RRC 1916

[Logi]

The RRC seeing as that it was no longer possible to continue without making an announcement of its stance on the Bharat conflict decided to make it clear today.

The RRC takes a stance of neutrality. All ships involved in the conflict CAN make use of the RRC's port so long as a single condition is kept. There is to be no fighting within the RRC's land as well the the sea 10 nm from it's coastline. If a nation breaks this condition the nation which owns the ships will be barred from RRC seas (until the conflict is over). Any sailors caught causing trouble will be ARRESTED, not amount of connections will save them. They will be released at the end of the conflict or the end of their arrest sentence, whichever one comes first.

The RRC will deal with any nations involved in this unforunate conflict GIVEN that they OBEY this statement. If one ignores the RRC's warnings and continues to break its neutrality, the State will have no choice but to take ACTION.

[Logi]

On a typical day...

Yun Ming walked casually, but with a purpose. He was going to visit a famed fireworks factory. He had done a bit of reading on the records (on the few that were copied or stolen). It seemed that it had been developed since ancient time a device known as a rocket. Now the rocket showed much promise. With modern gunpowder one could easily manage to create a devastating weapon of war. He was on a mission to find out hold one created the 'flying crow with magic fire' winged rocket bomb. It was, according the the records, a device which the frame (shaped like a chicken) made of bamboo is covered and held together by paper glued to the frame. Inside it would be filled with gunpowder, although the exactly proportions were unknown. More paper seals up everything. Then, two wings are attached with nails to the side of the body. Under these two wings are two slanting rockets. Four branching fuses is connected with the rockets and put through a hike rilled in the back of the bird. It reportedly can fly a distance of1000 feet. When the device falls on the ground, the explosive gunpowder in the cavity is lit and the flash can be seen from miles away. It sounded like a formidable weapon. Yun was such with a few improvements it could change war forever. The major problem with the 'flying crow with magic fire' bomb was that it was unguided. There was no telling where it could fall.

What Yun had in mind (given that the gunpowder proportions are figured out) was a rocket in metal casing (like the thundercrash missiles - which were made of metal casing and exploded so the shrapnel would kill anyone in the area)which consisted of a warhead (a section devoted to packing as much explosive power as one could) and a fuel section (also packed with explosives, but used to propel the device rather than explode).

After visiting several major fireworks factories, it seems that the formula for the weapon had been long lost. If the government was to produce it once again, it would require some of the brightest minds and endless testing. For this, they would need funding...


( For reference: Earliest documented usage of thundercrash missiles - 1221 CE : Earliest documented usage of 'Flying crow with Magic Fire' - 1412 CE : The Chinese developed stabilizing devices for rockets in flight by roughly 1300 CE )

[P3D]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_rocket

;)

[Logi]

But Chinese rockets are so much cooler! Also the Chinese invented such rockets by 1150, multiple launchers by 1300 at the latest. (I have a book on Chinese inventions by my side ATM ;) ) They got multiple stage rockets by the early 14th century. (Forerunner of the modern Exocet, 'fire-draon issuing from the water' skims the water for long distance and hits a ship)

[P3D]

The Congreve has its own Chinese influence (through India) of course.

If you are looking at forgotten knowledge, that's about the level to start with black powder rockets.

[Logi]

It's not forgotten knowledge. It lives on today as fireworks.

Also the reason why I started with the Chinese rockets other than the fact that all other rockets came from the Chinese version) was because the Chinese version was much much more accurate (stabilized flight, etc. etc.) The only difference so far is the Congreve uses black powder and the Chinese ones used gunpowder.

But sure, I'll make a IC post about investigating the Congreve. :)

[Logi]

At the national library at Macau...

Yun Ming diligently flipped the pages on several dusty yellowed books. It had probably been many many years before someone had touched them. The books were all on rockets and missiles. he was currently looking at data collected about the Congreve rocket, a British rocket. It looked quite similar to 'earth-rat' and 'water-rat' Chinese rockets. However the Chinese rockets were more stable but the British rocket was more dangerous (due to its iron casting). The explosive effects of both were far to small. he needed a powder that would produce huge explosions...

[Logi]

I've found it. This will work well.
Yun Ming was examining the properties of a acid, its name was Picric acid. The substance was relatively sensitive to shock and friction making detonation an easy task. However, it was easy to prevent these symptoms by utilizing a layer of water. The best part about the substance was that it was cheap and relatively easy to produce. The picric acid formed picrate salts which was deadly to metal. This meant the acid had to be stored in glass. This was okay, such a material would only add to the fragmentation effect of the rocket when it exploded.

The rocket was almost complete, it would only need to be put into production. The payload was to be ~20kg of Dry Picric Acid, the propellant was Cordite, chosen for its slow burning rate and vast usage as a propellant in already-in-use rifles. The rocket consists of a layering of low-grade steel, cheap enough to produce in mass-quantities, but strong enough to last the flight. Under that steel was a thin layer of glass, used to prevent the payload from wearing out the warhead. The warhead would be attached to the front of the rocket while the payload was ignited to start flight. It would be located behind the warhead and the cordite's thrust would go through a "de Laval" nozzle. Using the ancient Chinese art of fin-stabilized rockets, the rocket would have fins for stabilization. This, it was realized allowed for the rocket to be extremely portable, capable of firing right out of the crate.

