Nanyang Storm 1864

The Great Chu Empire
"You need not try to persuade me any further. My mind is made up, and there is no need for further words."

The Crown Prince is of noble character, acts with integrity, and manages imperial affairs with diligence and prudence. He enjoys my deep trust and can be entrusted with the great cause of the empire without fear of any unforeseen events.

Ignoring the advice of his ministers, Emperor Zheng Guohui spoke resolutely.

Despite repeated advice from his ministers, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Dynasty refused to abdicate the throne and issued an edict of abdication after the 53rd anniversary of the founding of the nation.

The new emperor, Zheng Yuan, declined the throne three times and ascended it at the age of 52 with the support of his ministers. He respectfully honored his father, Zheng Guohui, as the Supreme Emperor of the Great Chu Empire and issued an edict to the world, attracting the attention of countries around the world.

Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui, seeking tranquility, moved out of the palace and into a beautiful lakeside palace called the Summer Palace, which was originally his vacation palace.

By September
Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui and his entourage arrived at Cebu Island and stayed at the Cloud Palace, a luxurious Baroque-style palace that was extremely exquisite.

Having shed worldly affairs, the 7-year-old retired Emperor Zheng Guohui is in increasingly good health and lives a very comfortable life in Cebu, a beautiful seaside city that is like paradise on earth.

Less than two months

A message from the Kingdom of Guangnan shattered the peaceful retirement of the retired emperor.

After King Liu Yongfu of Guangnan passed away in early 1917, his eldest son Liu Chengzhang succeeded to the throne, but was caught in a power struggle. The second prince Liu Chengye and the fourth prince Liu Chengwen each held their own power, causing the kingdom to split and fight endlessly.

On October 17th of this year

The forces of the second prince Liu Chengye and the fourth prince Liu Chengwen, totaling more than 2.2 men, successively captured Quang Ninh Province, Bac Giang Province, and Hai Duong Province, and the rebel army approached the capital, Hai Phong Province.

King Liu Chengzhang of Guangnan dispatched troops to resist the attack while urgently sending envoys to request aid, humbly asking the imperial army to help him overcome this crisis.

The Empire was furious and immediately dispatched the 11th Division, stationed on Sumatra, along with several infantry regiments to reinforce it, totaling more than 1.6 troops, northward to the Kingdom of Guangnan to carry out a full-scale military intervention.

November 25st

Before the Imperial interventionist forces even boarded their ships, shocking news arrived from the front.

With the help of traitors within Haiphong City, the rebels launched a surprise attack on the capital. The King of Guangnan and his family disappeared without a trace, and the city was thrown into chaos.

The situation in the entire Guangnan Kingdom has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and there are signs that it is slipping out of control...

Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui had already received this news and immediately sensed that something was amiss. How could the Second Prince Liu Chengye and the Fourth Prince Liu Chengwen have such audacity to commit regicide and rebellion?

There must have been some behind-the-scenes manipulation by the French in this.

The situation in the Indochina Peninsula had already stabilized more than 20 years ago.

France has never given up its ambition to fully colonize the Indochina Peninsula, but it has been delayed until now due to the power of the Great Chu Empire and the continuous wars in Europe.

The upheaval in the Kingdom of Guangnan may have been orchestrated by the newly appointed French Governor-General of Saigon, Pierre-Marie Antoine Paquier.

Otherwise, the rebels could not have been so swift and powerful, conquering cities and territories as if they had taken a super tonic, treating the Guangnan King's army as nothing. This is completely inexplicable.

The Guangnan King's army was trained in accordance with the military regulations of the Great Chu Empire. Although its equipment was somewhat inferior, it lacked advanced weapons such as tanks and airplanes due to economic reasons, and it also had fewer cannons.

However, it is not that they cannot fight. Their overall combat strength is still considerable, and their army of 3 to 4 people also has an advantage.

It only took about a week for them to be completely defeated.

It's impossible to explain this without something fishy going on.

The Great Chu Empire reacted very quickly, immediately ordering the Guangnan Intervention Army to board ships and head north, and also mobilizing more troops to prepare for a large-scale landing at the coast.

It is expected that on the 28th, the first batch of intervention forces from Guangnan, mainly composed of the 11th Expeditionary Division, will land at Haiphong under the protection of the fleet, at which time all the evil spirits will be exposed.

Looking at the time, it's tomorrow.

Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui put down his notes and said to his secretary Gu Huaiyu, "Huaiyu, keep an eye on news from the Kingdom of Guangnan. It seems the French are up to their old tricks again."

"Your Majesty understands the nuances involved..."

