Chapter 106: The Chaos in the Southeast
All the nobles and officials in the main hall turned pale with fright when they saw Camus
violently kick over the golden wine barrel. They did not dare to say anything because of Camus’
status. Instead, they secretly took a look at the expressions of the Xier’s Governor-General and
the Duke.
Xier’s Governor-General showed an unpleasant expression, but the person in front of him was
a commander that commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers. As a result, he did not dare
to get angry at Camus even though he was the Governor-General. His facial muscles continued
to tremble and he could not help but look at Rody.
Rody was excited in his heart, but he showed a calm expression. He thought of the information
about Camus, which he had obtained from asking Sieg and Nicole.
Camus was the Regiment Commander of the Southern Legion. At that moment, he was fiftythree
years old. When he was eighteen, he had obtained the title of a Grade 1 swordsman. He
was an ordinary citizen and had joined the military after he graduated.
At first, he served as the Deputy Commander of the First Cavalry Regiment in the Northwest.
After that, he was promoted to Commander. When the late Duke of Tulip was appointed as the
Regiment Commander of the Northwest Legion, Camus was promoted as the Deputy Regiment
Commander.
After he was transferred to the Central Cavalry, he continued to serve as the late Duke’s
assistant and became the Deputy Regiment Commander of the ‘Lightning God’s Whip’.
Even though he was born as an ordinary civilian, he became one of the Empire’s highest
ranking officer within twenty years. After that, the Emperor had bestowed the title of Baron
onto him. Three years later, he became an Earl.
Since the founding of the Empire, not including the people that founded the nation, there were
less than ten people who started off as an ordinary civilian and then rose through the ranks and
obtained the title of an Earl.
Camus was resolute and courageous. He also knew how to use tactics. His only shortcoming
was that he was extremely proud. He had served as the aide of the Duke of Tulip for twenty
years. However, Camus finally severed his relationship with the late Duke for some unknown
reasons. Originally, Camus could be considered the second-best commander after the late Duke
of Tulip. However, they suddenly had a falling out due to some unknown reason, and Camus
had resigned from the ‘Lightning God’s Whip’. Eventually, Camus was transferred to the South
and was appointed as the Regiment Commander of the Southern Legion. In the last five years,
ever since the death of the late Duke, he had never returned to the Imperial Capital.
It was not a secret to the nobles that the Regiment Commander, Camus and late Duke of the
Tulip Family were on bad terms. This time, the Emperor had chosen to send Rody to where
Camus was instead of anywhere else. This would probably make things more even more
difficult for Rody.
A few years ago, the southern hill tribes had staged a rebellion. This fiercely shook the three
Southeast provinces. The Xier province was located nearest to the mountains. After hundreds of
years, their blood was mixed as the people intermarried with one another. As a result, many of
the residents were descendants of the mountain tribes. That rebellion nearly engulfed the
entire Xier province. Camus relied on his own marvelous military ability. He cleverly used
various tricks to sow discord between the mountain tribes and defeated them one by one.
Finally, the mountain barbarians were driven back to the mountains.
However, Camus was not a bloodthirsty person. After he had crushed the rebel forces, he took
advantage of the hatred between the mountain tribes and separated them. He also skillfully
balanced the power of the three provinces. This was especially true for the Xier province as
thirty percent of the locals in the Xier province were the mountain tribes. There was an intense
hatred between the people of the Empire and the mountain tribes. The situation in the
Southeast only stabilized because Camus was watching over these provinces.
In the last few years, the people of the grasslands had separated from the Empire and formed
the Great Moon Kingdom. As a result, the mountain tribes were greatly influenced and many
ambitious people thought of emulating the Great Moon Kingdom. They wanted to break away
from the Empire’s rule. However, Camus’ presence in the South deterred the mountain tribes
from doing anything rash.
Rody really admired and respected the Regiment Commander Camus. After all, he was not
really the Duke of Tulip Family and did not know about the enmity between Camus and the
Tulip Family. As a young soldier of the Empire, he just revered and respected Camus.
Taking a deep breath, Rody spoke in a calm voice, “Your Excellency Camus, please have a seat. I
just arrived in the Purple Leaf City today. I was wondering when to pay you a visit at the
Southeast barracks. However, you are already here.”
