Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 668: Does doctrine allow women to be judges?

Early in the morning, Meltem brought a group of people to Nafisa's house. He knocked on the door, asked everyone to put their things down, took out a few pots, put them on the small table in the yard, and after saying something to everyone, he started to decorate the place on his own, as if he was the host.

"Why are there more?" Nafisa said in surprise when she saw more and more stones and wooden boxes in the yard.

"I just got it last night," Meltem said, lighting a small silver lamp and putting the kettle on the shelf.

"The city has been quiet these past two days, and people from the university have come out to hang out. Old Yusuf will definitely come out to visit as well," Nafisa said. "If he saw the situation at my house, he would be so angry that he would die."

"Look, this pile is taller than the wall." She pointed at the boxes beside the wall and said helplessly, "Did you move the entire city gate here? Where did you dig up so many things..."

"In the past few days, archaeological excavations in the south of the city have made a major breakthrough and unearthed a lot of things. It is suspected to be the remains of an altar built outside the city gate during the Fatimid Dynasty." Meltem told her: "The most outrageous thing is that there is a relic under the altar. It is suspected to be a temple built in ancient times when the Egyptians believed in polytheism."

"So what are they going to do?" asked Lady Jeanne.

"The temple ruins cannot be taken care of for now. The Shia relics on it are the main target. They plan to count the things they have excavated, and then find out what needs to be dealt with and destroy them in a centralized manner." Meltem replied.

“That temple is the altar of idolatry. It should have a higher priority,” Joanna pointed out.

"Egypt is a little different from other places," Nafisa explained. "You can tell from the style of these temples that they are relics from ancient times. There are many magical folk legends about them."

"West of Cairo, there are some huge triangular stone piles, which the Greeks called 'pyramids'. Those buildings were the greatest wonders of the ignorant age. According to folk stories, the kings at that time, or 'pharaohs' as the Greeks called them, were all powerful and magical figures. It is said that Huda admired them and gave them miraculous powers to build great projects so that people could also witness the existence of divine power in an era when doctrines were not implemented. The pyramids are their tombs."

"When Harun al-Rashid's son Mamun was the caliph, the country was at its peak, which gave the caliph the conditions to explore the wonders. Mamun therefore planned to dig into the pyramid to obtain the treasures inside. The local Egyptian elders dissuaded him, but he insisted on his own way and summoned a large number of craftsmen to carry out the construction. The craftsmen used fire, vinegar, and even set up catapults to bombard the wall with stone bullets, but even so, in the end they only chiseled out 20 cubits of the outer wall."

"Behind the wall, there is a small room where Mamun found a sum of money and some writings. The person who wrote the writings claimed to be the ancient pharaoh, the owner of this pyramid. The pharaoh told Mamun that he had long expected that despite many warnings, there would still be people in the future who could not help but insist on digging the pyramid. Therefore, the pharaoh placed a sum of wealth here, and as long as he stopped, he could take it away as compensation for the construction costs. After that, everyone would be considered to be cleared and neither side would offend the other."

"Mamun sent people to count the treasures and found that they were exactly the money he had spent on digging the pyramid. He was very surprised and did not dare to continue digging. He took the treasures given by the pharaoh in the room and left in a hurry. After the Caliph also failed, others dared not act rashly, and there was peace there for a long time."

"During the Ayyubid dynasty, Saladin's son Aziz believed that these buildings were fetishistic wonders and needed to be cleaned up. But the craftsmen said that the pyramids were too large to be demolished by manpower. Finally, Aziz decided to pick on the weak, so he found a small and weak pyramid and started construction. However, the craftsmen could only remove two stone bars a day. After working for a long time and spending a lot of money, they only dug a groove on the surface of the pyramid. Not long after, Aziz was overthrown and the project was abandoned. Since then, until now, no one has dared to try again."

"Things like this happen all the time, which has caused us locals to have some fear and reverence for the relics of that era. If we can avoid touching them, we should try not to provoke them."

"Is that so?" Joanna understood. "Then there aren't so many taboos about Shia things, right? So, we have to move out as soon as possible?"

"We found an apprentice of one of the elders and gave him some bribes, so he gave us all these things." Meltem said, "But some time ago, the elders suddenly decided to take inventory to see what was in these ruins. He had sold us too many artifacts before, and he was afraid that he could not hide them anymore, so he asked us to attack the camp at night and steal the things to help him settle the accounts."

"Oh, I was exhausted last night, and I have things to do today." Meltem said, picking up the boiling kettle: "Let's have some coffee."

"Is this possible?" Nafisa was surprised.

"This method is very common." Joanna was not surprised: "My father told me that merchants stationed in the Black Sea region often reported that they were attacked by the Mongols and their goods and gold and silver were lost. But among them, only a small part may be true. The rest are mostly embezzled by local managers themselves, or even colluded with Mongolian tribes to deliberately create accidents and then divide them up."

