[center][h2] [color=ed1c24]The Xian Clique [/color][/h2][/center]
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[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PpvxMoMeTQ][b]Our Empire is emblazoned by light[/b][/url][/center]

The Divines shined their light, at last, in the earliest days of 1902. For the last three years, the Xianese people have faced against their own. The Blood Years began in 1899, when nationalist revolutionaries took over the city of Changtan and declared revolution against the longstanding Yong dynasty that had ruled the Xian for generations. The leader of these revolutionaries was Lu Wen-Yan, a young doctor and philosopher who led 'The Chang-Five', republicanists who vied for a democracy in Xian. The armed wing of these nationalists, the self-described 'White Tigers Army' took to the streets of Changtan and gunned down any who dared stand against the revolutionaries. Sadly, this purge of Changtan included the Hmu minority. The actions against the Hmu would later be condemned by Dr Wen-Yan's moderate faction and denounced as ethnic genocide.

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[i]White Tigers marching Changtan Provincial Govenor and Imperial Loyalist Chia Kueng to his execution, circa 1901.[/i][/center]

Once the Nationalist Republican forces had established their stronghold in Changtan, Dr. Wen-Yan called for all those who wished for freedom from the Yong and the control of Xian's destiny to rebel themselves. Within days of Changtan's fall to the Nationalists the city became besieged by Imperial soldiers. This would begin a long and bloody siege that only ended when, after chaos similar to that experienced in Changtan, Shangwu fell to her own republican cell. The fall of Shangwu forced the Imperial forces to route and spread themselves out, attempting to contain the defecting republican territory like a virus. However, it didn't take long for the armories to be raided and the barricades to be built. By the end of 1899, the maps had been drawn and the Changtan revolution came into full effect.

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[i]The Temple of the Divines in Shangwu burning as civilians look on in dismay, circa 1899.[/i][/center]

The Changtan Revolution quickly fell into brutal combat as, due to both sides receiving aid in the form of weapons from foreign powers, modern technology came into use for the first time in Xian's history. Machine Guns, barrage artillery, and repeating rifles all faced serious usage by both sides throughout the entire conflict, and to great effect. By the end of the war, over two hundred thousand Xianese soldiers and civilians had fallen to the gun smoke and bombs of modern war. However, despite the losses, the tides turned in favor of the Nationalists in the spring offensive of 1900, when a massed assault blew a hole in the lines of the Imperial troops holding Xizaolin. By the end of April, Xizaolin had fallen to the Nationalists. The road to Beiqling and the Imperial Palace laid open.

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[i]Imperial Soldiers at a machine gun implacement outside of Beiqling, circa 1901.[/i][/center]

From there, the death-blow to the Yong dynasty was swift. Imperial forces scrambled to set up a new defensive line around the capital city, leaving Jinqianpo defenseless to the coming Nationalists and Ta-meng with only a mere garrison to hold her. By Fall Jingqianpo had fallen to the Nationalists, Ta-meng prepared for a long winter siege, and the capital of the Xian Empire was facing artillery barrages from outlying Nationalist soldiers. The Emperor, Pu-Shin, faced only two options. Surrender, or face a long and bloody winter for both himself and the few people who remained loyal to his will. In a declaration to the people of Beiqling, the Emperor boldly called the Nationalists traitors and pigs, and that the Divines would shine their light on him and the citizens of Beiqling. His words, while certainly strong for his position, did little to ease the pain in his peoples stomachs or the growing weariness in their hearts as more and more wives lost husbands and children fathers.

The winter was just as everyone had expected it to be, if not worse. Hundreds starved, and the Nationalists continued their attacks on Imperial positions inside and outside of Beiqling. On December 18th, Ta-meng accepted surrender to the Nationalists. Only the capital remained in Imperial hands. Nationalists generals such as Lang Shao-Ren felt pity for the people in the capital and called for a winter assault to end the war and put the cowardly emperor to the sword. However, such an attack against a mountain city facing six or more inches of snow was strategic suicide. So, with melancholy, the Nationalists kept their siege of the city as more and more starved due to the Emperor's ambition to hold on to what little he had left. 

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[i]Nationalist White Tigers, in winter garb, pose with captured Imperial soldiers in the cold days of January, 1901.[/i][/center]

The Emperor, despite all of his failures as a leader and a tactician, faced a fate perhaps too great for his character. Pu-Shan and his wife, Empress Do Ying, were stabbed over fifty times in their beds by their own starved servants in the early spring of 1901. Their bodies were dragged through the streets and hung by the feet in Fozao Square, only three miles from what would eventually become the Congress of Xian's building. Nationalist forces quickly took the capital, bringing as much aid to the weary and starved people of Beiqling as they could carry in their packs. General Kao Jun of the Imperial Army of Xian signed The Changtan Treaty, accepting unconditional surrender and his own arrest for crimes against the people of Xian. General Jun would face the light punishment of imprisonment, while many of the Imperial generals faced death.

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[i]Imperial Generals preparing for execution after recieving their 'Divine Sayings' from Divination Priests, Summer of 1901.[/i][/center]

Many believed, with the slate at last clean and the Nationalists having taken control of Beiqling, that this marked a new age for Xian and her people. However, the promised freedoms and opportunity that Dr. Wan-Yen pledged had yet to come by the Fall. It had remained a secret, but Dr. Wan-Yen had passed in the winter of the previous year of pneumonia, he left only his writings as a outline for Xian's future administration. In these writings, Wan-Yen depicted a republic like those in Varius, where the people elected officials to govern and all had the opportunity to rule their nation's fate. When it came time to decide upon the future of Xian, General Chiang Cai Xiao rejected this option. Was it not him and his colleagues that freed the Xianese people from the Emperor? Was it not his soldiers that bled and died for the future of Xian? After all, half of the population of Xian couldn't even read, how would they govern a nation? Officially, The Xian Empire became The Republic of Xian. Unofficially, The Xian Empire became The Xian Clique, with General Chiang Cai Xiao and The Liberation Council as rulers. Chiang had been close friends with Dr. Wan-Yen, but in the end betrayed his friend's final wishes... In his mind, this was for the people of his motherland. Yet, the first decision the Council made was declaring May 10th as 'Quintuple Day' as remembrance to Wan-Yen and the four over key figures of the Changtan Revolution, Chiang just so happening to be one of them.

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[i]General Chiang Cai Xiao sworn into office as President of The Republic of Xian, 1902.[/i][/center]