Jihwa

Jihwa, officially the the Kingdom of Jihwa (: 지화국; is a in Yedal, located on the Yedal Island and the island of Seokdo. It borders Meull to the south, Nonyukbeol to the east, Hwasan to the west, shares a sea border with Jeongmi to the east, and faces the Great Northern Ocean to the north. Jihwa's name derives from the word called Jihwa, which means "Harmony of Wisdom"

Jihwa was inhabited over a million years during the by. Civilization was founded in Jihwa with the Okjeo, and the country has remained unified since the end of the Tianchi occupation Period period in 882.

Today, Jihwa is a major economic power governed as a. Jihwa has been a with strong cultural, economic, military, and political influence around the world. Spanning an area of over 50 thousand square kilometers, Jihwa's diverse landscape includes alpine mountain ranges, numerous lakes and is home to a large variety of wildlife. Tourism is activated broadly across Jihwa country, receiving around 28 million visitors annually. A globally leading, Jihwa has one of the world's fastest Internet connection speed, high ownership of computers, and the world's highest penetration of smartphones.

History
The history of Jihwa starts a million years ago. Over a million years ago, the island was inhabited by Homo Erectus during the Lower Paleolithic. The first dynasty to emerge in the Yedal peninsula was the Gojeongmi. The kingdom spanned a vast majority of the Sinju area, including Yedal. The First Revolt in 86 AD led to a rift between the rulers in the Jungju and Yedal, and led to the establishment of several independent kingdoms like Hyecheon (혜천), Seokyeong (석경) and Taehyung (태형). The Warring States Period ended with the beginning of the Unification Period in 238 with the Great Yeocheon Empire (여천). In 432, the the Kingdom of Woomwas born, and continued until 867. In 867, the Empire of Tianqi invaded and seized control of the kingdom's territory. The kingdom became Do-hwa-gun.

When Tianqi collapsed, Do-seung, who controlled Do-hwa-gun at the time, changed the country’s name to Songsan-guk and declared Songsan an independent nation. Under the domination of the new government, the country seemed to find stability for a while, but various corruption cases continued inside the country, and public sentiment was terrible. At the same time, in the Hodong region, Castellans tried to win the people's hearts, while fostering soldiers and taking over the local administrative and military authority.

At that time, the government's finances were exhausted due to the weakening of its control over the Hodong area, which was the largest granary in Songsan, and the luxury and enjoyment of the central aristocracy, and the mediation forced the farmers to take the money. As a result, the public sentiment reached the extreme, and eventually led to a massive rebellion across the country in 891. The castellans established its own regime without missing it, and by 893, 56 small kingdoms were established, starting with Gong-o, Gwangpyeong, Gusan, and Do-eon in Hodong. This is called the Five-six Kingdoms Period.(오육국시대,五六國時代) The castellans who established their own regimes fought wars or formed alliances with neighboring countries, and the Northern Yedal was literally thrown into chaos. As a result of large and small wars, the kingdom, which had 56 kingdoms, was reduced to four countries: Gwangpyeong, Hoyeon, Baekga, and Songsan, and a small tribal federation near Cheonho Mountain.

Gwangsong period
First of all, Gwangpyeong-guk had its golden age. Gwangpyeong was the most productive in the region of Hodong, which is famous for agriculture, and the river surrounding the border became a natural moat. Jin Ho-yeong, who was the lord of Gwangpyeongseong Fortress, quickly occupied neighboring countries based on a strong economy and army, and unified Hodong Province in 897. After being invaded by a Hwasna, Gwangpyeong defend them and established an administrative system to stabilize the country. After the overall reorganization, the Gwangpyeong invaded Baekga in 901. Baekga-guk was defeated in a series of battles, failing to take advantage of the harsh mountainous geographical advantage due to king’s arrogance in the country and unstable internal solidarity. Several generals modified their strategies to tie their feet by staging sit-ins and ambush tactics, but the war situation was already tilted, and in March 902, Kingdom of Baekga was destroyed by the Gwangpyeong.

Meanwhile, Dosang, the king of Songsan-guk, neglected state affairs due to luxury and pleasure, and the nobles were also busy increasing their wealth. Dorim, the half-brother of Do-sang rose up while the king was having a big banquet in the palace, arrested and executed all the Do-sang and his aides, and took control of the royal court. Dorim was able to extinguish the immediate problem by releasing the executed nobles and royal property and saving the people, but the country was devastated by long-standing exploitation and civil unrest, and there were also many nobles who had antipathy against the new king. Therefore, the king wanted to establish a friendship with the kingdom of Gwangpyeong. All the retainers of Gwangpyeong insisted not to establish friendship with Songsan, saying that now is the time to unify the Nothern Yedal, but Jin Ho-young, the king of the country, accepted the offer, saying, "The reason I founded the country is to make people comfortable, not to expand territory." As a result, the western and northern parts of the country were ruled by Gwangpyeong, and the eastern part by Songsan, and between the two countries there was as a buffer zone called Hoyeon federation.

