Spoils of Victory

Chapter 3 - Pact of Dragons

March 16th, 1936; 1:28 PM

Imperial Embassy to the Qin

Nanyang, Qin National Republic

This was the Qin's primary hope. For the past few years the Akitsushima Dominion has been prodding at their borders, and an escalation of the conflict was inevitable in the next few years at best. At worst, the Akitsushimans would be marching across the border by the end of spring. The Empire was their main hope at combating this growing threat.

Since the end of the Weltkrieg, also referred to as the Great War, the Empire has sought to find new allies, especially abroad now that their diplomatic situation was left ruined by the war. This sought them to forge a number of economic and even minor military arrangements with the Qin in order to help them modernize and catch up to European standards as they were years behind. The problem here lies with the fact that the Akitsushimans weren't.

Not only had Akitsushima modernized to western standards, but they even managed to take down a European power in the Russy-Akitsushiman War, back before Russy fell to Communism. This left Qin with a complete disadvantage. This added to poor industrialization, an outdated military, and internal political turmoil has left the Qin as little more than a disunited state ripe for conquering.

This is why they needed the Empire. Albion and the Unified States, while supportive of them, wouldn't dare risk getting directly involved. Rather they would send them weapons and supplies through secondary and secretive roads, likely via the Raj. The primary reason being that these powers had numerous colonies in the region, and getting directly involved in aiding Qin would likely lead to the Akitsushimans attacking them directly, something they wanted to avoid at all costs.

The Empire, however, would be the best bet for support. While their stance isn't as firmly with us as the other powers, they hold little to no territory in East Asia, with Qingdao being about the only significant one. The Empire can easily send volunteer forces without provoking a war, and furthermore they could even send direct advisors into our modernization to accelerate the process. All of this without little response from Akitsushima who both wouldn't have any real way of threatening them, and would likely only provoke Albion and the Unified States if they tried to protest.

Yes, the Empire was the best choice, their only choice. Their victory in the Weltkrieg has placed them as the foremost military and industrial power, even if the other powers were willing to support us, none of them would be as effective as the Empire.

This is why Seyang had to arrange this, he needed to get the Germans to agree to a diplomatic discussion, and if he succeeded, then Qin still might have hope. All that was left was to step into the Embassy and give them their proposal.

April 3rd, 1936; 2:21 PM

Imperial General Staff Office

Berun, The Empire

I couldn't help but furrow my brow as I looked down at the document, though in truth I'm not quite sure what to think of it. On one hand there was much for the Empire to gain, on the other hand, did I really have to be the one they sent? It's true that I'm a competent officer, however, leading an entire modernization program in the Qin?

I sighed, it's not that I have much of a choice anyways. Luckily I was fairly good at hiding my conflicting thoughts and my sigh, instead continuing to look down at the papers. From the looks of things, there were three areas in which the Empire, and by proxy me, have set out to improve. The Army, the Industry, and the Magecorps.