Chapter 157: Mutiny? Only Lin Beifan can solve it!
Sure enough, within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, someone came to inform Lin Beifan to go to the study room.
When Lin Beifan arrived, the other high-ranking officials of the court were already there. Their faces were solemn, their expressions serious, as they looked at the empress sitting at the desk.
At this moment, there was no time for salutations or greetings. Lin Beifan obediently stood behind the officials.
The empress glanced at everyone, realizing that they were all present, and with a hint of anger in her voice, she said, “Just moments ago, an urgent message came from Tangzhou. There has been a mutiny! Several rebel soldiers killed the commanding general and deputy general, leading 30,000 troops into the mountains, turning to banditry. They are currently facing off against the imperial army, and the situation is extremely serious!”
The officials were instantly in an uproar!
A mutiny had occurred, and indeed the situation was extremely serious!
“Your Majesty, what is the cause of this?” an old courtier asked, bowing.
“What’s the cause? See for yourselves!”
The empress threw down the urgent message, allowing the officials to read it.
The local generals, commanding and deputy, had been embezzling the soldiers’ pay for a long time, leading to the soldiers shedding blood and sweat without receiving the treatment they deserved. Even eating was a problem.
Furthermore, these commanding and deputy generals either beat or scolded their subordinates, and the grievances between the two sides had been building up for a long time.
The final spark was when a deputy general openly harassed a soldier’s wife.
The soldiers, who had been oppressed for a long time, finally couldn’t bear it anymore and started a mutiny!
The empress slammed the table, gnashing her teeth and said, “They have such audacity, even daring to embezzle the imperial military’s pay! And freely insulting and harassing the soldiers’ wives! How can they resemble any high-ranking officials of the court? Now, the mutiny has caused trouble for me, it’s truly unreasonable! Truly unreasonable!”
“Your Majesty, please calm down!” the officials said in unison.
“How am I supposed to calm down?” The empress said angrily, “Now, the court’s political situation is unstable, with major vassal kings eyeing the court, and the neighboring countries are eager for action! Yet, at this time, they dare to cause trouble for me? If they weren’t already dead, I really want to drag them out and kill them again!”
The officials remained silent.
At this moment, the empress turned her head towards the Minister of War, her anger burning, and said, “Li Kaiguang, what crime should you be charged with?”
The Minister of War, Li Kaiguang, was dumbfounded and quickly stood up. “Your Majesty…”
The empress shouted loudly, “As the Minister of War, you are in charge of military affairs nationwide and responsible for overseeing the generals and military officials in all regions! However, you didn’t even know about the Tangzhou commanding general’s embezzlement of military funds and mistreatment of soldiers! Tell me, do you not have an inescapable responsibility? Tell me, what crime should you be charged with?”
The Minister of War felt extremely wronged!
This matter was clearly not his doing, yet he was forced to bear the blame!
He also wanted to drag those commanding and deputy generals out and kill them again!
He couldn’t help but wonder if he had offended some unlucky star recently, always encountering such bizarre misfortunes.
He had organized a simple naval training exercise, but ended up facing a group of martial arts experts and the training failed!
And now, when he hadn’t done anything, disaster struck!
“I plead guilty!” The Minister of War, Li Kaiguang, immediately lowered his head and admitted his mistake.
The empress was right, although he didn’t commit this act, as the Minister of War, he had an inescapable responsibility!
“Your crime will be remembered for now! The most important thing now is to resolve the mutiny in Tangzhou. We must swiftly cut off the chaos. The longer we delay, the more detrimental it will be to our Empire!” The empress said calmly.
“What Your Majesty said is absolutely correct!” The officials echoed in unison.
“Now the question is, how should this matter be handled and who will handle it?”
The officials each gave their opinions, but ultimately agreed that the focus should be on persuading the rebels to surrender. If persuasion failed, then they would have to resort to military suppression. They needed to quickly resolve the mutiny.
“So, who should we send?” The empress asked again.
The officials looked at each other. This matter was extremely tricky and not a desirable task.
If handled poorly, it could potentially affect their future careers.
The Minister of War stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, I am willing to redeem myself by accomplishing this task!”
He knew that at this moment, even if he didn’t want to step forward, he had to!
“But you have messed up so many things. I don’t trust you!” The empress sneered.
Li Kaiguang’s face was filled with frustration.
The empress’s gaze turned to Lin Beifan, who was idling behind the officials. “Sir Lin, I assign this matter to you!”
Lin Beifan was stunned. “Your Majesty, have you mistaken me? I cannot do this!”
The empress smiled and said, “Sir Lin, I have not mistaken. I chose you because you have always been quick-witted and able to solve many difficult problems! You are also eloquent and articulate, making you the most suitable negotiator! Use your silver tongue to persuade them to surrender!”
Lin Beifan blinked. “Your Majesty, aren’t you overestimating me?”
“Not at all!” The empress shook her head. “When you went to Thundercloud Temple earlier, you managed to persuade a grandmaster monk of Buddhist teachings to come to our palace! After that, you encountered two other grandmasters, a sword immortal and a saber saint, and your tongue won them over, becoming their close friends! You see, if you can persuade even masters, can you not persuade a group of martial artists?”
Lin Beifan felt a bit panicked. “But what if I cannot persuade them? I don’t know how to fight!”
