Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 636 I am a barbarian and I do not abide by the Roman name
The day after the meeting, the soldiers received orders to re-board the ship and prepare to set off.

During the days when Guo Kang was conducting investigations, the soldiers of the Eighth Corps had been collecting materials and making various instruments. So after receiving the order, they quickly got ready and began to board the ship. The new recruits of the Thirty-Third Corps were still recovering, and they had only conducted drills in the past few days, which served as a warm-up and also as a deterrent to those watching nearby. They were also a little slow in boarding the ship, and were not ready until that afternoon.

According to the discussion of Tuohuan and others, there were not many Roman soldiers this time, and if there were too few people left here, it would be meaningless; if there were too many people left, the subsequent battles would be difficult to fight. Therefore, they directly entrusted it to the allies.

Their march attracted many people to join them. In addition to the Mamluks led by Hafez and the auxiliary troops attached to the Mamluks, some forces also joined in to take advantage of the situation, either because they needed to prove their loyalty or because they thought Rome was powerful and should win. They either contributed money, sent troops, or even led their own troops to participate. These warlords and mercenaries also made the army grow bigger and bigger.

After a private discussion, Tuohuan and others thought that these allies were not very capable of fighting hard battles, but they were still very determined to protect their own territory. Tuohuan then held a meeting with the allies overnight and said that they would adjust the previous contract again according to the changes on the battlefield, so as to be more conducive to combat and acceptable to everyone.

After negotiations, everyone reached a preliminary agreement. Emir Sadil of Homs won the bid for Damietta as his personal territory. According to the agreement, he could arrange the city's income and port policy on his own, but he had to hand over one-third of the annual commercial tax to Hafez and the Roman provincial government as tribute. How the tribute would be divided was not yet determined, and would be discussed later.

The defense of the city was of course also the responsibility of Sadil and his soldiers. Tuohuan and Hafiz also specifically reminded him that although the main force of the Sheikh's side should not come over during this period, there would definitely be other small warlords and Bedouin tribes that roamed around and plundered, who would come to take advantage of the situation or try to seize the city. He would have to deal with all of this. If he failed to defend it and was robbed of everything, or even lost his territory, he could only blame himself for his incompetence.

This request was reasonable, and it was a risk that all feudal lords in the world had to bear. If Sadile didn't have the courage, he wouldn't have come to fight for it. Therefore, he agreed without hesitation.

Tuohuan also proposed that the rural areas outside the city should belong to Rome and be managed by the province according to the countermeasures he had discussed with Guo Kang and others. Of course, this land is not for nothing, because Rome plans to build a series of large-scale water conservancy projects in the Nile River Basin. After completion, various public welfare will also be provided to the city territories for free. Because the city is also the fief of Rome's allies and belongs to Roman territory, there will be no favoritism.

In the eyes of the emirs, this was a thankless task. Who knows if the Romans were addicted to digging. Although Egypt's land was rich, these poor villages were certainly not as valuable as the strategic port cities. But since they were willing to do it and it would benefit them, they didn't care. So everyone agreed with this.

Finally, Sadil led more than a thousand of his soldiers to stay. In addition, he paid Hafiz a sum of money to let the latter transfer a 500-man Turkmen mercenary to him. With these forces, it was enough for defense.

Of course, he would not just pay money. After signing the agreement, Sadile immediately found Italian merchants who were accompanying the army to auction the port contract rights. In the end, the wealthy Venetian merchants rented most of the port area in one go, and even rented the entire beach next to it as a warehouse. The remaining area was contracted by the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. All parties signed a 99-year lease agreement under the guarantee of Rome.

In this way, Sadile's various expenses for this expedition were not only recovered in one day, but he also made a lot of money. The other warlords were envious and even their enthusiasm for participating in the war increased a lot.

Next, Guo Kang followed the main force and boarded the ship directly to Alexandria.

Intelligence showed that in order to capture the city as quickly as possible and prevent the Caliph from obtaining supplies from the sea or simply escaping by ship, the Sheikh and others not only sent out their own fleets but also hired a large number of pirates to surround the port.

