Jiang is deeply conservative and values stability and order over all else. If given the choice, he would rather defeat his opponents through direct force, be it economic or military. Due to the relative weakness of his fief, Jiang has slowly become more open to asymmetric strategies such as blockades and rapid manoeuvre, but still prefers the more upfront approach. He is generally not expansionist in his politics, preferring to solidify his position through alliances and strong defence. His lingering desire for a strong central government makes him wary of his warlord peers, but might also be way for his loyalty to be earned...


Once a staunch supporter of the Empire, Jiang Jiao-long gradually became more cynical of his rulers as his rose through the ranks of the Imperial Navy. Many of his peers were Qing cronies, yes-men who got their rank through nepotism and corruption, further convincing him that something had to be done. It wasn't until the death of the Empress and the surprise coup by Sun-Yat Sen and Yuan Shikai that Jiang once more found his calling. Declaring himself an ardent patriot of the new Republic of China, he went on to serve as Admiral of the Southern Fleet for the next five years. His fleet was based out of Hainan Island on the south coast, an area of ambivalent sentiment toward central government. As the conflicts against the warlords dragged on and the Republic's methods became more extreme, he once again found himself disillusioned. This time Jiang decided to make his own move, establishing his own authoritarian state on the Island and nearby coastline dedicated to stability and the values of honour and loyalty.

Location
Consisting of both Hainan Island and a small stretch of the southern coast, the Hainan Peninsula is an important trade hub for the South China Sea and the site of several national shipyards.

Population
2,550,000
Major Exports
Naval goods
Rubber
Fish



Army

Size of Army: 175,000
Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%

General Small Arms: Mannlicher M1895, Enfield Model 1853 Rifle-Musket, Type 26 Revolver
Support Weapons: Schwarzlose M07/12 Machine Gun (limited numbers), 1850s era Field Howitzer (12-24 pounder)

Organisation:
Army of the Hainan Peninsula - Reformed from the old Hainan Imperial Army, the Army consists of nine 'super' regiments of infantry and two cavalry drawn from the local area, each consisting of dozens of battalions. Instead of organising at a divisional level, the Army is deployed by regiments under central Army command. They are stationed primarily on the mainland near Zhanjiang.

1st and 2nd Irregulars - Functioning as both coastguards and light naval infantry, the Irregulars are mainly responsible for coastal defence and operate at battalion strength.

Navy

Size of Navy: 11,000
Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%

Number of Capital Ships: 1
Number of Escort Ships: 12

Ships/Squadrons:
CS Yantai - Despite being hopelessly outdated by European standards, the heavy cruiser Yantai remains one of the largest vessels in Chinese service and a powerful deterrent to anyone hoping to invade Hainan Island. Manned by a rotating crew of some hundreds and armed with two 12inch single turrets, the Yantai is Admiral Jiang's trump card for protecting his lands.

2nd, 3rd, 7th, 11th Destroyer Squadrons - Comprising nearly a third of China's destroyer contingent, these ships were docked at Hainan Island when the Admiral seized power. Unlike the naval forces of other nations, China's destroyer fleet is a mish-mash of different designs, ranging from obsolete ironclad sailing ships to converted paddle steamers and junks. A handful are more modern however, purchased from European shipyards in the dying days of the Qing Empire along with the Yantai; these ships are fast, powerful and crewed by the most experienced sailors. While no threat to a world-class navy, these vessels are apex predators of the South China Sea.

Other
As a dedicated naval commander, Jiang has little expertise in land warfare and the Army suffers for it. His land forces are primarily defensive in nature, protecting the mainland peninsula with a series of static defences. Conversely the Navy operates on a doctrine of direct assault and is trained to seek out and engage the enemy in the open where their superior firepower can make a decisive difference.

