The Dashing King (Timeline Only)

Premise: The Shun take over China. Hilarity ensues.

POD: On March 27th, 1641, as Shun forces were laying siege to Kaifeng. However, an attempt to breach the walls via gunpowder failed and Shun forces had to try again in the next season. The defenders of Kaifeng were better prepared next time and held out for 6 months. In desperation, both sides ended up breaching the floodworks along the Yellow River, causing massive flooding. The resulting disaster killed half of Kaifeng's populace and forced Shun forces to halt in place and recover.

The POD thus is that Shun forces succeed in breaching Kaifeng's walls on their first attempt. This would improve the Shun tax base and give them more in terms of depth, manpower and resiliency. I'm only going to write the timeline for now as the number of personages during this time period is lengthy and confusing.

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East Asia:

Early April 1641: Shun forces consolidate around Kaifeng. During the next few months, they intend to take several other cities.

Late April, 1641: Upon hearing of the disaster that has befallen Kaifeng, the Chongzhen Emperor sends Wu Sangui to the West at the head of a large army.

May 1641: Wu Sangui, seeing the writing on the wall, defects to the Shun rebels (treason seems to be in his personality). Li Zicheng rewards his men with extra pay and promises of extra land. Wu and his officer corps are promptly tied to horses and pulled apart.

June-August, 1641: Li Zicheng works on consolidating his rule throughout Henan. Due to Li's policies of land and income redistribution, many peasants rise up in revolt against their landlords and local officials, throwing open the gates to many cities. Li Yan, a former local official, merges his rebel army with the Shun forces.

Zhang Xianzhong, another rebel commander, taking advantage of the chaos after the fall of Henan to Shun forces, takes his forces all the way to Nanchang in Jiangxi. Ming forces in Guangdong and Jiangnan are unable to rally. Zuo Liangyu, the former ruler of Wuchang, forms a coalition with Shi Kefa of Yangzhou, Shen Yunying of Daozhou and Ma Shiying of Nanjing. While these men (and one woman) are nominally serving the Ming Emperor, they know that the Imperial Government is weak and it will only be a matter of time before Beijing falls.

Early 1642: Hong Chengchou is captured by the Manchus. He and his army defect to the Manchus. With this defection, the last Ming army between Beijing and Shenyang has fallen. The Manchus under Huang Taiji march south.

Mid-1642: Sun Chuanting, a Ming commander, attempts to march his army from Shanxi to Beijing to defend the capital. However, he is ambushed by Shun forces on the way back. Taiyuan and Pingyao fall to Shun forces. Meanwhile, Ma Shouying, one of Li's subordinates, gains full control over Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces. For his efforts, he is appointed Supreme Commander of the West.

Late 1642: The Chongzhen Emperor flees south to Nanjing. Beijing falls to the Manchu army. Shi Kefa is appointed Lord of the First Degree by Chongzhen and is given responsibilities for building up Ming defenses in Jiangnan.

Early 1643: Zhang Xianzhong's forces are forced to retreat back to Sichuan by Shen Yunying's forces. Before doing so though, Zhang had ordered his men to kill as many peasants as possible. Fearing the same fate, the peasants of Sichuan decide to ambush and kill Zhang and his forces as they headed back towards Chengdu.

Li Zicheng sneaks his army through the Taihang Mountains and attacks the Manchu army from the rear, crushing it. Huang Taiji and his adjutants Dorgon and Jirgalang are killed in the fighting. Taiji's son, Fulin, is captured by Shun forces. However, Li Zicheng cannot bring himself to execute the 6 year old boy and instead places him on a ship and casts it adrift in the current. Prince Hooge takes control of the Manchu throne.

1644: The Shun consolidate power in Shandong and Liaodong. Li Zicheng orders that the Manchu be subjugated before heading south again. This is not difficult to do as many of the Han Chinese contingents in the Manchu army defect to Shun forces. However, the Manchu army and their Mongol allies remain difficult to pin down. The campaign against the Manchu takes much longer than anticipated, as Shun forces build multiple forts along the Songhua and Amur rivers to pin down and defend against Mongol and Manchu raiders. The Shun will spend the next 8 years subjugating the Manchu, Khalka Mongols and Altan Mongols.

