Peichen Secession Crisis

Scenes from rioting between Conclavist and anti-Minjian forces in Miaoshi, Peichen in 1896, as depicted in the periodical Aujourd'hui

The Peichen Secession Crisis (also known as the Peichen War or the Jingtu Uprising) was a civil and political conflict from 1896 to 1897 in Peichen in western Laeral, motivated by racial and religious tensions in the Allied Provinces of Laeral. The conflict was triggered by the Minjian Conclavist group's attempt to restore the Minjian High Conclave as the governing body of global Minjian. This plan was regarded with suspicion by the Laeralian government, which ultimately decided against restricting the Conclave's reestablishment yet turned a blind eye to terror attacks by anti-Minjian hate groups, such as the Zhenglu Massacre in 1896.

In 1896, Peichen's territorial government, dominated by forces sympathetic to the Conclavists, warned neighboring provinces to curb the flow of anti-Conclave fighters into Peichen. Meanwhile, radical Conclavists plotted and stockpiled arms to secure the secession of Peichen and neighboring territories (far exceeding the present-day boundaries of Peichen province) as the independent State of Jingtu. At the Battle of Yechen in 1896, territorial gendarmes and Conclavist forces defeated a cell of Chevaliers of the Veil who had been planning to overthrow the territorial government. Despite the peaceful reestablishment of the Minjian High Conclave in early 1897, Peichen remained on edge as the existing movement for Peichen accession into the Allied Provinces clashed with armed groups favoring the creation of Jingtu. In March 1897, the Peichen government issued the Datan Resolution, demanding accession for the province into the Laeralian Union within ten years. This resolution was rejected by the Laeralian Parliament, which refused to bring a plan for accession onto the floor by majority vote. As a result, in May 1897 the Jingtu Movement launched an uprising, accompanied by the mutiny of Rén soldiers in several regiments of the Laeralian Army. Although the mutiny was swiftly crushed elsewhere in the country, in part due to the Laeralian government's forewarning of the attack, the Jingtu movement seized control of portions of Peichen. It was put down by a punitive force led by Brigadier General Joseph Claret in a brief campaign in summer 1897, which was even at the time criticized for its use of terror tactics. The Minjian High Conclave denounced the Jingtu Movement, which blunted the uprising's momentum and helped protect the newly recreated institution from government reprisal.

Legacy

Peichen did not receive provincehood on an equal basis with other Laeralian provinces until 1922 with the founding of the Republic of Laeral. The Jingtu movement resurfaced at various times until the 1980s, yet never again presented a severe threat to public order. Rén nationalist historiography places the 1897 Jingtu Uprising in context with a series of anti-colonial uprisings in the 18th and 19th centuries; the Rén Self-Defense League in particular views the Jingtu Movement's leaders as heroes and commemorates them through the naming of battalions and an annual celebration on May 10th, the anniversary of the uprising.