[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Saar won the right to use the port of Cyprus and established a more decent ocean base in the Eastern Mediterranean.

He returned to Babylon once before his next voyage to visit his queen.

When the ministers of Babylon saw that the king had finally returned, they all asked for an audience, begging their king to stay in Babylon from now on, and not to leave the capital again.

The reason for their request is mostly because when the queen was in power, a woman actually sat on top of them.This made them feel very ashamed.

In addition to losing his position, Yinan is also a "king" who is extremely difficult to fool.Her meticulousness and strictness in dealing with government affairs is enough to make the old ministers who served in the court in the early king's time tremble with fear of making mistakes.

In contrast, Saar seems to be more "grasp the big and let go of the small".

When Saar heard these requests, he waved his hand and said, "What? Is the queen not wise enough to handle government affairs, and not diligent enough? Has the queen ever made a mistake in judgment?"

No one could answer Sal's question.Many of these veterans had served the former kings, and some even experienced the Assyrian era.They knew well that during the period when Yi Nan was in power, Babylon's various state affairs were both firm and soft, and Yi Nan's judgments on the current situation were also extremely accurate.If it wasn't because Yi Nan was a woman, they might not have protested to Wang Lai hastily.

But the ministers looked at each other in blank dismay. They really didn't expect that the king would defend the queen like this.

The Privy Councilor Gurwin shrugged at these elders and said: You see, I said it beforehand, right?

The ministers were in a hurry, and reminded Saar again and again: "Your Majesty, you must be clear that kingship is bestowed by the gods. If you don't take it from God, you may be in danger of disaster!"

Sal looked at them for a long time and almost didn't laugh out loud.

He really wanted to tell them: As early as when the shepherd king Dumuzi, the kingship was bestowed by this woman.Now that she is reluctantly acting on her behalf, what is there to make a fuss about?

In the end, Sal still held back his words, fearing to frighten a group of elderly adults.

The young and middle-aged officials in the court, headed by Privy Councilor Gurwin, have no objection to the fact that "the queen is in charge".Many of them regarded it as a great honor for the queen to do business, and even a compliment from the queen could make them energetic and work day and night for a long time.

The entire royal court of Babylon thus presents an enlightened and lively atmosphere—this atmosphere spreads to the people, so that the whole kingdom appears to be thriving.

Grain production in the Mesopotamia began to recover, and the kingdom's dependence on Egypt and Medes for food gradually decreased;

The handicraft industry is as developed as ever, technology is changing with each passing day, and new products and new materials are constantly coming out;

The kingdom's business flourished and almost reached its peak.Babylonian merchants spread all over the place and even wielded powerful influence over neighboring countries.

Saar stayed in Babylon for a few days, and after seeing clearly the situation in the court and among the people, he had to sigh with emotion: It is indeed Yi Nan!

In this way, he can sail away without any worries, to explore those strange seas, and set foot in lands that the gods have never revealed to humans.

He has been hesitating, and he doesn't know how to tell Yinan his decision.

Yi Nan prepared three things for him:

The first was an orange made of craft glass.This "orange" is lifelike and looks exactly the same as ordinary oranges, but because of the glass material, it is radiant and bright when the sun shines on it.

"This is to remind you. Food shortage is unavoidable when sailing on the sea. But please find a way to go to land and find some edible fruits and vegetables. Only in this way can we avoid the invasion of diseases."

The second piece is an extremely thick crystal.Holding it in your hand, you can clearly see that the light is gathered and pointed in a specific direction.

"This crystal can gather light on cloudy days and point out the direction of the sun. Experienced sailors can use it to judge the direction and height of the sun, so as to judge the direction and time."

Sal looked at it silently, thinking: He also remembered this thing, but he never thought that it could be used for sailing. ①

The third piece is a rather peculiar instrument: it is a flat disc with an iron needle nailed into the center of the disc.Sal held the disk and moved it, and found that the iron needle on the disk could rotate freely, but no matter how the disk turned, the iron needle was pointing in the same direction.

"It's called a compass. No matter where you are, the magnetic needle on it will always point to true north." Yinan explained to Thrall.

Thrall immediately thought of the application scenario of this instrument: So, whether he encounters fog or wind and waves, whether it is day or night-with this instrument in hand, he can always accurately judge the direction?

The overjoyed king opened his arms and hugged his wife in his arms, and was so excited that he said incoherently: "Thank you... you are worthy of it, I know you understand me..."

Saar's long voyage means separation, risk, and uncertainty about life and death.

