Chapter 13
December 1st, 1662.
The Baron called a meeting of his former lieutenants, now officers, as well as Jean who he included in nearly everything. He had done a lot of work in a very short amount of time, and they were planning to liberate his race, so the Baron figured it was fair to allow him to know what was going on.
Him and Wolfgang stood next to a board with a map of the Empire pinned on it. The officers and Jean were seated at a table with a folder set out for each of them. Wolfgang clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
“If production keeps up at the current rate, which we have no reason to believe it won’t, we will have one hundred thousand firearms by the end of the year. With our allies' help, I believe we have enough forces to defend from, and possibly even defeat, the spread out and fractured Grand Imperial Army. However, it will not be easy.”
He circled on the map Bergzitadelle Freiderick, the mountain fortress that separated the Empire from the great desert, and the Assai’id and Hou Empire beyond.
“Mountain Citadel Freiderick. The demarcation line of the Empire and the great desert beyond. It is also where most of the Grand Imperial Army’s activities are centered on in Leibenstadt. More and more of the Grand Imperial Army has been stationed down there over time, and the Empress is making it clearer and clearer that she intends to subjugate the southlands.”
He circled the cities of Rauchburg and Caprae Loco.
“Waffenstadt, Caprae Loco, and the Ottoman Empire, as well as a few smaller, disconnected groups in Leibenstadt, have pledged their support in taking the citadel. This will take a very long time, as the fortress has a large garrison, is well stocked, and has an uninterruptible communications method to reach Grössenstadt with her state-of-the-art Sending Stone.”
Jean nearly drooled at the mention of a genuine Sending Stone, as did the Baron and Ludwin.
“I imagine it may end up taking many years, possibly fewer though depending on how well we coordinate and how well our operatives can act, as well as how many men defect or change loyalties to join our side, which is a number I simply cannot account for. And, to begin, we need to subjugate the cities of Leibenstadt, either through assurances of cooperation, or military occupation.”
He circled the city of Leibensburg.
“We already have experience in besieging this city. Overall, I imagine it cannot take entirely too long, unless the Empress has worked as hard as we to convince the population there of her righteousness. We must act swiftly, as the rest of the Grand Imperial Army are here...”
He circled the provinces of Grössenstadt, Bvarien, and Jagstadt.
“And they will not stand idle while their brothers are being shot at. They are spread out amongst these three provinces, however the majority are housed in Grössenstadt. Because of this, our strategy will be this: We keep the Grand Imperial Army busy in the north so they cannot assist the south, and to keep them from crossing Der Großer Teilender Fluss and the mountains and dense forests of Holenstadt. Holenstadt will be heading operations here, as their border is the longest and much of the Grand Imperial Army are in forts and fortresses along their border.”
He circled a few bridges and ferries along the large river which cut the country in two.
“We will need to demolish every bridge along this river and occupy every ferry station. Ideally, we can take both sides, but if we are driven from their half, we still have ours. We will use artillery to discourage crossing, and the major crossings will be lit up at night. We must make it clear that crossing will cost them dearly.”
He took a moment to allow them to process his plans.
“However, before this, we must start the war, and we will be the ones starting it. The Empress does not want civil war, she wants war with the south, and she will act to prevent us without resorting to military action if she can. We cannot allow her to do so. We need a plan to provide us with a pretext.”
Everyone in the rooms went quiet as thought. The Baron spoke first.
“What if I just announce my intention to end slavery by force?”
Ludwin shook his head.
“I do not think that is good enough. It is for me, but for the rest of the Empire? It’s awfully sudden and drastic.”
Everyone nodded their head, the Baron crossed his arm across his body and bit his thumbnail as he thought.
“...Yes I agree, we need a pretext. Some grievance aside from that, something that can ‘compound on past grievances’.”
Wolfgang nodded.
“Yes, I actually have a plan that gives us just that.”
“Well then why didn’t you open with that?”
“Incase any of you have a better plan.”
The Baron nodded his head.
“Fair enough. Go on, tell us.”
He gestured for Wolfgang to continue.
“My plan is to start stirring things up in Grössenstadt. Have people protest and create demonstrations for abolishing slavery, as well as various pro-democracy movements. Eventually, when they reach the proper size, saboteurs will begin to incite them. Not necessarily into rioting, at first, but just agitating them, beginning to make demands and threats. Eventually, the Empress will have to respond.”
