Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 820 The False Cleopatra

Because the topic was sensitive, Lama Wang evaded the question promptly. He then instructed Father Peter to begin his report, briefly outlining Guo Kang's public statements.

"After receiving the commission, the Acting Governor-General conducted a thorough investigation into all the information requested by the court." He took out a folder and read it aloud to the Empress and the others: "This Egyptian native was also among those investigated. Governor-General Guo specifically brought her out of prison for questioning..."

"From where?" Madam Huang didn't react for a moment: "He arrested people as soon as he came up?"

“That’s another matter,” Lama Wang quickly explained. “She participated in the local people’s actions against the government and provided shelter to some people. The government believed that she violated the ban and was also suspected of being an accomplice to a crime, so they arrested her in accordance with the previously issued emergency decree. This matter has only recently come to light and is public information, so it is unrelated to our investigation. Taiji also knows about it.”

"Everything was fine before. I always heard Huan'er say that the people in Egypt respected him. They even assured us that there wouldn't be any problems implementing the policies." The Queen asked, bewildered, "So what exactly did this girl do? How did she get involved?"

“This matter has little to do with the main task of fighting the Black Death during the plague,” Lama Wang replied. “The main reason is that after the plague, as acting governor, Young Master Guo hoped to promote reforms in the local governance system. In this process, he clashed with some vested interests. Therefore, he was opposed by some conservative local leaders and ‘Ancientist’ priests.”

“I see, that makes sense.” Princess Ma interjected, “We were just talking about this issue. Often, we face this kind of dilemma: if we push for reform, we will offend people and slow down the integration process; if we don’t reform, things will remain the same, and we won’t be able to tap into the greater potential of the local area.”

“But there’s nothing we can do about it. Most of the time, there isn’t a group of people like Sigismund who are constantly cooperating with you on the other side.” She said with great emotion, “If there aren’t such people who constantly lower the expectations of local powers, dampen their enthusiasm, or even directly attack the locals, so that even if reforms are carried out, the damage caused is not as great as the losses under their rule, then any reforms will definitely face great resistance.”

Everyone else thought it made a lot of sense. This conclusion, which we had just reached, was unexpectedly put to use so quickly.

"So what are the specific backgrounds of these opponents?" the Queen asked. "It doesn't seem to have been mentioned in the previous reports."

“Oh, that data was categorized under the analysis of local religious forces,” Wang Da Lama replied. “Because it’s not very relevant to this matter itself, it wasn’t all included to keep things concise. Peter, go and report this to Baselisa.”

“Okay.” Peter quickly flipped through the documents, found the report, glanced at it, and explained, “This issue falls right under our church’s jurisdiction, so we’ve conducted a corresponding investigation. These opposition clergy are mainly people who emphasize maintaining local customs and the original doctrines of early Islam. The main part of them includes some local forces in Egypt and followers of Ibn Taymiyah in Syria, that is, fundamentalist ‘Salafists.’ Therefore, they are generally more conservative in their thinking and less able to accept our policies.”

"Then how did they connect with this... 'Cleopatra'?" Queen Anna still found the code name somewhat strange.

“His Excellency the Governor implemented reforms in the area, appointing a new group of people to serve as local officials, replacing those he deemed unqualified,” Father Peter explained. “However, his policies on the appointment of female local parish judges were more radical, leading to discontent among the conservatives.”

“Oh, I see. It’s that conservative clergy can’t accept female clergy judges, right?” Princess Ma felt she had understood.

“No, Your Highness, it’s the other way around,” Father Peter pointed out. “His Excellency the Governor intends to start a pilot program in Lower Egypt, gradually removing all female judges in Egypt and Syria, and strictly prohibiting women from working in legal adjudication in the future. But the local conservative elders and Salafist extremists think his approach is too extreme—they feel that Egypt has always had female judges, which does not violate doctrine. On the contrary, His Excellency the Governor’s forceful intervention and demand for changes is destroying local traditions and going against the customs passed down since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, so they are resolutely resisting it.”

"Uh……"

The people present looked at each other in bewilderment.

"After that, these people kept moving around, inciting people to protest every day," Father Peter said. "Although the governor and our Rome had a high reputation after the Black Death, some people still felt that even so, unnecessary changes should not be made. If it were just to deal with the plague, that would be one thing, but he didn't give a clear reason. So, people kept moving around."

"Later, the government sent people to arrest the ringleader of the disturbance and discovered that her home was also a den of iniquity."

"Her father once taught at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and thus became acquainted with many scholars and priests; she also had good relationships with Miss Mertem, Miss Jeanne, and His Highness Prince Constantine, whom we have all met here, so she could speak on both sides. The authorities discovered that her family had been used as a refuge by some opponents, so they detained her as well."

"Why would young Constantine have such an idea?" the Queen wondered. "He's usually very easy to talk to, so why is he suddenly being so insistent?"

"Well, I don't know." Lama Wang shook his head. "Maybe some special circumstances have arisen in Egypt, forcing him to take drastic measures. Anyway, he'll be here soon, we can just ask him."

"Alright. I'll take a look at the relevant parts first." The Queen nodded, opened the letter, and glanced at it.

Wang Da Lama and Father Peter bowed slightly and took a half step back, indicating that they would wait nearby.

The intelligence gathering, overseen by Guo Kang, was conducted with everyone's tacit understanding. This was because the girl named Nafisa had a highly unusual identity; she was suspected to be a lover that Tuohuan Taiji had found himself in Egypt. Tuohuan was the heir to the Roman Empire, holding a significant and sensitive position. For someone of his stature, whatever he did would obviously attract the attention of others and various factions. Even if they were to engage in a long-term relationship, or even just flirt and play around, it could trigger a chain reaction, potentially shaking the political landscape of Rome and even abroad.

