Chapter 265: Riots
Chapter 265 Riot
On April 15, 1991 of the Holy Calendar, a fast horse flew into Port Fulan and ran straight towards the city hall.
After running to the main entrance of the city hall, the man on the horse rolled to the ground, and the soldiers of the inner guard who stood guard went forward to help him up.
The man’s chest was heaving violently, he had obviously been running non-stop all the way here, and he couldn’t catch his breath as he said, “Rebel! Rebellion! The pariahs have revolted. I want to see Lord Mayor, I want to see Lord Mayor.”
Hearing the word “revolt”, the soldiers on guard didn’t dare to be careless, and after checking his whole body, they hurriedly assisted him into the town hall.
Half an hour later, the inner guards and militia troops in Port Flanders hurriedly gathered and ran towards the city gates, and they were surprised to find that the city gates of Port Flanders were closed. It should be known that ever since Lord Lord eliminated the pirates and conducted a severe crackdown, this city gate had never been closed during the daytime.
Something big must have happened, so thought the hearts of many people.
……
“These are my initial ideas ……”
In the naval base of Port Fullan, Ortin was discussing the near future battle plan with the heads of the navy.
Not long ago, the staff of Lakewood Town had decided to strike on two fronts, and after the army had occupied half of Emden’s territory, it was expected that the navy would also have a big hand in this war, to which Austin naturally threw up his hands in favor.
Austin was not happy with the conservative expectations of the staff, which only allowed the Navy to sail up the Wise River and blockade the river piers in the eastern part of Maltz-Kent’s area of influence.
It was too much for them; in Austin’s eyes, the only way to show what the Navy could do was to capture a territory like the Army’s 1st and 3rd Battalions had done.
He decided to divide the navy, which had six sail battleships, into three fleets of two battleships each.
The commander of the first fleet was Major Quirk;
The commander of the second fleet was Major Jarman;
The commander of the third fleet was Major Tirpitz.
The plan was for the First Fleet to patrol the waters off Port Fullan, and the Second and Third Fleets to move east along the river. Quirk had made a name for himself in the exploration of the new shipping lanes, and it was time for someone else to put the shine on.
Just as they were about to discuss the details of the operation further, a guard hurriedly burst into the conference room.
“Commander, Mayor Theodore has asked you to attend an emergency meeting at the town hall, it’s very urgent, please go immediately.”
Austin asked suspiciously, “Very urgent?”
“Yes, that’s what the visitor said.”
“Good, I’ll be right there.”
……
When Austin arrived at the meeting room inside the town hall, it was already full of people, including Peter Sr, the town mayor’s administrative advisor, the local military service station chief, and other clerks, large and small, so it was clear that the meeting had been going on for some time.
“Commander Austin, something’s wrong!”
Mayor Theodore oohed and aahed when he saw the Admiral enter.
“Mr. Mayor, please calm down, what’s going on?”
Austin asked slowly and methodically as he found a seat and sat down. “The salt people have revolted!”
“What? Rebellion?” Austin, who had just sat down, stood up again in shock.
“Yes, Mr. Baden just sent someone over with the news.”
“Who is Mr. Baden?”
“The squire of the village of Faber, and he is also the tax-charterer of that neighborhood.”
“I’d like to know the particulars first.”
Then Mayor Theodore gave him the particulars of the salt people’s revolt.
According to the news brought by the servants of the Baden family, the cause was a tax levy two days before, and Master Baden, who was the tax-packer, sent his men down to collect the tax as usual.
But the salt people don’t know what kind of medicine they ate wrong, even ignored the divine power granted to Master Baden by His Lordship and resisted to pay the tax, Master Baden based on his own duty and power, sent more people to urge them to pay the tax, maybe in words a little rude, who thought that the unruly people even hurt themselves, only a small half of the people who went to urge the tax fled back with a broken head and blood, and those who didn’t fled back are not yet known to be alive or dead.
Not only that, then the mob also collective mob surrounded the village where the Baden master lives, under their compulsion, there are many villagers and serfs from nearby villages to join the riot team, their momentum is even stronger.
The mob reentered the Baden residence, wantonly vandalized and robbed and burned, killing indiscriminately, and many people in the house were brutally killed.
The Baden master had no choice but to escape from the family’s secret tunnels, in a hidden farm temporarily lurked, and sent a servant on a fast horse desperately ran to the port of Frankland to report to the town hall.
Austin was silent when he heard the whole story, and he did not believe that the “Master Baden” was as innocent as the servant had made him out to be. These so-called tax collectors, which is not a vampire who sucks the marrow from the bones, do not use the power in their hands to transfer their own tax pressure to the people, that is still called a qualified tax collector?
The Navy Commander asked, “So is there something Mr. Mayor needs me to do?”
Mayor Theodore replied, “I would like to ask the Navy to deploy sailors to help us maintain order.”
Austin frowned, “For a possible combat-oriented mission like this, I have to consult the staff, and according to the rules set by the Earl-sama, both the Navy and the Army are external, shouldn’t [internal conflicts] like this one be dealt with by the internal defense forces?”
Theodore shook his head, “Port Fullan only has one platoon of internal defense troops, it’s too few. Together with the militia there are only a few hundred, and according to the descriptions of the people who came, I’m afraid that the mob has wrapped up quite a few villages, and I’m afraid that their size has reached more than 2,000, so I don’t feel that there’s any certainty of a sure-fire victory. The Navy has muskets and artillery, and only your presence can quickly pacify it. Lieutenant Colonel, you don’t have to worry about violating the rules, I’ve already sent someone to Lakeheart Town to ask for instructions, and I’ll receive a response tomorrow, until then, please make sure your troops assist us in defending the port of Foulan, I’m afraid that when the mob grows in size, it will storm the place. You will go out to suppress it when Lakewood agrees.”
Austin nodded, “This is no problem, after all, Richland Harbor is where the naval base is located, it is our duty to defend her. And I’ll send out scouts to get to the bottom of them.”
He stood up, “The situation is urgent, if there’s nothing else, I’ll return to the base now to arrange for troops to assist in defending the city.”
“Good, then I will trouble you.”
After sending Austin away, Theodore let out a sigh of relief and dropped his butt into his chair.
“How long has it been since something like this happened, and why did it happen to me during my tenure? This mob is hateful.”
Old Peter, the advisor sitting beside him, said, “Lord Mayor, we can’t jump to conclusions yet, the salt people in this neighborhood have always been peaceful, I’m afraid that there is some unknown bitterness in acting like this.”
“No matter what bitterness there is, robbing and killing is wrong! Not to mention that we are at war with the usurper, isn’t this dragging our feet! These fools have no sense of the big picture or right and wrong at all!”
Mayor Theodore said hatefully.
(End of chapter)