List of monarchs III
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POD: The plot to enthrone Princess Zhu Xianwei of Shoauning as Empress of China after the death of the Wanli Emperor succeeds.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732-1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732-1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
POD: The plot to enthrone Princess Zhu Xianwei of Shoauning as Empress of China after the death of the Wanli Emperor succeeds.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732-1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by __________________.
POD: The plot to enthrone Princess Zhu Xianwei of Shoauning as Empress of China after the death of the Wanli Emperor succeeds.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732-1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732-1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by
POD: The plot to enthrone Princess Zhu Xianwei of Shoauning as Empress of China after the death of the Wanli Emperor succeeds.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732 - 1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
1860 - 1871: Xianfeng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [7]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
View attachment 835326
[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by the Xianfeng Emperor.
[7] A distant relative of the Guangming Empress, Xianfeng was adopted by the Empress as her heir due to her childless marriage. The Xianfeng Emperor ascended the Dragon Throne in 1860, and reigned for eleven years. Not many important events happened during his reign besides the building of railroads across China. The Xianfeng Emperor died in 1871, with his _____ succeeding him as the new reigning monarch of China.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732 - 1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
1860 - 1871: Xianfeng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [7]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
View attachment 835326
[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by the Xianfeng Emperor.
[7] A distant relative of the Guangming Empress, Xianfeng was adopted by the Empress as her heir due to her childless marriage. The Xianfeng Emperor ascended the Dragon Throne in 1860, and reigned for eleven years. Not many important events happened during his reign besides the building of railroads across China. The Xianfeng Emperor died in 1871, with his _____ succeeding him as the new reigning monarch of China.
POD: The plot to enthrone Princess Zhu Xianwei of Shoauning as Empress of China after the death of the Wanli Emperor succeeds.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732 - 1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
1860 - 1871: Xianfeng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [7]
1871 - 1895: Xianzi Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [8]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
View attachment 835326
[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by the Xianfeng Emperor.
[7] A distant relative of the Guangming Empress, Xianfeng was adopted by the Empress as her heir due to her childless marriage. The Xianfeng Emperor ascended the Dragon Throne in 1860, and reigned for eleven years. Not many important events happened during his reign besides the building of railroads across China. The Xianfeng Emperor died in 1871, with his grandson Xianzi succeeding him as the new reigning monarch of China.
[8] Considering the long reign of the Guangming Empress, and the decade-long reign of his father, the Xianfeng Emperor, the Xianzi Emperor was already 45 years old when he ascended to the throne. Xianfeng Emperor's rule had seen a lot of stagnation that his son, the Xianzi Emperor was forced to reckon with. Labor riots spread throughout China, and whilst unlike Western countries, none of the riots had taken a republican tinge, almost all of them were asking the Emperor to step in and reform. In 1874, after 3 years of near-deadly riots and protests, the Xianzi Emperor agreed and promulgated a provisionary Constitution before in 1876, a full constitution was adopted transforming the Chinese Empire into a semi-constitutional monarchy. During this time of upheaval, the United States of America, which had always relished after the Chinese colony of Fusang in North America, declared war in 1878 and invaded Fusang. After 3 years of heavy fighting, further reinforced by a new Chinese fleet, the Chinese managed to defeat the American invasion and secure Fusang's continued colonial link with China.
After the war, in 1882, the first elections were held for the Grand Secretariat (the Chinese equivalent of Prime Minister) in China, which the Xianzi Emperor supported. In 1885 however, new riots broke out in Fusang over the botched reconstruction and the rising feeling of regionalism and regional nationalism in the area. The Xianzi Emperor, still holding a massive amount of power in the Chinese government, overrode the military measures that were asked by Parliament and asked Parliament to instead support a british like dominion system for Fusang, which was accpeted in 1888 and implemented in Fusang in 1890 with Fusang becoming an independent 'Viceroyalty' of China, with the Emperor as its monarch and China managing its foreign affairs and defense but with Fusang managing everything else on their own domestically.
In 1895, after a long and drawn out fight with cancer, cancer won in the end and claimed the life of the Xianzi Emperor.
