Uzeri Rebellion

The Uzeri Rebellion, also known as the First Uzeri War of Independence and the Susanna War, was a rebellion in southwestern Menghe fought by members of the Uzeri ethnic group against forces of the Myŏn Dynasty. It broke out in 1822, when warlord Bakirsoy Mahir organized a rebel army in the highlands of what is today the province of Uzeristan and began leading attacks on Myŏn military strongholds. Initially, the Myŏn dynasty appeared poised to crush the rebellion, but the seizure of the merchant brig Susanna in 1824 provoked Tyran to declare war on Menghe and increase its support for the Uzeri rebels.

Unable to compete with state-of-the-art Tyrannian weaponry, Menghean land and sea forces suffered a string of humiliating defeats, culminating in the Treaty of Puk Chu in 1826. In addition to recognizing the independence of Uzeristan, the Myŏn rulers agreed to major restrictions on the capabilities of their navy, and allowed Casaterran merchant ships limited trading rights in the cities of Bŏkju and Sunju. Both domestically and internationally, the swiftness of the war's conclusion shattered impressions of Menghean military strength, setting the stage for further efforts to pry open Menghe's lucrative trading market. Within the Myŏn court, it ignited a "Western Influence debate" which would shape Menghean politics for the next hundred years.

Background

Prior to 1820, the Myŏn dynasty controlled a stretch of territory similar in extent to modern-day Menghe, including a southwestern area in which Uzeris, Argentans, and Daryz were the majority ethnic groups. This region was first integrated into Menghean rule in the 9th century BCE, and had experienced several stretches of independence since then, most recently from 1514 to 1547. In contrast to other areas, Meng cultural identity held little sway among the population, though some local elites had adopted Meng customs as a symbol of status. Previous rebellions had already shaken the area in the 18th century, though none of these spread beyond isolated rebel holdouts in the northern mountains.

Growing regional tension in Uzeristan took place in the context of a shifting geopolitical balance. In response to the memory of the Menghean Black Plague, which killed off at least half the country's population, emperors of the Myŏn dynasty had imposed a strict prohibition on any contact with foreigners, closing the country's ports to oceangoing trade and refusing to conduct diplomacy with Casaterran powers. Though viable in the early 16th century, when Casaterran explorers were still a small presence in the region, this stance was increasingly dangerous by 1820, as Innominada, Maverica, and much of the continent of Meridia had already been partitioned up by colonial powers.

Casaterran politicians, particularly in Tyran, saw Menghe as a lucrative market for exports due to its large population and reasonably healthy domestic economy. It was also the region's leading producer of silk, tea, and porcelain, which were only accessible in limited supply from Themiclesia. As the amount of uncolonized space in the New World steadily dwindled, many Casaterrans saw Menghe as a critical frontier in economic expansion, with major rewards for whomever could crack open its closed market.

Domestic origins

Bakirsoy's uprising

The Uzeri Rebellion began in 1822, when the warlord Bakirsoy Mahir began amassing a rebel army in what is today the northern edge of Uzeristan Semi-Autonomous Province. Initially relying on bandits and bands of outcasts already hiding in the mountains, he soon became strong enough to draw volunteers from the general population, and in September of that year he led his forces against the outpost city at Hasavyurt and quickly overran its defenses. Hardly pausing to consolidate his gains, he proclaimed himself Sultan İmran I of Uzeristan, gathered more troops from the city population, and led his main force south, besieging the regional capital at Kusadasi.

Menghean reaction

Myŏn officials fleeing the fighting carried news of Bakirsoy's actions to the Menghean capital at Junggyŏng, where the Janghŭng Emperor ordered a punitive expedition to suppress the rebels and restore central control. One army, under the command of Duke Mun, would gather at Pyŏng'an and march on Hasavyurt to put pressure on the rebels and eliminate their base of operations. A second, under the command of Duke Chŭn, would gather at Emil-si and march on Kusadasi to relieve the siege. As in previous anti-rebel actions, the Myŏn leaders hoped to use an overwhelming display of force to retake lost territory and break Uzeri morale in a swift and decisive operation.

