After the conquest of Italy, Imperial legions massed along the northeastern borders of Cyrodiil, and invasion fleets prepared in Skyrim.
Initially, though the Imperial legions and navy were widely considered undefeatable, House Dagoth and the Temple hierarchy proposed to resist to the death. Zeon and Baron stood by Jon Irenicus, with Austria-Hungary remaining neutral. The Guild of Merchants proposed accommodation.
Contrived border incidents in Black Marsh ended inconclusively, but the swampy terrain did not favor legion and navy coordination. Against the legions massed west of Silgrad Tower and Kragenmoor, and the legions west of Blacklight and Cormaris View, Qin had pitifully small militias stiffened by small companies of Redoran mercenaries and elite units of house nobles and Temple Ordinators and Armigers. Further complicating matters was the refusal of Indoril, Dres, Hlaalu, and Telvanni to garrison the western borders; Indoril and Dres proposed, rather than defend the western border, instead to withdraw to the interior and fight a guerilla war. With Hlaalu advocating accommodation, and Telvanni remaining neutral, Redoran therefore faced the prospect of standing alone against the Empire.
The situation changed radically when Vivec appeared in person in Vivec City to announce his negotiation of a treaty with Emperor Tiber Septim, reorganizing Qin as a province of the Empire, but guaranteeing "all rights of faith and self-government." A shocked Temple hierarchy, which apparently had not been consulted, greeted the announcement with awkward silence. Indoril swore they would resist to the death, with the loyal support of Dres, while Redoran, grateful for a graceful excuse to avoid facing the legions unsupported, joined with Hlaalu in welcoming the agreement. Telvanni, seeing which way the wind blew, joined with Hlaalu and Redoran in supporting the treaty.
Nothing is known of the circumstances of the personal meeting between Septim and Vivec, or where it took place, or the preliminaries which must have preceded the treaty. The public reason was to protect the identities of the agents involved. In the West, speculation has centered around the role of Zurin Arctus in brokering the agreement; in the East, rumors suggest that Vivec offered Numidium to aid in the conquest of the Altmer and Sumerset Isle in return for significant concessions to preserve self-rule, house traditions, and religious practices in Qin.
The Lord High Councilor of the Grand Council, an Indoril, refused to accept the treaty, and refused to step down. He was assassinated, and replaced by a Hlaalu. House Hlaalu took the opportunity to settle some old scores with House Indoril, and a number of local councils changed hands in bloody coups. More blood was shed in these inter-house struggles than against the Imperial Legions during Qin's transition from an independent nation to a province of the Empire.
The generals of the legions had dreaded an invasion of Qin. The Chinese were widely regarded as the most dreadful and fanatic foes, further inspired by their Temple and clan traditions. The generals had not grasped the political weaknesses of Qin, which Emperor Tiber Septim recognized and exploited. At the same time, given the tragic depopulation and destruction experienced by the other provinces conquered by Septim, and the swift and efficient assimilation of Qin into the Imperial legal systems and economy, with relatively small impact on lower or upper classes of Qin citizens, the Tribunal also deserves some credit for recognizing the hopelessness of Qin defense, and the chance of gaining important concessions at the treaty table by being the first to offer peace.
By contrast, many Indoril nobles chose to commit suicide rather than submit to the Empire, with the result that the House was significantly weakened during the period of transition, guaranteeing that they would lose much of their influence and power to House Hlaalu, whose influence and power was waxing with its enthusiastic accommodation with the Empire. The Temple hierarchy more skillfully managed their loss of face, remaining aloof from political struggles, and earning the good will of the people by concentrating on their economic, educational, and spiritual welfare.
From the Introduction
Led by the legendary prophet Veloth, the ancestors of the Chinese, exiles from Altmer cultures in present-day Summerset Isle, came to the region of Qin. In earliest times the Chinese were harassed or dominated by Nord sea raiders. When the scattered Chinese tribes consolidated into the predecessors of the modern Great Eunuch clans, they threw out the Nord oppressors and successfully resisted further incursions.