Wolfgang smiled.
“Protesting without a permit is illegal, afterall. And if those protestors get rowdy enough, she has the legal right to fire upon them. That will be our pretext. ‘She refuses to listen to the voice of the masses, she has no right to rule! We will bring the people’s wishes into reality!’ Something along those lines, as well as any other minor grievance we think of.”
Most of the officers made a face of displeasure. Udo spoke up.
“Do we really have to get innocent people killed?”
Wolfgang looked at Udo, eyes cold and calculating.
“They are not innocents. We are not going to make people do anything, they are breaking the law of their own volition, they know the risks. There are those who are willing to die for the cause of liberation, and those who simply will die. I agree, it is distasteful, but this is what we must do if we are to free the elves from bondage and bring democracy to the people, which is what I believe you all are here to do.”
Everyone nodded solemnly. Wolfgang continued.
“Then we are going with this plan. If anyone thinks of anything better, do not hesitate to inform me. I value your opinions as professionals and colleagues. Until then, my men will be working on making history. This will likely take a very long time, we need to dot our I's and cross our T's. It may even be a year before we are ready. This sort of thing requires a lot of planning, as well as compromising guards and getting people inside the Grand Imperial Army."
Wolfgang allow the men to mumur amongst themselves before he continued.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"When it comes to it, Gaius, Fergus, I will get you a date, and you will inform your people of that date. That is when things will begin for them. Just wait for me to create a timeline for them. Understood.”
The two men nodded.
“Excellent. Father, I will inform Holenstadt and Waffenstadt, you will send a letter to Suleiman the Magnificent, and Ludwin will spread the word to the Anarchic horsemen. The rest of you are to go about your regular routines, do not look suspicious, and, most importantly, look out for Adolf. He suspects us, he is absolutely here as the Empress’s spy. If he figures out what’s going on, do not kill him. Capture him and leave him alive in Castle Bickenstadt’s dungeon. Understood?”
Everyone voiced their agreements.
"Excellent. Then I will get started. The rest of you are dismissed, go about your normal schedules and routines. The Baron and I will be politicking and radicalizing."
Everyone stood, and Wolfgang gave a crisp Imperial salute.
"For freedom."
Everyone saluted back.
"For freedom!"
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December 17th, 1663.
Fritz had always enjoyed working for Wolfgang. He always gave him interesting work, and recently he was providing him jobs that weren’t just interesting, they were morally correct. He was wearing a multi-covered Imperial puff and slash, as did most middle class men in Grössenburg. He was young and he had an attractive, bare face.
He had always looked younger than he actually was, especially due to his natural lack of facial hair, and that was a very useful quality for his current mission, one over a year in the making: Radicalizing students.
“Brothers, I personally am getting tired of seeing slaves on the streets! It’s dreadful! People in chains, how has that become so normal?”
He was in a coffee house frequented by progressive students. It was a popular place for people to meet and discuss politics and philosophy, the perfect place to recruit for a protest. One of the students sipped his coffee.
“I completely agree man, I still can’t believe I thought it was normal for so long! I wish there was something we could do about it.”
Fritz smiled.
“Well, actually, there is something in the works currently.”
Everyone around leaned in closer.
“I’ve heard from a friend that people are planning on protesting, a demonstration that the people are not ok with living in a slave state. That we do not appreciate these nobles and rich merchants dragging us back to the fourteen hundreds. You know slavery in general almost died out fifty years ago? The Iron Emperor banned it during his reign, but he allowed the slave owners with elves to keep their slaves.”
He turned up his lip. This history always disgusted him when he thought of it.
We got so close!
“They fucking bred them like animals, and treat them worse. I can’t stand it, I am going to protest. I think you should come with, and I think you should invite everyone you know who would be willing to show they care about their nation’s soul. If we want people to take notice, we need bodies on the street, willing to stare down Imperial guards.”
He sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee, sighing contentedly before setting it down again..
“However, if you don’t care that much about the elves you are of course welcome to not attend, I am not going to harangue anyone into doing something that could be hazardous to one’s health.”
The people around be clambered to declare their passion for the cause of abolition.
“And after that, I plan on requesting some democracy. I think we should control our own lives, every man and woman should have a say in the systems that govern them. Personally, I think this and abolition go hand to hand. It’s Enlightenment values.”
The people around vocalized their agreements.
