OBS Chapter 725 Captain Hogg's Maritime Career
Chapter 725 Captain Hogg's Maritime Career
Chapter 725 Captain Hogg's Maritime Career
As the Crusaders entered Alexandria, the forces of Catholicism and Orthodoxy were quickly filling the missing ecological niche of Zoroastrianism. The Catholic forces were normal, while the Orthodox forces were sent from Constantinople.
Both forces brought a large number of civil servants, and Lothar requisitioned them all without hesitation, such as the follower beside Andreas who used to be a church clerk.
The fledgling Crusader Kingdom of Egypt lacked a large number of administrative talents. Not only Lothar was lacking in this area, but also the Eastern Empire, the only country in medieval Europe that had a centralized bureaucracy. Now that the military district system has collapsed and has been replaced by a variant of the fiefdom system like Pronia, the Eastern Empire's original system for training and selecting bureaucrats has become difficult to rebuild.
This is also the reason why a large number of free cities appeared in Europe later. Because the lords did not know how to govern a city at all, it was better to issue a charter to the merchants, give out the right to manage the city, and reap the benefits themselves.
When the power of the city's upper class continued to grow, they kicked away the original lords and the city became a so-called free city.
Therefore, Losa would never entrust the three vital coastal cities of Alexandria, Damietta and Semanude to others. Even if it would face many difficulties, he would definitely bring them under his direct jurisdiction.
Among them, Alexandria is particularly important. Now, simple security agencies have been set up in its four urban areas. Each agency has up to a hundred mounted police and a larger number of local militia to be responsible for public security issues.
At the local level, the heads of each neighborhood have also registered with the public security agencies. On the one hand, they are delegated some public security management powers and are ordered to form "joint defense teams" to manage daily trivial matters.
On the other hand, once someone commits a serious crime, these local tyrants will quickly assist the patrol police in locking on the target. In addition, since it is a joint defense and mutual protection, citizens naturally have the responsibility to report and supervise each other. Those who know about the crime but do not report it will be sentenced to half the penalty. In serious cases, collective responsibility regulations will even be introduced.
When Lavinia formulated these laws, she was hesitant for a while, thinking that they were too harsh, but she was quickly persuaded by Lothar on the grounds that "extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."
Although trust between the citizens of Alexandria and the new rulers has been initially established, it is still very fragile. There is no guarantee that someone will incite a rebellion. If troops are sent to intervene at that time, the death toll will not be just one or two.
At most, his approach to governing the country is that of Han Fei, not that of Little Mustache. It is already very mild.
The grassroots system has been established, but it will take a lot of time to improve it.
The population of Alexandria is too densely concentrated. This city alone accounts for more than twice the population of the entire County of Transjordan. It is not easy to govern it properly and fill the vacuum left by the collapse of local forces.
As for the drastic reforms in the territories of Transjordan and Damietta, they are neither possible nor feasible. The only thing to do is to stabilize the current situation first.
In the short term, the biggest changes brought about by the Crusaders' entry into Alexandria were that several Zoroastrian holy fire altars in the city were converted into churches, and the ascetics of the Order of Saint Lazarus began to carry out small-scale charity activities.
In addition, a large number of public toilets were set up throughout the city, and laws were introduced strictly prohibiting urinating and defecating in public. This did not meet with any resistance. Alexandria already had a similar tradition. Mules, horses and livestock would be fined if they urinated and defecated in the streets. Otherwise, given the city's dense population, there would be a plague every few days.
With a series of measures, and the blessing of angel statues and other characteristics, more and more citizens began to get used to the arrival of the Crusaders. When Losa traveled, many Coptic citizens had already begun to pray devoutly.
...
The coast of the Horn of Africa.
Captain Hogg hummed a little tune as he watched his crew members busily digging out the pirates' treasure from an island.
He has been in a good mood recently, as can be seen from the mummies hanging from the mast of the Ocean Disaster.
Business is booming and life is prosperous.
