"Come on! As if I don't know you? How could someone like you just willingly step down!"
In front of the "old friend" he'd known for over a decade, Canning didn't put on a facade of official business but maintained a relaxed demeanor to uphold his relationship with Rechid.
Nobody understood better than Canning the immense political power hidden behind his short, sturdy old friend with the black beard.
From 1837 to 1852, for 15 consecutive years, he held sway over the Ottoman Empire's governance and foreign policy, and the number of followers under his command was countless. Even the current Prime Minister Muhammad Ali had once been one of Rechid's lackeys. In the early days of Ali's career in the Ottoman Empire, it was Rechid who supported him step by step, elevating him from an overseas envoy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
