Chapter 133: Intervention in the Eimericas
Extra: dynasties of the world
"I hate loopholes."
-A former slaveowner
"We free the slaves, and this is how they repay us. With heresy. At least the Inquisition has something to do now."
-Johannes von Georg, Patriarch of Sudafrika
On 11 January 1700, Kaiserin Victoria II emancipated the slaves, issuing the Ban on Slavery Act and amending the Augustinian Code to close the loophole which allowed Roman merchants to buy slaves from Mali. The former slaves were granted citizenship and equal rights with other citizens, something which angered the aristocracy, merchant class, and the slaveowners, of course. Hundreds of years of exploitation and belief in the slaves' subhuman qualities were overturned in seconds with the stroke of a pen. The former slaveowners had to find new occupations. Some turned to fishing. Others turned to the textile industry and to ivory. Others joined the legions. Still others went into shipbuilding, and some of these former slaveowners developed a new type of ship, the archipelago frigate.
Meanwhile, the slaves had a difficult time integrating into Roman society. Some were already Christians, but the majority of them were pagans, not like the Malian pagans, but actual heathen pagans with no agreed-upon beliefs. A few freed slaves in Ouargla somehow got their hands on a book written by Johann Calvin and decided to "convert" to the dead heresy of Purism just to "try it out." Of course, that only earned them the anger of the local patriarch and immediate crackdown by the Inquisition.
Megas Domestikos Georgios Dalassenos was itching for a war to test out his new legions (and gain much glory for his own family). He noticed that the Mexica and Quechua empires were engaged in yet another war over patches of jungle and mountains northern South Eimerica. Victoria noticed this too and immediately sent an impossible ultimatum to Cihuatlatoani Yaotl Acatl, demanding that she withdraw all forces from Tawatinsuyuan territory immediately or "face the consequences of a Sunrise Invasion." Yaotl was not impressed.
Generals Wilhelm Otto and Julie d'Aubigny were sent to invade and seize the Orinoco Delta, aided by Neu Rhomanian colonial legions. Dalassenos's strategy was to occupy as much land as possible and liberate all of the occupied Tawatinsuyuan territory before Yaotl could mobilize her jaguar warriors. Upon entering Alliance territory, spies reported to their own amazement that there were absolutely no forts in the region; the only fort was near the Isthmus of Panama, and after that there were no more forts at all until the area immediately surrounding Tenochtitlan! It would be rather easy to just walk all the way from Neu Rhomania to Tenochtitlan itself. Victoria began drawing up plans for the capture of the Mexica capital and the liberation of Kaiser Wilhelm III's body.
Meanwhile, Japan sued for peace with the Ming and Koreans, granting them concessions and paying a hefty war indemnity that took away from the funds needed to modernize. It would be almost impossible now for them to Romanize and reform their samurai to stand up against the hordes of Chinese and Korean soldiers.
Otto attacked a Mexica garrison that was stationed at the Orinoco Delta; or rather, the garrison attacked him first. All one thousand jaguar warriors were crushed easily with no casualties on the Roman side. Otto proclaimed that he would seek vengeance for all of those Romans killed in the 13th century's Sunset Invasion.
In March of 1701, the cartographers filled in the last spots of terra incognita on the maps. With Aozhou completely mapped out now, the entire world was discovered. A few days later, the misguided heretics of Ouargla were brought back on the path of the True Faith, and Purism was eradicated again.
The imperial fleet chased down a Mexica fleet off the coast of the Silberfluss River, managing to sink several ships before it fled back to the Mexica holdings in the Caribbean.
Julie d'Aubigny continued to destroy garrisons wherever she found them. By now Yaotl was worried about the advances of Otto and d'Aubigny, but she had sent reinforcements to deal with them.
The imperial fleet chased down the Mexica fleet again, sinking three ships before the fleet fled to safety on a nearby island. Otto promptly assaulted the island's defenses.
d'Aubigny attempted to take the fortress at Magdalena, only for a Mexica army under the command of Xocoyotl Axayacatl to ambush her legion and massacre every last man. d'Aubigny managed to escape back to Neu Rhomania, but her legion was destroyed.
The Mexica fleet was forced out of its harbor again and attempted to run the blockade, loosing several ships in the process before managing to secure safety in another port. Otto promptly moved to that island as well.
When that island fell, the fleet made a run for it again, losing almost thirty ships in the process, two of which were captured and studied by the imperial navy. The remnants of the fleet fled to the last Mexica island in the Caribbean.
And when that island fell to Otto's legions, the fleet made a suicide run into the Roman navy which only served to send the entire fleet to the bottom of the ocean, with two more ships captured for good measure.
On land, the war wasn't going as well. Mexica reinforcements had retaken most of the occupied territories. Otto was deployed to defeat Axayacatl, but on the border with Neu Rhomania Axayacatl ambushed him first, and the jaguar warrios made short work of his legion. The survivors fled to Neu Brandenburg in panic.
That last battle caused the Sapa Inca to give up. Seeing that the Romans could not help them at all, Tawatinsuyu sued for peace, ceding to the Alliance large portions of their northern provinces. The Reich was humiliated by its enemy yet again. The Roman economy took a nosedive as merchants in Canton began to defect to the Tran, not wanting to work with a weak empire.
Ming continued its rampage in Asia, destroying the tribe of Ternate, which until then had survived unnoticed by basically everybody around it.
To distract the citizens from the reality of the war in the Eimericas, Victoria declared massive triumphs held in commemoration of the Reich's founding in 1105. It was now six hundred years since Friedrich the Glorious united East and West together, but it appeared now that the West and East were poised to fight again. Whether it was between Ming and Rome or Rome and the Alliance or all three of them in the same war was another question. Victoria hired a young German composer named Bach to compose music for the triumphs and celebrations. The
Brandenburg Concertos became popular among many nobles and middle class citizens, though some remarked on something they called "Missing Localisation," whatever that was.
Angry at the failure in the war with the Alliance and the emancipation of the slaves, the barons of Memel rebelled against Victoria under the leadership of a man named Wolfram Isaiah, who had lost his legs in the war with the Alliance and came home to find that his wife had left him and his son had defected to Lithuania. Famine was rocking Memel, so he raised an army and rebelled.
The rebellion was over in twenty-three days. Isaiah was killed in the battle.
Dalassenos was not satisfied by the legions' conduct in the war with the Alliance. He reasoned that, while the truce was still in place and the Tawatinsuyu weren't at war with the Alliance, the Reich could pick on an easier and closer target to destroy and show the superiority of the legions...
In a dramatic overturning of tradition and policy, Victoria II issued a declaration of war against Fylkja Asta I Estrid of Scandinavia on the grounds of "imperialism." As the Russians, Yavdi, and Commonwealth mobilized their forces, Dalassenos ordered Operation Schwartz-Bart to commence at once, and hundreds of thousands of Roman soldiers streamed over the border into the Commonwealth.
