Pax's Alternate History Snippet repository.

[Imperator Pax]

April 1922
The telegram circular was a formal denouncement, a ritual that had to be observed it seemed. Maybe it was a chance to still see things headed off, maybe it was a warning shot... maybe it had just become habit at this point. He would have truthfully, much more preferred to be discussing scoping infantry rifles for scouts, and field reviews.

Even the machine gun field review would have been better than all of this... but he was in command, and the noise in Peking had to be seen to. "What do we know?"

"It started with an argument over money. So far as we can tell from there it turned into a spat over the cabinet appointments , and devolved from there." Waite replied.

"What's the recommendation?" He wasn't asking Waite his attention turned to Shansi's governor.

Yan nodded, "We should call up the reserves, if for nothing else but as an abundance of caution in the event that there is some repeat of the Restoration Crisis." Ponytail's attempt to restore the Manchu, the Qing dynasty to power. There were rumors going around Zhang Xun, and Zhang Tsolin had been making common cause, and both had had their power bases and their commands based in the maritime provinces.

There were a handful of nods from the short committee. Bill was absent, being down in southern Qinghai on an engineering project, and could be spared. Eighth division was absent, watching the border. Lee was absent for the same reason Shang was, also on border duty. "The Aircraft mission has approval as well?"

"Yes they can leave for England," Talk to De haviliand about his proposed improved racing plane, and its wooden frame with its new construction technique with balsa wood and the like, "I know Powell has a thing for that," That the balsa plywood manufacture "That its something readily available to the MAK." Waite declared, "cultivation will be a problem," He meant here in china, "but I admit that aluminum stamping while probably the future in the long run is not there yet. We would need very heavy pressing machines, and I don't expect a sufficiently great prototype inside of five years... and even if the stampings were there, we need more robust engines, and we are certainly not there in terms of a design, never mind in producing such an engine so I would call it ten years, maybe fifteen."

Thus, the argument was that a wooden composite frame like the racing design seemed the best option... and that was mirrored in land transportation. The suspension system for their trucks, and cars originated from a racing car from the Austrian in charge of the laboratory and workshop. Even more similar were the insistence of armament, it was just a rehash of talks before the telegrams had gone out, "The rapid firing cannon, we will have to replace the pom poms." They had done their job, but the experience showed that while they had worked they were now long quite long in the tooth and needed to be succeeded by flatter shooting longer range cannon rounds, which had been said a week earlier "1st​ Division and 3rd​don't have their full complement of combat cars," He noted, "if we call the reserves it will tie up the lines and slow the transfer of machines."

Yan paused to consider that, and with the preface of the concerning disruption of the capital still warranted being at a state of readiness overall and that those battalions of the 1st​ and 3rd​ Divisions still awaiting their allotments should be kept at home. The conflict, if it did turn into a repeat of the attempted restoration would be different because of the increased numbers. The difference though was that they held Zhengzhou properly. There was no, had been no attempt to contest their control of the city, or its rail line. The regulars stationed at their garrison in the city were in place, and unassaulted... this was not the manchu restoration where they had had to scramble... but it was also much earlier in the year, and that boded ill potentially. "If cautionary words will not be heeded,"

"Then the troops will be mobilized for war." Waite agreed. "Allen?"

"Will you be heading back to Taiyuan?"

"Yes," Yan replied, "I will prepare the Guard division, and insure we have our patrols increased and that we are at readiness."

Waite nodded, "I've the brigade here, and Dawes will bring up 1st​ and 2nd ​Brigades."

That would leave him with the mobilized portion of the 1st​ division, and the 5th​ and 6th​ Brigades and the generals commanding them. That was the problem with their war planning, and expectations... they had talked about months earlier that Sun was acting squirrely, and the likelihood the southern doctor was going to act a fool.

Yet the war plan remained the same having been uncorrected or unaltered. 5th​ and 6th​brigades were intended to support the Szechwanese front by supporting3rd​ and 8th​ divisions. Those divisions would remain on the border, and the hunanese were supposed to be watched...instead they were looking at pivoting towards Zhili and Honan... and they still weren't clear exactly what in the hell was going on between the Fengtien and Zhili in all of this.

A few hours later he was making the final adjustments to the table of orders.