Emperors & Empresses of China
1572 - 1620: Wanli Emperor (Ming Dynasty)
1620 - 1649: Shaouning Empress (Ming Dynasty) [1]
1649 - 1700: Changshou Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [2]
1700 - 1732: Tianzi Emperor 'The Conqueror' (Ming Dynasty) [3]
1732 - 1764: Weikai Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [4]
1764 - 1793: Xingsheng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [5]
1793 - 1860: Guangming Empress (Ming Dynasty) [6]
1860 - 1871: Xianfeng Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [7]
1871 - 1895: Xianzi Emperor (Ming Dynasty) [8]
A European Artist's impression of the Empress on her enthronement.
[1] Born in 1592 as the second eldest daughter of Empress Wanli, the Shaouning Empress was never meant to rule. She was meant to be another political marriage that would secure the loyalty of wayward nobles within the Ming realm. Nevertheless, despite her position, she was the favored child of her father, who visited her every 5 days (which was unusual during those times in the Imperial Family) and called her his sweet 'Imjin War Child'. In 1609, she was married to Ran Xingrang, a minor noble who held a fief near the Mongol Border. Despite the arranged marriage, the marriage was loving, and Ran took care of her very well. By 1618, as multiple crisis's rocked China and the Wanli Emperor seemed closer to death, talk of succession was brewing. Fearing the scandalous nature of her male siblings, several eunuchs approached the Shoauning Empress in desperation, begging her to take the throne upon her father's death. She struggled between her sibling loyalty and her own admittance that her siblings were not up to the task until in 1619 she agreed. When the Wanli Emperor died, a court coup was conducted only three hours hence, when the court in Beijing declared the Shoauning Empress Empress in Her Own Right, something that had never happened in China before.
Immediately afterwards, a purge of defectors and traitors saved Liaodong from falling to the Later Jin Dynasty (named the Qing by its supporters), and the Empress heralded her forces to fight against the impending Manchu threat. Her husband led a daring attack on the Mongol Khanates that were subservient to the Manchus in the west, attacking Karakorum, diverting the Manchus whilst her own forces fell upon the Great Wall and attacked the Manchus, pushing them back, and recovering Dalian by 1623. Showing just how much China had missed a competent monarch, The tri-pronged defeat of the Manchus came at the hands of her husband's force in the west, her own force from the Great Wall, and the Koreans who attacked the Manchu rear in aid of their tributary lords. Nurhaci and his Manchus were beaten back all the way to the Ussuri River by 1629, with the captured Manchu lands being annexed as the 'Northern Protectorate'.
The remainder of her reign was peaceful, in comparison to the first 9 years of total war. She took away the excesses of her father's court, and she followed a strict regime of Confucian/Buddhist morality in her life, elevating her position in the public eye as a religious and moralistic Empress as well. Though she was suspicious of the Europeans like all of her predecessors, she allowed them into the country (albeit in controlled numbers), allowing their technology to filter inside the country as well. When she died in 1649, Ming China was no longer the crumbling husk of 1620, and indeed was on the upswing once again.
[2]
As the only son of the Shaouning empress, he was doted upon by his parents and educated at home by tutors and governors. However, he had a bad relationship with Liang Ying, his mother's housekeeper, who had once caused his father to be beaten by palace eunuchs, and upon his majority he had her exiled. This was not a pattern, thankfully, as he otherwise proved to be a merciful and kind ruler who generally worked to decentralize power from royal hands. Against the Ming tradition of keeping imperial princes out of politics, he early on showed interest in the government of the empire and strove for a larger role of the princes in it, which was allowed by his mother.
At the age of sixteen, he took his first wife, whose name remains unknown. It is known that the marriage was happy, but brief as she would die in childbirth. He would remarry many more times, and his struggle to produce male offspring became notorious. But, contrary to Chinese custom, he steadfastly declined to take any concubines.. Caught in a political limbo with the defeated Manchus that had regained their military power, the mysterious scandal that occurred when a gang of unarmed women somehow managed to subdue the eunuchs guarding the palace and storm the empress' bedchambers did nothing to help his reputation.
