[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

What slowly unfolded in front of Yinan was the north gate of Babylon City—Ishtar Gate.

The city of Babylon today is indeed a fortified city.The walls surrounding the entire city are unusually high.There are two walls, which are divided into inner wall and outer wall. The city wall is so wide that a four-horse chariot can run wantonly on the top of the city wall.

There is a wide trench between the base of the city wall and the outside of the city.If a foreign enemy attacked, the Babylonians could directly fill the trench with the water of the Euphrates River, and the enemy could not even approach the outer wall.

There are eight gates in the whole city, all named after gods.The Ishtar Gate is located at the northern hub, and it is the grandest and most magnificent of all the city gates.

It is in fact not just a "gate", it has two huge arches facing each other, with towers protruding from the arches.

Through the two arches is a huge north-south passage, extending towards the royal palace in Babylon.The aisle is wide enough for four two-wheeled carriages to drive side by side.

In addition to the grand regulations, the most eye-catching thing about the entire city gate is that the walls of the city walls and towers are all covered with royal blue glazed tiles.

Among the sapphire blue tiles, there are also inlaid patterns made of golden tiles.

When Yinan saw this scene, his heart was touched immediately.She whispered, "The Gates of Justice—"

Yes, the decorative style of this Ishtar Gate is exactly the same as the "Gate of Justice" she built in Babylon more than 1000 years ago.

"Princess--"

Prince Saar turned his face to look at her, gently holding her right hand forward——

"plz follow me!"

He, they, slowly embarked on that magnificent and grand road.The road is paved with neatly cut limestone strips, and the center of the road is inlaid with white and rose-colored flagstones.Inscriptions in cuneiform script are carved on the stone slabs.

"This city gate avenue is generally used for important ceremonies and ceremonies. So we also call it the 'Holy Way'." Thrall explained to the people around him.

So, as if in a dream, Yi Nan was guided by Saar and embarked on this exquisite road.

She followed Saar slowly forward, turned her head, and could see the tiles collaged with the pattern of a male lion at the place beside her that was almost at eye level.The posture of the male lion is lifelike, as if walking in the same direction as her.

"Hakesh..." Yi Nan murmured.

She raised her head, not far above the male lion, juxtaposed with other dragon beasts, was a bird with its head lowered to preen its feathers, but it was not a bird of prey like an eagle in appearance.

"Is that your parrot?" Yinan asked quietly.

As she walked forward slowly, there were more and more lions, dragons, bison, horses... Together with her, they moved forward slowly.It seems that all the people and creatures in this world are in a huge array at the same time, walking side by side with her in history.

Saar could hear her talking to herself, and could see her expression when he turned his head, but he didn't understand why she had so many emotions.

Of course, he also likes this holy way very much - on the holy way, colorful tiles are used to collage lions, bison, dragons... many, many beasts, symbolizing the bravery of the Babylonians and their devotion to the gods.This brand new city gate is the embodiment of Babylon's current strength.

But he has never seen her current expression on other people's faces: both grateful and gratified, with a look full of emotions——

As if this Ishtar Gate was built for her.

The two gradually walked to the two opposite arched towers of the Ishtar Gate.This part was finished, so no craftsmen or slaves bothered the two of them.

But also because the whole project will not be finished, no outsiders are allowed to enter or leave this part.Without Saar, Yi Nan would not have had this opportunity to come here to appreciate it with his own eyes.

Sal let go of her hand and turned his head in a gesture.Inan understood, and followed closely behind Thrall, and the two climbed a narrow spiral staircase to the tower of the Ishtar Gate.

Standing on the tower, you can clearly see the magnificent Euphrates River and the endless plain of two rivers.

Turning around, you will see the magnificent city of Babylon, the straight avenues, the cobweb-like streets and alleys, the temples and towers far away in the sky.

Yinan couldn't help being a little distracted: Those researchers in the project team who study ancient buildings should be extremely happy and satisfied now, right?

Unexpectedly, Saar took her directly to the middle of the tower and pointed it out to her.Yi Nan saw a clay tablet on a large tiled wall—a plain clay tablet embedded in the tiles.

"This clay tablet was discovered only after the renovation of the city wall." Thrall explained to Yinan.

In fact, he didn't know why he had brought her here, why he had to explain the tablet to her.But he just had this feeling: it had to be, or he would be consumed by regret.

"You...can you understand the words on it?" Sal asked the woman beside him.

That was cuneiform writing more than 1000 years ago—the form of the cuneiform script used in Babylon today has changed considerably.And as far as he knows, the Medes should not use this kind of writing.

The content of this tablet is also boring: it is a guide to building the gates of Ishtar.

