And so the Ming Emperor's court went to war with Italy.
Italy at this time was no more than a third-rate power among the great nations, but that was no reason to take it lightly. To say nothing of its larger forces, it still had several hundred thousand troops on home soil, plus an even greater number of auxiliary colonial levies — though the fighting quality of those auxiliaries was rather like the old dynasty's garrison troops of former days. All told, Italy's overall strength utterly outclassed the Ming Emperor's court.
The trouble, however, was that this was far from Italy's only colony. It had a great many other possessions to worry about. It could hardly send its entire army to one place — what would become of everywhere else? Setting aside the full force altogether, drawing out even one or two hundred thousand homeland troops, with twice that number in auxiliaries on top, would already be stretching things to the limit. The Ming Emperor's dynasty, by contrast, could throw every ounce of its attention at this single front.
After all, when you have nothing left to lose, what more can be taken from you?
Within a remarkably short time, the Ming Emperor's dynasty had swept through the bulk of the Italian forces in the region. Most were overcome through superior numbers or surprise attack; a handful, seeing the odds stacked heavily against them, managed to slip away. The prisoners alone numbered in the tens of thousands. Seizing their firearms, ammunition, and supplies gave the Ming forces a considerable boost in fighting strength on top of everything else.
The Ming Emperor's ships sailed home laden with plunder and prisoners, and every man aboard was in high spirits. When the Emperor laid eyes on the haul, his eyes went red with excitement. No wonder everyone scrambled so frantically for colonies — the wealth to be had was simply staggering.
"Recruit more soldiers! Expand the army! And tell the shipyards to speed things up!"
"We are going to conquer new lands once more!"
Italian Africa covered roughly one million square kilometers — nearly half the territory under the Ming Emperor's control — and its wealth put even the Central Plains, which had long called itself the Celestial Empire, to shame. Italy's regular homeland troops in the region numbered fewer than a hundred thousand, and the fighting value of the auxiliaries was, to put it charitably, difficult to describe. And so, within a matter of months, the Ming Emperor's forces had shattered them entirely.
Seeing such abundance before him, the Emperor had no desire to leave. Meanwhile, Italian reinforcements gradually arrived, and a grinding back-and-forth struggle on land began. The Italians knew the Ming fleet was nothing to brag about, and they set about trying to hunt it down and destroy it. If they succeeded, those two hundred thousand Ming soldiers on land would have no way home — they would be entirely at Italy's mercy. But on the vast open ocean, when one side wishes to hide and the other to find them, the task is nearly impossible.
And so the Ming Emperor's dynasty first made its presence felt upon the world stage, fighting a creditable back-and-forth campaign against third-rate Italy on colonial ground. For the Ming court, the gains from this venture were already enormous: it had demonstrated its strength before the great powers and come away with considerable spoils in the bargain.
The major powers began to take the capabilities of these several dynasties seriously at last.
The Ming Emperor had turned disaster into fortune — losing some soldiers, yes, but gaining wealth beyond measure. This also kindled envy in the other courts. Before long, they held secret talks and jointly struck at yet another of Italy's colonies. The justification they offered was perfectly high-minded: we all hail from the Central Plains, we are brothers and neighbors, and we cannot stand by while you attack one of our own. Strike one brother, and you strike us all. We will answer in kind.
Italy was at a complete loss. We have neighbors too, it muttered — so why don't our neighbors treat us like brothers? And to think they were the ones who egged us on into provoking these troublemakers in the first place. Europe at this moment was nothing short of a dark forest.
Besieged by four dynasties at once, Italy could not locate the enemy fleets at sea, and on land it was driven back again and again. Its neighbors, scenting weakness, were even eyeing it hungrily, ready to take a bite. Italy panicked completely. In the end, it swallowed the pain and abandoned both colonies. The chances of reclaiming them had grown vanishingly small, and pouring troops in indefinitely would only bleed the country dry. Of course, withdrawing troops was one thing — admitting it publicly was quite another.
These lands, it declared, remain Italian African territory forever!
What a mess. One impulsive blunder had cost Italy two colonies, tens of thousands of soldiers, and half a year of grinding warfare on top of it all. It was as though a man who originally weighed only a hundred jin had shed another fifteen — and no one could say how long it would take to gain that back.
The great powers had watched a year of spectacle unfold, and came away with a clear impression: these four stray dogs that had bolted out of the Central Plains had real teeth. Combined, they were probably capable of going toe-to-toe with a third-rate power like Italy. The word "probably" was apt, since after all, neither side had truly given everything it had.