A New China (Guangdong AAR): Part 6 - Internal and External Expansion (1894-1900)

Welcome back to Kwangtung, now known as the South Chinese Republic.

Sun Yat-Sen is the first President of South China, sworn in at the age of 27, making him among the youngest leaders in the world. Even so, he remains among the most popular figures in South China, and he has gained massive interest in the world.

Across the three regular Provinces, the first Legislative Yuan was created. Within it, there were six parties of note: the Nationalist Party, the Dictatorship Party, the Labour Party, the Communist Party, the Liberal Party and the Nihilist Party. The Nationalist Party is the conservative party of South China and the political party that truly rules it - as Sun Yat-Sen is the leader of the Nationalists. The Dictatorship Party is a wing of the Nationalists in effect, as it desires the full establishment of a dictatorship led by Yat-Sen. Labour is the Socialist party, and allies with the Nationalists and the Dictatorshippers under the Unified Coalition, the leading group of South China. The Autonomous Province of Fukien did not gain representation, as they ended up getting their own legislature to govern the province.

The Liberal Coalition has massive power, however, and desires the institution of free elections to oust Sun Yat-Sen. However, the Unified Coalition prevents that. The Communist Party is on its own, and has no significant leader.

The emblem of South China seen on the flag became the symbol of the Nationalist Party, better known as Guomindang (國民黨). The Nationalist Party itself had total dominance over all affairs of South China.

The first order of Yat-Sen was to reorganize the Chinese Republican Army. The old infantry was to be replaced as soon as possible with more advanced guards, who often were trained better and used bolt-action rifles.

The first National Budget (國家預算) was created in early 1894. Taxes were to remain high and funding was to be low (except for education) to pay off the massive loans incurred from the Revolution as soon as possible.

Railroad construction was ordered in West Canton and Fuxien, in order to increase production and modernize the areas further.

Cantonese workers in Macao clearing the path for the China Railway (中國鐵路), May 1894.

The penal system of the country gained minor reform, ending capital punishment in South China.

However, disillusioned peasants who were angered at the high taxes rose up in rebellion in multiple cities - Canton, Macau and Waichow - led by a man named Huang Ting (黃婷), who called for the end of the Guomindang, the execution of Sun Yat-Sen, and the creation of a communist state.

The December People's Uprising (十二月人民起義) started on the first of December of 1894.

Huang Ting's armies had a dangerous advantage over the armies stationed in Canton, and looked poised to occupy the government.

However, as soon as reinforcements arrived from Macau, Huang Ting's luck ran out.

The Battle of Canton left forty thousand imprisoned, dead or missing, and Ting was forced to escape to Huizhou.

What remained of the Uprising was crushed, and Huang Ting was imprisoned.

After his capture, Ting was put on trial in the Judicial Yuan. The court charged him with high treason, and was to be imprisoned for life on an island off the coast of Hainan, to prevent his anti-government rabble from ever interfering with the activities of the country ever again.

As South China grew more and more developed, the country started to reach Western standards.

More advanced railroads were ordered in the rest of South China, finalizing the Chinese Railway.

The entire loan was repaid on August of 1896, ending over six years of crippling Chinese debt.

The Second National Budget increased spending overall, and decreased taxes massively.

The Third National Budget adjusted this further, and slightly decreased spending in the wake of a minor recession.

On October of 1898, the people came out to vote for the new Legislative Yuan. The Second Legislative Yuan was formed in January 1st 1899. There was little change, and the National Coalition had a larger majority than before.

Yat-Sen's rule was prosperous and successful, and it was going to continue to be prosperous and successful.

Fuxien's autonomy was ended in 1899, and they were to join the Legislative Yuan with all 60 seats in the 1st of January, 1904.

Economic prosperity led to a massive decrease of taxes in the Fourth National Budget.

However, the National Coalition was planning something in secret - an invasion of the Qing. Weak, floundering and terrible, the Qing Army was among the lowest quality armies in the world. Taking advantage of this to further establish ourselves as the South Chinese Republic is key...

...so on the first of June, 1899, the Dowager Empress Cixi was told that South Chinese armies had entered Qing territory and declared war on their Empire.

South Chines troops invaded and launched offensives on all parts of the Qing.

South Chinese troops marching away from home to Kwangtsi, June 12th, 1899.

The battles were massive and incredibly destructive for the Qing. The South Chinese armies were armed with modern, up-to-date artillery, infantry and cavalry, while the Qing armies used equipment from the first half of the 19th century.

Every battle was incredibly destructive for the Qing, and led to massive victories for the Chinese Republican Army.

Additional territory was demanded - Yunnan, the site of the forty-year-old Pingnan Guo rebellion.

More and more victories destroyed the Qing armies.

However, the war was becoming more and more exhaustive, as the South Chinese troops were getting increasingly tired of killing fellow Chinese. Soldiers had to fight family members in the field of combat.

Despite the crushing victories, the Qing hoped to use human wave tactics to order a surrender. However, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were dead, and unrest built up in the unstable empire.

As the world entered the 20th century, the South Chinese soldiers demanded peace. They were tired, hungry and annoyed, and wished that Yat-Sen would end the war.

Finally, the Empress Dowager Cixi decided to sign a peace treaty. Hundreds of thousands of dead Qing troops left the Empire under massive unrest, and she realized peace was the only way to end this.

In the Treaty of Hong Kong (香港條約), Guangtsi (廣西), Yunnan (雲南), Kweichow (貴州) and the southern part of Chiang-hsi (江西) were transferred to South Chinese rule.

The expanded territories added millions in population to the Republic, and led to the creation of four Autonomous Regions - Guangtsi, Yunnan, Kweichow, and Chiang-hsi in July of 1900.

Sun Yat-Sen had led the nation to victory once again, and it seems like the ultimate fate of the South Chinese Republic is to not only rule over South China, but to become the rulers of all of China, stretching from Tuva (圖瓦) in the north, to Hainan in the south - from Kashgar (喀什噶爾) in the west, to Harping (哈爾濱) in the east.

Long live the South Chinese Republic! Long live Sun Yat-Sen and the Guangdong!