Nur al-Din
With the Fatimid Caliphate gone, Saladin now found himself the ruler of Egypt, though still a subordinate of the distant Nur al-Din. Nur al-Din, in turn, did not find himself satisfied with Saladin for a number of reasons. The greatest of these was his displeasure with the size of Saladin's tribute payments, which he had expected to be much larger. This issue was intensified by the fact that Nur al-Din had sought to advance Shirkuh, not Saladin and, with Ayyub dead, Nur al-Din felt that he had no control over the younger ruler and became ever more convinced that Saladin would attempt to become independent. The extent to which Saladin may have intentionally underpaid Nur al-Din is unknown, but it is likely that the tombs of the Pharaohs were finally running dry after being so heavily tapped by previous viziers. Saladin continued to actively avoid any personal meeting with Nur al-Din, who may very well have removed him from power. There is little doubt that Saladin's actions looked suspicious as he continued his reforms across Egyptian society, including the elimination of many taxes in contradiction with Islamic law, and began construction of a formidable navy. However, Nur al-Din was not alone in facing ambitious underlings. As other Ayyubids amassed power in Egypt, they too wished to gain territory, wealth, and glory. Among these were his nephew Taqi al-Din Umar, who expanded Saladin's domains westward to the borders of the Almohad Empire in 1173, and his brother Turanshah, who invaded Yemen and deposed its heretical leader in 1174. These maneuvers led Nur al-Din to send an auditor to Egypt to establish the appropriate amount of payments in 1173, a clear sign of distrust. With tensions mounting, 1174 proved to be a crucial year for Saladin. Early in the year, when his ambitious brother departed for Yemen, Saladin discovered a major plot to return the Fatimids to power and dealt with the conspirators swiftly and brutally. In the meantime, Nur al-Din's patience seems to have finally worn out and he began to raise an army for the invasion of Egypt. Nur al-Din became suddenly ill and died, leaving behind a number of direct successors who lacked either the age or skill to succeed him. With Egypt as his secure power base, Saladin wasted no time in marching on Damascus, where the population welcomed him with open arms in 1174. From this point forward, his attention would be focused on Syria.