Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 681: Let’s do it, Emile!

When Guo Kang was away, the others did not stop working. While he was busy meeting people, Tuohuan had already brought a group of followers to the suburbs outside Cairo to discuss the purchase of land with the locals.

However, the progress of the negotiations was not very smooth. In the evening, Tuohuan, who had been busy all day, entertained everyone and held a banquet as usual. The various arguments during the day made everyone very tired, so after the banquet, Tuohuan did not continue the meeting with the entourage and went to rest early.

After leaving the banquet hall, some Mamluks did not disperse, but gathered again outside the camp.

"Abar, why did you call us all here? What's the matter?" A Mamluk dressed as a captain looked at the people around him and then took the lead to ask.

"Did you all see what happened today?" Aybar looked unhappy: "These people are openly against us!"

"You mean the people in those villages?" The other party obviously understood the situation: "This is actually expected. Didn't Taiji himself say before that if we go to buy the land, there will definitely be a lot of people who resist."

"That can't be the case." Aybar shook his head. "Tugar, you are also a senior captain with your own iqta, and you must have acquired land. Tell me, have you ever encountered something so outrageous before?"

"The attitude of those people is really too much." Tugar thought for a moment and nodded. "They must have colluded long ago and deliberately raised the price. That's why they are like this today, with a group of people making a fuss and refusing to accept the acquisition proposal."

"I think they just don't want to sell it at all." Another Mamluk shook his head and said, "I heard that the Taiji wants to offer five dinars for a piece of land? Normally, this price is relatively low. Farmland like this near the city usually costs eight or ten dinars. But the situation has been unstable in recent years, especially now that it happens to be a war period, the land price can't reach the previous level. If it's five dinars, someone should sell it. It's not like today, where no one sold it, and instead everyone blames the buyer."

"Yeah. I agree with Ahmed." Aybar nodded and said, "So I always thought they did it on purpose."

"I have advised Taiji before, saying that he knows how to govern a country, but he doesn't understand Egyptians." A bearded officer next to him also shook his head and said, "He insisted on giving him face. Look, now he is taking advantage of it. If I, Zahir, were to go, these things would have been solved today."

"Taiji said that we should act reasonably and not steal things." Tugar advised: "On the way, he told us that this time the 'government' wanted to purchase land to prepare for the fight against the plague. This is an act in line with justice and does not need to be achieved by improper means. That's why he asked us to call all the big landowners in each village to discuss this matter."

"Even if I say that, I don't think they understand—" a young Mamluk said, "In fact, I don't really understand it myself. By the way, what is the 'government'?"

"It's... it's the Romans' Diwan." Tugar thought for a moment and answered.

"The Diwan land acquisition has never been smooth. The Sultan of Barquq had thought about expanding the land he could directly control and using the food from these places to support the army, but he was unsuccessful." A gray-haired Mamluk said: "This kind of thing will always be resisted by the local people."

"Yes, this time they also insisted that there is no sign of plague at all, which is pure nonsense. And even if there is a plague, it has nothing to do with the confiscation of land." Another Mamluk said: "I don't know who is right. But I am sure that even if Taiji is right, these people will definitely find more reasons."

"The Taiji is right this time." Aybar told him, "You have been patrolling the South Gate before, so you may not know that Constantine is very powerful. I have been to his hospital, where people are miraculously cured every day. He can also use flashing magic to illuminate the night and display various texts and patterns. The news of the plague was predicted by him, so I think it should be credible."

"Ah? He really knows magic?" Someone was surprised and said, "I thought it was just a rumor from the Romans... Is the plague really coming?"

"This is not good news. This man is not a pagan wizard."

"It's unlikely. The Church of God also opposes witchcraft."

"Should we ask someone who knows the matter? Isn't Elder Mansur in the south of the city?"

"He has been away recently. He said he was catching a Shia spy."

"Ah? Why are there Shia spies here?"

"I do not know……"

Everyone started talking and discussing.

"Okay, okay, let's not go off topic." Aybar stopped him, "I'm telling you this not because I want to discuss the meaning of the scriptures, but because I feel that these Egyptians are so shameless that I can't stand it. What do you think?"

"I want to see what Taiji says." Tugar answered honestly: "I approve of his plan. There are indeed too many people in the city. I also experienced the last plague. Those areas with the most dense population and the most mess were indeed the places with the most deaths. He wants to collect land and relocate some people. I approve of it."

"The people in the city are all engaged in business or craftsmanship," said a Mamluk. "If they move out, they really won't need so much farmland."

"The Taiji said it before, but you didn't listen." Ahmed said, "He believes that the city is not only overcrowded, dirty and messy, but also lacks food. One of the reasons is that profiteers are driving up prices. The reason why profiteers are so rampant is that it is too difficult for city residents to obtain food. To buy a pancake, you have to start from the grain-producing areas outside the city and change hands several times, giving profiteers the opportunity to make a profit in the middle."

"If some of the artisans were dispersed and placed in separate small urban areas, the situation would be much better. Farms run by the Diwan would directly provide food to the artisan areas next to these urban areas. The Diwan would also organize people to plan the farm's water conservancy. Such settlements are indeed much easier to manage. When people are dispersed, it's also cleaner."

"But this is too complicated." Most people were confused.

