Kahoku

Kahoku (Japanese: 華北), also known in English as North China, officially the Republic of North China (Japanese: 華北共和国), is a puppet state of the Empire of Japan.

History
On July 7, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War started following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Starting from the Japanese puppet of Manchukuo, the Japanese invaded China downwards, creating a puppet state in Inner Mongolia. Japan scored major victories, capturing Beijing, Shanghai, and eventually the Chinese capital of Nanjing in 1937. Japan never massacred Nanjing in this timeline.

After failing to stop the Japanese in the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. By 1939, World War II had broken out in Europe. Japan chose to stay out of the war. After Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. While Japan ruled the large cities and most of the coast, they lacked sufficient manpower to control China's vast countryside.

Eventually, Japanese reinforcements came into China, and more naval invasions led to Japan controlling all of China's coast. The Japanese led a slow push inwards, and allied themselves with rebels in Xinjiang, as well as Tibet who wanted its historical lands back. The Japanese defeated the Chinese in the Battle of Chongqing, and the Republic of China surrendered.

The Treaty of Beijing was signed on March 12, 1940. Xinjiang gained independence from China, Japan annexed Hainan, and decided to split China into two puppet states to prevent rebellion, Kahoku and Kanan, meaning North China and South China in English.

Allies

 * Empire of Japan
 * Kanan
 * Manchukuo
 * Japanese Yakutia