Name
Hui Jinfu

Age
34

Ethnicity
Han

Government Position
Finance Minster of Guangdong (Former)
Governor of Guangdong (Former)
Lord Jinfu of Guangdong

Personality
Hui is a very calm and collected man with a very open, friendly face. However, under that face he is very cunning and lives under a questionable set of morals. He will betray, manipulate and deceive others to get his way but would rather use more open, direct and less shady methods if he needs to. He does enjoy good company and likes to have intelligent conversations with others however. When dealing with other warlords, he will often try to see if there is a way to make money first or gain something from them with little cost to himself.

Biography
Hui was always a bright kid, always being able to boast he was amongst the smartest children in the village he was born in. However, he would use said intelligence for darker purposes then rest of the villagers would have liked, often extorting or cheat money from the other kids and even adults. However, he was untouchable due to his father's position in the Qing bureaucracy. By the time he was a teenager, he had already accumulated enough wealth to be the richest person in the village by a long shot and set his sights on greater goals.

However, during an Imperial crackdown on corrupted officials, Hui lost much of that money and his parents were unjustly jailed for crimes they did not commit and eventually executed. Seething in rage, he hated the Imperial government in his lost, accepting that what he did was wrong but his parents were innocent. Eventually he wandered into Hong Kong and was picked up by a British merchant family who saw the potential in Hui.

Teaching him English and basic economics, the family raised Hui so well to the point that he unlike many of his peers in the streets would not hate the Westerners. He would take a job at a printing shop and would read up on the news and various books that the shop churned out daily. However, his old habits never disappeared and Hui, now knowing English, conned both Chinese and Western and would eventually go on to sell opium in the name of the British family that picked him up.

His personality changed and he isolated himself in his ideas and his wealth before being sent to England to study at Oxford. Isolated from his fortunates at home, Hui once again reverted to the boy he was before and learned that people were more useful than just money making and impressed his professors by having tea time talks about subjects ranging from the history of Britain to the mechanics behind a steam engine to predicting the market for soap.

After five years in England, he came back to China to become a was quickly swept up by the local government to help the economy and deal with the westerners. Still angry at how his parents were killed for what he believed as little reason, he plotted to overthrow the suffering, local government on its last legs and with the help of some supporters and foreign contacts, became the governor of Guangdong province. Now with the Republic weakening, Hui saw it as the perfect chance to escape the grasp of the RoC and claiming a title of "Warlord" for himself as he ruled over like an Emperor in his own right. Now, with Guangdong in his hand, he looks to the rest of China and rests his gaze upon the Imperial City so he can reforge a nation he believes is "long over due to rest".

Other

• Even without his seat of Warlord of Guandong, he is a very influential man with many contacts and supporters both Chinese and foreign.
• Tea time is an important daily ritual for Hui due to his time in Britain. He has never once missed tea time or at least some variation of it not matter what as happened.
• He has a huge amount of fund at his disposal due to him having a huge monopoly on trade and industry in the area.
• He tends to be at odds with most Chinese people as he is very a pro-Western man in a very conservative land but is trying to get people to embrace new ideas but has actively been showing people what westernization could bring by building power plants and improving city services amongst other things
• He personally owns and uses a German Borchardt C-93 pistol and a Swiss Schmidt-Rubin Rifle, noted to be quite a good shot with both of these.
• In most cases, Hui will be seen outside with his cane which contains a hidden sword that will come out is he holds down the handle and pulls it out.
• During his time in England, he developed a small taste for Pin-up posters and hides several of them in his personal room and office.

Location
Guangdong Province

Description
An average province in terms of wealth with both an open-mind to both central China and the outside world, Hui has implemented a number of idea and polices to try and rapidly increase the city's wealth and westernization by investing in the city itself, sometimes with western business partners. He has supported the creating of city services like rail roads and a modern sewer system, while financing (along with some western associated) the begins of heavy industrial factories. Despite his best efforts, some more conservatives-minded people in the province are criticizing him and his "barbaric western ways" and often manage to force projects to move more slowly in one way or another. Hui has managed to get one or two factories up and running though, albeit not at max efficiency. Most industrial stuff is still reliant on large workshops.

