[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Yi Nan leaned against the wisteria trellis in her garden and reached out to pick a rose.

Although the rose was beautiful, the thorns were sharp, and they plunged into her finger, causing her to feel sharp pain for a moment.

But pull out the thorns of the rose, and look at the hand again, it is white, smooth, without any blemish.

She stretched out her hand and pushed hard on the wooden post beside her.In the past, even the stone pillars were inferred by her.But now the wooden pillar only swayed slightly, and the vine flowers that had passed their blooming period fell down one after another.

Her "power" has almost faded.

Yi Nan guessed that this might have something to do with her staying in a different time and space for too long.

The advantages she had when she first participated in the "Retrospective Civilization Project" are still there: beauty, longevity, invulnerability...

But then the infinite power that Daniel gave her additionally has disappeared little by little over time.

She used to feel somewhat melancholy about it.

The meeting with Herodotus made her very excited.

Even Herodotus, a young man in the 5th century BC, knew very well that pure force in this world is no longer the criterion for judging whether an individual is strong or not.Nor is the criterion of blood, class, or wealth.

Humanity and rationality began to shine in this world.

Thinking about it this way, Yinan suddenly felt that he had nothing to worry about?

She could bravely step out of this small courtyard and be among the crowd.Because she - has enough vision and wisdom.

So Yinan got up, came to the gate of her courtyard, gently pushed the gate open, and let out a "squeak".

June 323, 6 BC.

Alexander the Great of Macedon was dying in his palace in Babylon.

In just 13 years, the young emperor unified the whole of Greece, swept across the Middle East, occupied Egypt, annexed Persia, and his army reached the Indus River Valley, creating the largest empire in the world.But because of a heavy drink, he suddenly had a high fever and was knocked down by a serious illness.

His loyal Praetorian pleaded tearfully at his dying bed, asking him to name a successor.

Alexander could only vaguely leave four words:

"To the strongest!"

This answer is like carving "To the fairest goddess" on a golden apple, and the only consequences it can bring are disputes and wars.

When the news was just released from the royal palace of Babylon, a solitary smoke, thin and straight, had already been ignited on the Tower of Babel.This tallest tower in human history is the tallest building in all of Chaldea.When the weather is clear, the tower can be seen for hundreds of miles, not to mention the smoke that is burning now.

The farmers who were working raised their heads from the fields, and the merchants trading on the exchange put down their chips.

The Babylonians who originally respected the Macedonian king began to gather everywhere in Babylon.They seem to be waiting for something.

Sad Macedonian generals and soldiers never noticed this.They couldn't believe the news of Alexander the Great's death. They flocked to the royal palace of Babylon one after another, put pressure on the emperor's guards, and asked to enter the palace and witness it with their own eyes.

Finally, under pressure, the Janissaries opened the gates of the palace.Macedonian soldiers marched to Alexander's body, where they wept bitterly.

When night fell, the Macedonian soldiers finally left the palace.A well-covered door in the palace opened silently, and a young girl came barefoot to Alexander's dying bed and stared at it for a moment.

A guard suddenly shouted: "Who?"

The girl did not speak.

The imperial guards thought it was the emperor's concubine or secret mistress, but he didn't dare to ask.

At this moment, a white-haired figure appeared in the hall, and shouted to the imperial guard: "Let's step back first!"

The imperial guards recognized that the teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle, did not dare to say anything, and quickly retreated, leaving the entire hall to the visitor.

Aristotle bowed to the young woman whose back was turned to him, saying, "I see you at last."

He saw that the other party was silent, but he didn't dare to neglect, and continued: "Everything is as you predicted..."

Everything happened, and the dates are accurate.

The girl raised her lips and said softly, "Are you doubting me?"

Alexander the Great was only 32 years old when he died of illness, and it happened suddenly.He developed a fever after a feast and died ten days later.To be able to predict all this so accurately is either a magician or a murderer.That's why this girl said that.

Aristotle sighed and said, "I do doubt you. But I..."

He couldn't continue, and the girl helped him continue: "But if it were you, you might do it yourself, right?"

Aristotle's face was swollen and he remained silent.But it is true.

Many years had passed since the philosopher became Alexander's teacher.

