[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

In the early years, Yinan and Abu agreed on a fixed annual interest rate.

After deducting all costs and labor, Yi Nan's income from the land, workshops, and shops will retain the agreed annual interest income, and the rest will be counted as Abu's remuneration.

If there is a loss, or if these properties are damaged during the war, the loss will be counted on Yinan's head.

Unexpectedly, the family motto left by Abu to future generations is: we must ensure the annual interest income left to Yinan, and if unfortunately there is a loss, it will be slowly made up through profits in the following years.

In this way, over time, the property left by Yi Nan has now accumulated into an unusually large industrial group—everywhere is managed by a special person, and the profits are aggregated into Abu’s small shop every year, which is managed by Abu’s descendants. Someone will come to extract the eight mysterious Sumerian numbers in the future.

Over the years, Abu's descendants have long been dubious about the "legend" left by their ancestors.Who would think of leaving a property here after more than 1000 years?

But the Babylonians have a special loyalty to the "contract".What's more, Abu left a message back then, saying that this is a contract signed by the witness of the gods, and he must abide by it no matter what.Even if it is 1000 or 2000 years, as long as there are still people in his family alive, he must continue to fulfill this contract and pass it down from generation to generation.

Today, this mysterious "customer" finally appeared.

To the surprise of the shopkeeper, the woman who came to claim the property was exactly the same as the owner of the property depicted in the legend of the ancestors.This seems to further confirm what the ancestors said in the past - this property is favored by gods in the dark.

But the shopkeeper didn't dare to ask more questions, but wanted to hand over all the sheepskin contracts in a box to Yinan.

"No, not so much."

Yi Nan smiled and said, "With you guys continuing to help me take care of this property, I can only feel more at ease."

With Yinan's current status, it is impossible to spare time to take care of so many assets, so it is better to leave it to professionals for peace of mind.

She took a thousand shekels of gold, exchanged some of the silver coins for usual spending, and continued to hand over other property to the shopkeeper.

Although the shop owner didn't say anything, he was still happy in his heart. After all, Babylon is getting more and more prosperous every day, and the management fee for taking care of these properties is quite considerable.

Yi Nan bowed to the shopkeeper and sincerely thanked: "I am sincerely grateful, thank you to your family, your ancestors, and thank you for your contract spirit, which finally made this almost impossible thing possible."

Now she has more confidence, has money in her hand, and has a summer palace outside the city - although it is not hers, this does not prevent her from doing something.

So she asked the shopkeeper where she could find a laborer in Babylon.

The shop owner pointed out attentively, but reminded Yi Nan: "As you know, a lot of Judean slaves have come to the city recently, so the place where the workers are hired is always chaotic. If you go, please be careful."

According to the instructions, Yi Nan went to the market where the laborers were hired, and he saw many Babylonian soldiers driving the slaves from Judea.

Many Babylonians are watching.

Yinan asked the people around him, "Can you buy these Judean slaves?"

There happened to be a talkative Babylonian old man beside him: "You mean those young and strong? ——No way! Those are the ones who were sent by the king himself, asking them to build the walls of Babylon."

When Yinan entered the city earlier, he had already noticed that a large number of bricks and stones were piled up outside the walls of Babylon, which looked like they were going to renovate the existing walls.

It seems that after the king of Babylon conquered the Quartet, he has made up his mind to strengthen his capital and turn it into an impenetrable city.Otherwise, a large number of laborers would not have been conscripted from Jerusalem and driven all the way to Babylon.

"Old people, women and children, if you want to buy them, I'm afraid it's still possible. But what can they do for you?" the old man whispered in Yinan's ear.

"Also—" Yi Nan agreed casually, watching how these Babylonians treated their Judean captives with a cold eye, and had his own plans in mind.

Hearing the sound of the whip whipping in the air, a group of Judean slaves in the distance were walking slowly towards Yinan from one end of the street, carrying huge heavy logs together.

"These were originally noble lords, right?" The old man in Babylon folded his arms, watching the slaves being bent over and passing in front of them with the logs on their backs in agony.

"No—" Yi Nan had been among the Judaean captives for a while.She pointed out precisely: "If they are nobles, they will wear a scarlet robe, which is their status symbol."

"Then why are these people so weak that they can't even do heavy work?" The old man was very dissatisfied with Yinan's judgment.

"This is because, this is because..."

Seeing the appearance of the slaves, Yinan couldn't help frowning.

At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes knocking on the slate floor in the distance. It was crisp, but there was no sound of mixed metal. It must be that horseshoes have not been used in this era.

The old man beside him straightened up, looked into the distance, said "Oh", and said, "Prince Sal is here."

Yi Nan glanced at the source of the sound of the horse's hooves, and sure enough, he saw that it was Sal.Today, she changed into a Babylonian woman's daily attire, so she was not conspicuous among the crowd, and Saar didn't notice her.