Hui's as funded city projects through a clever, if not morally questionable method of using fake opium and knock-off foreign imports. After creating what is "fake opium" (stuff that is only meant to look like it but lacks any of the drug's actual properties), he has some of his men sell the fake opium as real opium, making good profit margins as opium is expensive but people can't tell the difference between real and fake until after the deal. As for foreign imports, Hui has men who sell cheap knock-offs of actual European goods and sells them at the same price. Due to a lack of Chinese who can tell the difference and with Europeans getting a cut of the money, this is a very reliable way for Hui to earn his money. However, much of the money the province makes goes directly to him.

The province also has a carefully managed tax and tariff system which makes money off of anything that is not locally produced. While both of them are meant to be a happy equilibrium for both Chinese and European merchants, officials constantly adjust the tax rate on a daily basis little by little like a stock market. Hui himself champions this method as "stock market taxation" and stating it allows for more flexible and fair taxing of goods. His supporters agree with the method saying it can help make the city rich while his critics point out some very obvious flaws of having an unstable tax rate that almost seems like it is set by Hui's mood.

Population
19.5 Million

Natural Resources
Guangdong is blessed with plentiful natural resources like forests that produce timber, palm oil and rubber with many minerals such as wolfram, tin, antimony, bismuth, molybdenum, copper, lead, zinc, oil shale, salt, and sulphur. The nearby ocean provide oyster, abalone, pearl, sea horse, and other sea products. Many of these resources are beginning to be exploited with the constructions of several plantations, mines, lumber mills and foundries. Hui's shrewd business dealings allows the province to milk every cent out of foreigners and other merchants for the resources and goods that are produced.

While the province is no means a bread basket, it grows a fair deal of crops to supports its people (with outside a bit of help of course) and its trade through cash crops. Rice, corn, sorghum, millet, wheat, sugar cane, peanuts, soybeans, sesame and various tropical and sub-tropical fruits are its main food crops with silk cocoons, ambary hemp, jute, tea and pepper being its main. Westerners have introduced tabacco, coffee, cacao, and potatoes to the region and there are several small-scale farms and plantations which Hui hopes to one day solidify them into a more unified and centralized system.

Major Exports
Guangdong's original major exports were sea and crop products however more recently, it has become more "industrialized" with rubber, minerals, metals and cash crops holding high profits. Due to its location near Hong Kong and Macao, trading foreign imports from Europe and the rest of the world to inner China has also become quite a lucrative venture for those who can cash in on it.



While much of the army is inexperienced and unproven, Hui Jinfu's connections to the west allow him to arm them with some of the best weapons available. Although much of his armies are still traditional, Hui hopes to one day have a completely modernized army trained by hired Western officers and veterans.

His doctrine is to force the enemy to come to him either by sabotaging their position or bombarding them out. Infantry and calvary wise he often employs feints, ambushes, and sneak attacks and will try to avoid direct, open combat unless needed. Many of his units blends Western and Chinese equipment and ideas as well as some original ideas he picked up from others in conversation or his own brain during his personal musings.

Navy wise, much of his ships are actually old Japanese ships from the Boshin War. Again, several contacts were called, favors made and coin dropped for these ships to be brought to Guangdong and made combat-worthy again.

Army

Size of Army: 1 Million (Around a fifth)
Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%
General Weapons:

The British Lee-Enfield Mk.I Rifle is the most common amongst Domain soldiers, most acquired though Hui's contacts and trade business and are directly imported from Britain or Indian Factories owned by the British. The Gewehr 98 is also a fairly well-used rifle although its British cousin is more common. Frontline troops are more likely to use the Lee-Enfield while reserves tend to be equipped with Gewehrs until more Lee-Enfield Rifles are acquired.

Thanks to Hui's near massive wealth, machine guns aren't too uncommon. Rechambered Madsen machine guns are given to elite infantry squads while most other normal infantry squads will have a cart-mounted Maxim machine gun. The cart-mounts allow troops to quickly transport the larger Maxim quickly from place to place and only requires a crew of two or three to man as compared to the normal five or six while also giving the team a good place to put extra ammunition, parts and water as well as a small shield useful against a bullets.

