[b][/b][h1][center][b][u]The World as We Know It[/u][/b][/center][/h1]
[center][b]Discord Chat[/b]: https://discord.gg/f6n4B8[/center]
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[i]The World, 1900[/i][/center][center][h2]October, 1900[/h2][/center]
[b][center][h2]The War at Sea[/h2][/center][/b]

While the Aegorian fields were drawing first blood and the Veletian front had been nicknamed the "Sleeping Front" by the soldiers stationed there, the Inner Side had turned into a Tyro-Redanian Lake. The Veletian Marine Nationale had been all but absent, and while the Itheraen Minister of the Navy had [u]begged[/u] President Georgas not to sortie the Itheraen Republic Navy against the Dual Monarchy, the Itheraen Navy remained effectively active and only by a stroke of luck had not been engaged by the roving Tyro-Redanian fleets. That changed on October 1st, 1900 at the [b][u]Battle of Diopolis[/u][/b].

A minor analysis of the Itheraen Republican Navy ([i]Repoumplikanikó Naftikó Itherae[/i] or [i]RNI[/i]) showed the immense shortcomings of a navy that had never genuinely seen the love from country that the Itheraen Republican Army had. Following it's modernization program in 1889 and the appointment of Konstantinos Smolenskis, little else had been to improve the beleaguered state of the RNI. During the 1866 Sypian revolt, the ships of the Repoumplikanikó Naftikó Itherae were in no condition to support it. Such failure led to the government awakening to the problem of naval insufficiency and the adoption of a policy stating that: "The navy, as it represents a necessary weapon for Itherae, should only be created for war and aim to victory." Because of this, the fleet was supplied with new and bigger ships, reflecting a number of innovations including the use of iron in shipbuilding industry and the invention of the torpedo; with these advances, the effectiveness and the appearance of the Itheraen Navy changed.

Meanwhile after 1878, because of the instability of Seljuk to the East in the Inner Sea and the need to expand the Itheraen navy, a new and larger naval base was established in the area of Diopolis and a few years later it was transferred to the area of Golgorina where it remains today. At the same time the Naval Academy was founded and Ilias Kanellopoulos was made Minister of the Navy. A committee from Violette headed by Admiral de Sylvie introduced a new, advanced naval organization and the methodological training of enlisted personnel through the establishment of a training school in the old building of the naval base in Itliki.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/AlmiranteCoundouritis--inheartofgermani00vaka.jpg[/img]
[i]Itheraen Rear Admiral Konstantinos Smolenskis[/i][/center]
At the start of hostilities, the Itheraen Navy was floating just over 60,000 tons at Golgorina and Itliki. The flagship [i]Demetriou[/i] was a steel built ironclad cruiser built in Violette in 1899. On September 30th, a Tyro-Redanian fleet moving in to bombard Diopolis was identified and again, Rear Admiral Konstantinos Smolenskis begged for the deactivation of the fleet, citing: "[i]I would rather the Itheraen fleet sit at harbor in defeat then rest at the bottom of the sea in victory[/i]." With no reply from President Georgas Alexei, Smolenskis ordered the fleet out to sea on October 1st.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Psara2.jpg[/img]
[i]Itheraen armored cruiser[/i] Demetriou[i], circa 1899[/i][/center]
The [b]1st Fleet[/b] under Rear Admiral Konstantinos Smolenskis set sail aboard the [i]Demetriou[/i] and the armored cruiser [i]Piteras[/i] alongside. Three light cruisers, [i]Spiros, Spinos[/i] and [i]Rondos[/i] along with eight destroyers additionally joined the fleet action from Golgorina, headed north to prevent the imminent bombing of Diopolis. The Tyro-Redanian [b]Southern Fleet[/b] was commanded by Commodore Georg von Trapp. 

The [b]Southern Fleet[/b] was led by two coastal defense ships--nicknamed [i]Babyschlachtschiff[/i]--as they were essentially pre-dreadnoughts without the luxury of range outside the Inner Sea or beyond the coastal waters. Attached to the [i]SMS Venus[/i] and [i]SMS Bellona[/i] were three armored cruisers [i]SMS Novara, SMS Schwarzenberg[/i] and [i]SMS Minerva[/i]. A light cruiser squadron of five ships and two destroyer flotillas made up 18 ships in total versus the Itheraen's 13.

