The realm of the Mountain

[Death]

An exalant update. Through i would like to know how Jappenese settlement of South Korea considering the amount of native pesents being killed in Hanseong would open up space for Jap settlemen would it not. Also on the topic of Jappenese settlement has the Jappenese Goverment tried to flood South Korea with its own pesents to legitimizes its rule there? If not then why not?

 

[maverick]

The Japanese have sent some families, prisoners, exilees and peasants over to Korea, but it's not a real colonization for the moment. That will only start later on.

Anyhow, I've just put the entire TL in the TL section and it's now up to date, so you can now read the corrected, improved and complete version here.

 

[maverick]

**

The Fall of Nanjing​

Preparations for the defense of Nanjing were begun immediately upon the arrival of Shi Kefa and his general staff on June 8th. The general was well aware that the end was nigh, but he was determined to meet his face rather than to face the disgrace of surrender. Shi’s staff remained loyal to him as did a great number of soldiers and officers amongst the City’s garrison and the defeated armies that sought refuge behind the southern capital’s great walls, but a feeling of malaise was at the same time spreading through the streets, palaces and even the very court of the Southern Ming. Many argued that to follow a pragmatic and expedient route and surrender to the Shun would preserve the city and its inhabitants, if at the expense of the fate of the Dynasty and some of its officials. Shi Kefa would nevertheless have nothing to do with such schemes, and thus prepared the defenses of Nanjing as faithfully and thoroughly as was possible under the circumstances. [1]

Yuan Chonghuan made Nanjing the sole focus of the southern campaign after having broken the bulk of the southern Ming army. Men and resources were reallocated from other operations, such as the sieges of Yangzhou and Wuhan, to better serve the war effort against the southern capital. Artillery pieces were transferred from Wu Sangui’s camp in June of 1648, while the entire army of Zu Zezhong was ordered to end the siege of Yangzhou and march westwards to support Yuan’s forces against Nanjing. Opposing this force, greater than the one that had defeated his armies at the battle of the Chi River, Shi Kefa did his best to organize the remains of the Imperial Army, the City Garrisons and the rump forces left by the Guardian Generals as long with local militias to man the city’s defenses. At the walls and ramparts of Nanjing, Shi Kefa put his best men and the bulk of the Southern Ming artillery under Chen Yujie.[2] Ma Yingkui, in charge of the Nanjing Militia, the commander Liu Zhaoji and the martial scholar He Gang completed the picture of Shi Kefa’s general staff on June of 1648, [3] only two men missing: Zuo Lyangyuo, at the time tasked with the defense of Wuhan, and Zhao Zhilong, commander of the city garrison, a man of the military aristocracy and not a particularly loyal supporter of Shi Kefa.

Against the great walls of Nanjing and the determined soldiers that Shi Kefa had gathered behind the ramparts and Portuguese cannons, Yuan Chonghuan presented an army of 180,000 men, reinforced by Ming turncoats led by Xu Dingguo, the man who had cost the Ming the battle of the Chi River, the life of Gao Jie and its very survival. The foreign-style cannons mounted on wooden platforms along the stone ramparts exchanged thunderous roars and bursts of brimstone and iron, killing thousands, as the two generals test the strength of the other. The walls of Nanjing continue to stand after three days of fire, and on June 20th Yuan Chonghuan begins siege operations. Shi Kefa rejects all offers of surrender and intercepts several messages addressing other commanders throughout Nanjing. The Yongguang Emperor is fearful, the court anxious and panicking, the streets are quiet and the people are making their arrangements to meet with a sure death or a conquering army and a new dynasty. By June 22nd, the Shun armies number some 200,000 men, while the southern Ming can only keep 70,000 men at arms, few of which could be considered actual soldiers.

The skillful use of European-style artillery, upgraded in Nanjing under Shi Kefa’s tenure as Minister of War, along with the strength of the walls and the presence of a strong Ming fleet at the Yangzi work to form a great advantage and hold the Shun armies at bay during the first phase of the siege. It is not until June 27th that Yuan Chonghuan is able to exploit a gap in the city’s defenses, at the Jubao Gate, one of the southern entrances to the City. The gate, guarded by a militia forced under Ma Yingkui and protected by only a few artillery pieces, was the focus on a fierce attack for three days in which 30,000 men died within hours. General Ma was finally able to stop the Shun advance near the second line of defenses at the gate, but at the cost of 20,000 of his men and several artillery pieces. On the same day, the Shun had lost 15,000 men of their own attacking the city’s eastern gates in a diversionary move that did little other than to test the Ming defenses. Two days later, operations against the Jubao Gate forced Shi Kefa to shift Ma Yingkui’s militias with Zhao Zhilong’s corps, a move that would seal the fate of the Southern Ming.

Zhao Zhilong, Supreme Commander of the Capital Garrisons, had in the aftermath of the February Incident of 1647 and the ascension of the Yongguan Emperor found himself as part of the political opposition and as head of a faction of disgruntled members of the military aristocracy who had supported Ma Shiying and the Prince of Fu. Remaining quiet, the Earl Zhao knew himself in the minority and thus waited until the time was right to make a move against Shi Kefa. That the opportunity was presented to him at the most crucial time, at the crossroads of history, was seen as an omen by Zhao Zhilong and his allies[4]. During the first days of August, the commander of the capital garrisons exchanged messages with the enemy camp and with his allies in the city, setting a date for the betrayal: August 9th. In anticipation for this day, Zhao instructed his allies to make preparations to greet the armies of the Shun, to paste placards reading “Long live the Shun Emperor” and “submissive people” on the gates of their households as the Shun army crossed the southern gates. [5]

On the fateful day, Zhao Zhilong opened the gates and welcomed Yuan Chonghuan himself, at the head of a Great Shun Army and accompanied by four of the Heavenly Princes to be, then serving as his general staff during operations in Nanjing. News of the defection soon reached Shi Kefa and the Imperial Palace. Shi was allegedly catatonic for several hours after hearing the news, as panic became widespread through his staff and the Ming Court. The ministers, censors and officials close to the turncoat general had left their households and the city’s inner defenses and joined with Zhao at the southern gate to greet General Yuan on the 9th of August, leaving a hopeless and bewildered number of officials with little options but surrender or suicide.