Although the prince hurried forward with his horse, he saw the slaves in front of him carrying heavy loads with difficulty.In the end, Prince Saar lifted the rein and let the good horse under his seat move forward slowly.In this way, he slowed down completely, and when he passed Yi Nan and the old man, he was only about one or two meters away from Yi Nan in a straight line.

Yi Nan suddenly felt a bone stuck in his throat, and couldn't vomit.She picked up the scarf hanging from her shoulders and covered her face.

Then she sneered and said, "The ancestors all knew to use their human resources wisely, and the ancestors knew to avoid forced labor; when it comes to the descendants, they only know how to show off their power and trample on the most useful hands like this?"

You must know that Herod had gone through a lot of trouble back then, before he thought of a way to liberate the serfs bit by bit.

But now the prince of Babylon has captured a large group of people from Zion and returned, regardless of whether they are all slaves, to do this kind of heavy work together-she is really, a little angry.

Obviously, Sal heard this sentence.His gaze was like a knife, and he swept directly to this side.

Sal is used to fighting on the battlefield, and his eyes are naturally full of murderous intentions. The old man beside Yi Nan jumped up in fright, shook his hands, and said, "No, no, His Highness Sal, this... this is not an old man. Said."

Of course Sal knew that the old man didn't say that sentence just now.The speaker's voice is delicate and moving, so it must be a woman.His subordinates controlled the reins vigorously, and the horse stopped naturally.Sal didn't get off the horse either, but only held the rein, staring coldly at the woman whose face was covered.

"Speak clearly if you have the guts!"

"The ancestors did liberate slaves, but they were all citizens of their own country and fought for the country."

Obviously, Saar is very familiar with the "history" mentioned by Inan, and has carefully studied its background.So he didn't catch Yi Nan's words at all.But this man was accused by a woman in the street, and this matter must be recovered no matter what, so Sal asked Yinan to "speak clearly".

"If you have the courage, ask the person in front to stop and put down the heavy object, and I will explain it to you slowly."

Yi Nan didn't care at all about Prince Saar's eyes, she even turned her face away, as if she didn't care.

Sal, however, solemnly nodded his chin at a Babylonian soldier who turned his head forward.

There was a bang, and the heavy logs were stacked down.The Judean slaves in the front were almost collapsed to the ground as if they had just been fished out of the water.

"Please tell me." Saar didn't talk nonsense.

But his vision was as if he could eat people, so that other people felt that if this woman who spoke rashly couldn't make any reasonable accusations, she would probably be scared to death by the prince just by scaring her.

"Those slaves are all very experienced craftsmen. You let them do these heavy jobs, but no one does the technical jobs that really require experience. Isn't this a waste of money?"

Yi Nan unceremoniously pointed at the person in front of him.

It seems that she has spent a long time with craftsmen, and she can naturally appreciate the special "artisan temperament" of craftsmen.In addition, although these slaves have traveled long distances, most of them are still fair-skinned, obviously not people who have been engaged in outdoor work for a long time.

In addition, she took a closer look at their hands, especially the middle finger and index finger of the right hand, and she was able to roughly confirm that they were all craftsmen, and they were craftsmen who were engaged in relatively complicated construction and design, not pure manual labor.Both have ink stains on their right hands, the result of years of drawing with pigments such as charcoal and ink.

That's why she said that Prince Saar was "reckless".

The prince nodded his head, and the soldiers over there immediately went to ask questions.After a while, I came back to reply: "Your Highness, they all say that they are craftsmen, some design houses, some make pottery and porcelain..."

Sal pursed his lips and stared at Yi Nan—maybe he felt familiar with her pair of bright eyes at first, but he probably didn't think about the princess of the Kingdom of Medes at all.

"Besides, there are so many ways to move these logs. Isn't it okay to use a cart? Isn't it okay to place logs on the ground? Manpower must be spent on these places... You still think that my criticism of you is unreasonable?"

"Of course you can say that these slaves are foreigners who were defeated in the war - but they are also human beings, and their manpower is limited. If you want to build your own project, you should carefully calculate and think carefully about how to use these manpower reasonably, rather than blindly Get angry. You must have done that in Zion."

Sal's face was quite ugly, he probably felt that the woman's mouth was like a small trumpet, and she kept talking non-stop once she opened it.

But he couldn't deny that what the woman said was correct.

Letting these Judean slaves do heavy physical labor in public is indeed a way for the Babylonians to declare their force, but it has no direct benefit to the construction of Babylon's various projects.

In the current situation where various projects are in full swing and there is an urgent shortage of craftsmen, it is indeed...too wasteful to do so.

