Yangzi Outpost

The so-called warriors of the Kingdom of Wu have spent too long hiding behind the Yangzi River. It has deflected our earlier attacks and kept their capital of Jiankaing safe.
However, their current emperor, Modi, is a drunkard who has lost the respect of his people with his harsh policies and his constant obsession with his 5000 concubines. He will not be a match for our might.
The plan for the invasion of Wu will hinge on the development of a hidden base in a wooded section of the Yangzi valley. We will call the new town Chizhou. Build an army there, and when ready, we will send troops from the capital to help you conquer Wu.
Finally, be prepared to send wood back to Luoyang as well. We want to continue our economic recovery. Wooden pontoon bridges are to be constructed here to reestablish the earlier Han trade routes to the north and west over the Yellow River.

City – Chizhou
Starts Feb 270 CE
10000 starting cash at Normal

Requirements:

  • Rule 2 cities
  • Produce 50 stacks of wood in one year
  • Produce 20 racks of weapons in one year

Game Difficulty : Normal
Housing Limits : Ornate Apt (no tea), Impressive Compound (no tea or drama)
Food : Fish, Cabbage, Rice
Resources : Hemp, Wood, Clay, Iron
Products : Steel, Ceramics, Paper, Carved Jade, Weapons

Careful planning will be required to utilize the limited space and resources on this map. 1) You still have a vassal (Chengdu), which means having a fort or two in the first few game years or risk rebellion. 2) With only the Admin City (no Palace) and an army to raise, you’ll need elite housing fairly early to build more than one fort. 3) You aren’t able to produce a lot of high priced items for sale.

The most important aspect will be creating a sustainable income for your city. I chose to concentrate on upgrading my housing to create a tax income, selling locally produced goods to help offset the costs of upgrading. Another approach is to act as a middleman, buying silk and lacquerware from Luoyang and marking the price up for sale to Kashgar. (If you do, be careful not to raise the price too high or you may lose a valuable trade partner.) I chose to play it safe and avoided raising prices. This means selling only wood and carved jade. The goal of producing 50 stacks of wood in a year may seem high, but if you produce enough to sell the maximum amount each year, plus enough to fire your steel furnaces, you’ll easily meet this requirement.

Looking at the map, you’ll see the unpredictable Yangzi River runs through the map, with a small stream running to the north from it. Immigrants and traders will enter at the main road to the northeast and exit to the northwest. You will notice that there is only one large clear area on the map. At first this may look like an ideal place for a housing block, but it is also the only large area with access to water for irrigation, making it a better location for farms. You’ll need to clear some of the trees out to make room for a housing block elsewhere. I chose the plateau to the east of the stream. Once trees are removed, there is a lot of open space for placing housing. Build bridges across the stream and erase one of the road tiles near the entry to speed up immigration. Due to the limited area, I decided to do a combined block of common and elite housing.

Adding a road paralleling the cliff area off the main road, just next to the farming area, makes a nice place for your trade and few industrial buildings (jade carvers and weaponsmiths). Three loggers in the forest plateau on the exit road will easily supply your trading posts with wood for sale. South of the river, you will find iron ore deposits in the hills. There is a nice plateau near some of the deposits that is ideal for placing a few steel furnaces, lumber camps and warehouse. I would suggest keeping this area separate from the rest of your city. It will keep your wood near the furnaces going to the furnaces and the lumber north of the river going to the trading posts. A getting warehouse in your industrial area set to get steel will work extremely well to transport steel from this area for delivery to the smiths. You will need 4 smiths to make the production goal and a steady supply will be key to achieving this.

You start this mission with all the trade partners you need already opened. Since this is supposed to be a secret mission, I made no contact with Jiankang, except to send spies to sabotage the military and gather information, when I could afford them. Your trade partners can sell you salt, lacquerware, silk, and jade, and will buy wood and carved jade.

In the first year, I laid out my housing block, leaving room for future elite housing. Aesthetically, you’re limited to grand ways, so you’ll need to leave room for some desirable structures near your elite housing if you’re going to upgrade them. Next, I placed a farm with rice and cabbage and a hemp farm. My next labor went to a furnace and lumber mill to start producing steel. Add a paper maker after the hemp harvest if you have the extra labor. Paper will be needed for taxes and makes good homage. Near the end of the first year, I opened the trade posts and began importing jade and selling the finished carvings. At the start of the second year, you can add another farm and increase the production of steel, adding a lumber mill or two near the trading posts to produce wood for sale. You will also need to start at least one fort before the end of the second year, which means placing the Admin City. Once that’s in, go ahead and place your tax office. Eventually, taxes will support the whole city. Note that to maximize the amount of labor I had my wages set to very high and to maximize my tax income that rate was set on outrageous.

Ceramics production should be started and you should begin adding a third type of food. I set up fisheries; there is a nice straight stretch of riverbank right in front of the housing plateau with plenty of nearby fish. I then imported salt for tasty food required for the higher elite housing. You could skip the fish if you want and import salt and spices from Kashgar. As soon as you have a decent supply of hemp and ceramics, you’ll want to start placing elite housing.

As far as events, the most significant is a flood in April of the fourth year (CE 274). As long as you placed the furnaces and lumber mills on the plateau, you should only lose some ferries, fisheries and a water pump. The main disadvantage is that your steel production will shut down for several months. Luoyang will ask for 16 stacks of wood in May of the third year (CE 273) and for 15 in the sixth year (CE 276).

As you are upgrading your housing, keep an eye on your forts. As one fills up, place another. When six forts were finished, I sent four units (one of each type), Huang Di, and troops from Luoyang to easily conquer Jiankang.

Congratulations, once you’ve met your production goals and conquered Jiankang (while holding on to Chengdu), the people will proclaim you Emperor Jin Wudi, the “Martial Emperor”!

Finished : Aug CE 278 (8½ years)
Population : 1884 in 28 Ornate Apts. and 6 Impressive Compounds
Cities ruled : Chengdu and Jiankang
Wood Production : 70 stacks, best
Weapons Production : 21 racks, best
Treasury : 13871 cash
Military : 3 infantry, 1 cavalry, 1 crossbow, 1 catapult

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