Shan-Regency Wars

The **Shan-Regency Wars** were a series of two wars fought by the Shanhe Kurun and the Golden Regency for (initially) control of the Shahsen and Aixiang systems. The Shanhe Kurun was victorious in both wars, ultimately destroying the Regency and occupying Regency space as a Shan dominion, with a senior viceroyalty based out of Shahsen.

## Background

In 2559 Standard Tiandi Time, a Regency vessel carrying colonists to build a habitat in the outer belt of the frontier system of Aixiang detected an anomaly near one of the many comets around this. Upon further investigation, the ship proved to be a Shan mining and trading ship that made circuits of the Kurun's frontier, refueling and gathering some volatiles to sell at the next port it reached. The Aixiang system, laying at the frontier of Shan space, had not been previously explored by the Shan, and they had thus not detected the increasing Regency presence there. Following this chance encounter, both parties exchanged embassies and cadavers and began trading.

The root of the subsequent conflicts lay in the Shahsen system, known to the Shan as Shahsen and to the Regency as Xiwaibian-3. On the periphery of both states, both had previously considered it part of their exclusive territory. The Shan had slated the system for colonization, but the Regency was content to let a few odd spacers and traders and miners float through without putting down very deep roots. Regency policy shifted after contact, but not massively, leading to an increased human presence in space habitats and mining settlements. This frustrated Shan colonization aims, leading to some diplomatic friction.

## Prelude to war

Prior to the eruption of conflict on January 18th, 2601, the two star-states had both been engaging in provocative behavior in the disputed system (which was by and large quite empty and undeveloped, in fact). The Shan had dispatched several Transmigration Ministry vessels to one of the Shahsen/Xiwaibian-3 system's rocky inner worlds, carrying equipment that would allow them to build habitats on the surface (where the Regency had established several robotic mines). The planet in question was the world now known as Shahjan.

These vessels were intercepted and forced to turn back by a Regency Star Navy vessel, and the Shan complained loudly about this. In response, the Regency sent additional troops, escorting their own colonists. The Shan ordered their settlers to instead settle on several of the moons of the gas giant known to the Regency as Fusang and to the Shan as Chayar.

Previous incidents had followed similar patterns, with the Regency resisting Shan movements into the system and demanding they cease, the Shan refusing, and the Regency trying to strengthen its own position in the face of Shan protests. By late 2600, the Supreme Directorate in Sahaliyan had accepted that war was the only path forward to colonize Shahsen and was making preparations for such an event.

## Shahsen War

On January 18th, 2601 Standard Tiandi Time, an initial task group of 187 Shan Black and Vermilion Banner ships dropped out of gimelspace into the Shahsen system and began an immediate and unprovoked attack on Regency military forces there.

### First Shahsen Campaign

This surprise attack by the Shan advance force sparked the First Shahsen Campaign. Within the first 72 hours, most Regency assets that had been previously posted to Xiwaibian-3 had been destroyed or otherwise neutralized, and the Shan had secured almost all of their objectives across the system. However, increased resistance and the arrival of reinforcements from Lijin and Aixiang, and later on reinforcements from the Kurun, would drag the main portion of the First Shahsen Campaign out for four months, with battles associated with the campaign continuing for the next five months after that. Part of the length of the battle can be attributed to indecisive Shan leadership, which also followed typical Black Banner thinking of waiting for as long as necessary to acquire numerical and tactical advantages for minimal losses and maximum damage.

The Shan also failed to capitalize on the gains they made in the first four months and strike at Regency supply lines, preferring to completely eradicate enemy forces in-system. This significantly slowed the overall progress of the war, but while it cost the Shan more than perhaps immediate further attacks would have, it also led to the destruction of Xinghuamin huge amounts of men and material.

### Risol Expedition

The Risol Expedition refers to an ill-fated Regency expeditionary campaign against the Shan Risol system, which ended in an embarrassing defeat. It took place towards the very end of the Shahsen campaign and spurred the Shan to continue the war and strike at Aixiang, where the expedition departed from. It took the Shan about two months to finally wipe out the last traces of human forces in Risol's outer belt.

### First Aixiang Campaign

Following the end of the nine-month slog of the Shahsen campaign and the destruction of the Risol Expedition, the Shan launched their next attack into Aixiang, one of the primary staging grounds used by Regency forces to continue their attacks on Shahsen and an important military base near to the Shan frontier. The improvement of human tactics and continued cautious movements by the Shan despite their many advantages led to the Regency's ships more effectively targeting Shan carriers. For this reason, the Central Military Commission chose to rush the Lokshan-class carrier into production as a more survivable, hardy alternative to the too-few carriers that were available. However, the weakened state of the Regency's military played to the strengths of the Shan, who did manage to outmaneuver and massively outgun (in general) human fleets in a number of engagements as they pressed to besiege the system's largest settlements.