"The Romans' army is more powerful." Ahmed didn't really understand the deeper questions: "That's why the Taiji said that as long as the land acquisition is completed, the rest will be simple and there will be no problems." "Then let's get back to the point." Aybar spread his hands: "Look, I told you, whether it's to deal with the plague or for farming and production afterwards, what the Taiji asked everyone to do is beneficial. But these people actually responded like this!"

"Egyptians are like this. Taiji even specifically found the richest people with the most land and negotiated with them - he didn't even think about how these people increased their land? Did they rely on their superior military strength?" Tugar was not surprised by this: "He recruited the most treacherous and shameless people among the Egyptians. Isn't it boring to talk about justice to them?"

"Yes. Those rich Egyptians dared to spread rumors and collude with more people to resist because they thought he was weak." Ahmed said without hesitation: "If he had just arrested those people and beat them up first, I think it would be much easier to talk."

"The Taiji is too concerned about his reputation and has too strong a sense of morality. But we can't just sit back and do nothing." Aybar shook his head and said, "I, Aybar, was originally a slave who lost my master. Not only did I lose my territory, but no one wanted me to join the army. It was the Taiji who recruited me and gave me a new position, making me the emir of a team of forty. I have to do something for him to be worthy of his help."

"Isn't it the same for you? He was so tired today, but after he came back, he still remembered to gather us together and treat us to a banquet. Just the banquets and rewards over the past few days are already a great favor. Now that he is in trouble, shouldn't we help him solve the problem?"

"I don't think Taiji is a weak person. He did a lot of things in the city. Although he swore not to use a knife, he couldn't help but kill some profiteers. I have seen many leaders. Those who can control themselves to this extent cannot be without determination; those who can find this way to punish cannot be without wisdom." Tugar also agreed: "He is just like last time, bound by the rules he is used to following - but we don't have so many constraints."

"That's right. He must have felt that taking direct action would ruin his reputation. When asked before, he said that directly confiscating the land was too radical and he was afraid of causing dissatisfaction." The old Mamluk officer who spoke just now speculated: "But it seems that he is just overthinking it. Even if he took action against those landowners, what would happen? Would the Egyptians still rebel? He must be too concerned about his reputation. But we don't need this."

"Everyone, listen to me!" He shook his arms and shouted, "The Taiji certainly doesn't want the situation to turn out like this, but there is no better way now. Who has time to argue with them? Besides, if the plague really comes, more people will die. Whether it is for justice or our own cause, we can't delay any longer."

"That's right. If he doesn't want to do it, we will do it for him!" Aybar said decisively: "What kind of servant is he if he can't share his master's worries!"

"That's right. If we just sit there and do nothing, we will be the ones to be embarrassed!"

"If we delay any further, the Mamluks' reputation will be ruined by us!"

"Go ahead, Emile!"

The crowd immediately started to make noise.

"How about this." Tugar said: "At the meeting today, I saw that the most rampant person was the one named Aziz. Does his family have a lot of land?"

"I know him. He actually controls the three villages here." A Mamluk said, "My comrade's iqta was also contracted and managed by him before."

"That's right. Let's take down this guy." Tugar nodded: "How about we do it tonight?"

"No problem." Aybar agreed immediately: "Everyone go back, prepare the horses, and call all your followers. Kill his whole family first, and see if others dare to disagree tomorrow!"

"Isn't that too much noise?" Ahmed asked hurriedly. "Running out with our weapons in the middle of the night, the Romans should think we are going to mutiny again."

"I think we don't need so many people. We can go by ourselves. Besides, Taiji has gone to rest, but General Guo is still here. I'll go and tell him to avoid any misunderstanding."

"If General Guo knew about this, would he stop us?" Someone asked, "Will he be like Taiji and not want to take direct action?"

"Probably not." Ahmed scratched his head and thought for a while: "Besides, we can also find some other excuses - weren't there some Bedouins who were scattered and looting around before? We can just say that we went to suppress the bandits."

Everyone thought this was a good idea and agreed to it. Soon, they all went their separate ways to prepare for battle.

***
Two quarters of an hour later, Guo Zhaowen came to Tuohuan's tent to ask for a meeting. Tuohuan was reading in the tent, and when he saw him coming, he jumped up immediately.

"what happened?"

"The Mamluks started to make a fuss, saying they were going to teach the ungrateful Egyptians a lesson." Guo Zhaowen said, "I released them as you instructed before."

"So fast? Ahmed is quite efficient." Tuohuan was a little surprised.

"He said it wasn't him who instigated it." Guo Zhaowen explained, "He was originally planning to see everyone's attitude before making a decision, but today someone couldn't hold it back any longer. He spent a lot of time persuading everyone to calm down, so they delayed the departure until now."

"...Okay." Tuo Huan nodded: "That's a good thing, this way we can be faster."

"Excuse me, you really shouldn't have thought about buying land before." Guo Zhaowen advised: "How could these rich people be willing to give up all the land they have spent so much effort to annex? Whether it was in Romania when the country was founded or in Hungary today, it is the same. Everyone has experience."

"After all, this time the environment is different, so I think we should be more cautious. Besides, we have people working for us this time. You see, the result is indeed the same." Tuohuan said, "But you are right. Judging from the feedback this time, we don't have to worry about the confiscation of land being too radical and causing resistance from the local tyrants. The subsequent plans should be accelerated."

(End of this chapter)