Li Zicheng declares himself the Yongchang Emperor of Great Shun in the Forbidden City in Beijing. He celebrates the occasion by ordering all the eunuchs in the Imperial Palace to be expelled upon pain of death. From this point on, no eunuchs will serve the Imperial Throne.

1645: Manchus arrive in Fusang (OTL Vancouver Island). Shen Yunying restores order in Sichuan.

1646: The Shun reaffirm Korea's status as a Chinese tributary. Meanwhile, Ma Shouying, acting on his own initiative, enters into an alliance with the Kazakh and Chagatai Khanates far to the northwest against the the Dzungars in northern Xinjiang. While Li Zicheng is initially furious at his subordinate for entering into diplomatic relations without his consent, the alliance proves to be quite useful as the Dzungars are becoming an increasingly annoying security threat and because the Kazakhs grant trade access to Chinese caravans in the area.

In the north, although the Manchus and Mongols are fierce fighters, they are no match for Shun musketry and especially Shun artillery, which is built using new techniques superior to those used by the Ming and the Dutch.

1652: The last of the Manchus and Eastern Mongols are defeated. Hooge is granted an honorable death after losing to Shun general Liu Zongmin to single combat. The remaining Manchu forces swear loyalty to the Shun. Honoring the treaty Ma Shouying had made with the Kazakhs, Shun forces march West against the Dzungars.

The lack of activity in the North gives the Southern Ming significant breathing space. Order and Imperial Rule is once against established in Southern China. Shen Yunying is granted the title of Lady of the First Degree by Chongzhen.

1654: The Shun ally themselves with various other Central Asia polities such as the Kazakh Khanate and Khojas of Kokand in order to defeat the Dzungar, who flee to the West.

1660: Due to various Shun machinations, the Kazakh and Uzbek Khanates, as well as the Khojas of Kokand and Uighurs of the Tarim, all declare themselves to subordinate to the Great Shun. This angers the powerful Mughal Dynasty in India, especially since the city of Samarkand is nominally under Shun suzerainty. The Shun, who have few trading partners, decide to withdraw from areas West of the Ferghana Valley in exchange for trading concessions in India, thus permitting the Mughals to retake control of the area.

1662: Chongzhen dies. He is succeeded by Zhu Youlang, who becomes the Yongli Emperor of China. The Shun cannot capitalize on Chongzhen's death due to the transition of power being surprisingly orderly. Furthermore, Shun attempts to foment peasant rebellions in the South fail due to Ming propaganda and heavy use of the secret police to root out Shun agents. The Ming are unable to launch any military offensives against the vastly superior Shun military but the Shun lack the naval resources to cross the Yangtze River, nor do they have the ships to fight a sustained campaign in the south. An attempt to take Sichuan during this time period fails as well, as the mountain passes leading from the Guanzhong Plain to Sichuan are well defended.

Additionally, the divide between Ming and Shun becomes increasingly regional in nature. When Shun forces first entered Beijing, most of the former Ming officials who defected to Li Zicheng were northerners, while most southerners either committed suicide or fled beforehand. Most naval commanders, being southerners, did not defect to the Shun. Furthermore, Shun land reforms caused many landlords to suffer greatly and the scholar gentry of the south could spin such an action as ones only undertaken by an illegitimate usurper attempting to pander to popular sentiment against the Will of Heaven.

1664: The Ming, feeling secure in their rule and having learned how to copy Dutch weapons and ships, decide to revise the terms of their trade with Europeans. The VOC refuses to renegotiate terms, so the Ming send admirals Zheng Chenggong and Shi Lang to take Taiwan from the Dutch, which they succeed in doing. The Dutch retaliate by ordering a massacre of Chinese merchants in Batavia.

While this would not have bothered earlier rulers, the Southern Ming depend much more on overseas trade than their predecessors did. Thus, the Dutch massacre of Chinese merchants means war between the Dutch and Southern Ming.

