First Zhanun War

Nationalist troops returning fire during the Battle of Heinan, 1914.

Belligerents| **Provisional National Government** * Wat Dynasty

Gaoran Republic (from 1915)  **Supported by:** Navra Annam Xzabun Republic Belkat (from 1913) | **Zhanun Desculianist State** * Hoi Linh

### Battles

**1912 Cenasanu Offensive** (Dasir I | Canton | Widigesa)
**The Three Stalemates** (Gaofeng I | Gaofeng II)
**1921 Bombing Campaigns** (Seloi | Nongchang | Canton)

The **First Zhanun War**, also known as the **Zhanun Revolutionary War** or the **Zhanun War of Independence** was fought between the Wat Dynasty under the Provisional National Government and the Hội Linh (under the political leadership of the Zhanun Democratic Republic officially from 1917), and their respective allies, from the 19th July 1912 until the 20th October 1921. The Hội Linh was led by Cou Din Thao and Ngọc Bin Po. Most of the fighting took place in the vicinity of the Heliu River in central Zhanundeor, although the conflict engulfed the entirety of the Zhanun Core and also extended into the neighbouring nations of Navra & Annam.

Prior to the outbreak of war, the Wat Dynasty had been gradually replaced by regional governors & republican movements over the course of several decades in the latter half of the 19th century & the early 20th century, beginning with the Seloi Declaration in 1894 which led to the establishment of an assembly of regional governors in the Imperial Court. A series of unequal treaties followed; the Free City of Dongbuyan became a formal province of Senlin in the 1896 Treaty of Da Nang, and the 1904 Treaty of Lo-Trang gave Chengquiang (ruled by what would become the National Government) control over the Leased Territory of Guangzhowan and increased control of its foreign affairs. Finally, the 1909 and 1911 Treaties of Dongbuyan divided the remaining Watti territory into the protectorates of Annamzhanun and Chengquiang under the nominal rule of Wat Ngọc Thạc. Following the Seloi Revolution in 1912, Desculianist rebellions spread across the north of the Wat Dynasty, and when the cities of Nongchang & Seloi were captured by rebel forces, they formally seceded the regions of Senlin, Heliu & Nongchang as Desculianist Republics. The Wat Dynasty effectively collapsed, but was formally maintained by the Provisional National Government (PNG), which invaded the Dongbui Desculianist Republic (DDR) in July of 1912.

The Hội Linh, organised from the collection of leftist rebel forces, stood in formally as the united front against the PNG, headed by Zhanun nationalist Cou Din Thao. A military genius, Din Thao utilised both conventional & guerrilla tactics to secure the majority of the north by the end of 1912, and would begin conducting shelling campaigns against PNG naval convoys conducting naval raids in Nongchang & cooperated with Huaxian military support to seize the key city of Dongbuyan in February 1913. The PNG managed to maintain control over the Zhanun Core south of the Heliu River from 1912 until 1914, when the New Year's Offensive drove the Nationalists out of Cenasanu and deep into the Annam River Delta & the Gaofeng. Despite the chain of successes by the Hội Linh, the Nationalists successfully launched a counteroffensive that placed the Hội Linh on the backfoot and in a strategic retreat for the rest of the duration of the war; Din Thao was killed in 1916, and Deputy General Ngọc Bin Po assumed control of the military and established the Zhanun Desculianist State, giving himself the authority to organise a troop surge that resulted in a stalemate on the Cenasanu Front until the end of the war in 1921.

Losses experienced during the New Year's Offensive forced the Nationalists to re-evaluate their position in the war, resulting in the deposition of Wat Ngọc Thạc in 1916 and the formal dissolution of the Wat Dynasty. The Gaorancian Republic was established as a tributary regime of the PNG in 1915 in order to create more support for the Nationalists in the region. Following the beginning of a secondary Desculianist insurgency by the ADGR (Alliance of the Desculianists of Gao-Rancia) in 1916 a second front would open in the Gaofeng that would serve as a proxy conflict following the stalemate on the Cenasanu Front in 1917. Formal conflict between the Hội Linh & the PNG would cease after the signing of the 1919 Champasak Armistice, with the ADGR continuing to fight the PNG with limited Hội Linh support until the end of the war in 1921.