These rockets, to be known as "Jiao-Han-De-Jian-Tou, or Screaming Arrow". These weapons would be able to replace conventional artillery in places where it would be difficult to move an artillery piece (mountains, jungle, etc.) The rockets could be fired in mass quantities quickly, thereby able send barrages at the enemies in much greater numbers (than conventional artillery). The fragmentation effect of the rockets meant it could wreak havoc among enemy troops on the battlefield, each rocket being capable of disabling nearby soldiers. The most important trait of the rocket was its screaming sound, the mere physiological effect of having death rain down upon oneself in addition to the eerie sound emitted by the weapon, should be enough to make any less motivated soldiers rout. The weapons would be shipped in crates that carried ~24 rockets. The rockets were slim and small, needing no launcher, it could be fired right out of the crate.

There was a disadvantage though, the rockets were highly inaccurate (despite stabilization the rockets could miss by a few feet, sometimes by yards) and left a very clear smoke trail when fired. As a result once fired the firing squad had to immediately change positions to avoid any theoretical counter-attack.

[Logi]

June 6, 1916
*on the Burma-RRC border*
After a long night, a few RRC soldiers rest by the campfire.
A man silently lifts his gun, aiming at the soldiers, the gun fires and the soldiers fall dead. The man hurries to get away as he hears other troops rushing to the scene...

June 13, 1916

"Outrageous! Chiang slammed the his desk. He had just finished reading about the Burma-RRC attack. Some soldiers, probably Burmese, had attacked the patrolling RRC troops at night. Incidents like this had broken out across the border. This was no accident. The Burmese troops had fired on the RRC. "Why didn't I get notice of this immediately? Its been a week!" His assistant bowed down in apology, "I'm sorry Mr. President, Mr. Ming insisted on receiving the memo first. Chiang blinked, why would Yun ask for such information, rather how did he know before me? "Call him here!"

Yun Ming walked into the room. "What is it Mr. President?" Chiang motioned for Yun Ming to come closer before he spoke, "Did you know about this?", he pointed to the memo. A brief look of recognition passed through Yun's face. Chiang took it as a yes, "What did you do with the information? You had a week." Yun Ming looked straight into Chiang's eyes, "I ordered for the the troops to mobilize." Chiang sighed, "You should have told me first. Its okay, I was going to do so anyways..."

July 6, 1916

Yun Ming was walking casually with Chiang. "Yun, we've completed preparations for war. The necessary troops have been mobilized to the Burma border. All that awaits us is the declaration of war." Yun nodded, "I understand President, I'll oversee certain parts of the operations, is that alright?" "Such. You will get to command 3 corps of your liking. Let's get started."

At an undisclosed location...
A machine was rapidbly beeping as a man sitting in front of it rapidly decoded the message. The message read simply, "BRC-GO"


The Republic of China declares war on Burma
Our diplomatic representatives declared war today, against what has now become an enemy nation. The aforementioned nation has committed acts of hostility against the Republic of China, treading upon our soil and killing our citizens. The State will now commence military operations according to the established campaign strategy and mindful of our country's territorial, political and economic objectives.

July 7, 1916
RRC troops move into Burma.

[The Rock Doctor]

How clever of the Burmese.

Well, send an order of battle and their instructions to the Mods, and we'll game it out when the rest of us catch up to July.

[Desertfox]

Wonder if its connected to the Baharat War at all. Could be either good timing (Burma worriedly watching Baharat) or bad timing (Burma not worried as Baharat is fully engaged with France). The Thai might want to jump in too, grabbing a piece of Burma could be pretty tempting.

[Sachmle]

Pardon my Nverse map ignorance, but WTF is Burma? I see Siam, Nord Indokina, and a buncha white that I Presume to be part of Bharat/Kolkatta/India/Whatever to the west of said Siam.

[P3D]

Honestly, the armies of the bigger (Northern) part of China should be enough of deterrence for the smaller part to try something like this.

Next time please time it with another war going on so it would not hold up the sim.

[Sachmle]

Next time please time it with another war going on so it would not hold up the sim.

My guess was he timed it for AFTER the last war so the MODS weren't overworked on TWO wars at once. But, that's IMHO.

[Logi]

@ Sachmle
Look at Tan's big map, Burma's there. Burma existed historical, but conquered in RL by the British. Nothing like that happened in N-verse. According to Maddox, Burma exists, its just not a noted nation (a blank space on the map).

@ P3D
Well we can very obviously tell that it didn't stop them. As a result of my objectives, delaying the war wouldn't have been in my interests (it was a right time and season). Also, the Kolkata war is almost over and Maddox encouraged me to war :-\

@ DF
Its somewhat connected. Damn Thai *smacks Siam* Burma's not for you :(