Chapter 475: Deploying Troops

The news from Cairo spread to Lower Egypt along the Nile River, and all mosques issued expulsion orders to believers against pagans. Except for coastal cities, other cities were very serious.

The canal area also received the news from merchants, and all soldiers were on high alert. At the same time, they warned merchant ships traveling north and south that they would not be allowed to pass until the matter was resolved.

"What, what about my ship of coffee?"

"And my sugar"

"These cottons must be shipped over quickly, otherwise they will breach the contract."

The merchants complained to the officials that the canal had helped them a lot, and if it were not for the situation in Egypt, they would not easily close this golden waterway.

"Everyone, I believe you all know about the recent situation in Egypt. We have to do this for safety. I hope you can wait."

As soon as this was said, it caused another quarrel among merchants. Business matters will change every day. Now that the canal is closed, it is unknown when it will be reopened. This loss is huge.

The ships on the Red Sea are drifting like this, and there are also many ships coming through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait behind them. The canal zone urgently sent a letter to Constantinople, hoping that they could negotiate with Egypt so that they could reopen the canal.

"What are they going to do!!!"

Baptiste finally prepared the expenses for the army, and now the canal is closed again. Not only that, the income handed in by the eastern colonies has not been transported yet, which is another bad news for the treasury.

"We must act quickly. The gold and silver transported from the East have not passed through the canal, and many merchants also rely on this place. If it cannot be resolved in a short time, it will have a great impact on the empire's tax revenue."

"Okay Baptiste, there is no point in you being anxious now. The most important thing now is to prepare for the war with Egypt. Fighting on both fronts, this is the first time for the empire."

Now the empire is recruiting troops to prepare for a war with Europe. Now that Egypt is in trouble again, it can only divide half of the army to fight. Or call up the army again, but this is not a good thing for the empire.

"Send part of the army to Ashkelon and the canal area first, and let Governor Woick lead the army south and attack Jerusalem to the north."

"Oh, Prime Minister. This is not the problem. You should know the importance of Egypt. There are so many merchants trading through this canal. Now it is suddenly cut off. I don't know how much the domestic merchants will lose."

"How can I not understand what you said? The most important thing now is to arrange everything and wait for Your Majesty to come back."

But merchants will not wait so long, especially the blue members of the House of Commons. They were angry when they heard that the Egyptian canal was closed. They wanted to attack Egypt immediately.

"The Empire should attack Egypt in the war. They think we are still the same country as before and will not say anything when encountering problems. But have they not thought about the current growth of the empire?"

"Humph, they will only exclude all external news in their own territory."

Oriental trade is the lifeline of many merchants. The canal is naturally the place they value most. Now it is closed because of the situation in Egypt, which means that the matter is not small at all.

"The Empire should not negotiate with Egypt now, but the future should be decided by war."

"War, war, war..."

The hall of the House of Commons was filled with the sound of war. Not only the Blue Party, but also members of other factions joined in, because Egypt and Jerusalem, which are next to the canal, have huge interests. Even if the Empire is preparing for a war in Europe, if it can fight Egypt once, it can still deter those European countries.

The more long-term impact of this incident is the stagnation of ocean trade. Various business houses are estimating the opening date and losses. Some small merchants can't stand such a situation and will go bankrupt. This also forced Rome to end the battle in a short time.

Listerine began to make new commands. Some naval forces needed to change their itineraries to Egypt, and some merchant ships would also be requisitioned to transport personnel and materials. At the same time, the Patriarch was also asked to call on the people of the Empire to go to Egypt to fight the pagans.

At this time, the Ecumenical Patriarch had been Carol, who had followed Romania for more than 30 years. When he heard the attack of the pagans in the south, he directly issued a teaching in Hagia Sophia, claiming that Egypt had been controlled by the pagans and the Empire needed them to go to the south to rescue this poor country.

Not only that, Baptiste also made an innovation. If you want the canal to open soon, then buy a government bond. This is also a contribution to the empire. It only takes three years. Not only can you get the principal, but also a certain amount of interest.

This innovation is based on the practice of Venice issuing bonds. He just changed it now. And those upper-class nobles saw that this not only showed patriotism but also had interest, so they just paid for it. The members of the Blue Faction alone collected 580,000 lei, and with other factions, the members of the entire House of Commons paid 1.13 million lei. It far exceeded the bond share of 1 million lei.

With this money, Baptiste can continue to maintain the empire's expenditure. And the prime minister decided to transfer 40,000 people to the Middle East, together with Wowick and the canal zone soldiers, a total of 60,000 people were handed over to Wowick's command.

As for diplomacy, Listerin gave up directly. This situation can't be delayed, and the new sultan doesn't look like he's just pretending, so don't waste time.

Business news is always the fastest, even across the vast ocean, it can always be transmitted the fastest. Naturally, merchants from other countries also learned of this news. They were delighted and hoped that Egypt could teach Rome a lesson.

It is more painful to watch others make money than to lose money. This sentence is quite suitable for them.

However, before the central government issued further orders, the troops in the Canal Zone began to fight back on their own. The Roman army stationed in Ashkelon occupied Gaza to the east, and some troops in the Canal Zone set out for the Sinai Peninsula.

There have been Egyptian troops attacking in the past few days, but they are all small teams. Just take artillery and bombard. But the new Sultan is ready to gather the largest army to attack, which makes the Canal Zone Alexandria.

The only thing to be thankful for is that there are not many troops in the Jerusalem area. They can try to occupy the maximum extent. The local city defense has not been restored, and some have not been maintained even after Saladin. This gives them a great advantage.

The governor of Jerusalem ordered the defense of castles and towns everywhere, and asked for help from the two holy places when Cairo was isolated by the canal. He knew the situation in Jerusalem very well, and knew that if Rome came, he would only have the result of surrender or. Therefore, it must be defended here.