Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 660 The economic war is going badly!
Half a week later, Toghan brought a large group of soldiers and craftsmen to work at the Zuweila Gate in Cairo, dismantling the city gate and its adjacent facilities.

All the local residents came to watch. Toghan sent someone to announce that when the Ilkhanate sent envoys to Egypt to persuade them to surrender, the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz beheaded all six envoys and hung their heads on the city gate. This was the origin of a series of wars in the East and the beginning of the Mamluks' stable rule.

However, ironically, since this is the southern gate of the city, and the gate is the big bazaar in the south of the city, it has also become a place of execution. The heads of those Mamluk sultans who failed in the civil strife and were executed would also be hung on this gate. Over time, it has become a habit...

Tuohuan said that over the years, too many people had died in vain and too much unnecessary destruction had been caused by internal and external wars. Therefore, he did not intend to resort to violence this time when he entered the city. He wanted to demolish this iconic place as a declaration of his determination. He hoped that everyone would cooperate and not force him to break his will.

The construction was very noisy, so many people knew about it. However, most people were just joining in the fun. They just listened to what he said and didn't react at all. Tuo Huan didn't care about it and continued to do his work.

However, when Guo Kang went to look for him, he saw that the construction site was a little more lively today. He asked the officer on guard, and he was told that someone had come here voluntarily.

This area at the city gate was originally a prison, and the courtyard wall was the city wall itself. Before the Sheikh started the rebellion, he was forced to go there when he was working for the then Sultan Faraj. He made a vow at the time that if he could get out safely, he would turn this place into a public building.

After Faraj's death, the Sheikh emerged victorious in the civil war, and he kept his promise to start construction here. Before the war, a small prayer room and public drinking water room had been built, and two minarets were planned to be added to the city gate.

However, before the main building could be started, the Romans attacked and drove the Sheikh away. The people of Cairo were panicked at first, but the Roman army did nothing in the past few days, so they gradually became bolder. Several religious elders nearby formed a petition group and went to the construction site to ask for a meeting, hoping that they could keep the prayer room built by the Sheikh and the existing religious buildings on the city wall.

If you think about it carefully, this Sheikh is also a hero. He started out as a slave at the bottom of society and was promoted because of his good fighting skills.

When Timur attacked Aleppo, the Sultan and the Emirs were all very afraid and wandered outside the city, unwilling to relieve the siege. Only Sheikh dared to lead his troops to fight. As a result, the others waited and waited, which led to his rapid defeat and he was captured alive by Timur. However, Timur admired his courage and released him afterwards. Since then, Sheikh became famous in the local area for his bravery.

Sultan Faraj could not convince the people, and the Sheikh was sometimes loyal to him, and sometimes he was independent and disobeyed orders. For this reason, he was once arrested by Faraj. But at that time, compared with other emirs, people like Sheikh were already the more loyal ones. So, he was finally released and fought for the Sultan. Later, Faraj was abandoned by the guards and killed in Damascus. The Sheikh ran back to Egypt, gathered his people, defeated several competitors, and became the largest warlord.

If there had been no Roman interference, according to the history that Guo Kang knew, he should have been able to successfully consolidate his rule in Egypt, and then take advantage of the event of deposing and enthroning the caliph to march into Syria and eliminate separatist warlords such as Hafez.

Under his rule, Egypt's long-term turmoil since the change of dynasties eased, the economy recovered, and finally defeated the Black Sheep Dynasty and the Turkmen in Asia Minor, expanding the territory to Kayseri and Konya, reaching its peak level. The minarets and mosques he built were still in use until Guo Kang's time.

Unfortunately, he did not grow up this time and ran into the Roman army. Guo Kang could not help but sigh that many times, the heroes of the time in the eyes of future generations also depend on whether the times are favorable to become famous. Words like "capable ministers in a peaceful era and treacherous heroes in a chaotic era" can be said to be extremely high evaluations - geniuses who can stand out in any environment are really rare.

I don’t know whether these people really want to preserve religious facilities or miss the previous dynasty, but if it is the latter, it is not surprising. After all, the Sheikh climbed all the way from the bottom to the top of power, and he must have worked hard to build up his power. He should have many supporters in the army and the people, otherwise he would have been killed by other Mamluks long ago.

So he went forward to see what these people were doing.

Tuohuan and his guards were talking over there. When they saw Guo Kang coming, they greeted him and turned to the "Old Sea Urchin" who was acting as an interpreter and said, "Tell them that these buildings are connected together. If we want to demolish them, we must demolish this side completely. However, we will not destroy or take away the ancient religious relics and related instruments that we find. The part of the prayer room outside the city gate will also be kept for them."

"We have piled up the things that were dismantled these days over there. Let them take a look at the situation and decide how to arrange them themselves." He said, pointing to a small house not far away and the surrounding courtyard.

