Hǔnluàn

Type
 Formed from
 Founded
 Inactive since

The **Hǔnluàn** (Mandarin: **亨伦**), formerly known as the **Libirachi Republic** and the **Hǔnluàn Assembly**, was a terrorist and paramilitary group active between September 2019 and November 2021 in various Asian and Middle Eastern nations, famed for its role in sparking the Has Wars. The group originated as a political continuation of the Imperial Republic of Libirachi following the 2019 Libirachi Coup d'état, but began to radicalise in October and November of 2019 as paramilitary groups loyal to Ashton Morre took over the group, leading to a series of attacks upon the Libirachi Empire, before the group was expelled from the nation in early 2020 and became a state sponsored group with backing from COMPNOR, resulting in the Assassination of Hazael Buller, and the Has Wars erupting as a result of the assault on Bovido Has. In the midst of the geo-political chaos, the Hǔnluàn was able to overthrow the government of the Second Persian Republic and remained in power there until November 2021, when a Libirachi invasion toppled the regime and forced the group into hiding, with much of its leadership dead or missing.

As one of the most powerful organisations to exist in the 21st century, the Hǔnluàn continued it's operations from the shadows as the Libirachi Empire began to assert global political dominance, with the organisation under the leadership of Anton Ivanov lent assistance to the Confederacy of Independent Nations during the Libirachi Civil War and took advantage of the chaos of the 2027 Global Banking Crisis in order to gain footholds in many destabilised nations across the world.

## History

In the aftermath of the Invasion of Iran and the destruction cased by the nuclear warfare, Marshal of Ranjor, Ashton Morre, began a rebellion against the Government of President Nathan Jackson and escaped his arrest with the assistance of his most loyal supporters, building an organisation from the mountains of Imperial China. Having stormed through the nation between September 23 and September 25, 2019, a coup within the Libirachi Empire had managed to topple the regime of President Nathan Jackson and the government of the Imperial Republic of Libirachi, sending many former staffers into exile in the western reaches of the nation led nominally by Wang Yi, the former president's personal secretary and the person closest to the deposed leader. Fleeing to the outreaches of the empire with a coalition of various different political allies, Wang proclaimed himself as the President of the Imperial Republic of Libirachi, and insisted that his regime was a direct continuation of the deposed government in Beijing. Encountering former Marshal of the LIA Ashton Morre and his band of cohorts in the western mountains, Wang and Morre formed a working partnership, merging the two entities with Morre's gabble becoming the armed wing of the republic. Persuaded by Morre to rebrand the organisation into a paramilitary style regime as so to actually control the territory in which it occupied, Wang re-christened the group as the Hǔnluàn, with Morre's forces conducting various terror attacks against the new Fox Regime in the Libirachi Empire.

Over the winter months of 2019, the Hǔnluàn began conducting major attacks on the Libirachi Empire under the leadership of Morre who deposed Supreme Marshal Wang Yi on December 19, 2019 and installed himself as the leader, but their campaign of chaos came to an end in January 2020 when the Libirachi Imperial Army conducted a joint raid on their mountain headquarters in eastern China, tipped off by a former member of the insurgent group, and shut down most of the Hǔnluàn network in the eastern reaches of the Empire. However, Ashton Morre and his cabal of loyal supporters mostly escaped and began causing local uprisings in neighbouring areas, such as Bovido Has and the expanding Second Persian Republic (which had gained self rule from Bovido Has in 2018). Despite no outwardly proven evidence for this case being presented, a common theory of historians and social-political commentators is that the Director General of COMPNOR, Penny Fox, provided funding and equipment to the Hǔnluàn in order to use the entity to target groups and governments hostile to the empire whilst staging attacks on it's own soil to disguise this; furthermore, it seems highly likely that if this activity was happening, it was unsanctioned and largely unknown to all but a select handful of COMPNOR officials, meaning that even Imperial High Command and the Empress Fox were in the dark about their nation's involvement with the terrorist group.