1666: The Ming decide to invade the Philippines. The natives, who resent Dutch rule, gladly assist the Chinese invaders. A Dutch relief fleet is defeated by Shi Lang's fleet. Meanwhile, Zheng Chenggong's ships raid Dutch possessions in the East Indies and Indian Ocean, bringing back huge amounts of loot. Although the VOC doesn't collapse, several insurance firms do, resulting in a monetary crisis in the Netherlands.

Middle East and India:

1649: Prince Aurangzeb of the Mughal Dynasty is killed fighting the Persians outside of Kandahar. However, Mughal forces under Dara Shikoh crush the combined Safavid-Uzbek forces and retake Kandahar. Shah Abbas II is killed in the fighting.

1650s: The Osmanlis take advantage of Persian weakness and invade Persia. Isfahan is burned to the ground and many residents of Eastern Persia are sold into slavery. Persia lapses into civil war, freeing the Osmanlis against their opponents in Europe.

1666: Dara Shikoh takes the Mughal throne upon Shah Jahan's death. A secular man, Dara Shikoh takes care to include many Hindus and Sikhs in his government.

1670s: However, these tolerant policies do not prevent the Marathas from establishing a small, independent Hindu Kingdom in the Western Deccan. The Jats and Pashtuns however, do not rebel. Dara Shikoh defeats the Marathas and guarantees that other Deccan states may retain their sovereignty.

European Powers:

1646: The Dutch take the Philippines and drive the Spanish out of the area. From now on, the Spaniards must go through Dutch middlemen when attempting to trade with the Chinese. This results in a decline in Spain's fortunes. The Dutch, through their sale of muskets and artillery to the Southern Ming, end up in control of the porcelain, silk and tea trade with China.

1652-1654: The Dutch crush the British in the First Anglo-Dutch War, destroying many British ships and forcing the British to accept Dutch control of the North Sea and the West African slave trade. Additionally, the Dutch force the British to sign over control of Jamaica. The loss to the Dutch greatly reduces the prestige of Oliver Cromwell's government.

1655: The Dzungars, led by their Khan, Sengge, migrate to the West. Sengge unites the disparate Oirat tribes on the border with Russia and crosses into Russian lands. Many towns along the Volga River are plundered, including Saratov and Astrakhan. This proves to be a distraction to the Russian state and a godsend for Poland, which is able to resist an invasion by Sweden with minimal losses. The subsequent Polish counterattack results in the Swedish losing Pomerania.

1657: With the Swedish out of the way, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is able to decisively deal with Russia. Moscow is burned to the ground, dealing a fatal blow to Russia and signifying a revival in Polish-Lithuanian fortunes. Russia lapses into civil war.

1660: Steppe tribes such as the Dzungars and Crimeans, assisted by the Ottoman Empire and Kazakh Khanate, retake large portions of Russia. So many Russian people are taken as slaves in this time period that for at least a decade, the price of Russian slaves is lower than that of African ones. Dutch and Portuguese traders, working out of Ottoman controlled ports in Somalia, ship many of these Russians to the Caribbean, especially to Jamaica, which recently came into Dutch possession.

1664: The Dutch defeat the British in the Second Anglo-Dutch war. London is put to the torch in retaliation. The Dutch sign a treaty of alliance with Sweden to help curb the influence of Catholic powers such as the French in the West and the Poles in the East.

1668: The French and English ally in order to counter Dutch and Swedish influence in Western Europe, which sets off the First Franco-Dutch War. French corsairs, basing out of Barbary and East African ports with the approval of the Ottoman Empire, heavily damage Dutch shipping. This further damages financial markets in the Netherlands and the Dutch are forced to take loans from various banks in order to continue functioning.
 
Chinawanks are good. Ancient Chinawanks are even better. I do wish to know: who's gonna get their hands on Australia first?

Marc A
 
These big changes are interesting. How will the lower price of Russian slaves impact Nor4th America? II wonder if slavery could become less of a racial thing with Russians being used so much as slaves in at least some areas.
 
These big changes are interesting. How will the lower price of Russian slaves impact Nor4th America? II wonder if slavery could become less of a racial thing with Russians being used so much as slaves in at least some areas.