After Old Sea Urchin finished translating, the elders immediately reacted, looking quite excited, gesticulating and talking about something. Old Sea Urchin listened and nodded, then told Guo Kang: "They are very interested in the religious relics that were taken out. Because this city gate is very old, it is said to have a history of hundreds of years, and there may be important early sacred objects inside, so I would like to ask you to let them see it."

"Sure, sure." Tuohuan showed an understanding smile and turned to shout, "Captain Lu, bring over the big stone with the inscription from yesterday and let them have a look."

A centurion who was following him stood up and saluted, then turned around and trotted away. Not long after, he came over with a soldier, carrying a stone slab and placed it on the ground.

"Look, there are quite a few words here." Tuohuan pointed to one side, and there were indeed a lot of words engraved on it: "This stone was taken down from the arch yesterday. Some of our people recognize a few Arabic words and said that it seems to be Hu Da's name, and the long string at the end is probably a prayer."

"This city gate is indeed very old, and the stone has probably not been moved for a long time, so it is probably an ancient artifact of the Muslim religion. However, we don't really understand it, so we put it away for now. If you are interested, you can take it and study it."

After the old sea urchin explained a few words to the elders, he also bent down and read the inscriptions. After taking a look, he also became curious.

"The writing is a little weathered and blurred. But this is Kufic, it might really be an antique... Let me see." He moved closer and read: "There is no god except Huda. Huda is unique, and Muhammad is Huda's messenger..."

"We really didn't make a mistake." Tuohuan nodded and said, "Then let them take it. This is indeed something from the Muslim sect."

The other elders also looked delighted, and seemed very happy about this unexpected harvest. Some even stretched out their hands and prayed. However, the old sea urchin looked back and forth and said, "Wait, there seems to be more here."

He reached out and carefully cleaned off the layer of dry soil that had stuck to the edge of the stone. As expected, some words could be vaguely seen over there.

The old sea urchin wiped the inscription and continued to read: "Ali is Huda's friend. May Huda bless them both, the Imam and their descendants... Oh, this is something from the Shia sect!"

"Ah?" Before Tuohuan could react, the elders had already seen the inscription and became excited again. Especially the one who had just prayed, he was so angry that he blew his beard and glared. They discussed briefly and then spoke to the old sea urchin eagerly.

The old sea urchin repeatedly stretched out his hands to let them calm down, and then said to Tuohuan: "I remember that this city wall was rebuilt during the Fatimid Dynasty... It must have been at that time, along with the affiliated religious buildings. The Sheikh and his people were uneducated and didn't know where this place was, so they repaired and rebuilt it here."

"Then, do they still want these cultural relics?" Tuohuan said, pointing to the side.

"No, no." The old sea urchin waved his hands repeatedly: "It is indeed a Muslim cultural relic, but it is from the Shia Sect. No one expected..." "Then what else do they want to be willing to give? I saw they kept saying something to you just now." Tuohuan continued to ask.

“They said, please tear this down quickly!”

"Uh……"

Although the process was a bit tortuous, the matter itself was still resolved in a muddled way. Tuo Huan asked Lao Haidan to send the elders away, and then asked Guo Kang if he needed any help and whether he should be given more soldiers.

"What's lacking now is not soldiers, but food." Guo Kang said: "The disorder in the city is a long-term problem, but it is fundamentally due to the lack of survival supplies. The only channels are in the hands of a few people. These people only care about their own interests and don't care whether the order in the city will completely collapse due to the shortage of supplies, which ultimately led to this situation. As for the out-of-control prices and currency depreciation, they are just a manifestation."

"Even if we send troops to maintain order, it will be difficult to fundamentally change the problems of the entire society, because the city is only part of the problem. The city's supplies are all transported from the outside countryside. And the entire countryside is also controlled by these people's accomplices. Unlike the situation in Dadu at that time, here, only solving the problems in the city may not be enough. We have to open up the countryside and urban-rural transportation to have a chance."

"It will cost money to let the legion take over the city by force. We don't have a solid foothold in Egypt, and we don't even have our own stable grain production area. We can't stay here for too long, otherwise we will drag ourselves down and eventually have to compromise."

"So what are you going to do?" Tuo Huan asked.

"The current situation is not only caused by human greed, but also by overall social problems," Guo Kang replied. "Egypt has a large population, and Cairo is too densely populated. It is normal for management problems to occur."

"We have to think of a good way to deal with this problem now. Because if we manage it directly, it will be too difficult and it is beyond our current strength and technology. Therefore, we need to reduce the population in the city, and then rebuild the organization from a small group of people to solve the problem. This problem and the food problem are also complementary. If we can solve one, the other will be solved as well."

"Then how do we reduce the population?" Tuohuan asked.

