The army is unavailable until the end of the month, being redeployed from the steppes of Mongolia and the mountains of Tibet.
The Emperor issues a decree commanding all able-bodied men to take up arms in defence of the motherland!
There is a glimmer of hope!
The army, having been redeployed, scrambles to impede the Japanese advance!
At the beginning the Japanese advance was utterly unchecked. Province after province fell to the aggressor, including the capital city, Peking. The government and the royal household had to quickly flee to Nanjing, burning any incriminating documents regarding the recent wars in the west.
We shall fight them on the beaches...
...and in the sky...
…and on the plains...
We shall never surrender.
The Japanese have landed again on the Chinese coast, using the formerly German enclave of Yantai as a beach head.
The problem is not nipped in the bud and grows into a larger problem. Troops from the northern front are redeployed to meet this new threat from the sea.
Within a month the Japanese have succeeded in capturing Hefei, effectively cutting off the entire Qing army, except those six divisions. This is our darkest hour. A quick and decisive response is needed or China will never again be free.
Apparently the Japanese have not read Sun Tzu's Art of War. A wise general should always leave a way out for a besieged enemy, or their men will fight with even greater desperation and ferocity.
The ferocious counter attack succeeds in breaking the encirclement and thus saves China from perpetual slavery and torment. The tables are turned on the Japanese as a division trapped in Hefei is crushed mercilessly.
This is how things look at the beginning of the new year. There will be no new year celebrations due to the precariousness of the situation. Another step is taken towards the establishment of a standing army in domestic policy. This year will mark the beginning of the end of the Japanese as the full manpower and resources of the Qing Empire is harnessed and directed towards the annihilation of the sushi-eating interlopers!
The counter-offensive begins
By the spring, the Japanese have been pushed back
The leader of the former Japanese puppet state sees which way the wind is blowing and decides to join us.
As a result of the defection of Zhang, a significant proportion of the Japanese army is cut off. The offensive must continue. By the end of the year there must not be a single enemy soldier standing on China's sacred soil.
The offensive will continue in the next update