The Nationalists rescinded their claims to the 'occupied territories' of Dongbuyan, Pingyuan & Gaofeng were in 1919, Nongchang in 1920, and finally Senlin & Heliu in 1921, formally recognising the total independence of Gaorancia in 1920. Following a brief resumption of fighting in May 1921 during the Bombing of Seloi & other cities by the Nationalists, a second armistice was called in July 1921 as leaders of both sides were called to meet in Guangzhowan, with the Guangzhowan Agreements being signed on the 20th October 1921, formally ending the conflict.

The conflict marked the end of the Zhanun Imperial Era & the fall of the last absolute monarchy in Western Tyensya. The war resulted in nearly 2.8 million casualties, and the fallout of the conflict has had large scale effects in the Zhanun Realm which continue to this day, including the Red Scare & widespread persecution of leftist groups, as well as greater geopolitical instability brought about partially by continued Desculianist insurgencies, including the Gaofeng Bush War.

## Background

*Further information: Wat Dynasty, Zhanuntang, Seloi Revolution, Hoi Linh, Fourth Belkan War*

Wat Ngọc Thạc would ascend to the position of Emperor in 1894 already a seasoned statemen, having been involved in the diplomatic sector under previous emperors Wat Van Tao & Van Lanh, but despite this his reign was wracked with increasing instability in the Wat Dynasty as Desculianism spread throughout the 1880s & 1890s. A Desculianist rebellion would break out in Dongbuyan in 1886 which was violently put down by the Zhanun military, and Ngọc Thạc hosted a conference in Lo-Trang in 1887 with leaders of Navra, Belkat, Annam & the Xzabuns to discuss the rising threat of Desculianism in the Zhanun Realm, as Leyan had began placing pressure on its neighbours regarding the Suab-Qab Region, resulting in increasing volumes of military incursions into Nongchang & the Sute Kingdom within the Sarit Dynasty, with military support from Huaxia. It was the first time all of the nations of the Zhanun Realm ever met in such a manner, and subsequently the nations each agreed to support one another in the event of a Desculianist uprising which was considered 'impossible to put down alone'. Ngọc Thạc began giving concessions to provincial leaders in order to keep them satisfied and under his belt, and produced a series of nationalist propaganda campaigns throughout the late 1880s & early 1890s denouncing Desculianism & pushing for the unity of the Zhanun Core.

### Factionalisation under the Zhanuntang

The campaign was extremely successful, however backfired on Ngọc Thạc as the Zhanun Nationalist movement ultimately undermined his own rule by establishing the Zhanuntang (aka the Zhanun Nationalist Party or ZNP) which swept the country in popularity during the 1890s. Ngọc Thạc was forced to concede to the Zhanuntang in 1892 and reorganise the Imperial Court to be made up majoritively of elected provincial representatives. Elections were hosted in 1894 and the Zhanuntang won a majority of the states, and as their first bill dissolved the Emperor's ability to veto Imperial Court decrees, essentially placing Ngọc Thạc under the will of the Zhanuntang and making the Wat Dynasty a constitutional monarchy on paper, ending Imperial rule. With power now thoroughly in the hands of the provincial governors, and Wat Ngọc Thạc now merely sitting as a formal head of state and voter in the Imperial Court, the Zhanuntang began expanding religious freedoms & cracking down heavily on Desculianist ideological supporters, including the 1895 assassination of the Emperor's brother, Wat Ngọc Vinh, who had expressed pro-Huaxian sentiments following his 1892 state visit to Guangzhowan, which had become a bastion of pro-Desculianists exporting the ideology throughout the rest of the Wat Dynasty. The military launched a systematic oppression of Desculianists in Guangzhowan from 1895 that continued until the end of Zhanun rule in Guangzhowan in 1924. In 1896, the Zhanuntang & Ngọc Thạc agreed in the Treaty of Da Nang to end Dongbuyan's status as a Free City under the control of the Crown and to integrate the territory into the Senlin Region. Ngọc Thạc retained control of much of the state's foreign affairs until 1904, where the Treaty of Lo-Trang gave control of Guangzhowan to Chengquiang Region, which was ruled by the Zhanuntang and greatly expanded their ability to conduct foreign affairs on the behalf of the empire.

