[MOD]Silk Road Extend:618- 1046AD

[wzfcns]

Authorization has been obtained. Thanks to the author of Silk road mod, jonmi.

The Silk Road mod, popular with players (especially me, a Chinese player), sadly stops at the glorious and short-lived Sui Dynasty (581-618AD). With Jonmi's permission, I will make new factions based on the Silk Road mod and extend the timeline to match the original FOGII version, 1046AD.
The following factions are planned to be added.
Tang-Early (618-690) Re-unification of the empire under Emperor Tang Taizong.
Zhou (690-705) The expansion of the empire under the female emperor Wu Zetian, the collapse of the Fubing military system and the rise of the recruitment system.
Tang-triumph (705-763) A new golden age! The Tang Dynasty ruled all of East Asia from Japan to Kazakhstan; fierce battles with the Abbasids; one of the bloodiest civil wars in Chinese history is coming!
Tang-middle (763-800) The civil war is finally over, but the empire is already scarred. Infantry units began to decline, and cavalry and foreign mercenaries became the cornerstone of the empire.
Tang-late (800-907) Massive warlord chaos. Successive coups d'état. The imperial court was left with an empty name.
The Guiyi Army (851-1036) Lone subjects from foreign lands with their lives hanging in the balance. The last great Tang people fighting in Central Asia.
The Ten Kingdoms of the Five Dynasties (907-979) One of the most chaotic periods in Chinese history. Over fifty warlords vied for the legacy of the Tang Dynasty. Betrayals were as commonplace.
Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) Zhao Kuangyin unified most of China but ultimately failed to do so.
The Liao (907-1125) Khitan tried to dominate the Middle Kingdom - but also failed.
Western Xia (1038-1227) A tenacious regime that survived in the cracks.
Note:Some regimes will be split into several different periods by me due to changes in military regimes. I will release the Tang Dynasty section first and then update the rest.

[wzfcns]

The first faction will be early Tang(619-690AD)
After being defeated by Goguryeo, the Sui dynasty soon collapsed. In 618 A.D., the Duke and Governor of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan, proclaimed himself emperor and started a new dynasty: the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan ruled until 626, when his son Li Shimin (Tang Taizong) staged a coup and seized the throne. Li Shimin unified the entire empire and regained control of the Western Regions. By the time of his son Li Zhi (Emperor Gaozong of Tang), the empire's former rivals, Goguryeo and Turkic , had been conquered.

Tang in 669AD.This was the period of the largest territory of the Tang Dynasty
~The Fubing system, which had been handed down from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, was still in place. Landowners and subsistence farmers were registered throughout the empire.They received imperial benefits in peacetime, provided their own weapons to join the army by region in times of war, and were then reorganized into field armies commanded by the emperor and his envoy (usually a prince or important minister).
The dense spearmen became the backbone of the imperial army during this period, clad in iron armor and charging the enemy.
They were supported by crossbowmen. In the Tang Dynasty, the crossbow was considered a military weapon and civilian possession was forbidden (the bow and arrow was not). Crossbowmen wore armor and were deployed independently near spearmen. As the enemy approached, they threw away their crossbows (which were collected by logisticians later) and charged the enemy with their Modao and mauls.
Archers were lighter in equipment than crossbowmen.
The Full-Armor Cataphracts still existed, but was challenged in status by the lighter-armoured but more mobile heavy cavalry because of its poor mobility. Both types of cavalry were equipped with lances and bows.


Note: The Modao was a heavy weapon of the Tang Dynasty. There are many mysteries about it because of the lack of excavated artifacts. According to historical documents, it was known as the "Chopping Horse Sword", so it is inferred that it may have been a giant sword. Others, however, believe it may be more similar to the polearm glaive of the later Song Dynasty.
or

[Kerait]

Extremely exciting stuff!

Looking forward to all the new lists.

[wzfcns]

The first version of this mod have been available for in-game download! This version inculde:
All content of silk road 1.7;
Tang-Early (618-690)
Zhou (690-705)
Tang-High(705-763)
Tang-middle (763-800)
Tang-late (800-907)

[Ray552]

Outstanding!