The Hongwu and Tongji Gates resisted but were crushed that very day as the Shun armies occupied the southwestern half of the city within hours. Chen Yujie and Ma Yingkui argued for a continued fight within the city, but amongst Shi’s staff prevailed the idea of escaping. To convince Shi Kefa of taking Zheng Zhilong’s plan of escaping and continuing the resistance using the powerful Ming fleet was in on itself a complicated task, but on the night of August 9th, as the poorly coordinated citizen defenses in central Nanjing collapsed, the evacuation was commenced. The flotillas assembled very well surpassed the 5,000 war junks and included many vessels taking from private hands or the property of the state. 20,000 soldiers and sailors, along with ministers, scholars and their families abandoned Nanjing in the early morning of August 10th of 1648. Hours later, a Shun party found the body of the Yongguang Emperor, hanging from a tree in the Imperial Palace of the Southern Ming. [6]

***

Exultant celebrations follow the fall of Nanjing in the northern capital. The armies of Great Shun parade through the streets of the southern capital for seven days and raise the banners of the new dynasty, escorted by Zhao Zhilong and the new subjects of the Xianbao Emperor. On August 20th, Yuan Chonghuan is finally recalled to the Shun court in Beijing. Rewarded with the title of “Great Star of the Nation, Lord of the Ten Thousand Years”, Yuan retains his position as Minister of War and viceroy of the northern territories, with a jurisdiction that extends from the Amur to the western frontier of the empire, making the Great Conqueror of the North the second most powerful man in All Under Heaven besides the Emperor himself. Preventing Yuan from acquiring more titles and glory is of course only one of the reasons why the Minister of war is recalled from the front. With the fall of the southern capital and the death of the last Ming Emperor, the Mandate of Heaven has been officially conquered and the Great Enterprise is finished.

Wu Sangui is placed as Yuan Chonghuan’s replacement on August 26th, as Commander of the Armies of Great Shun and the Southern Expedition, although in reality the centralized command structure is all but gone as the southern forces are scaled back. The Army of the Two Pillars of Great Shun becomes the army of the Nine Princely Generals and the Seventeen Great Commanders for the new phase of the war in the south. Organized resistance is effectively over following the fall of the southern capital, and as such all that remains are local warlords who only put little assistance or wait for the opportunity to strike a deal with the northern invaders.

Zu Zehong and Zu Zerun subdue Yangzhou on August 20th with minimal casualties and pacify the lower delta of the Yangzi in short order. For their efforts they’re given the titles of Prince Who Subdues the East and Prince Who Serves the Realm. General Liu Wu, another veteran of Yuan Chonghuan’s general staff in Liaodong and Mongolia, was sent to pacify Fujian in late 1648, obtaining early victory against the loyalists and being rewarded as the Prince who Subdues the Eastern Shores.

Wu Sangui, the Prince who Pacifies the South, Lord of the Five Thousand Years, takes Wuhan in the first days of September, at the cost of 20,000 of the city’s defenders. Zuo Liangyu, refusing to collaborate or join the new regime, is executed the following days, along with several other leaders of the loyalist resistance in the city. To the south of Wuhan, Huang Degong and an army nearly 100,000 men strong stands at Changsa, the former Guardian General claiming control over Hunan and Guangdong. For this task, Ma Shiyao and Zhang Cunren are dispatched to the capital of the erstwhile Guardian General. Wu Sangui, on the other hand, marches westwards, towards Chongqing, with the intention of negotiating with the Dragon King of Great West, Zhang Xianzhong himself, who was still presumed to be alive in the autumn of 1648.

Notes:
​

1. This is more or less the path that Shi Kefa chose IOTL, although making his last stand at Yangzhou rather than Nanjing, where the city was controlled by his political enemies;

2. Chen Yujie was a student of Xu Guangqui; having learned the skills of the foundry from the Catholics, whose religion he also adopted, Chen was tasked with casting Portuguese type cannons for Shi Kefa to replace the old cannons used by the Ming; this was also the case IOTL, although on a shorter time frame, in 1644.

3. All of these are IOTL subordinates of Shi Kefa who followed him to his death at the siege of Yangzhou IOTL, in 1645;

4. Zhao Zhilong made similar arrangements IOTL, although Shi Kefa was at the time dead at Yangzhou and no defense was attempted; IOTL, the Emperor and the Eunuchs fled the city while the rest of the Southern Government welcomed the Qing with open arms;

5. These placards read Qing rather than Shun IOTL;

6. IOTL, this was what happened with the Chongzhen Emperor when Li Zicheng captured the capital; the Hongguang Emperor, who was the IOTL last emperor of the southern Ming, was captured and executed by the Qing in 1646;



**


Next Chapter: a look at what the Takeda Shogun is doing in the 1660s...

 

[Death]

An exultant update. Through i would like to know how Japanese settlement of South Korea considering the amount of native presents being killed in Hanseong would open up space for Jap settlement would it not. Also on the topic of Japanese settlement has the Japanese Government tried to flood South Korea with its own presents to legitimizes its rule there? If not then why not?

Edit because late nights happen to us all.

 

[maverick]

***

Kagemusha​

Forty Years of Peace followed the Shinobi-no-Ran according to traditional Japanese historiography, ignoring events such as the Great Hanseong Rebellion of 1658, which took place in Chosen rather than on Japanese soil, or the Usuki Castle Incident of 1653, in which the shogunate was not directly involved and the scope was merely provincial or local, but for those who lived in the years of Takeda Nobutoyo, including the Shogun himself, the years between 1647 and 1687 were years of turbulence and violence. For the Takeda shogun in particular, the aftermath of the rebellion in Omi and Iga provinces, as well as the widespread religious conflict in Kyushu and Kyoto, dealt a terrible blow to his peace of mind. Throughout the 1650s and early 1650s, Nobutoyo saw troubles brewing behind every tree, beneath every rock, in the eyes of his most trusted councilors. Catholic priests conspiring with the Tozama daimyo in the six great ports, Buddhist fanatics and ronin assassin roaming through the countryside, ambitious advisors plotting his downfall in the halls of Tsutsuijigasaki, these were all that Nobutoyo could see from his secluded palace in Kofu, and the reasons why his mental health is said to have deteriorated so gravely in the second half of his rule.