Camus just nodded his head. He then looked at Rody and coldly said, “Your Excellency the Duke,
I am not here to drink wine. I just have an important matter to discuss with the Governor-
General. In my opinion, there is no more need to drink the wine. Everybody is dismissed!”
Camus turned his body and directed that last sentence to the other nobles.
“Important matter?” Rody frowned.
Camus calmly looked at Rody and the Governor-General as he coldly said, “Governor-General,
please give the order! Starting from today, the Purple Leaf City will be on alert! The whole of
Xier Province will be on alert, and all the defenders must be ready for combat. My Southern
Legion will also cooperate with the native defenders. I had received the latest news that the
mountain people are beginning to move.”
“What?” The Governor-General immediately stood up and stammered, “No… This cannot be…
The day before yesterday, the elders of the tribes just came to visit me…”
Camus sneered and mocked him, “And he also gave you a few beautiful mountain women. Am I
right?”
“Nonsense! There was no such thing!” The Governor-General’s face turned red, and then he
said respectfully, “Since Camus said that there are important matters to discuss, the banquet
shall end here now… Your Excellency the Duke, is that alright with you?”
Rody stood up and loudly replied, “I was entrusted by His Majesty! Since there is an important
military task, this must not be delayed! The banquet will end right away!”
Since the Governor-General and the Duke had spoken, the guests in the hall immediately got up
and started to leave. Some of them were shocked and frightened by what Camus said earlier.
They were afraid that something serious was about to happen. There were even some that had
already planned their escape from the Southeast and had already figured out how to protect
their property...
The young women who accompanied them to drink wine also left the main hall. In a short time,
the only people left in the main hall was Rody, Camus and the three Governors-General of the
Southeast provinces.
Camus looked serious and spoke sternly, “Governors-General, the current situation is very
complicated. According to the latest information I received, nineteen mountain tribes held an
assembly ten days ago, at the Flame Tribe’s Nine Songs Mountain. The nineteen mountain
tribes had already elected the Flame Tribe’s Wuya as the Tribal Chief!”
“Tribal Chief!” Xier’s Governor-General’s expression changed as he loudly shouted, “Are they
crazy? According to the decree of the Empire, the tribes are not allowed to appoint a tribal chief!
They are even forming alliances now. Do they want to start a rebellion?” The other two
Governors-General’s expression also changed.
Camus looked at the silent Rody and slowly said, “Rebellion? Ten years ago, they had already
rebelled once! That was nothing, but this time, they have blatantly violated the Empire’s decree
by forming an alliance and electing a Tribal Chief without permission. Hmph! It seems that
Rody thought for a moment and then he slowly spoke, “Governor-General, in my opinion, we
should not hastily arrest them right now! Now that the mountain tribes have formed an
alliance, the first thing they will do is to contact the mountain soldiers in the southeast! These
soldiers may be affiliated to the Empire but ultimately, they are still foreigners. If someone
incited a rebellion, there will definitely be some of them who will follow! However, if we
suddenly arrest them first, those who did not plan to revolt will also be forced to revolt!”
Xier’s Governor-General immediately laughed and said, “Yes, yes! Your Excellency the Duke is
right! In this case, what do you suggest?”
Rody secretly frowned and said, “Just follow Camus’ idea and give an order to shut down the
barracks! Nobody is allowed to enter or leave without permission! Nobody is allowed to get in
contact with anyone from the outside! After that, mobilize the army as a deterrence!” Having
said that, he looked at Camus and asked, “Your Excellency Camus, how many soldiers can you
take out from the Southern Legion?”
Camus showed a complicated expression as he looked at Rody. He thought deeply for a moment
and then he replied. “Fifty thousand is the maximum! I can’t take out any more soldiers! I need
to retain enough troops for the Southeast. This is because when the mountain tribes finally
start their rebellion, the Southeast Legion would be at the frontlines to put down the rebellion!”
Rody nodded his head and said, “I heard before arriving in the city that there are two large
infantry units in the Xier Province. One of them is stationed in the Purple Leaf City. The other
one is divided into five units, with one thousand soldiers each, and were stationed at various
regions in Xier Province. Am I right?”