The battle was met at 1150 hours when the [i]SMS Bellona[/i] opened fire at the Itheraen fleet. In the course of a four hour naval action, the Itheraens turned and fled south following the complete destruction of their sister flagsip the [i]Piteras[/i], the light cruiser [i]Rondos[/i] and three destroyers sunk. The Tyro-Redanians saw the [i]SMS Schwarzenberg[/i] as heavily damaged with a light cruiser the [i]SMS Carolina[/i] sunk by Itheraen torpedo action. Commodore von Trapp for his bravery, ordering the [i]SMS Bellona[/i] into fire from both Itheraen ironclad's was to summarily receive the [b]Royal King's Cross[/b], the second highest military honor in the Dual Monarchy.

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[i]SMS Bellona leaving Tannersburg on September 29th, 1900[/i][/center]

- [[color=purple][b]Tyro-Redanian Empire[/b][/color]: +1% Overall Approval, -1 CL]
- [[b][color=yellow]Itheran Republic[/color][/b]: -1% Overall Approval. -1 CA, -1 CL, -3 DD]

[hr][hr]
[h2][center]Veletian Front[/center][/h2]

The case study of Veletian morale during the [u]Tyro-Itheraen War[/u] has been the centerpiece of Continental philosophical discussion for much of the early 20th century. Conversations regarding logistics, conditions and even the political background all have merit, but the radical disintegration of the Veletian soldier of the [i]Gendarmerie[/i] can be attributed primarily to the forfeiture of initiative between the political and military spectrum. When the soldiers departed into the Gabrelle Mountains, there were no promises of a long war. The men whispered to one another that, facing war on both sides and insurgency from within, the Tyro-Redanian Empire would crumble. That didn't happen. Instead, the Gendarmerie were ordered 9,000 feet up into the Gabrelle Mountains with only lackluster (improvised winter) equipment. There was no grand offensive. "We declared war then sat on our hands, mes amies," one soldier wrote in his diary.

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[i]Tyro-Redanian machine gun position, Gabrelle Mountains, 1900[/i][/center]

There was no grand offensive. The soldiers were ordered to dig into the frozen rock and glacier in the shadow of Mount Sumier. They learned first hand that sticking your head up didn't mean potshots, but a [i]tat-tat-tat-tat-tat[/i] of the Prager.99 machine gun. There was no answer for it, given that the Veletian Army did not bring field guns with them into the mountain side, a luxury that--even at great cost--the Tyro-Redanians did. The Tyro-Redanians lost more field guns moving them into the mountains on the Veletian Front due to accidents and the treacherous terrain than they did to combat on the Itheraen Front. To answer the counter battery fire, Dieumart 75's were systematically moved into the mountains as well. Unlike the logistical genius of the Tyro-Redanians, the Dieumart's were disassembled and taken, sometimes by as few as one or two men at a time, piece by piece up the mountain.

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[i]Tyro-Redanian ingenuity in bringing artillery to the top of a mountain, Veletian Front, 1900[/i][/center]
The "Sleeping Front" had earned it's nickname, and on the Tyro-Redanian side men were selected for "one way tickets," where platoons of men were selected to conduct "probing offensives" to test the enemy lines. So called "one way tickets," because not only was the terrain terrible to maneuver: a soldier having to ascend or descend jagged outcroppings, often times slick with snow or rainwater, had to then stay alive from Veletian sharpshooters and either engage them in combat or retreat the way he came. In the five weeks of "probing attacks," less than 10% of the men assigned to these deadly missions returned.

Further detrimental to the Tyro-Redanian side was that those that did return had little to say. Unlike the Itheraen Front, there were no clearly established front lines. Every few hundred yards was it's own war, with men naming valleys and gullies. Machine gun nests on the Tyro-Redanian side were nicknamed "headquarters" and from those headquarters companies and platoons staked their life. Unlike the Itheraen Front, only if soldiers were ordered to attack did they actually come into contact with the enemy. In the Veletian Front, the mountains and not the opposing side, were the most daunting enemy.

