Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 661 What to do? Only Kill
Under the leadership of Luo Guanzhong, Guo Kang rode a horse to a palace in the city.

Luo Guanzhong said that these days, after get off work, he took his translator to collect folk songs in the city. The locals told him that this palace was called "Cat Garden" and was built by the famous Sultan Baibars when the Mamluks founded the country.

Baibars spent his life in war and palace intrigue, defeating many challengers and repelling the powerful French Crusaders and Mongols. His personal hobby was raising cats. In order to satisfy his hobby, he even built a palace and raised a lot of cats.

After Baibars' death, the palace changed hands many times between different owners. However, the religious judges who manage the local community still feed the cats in the garden regularly according to his orders at that time. Therefore, there are still a large number of cats in the palace, which has become a famous local landscape.

Currently, this place belongs to a local emir. After Cairo surrendered, Tuohuan used this place as one of the places to hold banquets, often paying for food and entertaining guests out of his own pocket. Guo Kang was very busy during this period and had no time to look for him, so this was his first time here.

It was already evening when they arrived. Idris was waiting for them at the door. After Guo Kang followed the two into the gate, there was indeed a large group of cats of various colors, staying in the corridor behind the door, lazily basking in the warm sunset.

These cats were not afraid of people at all. When they saw Idris and Luo Guanzhong coming in, they were too lazy to even move. There was a black cat, the largest one, lying on the fence. When Luo Guanzhong walked over, he stroked it. The cat just purred and did not express any objection. It seemed that it was used to being touched.

However, as soon as Guo Kang entered the room, the cats stood up in unison and stared at him warily. Some even stood up with their fur standing on end and began to breathe at him with their teeth bared. Idris and Luo Guanzhong both looked back curiously, not knowing what was going on.

"Are these cats afraid of outsiders?" Guo Kang said with a wry smile.

"Not really. This area is a tourist attraction, and many business travelers come here specifically to play." Idris said with some surprise, "Maybe there is some smell. But don't pay attention to them, we still have things to do."

They came to the hall, but before they entered, they heard a commotion inside. Guo Kang walked in and found two middle-aged men fighting inside. One of them was Emir Ahmed, whom he had captured before. He still remembered him.

"Which one is the Sheikh?" Guo Kang asked Idris in a low voice.

"The one who was fighting." The other person replied.

"what?"

Guo Kang didn't react for a while, why the captives would fight with others first after being captured. But soon, he roughly understood through the explanation of Idris and others.

It turned out that like Ahmed, Sheikh also thought that there was no problem with his command and response, but it was the emirs under him who were not united and their abilities were also worrying. Especially Ahmed, who boasted to him that he would play as a striker, wasted a great opportunity and let everyone down.

The Sheikh claimed that he had done his best. As for the current situation, it can only be said that the rise and fall of the country and the fate of the people are ultimately decided by Huda. Perhaps He no longer recognizes the rule of the Mamluks, so He would rather hand this place over to others.

However, the most direct reason why he fell into this situation was that he was harmed by some villains, not because he was too cowardly or incompetent. If the conditions were equal, he would not lose. He no longer cared how Tuohuan was going to deal with him, but this matter involved a face issue, so he had to make it clear.

Of course, the other emirs would not admit that they were to blame. Therefore, they all started to refute. Especially Ahmed, who was accused by name, could not accept it. The two of them started to quarrel in public.

Several Mamluks who were watching the excitement nearby specifically told them that the Sheikh had always said that he was a staunch and devout believer, so he was not afraid of death at all, because even if he was executed, he would only get the honor of becoming a martyr. He said so much just to explain the truth clearly.

But Ahmed ridiculed him, saying that he was so pious, why did he take the lead in attacking the Caliph. The Sheikh was furious and publicly revealed that the whole dethronement and enthronement incident was initiated by Ahmed and his group - they were the most active.

Just like that, both sides began to expose each other's secrets in public, and finally couldn't help but fight directly - this is what Guo Kang and others are seeing now.

The guests around included Mamluks who had come to pay respects and Roman officers. Everyone had different expressions, some looked nervous, some were concerned, and many were just watching the show. The group of Mamluks next to Guo Kang even started to cheer for their old leader, just to watch the fun and not mind the trouble...

Tuohuan had no choice but to wait until the two of them had vented their anger, then send someone to separate the fight, and then quickly call Guo Kang over to ask him what the best thing to do now that things had gotten to this point.

Guo Kang thought about it and said a few words to him.

Tuohuan immediately showed a look of understanding.

"Okay." He patted the table to stop the noise, then stood up.

Everyone knew that he had something to announce, so they immediately quieted down.

"I have heard of your deeds before." Tuohuan said to Sheikh: "Uncle Timur praised your courage in the past, and I have seen it this time. We Romans also respect warriors. You don't have to worry, we have no interest in insulting others."

"You all have experience in war." He looked around at everyone, "In war, there is no such thing as a fair duel. So, although it's a pity, since our God has given us such a battlefield, we can't go back to the past and find a fair venue to compete again."

"However, I respect your choice. If you are still unwilling, I can give you another chance. I have already said that I don't want to resort to violence in this city anymore. You can stay here or leave and gather people you think are trustworthy, and we can have another round. I will not stop you."

