Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 711 We nominate Ming Dynasty to be the guardian of the two holy places!
People kept leaving the Wu Palace. Zhu Wenkui and Monk Daoyan stood at the door and said goodbye to everyone.

When most of the guests had left, Captain Jessica came out of the mansion and asked, "Master, the guests you invited last time have all come in the past few days. Do you need to invite anyone else?"

"No need, these are enough." Monk Daoyan replied.

"In fact, we mainly want to entertain those Muslim representatives." Zhu Wenkui told him: "Earlier, when they came here, Taiji told me that we should entertain them well. Now is a good time to settle the matter together."

"Why does our palace want to entertain Muslim representatives?" Captain Jessica was still a little puzzled. "The Romans deal with Muslims every day. There are still many Muslim believers in the southern provinces. It's understandable that they go to negotiate with them. But it doesn't matter to us, right? There aren't many such people in Bohemia."

"It's not for our palace. This is also to help others." Zhu Wenkui told him: "When Brother Kang held a meeting before, he didn't invite people from your army to participate, so you may not be very clear."

"The Mamluk regime in Egypt has more than just military and political functions. They also have religious obligations in the Muslim world - and, of course, corresponding powers."

"During the time of Saladin, Egypt gained sovereignty over the western part of the Arabian Peninsula through expeditions. He therefore began to use the title of 'Guardian of the Two Holy Places'. After the capture of Jerusalem, the three holy cities were all under the rule of the Ayyubid dynasty."

"The Mamluks inherited the previous territory and expanded it further. Therefore, they always claimed guardianship over several holy cities. Although these places were actually autonomous due to loose rule, they still insisted on this title to exercise religious power and influence other regions."

"As the old saying goes, only the tool and the name cannot be faked. Is it the same here?" Monk Daoyan nodded: "We need to insist on these, which is a normal reaction of the court."

"Yes. And, like other titles, in addition to the title itself, this title also has some corresponding forms and rituals." Zhu Wenkui said: "For example, the Kaaba in Mecca is covered with a black silk cloth called 'Kiswa', which needs to be replaced every year. It is said that Shajer Dur, a female ruler at the end of the Ayyubid dynasty, managed to obtain the exclusive right to supply this cloth in order to make up for the lack of legitimacy caused by her identity. From then on, caravans were sent to Mecca every year to bring Kiswa. The Mamluk rulers of all generations also performed this function."

"There are also several silk production centers on the Mediterranean side, one of which is in Alexandria, so the supply is relatively convenient. But now that the Qin Dynasty has occupied the silk producing areas along the coast, the Mamluk regime is in turmoil and is about to end. So, the question now is, who will succeed the position of guardian of this holy land?"

"The Romans are not okay?" Captain Jessica asked, "Jerusalem is actually controlled by the Romans. With these two holy places, Rome is the new ruler, right?"

"That's true in theory, but many people still can't accept it." Zhu Wenkui spread his hands: "The main reason is that there has never been a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom country serving as a Taiping religious supervisor. People may still not be able to change their mindsets..."

"But this position can't remain vacant forever. Apart from other things, the annual Hajj ceremony still needs to be held. Who will provide the silk next time? Both the Caliph of Alexandria and the Sharif who is in charge of the affairs of the Holy Land realized the problem early on. When the decisive battle just ended, they sent messengers to inquire."

"So what are they going to do?" Captain Jessica asked curiously.

"The Khanate actually doesn't want to get involved in these matters. Brother Kang wants to intervene, but Master Wang and the others think it's too hasty to intervene now. At least we have to wait until this stage is over." Zhu Wenkui replied, "Rome has many enemies, all around, so it has been trying to avoid trouble. Before, the legions passed by Jerusalem, but they didn't ask to directly bring it under their jurisdiction. The two holy places on the other side of the Red Sea should be similar."

"Huh? So they don't want it." Captain Jessica said in surprise: "I thought they were just being modest."

"If you are not prepared, this kind of place will become a hot potato." Monk Daoyan said, "I think the national religious conference they are going to hold recently is a bit interesting. It can be seen that they are trying to solve this problem. However, now is not the time to push everything forward at once. If too many things are involved at once, it is indeed easy to cause trouble."

"So, after discussing it till now, they have decided to nominate someone who has enough reputation in both religious and secular aspects and can be accepted by everyone to serve as the new guardian."

"Who is it?" Captain Jessica asked quickly.

"My father." Zhu Wenkui said with a helpless smile.

"Ah?" Captain Jessica was unable to react for a moment: "He is not a member of the Muslim Church, right?"

"Whether it is Islamic or not is not the biggest problem at the moment. According to the local priests in Cairo, the first thing to do is to quickly finalize the candidate to prevent completely unacceptable candidates from coming and declaring their membership," Zhu Wenkui replied.