But Sal, as a prince, was surrounded by a masked woman in the street and got stuck on the street, neither advancing nor retreating.

He took a deep breath, as if the anger had reached his throat, and the next moment it would be like a teapot that had just boiled water, with white steam billowing and overflowing;

Unexpectedly, when the words came out of his mouth, Sal held back.He slowed down his tone and said in a businesslike manner: "Understood."

As he said that, he ignored the women on the side of the road, but lifted the reins, and came to the Babylonian soldiers waiting in front, and gave some instructions.

"Let's go!" Babylonian soldiers immediately yelled in Judean, "Put the logs here first, and you all follow me."

Yi Nan didn't expect that Prince Saar would accept her accusation and take action immediately after she taunted her with a stick.

This "paranoia" prince, isn't he totally brainless?

Inan felt very at ease.After waiting for the group of people to leave, I asked the old man beside me where the laborers were hired. When I went there, I found a few Babylonian laborers who seemed to be honest and willing to work. I paid a deposit and took them out of the city to the Summer Palace.

When the laborers started plowing and leveling the land, and the female officials were about to start planting various vegetables, Yi Nan led the two laborers and began to inspect the various structures of the entire summer palace.

The foundations of the entire area are intact.Yinan even picked up a small piece of floor tiles and took a look: These floor tiles are glazed waterproof tiles, not ordinary ceramic tiles, and will not be soaked by groundwater and will not settle.

This meant that Yi Nan could not worry about the underground part, and could only focus on building the above-ground part of the structure.

As for the above-ground part, it is obvious that the summer palace is divided into several areas, and each area has a different number of floors.In some places, three floors were built, in some places there was only one floor, and in some places a second floor was built, but it completely collapsed.

Yi Nan took the day laborers to beat the structures on the ground inch by inch at the places that were still intact, identified areas that were strong enough and structures that had to be dismantled and rebuilt, and then marked all these places.

After the short-term laborers who do farm work finish their work there, they can turn to tidy up the buildings of the Summer Palace.

She doesn't think she's too busy.But there is such a large deserted garden in front of me, and I always feel uncomfortable when I look at it.In the days of idling in this summer palace, there must be something to do.

The day laborers who followed her admired Yinan very much, thinking that this beautiful girl knew everything, and spoke a very standard Babylonian language without the slightest accent.Unlike other Medes female officials, they couldn't understand more than half of what they said.

A short-term worker asked Yinan: "After you restore these buildings with several floors, what are you going to do?"

Yi Nan replied without hesitation: "Farming!"

"Planting... Farming?" The day laborers were dumbfounded.

In this summer palace, some flat areas on the ground have already been farmed by the female officials.But do these second and third floors... also need to farm?

Yi Nan rubbed her hands: She has been interested in three-dimensional agriculture for a long time.

There were no money worries at the Summer Palace that night.The women bought a whole lamb with great wealth and wealth, and roasted it on the fire.As soon as the heat was forced, the fat of the mutton slowly seeped out and dripped into the fire, making a sizzling sound.The aroma overflows everywhere.

The always serious female officials no longer put on airs, and the short-term workers were so greedy that they asked whether they could become "long-term workers" with this food and treatment.

"Okay, just this one time today." Yinan said with a smile, "You can't roast a whole lamb every day, can you?"

"I need to trouble you tonight. Everyone, stay alert and take turns to watch the night." Looking at the entire dark summer palace, Yinan thought to himself: After all, this place is very big, but there are few people, and women make up the majority. , just don't come as an unexpected guest.

Unexpectedly, there was no movement overnight.On the second day, an unexpected guest really came uninvited.

On this day, the ladies waited on the vegetables they had planted as usual, and Yi Nan brought a day laborer and the Medes lady Nia to the third floor of the Summer Palace.

Niya came here to help Yi Nan identify the existing crops on the top floor of the Summer Palace.But as soon as they came here, they felt that Nia's presence was unnecessary.

The highest level of the summer palace is bare, with some intertwined dead branches and root systems, but the vegetation has all died.Obviously, this is due to the lack of rain during the dry season in Babylon, and the poor irrigation system of the abandoned summer palace, the vegetation originally planted on the highest level died directly.

But Nia still enthusiastically identified the dead vegetation one by one: "This is red and blue flowers, this is Phnom Penh grass, and this is peacock orchid... If they are all alive, how would such a garden on the roof look like?" Beautiful!"

Nia could not have imagined that in Yinan's vision, the top floor of this tall summer palace should be planted with peas, alfalfa, turnips, garlic, green onions...the aroma of grain and herbs exudes everywhere, which is completely idyllic.

The three walked while listening to Nia's identification and nagging.

Hearing a bird chirp "chirp" and "chirp" in the sky, Yinan raised his head and covered the dazzling sunlight with his hands.I saw a bird gliding quickly in the air, with gray wings and a wide wingspan.