The Siege of Liqiao was one of the largest single battles in the entire Shahsen War, involving several thousand ships and hundreds of thousands of spacers and soldiers on both sides. Liqiao at the time was the most developed and populous body in the Aixiang system, with most of the population and nearly all of the system's heavy industry being housed on the large moon. It was also a major military base. With the fall of Liqiao, about two months into the Aixiang campaign, most organized resistance in the system halted.

### First Lijin Campaign

With the fall of Aixiang, the Shan moved more quickly to launch immediate attacks on two of the inner systems of the Regency, Lijin and Qilin. In Qilin, fewer Shan units were committed, meaning Shan attacks were largely confined to the outer belt or, occasionally, the moons of the system's gas giants. However, Lijin would see some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war as Shan forces made landings on its populated moons and, eventually, the inner worlds. The next year saw Shan forces fight their way coreward, laying waste to human settlements and defenses.

After a year of this, the Regency was left with few options. Shan forces had begun to be more active in Qilin as well, threatening that system, and Lijin was nearly played out, leaving the populous inner worlds of the Regency open for attack. Human high command decided to launch an ambitious plan to try and get a few more bargaining chips for when they negotiated, and put out covert diplomatic feelers.

### Second Shahsen Campaign

The Second Shahsen Campaign began on March 22nd, 2603, with 229 vessels of the Regency Star Navy acting as an initial force for a full-scale attack on the Shahsen system. It was over within three weeks, breaking the back of the human fleet and clearly demonstrating Shan superiority. A surnar played a key role in the destruction of the human invasion force, and the Regency was forced to come to the table as the Shan threatened to fully attack Qilin or other systems.

On September 29th, 2603, peace was made. The Regency paid a vast sum in reparations and was given back Aixiang. Shahsen was put fully under Shan control, while Lijin and the inner system of Tianhai were to be completely open to Shan trade.

## Inter-war Period

The interwar period from 2603 to 2639 saw the Regency unsuccessfully try to build a human alliance against the Shan, strengthen their military, strengthen bilateral trade with the Kurun as a deterrent, and (and this would ultimately lead to another war) try and increase human presence in the frontier systems that had proved so problematic. In the late 2630s, the Shan began to object to increasingly large colonial trips from the core worlds to Aixiang, Lijin, and Qilin, while a new faction in power in the Regency tried to assert itself against the aliens. The Supreme Directorate, irritated, eventually decided that subjugation of the human state was the only way to end its annoyances (and, coincidentally, could be very profitable). In 2637 and throughout 2638 the Shan were preparing for war, and they had long before made certain preparations through the SQD with significant people in the Regency.

## Aixiang War

The Aixiang War opened with a massive Shan incursion into the Aixiang system. Heavily defended though it was, the Shan had brought a massive fleet and had laid significant groundwork through the SQD this time around, and the system ceased organized resistance within two weeks. At the same time, the *jiedushi* of Tianhai rose up against the Regency's government in a military rebellion, declaring himself Emperor Suzong of Later Ren.

The Supreme Directorate, seeing now that their plans had worked to perfection, authorized the invasion of the human core systems. The Shan officially claimed all of the space formerly held by the Regency and withdrew recognition of it, launching attacks into Qilin and Lijin. The Second Lijin Campaign and the Qilin Campaign were both bloody, but with human forces mostly busy in Tianhai, the Shan were able to steadily wear down human defenses and take their time, knowing few if any reinforcements would come to their enemies.

By 2641, the Tianhai Rebellion had been put down, and Lijin, Qilin, and Aixiang were all under Shan control. The next eighteen months saw three campaigns opened, against (in order) Tianhai, Shangchun, and Hongqian. Despite stiff human resistance, superior Shan technology, numbers, and firepower won the day, and the Shan KWG was soon busy purging the newly-conquered territories of suspected rebels and dissenters and installing new organs to govern the vast territory (dubbed the Dominion of Greater Shahsen or the Shahsen Reach, and governed by the Viceroy of Shahsen, a senior figure in the Golden Orchid Court).

## Aftermath

The Shan-Regency Wars led to immense devastation and loss of life throughout the former Regency systems, with several billion souls perishing in these two great conflicts. They resulted in the complete destruction as a political entity of one of the largest, most prosperous, and most powerful human star-states and handed a large, populous, valuable, and resource-rich dominion to the Shanhe Kurun.

However, since the fall of the Regency, there have been consistent rebellions and small uprisings against alien rule, trying to restore any of the various dynasties, the Regency, or any form of human rule. The region is often unstable and the Shan use repressive tactics against the population to help quell these acts of defiance. Humans are treated as second-class citizens (at least in this region), and the Shan largely are interested in exploiting them for money and to strengthen their empire.