As his fear and paranoia grew, and with it, the tightness of his seclusion, Nobutoyo began to take more and more measures against the legion of enemies that he believed surrounded and conspired against him. More laws to restrict travel between the provinces and through the main Takeda domains were passed, as well as edicts forbidding foreigners from setting foot outside the Six Ports under the penalty of death, as well as forbidding peasants and commoners from carrying weapons in the provinces under direct Takeda administration, the first step towards a disarmament of Takeda Japan that would be fully undertaken on a national level by Nobutoyo’s successors. [1] At the same time, at the Takeda Palace of Tsutsuijigasaki a veritable army of servants was being rotated day and night. Food tasters, Kagemushas (doubles acting the part of the Shogun) and bodyguards rose in numbers between 1655 and 1665 to the point in which no room in the castle was left uninhabited for those years, even as the never-ending construction continued on its regular course. During these years, the height of the Takeda shogun’s madness, it is said that over 108 Kagemushas lived in the shogunate palace at Kofu, and that at times the Shogun would not leave his room without surrounding himself with 5 o 6 of these near-identical bodyguards dressed as him who’d follow the shogun around all day. One famous incident involved two assassins who, confused, killed two or three Kagemushas in an attempt against Nobutoyo’s life, but being killed before being able to get to the real man, who was hiding behind two lines of bodies in the Shogun’s attire. While apocryphal, as are many of the most famous and infamous rumors about the life of Takeda Nobutoyo, the story has been popular throughout time, inspiring numerous Kabuki plays and stories from this time period. [2]

One popular story, Tale of the Man who was Tired, set during the Kamakura period due to Nobutoyo’s censorship preventing plays or literature to depict current events [3], tells the life of a Shogun who surrounded himself with an army of identical doubles to ward off danger, but that one day, tired of his life at the Palace of Kamakura and madly in love with the daughter of a local artisan, convinces his brother, who is also one of his doubles, to take his place while the fictional Shogun lives the rest of his life in Kyoto with the artisan girl. Another story, written in the 19th century well after the dangers of censorship or the Takeda laws, recreates the idea behind the Tale of the Man who was Tired, but placing the story in Tsutsuijigasaki itself and with Nobutoyo as the Shogun who, upon being poisoned by his own servants, is replaced by one of his Kagemushas. With time, the impostor comes to believe that the part he is playing is his real identity and he disappears within the madness of Nobutoyo, effectively becoming the man whom he supplanted.

The army of doubles was at the time complemented by the Takeda retainers and bodyguards stationed at the local garrison, but by the early 1660s the Shogun began to distrust even his own retainers. In 1662, the shogun asked a Sanada soldier and retainer by the name of Kirigakure Isao to establish a special body of guards to protect the Shogun and only the Shogun. Kirigakure, a veteran of the Shinobi-no-Ran and part of the Sanada Clan’s own shinobi forces, [4] created the White Tiger Corps on January of 1663, recruiting men trained both in martial arts and espionage. Many of these men were recruited from the vast intelligence services that the Sanada controlled under the orders of the Shogunate, contributing to the latter development of the White Tiger Corps, or Byakkotai, as a de facto secret police for the Shogunate in the second half of the 17th century. What would by the 1700s become a vast network of spies and an elite cadre of political and intelligence agents with a great degree of power, was in the 1660s only a bodyguard corps with jurisdiction over Kai province and with less than 200 men on staff. [5]

Between 1662 and 1677, the secret archives of the Shogunate reveal that no less than 28 assassination attempts and conspiracies were unveiled by Byakkotai agents, although it is speculated, given further developments, that may of this plots may have been Byakkotai fabrications which served the purpose of furthering the Shogun’s paranoia and reliance over his private army of secret agents.

In this context, two events marked the decade of the 1660s. One was the tragedy of the Kagemusha, Takeda Sōkaku, and the other the Shakushain rebellion in Ezo.

The first took place in the autumn of 1667, and its protagonist was a cousin of the Shogun and member of a cadet branch of the Takeda Clan. Sōkaku was, due to his likeness to Nobutoyo, his experience in combat and his loyalty, the Shogun’s most trusted bodyguard and his main Kagemusha. He was at the same time a fierce enemy of the growingly powerful Byakkotai, whose officers began to take a preeminent role at Tsutsuijigasaki, displacing councilors, advisors and retainers in terms of power and influence. Thus Sōkaku became embroiled in talks with several Rōjū at the court, a development that the Byakkotai saw as a threat and the beginning of a conspiracy against their own power and influence. Thus on October of 1667, Sōkaku was arrested by the Byakkotai, along with five councilors and the magistrate of Kofu, all accused of being involved in a conspiracy to murder the shogun and place Sōkaku in his place. It wasn’t hard for the White Tigers to sell their story to Nobutoyo, and the councilors were executed even before the forged letters and fake witnesses could be brought to the Court. Sōkaku, in the meantime, was able to bribe a guard and get hold of a dagger, killing himself on the night of October the 18th, the day before the alleged trial.

The second event began in early 1668 in the northern island of Ezo. At the time, Ezo was mostly inhabited by the Ainu peoples, which were divided into several tribes under different chieftains, all under the influence of the Matsumae Clan on one way or the other, as the Japanese domain exercised a trade monopoly over the island and thus control over several of the Ainu tribes. Conflict between the Ainu and the Matsumae domain, as well as conflicts between the Ainu tribes were frequent. In the 1650s and 1660s, the cultural and ethnic strife between the Ainu and the Japanese and the disputes between the Ainu themselves were to be further compounded by attempts to break the Matsumae hold of the Ezo trade and economy, namely by the Sendai domain and by the Spanish.[6] The first sought to expand the political and economic hegemony that the Date clan had extended over northern Honshu to southern Ezo by incorporating the Matsumae domain into their sphere of influence, whereas the Spaniard trade between Sendai, Lima and Mexico began to attract adventurers and ambitious traders who wished not to be bound to the single port of Sendai when the riches of Japan could be at their disposal. Encouraged by their greed and the words of the Diocese of Sendai, Spanish ships began to take trips to Ezo with a frequency that alarmed the Matsumae. Just as Matsumae Kanehiro [7] presented his grievances to the Takeda Court at Kofu, the straw that broke the camel’s back came in the form of Shakushain’s war.