The Zhanuntang used this new ability to begin mass funding the Xzabuns as they were in the midst of the Fourth Belkan War against the Sarit Dynasty, and were combatting against 'the Surge'. Zhanun troops were deployed in 1905 to defend the Xzabuns directly and successfully overcame the Surge, and permanently turned the war in the favour of the Xzabuns. They would then instigate the Kwantung-ma Insurgency in 1906 alongside Annam to divert Belkan troops, and Meux-luang fell back into Xzabun hands in the following year. Finally, the Zhanuntang would convince the Xzabuns to break the 1908 ceasefire agreement and conquer the Manasik Autonomous Region, which was successfully overran by the autumn of 1909, ending the war. Following this success, the 1909 Treaty of Dongbuyan would be signed, removing the Emperor's power in Senlin, Heliu & Nongchang, and Gaofeng & Pingyuan would follow suit according to the 1911 Treaty of Dongbuyan. The remaining two regions nominally under Imperial jurisdiction, Annamzhanun & Chengquiang, were nearly completely controlled by the Zhanuntang *de facto*, and as a result Wat Ngọc Thạc held virtually no power in the Wat Dynasty by 1912.

### Seloi Revolution

The Hội Linh, upon being taken over by the Senian Desculian League (Senlin Lanh Moc) and Ngọc Bin Po in 1910, began working in coordination with the Huaxian & Leyani governments to organise a widespread Desculianist uprising in the Zhanun Core, with the intentions of toppling the central government in Chengquiang and influencing the collapse of the remaining constitutional monarchies in the region. The organisation, under the local name of the *Zhanun-deor Độc lập Vận động Đồng lanh Hội*, presented themselves as inclusive of all political groups, with a founding charter more nationalist than Desculianist. It exhorted "soldiers, workers, peasants, intellectuals, civil servants, merchants, young men and women" to overthrow "Zhanuntang dictators" and "quash imperial dogma", while the group’s first chairman was a non-Desculianist. by late 1911, the Hội Linh established itself as the only organized anti-imperial resistance group. The Belkans funded the Hội Linh from 1911 to 1913, despite the Belkan Sarit Dynasty being one of the governments the Hội Linh sought to overthrow after taking control of the Zhanun Core.

On the 3rd June 1912, following a controversial decision by the Zhanuntang government in Chengquiang to crack down on the rising Unionisation movement, student & essential workers would begin an organised protest in the regional capital of Seloi. The Hội Linh would gather the local union leaders on June 4th during the second day of protests and have them swear to continue the protests as long as physically possible. Ngọc Bin Po would take to a podium in the centre of Seloi on June 6th and coerce the now-massive protest into a march on the Administrative Building in the west end of the city. The Zhanun military would take up defensive positions outside the Administrative Building, and, following a rogue protestor charging at the soldiers with a metal crowbar, the soldiers of the 4th Infantry Battalion would open fire on the crowds at 4:12pm, killing 63 people and fuelling outrage across the country. The following day, June 7th, Cou Din Thao led a small army and stormed the Administrative Building, forcing the Zhanuntang to move the headquarters of the Senlin Region to Dongbuyan. The Hội Linh rapidly spread over the following 12 days, seizing control of Nongchang, Dalu, Heliu City & Dasir. The government in Chengquiang could do little to stop the rapid spread of the Hội Linh in the north, and on June 27th the Hội Linh formally seceded from the jurisdiction of the Wat Dynasty.