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[i]Veletian troops scale a mountain face, October 1900[/i][/center]

Demonstratively minor infantry attacks and meaningless artillery duels were the lay of the land. Men on both sides lambasted their commanders for ordering them into such conditions, and morale eroded here much faster than the more active and infinitely more violent Itheraen Front, where over 80,000 men had died in less than 60 days of fighting.

[hider=Casualties]
- [[b][color=lavender]Empire of Violette[/color][/b]: -1,318 men, -219 Vinnault-99, -4 Dieumart 75, -36,000 Rifle Ammunition, 610 Artillery Shells]
- [[b][color=purple]Tyro-Redanian Empire[/color][/b]: -4,109 men, 2,319 Mawka II, -26 9cm Feldkanone, 18,000 Rifle Ammunition, 1,250 Artillery Shells][/hider]

[hr][hr][h2][center]Violette's Grand Plan[/center][/h2]
On October 2nd, 1900 in the city of Sutra, Thecia, a man stood on the shores of the Civitan Sea with a pipe clutched firmly between his teeth. When he saw the incoming flotilla--nearly forty ships--he turned and ran as fast as he could back to the lodge, poised conveniently on the highest spot overlooking the beach and disappeared inside. He had one message and he had to get it back to his Tyro-Redanian handlers in the city as fast as he could: [i]They're coming[/i].

The [b]1st Expéditionaires[/b] numbered 100,00 men under Lieutenant General Jonathan Devereux. His first combat command and without a naval escort, Devereux was so "encumbered by stress," as reported by the nurse attending to him at Lorre, for fear of enemy mines and submarines, that he was very much nearly removed from command. Three written requests by Devereux himself to be removed were summarily stricken from the record for the War Ministry's alleged fear of "[i]having to plan the entire invasion over again.[/i]" Without much choice, Devereux stepped above the merchant steamer [i]La Croix[/i] and it joined the rest of the fleet's departure at Lorre at 0645 hours.

Devereux's fears were not contained. By the thousands, Veletian soldiers absolutely refused to go below decks considering the entire fleet was moving with absolutely no escort. A single Tyro-Redanian submarine could have sunk as many ships as he had torpedoes, even bothering to surface, considering the complete lack of the presence of even a single Nationale Marine escort. By October 4th, every white knuckled Veletian soldier was ready for death. It never came. Just before noon, the lead ship signaled via flag that the Tyro-Redanian city of Eisenstadt was dead ahead.

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[i]Coastal city of Eisenstadt, circa 1898[/i][/center]
The [u]North Coast Garrison[/u] under General Vincent Falck were under high alert. Orders had traveled from Aetoria with General Falck that indicated it was likely an assault--given the current absence of the Imperial Fleet--was coming. Falck arrived and immediately ordered the coastal perimeter of the side reinforced with all necessary field guns and any present coastal batteries (2 antiquated 1886 breach loading cannons) turned directly north.

[hider=Order #221, North Coast Garrison, 29 SEPTEMBER 1900]
With the main force of the Veletian Army being absent from the field and their Navy not reported to be within the Inner Sea, it is believed that the north sea coast will be the target of a Veletian naval landing. Divisions are to be placed on high alert with orders to prepare defensive positions to fend of a naval assault most likely supported by battleships.

