The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 129 Mutiny
"What, the Ottoman Army is going to launch another military coup?"

At three o'clock in the night, Feng Quanlin, the Minister of Qi in the Ottoman Empire, was shouted out of bed by Guo Yunhan, the head of the military staff group in the Ottoman Army and General (Lieutenant General) of the army, and he hurriedly put on a silk pajamas. , and came to a secret room in the embassy. After listening to Guo Yunhan's narration, he immediately stood up from his chair in shock.

"Is the news reliable?"

"The news should be reliable." Guo Yunhan said in a deep voice: "At 9 o'clock last night, a Yenicheri officer who had studied in our country of Qi rushed to the headquarters of our military staff and secretly reported the matter. In Yeni Some staff officers in the Cherry Corps also noticed changes in the army. Some generals began to distribute weapons and ammunition to soldiers. Yesterday, they went to the armory in the city and asked for artillery, claiming to conduct a live-fire exercise. But our entire staff The regiment did not receive any instructions for exercises at all, and several major generals of the regiment lost contact one after another yesterday. They were either killed by soldiers plotting a coup, or were placed under house arrest in a certain military camp. It can be said that at this time the entire Yenicherry has We are leaderless.”

"Who is in charge?" Feng Quanlin took a deep breath and asked softly.

"It should be Patrona Khalil, the commander of the Third Army, well, a senior general of Albanian origin." Guo Yunhan said: "According to the news from all parties, we can initially confirm that he may be there tomorrow, at the latest No later than the day after tomorrow, he will lead his officers and soldiers to start a rebellion, and coerce the entire Yenicherry Army officers and soldiers to participate in the uprising. They are preparing to kill the Grand Vizier in order to abandon the ongoing military reforms."

"We must find a way to stop the mutiny launched by this person in order to maintain the hard-won reform achievements of the Ottoman Empire." Feng Quanlin paced back and forth in the room, with an anxious look on his face, "Our Qi Army in Persia is The Caucasus is in confrontation with the Russian army. Although it has repelled the Russian army's advances several times, its country is recruiting a large number of reinforcements in an attempt to launch a large-scale battle with us in the region. Half a month ago, the Sultan finally persuaded them and the Grand Vizier, recruiting the Crimean Khanate to attack the Russian rear to relieve our military pressure in the Caucasus. In addition, the Ottoman Empire will also need to make a big effort to teach the Venetians a lesson. If this leads to a mutiny and deposes Su Dan, if we kill the Grand Vizier again, not only will our plans become obsolete, but we will have to spend a lot of unnecessary time and money to establish a relationship with the new Sultan and Grand Vizier."

After Grand Vizier Ibrahim came to power, social and military reforms were carried out in full swing, which re-energized the declining Ottoman Empire.

His first step was to reduce consumption taxes on more than [-] commodities including tobacco, coffee, tea, hardware, sugar, oil, soap, glass, etc., in order to restore the country's dilapidated economy and people's livelihood. Previously, due to the war, taxes on these commodities had tripled, raising overall prices. The people were miserable and it was time to abolish them.

Later, he negotiated with the people of Qi and obtained a loan of 150 million yuan, which slightly stabilized the domestic financial situation that was riddled with problems. He also partially reduced the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes owed by the people during the war, so that farmers dared to return to the land, businessmen dared to return to the market, and the entire country's economy began to slowly recover.

Economic reform is certainly difficult, but as long as you have the determination and ability, to be honest, it can still be carried out. But the reform of the army is different. This is definitely a forbidden area in the Ottoman Empire's previous reforms, and even a death minefield. If you are not careful, big trouble may happen!
But Ibrahim was bold enough, and with the support of Sultan Muhammad III, he first attacked the famous Yenicherry Army.

He checked the salary rolls of various units, dismissed a large number of officers and soldiers who were unable to perform combat duties, and then recruited a large number of hard-working peasants from the poor Anatolian plateau to replace these people. In addition, the original system of recruiting craftsmen to serve temporarily in the army was also abolished, because there was a lot of fraud, and many so-called craftsmen basically knew nothing and were just paid.

Through this series of drastic reforms, the total number of the Yenicheri Legion, which once swelled to 5000 in previous wars, has dropped rapidly. It is now less than 3, almost half of the number. However, the combat effectiveness of the disbanded legion has not decreased but increased, because out of the original more than 6 people, it is said that only about 2 or [-] people can actually fight, and the rest are just waving flags and shouting to make up the number.

The Spassi cavalry was also reorganized, a large number of unqualified personnel were eliminated, and officers who were eating empty pay were executed or exiled. Ibrahim asked the sultan to exempt the Sparsi cavalry from many taxes, so that they could have a certain financial ability to recruit retainers and retainers. The recruited retainers and attendants were gathered together and trained by Sanjak Bey, and the training period was paid by the government.