King Dorim improved agricultural production by repairing and expanding irrigation facilities and stabilized the national finances by nationalizing the land of the nobility. In addition, instead of sending envoys to Jeongmi to become a tributary state, they received financial support from Jeongmi, and strengthened their cavalry by bringing in the nomadic people of the east.

Battle of Ho-yeon
The North Yedal region, which was recovering its stability, is again in chaos as Jin Ho-young, the king of Gwangpyeong, died of sudden chronic disease. Jin Ho-ye, who succeeded Jin Ho-young, was wary of Songsan since he was a crown prince, and thought that only when the complete reunification of the peninsula was achieved would he be able to compete with the Hwasan empire. In response, Jin Ho-ye announced Gwangpyeong as an empire in 918, and declared war on Hoyeon at the same time. Hoyeon was a federation of eight countries, with the Jukrim State taking the initiative and representing the Union. Jin Ho-ye believed that if he occupy Jukrim, the federation would collapse, so he mobilized 20,000 soldiers to invade the state. Because of an overwhelming power and unprepared for war, Jukrim fell within ten days, and within a month of the invasion, Gwangpyeong occupied So-on, Domyeong, and Jukrim in the northern part of Hoyeon.

The sudden invasion baffles Songsan. For Songsan, they had to protect the Hoyeon because if Gwangpyeong occupied Songsan, they would have a stable supply route and attack Songsan in many ways. Before the invasion of the Hoyeon, it was difficult for Gwangpyeong to invade Songsan, because of harsh mountains across the border. But the lands are plain except for the low mountains between the Hoyeon and Songsan, which makes it hard to defend. King Dorim immediately called up the soldiers and led 10,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry to rescue Hoyeon.

Jin Ho-ye expected all of this, and waited in ambush on the mountain outside of Jukrim, and carried out a surprise attack, causing tremendous damage to the Songsan-Hoyeon Allied Forces. Subsequently, Songsan was defeated by Gwangpyeong in many battle, and other federations, who were wary of it, surrendered to Gwangpyeong. As a result, most of the Hoyeon was in the hands of Gwangpyeong, and only the southwestern state of Jukryeong remained still. Jin Ho-ye asked Jukryeong to surrender, but Jukryeong refused, and a fierce battle took place in Jeongbangsan-seong, north of Jukryeong. However, Jeongbangsanseong Fortress, which was an impregnable fort, did not collapse, and Gwangpyeong army, which had been exhausted, carried out several small-scale night raids, failed and decided to retreat.

However, the Allies did not intend to send the troops retreat, and they used cavalry to cut off the retreat route and used hammers and anvil tactics to encircle the troops. Because the route was narrow due to the large number of mountains in the Hoyeon country itself, the Allied Forces were able to successfully siege despite the inferior number, and Gwangpyeong County managed to return home with more than 10,000 damage. When the Gwangpyeong army disappeared, the Allied forces immediately invaded other countries in Hoyeon, and the states were busy surrendering without proper battle. Finally, in 921, Songsan-guk was placed under the control of Hoyeon, and Jukryeong, who fought alongside the Allied Forces till the end, became the Duchy of Jukryeong which controlled over 20,000 inhabitants.

Geography


Located in Northern Yedal, Jihwa consists of the peninsula of Jihwa and 362 named islands. Of these, 82 are inhabited (January 2019) with the largest being Seokdo. The country occupies a total area of 50,953 square kilometers (19,673 sq mi), and land area of 47,284 square kilometers (18256.4 sq mi). The area of inland water is 3668.6 square kilometers (1416.4 sq mi). Lake Daecheongho, middle of Jihwa is the largest lake. Jihwa's northernmost point is Ma-gok point, and it is also the northernmost point of Yedal.

The country is mountainous, having 60 percent of the country covered with mountains. The highest mountain in Jihwa is Mount Chenho, at 4424.2 meters (14514 ft). To the east of Mount Cheonho succesive high mountains runs from Jihwa to Nonyukbeol. This mountain range is named Jangbaeksanmaek. Some significant mountains include Mount Kangwoo (2,312 m), Mount Socheol (1,925 m).

Because the mountainous region is mostly on the southern part of the peninsula, the main rivers tend to flow northwards. Only one river called Dangsan River flow southward. There are two wide plain areas called Gwangpyeong Plain which is located in west, and Dosanpyeong Plain which is located in east.

Climate
Jihwa has relatively cool summers and icy/snowy winters. Most of the peninsula falls in the zone with  Dfb in most areas. The average August temperature ranges from 17 C to 24 C while the average temperature ranges from -12 C to -4 C, in both cases depending on elevation and distance from the ocean, though temperatures on the eastern side tend to be a little warmer than on the western.