Shakushain, chief of the Ainu tribe of the Sinubachi, had been involved in an intermittent conflict with the Hae tribe through the 1650s over boundaries and rights to fish and animals in specific areas, and ultimately won a complete victory over his rival Onibishi, leader of the Hae, in 1667, forcing a weakened Hae tribe to seek for the help of the Matsumae domain. What ensued was an out all war between Shakushain and the Matsumae domain in southeastern Ezo that would ravage the land and set the stage for the downfall of the Matsumae Clan. [8]

Notes:​

1. This has been mentioned before; disarmament has been implemented ITTL on a local scale a few time through the 1600s, but in the second half of the 17th century, the Takeda Shogunate is taking more active steps towards a centralized and powerful autocracy;

2. Kagemushas, or Shadow Warriors, have also mentioned before and have played some part in this TL, but since this TL was in fact inspired by the Kurosawa movie, Kagemusha, this seems like a good chance to pay a proper homage of sorts;

3. This was a measure of the Tokugawa IOTL, but since the Takeda Clan is less centralized and prone to take such measures, this particular one, amongst others, it not used until more autocratic Shoguns appear later on;
4. The Tokugawa had their own corps of Ninjas IOTL, but this is less of a secret police at first and more like a corps of bodyguards that with time become a Secret police;

5. I have an unfortunate lack of knowledge regarding East Asian languages, so I’m forced to borrow a lot from IOTL; the name Byakkotai was used IOTL by a force of rōnin who fought in the Boshin War;

6. This was the situation IOTL, except for the introduction of the Spanish, who were never involved with Japan IOTL, and of course were never even close to contacting Ezo;

7. IOTL, Matsumae Kanehiro died at the age of ten, during the Smallpox epidemic of 1624.

8. There are several butterflies with the Shakushain War, which takes place over a year earlier than IOTL, under different circumstances and with a Shakushain that’s not quite the Shakushain of IOTL;


***


Next Episode: The final unification of China under the Shun Dynasty! Stay tuned!

 

[FDW]

As always, you manage to keep me interested in your work maverick.

 

[maverick]

I hope this update is easy enough to follow. It might seem confused and rushed and parts, but it will hopefully be entertaining enough as it is. I'm currently re-examining the TL and considering rewriting some parts due to plot-holes, poor writing or whatever, so bear with me here.

***

All Under Heaven
​

The Shun conquest of the southern China provinces crawls to a halt as the scope of the military operations south of the Yangzi are scaled down and the armies of Great Shun return to participate in the victory parades to be held in Beijing, carrying the banners of the new dynasty in exultant celebration of the Xianbao Emperor. A combination of malaise and self-complacency ensure that every move the new Dynasties armies made in the territories of the Southern Ming is bogged down. Wuhu falls just days after Nanjing, and with it, over sixty Ming Princes with the Prince of Tang at their helm surrender to the new dynasty. Yangzhou follows shortly afterwards, but the Shun armies disperse as the Princely Generals decide to find glory individually as Great Shun fails to provide with specific orders. This is the state of All Under Heaven in the autumn of 1648, when Wu Sangui reaches Chongqing, a stronghold of the warlord realm of Daxi.

Daxi, the realm of Great West, as Wu Sangui finds it in October of 1648, is torn by civil war. The war of succession fought by the adoptive sons of Zhang Xianzhong, the Dragon King, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Dingguo and Zhang Wenxiu, had started with the death of the warlord during the Ming-Daxi war of 1647, an event which the three sons conspired to keep a secret until the issue of succession could be decided, but neither the moribund father nor the machinations of the Daxi court could bring a peaceful solution to the conflict. On January of 1648, Zhang Kewang allied with General Li Xingtai, one of the former King’s lieutenants, and decided to strike first, igniting the civil war and effectively destroying the Kingdom of Daxi. The coup attempt in Chengdu was accomplished relatively fast with the help of the local garrison and that of the Black Dragon Society, a paramilitary force led by Kewang that had served as a secret police of sorts while the Dragon King lived. [1] The Purge that followed the purge was ruthless and efficient, but on the dawn of the second day, the supporters of Zhang Kewang realized that the brothers were not in the capital. Zhang Dingguo, who retained his position as Viceroy of Yunnan, was warned of the plot days in advance and had been able to escape to his fiefdom, whereas Zhang Wenxiu managed to take advantage of the chaos in the capital to make a run for Chongqing with his followers. It wasn’t until the seventh day of the coup that the dust had settled: Zhang Kewang, with the support of the army and the Black Dragon Society, controlled Chengdu and most of Sichuan province and proclaimed himself as the Tian Wang, or Heavenly King, of Daxi on January 20th of 1648. The first to react was Wenxiu, who shortly afterwards declared himself to be the rightful heir of the Dragon King, and denounced Kewang as an impostor and a usurper.
In Chongqing, Wenxiu took the name of Shen Wang, or Sage King, in opposition to Kewang, whom the people of Chongqing openly derided as Mo Wang, or Devil King, due to the bloody and tyrannical rule of the self-proclaimed autocrat. Zhang Dingguo, on the other hand, sought to distance himself from the conflict by unilaterally declaring independence with the creation of the Kingdom of Dali, taking the name of the historical Buddhist kingdom as a means to promote an air of legitimacy and inspire confidence to the Dalai Lama, in the hopes that Tibet could offer help and even protection. [2]

The civil war, as it was, failed to live up to the expectations of outside observers. Kewang’s supporters soon prove to be more adept at pillaging Chengdu, and the troops fall prey to debauchery. The reign of terror in the capital lasts for the rest of the rule of the Heavenly King, who fails to rein in his soldiers and even seems contempt with what he has. What skirmishes take place with the self-proclaimed King Wu of Dali and the Sage King of Chongqing occur thanks to the initiative of the local commanders, not that of the bellicose brothers. The Three Kingdoms of Daxi seem to exist in peace for eight months as a result of the pragmatism or fears of the three sovereigns, but on October of 1648, the status quo is broken. Wenxiu is quick to negotiate with Wu Sangui. He surrenders the stronghold of Chongqing, along with its garrison and the riverine flotilla of Dazi, gives up the name Zhang and becomes Liu Wenxiu once more, being rewarded with the title of Earl and a confirmation of his role as commander of the garrison at Chongqing, now capital of the Shun province of Sichuan. The garrison of Chongqing accompanies Wu Sangui’s army in its march against Chengdu, but the climax of the civil war is far from satisfactory. The Heavenly King of Daxi is nowhere to be found, and in its place there lies the body of Li Xingtai and a thousand other followers, victims of their own debauchery and their king’s paranoia. The pacification of Sichuan against the armies loyal to the Tian Wang of Daxi continues for the rest of the autumn and at the end, Kewant abandons Sichuan for Dali, where Zhang Dingguo, now Li Dingguo, but officially the Wu King of Dali, awaits for the Shun invasion that doesn’t come until the spring of 1649. [3]

