Well I'm almost finished reading Empire Alone. The impression was the CapCom was forces were spread thinner, thus why the invasion happened by the Anduriens. If the smackdown between the ilKhan and the Channcelor goes down, I suspect the Liao forces will perhaps be too weak to repulse an invasion unless Danai is able cut deal with someone so "likely-dead-brother/dad" forces can focus on one threat.
I'm not sure a deal will be able to be cut, Andurian likely wants as much as they can take so any deal on that end would require surrendering a large number of Sian commonality worlds, (as well as likely some to the MOC) and Alaric'll basicly demand the capcon "bend the knee" the CC IMHO is in a "no win" position, Daoshen's over extended and is GOING to pay the price. a sane reasonable ruler would have abandoned any intreast in further expansion, dug in along a border he deemed defensivable and wheeled back to deal with Andurian in sufficant force that the ever oppertunistic MOC would side with you as "the victor"
that said looking at the text of his conversion with Ilsa I think there's something intreasting at play here..
The Chancellor fell silent for a long moment before
delivering his answer: “You have forgotten where your
obligation lies.” The Magestrix’s focus on growing their
realms had blinded her to her first duty as a Liao, he said.
The threat to the Confederation lay at the core of the
Inner Sphere, on Terra, and it was the responsibility of
the Celestial Wisdom to meet the threat of the ilClan by
reclaiming Confederation worlds and preparing to take
humanity’s homeworld from the Wolves. All other concerns
were secondary, Daoshen said, his gaze falling upon Ilsa—
especially hers.IMHO Daoshen has become so obsessed with Terra he's become blind to threats from other quarters, to the point where my gut says he'll IGNORE Andurian, convinced that "he'll be able to deal with the upstarts once Terra is dealt with"