How much he wanted to be by his wife's side forever, but in one's life, one always has to take a few steps towards the farthest and most difficult goal.Besides, he knew that Yinan would do far better than him on the throne.He's not in Babylon, and she just happens to be free to do anything.

And everyone in this world regards Wang's obsession with sailing as "doing nothing."Sal also heard that someone commented on him that "the king must be crazy".

Only Yi Nan understands him and understands his desire to conquer that has nowhere to rest.She always silently supports and encourages behind him, provides him with all assistance, and makes him feel at ease.If you get a wife like this, what more can a husband ask for.

But when he let Yi Nan go, he saw crystal clear tears in his wife's eyes.

Although I understand it, I can't bear it after all.

Saar felt as if his heart had been pierced by iron needles, but he really didn't know what to do, so he stretched out his arms to hug Yi Nan again, and murmured: "Don't worry..."

Even if it's just for you, I will come back well.

After sojourning in Babylon, Saar left the kingdom's capital and his queen.When parting, Sal left behind a long and thin box, which he said was a gift for Yinan.But I hope Yi Nan will open it on the day he returns from a long voyage.

So Yinan carefully kept the box and waited patiently for Saar's return.

Two months later, she received a letter from Cyprus—written in ink on parchment.The difficulty of carrying the clay tablets made the Babylonians gradually abandon the inventions of their ancestors and began to switch to lighter parchment or Egyptian papyrus.

In the letter, Saar said that the fleet he set out this time has a total of 4000 ships, with more than [-] people on board, and has enough food, oil, barreled wine (as a substitute for fresh water), With various tools and weapons, the entire fleet headed west.He will fulfill his promise to explore the seas and lands that even the gods have not revealed to anyone.

Yi Nan put away the letter and stuck the letter to his heart.

She believes this will be a breakthrough.

If Saar can find lands that have never appeared in various poems, legends, oracles, will it prove that the gods actually have a range of activities?If the scope of activities of the gods is the same as that of human beings, does it also mean that "gods" appear together with human beings, and are evolved little by little from the primitive beliefs of human beings?

It's just that the risk of this breakthrough is too great, too dangerous.

She personally sent Sal on this long voyage, but now she is suffering day and night, worrying about his safety.

For a whole year after this letter, there was no news from Saar who was sailing away.Until one day a year later, the Babylonian merchants stationed in Cyprus obtained a letter from the expeditionary fleet from the Carthaginians, and sent it back to the royal court of Babylon and delivered it to their queen.

"My love for Yinan..."

Yi Nan opened the letter, and his heart was slightly relieved when he saw the familiar handwriting.

"By the time you receive this letter, I must have crossed the giant pillar guarding the narrow strait and headed for the wider ocean..."

When Yi Nan saw this, he felt the sourness in his eyes burst out without bounds.

"The giant pillar guarding the narrow strait", Yinan knew exactly what this landform referred to—

The Strait of Gibraltar, the outlet of the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, is only 14 kilometers at its narrowest point.

The "Optimus Giant Pillar" refers to the Rock of Gibraltar, which is a Jurassic limestone standing proudly on the shore of the strait. column".

Sailing out of the Pillars of Hercules meant that Saar sailed out of the fertile Mediterranean region and faced the vast wind and waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Where will he go?

"I arrived in Carthage a few days ago and met the members of the Carthaginian Senate. I could see that they were hostile at first, but after offering to trade with Babylon as much as possible in the future, their The attitude is much better."

"The Senate took me to pay their respects to their temples. But I'm not interested in those strange gods... I just miss you."

Yi Nan covered the parchment, couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth, and smiled sweetly.

"But their Senate system is very interesting. It is different from the Sumerian Senate a long time ago - they don't have a king, and all decisions are made by the Senate..."

Inan nodded slightly.As a history student, she knew a little about Carthage.The Senate of the Carthaginians was very close to the Senate of the later Roman Republic.Of course, most of the members of the Senate in Carthage are nobles and military officials, and to a certain extent, it is still an elite politics, which is very different from an institution like the "Citizens Assembly" that listens to public opinion extensively.

"I asked the Carthaginians whether the gods they worshiped revealed to them what the world is like, where they are, and where is the end..."

"They didn't give me an answer. They only said that the south is an endless desert, and the west is the end of this continent. So I asked, what is after the desert, what is after the ocean..."

"They responded with silence. I think I should be the most embarrassing guest ever."

Yi Nan couldn't help laughing out loud, she could imagine the expressions of the Carthaginians, it was rare to meet Saar, a visitor from afar who broke the casserole and asked the truth.

