Six States Period

片段时期

A painting of the Seizure of Chéngqiáng in 762 AZM.

Belligerents| Watti Coalition* Southern Wat Dynasty
* Dên Dynasty
* Xzabun Republic

Commanders| * Dên Ling
* Wat Zhan
* Wanipeca

The **Six States Period**, also known as the **Second War of Zhanun Succession** or by its Zhuni Script term **Fragmented Period** (片段时期) was a conflict in the Western Zhanun Realm. The conflict was mainly centred around succession of the previous dynasty and for international recognition of the control of the territory, however it also had alternate purposes, such as independence for formerly subjugated people groups & establishing future diplomatic relations in the region, which the prior dynasties had opted out of in the beliefs that they would be simply ignored. However, following the word of the events that had been undertaken in during Dên rule (such as the Zhanun-Elven Genocide), the succeeding powers knew a position such as theirs would be untenable without allies such as Arcallos or Amaca. It arose following a skirmish between two emerging powers from the fall of the Dên Dynasty in 758 AZM. Unlike the successions of the Manûlo & the Wastiôn dynasties, the period was defined by a lack of clear-cut 'sides' in its wars, with all belligerents dabbling in their opponent's affairs and securing behind-closed-doors deals that would provide their own personal benefit.

## History

### Outbreak of War

The young & naïve Dên Ling allowed his power to be undermined by emerging familial & ethnic forces from the beginning of his reign in 689 AZM. By giving more autonomy to the Rancians in the north & the Senians in the south, he divided up his empire along ethnic boundaries & soon tensions began to brew. The Navori peoples, who lived in the eastern lowlands, also demanded similar autonomy to their brethren in the north & south in 709 AZM, but were denied by the central government along the basis of inciting rebellion in the eastern territories. The Xzabun grew increasingly spiteful towards their position in the empire, and, following the dissolution of Zhanun-occupied Ithildae in 710, the Dên cracked down harder on dissent and it was evident that they had violated the grounds on their end of the Xzabun Deal.

In 724, The Senians began conducting their own diplomacy in a direct attempt at securing independence. The Rancians in the north also conducted talks with the Navra Dynasty in regards to the events in Píngyuán, in the hopes that they would not fight a war over the piece of land if the empire ever fell apart. By the 750s the empire was at breaking point, with an uprising in Píngyuán being supressed not by the Imperial Army, but rather by local Rancian forces who had come to occupy most of the Navor & Píngyuán provinces at that point. It all came crashing down over a 24 hour period, when a total of five states seceded from the empire, leaving the Dên with a small slice of Héliú Province & the capital of Chéngqiáng. Roughly a month later, a skirmish recorded at the western city of Nóngchǎng between Watti Coalition forces & Hostï raiders sparked further conflicts between the two in Héliú & a proxy conflict in Píngyuán.

### Chéngqiáng Campaign

Hostï forces were eager to get rid of the remnants of the Dên Dynasty that remained. It allowed Watti forces to get dangerously far into the nation's interior, and was a major systematic weakness that prevented major attacks from occurring with the majority of their forces. A campaign was lauched against the remnants of the Dên shortly after war began. WIP