"Let's ignore the dogfight for now. The main thing is whether the King of Guangnan has been murdered. If so, then the rest should be wiped out. Little Eleven has always wanted to establish a kingdom, so let him go to Guangnan to clean up the mess."

"Your Majesty, I humbly obey your command and convey your thoughts to Your Majesty. Is this permissible?"

"that is it."

After giving his instructions in a calm tone, Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui continued fishing on the reef, but his mind was still on the matter at hand.

The tree may wish to be still, but the wind will not cease.

The Kingdom of Quang Nam was located in northern Vietnam. After the Vietnamese king was deposed, it maintained a stalemate with the French Saigon Governor-General in the south.

This was also a major concern for the French colonists. However, considering the Great Chu Empire behind them, the French dared not act rashly.

Making a move now implies a test.

Since that's the case, then there's no need to be polite. The crimes of fratricide and regicide are unforgivable. No matter who is behind Liu Chengye and Liu Chengwen, they must bear the serious consequences for their rebellion.

As for the Guangnan Kingdom, it will be taken back and bestowed upon His Highness the Eleventh Prince.

The Liu family members were never any extraordinary talents; at best, they were just local warlords.

The second generation of descendants are not very virtuous. The eldest, Liu Chengzhang, is a mediocre and incompetent fool. He was overthrown after only two years on the throne, which shows how incredibly stupid he was.

The second son, Liu Chengye, was ambitious, but he was also a tyrannical person with a bad temper, greed, lust, and a penchant for debauchery. He was not worthy of his position and was never a good person.

The fourth brother, Liu Chengwen, was cunning and treacherous, full of schemes, but he never used them effectively.

It's a real waste to have such a fine kingdom in their hands.

Over the past few decades

The core members of the Black Flag Army were either dead or scattered, and the kingdom's major policies were controlled by some sycophants. The kingdom's social atmosphere had always been bad, with chaotic public security, rampant corruption, and chaos from top to bottom.

Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui originally did not want to get involved. How the vassal states were doing was their own business, and the suzerain state should not interfere casually.

Now that we have the opportunity, why not rebuild our nation?
After pacifying the turmoil in the Quang Nam Kingdom, we can simply march west and directly conquer Hanoi, taking over all 17 northern provinces occupied by the French. That would be a considerable kingdom.

The French have been secretly stirring things up, crossing the line of the tacit understanding between the two sides.

Then don't blame the Great Chu Empire for striking swiftly and decisively, slapping the Frenchman across the face and making him suffer many misfortunes. Old-school colonizers like Britain and France seem restless if they don't cause trouble every few days.

The French had this bad habit: after their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, they began a full-scale colonial expansion around the world the very next year, frequently launching wars.

That period was also the era in which the French were most active in launching colonial wars in the Indochina Peninsula.

Now it's happening again. The flames of war in Europe have just been extinguished, and the Paris Peace Conference just concluded in June, and now they're stirring up trouble in the Indochina Peninsula in November.

This behavior is typical of someone who forgets past mistakes after being rewarded.

The Great Chu Empire has developed to the point where its economy, military, and political influence are among the world's top, and it no longer needs to act cautiously or be mindful of the opinions of countries like Britain and France.

If you dare to reach out, we'll chop off your claws.

Since his abdication, Emperor Emeritus Zheng Guohui has generally not been involved in politics, except for particularly important domestic and international events that are reported to him for his personal decision.

He had already handed over all the routine affairs to the Cabinet Office and the Emperor's office, so he was happy to have some peace and quiet.

By the end of this year

Duke Lee Kyung-hee, who has served two terms as Prime Minister, will also resign and become Speaker of the Senate. The newly elected Prime Minister will form a cabinet to lead the Empire into a new era in the 1920s.

The world changes, and youth fades quickly.

in recent times
The retired emperor Zheng Guohui paid close attention to North American affairs. After the Paris Peace Conference, North American news media launched a barrage of criticism against Europe and the State of Chu, describing the two as "colluding and conspiring together."

He described Europe as "an old Europe full of prejudice and outdated ideas, like an old man on his deathbed, lacking vitality and innovation."

The state of Chu was described as "an aggressive new colonizer from the East, greedy for expanding its power and territory, attempting to erode the world with its pagan culture, and one of the main causes of global instability."

This sparked wave after wave of public opinion, and within the country, there were also many signs of exclusion and suppression of Chinese forces, especially with a strong sense of vigilance towards Chu's financial capital, and various hostile arguments were rampant.

The Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned the United States about its actions, but the US has ignored them and clearly intends to worsen bilateral relations.