Some piece of British artillery have also made their way into the Domain's army such as the Ordnance BL 15 pounder. Hui's army also posses a small number powerful QF 1-pounder "pom-pom" auto-cannons usually used as defensive equipment. While not true artillery, the Domain's military is experimenting with the use of European Elephant Guns although have hit a major road block in the form that once someone takes a shot from it, they don't want to fire it again due to the immense recoil.

Pistols are considered officer weapons but many officers use carbines and shortened rifles over the revolvers and handguns on the front lines since they don't provide adequate fire-power at longer ranges. Similarity Domain Dragoons also use said carbines while on horseback and on foot, proving they are good shots in both firing positions.

Traditional weapons such as the repeating crossbow and melee weapons are still in use but are being phased out. The Domain's army still fields around 3 divisions worth of repeating crossbow men who act like machine guns with their primary objective to suppress enemies. Melee cavalry is still used to some extend in the way of lancers and carbine-armed dragoons.



Organisation:

The Domain's army is divided up as follows:

• 10 Armies with 100,000 Troops
• 25 Divisions per Army with 4000 Troops per Army
• 4 Regiments per Division with 1000 troops per Regiment
• 20 Platoons per Regiment with 50 Troops per Platoon
• 4 Squads per Platoon with 12 Troops per squad each consisting of 8 Rifles, 2 on the MG, a Sniper and the Squad Leader. (The two that are part of the squads are the Platoon Leader and the Messenger)

Officers are hand-selected by hired European advisors and veterans who are then honed with a year's worth of intense officer and leadership training. Squad leaders on the other hand are simply the highest ranking infantry unit in the squad with the most experience. Platoon Leaders are veteran soldiers given an abbreviated version of the leadership and officer training.

Training for most soldiers lasts about 9 months of basic training (BT) with and additional 3 months should the soldier choose to pursue a specialized role like sniper, machine gunner, grenadier, cavalry, artillery, etc. It should be noted that cavalry units are given some lessons on how to handle and ride horses in BT and use the extra 3 months to learn how to fight atop a horse.

Logistically, the Domain's army is in one of the best positions in possibly all of China. Not only is huge profits derived from the trade that goes on in the province, the Europeans traders bring a near constant supplies of whatever cannot be produced in local factories. Because the army only uses two types of bullets, the British .303 round and the German 7.92x57mm Mauser round, there is little confusion in resupplies. Factories also pump out new copies of rifles on a daily basis with some machine gun factories beginning to open their doors. Artillery on the other hand is still all foreign imports although some parts have been successfully recreated.

Navy

Size of Navy: 700,000 (Includes support units like naval guns and dry dock workers)
Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%
Number of Capital Ship: The Haikulong (Sea Dragon) - A converted Chinese Junk with modern cannons and a iron plates and a steam engine
Number of Escort Ships: 3 Kanarin Maru-class iron-plated corvettes, 4 Kasuga-class Iron-plated Corvettes, 2 Roanoke-Class Ironclad Monitor, 8 Chiyodagat-Class gunboats with torpedo.




Other
Hui is current in the process of armoring up all of his ships and trying to get more modern ships into his navy.
Hui often contracts pirates to bolster his forces and wreck havoc on his enemies' navies however he does not list them as part of the official navy.
*War Rafts are large, sampan-styled rafts with iron roofs and enough space to fit a few men and windows fire small cannons or guns from. They are ideal for sailing along rivers and coasts but are unsuited for open sea especially in choppy weather.

Appearance

Name
Ma Qi

Age
41

Ethnicity
Hui

Military Rank
General

Government Position
Govenor-General of Qinghai (Formerly)
General of the Ninghai Army
Temur of the Ma Clique

Personality
For the few that speak to Qi on a personal level, only one word comes to mind: Stern. Ma Qi is a man of deep religious tradition, and his loyalty to his allies and Allah show through on all levels. Once Temur Qi has made a decision, he shall remain loyal to it until it is completed. While Ma Qi is a trustworthy and loyal man, his enemies only know the wrath of his religious fervor and high ambition. Once a man has gained Mai Qi's distrust, he is no longer the quiet and patient elder that he has built himself up to be, he is a warrior of god, he is the Temur of the Hui.

