Sometime at the beginning of 21st century, suburb of Vienna: Group of s.h.w-if readers are preparing a secret plot to change the human history. Most of the burden is now on Phil, who is making final preparations for his one way trip to ancient history. Standing in a front of time machine, he makes final checks of his equipment. In short, he is going to replace Commodus, just after the death of Marcus Aurelius. Phil is well prepared for his mission - he speaks fluent Latin of that era (both classical and the best available reconstruction of vulgar Latin), knows how to make gunpowder from ingredients available to Romans, has learnt everything possible about old Roman metallurgy and has a few suggestions how to improve it, knows how to make soap, paper, last month he spent operating self-constructed printing press. He is inoculated against all knows diseases, and, most importantly, has undergone a plastic surgery that made him look like Commodus as much as possible. His plan is relatively simple: he appears next to Vindobona, two days after Marcus Aurelius' death (so that a messenger about this tragic event is already on his way to Rome), finds Commodus, kills him (and all people around) and heads for Rome (where people do not know Commodus well) as fast as possible, to inform them about slaughter of his suite by barbarians - and to take reign. Fellow conspirator, plastic surgeon (the same one who is responsible for Phil's new face) makes final adjustments to a scary looking but harmless wound on Phil's neck - this is to explain his inability to speak, so that Romans are not surprised by his not so perfect Latin (he plans to communicate by writing for the beginning, and just whisper for a few months, before he feels confident in a local pronunciation) Conspirators set up the time machine to take Phil to 19 March 180. It is already dark night, and they make an 8 hour adjustment, so that the time machine ends up there in the morning, leaving enough time for Phil to locate Commodus. Phil steps into time machine, checks his automatic rifle, and announces he is ready. One of the conspirators presses the big red button, and.... nothing happens. Seconds later, before anyone manages to say a word, this timeline ceases to exist. (the time machine is tied to the Earth's gravitation field - it does not end up somewhere in the Galaxy, although the Sun has travelled some light years since 180AD. But the conspirators forgot about the rotation of Earth, and the time machine ends up operating in north China instead of Austria) ========= Sometime at the beginning of 21st century, northern China: Young economy student Wen Chien steps out of the university main door and heads to the city. He is thinking about women, situation influenced by the fact that during the last lesson he was sitting (purely by chance) next to a particularly well developed fellow female schoolmate. In fact, he is constantly thinking about women - about the lack of them, to be precise. His rather unsuccessful attempts about the matter have so far just deepened his overall misery. He imagines the schoolmate in a rather explicit position, and sighs... and suddenly looses his weight. Not paying attention to the surroundings before, he blinks in surprise: the familiar buildings around him seem faint, translucent, and images of ghostly, transparent people seem to walk right through them. The scenery changes, people start moving in increasing speed (backwards!), there is suddenly a dark, then light, then dark again, then light with a bit of stroboscopic quality, buildings disappear, all becomes blurry and grey. This all lasts just for a few seconds, and then Wen finds himself on the ground. He shakes his head: there are trees around, meadows, the city is away (or he is away, as the remaining bit of rationality in his mind tries to explain the situations). He can see some building far away - shaking, he takes the direction towards them. Chinese capital Luo Yang, 26 March 180: Emperor Liu Hong feel particularly happy today, having just ordered an execution of a several bandits who tried to break into his palace yesterday. Fools, he thinks to himself. Choosing my palace.. anyway, they got what they deserve. Nothing can entertain people more than a public execution. His trusty counsellor appears and coughs slightly. - Ehm, Your Majesty, I think I have something that you could be interesting about. - Something like tomorrow execution? winks Lingdi Hong joyfully No, counsellor goes on. Some stranger appeared at a distant province. Nobody know what to do with him. He is strangely dressed (no rags, in fact, one could expect such kind of clothes on a nobleman, however no one has seen such a fabric before. He had also some interesting gadgets with him, and perhaps the emperor would be interested... Emperor is not really interested, but nevertheless makes a few questions. The counsellor explains all he knows about. No, the stranger does not speak Chinese. His language bears some resemblance to Chinese, but is completely incomprehensible. However, he is literate, although