Elsewhere, the pacification of the south has been accomplished with less blood. Huang Degong, the erstwhile Guardian General and one of the military standard bearers of the Ming, is easily brought into the fold by a substantial bribe in the form of thousands of pieces of gold and the position of viceroy of Hunan. The former warlord’s retirement is nonetheless short-lived, as he is found dead, poisoned in fact, only six months later, in his palace at Changsa. Yuan Chonghuan, Wu Sangui and Ma Shiyao are all suspected of having Huang killed, but nothing is ever proven and the province of Hunan is awarded to Wu Sangui in April of 1649, being governor of Huguang Province [4] until his death in 1657, in which Huguang is divided into the provinces of Hunan and Hubei.

Further south, in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, divisions between the local magistrates, military magnates, garrison commanders and local officials who seek to surrender to the new dynasty or fight for the Ming to the bitter end means that the Shun armies are forced to continue the pacification campaigns well into 1651. The local warlords and peasant armies are also joined by opportunistic bandits, who see the chance to wreak havoc in the southern provinces and take their cut before the peace robs them of their chance for profit. The Ming die-hards are chased through Guangdong, Guangxi into Yunnan and Sichuan through 1651 and 1652, year in which Sun Kewang, former King of Daxi turned into rebel commander, is captured and executed in Kunming, capital of the former Kingdom of Dali, where his brother Dingguo had reigned for over 18 months in relative peace before escaping to Tibet and becoming a monk. [5]

Thus were the campaigns that signaled the end of the war with the Southern Ming, yet peace had not yet come for the Mandate of Heaven, nor was the Ming Dynasty formally finished. One last remnant was still in place: Shi Kefa and Admiral Zheng Zhilong, who with the control of the powerful Ming Fleet, had seized the island of Formosa and several stronghold in the southern seas. The story of Shi Kefa’s exploits in the South China Seas, of course, have their beginning in the twilight days of the siege of Nanjing…

Notes:​

1. Li Xingtai is real, but the Black Dragon Society is entirely fictional; If it feels like I’m rushing through this, throwing random facts at the reader and skimming over the details, it because I probably am doing just that. Sorry, I wish I could get into more details, but for once another better TL is already doing that with their own take on Zhang Xianzhong, and on the other, this is only a sideshow to a secondary plot line; the main plot line is still Japan and China is only a secondary one, so I can’t deal with Zhang Xianzhong and other Chinese warlords as thoroughly as I’d want to;

2. Dali was a historical Kingdom that existed in Yunnan before it was destroyed by the Mongol Invasions in the 1200s; this is mostly a ploy by Dingguo to get Tibetan support, not an actual desire to revive Dali, as even the capital is not at Dali, but rather at Kunming, where it historically was in the 1600s;

3. The sons start to change their names as the Zhang name is no longer a political advantage; They did so IOTL, but considerably faster, as Zhang fell considerably faster IOTL; They were also rebel leaders during the mid-1640s, ostensibly fighting for the Ming against the Qing;

4. Huguang is a province that existed during the Ming and Yuan dynasties, covering Hunan and Hubei; I mention Hunan as a separate entity to facilitate things to both the reader and the author;

5. This is similar, but not really much, to what happened IOTL, except that the southern rebellions last longer and Zhang’s sons have different fates, most importantly Dingguo, who escapes to Tibet and becomes a Lamaist Monk ITTL;



***

Next Chapter: a return to late 1660s Japan and the Shakushain Ainu Rebellion in Ezo!

 

[FDW]

Interesting, I look forward to the return to Japan!

 

[maverick]

And now, what's probably one of the only uses of the Ainu in this site, and quite possibly the only scenario in which they do better.

***

Shakushain​

Many factors contributed to the development and conclusion of the Shakushain Rebellion of 1667. Had it not been for the Matsumae attempts to maintain a monopoly of trade over Ezo, for the indifference of the Shogunate in regards to the occurrences taken place in the periphery of the realm or the interference of other daimyo and Spanish traders, the rebellion could have been reduced to a simply local mutiny and not what some have seen as the birth of the Ainu nationalist and independence movement. The chieftain Shakushain, despite what later historical discourse might have concluded, was far from interested or capable in the unification of the Ainu people, the expulsion of the Japanese from Ezo or the independence of a Ainu nation; the war started as a local conflict between Shakushain’s Sinubachi tribe and his rival Hae tribe, which escalated into a conflict with the Matsumae Clan of southern Ezo in late 1667. The war nevertheless saw the seeds for Ainu nationalism and independence planted, as Shakushain presented his feud with the Hae and the Matsumae as a war between the Ainu and the Japanese, promising land and freedom from Japanese control, a move that rallied several Ainu groups in western and central Ezo to Shakushain’s cause.

Through 1667 the Ainu began attacking Japanese ships and Matsumae patrols, before going on the offensive in the spring of 1668, when Shakushain and his men attacked Shiraoi, Yoichi and Horoizumi, amongst many other Japanese settlements and ports in southern Ezo. These first successes were aided by the general inability of the Matsumae domain to counterattack, which forced them to go on the defensive. Their lack of men and weapons was further compounded by the disinterest of the Shogunate. [1]