Biography
Since his birth he had been a loyalist to the Qing. His father was Ma Haiyan, and his brother Ma Lin, all commanders in the Qinghai-Gansu region and loyal to the Chinese Emperors. Ma Haiyan died during the Boxer Rebellion fighting the wretched foreigners at the Battle of Langfang in 1900, died protecting the royal family from the Westerners. This meant that Ma Qi, only a young man at the time, succeeded his noble-father in all posts and capacities.

Holding his post quietly for many years, his Ma Qi's time to shine came during the Xinhai Revolution. Mai Qi quickly led his forces to defeat the Gelaohui revolutionaries in Ningxia, giving executions to the leaders of the rebellious force. When the Emperor abdicated Ma was broken, the empire his father had died for was now crumbling around him and now a Republic had been declared. Through desperation and loyalty to the nobility of China, Ma declared a new state, a new Khanate... Through quick diplomatic and minor military action, Ma Qi brought the Tibetan and Mongol chiefs into the fold within Qinghai and united the province into something his father would be proud of... The Ma Clique was born, and Ma Qi would be the first Temur.

Other

• Ma is unusually tall for a man of Hui descent, towering over his comrades at six foot and three inches.
• Ma and his brother, Ma Lin, have never exactly been close. This lack of a brotherly bond has led to issues in the past and have split the family in some ways.
• As of yet, Ma Qi has yet to produce an heir to the Ma Clique, leading some to believe his more strong-headed and 'gung-ho' brother will take the throne when Ma Qi passes.

Location


Population
1,875,574

Major Exports
The North-West of China has always been the smallest on a economic level. Luckily the land of the Hui has prospered through their clever trade in iron and steel, the two materials most needed in creating weapons and tools throughout the region. In addition, the great lakes of the region still remain untouched, and their precious salts unused.



Army

Size of Army: 62,519 soldiers

Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%

General Arms:
Service Rifle: Hanyang 88 & Mosin-Nagant M1891
Service Pistol: Mauser C96
Traditional Weaponry: Dao Sword Jian Officer's Sword

Organisation:

• 6 Armies with 10,000 Troops
  4 Divisions with 2,500 Troops per Army
  2 Regiments with 1,250 Troops per Division
  25 Platoons with 50 Troops per Regiment

Kinds of Armies:
3 Traditional Armies (Limited or No Training/Discipline)
2 Traditional Banner (Fully Trained/Disciplined)
1 Guard Army (Fully Trained/Disciplined)

Name:
Jin Kiue

Age:
23

Ethnicity:
Manchu

Military Rank:
Sergent

Government Position:
Regent

Personality
A relatively young man who has only recently been handed the reins of the province of Jilin, all be it with his father looking over his shoulder in order to help him rise to the role of leadership, Jin Kiue is somewhat headstrong and idealistic. Born as the child of the mayor of the small town of Fēngshōu, Kiue is fully aware of his humble origins and deeply cares about the safety and well being of his fellow country men and women. He is also a royal loyalist, having been far enough away from the capital and the politics of the empire during its day to get an idea of how things ran behind the scenes.

One of his main goals as 'Regent' is to restore the Imperial Family from its exile in Japan and bring honor to the Jin family.

Biography:
When the Imperial Family was overthrown and replaced with the Republic of China, the original noble family who were in charge of the Jilin province were neither apart of the coup or strongly against it, taking a 'Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss' attitude to the whole thing. Being on the edge of the newly established Republic of China, the province of Jilin was abandoned by the Republic as it started to shrink in on itself; Before the republican troops abandoned the province completely, they proceeded to everyone who was even remotely in a position of leadership and seized their assets for themselves in order to strengthen the Republic and cut off at least one possible future enemy off at the knees before it could rise after they left.