characters he uses have strange shapes and style, but in general it is possible (although difficult) to communicate with him by writing. Of course, at this point emperor asked what _he_ says about himself? Counsellor clears his throat a bit and continues, well, he seems to try to say he comes from the future. Of course, probably we did not understand him about this... Given the amount of prophets and future-tellers, emperor is neither surprised nor impressed, nor does he believe in this. But he agrees to see the man tomorrow. Chinese capital Luo Yang, 27 March 180: Wen is a bit shattered, but not too much. He was lucky that people who had the idea to take him first to the local lord (or whatever he was), and the lord himself did not really know how to treat him, and decided that he was a curiosity big enough to be presented to the emperor himself. He still does not believe what are all those people telling (writing) him, but one part of his mind is already starting to accept the fact that he is indeed in the past, at the end of Han dynasty (being a moderate science-fiction fan certainly helps). If he understood correctly, he is going to see the Emperor today... Emperor was not very impressed. Not only communicating with the stranger was difficult, but he also did not know how to behave in front of an Emperor. He contemplates the thought of having him executed, but decides that there is alway time to do this. And also the "gadgets" his counsellor was talking about were nothing remarkable (pocket calculator - it can do difficult calculations? explain it when people around do not know neither the symbols nor the positional notation; digital watch with sound alarm - ok, it can measure time - again, with these strange symbols, well, yes, it can play a melody, but any musical instrument sounds more pleasantly, doesn't it?). What did leave a slight impression on emperor was Wen's set of colour pens (nice mechanical work), his books (really fine paper, very regular character calligraphy, although nobody understands what are those about (economy)), and especially his magazine devoted to, ahem, "women beauty" (these are just painting to the Emperor - but incredibly real looking ones, and Emperor, having a fondness for paintings, is curious - of course he does nor understand Wen's explanation at all) ... Wen feels a chance to make his life here a bit comfortable, because what he saw so far did not make a big impression (or rather, _did_ make an impression, but a negative one - and he is extremely lucky, being treated really well). For a while he dreams about all the inventions he would eventually introduce to this society, but his enthusiasm drops when he realizes that he does not know how to make _anything_. He tries to think about some not so difficult inventions, but nothing comes to his mind... but finally.. an idea... Several days later, he shows a magnifying glass to the emperor. It is rather poor, and distorts picture a lot, but it is the best he was able to explain to a glassmaker (given the difficulty in communicating). Emperor likes it, and puts several glassmakers to Wen's disposal. In a week, Wen managed to create a simple telescope. He knows very little of optics, and the telescope is simple, bad quality, reverting picture, but emperor is impressed, and gives Wen all the support - and starts to listen to him. In the course of several months, telescopes become a hot issue among Chinese aristocracy. Everyone wants to have one, and preferably better than his neighbour. Glassmaking enjoys a big boom in China. Microscope is "invented" as well (it took a bit more of experimenting), and glassmakers start to experiment with different shapes of lenses. Incidentally, maybe because of the aristocratic use, the telescope does not have any impact at military at all. Army just ignores it. There is some limited use by astronomers, mostly because Wen said so, but Chinese astronomers just do not see a point in using it. Wen also introduces optical telegraph (mechanically much like Chappe system in OTL), writing down Chinese characters in a table of 99x99 cells and transmitting each character as sequence of 1-4 numbers (row, column. Emperor is again pleased, telegraph line (at extraordinary expenses) is placed across china and the next following weeks emperor spends by molesting his subordinates in distant provinces, requiring immediate reports and giving all kinds of orders. After then, the novelty wears off, emperor becomes disinterested and the telegraph is less and less used and is slowly abandoned. By that time, Wen has sufficiently learned local language, and gained a big influence on the emperor. Though we cannot know if emperor really believed his story, he seemed to be pleased by Wen's prediction of his long and successful reign, and of everlasting reign of Han dynasty (Wen in fact remembers enough history lessons to know Han dynasty is going to break up soon, but surely it would not harm anyone if he exaggerates a bit, would it? and if he told the truth, it _could_ harm somebody, and that somebody would