Datong boasts a long and storied legacy as a center of power for northerners. It was the imperial capital for the nomadic Xianbei of the Northern Wei, the Western Capital for the Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin, and even a vital Ming fortress built to defend against Mongol raids. Yet all of this history is selectively forgotten by the new regime in Hohhot. To Prince Demchugdongrub and his inner circle, the city's past is irrelevant; they see only the present: a sprawling Han metropolis, culturally alien to their pan-Mongol ambitions and a source of profound ideological embarrassment. And yet, it is an embarrassment they must tolerate, for the city's vast revenues are the golden leash keeping Mengjiang afloat.

This immense wealth is extracted by the North China Development Company, which oversees a colossal industrial machine. Known as the Coal City, Datong's horizon is a jagged line of open-pit mines, locomotive foundries, and cement plants whose output reinforces the Sphere's military posture. The complex has a singular purpose: extraction and export for the benefit of the North China Area Army and its Japanese homeland. Gazing upon this industrial hellscape are the Buddhas of the Yungang Grottoes, their ancient stone faces—a fusion of Silk Road artistry and nomadic piety—slowly succumbing to a blanket of industrial soot.

Such arrangement creates a profitable instability. From Hohhot, the Mongol elites complain endlessly of the "Han cancer" on their southern border. From the south, the Shanxi Province issues futile protests over its "stolen territory." The squabbling of the two client states is of little concern to the North China Development Company. Acknowledging no master but Tokyo and no principle but profit, it disregards their paper borders and ensures that the wealth of Datong continues to flow, no matter who claims to rule the land.