Uprising of Bisera

Uprising of Bisera
Date 24.XV.1711 - Location Lanzerwald
Belligerents
Lanzerwald	Safehaven
Commanders and leaders
Jan den Ouden	Princess Bisera Eisen
Units involved
2nd Division of the 1ste Krijgskorps 2nd Company of the 3rd Division of the Dragonderkorps	Village guard of Safehaven

The Uprising of Bisera was a revolt of Siseranists previously laying hiding in the Lanzerwald since the end of the Second Ludwiggian-Monovian War, in which the Siseranists fought with the Monovian pretender-king Elonzo XIII. The end of the war created a status-quo where the undocumented natives would mostly stay away from Lanzerwaldian settlements and trade links. Halfway between Vulcuria and Elonzo, the Siseranists had their own small settlement, of just over 2300 souls, which they called Safehaven for they felt it was their only place where they could still live in peace in a world that had turned more and more hostile towards them, that they had founded in VI.1696 when the Third Republic of Sankt Ludwigshafen had banned their religion because of its role in the Ludwigshafener Civil War, especially their practice of human sacrifice, and the nuclear destruction of the capital city, Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen. The small settlement was not affected by the two Ludwiggian-Monovian wars, except for Siseranists from the village joining the Monovian war effort. However, on 24.XV.1711 surveyors working for the Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb encountered the village by random chance as they were working on plans for a narrow-gauge railway connection from Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, over Grenstad and Vulcuria towards Elonzo.

The surveyors arrive in Safehaven

Now, Safehaven was governed by Bisera Eisen in those days, who was styled Princess of the small village and ruled together with two high priestesses, only known as Sandraste, and Valeria but not by their full names, not even to the inhabitants of the village, as they had been taken from another tribe when they were just infants, and raised to fulfil their role in the Siseranist religion without family affiliations. When they surveyors were walking through the meadows of Safehaven, and were taking their measurements therein, they were promptly spotted and stopped by the herdsman of the kine and taken before Bisera Eisen, and her two high priestesses Sandraste and Valeria. When asked to do so, the surveyors explained what their intentions were, to take measurements for the construction of a narrow-gauge railroad that would lead ineluctably through the meadows of the small village of Safehaven and also that they did not even need to take measurements to be certain that the small village would have to be abandoned, as the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald would not allow settlements of undocumented natives to be located this closely to its vital trade links.

After having listened to the surveyors,Princess Bisera argued with them that they should find another route for their railroad plans, but the surveyors remained stubborn and refused to consider anything but the most efficient route. Brought to despair, Princess Bisera ordered the village guards to strip down the surveyors and apply lashes to them with the whip, in order to change their minds. As she ordered it, so it was executed and the guards applied to each of the surveyors thirty lashes on their naked backs, and they cried out in utter agony. But even after all these lashings, the effect on the stubbornness of the surveyors was nought. "Nay", they said, "the republic is built on the principles of precision and efficiency. The Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb requires nothing less. Alas, we must concur with you that your small village is appealing to the eyes, and of the contrition we feel for causing its obliteration. Still this, and neither do the lashes, does anything to sway us on the meat and potatoes of this discussion. The most efficient narrow-gauge railroad route from Vulcuria to Elonzo leads through the meadows of your hamlet." Having thus been unable to come to any agreement, the surveyors and the princess ended their conversations, and the surveyors returned to Vulcuria to write a report about their ill-pleasant welcome in the village of Safehaven and also did they request that after their wounds on their backs would have healed, they would be provided with an armed escort to look after their safety in the treacherous Lanzerwald.

Bisera plans her attack

After the surveyors had lifted their heels, then did Princess Bisera convene with the captain of the guards of the village Safehaven to discuss the defence of Safehaven against the relative might of the Lanzerwaldian republic. Envoys were sent to other Siseranist villages lying low in the outstretched wilderness of the Lanzerwald, although many of these villages were even smaller than Safehaven, some harbouring no more than 500 souls. High Priestess Valeria, who was considered to be a keen and able rider, was sent by Princess Bisera to scout the area between Vulcuria and Grenstad, to determine whether the Lanzerwaldians made haste with the construction of their railway connection between the east and west of the republic. In addition, all men and women of Safehaven were admonished to stockpile food and water in their houses to prepare for the circumstance that the Army of the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald would lay siege to the village.

