Lhabzang Srong wins the election by a fair margin with his promises of new additions to the Empire.
He immediately starts preparing for said conquests. It is a large risk; subtle gauging of the political theater reveals that Vijayanagar and Nepal
would probably come to Kachar's side, and the same applies to Malwa with Mewat. Still, he believes the Tibetan troops are hardy enough to succeed against any of them.
After the unrest and raging inflation in Tibet have generally been sorted out, Srong finally declares war in July 1574.
Vijayanagar and Nepal join the war, as expected, and Vijayanagar officially takes control of the war, as also expected. With that in mind, Srong can only really hope for a part of Kachar's land, but it's still something, and he has to keep his promise after all.
Kachar immediately attacks Assam's army. Srong is just a little too late with his troops, but descends upon them like an angel of vengeance, chasing them over the border into Assam.
The Tibetans fan out into the area while the main army keeps an eye out for any attackers. Assam manages to regroup its army and heads towards Nepal, successfully distracting them away from Gauda.
They are, of course, annihilated, but this short break in the siege gives the citizens enough time to gather more supplies, effectively negating all progress the enemy had made. Their combined forces march towards Srong, but he makes a strategical retreat into the mountains of Kachar, making them change their minds and head in the other direction instead.
Vijayanagar is currently also at war with the island state of Ceylon, and is oddly enough suffering a humiliating defeat due to repeated failure at landing troops there. Tibet's additional distraction probably isn't helping matters, either. It seems their troops are headed there even now, unable to choose between two enemies on two fronts.
With Kachar completely occupied, Srong assaults Nepal's capital Katmandu instead. Against such a numerically superior opponent, staying in the mountains as long as possible is vital. It is obvious that Tibet's reputation is well known, even far in the South; the enemy dare not even come near them, preferring to stay in Orissa.
The war continues for a few years without any proper battles at all. Since Tibet's economy is doing rather well, Srong orders better forts and walls built around Lhasa, just in case things turn sour all of a sudden. Other than that, though, the only thing happening is angry glaring over the border. Whenever the enemy tries to make a move, Srong performs a correspondent feint, scaring them to scamper back once more.
With almost all their lands occupied, Nepal truly has had the tables turned around on them. Srong actually manages to force them into vassalization under Tibet, not only taking them out of the war but actually giving Tibet a new – if temporarily rather useless – ally in it.
Of course, vassalization under Tibet always means eventual integration. Nepal, that old pest, is a bigger prize than Srong dared even dream of. He has already gained more from this war than if he'd actually conquered all of Kachar. Unfortunately Vijayanagar, the only enemy left, isn't willing to accept even a white peace. They aren't really making any progress, though, so Srong will just have to wear them out. He isn't willing to attack and ruin the whole war in one fell blow.
June 1578 sees the first battle in years, as the Tibetan army is finally attacked in Gauda. Of course, the enemy doesn't stand a chance; the area is densely forested and full of rivers, making their huge numbers more of a detriment than anything. They stand no chance against true mountain demons.
With this humiliation in recent memory, and still failing against Ceylon, in February 1579 they are finally willing to hand over moderate monetary reparations and almost all of Kachar. The war has been a huge success, effectively gaining Tibet almost as many provinces as all its earlier conquests combined, if you count Nepal.
Unbeknownst to the preoccupied Srong, Pegu and Shan have been waging war for a while now. Coincidentally, they make peace in the same month as Tibet does, resulting in the liberation of a new state of Bengal in the very area Tibet has claims on. Unwilling to miss such a ridiculously easy opportunity, Srong immediately declares war on Bengal and spreads his troops over the unprotected country within a month.
To the forgetful Tibetan's avoidable surprise, the Timurids declare war once again. However, they have no other allies on their side, while Tibet has plenty. For the first time in history,
Tibet's side actually outnumbers the Timurids! They soon recruit more soldiers, but still, it's an achievement of sorts.
Though Bengal hasn't signed a peace yet, Srong feels comfortable leaving small detachments to finish the occupation while he leads the rest of the men to the eastern front. He quickly comes to appreciate the practicality of being able to march through Nepal rather than having to take the winding paths through the mountains. The numerous' allies troops obviously haven't arrived yet, so Srong tries to stay away from the horde.
Locals rise up in revolt in the Bengali capital in Chittagong, defeating the small Tibetan army stationed there. Rather than going in to deal with them, Srong decides to take what he can, signing a peace for a good amount of gold and the northern half of the country.
A Timurid army attacks a Tibetan one stationed in the mountains, but is easily driven back.
Though the Timurids are besieging the eastern provinces, Srong is forced to leave this position in order to stamp out a rebellion in the Kachari provinces. He's just passing through Lhasa, actually, when August arrives once again.
Prince-Emperor Lhabzang Srong manages to make a quick visit before continuing on his way. He plays the classic war card, so to speak, reminding everyone that electing a new ruler in the middle of a difficult war is a bad idea – especially when the current ruler is also the commander of the army! Not only that, he has made great gains for Tibet, and should stay in power in order to be able to make sure Tibet manages to
keep them.
Sangye Sonam of the Heaven Electorate has ”stumbled” across a large collection of unused schematics and plans for infrastructural improvements in Tibet. After wiping a few decades' worth of dust off them, he realized many of them are definitely workable, especially as the Crown Bank's treasury is fuller than ever. After this current...
unpleasantness is over, enacting them should be the nation's first priority.
Jigme Wangdak of the Ocean Electorate agrees, though naturally sharing his own opinion on what improvements to perform first. His main point, however, is the unsustainability of Tibet's unaccepted minorities. They live within the nation's borders, yet don't even speak the Tibetan language properly! Though history has shown that simply increasing the minority's size tends to work, a more direct approach must be adopted in such a quickly growing Empire. They must finally be taught to embrace the culture and language of Tibet! It is vital for the integrity of the nation.
Töndup Thekchen of the Earth Electorate has just returned from his daily walk on the newly expanded battlements of Lhasa. As all of Tibet's most precarious wars have been defensive, and surely will be in the future, making these same improvements all over the same country – especially in the eastern front – is something that really should have been done long ago. Lhasa, in particular, should be even better protected, just to prepare for the worst. Also, he's obviously a way better general than at least the two candidates before him.
Re: Europa Universalis IV - After Action Report: Tibet
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