Percy had wasted no time in searching him out, but this was not the manchu restoration for all comparisons that might have been drawn to it. The crisis in and around the capital was a hot mess, there was no denying that, but things were very differentthan they had been a few years earlier.

"Xian operates on three lines," He told the englishman who had grandly stated he was an observer as if this were a war from before the guns of august had opened. He hoped Percy had just been making light of the situation or that it was just Percy talking. Allen did not like the possibility that Percy's observer status might hold official endorsement from King George's government and this might well be Curzon looking at the provinces in the west as separate from the beiyang authorities, "The regular army, the reserves, and the National Guard." Xian maintained a national guard bureau with each of the provinces maintaining their own guard units for emergencies that could be federalized much as with home.

"Yes, like the states."

The model yes, now that they were acting on this scale, but also because of the promulgation of the provincial constitutions which had established executive and legislature formally in 1920... the judicial bench was proving harder to establish but they would get there. "The regular army has its active units,"

"Those men of the first line,"

True. In the old system there had been two lines, the army and its reserves. "1st​ is presently being reinforced, by brigades, they'll watch the flanks, and pin the enemy in place." It was not 1917, he had vastly more officers to distribute the weight to, men to bear the load of operational weight, "I've read Iseburo's report, and we've substantiated it."

"The numbers?"

"Yeah," Allen replied, "Zhang, and Wu," Fengtien and Zhili more broadly, since it was not just their personal commands involved, it was more than that, "Have been recruiting."

"I understand your man Powell has been hiring laborers to migrate to the Americas, and there is talk of an Africa railway." Percy remarked. "I imagine the lucky ones will get on the ships... Zhang has a lot of modern artillery, John Allen... its going to be bad. You'll be going to the front then?"

An Englishman's talent for understatement Allen mused, then replied with the short answer, "With 1st​." He replied.

"I've instructions to serve as observer," Percy, nor the Legation in Tietsin ever formally stated exactly to whom in Beijing they had informed that they were sending observers... though it wouldn't been out of character for the British Legation to have informed both sides of the fractured Beiyang that they were doing so. In April 1922 as the crisis erupted into serious fighting no one thought to ask, nor was it really that important, only that it was a return to the oddities as they would be thought of by future generations of the long 19th century. "if I can be of use I'll be along with you then."

 

[Imperator Pax]

April 1922
The rain was holding off, but it was relatively crisp this morning being in the low fifties and breezy. The army was used to digging though. Field entrenchments were emphasized, and had been emphasized even before the Europeans had gone to war. Allen's attention was on the opposite side of the river... farther south, far further than he could see and really it was the map of china he was visualizing.

This was a mess... for reasons not related to field conditions. It was the political realm not so much the physical one where the problem lay. The cadre had been hoping that in the fall the beiyang wings would all consent to holding elections and electing new members to the national assembly... and here they were half way through April and the Zhili clique was shooting at the Manchurian wing of the government.

His field headquarters was dominated by information carried by papers and telegrams that were in some cases months old. The circulars that Zhang had issued denouncing Wu, and Cao Kun were just one stack. Then there had been Wu denouncing the background chatter of the Chinese portion of the mission to Washington. The movements of the southern doctor. Tan Yankai, and Zhang Xun's movements were both being watched. The latter had met with Duan in Tietsin back in March, though they hadn't considered that terribly important at the time... not with Tankai's movements in Hunan which had largely had its beiyang aligned troops pulled out.

"Japan has no intention of moving one way or another."


Which was a small god damned mercy, and it was meant as an optimistic statement "Yes." He replied to Percy's statement. The brigadier commanding 6th​ Brigade and his chief of staff appeared behind the Englishman. Both men saluted crisply, "Hunanese report?" He asked thinking of Tan Yankai, and what his clique must have been up to given the much more active fracas down south and along the coast that likely had him much busier... or at least a different sort of busy

"The southern rebels are not doing well," The little bird replied quite smug at his statement. "I would be very surprised if they progress much further..." The brigaider general had been promoted up from 2nd​ Battalion of 1st​ Division, and his Chief of Staff had been also at Zhengzhou in 1917.