Although Hogg's own strength cannot be further improved due to the threshold of elite status, the Ocean Disaster is becoming more and more powerful as it harvests more and more lives.
The entire Red Sea is littered with the corpses of fierce beasts, including narwhals, halberd dragons, and black-scaled sea snakes...
They have all been turned into food for the Ocean Disaster. At the bow and stern, two halberd dragons' halberds have been loaded into the crossbows. The sides of the ship are inlaid with a layer of irregular black scales, which looks like a bunch of barnacles gathered together, which makes people's scalps numb.
In the sea area where the Ocean Disaster passed, black shadows were left behind, and the ghosts of giant beasts were looming.
Compared to the lives of ordinary people, these sea beasts are truly a tonic. In the past, in the world of giant ships, Captain Hogg would not dare to be so arrogant. The keeper of the Iberian lighthouse, the deep-sea lord entrenched in the center of the Mediterranean, and the heir of the sea god are not easy to mess with.
The Barbary pirate king Hayreddin, who once threatened to compete with him for the title of Mediterranean Pirate King, had his entire fleet destroyed by a deep-sea lord similar to the Norwegian sea monster Paul he raised on a stormy night because he hunted down a heir of the sea god.
Everyone thought that the Deep Sea Lord was their own Norwegian sea monster, so they took credit for the victory.
As the heavy treasure chest was transported to the shore, Captain Hogg whistled, and a broken galley came from behind, manned by undead sailors from the Ocean Scourge.
"Ship all the treasures you have accumulated during this period to the port of Ella and find the old man named Muller. Also, I have a sea chart here, give it to him as well, and ask the old man to tell the adults that I plan to leave the Red Sea for a while."
After explaining the matter clearly, more than a dozen undead pirates drove the pirate ship they had looted and sailed north. The ship was infected by the aura of the Ocean Disaster and for a short time it was considered half a ghost ship and could sail independently. More than a dozen undead pirates could drive it.
"Okay, guys, let's hoist the sails and set sail. We are going to open a new route!"
Captain Hogg personally steered the ship, aiming directly at the coast of East Africa.
During the day, this group of undead crew members can disguise themselves as normal people. Only under the moonlight or when they come into contact with the sea water will they uncontrollably reveal their true undead appearance, so he planned to have a serious trade trip.
The pirates on the Red Sea have been almost wiped out, and now it has become a forbidden area for pirates. Due to Lothar's orders, he cannot attack those legitimate businessmen. He might as well take this opportunity to look for other sources of income.
The Red Sea is too small compared to the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, when he was in the world of giant ships yesterday, even Captain Hogg in the Mediterranean thought it was just a small bathtub. It would be better to compete with those legendary pirates in the Seven Seas.
Unfortunately, just after sailing out of Gibraltar, we encountered the Iberian lighthouse keeper and almost died. After that, we never dared to mention "Conquering the Seven Seas" again.
After arriving in the New World, Captain Hogg has been itching to explore.
The opening of a new sea route is just a beginning, and doing business to make money is just an excuse so that he can legitimately drive the Ocean Disaster to more distant places in the future.
Ordinary people were unable to go deep into Africa due to epidemics, but they had no problem trading with the natives along the coast.
He felt that as long as he could continue to bring his master a steady supply of treasures, his master would not mind where he went.
Thinking of this, Captain Hogg, who was used to robbing with knives, guns and cannons, couldn't help but sigh: "Captain Hogg is going to be a serious businessman for once!"
"Boss, aren't we going there to commit fraud?"
"You know nothing. If you don't cheat, what business are you in?"
Hogg put on his captain's hat at an angle and sneered, "Don't mess up when the time comes. We are here to do business, not to be robbers! In the future, this route will have to be handed over to the next generation to operate."
Robbery is like exhausting the resources. It is impossible for the undead sailors on the Ocean Disaster to go to East Africa to mine. If they scare away the natives along the coast, who will mine? Who will rob the natives inland for these undead sailors?
Anyway, he knew that his master had no interest in these distant overseas lands. Without occupying the land, trade was the fastest way to make money.