Plenty of white people have been enslaved throughout history. Slavery will still be a racial thing, since the Dutch will be quick to establish that Slavic people are a lesser race than the Germanic Dutchmen.
 
Historical Trends to Note Thus Far:

China:

1.) Northern naval weakness: Thanks to multiple losses inflicted earlier in his career which did much to destroy his local base of support, most of Li Zicheng's experienced troops were Hui Chinese from Shaanxi and the surrounding environs. Peasant levies don't do much thinking for themselves; even their officers don't have much in the way of initiative. Although the Shun have a riverboat fleet patrolling the Amur River and Sungari Rivers and naval flotillas in the Yellow Sea, they're not much of a match for the hundreds of large junks in the Ming fleet.

2.) Southern Naval Strength: At the moment (late 1660s), the Ming have the world's largest and best equipped fleet. The Ming have figured out how to cast Western style cannon and have made several improvements on cannon design, such as looped cascabels, gunlocks and short barreled carronades. Additionally, they have modified the battens on their sails into a more streamlined shape that provides lift when air moves over them. This greatly improves performance and maneuverability when running against the wind.

3.) Shun as a land power: The Shun, due to their weakness in naval combat, strength in cavalry and affinity for the Tang Dynasty, is a land oriented power. The Shun have the largest artillery park in the world and the quality of their cannon and small arms are superior to even the Ming. The Shun have highly mobile horse artillery pieces as well as heavy siege pieces with ranges of up to 2000m. Their infantry are equipped with flintlock muskets and every infantryman has a bayonet with a locking lug in order to repel cavalry charges.

4.) Northern Land Reform: The number of freeholders in the North has grown significantly due to Shun land reforms. However, the arid soils of Northern China are not very productive and as such, while the lot of the average peasant has been bettered by the breaking up of large estates, the land cannot support a larger population due to restrictions on water and soil fertility. That being said, the average northerner consumes a diet which is higher in protein, due to a greater amount of wheat and lamb in their diets. Northerners, especially Manchu people, are noticeably taller and wider than their cousins from the South.

That being said though, the North is still producing large surpluses of food, especially relative to European polities and the North can support a large population of artisans and scholars with their food surpluses.

5.) Southern Rejection of Land Reform: The Ming Dynasty has rejected land reform, mainly due to different land holding patterns in the south and due to the fact that only 2 acres can support a family of 4. This makes owning land less of a priority. Southerners tend to value stability and cooperation more since southern style farming is much more labor intensive and requires cooperation between villagers to time the flooding of the rice fields.

6.) Feminism: Due to the chaos in China, women's rights are going to be expanded, especially in the North. Women serve openly in the Shun military for example and practices such as polygamy and foot binding have been banned in the North. This serves to make the Shun even less popular in the more conservative southern regions of China.

India/Middle East:

1.) Secularism in India: Due to Dara Shikoh tolerant policies, a form of proto-secularism is beginning to develop in India. The Ottoman Empire, the other Muslim power in the world, is not really going to criticize the Mughals for not collecting the Jizya. 2

2.) Flourishing of Mughal Scholarship: This will be a thing in the next update, since the state isn't wasting tons of money on wars. The Mughals court itself is self-sustaining (Aurangzeb for example, made ends meet by weaving caps and selling calligraphy), so the large income surplus can be turned into something else.

3.) The Osmanlis, without the distraction of Russia or Persia, can focus on both internal reforms and on attacking Western Europe, which is still deeply divided between Catholic and Protestant factions.

Europe:

1.) Europe is still strongly divided along religious, ethnic and political lines.

2.) The Dutch, although they were on top of the world, could only maintain their position briefly, especially with a resurgent Ming Dynasty in the Far East attacking their possessions in Southeast Asia.

3.) The French are biding their time and waiting. England is no longer a relevant factor and the Eastern borders are secure, which will allow the French to invest more in their navy.

4.) The Swedish were not able to take any part of Poland but they're still a threat.