"Our headquarters is in Italy, too far away to monitor the situation there in real time. When the Romans completely controlled the Black Sea area, these people dared to repeat their old tricks and said that the Mongolian tribes had robbed them again - couldn't they come up with a new excuse?"

"Therefore, our custom is to simply treat the trading post as a colony, outsource it to the expatriates, and let them run it themselves, treating them as semi-independent forces. Anyway, as long as they can provide the source of goods and pay a fixed subcontracting amount, they can eat as much as they want."

As she spoke, she poured herself some coffee and shook her head. "Even so, these people are still greedy and blame us for discriminating against them and not giving them full citizenship treatment. They don't think about it. If we really completely relax the policy restrictions, these people will probably join forces with the Mongols the next day, reach back to this city, and elect the Khan as governor."

"...How exaggerated." Nafisa exclaimed.

"Ah, doing business is sometimes not easier than fighting a war." Joanna shook her head and leaned back in her chair. "I need to drink some coffee too. I had an argument with the Venetians yesterday and it lasted until midnight. I have to deliver documents to the camp later. I'm so tired..."

"Why quarrel with the Venetians?" Jeanne asked curiously.

"They built a theater next to Constantine's hospital that is larger than the hospital, and bought nearby land in a hurry. They are almost surrounding the hospital. Now, the hospital itself is like a performance in the theater, surrounded by people watching." Joanna said speechlessly:

"I told them that they should either hand over part of their earnings or get out of here. Even if it's a circus, you can't not pay the performers a penny, right? How can you bully people like that?"

"Did the Venetians finally agree?" Jeanne asked quickly.

"Fortunately, the quarrel was not in vain. We still got a lot of money." Joanna sighed: "It's really troublesome to make them spit out the money..."

"The Venetians are very fierce. Even the Mamluks are counting on cooperating with them to make money and will not easily provoke them. Before, they had opened trading posts in Alexandria, Cairo, and even several ports along the Red Sea. Even in Egypt, they are a powerful force with deep roots." Nafisa also reminded:

"Look, the Romans who run the hospital didn't say anything themselves. You insist on speaking up for them. Aren't you too conspicuous? I think it's better to keep a low profile. Besides, these businessmen sometimes regard profits as more important than life. You should know this better than me. Asking them to share the money will definitely offend many people and cause their dissatisfaction. Egypt is still a very chaotic place. Having more enemies is not necessarily a good thing."

"Those merchants are not easy to deal with, but our Medici family is not pushovers. If we show our weakness right away, how can we continue to run our business?" Joanna disagreed, "Besides, merchants like the Venetian are bullies who only bully the weak and fear the strong. The more you give in to them, the more they will push their buttons. I deal with them all the time, so I know their personalities."

"Alas, Constantine is too soft-hearted to tolerate even this. I asked him what to do, and he actually said he wanted to run away and move to another place. Those businessmen might think he is easy to fool, but I won't allow it - he doesn't care, but I didn't say I would give up."

"I'll go find him on the way and tell him too." Joanna said to everyone, "If he doesn't want it, I can save it for him first. Hey, why not use the money for anything else? Why throw it to these profiteers..."

After she said that, Nafisa felt that she was also a person with a strong background, so she stopped trying to persuade her. Meltem still didn't take it seriously at all, and was still fiddling with the drinking utensils, inviting her to drink coffee. "Don't worry so much, come and try it. This is a new method developed by the Romans. I also added some sugar and milk, and it really tastes good." She still insisted on persuading: "They said that this was specially tested based on the experience recorded in the tea book of the Tang Dynasty. It is not the recipe we can usually taste here."

"You said you don't want me to worry about it, so just move these things away first." Nafisa had no choice but to point at the pile of cultural relics, raised her eyebrows, and said bluntly: "After a while, when the city returns to normal, believers will come here to handle official business, and the elders will also come for routine inspections. If they find out, I'm afraid I'll lose my job."

"I am different from you. I don't have such a deep background to rely on. Now I rely on being a kadi in the community and receiving a small allowance from the temple to make a living. If something really goes wrong, I will beg you for food every day in the future."

"What are you afraid of? I'll support you when the time comes." Meltem waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "We don't need someone like you to eat over there. Don't worry, you won't starve."

"..." Nafisa didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Why don't you come with us to the camp and meet the Romans?" Lady Jeanne quickly tried to smooth things over, "Isn't Joanna going to see Master Guo? You can go with us to ask for an audience."

"Just say that you are a grassroots religious judge. The city is not stable yet, and you don't know what the future order will be like. Living supplies and future income are in an uncertain state. I hope he can find a way to settle all these things." She taught Nafisa directly:
"Mr. Guo has always wanted to establish a stable new order, which will definitely require the cooperation of many grassroots managers. Your words give him a chance to step up, and he will definitely arrange a job for you. Moreover, according to Roman custom, the salaries of such managers are directly allocated by the government. This means that you have an administrative system and don't have to look at the faces of the temples and elders."

