People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 575 Dead End
The citizens of Semanude surrendered.

Large amounts of money and food were sent to the governor's palace, military camps, and the church of the Order of St. Lazarus in Losa. Part of it was used as military supplies, and the other part was distributed to the poor.

Wealthy Egypt lived up to its reputation as the granary of the former empire. These local tyrants from the urban middle class were extremely wealthy. Samanid not only owned a large amount of rural estate, but also monopolized the entire city of Semanude and the textile industry in several neighboring cities.

From the silk worn by high-ranking officials to the linen worn by ordinary people, all generated income for him.

In addition, Master Saman also had several large glass workshops in the city. Egyptian specialties such as glass, textiles, wine, and olive oil were often exported to India in exchange for expensive spices, gems, and ivory.

Losa did not expect that Master Saman was still a partner of the Ella Port Chamber of Commerce. One of the two trade caravans under the old man's command was stationed in the Red Sea all year round. He was also a model taxpayer and had never paid less than a penny of customs duties - at least it had never been discovered.

With sufficient supplies, the Order of Saint Lazarus once again experienced rapid development.

Disease has always been people's most feared nightmare.

As we all know, the last religious sect that grew and prospered by curing diseases and saving lives was called Taiping Dao. Zhang Jue gained hundreds of thousands of followers by distributing talismanic water and almost trampled the corrupt and declining Eastern Han Dynasty into the dust.

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

Kurs's face was filled with a hint of joy: "In recent days, thousands of Copts in the city have converted and joined the Order of Saint Lazarus. The power of the order is growing too fast."

"It is the Coptic monks who have some complaints about this. The bishop has repeatedly asked to see you, hoping to persuade you to entrust them with such an important task."

Losa chuckled and said, "Let's leave this guy alone."

Coptic Christians are worth winning over, but only the Order of Saint Lazarus are his own people. Losa has his own measure of importance. Moreover, even if the matter is handed over to the Coptic Christians, they will not be able to handle it well.

Not everyone has Ulding's medical skills.

"Where is the Longsword Company that Hans is in charge of?"

The Long Sword Company is a company composed of Coptic recruits. It mainly recruits Coptic Christians, but there are also many Saracens and Copts who converted from Zoroastrianism and joined the company. Most of the soldiers are light infantry.

This company is purely an auxiliary force, and Lothar never had high hopes for them, but this represents the people's support.

"The number has expanded to 500. According to my estimation, if many people were not still worried that they would be liquidated and converted in the future once you were defeated and left Semanud City, there would be more people joining us."

"The money and grain were not wasted. By the way, keep a close eye on Master Saman. He is a smart man. I have never tried to hide my ill will towards him. He will definitely not sit still and wait for death in the coming period of time."

In fact, Lothar doesn't care what the people under his rule believe in, but converting their beliefs is equivalent to handing in a letter of allegiance, and they are obviously more trustworthy than those diehards who do not convert.

Kurth nodded slightly: "Julia and her team are watching them all day long."

Semanud City Trading House.

A group of city councilors were discussing the current situation.

"Oh, they used our food and wealth to bribe those lowly civilians. They got the good reputation, but we had to bear the stigma of hoarding. These damn Frankish barbarians are so hateful."

"Saman sir just gave in like that and betrayed everyone's interests. He is a traitor!"

"The accusation of treason is really too much, but I also think that Master Saman gave in too quickly. We should unite and let those barbarians see our strength!"

"You want to see our strength? Are you crazy? They are the Franks. If they are pushed to the limit, they will massacre the city!"

"In any case, Master Saman is no longer worthy of being our decision-maker. We don't need a leader who cannot protect our common interests."

The second floor of the trading house.

Master Saman was listening silently to the discussions of people downstairs without saying a word.

He is in a very bad condition now.

Before the Franks captured the city of Semanud, he was definitely the uncrowned king of this city. Relying on the silver bullet offensive, the court of Governor Mahri, including himself, were strong supporters of Master Saman.

As the leader of the citizenry in Semanud, fairness and generosity cannot guarantee that he can hold on to this position. Internally, he must always ensure that he has the highest interests in all walks of life and can eliminate those who disobey his discipline at any time and prevent them from earning a penny.

Externally, he also had to form an alliance with senior military and political officials. He must not become a mouthpiece or a kowtower for the governor, but he had to maintain good relations with them so that he could use their power to deter disobedience within the citizen class.

Master Saman is able to maintain his position, which shows how strong his power is.

But now, the military and political support for him has disappeared.

The newly arrived Franks obviously had no intention of bribing him.

In addition, his move to raise grain prices in collusion with some big merchants in the city was leaked, and he was forced to accept Losa's request for all merchants to invest jointly.

Saman sahib's reputation is completely ruined.

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

The competitors from the middle class didn't care whether Master Saman had his own reasons or was forced to do so. They only knew that Master Saman had betrayed the interests of his own people and touched everyone's cake!
Master Saman might have a strong private army with assassins who specialize in using the simplest business warfare methods, but these things are meaningless in front of the demon duke.

"See those people? They are all looking forward to my death, and then they will come and eat my remains like a group of hyenas and vultures. 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 be fooled by their righteous words and say that they want to protect the interests of all citizens. But maybe, when we are not looking, someone here will crawl under the Duke's seat and wag his tail like a dog to beg for mercy."

The confidants were furious and started to offer suggestions.

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

He was a cautious person throughout his life. Even when faced with a greedy and stupid man like Governor Mahri, he could disregard the face of the Sassanid royal family, be humble to him, flatter him, and give him large sums of gold and silver and beautiful female slaves.

How come they were able to take control after this demon duke entered the city?
Is it because Governor Adil is about to lead his army, so he wants to wait for a good price, wait for Adil to defeat the Crusaders, and then fully turn to the brother of King Saladin to gain greater benefits for himself?

No.

At least not all of them.

The Crusaders defeated King Saladin several times.

The battle record of this demon duke is so strong that no one can guarantee that Governor Adil will be able to win this time when he personally leads the army - even King Saladin was defeated by this duke twice, so who can guarantee that he can win?

What he was afraid of was that if he fully surrendered to Duke Lothar, he would be liquidated once he was defeated.

Because of his hesitation, he has now become a fence-sitter. Even if he wants to surrender to Duke Losa, the other party is unwilling to summon him.

If I had sided with the Franks in all aspects when the Franks just captured the city of Semanude, would the result have been different?

Master Saman smiled bitterly and shook his head. No matter what choice he made, even if he made a prompt 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, I have listened to too much flattery and praise, and my back is not as strong as it used to be and can no longer bend easily.

He suddenly said with emotion: "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: "Sir, what are you talking about!"

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

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

"This Duke of Lothar is going too far, sir. In my opinion, we should just send someone to contact Governor Adil and kill this demon duke in Semanud with the help of both insiders and outsiders."

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

"I'm afraid Assassins alone are not enough. We must find a spellcaster to deal with the witch around the Demon Duke."

"There is also magic-blocking metal. We must equip ourselves with more!"

The confidants offered advice and suggestions.

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

"Now, this is all we can do."

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

But do I have any other options?
Master Saman felt bitter. He wanted to surrender to Lothar, but the problem was that Lothar had no intention of accepting him and immediately sent him to a dead end.

People are in desperate situation.

Master Saman felt a sense of heroism in his heart.

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

"I'll have you know that turning me away is the worst decision you've ever made in your life."

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

(End of this chapter)