What remained of Imperial rule collapsed on July 1st 1912 with the establishment of the Provisional National Government, resigning the Wat Dynasty's reign of its remaining provinces as purely *de jure* with the Zhanuntang seizing control of the military. A second Grand National Conference was organised in the summer of 1912 to decide the future of the state. Hao-Din Thao was chosen as the new head of government in the conference and he passed a motion unanimously which outlined the National Government's claim to the former territories of the Wat Dynasty & disregarded the Desculianist states as rebellions against the central government. The first Nationalist regiments under General Hoi Lam-Phan crossed the border into the Cenasanu region on the 19th July, sparking the beginning of the war.

## Course of the war

### War breaks out (1912-13)

#### Cenasanu Offensive

The Hội Linh, organised from the collection of leftist rebel forces, stood in formally as the united front against the PNG, headed by Zhanun nationalist Cou Din Thao. Din Thao & his cabinet were caught completely by surprise when the PNG invaded Cenasanu in July. The Zhanuntang would continue to attempt to open negotiations despite their invasion of the DDR throughout August 1912. The small town of Widigesa would see the first major battle of the war, with Hội Linh forces being encircled and subsequently slaughtered over a 6-day siege. The Battle of Canton cut off the vast majority of supply lines for the Hội Linh south of the Heliu River, and the following First Battle of Dasir would be a crippling defeat for the Hội Linh, with the PNG gaining a major port along Lake Sinai. Din Thao was forced to recall his forces and re-evaluate the situation. Huaxian diplomats would approach Din Thao in December to begin sending military and economic support to the Hội Linh and opened the Nanning Road in February 1913 to flush supplies to guerrillas across the North as the PNG began deploying naval convoys to raid coastal cities along the Sute & Lhana Rivers.

#### Battle for the Sinai

The Hội Linh would begin their counteroffensive against the PNG by seizing the key city of Dongbuyan in April 1913, crippling the South's ability to conduct consistent coastal raids. Throughout April & early May, the few remaining PNG northern outposts in Nongchang were seized, concluding with the Fall of Hampan on the 18th May 1913. The Nationalists would attempt a counterattack on the city of Nongchang over the course of 4 days between the 23rd & 27th May. With the attempt to seize the capital of the DDR a complete failure, the Hội Linh would launch the largest bombing campaign at that point in history during the First Battle of Lo-Trang, beginning consistent bombing raids on the city of Lo-Trang that would continue for over 5 years until 1918. Stalemate emerged shortly after the end of the Lo-Trang Campaign, with the PNG focusing more troop resources on rebuilding Lo-Trang as opposed to maintaining the front line on the Heliu River. Once this flaw in the defence was realised, the Hội Linh would begin mounting forces along the north bank in secret, eventually bursting across the river during the last days of 1913.

### Hội Linh offensives & Nationalist retaliations (1914-16)

*Full Articles: New Year's Offensive & Grengzahn Campaign*

#### New Year's Offensive

On the 29th December 1913, Hội Linh forces burst across the Heliu River and charged Nationalist positions north of the river. As the Heliu Line completely collapsed, the remaining PNG forces north of the Heliu River organised into a mass retreat from the port city of Dengxiao, which managed to evacuate over 85% of the remaining Nationalist forces in Heliu by the time the Hội Linh seized the city on the 13th January 1914. Hội Linh forces stormed the Heliu River, seizing Canton & cutting off the port city of Dasir from Nationalist supply lines through the Belkans by January 10th. The vast majority of troops that retreated from Dengxiao would reconvene at the port city of Heinan and even in the Navran municipal city of Zhanong. With the Hội Linh launching a giant assault in the Annam River Delta in late January 1914, the first foreign troops would begin entering the South to protect border regions and key cities. The city of Lo-Trang would become fully encircled and would undergo a second round of shelling beginning February 4th. The city of Heinan became the backbone of the new defence strategy of the South, with the Nationalist government constructing several lines of trenches which stretched from the Heinan in the west to Lao in the east. The Hội Linh would reach the Heinan Line on February 17th 1914, and would construct opposing lines of trenches to the north & east of the city and would begin a 7-month siege of the city, pushing into the outer city before being whittled down to house-to-house combat, akin to the siege in Lo-Trang which occurred in conjunction to the Battle of Heinan. The two aforementioned battles resulted in over 30% of the deaths which occurred during the war.