"So I decided that I will always sail along the edge of this land to see how big this continent is, and where the land and sea will lead us..."

Inan thought: If Saar was driving along the coastline of the continent, then he would follow the route of Da Gama in 2000, going south along the coastline of the African continent, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and then turning north.

He will go all the way through the violent westerly wind belt, bypassing the "Cape of Good Hope" that does not bring "good hope". When he is close to returning home, he may encounter the monsoon of the South Asian subcontinent, and may be blown all the way to India. .

"My dear Yinan, I will bid farewell to you and embark on a more distant journey. I will keep my promise and return to Babylon to meet you in this life."

"And thank you for taking care of everything in the kingdom. Love you..."

Yi Nan folded the parchment letterhead, facing the garden of the royal court of Babylon, his brows were slightly frowned, his heart was happy for a while, and sad for a while.

If Saar could really go south around the Cape of Good Hope 2000 years before Da Gama, and open up a route around Africa—then he could indeed help himself complete his mission in this era, but the risk Saar took too big.She wasn't sure at all, and she didn't even know when Saar would be able to return to Babylon.

But what she can do now is to take good care of the Kingdom of Babylon, so as not to let the country's national power suffer any loss in the days when Saar leaves. "

Seeing Yinan put the letter aside, the female officer Doli approached cautiously, and said in a low voice: "There is some news from the country, which has something to do with you. Wang... Wang seems to be quite interested in Babylon recently. , want...want to get some land from you."

Dori is a female official from Medes. The "domestic" in her mouth refers to the kingdom of Medes, and the "king" refers to Inan's brother in name, the king of Medes, Astyages.

Since Sar came to the throne and married Yinan, the relationship between Babylon and Medes, instead of improving, gradually deteriorated.

One of the reasons is naturally the attitude of the king of Medes. Astyages did not even send a decent gift when the king and queen of Babylon got married; It is the "pretend" princess of Medes, and the king of Medes doesn't intend to recognize each other.

The real reason is that the trade between the Kingdom of Medes and Babylon is turning from a surplus to a deficit.

In the past, the Medes Kingdom had been exporting food to Babylon.With the fruitful improvement of water and soil in Babylon, the fertility of Babylon's farmland quickly recovered, and the grain production increased significantly, which in turn could feed back to Medes during the famine years.

Coupled with Babylon's excellent handicraft industry, Medes suddenly found that he had become a net "inflow" and no longer had "export".

The nominal elder brother of King Medes was very upset.

Saar was obsessed with "navigation" and didn't care about state affairs. The news of the queen's reign quickly spread to Media.The king of Medes naturally felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and immediately sent envoys to Babylon to meet with the queen, and asked Babylon to give Medes the "best" treatment-all goods sold by Babylon to Medes would be tax-free, and the merchants would automatically reduce their prices by two. become.

This extremely rude request was naturally "categorically" rejected by Yinan.

The king of Medes held a grudge, and wanted to attack Babylon and seize the land belonging to the Kingdom of Babylon by taking advantage of the absence of King Saar of Babylon and the queen's ruling.

This means that the original close allies and marriage partners have now become the source of new wars.

Dolly reported the news from Media and stepped aside.She is now the queen's close female officer, and she is also secretly in charge of inquiring about news with the Kingdom of Medes.Using her previous relationship in the Medes Kingdom, she successfully obtained a lot of "inside information" from the Medes royal family.

After listening to Dolly's report, Yi Nan nodded, temporarily putting aside the worries in his heart.

During the days when Sal was away, at least she couldn't let Babylon be bullied by others.

"Go and ask Gu Erwen to come and ask him to bring a few more generals and ministers who are familiar with the Medes cavalry."

Gurwin rushed over with his people and asked in surprise, "Is this... going to war with Medes?"

If there is a dispute with any country, Gurwin is not afraid.But a dispute with Midi would be the most troublesome thing.

One reason is that Medes is located on the northern plateau, commanding a commanding height, while Babylon is a flat plain, unobstructed and unobstructed.As soon as the new cavalry from Medes charged, the Babylonians were immediately at a disadvantage.

The second reason...Gurwin's wife is Nia, a maid from Medes, so he naturally didn't want to turn against Medes.

Hearing the news, Gulwin was most worried about Yinan's situation.Obviously she is the sister of King Medes (Gurwin's wife has always kept the secret that the ladies swore to keep), but she still can't stop the ambition of King Medes.

"From now on, let's make some plans."

When Yinan spoke, he already had a plan in mind.