The first few days of his reign started promisingly enough as recorded in the Ming histories. Two million taels of silver was entailed as a gift to the troops guarding the border, important bureaucratic posts left vacant during the Wanli Emperor's long periods of administrative inactivity were finally starting to be filled, and many of the deeply unpopular extraordinary taxes and duties imposed by the Wanli Emperor were also revoked at this time. He also proved to be an outstanding carpenter and craftsman, often spending vast amounts of time on woodworking and instructing his servants to sell his creations undercover on the market just to see how much they were worth.
His long reign of fifty-one years earned him the epithet "Changshou" meaning long-lived. Due to his longevity he was seen as a symbol of steadfast duty. Criticism was focused on the institution of the monarchy itself, and the conduct of the emperor's wider family, rather than his own behaviour and actions. In his old age, his wardrobe developed a recognisable, signature style driven more by function than fashion. Upon his death, he would be succeeded by his grandson, Tianzi.
[3]
The Tianzi Emperor was born the grandson of the previous Emperor in 1679 and was only at the age of 21 when he ascended to the Dragon Throne. The first expansionist Chinese Emperor since a long time, his very first act upon taking the throne was the abolishment of the Manchu Protectorate and its formal annexation into the Ming Empire. The Tianzi Emperor co-opted many of the local Manchu Lords during the integration, taking 2 Manchu Noble women as his wives. Though a political arrangement, the marriage was happy and the Tianzi Emperor would not take any other wives or concubines throughout his reign and would have several children by his two wives. It was also Tianzi who noticed the growing disparity between the Chinese and European militaries and sought to shorten the gap. Unwilling to strengthen the Europeans who encroached on China's traditional sphere of influence, Tianzi reached out to the Ottomans, who were happy and willing to supply arms, cannons and blueprints to China who quickly began its drive to catch up under Tianzi.
In 1706, the quality of said arms would come under question as the Sino-Dutch War began over the question of Dutch piracy on Chinese waters through Formosa. By 1709, the Dutch had been kicked out of their settlements in Formosa, and the Chinese annexed the island as Taiwan under the Viceroyalty of Fujian. Tianzi however was also wise to local irritants in the region, going to war with the Dzungars and recovering the Tarim Basin by 1715 for China, re-annexing Kham by 1718 and re-asserting Tibet's status as a vassal-state to China the next year. Tianzi's greatest victory came in the form of a small settlement in North America next to the Chinook River, Qínǔkèrén, as China entered the colonial game as well. Mainly set up as a penal colony and as way to outmaneuver the Russians on the fur market and trade, the small colony struck gold - as they found jade mines nearby and by the time of his death in 1732 at the middle age of 53, the small colony named Fusang would already have three more bustling settlements. After his death, for his great expansions and consolidations, he was posthumously given the epithet 'The Conqueror' by the Chinese. He was succeeded by his son, Weikai.
[4] The third son of Tianzi, Weikai was the first born son of Tianzi’s second wife.
At a young age, Weikai was sent to the court of Ahmed III, Sultan of the Ottoman, along with a small corps to be trained to use the arms and cannons that had be supplied to China expected to became a military or diplomatic member of his half-brother’s court.
Weikai had witnessed Swedish king, Charles XII, seek refuge within the Ottoman Empire following a defeat against the Russian Empire followed by the Ottomans going to war and winning against Russia, giving Weikai an insight into Russian military and diplomacy.
It was here that he would hear about his father’s military victories as well as the deaths of his two older half-brothers, one from illness and another from wounds sustained from shrapnel during a battle against the Dutch, this would result in Weikai being recalled home by his devastated father.
His father would arrange a marriage for Weikai with a noble Chinese woman whom had Khalkha heritage. It was a hard start to the marriage but one that would work towards a happy one, although Weikai would take many mistresses in his time.
Ascending to the throne following his father’s death, Weikai would hold onto his lands using his military and diplomatic skills.
With gold, timber and fur coming in from Fusang, Weikai would see the colony thrive and boost the Chinese economy similar to how Habsburg Spain’s financial situation during the conquest of New Spain.
His legacy is seen as just being a continuation of his father’s reign and like his father, Weikai would be found in his bed, having died in his sleep.
