China's industrial-age space program

From Alternative History

In 850, the Chinese alchemist who discovered gunpowder by accident, instead of adding honey to his concoction of sulfur, realgar and saltpeter, added animal dung, and subsequently discovered explosives. Burned and tossed to the ground, he witnessed as the explosion he created propelled a burning piece of bamboo hundreds of feet into the air. He was forever inspired to create a craft, powered by explosives, which could reach into the heavens. Rather than using explosives only as weapons, the Chinese also experiment with lighting the explosives in closed spaces, to propel objects skyward.

The project was temporarily abandoned as the technology was used to ward off invaders. After creating crude rockets that could go far without being destroyed, to deliver the explosives, the Chinese used them to decimate the armies of the invading mongols in the late 12th century. These were far superior to catapaults, as they had greater range, destructive power, and could be fired more rapidly. They were called huojiang, fire arrows. The Tang Dynasty never fell, and China's golden age continued. The huojiang could not be captured, as they were fitted with traps to prevent enemies from discovering their secrets; the huojiang would detonate if anyone tried to open them.

They continued westward; with what are credited as the first "cruise missiles," the chinese invade Europe, overthrowing the feudal system and bringing about the renaissance over a century early. Constantinople is captured in 1347; after capturing the city, the general of the chinese forces is reported to have said "And it that this city on the sea shall become our golden doorway to the glorious west." The name given, Xiangguang-yao, meant "Way to the shining west," to reflect this. As this was the height of intellectual achievement in Persia at the time, the Chinese gained knowledge of advanced mathematics and chemistry, which helped them develop their rockets further.

In 1358, the Chinese set out to conquer Oceania (Nanhaidao, south sea islands), and set up a few colonies both there and in east africa (Nanxidi, south west lands).

As the chinese pushed forward, the catholic church, convinced that the invaders were demons, launched a new crusade aganst them, which failed miserably. This was in no small part due to the casualties in the failed OTL crusades, which still occurred. As the church fell into disarray, the kingdoms across europe surrendered to chinese rule, ending the feudal system. Catholicism ended in 1392, which prompted english king Richard II to establish a new Anglican church, though it was somewhat different from Henry VIII's OTL Anglican Church.

After the chinese invaded, the regions experienced an early renaissance. Of note is the famous italian visionary Darius da Milano, who was something of the ATL Leonardo Da Vinci, who never existed as his father was killed when the chinese invaded Vinci in 1411. Darius was less of a genius than Leonardo, but nevertheless influenced the Chinese. He was inspired by the Chinese rockets, and traveled to the capital of China to present his designs of an airship to emperor Li Al-Mu-Xiafong (After persia fell, one of the Caliph's daughters was taken by the emperor as a wife; Al-Mu-Xia is a corruption of Al-Musta, part of the then-caliph's name. Fong is the emperor's chinese given name. In OTL, the Abbasid dynasty was overthrown by the Mongols, but the Mongols were busy fighting China at the time.) The design was used in the world's first heavier-than-air airship in 1488.

In Spain, Portugal, and England, the kings decided it was futile to fight to Chinese with their fearsome weapons, and they sought to establish empires elsewhere in the early 15th century. They built ships to travel to new lands. In 1430, Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored a naval exploration project, which gained much more support in ATL than the already-sufficient OTL support, due partly to the fall of France two years earlier. The Portuguese and Spanish then explored the coasts of Africa, establishing many colonies to maintain the empire. The New World was not discovered yet because it was thought that sailing west would only lead them to China.

The Hundred Years' War had ended early in 1392, with the fall of the Catholic Church and subsequent turmoil within the nations, which were at peace at the time. When France got wind of the invasion of Italy in 1388, both sides moved for peace to fight against the encroaching Chinese forces. They moved their armies to meet the new threat together to try to fight them at the Alps, but were eventually beaten. The Chinese used the huojiang to create avalanches, which resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, though the Anglo-franc army suffered heavier losses. By this time, the Chinese had begun to develop war machines based on the ancient Greek and roman siege weapons. Using metal armor and rocket emplacements, these juggernauts were nearly unbeatable. As the joint army retreated, France, left with no alternative, surrendered in 1428. England, which owned lands on the mainland, saw a migration to Mainland England, where they built numerous heavily-fortified castles.

The Wars of the Roses never occurred, as Henry V died in 1448, 27 years post-OTL, and, with his popularity, managed to fade much of the hostility between the houses Lancaster and York. He also was able to teach his son, Henry VI, to be a more effective ruler. Henry VI died in 1478 of old age, and passed the throne to his son, Edward I, who ruled until 1504.

The Chinese invasion of England did not go as well as planned. Even with the huojiang and their superior metalworking technology, they could not transport the heavier weapons across the channel. Thus, they continued to struggle as the English, with their superior navy, continued to repel them. As they continued to struggle, the King Henry V and his successor, King Henry VI commissioned a number of ships for the purpose of colonizing Africa. The Africans, much like in OTL, were still enslaved and shipped to Europe, though the practice would die out a bit sooner.

In 1467, an England-sponsored Icelandic explorer, Jonathan Brenjesson, sailed to Newfoundland and founded a colony there, Henrytown, as the region was clearly not China. This colony would be called Brenessia.

When the rocket-powered airship was invented in 1488, much of England had been taken over; the airships simply brought a faster end. Prior to being conquered, however, a number of noblemen left for Brenessia. Some went to Henrytown, others went to begin a new colony, known as Edwardia, in present-day New Jersey.

However, at this time, China was beginning to destabilize. The Tang dynasty ended without an heir, and numerous clans fought for the title of Emperor. Eventually, the Chen clan came to power and began the Tian dynasty.

With much of Europe under Chinese control, the war machines of China pushed south, into Africa.

In 1368, the Chinese reached Egypt, which was in the latter stages of the Bahri Dynasty at the time. They fell with relative ease. As the Chinese pushed south, they continued to conquer along the Nile, until reaching the Sudd and failing like the other civilizations that had tried before them. They knew land to be beyond there, as they had colonies there since 1362, but simply could not go through that route.

Since 1362, there had been Chinese colonies in Africa, in the Islamic Swahili-controlled regions of Kenya (Relindizhi, Land of Hot Forests) and Tanzania (Heirendi, Land of Dark People). They soon began to conquer those regions. At first, they were very successful. However, the climate had detrimental effects on the huojiang. When the rainy season began, many of them would not ignite, and some corroded and became damaged. When the local tribes in Heirendi beat back the Chinese, they found that some of the damaged huojiang leaked sludge. This sludge was the damp explosive powder within them. They tried drying it out, and were quite surprised when it exploded on the fire. The chiefs, eager to find a new way to defend themselves, experimented with it, and soon were able to produce a similar mixture. They managed to make fairly waterproof containers, and used them to make bombs, which were kept a secret and used to devastating effect against invaders. The Chinese kept small coastal towns, but never gained a significant foothold in the region.

More to come.

(If any events seem unlikely or far-fetched, or if some of the OTL facts used are not correct, please address it on the talk page.)