Chapter 17

I immediately sent messages out. One message went to Rouen asking to have two engineers able to oversee the building of a small port and fort sent here. They should bring a hundred stonemasons, each with three sets of stone working tools. We also needed fifty carpenters, and a hundred sets of woodworking tools to help build a small fort and other buildings. In addition, I sent a list of other things to bring:

Four plows with harnesses
Assorted gardening tools
Seeds for grain, vegetables, and fruit
Baled alfalfa and seeds for alfalfa
Four small wagons and two large wagons with harnesses
Horses for the plows and wagons
Two bulls and twenty cows
Fifty military horses with saddles and tack
Lots of miscellaneous iron cooking ware
The old and captured iron and steel swords
The unused crossbows and 250,000 bolts
A thousand sheaves of arrows for longbows
As many steel knives as they could get
As much copper as they could get their hands on--in any form
Two hundred casks for water
Six cannons including powder and ammunition
The shipment was to go to the port of Anfa on the Atlantic coast of North Africa. The ships were to remain loaded in Anfa awaiting the arrival of Captain Huurluyt and further orders.

The other messages went to several major ports looking for Captain Jacob Huurluyt, commander of our newest and biggest ship, one just recently built and launched in New Aragon. He was to bring his empty ship to the relatively small Atlantic port of Anfa and ask for Sa’di, a messenger from Sultan Mike. Everyone who knew Captain Huurluyt touted him as the best and boldest captain they knew of. He would be the perfect person to explore the African coast.

I asked Anuk to have someone from the southernmost port in our territory who knew the area, people, and language farther to the south ready to sail with Captain Huurluyt when he arrived, and to have enough food and water available to restock the ships. I also asked to have two cartographers sent to document the coast and the route to the new port. Nobody else was to know anything about this. If it worked, we would have the first port in a previously unexplored part of Africa, and a hope for more new contacts beyond.

Captain Huurluyt’s orders were simple; sail south along the coast of Africa until he saw a small village or stockade flying one of our flags. The engineers and stonemasons were to help design and build a port and small fort to function as our trading post. The cannons, longbows, arrows, and twenty-five horses were for the fort and the men stationed there, as were the tools, seeds, wagons, and some of the cooking utensils.

The rest of the cargo was for trading with the Sultan of Mali. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before the Sultan’s representative arrived there to trade and left instructions about how much I thought the cargo was worth. I estimated roughly seventy to seventy-five pounds of gold, a veritable fortune, and one the captain and each crewmember would know they would share in. With business concluded for now, we left for Algiers to see Farad.

After the visit with Anuk, Algiers was a disappointment. In Fes, Tetouan, and the villages in between I could see a difference in the people; the villagers looked healthier and happier than during my last visit. Several new schools were open or ready to open, and Anuk was expanding and improving the port in Tetouan. The people just seemed generally excited and happy.

There was some work underway on the port facilities in Algiers, but I saw no improvement in the lives of the average person we encountered on the way to the palace. I realized that Farad hadn’t had the same luck as his brother in obtaining a huge treasure like Taghaza, but I had still expected to see visible improvement.

A very nervous Farad greeted us at the palace, and I was quickly even more disappointed. Anuk maintained a moderate staff and a comfortable lifestyle in his palace. Farad had eight times as many servants, and lived a lavish lifestyle far above anything the kings I knew led.

Nervously he explained that they had started a large dam in the mountains on the Chelif River, as well as four smaller dams on lesser rivers feeding the agricultural area around Algiers. They had already selected several more sites for additional dams as soon as those were finished. In addition, several iron and lead mines were being expanded and bigger facilities to process and smelt the ore were being built. Within a year, production should triple from the chosen mines, and then even more mines would be expanded.

They had planted alfalfa after the rains, with irrigation canals constructed in several areas along the Chelif River basin to open even more of the fertile area to agriculture. Dozens of the new plows from Rouen had been imported and distributed to the areas chosen for the first round of growth.

Wheat, barley, and vegetables were the first priority to make sure the population had an adequate food supply. Alfalfa would be planted frequently to help increase the number of cattle, goats, and sheep being raised. The following year, more grain was planned for, as well as planting new vineyards and orchards, including olives, figs, plums, and citrus. In areas where they would eventually be planted, thousands of trees were already started in clay pots from seeds or cuttings. After two years, decisions would be made as to whether there was room for more growth and what items should be increased based on where the growth could continue and what grew best in those areas.