[5]
The Xingsheng Emperor was born in 1728 as the eldest son of the Weikai Emperor. The unprecedented peaceful era of the Weikai Emperor's meant that the Xingsheng Emperor was born under one of the richest times of Chinese rule. Xingsheng, at least in comparison to earlier Emperors in recent memory, was born extremely religious, holding a strong tendency to be philosophical with his tendency towards Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the traditional religions of China. For around seven years from the ages of 16 - 23, Xingsheng even served as a Buddhist monk in Kham near the Tibetan border before being dispatched to Tibet as the Ming Viceroy of Tibet at age 24. The Xingsheng Emperor kept this position until he was 30 when he was recalled back to the capital. During his stay in Tibet the Xingsheng Emperor would take on only one Tibetan wife, and married no one else during his life and had no concubines, influenced by his religious standpoints. The marriage would yield several children.
When Xingsheng Emperor ascended to the throne in 1764, he was already 36 years old, a middle-aged man during those times. Nevertheless, the Xingsheng Emperor would rule for another 29 years, continuing his father's and grandfather's legacy of peace and prosperity in China. However, in direct contrast to his father, Xingsheng Emperor adopted the Northern Buddhist rite of 'war in peace and peace in war' philosophy and continued the modernization and expansion of the Chinese military which he deemed necessary to defend the Middle Kingdom and the Colony of Fusang which was expanding in North America in the backdrop of the European 7 Years War. In 1778, the Xingsheng Emperor's policies would bear fruit when the frontiermen of Fusang and Russian Alaska clashed with one another. This led to the Sino-Russian War of 1778 - 1782 which ended in Chinese victory as the Chinese took over Alaska as well, renaming it Ayesika and adding it as a province of Fusang.
Domestically, the Xingsheng Emperor's reign would see a reformation of the existing schooling system to be modern and expand it's student rolls, thus greatly expanding literacy and education in China. The Emperor himself wrote many of the philosophy and religious textbooks that were used by the students, and the Emperor also oversaw the rapid expansion of Chinese infrastructure throughout the country. The Emperor passed away just a few years after the beginning of the French Revolution, dying at the age of 65. He was mourned by all in the country and was succeeded by his daughter.
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[6]
As the only child of the Xingsheng Emperor who made it past puberty, she was adored by her father, who spared no expenses in training her as the future empress. She was married young to the son of her father's favorite courtier, and sent on many tours around China in order to consolidate her own image and reputation with her subjects. It was even joked that "where goes the emperor, there his daughter shadows". She was a staunch supporter of her father's domestic policies and vowed to continue it upon her own reign.
Once she took control, she proved herself very competent. She continued administering the colonies acquired by her predecessors but did not seek to expand herself, feeling that too large an empire would be unmanageable. Instead she focused strongly on working towards autarky, where China could gradually depend less on foreign imports. She supported technological and military reforms and abolished ancient torturous punishments and the imperial examination systems, implementing a radical new version that did not depend on knowledge of the Chinese classics. She openly made a speech which blamed the examination system for stifling scientific and technical knowledge, denouncing the neo-Confucian orthodoxy that became the new guideline for literati learning, narrowing the way in which they could politically and socially interpret the Confucian canon.
Her reign earned her the epithet of "Guangming" meaning light. This was often interpreted to mean not only her bright, cheerful nature but also the fact that it was during her rule that China began experimenting with electricity, eventually leading to modern electric lights. As her marriage had proven childless, she would be succeeded by the Xianfeng Emperor.
[7] A distant relative of the Guangming Empress, Xianfeng was adopted by the Empress as her heir due to her childless marriage. The Xianfeng Emperor ascended the Dragon Throne in 1860, and reigned for eleven years. Not many important events happened during his reign besides the building of railroads across China. The Xianfeng Emperor died in 1871, with his grandson Xianzi succeeding him as the new reigning monarch of China.