Reinforcements in the form of 6 fully armed Landwehr Divisions with 70 Prager machine guns from the Veletian Front and 12,570 Itheraen soldiers from the Itheraen Front are en route with high railroad priority. General Vincent Falck is also en route from the capital to assume command over this enlarged force and oversee defensive preparations.[/hider]

The lead ship [i]Gloire[/i] angled Southeast, heading toward the coast. The other ships did much the same, intending to land a few miles outside of the city and then close in around the city in a pincer move. By the night of October 7th the bay was filled with loitering--and unprotected--Veletian ships. Unloading the 2,800 men on a given ship into the small landing boats. The two beaches: designated [u]W Beach[/u] and [u]E Beach[/u] were summarily out of artillery range and [u]W Beach[/u] proved to be a viable rallying party for the units there, while [u]E Beach[/u] was hellish in design and orient; while the Eisenstadt coast from the west up to Herzog looked like a stereotypical Continental beach, with simple and unmolested beaches, to the west were jagged rocks and rocky outcroppings. A huge drop off meant that a landing boat a quarter of a mile off shore suddenly found itself dragging the sandy bottom and the men had to disembark. "Who the hell thought this would be a good place?" a soldier asked. "What, you think the Empress ever bothers to vacation in Tyria?"

For nearly nine days the Tyro-Redanians watched the Civian Sea fill up with Veletian steamers and deposit 100,000 men onto their shores. Field guns were out of range, but summarily given the opportunity to reorient themselves to the East and West. Prager 99's were pulled from the beachheads and put into storefronts and windows. The North Garrison had been 20,000 strong on September 29th and by October 7th had been reinforced by 72,000 men from the fronts, taking the train from Holzer to Aetoria. 

The [b][u]Battle of Eisenstadt[/u][/b] started on October 7th with a concentrated artillery barrage from [u]E Beach[/u], 50 Diuemart 75's. Lieutenant General Devereux ordered a full bombardment of the city, declaring the utter annihilation of every Tyrian, Redanian and any other person foolish enough to have been born in the city. For three days Devereux's batteries pounded the city with only minor reprisal. While [u]no orders were given to surround the city from High Command[/u], instead the papers reading: "[i]After landing, the 1st Brigade will advance on Eisenstadt from the west, and the 2nd Brigade from the east. Any armed opposition in the city will be destroyed. [/i]" (Which Devereux found interesting, considering a brigade was only 3,000 men--what fools High Command was), Devereux ordered three Legions to the South to cut off the road and any supplies that might be inbound from Aetoria.

On October 14th, Devereux's artillery shells ran dry. A major offensive on October 15th begin, with nearly 55,000 Veletians assaulting the city from both the West and the East. The artillery counter barrage, dialed in not to attack Veletian artillery but rather to stunt an incoming infantry assault as well as the disposition of the Prager 99 machine guns was absolutely decimating to the attacking Veletians. In the West the Veletians entered the suburbs of [i]Hollenzern[/i] and several times took the Municipality Building, a four story tall building used initially by the Tyrians for artillery support and a machine gun nest, and both times were pushed back. At the end of day, the Veletians claimed the building at the cost of 11,000 lives.

In the East, Shutzen Avenue--a long stretch of road that led literally from the ports on the coast and south through the entire city had become a killing grounds. One Prager M.99 position had fired 3,600 rounds within the first hour of fighting--the barrel so hot that the it warped and the weapon was considered worthless and it's two crew resorted to their rifles. After two days of charge and counter charge, the fighting became house to house and street to street.

The Tyrians and Veletians both were notoriously low on ammunition and both sides used any lull in the fighting opportunity to scavenge weapons and ammunition from the dead bodies of their comrades. The Veletian 6.55mm shell was lighter than the Tyrian 7.25mm and thus could not be interchanged. If a Veletian soldier who died had been found to not have fired his weapon once, it wasn't unlikely that a Tyrian might discard his Mawka in exchange for the Veletian's Vinnault-99.

By October 27th, the Veletians had almost completely run through what ammunition stores they had brought with them and held less than a quarter of the city. By October 29th, Devereux, understanding his orders for the first of the month, called an end to the offensive.

[hider=Casualties (Battle of Eisenstad)]
- [b][color=purple]Tyro-Redanian Empire[/color][/b]: 14,842 Active Soldiers, -5,000 Reserves, -4,321 Mawka II, -19 Prager 99 Machine Guns, -16 9cm Feldkanone, -967,000 Rifle Ammunition, 5,650 Artillery Shells]
- [b][color=lavender]Empire of Violette[/color][/b]: 35,998 Soldiers, 6,000 Reserves, 28,115 Vinnault-99, -7 Dieumart 75s, 1,170,000 Rifle Ammunition, -20,000 Artillery Shells] -[/hider]

[hr][hr][h2][center]Itheraen Front[/center][/h2]
The [u]Second Battle of Aegoria[/u] was fought between the armies of the Iheraen Republic and of Tyro-Redania between 6 October and 28 October, 1900.