Thanks for your work, and to jomni as well

[wzfcns]

The second faction is Zhou(690-705AD)
In 690 A.D., imperial consort, empress, and empress dowager, Wu Zetian proclaimed herself "Holy God Emperor" and changed dynasty name to Zhou.Wu Zetian's reign was brutal and glorious. China expanded farther westward, penetrating into Central Asia, suppressing the Tibetan and Göktürk, and sending ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Dynasty. The Silk Road was now open again. Wu Zetian ruled with spy politics, killing many of her opponents, including her own son. In January 705, her son Li Xian led a coup d'état , led the downfall of Wu Zetian。She died in December of the same year.

（Wu Zetian image in modern Chinese film）
~During this period, along with the expansion of the empire, the Fubing system, which relied on landowners to serve as a source of soldiers, was left with only its name. Elite troops were concentrated in the central government as the Praetorian Guard, while localities organized militias that were not separated from farming and trained every six months, called Tuanjiebing.
The heavily armored Cataphracts almost disappeared during this period, leaving only a small honor guard in the capital. This was mainly because the main enemy of the empire in this period became mainly Göktürk horse Archers.

Archers and crossbowmen were reorganized into mixed battle groups.

Note:In fact it was common for women to wield power in ancient China, with many women ruling as de facto emperors for life, such as the famous Empress Lu of the Han Dynasty and Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty. Empress Lu was even listed in the emperor list of Historical Records. But Wu Zetian was the only woman of a unified dynasty to add the title of emperor to herself.A female infant of the Northern Wei Dynasty called Lady Yuan once became emperor for only one day (April 1, 528 AD).

[wzfcns]

The next faction is High Tang.(705-763)
After the death of Wu Zetian the Tang dynasty was embroiled in a series of political struggles, pretty much the Chinese version of Game of Thrones. Li Xian (Emperor Zhongzong of Tang) died suddenly after a five-year reign, most likely poisoned by his own daughter, Princess Anle. Princess Anle seized power and attempted to claim the throne with the help of her mother, Empress Wei. Princess Taiping, daughter of Wu Zetian, commanded the Praetorian Guard and killed Empress Wei and Princess Anle, and installed Li Dan, another son of Wu Zetian, as a puppet emperor, while Princess Taiping actually held the power. Three years later Li Dan's prince Li Longji staged a coup with his Household troops and killed Princess Taiping, ending the chaos and making him the new emperor (Emperor Xuanzong of Tang).

Tang in AD754.
Under Li Longji's rule, the economic focus of the Tang Dynasty shifted from traditional agriculture to handicrafts and international trade. In addition to the Silk Road, maritime trade routes were opened up with the Tang sphere of influence as the core, starting from Japan, through Korea, the Tang Dynasty, Southeast Asia, India, and up to Arabia and Africa. This led to the extreme economic prosperity of the Tang Dynasty., with a total population of 60 million, and a population of 2 million in and around the capital Chang'an alone.

The Tang Dynasty also tried to establish hegemony on land. In the middle of Li Longji's reign, he began a series of military expansions known as the "Tianbao Wars". General Gao Xianzhi (a Korean) led an army of 30,000 men to present-day Uzbekistan in 751 AD, but was wiped out by the Abbasid governor of Khorasan, Abu Muslim, in the Battle of Talas. In the same year, the Tang army was also defeated in Nanzhao (today's Yunnan Province), and in 754 Li Longji again attacked Nanzhao, but the whole army was wiped out and the Tang grand commander Li Mi was killed in battle. This marked the complete defeat of the Tianbao Wars.
To support Li Longji's military expansion, most of the Tang army was assigned to the frontiers, leaving only a few Praetorian Guard to defend the inland areas. These frontier armies were divided into ten military districts, each commanded by a Jiedu Shi (royal seal envoy).
On November 9, 755 A.D., An Lushan (a Sogdian), Li Longji's most trusted man who commanded three military districts by himself, rose in rebellion on the grounds of conflict with the chancellor (and brother of the famous Yang Guifei) Yang Guozhong. -On December 12, An Lushan defeated the Praetorian Guard lead by Gao Xianzhi and captured Luoyang, the vice capital of the Tang Dynasty. Li Longji urgently conscripted civilians as soldiers and appointed retired general Geshu Han (a Turkic) to lead the army. On June 4, 756 A.D., Geshu Han's troops were ambushed and destroyed by An Lushan. Li Longji fled Chang'an on July 13 with the remaining thousands of troops and a few cronies. Chang'an fell on the following day. Li Longji fled to Sichuan, in the southwest of the empire, with less than 2,000 followers . Prince Li Heng fled to Ningxia in the northwest and claimed himself emperor. Li Longji lost everything and died in depression on May 3, 762.

