The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 137 Changes in Morocco (continued)

The reason why the eldest prince Ahmed Dahab could not wait to usurp the throne when Sultan Ismail was ill and bedridden was because he was old and worried that he would die if he did not ascend the throne. My father was in front of me, and I regretted it for the rest of my life.

Another important reason is that he has too many brothers. The noble ministers in the court and the leaders of the black slave army can make countless choices based on their own best interests.

Then, this will be the most helpless and tragic ending for him. No matter which brother succeeds to the throne and becomes the new sultan, he will not want to see a "highly respected" and influential brother survive in the world.

In the history of Morocco for more than a thousand years, the current Sultan Ismail is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding kings. He ended hundreds of years of division and war in the country, established a powerful royal army of black slaves, recovered the lands occupied by European colonists one by one, and defended Morocco's territorial sovereignty.

Ismail was different from previous Moroccan sultans in that he was not too interested in plundering at sea. Although the Sultan himself could benefit greatly from supporting this venture - Moroccan pirates were once the most important part of Barbary piracy and derived a lot of piracy profits from it, he decided to reduce piracy in the hope that through normal Trade promotes Morocco's economic prosperity. Therefore, Morocco's business environment is safer and better than other places in the Maghreb region (i.e., the northwest African region, including today's Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria). For looseness.

During this period, Morocco's foreign trade mainly included two aspects, namely Sahara trade and Mediterranean trade.

After Ismail stabilized the central power, he revived the once-declined Saharan trade, and gold and salt became the main commodities exchanged between the north and the south. Caravans came one after another from Timbuktu, and large amounts of gold flowed from the black areas into the Sultan's treasury. The high-quality Moroccan dinar gold coins had a strong price in the European financial market and were quite popular.

Sudan also strongly encouraged the development of Mediterranean trade, but in order to monopolize more financial resources, he stipulated that this trade could only be carried out in a few approved ports.

In 1679, Qi's European fleet arrived in Morocco and paid a visit to Sultan Ismail. As a result, the two countries quickly established close diplomatic and economic and trade relations, and Morocco was subsequently included in the Red Sea-Mediterranean Sea dominated by Qi. trade circle.

Various Qi goods entered Morocco from Salé and Tetouan, and the local Moors and Jews distributed these goods from here to Fez, Meknes, Marrakech, Taroudant and other places. , distributed by their agents there. The city of Fes, like the public warehouses throughout Berberia, became a frequent cargo transit center, while Menex became a trading center for grain, cotton, leather and beeswax.

The Qi people mainly exported textiles, tea, coffee, luxury goods, metal products and some weapons and weapons, while Morocco exported gold sand, indigo, ostrich feathers, dates and some ivory.

In the earliest days, Ismail stipulated that the tariff on all imported and exported goods was 25%. Later, with the continuous negotiation and negotiation between Qi State, the tariff was finally reduced to between 8% and 10%. Prosperous foreign trade not only increased the revenue of the treasury, but was also an important means to consolidate the central power and expand the sultan's reputation - after all, maintaining a stable ruling order and winning over a huge aristocratic group and military group required a lot of wealth.

During his foreign conquests and plunders, Ismail not only collected a large amount of wealth for domestic construction and to satisfy his own arrogant and luxurious life, but he also developed a special hobby, which was to collect young and beautiful women.

In the past few decades, Ismaili's harem has accommodated hundreds of women, and there are more than [-] concubines with recorded names. In ancient China, those emperors who had dozens of concubines That's nothing short of impressive.

These concubines of Ismaili come from various origins, have various skin colors, and come from different nationalities. No matter what they are, he will not refuse them all. He and these more than [-] concubines gave birth to [-] sons and [-] daughters, for a total of [-] children!
  This astonishing number is unparalleled throughout the history of the world. It can be regarded as a unique step in nurturing future generations. As for whether there will be any successors, no one knows, but it is definitely an unprecedented move. Ismail was also extremely proud of having so many descendants (I guess every man would be proud of this).

Even so, the "energetic" sultan was still not satisfied. In 1689, he appointed his favorite Abdullah bin Aisha as a special envoy to France to discuss the exchange and ransom of captives (mainly prisoners) between the two parties. (European civilians captured by Barbary pirates), he expressed to Louis XIV that he wanted to marry his illegitimate daughter, the beautiful Princess Conti.

Unsurprisingly, the move was met with laughter at Versailles and was rejected very brusquely by the Bourbons.

What a joke, not to mention the huge religious gap between the two parties, the age gap between the two is too big!

You are already sixty-two years old, eleven years older than King Louis XIV. Although the beautiful Princess Conti has just lost her husband, she is only twenty-three years old. How could she marry you, a promiscuous person? Nonsensical bad old man!
  The eldest prince Dahabi had long been bored and impatient with his father's absurd behavior and his many brothers and sisters. He was even more worried about the deep suspicion of Sudan.