After the failure of the [u]First Battle of Aegoria[/u], two weeks earlier, General Hannerman, commander-in-chief of the Tyro-Redanian forces, decided for a new thrust against the enemy lines with a heavier artillery support. Unfortunately, he was replaced by Field Marshal Richard Kronenberg two days later by Tyro-Redanian General Staff in Aetoria. Orders for the offensive were not postponed, and Field Marshal Kronenberg reached the front only eight hours before the offensive was scheduled to begin.

The overall plans of the Tyro-Redanian offensive were barely changed by the outcomes of the previous fight. Field Marshal Kronenberg's tactics were as simple as they were harsh: after a heavy artillery bombardment, his troops were to advance frontally against the Itheraen trenches and take them, after having overcome their barbed-wire fences. The insufficiency of war material – from rifles, to artillery shells to shears to cut the barbed wire – nullified their numerical superiority.

On the Farnau Plateau took place an exhausting series of hand-to-hand fights involving the Tyro-Redanian 155th and 156th Infantry Divisions, with severe casualties on both sides. Bayonets, swords, knives, and various scrap metal and debris were all used in the terrifying melee. The Itheraen 7th division lost two-thirds of its effectives and was routed, partly because of the successive attacks and partly because of the unfavorable terrain.

On 24 October, the Tyro-Redanians occupied the Sumix Wood, a position south of Mount San Michele, which was not very steep but dominated quite a large area including the Itheraen bridgehead of Ficardo from the South. The Mount San Michele was briefly held by Tyro-Redanaian forces, but a desperate counterattack by Colonel Gaulipolis, commanding a group of elite regiments, recaptured it.

[center][img]http://www.mystateshistory.com/lib/037/856-sixth-battle-of-the-isonzo-6-august-17-august-1916.jpg[/img]
[i]A company of Tyro-Redanian soldiers advancing toward an Itheraen position, 1900[/i][/center]

The battle wore out on its own when both sides ran out of ammunition for both light arms and artillery. The total casualties during the three weeks were about 91,000 men, of which 43,000 Tyro-Redanians and 48,000 Itheraens.

[hider=Second Battle of Aegoria Casualties (6 October-28 October)]
- [[b][color=purple]Tyro-Redanian Empire[/color][/b]: -43,000 Tyro-Redanians, -43,000 Mawka II, -16 9cm Feldkanone, -171,000 Rifle Ammunition, -24,600 Artillery Ammunition]
- [[b][color=yellow]Republic of Itherae[/color][/b]: -48,000 Itheraens, -48,000 Itheraen Model 99, -24 1890 Field Guns, -104,500 Rifle Ammunition, -6,150 Artillery Ammunition.][/hider]

[hr][hr][h2][center]Developments in Zellonia[/center][/h2]
In Zellonia, the Zellonian Royal Navy, dismantled by slick witted naval teamsters in Violette, was hoping to bounce back strong. On October 18th, word reached the Continent that designers had finished the blueprints of a new pre-dreadnought, the [i]Majestic[/i] class and that at least one ship, the [i]ZRN Majestic[/i] was planned, though details regarding where it would be built were currently secret, as Zellonia did not possess the naval capacity to build a 15,000 ton warship following the loss of several drydocks which claimed bankruptcy following the destruction of the companies in the Zello-Osladian War, few doubted King James' resolve to set the ship to sea.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/B8EtCos.png[/img]
[i]Preliminary blueprints of the Zellonian[/i] Majestic[i]-class battleship, 1900[/i][/center]

The Majestic-class would be the slowest battleship afloat, fronting only 14 knots. The sacrifice in speed came with the mounting of 4 12" ZR.1 naval guns, two fore and two aft, the largest in the world at the time. Diplomats from the Tarantese government sent out a memo to King James indicating they would be willing to build the ship for $21,000,000 and could be completed in 26 months time.

