[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

On the day Bud and young people from the two villages of Tibila set off together, the two villages actually shared a cow and lent it to Yinan's "Uruk tour group".

This is really costly for the villagers of the two villages: Although it is winter slack now, both villages have planned to dig canals to assist irrigation and drainage in the spring of the next year.Cattle, a kind of hard-working livestock, are really the treasures of the village.

But fortunately, the two villages have newly produced a lot of ox carts and carts, which have shared a lot of labor for the farmers and livestock. After careful calculation, the two villages decided to let Yinan and her tour group take an ox cart on the road. .

This brand-new ox cart has a shaft in front of the cart, a yoke on the ox, and strength on the shoulders of the ox, which is similar to the "rope ring" hanging on the little black dog back then.

After being put on the harness, the shaved yellow ox obediently "mooed" and led the ox cart to take two steps forward. It seemed quite relaxed without any discomfort.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But the tour group is not ashamed to sit on the bullock cart.The ox carts are filled with everyone's luggage, clothes, and daily necessities.With Yi Nan and a group of boys and girls, everyone's stuff filled the truck.

In addition to the items for everyone's own use, there is one more thing in this cart-newly made maltose in the village.

Maltose is made by mixing malt and flour after germinating barley. It only needs to be fermented in a warm place for a day, pour out the soup produced after fermentation, and then boil it slowly over low heat until it becomes viscous. Sugar cubes, sprinkle flour on the surface of the sugar cubes, let cool and cut into pieces.This sweet treat made with barley makes it.

After tasting maltose, everyone in the village felt that the sweetness of this thing was no worse than honey.And the little honey saved in the village was used as a sacrifice earlier and given to the priests from Uruk. Now there is maltose, which just happens to satisfy the children of the two villages.

Yi Nan also brought a few big bags along with him, firstly, this kind of snacks can satisfy hunger at critical times, and temporarily raise blood sugar levels.Secondly, she also wanted to see if there was a market for this snack in Uruk.If so, she would have found a new way to get rich for the barley produced in these two villages.

As for beer, because it takes a long time to brew, and she hasn't been able to find the magical plant "hops" - beer is still listed on Yinan's "wish list" for the time being, and has not yet been realized.

Everything was ready, Yi Nan looked back at her "travel group", except for a few young people who finally decided to farm in their hometown, there were ten "group members" who finally decided to go with her.There are six teenagers and four girls in the group, all between fourteen and fourteen.

Most of the parents of these young people were reluctant, but no one was particularly worried about the trip, and no one was worried that Yi Nan would abduct a group of boys and girls and run away.

Fat master Hamti waved goodbye to his fat boy: "If the gods are willing to keep you in Uruk, you can stay there. When the time comes, please remember to send a message to the family and ask the Ake family to bring you back. !"

The skinny master Ake immediately retorted: "Why didn't my boy stay in Uruk, and your family brought the message back?"

The two immediately quarreled.

On the contrary, the children of these two families have been helping Yi Nan with work recently, and they get along very well, just like brothers.Seeing that the two old fathers quarreled again after a disagreement, the two teenagers could only shrug their shoulders, look at each other, and then both laughed.

Yi Nan was very curious: Will anyone stay in Uruk?

Little Hamti saw Yinan's puzzled expression, and quickly explained: "In the past, some people in our village were selected by the priests to go to Uruk to attend the 'Holy Wedding Ceremony', and they were selected as candidate priests in Uruk. over there."

Yi Nan pondered: So it turned out to be like this.It seems that Uruk invited guests to watch the ceremony not only for the purpose of making money, but also for the purpose of attracting people.

Little Hamti saw that Yinan understood, and quickly added: "Don't listen to Dad and the others bickering. In fact, everyone thinks that if we go with you this year, the chances of everyone staying in Uruk may be better."

Yinan: ...?What's the situation?

Did everyone in this village guess that she went to Uruk again to "make trouble"?

Before she could turn the corner, Hamti and Ake had finished their quarrel and reconciled, one fat and one thin, with smiles on their faces at the same time, smiling and waving to Yi Nan together.

It seems that everyone is very reassured about her and believes that she can keep her promise and bring these children to Uruk smoothly, and then send them back safely.

"Nan, should we go?"

Yi Nan agreed casually with an "um", but she still stayed where she was, looking at the village behind her.

She was waiting for Dumuzi—the shepherd she had personally invited, but the shepherd had never agreed to her.