“Excellent. Our protest is scheduled for January 10th, 1663. People will be out on the streets for the Neusjahrmarkt, they’ll hear our message. We’re starting at Erzatzplasse and we plan to march towards the Administration Building.”
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Fritz stood on the roof of The Administration Building, a particularly tall building in Grössenburg, with a telescope of incredibly high quality. It was magically enhanced using runes and spells he couldn’t even fathom. It was extremely expensive, but extremely useful. He could see Castle Grössenburg in perfect detail even from nearly a mile away.
He watched troops moving back and forth, marking down the numbers and memorizing faces so he could tell groups apart from each other. He was working on another thing Wolfgang asked him to do: Spy on the Grand Imperial Army.
Castle Grössenburg was a massive sprawling complex which housed a decent portion of the Grand Imperial Army’s troops, keeping them fresh and well drilled year round. They operated on very strict schedules, something which Fritz also made very careful attention to figure out and write down.
He saw a lone, very flamboyantly dressed man walking down the hall, smoking a pipe and reading from a small booklet. It was Abbot Adol, a man who Fritz had seen walking about working a lot more in recent months. He always looked busy, but weirdly relaxed, which creeped Fritz out for a reason he could only kind of grasp.
I’ve met someone who had similar body language as him. He was a complete monster.
He noted that in his notebook. He didn’t like Abbot Adol. He wasn’t entirely sure what he did, he could only guess he was some sort of important figure, as he could be seen talking with the Empress at times. The only thing that Fritz really knew about him was his name. Aside from that, there was no publicly available information about him.
When he saw the same group of soldiers pass by for the third time he set down his telescope and took a deep breath before putting away his tools.
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Erich was sitting in a coffee house with his friends, drinking and shittalking their classmates with anti-abolitionist sympathies. Things had been heating up between the two rough groups, and people had been getting nastier and nastier to each other. Erich had even had his arms broken multiple times, though with healing magic it could be healed within a day, and he had broken plenty of other people’s bones to make it worth it..
A man came over and sat at their table. Erich and his friends looked over and found a blonde man with piercing blue eyes staring at them, a tray of coffee in his hands.
“Hello, I am Wolfgang von Bickenstadt, functional baron of this province. Erich Wemhoff, I would like to have a word with you and your friends.”
The students stared at him in stunned silence.
“Tell me, how would you like to help me take a step towards the liberation of the elves and democratization of the Empire?”
The students continued to stare, not entirely sure what to say. Wolfgang took a sip of his coffee and began to place cups in front of each man.
“I was impressed with how you handled that slave catcher. Terribly caustic chap, quite frankly I’m shocked my father allowed you to see the inside of a cell. I figured that you might be interested in acting more…directly.”
Erich and his friends leaned in closer.
“What exactly are you asking us to do, sir?”
Wolfgang smiled.
“To rabblerouse, of course. I wish for you to go to Grössenstadt and link up with the various progressive groups there and work with them. They are planning a big protest against slavery and we need as many bodies as we can. It is planned to be peaceful, but with the Empress in charge, honestly, it is doubtful. You have a good head on your shoulders, I feel like you would be a…positive, influence on the protest.”
He leaned in closer to them.
“And I hear you are prolific fighters, getting into scraps with the various reactionary groups.”
Erich raised an eyebrow but Wolfgang continued before he could speak.
“Reactionary is someone who is against civil rights, essentially the people that you do not like. You should spread this word to people. I feel it is a good descriptor. Their ideology is simply a reaction to the current civil rights struggle. Back in my youth it would be the anti-dwarven people, though they are still around, just not the main thing.”
He leaned back in his chair and picked up his coffee.
“Regardless of the terminology, you understand what I want, yes?”
The men nodded their heads.
“Good. Are you in?”
They all nodded their heads. Wolfgang stood up.
“Excellent! Then tomorrow you shall receive your marching orders. Do not worry, you will be excused from your studies while you are there, and your expenses will be paid by me. You will receive the address of the people you are working with along with your marching orders. You are doing a good thing, my friends. A great thing, even.”
He finished off his coffee and dropped a bag of Reiksgeld on the table. There were at least three hundred Reiksgeld in the bag, nearly five month’s rent worth.
“A little gratuity, from the Baron. He insisted you boys be taken care of now that you’re under my wing.”
He gave them a polite bow and left the shop, leaving the men in stunned silence.