1635 Han style rises again

Cairo, July 1684, 1.

In the 13th century, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt had a good economy compared to Western European countries at the same time, and its handicraft industry was very good. Moreover, because it occupied the Red Sea-Mediterranean key point, its business was even good.The leaders of the True God Sect are generally more honest than the Catholic Church at that time.In military affairs, the Crusaders were even more defeated by the Mamluk cavalry.

After the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the land trade routes from Europe to China and India were cut off.Now, the tea, silk, spices, and porcelain from China and India cannot survive.Europeans panicked.In order to make money, they started the age of great voyages. Portugal explored the route from Europe to India, bypassing Africa, and Spain discovered America further west.

Europeans started digging Africa's backyards.In the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean, Portuguese armed ships rampaged, burning, killing and looting the ships of the True God.

What is the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, which had defeated the Crusaders many times, doing now?

Ashamed to say, the Mamluk generals are busy fighting for power and messing up the country.The rich and powerful only cared about their own pockets and controlled the land, but they refused to even serve in the army, so the country had to spend extra money to recruit soldiers.Finances are tight, and infrastructure projects such as building roads, preventing epidemics, and water conservancy projects are completely abandoned.

And because the Portuguese discovered a new sea route, the merchant ships in the Indian Ocean were also robbed by the Portuguese, which greatly reduced Egypt's commercial income.Faced with this crisis, those Mamluk generals with well-developed limbs and simple minds had no way to fight against the Portuguese. Stewed Hen" crazy face.This, in turn, resulted in the exodus of people and the barrenness of the land.

If this continues, the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty will end up with the "pill" sooner or later.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had spread across Europe and Asia, and its power was powerful in the Mediterranean.The then imperial Sultan Selim I set his sights on conquest of Egypt, preparing to use it as his next delicious dish.

As for the closed and arrogant Mamluk generals, they feel that they have been walking sideways in Africa and West Asia for hundreds of years, and they are not afraid of the Ottoman Empire at all: "Who is afraid of whom? Our Mamluks cut down on the Mongols. You were still breastfeeding at the time!” The Sultan of Egypt led tens of thousands of elite troops into Syria to fight the Ottomans.

In 1516, the two armies met on the Dabig Grassland.The powerful Mamluk cavalry still used the tactics of hundreds of years ago. Everyone raised their knives and mounted their horses, screaming, and rushed towards the Turks like a tide.But seeing the iron armor like waves, and the light of the sword like the moon, it would be a while before these Ottoman savages were chopped into meat paste?

Unexpectedly, bursts of white smoke suddenly rose from the Turkish formation.The cannons and matchlock guns fired together, and the metal projectiles were like thunder, hitting the Mamluk cavalry face to face.In a blink of an eye, people on the battlefield turned their backs on their backs, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Only then did the Mamluk warriors realize that after hundreds of years, wars have entered the era of hot weapons. Just relying on their old tactics of riding horses and raising swords, they will end up being slaughtered at will when they go to the battlefield.It's a pity that it's too late to understand now.After the battle, more than half of the Mamluk army was killed or injured, and even the Sultan was beheaded.

In the second year, the Ottoman army invaded Cairo, Egypt, and the Mamluk dynasty fell.The puppet caliph established by the Mamluk dynasty was also arrested by Selim I.

I don't know if he wanted to disgust the Mamluks. Selim I did not kill him, but sentenced him to prison for "embezzlement of public funds".To say that although this caliph is a puppet of the Mamluks, it is called a "false caliph", after all, it is a bluffing title.Even this bluff title has now been crushed by the Ottomans.Later, the Sultan of the Ottomans called himself the "Caliph".The Ottoman royal family officially became the big boss of the unity of politics and religion in the true world of God.

The rich Egypt naturally became a fat cow under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.The Ottoman Empire is a bit of a new phenomenon, and the messy things in the last years of the Mamluk Dynasty have been rectified. At any rate, the administration, taxation, and military service systems have been established in various places, and trade has improved slightly compared to before the change of dynasty.Looking at it this way, it may not be a bad thing for Egypt to be annexed by Ottomans.Even the Mamluk soldiers were later reactivated by the Ottomans as the backbone of the Egyptian army.

