Maengtau
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Empire of the Brilliant Way 明道國 mˠiæŋ dɑuX kwək̚ | |
|---|---|
| 1203–1521 | |
 Flag | |
| Motto: 明道於世間 To enlighten the world of the Way | |
| Capital | Mioky (known as T'enhien) |
| Common languages | Classical Yen |
| Religion | Cotrism |
| Government | Theocratic Cotric absolute monarchy |
| Preceptor-Emperor | |
• 1203-1217 | Liptchieng |
• 1324-1378 | Gienhua |
• 1518-1521 | Kiaenghua |
| History | |
• Unification of Yen under the Hwak | 1201 |
• Proclamation of the Preceptor-Emperor | 1203 |
• Beginning of the Schismatic Wars | 1521 |
| Population | |
• 1430 | 77,820,000a |
| Currency | T'ungpau |
| Today part of |  Qyred Tangkuo |
| |
Maengtau, officially the Empire of the Brilliant Way (Yen: 明道國), was a Yen Cotric theocratic absolute monarchy that spanned much of eastern Catai, and existed from 1203 to 1521. In both Yen and worldwide contexts the Maengtau era is also known as the Mioky period (Yen: 武居时代) after Mioky, the city where the capital of Maengtau was situated.
Established in 1203 after Hwak emperor Liptchieng proclaimed himself the Preceptor of all Cotrists, which followed the death of the previous Preceptor, and came as an exercise of a zenith in the absolute supremacy of imperial power, the Maengtau state saw the most perfect union of the Cotric observatory and the Imperial palace. Major doctrines and institutions commonly regarded as essential or at least very important in modern Cotrism were formulated in Maengtau times, referred to as the Mioky doctrines. Culture of the Mioky period also had a long-lasting influence on the Yen lands as a whole. Ultimately however the prominence of religion triumphed over that of state power; the empire collapsed amongst differing factions debating on the legitimacy and orthodoxy of the last emperors as well as candidates for the throne that led to the Schismatic Wars of the 16th century.
History
The House of Hwak had unified the Yen states in 1201 and put an end to the Second Kingdoms Period, ruling as an imperial dynasty with their own name. Although the Liptchieng Emperor had already been formally recognized as a legitimate universal authority to not only Yen lands but to all of the Cotric world by existing Cotric institutions, but was not satisfied with this position and believed subjugating religious power under imperial would stabilize his lands greatly. In 1203 the Universal Observatory was occupied by Hwak imperial troops. The Preceptor at the time resigned, and Liptchieng was proclaimed Preceptor with the main clerics having no other choice, forming the post of the Preceptor-Emperor. After this, both the imperial palace and universal observatory was moved to Mioky, effectively establishing the imperial capital there, which had been on Liptchieng's agenda for some time.
The difficult and arduous experience of unifying the Yen kingdoms had put expansion off the minds of the early Preceptor-Emperors, who focused on reform and administration. Cotric scholars were given a prominent position in the Yiek dynasty, but here, transforming the empire into a total theocracy, the clerical and bureaucratic apparatuses were fully merged, placing the observatory as the sole base of authority in Yen, at the whims of the Preceptor-Emperor of course. The nation was given the name Maengtau in 1204, symbolizing the beginning of the first fully Cotric empire.
The Maengtau government aimed to build Yen into an economic hub, and did so by collaborating with merchants, developing what could be arguably seen as an early system of capitalism. Powerful trade leagues soon emerged. The economic status of Yen lost during the reunification wars was quickly regained by the mid-13th century. However, Maengtau faced difficulties on other fronts; objections to the post of Preceptor-Emperor spawned dissident movements among influential scholars, who eventually turned to rebellion. The insurgent movements were declared heretical and suppressed in costly campaigns throughout the 13th century.
By the 14th century Maengtau began to expand...
Governance
Preceptor-Emperor
The Preceptor-Emperor was perhaps the greatest change to Yen politics introduced by the Hwaks, which would come to shape East Cataian politics to the War of the Preceptors in the 17th century. It was a post that merged the Preceptor, leader of Cotrism, with the Emperor giving one person control over the two most important institutions in Yen and essentially merging these two subordinates.
Court
National level administration was completely revamped by the Hwaks upon their inauguration as preceptor-emperors; the traditional six ministries were replaced with dozens of offices each reduced greatly in their power compared to the ministries and were more specialized. There were also a large number of boards dedicated to religious matters.
Administration
Local administration was accomplished through the national network of observatories that completely replaced former subdivisions. Observatories took on amplified roles and positions, acting as local courts, and also taxation authorities through coercing locals to pay a nominal donation, legitimized as the Emperor now represented the religious communion too.
Observatories were also integrated with military functionaries as well as civilian. Local observatories were charged with conscription when needed, and provincial-level observatories controlled all resources for raising military forces beyond light infantry such as cavalry. However military personnel themselves remained separate from the observatory and clerics serving as officers was a development after the Schismatic Wars.
Scholar officials were completely replaced by Cotric clergy, and the process of selecting for bureaucrats became cleric education and training. However, the large numbers of prospective and applicant civil servants and the need to sustain standards of the clergy led to the civil service basically reappearing via acolytes and secretaries to clerics nominally in charge of administration; they had less stringent requirements of religious accomplishment and remained accessible to power. Actual governance was practically entirely handled by these assistants by the 14th century.
Economy
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Maengtau alternated between usage of silver-backed currency and fiat money (in the form of paper banknotes) during its existence. The currency was always named the t'ungpau. Silver was mainly measured in taels. Short supply of circulating silver in the late 15th century resulted in the use of representative money to combat silver smuggling and also increasing barter but would only result in harder economic collapse in the 16th century caused by hyperinflation.
A black market was present for much of Maengtau's history, in part brought about by the dark state, though it only really became a major option for acquisition of goods in the economic crisis of the late 15th century, where secret currency became widely used by ordinary citizens.
Maengtau traded extensively and there were major routes of goods exchange heading towards other centers of civilization such as in Asura. However, direct trade was more frequent with Central Catai, Savai, and West Catai. These exchanges were massively profitable and fuelled the development and transformation of Maengtau's economy.
Technological innovations in agriculture massively improved food yield followed by rapid growth of population. Much of the new population entered work as artisans or began to farm cash crops.
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The merchant class became very significant and important in Maengtau due to its pro-trade policy. The merchant policy of Maengtau alternated between highly autonomous state-owned enterprise seen in the Yiek dynasty and several fragmentation-period states and a laissez-faire approach of privatization. Generally a trend towards privatization was observed during the period. In any case even merchants of state-owned enterprises enjoyed huge liberties effectively functioning just as independent as their privatized counterparts by the 15th century. The power of merchants was further bolstered by an expanded artisan class providing labor needed to manufacture more goods. Merchants eventually formed kongsi bodies and challenged state power. Despite the Corporation Wars which saw most powerful corporations driven into exile to Savai and Vestrim, merchants remained a major player in Maengtau economy and politics towards its end.
The state retained a monopoly on table salt production, the chemicals industry (largely used for gunpowder), and precious metals. There was also a strong control of tea-growing, and the production of silk, although in the late 14th century this became relaxed. Many of the monopolized industries were profitable and produced significant revenues for the government.
Maengtau developed many features of a modern economy such as wage labor that have been argued as sprouts of capitalism by Asuran scholars.
Culture
Science and technology
- Gunpowder weaponry
- Rocket weaponry
- Shipbuilding and navigation
- Early chemistry apparatus
- Astronomy
- Mathematics
- Improved printing
- Architectural and engineering innovations
- Limited coal power