Yamataian Nanyōkuni

Yamataian Nanyōkuni (大山都南洋国, ダイ ソン ド ナヽ ヰウオヲ ヂア) was a colonial state in Nanyōkuni administered by Yamatai during the Imperialist era. Nanyōkuni was governed directly by the Yamataian government as a dependent territory through the Governor-General of Nanyōkuni, with the capital first located at Hai Phuong before it was later moved to Bắc Quan.

Etymology
Nanyōkuni (南洋国) translates to "Southern Seas Land" in. There was no official name for Nanyōkuni in either Songese or Myaarman, as the official language of Nanyōkuni was Yashiman. Informally, Nanyōkuni was called Đại Liên Bang (Grand Federation) in Songese, and Hcupaungg'myay (စုပေါင်းမြေ; United Land) in Myaarman.

Academically, Nanyōkuni remains the official term for the geographical region of the Escaric continent. Dai Hoa itself refers to the area as the Đại Đất Region, meaning "Great Land", and the preferred demonym for people from Nanyōkuni is "Hoaian". "Nanyōkunese" and derivatives are occasionally considered slurs in the 21st century, though are sometimes used by the older generations.

Background
Yamatai had already begun colonisation of the region with the annexation of the Song Empire in 1775 following the Nhâm Thìn War, creating the colonial state of Yamataian Ekuni. Initially, Yamatai adopted a cooperative stance with the neighbouring Empire of Myaar'tway, participating in relatively peaceful trade and diplomacy. Myaar'tway's Imperial Court favoured good relations with Yamatai as they were attempting to modernise while retaining their monarchy, especially after the Empire of Arshavat was dissolved in 1788.

However, relations soured after the Đẹp Đảo Incident in 1840, where the Yamataian colonial government instigated a coup of the Songese Emperor to install direct Yamataian rule. Having long warned of the dangers of Yamatai, the Myaarman Emperor Banya Thiha carried out a purge of his Yamatai-friendly court and began expanding his military in fear of a Yamataian invasion. In 1844, Emperor Thiha believed that Yamataian language teachers in the Myaarman capital Yadanabon had instigated an assassination plot against him involving pro-Yamatai court nobles, and executed several Yamataian teachers. This immediately sparked the Cửulong River War, with the Yamatai Imperial Army moving up the Cửulong River into the Myaarman heartlands.

Armed with superior weaponry and tactics, the Yamataian Army quickly defeated the Myaarmans in the heartlands. At the same time, the Yamatai Imperial Navy quickly defeated the Myaarman navy and sailed into the Gulf of Mư Tâma, directly threatening Yadanabon. In mid-June, the Myaarman noble Ashin Khaing Myo murdered Emperor Thiha and began negotiations for surrender to the Yamataians. On 2 August 1845, Myaar'tway officially surrendered to Yamatai and was immediately combined with Yamataian Ekuni as the Yamataian Nanyōkuni.

Early Nanyōkuni
Nanyōkuni faced major societal strife in its first years of existence as the Myaarman and Songese peoples, traditional rivals for centuries, began to clash in the economical, social and political arenas. Strict martial law was enforced by the Yamataian military regime to maintain order and enforce their policies on the population, a process referred to as Yashimisation. As Yamatai was one of the leading nations in the industrial revolution, Nanyōkuni experienced heavy industrial development and modernisation. Rich in metals, minerals, and gems, major prospecting and destructive mining activities began in the heartlands.

The Purple Turban Rebellion, an ethnic Myaarman movement aimed at freeing Myaar'tway from colonial occupation, emerged in 1853 and began waging a war of resistance against Yamatai. As the rebellion gained momentum, several Myaarman members of the colonial government were discovered to be members of the rebels, beginning a gradual shift in Yamataian policy to place Songese officials in leadership positions even in Myaarman-majority areas. Yamataian companies also exacerbated the racial divides as cheaper Myaarman labour was often used throughout the colonies, including in the former Song Empire, and more highly-educated Songese were often brought in as foremen and managers, even in former Myaar'tway. Racial violence between Songese and Myaarmans intensified due to these factors, with minor disputes often causing major race riots throughout the major cities. The Yamataian authorities often cracked down brutally on these riots.

In 1863, Yamatai joined the Second Northern War, sending troops from Nanyōkuni to invade Arshavat in order to pre-emptively avoid a Arshavati invasion of the crucial colony. Following the war, the Yamataian administration established the Nanyōkuni Volunteer Rifles in 1865. This was a unit of the Imperial Army made up entirely of local troops led by Yamataian officers. As part of an experiment by Governor-General Noya Koichi, the Nanyōkuni Volunteer Rifles' units were intentionally comprised of a mixture of Songese and Myaarmans, with the idea that tough military training could overcome the racial divides. After a fairly successful pilot batch, which subsequently experienced a trial-by-fire in the 1868 First Shen-Yamataian War, the Volunteer Rifles were renamed the Nanyōkuni Imperial Rifles and selective two-year conscription of all urban males aged 18 in Nanyōkuni was enforced.

As these local troops began to be used to combat the rebels, the Purple Turbans lost the will to fight their fellow countrymen and eventually disappeared. However, increased education introduced by Yamatai and a generally improving standard of living meant that a new educated urban middle class began to emerge, with various political thinkers appearing with ideas of republicanism and independence from Yamatai. Intellectuals such as Hoàng Minh Kiệt, Nguyễn Hữu Thiện, and Saya Maung Yarzar were arrested and sometimes executed by the Yamataian authorities for inciting public discontent.