Emperors like Ismail became more suspicious as they got older, and they paid special attention to the money they owned. Among his many sons, all those who embezzled (hidden) money were severely punished by him. More than ten years ago, a son named Muhammad had his hands and feet cut off because he stole some pieces of exquisite oriental porcelain from the palace. There was also a son named Qi Dan who was suffocated to death a few years ago just for taking a dozen gold coins from the palace collection.

However, Ismail himself was extravagant and extravagant. During his reign, the stables in the palace were made of pure gold, the kitchen utensils must also be pure gold, and even the palace doors were made of pure gold.

When Ismail heard the envoys to France describe the splendor and magnificence of Versailles, he actually wanted to build Morocco's own Versailles in Meknes. To this end, in addition to mobilizing more than [-] slaves, tens of thousands of civilians were also recruited and massive construction projects were carried out, which consumed a lot of manpower and material resources. A few months ago, Prince Dahabi had tactfully warned his father not to build such a luxurious and grand project regardless of financial resources and people's strength because of this matter, so as to avoid excessive consumption of national power.

However, this move was immediately severely reprimanded by Ismaili, who also suspected that his "accusation" of him had ulterior motives. He intended to use his identity as the great prince to win over the people's hearts and seek to usurp the sultan's throne.

If many noble ministers had not tried their best to plead for mercy, Ismail might have killed his old son on the spot.

Although Prince Dahabi's life was spared, he was ordered to contribute eight thousand dinars in gold coins and send his servants to the construction site of the "Palace of Versailles" under construction to provide him with corresponding financial and manpower support.

This really makes life impossible!

Last month, Prince Dahab spent all his efforts to pay the amount of gold coins designated by the Sultan to the royal treasury. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard news again from the palace. Abaza, the commander of the black slave army, slandered the Sudan, saying that the eldest prince had raised so many gold coins in such a short period of time. He must have taken advantage of his authority and authority. As the eldest prince, he embezzled a large amount of wealth that should have belonged to His Majesty the Sultan from the treasury.

Finally, Abaza also suggested that Sultan Ismail detain the eldest prince and search his residence, maybe more gold coins could be found.

Damn it, this is no way for people to survive!

Over the years, Prince Dahabi has indeed used his prestigious status to accept and demand a large number of bribes. At the same time, he also used his power to get involved in the lucrative Sahara trade and Mediterranean trade, and also accumulated a lot of wealth.

But if the Black Slave Royal Army was able to slander him like this and encourage Sudan to order his detention and search his mansion, wouldn't it mean they were trying to kill someone with a borrowed knife and force him to die!

Therefore, Prince Dahab made up his mind to directly usurp the Sultan's position while his father was ill and bedridden, and then eradicate the black slave royal army.

A bunch of despicable slaves dare to murder their master, which is really heinous!
  In the army, although the Mujahideen Corps is leaning toward him, their combat effectiveness is not high and they are scattered across the country. If they mobilize the followers of the True God Religion, it will definitely alert the Sultan and the Black Slave Royal Army, and there may not be an uprising yet. , and were wiped out by them.

But the Royal New Army is different. Except for three battalions of musketeers stationed in Rabat, the rest of the troops, including the most important artillery battalion, are concentrated in the capital Meknes. If you use it for your own use, you can definitely control the entire situation in Meknes.

As we all know, the new royal army was trained by Qi military instructors, and all military equipment came from Qi. Many of the officers also studied in Hanzhou. Both officers and soldiers were deeply influenced by Qi people.

If the people of Qi were inclined to him, and exerted a little influence on this army, and gave them the greatest support when seizing power by force, then the mere imperial army of black slaves would not be worth mentioning at all.

Coupled with such a powerful naval fleet stationed outside Rabat Port, it will definitely deter many domestic opponents and ensure that he successfully ascends to the throne of Sudan.

At 6 o'clock in the morning on June 14, the great Sultan Ismaili of Morocco's Alawi dynasty died of serious illness and died at Baba Mansour Palace. With the support of many palace ministers and royal nobles, the eldest prince Dahab succeeded to the throne of Sultan and was named Ahmed I.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning, Abazaar, the leader of the black slave army, and several senior generals were detained by the new sultan. Within a few hours, they were all hanged in prison.

On June 6, at the royal army station outside Meknes, more than 15 black slave troops launched a rebellion, but they were suppressed by the joint efforts of the new royal army and the Mujahideen Corps. The new army also used more than ten artillery pieces to blast the black slave army's station into almost rubble. Then they fired with continuous volleys of guns, killing and wounding [-] black slave soldiers, and the rest surrendered.

On June 6, Sultan Ahmed I mobilized more than 18 black slave troops and marched long distances over land to Tianmen, the territory of Qi State, to cooperate with Qi State in launching a counterattack against England.

(End of this chapter)