On 3.I.1712, at the break of dawn, the villagers of Safehaven were awoken from their slumber by the sound of the hooves of High Priestess Valeria's gray horse that galloped over the cobblestones toward the keep where Princess Bisera had established herself in. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the princess welcomed the high priestess and bade her in. A servant was ordered to prepare tea, while the two women sat silently in the small tea garden of the keep. Anxious as Bisera was to learn the news, and just as much anxious as Valeria was to share it, in their Siseranist belief it was considered to bring bad luck to discuss subjects as grave as the possibility to wage war, as this was what was considered to be at hand, before tea. Over a wood burning stove, the servant patiently waited for the water to reach the boiling point, then another minute he did let the water boil before finally taking it off the stove. Yet another minute did he wait before he poured the water over a sieve containing tea leaves, fully aware of the seriousness of the situation he had chosen to serve Imperial White Tea today, which he had bought from a Mondese trader that passed through the forest recently, on his way from Zijincheng, the former Jingdaoese capital, to Oudorp. The hot tea was then presented by the servitor to the distinguished ladies, and bowing towards them as he backed out of the room he took his leave. For the next ten minutes, both Bisera and Valeria took small sips from their tea, speaking not a single word before they had both finished their drinks.

As the ladies had finished their tea, Bisera called for the servitor and had him remove the porcelainware so they were not distracted by it, as they spoke on the matter that lay before them. The servant backed of the room to take his leave again, this time carrying the crockery. As he was gone, Princess Bisera called upon High Priestess Valeria and said pray tell me what you have discovered as you scrutinised the area between Vulcuria and Grenstad. The eyes of the high priestess lit up as she began telling about her travels, how she had been able to traverse the woods undetected even when she came close to patrols of the Dragonderkorps at times. She provided Bisera with many details, even though Bisera was scarcely interested in these details as they did not pertain to how the Lanzerwaldians might be stopped. The princess urged the high priestess to cut to the chase of the matter, and tell her how the Lanzerwaldians might be stopped. Valeria paused for a moment to regain her composure, as she had hoped to provide the princess with many more details of her expedition, but then proceeded with what lay at the heart of the matter.

Valeria shifted to the edge of her seat as she began explaining what she had found in the region between Vulcuria and Grenstad, pertaining to the narrow-gauge railroad that the Lanzerwaldians were building, and which would threaten Safehaven if the Lanzerwaldians were to continue their construction works towards Elonzo. As it happened, the settlement of Vulcuria lay on the far side, as seen from Grenstad, of a great river, called the Mirkriver as its water was very dark of colour, because of all the peat that was present in it. And this river had the habit to expand greatly in width in the Autumn and part of the Winter seasons. As such, the Lanzerwaldians had to construct a large railroad bridge that would keep the tracks dry and high both in the Summer when the stream was relatively narrow, but also in the Autumn and Winter seasons when the stream was very wide. Valeria had learned all this from locals in Vulcuria, who spoke Diets, which she spoke too but with a heavy Saxon accent, and were hesitant at first to speak to Valeria, but she was of exquisite beauty and her charms wore away their apprehension, and they also told her how long it had taken the republic to build the bridge, over a year and it came with many difficulties. And Valeria had learned from them about the Lanzerwaldian patrols through the forest and she had found a place in the woods from where a group of the militia of Safehaven could lay low and prepare an attack on the bridge, to delay the construction of the last stretch of the railroad, that would lead it through the meadows of Safehaven.

Now it should be told that Bisera's countenance grew grim as she was listening to the information that Valeria had shared with her. Not because she was not pleased with the work that Valeria had done, but rather that she realised that the Lanzerwaldians would be very angry with the attack on the bridge, as necessary as it seemed to be. Princess Bisera called in the servant once again, and he appeared in the door before ten seconds passed, inquiring how he could be of service. "Make haste", Bisera told him "And bring Simon, the captain of the guard to me, and also bring his lieutenants Dirk and Hans." Hastily the servitor ran away and looked in the village to find the three men that were summoned to the princess, being the aforementioned Captain Simon, Lieutenant Dirk and Lieutenant Hans of the Safehaven Guard. Simon and Dirk were found in the village pub, where they were drinking small beer and discussed the village affairs with the inhabitants of the village and the landlord of the pub. Hans, they said, was in the woods west of the village on a patrol with seven other guardsmen, and the servant sped out to find him there.

