Middle Eastern tyrants

Chapter 128 Internal Meeting
Enzi, who had been in the limelight, was satisfied, and so was King Shams.

After that, Lu Lin also accepted the "surrender ceremony" of the captured Zion troops.

Of course, this was also arranged by the church.

Lu Lin didn't know what methods they used, but when signing the documents, Brigadier General Eugene was still quite composed: "At first, I felt that losing to a young man like you was a huge loss of face, but now it seems that my loss was not unjust."

Lu Lin: "If you Zionians can only judge a person's ability to fight by their age, then I can only say that you are not far from your demise."

Brigadier General Eugene paused for a moment after hearing this, then smiled wryly: "You're right. Since you are the winner, you naturally have the right to humiliate the loser."

Did I just humiliate him?
Lu Lin was too lazy to argue with him. He signed the draft document, and then the sounds of the band and cannons immediately came from all directions.

Prince Muhammad also signed the document, then put down his pen: "You are now the first Arab general to accept Zion's surrender."

"It's just a performance. Only when Prime Minister Hilbert or General Yesavishen personally hands over the surrender document will it have any real value." Lu Lin, however, seemed uninterested.

In his view, this was just a psychological victory; only by actually planting the flag on the Prime Minister's office in Tel Aviv would it be a real victory.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After the ceremony, Lu Lin and Prince Muhammad attended an internal meeting of the "Sudri" faction.

The event was held at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, a brand-new palace that will become the new residence of King Shuangzhi. The previous palace, the Four Palaces, was built by the founding emperor when Shuangzhi was still very poor, and even the palace exuded simplicity.

But things are different now. Oil has made the country extremely wealthy, and Shuangzhi needs such a new palace for both administrative needs and foreign receptions.

The palace gave Lu Lin a feeling of Islamic-style modern fantasy.

Not only is it luxurious, but it also incorporates many modern elements, making it seem as if it's on a completely different level from the surrounding city.

When Prince Mohammed led him into the private reception room, several princes stood up in unison.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Prince Suleiman looked at Lu Lin and spoke first: "His Majesty's thoughts are quite clear to everyone. He intends to support Amir the Younger and wants him to control the nation's army."

In Shuangzhi, the violent institutions are mainly divided into three parts: the "religious police," the "national guard," and the military system.

The religious police are controlled by the church, while the National Guard is controlled by other fraternal factions.

As for the army, it was reorganized from the former royal guard and local armed forces and belongs to the royal family's direct forces. However, due to its current large size, everyone is secretly vying for control.

Seeing that Lu Lin was confused, Prince Abdul went straight to the point: "We intend to correct the mistakes left by our father—that is, your grandfather. We must keep the army in our own hands (the Sudri faction). This is also what Brother Shams wanted."

Wow, this is exciting right from the start?

“Shuangzhi is now in the eye of the storm,” Prince Suleiman said with a serious expression. “We are facing many problems, including a single economic structure, serious tax evasion within the royal family, and the ever-growing religious issues.”

In fact, these destabilizing factors had been brewing for some time, but they were suppressed by the oil boom and did not manifest themselves.

Prince Abdul chimed in: "Brother Shams is already seventy years old. If we continue to choose a new king according to the principle of succession by brother, he will only get older and older."

How can someone who has endured a lifetime of palace intrigue and is now enthroned in their twilight years have the ambition to launch reforms and lead a rapidly developing nation to further prosperity?

Lu Lin was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected that there were insightful people in Shuangzhi. He knew the future trajectory of Shuangzhi, and that for at least the next fifty or sixty years, it would essentially align with what the two princes had predicted.

Looking at the genealogy of the Shuangzhi royal family, the founding king had a total of 45 sons, 36 of whom lived to adulthood. By the third generation, this number had suddenly increased to over a thousand.

Most of these third-generation descendants enjoyed the benefits brought by oil, growing up with a silver spoon in their mouths, and were sent to the West by the royal family to receive elite education after adulthood.

The idea was clearly good, but the result was not very satisfactory.

They poured huge sums of money out of the country, but brought back no technology or reforms. Instead, they introduced Western ideology, which impacted the local Islamic culture.

As a result, Lu Lin, the carefree prince who received his education in China, has become the most outstanding among the third generation of Shuangzhi.

However, the topic was not discussed further. The princes simply gave Lu Lin a heads-up: the intricate relationships within the royal family could not be explained in a few words, and Muhammad needed to "tutor" his son.

"The UN meeting is in two days. I heard that Masr requested it this time. They seem to be in a hurry," Prince Suleiman interjected.

"Can you not be in a hurry?"

Prince Faisal scoffed: "The Zionians are threatening to bombard Heliopolis, a long-established wealthy area where even the presidential palace is located."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' phones have been ringing off the hook these past two days. They can't persuade Surria, so they're pinning their hopes on us, hoping everyone can sit down and negotiate with Zion.

"So how did you do it?"

"Appease? What else can we do besides appease? Besides, what reason do we have to help Masr? Not to mention others, the church would certainly be happy to kick Masr when he's down."

"What do you think?" Prince Suleiman looked at his eldest nephew with interest.

"We cannot give Zion any breathing room. We have made this mistake twice already, and we must not make it a third time," Lu Lin firmly advocated for war.

“Moody, your son is somewhat like Khalid,” the older Prince Hartley laughed.

“He’s still a bit too young to be the Sword of Allah,” Prince Muhammad said, glancing at his son. “But he could be a Tarik ibn Ziad, at least he has the guts to burn the ships in a decisive battle.”

Tariq ibn Ziad was one of the most famous military commanders during the Umayyad Caliphate. He led 12000 Berber soldiers across the Strait of Gibraltar, and upon landing, immediately burned all the ships, ultimately defeating the 5-strong army of the Visigoth King Rodrik.

The topic circled back to the war. Lu Lin said, "The biggest problem in this war lies with Masr. Changing commanders on the eve of battle delayed the opportunity to win. Otherwise, we wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat."

Prince Suleiman said with interest, "It seems you have a lot of opinions about the newly appointed President Duleva."

"He committed a foolish act, yet he expects his country and allies to pay the price," Lu Lin said bluntly. "If I were to meet him, I might just give him a good beating."

"What about Hashim?"

When the name was mentioned, everyone fell silent.

If stupidity is the hardest mistake to forgive, then betrayal is clearly an even more unacceptable sin.

Lu Lin reached for the holster at his waist: "Then I might not be able to resist killing him."

(End of this chapter)