Jiedushi

Othniel

JIEDUSHI
[What if the Song didn't unite China?]​

In 907 AD the Tang Dynasty fell. China, like a phoenix burned to ashes after a bright and stable dynasty came to an end. The Jiedushi, regional military governors gained complete control of southern China, while the North was subjected to the quick rise and fall of five dynasties. Chaos would reign until the Northern Sung conquered the South and turned away the barbarians in the North. But what if the Song never got the chance?​


Find out in Jiedushi, Volume II of On a Tall White Ship
 
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Othniel

945, what a year for China. The Jin Dynasty was driven out and their masters finally took control, the Khitans. The Liao Dynasty looks shaky though; does it have the will to rule? Does it have the will to take up the Mandate of Heaven? They seem so resistant to giving up their sedentary lifestyles...as unclear as to what to do now. The areas not under their control are considering leaving the empire. To the Liao this might be a grace. Getting rid of the sedentary lifestyle may stave off the process of becoming Chinese. They've reluctantly grasped at what Chinese philosophies they need to rule their southern population already. Can they take the next step?

No matter if they can or not, pulling out now would only let another of struggle take place. Such instability had been a bane the last few years. Shangjing, a city of forty walls, would be the Capital of China. They had to take the step, for the sake of their Empire. The nobles had to be appeased of course. Their loyalty demanded it. It was needed to get his way, to get them to follow him.

The Fourth Dynasty since the fall of the Tang took power in the north. The Fourth in 37 years. The first three had held their dynasties together for 16, 12 and 6 respectively. Could the Son of Abaoji do any better?

All of China wondered...

A few years earlier
(926 AD)

Abaoji had come home from his campaigns against the Balhae, sick. Though the campaign went well his stomach pounded in disgust. When he ate it brought him not peace or comfort only pain. His eyes were red from the lack of sleep, his mouth dry, and his brow wet with sweat. Yep he was sick. The aches of sickness were probably from battle. The air had been cold, and the weather damp. He felt as if he was going to die.

He turned to thoughts of his sons, to his oldest son Bei. He still wanted the boy to rule, though his mother saw his second-born Deguang to rule. Stability for the Khitan had to be maintained. Even though an heir apparent was a Chinese notion, it must be done for the sake of the Khitan people. They needed stability to survive, to rule.

Aboaji lived to ensure that. He would die 8 years later at the age of 62.


(932)
Prince Bei became Emperor of the Khitan, despite his mother's favor of his younger brother because of many of the nobles’ loyalty to his father. In 936 Bei invaded Northern China to aid the Later Jin, and was ceded the 16 prefectures. In 942 with the death of their ally, Emperor Shi Jingtang, his successor made it clear the he would not be the puppet of the Liao.

When Bei invaded he came with a force and was killed in combat. Angered at the loss of his brother Deguang was proclaimed Emperor of the Khitan, and he came down on the Jin like a hammer from heaven. In 945 most of Northern China was his. He came back, baptized in battle Emperor of China.

Emperor Shizong,(Deguang) the first of the Liao Dynasty in China. He declared his nephew Ruan, son of Prince Bei his favorite brother, his heir.
 

Othniel

Shadow Knight said:
Good start. So is then the PoD for this whole orchestra (Jiedushi, A Tall white Ship, etc.) really start here in China?
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I like to think of it as the main POD for China. It really doesn't have significant effects on Europe like William's surving does. But yes this is the first POD for the whole shindig (unless I decide to go earlier in India, however that might not fall into the middle ages theme I got going here, so it probably won't happen)
 

Othniel

Here's the situation in 926 when Jiedushi starts with Abaoji's survivial;

image


Note Kaifeng, as that is the ancient Chinese capital, which is where the Khitan captured in the war. Peking, also known as Beijing was already in the Khitan Empire shown here in this OTL map of the era;

image


I don't like this map as much as it mave give you inaccurate impressions of the TL. For one it covers the dynasty after the Jinn (shown as Chin), and shows events that I haven't had happen yet, or might not have happen at all.

Here's the Khitan Empire, from a sit designed not to let me post the map without some work.:(

http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Song/liao-map.html
 

Othniel

The last of the Kings of Wu was overthrown in 937 by Xu Zhihao. Because Xu Zhihao was adopted he took on his birth name upon gaining the throne, Li Bian. Li Bian transformed the Kingdom of Wu by revitalizing it, promoting trade, education, and peace. To reflect this transition Li Bian changed the name of the kingdom, like he had done to himself, from Wu to Tang. We call it Nantang, or Southern Tang, so we won't be confused when referencing it with the Later Tang and the Tang Dynasty which both happened fairly recently.

His successor was his son, Li Jing. Jing was a much more ambitious man than his father and engineered conquests of neighboring kingdoms.

Min, a kingdom in modern day Fujian, suffered a rebellion in 943. Their king's brother had set up a kingdom in the North called Yin. The Kingdom of Min went to Li Jing and asked him to help end the rebellion. Instead he conquered Yin, with help from a state called Wuyue, and a year afterwards Li Jing took advantage of Min's divided political atmosphere, and conquered it as well. (945 AD)

Another Kingdom conquered by Li Jing was called Chu. When Chu's founder died Chu went through a series of successor wars, each king being more unethical then the last. Their depravity caused many Confucian scholars to belief that the kings of Chu had lost the right to rule. The Southern Tang and Southern Han together invaded the country dividing the area between the two, with the remainder of Chu being ruled by a puppet king for the Tang. (951)

Li Jing would be succeeded by his son, Li Yu the poet-king. Yu’s disinterest in politics, but focus on the arts allowed many young poets, paints, and sculptors to thrive in the years under his rule. His sponsorship would be the foundation of the Nanjing’s Renaissance.
 