“While I’m pleased with the progress you’ve made, I’m concerned by the lavish lifestyle you have chosen to live so soon,” I said solemnly, motioning to the dozens of servants, entertainers, and other help occupying the lavishly appointed throne room. In Farad’s defense, it was decorated nearly the same as when it had been captured.

“My wife insists that as Emir, my palace be nearly as elegant as a Sultan’s palace,” he replied defensively. He blushed when I laughed.

“This palace is ten times more lavish than the one I currently live in,” I explained. “It is only after several years of conquest, growth, and making sure all of my people are protected and well provided for that I finally feel justified in building a palace like this for myself. There are half as many servants in this one room as I have in my entire castle, and I have to be ready to entertain Kings and other nobles from all over Europe at a moment’s notice,” I explained.

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer,” he said, his voice subdued. His obvious embarrassment and distress at having to admit that his wife wouldn’t listen to him kept me from making a smart comment.

“I think your wife should spend some time watching and learning from my wives. We will return here after our visit to Cairo and Jerusalem in a few weeks. We will pick her up then and take her to Rouen for a couple of months.”

“That wouldn’t be proper,” he gasped. “A Muslim woman must be accompanied by a male relative in that case,” he explained.

“Does she have a brother in Cairo who could return with us?” I asked.

“Yes, she has two brothers” he answered somberly.

“Would it be better if I told her?” I asked, still sensing distress in his voice.

“Would you?” he asked hopefully.

When we found our wives, I quietly told Isabella and Gisela what I intended to do. Isabella volunteered to let her know. She told Salih that I could tell she was a dynamic woman and I wanted her to come to Rouen for a month or two to see how my wives helped run the government, as well as being able to express their individual personality without embarrassing me. When she started to protest, Farad explained that I would bring one of her brothers back to accompany her to Rouen.

To help alleviate her concerns, I sent messages to New Aragon and Rouen to specially outfit a ship and bring it here for her trip to Rouen. With the huge increase in trade and the number of ships we had, I had authorized women to work as sailors on our ships. Nearly half of the women that tried it changed their minds, but we still had over two hundred women working as sailors aboard our ships. Several had even worked their way up and had become officers. I asked Eduardo to select a crew of women to sail one of our ships. The captains of our other ships could make recommendations as to which one of the women they thought would make the best captain. I would send a group of female troops from Rouen to provide security for the ship.

The message to Rouen asked them to choose twenty interested women from the current and previous female members of the youth troops and give them a two-week crash course so they would be able to protect a ship before sending them to New Aragon for their assignment. I also wanted a small contingent of Demons to sail with them to meet me in Algiers for a different task.

My wives were excited when we landed at Alexandria, most of them because it was their first visit. Ruba and Jamillah were excited knowing they would soon see their families again and would each get a chance to show off the barely visible bumps showing they were pregnant.

I was excited by the lush green cotton fields stretching farther than I could see. The slaves working the fields under the watchful eye of the Rouen farmers I had sent watched me warily as I made my way through the fields they were weeding. They showed us the green pods containing cotton, pods about the size of some of my wives’ fists.

I asked about one area I saw that was enclosed with sturdy sections of fencing with reeds woven into a wood frame filling the upper half of the fence. The fencing was to keep the wild animals out and the geese in. The geese were used to weed the cotton, saving the slaves from much of the backbreaking work in that section. There were ducks mingled in with the geese, just like we were doing in Rouen with the orchards and some of the row crops. The ducks would eat many of the insects, slugs, and snails before they could do much damage to the crops.

I had checked with Ruba and Jamillah before leaving Rouen to find out what a decent wage was for an indentured servant here. Baha had arranged for our broker in Alexandria to have a large supply of coins available for me. I gave each of the overseers a supply of coins with orders to pay the slaves for the last six months. They would continue to be paid a fair wage once a month and would be free in eight years from whenever they began working for me. At that time, they could choose to stay and work for a free man’s wage or leave to seek their fortune elsewhere.

