On March 20 1551 OC, the garrison of the Turulhát Pass on the Rebel Lands - Medvetland border spotted a large dust cloud approaching. Soon the sun glittered on thousands of bayonets and drawn swords: the Medvetland Corps of Observation was moving on them with full force.
Now Medvetland has coveted the eastern fringes of the Rebel Lands since ages, as they claimed the predecessors of the people now living there stole that land from their Arch-Tsar Svatopluk IX. But it was a mere pretense: the Medved was hungry for conquest, and the greater foe, Tekirdag, had been sitting idle for the past ten years or so, being occupied with the Alanians coming from the east, and the various anti-piracy actions in the Levant; so this seemed as good an opportunity as any to come to increase the Tsar's sphere of influence.
A company of horse detached from the marching army, and rode to the outpost situated just on the Rebel side of the pass. It was a meagre fortification, a wall no more than two feet thick, two bastions and a large two-storeyed blockhouse behind, jutting out from the mountain's rock. The officer at their head stopped at the gate under a banner of truce, and looked with disdain on the defenses. He wore a colonel's uniform, and when the gate opened, he rode in, addressing the Rebel officer in charge in an accentuated German.
'Dear Sir, this is the formal declaration of war, signed by the State Duma and His Majesty Tsar Pavel V', he held out an envelope. 'Please take it to your rulers, whoever they might be. Then, your men have three hours to evacuate this hovel, before our cannon tear it down to ruins.'
The Captain so addressed, Századoskapitány Otrochány Zsigmond lovag de Mátraháza, took the letter, then immediately passed it to his fastest rider, who was already mounted. After instructing the man and seeing him off, he walked back to the envoy, lit his pipe with measured motions, looked in the man's eye and said, 'You do not have to wait three hours; we are ready to take on you.' It was obvious he took the suggestion to ride to the capitol himself as provocation, a hint of cowardice - it was intended just to be so.
The envoy's face became red with rage. He turned his horse and rode away without any further exchange of words: a first hindrance to a campaign just started. He tore the white banner from the bearer's hand and threw it on the fresh mountain grass.
Unknowing to the Medvetland officer, Otrochány's Laconic answer was not without foundation. The woods near the Turulhát Pass teemed with Székely border guards and other irregulars. He had the area mapped, and his men knew of the hidden trails and safe passageways. Thus, what seemed to be a small blockhouse guarded by a hundred men, was in fact a rallying point of a force more than two thousand strong. He smirked when he thought about the surprise the Medvetlanders would soon experience.
The enemy Colonel, thinking he was out of harm's way, stopped after riding a hundred yards or so, and began shouting curses at the Rebels. 'You will never forget the day when you stood in the path of the Medvetland eagle!', he finished, pointing at the regimental banners arrayed right behind him, showing the double-headed black eagle on a white field, when a shot rang and he dropped from the saddle. Up the cliffs above his head, a Székely warrior, sitting on a rock in plain sight, reloaded his rifle indifferently: the drop was so huge that enemy musket fire could not reach him.
'Well, Turulhát means eagle's back, so the Medvetland eagle should watch his back better than that one man did', Otrochány commented, and waved to his men to bring the two hidden three-pounder guns to the battlement.
~
The garrison held out for five day against overwhelming odds. In the meantime, a few freshly raised units arrived to relieve them, and were spent, bravely but futilely, resisting the onslaught. By March 23, the rider reached the Rebel capitol of Pesth. On the 24th, the general edict to call to arms any able-bodied men was issued, and on the same day, a request for military aid, using the inter-state post service with changed horses, went out to Schultzdorf Palace.
On the 25th, just about the time when Otrochány and his men finally had to give up the blockhouse and retreated back towards the mountain peaks, Princeps Erhard Berthold von Jazygen received the letter. He read it alone, then called for Erik von Südflosse, his most trusted advisor. They spent three hours in the Princeps' private chambers, then von Südflosse sent for Generalleutnant Herbert Ritter von Plischke, the Chief Overseer of the Army.
Von Plischke, upon his arrival, was presented the following orders:
"You are hereby appointed in supreme command of the Schultzdorf Expeditionary Force. In three days' time, you shall march to the Rebel Lands with the first contingents, to aid their fight against the invaders.
The 1st Brigade SEF, under Your direct command, will constitute:
- IR3 and IR4 without their depot battalions
- KR 1. Prinzessin Anneliese
- DR 2. Midnansk
- A battery of ten field guns
The 2nd Bridage SEF, under Generalmajor Dietrich von Spülge, will join you as soon as the units finished recruitment & requisitioning, and will constitute:
- IR9 and IR11, without their depot battalions
- HR 2. von Thiefen
By order of the Commander in Chief, signed the War Council, March 25 1551, per the Petroglobian Calendar."
Now there were some irritating factors, between the lines so to speak, in that letter that von Plishcke recognized without any overconfident clerk pointing them out.
First, he was given expressis verbis (and set with bold, not without a reason) overall command of the expedition, but his subordinate for the venture, von Spülge, was above him in military rank. The Princeps and von Südflosse obviously thought von Spülge had not enough skill to conduct an operation so far from his well-known area of the north country. Damn the fools of the War Council who thought it a good idea to raise the man in rank, after the blunders he made during the 2nd Störkburg War!, fumed von Plischke just as soon as he was back in his coach, galloping with haste towards the Schultzdorf training grounds.
Second, von Spülge will make every delay possible while bringing no less than half of the troops available for their joint command to the theatre. He knew the man to be an ineffectual organizer, although none was better with a sword. It might take one or two crucial months for the 2nd Brigade to reach him, by which time his own brigade would be tired and depleted from marching and fighting in the unknown land.
He sighed and put his misery aside for a moment. The Prinzessin Anneliese Küirassiers were already mustering outside their barracks. He looked at them, good fighting men, veterans of the recent war, many personally known to him. He had a good cadre of regimental officers thirsting for glory, and, being just the opposite of von Spülge's anti-talent, he could organize their departure in three days.
The spring sun broke the clouds as he stepped out of the coach and mounted his favourite Arab mare. Brigadier von Schalwerden stood his horse before the ranks, and greeted him with a salute. He rode closer and the two men shook hands, being old comrades. They exchanged a few words between themselves. Then von Plischke unbuttoned his coat so that all his military orders glittered in the sun, and bellowed, his voice reaching even the troops furthest away from him:
'Now boys, are you ready for a fight?'
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