Chapter 575 Dead End

The burghers of Semanud surrendered.

A large amount of money and food was sent to the Governor's Palace in Losa, the military camp, and the church of the Order of Saint Lazarus. Some of it was used as military supplies, and the other part was distributed to the poor.

Rich Egypt is worthy of its reputation as the granary of the empire in the past. These local citizens are powerful and extremely rich. Mr. Samman not only owns a large amount of rural real estate, but also monopolizes the entire city of Semanud and several adjacent buildings. The city's textile industry.

From the silk worn by dignitaries to the linen worn by homeless people, they are all generating profits for him.

In addition, Master Samman also has several large-scale glass workshops in the city. Egyptian specialties such as glass, textiles, wine, and olive oil are often sold to the Tianzhu region in exchange for valuable spices, gems, and ivory.

Lothar did not expect that Mr. Saman was a partner of the Port of Ella Chamber of Commerce. One of the two trading caravans under this old thing was stationed in the Red Sea all year round, and he was also a tax model, never paying less. Half a cent of tariff - at least it hasn't been detected.

The Order of Saint Lazarus, which received sufficient supplies, once again experienced rapid development.

Disease has always been people's most feared nightmare.

As we all know, the last sect that developed and prospered by treating illnesses and saving people was called Taiping Dao. Zhang Jiao gained hundreds of thousands of followers by distributing talisman water, and almost crushed the decaying Eastern Han Dynasty into dust.

As for the previous one, people are more familiar with it.

There was a hint of joy on Coors' face: "In the past few days, thousands of Copts in the city have converted and joined the Order of Saint Lazarus. The power of the order has grown too fast."

"Even the Coptic monks are quite critical of this. The bishop has repeatedly asked to see you, hoping to persuade you to entrust such an important task to them."

Lothar chuckled and said, "Let's hang this guy out."

The Coptic Christians were worth winning over, but only the Order of St. Lazarus was his own. Losa had a clear idea of ​​what was important and what was important. What's more, even if it were left to the Copts, they wouldn't be able to handle it. .

Not everyone has Uldin's medical skills.

"Where is the sword company that Hans is in charge of?"

The Long Sword Company is a company composed of Coptic recruits. It mainly recruits Coptic Christians. There are also many Saracens and Zoroastrian Copts who converted to join. Most of the troops are light infantry.

This company is purely an auxiliary force. Lothar has never placed high hopes on them, but this represents the support of the people.

"The number of people has expanded to five hundred. According to my estimation, if many people are not still worried that once you are defeated and withdraw from Semanud City, they will be liquidated and converted in the future, there will be more people joining in. "

"This money and food are not in vain. By the way, keep an eye on Mr. Saman. He is a smart man. I have never tried to conceal my malice towards him. He will definitely not sit still and wait for death in the next period of time. "

In fact, Lothar doesn't care what the people under his rule believe, but converting is equivalent to handing in a letter of surrender, which is obviously more trustworthy than those die-hards who don't convert.

Kors nodded slightly: "Julia and her people are keeping an eye on it all day long."

Semanud City Mall.

A group of city councilors were discussing the current situation.

"Oh, use our food and wealth to bribe those humble civilians. They will gain a good reputation, but we will have to bear the reputation of hoarding. These damn Frankish barbarians are simply abominable."

"Master Salman just gave in and betrayed everyone's interests. He is a traitor!"

"The accusation of traitor is really too much, but I also think that Mr. Salman gave in too quickly. We should unite and let those barbarians see our power!"

"Have you seen our power? Are you crazy! Those are the Franks. If pressed, they will massacre the city!"

"In any case, Mr. Salman is no longer worthy of being our judge. We don't need a leader who can't safeguard our common interests."

The second floor of the shopping mall.

Mr. Saman was silently listening to the discussion of people downstairs without saying a word.

He's in a bad situation now.

Before the Franks captured the city of Semanud, he was definitely the city's well-deserved uncrowned king. Relying on the silver bullet offensive, Governor Mahri's court, including himself, was a strong supporter of Lord Samman.

As the speaker of the civil class in Semanud City, fairness and generosity cannot guarantee that he will secure this position. Internally, he must always ensure that he has the highest interests in all walks of life, and can make those who disobey discipline be punished at any time. Knocked out of the game, you won’t earn a penny.

Externally, he must also form an alliance with the military and political officials. He must not become a mouthpiece or kowtow to the governor, but must also maintain a good relationship with him so that he can use his power to frighten the dissatisfaction within the citizenry.