The Mamluks' own fleet was no longer as strong as before. But there was never a shortage of pirates in the Mediterranean, and they were even more rampant than before. It was also an old tradition to temporarily hire pirates during wars.

After receiving the Sheikh's call, many pirates came to respond to the old patron. From the Armenian pirate gangs on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, to the Muslim pirate lords in Cyrenaica and Tunisia, and the Catholic pirate gangs in Sicily, they all rushed to join the holy war and besiege the Caliph. They were so numerous that it was said that there were hundreds of ships and about 20,000 people. They completely surrounded Alexandria from the sea and even began to take the initiative to participate in the siege.

Guo Kang was a little surprised at the scale of the pirates. But Tuo Huan and the others said that there was no need to worry too much. First of all, this number must have been exaggerated a lot, and the pirates were not of the same order, and there were big differences. Most of them were just a mob, and they were not that scary. Besides, they not only had the support of the Golden Horn Fleet, but also the allies of Venice, Florence, and the Knights Hospitaller. These were all professional pirates, and they all thought it was okay, which meant it was still very safe.

Guo Kang really didn't understand this, but Tuohuan and the others said it was no problem. Shi Ke even came to ask him if he was not used to being at sea. If the soldiers around him were not good at water and could not protect themselves, Shi Ke could also dispatch some sailors to take care of them. But Guo Kang felt that it didn't have to go that far. The Golden Horn Fleet was not large in size, and Shi Ke's men were also short of manpower this time. He couldn't affect the battle on the other side just for his own peace of mind. So he declined his kindness.

After boarding the ship, Guo Kang began to check the preparations of his men. Many of his soldiers were participating in a war for the first time, especially those Russians, who had not even participated in formal military training before joining the army. Although they had a lot of temporary training, this short period of time was obviously not enough for them to get rid of their previous strange habits and develop good behavior.

The new recruits always lost things, missed time or caused more accidents for some inexplicable reasons. If the military law was strictly followed, all the new recruits would have to be chopped off...

But now is the exploratory stage after all, and everyone knows that behind these abstract behaviors are often the unique survival rules formed by long-term living on this land, which cannot be corrected by simply cutting. Therefore, we can only carefully inspect and beat them hard when we find them; at the same time, we can pay more attention to them and explain the reason to them.

Fortunately, the new recruit Ross really accepted this trick, and he has changed a lot in the past month. Guo Kang's efforts were not in vain.

After boarding the ship, Guo Kang sorted out the materials he had written before and put everything away. Then, he led his men to search and found that several Russians had hidden in the cargo hold for some unknown reason.

He checked carefully and found that they had gotten some wine from the port, secretly mixed it with barrels of fresh water, and hid it in the cabin. However, by the time the officer got on board, assembled them, called the roll, assigned tasks, and did some basic action training, it was already late. There were too many barrels in the cabin, and after a long time, they couldn't find which one was their own wine barrel. They could only try blindly here, and they were caught.

Guo Kang was speechless and called Captain Lucas to take the men away. Captain Lucas was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he had the guys tied to the mast and hung up and beaten. Guo Kang could only shake his head and go back.

When he returned to the cabin at the stern, he saw Joanna standing at the door waiting for him.

"Hey? Aren't you negotiating with Mamluk about leasing the port? When did you come?" Guo Kang was a little surprised. Joanna was obviously happy to find that Guo Kang actually remembered that she had discussed business with him yesterday.

"Taiji and Lieutenant General Shi told us that your new recruits have not received any special training and your officers have never participated in naval battles, so they are afraid that something unexpected will happen." She said, "Lieutenant General Shi also said that he wanted to transfer some soldiers to you, but you said that the front line was in greater need and you were unwilling to do so. So he came to us and hoped that we could help allocate some manpower. So I brought some people and came here in a small boat."

"According to the plan, we will engage in a naval battle with the pirate fleet besieging the port off the coast of Alexandria, disperse them, and cover the landing of the legion. In theory, your legion does not need to directly participate in the battle, but the situation at sea changes rapidly, and it is likely that you will still have to come into contact with the enemy."