"In theory, it's possible, but..." Nafisa hesitated. "Let's not talk about finding a new sponsor. Will the temple and the elders be unhappy? They are from the Christian Church, and they don't support a girl like me becoming a judge, right? Will they be happy?"

"What are you afraid of? He doesn't care about this." Meltem waved his hand. "Look, I'm still the leader. He didn't say anything. As for how to talk to the priests and believers, and how to deal with other religious people, you can ask him for help. He is very good at these things."

Seeing that she was so sure, Nafisa thought about it and agreed.

Soon, they filed out and left the small courtyard.

They first went to the hospital, but did not find Guo Kang. The Mamluk on guard said that he had been called away by the Taiji. So they went to the south gate and took Nafisa out of the city and came to the camp.

After asking for their purpose, the guard ran to the central tent to report, and soon after, he returned to the gate and led them into the camp. Nafisa found that a group of locals had appeared on the training ground. Each of them held a long wooden pole in his hand, and was clumsily trying to line up under the roar of the coach.

"Oh my God, are they really recruiting Egyptians as soldiers?" Nafisa was stunned.

"I told you, he doesn't care about these traditions." Meltem said proudly, "However, they are not soldiers yet. This is to train them and prepare them to participate in the construction. These people are not soldiers, but people who are selected to be small foremen."

"Does construction need to be done so seriously?" Nafisa was still a little dumbfounded.

"Didn't you just say that the pyramids are amazing?" Lady Jeanna interrupted, "Do you know why they are more amazing than ordinary buildings?"

"I don't know..." Nafisa shook her head and said honestly.

"That's where the magic happens." Jeanne pointed to the training ground and answered.

Nafisa still didn't quite understand, but at the urging of Meltem and the others, she followed the guards to the big tent. Outside, stood a large group of fully armed guards with shining weapons in their hands. On both sides of the door, there were also several tall guards carrying wooden sticks and axes, looking fierce.

It was the first time that Nafisa had seen someone of such status, so she was inevitably nervous for a moment. But the other people seemed to be familiar with the place, and they pulled her in directly.

Several people were talking in the tent. Meltem went forward, briefly greeted them, and then spoke a few words to the young man in the lead in an oriental language that she could not understand. The man smiled and nodded, waving his hand for everyone to sit down. Meltem switched to Greek and helped Nafisa introduce herself.

"Does she understand Greek?" the young man asked cheerfully.

"She knows a little. She has studied the works of Plato, Aristotle and others. In the Muslim world, scholars also generally study these works." Meltem said, then turned around and called Nafisa: "Come here, this is Toghan Taiji."

Nafisa hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and Meltem said to Tuohuan as they had agreed before, "She knew us before, and she happened to be in some trouble now, and wanted to find someone for help. I think what she encountered may not only be a personal problem, but also a dilemma faced by many grassroots managers nowadays. Maybe we can consider it."

Tuohuan listened, but he didn't look at Nafisa. Instead, he looked at the others and finally looked at Lady Ranna. She smiled embarrassedly. But Tuohuan didn't say anything, just nodded and let Nafisa continue.

After she finished her introduction, Tuohuan didn't seem to have any objections.

"We didn't plan to get involved in religious issues at the beginning. These situations are too complicated. This morning, several elders came to our door again and said that they were sitting in a carriage and eating when they were suddenly robbed by Shiite bandits." Tuohuan scratched his head and glanced at Meltem: "... In short, we have no plans to intervene."

"But when it comes to administrative management, we have an obligation to help maintain it." He also turned to the side and said, "Guo Kang Anda, what do you think? I plan to let you arrange these matters. I hope you can organize these grassroots personnel and incorporate them into our government. Do you think it's okay?"

Nafisa also looked to the side, and saw a young man with oriental appearance beside Tuohuan Taiji, who was thinking about something. After Tuohuan spoke, he just hummed and nodded. However, Tuohuan seemed very satisfied, turned around, smiled again, and seemed to be quite relaxed.

"Well, it's mainly about this aspect." Lady Jeanna also took the opportunity to help explain: "Her position is called a religious personnel, but her main job is to mediate neighborhood disputes and serve as a judge to make judgments when necessary. In fact, the management of secular society may be her most important responsibility."

"We have been working on rectifying social organizations, and there is no problem here." The young man with an obviously oriental name nodded again. However, he immediately frowned, looked at Nafisa, and said, "But her situation is not easy to deal with."

Nafisa felt a chill in her heart, but Meltem couldn't help but speak first: "Why?"

"Saint Paul said that women cannot preach in the synagogue or rule over men. Although we are in the Muslim world, our government still has to follow basic rules." Guo Kang explained, "Isn't she going to be a judge? I think, according to the doctrine, this is still a bit inappropriate."

"Huh?" Now, even Tuohuan, who had been smiling, was surprised.

(End of this chapter)