Having found Hans, Captain Simon, Lieutenant Dirk and Lieutenant Hans of the village guard were brought before Princess Bisera by the servitor who was promptly instructed to leave the room and close the door behind him. In a hushed voice, she informed the three men that they had to take twenty additional men with them and undertake an expedition to the railroad bridge that was located between Grenstad and Vulcuria. The bridge, which had been made out of wood, would have to be burned down and Lanzerwaldian efforts to quell the fire would have to be repelled with lethal force until the fire would spread so far and the damage would have been so great, that it would be extremely difficult to restore the bridge. Thanking the princess for their mission, the three men bowed out and began conscripting guardsmen for their endeavour.

The surveyors return in Vulcuria

After speaking with Princess Bisera, the surveyors of the Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb returned to Vulcuria, where they stayed in the local inn, as swiftly as they could, reaching the city on 2.I.1712. After they had compiled all their measurements and drafted a map of the future railroad line to Elonzo, they began to write down all the relevant details of their meeting with the princess. In two separate letters, one addressed to the Board of Directors of the Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb in Stadt Sankt Ludwigshafen, and another directly to General Donatie de Lancôme of the Dragonderkorps, asking him to provide a patrol to escort them in the treacherous eastern part of the Lanzerwald.

As the Board of Directors of the Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb received the letter, they were concerned very much and wrote their own letters to the Steden-Generaal notifying the government of the threat of undocumented natives to the extension of the railroad network in the less populated regions of the republic. The Steden-Generaal convened and ordered the stadtholder to modernise the Army of the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald so that it would be more effective in countering the headstrong behaviour of the undocumented natives. As part of the modernisation of the army, Stadtholder Jan den Ouden convened with Osthügel Motorenwerke to for the first time also include motorised vehicles into the Lanzerwaldian armed forces. These talks were mostly informal in nature and did not result in the immediate procuring of any vehicle, but the salesmen of Osthügel Motorenwerke did promise to return to Den Ouden with plans for a motorised tachanka that could be useful for the Lanzerwaldian armed forces.

On 10.I.1712 Wachtmeester Joost van Aardenbos and the other men belonging to his patrol reported at the inn building in Vulcuria, where they met with the surveyors. They accompanied the employees of the Ludwigshafener Eisenbahnbewirtschaftungsbetrieb to the area north of Safehaven where they returned taking their measurements, and according to all known accounts they did so without being hindered by undocumented natives, or encountering any other great difficulties.

The march on the bridge

On 11.I.1712 the fellowship of Captain Simon, being himself, his lieutenants Dirk and Hans, and twenty minutemen arrived at the Mirkriver, roughly twenty kilometres west of the bridge that they had sworn to destroy. Following the stream against the current, they made their way to the bridge itself, always taking care that they would not be observed by passing Lanzerwaldians patrols. Several times they had to hide themselves in bushes and shrubs as patrols of the Dragonderkorps trotted along. With them, the twenty-three men, for there were no women among them, they had no donkeys to carry their burdens, as they were afraid the donkeys would make noises that would let them be detected. Instead they carried the heavy bags with petroleum soaked firelighters and black gunpowder on their backs. After finding the river it took them two more days before they arrived at a spot a few hundred meters away from the bridge, so they could observe it without risking being detected themselves.

At midnight 13.I.1712 the men belonging to the company of Captain Simon once again took their heavy backpacks on their backs, and marched towards the bridge that was guarded by only three Lanzerwaldian soldiers belonging to the Dragonderkorps. From a distance of 100 meters, the Siseranists opened fire on the dragoons with their carbines, killing two of them and causing the third to flee with wounds to his arms and shoulders. Having thus cleared the way towards the bridge for themselves, they ran towards it and unto it. Twenty-five meters did they run unto it, counting the railway sleepers to reach the calculated spot from where they could be certain the rail would fall into deep water, and not into a shallow place in the river, where it could easily be restored. They took the backpacks from their backs, and secured them to the wooden sleepers, and to other wooden beams that supported the bridge itself. After they had done so, and they had inspected their work and had found it done to a good standard, they set the lighters on fire and hurried back to the shore.

