Victory Under Heaven (Victoria-RoC)

[Sabriel]

"You want to take care of the people who fought for you, that's something we understand. We'll create a House for them, which only they and their families can be members of. You can pay into the pension fund there, and the House will disperse it to them in Victoria. I... don't know how much you know about our Houses? They're how our citizens organize themselves. Each House provides for its members. Through House medics, libraries, safety nets, housing, you know. The things necessary for life. I'm sure Queen Catharine will make sure that their House is well prepared to keep them in good health."

[Cataphrak]

General Sun nodded. "We have something similar, though nowhere near as prominent, Tiandihui, I suppose that translates to "Heaven and Earth Societies", organised along the same lines, but considerably more... discreet, I guess you could say. Their first objective had been to throw off the yoke of foreign domination, needless to say, the Qing and the European powers were not fond of them."

In truth, the General didn't know what to make of the Tiandihui. They were certainly far more powerful than he had let on to the Victorian envoy. The Republic itself had more or less started as one of them. Sun Yixian and Jiang Jieshi had both been senior members. The Hongmen had just as much influence in the foundations of the Republic as the Freemasons had in the now-defunct United States - though he had little doubt that America's new Communist leaders could count just as many Masons among them. Still, Sun's American education had kept him distant of the Hongmen, and of secret societies in general. It'd been a major obstacle in his rise up the ranks of the NRA once.

Now, it still made him something a political outsider.

"Needless to say," The General smiled, showing none of this, "the past centuries have taught us all too well the importance of collective defence and mutual aid."

[Sabriel]

Colonel Aondi had been deployed as the official liaison with the Republic of China, and she found the posting to be an ideal one. A land filled with tea, and fairly cordial relations between the Queen and the Chinese, meant the position was comfortable. However, it was not without some work. Which came in the form of orders to meet with whatever counterpart the Chinese chose to send to her, following Victoria’s actions over Taiwan.

She’d invited her counterpart to join her in the Victorian embassy, and had a fresh pot of tea ready when they arrived. “Queen Catharine,” she said after going through the requisite courtesies, “wishes to congratulate the Republic on its continuing reunification of the mainland. She also wishes for me to state, unequivocally, that Victoria has no interest in interfering in Asia’s long term interests and development. The RAPS has already withdrawn back to Victorian territory, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

[Cataphrak]

"Of course," Xue Peng replied, smiling. He genuinely liked the Victorians, even their soldiers. Unlike the blustering and underhanded warlords China had known for so long, the Victorians always seemed to do exactly what they said they would - especially when it came to their... unorthodox means of exporting certain petroleum products.

"Publicly, you understand, my government can make no comment," he continued, cup of tea in hand. "Privately, my government would like to extend its gratitude to Queen Catharine and the Victorian people for their willingness to intervene on the side of law, order, and peaceful trade in this dispute."

[Sabriel]

“Ah, gratitude isn’t needed. Though I’m sure Her Majesty appreciates the sentiment. It’s the task of us all to ensure that the world does not descend back into the chaos of total war, and the same sort of war that drags on, that brought about the plague.” She took a long drink of tea before setting her empty cup aside. “We would be interested in, perhaps, acquiring the rights for our aircraft to refuel at select Chinese air bases. I understand that the prospect of leasing a base to us outright might be… Unsavory to your people, given the history of outsiders attempting to force their way into Chinese territory. However, the ability to refuel at a friendly air base would greatly improve our ability to act across the world, while your military would retain full control of all the facilities.”

[Cataphrak]

Xue Peng paused. Now that... could be awkward.

"I'm afraid now might be a bad time," he began. "As you may know, we have an election in ten months, and public opinion towards this government allowing for Victorian intervention has been... vocally disapproving." He took a sip of tea, letting his thoughts catch up. "What I am saying is, it might be better to ask after the election. Any promises we make now, we really can't guarantee that we can keep."

[Sabriel]

A Victorian diplomat in China arranged for a lunch with one of her counterparts and, while at the meal, passed a small slip of paper over. The paper had a message in Swahili, but a note in Mandarin, indicating it should be delivered to someone higher up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The message, when translated, offered Victoria's congratulations on the GMD election victory. But one small snippet stood out as odd: "Friends in the region have begun to tell us that China starts to sound like Victoria; we think you sound lovely as you are, and encourage you to continue to use your own voice. The world would be a more confusing place if people heard your words and thought they came from us."

[Cataphrak]

The reply that came was also in Swahili. It seemed that the East African troops who had fought with the XIVth Army and then returned to their homelands had left behind some knowledge of their ancestral language among their comrades at arms.

The message came in two parts. The first was diplomatic boilerplate, with the appropriate declarations of friendship between nations, and the regular sort of compliments which governments on friendly terms with each other tend to preface their messages with.

The second part, was of a rather different character:

The song of China is long remembered,
Its notes go back five thousand years.
The words are loud, but travel poorly,
those far off have no need to fear.

If some sing of similar melody,
such is the kinship of woman's mind.
So long as the songs do not mingle,
our music shall not your melody bind.

[Sabriel]

A response came with a crate of tea, and a poem written by the Queen herself. Attached to the poem was a formal request for a meeting between herself and China's leadership.

[Cataphrak]

The reply came swiftly, in the form of a similar crate of tea, and a hand-written note from the Premier of the Republic, agreeing to a personal meeting with the Victorian Queen, or any envoy she might deem appropriate.