[hr][hr][h2][center]The Slads of the Continent[/center][/h2]
In the Kalpian Republic, the Market Deregulation Act had had dire consequences. To pay for the large costs of the Zello-Osladian War, Kalpia suspended the gold standard (the convertibility of its currency to gold) when the war broke out. Unlike the Empire of Oslad, which imposed its first income tax to pay for the war, President Reimund Braun and the Kalpian parliament decided unanimously to fund the war entirely by borrowing, a decision criticized by financial experts such as Murnth Tanth as a dangerous risk for currency devaluation.

The government believed that it would be able to pay off the debt by winning the war, and it would be able to annex resource-rich industrial territory in Zellonia or the Memoital Commonwealth. Also, it would be able to impose massive reparations on the defeated Norrans. The exchange rate of the mark against the Veletian dollar thus steadily devalued from 4.2 to 7.9 marks per dollar. (It was only after the war that the extreme hyperinflation occurred.)

The strategy backfired when Kalpia won the war but flopped at negotiations at Liubeth. The new Braun Government was now saddled with a massive war debt that it could not afford. That was made even worse by the fact that it was printing money without the economic resources to back it up. The Treaty of Liubeth, which ended without any reparation payments from Zellonia further accelerated the decline in the value of the mark so 48 paper marks were required to buy a Veletian dollar by late August, 1900.

Kalpian currency was relatively stable at about 90 marks per Veletian dollar during the first half of October. Because the wart was entirely in Zellonia, Kalpia came out of the war with its industrial infrastructure intact. It was, in fact, in a better position to become the dominant economic force on the Continent.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-00193%2C_Inflation%2C_Ein-Millionen-Markschein.jpg[/img]
[i]Store owner uses Kalpian mark as a piece of paper, late 1899.[/i][/center]

President Reimund Braun negotiated a huge loan settlement from 321 different banks and private lenders across Kalpia. The interest rate of 25% however was lauded by his opponents in the Fatherland Party, led by opposition leader Janusz Senft, who argued that Braun had sold Kalpia's tomorrow to feed his administration today. Since the end of the Zello-Osladian War seen an increase in popularity by 14%, over 9,000,000 Kalpians who had turned their attention toward the minorities in Kalpia, citing them as the cause for the inflation.

With unemployment at 14%, Kalpians en masse began to emigrate out of Kalpia and to the West, to Oslad. In January, 1900 there had been around 30,000 Kalpians settled in Oslad, and by October over 200,000. By 1901 it was predicted Oslad would be home to a quarter of a million Kalpians--most who were simply seeking a better way of life. Yegurov's government had made no mention of the huge influx of migrants as of yet, but is expected to before the year is up.

[hr][hr][h2][center]The End of the Karumi War[/center][/h2]
The axe finally fell on October 7th. With the fall of Grodz, the Karumi 16th Army hung the "Stone and Sun" flag, a black and yellow striped monstrosity from the White Palace of the Seronan Principality. The official capitulation of Serona was announced to the world with the signing of the [u]Treaty of Grodz[/u] (1900). The complete annexation of Serona was complete, and the Tsardom of Karum nearly doubled it's population and geography.

Tsar Michel I announced an official parade through Grodz to embrace the official expansion of what the Continental newspapers had given the expanded Tsardom the nickname of "Soldier Boy Michel's Empire." With the Zello-Osladian War raging and the outbreak of the Tyro-Itheraen War, few had given credence to the near annihilation of Fetrograd and the Seronan culture. An influx of Seronan refugees was expected in the Itheraen Republic.