As early as the winter of 1667, the Matsumae had been sending emissaries to Kofu with the intention of requiring, and later begging, assistance from the Shogunate, but Takeda Nobutoyo showed no interest in the plight of the Matsumae. By the late 1660s, the Shogun was growing increasingly isolated and distrustful, and not even his army of private bodyguards and spies could keep him calm. The presence of strangers, as was the case with the Matsumae envoys, further troubled the peace of mind of the Shogun, to the point in which he even ordered the arrest of the northern legation in a fit of anger as they were making their case in favor of sending assistance to the northern domain. [2] In the Takeda Court, the mood was somewhat different and the councilors privately showed concern about the developments taking place in the frontiers of the Empire. Tairō Yamada Sueyoshi, who presided over the council of Rōjū between 1665 and 1675 [3], was particularly concerned about the state of mind of the Shogun and how neglect could affect the Shogunate’s stand within and outside the borders of Japan. Particularly troublesome was the presence of Spanish vessels and weapons at Uichura Bay and off the coasts of southern and western Ezo. Furthermore, spies revealed that the Spaniards were not only arming the Ainu with Japanese weapons and European arquebuses, but also training them and acting as mercenaries in the war. It was even rumored that the Spaniards, many of them refugees and adventurers from the former Spanish Philippines, [4]were aided and funded by the Date Clan of Sendai, which had for a while sought to influence the Matsumae and break their monopoly over trade in Ezo. There was nevertheless a lack of strong evidence and a complete inability on the Council’s behalf to act in Ezo without the consent of both the Shogun and the Sendai Domain, which forced Yamada Sueyoshi to make a gamble. In the spring of 1669, as Shakushain was attacking Kunnui in the Oshima peninsula, thus bringing the war to the Matsumae domain proper in Ezo, the Tairō made a deal with Date Tsunamuna, by which the Date would provide men and assistance to the Matsumae domain while the Matsumae would relinquish their monopoly of trade over Ezo in favor of the Date, and be de facto vassals of the Date clan. [5]

Soon afterwards, the daimyo’s son, Date Tsunamura, was dispatched to the Matsumae clan of Hakodate along with 4,000 men, 500 Arquebuses and 5 warships. In the summer of 1669, Tsunamura drove Shakushain from the towns of Sawara and Washinoki, which the Ainu had been able to reach and threaten in late 1668, and forced the rebels to central Ezo, where Shakushain was decisively defeated at Lake Toya, in July of 1669, and then again at the Shiraoi River, a month later. By that time, Spanish vessels had become scarcer and then completely disappeared from the shores of Ezo by the fall of that year, allegedly due to the fact that the Date had become involved and that either meant that the Spanish would endanger their position in Japan by fighting their allies on the empire, or had followed their part in a plan designed by the Date to takeover Ezo. In any case, the war continued between 1669 and 1671, with a second Ainu defeat at Lake Toya in January of 1670 and the death of several of Shakushain’s lieutenants at the Ishikari River in the fall of that year, as the chieftain was making preparations for an alliance with the Ainu of central and northern Ezo that didn’t come to be that year. In the winter of 1671, Date Tsunamura died of pneumonia, although others claimed that he was struck by one of the Ainu’s famed poisoned arrows. Whatever was the case, the war had cost both sides too many lives and in the summer of 1671, both Shakushain and the Matsumae domain were forced to come to terms. As was established by the secret accord in Kofu, the Matsumae lost their commercial monopoly, and now not only was all trade made through the ships and agents of the Date clan and their vassals, but the Matsumae domain itself fell under the sphere of influence of Sendai, which had already come to the Tōhoku region in the late 16th century. The Ainu were not allowed to trade directly with Honshu, but their suzerainty over the conquered ports was recognized as long as they allowed the presence of Date traders. Shakushain was not only not punished, but even officially recognized by the Japanese in his position as Chieftain of the Ainu tribes that he had managed to unify. The small victories obtained over the Japanese would nevertheless prove to be short-lived, as Shakushain was murdered, by allegedly drunk Matsumae soldiers [6] while partaking in the traditional exchange of gifts during the peace negotiations. Following the assassination of the Ainu Chieftain in the summer of 1672, the southern Ainu remained unified, much to the concern of the Japanese, and most Ainu leaders and Chieftains showed their sympathies to the deceased “King of the Menashunkur” [7] and scorn for the Matsumae domain and their allies amongst the Japanese and the Ainu.

The war would be with time presented as both a first step towards the birth of the Ainu nation and the first real war between the Ainu and the Yamato cultures within that context, ignoring to a degree the economic factors that led to the war and the fact that Wajin (Japanese) people fought on both sides of the conflict and so did the Ainu. In any case, the Shakushain War not only became a foundational myth in the Ainu national narrative, but also showcased many of the structural problems that plagued Japan and even East Asia: it showed that the Shogunate was not strong enough to keep the peace within the realm and that the Shogun was reluctant to maintain Japan’s presence in what could be considered her periphery domains, as would later be shown when Tungning occupied the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1676, which had been a vassal to the Shimazu for nearly sixty years. Furthermore, the Ainu Rebellion can also be seen within the European context as part of the Spanish and Dutch struggle to reposition themselves in the region and rebuilt their spheres of influence in East Asia following the losses of Formosa in 1648 and the Philippines in 1661. [8]

For the Takeda Shogunate, this was to be only one of many cries to shook the very foundations of the realm.

Notes:​

1. The War IOTL took place in 1669-1672, and the Matsumae domain had the same problems and were thus forced to ask for help to the Shogunate early on, whereas Shakushain has considerably more advantages ITTL as opposed to his situation ITTL;

2. IOTL, the Tokugawa Shogunate was of course more concerned and rather fast when sending help against the Ainu during the Shakushain Rebellion of 1669-1672;

3. Tairō is a title meaning “Great Elder”, and serves as a Prime Minister of sorts within a Shogunate, presiding the Council of Elders (Rōjū);

4. More big differences between the IOTL and the ITTL Shakushain war: the presence of Spanish and even Japanese traders to help them: IOTL the Ainu fought alone and divided with poisoned arrows and spears, while ITTL they have more Japanese weapons and even firearms and some Spanish former-soldiers to fight on their side;

5. This sort of thing didn’t happen during the Tokugawa Shogunate, IIRC, but the Shogun here is a madman, the Shogunate a much weaker and less intrusive government, the daimyo much more autonomous and ambitious and the councilors are forced to make do with what they have;

6. Shakushain’s was killed under similar circumstances IOTL, but having accomplished less;

7. Another name for the regional group of Ainu Shakushain led;

8. More about this in the next chapter;

***

Next chapter will deal with what Shi Kefa and Zheng Zhilong have been doing in Taiwan. Stay tuned.


Oh, and here's a map of eastern Ezo. I hope it's readable.

Red dots mark battles:
Blue dots mark the extent of the Shakushain domain after the war;

 

[tormsen]

Are we going to see Christianization and missionary work among the Ainu by the Spanish? A Catholic Ainu state north of Japan would be pretty fascinating.

Hmmm, was in Zheng Zhilong who did it for the Spanish Philippines? I'll have to wait and see...

 

[FDW]

Interesting, I await your next update.

 

[maverick]

Are we going to see Christianization and missionary work among the Ainu by the Spanish? A Catholic Ainu state north of Japan would be pretty fascinating.