His student Alexander, in the first few years of his conquest, was an excellent student, a respected general and monarch.But now he has become a tyrant who is extravagant, moody, and murderous at every turn.

Even Aristotle himself said: "No one can bear such a rule."

So the girl was not wrong when she said that Aristotle might have "hands-on."

"However, thank you for bringing me to Babylon in advance." Aristotle said thanks.

He had been in Athens before, and there had been anti-Macedonian waves in the city of Athens.Once the news of Alexander the Great's death came out, Athens was bound to rebel.If Aristotle himself was still in Athens, his life would be in danger.

"You're welcome. I invited you here to borrow your fame and status." The girl didn't show much favor to the emperor's teacher.

She turned around abruptly, walked quickly towards Aristotle, and stopped only two steps away from him.The bright silver light was falling on her hair and body, reflecting a glamorous face.But she directly shocked Aristotle with her sharp and resolute eyes, which made him feel unbearable pressure, and directly took two steps back.

"Alexander the Great, on his deathbed, gave the world a 'gift'. With the words 'to the strongest', the whole world will fall into decades of successor wars, waiting for those Macedonian warlords to decide one' The strongest'."

"I can tolerate Alexander's lightning-fast unification of the entire region, but I cannot tolerate the entire region falling into a long-term melee."

The girl's words shocked Aristotle.He was still in the shock of the emperor's death, so he didn't even think about the impact that short last words would have on the whole world.

And the girl in front of her didn't seem to be more than 20 years old, except for her mature and sharp eyes, she was a young and delicate flower no matter how you looked at it.

——But with such vision and momentum.

Aristotle couldn't hold back, and asked first, "Who are you?"

Since someone from Babylon contacted him two years ago and persuaded him step by step, Aristotle has always wanted to know who is this person who is secretly presiding over the overall situation and arranging the entire careful plan.

But he never expected it to be a young woman.

When the young woman first appeared, Aristotle had thought that there might be someone else behind the host, and the "delicate flower" in front of him might just be a puppet who came forward to be in charge of communication.

But when he saw the girl with his own eyes and heard what she said, Aristotle believed wholeheartedly: it was this woman.

——It was her who arranged everything.

"Is it important who I am?" The girl raised her mouth with a confident smile.

Unexpectedly, this reminded Aristotle of a rumor that had been circulating in Babylon for many years: "Are you... the agent of the Venus goddess Ishtar?"

The city of Babylon has always kept the legend about Ishtar, the goddess of Venus. In the early years, it was rumored that she would sneak into the world and find a suitable young man to be her lover; A "surrogate" of the Goddess.

The surrogate of the goddess possesses unrivaled beauty and charm, and is eternally youthful.

But the agent of the goddess is not as merciful as the goddess herself.How many men yearn for her attention but are still unable to get it.

Her existence has always protected the city of Babylon, making it prosperous and helping it avoid foreign enemies.She has helped many talented young people, who either received her sponsorship or her encouragement.

Indeed, some young men with amazing talents had seen her with their own eyes, and they told about her beauty and wisdom—hence there are legends about her in the world.

She is as mysterious as the Queen of Babylon who inexplicably abdicated and disappeared into the world.

Aristotle never thought that at his age, he would be so shocked when faced with the "Goddess' agent".

The girl opposite Aristotle is naturally Yinan.

She also had a face-to-face discussion with the young Alexander in person when he rose to power—and regretfully confirmed that this was not the soul she was looking for.

Facing the unstoppable Macedonian army at that time, Inan made a decisive decision. The Chaldean Republic temporarily hibernates and becomes part of the Macedonian Kingdom in order to avoid a large number of population injuries and sword disasters, preserve the splendid civilization of the region, and let the culture from Greece Mutual promotion and development with local civilization.

She had a "gentlemen's agreement" with Alexander the Great, the Republic bowed to the Great, but the Chaldeans would not become slaves of the Macedonians.

Alexander the Great kept his word, and fell in love with the Chaldean civilization more than Macedon, where he was born, and Greece, which influenced him deeply.He even chose the city of Babylon as the eastern capital of his entire kingdom, and called it "the center of the world."

He had planned here: whether the next step was to enter India or Rome.

He also died of illness here.

Yi Nan turned his head and looked at the body of Alexander the Great on the couch, with a trace of pity in his eyes.She thinks that Alexander is a hero, but even such a hero cannot escape the fate of being corrupted by power and desire.