After the war, in 1882, the first elections were held for the Grand Secretariat (the Chinese equivalent of Prime Minister) in China, which the Xianzi Emperor supported. In 1885 however, new riots broke out in Fusang over the botched reconstruction and the rising feeling of regionalism and regional nationalism in the area. The Xianzi Emperor, still holding a massive amount of power in the Chinese government, overrode the military measures that were asked by Parliament and asked Parliament to instead support a british like dominion system for Fusang, which was accpeted in 1888 and implemented in Fusang in 1890 with Fusang becoming an independent 'Viceroyalty' of China, with the Emperor as its monarch and China managing its foreign affairs and defense but with Fusang managing everything else on their own domestically.
In 1895, after a long and drawn out fight with cancer, cancer won in the end and claimed the life of the Xianzi Emperor.
The Romano-British Empire last (shall we say) a bit longer (at least to 511)
Restitutor Britanniae
286 to 293 : Carausius the Restorer
293 to 296 : Allectus the Tyrant
296 to 306 : Asclepiodotus the King (1)
(1) Asclepiodotus was a Roman soldier and politician and in 296, was sent by Constantius Chlorus to bring Brittania back into the fold. Allectus had assassinated the first Restitutor Britanniae, Carausius, and Asclepiodotus found himself in conflict with Allectus after Constantius' fleet, which had sunk in the Channel, failed to distract Allectus. Instead Allectus and Asclepiodotus came face to face off Southampton. Here, history becomes murky, Geoffrey of Monmouth, a historian, explains that local tribes, including the Venedoti, recognised Asclepiodotus as King and aided them in overthrowing Allectus and the remains of his forces at London where Allectus was beheaded and Asclepiodotus, having succumbed to the temptation of power offered by the Venedoti and their fellow tribal powers, installed as Restitutor (or Restorer).
Monmouth clarifies little else other than his downfall, we think he may have been married to a tribal chieftains sister or daughter and may have produced heirs. Certainly later Restitutors claim descent from Asclepiodotus in an attempt to cement their legitimacy. Brother Amphibalus, a Christian figure in the Romano-British Empire was crucified c. 309 at Asclepiodotus' instructions as part of a campaign of Christian persecution. Coel, a leader of Camulodunum, took umbrage at the persecution, seeing it as being influenced by the central Roman Empire rather than Asclepiodotus and the Witan Brittaniae (the defacto Senate comprised of, at this time, tribal elders) and made plans to overthrow him, leading a rebellion and installing ............... as Restitutor Britanniae.
Restitutor Britanniae
286 to 293 : Carausius the Restorer
293 to 296 : Allectus the Tyrant
296 to 306 : Asclepiodotus the King (1)
(1) Asclepiodotus was a Roman soldier and politician and in 296, was sent by Constantius Chlorus to bring Brittania back into the fold. Allectus had assassinated the first Restitutor Britanniae, Carausius, and Asclepiodotus found himself in conflict with Allectus after Constantius' fleet, which had sunk in the Channel, failed to distract Allectus. Instead Allectus and Asclepiodotus came face to face off Southampton. Here, history becomes murky, Geoffrey of Monmouth, a historian, explains that local tribes, including the Venedoti, recognised Asclepiodotus as King and aided them in overthrowing Allectus and the remains of his forces at London where Allectus was beheaded and Asclepiodotus, having succumbed to the temptation of power offered by the Venedoti and their fellow tribal powers, installed as Restitutor (or Restorer).
Monmouth clarifies little else other than his downfall, we think he may have been married to a tribal chieftains sister or daughter and may have produced heirs. Certainly later Restitutors claim descent from Asclepiodotus in an attempt to cement their legitimacy. Brother Amphibalus, a Christian figure in the Romano-British Empire was crucified c. 309 at Asclepiodotus' instructions as part of a campaign of Christian persecution. Coel, a leader of Camulodunum, took umbrage at the persecution, seeing it as being influenced by the central Roman Empire rather than Asclepiodotus and the Witan Brittaniae (the defacto Senate comprised of, at this time, tribal elders) and made plans to overthrow him, leading a rebellion and installing ............... as Restitutor Britanniae.
So Romano-British Empire has timed out. I think maybe we should have a group discussion as to what we want to do for the next one before we forge ahead.
How about a future one for the British monarchy starting with the current monarch and moving on into the future?
Would enter the realm of current world politics which is verboten.
Maybe Shiva should get thread starter rights as technically its their thread