#### Grengzahn Campaign

By the end of 1914, with the Nationalists now severely on the backfoot and the South in danger of being completely overrun, the PNG was forced to re-evaluate their position. The Nationalist government conceded to growing demands for Gao & Ranci autonomy in the remnants of the Wat Dynasty, and as a result the Gaorancian Republic was given quasi-independence in February 1915, with South Zhanun troops continuing to occupy the major cities until 1920. Despite the Gaorancian government proclaiming on March 4th that it was not partaking in the war on either side, the Hội Linh refused to recognise the government's sovereignty and would continue to occupy territories in the Gaofeng. As a result, the Gaorancians would rescind their neutrality and enter the war on the side of the South Zhanun government on March 12th 1915, the only independent country to enter the war after the beginning of the conflict in 1912. The two governments would cooperate in manufacturing the Grengzahn Campaign, which began on June 14th 1915. The vast majority of the Gaorancian National Armed Forces alongside over 210,000 Nationalist troops would strike the poorly organised trench systems in the Gaofeng & the jungles of the Annam River Delta, encircling the key supply cities of Zhongasa & Grengzahn, the former being captured on June 27th & the latter on June 30th. Hội Linh troops subsequently flushed out of the Gaofeng, and the forces centred around Heinan were forced to retreat to support the retreating forces in Cenasanu. The second stage of the offensive would begin on July 12th, with Southern forces storming Cenasanu & coastal areas, ending the Siege of Lo-Trang on July 27th with the first supply trucks re-entering the city after 537 days of encirclement. The city of Widigesa was encircled on August 14th and would remain encircled for another three months until the Hội Linh forces in the city surrendered. The offensive would grind to a halt following a last-ditch attempt by the Hội Linh to liberate Widigesa that resulted in over half of Cenasanu being seized by Nationalist forces before the front line deteriorated into trench warfare in late August.

### Proxy Conflicts & the Champasak Armistice (1916-19)

#### Gaofeng Insurgencies

The Hội Linh, now backed into a situation where they could lose all of their gains during the New Year's Offensive in a direct confrontation with the South, began to find other means of getting past the front line and making a breakthrough. Following a relatively successful short naval test, they opted to instead march thousands of Hội Linh soldiers across the borders of the Belkans and simply go around the front line in Cenasanu, breaching the Gaofeng through the Belkan Borderlands. The Monat Trail, when discovered, resulted in international condemnation of the Hội Linh from even Desculianist countries such as Leyan. The Hội Linh, however, would never formally engage in combat with the South during their direct usage of the Monat Trail between 1915 & 1916, rather using it to set up bases in the Borderlands to instigate & support a Desculianist uprising in Gaorancia. A small leftist coalition, known as the Sangkom Krahm, was formed and subsequently banned by the Gaorancian government in February 1916, and subsequently began taking up arms with support from the Hội Linh &, to a lesser extent, Huaxian airlifts. The Sangkom Krahm would combine with a collection of small Gao ethnonationalist guerrillas to form the ADGR in May 1916 and began a major insurgency against the Gaorancian government the same month. The First Gaofeng Campaign was launched by the Nationalists in September 1916 & the Second Gaofeng Campaign from April 1917 were organised to combat the ADGR's rapidly growing presence in the northern regions of Gaorancia that would continue until the end of the war, and to a lesser extent after the 1912 Guangzhowan Agreements. The Hội Linh would formally withdraw the remainder of its troops from the Borderlands in January 1917, but would continue to supply the ADGR through the Monat Trail and other smaller supply lines until the end of the war.