Jin Lang, the mayor of the small town of Fēngshōu and once a farmer himself was spared due to his low status and the time constants that the republic solders had been under. After the republican solders had left, Lang found himself to be one of the few remaining figures that could be considered a leader left alive in Jilin. Known around the province and relatively well liked by his fellow countrymen, Lang was able to salvage the situation and rose to a position of power.

After uniting the province and getting it into a stable position, Lang stepped down from leadership and officially gave the role of leadership to his son, Kiue. While Kiue is officially the 'Regent of Jilin', his father Lang is still heavily involved with the process of leadership in order to give Kiue the time and training he needed to stand on his own as an important figure in their country.

Other:
Lang and Kiue Jin are both devote royalists and consider/ed their ruler ship of the province of Jilin (And any other province they may take over) to be nothing more then a regency until the Imperial Family returns to China.

Jin Kiue has not married yet and has no children, more focused on learning how to lead then to marry. In the event of his death, leadership of the province of Jilin will fall back to Jin Lang, but once Lang is gone the Jin family would be wiped out and leadership of the province becomes... tricky.

Location
Jilin
Population
10 million
Major Exports
Oil, gas, coal, iron mine, nickel, molybdenum, talc, graphite, gypsum, cement rock, gold and silver.

Military Forces

Army

Size of Army: 800,000

Standardisation and Professionalism: 25%

General Arms: Mannlicher M1895, Enfield Model 1853 Rifle-Musket, Type 26 Revolver
Support: Schwarzlose M07/12 Machine Gun (limited numbers), 1850s era Field Howitzer (12-24 pounder)

Organisation:
Eight armies made up of 100,000 men each.
Each army made up of 10 divisions made up of 10,000 men each.
Each division made up of 10 companies of 1000 men each.
Each company made up of 28 platoons of 35 men each.

Navy (coastal only)

Size of Navy: Rough number of sailors
Standardisation and Professionalism: Same as above, but separate
Number of Capital Ships: Any large cruiser or above. No more than one capital ship in the beginning.
Number of Escort Ships: Destroyers, subs and light cruisers
Ships/Squadrons: Same as Organisation for Armies, but include every ship/squadron.

Other
Despite the purge and raiding of the Republic troops on their way out of Jilin, the province is still quite wealthy in raw resources and man power.

Appearance:


Name:
Yan Shikai Hsi-shan.

Age:
56 years old.

Ethnicity:
Han, Chinese.

Military Rank:
General.

Government Position:
Head of State.

Goverment Policy:
Yan believes that, unless he is able to modernize and boost Ningxia's economy and infrastructure, he would be unable to prevent Ningxia from being overrun by rival warlords. He therefor follows an active policy of industrialisation whilst at the same time introducing militarism to develop a strong and nationalistic society, capable of defending its own interests.

In order to maintain public order and control, Yan's government promotes equal rights for both men and women and provides a free, state funded schooling system that is succeeding in producing a population of trained workers and farmers literate enough to be indoctrinated without difficulty.

Yan has also introduced a policy to eradicate the use of opium by rehabilitating addicts, pressuring individuals through their families, constructing sanitariums designed to slowly cure addicts of their addictions and by outlawing the production and growth of opium by instead promoting the growth of Goji berries and their usage in wine.

By actively promoting Christianity throughout his province and supporting the foreign missionaries, Yan has managed to gain some support from the west. Unfortunately the nature of his province, with no access to the sea, limits the aid, if any, he is capable of receiving.

Personality:
In order to maintain Ningxia's neutrality and free it from serious military confrontations with rival warlords, Yan developed a strategy of shifting alliances between various warring cliques, inevitably joining only winning sides. Although he was weaker than many of the warlords that surrounded him, he often held the balance of power between neighboring rivals, and even those that he betrayed hesitated to retaliate against him, in case they might need his support in the future.

