Chapter 123: Taking over a New Place A special situation in Egypt

In the Ming Dynasty, when the whole country was celebrating the Spring Festival happily, Sun Chuanting and Li Kui led the army to take over the newly carved land from the coast.

In fact, both Sun Chuanting and Li Kui knew almost nothing about the place they were going to take over. They only know from the map that this is a large piece of territory, and there are many places in the Arabian Peninsula that are deserts, and most of the people here believe in *** religion. There is simply no preparation for the complications they will face.

But as they traveled all the way, taking over along the coast, they knew they had brought too few troops.

After leaving Karatash and bypassing Iskenderun Bay, Sun Chuanting and his party took over the first place to take over was Alexandreta (Iskenderun). It is a very old deep-water port, which is a port from the Mediterranean Sea into West Asia and India.

When he came to Alexandreta (Iskenderun), Sun Chuanting was shocked and said to Li Kui: "General Li, when I arrived here, I had a feeling that the Ottoman Sultan was crazy!" ”

Li Kui didn't understand what Sun Chuanting meant, "That bullshit Sultan really wants to exchange these places for our muskets." Without muskets, they can't hold on to any more places! ”

"General Li, this port belongs to us, it's a cornucopia!" Sun Chuanting said, "This is a deep-water harbor. A large number of our freighters have arrived here, and this is immediately a transit point for east-west goods, and our goods can also go from here, so that they will not have to cross the Black Sea and the Turkish Straits and go directly to the West through the Dizhang Sea! Mr. Zhang is really a god! We don't have millions of taels of silver in vain! ”

"Even those guns don't change these places, and the Ottoman Empire doesn't have that much silver!" Li Kui said.

In Alexandreta (Iskenderun), Sun Chuanting and Li Kui rested here for a day. Sun Chuanting said to Li Kui: "General Li, let's take over like this, but it will take a long time, I think we should divide our troops to take over!" ”

"The problem is, I'm afraid that the orders they assigned to us in these places have not yet been conveyed to any places, and without this envoy, we will go by ourselves, I'm afraid we will have to take it down!" Li Kui said.

"I wonder if we can discuss it with this envoy and have his entourage help us take over those places?" Sun Chuanting said.

"That's a solution! Let's talk to him! No, let's give them some silver! Li Kui agreed with Sun Chuanting's opinion, and after coming into contact with the Turks, he also had some understanding of their greed. When dealing with them, many things can be solved with silver.

When Sun Chuanting and the Ottoman envoy said this, the envoy shook his head, "No, no, this thing is absolutely impossible." Let me put it this way, it is because of my special status that those officials know me a little bit about me, and they believe that I read out His Majesty's order before reluctantly accepting it. I send others over, and those people won't believe it. Even if you believe it, you will pretend that it can't work, and kill you and the people you send in the name of liars! ”

"It's a problem, we've lost too much time along the way!" Sun Chuanting was a little anxious.

"In this way, every time I go to a place in the future, after I announce the Sultan's order to the children, leave someone to take over, we don't have to stay, we will leave immediately so that it will be faster." The Ottoman Empire and Sun Chuanting were very familiar with each other and came up with an idea.

Sun Chuanting glanced at Li Kui and said helplessly: "It seems that it has to be like this!" ”

Li Kui asked, "When will the order issued by your sultan be able to go down to these places?" ”

"Huh! That's hard to say! However, I am afraid that it will be warmer next year at the earliest! The Ottoman Empire smiled and said, "You also know that this matter of cutting our Ottoman flesh can be done efficiently?" To be honest, it's something else, and those officials are too slow to do things! ”

Li Kui said: "Now our kiln is the most lively time, everyone celebrates the New Year together, and drinks a lot of wine at home on the TV!" It's here that we're taking over these places! ”

"Huh! General Lee, you should enjoy this process of taking over the new land. All these places are yours. In your hands, I think it will definitely play a big role, otherwise you wouldn't have paid so much for these lands! "The Ottoman envoy wants to find out why the Ming Dynasty wants the land here.

Where can Sun Chuanting and Li Kui fall for him, they will not reveal any useful information to him at all.

Li Kui deliberately said: "Your imperial sultan is very smart, and he used such a place where rabbits don't poop to exchange a large number of muskets. We're just doing what we're told! ”

The Ottoman Empire heard it, and Li Kui didn't want to tell the truth. However, he knew that these shrewd people in the Ming Dynasty would never do anything to suffer.

Leaving behind a part of the army and a few officials, Sun Chuanting and they continued to the south. Successively to Krakhan, Idlip, Mai Alayinuman, Latakia. In the previous places, Sun Chuanting and his brigade did not stay long, but they stopped for an extra day in the seaport of Latakia, because the sensitive Sun Chuanting happened to know that the people here used asphalt to repair the roofs of their houses to prevent rain, and there were ships transporting asphalt from here out of the port, so he judged that there should be asphalt mines nearby. So he and Li Kui, under the leadership of the locals, really saw the asphalt mine. This is a big deal, and in the future, there will be asphalt available for road construction. Besides, this place is close to the port, so you don't have to transport asphalt from your home for construction on the Black Sea coast! Therefore, Sun Chuanting immediately reported this discovery to his family.

Sun Chuanting and the others took over some towns along the way, and stopped at Tripoli, an ancient port city with a history of more than 2,000 years. This trimming was suggested by the Ottoman envoy. Sun Chuanting and Li Kui visited this ancient city that had been war-torn for a long time and changed its owners many times, and both of them were very emotional. On this side of the world, there is such a developed civilization that they are shocked.