#### Internal Shifts

Despite the chain of initial successes by the Hội Linh in the early years of the war, the Nationalist counteroffensives in 1915 & 1916 permanently placed the Hội Linh on the backfoot and in a strategic retreat for the rest of the duration of the war. On June 21st 1916, Hội Linh Supreme Commander & *de facto* leader of the DDR Cou Din Thao was killed, and Deputy General Ngọc Bin Po assumed control of the military and established the Zhanun Desculianist State, giving himself the authority to organise a troop surge that resulted in a stalemate on the Cenasanu Front until the end of the war in 1921. After the New Year's Offensive by the Desculianists in 1914, Emperor Wat Ngọc Thạc released a scathing retrospective on Zhanuntang governance, calling for the end of the Provisional National Government and the restoration of Imperial rule. This was deeply unpopular across the remnants, and ultimately led to the regions of Gaofeng & Pingyuan agreeing to part ways with the PNG & the Wat Dynasty in 1915.

Over the course of 1915, anti-Imperial sentiment reached unseen proportions, with student protests in Chengquiang spreading to other cities like Lo-Trang calling for the death of Ngọc Thạc. In the early months of 1916, PNG soldiers stormed the Imperial Residences in Chengquiang, capturing Ngọc Thạc and forcing him to resign from his position as Emperor and to not assign a successor. Following the coup, the Imperial Court was formally dissolved, and the Zhanuntang took complete control of the government and declared marshal law. The day after the coup, it was announced that the Wat Dynasty had been formally dissolved, with the Provisional National Government as its successor.

#### The Three Stalemates & Champasak Armistice

Amid the conflicts in the Gaofeng, the main front of the war in Cenasanu continued to host direct conflict between the Nationalists & the Hội Linh despite the end of the Grengzahn Campaign in August 1915. Progress would slow throughout 1915 and by 1916 the Gaorancian Desculianists would launch a counteroffensive along key supply routes in the Gaofeng. Despite small gains against the Desculianists in spring 1917, yet another stalemate emerged and by 1918 the front lines in Cenasanu had become heavily defended and the war ground into attrition, with lines of trenches stretching from the Heliu River to the border with the Belkans. Minor breakthroughs would occur in July 1918 that would result in a quick series of flanking manoeuvres from both sides that descended to the Gaorancian-DDR border along the major road networks. Following this, a second stalemate would emerge that would last until November 1918, where yet another Nationalist offensive would push the front line dangerously close to the key supply city of Canton, and a third stalemate would finally settle in as the last changes to the Cenasanu Front for the remainder of the war. In January 1919, when it became obvious that neither side was making any gains, the Hội Linh & the PNG sat down in the neutral Belkat and signed the 1919 Champasak Armistice, promising a temporary end to armed conflict until a permanent solution could be achieved.

### Final Engagements (1920-21)

*Further Information: Guangzhowan Agreements*

With the Hội Linh no longer a substantial threat, the Nationalists launched another offensive into the Gaofeng in early 1920, reopening supply lines and pushing the Desculianists deep into the borderlands by the summer of that year. The Nationalists would undergo a massive revolution in the field of air combat during this period, introducing bombers and early prototypes of early stealth aircraft. By October 1920 the PNG had consolidated control over the South and, with Ping Denh secure from insurgencies, recognised the full independence of the Gaorancians, and rescinded their claims to the territories of Pingyuan & Gaofeng. In May 1921, with the numerical advantage in the favour of the PNG despite support for the North deriving from Huaxia, the PNG attempted to convince the Hội Linh to return to the negotiations table in Guangzhowan to discuss a permanent end to the war. The Hội Linh declined to meet for negotiations, and subsequently the Nationalists would launch a four-month mass bombing campaign over the key cities to the North, mainly the North Zhanun capital of Seloi, the DDR's capital of Nongchang & Canton, the key supply city near the Cenasanu Front that was key to continued Hội Linh influence south of the Heliu River. On October 2nd 1921, the Hội Linh would finally cave and agree to meet in Guangzhowan to end the war. The Guangzhowan Agreements would be signed on October 19th, and went into effect the following day on October 20th 1921, formally ending the conflict between the Desculianist North & the Nationalist South.