We didn’t get much sleep that night due to the boisterous celebrations going on around us. When we left shortly after sunrise, the road for over a mile was lined with indentured servants waving and cheering. The going was so slow that I got down and walked, greeting many of them and shaking the hands of the men. Once they got over the shock of being allowed to touch me, I had to use both hands to shake hands with every man pressing forward to thank me. Otherwise, it would have taken half the day. Much to the amusement of my wives, several bold young women even dashed out and stunned the people who could see by hugging me and giving me a quick kiss before quickly disappearing back into the crowd.

One of the men presented me with a rolled-up skin from a large crocodile. He was one of eight guards patrolling the enclosed field where the geese were at night. One man was stationed at each corner of the enclosure and one in the center of each fence to watch for predators climbing over or digging under the fence. He’d killed several of the crocodiles with the crossbow he’d been given. Each time, the village would celebrate because it meant additional meat for their dinners, and the cured skins were sold, their only way to earn money before yesterday. All other food that they raised or caught was to feed themselves.

Baha now had a small fleet of a dozen ships regularly plying the waters of the Nile. One was waiting for us at Alexandria to take us on our two-day trip to Cairo. My wives were as awed by the Nile as I had been, and Ruba and Jamillah explained a lot about what we saw, as well as things we didn’t get to see.

With the advantage of a full moon, we sailed through the night, finally arriving well before sunrise the second morning. Fifty capable men who were available to row when the wind died down definitely shortened the time it took to reach Cairo.

Even in the pre-dawn darkness, the Sultan’s sentries knew we were there, and the Sultan again met us at the docks. Ruba waited patiently until it was her proper turn before giving her father a giant hug and excitedly showing off her barely swollen belly. Jamillah’s father was also there, and after her appropriate acknowledgement of her uncle, her father got the same greeting as Ruba gave the Sultan, including showing off her own small “bump.”

Even Baha made it to the palace. He’d been passing through Cairo on his way home from another of his extremely profitable journeys. Hearing that we would be arriving soon, he sent his cargo on to Rouen, and then waited for us. It would save him traveling to Rouen to report, and then traveling back here. This trip included nearly six hundred more “relatives” of the Chinese sea captain. Once we figured out Xun was simply bringing anyone able to afford the cost of their passage, we requested that he include people with usable skills, and offered to underwrite the cost of their fare if they couldn’t afford it. We specifically requested acupuncturists, blacksmiths, silk workers of any kind, and more men able to teach our troops the fighting techniques Kun was teaching. The people we underwrote would be indentured for four years to pay for their passage.

Xun had been able to reach a trade agreement with his contact in Japan. Since Japan was almost completely closed to foreign traders, it was quite a coup. The contact wanted iron to make weapons, silver to help finance his new army, and massive quantities of sugar to trade across Japan. Sugar was difficult for them to get with so little outside trading, and he made a huge profit selling it. He also wanted animal skins, mainly deerskin, although leather was acceptable.

He offered slaves, people who were unable to pay their debts and sold themselves into slavery just to survive, as well as some who were captured enemies that he wasn’t comfortable leaving behind. Previously these people would simply be executed, but if he could sell them to Xun, it was worth keeping them alive between Xun’s visits. He also sold us a dozen swordsmiths and their families that he had captured from another defeated daimyo, along with several captured Samurai swords.

Xun’s ship had traveled all the way from China to the northernmost part of the Red Sea where Baha met them. After escorting them and any cargo he bought to Cairo via camel caravan, he had put them on ships three days ago to take them the rest of the way to Rouen. When Baha jokingly commented on the miserable trip across the desert to Cairo, the Sultan teased him back, telling him he should use some of the money he was making so much of to re-dig one of the canals that used to run to the Bitter Lakes and then down to the Red Sea.

“Sure, why not?” I answered, thinking that they had to be joking about a canal big enough for ships to travel in clear across the desert.

Stunned, the Sultan looked at me. “Really?” he asked.

“You weren’t joking about a canal?” I asked back.