### Has Wars

 Main article: Has Wars

Following this, the Hǔnluàn became increasingly ambitious in their assault on Bovido Has, and engineered a political crisis in which both the Libirachi ambassador to Makassar and the Bovido Hassian Archbishop and Emperor were killed, with both parties blaming each other, beginning the Has wars. Despite no outwardly proven evidence for this case being presented, a common theory of historians and social-political commentators is that the Director General of COMPNOR, Penny Fox, provided funding and equipment to the Hǔnluàn in order to use the entity to target groups and governments hostile to the empire whilst staging attacks on it's own soil to disguise this; furthermore, it seems highly likely that if this activity was happening, it was unsanctioned and largely unknown to all but a select handful of COMPNOR officials, meaning that even Imperial High Command and the Empress Fox were in the dark about the involvement.

With the two superpowers of Bovido Has and the Libirachi Empire spiralling down into war, the Hǔnluàn switched it's target towards the fledging Persian Republic under the leadership of Emanuel Parra, destabilising the nation to the point where Parra and his government abdicated their responsibilities for their safety and fled to the Libirachi Empire, resigning on April 4 2020, allowing Morre to take office as the country began to collapse. As Bovido Has and the Libirachi Empire began to fight in the Pacific, Ashton Morre solidified his power within the Persian Republic, first publicly executing Prime Minister Nicolas Burez and then declaring a state of emergency, with the military taking control of the nation away from the bureaucrats. In the process of rebuilding a government, Morre began transitioning powers away from the Persian Congress and into the President's office, using the political abilities of Prime Minister Karen Sanders to enforce Hǔnluàn rule. During the first winter of the Has Wars, Sanders was deployed to the military dictatorship of Obadiah Has to persuade their command structure to join the terrorist group. Although initially appearing promising, negotiations between the two nations were cut short by Supreme Leader Justus Obadiah, who refused to surrender his powers of state to Ashton Morre. Forced with Obadiah leaking their intentions, the Hǔnluàn bodyguard forces took control of the Supreme Leader's palace, holding its High Command hostage and placing Obadiah as leader in name only, with Sanders and Morre holding total control of Obadiah Has.

#### Hǔnluàn Missile Strike on Imperial High Command

 Main article: Hǔnluàn Missile Strike on Imperial High Command

While war in the Pacific front was was beginning to wind up, Ashton Morre's Hǔnluàn group started planning for a takeover of the Middle East, using their vast resources and the might of the Persian Republic to force out the Libirachi Empire and Bovido Has from their holdouts in the volatile region. Deploying two *Panavia Tornado* strike fighters from an airfield in Obadiah Has territory, the Obadiah Holy Hammers initiated a fight over into Libirachi airspace on January 17, engaging the Imperial Sky Core at Wuhan after sneaking past boarder patrols. The ensuring dogfight saw the destruction of 3 *Shenyang FC-31* multi-role fighters and one of the attacking *Tornado* fighters. Despite this, the remaining fighter made its way into Beijing airspace, chased by 6 *Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor*s. Gaining significant damage, the remaining *Tornado* launched its missile payload before being knocked out of the sky by a *2K22 Tunguska* SPAAW and crashing into the Grand Hotel Beijing, killing 60 civilians in the process. Despite shooting down the striker, the missiles deployed by the *Tornado* smashed into the ground floor of the IHC building, damaging it structurally, as well as hitting the 14th floor where Grand Moff Alan Wieker was holding a virtual meeting of the Joint Chiefs. The assault killed Wieker, Rear Admiral Alasdair Walker, adviser Bowen Shi, as well as 90 members of the High Command logistics and command division. With the loss of their foremost military leader, Supreme Commander Cassio Tagge took full control of the war effort, whilst Grand General Chen Bingde was promoted to the post of Grand Moff, and Marshal Guo Tijjan took the Grand General post.

