Europe of the East(East Asian Alternate History)

Before the Alliance

May 13, 1404, The sun is shining brightly on field full of grass and flowers. The birds are chirping, the wind is blowing, and there are men shouting. "READY, AIM, LIGHT THEM UP!", An officer shouted. Soon after, a large barrage of metal pellets from matchlock guns are flying through the air across field into a group of soldiers. Five were hit and died instantly. You can hear more shouting as the soldiers charge towards enemy lines. With their swords, they quickly turned the long-distance combat into close-combat. Soldiers were fighting with all their strength, swords clashing against one another, and people screaming as they felt the pain of being stabbed. After some intense fighting, the soldiers who charged at the enemy lines won the clash. They all blew on their war horns which another group of soldiers heard, when they heard it, they immediately relayed the signal blowing their own horns. Suddenly there were 5,000 soldiers all charging from their trenches raising the flag of Tondo. It was an invasion of Brunei by both Tondo and Majahapit.

It has roughly been 54 years since the Silk Road has been blocked off. Ming traders all went east into the pacific. Trade routes were established all over the west pacific. The first major trading partner of Ming east was Korea. Since they were connected by land, a lot of people went to Korea by going through the north, but most trading happened through the sea. The first major trading port in Asia outside of Ming was Seoul. The next was Hosokawa. Hosokawan boats were sailing to Korea for trade when they made a navigation error and ended up in Ming. The Mings were interested with the products the Hosokawans had and asked for more thus, beginning trade between Ming and Hosokawa. Malacca, Khmer and Dai Viet all started trading with Ming through both sea and land a few years after Ming established the Trade routes with Korea. Tondo and Majahapit were trading partners years before Ming closed the Silk Road so when the Mings came to Tondo, Majahapit started trading with Ming together with Tondo.

By 1400, eight dominant nations have rose and developed cities. The most developed being their capitals. Ming's Capital is Beijing. Korea's capital is Seoul. Hosokawa's capital is Kyoto. Tondo's capital is Tondo City. Majahapit's capital is Wilwatikta. Malacca's capital is Kota Melaka. Dai Viet's capital is Hanoi. Khmer's capital is Angkor. All have already established major trade routes with each other. Since then, the eight nations have expanded rapidly in their own region.

Back in Tondo City, a large wooden ship has arrived and docked in a pier and started unloading wooden crates onto the sturdy pier as three tall figures come to inspect the crates. They open the large crates, and inside are guns, ammunition, gunpowder, and swords. All were shipped from Beijing and were to be shipped again on two other ships to Palawan and Borneo as reinforcements for both Tondo and Majahapit in their invasion of Brunei. The port was lively with several ships around the port and the bay as far as the eye can see. People are running around bringing their products and trading them with merchants in the area. The piers in the port were wooden but sturdy enough to hold the weight of an elephant. Thanks to the technology acquired through trade with Ming, the population of the eight nations have grown tremendously. With the higher population, people traded and developed new technology accelerating trade even more.

2,707 kilometers away in Kyoto, Hosokawan generals are having a meeting discussing how they will invade Ainu in Hokkaido. They have already established a beachhead in the Southern tip which used to be under the Ando clan until Hosokawa invaded it 7 years back. Since they started trading with Ming, Hosokawa defeated clan after clan by overwhelming them with Ming technology. The last clan left besides Hosokawa is Ainu in Hokkaido and Hosokawa is about to invade them.

August 16, 1405, Tondon and Majahapit troops cheer as they raise the flag of both countries over Kota Batu, the capital of Brunei. It has been a year and a quarter since the start of the invasion and everyone is relieved that it's finally over.
However, back in Wilwatikta and Tondo City, officials are having meeting about the cost of the war. They are all shock after seeing how many men they lost. Even though the war only lasted for a year and a quarter, both Tondo and Majahapit lost 10,000 men in total. It was five times larger than the expected death toll. This news would bring fear to the rest of the nations as they discover the cost and horrors of war if anyone of them would fight a war with each other. One of the officials in Majahapit asked,"What could have happened that costed us so many lives?"