Master Salman can maintain his position, one can only imagine how tough his wrist is.

But now, military and political support for him has evaporated.

The new Franks obviously had no intention of buying him off.

In addition, his plan to raise food prices with some big businessmen in the city was leaked, and he was forced to accept Lothar's request for all businessmen to jointly contribute funds.

Mr. Salman's reputation is already in ruins.

The poor at the bottom hated him for raising food prices, the ordinary citizens hated him for cutting their salaries, and the big businessmen and workshop owners hated him for not safeguarding their own interests and bowing to the Demon Duke.

The competitors of the citizen class, no matter whether Master Saman has his own difficulties or is forced to do so, they only know that Master Saman has betrayed the interests of his own people and touched everyone's cake!

Master Saman may still have a strong private army, raising assassins who are specially used to use the simplest business warfare methods, but these things are meaningless in front of the demon duke.

"Did you see those people? They are all looking forward to my death, and then they will come up like a group of hyenas and vultures to share my remains. Even if most of my body is eaten by lions, they are happy to eat some leftovers."

Master Saman sneered and said to his confidants: "Don't look at their righteous words and say that they want to protect the interests of all citizens, but maybe, when we can't see them, there will be someone here crawling under the duke's seat, shaking his tail like a dog and begging for mercy."

The confidants were furious and gave advice.

But Master Saman was no longer in the mood to listen.

I have been cautious all my life. When facing a greedy and stupid person like Governor Mahri, I can ignore the face of the Sassanid royal family, be humble and flatter him, and give him a lot of gold and silver and beautiful female slaves.

Why did he take advantage of this demon duke after he entered the city?

Is it because Governor Adil is about to march on the border, so he wants to wait for the price, wait for Adil to defeat the Crusaders, and then turn to King Saladin's brother to gain greater benefits for himself?

No.

At least not entirely.

The Crusaders have defeated King Saladin many times.

The record of this demon duke is even more terrifying. No one dares to guarantee that Governor Adil will win this time if he leads the army - even King Saladin was defeated by this duke twice, who dares to guarantee that he can win?

What he fears is that if he throws himself to Duke Lothar in all directions, once he loses, he will definitely be liquidated.

His hesitation has made him a fence-sitter. Even if he wants to join the Duke of Lothar, the other party is unwilling to summon him.

If he had sided with the Franks in all aspects when the Franks just captured the city of Semanud, would the result be different?

Master Saman smiled bitterly and shook his head. No matter what choice he made, even if he made a decisive decision and sent a fleet to transfer the family wealth to the sea while the enemy was fighting with Governor Mahri, it would be much better than the current situation.

Alas, after all, he has heard too much flattery and flattery, and his back is not as easy to bend as before.

He suddenly sighed: "My life is like walking on a lake that has just frozen. Do you think I can successfully reach the other side this time?"

The confidants hurriedly comforted him: "My lord, what are you talking about!"

"You have won countless times before, and you will definitely continue to win this time."

"Hasn't the demon duke already got what he wanted? Does he have to eat us up before he is willing to let us go?"

"This Duke Lothar is too much, sir, in my opinion, we should simply send someone to contact Governor Adil, and do it once and for all, and cooperate inside and outside to surround and kill this demon duke in Semanud."

"That's right, sir, we pay a large amount of gold and silver to the Eagle Castle of Assassins every year. It's time for them to come out and solve our problems."

"I'm afraid that Assassins alone are not enough. We must find a spellcaster to deal with the witches around the demon duke."

"And the magic-blocking gold, we must equip more!"

The confidants made suggestions.

Master Saman smiled bitterly and wanted to nod, but he felt that this was a dead end.

"Now, this is the only way."

He always had a feeling that the eyes of the demon duke were staring at his every move in the dark - as if he was expecting him to do something beyond the rules so that he could take everything from him legitimately.

But do I have any other way out?

Master Saman felt bitter. He wanted to surrender to Lothar, but the problem was that Lothar had no intention of accepting him and sent him to a dead end.

He was in a desperate situation.

Master Saman felt a little heroic in his heart.

"Okay, let's have a good fight, Demon Duke."

"I'll let you know that shutting me out is the most wrong decision you've ever made."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, there was no trace of old age in his eyes. Instead, he looked like a falcon flying in the sky: "Immediately send someone to contact Governor Adil and the spellcasters who have a good relationship with us - no matter the price, treasures, wealth, whatever they want, I'll give it to them!"