be Wen), and both men spend a long hours talking about wonders of a future world. A world, ruled by China, governed by wise emperor Zhu Rongji of Mao dynasty (Mao? interrupts the emperor. You said Han dynasty will last forever and eventually rule the world... Well, of course, your majesty, explains Wen, but as you could see from my speech the sounds of Chinese language will change and the Han dynasty will be called Mao) Wen also introduces paper money. The concept is not very new, China has already experimented with leather money, and Wen, with his economical background, and with emperor's support, manages to make a full-scale shift of Chinese economy to paper money. This has a big positive effect on Emperor's treasure. Wen warns him not to print too much money, though. As a side effect, printing press (not movable, used just to print the money) is introduced (the idea of introducing printing press by itself never crosses Wen's head). Decimal positional system also gains wide acceptance, with the easily demonstrated ease for doing basic arithmetic calculations. But only very few brightest men understand what real and negative numbers are about. Wen also draws map of the world. The map is done from memory and is considerably vague, but anyway... Wen also explains about the huge surplus of gold in Alaska, and about Aztecs civilisation, also having almost unlimited amount of gold. (Wen's knowledge of history does not include the fact that Aztecs are not existing yet). Never having enough gold, emperor orders an expedition to the mentioned places. The plan is simple: 10 ships will go along the northeast coastline of Asia until they reach Alaska, take a good look around, send one ship back with the news, and the rest will head southwards to find the Aztecs. The flotilla leaves China on the spring of the next year, never to be heard of again. OTOH, hot air balloons never gain enough confidence in anybody, mostly because of several nasty accidents during first experiments. And unfortunately Wen does not remember what is gunpowder made from (not that he would be able to mix the correct ratio anyway) Having thoroughly enjoyed unlimited access to his concubines and to whores of Luo Yang, Wen dies two years later by a sexually transmitted disease. ======== For a few years, China experiences economic boom. Paper money, together with an increased demand for certain crafts (such as glassmaking, ship building - emperor decides to take an advantage of Wen's maps) is enough to create a period of constant rise. However, by 188AD things start to look bad. Not only the emperor has forgotten Wen's advice not to print too much money, but also many people got the splendid idea how to became rich very quickly, by printing their own money (capital punishment never being threatening enough). Also several warlords have operating printing presses, under the impression that unlimited money will make them emperors one day. Hyperinflation kick in suddenly, and with furious force. In several months, paper money are less worth than paper they are printed on. Emperor tries to fight the crisis first by printing more money, then by issuing fixed prices (with resulting drop in food production and several smaller famines), then by banning paper money altogether. By the end of 189AD, army of a rebellious general is standing in front of Luo Yang. In 3 days, the emperor is dead, and the new emperor (former rebellious general) is very busy fighting the army of another general... Destruction is thorough - every warlord and general had his own share of the army, paid with his self made money. Now they want to get some real money before the soldiers became too dissatisfied with worthless pieces of paper. What follows is a war where everybody fight everybody. And also many landlords proclaim themselves emperors of their lands. Fierce fighting continues the next year, and the next winter people face without adequate food supplies. Famine, fighting, dead corpses, it all leads to a plague outbreak the next year. Armies raiding throughout the country, and soldiers deserting and running home spread the plague quickly. During the next year, more than 20% of population is dead, but fighting still continues off and on for the next 25 years (what will be later called by historians the 30 year war). When the dust settles in, total population of what was once China is reduced to half, with inside China almost totally depopulated. Borders and coastline are in somewhat better state, divided among 20 emerging states. And no one even thoughts of restoring the empire... ========== For the next century, these states spend most of their time by local wars, by competing with each other, and by trying to expand. Several coastal states have nowhere to expand, so they spend their energy on building ships and expanding seawards. Japan is invaded, conquered, divided and colonised by 2 competing states. Gold in Alaska remains just a legend, but nevertheless a legend worth pursuing, especially given the fact that Wen's maps have survived the 30 year war. Many of ships are