Li Kui said: "Damn, Lao Tzu felt very bad when he first entered several cities on the other side of Samarkand. The last time I walked in the Western Regions, I didn't come this way. I've heard that this is also a great place! ”

"Huh!" Sun Chuanting smiled and said, "It seems that the matter of our brothers is not simple!" ”

"It's not easy, the Turks don't govern this place by force, they don't send a lot of troops here, mainly because their administrators here are all sent by Istanbul. The officials below still rely on the local people here! After we come, we must issue our decree as soon as possible, and we must strictly enforce it. But, in any case, if we are soft, we will be kicked out! Li Kui said.

"This is not a long-term solution, if we station too many troops here, it will be a burden on the country!" Sun Chuanting said, "If you want to organize border guards as much as possible in your family, you also need a large number of immigrants. The second is to draw on our experience in dealing with the Nanyang Islands, and to implement a resettlement policy, to refine the local population if there are many births. Only after the locals have assimilated with us can we let them live. ”

"Yes! Master Sun, you are still thoughtful. You see, the people here are completely different from us. I think we're going to have to be a little bit tougher, and we're not going to let them use those crooked words, and the kids go to school, and we'll send the gentleman over there. Li Kui said.

"It's going to be a lot of fun!" Sun Chuanting shook his head and said, "We have to be cautious, we can't push them too hard!" ”

"I didn't do a good job at the beginning, but it will be more finished later! I think we should bring in more troops from General Ning's side. As soon as you press it, you can use the thunderbolt method, and if you listen to us, you can stay here, or you can get out. If you stay here, you won't listen to our resolute killing! Li Kui said very firmly, "I said, Master Sun, you are not a soft-handed person, why are you not hard-hearted now?" ”

"Huh! Is it? Am I soft-hearted? Sun Chuanting was a little embarrassed by what Li Kui said.

When Sun Chuanting and Li Kui had traveled around Tripoli and returned to their residence, the Ottoman envoy said to them, "Do you know why you are advised to rest here?" ”

"Oh! Looks like you still have some ideas? Sun Chuanting glanced at Li Kui and asked the envoy rhetorically.

"Yes!" "I don't think you two know anything about the situation here. I think there are some things that should remind you! ”

"Your Excellency, our brothers and sisters now regard you as friends, and you should tell us anything!" Sun Chuanting felt that the Ottoman envoy probably had something to say.

"We've been coming out of Karatash, do you think it's going to be like this forever?" The Ottoman envoy asked directly.

"Huh! If it doesn't go well, it's a hit! Li Kui said indifferently.

"I don't think you're ready to fight!" The envoy said.

"What do you mean by that?" Sun Chuanting asked.

"The places we are taking over now are all in the provinces of Syria. Their governors received the orders of the Sultan that I read out and immediately complied with them. That's why we've been going well. But further on, the closer you get to the province of Egypt, the more they influence the people there. The Ottoman envoy said, "The province of Egypt is our province of the Ottoman Empire, but it is very special there. Our empire sent a governor, called the Pasha. There are more than 5,000 of our Imperial Janissaries stationed there, as well as quite a few ordinary troops. The Pasha was the supreme military, political, and economic governor of Egypt. The officials under the Pasha were all sent by the empire. The Pasha was also not hereditary. None of this is surprising, is it? However, the most special thing about the provinces of Egypt is that the local administrations in Egypt exist. Egypt had more than 10,000 military feudal lords, who were in charge of a military guard called Mamluk, which was composed of slaves, and had a powerful force. These large and small Mamluks hold de facto dominance. They often dumped and fought, leaving Egypt in constant turmoil. You have carved the best of Egypt with the Nile as the boundary. And further on, the influence of the Mamluks in Egypt was greater. If they receive that the Sultan has given you all the places north of the Nile, you are likely to encounter military resistance, and it is likely that the orders of the Pasha we have sent will be useless. You have to be prepared for this early. ”

When Sun Chuanting heard this, he asked, "How is their economy organized?" ”

"Most of the land of Egypt is occupied by our Ottoman sent men and Egyptian feudal lords! However, there were also several forms: the first was the land owned by the Ottoman sultans, which were extremely fertile and were used by the Pasha and his subordinate officials sent by the empire; the second is the land owned by Mamluk, which is very large, accounting for two-thirds of the land; The third is the land owned by the *** sect, which is managed by the *** sect monks; The fourth type is small private land, but these are small. All land lords collected rent from the peasants. The lords took up some of the rent and gave it to the Pasha, who in turn gave some of it to the Sultan of the Empire. The tenants of the land were generally wealthy merchants, local chiefs, military chiefs, and high monks. They were to give 40 percent of their income to the government. These tenants exploited the peasants so badly that they collected more than 70 kinds of taxes. The peasants were freed, but in fact they were serfs, and the tenants could confiscate the peasants' property, put them in prison, or even execute them. This Egyptian province is very different from other places! ”

"You're getting less and less rent?" Sun Chuanting asked.

"Huh? How do you know? After the Ottoman envoy finished asking rhetorically, he immediately thought that he had fallen for Sun Chuanting, and then said: "A good place, can it be given to you so easily?" "If you are extra thick, you can be regarded as giving yourself a bad breath!

"Thank you! Envoy, I know what to do! After Sun Chuanting finished speaking, his mood suddenly relaxed.