Chapter CLIX – Mercy rejoiceth against liberty.

60th of Spring 5860
Changra, County State of Changra

“There it is, Changra.” General Tubman pointed towards the town slowly appearing in the distance. So did a few enemy cavalrymen in the distance who, upon seeing the army of the Republic approaching, broke and began a retreat towards the town.

Kyauta breathed a sigh of relief “It seems they don’t intend to fight.”

“They’d have to be complete fools to do that now, wouldn’t they?” Behind Tubman was the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, also known as the Casamonu Host, who had moved rapidly to capture Changra. She didn’t lead them – their Hetman did. General Tubman and Kyauta were there for a whole another reason, to bring with them the spirit of the League of Gileadites.

Swiftly the regiment moved forward, to the gate of this small town. It was protected by a simple palisade, plus a modest castle in the middle that towered over the rest of the town. A pretty standard setup small town for the border of Gemeinplatz. The gate was open, with a white banner hung over it. Standing it behind it were a dozen or so lightly armored men, who were what remained of the town’s garrison. They similarly waved a white flag on a pole, with their weapons piled up on the road in front of them.

Now, that was a problem. Tubman leaned towards Kyauta to whisper to her “Young lady, do you remember how to do these surrender ceremonies?”

“I’ve seen a bunch of them by now, but I’ve never paid attention” replied Kyauta.

Both sides looked at each other, each anticipating the other to begin the surrender process. General Tubman really wished she had brushed up on her surrender skills. With how fierce the Battle of Karabush was, she was expecting the defenders of this town to at least try and put up some resistance. If they did, they’d be all dead and nobody would have to deal with a surrender.

“May the good Lord above help me” pleaded Tubman, before she got off her horse and walked forward to proceed with the surrender. As she approached the surrendering men, it dawned on her how ridiculous the whole scene must look from the outside. A whole squad of men, trembling and nervous in fear as one old woman approaches them. Anticipant, in fear that their whole town is about to be razed by the savages that they’ve heard so much about.

“I have reasoned this out in my mind: there’s one of two things we have a right to: liberty, or death. No man should take me alive. I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasts, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.”

The men were too nervous to listen and understand Tubman’s speech, but the mentioned of the word “death” did nothing to ease their nerves. Tubman continued:

“The Lord has not taken you yet. I believe He may have other plans for you gentlemen. May the rest of your life serve Him well.”

A brief silence, before one of the soldiers dared break it. “Uhm, does, does that mean that we’re spared and you accept our surrender?”

“Yes. Unlike your folk, we’re not savages who take people captive and sell them as property. Now, git.” Thus, the surrender was complete. What little remained of the garrison dissolved itself and went back into town now that their last mission was complete.

Kyauta had dismounted off her horse too, and she walked up to Tubman after the soldiers disappeared “That concludes our mission?”

“That only starts our mission. Follow me for a second.” Tubman and Kyauta walked through the streets, passing by houses whose windows were all boarded up… not that there were many windows to board up in the first place, with glass being a luxury commodity in Gemeinplatz. Still, there was a distinct lack of people on the streets. Tubman could see a few uneasy eyes poking out from behind doors that disappeared as they approached. She guessed that rumors about a massive force of nomad cavalry heading their way had made people uneasy.

Any other day in Gemeinplatz, Changra would be getting looted and the surrender would have only acted as a futile plea for mercy. Today however, it was the day of the Republic, and the Casamonu Host would encamp itself right outside Changra to await orders. Speaking of outside Changra, Tubman and Kyauta had arrived at a gate the other side of town. This one was still closed, quite lonely and deserted with no men on watch.

Tubman leaned on the lattice carved into the gate. “There it is. Beyond here.”

Kyauta followed suit, beyond the lattice… there was nothing. The trees had long since disappeared on their march to Changra, so the scenery was the same as what she had seen for the past few hours: vast steppe, nothing but grass as far as the eyes could see. No highway leading out from the gate as was the case for many places in Gemeinplatz. Only a thin desire path squiggling its way to the gate was there.

63rd of Spring 5860
Casamonu, State of Casamonu

Vaiz circled his finger around Changra, tracing the name of the town written on the map. “Beyond here, there is no empire. Only a loose confederation of nomads, who know no lord or law, who inhabit these lands. Whether they be outlaws fleeing persecution, peasants seeking a new life away from their lords, adventurers looking for adventure beyond… so on and so forth the legends about these people go. Some of them have been permitted to settle in Gemeinplatz, being hosted by the Empire, hence forming the Hosts in exchange for military service.”

Brown interrupted Vaiz “Thus, there’s untapped population beyond the mountains. Countless free men who live away from what we call civilization. Hardy men already skilled in foraging, husbandry, warfare… You’ve seen how well the Casamonu Host has fought for the Republic. Of course, grazing land is limited in our lands, and Gemeinplatz already has plenty of its shepherds working that land… but, we do have plenty of empty arable land. I imagine a few people beyond Changra would be happy to have their own homestead and settle down if they were provided the land.”

In the former mayor’s residence of Casamonu, it was then decided. Or, well, Brown had decided beforehand, and summoned up the people who’d to the work to explain it to them. Vaiz, who had worked beforehand as a priest among the hosts, to act as an ambassador. Rabanowicz to crunch the numbers, and Nirmal to make sense of them. “We shall spread word of the plenty of available land in the Republic, and promote the Homesteading Act among the people beyond Changra.”