With the fall of Emperor Star, the structure and order of the world will change immediately.Therefore, Yi Nan must stand up at this juncture. She has no intention of dominating the world, but she also does not want to be enslaved by others.

"What are you going to do?"

Seeing that the girl avoided answering his question, Aristotle knew that no matter how hard he asked, the other party would never reveal her true identity.He immediately changed the subject and asked about the arrangements after Alexander the Great's death.

"Naturally, the four generals under His Majesty's command were summoned in Babylon to entrust the vast land of the empire and stop the war."

Yinan spoke very simply, but Aristotle gasped.

Human desires are infinite.Alexander the Great's last words were "to the strongest".And after his death, he left behind a huge empire that almost covered the "known" world, and it was impossible for everyone to live in a corner willingly.

Let them gather under the city of Babylon, is this a solution to the problem, or is it a way to lure wolves into the house?To lure all the most dangerous people to Babylon?

When Aristotle was in doubt, Yinan raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, reminding Aristotle: "Don't forget—Babylon now has a treasure that is considered sacred by the entire empire." Things. With it, the generals will never dare to mess around."

Ever since he received the news of Alexander the Great's death, Aristotle had been in such a state of mental tension that it was almost difficult to think.Now when he heard the girl in front of him mention it, his mind was completely at a loss, and he had no idea what this "sacred object" would be.

The girl sighed, turned around, and continued to look at Alexander's body on the couch.

Only then did Aristotle wake up: the "sacred object" the girl spoke of was actually the coffin of Alexander the Great.

Whoever can win Alexander the Great's coffin and become the emperor's guardian is equivalent to owning the amulet of the empire.

Aristotle slapped the back of his head in frustration, he couldn't even think of this?

In fact, Aristotle is almost an "encyclopedia" scholar, but when it comes to strategy, he is completely different from his students.Compared with the girl in front of me, it is obviously far from it.

There is a bait in Babylon, which general would not come?

Of course, it is absolutely impossible for them to sit back and watch their opponents rob this "sacred object" - no one can predict what the final outcome of this matter will be.

Aristotle thought about it along this line of thought, and couldn't help but tremble with fear.

The girl immediately said softly: "It is indeed more appropriate for you to come forward in this matter. But don't worry, I will do everything I can to protect your safety."

Aristotle said forcefully: "I am already old, what does my safety matter?"

As the late emperor's teacher, he is fully qualified to come forward and recruit military generals from all over the empire to Babylon to meet the emperor's spirit—however, the audience must follow a rule that Alexander the Great had set before his death: Caleb Bottom rules.

This rule was agreed with Inan when Alexander the Great incorporated the Chaldean Republic into the Macedonian Empire.

It stipulates that when all Macedonian generals enter Chaldea to meet Alexander the Great, they are only allowed to bring a maximum of [-] soldiers into the country.

Now that the emperor is dead, the rules still apply.

Yi Nan mentioned the Chaldean rules in front of Aristotle, and she looked like she knew the rules thoroughly, which gave Aristotle an idea:

"This Chaldean rule, it can't be... you and the emperor agreed back then, right?"

Inan paused, she didn't like lying, so she nodded.

Aristotle folded his arms immediately, and his whole body seemed to want to curl up: the girl in front of him had foreseen today's situation more than ten years ago, and even pre-arranged the Chaldean rules— This is horrible.

—she is not human at all.

Yi Nan stretched out his index finger to stick to her soft red lips, and softly "hush": "Old man, please follow me!"

Her soft little hand gently held Aristotle, and the elderly philosopher could feel the warmth from a gentle woman, and his fear disappeared.He followed her, bypassed a door, and immediately entered a secret passage.

They turned left and right along the secret road, passing through countless forks.

Yi Nan was very familiar with the underground passages leading to all directions of Babylon, as if he knew the lines on his palm.

Aristotle staggered to follow her through the side roads, through one secret room after another.He saw many secret rooms with men and women in Babylonian costumes huddling their heads together for secret discussions, some secret rooms had maps drawn on parchment scrolls hanging, and some secret rooms had miniature models of various frontier gates...

This "underground city" is like a sophisticated fortress, accommodating an unknown number of soldiers.Aristotle was dazzled while watching.

