Four million francs sounded like a lot, but it was only Josephine's annual living expenses. If Georgiana also accepted an allowance of five hundred thousand francs a month, that would be six million francs a year.
Building Malmaison had cost four million francs, paid by Hamburg, but that had been a one-time purchase rather than an annual "tribute."
"Ow!" Georgiana cried out in pain as Bertin combed her hair.
"Bear with it," Bertin said mercilessly as she combed. "If you want to be beautiful."
Georgiana did not care that much, but combing one's hair was something every woman had to do every day. She could only sit before the mirror and watch Bertin busy herself.
In Ismael's time, Egypt had extensively planted cash crops such as cotton and sugarcane. They depleted Egypt's soil. Egypt itself did not possess fertile land and relied entirely on the Nile River's floods; the former granary of Ancient Rome even had to import food.
Under Haussmann and the Mamluks, tightly organized provinces had been established, but they had never carried out any reforms to Egypt's administration. The Nile River had received no regulation whatsoever. The beys possessed lavish palaces, vast tracts of land, and retainers. Yet the Nile River flooded excessively, epidemics broke out together, and people of every trade banded together to form all kinds of guilds.
They served as a kind of "intermediary bridge." The pashas no longer needed to issue decrees; they could directly levy taxes upon the guilds, or communicate with the sheikhs to handle certain matters. The sheikhs were the guilds' highest-ranking leaders, ordinary guild members occupied the middle ranks, and apprentices stood at the bottom.
When Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, he too had been an "apprentice." Campo Formio lay between Venice and Trieste. Even