Egypt.
Cairo.
Inside the red-and-black Abraq Palace, Muhammad Ali handed the Gift List in his hand back to the chief eunuch and ordered, "Send someone to find out what gift Ahmed has prepared for the King of France. We must ensure that what we send is worth twice as much as his."
The Black man in splendid attire immediately bowed. "Pasha, the acting Governor cannot even pay his Guard's wages. What gift could he possibly produce?" Ahmed was the agent sent by Husru, the current Governor of Egypt—the nominal ruler of Egypt.
Yes, Selim III had still managed, two years earlier, to insert a Governor into Egypt: Husru Ahmed.
Yet this bare-handed Governor had brought almost nothing to Egypt besides the Sultan's great seal.
Muhammad Ali, on the other hand, had been very "tactful" in handing over Egypt's military and political authority, even placing his own Albanian Corps under the new Governor's command.
Husru had initially been immensely pleased, but barely three months later, he realized that something was wrong.
All of Egypt was staring eagerly at him, waiting for him to provide funds—including the "Waqf" donations for religious forces, urban repair expenses, the Mamluk faction's dividends, and even the Albanian Corps' military pay.
Monthly expenditures ran as high as nearly one million Piastres—more than one hundred thousand Pound Sterling.
Since no one in Egypt, from merchants to Mamluks, took Husru seriously, he could not collect any taxes at all and could only subsidize the expenses from his own pocket.
No matter how skilled he had once been at embezzling funds in Constantinople, he could not withstand such enormous expenditures.
Before long, the Albanian Corps mutinied because the Governor had failed to pay their wages on time, led by an officer named Tahir. Husru hurriedly dispatched Mamluk Cavalry to suppress