Hunan didn't have great roads to begin with, it never had, but there was a reputation among the people for a martial character, such that the Hunan militias had bragged about it to the British during the taiping rebellion, "What do we know about the present fighting colonel?"

"Current traffic suggests in addition to cantonese encouragement for Hunan's local commanders to resist the guomindang," There was no secret amongst the men that Sun had been brought up to be fond of the Taiping... there was plenty of American literature who'd fancied the southern rebel cause then, and lambasted British assistance to the Manchu as interfering in the natural course of history... but it was provincial ism at play. The men were quick to tar the southerners as rebs, and the papers decried the southern provinces as a haven of banditry in nearly every issue, "that the 1st​ naval squadron has also failed to come to the doctor's aid. If current chatter is accurate then the squadron may actually turn against them."

"Really?" Well that was interesting news, it would bear looking into. "Anything else on the naval front?" Allen questioned; the second naval squadron was further north... not that that would meaningfully effect Xian. Even if their river boats could get up the river, and get to here...there was unlikely any threat to their defensive position. The reinforcing of the defenses here meant they could prevent the aged boats from forcing further inland.

All of this had started with complaints about Liang's government, which had fallen in January, but the problems had all been more than this. All those stacks of telegrams in his field headquarters were built on grievances that had been building up. It was why he continued to watch the south. It was why3rd​ and 8th​ Divisions under Lee and Shang were kept in their existing deployments as 2nd​ and 4th​divisions were mobilized.

"Current intercepts suggest they also intend to remain uninvolved."

That was reassuring... mostly because this was a whole mess as it was. "They supported Wu in Hupeh last year," When the squadron had sallied up the river to fight in Hupei, which had lead to more comparisons of the Taping rebellion, even if it hadn't been nearly as bloody. The colonel took the invitation to expound, well prepared to review the conditions of the previous summer campaigning and the various connections officers of note held across the beiyang ranks and what had resulted in Duan Qirui's ousting from power.

"Zhang has criticized Wu for being too close to the Legation in tiestin," It was a wonder the Englishman hadn't said 'our legation' just now but Percy had had a point... Zhang [Tsolin] had called Wu a lot of things though the likes of puppet, doll, toy soldier were probably the harshest things he'd said in a circular that had reached public consumption. "Which is of course poppy cock, I should say." He added. "I really think its about money."

That was itself quite likely... though Allen also wouldn't have been surprised if Cao Kun wasn't in talks with the British about the loans. The financial situation wasn't amazing, and the former premier and the Communications clique had been fighting until Liang had replaced Jin as premier. Liang, of the communications clique, had been denounced shortly after that had happened... but rather curiously ... well the truth was Wu seemed to have elicited some personal spite from Zhang Tso-lin that made this conflict within the Beiyang seem ... seem petty save that both sides had massed a hundred thousand soldiers.

For all the complaints of the need for fiscal responsibility this would waste vast sums of money in the fighting between Fengtien and Zhili, and it would also reduce revenues as the fighting scared the peasantry, and townsfolk.

"In the interest of levity Mr Graves Zhang is much closer to the legation than Wu is," The lieutenant colonel observed, "That does not of course preclude this from being a matter of money,"

Percy before the war probably wouldn't have appreciated the glib comment, but the little bird had been with he assaulting force in 1917 then just a lieutenant, "Yes, that is true... and the Legation has other concerns."

"Alston, not about this I take it?"

"No, we would very much like this to be calm. There is a conference in Italy... it started about the same time all of this mess began," Not really, not by how John Allen would have reckoned counting this starting, but troops had been emplacing on the 10th​, the same day as the conference of Genoa had officially opened. "The Germans and Soviets formed a treaty of mutual recognition."

Allen bit down the expletive, but he would have sorely liked to curse. "I must imagine the Frogs aren't happy?"

"No," Apparently the new leadership of the French had already been grating on the Foreign Office , their government had likewise been upset right before the conference had opened and undergone a change in leadership, which had caught the brits off guard... and from the sound of it though he didn't mention it as such Lloyd George had gone and pulled a Wilson by deciding to handle the conference himself with inadequate support.
--
Notes: And of course its this kind of intervention which is what serious starts depleting Zhang's treasury, Zhang's insistence on expeditionary and often ill thought haying off ambitions disrupts his otherwise exemplary economy. Manchuria was doing very well under his governance but not so well as to support him being able to excercise power unilaterally. The end result of this becomes mass inflation because of reckless expenditures over the next several years.