Lengthy delays in gathering and mobilizing the necessary forces, however, soon upset this plan. Decades of embezzlement had drained the military's treasuries, and regional commanders were reluctant to contribute "their" troops to the operation. Kusadasi's beleaguered defenders surrendered in April of 1823, before Duke Chŭng's army had even departed from Emil-si, a profound embarrassment given the Emperor's proclamation that the city would be relieved. Worse still, other sympathetic rebels had risen up in other southwestern cities, spreading across the countryside to patch together a fragile Sultanate of Uzeristan with Mahir I as its putative monarch.

Foreign arms shipments

Initially, Sultan Mahir I saw no reason to change the isolation policy, which served his needs as well as it had served Menghe's. Consolidating control over some 350,000 square kilometers of territory was his main priority, followed by organizing a reliable defense to keep out the looming Myŏn intervention. Tyrannian diplomats made the first move, sailing a warship into Kusadasi harbor and signaling via flags that they wished to initiate talks. Not understanding the signals, bands of rebels in fishing boats initially rushed after the ship to chase it off, but on the third attempt to enter the harbor a translator was able to make their intentions clear and they were given an audience with the newly-crowned Sultan.

Playing to Mahir I's fears about the coming intervention, the Tyrannian emissaries promised a steady supply of modern weapons to help support Uzeristan's nascent army. In return, they asked that he allow Tyrannian-flagged trade ships free access to ports in his new kingdom, at all times of the year. Inexperienced at statecraft and concerned mainly with defense at this point, the Sultan enthusiastically agreed, especially after a cannon from the warship was brought ashore and fired as a demonstration.

In the months that followed, Tyrannian trade ships made regular voyages from Khalistan to Uzeristan, bringing state-of-the-art field guns and flintlock rifles. Tyrannian army staff were also brought ashore to train Uzeri troops in the use of the new weapons, including large-formation volley-fire drills. Given the haste with which the rebels had thrown together their forces, and their lack of prior expertise in strategy, the resulting army was rather disorganized by Casaterran standards, but still much stronger than Myŏn commanders had anticipated.

The effectiveness of the new weaponry became clear in the autumn of 1843, when Duke Mun led his army toward Hasavyurt; two attacks on the city walls were driven back by accurate rifle fire from the ramparts, forcing the Duke to withdraw upriver and wait out for reinforcements in a walled encampment. Even as he delayed the offensive, his scouts and supply lines came under persistent fire from rifle-armed skirmishers, who effectively waged guerilla warfare in the northern region around Kadirkent. Duke Chŭng encountered stiffer resistance in his own westward drive in December, confronting cannon-armed rebels in the foothills around Aksehir and suffering heavy losses. Menghean morale, already eroded by the long delays in mobilization, seemed at risk of collapse, while Uzeri soldiers grew more and more enthusiastic about their battlefield successes.

Foreign involvement

The Susanna Incident

After word reached Junggyŏng that Uzeri rebels were armed with Casaterran rifles and cannons, the Janghŭng Emperor ordered the Namhae Fleet to enforce a blockade south of Uzeristan and prevent any foreign aid from entering the country. As Menghe still lacked formal diplomatic relations with Casaterran countries, news of the planned blockade did not spread very far, nor were any specific provisions made for ships under neutral flags. The content of the blockade proclamation, which reflected Menghe's prior status as a regional hegemon, was significantly out of step with contemporary diplomatic procedure.

The critical spark came on March 9th, 1823, when a Menghean war junk intercepted the Tyrannian brigatine Susanna off the coast of Uzeristan. After they searched the ship and found crates of Baker rifles and gunpowder, they set fire to the ship and took her twenty-six crew members aboard as prisoners. After being carried back to Bŏkju, the prisoners were brought before the local magistrate, who pronounced that they were guilty of violating the prohibition on entry by foreigners and of conspiring to arm rebels against the Emperor. As both were crimes of the highest degree, the captain and first mate were sentenced to death by a thousand cuts for organizing the shipment, and the remaining crew members were beheaded for serving as accomplices. A proclamation describing their fate was passed on to rebel forces in the hopes of dissuading further arms smuggling.

News of the Susanna's fate spread like wildfire once it reached Hadaway. Tyrannian newspapers printed vivid, if speculative, illustrations of the execution, drawing on existing racial tropes to cast Mengheans as savages and barbarians. Under public pressure to respond, Parliament issued a proclamation of war, authorizing the Royal Navy to proceed to Menghe and conduct a punitive operation if reparations were not granted immediately.