~The Fubing system finally came to an end. The army of the Tang Dynasty gradually switched to a recruitment system during this period, which was completely completed in 749. Soldiers were hired by the government and paid with salaries or fields as remuneration. This solved the empire's manpower problem, but inevitably led to a decline in the quality of the army.Many non-Han people joined the army and the court, some in high positions, besides the previously mentioned Gao Xianzhi, Geshu Han and An Lushan, the famous ones were Duke of Bi, Ashina Sheer (Turkic), and Chao Heng (Abe no Nakamaro, Japanese), advisor to Li Longji

Note:A Tang officer called Du Huan was captured by the Arabs at the Battle of Talas and joined the Abbasid Royal Guard. He lived in Baghdad for ten years, during which time he traveled through Iran, Syria, Jerusalem, Egypt, Tunisia, and later returned to the Tang dynasty by ship via India in 762. He wrote a book called "经行记（Travel Diary）" in which he recorded what he saw during these years and the contents of the countries along the Mediterranean Sea. This book was lost in the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty, and now only 1500 words from this book describing Syria and the Byzantine Empire are left in other documents.

[wzfcns]

next version's topic will be "enemy of Celestial Empire",fous on:
Gao Gouli,The main reason for the disintegration of the Sui Dynasty, a powerful regime that had been entrenched in Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula since the Han Dynasty.
Uyghur,slaves of the Turkic people, later a grassland overlord and the main foreign aid of the middle and late Tang dynasty.
Tibetan empire,The historical pinnacle of highland power, twice invading Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
Khitan, a nomadic people who rose to power in what is today northeastern China, later became a chinese dynasty .
Then there was the legendary Huang Chao peasant army, which fought through half of China and finally captured Chang'an, the capital of the empire, unveiling the dawn of the warlord era.

[wzfcns]

Made some new texture for new age Chinese army.


Starting with the warlord chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the "heavy armor race" began between the various regimes in the Chinese region

[Paul59]

Made some new texture for new age Chinese army.


Starting with the warlord chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the "heavy armor race" began between the various regimes in the Chinese region

Hi wzfcns,

I am no expert on this era, so I don't know if you want your Chinese Cataphract cavalry to be in wedge formation. If you don't, all you need to do is open your mod's Squads.csv file and change the Cataphracts ManCount (column G) value from 5 to 4. That will then give the unit 4 models in line, rather than 5 models in wedge. It won't change anything else.

cheers

Paul

[wzfcns]

Made some new texture for new age Chinese army.


Starting with the warlord chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the "heavy armor race" began between the various regimes in the Chinese region

Hi wzfcns,

I am no expert on this era, so I don't know if you want your Chinese Cataphract cavalry to be in wedge formation. If you don't, all you need to do is open your mod's Squads.csv file and change the Cataphracts ManCount (column G) value from 5 to 4. That will then give the unit 4 models in line, rather than 5 models in wedge. It won't change anything else.

cheers

Paul

Thank you for your advice! There doesn't seem to be a tutorial on model modifications, so I do need all the relevant advice I can get.

[Paul59]

Thank you for your advice! There doesn't seem to be a tutorial on model modifications, so I do need all the relevant advice I can get.

There is some useful information in these threads:

https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewto ... 92&t=80109

viewtopic.php?f=492&t=80096

There are other useful threads in the Modding and Scenario Design sub-forums.

