Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 406 Mutiny
In the central command tent.

"Using the old to replace the new?" Upon hearing Wei An's report, Wei Fang frowned and looked at the Revenue General Wang Can. "Is that so?"

Wang Can was in charge of the logistics for an army of 100,000. Military rations were of paramount importance, a fact he was well aware of, but at this moment he had to feign ignorance and say:
"Perhaps... maybe... possibly... there were some military rations that weren't distributed in time and became stale in the warehouse. To save trouble, the people below didn't replace them and just mixed them directly into the new rations before distributing them."

He paused for a moment, then skillfully shifted the blame, saying, "Of course, you'd have to ask the Military Advisor of the Granary for the specifics; this humble general can't handle such details..."

"The Hefei garrison has only been established for less than two years. How much grain can they possibly store? Aren't these pampered soldiers too spoiled?" a general said indignantly.

"It's only because conditions are better now. Back when we were in the army, we were lucky to have anything to eat, let alone choose between new and old rice."

"Enough with the nonsense," Wei Fang said in a deep voice. "Summon the Military Advisor of the Granary!"

A short while later, Military Advisor Ma was summoned into the tent. He knew perfectly well that the "Chen Qi Xin San" plan must have angered everyone, but he couldn't admit it at this point, so he and Wang Can agreed to stick to the same story and insist that it was just normal operation.

"...Otherwise, wouldn't stale rice become even staleer and less edible the longer it's stored?"

"No deductions?" Wei Fang questioned.

"The grain rations are distributed using the grain measures set by the imperial court. Even a missing liter can be detected. If there is any deduction, they will definitely make a fuss about it," Military Advisor Ma replied.

"But such a small matter would cause so many people to cause trouble?" Wei Fang frowned. In his opinion, as long as the grain is stored properly, it can be stored for another year or two without any problem.

"My lord, you may not know this, but prices are soaring these days. Many people, upon receiving their rations, will take half to exchange for money to fund their eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring," Military Advisor Ma said ominously.
“When it comes to buying grain in the market, new grain is twice as expensive as old grain, so of course they are not happy about it.”

"The imperial court is distributing rations, not giving them money to sell," someone retorted. "A bunch of bastards trying to take advantage of the imperial court!"

"..." Wei Fang thought it made sense, so he nodded and said, "Tell the soldiers that this time they can replace the old rice with new rice. But this practice cannot be allowed to continue, otherwise they will cause trouble at the slightest dissatisfaction, and how can we lead troops into battle then!"

He paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "They have half an hour to disperse, or they will be treated as traitors!"

"Understood!" the generals responded in unison.

~~
Outside the central army camp, the soldiers were naturally very dissatisfied with Wei An's proposed solution. One of them shouted, "Do we lack food? We refuse to accept that someone is drinking our blood!"

"Yes!" the soldiers agreed wholeheartedly. "We must execute that man surnamed Ma, and his superior surnamed Wang, as a warning to others!"

"Let this serve as a warning to others! Let's see who dares to tamper with our food supplies again!"

On the watchtower, Wei An was so angry he laughed. This was utterly outrageous! If they acted like this, beheading officers at the slightest dissatisfaction, how could they possibly lead troops into battle?

"Alright, we've already agreed to give you the grain exchange you requested. As for whether the quartermaster violated military discipline, engaged in embezzlement or dereliction of duty, we will investigate and handle it impartially!"

"No, we have to kill them now, otherwise if we drag this out, we'll just make a big deal out of a small one and then let it go!" More and more soldiers gathered outside the camp, and among them were naturally some sensible people.

"You should stop now. How can you kill someone based on just your word? Besides, my elder brother is only acting commander; he has no authority to execute the military advisor, let alone the general of finance." Seeing that they were pushing their luck and refusing to listen to reason, Wei An, who considered himself good-tempered, was also losing his temper and said with a stern face:
"I've said everything I need to say. You all should leave now, or we'll have to clear the area in half an hour."

"Oh, they don't have the right to behead corrupt officials, but they do have the right to behead ordinary soldiers!" someone sneered. The soldiers immediately felt their anger flare up again…

"We're the ones who've been wronged, yet they want to cut off our heads?!" The soldiers shouted again.

"It seems we gave the Marquis too much face last year, actually thinking we were easy targets to bully!"

"Yes, it's because we were too lenient when we got our winter clothes last year, that's why they've been bullying us even more! This time we have to stand up for ourselves!" "No need to wait half an hour, let's clear the area now! If we kill them all, no one will cause trouble!"

“We have knives too, why should we wait for them to kill us?” But there were also radicals besides the conservatives, who began to incite the crowd to charge the camp walls.

"If the Marquis refuses to kill corrupt officials, we'll do it ourselves!"

"Yes, kill the hamsters and punish the corrupt officials!" With the slogan changed, many people got carried away and rushed to the base of the camp wall, starting to climb up.

Because the central army camp was located in the city, there was no need to dig trenches, which conveniently benefited the mutinous soldiers.

"You're rebelling!" Wei An exclaimed in alarm, quickly ordering the archers on the city wall:

"Loose the arrows! Stop them!"

The archers, however, all lowered their bows. They had just received their provisions two days ago…

This further fueled the arrogance of the 'mutinous soldiers,' who howled as they climbed the camp wall and scaled their way into the camp.

Wei Fang's personal guards had already formed ranks in front of the commander's tent; they were also the only troops to receive the new rations.

They were the Wei family's private soldiers, and naturally they would not collude with the 'rebel soldiers'. They all drew their bows and aimed their arrows at the approaching 'rebel soldiers'.

Three hundred paces, two hundred paces, one hundred paces! The captain of the personal guards roared, "Release!"

The guards gritted their teeth and released the bowstrings, and arrows rained down!

However, just as they were about to reach the 'chaotic army', a stone wall rose up from the ground, blocking all the arrows.

"Stop!" The sound of hooves thundered through the air. Chen Qingzhi, his white robes fluttering, rode a pure white warhorse, looking like a god descending to earth, with three hundred white-robed soldiers following him as he descended from the sky.

"Who goes there?!" Wei Fang's personal guard captain shouted.

"Acting as the General of the Army, Chen Qingzhi, Commander-in-Chief of the military affairs of Shouyang!" Chen Qingzhi raised his staff high and proclaimed, "By order of the General of Anxi, I have come to take command of the army!"

He then asked in a deep voice, "Where is the Marquis of Yongchang?!"

"I am here." Wei Fang led his generals out of the central command tent, but in this situation, he couldn't help but feel ashamed to face Chen Qingzhi.

"What's going on? Why have the soldiers mutinied?!" Chen Qingzhi asked, feigning ignorance.

"This..." Wei Fang didn't know where to begin.

"General Chen, please stand up for us!" The soldiers, seeing their savior arrive, immediately began to shout, drowning out Wei Fang's voice. "We couldn't survive, that's why we angrily denounced the corrupt officials."

"Why can't we survive?" Chen Qingzhi said gently, "Don't worry, find a representative to explain to me in detail."

He paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "I guarantee that any injustice will be redressed and any illegal act will be investigated. Please trust me this once!"

(End of this chapter)