Ok thanks Vaarna, I've played around a bit with the game and I've still got a bunch of concepts that I don't fully grasp the mechanics of yet. Some are fairly straight forward and obvious yet others are rather abstract. Say military tactics, techs that improve it obviously improve combat performance in some way, but in exactly what way and how much? And so forth.
Meanwhile issues arise with the one of the armies stationed in territory mainly inhabited by a cultural minority.
The Koreans sit back and are not showing any signs of aggression, understandable considering their considerable numerical inferiority. The 10th army is sent into Korean territory for what will be the first battle of the war.
While there is a lack of competent officers capable of leading a larger force such as this effectively the Koreans also suffer from the same issue fortunately.
The battle results in victory, though a costly one. However with the great size of the Chinese army this shouldn't be an issue.
A second army made up of professional soldiers is sent to follow the enemy army.
Reinforcements arrive from the North East as well.
Another victory, though when losing half one force to gain it is quite a Pyrrhic victory.
Meanwhile some where else a rich gold deposit is found. Interestingly enough the Chinese enjoy whiskey.
The first proper general is now available, he is over all competent even though he has some weaknesses.
A small force attempting to occupy an enemy territory is attacked by a more than twice as large Korean force, and reinforcements are sent in.
Despite being greatly outnumbered the Chinese force manages to drive off the attackers.
Some how a medium sized Korean force has managed to to get into Chinese territory, an army is sent to deal with it. Another army is sent to deal with the retreating Koreans.
The southern battle results in victory and Chinese forces are in pursuit of the Korean army to finish it off before it can head south to reinforce and reorganize.
The battle weary Koreans quickly surrender to Guan Teimei, he is proving him self quite a capable commander.
The battle to the North is also won after a fairly short but bloody fight.
Apparently some irrelevant far away nation has gone bankrupt and is fact owing China some money.
Though the amount is only a few pounds so it's deemed not worth the effort to go to war over it. These foreigners can count them selves lucky.
Due to further improvement of the economy the education budget is further increased to the maximum amount considered reasonable.
The Chinese school system is quite heavily in favor of the clearly superior Manchu people, and some minorities are becoming quite upset over this. Even these minorities may at times come with useful ideas and innovations so some slight concessions are made in order to further this.
Another one of these pathetic foreign nations go bankrupt, once again the amount of money owed is such a insignificant amount that it's not worth bothering over.
While Chinese forces are busy occupying northern Korea the Koreans have trained fresh forces in a desperate attempt to stave of defeat. They are lured into battle by a small force on the front lines which was quickly reinforced once they were locked in battle.
Having easily defeated the freshly recruited and poorly organized troops the 1st army is sent after them in order to finish them.
After a couple of minor battles Guan Tiemei has them worn down to just a couple of thousand remaining men, the rest having either died, surrendered or fled.
In the Battle of Ichon the last Korean forces are defeated.
Now all that remains is to occupy the rest of Korea before it can be incorporated into glorious China.
More tea is always useful, it's decided to stockpile it for future use. One never know when it might be needed, after all as
Confucius said, The cautious seldom err.
The Hakka people are proving to be quite the nuisance. After much consideration shutting down the bank appeared the best choice.
All of mainland Korea is now occupied, however the Korean leadership sitting on the island of Cheju continue to be defiant and refuse to surrender even though their defeat is certain.
While ships are built to carry an army to finally finish of the the Koreans the newly implemented trade policy is proving quite useful. Perhaps these western ways have some merit.
Next project is to investigate the possibilities of private banks.
Elsewhere the British Empire is expanding.
Should they take the region we will share a land border with the British Empire which may prove potentially dangerous considering their aggressive expansionist ways.
It is perhaps no surprise that they force to the Panjab state to agree to their demands after a short war.
Back at home the Island of Cheju has finally been occupied and Korean resistance is at an end.
Korea is annexed and becomes a part of China, clearly they will be better of this way under enlightened Chinese rule.
Korea may be densely populated but with the great total population of China the Koreans make up a mere 2% of the total population.
Chinese cotton is some of the best in the world, in a great display of generosity we send some to Spain.
The Koreans are proving a troublesome lot, but local police disperse the troublemakers before they can cause any damage to speak off.
Being less populated than the rest of China a great wave of immigration to the Korean provinces follows shortly after the integration into the Chinese state.
The concept of private banks is also proving to be quite useful, but Chinese leadership are some what confused when scholars try to explain to them the relationship between cement production and banks.
Next is the development of a publishing industry, apparently westerners publish their written word on clothes, most confusing.
Then suddenly the devious British declare war on us, and the traitorous Japan and Siam forsake their alliance with us. This will not be forgotten soon.
