Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 682 What are the conditions for closing a brothel?

Early in the morning, Meltem brought Nafisa to the door of Tuohuan's residence again.

"I won't go in this time. The petition happened in your neighborhood, so you have to go and say it yourself." She said, "Although it sounds a bit... but I can't always do it for you. These things, in the end, you have to do it yourselves."

Nafisa clenched her hands and nodded.

"Don't be so nervous." Meltem scratched his head. "I know you're in a bad mood, but this kind of thing can still be solved. And I told you before that they are all easy to talk to. Just go and tell them the problem."

“But last time…” Nafisa was still a little timid.

"We didn't get the direction right last time." Meltem thought for a moment and said, "We shouldn't have said you were a judge. We should have said you were a philosopher. That way, the first impression would have been better."

"Really?" Nafisa still didn't quite believe it.

"Really." Meltem said affirmatively: "Brother Kang and his men are preparing to reorganize the religious management agency. When you came to them, they might subconsciously think that you were here to cause trouble. But if you said that you had studied natural philosophy, they would probably be happier."

"Wouldn't that be more dangerous?" Nafisa asked in confusion. "Mr. Guo has attracted many followers. Now many Muslims and Copts in the city have been saved by him. Many people say he can bring about miracles, so they follow him fanatically. It's scary to watch."

"Why is this scary?" Meltrum asked curiously.

"The new religious organizations here are generally not very friendly to women who study philosophy." Nafisa shook her head repeatedly: "Maybe it's an Egyptian characteristic, so you are not very clear. But I'd better be careful."

"Huh?" Meltem was confused.

She thought about it, but still didn't quite understand what the other party was saying. But at this time, the guards on duty began to move. Someone even brought a group of horses and waited at the door.

"He's coming out." Meltem hurriedly urged: "Don't worry about anything else, just go quickly."

Nafisa sighed, nodded, and ran over.

Not long after, Tuohuan came out of the yard with a group of followers and saw someone blocking the door.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Some natives came to complain, saying that our soldiers went to their place to rob things and even killed people." The leading guard said loudly.

Tuohuan had just mounted his horse and was smiling, but when he heard what he said, he frowned.

"What happened? What are you doing?" A young official nearby shouted, "What's going on? Why are you here?"

The people around looked at each other, and no one answered for a while. After a moment, a clerk replied, "Lord Lu, calm down. It was said that it was done by those Russian soldiers in District A4. The government office over there is now busy recruiting people for relocation, and I'm afraid they can't take care of it."

"How can there be so many excuses? If I don't care about the many things, I won't have to work as a prefect." After the official finished speaking, he turned around and bowed to Tuohuan, saying, "I am incompetent and have disturbed Your Highness. I will go and inquire about the situation. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."

"Okay, no need to be polite. It must be Guo Kang Anda's men causing trouble, and no one dares to intervene." Tuo Huan didn't seem surprised at all, and sighed: "He is not here, so I will do it, and I won't embarrass you."

"Since it's on our way, let's go over there and take a look. Where's the person who came to complain? Ask him to come along." He ordered.

"It's over here." The guards made way and brought the person over.

"Tell me more details first." Tuo Huan continued, "Lift your head! You are holding such a big piece of cloth and you are still keeping your head down. Next time we interrogate you, they won't know who you are... Hey? Why are you here again?"

"The people over there didn't dare to come. They said I was more familiar with you guys and forced me to come and report..." Nafisa answered stiffly.

"You, woman, are still addicted to power. Now you know how to get closer to us." Tuo Huan heard this and sneered, "But it's a good thing. Our government needs people like you who dare to speak out."

As he spoke, he glanced back and forth, but he did not see the few people who appeared together last time - Meltem was fast and had already hidden himself.

"Don't worry, no matter what your purpose is, as long as it's not false, I will definitely reward you." He assured the other party, "Let's go, tell me slowly on the way."

"I'm not here to become an official..." Nafisa was very unwilling and muttered softly, "I don't dare to get close to you..."

However, due to the chaos around them, no one could hear what she was mumbling. A few guards urged her, so she quickly led her donkey over and set off with her followers.

The team marched through the city. Along the way, people were working on construction projects everywhere, making the city seem even busier than usual.

They first came to a construction site next to the station. Two huge brick-kiln-like ovens were built here. Next to them were piles of flour bags and dozens of busy cooks and apprentices. A Mamluk officer, who was guarding here with a group of people, saw Toghan and others coming and immediately jumped up from his chair to greet them.