It records the regulation of the entire city gate, the materials used, the pattern design on the city wall and the ground, and even the specific number of lions and parrots are recorded on the clay tablets.

At the end of the slate are two lines of poetry.

"If I forget you, let my pen forget the art of writing;

If I do not remember you, may my mouth never taste. "

The final signature is - "Herod".

Saar is very familiar with the name "Herod", the famous grand regent in history, known for his justice, strictness and sternness.

Before seeing this stone slab, Saar never knew that such a person had such a delicate mind and such a tender side.Saar was somewhat dismissive of this, but without this slab, the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate would not have been so easy.

The regent recorded all these on the slate, probably hoping that his wish would be passed on to future generations so that someone could see it.

But it was a silly move—the man Herod the Regent wanted to commemorate must have been a contemporary of him.If it is passed down to later generations, besides increasing conversational resources for some ordinary citizens, does it have any other significance?

Sal casually asked the woman beside him, but he didn't get a reply for a long time.

Turning my head again, I saw a crystal teardrop on the cheek of this "Princess Medes", which rolled down and fell on the clay bricks under her feet, smashing it to pieces.

Strange to say, at this moment, Sal actually felt all the pressure in his heart be released in an instant——

Obsessions are released:

He felt relieved that he seemed to have finally accomplished something of great importance;

The most crucial and most important thing, the other party saw all of them - he felt complete.

Unexpectedly, this touch of emotion is fleeting, as if it never belonged to Saar.

His shoulders trembled slightly, and the satisfaction from deep inside began to quickly disappear and be forgotten.

He was who he had always been.

He began to question his decision: what happened to him, to do such a stupid thing?Take someone to visit the Ishtar Gate that is about to be completed, and it is a woman he is particularly resistant to?

He looked at the woman beside him with a little disgust, and saw with his own eyes that she stretched out her hand in a daze, to gently touch Herod's name on the slate.

Only then did Sal finally realize his normal feelings:

——This woman looks so smart, why is she such a mother-in-law now?

Finally, Prince Saar took Inan to visit the Ishtar Gate, which was in urgent need of completion.

The two came down from the other side of the tower and pushed open a secret door. They were already standing outside Babylon.

Here, artisans are finishing some of the finishing touches on the city gate.The sapphire blue tiles that had been plastered on the walls glistened in the bright sunlight.

Two Judean craftsmen looked up at the lion pattern that had just been collaged on the city wall at the same time. They seemed a little dissatisfied. They communicated with each other in their native dialect and discussed with each other.

When Yinan heard this, he immediately stepped forward and greeted them in fluent Judean.

The craftsmen heard the local accent, and when they turned around to see such an elegant young lady, they hurriedly saluted and said hello.

Yi Nan chatted with them like this.

Sal could understand a little bit of Judean language, and at this moment he was standing beside the woman without saying a word, seemingly expressionless, but in fact he was straining his ears to carefully distinguish what the people around him were talking about.

Inan seemed to be asking how these craftsmen were treated in Judean.

Saar is very confident. The craftsmen he selected by himself are paid nothing.He even cared about the other slaves, as long as he didn't abuse his power.

But looking at the people in front of him talking to each other, he couldn't help being a little distracted: This woman can speak too many languages, right?She is a Medes, so it is needless to speak the language of Medes; she speaks the language of the Babylonians just like the natives;

Sal's heart moved, and he suddenly felt that a certain problem that had been troubling him might now find a solution.

However, Yinan turned his face away, smiled brightly at Sal, nodded his small chin at him, and said softly: "It seems that His Highness corrected it very quickly! Knowing people and making good use of them, you did a good job."

Sal couldn't help puffing out his chest slightly, feeling very proud in his heart.

He proved himself to this woman—he knows his mistakes and can correct them, and he is a cautious and reasonable person.

But he immediately became depressed again: Why does the majestic prince of Babylon still need to prove himself to a woman?

Why is he always showing some strange emotions in front of this woman, as if he is no longer his former self?

The Medes female officials who stayed in the summer palace have been worried since Yi Nan left.

Although "Princess" is a counterfeit, she has always been their backbone.Without the princess in charge, the women in the summer palace really don't know what to do.

Biansheng Yi Nan went to the city today, originally promised to come back in the afternoon, but he was nowhere to be seen in the evening.

The ladies could not help but worry.

"Here we come!" The long-term workers working on the third floor noticed the movement in the distance and hurriedly reported to the female officials.

Dolly led Nia and the others to climb to the third floor, and saw a series of lights on the road from Babylon City to the Summer Palace, and a huge group of people was coming here.

"Princess--"

Dolly screamed and rushed downstairs with only one thought on her mind: to be found, to be found, to be found.

That being the case, these female officials must unite and do everything possible to protect that "false princess".