[hr][hr][h2][center]Meung's Expedition into the South[/center][/h2]
The Liohuan Expedition, also known as the Great March, began from the Meung's power base in Tsao-tung province. In 1899 the White Flower Movement announced plans for a strike and protest against Continental imperialism and its warlord agents in Meung. At the same time the Single Front between the Grand Prince and the Workers Union was questioned after the Flower Pedal Massacre in March, 1899. Subsequent events made Grand Prince Yezhuen the paramount military leader of the Dominion, the eminent political dynasty of Meung. Although Yezhuen doubted the Dominion's policy of friendship with the Tsardom of Radena and the Workers Union, he still needed aid from the Tsardom, so he could not break up the alliance at that time.

Notable military leaders and well-trained soldiers came from the Yujin Military Academy, which was set up by Prince Yezhuen's matriarch Xie in 1897. The Academy accepted all persons regardless of party alignment. The success of the Liohuan Expedition can largely be attributed to both the Dominion and it's majority Workers Union members working together militarily.

The main targets of this expedition were three notorious and powerful warlords: Zhang Xiang, who governed the most immediate Southern Plains;  Ma Chuanfang in the South Central Plain region; and Chung Quoc Tuan on the east coast.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Countermand_concession.jpg[/img]
[i]Meung troops marching south through Xiuyung, 1900[/i][/center]

On October 9th, 1900, Yezhuen gave a lecture to 30,000 soldiers of the Meung Imperial Army in a ceremony that was the official commencement of the Liohuan Expedition. The Imperial Army was set up by cadets trained in the Yujin Military Academy; its soldiers were far better organized than the warlord armies they faced due to their military advisers and were equipped with Radenan and Kalpian weapons. In addition, the Imperial Army was regarded as a progressive force on behalf of ordinary people, who were persecuted and mistreated by warlords, and the Imperial troops received a warm welcome and strong support from peasants and workers who suffered under the brutal rule of the warlords. It was no surprise the Imperial could march from the Silver River area to the Chun River in less than six weeks and annihilate the main force of Chung and Ma, in addition to increasing its own forces from 30,000 to 38,000.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Zp9NAnf.png[/img]
[i]Liohuan Expedition, September 4th to October 29th, 1900[/i][/center]

On September 4th, General Xiao Cai was detached from the [u]Fifth Army[/u] and put in charge of the the [u]Liohuan Expedition[/u]. The force of 30,000 crossed the border and headed toward Sinpo, with orders to dispel and destroy any forces mustered from Xiang. En route, runners received word that Xiang was assembling soldiers from across Xiang at Hatze in the west, and General Xiao immediately turned and ordered a forced march, a move that many of his lieutenant disagreed with considering that he ordered the field guns to be left behind with a garrison of 450 soldiers.

[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/a6/2f/84a62fb30d0ef3c7d885801577bff2a5.jpg[/img]
[i]Imperial Meung troops form a battle line. Notice the "Kalpian Slope"-styled hats worn by Meung Infantry.[/i][/center]

On September 16th, after nearly two weeks of marching, the Expeditionary Forces had first contact with the enemy. Xiang had arrayed nearly 84,000 irregulars into a single--but barely coherent force on an open plain of grass, the exact type of battlefield he had hoped for. Without artillery, the Meung Expeditionary Force was heavily outnumbered and heavily outgunned. General Xiao, promising victory or death to Prince Yezhuen, ordered his soldiers deployed in a battle line more accustomed to 19th century warfare and engaged the enemy.

Following a six and a half hour firefight and losing nearly half of his force, General Xiao began a retreat, headed back northeast along the path he came. At night on September 19th he ordered the soldiers East instead of North, hoping that Xiang would continue North in a reckless pursuit. Along the way, citizens of the Xiang territory flocked to General Xiao, offering food and water and sometimes ammunition. Starting the journey with 14,000 men, by October 1st he had drawn nearly 10,000 men to his banner--irregulars using Zellonian, Osladian and even Tyro-Redanian weapons from as early as 1891. By October 20th an additional 12,000--when the word had spread to Du Nam in the East--joined his soldiers, though their equipment and uniforms were nearly non-existent.

On October 29th, scouts indicated that dissidents were gathering at Can Tho on the coast, and Xiao had little time to offer reprieve to his soldiers. He ordered the men--regular and irregular alike--to battle, expecting little else except the enemies complete annihilation.