## Aftermath

The former territories of the Wat Dynasty were partitioned in the 1921 Guangzhowan Agreements between the Zhanun Democratic Republic (ZDR, aka North Zhanundeor), Dongbui Democratic Republic (DDR), Gaoran Republic & the Zhanun Republic (aka South Zhanundeor). Both North & South Zhanundeor were supposed to host reunification talks and a joint referendum in 1923, but these were abandoned the year after by South Zhanun dictator Hao-Din Thao.

The conflict marked the end of the Zhanun Imperial Era & the fall of the last absolute monarchy in Western Tyensya. The war resulted in nearly 2.8 million casualties, and the fallout of the conflict has had large scale effects in the Zhanun Realm which continue to this day, including the Red Scare & widespread persecution of leftist groups, as well as greater geopolitical instability brought about partially by continued Desculianist insurgencies funded by the ZDR, including the Gaofeng Bush War, where the ADGR continued its insurgency in Gaorancia, first as a minor conflict in the border regions from 1921 & as a major insurgency from 1927.

### North Zhanundeor

After the First Zhanun War, reconstruction efforts began immediately, with Bin Po's government using the the vast sums of Huaxian economic aide to rebuild the largely minor damage to infrastructure within the boundaries of the ZDR. the Hội Linh was established as the formal military of the Zhanun Democratic Republic, and continued to oppose South Zhanundeor and the nationalist states in the Gaofeng Bush War. Bin Po's government oversaw a period of economic stagnation despite increased foreign aide. Bin Po prioritised sending much of the money that would have been used for internal developments to other Desculianist insurgencies in the Zhanun Realm, resulting in the South overtaking the North in nominal GDP in 1925. Huaxian aid would start to dry up towards the end of 1925, with Bin Po denying Huaxian requests to be integrated into the wider Tyensyan Desculianist Union that had been developing since 1905. Bin Po would die in 1926 and a brief power struggle would emerge, before Nam Din Phau would assume the position of 'paramount leader' in December 1926.

Upon the death of Bin Po in 1926, Din Phau would create a cult of personality around him, and would begin to promote various ideals that would later become the state ideology of Social Zandism, which went against the interests of the Huaxians to the north. Huaxian economic aide would be cut off in 1925, and in response the ZDR would launch numerous incursions into their neighbours and began backing numerous anti-Huaxian groups, with the Dongbui DR suffering from an increasingly severe insurgency backed by the North from 1926. Huaxian military aide to the ZDR would be severed in 1927, and in response the latter would formally abandon Desculianism and would begin a new policy of uniting the Zhanun Core under Social Zandism, beginning the Desculian Schism. Din Phau would violate the 1921 Guangzhowan Agreements and dispute the existence of South Zhanundeor the same year, claiming the 18 provinces of the South to be nominally ZDR sovereign territory.

### South Zhanundeor

Following the 1921 Guangzhowan Agreements, the South was left to recuperate its losses. Important cities such as Heinan & Lo-Trang were left in ruins after the war, and it became clear that reorganisation was needed to allow for the rehabilitation of the region. The Zhanuntang organised the third Grand National Conference to discuss the future of the remaining territories under PNG administration. The Zhanuntang voted unanimously to end the Provisional National Government and formally establish the Republic of Zhanundeor in late 1921 under a one-party system headed by State President Hao-Din Thao. With the Zhanuntang now in complete control over the government, hardliner nationalist policies would prevent all those with any connection to the ZDR or DDR from entering the country, as well as the arrests of over 16,000 political prisoners between 1922 & 1927, with a minimum of 1,270 of them being sentenced to death or given summary executions upon capture.

The Grand National Army was reorganised into the Army of the Republic of Zhanundeor (ARZD) and a military police, officially known as the Keong-ma, began operations separate from the military hierarchy in 1924. The South would also begin expanding its diplomatic reach to Western Tyensya, and following the beginning of the Desculian Split in the mid-1920s revived its claim to North Zhanundeor and improved its relations with Huaxia during the 1924 Guangzhowan Agreements, which returned the Leased Territory of Guangzhowan back to Huaxian control after over three centuries of Zhanun rule.