Protecting Yinan well is tantamount to protecting themselves.

Unexpectedly, when the female officials arrived at the entrance of the summer palace, they saw Yinan calmly getting off the four-wheeled carriage that was only available in the Babylonian army, turning his head to thank the surrounding guards.

Gu Erwen, who used to pretend to be a "long-term worker" in the summer palace, came over with a heavy purse respectfully at this moment, and wanted to hand it over to Yi Nan, but in the end he still didn't dare, and finally chose to hand over the purse to Duo Korea.

"This is a little thought from my prince Saar. Please accept it instead of the princess."

Dolly's eyes widened.

Prince Saar found out that the princess had sneaked into the city, not only didn't blame him, but ordered someone to send her back to the summer palace and give her a generous gift?

She immediately smiled and took the money bag from Gurwin's hands with both hands. The weight of the money bag made her even more satisfied.

Gurwin felt guilty: he was ordered to secretly add two hundred gold coins to the purse, but it was worth less than half the original value of the purse.Facing Dolly's gratitude, he could only hesitate to answer.

Inan, on the other hand, seemed completely indifferent to Gurwin's little trick.She smiled and said, "Dolly, put away the purse. Set aside [-] gold coins from here, and you send a few long-term laborers to ask the surrounding farms to see if they can't afford the 'drip irrigation equipment' but I want to buy it very much, so I will lend them money and let them pay back slowly with their harvest.”

Guerwen: ... two hundred gold coins!

Dolly was completely puzzled, and said happily: "The princess is really kind-hearted. You can borrow some money to go out...Anyway, there are still a lot left. We can use the rest to continue to decorate this summer palace." .The summer that just passed was really hot, and we still need to transplant more tall green trees. The old fountains in the past should be restored to their original state..."

While Dolly said, Gurwin secretly remembered in his heart: This is a good way to help the prince please Princess Medi.

Sure enough, two days later, Saar personally led the team and transported a large amount of building materials and tree seeds, and also sent a "construction team" with nearly a hundred people.

This posture is completely different from Yi Nan and the others' small fights before. It looks like the summer palace has been completely refurbished like the walls of Babylon.

Among the building materials Saar brought, besides the simple and generous white and rose-colored stones, there are also many royal blue tiles.He probably felt that since Inan liked the Ishtar Gate, he should also like similar decorations.

In addition to these basic building materials, there are also many carefully delivered sculptures wrapped in wool felt.Most of these sculptures were made by Medes stonemasons, which are different from the wall relief style favored by the Babylonians.

Once there, the craftsmen began to mark out the area, list the renovation projects, and ask the female officials about their living habits so as not to disturb their daily life.

It seems that Prince Saar is really planning to work hard on this garden.

Seeing this scene, the female officers and deputy officers suddenly had different thoughts.

Ladies from Media: The Prince of Babylon has finally awakened!

Gurwin, the prince's deputy: His Royal Highness has invested a lot of money in order to "eat soft food". It seems that he is fishing for big fish with a long line.

In fact, after Saar sent so many materials and craftsmen to the summer palace, he immediately asked to "talk alone" with Princess Medes.

The female officer, Dolly, no longer talks about "avoiding suspicion" or not: if the two can get together smoothly, she is willing to go to all the temples in Babylon to offer sacrifices, and thank the gods for enlightening these two stupid guys.

Who would have thought that Saar’s first words when he saw Yinan: “I came to see you today because I wanted to make it clear. I didn’t mean anything else by taking you to the Ishtar Gate that day. I promised to be your ‘friend’ , it will definitely be done.”

"You want to make the summer palace more beautiful and more comfortable to live in, there is no problem. I will do my best to help you."

"However, I hope you understand that it is impossible for you and me to go any further. Regarding the matter of marriage, I still have the same mind and cannot change it. Once the prince asks, I will still answer the same as before .”

Saar said this very bravely, but he was worried in his heart.He didn't know how the woman in front of him would react.

The last time they met, they got along well, but Saar reflected on himself, he should not give the other party any extravagant expectations anyway.After all, he vowed to be loyal to the "destined" lover in this life.No matter how good Princess Medi was, he could only regretfully refuse and apologize.

Yi Nan stood opposite him, and smiled slightly upon hearing this.

"So, you still prefer to believe in the 'will' imposed on you by the gods, rather than trusting your own feelings?"

Inan asked with a smile.

Sal was stunned: "My own feeling?"

What did he feel about him?

Yi Nan continued to laugh: "Then I can't accept your imposing kindness even more. Since you and I are friends, you should respect my opinion even more - I can build this Summer Palace whatever I want. It’s not like you build a building that the Medes want according to your imagination.”

Sal was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself: Whose family is this summer palace...?