The Ottoman Empire government divided the land of Egypt into two parts: one part was assigned to the "Basha" (that is, the agent of the Sultan in Egypt and the governor of the Egyptian province) appointed by the Sultan of the Empire, and the other part, which probably occupied about Two-thirds are allocated to those Mamluk nobles to operate.

The governor or Mamluk lord of the confiscated land has the right to levy taxes on farmers, including labor service, land rent in kind and currency, and other taxes.After the lord collected currency rent from the peasants, according to the provisions of the imperial sultan, he handed over part of the income to the governor, who then handed it over to the imperial treasury as a tribute, and the rest of the income belonged to the lord.

Under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the Mamluk generals who actually controlled Egypt relied on their sabers to continue to rule one side, plundered people's wealth, and even slaughtered people, and sometimes bullied the governor sent by Ottoman.As for the governor, he only cares about whether the tax paid is enough, and implements the system of taxpayers, allowing the taxpayers to extort money from the people and torture them.Egypt, which used to be fat and oily, has gradually become miserable again. The population has been halved, the fields have been barren, and food production has dropped sharply.

If the situation is allowed to continue to deteriorate, Egypt, the Ottoman dairy cow, may not be able to milk it for long.

However, more than 20 years ago, merchants from Qi State on the remote Hanzhou continent came to Egypt one after another, and exported a large amount of oriental commodities and industrial products to the Ottoman Empire and other countries and regions in the Mediterranean by land, making the formerly silent The transit trade suddenly flourished again.

After Qi State and the Ottoman Empire established formal diplomatic and commercial relations, more and more commodities were imported from Hanzhou, India, and Persia, making Cairo an important commodity distribution center. Merchants along the Mediterranean Sea would come here to buy goods from the East Indies and India. Spices and cotton cloth produced in the region, as well as industrial products such as perfume, clocks, glass, soap (or soap), porcelain, tea, sugar, etc. from Qi.

Thirteen years ago (13), in order to transport the goods arriving at the port of Suez to the ports along the Mediterranean Sea more quickly, the State of Qi obtained authorization from the Sultan and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire to build a road from the Port of Suez to Cairo. And obtained the land development rights within three kilometers on both sides of the road.

The road, which is only more than 130 kilometers long, uses all the raw materials from the natural asphalt mine in the Arab (Syria) province of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Egyptians were enlisted for construction. The entire construction period was less than seven months, and the entire line was completed. It became the first asphalt road in Egypt and even in the Ottoman Empire.

In order to manage and maintain this road, the people of Qi formed a special management committee and brought in the Egyptian governor and three local pashas along the way. They also set up a road guard team mainly composed of Mamluk cavalry. In addition to preventing people from intentionally destroying the road, it is also used to patrol along the road and provide armed escort to the merchant convoy driving on the road.

Of course, this road is not a free road. All transport vehicles, including businessmen from Qi, must pay the corresponding road toll as long as they drive on the road.

The prosperous Red Sea-Mediterranean trade has made this road have been operating at full capacity since its opening, and it has been extremely busy, bringing a steady stream of benefits to many investors and operators.

Seeing that this road is so profitable, some jealous investors are thinking about whether to build another road from the Port of Suez to the Port of Damietta in the north.In this way, wouldn't it save a lot in terms of distance and time compared to the current route of Nile River boat transportation via Cairo?

"What do you people of Qi think about this proposal?" Egyptian Governor Horta Zaka put down his wine glass and looked at Yue Shaozhi, the general representative of Qi in Egypt and deacon of the Road Management Committee with a smile, "It is said that behind those pashas there are British businessmen are supporting it. They believe that once this road is completed, it will definitely replace the current Sukai Road.”

"Does the Governor want to build this road?" Yue Shaozhi gently pushed the woman beside him away, and looked at Governor Zhaka with a smile.

The governor is an Albanian who served in the Yeniceri Army and was sent to Egypt by the Sultan six years ago to replace the original governor Orke Sahan who had served for more than 13 years.

After arriving in Egypt, all the dry stock dividends enjoyed by the former governor in several commercial companies such as the Qi State Egyptian Commercial Company, Sukai Highway, and Nile Shipping were all transferred to him. All kinds of gifts, the annual income is as high as [-] to [-] Hanzhou silver dollars, and the food is full of oil.

