Provisional National Government

Provisional National Government
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1912-1921

Flag of the PNG from 1916 to 1921.

The PNG (brown) at the end of the First Zhanun War in 1921.

Core Zhanun: 92%
Henian: 3%
Navori: 2%
Others: 3%

The **Provisional National Government** (Zhuni: *Quốc gia Zhanun*; Tanni: 國家越南; Belkan: *Chạ̀wkhrāw Rạṭ̄hbāl*), officially the **Republic of Zhanundeor** from 1916 & colloquially referred to as the **PNG** or simply the **Nationalists**, was a governmental entity in Southwest Tyensia that existed from 1912 until 1921, first as a member of the Wat Dynasty and later as a country from 1916 to 1921. The state claimed authority over all of the Zhanun Core during the First Zhanun War, although large parts of its territory were controlled by the Zhanun Desculianist State (ZDS) & the Dongbui Desculianist Republic (DDR). The state was created in 1912 by the Zhanuntang as a response to the Seloi Revolution and was internationally recognised as the successor to the Wat Dynasty after the coup in 1916. Emperor Wat Ngọc Thạc was Chief of State from 1912 to 1916, when he was exiled to Belkat. After the 1921 Guangzhowan Agreements, the Provisional National Government abandoned its sovereignty over the northern part of the country, which was controlled by the Hội Linh. With the First Zhanun War over, the Provisional National Government was formally reorganised into the Republic of Zhanundeor in late 1921.

## History

### Background

#### Rise of the Zhanun Nationalists

Following the fall of Leyan to Desculianism in 1884, the Zhanun Realm became gradually more fearful of Huaxian interventionism & the spread of Desculianism & other leftist ideologies. The governments of the Zhanun Realm met at the Lo-Trang Conference in 1887 to cooperate in forming a new collective policy to prevent the spread of Desculianism and to strengthen their respective national identities. This resulted in the Wat Dynasty releasing a large array of pro-nationalist propaganda campaigns from 1888 to 1893 which greatly increased nationalist sentiment for a united Zhanun Core across the empire. This resulted in the first Grand National Conference in 1889, headed by Hội Lam-Phan, which produced the founding charter of the Zhanun Nationalist Party (ZNP), which would later come to be known as the **Zhanuntang.** Emperor Wat 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.

#### Zhanuntang Rule in the Wat Dynasty

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. 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, which the Xzabuns won with Zhanun & Henian support in 1909. 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.

#### 1912-1914

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, with the Zhanuntang organising a second Grand National Conference 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. Zhanuntang armies would launch assaults into the DDR in late summer 1912 and successfully seized Cenasanu during the offensive, before stopping at the south bank of the Heliu River, and setting up defensive positions along the embankment while conducting naval raids on northern port cities along the coast & the Lhana River. Naval campaigns along the coast were severely disrupted following the fall of Dongbuyan to Hội Linh forces in early 1913, followed by an intense shelling campaign of the city of Lo-Trang in spring-summer 1913.

#### 1914-1919

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. The following New Year's Offensive in early 1914 pushed the PNG back to Heinan and out of Cenasanu, with a significant portion of the Nationalists encircled in Lo-Trang. The Battle of Heinan & the Siege of Lo-Trang amounted to be the most violent of the engagements during the First Zhanun War, and by the end of 1914 a second stalemate had emerged in the northeast of Annamzhanun & Cenasanu.

Following the independence of the Gaoran Republic from the PNG in 1915, a Desculianist insurgency would develop that would result in the resumption of active conflict. The Nationalists would launch the Grengzahn Campaign in the summer of 1915, which was a resounding success in pushing the Desculianists out of all their major cities in the Gaofeng & completely out of Annamzhanun. 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 Gaofeng. 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.

#### 1919-1921

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. By late 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. By 1921, with the numerical advantage in the favour of the PNG despite support for the North deriving from Huaxia, the PNG convinced the Hội Linh to return to the negotiations table in Guangzhowan to discuss a permanent end to the war. When the Hội Linh initially refused, the PNG conducted a major bombing campaign in the spring of 1921 in response. This drastically decreased support for the war in the North and as a result the Hội Linh agreed to meet in Guangzhowan per the original request in mid-1921.

The war officially came to a close in autumn 1921 upon the signing of the Guangzhowan Agreements, which saw the PNG rescind its claim to the North & Cenasanu & the formal establishment of the Zhanun Desculianist State (later renamed to the Zhanun Democratic Republic or ZDR in early 1922) & the Dongbui Desculianist Republic (DDR), with the four successors of the Wat Dynasty recognising the independence of one another. With the First Zhanun War at a close, 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 now-President Hao-Din Thao.

## Politics

### Leadership

Upon the proclamation of the PNG in 1912, the previous Emperor of the Wat Dynasty Wat Ngọc Thạc was made head of state as a constitutional monarch, with Hao-Din Thao as the head of government (offiicially known as the Provisional Minister), despite not being the head of the Zhanuntang at the time. Hội Lam-Phan became the Chieftain of the Imperial Court in 1914 as the power of the Emperor was increasingly weakened. Following the deposal of Ngọc Thạc in 1916 & the fall of the Wat Dynasty, the Imperial Court was dissolved and Hội became the head of state, with no formal title ever being given or voted on by the new Zhanun Congress. Following Hội's death in 1920, Hao-Din Thao became the head of state and government, establishing the position of Executive State President and ruling as an absolute dictator from 1920 onwards. In the 1921 Conference, the new head of state & government was declared as the State President and Din Thao continued to serve in the position after the dissolution of the PNG.

### Administrative Divisions

The PNG claimed all the former territories of the Wat Dynasty, and thus maintained the 7 Regions & 55 Provinces that were existent prior to the beginning of the First Zhanun War in 1912. Upon the fall of the Wat Dynasty in 1916, however, the regions system was abolished and the 18 provinces of the former Annamzhanun, Chengquiang & Guangzhowan were promoted to first-level divisions, with the remaining regions being labelled as 'occupied territories' and were stripped of their provincial divisions in 1918. The 'occupational territories' of Dongbuyan, Pingyuan & Gaofeng were dissolved in 1919, Nongchang in 1920, and finally Senlin & Heliu in 1921. The province surrounding the capital of Chenquiang was promoted to a special administrative division in 1920, granting direct government control as opposed to a provincial governor.