Yan implements numerous reforms in an effort to centralize his control over the province. Although embracing the traditional values of the landed gentry, he denounces their oppression of the peasantry, and takes steps to initiate land reforms and to weaken the power of landowners over the populace in the countryside. These reforms have so far succeeded in weakning the position of potential rivals in his province in addition to benefiting the Ningxia farmers.

Despite acting for the good of the people under his rule, most of his policies are also set-up in such a way that it increases his old over the province and his popularity. Effectively reforming the people and the land into what he believes is right for both him and the people.

Biography:
Yan grew up in the city of Yinchuan, Ningxia. His father was an officer in the army of the Qing Dynasty and commanded a small infantry platoon to keep order in this city and the area surrounding the city. His father's position did not give him a lot of power but it did earn him a small amount of wealth and allowed his family to live above the normal standard of living.

Unfortunately that state of living did not continue for very long. His father was executed at the start of the first Dungan Revolt in 1862 and reduced his family's standard of living to below the normal standard of living, in poverty. After several years of living in poverty, Yan decided to join the local Muslim militia at the young age of fourteen, in order to help out his family.

Fortunately, his young age spared him from being used as cannon fodder and he was given the task of spying on the troops of the Qing Dynasty, which he did, for nearly a year before he got captured. His age spared him again, this time from execution. Instead he ended up volunteering for service in the regiment that had captured him, starting his career as a double spy.

Over the course of the conflict he continued to act as a double spy, only openly joining the military ranks of the Qing Dynasty when his cover was blown. The final two years of the rebellion he spend as a soldier on the frontline, fighting throughout the province he once called home. This experience thought him the terrain and his time in the military inspired his amibitions later in life.

His presence in the war also brought out his hatred for Muslims, if you fight someone long enough you will grow to hate them regardless, he had a reason though. The assassination of his father only fueled his dislike of the Hui people. As a result the unit he fought in took part in several war crimes, most of them being the execution of captured prisoners or the large scale of rape that took place. He would grow to deny and dismiss this part of his life but he did his fair share.

With the conflict over and the majority of the Hui people deported to other areas of China or Imperial Russia, he returned to his city to find out that the remnants of his family had been executed because of his service in the Qing Dynasty's military.

Having been particularly disgusted by the events he witnissed he became a strong supporter of every other religion that wasn't based on the muslim extremist ways and their sharia laws. Yan eventually found comfort in Christianity and grew to support it as the sole religion people should follow, a practise that has continued throughout his later life.

He kept his presence in the military, rising through the ranks while also becoming disgusted with what the regime had turned into, the numerous defeats at the hands of foreign power showed that the Qing Dynasty was a dying creature that was slowing down the herd. He pretended to be loyal though, serving loyally in the second Dungan revolt and the Boxer rebellion. By the time of the Warlord era things had become to unstable and Yan decided to take control over his own province, a relatively small area that he was able to control uncontested.

His years as a spy provided him with some experience in Diplomacy and flat out lying without it being noticeable. To best serve his own interest he married a young Mongolian girl, decreasing tensions with the Inner-Mongolian region to his north and eventually obtaining a safe passage from supplies coming from Russia through Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, the formentioned route was long though so supplies and trade were limited and hard to come by.

Other:
- Yan has converted to Christianity and has developed a firm anti-Muslim stance based on events in his teenage years.
- Yan enjoys high prestige as a military commander but in reality is only an average tactician. His policy of supporting the winning side in conflicts has enabled him to often succeed in driving out the larger armies of his rivals. Which unknowst to others were more often then not, suffering from lack of reinforcements, armament, low morale and disorganisation as a result of having engaged in numerous campaigns against others beforehand.

Ningxia:

Location:
Physiographically, the Ningxia region can be divided into two parts. Southern Ningxia is part of the Loess Plateau, with the Liupan Mountains as the main ridge. Northern Ningxia is made up for the most part of the Ningxia plain of the Huang He. The river enters Ningxia from the Qinghai plateau in Gansu and flows east and then north into Inner Mongolia. West of the plain are the Helan Mountains. These mountains serve as a shelter against the sandstorms from the Tengger Desert, which lies to the west of the mountains. It is a relatively arid region, including the Tengger desert in Shapotou, but the ancient Yellow River irrigational system ensures the northern part is well watered.