lost on sea, but some of them reach the shores of a new, empty, cold and wild continent. However, no gold is discovered so far, but at least coastal states get a big experience with building heavy transoceanic ships. By 320 AD, first gold is find in Alaska. Resulting war concerning rule over the new continent brings the discovery of gunpowder. Since east Siberia is taken by aggressive and expanding Puyo kingdom (not technically Chinese, but they learned a lot from Chinese and play an important role in politics), Puyo's army finally secures Alaska as Puyo's possession. Gold fever, combined with overpopulation, is a big driving force and puyos settlements are spreading over Alaska, and later southwards along the west coast of North America. Local inhabitants (called Indians, since Indian was derogatory term for filthy barbarians coming from the land of India, and these inhabitants were... well, just another bunch of filthy barbarians) do not pose much of a problem against guns. And they seem to be dying rather quickly, suffering various fatal diseases.... Remaining Chinese states are trying to reach America as well, but since Puyo effectively controls Kamchatka and neighbouring seas, they do not have much luck. As a side effect, Hawai'i is discovered, settled and aboriginal inhabitants are brutally exterminated (this remains one of the biggest dark and infamous moments in history) Some ships reach (central and south) America and manage to return back, but there is no sign of promised mythical land of Aztecs, and the jungles of South America and plains of Central America are just not interesting enough to warrant a permanent settlement. What these expeditions do, however, is to bring smallpox and various other diseases to native inhabitants, who first die by thousands, but later recover and develop some kind of resistance. On the other hand, contacts with India are full of skirmishes between expanding southern states and Indian kingdoms. India copies technology and, although lagging behind, is able to resist the military and cultural influence. Rest of Siberia is taken by one central kingdom, and first full-scale contact with Europe (by this time with east Roman empire) are made in 403 AD. Grain is introduced and has some impact on agriculture, but rice remain dominant. This is about the only thing that Europe ever contributed to civilised world. By 500 AD, Chinese states and India have gunpowder, printing, elaborate system of optical telegraph, excellent military, universities, good mathematics, and beginning of experimental science. Idea of a steam engine is invented, but steam engines do not have much use for now. There is a sizable Puyo settlement along western coast of north America, Indonesia is colonised, and first cities are appearing along northern coast of Australia. Trade between American Puyo and rest of China's states is vigorous, and Puyo ships are the best in the world. Some adventurous captains even sailed around Earth, but, unlike OTL's European expeditions, foreign countries have little to offer. Except of slave trade. Inhabitants of Africa have just bad luck in this TL as well. In short, the kingdom of Puyo rules the seas, while the rest of Asia (up to Ural) is divided between Chinese states, Indian states in south, and Persian empire in the south-west. Lingua franca of the world is ancient Chinese, as spoken and written by Han dynasty at the time of Wen's arrival. Since various dialects of Chinese are no longer mutually intelligible, by this time people stop thinking about there languages as "Chinese", and idea of national states appear (this would later lead to many bloody wars). However, the writing system remains common. Even Puyo, Vietnamese in the south and even the mesomerican indian Olmec Empire (much beaten and decimated and obedient vassal of Puyo) have adopted Chinese script. Only India and those barbarians in Europe still use their inferior writing systems. 550 AD: Mainland China is overpopulated. New wave of settlers is starting to pour into promising lands of South America. Various tiny but aggressive merchant states of Indonesia archipelago are furiously trying to compete with Puyo, with some limited luck. While Puyo stays mostly locked to the Pacific, Indonesian states rule the Indian ocean, and, having almost exclusive access to Africa, form a base of strong and durable slave trade. Main Puyo's problem is with windy Pacific. While Indonesians are mostly using slaves to propel their ships, Puyos do not have good access to slaves, and slaves are rather inefficient for long-term transoceanic expeditions, that's are needed to keep contact with America's Puyo settlement. And sails are just not good enough. At that time, several Puyo engineers happen to stumble across old Wen's writings, describing some miracles of "future". These writings are considered to be just a fiction, but something there draws an attention - steam powered ship? A few years of experimenting, and by 559 AD, first partially steam powered ship makes a trip from Asia to America. Industrial revolution begins.