But if there is anything specific you need, just ask on the forum.


cheers

Paul

[wzfcns]

This is a new version of the mod is uploaded, version number 2.0.
The changes are：
Added new texture for the Tang Dynasty faction.
Added a series of new factions：
The peasant army led by Huang Chao at Late Tang Dynasty(875-884AD)，The guerrilla army of discharged soldiers and landless peasants.
Five different periods of Goguryeo, from 37BC to 668AD.From nomad trible to a tenacious feudal state, known for its bowsman.
Three different Uyghur:
Uyghur(605-840AD):From slaves of the Turkish to the overlord of the steppe.
Uyghur(Gao Chang)： oasis settler
Uyghur（840-1046AD）：Remnants of steppe
Five different periods of the Tibetan Empire, from 633AD to 1046AD：A super hegemony spanning Central, East and South Asia, sweeping through neighboring countries with super-heavy armor lance soldiers.
Next version will be Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms,One of the most chaotic eras in Chinese history, five dynasties rose to power, but none lasted more than twenty years. Meanwhile, the “race for heavy armor” began in East Asia.

[Paul59]

This is a new version of the mod is uploaded, version number 2.0.
The changes are：
Added new texture for the Tang Dynasty faction.
Added a series of new factions：
The peasant army led by Huang Chao at Late Tang Dynasty(875-884AD)，The guerrilla army of discharged soldiers and landless peasants.
Five different periods of Goguryeo, from 37BC to 668AD.From nomad trible to a tenacious feudal state, known for its bowsman.
Three different Uyghur:
Uyghur(605-840AD):From slaves of the Turkish to the overlord of the steppe.
Uyghur(Gao Chang)： oasis settler
Uyghur（840-1046AD）：Remnants of steppe
Five different periods of the Tibetan Empire, from 633AD to 1046AD：A super hegemony spanning Central, East and South Asia, sweeping through neighboring countries with super-heavy armor lance soldiers.
Next version will be Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms,One of the most chaotic eras in Chinese history, five dynasties rose to power, but none lasted more than twenty years. Meanwhile, the “race for heavy armor” began in East Asia.

Thanks wzfcns,

I did notice a slight problem with your Chinese Cataphract model though. It has a lot of ugly shine on it, this is caused by the model using the Normal texture instead of the Spec texture. You just need to fix the texture allocation and it will be fine.

It currently looks like this:




If you fix it, it will look like this:







cheers

Paul

[wzfcns]

This is a new version of the mod is uploaded, version number 2.0.
The changes are：
Added new texture for the Tang Dynasty faction.
Added a series of new factions：
The peasant army led by Huang Chao at Late Tang Dynasty(875-884AD)，The guerrilla army of discharged soldiers and landless peasants.
Five different periods of Goguryeo, from 37BC to 668AD.From nomad trible to a tenacious feudal state, known for its bowsman.
Three different Uyghur:
Uyghur(605-840AD):From slaves of the Turkish to the overlord of the steppe.
Uyghur(Gao Chang)： oasis settler
Uyghur（840-1046AD）：Remnants of steppe
Five different periods of the Tibetan Empire, from 633AD to 1046AD：A super hegemony spanning Central, East and South Asia, sweeping through neighboring countries with super-heavy armor lance soldiers.
Next version will be Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms,One of the most chaotic eras in Chinese history, five dynasties rose to power, but none lasted more than twenty years. Meanwhile, the “race for heavy armor” began in East Asia.

Thanks wzfcns,

I did notice a slight problem with your Chinese Cataphract model though. It has a lot of ugly shine on it, this is caused by the model using the Normal texture instead of the Spec texture. You just need to fix the texture allocation and it will be fine.

It currently looks like this:




If you fix it, it will look like this:







cheers

Paul

Thanks,I will check it!

