Be, 3rd Lord of L'in
The Hon. Be, 3rd Lord of L′jin PC CJ (Shinasthana: 申侯培, l′jin-go-be; Feb. 2, 1750 – Nov. 17, 1819) was a Themiclesian aristocrat, judge, military officer, and politician. He was the grandson of Kjung, 1st Lord of L′jin (申侯宮), who was ennobled by Emperor Gwidh-mjen in 1730 as his prime minister. He began a judicial career as a Royal Counsel in 1769 and was appointed justice in the Exchequer in 1774, stunning the entire bureaucracy due to the speed of his promotion. In 1777, he was appointed to the Supreme Court, which gave him exposure to Casaterran legal principles that increasingly found domestic acceptance. There, he earned the monicker Young Justice.
In view of his legal experience, he was sent to Norfeld, Maverica (which Themiclesia then occupied) as Lieutenant-General of the Colonial Army to investigate grievances and offer relief to locals, whose lands were expropriated by the military government there, as gifts to its veterans. Be was able to settle the veterans by organizing the locals into corvée service to open more land, so their own land would not be expropriated. The availability of land reduced veterans' incentive to eject the locals from their farms by violence and greatly soothed local relations. He earned the government's trust as a suave diplomat and principled jurist in this success, returning in 1782 to the Supreme Court's bench.
In 1793, during the Second Maverican War, he replaced Long Lêt (桐摕) as General of the West (西將軍, sner-tsjang-kwjer) in the Camian campaign. The Government assigned six regiments of marines to Long in 1791 in the hopes of diverting the Camian deployment in Norfeld by opening a new front on their home soil. Long, however, was encumbered by his invigilator (監, k.ram).[1] The invigilator had been selling military secrets to the Camians for money, which wreaked havoc on Long's efforts; however, the Government disbelieved Long's assertions, in view of the Marines' record of evading supervision. After a year without progress, the Government dismissed Long in favour of Be, who possessed experience commanding an army of considerable size, albeit in peacetime. Aristocrats with military experience were short in supply, since an army of nearly 200,000 was in the field.
Be refused to arrest the invigilator like the force demanded, considering it illegal, as a general, to flaunt checks on his power. But as he investigated, Be delivered the same findings to the Government.[2] After executing the invigilator, Be attempted to manoeuvre west to Ngieh-sen but was pushed back. A second assault on Kan, to its south, met the same result. Be, frustrated, started to believe that the troops held him in contempt for the setbacks, having made an difficult decision for their safety. He then was approached by the Camians, who complained that his troops were stealing their property. He thus made looting and larceny capital offences, and the first victim happened to be the one who executed the original Invigilator, which terrified the troops. He created more capital offences with the result that officers avoided consulting him. In late 1794, the Government replaced him with Stjit, Lord Kaw′ (槁君室), whom aristocrats reputed smart, strict, but amiable. According to Camian records, Be's departure was attended by cheers for the "general and justice, whom his troops dare not contest."
For a few months, he returned to the Supreme Court, until he was appointed again as Comptroller of the Norfeld Exchequer, charged with supervising the disbursement of moneys and goods to the units fighting there. In 1796, he returned to Themiclesia with a wound to his shoulder, Maverican elite troops having spearheaded a nocturnal assault on the Exchequer's location; he barely escaped the area on foot, when his carriage was damaged beyond repair in the assault. In 1797, he again returned to the Supreme Court, and in 1800 he was made Chief Justice.
The apogee of his public career came in 1807, when he became Secretary of State for War in the government of the Lord of Gar-lang, but he was dismissed in 1810 due to his desire to raise more professional regiments, which conflicted with Gar-lang's objectives. While he retained the position of Chief Justice, he never returned to the court, citing complications arising from his shoulder wound. In 1818, he underwent an unsuccessful operation to remove debris from that wound. He died at his home from natural causes in 1819. His sarcophagus laid in state in the Court Hall (朝堂) at 'Kên'-ljang Palace in Kien-k'ang. Then prime minister the Lord of Mjen-lang presided over his funerary rites.
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Notes
- ↑ The Themiclesian government appointed a general to organize a campaign and an Invigilator to supervise his actions. While the Invigilator could not override the general's decisions, he was entitled to read all the general's papers and listen to all his conversations. It is the design of the system to expose corruption or incompetence this way.
- ↑ According to unverified sources, Be told the Invigilator several days before his death, "Of course I shall strictly forbid them from killing you, but they will kill you just the same."