Chapter 541: The End Of A Poor Widow
The rebels won.
This result came as a surprise to many, but not a surprise to others.
Especially for the other factions within the sultanate who are displeased against the rule of the Sultana Dowager, as they know that even if this rebellion is suppressed, there will soon be another rebellion occurring, just with a different name.
Nevertheless, Celalettin somehow managed to win, and immediately the news of the victory began spreading to the entire Marmara seas, the entire Sultanate has finally gone pass the boiling point and kicked the cap of the kettle out of place with its steam. Numerous armies and political factions resisted their temptation no longer, they climbed onto the flag poles, torn down the flag of the white horse representing the order of the Sultan, threw it down their fences, and declared that they shall openly rebel following the path of Celalettin.
With days, a total of five units have declared their rebellion openly, while eight other Ottoman garrisons have stopped following orders from Edirne, but most importantly, rumours have started spreading within the mass population of Edirne that even the garrison units within the city walls, have grown wary of this impending threat, and is considering changing their affiliations...
This caused an uproar within the ruling class of the current government, especially those nobles, merchants and officials who grown rich and powerful sucking the blood of the regular folks of the Sultanate. As compared to these rebels who have nothing to lose except their life, the ruling class have everything to lose, from their luxurious estates inside and outside the walls built with the blood and sweat of free labour, to their gorgeous concubines who are the daughter of the "pariahs" in their mouth, and their grape wine from Aegyptus carried all the here with the aid of their slaves, eunuchs and sea faring sailors.
The Ottomans, at least most of them, here in Edirne, have been corrupted, corroded after two generations, almost a century of good life, they have lost the fighting spirit and valour of their centuries ago Seljik ancestors.
Does the Sultana Dowager know about this? She knows!
But can she really do anything about this? She can’t!
Because she is one of the ruling classes as well, all of her power, her legitimacy, her support, the right for her to continue ruling as the regent, came from these people, who are the exact same people sucking up the blood of the Sultanate. These people can always get another regent in place to serve their need, while without them her foundation of rule shall become dangerously fragile.
The problem was not that severe last time, when under the brilliant Sultan Murad II, as the Sultanate continued expanding outwards allowing numerous resources to constantly flow into the Sultanate that would eventually split some benefits towards the regular Ottoman people after giving most to the noblemen and officials, but not now, when the Sultanate has shrunk to such a minor state.
Thus, when the noblemen came to demand her to move the garrison unit out of the unit in order to save their arse when they are soundly asleep, the Sultana Dowager had no choice but to accept, after some argument and ordered the garrison to leave the city. But she did play some trick in the order though, as the order states that she need the troopers to go outside and dig a moat outside the city, and retreat back to the city when the enemies come, hoping that the soldiers would somehow understand her difficulties and not attempt something to mess up the situation even further.
But not everyone understood the Sultana Dowager’s idea, especially the courtiers and nobles; Just like someone has said when the state going for its downfall, there will always be someone giving a whip to the backside of the state making it roll down even faster. The nobles, being arrogant and demanding as always, sent their stewards straight down to the barracks, demanding the troopers to move out of the city at once, and never come back before they have proven their loyalty.
This immediately caused an uproar among almost every single trooper. The regular soldiers never knew what exactly they have done wrong to receive such a ridiculous and absurd order for them to get the hell out of the barrack they have been residing for years, while the commanders, who are indeed planning to rebel, grew wary upon hearing the shouts and curses of these noblemen, wandering which step they have done wrong to leak the information.
Everyone knows that when an animal is facing a life and death situation, the beast shall unleash its full potential and desperately try anything in order to survive, it is exactly the same for human as well. Facing this situation, knowing the punishment for rebellion, these commanders desperately made up their mind to launch their rebellion earlier, they mean, right now.
Taking advantage of the rage and displease among the soldiers, the commanders openly cursed the noblemen, chopped their head off right in the parade square in front of all the troopers, and announced before the shocked eyes of everyone on the spot with the dead people’s heads high up towards in the sky.
"Those bastards! Twits! Piss pots! Seating inside the high castle right over there! Just a eski mil away from where we are standing! Has started questioning our loyalty, threatening our very lives! I must tell you people, my brothers, that I have a secret source telling me that they are planning to let us go outside those walls, dig some holes, and bury ourselves in it! Then they shall casually seal the soil above us tight with our tombstones! My brothers! Do you agree with this!"
The troopers began gossiping within themselves, eyeing their commanders with questions and suspicions. They are just simple soldiers but that does not mean that they are stupid, in fact as the guard’s unit of the political capital they have already developed a strong political sensitivity to realise that the atmosphere recently is not right.
But just as the speech by the commanders is still going on, the delegate from the palace arrived. He certainly did not know who the hell it is in the commanders’ hands, and totally with no idea on what they are doing over here. But still as a faithful follower of the Sultana Dowager he gulped, got off the horse, and read the order of the Sultana Dowager aloud, ordering the garrison unit to march out of the city, and dig a moat.
Now these soldiers here finally realised something, and the way they look at their commanders are no longer filled with suspicion and questions. The commanders too did not get this turn of event almost getting themselves staggered and stand rooted on the ground, unable to believe that the Sultana Dowager really gave them such a piece of order.
The Sultana Dowager, as a woman who lived her life in the harem and never went for a war before, might be lacking military knowledge, but certainly not the commanders and the soldiers over here in the parade square. They clearly know that it is a mission impossible for them, with only seven hundred men, to dig a moat enough to encircle the city of Edirne before the rebels arrive but combing with the speech and talk their commanders have just given, they know that this hole they are ordered to dig, is definitely enough to bury themselves in it.
The air grew quiet in the parade square, the courtier too realised that the things here are not right, and so after reading out the order he swiftly got on his mount and galloped out of this place.
"I guess this leaves us with no other ways my brothers..." The commander looked at his men. "We are only left with one path, that is the rebel path."
Everyone grew nervous, this is not a few centuries later whereby the Janissaries frequently rebel against the Sultan in demand of their political interest, rebelling against the Sultan is still something new in this era, especially within the garrison unit in charge of defending the capital acting as the roles of Janissaries in the past.
But suddenly, a voice came from behind. "Death to the Sultana Dowager!"
Everyone looked at the source of the voice, it is a boy who is working as a helper in the kitchen of the barracks. The troopers, and commanders, quickly came to realisation that yes! They are not rebelling against their beloved young Sultan! They are now on a rightful mission to remove the source of all harms in the palace, that is the Sultana Dowager! It is she who caused all these unrests! If they remove the Sultana Dowager, everything shall be back to normal!"
With this thought in mind, more and more people started raising their fists and blades in the air, roaring. "Death to the Sultana Dowager, place our Sultan back to power!"
"The Sultan led us to victory!"
"Death to the Sultana Dowager!"