In return, the incoming governor gave the greatest convenience in the sales and transit of commodities in Qi State, and even the export taxes that should have been levied on commodities such as salt, wheat, livestock, fur, gold sand, and asphalt were all cancelled. .As for the various import taxes and transit taxes that Qi needs to pay, they are also implemented at the lowest level. The two sides have already formed a very close community of interests.

In order to ensure that the Qi State has enough labor force to develop the land within three kilometers on both sides of the Su-Kai Highway, Governor Horta Zaka did not hesitate to use the imperial army stationed in Cairo to arrest land-lost peasants and homeless people in the city, and then packed them into Qi. Guo Yu worked as a free coolie in the many cotton plantations opened on both sides of the Sukai Highway.

Today, the pashas in Ismailia, Kantara and other places are so envious of the profits made by Su's road, that they even want to hook up British businessmen to build a road from the Port of Suez to the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.They reported to the Governor of Egypt and Istanbul respectively under the pretext of improving local infrastructure and developing local people's livelihood.

Therefore, when the businessmen of the Qi State in Cairo invited Governor Orta Zhaka to a banquet to celebrate the coming of the New Year, he brought up this topic to test the attitude of the people of the Qi State. The purpose is also self-evident.

"Actually, building a few more roads in Egypt will play a positive role in promoting and enhancing the empire's control and maintaining the empire's frontier rule." Governor Horta Zaka said with a smile: "Mr. Yue, you What do you think?"

"The governor is dedicated to the empire and His Majesty Sultan, and is diligent in the affairs of the king. Such a dedicated attitude really amazes us!" Yue Shaozhi couldn't help feeling a little contemptuous in his heart.

In the whole of Egypt, you are the most greedy. You can't sell anything in order to make money! ?
"A few months ago, a French scholar proposed to the Governor's Office to restore the canals in ancient Egypt and completely communicate the shipping between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. In this way, the prosperity and wealth of Egypt will be reproduced." Horta Governor Zhaka held up a pair of chopsticks, clumsily picked up a piece of fish, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

I have to admit that the food cooked by these Qi people is delicious. Not only is the appearance excellent, but the taste is also endless aftertaste.

"Dig a canal?" Yue Shaozhi was taken aback when he heard this.

Damn, what are these Europeans trying to do?It's building roads and opening canals again. What's the matter? Seeing that the Red Sea-Mediterranean trade dominated by our country is becoming more and more prosperous, everyone is jealous and wants to come to share a piece of the pie?

Our country of Qi has worked hard to run Egypt for more than 20 years, and it is hard to get to where it is today. How can this allow Europeans to come and intervene?
Also, is the opening of the canal reliable?
Not to mention, the job of digging a canal was really not made up by bragging in Egypt.According to legend, as early as the No.12 dynasty of Egypt (2000 BC to 1786 BC), Pharaoh Senusert III ordered the excavation of a "east-west" canal in order to carry out direct trade through flat-bottomed land boats. Connects the Red Sea to the Nile.According to scattered historical sources, the existence of the canal lasted at least until the time of Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, and then the canal was abandoned.

Later, around 250 BC, Ptolemy II dug the Suez Canal for the first time.However, it was continuously improved, destroyed and rebuilt in the next 1000 years until it was completely abandoned by Caliph Mansour of the Abbasid dynasty of the Arab Empire in the 8th century AD.

After hundreds of years, someone suddenly proposed to dig a canal. If this is done, it will use a huge amount of manpower and material resources. What makes the people of Qi even more fearful is that digging a canal cannot be completed in two or three years. In a dozen or 20 years, wouldn't they just let people take the opportunity to enter Egypt and seize the commercial interests that originally belonged to Qi.

Think beautiful!
Although this Egypt is a frontier province of the Ottoman Empire, it is deeply influenced by Qi State in terms of economy, politics, and military affairs. It can be said that it is the sphere of influence delineated by Qi State, and no foreign forces are resolutely allowed to get involved .

It seems that in this stagnant Egypt, it is time to blow up some strong winds and rain a little torrential rain to cleanse the demons and ghosts everywhere.