-Japan (here under shogun rule) invades Korea, draws in troops from Qing Manchuria (and implicitly Russian overlords) against them, and Bai China sends in troops, they clash, resulting in war
-giant, bloody war, ends with Bai China conquering Qing Manchuria and Mongolia and even Russian Manchuria
Sides of the war
First stage
-Japan
-Russia
-esp. Qing Manchuria & Mongolia
-Korea
Second stage
-Bai China
-incl. Sultanate of Yunnan and other weaker Chinese vassals
-Russia and protectorates
-Qing Manchuria & Mongolia
-Khokand Khanate
-includes Kashgaria
-Kazakh Khanate
By year
-1893: Japan invades Korea, and Qing Manchurian troops cross into Korea to attack them; with Russian support, they are successfully deflected, to the protests of Bai China which regards Korea as its rightful territory; ensuing military buildup on the border emerges in this era
-1894: After a period of extreme tensions and clashes, Marshal Lee launches an attack on Huludau in Manchuria, a part of the Qing Empire; Russia declares war on Bai China, and despite self-doubt by the Heads of China > 1888-1901 Dazheng Emperor [*overthrown*] there's a great outcry for war among Bai Chinese
-1895: Beginning of conflicts in and around Kashgaria, with a massive Bai Chinese invasion but without the much-hoped Kashgar Turkic uprising emerging; Bai invasion of Manchuria proceeds apace and reaches the gates of Shenyang (aka Mukden) but cannot overcome the city's great defences, which results in a protracted siege of the city
-1896: Siege of Mukden ends with defenders relieved by Russian troops coming through rail through links in Mongolia, and Bai forces forced into a beating retreat; Russian advance continues apace, and deflects charges in Kashgaria by advancing into Shaanxi
-1897: Marshal Lee successfully entreaties with the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu to switch sides; a Bai charge towards Russian railroads in Mongolia ends in success; Russian troops in Manchuria end up isolated and collapse; Korea opens an embassy in Nanjing; a Qing palace coup ends up collapsing Qing authority; Bai troops march into Shenyang; Russian pushes into Shaanxi beaten off; famine in Russia begins, due to bad harvest + grain sold abroad + loss of Chinese grain fields in war
-1898: Chinese troops march and occupy the entirety of Manchuria; Marshal Lee flies the Chinese flag in Vladivostok and the resulting Calotype is printed and broadcast around the world; Chinese and Mongolian troops march towards Lake Baikal; entreaties for a peace begin; brutal trench warfare in Turkestani front continues with very little progress
-1899: Treaty of San Francisco; Bai Chinese control of Qing Manchuria and Mongolia, as well as Transbaikalia and Outer Manchuria recognized, Chinese claims over Kashgaria abandoned
Aftermath
-Chinese victory a great moment of anticolonialism remembered worldwide
-integration of new territories a tougher deal
-Mongolia already well into being Sinicized due to Qing loyalists settling and continues apace despite autonomy deal, but despite it this has helped to create the compact of accommodation of Tibetan Buddhism within the Chinese state
-Manchuria, despite having been almost entirely Sinicized, faces a wave of anti-Manchu reprisals by the Bai army, and this war legacy and its lack of 19th century industry means it's a backwater for much of the 20th century
-mass migration of Russian settlers and Chinese Orthodox towards the Pacific
-the two having partially merged in the era of Russian rule with intermarriage
-despite Marshal Lee declaring intention to tolerate them, reprisals and panic happen anyways
-rise of such minorities in Alaska, Columbia, the United States of America, United Provinces of Buenaventura, and Republic of Australia emerges in this era
-calo of Marshal Lee becomes an incredibly iconic symbol
-of him hoisting the flag over the Vladivostok Railway Station
-displayed almost universally across China
-soldiers and veterans across China feel more loyalty to Marshal Lee than to the imperial court
-and his popularity is enough that when he leads military putsch and becomes dictator (Heads of China > 1901-1926 Lee Cheng-chang (Tsuyu-Tungi-Tang) †) he is widely cheered
-Yunnan contains a lot more people loyal to Chinese government
-thanks to it having sent many soldiers to fight for China
-results in brewing surge of Chinese nationalism which prevents Yunnan Sultanate from breaking away
-and long-term it causes its full integration into the Chinese state
-in Russia it destabilizes society greatly and sparks Young Russian Revolution (1902-8)
-a massive number of people have been trailed in soldiery and now they increasingly want reform
-and the elite ones find things are still shit and slowly start to blame the monarchy
-with Manchurian grain part of Russian imperial system, there's a wave of aftershocks around the world but especially Russia
-where it causes hunger that in some areas extends to famine
-massive numbers of Turkic peoples used by Russia against China
-and perceived as having been used as cannon fodder by Russian government as the war gets worse for the Russians
-and that they get no changes in their status alienates them enormously
-also their military training get used by them during the Young Russian Revolution (1902-8)