Atom

Nice timeline Othniel. There aren't many China POD's around here (probably because theres a whole new set of dates to memorize), and you're pulling things off well.
Wait a minute, I feel rather confused. So are the Wu a historical dynasty ot not? I only have acces to wiki and it isn't being very helpful.
 
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Othniel

Atom said:
Nice timeline Othniel. There aren't many China POD's around here (probably because theres a whole new set of dates to memorize), and you're pulling things off well.
Wait a minute, I feel rather confused. So are the Wu a historical dynasty ot not? I only have acces to wiki and it isn't being very helpful.
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Wu, is not a dynasty, however it was an important Kingdom several times in Chinese History. The Three Kingdoms Era, the 16 Kingdoms era, and this era here the 5 Dynasties and Ten States period. Wu was one of those ten states, and were replaced by the Southern Tang.

The S.T. unlike the other 10 states claimed to be a Empire and were the strongest of other states.

I recommend you read 'On a Tall White Ship' as well. They are both part of the same timeline, however OaTWS starts at a later date and focuses on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa spefically. Think of it as a preview to the clash of cultures et come. There is a lnk in my signature and earlier in this thread.
 

Othniel

Sugestions? I know not even the Sinophiles tend to study the integrum era because so lttle information is avalible for it. I'd like to hear the direction you'd like me to go from here.
 

Othniel

Fans of this timeline, and I know you are out there, somewhere, please note that I have written an update for this timeline, and it will be posted soon. If anyone with knoledge of this era wants to make sure I'm not misrepresenting facts, or omitting anything important please volunteer to review my update before I post them.

Likewise, if you are just intrested in having this timeline be better, and want to give a few general suggestions before I post my updates please volunteer here to review them.

That is all.:)
 

Hendryk

Banned
Othniel said:
Sugestions? I know not even the Sinophiles tend to study the integrum era because so lttle information is avalible for it. I'd like to hear the direction you'd like me to go from here.
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Well, that's indeed the problem as far as I'm concerned: I didn't get to study the post-Tang interregnum in much detail, which constrains what constructive comment I can offer. You may find me a disappointing source of data on this one.
 

Atom

Othniel said:
Wu, is not a dynasty, however it was an important Kingdom several times in Chinese History. The Three Kingdoms Era, the 16 Kingdoms era, and this era here the 5 Dynasties and Ten States period. Wu was one of those ten states, and were replaced by the Southern Tang.

The S.T. unlike the other 10 states claimed to be a Empire and were the strongest of other states.

I recommend you read 'On a Tall White Ship' as well. They are both part of the same timeline, however OaTWS starts at a later date and focuses on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa spefically. Think of it as a preview to the clash of cultures et come. There is a lnk in my signature and earlier in this thread.
Click to expand...
Ah, that explains alot. Thanks. I only have acces to wiki (as I said before) due to travelling, and usually I would have acces to my volumes on history. Looks very good.
 

Othniel

Hendryk said:
Well, that's indeed the problem as far as I'm concerned: I didn't get to study the post-Tang interregnum in much detail, which constrains what constructive comment I can offer. You may find me a disappointing source of data on this one.
Click to expand...
What about the Jin Dynasty? You know the one that pushed the Song south. This situtation here is simular except with multiple Sung Dynasties. Also bears simularlarty to other warlord eras or the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. Maybe if I look to those for inspiration I can take a fairly unquie era and make it more familliar to those Sinophiles that would be willing to help...
 

Othniel

Atom said:
Ah, that explains alot. Thanks. I only have acces to wiki (as I said before) due to travelling, and usually I would have acces to my volumes on history. Looks very good.
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If you are looking it up on wiki from what I've seen it explains it about the same as elsewhere. The net is a very limiting place unless you read Chinese about this particularly short era. (The North has more information, and most places only have the rulers of the south) Books are just as limiting, as I only know one or two, and some of those would be limited to a few chapters. I haven't yet tried to see if they are in the County or city's libary system yet.
 

Othniel

When the Liao invasion struck China, Li Yiyin of the Tanguts, had assisted the Later Jin. With the Khitan's ascendancy he avoided conquest, and the Kingdom of Xia was born. The Liao, already fearing overstretch did not make the effort to conquer the nomadic nobility of the Tanguts.


Likewise to the south of Xia an uprising took place at the western capital of Xī'ān, taking over the territory we know as Shaanxi. The state was called Later Qi, do to being the second Qi state in this period. It was founded by Shatou Turk called Lu Boqin.[1]


Meng Zhixiang would retake the territory known as Shu from the Dynasties in 926, founding the Later Shu Kingdom with its capital in Chengdu. His son, Meng Chang, would succeed him in 937. He emboldened the Later Shu Kingdom by conquering the area to the north of him with the Khitan's invasion of the Later Jin dynasty seizing control of much of the unconquered Empire. The prompt military alliance with the Liao consolidated the gains of the kingdom.


Under Meng Chang's rule art and literature began to flourish in Chengdu. The economy flourished allowing artists, writers, poets, and even the odd engineer to be paid well for their services and innovations.


(950)
Meanwhile the smallest of the Ten Kingdoms, Nanping, had lost its strong protectors in the northern dynasties. As the central trading hub for the surrounding kingdoms it had been kept safe, but now the temptations of seizing the economic region were growing between Shu and Nantang. Tensions started building between the two states, who had both recently expanded militarily. Nanping knew it would not last long without someone guaranteeing their safety, but whom could they trust?

[1] Lu Boqin is not a historic character.
 
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