5.) Russia is done for as a nation. Moscow is in Polish hands and the Volga River watershed is owned by the Dzungars. Various Cossack bands are getting co-opted either by Turko-Mongol people in the East or by the Poles in the West.
 
Very interesting timeline....

Just would like to ask where do China get the knowledge of the firearms and cannons. (I know the Chinese have them but widespread use of muskets seems pretty unheard of in OTL).

And why would the Chinese drop archery for firearms? Ease of use?
 
Very interesting timeline....

Just would like to ask where do China get the knowledge of the firearms and cannons. (I know the Chinese have them but widespread use of muskets seems pretty unheard of in OTL).

And why would the Chinese drop archery for firearms? Ease of use?

China's had plenty of those, and was about equal to Europeans militarily until the 18th century.
 
Very interesting timeline....

Just would like to ask where do China get the knowledge of the firearms and cannons. (I know the Chinese have them but widespread use of muskets seems pretty unheard of in OTL).

And why would the Chinese drop archery for firearms? Ease of use?

China's had plenty of those, and was about equal to Europeans militarily until the 18th century.
Sort of.

Chinese muskets were very primitive, iirc, many requiring bipods to support them and/or two men to handle a single gun. By the 1st Opium War ( ~1840), the Chines were WAY behind Europeans in firearms, both personal and cannon. On gets the distinct impression that muskets and cannon in 1840 in China were behind what Europe had in tne 30 years war ~1630.

One reason they were not overwhelmed by Europeans until the Opium Wars was the shear number of soldiers the could field, not technological sophistication.

In fact theres a quote from a Chinese Mandarin to the Emperor assuring him that the European forces were not to be worried about BECAUSE THEY DIDNT HAVE ARCHERS!!!!

Seriously, half their missile/ranged weapon troops were archers. Because they had so much faster fire than guns.
 
1) Gunpowder is overrated until the advent of the mass produced breech-loading rifle (viz, Chassepot, Needle Gun, Franco Prussian War of 1870).

2) Massive Chinese numerical superiority and comparatively short logistics.

3) An intellectually aggressive and exploratory China may just be able to reverse engineer arquebuses, or (heaven forbid) start mass production of them.
 
Sort of.

Chinese muskets were very primitive, iirc, many requiring bipods to support them and/or two men to handle a single gun. By the 1st Opium War ( ~1840), the Chines were WAY behind Europeans in firearms, both personal and cannon. On gets the distinct impression that muskets and cannon in 1840 in China were behind what Europe had in tne 30 years war ~1630.

One reason they were not overwhelmed by Europeans until the Opium Wars was the shear number of soldiers the could field, not technological sophistication.

In fact theres a quote from a Chinese Mandarin to the Emperor assuring him that the European forces were not to be worried about BECAUSE THEY DIDNT HAVE ARCHERS!!!!

Seriously, half their missile/ranged weapon troops were archers. Because they had so much faster fire than guns.

Both the Shun and the Ming do field archers, however due to the rapid expansion in the size of both militaries and the necessity to recruit militiamen, firearms are seeing much more use, especially since firearms require much less training than bows do.

Most of China's steel production is in Shun hands, so the Shun have been fielding very advanced artillery pieces, including some cast from single billets of steel. However, both sides are now using flintlock muskets very extensively. Unlike the Manchu, the Shun military is mostly Hui Chinese, so while they're good riders, they're not as good at archery as nomadic steppe people.

The Ming ITTL have been issuing flintlocks to equip militia levies with, since flintlocks are much more effective against cavalry than heavy crossbows are. There wasn't a need to do so OTL since the Manchu were already a warrior elite known for their use of the composite bow.

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Flintlocks were definitely known to the Qing. In fact, the Qing were avid users of firearms, especially lightweight artillery pieces drawn by horses and camels. However, personal firearms were dis-emphasized and the quality of firearms varied from unit to unit. Some units definitely had flintlocks as there are plenty of surviving examples of Qing wheellock and flintlock weapons. It's a fairly common misconception that the Qing did not know of or utilize flintlock weapons. The Qing were only about 10-15 years behind their European counterparts and could have rapidly adopted British weaponry. They suffered mostly from structural failures, not technological ones.