 

[Imperator Pax]

April 1922
Wu's formal recognition of hostilities had come very late, weeks late, and with little indication of a serious attempt to dissuade the situation by political means... and thus it had confirmed that it was to be resolved by military force. That lack of denunciation though had not prevented him from positioning his troopers across Zhili province, and predicting deployment of Fengtien forces... and of course facing the reality that since Duan had been deposed there had been a sizable manchurian contingent in the capital environs. By the logic of the Huai army writings of the Taiping, that should have conveyed to Fengtien sufficient advantage as the 'host' of the battle for contesting the capital... but the Huai army of the 1860s had never had to fight a modern army engagement and Peking was very hard to defend without making preparations to resist.

Those weeks however had given the Foreign Office, and the Legation presence time to respond. It had also been weeks where Japan's legation had been slow to say anything, and then refuse to take sides in the crisis... Alston as his britainic majesty's minister plenipotentiary had recommended them to remain aloof from this scuffling. They'd already been hoping to do just that, and Wu's formal circular establishing his recognition of a state of hostilities didn't change that. They were going to remain at an elevated alert status. What Alston had not stated was Percy's official status. Allen watching one of the combat cars making its way through the street was unsure what Percy meant to gain by being here. "German gun?" He asked.

"Originally," He replied, the mechanics of the self loading system not his area of study, but it had invited some tizzy of mechanical deluge from the red legs, "From before the war," He continued, but it hadn't been ready, and not at market before then. The Combat Cars would carry a variety of armament such that the intention was a driver, a gunner and 11 dismounts. That was feasible for stand up fighters like the 1st​,and 3rd​ but the talk of mechanizing Infantry Divisions ...it wasn't feasible for them. 'The Leg' Infantry were to follow on and hold positions that Rifle and he supposed 'mechanized' infantry would punch through on, "The german cartridge it fired was anemic for our purposes so the Swiss Cadre insisted the cartridge be lengthened and shell weight increased, it was a lesson we learned after the visit to Russia."

"Ah." was all the Englishman remarked. Then after a moment, as Allen silently contemplated the map of northern china on his table, paying the armored vehicle no more mind as it rounded the bend, and staring at the suburb of tietsin where Zhang had established his own headquarters spoke up again, "does it meet satisfaction then?"

"It kills folks pretty well." He replied bluntly. "Yes its satisfactory for that Percy, we wouldn't have approved mounting it on the cars and issuing them to 1st ​if it didn't." Graves took the moment to acknowledge that, and how the experimental technical section worked in the evaluation of equipment. "The shell is about five inches, its not quite double the muzzle velocity of Becker's gun running American powder," He continued. "We're not entirely confident that its enough high explosive," At least with the current HE composition load, "to bust a pillbox, but its something."

"All due respect John Allen, bandits don't generally lay concrete and wire."

"The bolsheviks are bandits," He replied tersely, "Small bandits might not have concrete but bigger ones will do what they can." Alston in Tietsin with the Legation had continued to speak of the need of vigilance, for which he was supported by Churchill back in England with regards to Lenin. The Cadre didn't need reminding of that, they knew that. They knew that very well, and Percy's reminders on Alston's behest were rather annoying in their would be schoolteacher tone. He paused to take a pull from the dark coffee on the desk, and continued to eye Junliangcheng to the northeast on the map. It was where Zhang had established his headquarters of Fengtien, which put him in easy distance, a comfortable walking distance to speak to the legations as he liked.

"With his gendarmes he could have placed himself in Peking proper." Percy remarked.

Zhang could have certainly. His actual movement of troops had begun after Sun had begun moving into Hunan...and it was possible Zhang had expected Sun to either have more success or that that was meant to draw off Wu's troops further to Hunan. The Communications clique had lampooned Wu's suppression efforts in Hunan as wasteful of money that the national treasury simply could not afford the brief government of Liang had when it had come in cut funding to Wu's expedition in the province. "Sun started marching soon after Liang's government collapsed." Liang had been succeeded by bringing Yen... which seemed to suit the State department fine, but Liang's dismissal again had been something to set Zhang off as a personal slight, "He got off the line in early February."