"The first thing is to dispatch troops to defend the border with the Kingdom of Medes."

"The second thing is to go to Greece and recruit mercenaries. Once these mercenaries arrive, ask them to explain the latest cavalry and offensive and defensive tactics of Medes and other countries to the local soldiers. The country also needs cavalry that can always match the opponent."

"Yes--"

The decision came as a surprise to Gurwin to some extent.He had never realized the threat of the new type of cavalry to the Kingdom of Babylon before, but after hearing the queen's solemn words, Gurwin woke up: since the queen said they would do this, then they should do it.

The Greeks and the Babylonians did have a lot of communication channels - they had hired a lot of craftsmen from Greece to build the Tower of Babel before, and it was not difficult to invite Greeks and mercenaries who knew the military to enter through them.

"The third thing, Dolly, go get the map of the whole kingdom."

Dolly responded, and when she turned around, she brought a map of the entire Kingdom of Babylon and spread it out in front of the queen and important ministers.

This map was drawn on the basis of previous maps by a special craftsman after Sar came to the throne. It is the most accurate map of the Babylonian Kingdom today.

"Where is the narrowest point between the Euphrates and Tigris?"

The Euphrates River and the Tigris River, the two mother rivers are wide and deep, and they are the natural barriers of the two river basins.But the most worrying thing now is that the enemy will go around and attack the north of Babylonian territory, cross the Tigris River, attack from the open land between the two great rivers, and send cavalry down the plain.

Gurwin stepped forward immediately, stretching out his hand to compare a location;

Yi Nan took a look: I recognize it, the old place - Xipar.

Near Sipar is the place where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest, and the narrowest point of the two rivers is only about 100 kilometers.

Yinan thought for a while and decided decisively: "Hire a large number of domestic craftsmen and peasants, and build a city wall at this location to defend against cavalry—we might as well call it: the Great Wall of Medes③."

Guerwen thought this name was very good when he heard it: it was the Great Wall built to defend the Medes, but it can also be interpreted as: ordering that the builder was a princess from Medes, named after the place where the princess was born, to remind The army of Medes that is about to move, the two countries are allies who have a marriage relationship.

In short, everything follows the principle of courtesy first and soldiers later——

At this time, Gurwin asked cautiously: "Queen, do you think you want to go to a marginal province and conscript some slaves to build this 'Great Wall'?"

Yi Nan couldn't help but twitched the corner of his mouth: slave?How could she go back in stride when she set out to emancipate slaves more than 1000 years ago?

"No, I don't need forced labor."

"I want in the land of Babylon, everyone can earn something from their labor, and in the labor, they can increase their knowledge and make friends; I want people to regard it as a kingdom and contribute to themselves, and they will get unprecedented benefits from this noble activity. satisfaction."

"Gurwin, have you forgotten..." At this point, Yinan dragged his voice and did not continue.

Gu Erwen suddenly realized, stretched out his hand and patted his forehead heavily, thinking: Look at his memory, after so many years, he has completely forgotten about this "eating soft food".

Where does the queen need to conscript slaves?She has plenty of money, and if she needs it, she can give money to all the Babylonians, asking them to help build the Great Wall and protect the land.

But the Babylonians were not mercenaries.As long as they know that this is a necessary move to defend their home and country, they will definitely not care about gains and losses.

The matter was settled in this way, and in the next period of time, the officials of all Babylon will make arrangements separately according to this strategy.

The courtiers withdrew, and Yinan ordered Doli and Guerwen to stay for a while.

"Dolly, you mentioned before that I have a 'niece' who married Anshan, right?"

Dory nodded and said yes: she knew that Inan was referring to another princess of the Kingdom of Medes, the daughter of Astyages, who married into the Kingdom of Anshan, and now gave birth to a boy named Kurosh.

Anshan is a vassal state of the Kingdom of Medes. King Anshan has a gentle personality, and he has always said the same thing to the Kingdom of Medes.

"Gurwin," Yinan turned to the Privy Councilor of the Kingdom, "you arrange suitable people to go to Anshan, and I will send someone to protect my nephew and grandson."

Although Gurwin didn't understand what he meant, he still nodded in response, and immediately started making arrangements to protect the young "relative" of the queen.

After Gurwin left, Yinan told Dolly: "You ask Nia to keep an eye on this matter, and when Gurwin is all done and we have enough strength in Anshan to protect this little guy, you send someone to The Royal Court of Medes, find a way to remind His Majesty the King of Medes—"

"The princess of Medes has a son now."