Also: http://chinese-gun.freewebspace.com/images/parade.jpg
http://chinese-gun.freewebspace.com/images/mingflint.jpg
I'm pretty sure lightweight, single operator muskets were fairly common in Chinese use, especially since the jingals and muskets with bipods you described were specifically intended for defending fortifications. Besides, it's not like the Chinese didn't copy and duplicate European firearms extensively OTL.

Also, someone invented a repeating weapon during the early Qing Dynasty but the device didn't see use or anything. http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%88%B4%E6%A2%93
 
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1) Gunpowder is overrated until the advent of the mass produced breech-loading rifle (viz, Chassepot, Needle Gun, Franco Prussian War of 1870).

2) Massive Chinese numerical superiority and comparatively short logistics.

3) An intellectually aggressive and exploratory China may just be able to reverse engineer arquebuses, or (heaven forbid) start mass production of them.

1.) I disagree. Firearms were what put a end to the nomadic threat in China for good, especially the horse artillery used by the Qing.

2.) That works. Most units in the Opium War were sort of lacking in the morale department and those that didn't were very conservative and insisted on sticking with bows.

3.) They did so OTL.
 
Part 2:

Europe:

1671: The French decide to just cut the Gordian Knot and invade the Netherlands directly. Amsterdam is taken by the French after a bloody siege. A relief attempt led by the Swedish is heavily defeated. The Dutch are forced to surrender their fleet to the French and the Netherlands ends up as a tributary state of France. The Dutch colonial empire is placed under French rule as well.

1673: The Polish lose a war against the Turks and are forced to give up the Ukraine to the Osmanlis.

1677: The Osmanlis march on Vienna. The Poles, Danish and Swedes, seeing the Hapsburgs as a sickly counterweight against Turkish ambitions in Europe, decide to put their differences aside and move to relieve Vienna. They are heavily defeated and Ottoman forces take Vienna. Jan Sobieski, the King of Poland, is killed in battle and Charles XI of Sweden is captured. King Christian V of Denmark is missing and presumed dead.

Late 1677: Charles XI, a known autocrat, is not popular and is deposed by his own privy council while in Turkish captivity. Sweden lapses into civil war, Gustaf Carlson (illegitimate son of Charles X), Johan Göransson Gyllenstierna (Charles' prime minister) and even Queen Christina attempt to claim the throne.

1678: Osmanli forces take Dalmatia from the Venetians. While the Hapsburgs panic and call for a new Holy League to be formed against the Turkish scourge, the French decide to ignore them and focus their attention on taking multiple German towns in the Rhine and Ruhr river valleys. Louis XIV secretly allies himself with Mehmet IV to carve up Europe, an action which would later earn him the moniker "Louis the Muslim".

1680: King Charles II chokes on his own tongue or something. Louis XIV promptly invades and conquers Spain, merging the Spanish throne with the French. With no one to stand against him, France essentially has a free hand in both Europe and the New World. Louis begins to get ambitious. Sicily revolts but the French are too busy to retake it at the moment.

1681: Osmanli forces take Malta from the Order of St. John.

1683: Osmanli forces invade Sicily. Apparently, Mehmet IV wants to become Emperor of Rome, as does Louis XIV, who invades Northern Italy.

Asia:

1672: With the collapse of Dutch authority in Southeast Asia, many Dutch traders in the East Indies are replaced by Chinese ones. Ming control of Southeast Asian trade routes greatly alarms the Shun, who enter into an alliance with the Mughals to counteract Ming influence.

1673: The Shun, recognizing the need for superior technology to counter Ming numbers and money, decide to add science and mathematics to their civil service exams, as well as Imperial Philosophy (colloquial known as Li Zicheng Thought).

1675: The steam cart invented by a Jesuit a couple of years back seems to have some interesting applications. Li Zicheng, the Yongchang Emperor of China, immediately realizes that this invention would have use in his native Northwestern China.

1676: Zheng Chenggong, governor of the Philippines, dies of malaria. He is succeeded by his son, Zheng Jing.

