After the suppression of the uprising in Stara Zagora, a new Central Committee was formed in the Romanian town of Giurgiu. The country was divided into four revolutionary districts, with chief voevodes at the head of each, called Apostles. The Apostles and their assistants arrived in the districts assigned to them as early as the beginning of 1876, and immediately got down to work. They were all young and capable men, selflessly devoted to their motherland, who saw the meaning of their life solely in the struggle for Bulgaria's liberation. They toured the country tirelessly, restored the former revolutionary com-mittees and set up new ones, supplied arms, carried out mass propaganda about the need of an uprising, trained the members of the Committees in the art of war.

The Panagyurishte (Fourth) and Turnovo (First) revolutionary districts were best prepared for the uprising. The Apostle of the Panagyurishte revolutionary district was Panayot Volov, who subsequently voluntarily gave up his leadership in favour of Georgi Benkovski, his first assistant, who imposed himself with his inexhaustible energy, strong will, resolve and outstanding qualities of an organizer.

Almost the entire population in the district took part in the preparation of the uprising. The people sold their land and livestock in order to buy arms, women were sewing uniforms for the insurgents and were embroidering banners, baking rusks and making cartridges for their rifles. Secret mobilization lists were drawn up, a detailed plan of action was mapped out. On April 14, 1876, a national assembly was convened in the Oborishte locality in the mountains, not far from Panagyurishte, which was attended by 56 representatives of the secret committees in the district and by over 200 assistants and armed guards.

Turkish authorities learned

On Benkovski's proposal the meeting decided that the uprising should break out on May 1, but the developments forced the hand of the insurgents. The Turkish authorities learned about the meeting in Oborishte and sent gen-darmes to Panagyurishte and Koprivshtitsa to arrest the organizers. The chairman of the revolutionary committee in Koprivshtitsa Todor Kableshkov had to escape and after a short meeting the committee took the decision that the uprising should start immediately.

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