The Great Chu Empire also took direct action, dispatching two expeditionary divisions to Haiwei in October. While intervening in the situation in Tsarist Russia, it used its fleet to cut off the northern shipping lanes of American merchant ships.

All of the United States’ transactions with the East, amounting to a staggering $3.36 million annually, were wiped out completely after November.

This is the most powerful voice of the Great Chu Empire declaring its hegemony in the Pacific. Since the Americans are pretending to be stupid, then let's seize the opportunity and slap them hard in the face until they don't even recognize their own mothers.

Such a forceful action caused an uproar in the United States.

The pressure was once again placed on Washington, forcing the United States to urgently send a senior special envoy to Manila to seek a favorable solution to the dispute between the two countries.

In Baja California, the fleet stationed there by the Great Chu Empire frequently crossed the extended sea line of the border between the two countries, penetrating deep into the waters near Los Angeles and San Francisco, exerting direct military pressure on them.

This sparked continuous protests from the Americans. The Navy responded that it was just a normal routine voyage and asked the US not to overinterpret it, since the fleet did not approach US territorial waters.

At the end of 1919

Competition between Chu and the United States in the European market was fierce. The overall decrease in global demand led to the bankruptcy and shutdown of tens of thousands of American factories and the collapse of hundreds of American banks, demonstrating the severe post-war effects.

Today's Americans are like complaining women, blaming everything but their own economic coordination problems.

in this year
The US economy has plummeted from over ten percent in the previous two years to about 5.7% this year, a drop of 72%, which is like a direct descent into the ground.

The Great Chu Empire's economic growth rate in previous years was also in the teens. This year, it has taken proactive measures, with the government and the Imperial Household Department organizing a series of major projects, which has greatly released the excess productivity of society.

Therefore, economic growth is expected to remain between 8.9% and 9.1% this year, which is quite good and shows a steady downward trend.

The difference between the two is obvious.

If this economic growth rate can be maintained for a considerable period of time, it is possible that within the next 5 to 8 years, China will catch up with and surpass the total size of the United States' economy, thus taking the throne of the world's largest economy.

Actually

The total economic output of the Great Chu Empire never included its more than twenty vassal kingdoms. The Kingdom of Colombia alone accounted for 4.52% of the total economic output of the United States, making it a true economic powerhouse in South America.

If all of them are included, it already exceeds the total economic output of the United States.

How should we view the United States?

This was a question that Emperor Zheng Guohui, the retired emperor of the Great Chu Empire, had been pondering for a long time. In the early stages of the European war, he once considered taking military action against the Americans in order to curb the overall development of the American economy through war.

Later, due to various reasons, he eventually gave up on this idea.

But this thought kept lingering in the mind of the retired Emperor Zheng Guohui.

Even in the later stages of the European war, the United States mobilized more than 300 million troops in just over six months, demonstrating its extremely strong military mobilization and supply capabilities.

This did not shake Emperor Zheng Guohui's mind. Due to the long land transportation between the east and west coasts of the United States, the contrast between the strength of the east coast and the weakness of the west coast was stark and a fatal weakness that could not be ignored.

Being right next to the Pacific Railroad connecting the east and west coasts, it could at most support an army of six or seven hundred thousand men in a war, that's the best they could do.

No more than that, because the transport capacity of a railway is always limited.

If this railroad were destroyed during wartime, the vital land artery connecting the east and west of North America would be completely paralyzed.

Don't forget that the western section of the U.S. Pacific Railroad had to traverse the treacherous Sierra Nevada Mountains, requiring the construction of numerous tunnels and bridges, which was a critical aspect of the project.

If a large-scale blasting occurs, resulting in a landslide, the entire railway line will be interrupted, and repairs will take at least several months to half a year.

If the Great Chu Empire had placed its main battlefield in the west, its probability of winning the land war would have been over 70%.

San Diego, California, is only 20 kilometers from the southern border, and the metropolis of Los Angeles is only 220 kilometers from the border, practically right under the noses of the Chu army.

By concentrating superior forces to launch a blitzkrieg, marked by the capture of Los Angeles and Seattle, it is possible to occupy most of the important cities on the west coast of the United States within 2 to 3 weeks, and firmly grasp the initiative on the battlefield.

Destroying the Pacific Railroad, thus completely severing its land artery, would significantly increase the chances of winning the final victory in the war.

As Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Dynasty pondered, suddenly the fishing line on the sea surface sank sharply, indicating that a large fish had taken the bait.

He quickly composed himself and focused intently on fighting the hooked fish, which was one of the great pleasures of his retirement life, something he did every few days with great enthusiasm.

Enjoying the pleasure of fishing is certainly a wonderful thing. (End of Chapter)