Ibrahim also specifically requested that officers at all levels of the Spasi cavalry should not fire their subordinates because they asked for bribes to no avail. This was a very common behavior in the past century and was rectified many times, but always recurred afterwards.

Ibrahim also attempted to rebuild the weakened navy. Like the artillery, it is a relatively modern branch of the army and has very close ties with the people of Qi. Many officers have studied abroad in Hanzhou. Generally speaking, it is much stronger than the sluggish army, but compared with the surrounding As far as Venice and the Russian navy are concerned (Russia has a powerful fleet in the Caspian Sea), there is obviously a big gap in strength. Ibrahim used Crete as a mortgage and borrowed 100 million yuan from Qi's United Mediterranean Commercial Bank. In addition to customizing several cutting-edge sailing warships from Qi, he also used part of the funds to enter into a joint venture with Qi's Northern Shipyard. Agreement, a new shipyard was built in Istanbul, and a large number of shipbuilding engineers from all over the country were hired to prepare to build a large number of sailing warships suitable for the actual sea conditions in the Mediterranean to replace those increasingly outdated oar-powered warships.

The planned naval fleet will be divided into squadrons. Each squadron will be managed by a bey, responsible for commanding the ships under its jurisdiction, ensuring that everyone can receive military pay and receive professional and rigorous training, and that each ship has sufficient personnel. supply of arms and materials, thus solving several problems that have plagued the navy for decades.

Under the strong advice of the people of Qi, Ibrahim agreed to establish the General Staff of the Combined Fleet, and several major assistants, senior generals and chiefs of staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy entered this organization. Under them, naval affairs are arranged by a multi-level chain of command, and the buying and selling of official positions is strictly prohibited. All vacant positions must be selected from low-ranking personnel based on ability and experience. In the past, a layman was parachuted in from other systems. It was no longer allowed for people to come and serve as senior officers.

Finally, Grand Vizier Ibrahim also strengthened the management and elimination of civil servants in the palace. For incompetent and stupid officials, as well as those who only rely on their family background and background, the government paid one-third of their salaries and ordered them to go home and retire. Young and capable officials and scribes who had undergone rigorous training were added to the ranks. Come in. He asked these service officials that every government document or decree in the future must be strictly distributed to the specific execution department and recorded and archived for future assessment. In this way, we will completely change the sloppy and procrastinating work efficiency of the past government.

From here we can see that Ibrahim Grand Vizier's reform efforts are relatively strong, and Qi's advisers also praised him generously.

Of course, through this vigorous reform, Qi State also gained a lot of benefits from it.

Ibrahim Grand Vizier is full of confidence in the success of the reform. He believes that domestic businessmen, farmers and intellectuals support him, and the officers and soldiers who have received sufficient military pay and pensions also support him. Then this reform will Satisfy everyone, and your reputation will be respected by future generations.

But he forgot that the conservative class, corrupt military officers and aristocratic officials whose interests were touched hated the reforms he promoted, and they all joined forces to oppose him.

No, the soldiers who are dissatisfied with the reform of the army are going to start playing their favorite trick again - launching a mutiny to get rid of the Grand Vizier who is enterprising and insisting on reform, and even His Majesty the Sultan standing behind him. He will not let him go, and plans to depose him after the mutiny is successful and support a more "wise" Sudan.

Speaking of which, it makes people extremely speechless. Whenever the Ottoman Empire showed a slight improvement in its national power, it would start to mess around, either by mutiny in the army or by usurping power in the palace, wantonly consuming the country's little vitality. If they continue to mess around like this, sooner or later the Ottoman ship will be sunk by themselves. By then, I will see how all of you can be rescued ashore!

"I will go find the Grand Vizier immediately." Feng Quanlin ordered his servants to prepare the carriage immediately. He would go to Ibrahim's mansion overnight to inform him about the mutiny so that he could put an end to the brewing conspiracy in advance. "Your military staff team is here Tomorrow we must stabilize the entire Yenicherry Army and prevent it from launching in advance."

"Minister Feng, are we going to get involved in Ottoman internal affairs?" Guo Yunhan smiled slightly and said in a low voice: "You have to think carefully. If we get involved, whether it succeeds or fails, it will definitely cause trouble. The fear of the Ottomans.”

"So what?" Feng Quanlin took the coat sent by the servant and put it on while shaking his head and said: "Don't say that the Ottomans owe us a debt that Qi will never be able to repay. With their declining national power, , and when there is almost no ally in sight, do you still dare to show your teeth at our Qi country?"
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(End of this chapter)