War Never Again, Never Again War
Joseon had swallowed half of Manchuria and still wasn't full, so it started another war, annihilated the Qing, gobbled up everything all the way to the Yellow River basin, and turned itself into an empire. And what about Nihon? The Greater Japanese Empire? Nihon, which had aimed to ally with Joseon as the elder brother of East Asia to crush the Qing army and achieve co-prosperity in East Asia—what the hell had it gained so far?
While Joseon devoured half the continent, all Nihon got were a few gold trinkets and a handful of treaty ports. In terms of territory, it was just Taiwan Island. In square kilometers, Joseon had wolfed down a whopping 3 million all by itself, while Nihon's Taiwan was barely 40,000—no, 30,000 square kilometers. Simple math: the difference was a hundredfold.
That's right. Even though Nihon had pulled off the decisive feat of smashing the Beiyang Fleet, what it got in return was peanuts—even by Japanese standards. So the Japanese were pissed deep down. Pissed enough to keep stirring up trouble in Joseon's court...
"Aren't alliances supposed to mean you don't mess with each other?"
Japan had no such luxury. When you're starving, what do you see in front of your eyes? After the Boxer Rebellion that followed the Thousand Ming War, the Zhonghua Republic proudly planted itself in Nanjing. "That—that should be Nihon's, right?" they grumbled, setting fire to Joseon—no, the Korean court's backyard.
They themselves hadn't joined the "All-China People's Liberation Front" of the Thousand Ming War that toppled the Qing, claiming it wasn't their alliance's business. But to Japan, that land, that fertile legacy of the Qing, belonged to them for breaking the Beiyang Fleet. Otherwise, the math just didn't add up.
A hungry Japan sang songs of peace from now on, but this peace vibe that had finally arrived didn't sit well. Because they hadn't gotten shit. Right now, the unquenchable flames of war across East Asia—the Japanese were fanning them hard.
And because of that, there was one guy suffering in real time. "What else? Me, of course." The Supreme Leader of the Korean Empire, the one who wanted war less than anyone right now. I didn't know if the fat Japanese were doing it on purpose, but I was the number one victim of their bullshit.
I really needed to teach those bastards a lesson, but our national power just wasn't there yet...
Since we'd expanded by simply annexing the existing Zhonghua Autonomous Region in the Qing heartland, there was no typical post-conquest administrative vacuum. But on the flip side, it meant the government's workload exploded.
Postwar reconstruction and frantic growth were fine, but getting buried in work had become the daily routine for the Supreme Leader—no, the entire leadership.
And now East Asia's number one power was throwing a tantrum? Their motive? Nah, I wasn't completely clueless about the Japanese mindset. They'd had plenty of chances, but thanks to who, they hadn't snagged jack shit properly.
Even while Joseon was stamping the imperial seal in the Forbidden City after the Thousand Ming War, the Boxers were growing. I'd seen it in reports and dismissed it as some run-of-the-mill rebellion, but nope—it was the Boxers.
We got looted for cash and our base got ransacked, but somehow Cixi, who'd been left with power, stirred up the Boxers by saying Manchurians who lost Manchuria and Beijing weren't real khans or emperors.
I don't know how that limbless old hag pulled it off, but whether it was history's resilience or just what was meant to happen around then, the Boxers burned all the foreigners alive.
Naturally, the great powers—and Japan, at their behest—formed punitive expeditions and the anti-Qing coalition. And of course, Joseon—no, the newly proclaimed Korean Empire after ascending to the dragon throne—couldn't sit it out. Hell, sitting it out would've painted us as the Boxers' backers.
The war had just ended, but that was that and this was this. Couldn't we just drag the emperor we'd shipped off yesterday back to Beijing and give him a good kick?
That's what I thought back then. The living had to keep living.
I stared at the map of the Second Qing Empire founded in Xi'an.
Of course, none of this went smoothly. Cixi fled, and Japan threw a fit. Japan threatened that just as they'd lost an arm messing around in Liaodong, if Joseon played games north of the Yellow River, the coalition would gang up and chop off our arm too.
No treaty, no armistice, no territorial cession, no empire proclamation would be recognized until the Boxer mess was sorted, they said. Even I thought that made sense at the time.
The Boxers were an unforeseen curveball for me too, and you couldn't deny it was fallout from the Thousand Ming War. Why else would we freak out and gobble up to the Yellow River?
If the Boxers pushed north of the Yellow River, I'd be on the hook. Obviously, it was to dodge the powers' noses, but it ended up drawing their suspicion anyway. I'd braced for that fallout to some extent.
But you can't undo an emperor's enthronement after treaties are signed and the dragon throne ascended. The powers agreed it was an impossible demand.
I didn't like how means and ends had flipped either, but the lay of the land was what it was—what could I do? We'd gone to grab just Manchuria in the Thousand Ming War, only to get pounded from all sides and nearly cough it back up. No room to be picky.
Yeah, from the moment the Boxers erupted, I should've hauled that sidelined peanut vendor out of the back room and actually crowned him emperor.