"Right now, there are only two great powers that are close to the Two Holy Lands. One is Rome, and the other is the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty that just defeated the Jalair dynasty and occupied Baghdad."

"Do you remember the risks we talked about at the meeting when we were marching south and what we needed to be wary of? One of them is this group of people. During our operation, they are likely to attack Jerusalem in the name of religion, or send a detachment south to the two holy places. Fortunately, Shah Rukh helped to contain them, and they haven't yet digested the situation internally, so they just shouted slogans and didn't actually take action to harass us."

"The Black Sheep Dynasty is at least a Muslim regime, right? Wouldn't it be better for the Muslim holy sites if they come to protect them?" Captain Jessica asked. "That's the problem," Zhu Wenkui said, "They are indeed a Muslim regime - but they are Shia."

"Uh……"

"There are many grievances and hatreds within the Muslim community, which are much more intense than those in the God Worshipping Society." Zhu Wenkui shook his head. "The specific situation is very complicated. In short, even if Rome is actually a pagan regime, it will not do anything after it controls the place. For political purposes, it will also provide additional protection to the local area. However, if it is nominal believers who break in, it is hard to say."

"The worst damage to the Holy Land before was caused by the believers. It was just a simple civil war back then. If Ali's followers come back now, it will be a lot of fun..."

"Brother Kang told me that it's not that they can't find allied monarchs who can take on this job. For example, the girl Meltem has several relatives who are monarchs of small states affiliated with Rome and can take on this task. However, her Turkmen relatives are all Shiites. And Egypt has already made it clear that even if they have to give it to the followers of Isa, they cannot let the followers of Ali in. These ideas can only be abandoned."

"However, Master Daoyan suggested to everyone that if they really couldn't find the right person, then they could find someone who wasn't in the same neighborhood. They wouldn't directly interfere with the local situation, nor would they affect the original semi-autonomous status. So everyone thought that this was actually a good idea."

"This is exactly what they want." Monk Daoyan also helped explain, "At present, there are roughly three options for the distant but connected big countries. In theory, the most suitable one should be the Timurid Khanate. But the locals don't like them very much, probably because they were traumatized by the old uncle. Now Shah Rukh has no intention of expanding westward and doesn't want to take care of things here, so they are ruled out."

"The remaining two are the Yuan and Ming families. At least they are not heretics, nor are they the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that has fought for many years. Although they do not have any religious bonuses and do not share the same beliefs, they are much easier to accept than the above group. But since we are looking for a prestigious person from a foreign land, of course we have to find the biggest one. So, we quickly convinced everyone to find the Ming Dynasty."

"Well, I thought this result was absurd at first, but after analyzing it this way, it seems to make sense?" Captain Jessica was also confused by the two of them.

"In fact, it was grandpa who was originally considered. Everyone thinks that he is the most suitable. But it is too far away, and it takes a long time to ask for instructions. We can't just make the decision on our own and agree to it." Zhu Wenkui said: "So, we will help take it over first, and then we will talk about it slowly later."

"King Wu is not here now. Are they in a hurry? Should they wait for his approval before talking about the next thing?" asked Captain Jessica.

"Oh, that doesn't matter." Zhu Wenkui waved his hand: "I can make the decision here. I agree to it."

"what……"

Captain Jessica always felt that this was a bit disrespectful to King Wu. However, since they seemed to have made up their minds, there shouldn't be any problem. So, he nodded, picked up the list, and prepared to leave.

At this time, Tang Saier turned around the corner, waving and shouting, "Brother Kui! Your sister is here to see you."

"Ah? Didn't she go with my mother to visit the Khatun? How could she escape on her own?" Zhu Wenkui felt a headache instantly: "Why is this girl so disobedient..."

"It's not that sister." Tang Sai'er said, and led a young girl out: "This seems to be another one. Your family's retainer brought her here from France."

"Ah? What did my father do again?" Zhu Wenkui suddenly felt even more confused.

"He said that when you were staying at her house, you gave your daughter to her family to take care of. So in return, he also adopted her newborn daughter as his goddaughter and asked them to raise the child and send her to school here." Tang Sai'er told him: "Now that the child can live independently, her family found the officials there and sent the child here."

"I was going to look for the King of Wu, but no one could find him!" The little girl seemed to be prepared and explained to him, "Uncle Qi said that we should come here first to look for our prince brother! So I came here!"

"Oh, I see." Zhu Wenkui breathed a sigh of relief: "Then who are you?"

"I am Jeanne d'Arc, of Domremy," the little girl answered in a loud voice.

"Another Jeanne, oh my god..." Zhu Wenkui sighed.

(End of this chapter)