Hmmm, was in Zheng Zhilong who did it for the Spanish Philippines? I'll have to wait and see...

A. There will be a continued Spanish and Catholic presence in Ainu lands, but it won't become the main religion;

B. Indeed.


Anyhow, here's a better map of the IOTL Shakushain War.

 

[The Gunrunner Rimbaud]

I'm a bit dubious about the ability of the Ainu to form a lasting nation, not so much because of the Yamato onslaught (though the numbers are going to be very much against them as well), but due to the fact that like the Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, they had little resistance to the pathogens of agriculturalists, as well as the predisposition towards devastating alcoholism that most cultures without any history of alcohol usage develop. They're also going to be under pressure faster, due to the fact that due to Japan being more open, European and American crops suited for the colder domains of Tohoku and Hokkaido will probably be introduced earlier, and goodness knows that by the 1700s, there's going to be some intense population pressures kicking in, starting in Southern Japan.

Those population pressures are going to get really interesting, what with the open ports and all. Why starve and die in a famine when you can be an indentured servant abroad?

 

[tormsen]

I'm a bit dubious about the ability of the Ainu to form a lasting nation, not so much because of the Yamato onslaught (though the numbers are going to be very much against them as well), but due to the fact that like the Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, they had little resistance to the pathogens of agriculturalists, as well as the predisposition towards devastating alcoholism that most cultures without any history of alcohol usage develop. They're also going to be under pressure faster, due to the fact that due to Japan being more open, European and American crops suited for the colder domains of Tohoku and Hokkaido will probably be introduced earlier, and goodness knows that by the 1700s, there's going to be some intense population pressures kicking in, starting in Southern Japan.

I doubt that the Ainu were as susceptible to the diseases as the Native Americans were, though considering that pathogens also had devastasting effects on some Siberian peoples you may have a point. Alcoholism, though, I think is based more on social conditions than a lack of historical consumption. People whose ancestors have enjoyed alcohol for millenia are just as susceptible to devastating alcoholism with the right economic and/or social conditions.

It should be noted, however, that the Ainu were a partially agricultural people as well, raising wheat and barley. If the Spanish are active in the region, it could be that cold-climate-suitable crops from the Americas get into Ainu hands first, which might mean that they have a population boom of their own eating potatoes and corn.

Those population pressures are going to get really interesting, what with the open ports and all. Why starve and die in a famine when you can be an indentured servant abroad?

Indeed, these kinds of pressures stimulated the British to send waves of immigrants elsewhere. The likely target for settlement of excess Japanese is probably going to be Korea...

 

[The Gunrunner Rimbaud]

I doubt that the Ainu were as susceptible to the diseases as the Native Americans were, though considering that pathogens also had devastasting effects on some Siberian peoples you may have a point. Alcoholism, though, I think is based more on social conditions than a lack of historical consumption. People whose ancestors have enjoyed alcohol for millenia are just as susceptible to devastating alcoholism with the right economic and/or social conditions.

It should be noted, however, that the Ainu were a partially agricultural people as well, raising wheat and barley. If the Spanish are active in the region, it could be that cold-climate-suitable crops from the Americas get into Ainu hands first, which might mean that they have a population boom of their own eating potatoes and corn.



Indeed, these kinds of pressures stimulated the British to send waves of immigrants elsewhere. The likely target for settlement of excess Japanese is probably going to be Korea...

Eh, there's been research about genetic propensity towards alcoholism/alcohol intake across various population focii, given that this board has a much more tabula rasa view of human nature, I'm not going to push the whole population genetics envelope here, suffice to say alcohol and one's genetic tolerance of it, is a pretty simple mechanism(s), much like lactose tolerance.

Note, I'm of Pacific Islander descent, and have substance abuse run in my family, hence I'm not speaking from some position of presumed genetic authority here.

Also the same population pressures in Japan are also going to be in effect in Korea, while not as densely populated as Japan, they're going to be hooked into the same tech and crop package that Japan is hooked into. Settlement there is probably going to go along the lines of Ireland, more than anything else, Japanese elite in a sea of Koreans, with slight majorities in some small areas, and just as interestingly, Koreans in the cities of Japan.

I imagine Asian immigrants will be more demographically overwhelming in less populated/developed areas of the Pacific Rim.

 

[Chargone]

actually, i'm pretty sure the Ainu make an appearance in Look to the West (https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=178247 )
in that time line the Russians subvert(?) them as a way to bypass the Japanese treaty/trade/whatever ports and they (and the Japanese lords up there, if i remember rightly) end up a Russian (or possibly Lithuanian, it's been a while since i read it) vassal state... at least kinda.

something like that anyway. not sure how well they do out of it in the end, mind you.

 

[tormsen]

Eh, there's been research about genetic propensity towards alcoholism/alcohol intake across various population focii, given that this board has a much more tabula rasa view of human nature, I'm not going to push the whole population genetics envelope here, suffice to say alcohol and one's genetic tolerance of it, is a pretty simple mechanism(s), much like lactose tolerance.

Fair enough, sounds interesting. Then again, human behavior often trumps these things. For instance, Asians are supposed to be lactose intolerant but Koreans seem to drink quite a lot of milk...

Note, I'm of Pacific Islander descent, and have substance abuse run in my family, hence I'm not speaking from some position of presumed genetic authority here.

Ah, but I'm of Norwegian-misc British descent myself, and I also have substance abuse run in my family, though it's manifested in different ways on each side. So I'm pretty skeptical. I would say there are some genetic propensities relating to alcohol (such as the "Asian flush") and perhaps alcoholism. But I would also say that social and environmental factors are more important.

Also the same population pressures in Japan are also going to be in effect in Korea, while not as densely populated as Japan, they're going to be hooked into the same tech and crop package that Japan is hooked into. Settlement there is probably going to go along the lines of Ireland, more than anything else, Japanese elite in a sea of Koreans, with slight majorities in some small areas, and just as interestingly, Koreans in the cities of Japan.

Hmm, that would be interesting. The Korean minority in Japan is rather large, but also a rather recent, mostly 19th century, development. It will be interesting to see how it goes if it happens earlier.

I wonder how the Qing population levels in Manchuria are. In OTL, that whole area was artificially kept relatively underpopulated. Here, overcrowding in Japan and Korea might push people north (again, an OTL 19th century phenomenon coming two centuries ahead of schedule.)