[wzfcns]

This is a new version of the mod is uploaded, version number 2.0.
The changes are：
Added new texture for the Tang Dynasty faction.
Added a series of new factions：
The peasant army led by Huang Chao at Late Tang Dynasty(875-884AD)，The guerrilla army of discharged soldiers and landless peasants.
Five different periods of Goguryeo, from 37BC to 668AD.From nomad trible to a tenacious feudal state, known for its bowsman.
Three different Uyghur:
Uyghur(605-840AD):From slaves of the Turkish to the overlord of the steppe.
Uyghur(Gao Chang)： oasis settler
Uyghur（840-1046AD）：Remnants of steppe
Five different periods of the Tibetan Empire, from 633AD to 1046AD：A super hegemony spanning Central, East and South Asia, sweeping through neighboring countries with super-heavy armor lance soldiers.
Next version will be Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms,One of the most chaotic eras in Chinese history, five dynasties rose to power, but none lasted more than twenty years. Meanwhile, the “race for heavy armor” began in East Asia.

Thanks wzfcns,

I did notice a slight problem with your Chinese Cataphract model though. It has a lot of ugly shine on it, this is caused by the model using the Normal texture instead of the Spec texture. You just need to fix the texture allocation and it will be fine.

It currently looks like this:




If you fix it, it will look like this:







cheers

Paul

I fix it in new 2.1 version.

[wzfcns]

This is a new version of the mod is uploaded, version number 3.0.
The changes are：
new army add:
Guiyi Army:851-1036 AD
Five Dynasties - Liang:907-923 AD
Five Dynasties - Tang:923-936 AD
Five Dynasties - Jin: 936-947 AD
Five Dynasties - Han:947-950 AD
Five Dynasties - Zhou:951-960 AD
Ten Kingdoms:902-979 AD
Khitan :907-936 AD
Liao:936-979 AD

[wzfcns]

Now we enter the legendary "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" period.
In 907 AD, warlord Zhu Wen deposed the last Tang emperor, proclaimed himself emperor and established the Liang Dynasty (known as Later Liang后梁). The imperial empire disintegrated when governors and warlords refused to recognize his throne and became independent.


In 923, after two generations of fierce battles, warlord Li Cunxu destroyed the Later Liang and claimed the rightful title of the Tang Dynasty, known as the Later Tang后唐.


In 936, the Later Tang Dynasty fell into civil strife and was destroyed by the Liao Dynasty辽 established by the Khitan in the north, and the Later Tang minister Shi Jingtang became a puppet emperor supported by the Khitan, known as the Later Jin后晋.

In 946, the second emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty tried to get rid of the Liao Dynasty, but was destroyed by the Liao Dynasty, and Liu Zhiyuan, a minister of the Later Jin Dynasty, repelled the Liao Dynasty and established the Later Han Dynasty后汉.

In 950, Later Han fell into civil unrest and Guo Wei, a minister of Later Han, seized power and became known as Later Zhou后周.

The above five short-lived and divided northern dynasties are called the Five Dynasties, while the south was plunged into more intense civil wars and ten different kingdoms were established, called the Ten Kingdoms.
They are:
Former Shu, Later Shu, Southern Wu, Southern Tang, Wu Yue, Min, Southern Chu, Southern Han, Southern Ping, Northern Han

~The regular army system of the Tang dynasty was gone in this period, and the main force of the warlords' armies consisted of a large number of militias and a few elite troops. These elite units were called Ya Bing (Banner Army) and they were divided into Legion with their own names. Since only the Yabing actually had combat power, they gradually developed their own power and in turn took control of the warlords. It was not uncommon for the Yabing to appoint and dismiss their own commanders, to replace warlords in the form of coups, or to demand their pay in the form of mutinies.
The most famous (and infamous) Yabing were the "Silver Longspear Loyal Army" of the Later Tang Dynasty, who created several mutinies until they were finally destroyed by the Later Tang Emperor.

[Nijis]

Just saw this now!

If it's all right, I'll add all the new armies to the Tides of Conquest tool. It would be great for supporting campaigns in the east through the 10th century as well as having Koreans, Tibetans and others available for earlier periods.

[Ray552]

Just noticed that loading the Silk Road add on 3.0 shows an end date of 36,800 AD

This did not happen with the earlier versions: