Chapter 92 The People of Egypt

Since comprehensive reforms are to be carried out, there must be a good pilot area. This area must have sufficient development space, important strategic value, and preferably outstanding cultural significance. Egypt is such a "chosen place" in the Ottoman provinces.

In Selim's plan, the Egyptian region is the first link to be repaired. This is related to whether he can revitalize the entire Ottoman Empire. An Egypt that is activated first will drive the recovery of the Ottoman economy.

But before that, Selim must first ensure the agricultural problems in the Egyptian region.

This is also the reason why Selim sent Haji Pasha. The other party has served in many governor positions and has made outstanding achievements. He is suitable to govern Egypt.

Considering the complexity of the Mamluk composition in Egypt, Selim chose to use thundering means to solve the other party.

This did reduce resistance to a great extent. After all, almost two-thirds of the land in Egypt is in the hands of Mamluks.

But the other one-third of the land does not belong to Egyptian farmers, but to religious elders.

This group is similar to the Ottoman Empire's jurists, but compared to the jurists, the quality of these Egyptian religious elders is much lower. The former can indeed be said to be pious, while the latter, they try everything in the Islamic prohibitions, just to play with their heartbeats.

But religion, especially for the hard-working people, this kind of mental paralysis coupled with the unknown information, not only did they not object to the lives of religious elders, but they respected them instead.

Although the Egyptian people rebelled every now and then, the banner they raised every time was to overthrow the Mamluks rather than the religious elders.

As I said, everything depends on the comparison.

When the Egyptians have been living under the oppression of the Mamluks and religious elders, the latter, due to the halo brought by religion, the Egyptian people will not look for them.

After all, there are Mamluks, a bunch of rubbish, blocking them in front, and these guys are good at nothing and are the best at exploitation.

But once the Mamluks were eliminated, Haji Pasha used the Sultan's "Royal Edict" to complete the redistribution of Mamluk land, and reclaimed wasteland and built water conservancy facilities.

The Egyptians living under Haji Pasha's rule and the Egyptian serfs living under the rule of religious elders became two species.

Let's take a look at Haji Pasha's restoration of the ecological environment in Egypt under the guidance of Emperor Set.

The first is to leave some areas fallow. Although the Nile River floods every year, it is only the areas along the Nile River that are nourished.

And what is the farming method of the Mamluks? That is to plow a piece of land to death, either the land is rotten or people are exhausted to death.

This has caused the fertility of most Egyptian arable land to drop to an outrageous level, and its grain output is not even as good as that of the Fatimid Dynasty in the tenth century.

Therefore, the implementation of the fallow system is imperative. How can agriculture be developed without restoring fertility? There are no chemical fertilizers these days.

The second is to reclaim wasteland. Even if we only count the Lower Egypt region, Egypt's available land is far from being fully developed at this time.

Haji Pasha has reclaimed a lot of land with the policy of reclaiming wasteland and granting land, which is also the capital for Egypt's future development.

Finally, there is the construction of water conservancy facilities. Before agricultural technology has not yet pointed out high-tech breeding and fertilizers, there is only one way to increase land production on a large scale - water conservancy facilities.

Although Haji Pasha has indeed issued a lot of policies, this has nothing to do with the Egyptian serfs under the rule of religious elders.

Yes, it is serfs. Although Sai the Great has issued the "Royal Edict" to abolish serfdom, there are still remnants in Egypt. This is not because Haji Pasha is incompetent, nor is it that the religious elders are bold enough to confront the central government.

To put it bluntly, Selim is setting a trap for these idiots. The Sultan can indeed use force to solve the Mamluks. After all, the other party is indeed unpopular.

But facing the religious elders, facing this class that was supported by the Egyptian people, a one-size-fits-all approach seemed too rough. What Selim had to do was to use this comparison to provoke the Egyptian people's resistance to the religious elders.

And the facts proved that this group of people was indeed hopeless. Selim just didn't let Haji Pasha enforce it, and this group of people had already understood that they would not enforce it.

It is easy to destroy the gods in the temple, but it is difficult to destroy the gods in the heart.

This shackle forged by the Egyptian people themselves must naturally be smashed by them themselves.

And the facts proved that the Egyptian people still have a spirit of resistance.

After several appeals were rejected and protests were suppressed, the Egyptian people finally woke up. They spontaneously organized to petition Haji Pasha, hoping that the other party would be able to do justice.

Haji Pasha was naturally very happy about this. He immediately ordered that there would be no more serfs in Egypt, and all the land of the religious elders would be immediately taken over by the government and redistributed to the newly freed farmers.

This naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the religious elders. They rushed to the Governor's Mansion to accuse the Governor of oppression and threatened to help the Mamluks to rule Egypt again.

Haji Pasha was very confused about this. These people were not Mamluks. They had almost no military power except the guards.

Besides, who was oppressing whom in this land? Did these people really not understand?

This made Haji Pasha really confused. Where did they get the face and confidence to dare to shout at him?

But Haji Pasha did not intend to send out troops. His Majesty's instructions were very clear, and he wanted the Egyptians to kill them themselves, so arranging spies to fan the flames on both sides became Haji Pasha's response.

When the religious elders protested again in front of the Governor's Mansion, the spies arranged by Haji Pasha had already brought the Egyptians here. The Egyptians who heard the religious elders' accusations were particularly angry, and the other party's contemptuous attitude made many Egyptian people unhappy, and the two sides immediately quarreled.

The atmosphere intensified, and many people had already crowded around the religious elders, trying to teach them a lesson.

The scene was extremely chaotic, and the religious elders' guards had to protect them and retreat.

At this moment, gunshots rang out from the religious elders' guards, and bullets shot out from the muzzle, piercing the head of an Egyptian who rushed to the front. The other party fell down, and the splattered blood stained the Egyptians behind him. For a while, the whole scene fell into a dead silence.

The next moment, the Egyptian people erupted, shouting Allah and rushing towards each other, and a massacre began. Although the guards had guns, their numbers were too small, so that none of the religious elders who came to protest returned alive.

The murderous Egyptians not only killed the guys who came to protest, but also slaughtered the remnants who stayed at home.

This class, which was supported by the Egyptian people, was eventually destroyed by them.

This is the power of the people. Without the support of the people, there will be no victory.

And the base that Emperor Serbia wanted to build was the people of the Ottoman Empire who benefited from the reform. With the king and the people in the same mind, who could defeat them?