Early 20th Century
Towards the end of the 20th century, racial violence between the Myaarmans and Songese had largely died down, though tensions still existed beneath the surface. Increasing numbers of intellectuals were travelling abroad to a variety of destinations for education, bringing back a wide array of viewpoints and ideas. Some of these were the founder of the Communist Party of Dai Hoa Trương Quốc Minh, and leader of the National Front Against Oppression Hàn Bảo Lâm, and the Yamataian collaborator Tanimoto Masato. The Yamataian authorities suppressed much of this nationalist activity, forcing most local political activity to occur underground. However, the rising standard of living and strong Yamataian suppression led to increasing amounts of collaborators and a public generally apathetic to or fearful of the idea of independence, and these nascent movements were unable to gain wide support.

In 1911, construction of the planned capital city of Bac Quan commenced. The Yamataian administration aimed to shift the capital due to increasing overcrowding in Hai Phuong. Bac Quan would be constructed close to the historical city of Bắc Đô, which had major significance in both Songese and Myaarman history, first as a trade city-state aligned with Myaar'tway and later as a Songese fortress city.

With the outbreak of the First Escar-Varunan War, the Nanyōkuni Imperial Rifles saw combat in Chisei, eventually expanding to the size of a full Army Group. Local soldiers were finally allowed to become senior officers in 1925, and Nguyễn Thế Duyệt was the first non-Yashiman to achieve the rank of Colonel in the Yamatai Imperial Army. The colonial capital was shifted to Bac Quan and inaugurated on 13 February 1931 by Governor-General of Dai Hoa Kanda Takeo. During the ceremony, Nanyōkuni was declared the "Crown Jewel of the Yamataian Empire", for its robust infrastructure, crucial role in the Yamataian supply lines, the general public's strong loyalty to the Yamataian Empire, and the widespread Yashimisation, to the point that Chữ Tây had become the predominant writing system in the country and most of the urban population was able to speak Yashiman.

During the Second Escar-Varunan War, Nanyōkuni was heavily involved in the Crosswind Sea Campaigns, particularly the Invasion of Arshavat in 1939, where Yamataian troops invaded southern Arshavat from Nanyōkuni. However, by 1941 fortunes in the war had changed and Yamataian forces were forced to retreat to Nanyōkuni, which was then invaded by Arshavat. During the war, Hàn Bảo Lâm's National Front Against Oppression emerged as a guerilla movement against Yamatai, carrying out activities against Yamatai in the southern regions, while the Communist Party of Dai Hoa's All-People's Liberation Army emerged in the northern areas in support of the Arshavati invasion under the leadership of U Myo.

Post-War and dissolution
Yamatai signed the Treaty of Senbonzakura with the Escaric Allies on 15 July 1944, marking the end of fighting between Yamatai and the Allies, partly due to a desire for both parties to contain Arshavat's collectivist expansion. Fighting continued between Yamatai and Arshavat, with the Allies beginning to surreptitiously support Yamatai by deploying materiel into Nanyōkuni, ostensibly as preparations for an official post-war occupation. Arshavat occupied over two-thirds of Nanyōkuni before the Treaty of Hai Phuong on 17 January 1945 enacted a ceasefire between Yamatai and Arshavat, also officially partitioning Nanyōkuni. Two weeks later, Arshavat and the Communist Party of Dai Hoa proclaimed the formation and independence of the Union of Dai Hoa on 1 February in the area occupied by Arshavat.

Following the treaty, Yamatai continued to oversee the region as the colony of Yamataian Nanyōkuni, albeit under Allied occupation, while preparations were undertaken to properly transition the colony into an independent state that would serve as the outpost of anti-collectivism in South-East Escar. Immediately after the war, the colonial administration and occupation forces were heavily preoccupied with the refugee crisis that ensued as thousands of people fled Dai Hoa into Nanyōkuni, as well as the mass exodus of thousands of Yamataian residents returning to Yamatai. The National Front Against Oppression emerged and transformed itself into a political movement, easily winning elections in late 1946 for the post-independence government to come.

On 20 June 1947, the Song Republic was granted independence from Yamatai, with Hàn Bảo Lâm as the first President. The Song Republic officially took over sovereignty of all territories formerly under Yamataian Nanyōkuni, formally dissolving the existence of the Yaamtaian colonial territory.

Imperial Nanyo Army
The Imperial Nanyo Army was the main force of Yamataian Nanyokuni prior to its decommissioning in 1947. Initially formed as a field army in 1890, the Nanyo Army soon grew through conscription to a peak size of 2,500,000 troops, contributing roughly 30% of the Imperial Army's forces. The Nanyo Army was an important part of the Yamataian Empire's forces, both in Nanyokuni and abroad, particularly during the First and Second Escar-Varunan Wars.

In 1939, the Imperial Nanyo Army was placed under the command structure of the Crosswind Area Army alongside the Imperial Imojima Army.

Organisation
The army was a mixture of Songese and Tampans, with little segregation at the lower ranks as the Yamataians sought to eliminate the racial divides in Nanyokuni. However, commissioned officers beyond Captain were almost exclusively Yamataian. Songese also had preference in promotions.