Since the Jangbaek Mountain range lies in the southern part of Jihwa, the humidity is generally low due to the in summer. However, snow falls a lot in winter due to the influence of the North Sea air mass.

Becasue of that Jihwa is normally not affected by the June-July rainy season and the relative lack of humidity and typically warm, rather than hot, summer weather makes its climate an attraction for tourists from other parts of Yedal.

The northern portion of Jihwa falls into the with significant snowfall. Snowfall varies widely as much as 4 m on the mountains adjacent to the sea down to around 0.8 m on the coast. In winter, the generally high quality of powder snow and numerous mountains in Jihwa make it a popular region for snow sports. The snowfall usually commences in earnest in November and ski resorts (such as Songsan, Soyang, Darim) usually operate between December and April.

Environment
Land and water pollution are two of Jihwa's most significant environmental issues, although much of the country's household and industrial waste is now increasingly filtered and sometimes recycled. The country has historically taken a progressive stance on environmental preservation; in 1972 Jihwa established a Ministry of Environment and was one of the first country in the world to implement an environmental law in 1973.

Military
The Royal Jihwa military forces was first established in 1524, when Jihwa was founded. Thanks to the country’s trade policy, Jihwa established a very powerful navy and exerted great influence in the North Sea from the 16th to the mid-17th century. In 1624, Jihwa had 96 ships of the line. However, with the economic downturn, the Jihwa navy was reduced and Nukigurun, which emerged as a new powerhouse, threatened Jihwa by building a large battleship with abundant resources. Nuki, which emerged as a new powerhouse, threatened Jihwa by building a large battleship with abundant resources. Nuki, which emerged as a new powerhouse, threatened Jihwa by building a large battleship with abundant resources. Thinking that it would quickly fall between the two superpowers, Nuki and Jeongmi, Jihwa established a new maritime strategy to escort cargo ships by mass-building medium-sized frigates rather than by building large battleships.

In the Great Eulhae war, Jihwa joined as an allied power. Even though it’s mainland was conquered by Nukigurun, the Royal Jihwa armed forces moved to Seokdo island and Jeongmi, and fought until the end of the war. After the war was over, Jihwa became a founding member of Yedal Mutual Defense Federation ( 예달상호방위연맹, 蜺達相互防衛聯盟). Xencovia represents army, Jihwa represents navy, and Hwasan represents air force in YMDF.

In 2019, The Jihwa Ministry of Defence employs more than 172,000 personnel, including over 74,000 civilians and over 108,000 military personnel.

Transport
Jihwa has a technologically advanced transport network consisting of high-speed railways, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes that connects Seokdo and homeland.

Jirail provides frequent train services to all major Jihwan cities. After the first railway line was opened in 1836, a number of railways were constructed. Currently, Jirail owns 4,832 kilometers, with 60.2 percent of the total electricity. Each day, 800 million passengers use railway service, due to the small territory and high population density. Jihwa had been reluctant to develope high-speed lines because the country was so small that the railway connects all the cities in Jihwa in 4 hours. Therefore Jihwa improved existing main lines rather than developing high-speed lines. However, because of various reasons including the saturation of railways, and increased exchanges with Hwasan, Northern Yedal High Speed Railway, NYHSR was opened in 2014.

Architecture and design
Jihwa's architecture is basically based on the architecture of Sinju's. The buildings were constructed mainly from wood. In the early days of Jihwa, ondol heating was popular, and single-story buildings were built mainly. However, in 18 th century, the population soared due to the industrial revolution, and as the demand for wood increased, Jihwa's forest resources gradually dried up. Crucially, when Jihwa lost control of Namju, which was rich in forest resources, in the colonial war in Namju at the end of the 18th century, Jihwa suffered a massive wood shortage. As the price of wood soared, people who used ‘On-gudeul’ (heating the entire floor) and lived sedentary, using ‘JJok-gudeul’ (partial heating), and ended the floor with stones or soil. People tried to preserve heat by bringing the kitchen inside the house. The Jihwa government also built lots of townhouses in Jijung to cover rapid population growth and minimize heat losses. Through this period, Jihwa's architecture was greatly changed, and it had its own architectural style different from Sinju's culture.

Later in the late 19th century, King Gwangjong of Jihwa announced that Jihwa's economy had recovered and ordered a major renovation of Jijung National University to promote its status to the world, and many new buildings were built. Among them, the most representative building was "Cheon-In-dang", which was 64 meters high and had 100 large and small classrooms, and as the name suggests, it could accommodate more than a thousand of students. Cheon-in-dang, which incorporates the latest civil engineering technology at the time, was the tallest building in Jihwa and the largest educational building in the world at the time of its construction, and it shocked international students who came to Jihwa.