Heart Washing Clique

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*How bright is the Auspicious Cloud!*

*How broad is the brilliancy!*

*The light is spectacular with sun or moon.*

*How it revives dawn after dawn!*

- *-Song to the Auspicious Cloud*, former anthem of the Republic of China & Yan Xishan's favorite song, his subjects don't appreciate the irony though.
The Heart Washing Clique is a major faction of survivors in what used to be the Chinese province of Shanxi. Under the leadership of the nigh immortal Yan Xishan, they seek to rebuild China in cooperation with the surviving nationalists and Communists as well as the Mongolians. To that end, Yan continually sends invitations to Red & Blue warlords as well as to the outside world in search for a helping hand to put China back on its feet and destroy the wicked Atomic bandits lead by the Viceroy. The Heart Washing Clique was created by user: Cervantes99.

## At a Glance

 **Basic Look** | Late Qing & Early Republican China After the End

## Background

### Towards the Republic

Our story begins far before the bombs fell, when a different kind of fall was taking place. 1911. China. The Qing Dynasty is overthrown by revolutionaries lead by Sun Yat-sen and the modernized sections of its military lead by Yuan Shi-kai. Among the rebel military officers is a young man named Yan Xishan. Yan had been the son of a wealthy merchant family. After his father was ruined in an economic downturn, Yan was sent to Japan where he attended the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko prepatory military academy and later the Imperial Japanese Army Academy which he graduated from in 1909. Yan left Japan not only with a good diploma but also a mind brimming with new ideas. He saw how Japan, a backwards island nation once cut off from the world, had successfully modernized itself and how its populace were almost blindly loyal to and enthusiastic in their support of the Japanese government. He realized that for China to compete in the new century, there had to be some serious changes. In Japan, Yan Xishan also met Sun Yat-sen, another Chinese expatriate who was disgusted with the corruption and misrule of the Qing. Yan joined Sun's revolutionary society, the Tongmenghui, and also founded the Blood and Iron Corps with the other Chinese students at the Japanese Army Academy.

Upon his return to China, Sun was given command of the modernized Chinese units in his home province of Shanxi where he secretly worked to undermine the Qing by writing pamphlets about the need for China to modernize like Japan did & even develop its own form of bushido. When the revolution came around, Yan Xishan's forces joined with those of Yuan Shikai and the other rebel generals to drive the Manchu from China. Yan felt that at last, the Han Chinese people were free to pursue their own destiny as the heirs of the Ming Dynasty. This exuberance was short lived however, as Yan grew to realize that President Yuan and his cronies were no different than the corrupt mandarins they replaced. There was little Yan could do though, as Shanxi was surrounded on all sides by forces loyal to Yuan while Sun Yat-sen and the KMT were racked by inaction & indecision. Yan Xishan still held on to Shanxi though and while the warlord cliques were tearing China down after Yuan died, Yan was making Shanxi his own personal utopian society.

### The Model Governor for the Model Province

Things progressively got worse for China in the immediate post-war era. Regional warlords with only marginal loyalty to the central government rose to power, vying for control of the Middle Kingdom. The people suffered and the dream of a strong, modern China had all but fainted from memory. However, for Shanxi Province, it was a different story. Yan, realizing that his province wasn't developed enough to combat the other warlords, maintained a strict policy of neutrality and devoted himself to modernizing Shanxi by personally inviting foreign specialists and aid workers to help him bring Shanxi into the 20th century. Engineers from Japan helped set up modernized road networks and communication systems, modern hospitals were built by British doctors & American missionaries opened dozens of new churches and schools to educate the youth of the province. Despite all the fires that raged around it, Shanxi remained at peace.

Eventually, the Kuomintang began to establish their power base in Nanjing while other warlords and even some communists made their own power grabs in the north. Sensing the winds of change were blowing, Yan decided that it was the right time to reopen his little kingdom to the outside world. The Kuomintang, who had been off again-on again allies since the early 1920s, seemed to have the best chance of helping Yan create his dream of a strong, independent & united China. In 1926, Chiang, with the support of Yan Xishan as well as the fledgling Chinese Communist Party, launched the Northern Expedition to reclaim China from the Beiyang government, the last remnants of Yuan Shikai's despotic regime. Despite heavy fighting, the combined forces of the Chiang, Mao, Yan and countless other minor warlords overcame the warlords of the north and China was fully united once again. The new era of friendliness and cooperation was short-lived, however, as internal strife within the Kuomintang exploded in the Central Plains War of 1930.

Yan Xishan, alongside fellow warlords Feng Yuxiang and Li Zongren, lead their vast armies against Chiang Kai-shek's powerful Whampoa Clique. Over a million men were sent to the front and over hundreds of thousands of them ended up dead. Yan and his allies fought bravely but it was all for naught as Chiang, through a combination of ruthlessness, bribery and a timely revolt by the Chinese Muslims in the provinces of Yan's allies, was able to defeat his former allies. When examining the events of the war, many foreign observers noted the large difference in the quality of leadership on both sides. Chiang's elite officer corps. ran circles around Yan's smaller, less prestigious local leaders. The war also marked the introduction of General Yan to the world stage as many foreign leaders formed alliance and trade connections in hopes of containing the then-maverick Chiang Kai-shek. Indeed, *Time* magazine even included Yan Xishan on its cover, billing him as "China's Next President."

## The Heart Washing Route Army

### Blood & Iron Corps

While the Heart Washing Clique's average infantry may seem well, average, the true genius of Yan Xishan's teachings become apparent in proud members of the elite Blood & Iron Corps. Not only do these honorable creations possess deadly skills in combat but each of them has its own special abilities which rub-off on the Clique's other units as well.

**Ministry of the Left**

**Ministry of the Right**

## Behind the Scenes

* The HWC is based on the Great Way Enclave, a fan faction Cervantes99 posted to the Paradox wiki before coming here.