Treaty of Puk Chu

After it became clear that they could not triumph over Tyrannian forces, Myŏn officials agreed to a concessionary peace. The treaty negotiations were held in the city of Bŏkju, then Romanized as Puk Chu, and amounted to a listing of Tyrannian demands. In no position to resume the war, Myŏn emissaries were forced to accept the first of several "unequal treaties" opening Menghe to trade but curtailing its sovereignty.

Under the terms of the treaty, the Myŏn Emperor would formally recognize Uzeristan as an independent state with its eastern border defined by the Hyangpo River, and relinquish all claims to retaking that area. Menghe would also grant limited trade access at the three southern ports of Bŏkju (Puk Chu), Sunju (Soon Chu), and Dongchŏn (Tong Tsun), allowing ten Tyrannian ships to visit each port over the course of a given year and purchase goods freely from local traders. To avoid further miscommunications, Menghe would also establish formal diplomatic relations with Tyran, Sylva, Sieuxerr, and other major Casaterran trading powers, through the opening of consulates in the three trade cities.

Other provisions were more restrictive. Menghean warships were forbidden from traveling more than 10 nautical miles (or 38 Ri) from Menghean territory on land, and could not sail along the coast of Uzeristan or any other country. As the Namhae Fleet had already suffered grave losses, and as palace politics had pointed to overzealous captains as the cause of the lost war, the Myŏn negotiators had little choice but to agree. Another provision, drawn up in response to the execution of the Susanna's crew, granted special judicial status to foreigners in Menghe: any citizen of a Casaterran country found guilty of committing a crime in Menghean territory or within Menghean territorial waters would be extradited to their home country for trial and punishment.

Legacy

The Treaty of Puk Chu was a critical event in Menghe's relations with the rest of the world. Trade between Menghe and the major Casaterran powers increased from a small, illicit trickle to a steady (if still constrained) flow, with large Tyrannian trade ships hauling heavy cargoes of silk, tea, and porcelain out of the treaty ports. When Casaterran wool and iron met with little demand in Menghean markets, Tyrannian merchants turned to the practice of cultivating poppies in Khalistan and selling opium in Menghe, leading to a rise in opium addiction in the southern regions.

Far from satisfying interest in the Far East, the partial opening in trade only deepened the Casaterran appetite for Oriental luxuries. A "porcelain frenzy" swept through the Casaterran nobility, and even among the general public tea drinking continued to climb in popularity. Tyran's effective monopoly on the Menghean luxury trade supported its hegemony over 19th-century maritime commerce, but also fueled jealousy among rival merchant powers, who sought to forge their own inroads and compete for control of the lucrative trade flows.

Within Menghe itself, the effects of the treaty were felt even harder. The decisiveness of the defeat and the clear one-sidedness of the concessions that followed came as a shock to officials accustomed to viewing Menghe as the world center of civilization, technology, and political authority, and spawned a contentious palace debate about how to respond. A reformist faction advocated for the study Western medicine, science, and technology in order to modernize the country, while a conservative faction argued that Menghe should limit foreign influence at all costs in order to prevent the decay of Menghean morals and culture. The interpretation of a treaty prohibition on the importing of Casaterran weapons became the lynchpin of debates on whether to train a Western-equipped army unit.

In the early 1830s, anti-Western anger escalated into a series of assassination attempts against Tyrannian traders and sailors, particularly in the city of Dongchŏn. Fearful of igniting another conflict, the Myŏn government agreed to set up "Western districts" in the three trade cities, promising additional security within their boundaries but prohibiting Casaterrans from venturing beyond their boundaries except on official diplomatic business. After two more murders within these districts, the Myŏn leadership signed a deeply unpopular agreement in 1835 granting Tyrannian guards and soldiers responsibility for the protection of their nationals within these areas. Meanwhile, rats coming ashore from trade ships led to a spike in localized disease outbreaks, stirring conservative isolationists' fears that a second plague epidemic could wash over the country. As tensions between Meng conservatives and foreigners continued to rise, and efforts to modernize the Myŏn military failed to gain traction, the stage was set for a second confrontation with Sylva in 1852.

See also

• Pan-Septentrion War
• Menghean Black Plague