My plans for the conquest of the remaining Chinese states are slowed significantly by the enormous distances, rugged terrain, and terrible infrastructure. It is August before my troops are in position adequately. During that time I’ve finished up my first corps of mountain troops, and they are able to arrive at the front months before VII Gun. With 1 Homen-Gun heading south for redeployment elsewhere, I transfer the leaders of IV Gun (who have significant mountaineering experience) to the new mountain Gun, dubbed LI Gun, and fill the vacated spots of IV Gun with fresh meat.
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| My plans for the conquest of Tibet and Xibei San Ma. I renamed L Gun to LI Gun later to give me more consistency in army construction. |
The invasions start on August 7th. I drew up the plans to avoid river crossings, and it becomes immediately obvious how significant that penalty is once it’s gone. Xibei San Ma has most of its defenders fully mobilized, but their front line collapses with minimal resistance. Within a day we drive their line back, inflicting over 1000 casualties, while suffering less than 100 ourselves. Xibei counterattacks VII Gun, but across a river, and that collapses without having any significant effect. LI Gun is able to cross the Yellow River (which has become a sort of initiation rite) into Lanzhou with no particular problem. VII Gun encounters the only fighting of any significance in Golmud, where three Xibei divisions put up a staunch defense for three days, inflicting 806 fatalities on us, and taking 627 in return. By September 13th, 35 Shidan (the only division in the Gun without artillery) occupies Golmud, bringing the war to an end. The booty is gradually improving, and we receive 135 money, 3800 supplies, 1200 fuel, and a very valuable trove of 1280 rare materials.
VIII Gun is the only unit assigned to take Tibet, and they have little difficulty in it, aside from the long march. They attack directly from Banbar to Lhasa. Tibet is not mobilized, and Lhasa is defended by one regular army division and one demobilized militia division. Even so, they hold us off for two days, and inflict 77 deaths against us, while suffering 287 themselves, a more respectable effort than Xibei San Ma put up. Tibet reinforces Lhasa on August 19th while we are in transit, but these troops are brushed aside easily. Tibet surrenders as our troops occupy their capital on October 2nd, and we immerse ourselves in the booty of … nothing. There is not a single drop of energy, metal, or rare materials, apparently, in all of Tibet, and what little money they may have built up was apparently spent on supplies, which they went to the trouble of consuming before we marched in. Mental note: never play as Tibet.
Our war declarations prompt Greece to join the Allies, followed a week later by South Africa. I’m not sure what the logic is in that, but that’s what happened. I am now faced with some pretty steep obstacles for the near future. I had originally planned on conquering Australia and New Zealand before they joined the Allies, then hitting the United Kingdom (or at least destroying most of their navy) before the United States joined the Allies, thus saving the US for the penultimate war. Alas, these plans are now moot, as the Allies are now solidly unified. I’m not sure how they found out about my plans, but perhaps ending every speech with “The Anglo-American Alliance Must Be Destroyed” tipped my hand a bit.
In any event, the overall path of conquest remains largely the same, except that I will be focusing on the British areas of Asia prior to Oceania, and I will have to divert some effort to the American islands sooner than expected. The overall plan, however, is much different. Within two years or so, I find myself in a grand melee of a naval war. Instead of dealing with the (large and capable) British and American navies in sequence, I will now be facing them simultaneously, along with Australia and possibly France. In effect, it will be the Japanese navy versus all other ships in the world. We’ll see how that works out. In preparation, I have switched my production from a land-unit focus to an almost exclusively naval focus. After the completion of ten divisions of marines, I commission four new full aircraft carriers, the Amagi, the Ryujo, the Soryu, and the Hiryu, with accompanying CAGs. I doubt even this will be sufficient, but it’s a good start.
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