"More than enough time for you to mobilize." Percy replied unnecessarily because that was self-evident... the fighting in Hunan had forced him to cut short both the consolatory funeral responsibilities and talks with Iseburo over the soviet problem to the North west. For that, Allen could say he resented Sun's expedition regardless of how much real threat it posed to the southern frontier.

Which was of course how things had started. Sun's march into Hunan required a readiness, and a statement. The cadre's official statement, written by a newly minted lieutenant general of the corp of engineers had outlined to the public, Xian's public, through the newspapers why the mobilization was occurring and what was going on. Yan had published a concurrent statement for his own province but the crux was that such an uprising would disrupt harmony. It didn't matter if Sun's march succeeded or if this was to be another failed rebellion it would make a mess of things.

The other matter was for the army active or reserve components alike how procedural the call up had become. Percy was correct that having been able to start issuing orders back in February had meant that by the point in which Wu and Zhang had moved their troops around the cadre had had the time to ready 1st​, 2nd​, and order 3rd​ and 8th​ Divisions to hold fast.

"You're going to authorize an expansion of the army."

It wasn't a question, so Allen didn't immediately respond to it, "Not as such," He replied, officially there were 7 provincial constitutions. Shansi, Shensi, and Western Zhili and then the western commanderies ... plus Tibet. "We were going to expand anyway. Expansion of the Guard," A brigade for Tibet, a brigade for Western Zhili, "the problem is this kind of common cause making caught everyone off guard."

"Yes," Percy paused, "From what we have been able to put together, it goes something like this, Sun is supposed to become president." That made sense, "Liang is supposed to come back in as Prime Minister,"

"I can understand that much, and the others."

"Duan would return as Dujun of Zhili, and from what I am to understand the provinces of Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Anhui would pass to the care of Zhang Xun. I am to assume that other provinces would be doled out to other Anhui generals who were supposed to be involved."

What obviously those men hadn't counted on was the squadrons at Shanghai and Canton deciding to support Wu and make a nuisance of themselves to the attempts to move troops north. "And?"

"And you're going to authorize the expansion of the army. You did it in response to the Manchu uprising, and now there are the bloody bolsheviks on the border as well."

"Why is that a problem for you Percy?"

"its not. Bloody hell John Allen, but you think that crack at the King's Honors was a joke, and even if it was drink caused to spill from the lips of men. Its what people, good people think. You were Yuan Shikai's friend, but people at home," He meant Londoners and the British of good breeding, from the right schools, and so forth, "See the problematic things about it all. The East India men were given leave, were asked to collect taxes by the Mughals. They were a company, and the old Empire is gone spare, Yuan is dead, the Qing went away before that and you can pretend that your private army is part of the country, but there is so much German there that they'd rather you're Prussia in the orient than admit you look like an east India man who has no need to answer to parliament."

From what he understood they'd never amounted to enough for Wilson to care, and Harding didn't seem to actively care because they weren't asking him for anything. The British concern was therefore... well annoying he supposed because they cared and the President of the United States did not care what they did. "Should I expect a problem from Curzon?"

"Personally, of course not Lord Curzon has no personal enmity with any of you... Even if you hadn't been there when the King was shot, you went to Russia, and have friends for it, including the personage of the King..."

"But?" He asked. "I assume it has something to do with your ham-fisted analogy." Especially since he'd never had a monopoly, and he was half tempted the likes of Forbes had never enjoyed a monopoly in the China trade in the US... Wilson had wanted free trade with China... well free trade with everyone Harding... Harding was too scared of the world beyond the shores, and wanted to do with things... which was no way to live, "I've made the decision to live here Percy, as has the majority of the cadre certainly all the ones that remain today. You can make your comparisons to the East India company but parliament granted me no monopoly, and I wouldn't have accepted one." The protest though was for other reasons, drawing the line in the sand to layout he didn't like the comparison... and the Cadre didn't like the comparison. Curzon could claim he didn't have any personal enmity, but the he talked about, and shit he went around doing as Foreign Secretary did tend to get the blood up all the same offense intended or not.