A New China (Guangdong AAR) - Part 2: Modernization (1852-1875)

Welcome back to the AAR.

Shortly following the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Empire is under a state of disaster, having to fight multiple wars...

...such as the Second Opium War against Britain and her allies...

...a rebellion led by a Qinghai Muslim imam to protest the attempted Qing centralization of the region...

...and the Manchurian War (滿洲戰爭) against the Russians, who claim Outer Manchuria (外满洲) as part of their empire.

On the flipside, Charles Elliot's Kwangtung is looking much like a paragon of peace after the massive series of wars, interventions and rebellions the Qing empire is suffering through. Elliot is now 51 years of age, and is destined to govern Kwangtung for the rest of his life.

But even as a paragon of peace, he cannot stop the Chinese Revival Movement (中國復興運動) from rebelling, even in small, easily defeatable numbers.

Upon the Battle of Shao-kuan (韶關), however, the rebellion was somewhat crushed. The units that rebelled were only a minority of revolutionaries, and the possibility of there being a larger attempt at revolution was possible.

The Qing finally ended their war with Russia in the Treaty of Peking (北京條約), where a tiny part of Outer Manchuria was ceded to Russia. The more populous cities of Outer Manchuria, such as Haishenwai (海參崴), remained under Qing jurdistiction.

Three weeks later, the Treaty of Shang-Hai (上海條約) was signed between the British and the Qing, where the city of Shang-Hai was to be ceded to the British as a treaty port.

In Japan, the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate was, after two years of war with the United States, forced to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa (神奈川条約) with the United States, where the Americans gained complete rights in Japan, and were allowed to do as they wished with Japan.

However, in nine months, Emperor Komei (孝明天皇) of Japan expelled the Western influences that Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi (徳川 家茂) and his advisors opened up to, causing a rift in Japan between Imperial authority and Shogunate authority.

Within a few months of the Japanese expulsion, an American trader in Canton was robbed and killed by a Cantonese gang of his goods and killed. President Franklin Pierce desired to punish the Presidency for the murder of the trader, but our protection by the British prevents that.

On the third of August, Elliot passed the Education Act (教育法), where the education standards of Kwangtung were aligned with Western standards. As a result, the literacy rate of Kwangtung started to increase, allowing further progress towards Western standards.

A few years after the first rebellion, a much larger rebellion was attempted by the CRM, as 40,000 peasants rose in rebellion against British rule.

However, it failed. Some of the ringleaders, such as the three Cantonese women pictured here, were imprisoned and later executed by the British Cantonese government.

Two years after the last rebellion, another large rebellion was attempted. 50,000 men rose up against British rule.

Yet once again, it failed. Rebel irregulars have proven to be no match against professional troops.

Another Cantonese gang kills a Spanish trader in Canton. Although Spain desires intervention, they cannot do nothing due to fear of British intervention.

In Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate and the forces allied with it emerged victorious in the Boshin War (戊辰戦争), a civil war in Japan between the Western-aligned Shogunate and the isolationist Emperor. After about a year of fighting, Emperor Komei was put under house arrest and Imperial rule over Japan was forcibly ended.

Tokugawa Iemochi, having centralized his complete rule over all of Japan, officially declared the end of the old Yamato dynasty (皇室) in Japan and their de-jure rule. In a grandidose coronation ceremony, the young 16-year-old Shogun was declared the new Emperor of Japan (天皇). The old Yamato dynasty was forcibly expelled to Hong Kong, and the Tokugawa dynasty, who had effectively ruled Japan for nearly 200 years already, became the de jure leaders of Japan.

In 1862, an ironclad was commissioned for the British Canton Squadron to improve its prestige and power.

Charles Elliot was now 62 years of age, and his health was starting to decline. Even with his health on the decline, Elliot desired to retain his status as the Governor of Kwangtung, as was proclaimed back twenty years prior.

He was still mentally sharp, however. In an attempt to maximize the potential of the Kwangtung farmland, the Land Act (土地法) was passed, which redistributed land among the Cantonese aristocracy. Despite opposition from aristocrats and farmers alike, the act's intention - to maximize the profits of Kwangtung and increase the potential of the farmland - paid huge dividends.

After that, any idea of isolationism and tradition in Kwangtung was decisively stamped out in favor of productivity and making Kwangtung a large producer of materiel.

The profits made soared. As a result, more government spending was done, increasing the budget for the military and decreasing taxes for the aristocracy.

As a result, growth of the Army increased dramatically, as farmers and soldiers alike flocked to the barracks to serve in the Kwangtung Army due to the potential of high pay from the Act.

As westernization continued, Elliot and the administration in Canton started making more overtures to foreigner governments. The Prussian monarchy was courted first, followed by the French.

By 1870, every inch of Kwangtung was covered in soldiers. This ballooned the strength perception of the British protectorate, of course, as the little autonomous Presidency now had more soldiers than that of nations like Portugal, Mexico and Bavaria. This didn't mean quality of soldiers; it simply meant quantity.

Due to this, the Kwangtung Presidency was considered the strongest "uncivilzed" nation, above that of even the Qing dynasty. As a result, the Kwangtung Presidency was considered a successful example of colonial rule, and many European nations hoped to copy it alike to maximize profit and strength out of the natives within their colonies.

Despite all this, massive economic problems ensued from having to pay every member of the military a large amount of money. As a result, taxes were raised for the aristocrats, the artisans, bureaucrats, intellectuals and officers.

The increasingly educated Cantonese people were able to see more and more benefits of Westernization. Pressure upon the government led to administrative reform, where Kwangtung was organized around county and provincial subdivisions rather than inherited, aristocratic land.

Opposition to the reforms continue to grow, however. Nearly sixty-one regiments are ready to rise up against Elliot's Presidency in efforts to return Kwangtung to Qing rule, despite Kwangtung having a much higher life quality than that of the Chinese Empire.

British-produced artillery is introduced into the country, to better defend ourselves from potential Qing incursion. Elliot, now increasingly feeble, passed the Army Reorganization Act of 1873 (軍隊重組法), where every Regiment in Kwangtung was to be armed with British artillery.

120,000 infantry and cavalry were forced from their original roles and ordered to join ranks as artillery battery, causing mass frustration among the dismissed infantry and cavalry. The reorganization was met positively in Britain and among high-ranking British officials in Kwangtung and Hong Kong, but was met with massive controversy in Kwangtung.

The first showing of what the artillery cannon can do was shown on March 1875, when the Chinese Revival Movement attempted another rebellion, this time the largest of any rebellion before that. Armed with former soldiers who were angered at the reorganization, the rebellion was an attempt to stop the westernization once and for all.

Artillery massacred the irregulars harder than ever before. The British Canton Army was now considered to be the second best army in Asia (behind that of Japan's). Artillery is a massive boon to the Army, and was widely implemented in the ranks, and reorganization was planned to be finished by 1877.

However, right before the artillery units were able to be completely reorganized, on September 9th 1875, Charles Elliot, the Governor of Kwangtung since 1839, passed away from a heart attack in the city of Canton while sleeping. He was 74 years old, and for half of his life, ruled Kwangtung and partially westernized the region.

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was saddened by the loss of Elliot, and attended a state funeral for him in London in November 1875. Between Elliot's death and the end of 1875, Disraeli had to make a decision on who to appoint as the next Governor of Kwangtung.

After some deliberation, Sir John Davis, a former Governor of Hong Kong, was appointed the new Governor of the Kwangtung Presidency.

Now that Elliot is dead, what will come of the Kwangtung?