### Battle for Persia

 Main article: Battle for Persia
    Enraged by the Hǔnluàn assault on the Libirachi military leadership, Imperial High Command initiated planning protocols for an invasion of the Persian Republic to flush out Ashton Morre's terrorist group, using location information obtained by Imperial Security Bureau Director General Penny Fox to plot the fastest course into the Persian President's military fortress. Wrapping up the conflict with Bovido Has in the pacific, the Libirachi Empire deployed three land armies to the Persian boarder in preparation of the assault, whilst the 7th and 3rd Naval Legion Fleets, as well as the 17th Indian Task-force, under the overall command of Grand Admiral Rithnuro Thrawn made its way towards the southern coast of the Persian peninsula. Commanding the 5th Occupation Army, the 8th Occupation Army and the 12th ISF division respectively, Marshal Almac Davis, Major General Chen Wei and Lieutenant General Anton Tupec began their march over the Persian boarder on March 5th 2021, crushing the boarder guard positions just 89km away from the standing base at Al-Salman.

Having disposed of the Persian guards, the three armies began their journey over the boarder, utilising two squadrons (20 tanks each) of *T-80* and *T-14* battle tanks to clear the path ahead, whilst columns of *Xiaolong XL2060* and *SFQ2040* High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) transported the thousands of soldiers over the boarder. Re-enforced in the sky by the 9th Sky Core led by Flight Marshal Dume Agathar, 20 squadrons of *Mil Mi-35 Hind* attack helicopters and *CH-47 Chinook*s, protected by a *Shenyang FC-31* escort, flew further troops and supplies over the Persian boarder whilst waves of *Sukhoi Su-57*, *Chengdu J-20* and *F-22 Raptor* Stealth Air Superiority Fighters attempted to wrestle control of the skies from the Persian Air Force. Alerted to the invasion by reports from *F-15E Strike Eagle* squadrons, the Persian Republic Defence Force led by Major General Fahd al-Mutair began deploying forces to counter the Libirachi advance at the boarder town of Rafha, where the forces of the 7th Persian Land Defence Force was attempting to halt the Libirachi advance.

As the two armies collided at Rafha, the 7th Naval Legion Fleet commanded by Grand Admiral Rithnuro Thrawn was approaching the Persian gulf with the 17th Indian Task Force intent upon seizing all port towns necessary to the invasion with the assistance of the 9th Occupation Army stationed in the wastelands of Imperial Iran. Meanwhile, the 2nd Persian Defence Fleet under the command of Admiral Salback had begun to encircle Thrawn's fleet, forcing them further into Persian waters. Goaded into combat, the 7th Fleet became embattled in the Gulf, fighting the 2nd Defence Fleet for three weeks until March 26, when the last of the fleet surrendered to Thrawn. Finally able to escort the 9th Occupation Army, the 7th Fleet began transporting forces over from the Iranian Wastelands into Persia, overwhelming the local defence forces. Marching onward, the 9th LOA joined the 5th and 8th LOAs in their assault on the Persian Republic. Taking care not to destroy civilian buildings, the Libirachi task force overwhelmed the inferior Defence Forces, allowing them to march toward the capital of Nupersa, where they arrived on April 17th. Meanwhile, the 7th Naval Legion Fleet continued to bombard the coast, destroying emplacements and Hǔnluàn bases in the south, forcing the occupying force to retreat to Nupersia.

Surrounding the city, the Libirachi forces began several month long bombardment of the city, levelling much of the government facilities and forcing the Hǔnluàn out from their seat of power in the Nupersia Capitol building into smaller buildings, whilst the President of Persia began ordering strategic retreats back into the centre of the city. After a bombing raid on the acting capital building, the President was evacuated but his transport was intercepted by Libirachi commandos and detonated, apparently leaving President Morre dead, although it was never confirmed. Recalling the Hǔnluàn loyalists back to a session of congress, Karen Sanders was officially appointed as the President of Persia, and quickly began to call upon the LIA to cease its campaign under the premise that she was a democratic proponent of democracy but her regime came crumbling down as the congress in exile held an election to select it's new leader, picking exiled Libirachi politician Almac Docu to hold office of president, which he took the role of on September 1, 2021 with the execution of Sanders at the hands of the Libirachi Imperial Army. Having lost a second leader in the space of a week and having lost control over the Persian Republic at the same time, a battered Hǔnluàn under the leadership of Anton Ivanov continued in its attempts to keep a foothold in Persia, which ultimately came unravelled with interference from Almac Docu's government.