebellion organized by his two older brothers, Zhu Yìjun (1423-1454)] and Zhu Qízhèn (1425-1453), who refused to acknowledge his father’s choice. Unpopular and considered as rude troublemakers, Zhu Yìjun and Zhu Qízhèn had trouble to find support, gathering to them only outcasts and bandits. In 1453, Zhu Qízhèn was captured after attempting to raid Beijin, and committed suicide ratter than facing his brother. Yìjun lasted one more year, before been killed by one of his lieutenants, who seized their troops and continued the rebellion on his own until disappearing in 1457, his fate unknown. In 1455, Emperor Zhanji ordered the elaboration of a great atlas showing all lands known to the Ming, including those discovered by Zheng He, like Dahainan, or “the land south of the great sea” [OTL Australia] and Dongsheng, or “the eastern province” [OTL California].

Emperor Zhanji and his heir Hóngzhì (1460-1512) had to face five different rebellions in Vietnam. It was at the end of the rebellion of 1477-1480, that Emperor Hóngzhì invaded and conquered the island of Luzon after the rebel leader Mac Dang fled into exile to that island. This caused a period of diplomatic tensions with the Sultanate of Sulu, which resulted into war in 1485. In 1497, Emperor Hóngzhì conquered the Sultanate of Sulu, executed the families of all members of the Sulu government, and announced the formation of another Chinese province, which was named the Luzon Province. To better control the Vietnam and Luzon native populations, Emperor Hóngzhì took a radical posture, forcing the settlement of hundreds of thousands of han farmers and craftsmans into both provinces, granting them lands to build their lives. Also, after both Vietnamese rebellions of 1477-1480 and 1497-1498, Emperor Hóngzhì ordered the death of the families of all involved, as well as the seizure of their wealth and lands.

 

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Vinland

The colonization of Vinland had began in 1348, when Robert V of Burgundy (1329-1355), under orders of his sponsor, Duncan V of Scotland (1320-1370), founded the settlements of Quebec, Kingstown [in OTL’s Prince Edward’s Island] and Saint Margaret [near OTL St’s John’s, in Newfoundland]. For all the dangers of the journey, about two thousands young Scotts immigrated to Vinland between 1348 and 1351, mostly due to the fear of the Black Plague which was then striking Europe.

The colonists had slowly built a fur trade industry by befriending the local Wyandot tribes, which earned them the enmity of Petun Nation. The wealth fur trade attracted many young build their fortune in Vinland, and in 1363, Duncan V of Scotland opened the colonization of Vinland to volunteers from Norway and Sweden. In 1366-1367, colonization was also opened to volunteers from Wales, the Duchy of Burgundy and the irish Earldoms of Connaught, Meath and Ulster. It was thanks Vinland that the Greenland communities were able to survive the weather changes of the 14th century. Vinland served as a source of wood and livestock to Greenland, whose communities became way stations to the immigration process, as ships from the Welsh-Scottish possessions would stop there to re-supply before continuing their voyage to Vinland, and also in their way back to Scotland, bringing large fortunes in fur.

The Scottish Monarchs continued incentivating both the immigration and exploration of Vinland, and many costal colonies were founded in between 1362 and 1397, especially in the southern areas, around the Antilles. In 1397, Robert of Carrick (1364-1417) massacred the hostile newly-arrived Carib tribe, conquering their lands and forming the Earldom of the Caribbean Islands. The surviving Caribs were made into serfs, and the lands settled by many landless noblemen. The establishment of the Earldom of the Caribbean Islands increased the popularity of Vinland, as thousands emigrated to Vinland. Most of these new immigrants settled on the warmer and fertile lands of St Brendan’s Island [OTL Cuba], the Province of Mag mell [region around OTL’s Mississippi River] and the Province of St Margaret [OTL Province of Virginia]. The local variety of tobacco soon found itself to the taste of the colonists, and a tobacco trade started in 1423, two years before the beginning of sugarcane plantations.