But in fact, he also had to admit that he had made a preconceived mistake. He thought the princess was from the Medes, so he wanted to remodel the summer palace into a Medes style.He directly sent the materials and craftsmen over, but never asked what the other party meant.

Indeed, he did not respect the princess of Medes as a friend.

So Saar apologized again, and brought Gurwen and the ladies over: "From today onwards, all craftsmen and slaves are at the disposal of the princess; all designs and constructions are decided by the princess; all building materials are used by the princess." The princess decides, if she wants to use it, send it from Babylon immediately, if she doesn't want to use it, no one is allowed to use it here."

Saar said three "all" in one breath, and Gurwin silently praised in his heart: In order to "eat soft food", the prince was really obedient and used all tricks.

Unexpectedly, Yinan still shook his head with a smile: "Having said that, I don't get paid for nothing. I can't accept these craftsmen to work for me for nothing. The construction materials of Babylon city are freely provided to me... Otherwise, I will follow the instructions of these craftsmen." Pay them salaries, as for those materials, I will pay according to the price."

The female officer and deputy were once again excited about this.

Guerwen applauded loudly in his heart, almost applauding: great start-prince, this golden princess has promised to support your artisans and workshops.

Dolly was very helpless: Silly princess... unmarried couples, why do you have to calculate so clearly.

Sal listened to Yi Nan's words verbatim.But he felt that this was still inappropriate: he originally proposed to renovate the summer palace because he felt sorry for Yi Nan, and compensated Yi Nan.As a result, people didn't accept it, and used the excuse of "no reward for no merit".

"No reward for nothing?"

Thinking of this, Sal seemed to have a sudden enlightenment.He thought of a brilliant idea.

"No, no, no, this is definitely not 'no reward for nothing'. In fact, I have an extremely important matter and I want to ask you for help. These craftsmen and materials at your disposal are all to thank you Help, pre-arranged."

"I was afraid that you would not agree, so regardless of 21, I sent all the people and materials to you first."

"Since you have nodded and agreed to use these people and these materials, it means that you have agreed to my request..."

Sal said these words very fluently.

He has gradually mastered the tricks of communicating with Yi Nan: Yi Nan likes to talk to herself, and she is especially good at grasping a point and extending it endlessly, causing both parties who are talking to gradually forget what the original starting point is.

Now Thrall also started to use this trick, directly announcing that Yi Nan had agreed to his request—although Yi Nan didn't even know what his request was.

Sure enough, Yi Nan was amused by this little trick of "drawing the ladle from the gourd".She couldn't help looking at Sal, and finally asked softly: "Then, Your Highness, what is your request?"

Sal put his right index finger on his lips, and made a "unspeakable" gesture: "I will pick you up tomorrow, and take you into the city."

Because of the words "Pick you up to the city", the female officer and the lieutenants didn't sleep well all night.But the parties were unaware.

The next day, Sal really sent someone to fetch Yinan, and instead of letting her enter the city through the busy gates, he took her into the Ishtar Gate, which was about to be completed and no one was passing through.Naturally, no outsiders noticed.

After Yi Nan entered Babylon, the car she was riding in immediately turned to the southeast and drove towards the huge Babylonian royal family complex.But they passed by the side of these buildings without stopping, and galloped straight to the southeast corner of the city.

"Here we are, princess, please be careful." Gurwin, the deputy who came to greet him, graciously helped Yi Nan get off the car.

Inan's ears were full of noise, and she almost didn't hear what Gurwin said clearly.

Getting off the car, she was surrounded by people of various skin colors, hair colors, and costumes, all of whom were dressed as craftsmen.They talked loudly and frothy to each other, but it was completely like a chicken talking to a duck.Everyone gestured to each other, but it still seemed difficult to communicate.

Inan raised her ears curiously, silently calculating how many languages ​​she had heard: Needless to say Babylonian and Judean, Medes (Persian), Egyptian, Greek, Basque, Phoenician and Carthian The language of the Kid...is mixed with countless dialects and accents.

With the function of her watch, she can distinguish all languages ​​and receive all information in an instant - so many people speak at the same time, it is almost an information explosion for her.

But among all kinds of information coming in at a very fast speed, there is a word that is repeated and repeated in everyone's mouth.

Yi Nan keenly caught this word, and opened his eyes round in surprise.

This is just when Saar heard the news and came out to greet him.He stretched out his hand to Yinan, and at the same time introduced: "You are invited to come, just for this kind of building, unprecedented and unprecedented, the most magnificent building in the entire Mesopotamia..."

Yi Nan has already taken a step ahead.She looked at the ruins of a building behind Saar, and took Saar's words:

"Tower of Babel--"

"This is the Tongtian Tower!"