I imagine Asian immigrants will be more demographically overwhelming in less populated/developed areas of the Pacific Rim.

Dare we hope, on the eastern side of it as well?

 

[The Gunrunner Rimbaud]

Fair enough, sounds interesting. Then again, human behavior often trumps these things. For instance, Asians are supposed to be lactose intolerant but Koreans seem to drink quite a lot of milk...



Ah, but I'm of Norwegian-misc British descent myself, and I also have substance abuse run in my family, though it's manifested in different ways on each side. So I'm pretty skeptical. I would say there are some genetic propensities relating to alcohol (such as the "Asian flush") and perhaps alcoholism. But I would also say that social and environmental factors are more important.



Hmm, that would be interesting. The Korean minority in Japan is rather large, but also a rather recent, mostly 19th century, development. It will be interesting to see how it goes if it happens earlier.

I wonder how the Qing population levels in Manchuria are. In OTL, that whole area was artificially kept relatively underpopulated. Here, overcrowding in Japan and Korea might push people north (again, an OTL 19th century phenomenon coming two centuries ahead of schedule.)



Dare we hope, on the eastern side of it as well?

The reason why Japanese and Koreans drink milk with no problem right now is due to the fact that they treat the milk in country with chemicals that aid in the digestion of Lactose, much like we have Lactaid brand milk in the West for folks like me. Literally 95% of the population of Japan is lactose intolerant. China and Korea have higher tolerances, most likely due to genetic influx from the steppes.

As for the genetic predisposition of substance abuse, it's much stronger than you think; one allele snippet has an extremely strong correlation for it, and it's possible to see if you have it when you get your own personal genome sequenced. Any case, I'm drifting off-topic and into a real minefield. Razib Khan's blog is a good place to start as a primer on population genetics. Completely dispelled a lot of the "common wisdom" on human nature I once believed. And that's the last I'll say on the subject here. You're free to message me if you want to continue it.

The Korean minority isn't large OTL. ~650,000 people scattered in an overall population of 120 million is less than 0.5%. Moreover, the majority of them have been in Japan since the early part of the 20th Century or are descended from that group, and for all functional intents and purposes, are Japanese. Japan's draconian immigration and naturalization policy is what keeps them from completely assimilating. Most of them are third generation or so, and live under assumed (if not legally registered) Japanese names.

It would be pretty interesting if they had more of a feel of the Irish immigrants in England or America, partially assimilated, but also fiercely proud of their own identity.

Also, why would you settle Manchuria, and fight the Qing, the Koreans, and the bitter cold when you can settle the Pacific, which sorta happened OTL. The strongest population pressures were in rural Southern Japan anyways, who due to the Christian component of the population ATL, the temperate to sub tropical weather and crop package, and mercantile interests, are probably going to look towards the south.

Speaking of, why hasn't anything been said about the awesome little Kingdom of the Ryukyus? It's amazing they maintained their independence for so long OTL. Can we have them deviously playing off the Japanese, Chinese and Europeans?

 

[tormsen]

The Korean minority isn't large OTL. ~650,000 people scattered in an overall population of 120 million is less than 0.5%. Moreover, the majority of them have been in Japan since the early part of the 20th Century or are descended from that group, and for all functional intents and purposes, are Japanese. Japan's draconian immigration and naturalization policy is what keeps them from completely assimilating. Most of them are third generation or so, and live under assumed (if not legally registered) Japanese names.

Actually, from what I know, the ethnic Korean population in Japan was much larger during WW2, up to 2 million, but they largely went home.

How I've heard it said is that while the South Korean government encouraged the Korean Japanese to naturalize, the North Koreans discouraged it. So most of the remaining ethnic Korean population is, to some extent, pro-North. I don't have any numbers in front of me, but I've known a few Zainichi, and they've almost all been naturalized or born as Japanese citizens. I don't think it's the immigration policy thats the problem.

Also, why would you settle Manchuria, and fight the Qing, the Koreans, and the bitter cold when you can settle the Pacific, which sorta happened OTL. The strongest population pressures were in rural Southern Japan anyways, who due to the Christian component of the population ATL, the temperate to sub tropical weather and crop package, and mercantile interests, are probably going to look towards the south.

Possibly, but where? Philippines? Maverick mentioned that the Spanish are going to lose it, and I thought he meant Zheng Zhilong was going to take them. But it might very well be the Japanese.

Speaking of, why hasn't anything been said about the awesome little Kingdom of the Ryukyus? It's amazing they maintained their independence for so long OTL. Can we have them deviously playing off the Japanese, Chinese and Europeans?

They were occupied by Tungning, I believe. The Ryukyus do tend to get forgotten, which is a pity.

 

[maverick]

I'm glad this chapter has gotten such a reaction.


1. Fear not, I don't intend this to be an Ainu wank. National Unification is one thing, but Independence in this context means "not part of Japan." I'm trying to give the Ainu a role and not have the future Ainu "nation" as a puppet entity propped by foreign guns and potatoes.

I've considered the demographic factors, since they do come up in the Ainu books I've found on-line, although not the genetic ones. I should probably consider how alcohol abuse and agricultural pathogens affect the Ainu. There will be a different development of religion, agriculture, commerce and war in Ezo as Nation X continues to meddle with Ezo in the 18th Century.

2. The Ryukyus. They were turned into vassals of the Shimazu Clan of Satsuma in 1612 ITTL, and as Tormsen has pointed out, then occupied by Tungning in the 1650s. I haven't mentioned them, along with Tibet or Indochina, it's because I need to research it a bit more, and because I get sidetracked by developments in China with the Shun and with researching the Ainu, since there's not good info online in Engilsh and Spanish.

They will have a part, albeit small for now, in the next chapter, and hopefully I might develop them more with time. The Taiwanese Aborigens will also get a mention, as the next chapter takes place in Formosa, but probably a rather small one, unfortunately.

3. Japanese demographics. I'm still considering where would Japanese migrants would go. In my other TL, they went to California, Hawaii and Thailand, for some reason, but ITTL the most likely places are of course Korea and a couple of other places I have in mind.

4. Koreans in Japan. There are more of them than IOTL, but not assimilated by any stretch of the word. I'll cover this next time I talk about Japanese Society, probably in the late 17th or early 18th Century.




Of course, if you have ideas, I'm always open to new ideas and to change whatever is wrong.