Ancient Canaan truly deserved to be called the promised land flowing with milk and honey. It had once been a region with thriving agriculture and animal husbandry, especially for the ancient local people struggling to survive in the desert.
But how could a crossroads of civilization possibly avoid war?
First came the repeated struggles between the Crusaders and the Arabs, followed by centuries of Ottoman rule. Canaan had long since changed from the promised land into a forgotten land.
It had to be said that the Ottoman Empire truly deserved the title of the Sick Man of West Asia. Aside from the few decades when Suleiman the Magnificent was on the throne, it was simply no place for people to live.
Of course, this was not to say that Suleiman the Magnificent had genuinely improved the lives of the local people. On the contrary, under his rule, the burden of corvée labor was heavier than under any previous dynasty.
Yet during Suleiman's era, the situation was relatively stable. His large-scale construction projects did indeed boost commerce to some extent, even bringing about a brief increase in population.
However, by the later years of his reign, political corruption had set in, and separatist forces in the provinces were beginning to stir. After Suleiman the Magnificent died, local Pashas and great landowners gradually seized control of their regions.
Before long, these families had turned into bandit kings much like warlords. They began to levy exorbitant taxes and harsh exactions, even dispatching troops to attack one another.
The Ottoman government simply turned a blind eye. So long as those families handed over their taxes, it did not care what they did.
Worse still, in order to preserve its rule and prevent any one family from growing too dominant, Ottoman envoys often stirred up