"I plan to recruit people in the name of water conservancy projects. Then I will take these people outside the city, give them food, and let them build a separate camp at the construction site, separated from the original city." Guo Kang said: "I have already agreed with the young King of Wu, and he will help as before. I plan to take 20,000 young and strong people from the city first to repair the nearby canal. In this way, it will be easier to manage the remaining people."

"Also, I have contacted Joanna. She organized some Italian merchants and collected the grain stored in the warehouse. Egypt is an important grain export destination, and Italian merchants often purchase grain from here, so they have sufficient funds and storage. With a source of grain, we can challenge the local forces."

"Is there anything I can do?" Tuo Huan asked.

"The biggest problem now is transportation, so I want to borrow your transport team." Guo Kang said: "Before, in Alexandria, didn't you organize a lot of civilians to transport supplies for the legion? I hope to borrow them. In addition, it would be best if the ships transporting grain can speed up loading and unloading and reduce unnecessary processes."

"No problem." Tuo Huan said bluntly: "Whatever you want to do, just do it."

Guo Kang thanked him, but Tuo Huan said, why should we be polite? Guo Kang wanted to manage Cairo, so he would put all the settlements in Egypt under his control, as long as he could take care of them.

He said that before coming here, he had suggested at the court meeting that Guo Kang be appointed as the city darughachi, just to deal with the current situation. Before the court appointed a special official, this place would be under his jurisdiction. Alexander's affairs could also be handled as needed - he himself was very busy and did not need to come to ask for instructions every day.

After getting the permission, Guo Kang immediately took action. For several days in a row, he organized people to carry grain into the city from the north gate when the market opened. At night, they disguised themselves as vehicles transporting building materials and transported some grain out from the south gate where Tuohuan and others were working. In this way, they were busy every day, as if the supply was endless.

Tuohuan did the same as he said, and did not take care of the affairs in the city. The elders in the city organized some civilians to help with the work, and Tuohuan became a hands-off boss. Since landing and opening the city of Cairo, many Mamluks surrendered to the Romans along the way, and Tuohuan took them around every day to play and eat and drink. He handed over the daily management of the army to Zhang Wu, the engineering to Lao Haiyan, and the city to Guo Kang, and did not care about other things at all.

Guo Kang and Zhu Wenkui sent people to the city and the suburbs to spread the word that they were recruiting workers for the construction. In addition, they also sold grain at low prices in the city, telling the citizens that this was a benevolent policy of Rome and that prices would be restored to normal. The news spread quickly in the city, and soon many people knew about it.

However, that’s where the story ends.

The prices of grain and other commodities sold by other merchants in the city did not fall, but simply "disappeared" - they did not give in to the massive grain transport operation and follow the price cuts; but they did not try to buy grain and raise the price as Guo Kang thought, and they simply withdrew from the market and did not participate in the transaction at all.

Some people went to other merchants' shops, and the clerks told them that the boss had told them to stay out of the spotlight recently, and all the shops would be closed, and it was unclear when they would reopen. As a result, the entire city's food supply had to rely on Guo Kang, and he couldn't go back on his promise and withdraw directly, so the pressure immediately increased.

There were also problems with the water conservancy project. Although they offered compensation, unlike in Alexandria, Guo Kang and his team were unable to recruit anyone. Zhu Wenkui sent people to investigate, but the locals were evasive and when they asked, they insisted that they were unwilling to work for pagans.

Zhu Wenkui didn't know what to do. At this time, Joanna also came to him and said that the Italian merchants, seeing that he had not taken any action, began to urge him and asked him how long he would persist. Because their food was actually purchased locally. In this situation, it was equivalent to using their precious cash to buy local food at a high price and then importing it to the local market at a low price - even if it was for the future, they had to give a reason and a deadline for generating returns, right?

Guo Kang himself actually had no good solution, he could only ask everyone to hold on for a few more days, saying that this kind of thing has a hundred-year payback period, and you can't just hold on for a few days, right? In this way, relying on him, or the prestige of Rome, he held on. However, for these unexpected problems, he really had no idea what to do, so he could only take Zhu Wenkui and others to visit everywhere, wanting to get a deeper understanding of the local people's reactions.

A few days later, Luo Guanzhong came to him and asked him to go to the camp.

During this expedition, Li Xuanying was assigned to Guo Kang's brigade, but Luo Guanzhong did not follow him to the front line, but worked in the camp as a staff officer. Guo Kang was a little surprised to see him and asked if it was a big deal and why he was asked to run errands.

Luo Guanzhong told him that it was indeed a big deal - the Sheikh who had fled before was caught by the local Emir when he wanted to go to Upper Egypt and was sent here. Now Tuohuan was taking him, other senior military officials and local Mamluks to the palace in the city, and asked Guo Kang to go there as well.

Guo Kang could only put down the pen in his hand, put the records aside, and go look for someone first.

(End of this chapter)