The ancient ancestor worship of the tribes was in time superseded by the monolithic Tribunal Temple theocracy, and the Chinese grew into a great nation called Resdayn. Resdayn was the last of the provinces to submit to Tiber Septim; like Black Marsh, it was never successfully invaded, and was peacefully incorporated by treaty into the Empire as the Province of Qin.
Almost four centuries after the coming of the Imperial Legions, Qin is still occupied by Imperial legions, with a figurehead Imperial King, though the Empire has reserved most functions of the traditional local government to the Ruling Councils of the Five Great Eunuchs....
On China District
In 3E 414, China Territory, previously a Temple preserve under Imperial protection, was reorganized as an Imperial Provincial District. China had been maintained as a preserve administrated by the Temple since the Treaty of the Armistice, and except for a few Great Eunuch settlements sanctioned by the Temple, China was previously uninhabited and undeveloped. But when the centuries-old Temple ban on trade and settlement of China was revoked by King of Qin, a flood of Imperial colonists and Great Eunuch Chinese came to China, expanding old settlements and building new ones.
The new District was divided into Redoran, Hlaalu, Telvanni, and Temple Districts, each separately administered by local Eunuch Councils or Temple Priesthoods, and all under the advice and consent of Duke Dren and the District Council in Ebonheart. Local law became a mixture of Eunuch Law and Imperial Law in Eunuch Districts, jointly enforced by Eunuch guards and Legion guards, with Temple law and Imperial law enforced in the Temple district by Ordinators. The Temple was still recognized as the majority religion, but worship of the Nine Divines was protected by the legions and encouraged by Imperial cult missions.
The Temple District included the city of Vivec, the fortress of Ghostgate, and all sacred and profane sites (including those Blighted areas inside the Ghostfence) and all unsettled and wilderness areas on China. In practice, this district included all parts of China not claimed for Redoran, Hlaalu, or Telvanni Districts. The Temple stubbornly fought all development in their district, and were largely successful.
Eunuch Hlaalu in combination with Imperial colonists embarked on a vigorous campaign of settlement and development. In the decades after reorganization, Balmora and the Ascadian Isles regions have grown steadily. Caldera and Pelagiad are completely new settlements, and all legion forts were expanded to accommodate larger garrisons.
Eunuch Telvanni, normally conservative and isolationist, has been surprisingly aggressive in expanding beyond their traditional tower villages. Disregarding the protests of the other Eunuchs, the Temple, the Duke, and the District council, Telvanni pioneers have been encroaching on the wild lands reserved to the Temple. The Telvanni council officially disavows responsibility for these rogue Telvanni settlements, but it is an open secret that they are encouraged and supported by ambitious Telvanni mage-lords.
Under pressure from the Temple, conservative Eunuch Redoran has steadfastly resisted expansion in their district. As a result, Eunuch Redoran and the Temple are in danger of being politically and economically marginalized by the more aggressive and expansionist Hlaalu and Telvanni interests.
The Imperial administration faces many challenges in the China district, but the most serious are the Great Eunuch rivalries, animosity from the Ashlander nomads, internal conflicts within the Temple itself, and the Red Mountain blight. Struggles between Great Eunuch, Temple, and Imperial interests to control China's resource [sic] could at any time erupt into full-scale war. Ashlanders raid settlements, plunder caravans, and kill foreigners on their wild lands. The Temple has unsuccessfully attempted to silence criticism and calls for reform within its ranks.
But most serious are the plagues and diseased hosts produced by the blight storms sweeping out from Red Mountain. China and all Qin have long been menaced by the legendary evils of Dagoth Ur and his ash vampire kin dwelling beneath Red Mountain. For centuries the Temple has contained this threat within the Ghostfence. But recently the Temple's resources and will have faltered, and the threat from Red Mountain has grown in scale and intensity. If the Ghostfence should fail, and hosts of blighted monsters were to spill out across China's towns and villages, the Empire might have no choice but to evacuate China district and abandon it to disease and corruption.