### Dongbui & Gaorancia

The DDR suffered major damage to its industrial heartlands surrounding the Heliu, Lhana & Sute river deltas. The city of Canton had to be rebuilt from the ground up in the aftermath of the war, and other cities such as Dasir, Nongchang, Wilu & Dalu. Foreign economic aide was limited at first, with the majority of Huaxian aide being centred around the ZDR & Leyan only being able to provide limited aide due to its own undesirable economic situation. Cenasanu was irreparably damaged during the war, with an estimated 64% of the rural areas in the region being damaged by artillery shelling and later aerial bombing campaigns that lasted for the entire duration of the war. Following the Desculian Schism in the mid-1920s, the DDR under Nam Long Gap was propped up by Huaxia as the last truly Desculianist bastion in the Zhanun Core, and as a result repairs were largely uncompleted until the early 1930s.

Gaorancia suffered significant damage to its northern towns such as Grengzahn & Lao, with original repair work beginning in the aftermath of the Grengzahn Campaign in 1915 before being reversed during the Gaofeng Campaigns in 1917. Most of the major cities such as Champu & Ping Denh did not receive major damage during the war, but would continue to suffer attacks in the aftermath of the war that prevented major repair work from being completed. Grengzahn would be rebuilt in the early 1920s before the beginning of the Gaofeng Bush War, where the city was intermittently controlled by the ADGR and suffered major shell & bombing fire throughout the conflict in the late 1920s & early 1930s. The Gaorancians were severely destabilised by the First Zhanun War & its consequences and as a result was in a constant state of survival for most of its existence.

## Foreign Involvement

### Supporting the South

The vast majority of the Zhanun Realm supported the Nationalists during the First Zhanun War, yet never formally entered the war. Annam would host the largest consistent military presence in the South during the war, with an estimated 3000 troops constantly present in major defence posts such as in Heinan & Chengquiang. The Xzabun Republic would send the most overall troops to support the PNG during the war; despite only having a maximum of 1250 troops at once, the Xzabuns send a total of 39,000 soldiers, primarily during the Battle of Heinan in 1916. The Xzabuns would suffer the largest number of deaths of any non-combatant, with over 600 soldiers being killed in the course of the war. Xzabun troops would continue to assist the Zhanuns in maintaining order in the South after the war as well, including as a direct combatant in the Gaofeng Bush War.

The Navrans mostly withheld from direct military presence in the South, yet maintained a significant military presence close to the border in the city of Zhanong, which served as a major supply line for the Nationalists during the New Year's Offensive. Following the discovery of the Monat Trail, the Navrans would deploy over 1500 troops to the Gaofeng in response to the Hội Linh violating Belkan sovereignty. The Belkans extremely limited their involvement militarily in the war, only deploying a maximum of 230 troops in response to the violation of their own sovereignty. The majority of Belkan aide was purely economic, with occasional munitions deployments in the later years of the war.

### Supporting the North

The Hội Linh were primarily supported by Huaxia & Leyan, the two Desculianist Republics in the region. Eager to expand their own influence into the Zhanun Realm, Huaxia would send over 42,000 tonnes of munitions to the Hội Linh during the war, as well as humongous amounts of economic support to keep the Northern economies afloat whilst the vast majority of their GDPs were dedicated to the war effort. Whilst never directly deploying troops during the war, Huaxian troops did support Hội Linh forces during the seizure of Dongbuyan in 1913. The Leyani, whilst unable to send any economic aide due to their crippling economic situation, did maintain a significant military presence in Nongchang, whilst also making brief incursions into the Sab-Quab disputed regions in the later years of the war.

There have been allegations of the Belkans supporting the Hội Linh as well as the PNG during the war, with numerous images taken by bombers during the 1921 aerial campaign showing that Belkan-made vehicles gathered on mass east of Nongchang, as well as supposed economic aide to the DDR from an anonymous foreign benefactor between 1917 until 1921. Potential reasoning for this exploitation of the conflict includes attempting to bargain for Belkan-inhabited territories in the Gaofeng & around Hampan. The Belkans have denied any involvement with the Hội Linh during the First Zhanun War.