1678: The first steam pumps are used to bring water from the Yellow River up to the loess plateau in Shanxi province. Steam pumps will later spread throughout Northern China, greatly improving agricultural productivity and creating a large labor surplus.

1680: Shi Lang decides to build a fortress on the island of Danmaxi (OTL Singapore) in order to control trade through the Straits of Malacca.

1681: The Ming fleet destroys a French fleet attempting to set up operations in the East Indies. The Ming also attempt to open Mughal ports to Ming traders by force. However, the they are repelled by the Mughal fleet. The Deccan powers of South India do trade with the Ming, much to the displeasure of the Shun. Under the terms of the alliance between the Mughals and Shun, the Mughals have no choice but to invade and attempt to subjugate the Deccan Plateau.

1685: The Ming force the Kingdom of Kandy to become a tributary state as they become increasingly active in the Indian Ocean. The Ming assist the Omani Empire in burning several Portuguese outposts on the Swahili Coast of East Africa.

1690: Due to increasing age, Li Zicheng abdicates as the Yongchang Emperor of China. He is succeeded by his grandson, Li Guoqing, who takes the throne as the Quanli Emperor of China.

India:

1677: Dara Shikoh, having engaged in multiple cultural and technical exchanges with the very advanced Shun, decides to use his very, very large treasury surplus to found multiple universities, many of which focus on the sciences and mathematics.

1681: Under the terms of alliance with the Shun and fearing Shun influence in Central Asia, the Mughals invade the Deccan Plateau after various South Indian powers reaffirm their desire to engage in trade with Ming China. The wars will be long and bloody, however, the Mughals are assisted by mercenary artillerymen and siege engineers from Shun China.

1690: By 1690, the Deccan is completely under the control of the Mughals.

North America:

1674: Fusang colony, founded by exiled Manchus 30 years ago, discovers gold in a secondary settlement at Jinshan (OTL San Francisco). Lacking military forces and fearing attack from the Spanish, Hiowan, the Emperor of Fusang, sends a ship back to Tianjin with a message for the Shun requesting aid. The Shun dispatch 6,000 Hui cavalry and 3,000 Mongol horsemen to Jinshan as well as substantial amounts of small arms and artillery. In exchange, Fusang will become a Shun tributary state. Shun physicians inoculate the indigenous peoples of California and the Pacific Northwest against smallpox, preventing an epidemic from breaking out.

1676: Chinese shipbuilders decide to build a shipyard in Fenglin (OTL Vancouver) to provide ships for the Shun fleet. The forests nearby provide large amounts of naval stores. This, along with other shipyards founded in Qingdao, Qingniwakou (OTL Dalian), Tianjin and Haishenwei (OTL Vladivostok), means that the Shun disparity in ships can be quickly rectified. However, experienced crews are in short supply, especially since many of the Mongol, Hui and Manchu soldiers serving in the Shun Army are loathe to serve aboard ships. Shun ships are crewed by a mix of Chinese, Korean and Japanese sailors and are not as cohesive or disciplined as the Ming navy is.

1683: The French propose an alliance with the Shun against the Ming Dynasty, the Shun are hesitant to accept at the moment as they are indirectly allied with the Ottoman Empire through the Mughals.

1685: The Catholic Church in Latin America is placed under the control of the Jesuit Order. This does much to help with the preservation of native languages in the Western Hemisphere. The French decide to leave the Protestant English and Dutch colonists on the Mid-Atlantic coast alone for the time being.
 
So basically you try to explore the situation if the Chinese try to use their technological advantage on the world stage instead of closing their borders and ports. In OTL, when did the Chinese started to fall behind ?

And why did the ottoman win the siege of Vienna ?

And it is a French wank lol
 
So basically you try to explore the situation if the Chinese try to use their technological advantage on the world stage instead of closing their borders and ports.

Yes.

In OTL, when did the Chinese started to fall behind ?

There are plenty of sources for this. Read up for yourself.

And why did the ottoman win the siege of Vienna?

Because they did.

And it is a French wank lol

Indeed.
 
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