Purple River Chapter 05 Part 03 - Small Rebellion

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Twenty years later, (Part-time) Deputy Inspector General, (Full-time) Historian, Tang Chuan published his greatest work – An article on the analysis of what caused the Great Rebellion of the Far East in the year 779.

The article analyzed the economical, political, cultural, historical, geographical, and many other aspects surrounding and leading up to the event. It debated whether the outcome was inevitable or by happenstance, and included a few additional notes from the author himself.

However, his publication was mostly a scheme to get a favourable endorsement for his promotion and perhaps a raise. The real victims were the editors in charge of reviewing his script. The total number of editors who could finish reading its List of Contents in one breath and hadn’t fainted straight after from shortage of oxygen… were zero.

In the article, Tang Chuan believed that the Great Rebellion in year 779 only seemed random, but in fact many of the historical, economical, political, cultural and geographical factors leading up to the event, had suggested otherwise.”

“During the reign of the Empire of Light, the Far Eastern Regions were mostly barren wastelands. As the border region connecting the great Demon Empire, most of its local population were a lawless and hardy folk. Even the Demons despised them and called the place the ‘Land of Barbarians’. Although the Demons mostly ignored its existence, every time they invaded the Humans living in the core regions of the empire, the great Demon Army would pass through the Far Eastern Regions. Naturally, they wouldn’t mind stripping the place bare along the way. Hence its local population, (mostly Beastmen, Dragonkin, Serpents, Goblins, Dwarfs and even a small number of Demons.) held very little liking for the Demon Empire.”

“When House ZiChuan was first founded, it was surrounded by enemies. Its founder, ZiChuan Yun knew the only way to secure its position was to expand its territory as much as possible, and thus, the reason for the constant war for territory against foreign powers. However, in the path of its westward expansion, it was confronted by the powerful House Liu Feng. The war between the two Houses lasted for several decades, and the death toll numbered in the hundreds of thousands. In the end, House ZiChuan had not won an inch of land.”

“During ZiChuan Yun’s final years, he came to the realization that he should have focused his attention elsewhere. Despite almost all of his generals’ and advisors’ protest, he turned his spear around and ordered for the advance into the Far Eastern Region, which had always been seen to be within Demon Empire’s sphere of influence. In the eyes of many, it was suicide. He should pray to the Gods to be left alone by the demons; it was simply unthinkable to actively provoke a monster of that size! ZiChuan Yun’s plans however, turned out to be a great military success.”

“Under the banner of ‘Liberate the Far East from Demon’s tyranny, Unite and rise against the Demon King, Save the Far East and protect its people.’ three hundred thousand of House ZiChuan’s mightiest army arrived in the Far East.

House ZiChuan’s actions quickly rallied the local tribes to their cause, gaining them large amounts of active support in the form of volunteers. The local tribes even formed volunteer armies to fight alongside House ZiChuan against the Demon Empire’s aggression!”

“Fortune smiled, the Demon Empire was caught in the middle of a war of succession that year, and had no attention or army to spare to deal with the situation in the ‘Land of Barbarians’. They merely sent a few recon forces as a show of strength, which gave House ZiChuan the necessary time to establish its hold in the Far East. After another two centuries of active efforts from the several generations of Headmasters, even more territories were gained. As of now, the Far Eastern Region encompassed over one fourth of House ZiChuan’s total territories.”

“Most of the native population of the Far Eastern Regions were from the non human races. (Beastmen, Serpent, Dwarf, Goblin and Dragonkin etc) It made up of over eighty percent of the total population in the Far East. Humans made up for the remaining less than twenty percent. Yet, the less than twenty percent Human population were considered as the ‘Nobles’ in the Far Eastern Societies. Most of the other races served the Humans as house servants, slaves or workers. They also did the most tiring work, like farming, building or lifting…”

“No one really knew when it all began, but the great Army of Saviours of House ZiChuan had turned into the Army of Oppressors. Naturally, many of the local tribes had raised their complaints in the past, but when the well equipped, well disciplined and well trained Army of House ZiChuan ‘very patiently’ taught them a few lessons in blood and fire, they quickly admitted their ‘wrongdoings’ and returned to the ‘loving arms’ of their ‘caring father’.”

“Politics wise, death of the Far Eastern Army Commander – Ge Ying Xing had no doubt lit the fuse. Not only because Ge Ying Xing commanded everything in the Far East, but after his death, there wasn’t any other commander in the region that held enough prestige in the army. It was like a snake without its head. And most importantly, Ge Ying Xing’s death had led to House ZiChuan’s civil war, which in turn led to the redeployment of the local garrison units. Some joined the rebels and some went to fight the rebels. As a result, many of the local defence forces were left vulnerable.”

“When the troublesome races like Beastmen or Demons woke up in the morning and noticed just how vulnerable those who had ruled over their heads for as long as they could remember truly were… They naturally came to the conclusion that it was a much better idea to simply tear their Human masters to pieces with their iron claws than to serve them like slaves under the searing sun and overseer’s whips.”

“Of course, an important reason as to why the rebellion spread so rapidly was no doubt related to the lack of interest and incompetence shown by the members of House ZiChuan’s ruling echelon…”

……

In the Far Eastern province of Charo, the rebellion of a small nameless village became a rebellion of seven villages in mere three days. On the fourth day the rebellion had grown to include hundreds of villages, and on the six day it had spread even further to include thousands of surrounding villages and towns.

