Chapter 399
The route from Zanzibar to Andreborg has been opened, but you have to travel more, and it is also a very risky route. Who knows if there will be any storms, and they don’t know enough about this place, so they need to take steady steps.
The empire has currently explored most of the African coast, and Andreborg is the southernmost. Next, they can continue to explore southward. Maybe they can meet the Portuguese fleet.
The Swahili people live on the coast where Zanzibar is located. They are the descendants of Arabs and blacks. They are loyal to religious beliefs and good at sailing. When Roman merchants came, they were also welcomed by the locals, but they were eyeing missionary activities.
The empire’s fortress in Kenya was named Sofia Port, and it quickly grew into a small town with 150 people. Local wheat is also an important source of food for the southern colonies, because the local climate in Andreborg is not suitable for wheat growth, so only barley can be grown to maintain operations. But sweet wheat bread is their favorite, so wheat has become one of the most imported goods here. In exchange for food and daily necessities, the local timber production has directly increased. Some of the timber here is precious, and it is nothing to cut it directly.
The entire African route is actually very fragile. Pirates and unknown storms along the way will destroy the fleet, so a safe trip back will bring dozens of times the profit. This is actually a gamble, but the courage to take the risk to go to Africa is very big. The empire wants to stay for a long time, after all, it needs to provide Egypt with a stable rear.
Rome's connection with the eastern colonies requires strengthening the management and control of the canal. The Senate passed a plan to station 2,000 troops in Ashkelon and is ready to advance to Jerusalem at any time.
As a Roman enclave, Ashkelon has rebuilt a castle and expanded the town with the castle as the center. This not only becomes the flank of the Suez Canal, but also directly threatens Jerusalem.
The Sultan is not unaware of this situation, but the wood is done, you can't fill the canal back. And his own army may not be able to fight Rome. The newly recovered land has not yet recovered its vitality. Everything shows that there is no war.
And you have to pay tolls to cross the canal, otherwise you can't pass. This makes local pilgrims and merchants hate them so much, how can they be so shameless. Even Venice and Genoa are respectful to Egypt, why did Rome repeatedly approach the Mamluks and the Sultan was unwilling to do anything?
The Grand Mosque in Mecca is the most sacred place in the Crescent Church. The Grand Mosque has 25 gates and 9 tall minarets, built with the Kaaba (House of Heaven) as the center. This has always been the destination for pilgrims, especially pilgrims from Egypt, there are many.
But the arrival of the Mongols and Timur reduced the pilgrimage here a lot, because too many were killed. The Mamluks finally recovered the land, but the Roman canal was cut off again. As a result, they could only go to Jerusalem for pilgrimage nearby, and Aden in the south was occupied by pagans. The two sections of the entire Red Sea were almost the world of Christians. How can they go on pilgrimage?
Suleiman, the guardian of the two holy places, wrote to the Sultan and Caliph of Egypt, asking them to occupy the Roman Canal so that they could contribute to Allah.
This Suleiman was an extraordinary person. He was born in the Hashemite family. Because his ancestor married the prophet's daughter Fatima, he became a holy family. He has long controlled the two cities of Mecca and Medina.
This time, the decrease in pilgrims cut off their income. Even the descendants of the prophet need to eat. The re-emerging Christians and those split heretics became his obstacles.
In order to protect themselves, the emirs in the Syrian region could only pay tribute to Cairo and Constantinople. The most powerful Emir of Damascus governed a population of only 400,000, and most of them were concentrated in the area south of Damascus. The only policy for appeasement was to be adopted in response to the pressure from Rome, while the domestic heretics such as the Druze and Alawites launched an attack on the ruling class dominated by Sunnis. Although they also respected Mecca and Medina, their hatred for the local area was greater than their hatred for Rome. All dynasties have turned them into pioneers, and eliminated them after seizing power. This is the case with the Abbasid Dynasty. It finally reached its peak, and the Fatimid Dynasty was invincible from Tunisia to Egypt, but it was still destroyed.
Compared with heretics, Rome was much more tolerant of them. They also absorbed a lot of Christian elements, and the government only collected an additional head tax, and the rest was no different. Moreover, the amount of tax was determined according to the amount of property of the taxed person, and the blind, paralyzed and poor were exempted.
As the situation in the Middle East reversed, the Catholic Church here was forced to convert to the Orthodox Church. The previous plunder of Rome made them feel terrified, and they no longer dared to say that they would launch a crusade. This situation is also very satisfactory, but it is not less than what should be collected.
At present, the East is still searching for members of the Baitakshi sect. The local people are scared to death when they hear about this group. They dare not take them in, for fear that they will die one day.
The local Sunni people were also forced to convert to Orthodoxy and other sects, and their language and culture needed to be reconstructed. Moreover, after converting to Buddhism, they could take the examination to be elected as officials, thus rising up the social ladder. It can be said that such a policy was very suitable for them.
Rome spent as much money on culture as on infrastructure. The library in Constantinople was already the largest library in Europe. One-third of the local collection of books was already there, one-third was collected from various places, and the remaining one-third was looted from Western Europe. And the printing technology was used to back up and protect the culture of the Roman Empire.
This culture was spread to other places with the church and the army, but the most economically advanced northern Italy at this time lacked the foundation of Roman culture, and money alone could not revive it. So they turned to learn the culture of the Charlemagne era, and Gothic churches continued to rise from the ground. Only the Florence Cathedral continued to be built, and it still maintained the Romanesque style.
The Roman Empire continued to maintain the Eastern Roman style, that is, dome architecture. But it was mixed with the Wallachian style, and it was no longer a simple dome, but three small tops built by columns. There was also an Orthodox cross on it.
After Rome's tossing in Italy, they made great contributions to the empire in culture and other aspects. Peter wanted to give each of the other countries a big medal. If one is not enough, make a few more. I believe the other party will be very happy to accept it.