The empress sneered inwardly.
Pretending again!
With the previous theories of land revolution, guerrilla warfare, mobile warfare, and mine warfare, as well as the strategy of surrounding cities with rural masses, all of which I learned from you, even I have greatly benefited!
Your knowledge of military tactics can be regarded as that of a master!
If even you don’t know how to fight, then no one in the world does!
“Lin Beifan, stop refusing! I believe that among all the civil and military officials, you are the most suitable. There is absolutely no second choice! If this matter is successfully resolved, I promise you will be greatly rewarded!” The empress promised loudly.
“What Your Majesty said is absolutely correct. This matter belongs to no one but Principal Lin!”
“Principal Lin is eloquent and resourceful. He is the most suitable person to handle this matter!”
“With the Sir Lin’s intervention, success is certain!”
…
The officials all spoke up and strongly recommended Lin Beifan!
Lin Beifan was trembling with anger. These old cunning officials were up to no good again!
When the opportunity arises, I’ll raid their homes!
Helpless, Lin Beifan had no choice but to accept the order: “I comply with the decree!”
That night, after finishing dinner, Lin Beifan immediately set off, riding his horse at full speed throughout the night.
Accompanying him were Mo Rushuang and the official dispatched by the court to protect Lin Beifan.
The little princess also followed secretly, claiming to protect Lin Beifan, but actually just wanting to join in the fun.
After two nights and a day of rushing, they finally arrived in Tangzhou in the deep night of the second day.
The local prefect, Mr. Liu, personally welcomed Lin Beifan: “Greetings to Mr. Principal, greetings to Miss Yunying! I have prepared a feast to welcome you and wash away the dust!”
“We can discuss the feast later. How is the situation now?” Lin Beifan asked directly.
Prefect Liu smiled bitterly and said, “The situation is still very tense! Currently, both sides are in a standoff with the mountain and river as the boundary! As long as we cross the boundary, they will attack without any reason. Many of our officials have been injured!”
“Furthermore, there was a conflict last night! The rebels, due to a shortage of food, came down the mountain and fought with our troops to seize provisions! Fortunately, the casualties were not heavy, otherwise, I would be in a difficult position!”
Lin Beifan nodded.
“I don’t know how the court plans to resolve this matter?” Prefect Liu asked cautiously.
“The main approach is persuasion. If that doesn’t work, we can only resort to military suppression! We must resolve all issues within a week. Otherwise, this situation can be exploited by interested parties, and the consequences would be unimaginable!” Lin Beifan stated.
Prefect Liu nodded with a solemn expression.
Then, Lin Beifan followed Prefect Liu to the scene to take a look.
It was already late at night, and most of the rebels had gone to sleep. The forest on the mountain appeared dark and eerily quiet.
However, cautious eyes could still be seen amidst the pitch-black vegetation.
“Let’s go back and rest for now. We will make plans tomorrow!” Lin Beifan turned around and left.
At this moment, Lin Beifan’s arrival had already alerted the rebels on the mountain.
A person hurriedly ran up the hill and woke up a sleeping person: “Boss, there’s a new official coming down from the mountain. It must be someone sent by the court!”
The person referred to as the boss is a young man, tall and powerful, with strong limbs. One of his arms is as thick as someone else’s thigh. He has dark skin, and when he opens his eyes, they are sharp and full of spirit.
“Who is this person and what does he look like?”
“I don’t recognize him, but he looks very young, under 20. He has rosy lips and white teeth! However, he is dressed in a crimson official robe, so he is at least a fourth-ranked official! It’s not easy to achieve such a high rank at such a young age!”
As they spoke, their tone was filled with envy.
“A fourth-ranked official under 20. It seems like it’s the newly appointed top scholar Lin Beifan!” The young man referred to as the boss nodded thoughtfully.
“The newly appointed top scholar Lin Beifan?”
“I heard he is very talented and highly trusted by the empress, so he has been promoted four ranks in the past few months! He has received all kinds of rewards, and his house can’t even fit them all!”
“But I heard that he is still a corrupt official. He embezzled millions of taels within a few months of taking office!”
“Another corrupt official. I really want to chop him down!”
“Corrupt officials deserve to die!”
…
Everyone was very excited.
They hated corrupt officials the most!
If it wasn’t for those corrupt officials embezzling their military pay, they wouldn’t have ended up in such a situation!
Now, an even bigger corrupt official has arrived, making them so angry that they want to take up arms!
“Boss, what do we do next?”
“Should we continue to confront the court, or should we retreat to the mountains and become bandits? In my opinion, we should simply revolt. With our skills, we won’t have to worry about food no matter where we go!”
“How about joining other warlords? I heard the Prince of Southern Jiang is wealthy and currently recruiting soldiers and warriors. It seems like he is preparing for something big. We can enjoy luxury by following him!”
“The Prince of Northern Hebei is not bad either! I heard he treats his subordinates with respect and is good to everyone. He is a good lord!”
“Boss, we’ll follow your lead!”
…
Everyone stared eagerly at the young man in front of them, waiting for his decision.
From this, it can be seen how respected the young man is.
The young man waved his hand: “Brothers, calm down for now! Let’s see the court’s attitude tomorrow. Anyway, with me, Big Bull, you can be sure that none of you will be wronged!”
Everyone nodded.
