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Description
Suggested by GPMAsss2 .
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The fall of the Ming Dynasty was a catastrophe for all of China, a conflux of bad weather and wartime devastation. The motion of this collapse had been underway for some time, and began culminating with two major events: the first was in 1618 with the Proclamation of the Seven Grievances by the Later Jin, a dynasty of the Manchu led by Nurhachi to the north. This proclamation led to war between the Ming and the Manchu, only further contributing to a worsening situation at home that led to several major peasant rebellions. The last of these, and the most consequential, was the rebellion of Li Hongji, a peasant from Shaanxi. Bolstered by local militia forces, Li campaigned across northern China beginning in 1637, leading armies from his village through Chengdu and through Kaifeng, eventually capturing the city of Xiangyang in 1642 and then going on to take the city of Beijing itself in 1644, capturing the Forbidden City and killing the Chongzhen Emperor.

With this completed, Li declared himself to be the new Yongchang Emperor, and the creation of the Shun Dynasty in opposition to the invading Manchu warlords who sought to claim the Mandate of Heaven for themselves. Before long he marched towards the north, where the Manchu had amassed an army to attack through the Shanhai Pass. What happened then is a matter of some debate, but Shun scholars record that Li himself met with Wu Sangui, a general who had defected from the Ming to the Qing and was leading an army alongside the Manchu prince Dorgon. There on the 26th of May he is said to have convinced Wu to again defect from the Qing and join him, whereupon Wu agreed and set his army alongside the Shun army on the Manchu, defeating them decisively and killing Dorgon, forcing a general Manchu retreat. The Shun could not pursue them, though, and so the frontier remained at the Great Wall.

The Yongchang Emperor returned to Beijing, where his focus turned to restoring order to the south of China. There, Ming loyalists had continued to act in opposition to his rule, and so they would need to be crushed. Bringing together a new army in 1651 he began to march south against the Southern Ming, but again Wu Sangui proved himself a traitor by defecting to the Yongli Emperor. Regardless of this betrayal, the Shun marched through to capture city after city, their claim to the Mandate having been proven at the Battle of Shanhai Pass and seeing great numbers of peasants and soldiers alike flock to their banners. Wu himself was killed at the Battle of Shaoguan, ending his treachery once and for all. Not long afterwards the Yongli Emperor was also captured and executed, allowing the Shun total control over all of China.

It was at this point that the Yongchang Emperor died. Having no children his nephew Li Guo, a general who had accompanied his uncle on many of his campaigns, was proclaimed the Yongzheng Emperor in 1670. Under his rule the Pacificiation of the South was completed and the Shun came to rule all of China, with only a few holdouts on the islands of Formosa and Hainan, aided and abetted by European powers. The new Yongzheng Emperor was a dynamic figure, choosing to believe that the Ming Dynasty's isolationism and refusal to innovate or find new solutions that were being clearly offered by the European traders was the cause of their decline and fall. Thus, subverting many years of tradition, he pushed to begin a new era of reform in China, tasking his scholars with the study of European weapons, ships, and technologies while purchasing many new books and treatises on science from them.

Thus in the year 1670, China stands poised at a new age. With the Shun Dynasty now firmly emplaced, their plans to take Hainan and Formosa are quickly coming together. When that is completed the Yongzheng Emperor fully intends to march past the Great Wall and bring the Later Jin to heel once and for all, even in the face of the Russian Empire expanding its frontiers towards the region. Dai Viet, Tibet, the Northern Yun, and the Later Jin will all be subjugated, and the Shun Dynasty shall rise to bring all under the rule of the Middle Kingdom.

Description
Suggested by GPMAsss2 .
---
The fall of the Ming Dynasty was a catastrophe for all of China, a conflux of bad weather and wartime devastation. The motion of this collapse had been underway for some time, and began culminating with two major events: the first was in 1618 with the Proclamation of the Seven Grievances by the Later Jin, a dynasty of the Manchu led by Nurhachi to the north. This proclamation led to war between the Ming and the Manchu, only further contributing to a worsening situation at home that led to several major peasant rebellions. The last of these, and the most consequential, was the rebellion of Li Hongji, a peasant from Shaanxi. Bolstered by local militia forces, Li campaigned across northern China beginning in 1637, leading armies from his village through Chengdu and through Kaifeng, eventually capturing the city of Xiangyang in 1642 and then going on to take the city of Beijing itself in 1644, capturing the Forbidden City and killing the Chongzhen Emperor.

With this completed, Li declared himself to be the new Yongchang Emperor, and the creation of the Shun Dynasty in opposition to the invading Manchu warlords who sought to claim the Mandate of Heaven for themselves. Before long he marched towards the north, where the Manchu had amassed an army to attack through the Shanhai Pass. What happened then is a matter of some debate, but Shun scholars record that Li himself met with Wu Sangui, a general who had defected from the Ming to the Qing and was leading an army alongside the Manchu prince Dorgon. There on the 26th of May he is said to have convinced Wu to again defect from the Qing and join him, whereupon Wu agreed and set his army alongside the Shun army on the Manchu, defeating them decisively and killing Dorgon, forcing a general Manchu retreat. The Shun could not pursue them, though, and so the frontier remained at the Great Wall.

The Yongchang Emperor returned to Beijing, where his focus turned to restoring order to the south of China. There, Ming loyalists had continued to act in opposition to his rule, and so they would need to be crushed. Bringing together a new army in 1651 he began to march south against the Southern Ming, but again Wu Sangui proved himself a traitor by defecting to the Yongli Emperor. Regardless of this betrayal, the Shun marched through to capture city after city, their claim to the Mandate having been proven at the Battle of Shanhai Pass and seeing great numbers of peasants and soldiers alike flock to their banners. Wu himself was killed at the Battle of Shaoguan, ending his treachery once and for all. Not long afterwards the Yongli Emperor was also captured and executed, allowing the Shun total control over all of China.

It was at this point that the Yongchang Emperor died. Having no children his nephew Li Guo, a general who had accompanied his uncle on many of his campaigns, was proclaimed the Yongzheng Emperor in 1670. Under his rule the Pacificiation of the South was completed and the Shun came to rule all of China, with only a few holdouts on the islands of Formosa and Hainan, aided and abetted by European powers. The new Yongzheng Emperor was a dynamic figure, choosing to believe that the Ming Dynasty's isolationism and refusal to innovate or find new solutions that were being clearly offered by the European traders was the cause of their decline and fall. Thus, subverting many years of tradition, he pushed to begin a new era of reform in China, tasking his scholars with the study of European weapons, ships, and technologies while purchasing many new books and treatises on science from them.

Thus in the year 1670, China stands poised at a new age. With the Shun Dynasty now firmly emplaced, their plans to take Hainan and Formosa are quickly coming together. When that is completed the Yongzheng Emperor fully intends to march past the Great Wall and bring the Later Jin to heel once and for all, even in the face of the Russian Empire expanding its frontiers towards the region. Dai Viet, Tibet, the Northern Yun, and the Later Jin will all be subjugated, and the Shun Dynasty shall rise to bring all under the rule of the Middle Kingdom.