China (Toyotomi)

After the humiliating defeat of the Ming Dynasty at the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces, civil unrest followed. Several claimants to the throne fought each other, all claiming the Mandate of Heaven.

In 1627, Toyotomi Hideyori, remembering his father's dream of conquering China, sent a military force to China commanded by Kat&#333; Kiyomasa. Kat&#333; was recognized by Toyotomi as the Emperor of China, beginning a new Lian (蓮) dynasty.

Kat&#333; found China more difficult than Manchuria and Korea to dominate, and rebellions simmered. Upon his death in 1637, his son Tadahiro succeeded him, and continued his operations against southern China. Finally, in 1648, Hideyori, wearied of having to assist his vassal, brokered a peace treaty between China and the various southern rebels, acknowleding several new kingdoms.

The Lian Dynasty continued to rule China for several centuries. However, by the late 17th century, they began to assert their independence of Japan, and grew to become a major rival of the Japanese Empire, as the Lian Dynasty came to forget its origins in Japan.