Now, as the wounded dragoon had made his way to the top of the hill overlooking the valley, and in the valley the river and the bridge across it, he had alerted his comrades there which had set up a camp there, and they had been sleeping and had been oblivious to the situation that had unfolded in the valley. But as they heard what had happened from the wounded dragoon, they rose quickly and they grabbed their rifles and were determined to intercept the fleeing Siseranists. Their officer, a young man called Hendrik van Annahaven looked through his binoculars at the bridge in the valley when he spotted the burning lighters on the track and the supporting structure, only seconds later was he a witness of the explosion that destroyed much of the bridge and he could see the Siserniast fleeing away from the bridge, following the shore. Another dragoon had taken up position behind one of the donkey-drawn machine guns that they had with their group, and when he received the order from his officer, he opened fire on the fleeing Siseranists, which he could see quite clearly. So angry even was Hendrik, that he ordered the anti-tank cannon to fire upon the fleeing Siseranists, and together, and with them the rifles of the marksmen did also fire upon the fleeing Siseranists, did they kill many of the Siseranists and only captain Simon and one of his guardsmen were able to succesfully escape into the forest. Not knowing whether there were any more Siseranists waiting in the forest, and whether they had laid an ambush there for any stalking defenders, Hendrik van Annahaven did not pursue them, but told his men to remain vigilant and defend their hill for the night. He did shoot a warning flare in the air, with its red light signalling to other Lanzerwaldian troops in the vicinity that the situation was dire, this flare was observed in nearby Vulcuria, where they had also heard the explosion on the bridge and the fire from the machine gun and the anti-tank cannon.

Lanzerwaldian retaliation

Following the attack on the bridge by the militia from Safehaven, a careful investigation was done by the Dragonderkorps into the site of the crime scene. They were assisted by criminal investigators from the Mondosphere, who had techniques available to them that were unknown to the Lanzerwaldians, and frankly also not very well understood by the Lanzerwaldians. It took them several days, until 2.II.1712 to determine with a high level of certainty that the militia of Safehaven was responsible for the attack. Among other things they found a Siseranist prayerbook, an insignia with the crest of Safehaven, and an icon of Empress Sisera of the Empire of Jingdao and South Batavia. These findings were presented to the Steden-Generaal and discussed during an emergency seating of the aforementioned legislative organ. It was in turn decided that the 2nd Division of the 1ste Krijgskorps would be sent to Safehaven, first to present it with an ultimatum to cooperate with the criminal investigation to find the culprits responsible for the attack, but to wage war against the village if it would not cooperate with these requests.

On 10.II.1712, the 2nd division was assembled in Vulcuria, with their donkeys laden with supplies and weaponry, and the division was ready to wage war against Safehaven. They set off the same day, expecting to reach the village four days later, on 14.II.1712. They reached the outskirts of the village indeed on the 14th day of the second month, but as it was becoming dark they decided to set up their camp on a relatively safe distance from the village, so that they could scout its surroundings in daylight. As was expected, and should have been expected, the villagers of Safehaven had noticed that the 500 men from the 2nd division had neared their city, and they informed Bisera of this. In turn, Bisera ordered the evacuation of most villagers and remained in the city alone with two-hundred militiamen and sixty volunteers who were willing to die to make a stand against the Lanzerwaldian Republic.

On 15.II.1702 two soldiers from the 2nd division approached the village, carrying with them a white flag to signal that they were not armed and wished to convey a message. However, as they approached the palisades of the village, fire was opened upon them by the Siseranists and they hastily returned to the Lanzerwaldian camp where they informed their commander of this turn of events. After the commander had inquired of them whether they had held the white flag high for everybody to see and had convinced himself that this was no mistake on the side of the Siseranists, he decided to launch an armed attack on the village. After they had encircled it, the city was attacked with incendiary grenades shot by the donkey-drawn anti-tank cannons that set the village ablaze, as the Siseranists emerged from their burning buildings the machine gun fire from the Lanzerwaldians made short work of them. Despite being outnumbered, and the heavy firepower they were exposed to, the Siseranists tried to break out of the siege by attacking the northern flank of the Lanzerwaldian 2nd division, where they encountered the 3rd company. The soldiers fought in close combat, with the Lanzerwaldians finally being able to repel them after launching a bayonet charge. Of the two hundred sixty Siseranists that participated in the battle, two hundred and forty lost their lives, among them also Queen Bisera, ten were taken as prisoners of war, and another ten were not found and it is uncertain to the Lanzerwaldian historians as to whether they escaped or their bodies were lost in the fire. As to the Lanzerwaldian losses, most were to be mourned among the 3rd company of the 2nd division, which lost twenty-seven men. Ten soldiers were lost in the other companies.

Aftermath

After the uprising of Bisera, the republic recognised that it could not trust the undocumented natives of the Lanzerwald, and that it would need to fight bitter wars for years to come and subdue all resistance in order to live peacefully. The railroad bridge was restored one year after the events of the uprising took place, and the first train to Vulcuria ran over it on 7.XII.1713.