"Is the flour supply sufficient these days?" Tuohuan asked proactively.

"Enough, sir," the Mamluk replied, "In the past two days, many people have moved away from the west, and we still have some bread left here."

"Have the number of people coming to collect biscuits increased recently?" Tuohuan continued to ask.

"Yes. Moreover, the number of people who come to claim without registering has also increased." Mamluk said: "In the past two days alone, I have arrested nearly a hundred people and handed them over to the captain."

"Very good." Tuo Huan nodded and looked around: "Where is Captain Wang?"

"He led his soldiers to escort the people to the river." The Mamluk replied: "They said they needed prisoners to dig the soil, and they wanted to take away all the people we captured here."

"Taking things that do not belong to you is stealing and should be punished." Tuohuan nodded: "You should also explain clearly to those people that the situation is urgent and food is not abundant. Only those who obey our organization and are willing to work will have public rations. For first-time offenders, we will assume that they are not familiar with Roman law and will let them go after working for a week. If they commit the same offense again, we will not let them off easily."

"Don't worry, Taiji. I grew up in Cairo, and I know all the local thieves in this neighborhood." Mamluk immediately patted his chest and said, "The gang leader who organized people to steal food has been killed by me and my men. These people now are just lazy and scattered thieves. They are not powerful enough."

"You did a good job. I'll give you a credit." Tuo Huan said. "Also, I heard that there are many people in need of relief in the west of the city. You can send all the extra cakes there. When you give relief, only give them to healthy children. If their family members or neighbors are in need, they must find a child to take them on their behalf. Each person is only allowed to bring five cakes." He continued to instruct: "After three days, gather all these children together. I will arrange teachers to take them to school."

"Ah? Oh, yes!" Mamluk didn't seem to understand what all these orders meant, but he still tried to remember them. Tuohuan encouraged him again and led his men away.

"Bai Yiram is a sly old scoundrel." A Mamluk following Tuohuan on the road took the opportunity to remind him, "He has been in Cairo for more than ten years and is very familiar with the situation here. He has connections with the gangsters here. I suspect that the unlucky guy was killed by him because he didn't listen to him."

"Isn't this good?" Tuo Huan said indifferently, "The population on the household register is very different from the actual situation. I'm afraid the extra people are in these people's hands. Now the urban reconstruction needs a lot of manpower, it's good enough if he can dig people out for us. As for the rest, I don't care."

"Once the population here is almost counted, we still have to migrate them as a whole to the other side of the Nile River and re-register them." He specifically reminded: "If you know that he secretly hides his own people in there, you don't have to make trouble with him directly. When I re-register them, I can just disperse those people."

"Bai Yiram and his men are relatively marginal Mamluks. After doing these trivial tasks for a long time, it is inevitable that they will be tainted with some underworld habits. If they go too far, I will give them a warning for you. You should train well, and there will be plenty of opportunities to make meritorious contributions in the future. Don't bother with them too much."

The other party thanked him immediately. Tuo Huan waved his hand and led everyone to move forward.

In other neighborhoods, many places were also undergoing large-scale construction. After the 33rd Legion entered the city, they began to renovate the roads in the city center. The Romans were very persistent in building convenient roads, so they did not hesitate to demolish some buildings and expanded several wide roads that were straight and flat.

Relying on these roads, they continued to repair some public facilities. The overly messy and dirty places were demolished as planned. Since the situation in the city had stabilized at this time, Tuo Huan and others recruited a large number of migrant workers to participate in the project on the condition of providing food, which made the progress of the plan much faster.

Halfway through the journey, Tuo Huan and the others checked an alley that was being expanded. It was bustling with people.

"It's quite lively here." Tuohuan took a look and said.

"There's a red-light district ahead," the Mamluk who was accompanying him told him, "The transportation here is convenient, so there are a lot of people coming and going. A few days ago, they were told to move, but they haven't moved yet."

"How can we delay this kind of place?" Tuo Huan said unhappily, "The most important purpose of our city reconstruction is to improve the sanitary environment and prepare to fight the plague. Aren't these places where all kinds of people are mixed together, dirty and chaotic, the most likely places for diseases to breed and spread? Normally, we can tolerate it, but how can we tolerate it in this extraordinary period? Tear them all down!"