“Yes.” Xier’s Governor General immediately nodded his head. He then bowed and said, “Your
Excellency the Duke is clear in understanding the minute details!”
Rody calmly nodded his head and thought in his heart. I originally came to the South to do my
job. If I had not gathered any information in advance, I will just end up being fooled by all of
you, corrupted officials.
He then looked at the other two Governors-General. The other two immediately noticed him
and replied, “I have four thousand mountain army in my garrison.”
“I have five thousand people at my place but they are all reserve army.”
Rody secretly sighed and could not help but cursed in his heart. These useless garrisons! They
knew that the mountain barbarians are ready to create trouble and yet they still dared to recruit
so many mountain people as their defenders! It is obvious that if these mountain people want
to revolt, they may even provide weapons to the enemy! They are really extremely stupid!
Rody did not know that there had been no wars in the South for ten years and the military
discipline had become lax. The officers were corrupted but were not overboard because of
Camus’ presence. As a result, they could only skimp as much as possible by hiring the mountain
people. The military salary of the mountain people was much lower than the soldiers of the
Empire. There were a lot of cases like this. In order to fill their pockets, the military officers did
not care that much. They had always thought that the mountain people had already
surrendered for so many years and would no longer revolt. There were even those that yelled
the nonsensical slogan, ‘Utilize barbaric methods to rule the barbarians’. They did not know
that that method was feasible only if it was applied under an extremely strong central
leadership. That was because there was a strong army that could be used as a backup as
deterrence. That must also be supplemented with appeasing methods to support it.
However, the current strength of the Empire was weak and the defenders were scattered. The
swords in their hands were blunt and yet they still shouted the slogan of "utilize barbaric
methods to rule barbarians”. Moreover, they took the initiative of giving swords to the enemy.
Naturally, the enemy would use the swords against them when the need arise.
According to Rody’s rough calculation, in the three Southeast provinces, the local garrisons had
about one hundred thousand defenders, out of which thirty thousand were mountain people.
The ratio of population was also about at this level. However, when Rody thought of false
military reports and embezzlement, his calculations might not be accurate.
Rody did not want to bother that much. Speaking as a Duke he requested the other two
Governors-General to leave Purple Leaf City and return to their respective provinces.
Camus had brought ten thousand of the Southern Legion’s cavalry when he was on the way to
the city. and the cavalry was waiting outside the city. At his own discretion, he had earlier
already dispatched twenty thousand soldiers to the other two provinces in the Southeast to
assist the local Governors-General.
After Camus had briefed them, he immediately left the city. When he left, he casually nodded
his head to Rody but he did not look at Xier’s Governor-General at all.
After Camus was gone, Xier’s Governor-General felt unhappy. He coldly snorted and said, “This
Camus! He did not show any respect for Your Excellency the Duke, at all!”
Rody calmly smiled and thought to himself, Camus not showing respect for me is a small
matter. I think you are angry because he did not show respect for you. Rody calmly spoke, “The
current situation is urgent. His Excellency Camus is busy with important matters.”
Xier’s Governor-General tried to flatter Rody, so he just laughed awkwardly.
That afternoon, an order was passed from the Governor-General’s mansion. The Purple Leaf
City was taking strict precautions.
Rody took Randt with him and quietly looked around the streets. He saw the local defenders
running around the Purple Leaf City in a disorderly manner. Besides that, many of the local
defenders took the opportunity to blackmail the merchants and extort money. When Rody saw
this, he secretly gritted his teeth. This kind of army does not even need to wait for the mountain
tribes to start a rebellion. As long as there is a mutiny from the mountain defenders, the Purple
Leaf City will immediately be lost!
Rody looked at the huge city walls that were like a fortress and sighed in his heart as he
thought. What is the use of tall city walls? With lousy personnel, the walls are just decoration!
Looking at the behavior and actions of the three Governors-General and the other noble
officers, saying that they can properly manage the place is a joke! If it was not for Camus
watching over the Southeast, half of the money used to construct the walls would have entered
the pockets of the corrupted officers. It is similar to Watt Fortress. A wall that is supposed to be
twelve meters tall is actually less than ten meters...
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