"You don't know anything about this palace." Yinan made such an evaluation after seeing Aristotle's eyes.

Aristotle: ... Indeed!

Over the years, the Macedonians have completely regarded it as their royal palace. They never expected that it was built and maintained by the Babylonians.And its previous owner was the Queen of Babylon who mysteriously disappeared in history.

In the end, Yinan took the old man to a secret room and arranged for him to stay and rest here temporarily.

"Although it's underground, it's well ventilated and there are no snakes or rats. It's no different from a residence on the ground except that you can't see the sun."

"Please live here in peace for a few days, let us protect your safety."

Aristotle agreed.Strange to say, after entering the underground palace of Babylon, he became more and more at ease with this mysterious girl.

He carefully looked at the room, and saw that there were thickly stacked sheepskin rolls on the shelf inside the room, and he took a roll at random, and when he opened it, he found that it was his own writing——

Aristotle was stunned again.

But he heard the girl behind him say goodbye to him: "Please rest well here!"

Before she left, she smiled at Aristotle and said, "Actually, if you are willing to think back, you might be able to remember me... This is not the first time we have met."

Holding the parchment in his hand, Aristotle froze there.

He tried his best to recall, and he really felt that he had an impression of this girl in his heart, but no matter how he recalled it, he couldn't remember it.

Until later, he had a dream in which he studied under Plato in Athens when he was young, and he indeed met a young woman in Plato's academy and talked to him very cordially.At that time, the woman was always wearing a veil, not showing her true face.But he was so impressed by those eyes—

Aristotle opened his eyes and woke up, confirming that it was the girl he had seen last night.

Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great, came forward to send the notice, and Macedonian generals scattered throughout the empire rushed to Babylon to bid farewell to their leader.

When they entered Chaldea, they all obeyed the "Chaldean Rules" and left the large group of people, horses, supplies, food and grass outside Babylon.

Even the four famous generals whom Alexander the Great relied on most, brought only a thousand soldiers into the territory of Chaldea.Ptolemy, Seleucus, One-eyed Antigonus, and Lysimachus hurried back from the front lines of the empire.Antipater, the minister who stayed in the "regent" of the Kingdom of Macedonia, also arrived with his son Cassander.

The regent's son, Cassander, was also a famous general.And he is even more ambitious than his father.He had never heard of the "Chaldean Rules". Although his father ordered to abide by the rules, he specially selected a thousand of the most capable Macedonian soldiers, and even mixed in no less than fifty masters who were good at assassination, into Chaldea.

Everyone knew that they did not come to Babylon at this moment to send the emperor "the last journey".

They are waiting for a "package agreement". The "enclosure agreement" will determine their future territory.

So, they quarreled for three days and three nights in front of Alexander the Great's coffin and in front of the emperor's teacher Aristotle.

The Babylonians just watched coldly, as if this had nothing to do with them.

Finally, a group of generals came to the conclusion that the various provinces in the empire were distributed to everyone:

Ptolemy takes Egypt;

One-eyed Antigonus gained Asia Minor;

Seleucus received a vast land from the east of Chaldea to the Indus Valley;

Lysimachus got the northern shore of the Aegean Sea.

The Macedonian Regent Minister Antipater obtained the power to continue the "regency" in the Kingdom of Macedonia.

After everything was discussed, someone suddenly asked: "So, who will get Chaldea? Who will get the emperor's coffin? Who will be the guardian and successor of Alexander's spiritual fire?"

There is no answer - because Alexander gave the answer on his deathbed: to the strongest.

A group of famous generals looked at each other in dismay: all of them are gathered here, and each of them has only a thousand soldiers under their command - with such a small force, how can they decide who is the "strongest"?

At this time, Aristotle, who had been watching coldly, stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "I thought: I need to remind everyone. The late emperor has actually left Chaldea to one person."

What? ——All the ministers and generals here were shocked.

Could it be that there are people in this world who are more powerful than these imperial generals who hold military power?

This is impossible.

"Generals, welcome to Chaldea."

The door of the royal palace of Babylon opened slowly, and a girl in simple but radiant clothes walked out.

Aristotle got up slowly, and greeted her very seriously, as if confirming what he said just now: the one in front of him is the strongest.