Everyone present, no matter which side, was very surprised. But Tuohuan did not change his mind. He waved his hand and called a guard over and gave him an order. Not long after, the guard returned to the entrance of the hall with a knife, a saddle, and several people.

"I will return your sword and saddle to you. You can take these men with you as well." Tuo Huan said, "I am looking forward to your performance."

Sheikh was also stunned, and it took a moment for him to react. Seeing that Tuohuan had no intention of regretting, he simply returned to his seat, picked up the wine jug, drank it all, then took the utensils from the guard, nodded slightly to Tuohuan, and turned away.

The others were still in shock, as if they had never thought of this ending. It was not until the Sheikh walked out of the door and walked away with a few followers that everyone came to their senses. Especially the Mamluks, they couldn't help but talk about it directly. Amid the noise, Luo Guanzhong hurriedly asked Guo Kang: "Sir, is this the idea you gave to Taiji?"

"Yes, we have discussed several situations before." Guo Kang said, "I also told him about this method."

"The city is not peaceful now, even I know it. Everyone says that people outside are talking nonsense, and there may be trouble." Luo Guanzhong reminded: "If we let him go, won't something happen in the city?"

"I have been investigating and thinking about this for a long time, day and night." Guo Kang told him, "Finally, I found that we may really need the enemy to jump out on their own."

"If the Sheikh really brings his troops here..." Luo Guanzhong hesitated.

"In the current situation, we are not afraid of the enemies gathering together, but we are afraid that they will scatter everywhere and hide to make trouble for us." Guo Kang said bluntly: "If Sheikh can use his prestige to pull these people out and fight us openly, it will be a good thing."

"...Really." Luo Guanzhong thought for a moment and clapped his hands fiercely: "I haven't thought of this aspect. Sir, you are really amazing. It's no wonder they didn't know about this clever plan. Even in our Central Plains, there are not many people who can think of this."

"Not really." Guo Kang shook his head modestly: "This is just Prime Minister Zhuge's old wisdom. There is nothing to brag about."

"Prime Minister Zhuge has such a plan?" Luo Guanzhong asked in surprise.

However, he thought about it and said to himself: "That's right. After Guan Gong, my Three Kingdoms storybook stopped for a long time. Recently, I have some free time and want to continue to organize the subsequent plots, but I found that I have not figured out how to write the story of Prime Minister Zhuge pacifying Nanzhong."

"Everyone knows that he was able to stabilize Nanzhong not only by mobilizing troops, but also by winning hearts and minds. But I have never had any idea how to win hearts and minds. Thanks to this ready-made example, I think I know how to write the most exciting story."

"Ah? This works?" Guo Kang was very surprised.

"Of course. There are not many records of the details of the Battle of Red Cliff in history books. But in the storybook, this section is very important and needs to be written in detail. Therefore, I referred to the battle example of Emperor Taizu in Poyang Lake and wrote this part. In retrospect, it was quite popular." Luo Guanzhong said happily: "If you two can succeed this time, I will know how to write it later. You don't have to be modest, you are indeed as wise as Prime Minister Zhuge."

"Uh……"

Guo Kang was actually surprised not because he had to learn from the war example, but because he suddenly realized that when he thought of this idea, he was indeed inspired by the Seven Captures of Meng Huo. However, this story should not be an actual example in history, but a fiction in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

In other words, he learned the strategy of Prime Minister Zhuge from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which led him to imitate it, and then the author was inspired to assign this strategy to Prime Minister Zhuge in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It sounds quite strange...

Of course, according to some accounts, Prime Minister Zhuge is the elder brother of Brother Tian. The priests said that it was reasonable for Brother Tian to appear in different timelines; then it was also normal for Prime Minister Zhuge to appear in different times. Thinking of this, he didn't feel strange.

And over there, the fun was still going on.

"Gentlemen, I don't care who you want to follow. I only recruit voluntary followers and don't need to force others to do anything." He said to the Mamluks: "Of course, if you want to stay, I will welcome you even more. Because next, I still have a lot of things to do and I need your help."

"What's the matter?" Hearing this, everyone immediately became interested.

"You're welcome. We've been entertained by you these past few days, so we should do something."

"Yes. I have understood this principle since school. You have to serve others in order for them to pay you. What we are afraid of is that there will be no war to fight and no work to do."

Everyone said one after another.

"We want to arrest some people, I wonder if you dare to do it?" Tuohuan asked.

"Why not?" The Mamluks all laughed.

"He is a powerful person." Tuohuan reminded again.

"Who in the whole of Egypt dares to talk to us about power or not?" Everyone immediately responded: "You tell me who to arrest!"

"You guys follow me, Guo Kang Anda." Tuo Huan looked outside and said, "Then let's do it tonight. Come, let's eat the remaining food and then we'll set off!"

"what?"

Guo Kang wondered if it was too sudden, because he hadn't sorted out the information yet. But Tuohuan didn't seem to think about it at all. After he finished speaking, he stood up and asked his followers to bring in the last roasted big-eared sheep.

The chef wanted to cut the meat on the rack, but Tuohuan pushed him aside, picked up the knife and started cutting the meat for everyone.

Everyone cheered loudly to express their gratitude. However, there was no need for translation for such things. Idris came over again to entertain Guo Kang and the others, asking them to sit down and rest for a while and eat something, in preparation for working overtime in the evening.

(End of this chapter)