“No, there have been several different canals started ever since the time of the pharaohs, the rulers who built the great pyramids. The last one was blocked many hundreds of years ago because invaders were using it to supply troops attacking Cairo. After that, the shifting sands of the desert covered most of it. In addition, somewhere near Lake Timseh was a wealthy trading port that the sands have long since reclaimed. The canal would allow the land along its route to be productive again as well as provide quite a profit. If you are serious, I am willing to give you the land for ten miles on each side of the canal through the Wadi Tumilat from outside of Bilbay to Lake Timseh, ten miles from both shores of the Bitter Lakes, and south along the canal to the Red Sea.”

We discussed it further and he agreed to send a team of engineers to look into the feasibility, to see how much of the old canal they could find, and to determine how badly it was damaged. If I decided to go forward with the idea, I would be granted temporary control of a twenty-mile corridor along the completed portion of the canal. As long as work continued to progress, I would continue to control the area. When the canal was finished, my control of the twenty-mile corridor would become permanent and I would become the Emir of the new Tumilat Canal Province.

With the Sultan and Salih’s brother accompanying us, we made a detour to Bilbay where several of the locals showed us spots where portions of the canal were still visible. The limestone banks were one hundred fifty feet apart signifying a much bigger canal than I’d pictured. My wives got a kick out of the stares they received as the locals watched the group of armed women riding horses.

Continuing down the east branch of the Nile via ship, we made our way first to Damietta and finally to the port of Jaffa. From there we made the ride to Jerusalem and visited both the Christian and Muslim holy sites before returning to Cairo where we thanked the Sultan for his hospitality. Then we changed ships and headed back to Algiers.

Our stop in Algiers was a short one as my wives accompanied Salih and her brother back to Rouen on the ship with the all-female crew. I stayed on the ship we’d been on, adding the fifty Demons before heading for Rome and a meeting with Louis, a distant relative of King Philip. King Philip had warned me to avoid the constant internal politicking, battles, and intrigue by the various factions vying for power in Rome.

Louis met us in Anzio, confirming that news of my victories across the Maghreb and Ifriqiya had reached all of Europe. There had even been talk locally hoping I might have changed my mind about leading a Crusade, deciding to start on the west coast of Africa and work my way across to Jerusalem, gathering more troops. Louis sent ambassadors to each of the political factions in Rome and to the Pope explaining that I was there simply to see the Pope and had no intention of becoming embroiled in the city’s incessant internal power struggles.

Despite that, we were met on our way to Rome the next day by three different envoys hoping to convince us to support their claim to power, as well as by a personal envoy from the Pope. I immediately recognized the envoy as the messenger who had arrived in Rouen with the message stating the previous envoy had spoken without authority when he threatened me.

We assured him that our intentions were peaceful. I was simply there to talk personally with the Pope and to clarify the current situation with the remaining Muslim Sultan. Nonetheless, our guards kept careful watch throughout the night as we slept a few miles from Rome.

The crowd turning out to witness our arrival was nearly as big as the one in Cairo and we didn’t disappoint them. Behind my frequently changing personal standard, riders proudly carried the flags of Lancaster, York, Normandy, Granada, Maghreb al-Aqsa, and Ifriqiya. We stopped a respectable distance from the Lateran Palace and my men set up camp. Almost immediately, three groups of men approached, each giving the other two a decidedly unfriendly glower.

Reiterating my intentions to stay out of their local squabbles, I invited them to accompany me on my visit with the Pope to prove that I wasn’t taking sides. They watched as I handed my sword to one of my men who had accompanied me to the Lateran Palace, a man who would now wait outside while five of them were allowed, unarmed, inside with me.

The Pope was obviously still perturbed at me, leaving me to cool my heels for most of the day before he was “available.” When he finally sent for us, the gasps were audible when I strode into the hall without bowing or making any gesture of deference to acknowledge his position.

“I understand you have been quite successful in your efforts to subjugate the heathen in North Africa. Should I dare hope you have come here to agree to finish the process and free the Holy Land?” he asked snidely.

“No,” I answered, the animosity in the air thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Then why are you wasting my time by showing up here?” he retorted angrily.

“Before I tell you, I want to ask you a question I was asked. How can there be anything still holy in a land that has been awash in so much shed blood? The Crusaders would kill every man, woman, and child in the cities they conquered. When the Muslims re-conquered the cities, anyone left alive after the fighting would be sold into slavery. It sounds to me like the Crusaders were worse heathens than the Muslims.”