With the Crusaders stationed in Alexandria Port, both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox forces quickly filled the ecological niche left vacant by the Fire Worship, with the Catholic influence being normative and the Eastern Orthodox brought over from Constantinople.

The two forces introduced a large number of clerical staff, and Losa did not hesitate to conscript them all, for example, the attendant by Andreas' side who used to be a Church clerk.

The newly established Egyptian Crusader Kingdom lacked a vast number of administrative talents. It was not only Losa who was lacking; the only centralized bureaucratic system in medieval Europe, the Eastern Empire, also lacked them. As the military district system collapsed, replaced by the mutated Pronia feudal system, the original system for training and selecting bureaucrats in the Eastern Empire was difficult to rebuild.

This was also the reason for the emergence of a large number of Free Cities in Europe afterward, because the Lords had no clue how to govern a city, so it was better to issue a charter to a merchant, granting them city management rights, and then merely enjoy the benefits.

Once the power of the urban upper class had grown stronger, they would kick away the original Lord, thus forming the so-called Free City.

Therefore, Losa would never entrust the critically important coastal cities of Alexandria, Damietta, and Semanude to others. Even if he would face many difficulties, he was determined to incorporate them into direct administration.

Among them, Alexandria is particularly crucial. Nowadays, all four districts have established rudimentary security agencies, each staffed by more than a hundred mounted police and even more local militia to handle security issues.

In the local areas, the chiefs of each neighborhood also registered with the security agencies. On one hand, they were given some security management power, commanded to establish "joint defense teams" to handle trivial daily matters.

On the other hand, once someone commits a major offense, these local bullies can quickly assist patrol officers in locking the target. Since it is a joint defense and mutual protection, citizens naturally have a duty to report and supervise each other. Those who fail to report when aware would be punished by half-penalty, with severe cases even introducing collective punishment regulations.

When Lavinia was formulating these statutes, she was hesitant, feeling they were too harsh, but she was quickly convinced by Losa's reasoning of "doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times."

Though the initial trust between the people of Alexandria and the new rulers was established, it was still very fragile. Once provoked, it could lead to a rebellion, by which time dispatching troops to intervene would result in more than one or two casualties.

This merely followed Han Feizi's Legalist governance, not the small dictator's Legalist governance, and it was already quite mild.

The grassroots system had been founded, but it would take a lot of time to perfect it.

The population of Alexandria Port was too densely concentrated, with one city alone having over twice the population compared to the entire Transjordan Count's Domain. Proper governance to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of local forces was no easy task.

As for major reforms like those previously implemented in Transjordan and Damietta, it was neither feasible nor possible; first, stabilize the current situation.

In the short term, the Crusaders' stationing in Alexandria led to several major changes: several Fire Worship Holy Fire Altars in the city were converted into churches, and the Ascetic monks of the Saint Lazarus Order began small-scale public service activities.

Furthermore, numerous public toilets were established throughout the city, accompanied by strict regulations against public urination, which faced no resistance. Alexandria Port already had a similar tradition where donkey and horse droppings on the streets were fined; otherwise, the dense population of the city would lead to frequent plagues.

Under these measures, coupled with the seated angel statue and the destiny-determined characteristics, more and more citizens began to adapt to the arrival of the Crusaders, and when Losa traveled, many Coptic citizens had started to pray devoutly.

…

Along the coast of the Horn of Africa.

Captain Hog hummed a tune as he watched his crew digging pirate treasures fervently from an island.

Recently, he was in quite a good mood, as evidenced by the dried corpses hanging from the mast of the Ocean Disaster.

The business was booming, and life was flourishing.

Though Hog's own strength was limited by the elite threshold and couldn't improve further, the Ocean Disaster became increasingly powerful with each life it harvested.

The entire seabed of the Red Sea territory was strewn with carcasses of undersea fierce beasts: narwhals, long halberd dragons, and black-scaled sea snakes...

They all transformed into sustenance for the Ocean Disaster. The ship prow and stern, where two long halberds from the long halberd dragons had been mounted into crossbow cannons, and the ship's side was lined with irregular black scales, resembling a cluster of barnacles, chilling to behold.

Wherever the Ocean Disaster sailed, black shadows were cast, accompanied by the ghostly silhouettes of gigantic beast souls.

These sea beasts were the true tonic compared to ordinary people's lives. In the past within the world of Yesterday's Giant Ship, Captain Hog dared not be so arrogant. The Lighthouse Guardian of Iberia, nested deep in the center of the Mediterranean, the Great Monarch, and the offspring of the Sea God were all not to be trifled with.

That Pirate King of Barbaria, Hayreddin, who once boasted to contend for the Pirate King of the Mediterranean with himself, was annihilated along with his entire Fleet on a stormy night because he hunted a Sea God's offspring, by a Great Monarch similar to the Norwegian sea monster, Paul, that he reared.

The world believed that the Great Monarch was his Norwegian sea monster, thus misattributing this feat to him.

As the heavy treasure chests were brought ashore, Captain Hog whistled, and a dilapidated galley-sailship sailed over from behind, manned by undead sailors of the Ocean Disaster.

"Transport all the treasure we've accumulated recently to Eira Port, find that old man Mueller, and also, I have a chart to hand over to him. Tell the old man to convey to the master that I plan to leave the Red Sea for a while..."

After the arrangements were made, more than a dozen undead pirates sailed the plundered pirate ship northward with sails up. The ship, tainted by the Ocean Disaster's aura, was a half-ghost ship, capable of autonomous navigation, driven by the dozen or so undead pirates.

At present, Captain Hog was steering towards the East African coast himself, while the daylight remained, the undead crew could still disguise themselves as normal people. He planned to engage in a legitimate trade.

The pirates on the Red Sea had almost been cleared out, turning it into a pirate-free zone. Unable to target legitimate merchants due to Losa's orders, he decided that the time was ripe to

A newly joined Saracen sailor mentioned that the native tribes were incredibly gullible, and with defective glass beads from the manufacturing process, one could trade for lots of gold.

Hog, aware of his master's need for money, decisively set sail, following the Saracen sailor's guidance along the coast. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Captain Hog is going to be a legitimate businessman for once!"

"Boss, aren't we going there to deceive?"

"What do you know? If you're not deceiving, what's the point of being a businessman?"

Hog placed his captain's hat askew and sneered: ""