Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 718 You haven’t slept either, so let’s work overtime together!

After the agreement was reached, the Sheikh and his group of several hundred people left Luxor and headed for Cairo. Outside the city, the Romans sent several officials and local dignitaries to meet them.

The leader was a businessman named Jafar. He claimed to be the temporary president of the Cairo Textile Chamber of Commerce. At the request of the government, he was responsible for the various preparations for this reception. The Sheikh had some impression of this man and thought he had met him before, but he was not sure, so he asked, "Where is your previous president Ahmed? I remember some time ago, he brought a few people to me every day and asked me to allow them to import additional silk. I am most familiar with them in your chamber of commerce."

"They were all arrested," Jafar replied. "At that time, the Romans bought a lot of cloth, saying they wanted to make protective gear to protect against the plague. Ahmed and his men took the opportunity to raise the price and ordered all textile and sewing workshops not to accept orders from the government, in order to force the government to give him the monopoly."

"Didn't he have the monopoly in the first place? When the Chamber of Commerce's monopoly on silk and cotton cloth was transferred from Hussein to them, I was the one who approved the document." Sheikh asked curiously.

"That was the monopoly on fabrics, and they wanted these new ones, like those fabric masks," Jafar told him. "The government was very unhappy about this, so they arrested them all."

"That's normal. The Roman representative told me that they have been preparing for the plague in the manner of war." Sheikh thought about it and felt that it was understandable: "Although I don't know how to treat diseases, I have been fighting wars all my life, so I understand this. The Romans obviously regarded these textiles as military supplies. They dared to touch them, aren't they courting death?"

"Maybe they got too excited when they saw a new way to make money." Jafar shook his head and said self-deprecatingly, "Compared to people like us who have no ambitions, they are actually more successful businessmen. Who would have known that their sharp eyes and accurate and powerful actions would eventually backfire on them?"

"They are still confused, which shows that they are not that smart." Sheikh shook his head: "Even when we were in Cairo, we would not let them monopolize weapons and armor. Letting go of some things can save some trouble, but there are also some things that cannot be left randomly. It is stupid to throw away the most important things for the sake of temporary benefits."

"That's right." Everyone agreed. After all, even the Mamluks have a bottom line that they cannot let go of. Trying to monopolize such a deadly material will definitely cause trouble. Is there any court with a lower management level than the Mamluks?
"Have those people been executed?" Sheikh continued to ask.

Although these people were also enemies of Rome, the Sheikh did not seem to sympathize with them. Instead, he looked expectant.

"No, their governor said that those people had not started to do it, so they would not be punished to the maximum extent. As for their previous crimes, there is no time to investigate them one by one now." Jafar told him: "Later, they were sentenced to exile and exiled to Novgorod in the north."

"I was thinking that I would go and watch the execution," Sheikh said angrily.

"Uh……"

"But where is Novgorod?"

"In the Rus region. The Romans liked to exile people to several new cities north of Novgorod. It is very remote and cold there. It is said that it is farther from Constantinople than the Caucasus." Jafar replied.

"That's fine." Sheikh nodded.

He seemed to have had some conflicts with these merchants before, and when he learned that they had met a bad end, he felt much more relaxed and happy. After a few more words, Jafar led them into the city.

According to Jafar, although the plague has ended, the city has not yet completely relaxed its control. The provincial government seems to be taking this opportunity to conduct a more thorough control and cleanup of Cairo, so it is estimated that it will not be completely relaxed in the short term. To go to each neighborhood, you now need a pass.

All the Mamluks under the Sheikh disbanded and went to the military camp to be registered. He left only three trusted guards, two concubines, and more than a dozen handsome young men. However, this group of people was not small in number, so they had to find a place to settle them.

The Sheikh's original residence was in the heart of Cairo, just one street away from the "Cat Palace". However, during the plague, the residence was used as a temporary camp for homeless people because of the large number of vacant rooms there, so that the government could manage and isolate them.

The Sultan's palace is now full of beggars, which is so sad that some people deliberately ran away from home to see if they could be arranged to live there and broaden their horizons. Later, the plague became more and more serious, and everyone had to deal with it seriously. The square outside the palace was also used to accommodate high-risk people who had contact with patients. This place gradually lost its popularity.

Now, the cleanup work has not been completed, so it is impossible to go back to live. But Rome still asked the Chamber of Commerce for help and arranged a relatively nearby wealthy businessman's residence.

Jafar told him that he could live here forever, because the Romans were not in a hurry to drive him to Mecca. However, during this period, there were many things to do, so he couldn't settle down.

"Our officials are relatively idle and work slowly. But the Roman-appointed Governor Guo is a workaholic. His subordinates also have this habit." He said to Sheikh, "If you come here today, he may not be free. But I estimate that he will definitely ask you to meet him tomorrow at the latest. Slowly, we will have to adapt to their pace."