The province can thus be described as having a mostly mountainous and highland type of terrain which features some generally flat regions in the south and a small region of desert in the north, the desert lacks sand however and the ground is mostly covered in a layer of cracked rock. The flat terrain in the north and south heavily favours the defender, giving them a clear view of the enemy on the flat terrain but also providing mountains and hills, which are excellent defensive positions, to retreat towards when needed.

Climate:
Ningxia has a temperate continental climate of long, cold winters and short, hot summers; temperature is lowest in January, averaging from -10 to -7 degrees Celsius and highest in July, averaging from 17 to 24 degrees Celsius. Annual rainfall averages from 190-700 millimeters.

Population:
1,210,000 million.

Ethnic Composition:
91% Han, Chinese.
6% Mongolian.
1,6% Manchu, Chinese.
1,4% Hui, Chinese.

Natural Resources:
Ningxia is rich in mineral resources, with verified deposits of fifty kinds of minerals including coal, gypsum (for which it leads all of China), oil, natural gas, pottery clay, quartz sandstone, and barite. There are also sizable quantities of phosphorus, firestone, copper, iron, and a variety of other minerals. Ningxia is however still developing its industries and is currently not capable of exploiting its natural resources to the fullest extend.

Major Exports:
Traditionally the export of Goji berries has always been present, but recently through government policies, various wines have also started to appear. Ningxia is rich in mineral resources, and is thus able to export the resources of which it has a surplus, such as; coal, gypsum, quartz sandstone, firestone, copper and iron.

Military Forces:

Size of Army:
60,000 active personnel.

Standardisation and Professionalism:
25%

General Arms:

Rifles and Machine guns:

Berdan rifle - 33% or 19,800.
M1867 Russian Krnka - 9% or 5,400.
Mauser Model 1871 - 22% or 13,200.
Gewehr 98 - 8% or 4,800.
Hanyang 88 - 13% or 7,800.
Madsen machine gun - 0,023% or 21.
M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun - 0,020% or 12

Traditional weapons:

Swords, spears and to a lesser extend various other melee weapons - 9% or 5,400.
Bows and crossbows - 15,957% or 9,567.

Organisation:
Yan's officer corps is drawn from Ningxia's gentry, and given two years of education at government expense in order to produce experienced leaders. Each officer is given a large amount of freedom whilst conducting operations, in order to exploit their leadership skills to the fullest extend.

The army itself is devided into 12 brigades, each with a total strength of 5,000 personnel. Each brigade is devided into five regiments with a total strength of 1,000 personnel. And each regiment is devided into four companies with a total strength of 250 personnel. This of course is the situation on offical government records, commanders are free to merge units or companies if one flank is threatened to much.

Most of the machine guns and rifles have been relocated to the flat areas in the south and north of the province to combat possible mass charges with cavalary or infantry. As a result of this the mountain areas suffer some what by having a larger amount of obsolete and traditional weaponry, but make up for this by the excellence defence the area provides.

The some what large mix of different weapons provides some logistical troubles in terms of resupplying ammunition, but proper decipline and detailed military records on troops movements has reduced this problem significantly.

Other:
Yan is attempting, via conscription, to create a civilian reserve that would become the foundation of society in Ningxia. His army is one of very few, if not the only army in Warlord infested China that is exclusively recruited from its own province. This combined with Yan's policy that insists that the soldiers preform work to improve Ningxia's infrastructure and industrial base, including road-maintenance and assisting farmers. Ensures that the entire army is loyal, disciplined and well liked amongst the populace. Yan's discipline even ensures that his soldiers actually pay for anything that they take from civilians, the army in Ningxia thus enjoyes much more popular support than most of its rival armies in China.