Therefore, as soon as this news spread, the Khan's court, including Tuohuan's parents and other ministers, eagerly hoped for a swift investigation to clarify this person's background. At the very least, they needed to know if she had any ulterior motives, or if she was deliberately sent by some group. To determine these things, a thorough investigation was necessary.

Moreover, this kind of work is actually quite thankless. During the investigation, it's inevitable that some "crossing the line" will be done. Even if the intelligence agency is relatively restrained and limits its methods to a certain extent, it probably won't be a pleasant experience for this young woman and those involved.

Therefore, whoever does this will inevitably offend people: if the conspiracy is ultimately uncovered, many will think the investigators are overreacting and that their actions were completely unnecessary. This is because most people lack the concept of "prevention is better than cure," and being a "Monday morning quarterback" is the instinct of most.

Even if the problem is discovered, how to handle it afterwards would be very troublesome. Although Tuohuan had always appeared very rational, he had never been involved in romantic relationships before, so no one really knew his attitude towards this matter. What if, after knowing the problem, Tuohuan insisted on playing the "ladies' man" and refused to let go? This problem alone would be enough to scare away most of the officials.

Not to mention, some more astute ministers might suspect whether Toghon and others associated with the Khan's court were truly as mild-mannered, rational, and understanding as they appeared. What if he now indicates he's open to investigation, and even rationally severs ties after discovering suspicious points, but secretly harbors resentment? He might not even need to deliberately hide anything; a simple whim of missing an old friend would be enough to cause trouble for those working below.

Therefore, faced with this investigation request, the intelligence agencies of the Purple Horde all remained silent, none of them wanting to take it on. Finally, it was the Grand Lama Wang who stepped forward, saying that matters related to marriage and relationships fell within the Church's purview. Coincidentally, the Church had a close relationship with Guo Kang, the acting governor of the Egyptian province. Therefore, he suggested that Guo Kang conduct the investigation and handle the matter locally, which would solve the problem.

This method quickly gained the support of almost everyone—everyone knew that Guo Kang also had a special status. His relationship with Tuohuan was exceptionally close. What others dared not say or do, he was fully capable of doing, without fear of any consequences.

Moreover, he was the heir of the Guo family, truly one of the Khan's "own people." While others feared offending others by doing their work, he was the one who feared offending them. On the other hand, he wasn't an elder of Tuohuan's generation, nor was he the head of the family. Therefore, any discoveries wouldn't be blown out of proportion; he could simply communicate directly with Tuohuan's family. Even if something bad was discovered, there were still a group of elders who could step in to smooth things over. They wouldn't be mobilized immediately, which would only put pressure on Tuohuan.

From this perspective, both publicly and privately, Guo Kang was the best choice. Therefore, after receiving the reply, Lama Wang contacted him directly and asked him to do it.

As for the outcome, it went even more smoothly than everyone had expected—originally, some people thought that Guo Kang might be too concerned about Anda's feelings and hesitate to take action. However, it turned out that before the Khanate even issued any notification about an investigation, Guo Kang had already arrested and interrogated the Egyptian woman, along with a large number of related personnel.

Tuohuan himself didn't seem to care much about it. Although the Khan's side had received information that he and that woman were having a close relationship, and were even close to developing a romantic one.

However, after news of Guo Kang's arrest of these locals spread these past two days, Tuohuan, unaware of the Khan's intention to investigate, expressed his support for Guo Kang's actions. He told others that Guo Kang was consistently loyal and impartial, and would not tolerate violations because of close relationships, nor would he target someone simply because they had offended him. Since Guo Kang had ordered the arrests, it meant the girl had indeed committed a crime. He trusted Guo Kang in this regard and therefore supported his impartial handling of the matter. He believed that everyone would be able to resolve this matter properly.

So while everyone was worried about this and had reservations about that, Guo Kang and Tuo Huan, the two people involved, didn't seem to take it too seriously...

While the Great Lama was pondering how to explain the current situation to these people, the Empress had already glanced through the materials.

"There's quite a bit of information here, I need to take it back and read it—sigh, who came up with this code name? Doesn't it seem unlucky?" she muttered to herself after speaking.

“Actually, she chose the name herself,” the Great Lama Wang explained. “Her real name is Nafisa, and Cleopatra is one of her pen names. It’s a common name in Egypt.”

"They're still using this name over there?" The Empress was quite surprised.

“Yes, for some reason, the Islamic religion highly regards this person.” Lama Wang nodded.

Queen Anna and Lady Huang roughly understood the situation, but Princess Ma, standing nearby, still seemed somewhat confused. Therefore, the Great Lama Wang gave a brief explanation.

In the Mediterranean world, it was common to use the names of famous figures to publish works for various purposes. For example, the famous "Pseudo-Dionysus" and "Pseudo-Pythagoras" were works published by their admirers or students of their school, using their teachers' names.

Because of this habit, some ancient Greek scholars produced an astonishing number of works. This is especially true of prominent figures like Aristotle and Pythagoras, whose names are associated with an extravagant amount of writing. This wasn't because they were capable writers, but rather because throughout the classical era and even the Middle Ages, later generations continuously used their names to create works.

This is actually quite similar to the situation in the Central Plains. During the Han Dynasty, there were many disputes over the authenticity of Confucian classics. This is because many classics were not actually written by the philosophers of the Spring and Autumn Period, but were compiled by Han Confucian scholars themselves on behalf of their patriarchs... Because of these issues of authenticity, people have been arguing for over a thousand years. By drawing an analogy, Princess Ma can understand this situation.

(End of this chapter)