"All the warships here have been trained and have learned the strategies for the battles beforehand. But your transport ships were previously requisitioned by the Roman Ministry of War. They are not professional in this area and are a weak link. So Taiji issued an order to us and asked my men to board each ship separately. Once a battle breaks out and everyone becomes chaotic, we will help find positions and deal with emergencies. Just now, I have already talked to the captain of your ship." She took out a piece of paper, raised it, and said to Guo Kang.

"That's good." Guo Kang nodded.

Their ship was transferred from the Black Sea. It was originally used to transport various bulk materials such as wood and ironware on the route from Crimea to Dadu. The sea conditions in the Black Sea are actually worse than those in the Mediterranean, so the transport ships are also large and sturdy, and there is no problem sailing to the Mediterranean.

But the Black Sea is now basically an inland sea of ​​Rome. After many clearings, the places where pirates can hide have been greatly reduced in size. Most of the remaining pirates have been reduced to gangs of pirates rowing small boats and fishing tyrants, and dare not threaten the main shipping routes. However, this also led to the captains and crews there having much less combat experience than their Italian counterparts. In particular, the experience of organized combat is seriously lacking.

Now that we can add a few dispatchers and liaison personnel to each ship, it will definitely be beneficial for the next war. Besides, Tuohuan has already given a formal order, so there is no problem. So Guo Kang didn't think much about it, and agreed, and even said a few words of thanks.

He opened the door and prepared to go into the house. Joanna also picked up a large bag from the deck and was about to go in.

"Ah?" Guo Kang was stunned: "Miss Qiao, this is my bedroom..."

"I know." Joanna nodded. "But the ship is full. You can't let me sleep in the bottom cabin or squeeze in with those Slavs, right? The other rooms are also occupied. Compared to that, your side is the safest."

"That's not good..." Guo Kang felt that what she said made sense: "Then you sleep in this room tonight. I'll go and squeeze in with the captain, Captain Lucas and the others."

"You are the commander and need to rest well, so this best room is given to you. You should have stayed here." Joanna disagreed: "Besides, if others knew that I squeezed you out, they would definitely be unhappy. My subsequent communication and command work will also encounter great obstacles. Please cooperate with me, okay?"

Guo Kang didn't react for a moment, how did this become a question of cooperation? But what the other party said was also reasonable.

He looked back and forth, then he remembered that Theodora was not there. After leaving Jerusalem, Tuohuan announced that they would enter the war zone next. All irrelevant personnel must leave and return to the safe area behind. Theodora and others were driven back to Cyprus to wait.

Guo Kang wanted to talk to other people, but Captain Lucas was still dealing with Ross's new recruits, so he might not be able to come for a while. His two cousins ​​were also on their own missions and were not here. Master Hans had been with him as a guard, but this guy was old and cunning. As soon as Joanna said a few words, he said he was seasick and ran to the railing of the ship - considering that he was indeed seasick, Guo Kang could do nothing.

"Oh, don't worry about these details on the battlefield." Seeing this, Joanna took the initiative to urge: "I am a woman, I don't care; you are a man, why are you shy?"

"Hey?"

Guo Kang felt that their positions seemed to be contradictory, but Joanna ignored him. While talking, she pushed Guo Kang and was about to walk inside.

"Well, I'm fine, but as a young lady from a respectable family, it's not good for your reputation to do this, right?" Guo Kang finally reacted: "It's not a particularly critical situation now. If conditions permit, you still have to pay attention, right?"

"I'm not Roman." Joanna simply threw the can out of the window and directly blocked his answer: "I'm telling you - I'm a Lombard barbarian, I don't care about my reputation. Do you understand? Let's go!"

"Uh……"

Guo Kang, who had been studying scriptures in the church, lecturing to people, and trying to educate everyone, was finally silenced...

Taking advantage of his mental breakdown, Joanna quickly pushed him into the house and then slammed the door shut.

(End of this chapter)