"Oh, that's okay. I also have some questions for them, so it's a good idea to meet them sooner rather than later." Sheikh said, "And I'm going to meet the Caliph this time, and I heard he has a lot of things to discuss with us. So I'm prepared."

"I understand." Jafar bowed and replied.

In Egypt, there are also some customs, or "rituals". For example, the process of handing over power has some common steps that everyone needs to go through, so as to show others the continuation of rule and the transfer of legitimacy. These are what the Caliph and the Sheikh need to discuss in advance and hold as soon as possible. Jafar took out a booklet, looked at it, and said, "According to this schedule... the government notified us that the Caliph will leave at the end of the month, first to Constantinople, and then may go to Rome. We only have half a month to complete these things, so time is really tight. I don't know the specific itinerary of the Caliph, I have to contact his entourage and arrange a meeting time. But I should be able to squeeze out some free time in these two days."

"Oh, no wonder we can't beat them." Sheikh couldn't help but sigh: "These guys are really efficient."

"Ah?" Jafar just thought that everyone was very busy and didn't think about this for a moment.

"If the Caliph is busy, who else will be idle?" Sheikh shook his head. "They really can make everyone work. We have run into such an organization. I'm afraid Hu Da has finally lost his patience with the situation in Egypt..."

Jafar and others were silent for a moment.

"The Caliph went to Constantinople to pay a visit to the Khan of the Romans." Sheikh thought for a moment and continued, "But why go to Rome? Isn't that the territory of the Christian Church?"

"It seems that I have to mediate their conflict." Jafar said, "In any case, it is a very important job."

The Sheikh looked a little surprised and hesitated for a moment, and could only mutter: "That does give the Caliph a lot of work..."

The others left soon, leaving only an interpreter sent by the government and a housekeeper who was responsible for looking after the entire mansion. As it was getting dark, Sheikh arranged for his men to prepare.

The guards walked around the mansion twice, each choosing their own position and starting to be on guard. After all, during his previous reign, the Sheikh had many enemies in the city. Although many of them were killed by the Romans, there was no guarantee that there would be some left, and they would come to cause trouble, so they had to be vigilant.

After a while, the two concubines also left the mansion and went to the gatehouse to talk. It turned out that the Sheikh wanted to prepare dinner, but for safety reasons, he did not dare to ask the merchants to prepare the ingredients and send them over, but sent his trusted people to the market to purchase them temporarily.

They heard that order in Cairo had been restored and that markets were now open at night, so they decided to go there and buy some food and spices.

The housekeeper said that he could understand, but he still told them that the security outside was not as good as it seemed. Now that the management was a little relaxed, there were people with thieves' hearts who came out to steal things at night.

The two concubines didn't care, saying that they were Circassians and had learned martial arts from the Mamluks since childhood, so they were not afraid of these thieving Fella. However, the butler insisted on being safe, otherwise he would not be able to report to the police. He called a few legionnaires from the sentry post across the street and took the two away.

The remaining young men stayed in the main building. They told the translator that their duty was to protect the former Sultan, so they could not go out casually and needed his help to find some tools. Then they started cleaning the house, arranging the bedroom, and cleaning the bathtub.

As a result, in the evening, the interpreter came hurriedly and said that the governor was coming to visit and was almost at the door.

There was great consternation in the mansion.

Although they had been reminded before that Guo Kang liked to work overtime and often worked until late at night, everyone just sighed that this person worked hard and didn't know where he got such great enthusiasm. Now, it seems that he not only works overtime himself, but also drags others to work overtime together...

Sheikh and others had just cleaned up the bathroom specially set up by the rich businessman. At this moment, they were taking a comfortable bath with several teenagers, with someone in their arms. When Sheikh heard that Guo Kang was almost at the door, he was shocked and threw the teenager in his hand out. Everyone also hurriedly jumped out from the blankets, the pool, and the incense burner, and began to clean up in a hurry.

Suddenly, the bathroom was in a mess. Some people were busy getting clothes, some were busy getting towels, and some ran too fast and fell.

However, as the former Sultan's team, Sheikh and others often have to deal with the mutiny plots of other Mamluks. It is not uncommon for the soldiers to suddenly come in and kill them when they are eating or sleeping. Therefore, no matter what they are doing, they can quickly start to prepare and enter the combat state. They have already practiced experience and procedures.

When Guo Kang finished greeting the people at the door and came to the reception room to wait, they were almost ready. Several followers surrounded Sheikh and ran down the hall, then took a few deep breaths, calmed their expressions, and began to prepare for the meeting.

Guo Kang also saw them, stood up and said with a smile: "I was inspecting the new district in the north of the city this afternoon, so I didn't have time to come to greet you. I just squeezed out the time. I just asked the housekeeper if we came too late and everyone had already gone to bed. I didn't expect that everyone was still awake - and quite energetic. That's great, let's talk about the important things first!"

"Uh……"

Sheikh and others were speechless for a moment.

(End of this chapter)