In response, the provincial governor, Red Banner Master – Lin Wei urgently dispatched the garrison force against the insurgency, but the three thousand human garrison force was vastly outnumbered and outmatched by the united rebel army ten times their size. The outcome was a humiliating defeat…

Within a week, almost the entire Charo province had fallen under rebel’s control as the rebel army laid siege against the provincial Capital, the city of Locke. The flame of rebellion showed no signs of slowing down and continued to spread to the several surrounding provinces… Urgent requests for reinforcement kept coming like a snowstorm…

……

In the coming week, the flame of rebellion had spread like a wild fire. Even the Capital realized the seriousness of the situation. An urgent meeting was called at the request of ZiChuan Shen Xing to discuss the deployment of countermeasures. Inspector General – Di Lin was not a member of the High Command, but given his prior ‘involvement’, the fact he had been to the Far East and knew the situation better than anyone else, ZiChuan Shen Xing invited Di Lin to the meeting despite Luo Ming Hai’s protest.

However, the moment the meeting began, they were already left flabbergasted by what Di Lin had proposed…

“Inspector General – Di Lin, can you repeat what you just said?” ZiChuan Shen Xing couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“Yes. The situation in Charo has spun out of control. We must treat them with extreme prejudice by making an example of them. I suggest we massacre the entire rebel population and openly desecrate their remains. It will strike fear into them and make anyone think twice before rising up against us.”

The commanders attending the High Command’s meeting looked at each other and laughed: “There we go again! Di Lin the Butcher. It is almost as if he knows nothing else but to kill everyone.”

Luo Ming Hai gave me a sneer, hinting all sorts of mockery, then he smiled: “Di Lin seems to want to kill the rebels the same way he killed the civilians in the Capital. Then again, I suppose killing civilians has always been his forte!”

Commander Fang Jin interrupted: “To round up all the rebel population, how many men would we need?”

Di Lin ignored Luo Ming Hai’s provocation as he answered: “I estimate we’ll need around two hundred to three hundred thousand men!”

“Where do you suggest we can obtain such large force?” Ming Hui Asked: “Are you suggesting we draw them from the Central Army or the Black Banner Army again? I’ve make it clear, you can’t have a single soldier from the Border Army. Liu Feng Shuang has been stirring troubles around the western border, raiding our outposts. No one knows what that bitch is up to.”

“She wants to keep the Border Army pinned down, stopping from sending reinforcement to the Far East!” Di Lin answered casually, but screamed in his head: “How do you not understand that?! What a tool!”

Di Lin spoke politely to ZiChuan Shen Xing: “Diverting forces from the Border Army or the Central Army would have been a good idea if it was a week ago. Now it is too late! Deploying troops from here to Charo all the way in the Far East is going to take at least three weeks, and we must crush the rebels right now!”

“If not from here, then from where?”

Di Lin responded calmly: “Province Galock!”

A moment of silence, everyone was shocked by what those words entailed.

“You want us to order the army that is about to attack the traitor- Lei Hong to retreat and fight the barbarians instead? You are aware they are dug in and are ready for battle, and you want to tell them to turn their back now and let Lei Hong kick them in the ass?”

Di Lin lowered his voice: “There is another alternative… we can negotiate with Lei Hong, and accept all his demands. As long as he is willing to fight the barbarians, we can promise to pardon all his crimes! His foremost concern right now is to stay alive, I’m certain he’ll accept.”

Almost everyone was outraged by what Di Lin had suggested. Fang Jin even rose to his feet, shouting: “How could you even suggest us to pardon the bastard who killed Sir Ge Ying Xing?”

Di Lin continued patiently: “It’s only a promise. It doesn’t mean we have to follow through.”

“That won’t work.” ZiChuan Shen Xing sighed: “If we promise to pardon the killer of Ge Ying Xing, we are going to have a riot on our hand before the day is over, and tomorrow morning the Council of Elders is going to have all of our heads. Too bad, really, it’s an excellent idea.”

He turned towards Stirling, who had been there the whole time but hadn’t said anything: “Commander Stirling, what are your opinions on this matter?”

Stirling seemed unfocussed, but ZiChuan Shen Xing’s inquiry made him put his thoughts on the matter at hand: “I also believe that we should divert troops from Galock, but not all of it… I believe a few divisions should be enough to quell the rebellion. Those rebels are in the end, a coalition of barbarians. They shouldn’t offer too much resistance. They are also disorganized and undisciplined… I believe we can defeat them with ease.”

Most of the commanders supported Stirling’s suggestion.

ZiChuan Shen Xing announced: “Very well. Today’s war council is hereby concluded. I hope the High Command and the Ministry can have a fruitful working relationship in the future. Let’s not keep wasting our time on complaining about others. It will only serve to brew hostility amongst ourselves…”

Everyone quickly left the room, leaving only Di Lin standing where he sat. Stirling called for him a couple times, but he kept a straight face and ignored him. In the end, Stirling had no choice but to leave him behind.

“Small Rebellion?” Di Lin murmured. Slowly, facing the empty Conference Hall, his mouth twitched into a wild laughter: “Hahaha, Small Rebellion they say! It is going to be a thunderstorm that will lift House ZiChuan by its root! You will all be dead soon, fools!”

Chapter end