I wasn't crazy enough to hand over real power, though. To make the Manchuria cession—no, the Zhonghua Autonomous Region annexation—irreversible, that's what it took.
Yeah, back then, more than anything, the Boxers needed quashing ASAP. Or the fire could've spread here.
Luckily, Joseon—no, the Korean Empire now—was the closest with troops ready to deploy. We got dragged in unwillingly, but we had the leverage to resolve it.
Luck in spades, really. Looking back, it was heaven's luck.
So the powers shrugged, "North China wasn't your core interests anyway," and coolly handed us North China—no, the Yellow River basin occupation zones.
No wonder the Japanese were butthurt. They figured their cousin bought land.
The damn Anglo-Americans, thinking back now, their line about "Westerners dying in the Yangtze while north of the Yellow River needs policing" might've had pull. Or maybe they just weren't making as much cash in China as hoped. Or hell, that might be the real answer. Best case, it was just the East India Company anyway.
I gazed at the map of the nation stoking tension across East Asia.
Yeah, they must be starving. I wasn't unsympathetic—specifically to the Japanese people. They pour money into building ships and whatnot, but gotta have something to show for it.
All Japan had snagged so far was that semiconductor-less Taiwan Island from the Independence War. A place that cost money instead of making it.
"They can't help but fan the flames. If you build a cart, you gotta ride it."
The key was always motive. In my view, Japan figured since we ate North China, they could chow down on the Yangtze too.
During the Boxers, Japan hinted at their goals to us, and I nodded along. We weren't getting anything but cash from the Yangtze. Be satisfied with gobbling North China by luck; the Yangtze's yours. Respect each other, hands off.
I betrayed those expectations spectacularly and left them satisfied. No extra conditions or bullshit.
The Korean Empire's national power exists for defense. What more needs saying?
Long story short: Boxers crushed, Cixi dragged to London. From Japan's view, they shut up Joseon, their top contributor beforehand, to carve out their position and interests.
Problem was... the Qing didn't take responsibility for the Boxers and voluntarily shut down the country?
Yeah, the Qing emperor heard my intel pinning Cixi as the backer, fled to Xi'an, and founded the Second Qing Empire.
The powers, who'd been negotiating reparations only to get war costs shoved down their throats, were seven shades of furious.
What a shame.
At least the silver lining: the Qing designated their successor and guarantor—the Zhonghua Republic, aka China—to foot the bill.
A fictional nation that didn't exist yet, but the Qing and powers' goals aligned. Powers would set up the Zhonghua Republic in the Yangtze and squeeze reparations from it.
So Japan aimed to grab its share there too—as equity in the puppet Zhonghua Republic.
But they couldn't. The Zhonghua Republic got bisected.
That's the East now.
So what's the play? There's a play. But since I wrecked it, fixing it feels like a waste...
How could a bankrupt Qing and emperor, with no army or cash, trek to Xi'an and rebuild an empire? If they had that, they wouldn't have fallen.
On whose advice? The Qing emperor, holding top posts in Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, went to Xi'an and refounded the empire.
Han Chinese "backroom boss" theories, one step back for two forward, minority protection, constitutional monarchy—all solid reasons for rebuilding.
When the dynasty fell, the chaos saw Han persecute minorities hard, so all minorities backed the Qing. Even some Han did.
No loyalists in a vast land? "What a shame, Japan."
Result: What was once China got pushed out to just Sichuan and beyond, becoming the state of Wu, and now had to brace for Qing revenge.
And in my eyes, that fallout ruined Japan. Amid China's bisection, the powers—whose southern interests it was—couldn't let Japan set the table too.
They couldn't even feed themselves and had to nurture the Zhonghua Republic. Japan's table? Toss 'em a port or two.
Regrettably, the Second Qing was landlocked, so the Zhonghua Republic had to take it down itself.
Why hide from myself? Yeah, I set it up that way.
This is my board. Me, dead serious about screwing Japan—Japan hadn't snagged shit properly here.
If they hated it, they should've brought their fleet for a land-sea showdown.
And after all that wheel-spinning, something snapped—they wanted war enough to torch East Asia.
That's why I've kept distance from Japan since the Boxers.
Butting heads with Britain and France for Japanese gain? Lose-lose no matter how you slice it.
"Good thing the Sleepy Hollow Doctrine hasn't dropped yet, but it's just a matter of time."
The Korean Empire, only now building torpedo boats and subs, couldn't compare to Japan at sea. And it wouldn't in the future either—they'd match our one with two.
So my choice on Japan: silence.
Shouting "naval rise" would just alert them; allying would just delight Japan eyeing the Yangtze.
I supported Japan claiming Yangtze interests? When? I just said it wasn't ours.
Japan didn't claim the Anglo-French Yangtze as theirs to us either. Just asked respect there.
I agreed. Still do.
They probably didn't expect the Anglo-French to toss Japan scraps like open ports.
Honestly, neither did I. I figured Japan's position was stronger.
But thanks to who, Japan's stance weakened on the Russian front, so Britain seems to view them lesser now.
"Gotta sell rice cheaper."
Killing Japanese farms? No way. This was all for the Japanese people—rice husks aside.