The War to End All Wars

In just one week, Alexandria's production had returned to normal. The harbor was a forest of masts and sails, with a constant stream of merchant ships docking there, most flying Latin heraldry or conspicuous crosses.

The wealthy merchants who had fled by ship or been executed left enormous gaps in Alexandria's trade shares. Lothar distributed them among the Copts and Greeks who had pledged allegiance to him, as well as the Latin merchants he had always remained wary of.

There were also some Saracens, but not many.

The city had, after all, not endured a brutal siege. Though it had suffered some internal unrest and a mass exodus of people, its potential remained unchanged.

It would simply take time for that potential to be realized.

If a trade hub lost its far-reaching commercial network, it would become like Constantinople in later generations: nothing but an oversized brain, soon to wither into a dead city.

If Lothar wanted to turn Alexandria back into his own money bag, he would need quite some time. He would also have to wipe out all the separatist Saracen vassal lords and restore the severed trade routes.

Fortunately, the wave of confiscations had greatly eased Lothar's short-term financial pressure.

And it would continue easing that pressure—every unrecovered Egyptian territory could be dealt with the same way.

The benefits of sealing off the coastline had also become apparent. The wealth accumulated by the old Saracen nobility could no longer be transported away by sea.

Nor was Lothar worried about those trying to flee south through Nubian territory and escape via the Red Sea. The route was long and difficult, and Captain Hog and his beloved flagship, the Calamity of the Sea, were waiting in the Red Sea Gulf to welcome these distant guests.

Lothar was currently visiting