While they were talking, several brothels and pimps had already rushed out from the alley. They saw Tuohuan's men preparing to chase them away and started screaming in fear.

"Sir, sir!" The fastest madam shouted, "You can't do that! Although our business is not a glamorous one, it is a business that everyone needs. You can't control everything."

Tuohuan didn't understand Egyptian, but the Mamluk next to him couldn't help it and shouted: "What are you yelling about? Shut up! I didn't discipline you according to the Islamic law before, but I spoiled you!"

"Oh, sir, who in the city hasn't been to a place like this? There must be people in your barracks who are frequent visitors here." The brothel owner still shouted: "We can't not give everyone a chance to live!"

"Nonsense!" Mamluk was furious. "Our military discipline stipulates that you cannot have contact with women before your service is over. What are you shouting about?"

However, perhaps because he found that there was a higher-ranking official here, Mamluk did not take direct action. The brothel owner immediately became bolder and pulled his horse: "Sir, you said the law. According to the doctrine, the girls here are also your temporary spouses! Even if they are spouses for one night, you can't be so heartless, right?"

Mamluk was very embarrassed for a moment, waving his whip to chase people away while looking to the side. Behind the brothel owner, a group of prostitutes standing on the street heard the noise and rushed over. Seeing this scene, they all started crying and making a scene, and the scene was in a mess.

"What are they yelling about?" Tuo Huan was confused. He was the only guide in his team who could speak Egyptian, and he was being held back. Some of the others didn't understand, but judging by the situation, they probably understood the situation and were all laughing.

Tuo Huan suddenly had an idea and turned to Nafisa behind him and shouted, "Come here! Translate for me, what is this person shouting?"

"Uh..." Nafisa blushed after hearing these two words: "She said you can't treat...temporary wives like this. She said you don't let them...work, and don't give them a way to survive..."

Looking at her reaction, Tuo Huan knew that the original words were probably much more dirty.

"Okay, don't worry about them." He shook his head and said, "What we lack most here is manpower. We have decent work for them. And, don't look at how innocent this madam sounds. I'm afraid that most of these people were obtained by her through fraud. Tell them to disperse quickly and stop making trouble."

Nafisa looked a little embarrassed, and looked across the table, wanting to say something but stopping herself. After a while, she seemed to have made up her mind.

"What they said was that they were willing," Nafisa stammered, "They said they...itched and couldn't live without men. Even if you are moral saints, you are not gods. You have no right to forbid them from having desires..."

"Damn it! How dare a bitch negotiate with me!" Tuohuan finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Escort officer!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Yes!" The followers who were watching the fun immediately stood up when they heard his order.

"Let these people see where Rome's power comes from, and see what basis I have for issuing orders!" Tuo Huan said angrily: "Show them the 'power'! Hit them!"

Everyone responded in unison, pulled out bundles of sticks, and rushed forward.

"Nasr, where is your knife?" he turned around and shouted again.

Mamluk was a joke in front of everyone, and he was already a little annoyed, but he couldn't figure out Tuohuan's attitude. Seeing that he had said that, he immediately drew his sword and chopped the procuress to the ground.

The others all screamed, and the Romans rushed forward aggressively, beating anyone they saw. In the alley, the prostitutes and clients who saw the situation were not good tried to escape, but there were not many exits, so they were blocked at the entrance of the alley and beaten up.

"Hey, I said Guo Kang was too soft before. Look, I have become like this myself." After giving a series of orders, Tuo Huan finally breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at himself helplessly. Then, he turned around and pulled Nafisa, who was a little scared.

"Tell these people." He pointed to the front: "I don't care whether they accept it or not, this is an order. From now on, everyone must wash clothes and grind wheat obediently."

"If anyone is a slut and can't hold it in anymore, come to me and I'll have someone beat her up for free until she stops itching! If you can change, then do your job honestly. If you can't change, then go to hell! I don't believe that this damn problem can't be cured."

Nafisa nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice and quickly began to translate.

Tuohuan finally calmed down a bit. He looked around and shouted to the crowd, "Alright, don't kill them all. We still have work to do. Take the ones who are still alive to the other side of the river and let them work with the prisoners. Tell Tugar to keep an eye on them."

Everyone responded with a roar. When the fight started, Prefect Lu sent his men to call for help, and soon a group of yamen runners and soldiers came and took all these people away.

(End of this chapter)