In the first decade of 1400’s, many explorers initiated contact with many native nations, including the heathen Mayas and the Aztecs. Trade links were established, and attempts were convert these peoples to the Scottish-Welsh Church, with limited success. Mayan silver, cacao, and sweet corn further improved Welsh-Scottish economies, and many European adventurers made their fortune at the Mayan Empire. The rest of the 15th century only served to increase the immigrant population of Vinland and the economic power of the Welsh-Scottish Union. Although the colonists engaged in many small battles against hostile native tribes, they held greater advantage, thanks to their better weaponry, including their iron tools, and the use of the combined tactics of infantry, cavalry and welsh longbowmen units. Also, the colonists had also allied with many friendly native tribes, who not only helped them settle, but also to defend themselves against their mutual enemies. Another great advantage initially held by the colonists were the disease which they brought with them, which killed thousands of natives before they could slowly gain resistance against them.

 

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The Mayan Empire

In 1402, an exploring Scottish ship landed in the Mayan city of Tulum. The same ship later visited the Mayan city Nim Li Punit. In 1405, communities from the Welsh Main [OTL Spanish Main] started trading with both cities, and some missionaries started quietly attempting to convert the natives1. It was not long that the city of Mayapan also started trading with the Vinland colonist, strengthening the power of the Cocom royal family. When nobles from Xiu organized a revolt in 1441, they were defeated by the strengthened Cocom family. During the revolt, the Cocom employed many colonist mercenaries, who employed tactics against which the Mayan were unused and unprepared.

Enriched from trade and strengthened with the defeat of their political enemies, the Cocom family started an golden age. In 1461, an ambitious Cocom prince leaded a successful movement to recover the abandoned southern Mayan cities, until 1555, when the Aztec Emperor Ixhuetzcatocatzin invaded the southern Mayan cities. Although Ixhuetzcatocatzin died soon afterwards, the war was continued by his son, Emperor Ahuitzolt II. Although Ahuitzolt II initially won many battles, Charles York (1426-1470), a vinlander mercenary, turned the tide of the war and leaded the Mayan into victory, forcing the Aztecs to sign the Treaty of Kaminaljuyú, by which the Aztecs had to abandon their territories south of the Mayan Empire. With this victory, the reconquest of the southern Mayan cities gained moment, and the popularity of the vinlanders grew. By 1590, the Mayan territory was restored to that of the height of their history, and all Mayan cities held Vinlanders as military advisors.



1 Registers indicate that, by the turn of the century, about 5% of the Mayans had converted to Welsh-Scottish Catholicism.

 

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The Aztec Empire

[FONT=&quot] Contact between the Aztec Empire and the Vinland colonists started in 1412, when a welsh explorer unsuccessfully attempted to open trade with the Aztec. Further attempts were renewed with time, as well as attempts to convert the Aztecs. Nonetheless, the contacts between Vinland and the Aztec Empire had little consequences to both peoples until the second half of the 16th century.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot] In 1527, Emperor Montezuma II was succeeded by his younger brother Cuitlahuac (1476-1533), who finished the conquest of the Yopitzinco and the Mixtec Kingdom. Cuitlahuac was in turn succeeded in 1533 by his son, Ixhuetzcatocatzin (?-1555), who united the realms which composed the Aztec Triple Alliance after a brutal 20-years civil war, and in 1555 invaded the southern Mayan cities. Ixhuetzcatocatzin contracted an illness1 and died soon after the beginning of the invasion, but his son Ahuitzolt II (1535-1600) continued the war for more three years, before been expelled , due to the superior tactics of the Mayan general Charles York. The Aztec were forced to sign the Treaty of Kaminaljuyú, by which not only they had to abandon the territory south of the Mayan Empire, which had been conquered by previous Emperor Ahuitzolt (1486-1502), but also to open trade with the Vinlanders and to accept vinlanders missionaries, with promises not harm any of them.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] It’s no wander that the Aztec developed a great hatred to both the Vinlanders and their religion. Humiliated in battle, the Aztecs saw the Vinlanders as the source of their defeat, and the Catholic Church as another weapon against them. Unable to harm the Vinlander traders and missionaries, they nonetheless were hostile and uncooperative with them, and any Aztec who converted was treated as a pariah and a traitor. But in 1581, Emperor Ahuitzolt II hired many vinlanders artisans and craftsmen to modernize his capital, in a attempt to understand the people which had defeated him, and so prepare the Aztec Empire for future conflicts. [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot] 1 Many archeologists suspect that the illness may have been smallpox, probably contracted from one of the vinlander mercenaries employed by the Mayan.[/FONT]

 

[ArKhan]

I love it. Instead of French, German becomes the language that English borrows from heavily, bringing it closer to OTL's Frisian