Yinan stared at it for a while, and said with certainty, "It's a Saker."

"Saker?" Nia said, never heard of it.The day laborer also knew nothing about the bird of prey.

Yi Nan had no choice but to explain himself: "It's a bird of prey that can hunt, and it should be raised by humans. But this one... doesn't look good."

Hovering in the sky is a smaller Saker Falcon.Yi Nan guessed that he had just started learning how to hunt.

But this little guy has been circling above the summer palace, and he doesn't want to go to the bigger wilderness to find prey at all.If a hunting falcon raised by humans cannot catch prey, it is estimated that it will be severely starved by the owner.

Yi Nan thought for a while, then suddenly stretched out his hand, put his right thumb and index finger in his mouth, and blew a loud whistle.

The little falcon spread its wings, circled twice in the air, and then fell slowly. It actually landed in front of Yi Nan, standing firmly on an abandoned carved fountain.

Inan was overjoyed.She hurriedly said to Nia and the day laborer: "You two go quickly and get a piece of fresh mutton from the kitchen, yes, and the leather gloves that Dolly bought the day before yesterday."

Dolly pays great attention to maintenance. In order not to hurt her hands during work, she specially bought a pair of leather gloves that extend to her elbows, and spent a lot of silver coins for this—but the leather gloves are too big, and it is difficult for people to do those things after wearing them. Meticulous farm work, so the gloves have been sitting there since they were bought.

For this reason, Dolly was often disliked by other female officials.

But now this pair of leather gloves could obviously come in handy.

After a while, Yi Nan had gloves and fresh meat in hand.She quickly put on the pair of gloves, holding the small piece of fresh mutton, and slowly stretched out her hands to the little falcon.

The pair of black eyes of the young Saker falcon were always staring at Yi Nan, coupled with the light white eyebrow lines on the eyes, it miraculously gave the bird a human-like demeanor.

It stared at Yinan extremely curiously, then turned its head slightly.

"So cute!" Yi Nan sighed.

Nia and the day laborer hiding behind her: — so scary!

Suddenly he heard the fluttering of wings and the vibration of the air current, the falcon suddenly flapped its wings and flew towards Yinan.

Yi Nan raised his right arm high, and the falcon immediately stretched out its sharp claws, clasped Yi Nan's wrist, and lowered its head to peck at the fresh meat in Yi Nan's other hand.

In fact, Yi Nan can also do without leather gloves.But she thought that all bird trainers were dressed like this. She put on gloves, which might make the birds lose their vigilance and come to eat obediently.

Small Sakers are poor hunters, but have a decent appetite.Its small head bit by bit, its sharp beak tore off pieces of fresh meat very quickly, and ate it quickly, eating a whole piece of fresh meat in a short while.

The little guy was probably full, so he turned his head to look at Yi Nan, nodding his head as if to say hello to her.

"Are you full?" Yi Nan asked, "Do you want to say hello now?"

The little head continued bit by bit.

"So, what's your name?"

A pair of long wings spread out and fluttered twice in the air, and the little Saker screamed loudly: "Chirp Chirp Chirp—"

Yi Nan: "Oh, I see, it's called Jiujiu——"

The little Saker's name was immediately determined to be "Jiujiu".

Yi Nan became playful, and simply threw away the leather glove on his left hand, and slowly approached Xiao Falcon with a small white hand.

Niya and the laborer who were hiding behind Yi Nan covered their eyes and dared not look, but they heard Yinan's crisp laughter.The little falcon was lowering its head, gently pecking Yi Nan's tender fingers with its hard beak, not vicious at all, as if playing with Yi Nan.

After a few pecks, Xiao Falcon was no longer afraid of Yinan.Even if Yi Nan's hand was close to its head, Jiu Jiu would not avoid it, and finally Yi Nan stroked the feathers on its head and neck twice, looking very good.

Lady Officer and Day Worker: What about the bird of prey?

The Babylonian royal family is hunting today at the royal hunting ground near the Summer Palace.The falconer released all the dozen or so falcons kept in the palace early in the morning, and now they have come back with their prey one after another.

The king's favorite eldest son, Sal, arrived late.Apart from military training, he supervised and inspected several construction projects in the city of Babylon. The prince himself was not interested in the entertainment of hunting.

But he has one interest, that is, taming falcons.

He casually asked the falconer: "The best-looking juvenile falcon I picked out earlier, how is today's performance?"

The falconer replied: "Your Highness, that young falcon...has no prey today."

Sarton frowned suddenly: "Did you feed too much before? Before you let it out next time, remember to be hungry first."

Falconer: "... already, I'm hungry."

Sal: ...?

Falconer: "...But when they flew back, they seemed to be quite happy."