Yi Nan thought: Did she fail like this?It was the first time in her life that she invited a boy, and the key point was that this boy was still her "gossip target".

After getting along with her for the past few days, does Dumuzi really, really, not want to go to Uruk with her at all?

Suddenly, there was a sound of dog barking in the distance.

"Little Black—"

The shepherd dog moved too fast, and jumped into Yi Nan's arms with a "whoosh", and Yi Nan took two steps back to let go of the momentum, but he couldn't seriously scold the guy, so he could only hug and scratch for a while. scratch.

The sound of "bleat" sounded in the distance, and a small flock of sheep moved here.

The young shepherd was carrying a bundle on his shoulders, waving a long leather whip in his hand, and smiling at Yi Nan from a distance.

"It's late! Fortunately, I caught up."

Yinan pursed his lips and looked at him, held back his smile, and turned to look at the sheep he had rushed over: "Why does your flock seem to be half missing?"

"I left half of the sheep for the shepherds in Tibila Village to help take care of them. I was afraid that I would bring too many sheep and it would be difficult to restrain them on the road, and I was afraid that if I brought too few sheep, it would not be enough. After struggling for a long time, I was late."

"By then... not enough?"

Before Yinan could react, Hamti and Ake understood first, and patted the back of their heads together and said, "It's still Dumuzi who is thoughtful."

"That's right, it's not like going to Uruk with the priests this time. Let's not talk about the road, when we get to Uruk, we need these sheep for living, eating and using."

Dumuzi smiled embarrassedly.

Yi Nan was stunned for a long time before she came back to her senses: she finally understood - the sheep brought by Dumuzi were not just sheep, but a group of walking coins.

At this point in time, human beings have not yet entered the Bronze Age, and the application of metals is directly zero, so the coins, gold and silver that people in later generations are familiar with... have not yet appeared.

This is an era of barter.And this group of sheep, driven by shepherd dogs, bleating and walking in the fields are not only a group of sheep, but also a group of walking hard currency!

This group of "currencies", as long as you give them a little time every day and eat some forage, they can maintain their value and can be used to feed their hungers when necessary.After staying in Uruk, these hard currencies should help them find a place to live, exchange for food, and maybe help them enter Inanna's temple and face Inanna's "sacred marriage" ceremony-in case this era will also Are there scalpers or something?

Yi Nan looked at Dumuzi and sincerely thanked: "Thank you for coming."

Du Muzi immediately turned his head away, as if he didn't dare to look at Yinan, smiled shyly, and said, "Well...you want me to follow...Of course it's fine!"

A group of people finally got together, and little Hamti and little Ake each pushed a two-wheeled cart and walked at the head of the team.There are several other teenagers behind, one of them is leading the bullock cart forward slowly.

Together with Dumuzi, Yinan drove the "money" and walked in the end.

Yi Nan suddenly heard a voice: "Yinan——"

The speaker had a slight accent, and the tone of the last utterance was a little "inner", which was really like the old man in the school's reception room greeting Yi Nan.

She instinctively agreed, turned around, and found that among a group of villagers guarding the entrance of the village, Master Hamti opened his eyes wide and covered his mouth with both hands.

When the others saw Yi Nan actually turned their heads, some were surprised, some were overjoyed, and some had a prophetic expression like "I'll say it".

Yi Nan: ... Oh, I'll go!

Her original name was "Inan", which sounds too close to "Inanna"——

But the villagers use this method to test, is it considered illegal to touch porcelain?

Immediately, the villagers from the two villages bowed to Yinan at the same time. They were respectful and kind, and waved goodbye to her.Compared with their attitude in front of the priest that day, their attitude towards Yi Nan was more comfortable and less restrained in their reverence, as if Yi Nan was both a god and a girl next door.

Yi Nan pursed his lips lightly, really not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

She tilted her head and just saw Dumuzi grinning secretly. In desperation, she could only give this guy a hard look, then turned and walked away.

Getting to Uruk is easy, just keep walking along the Euphrates.

Yi Nan and her "tour group" members set off with great enthusiasm, but the daily progress was rather slow after they hit the road.

First of all, the "currency" that Dumuzi carried with him needed to eat grass for two hours every day before he was willing to go on the road.Furthermore, it is the first time for young people to travel far. Although they can see scenery they have never seen before, they fetch water and purify it with charcoal every day, then boil and store it, light a fire for cooking, and go to the fields to find a place to rest. Everyone is not very skilled in such chores.

The first two days on the road were just a survival challenge.

In addition, the bullock carts and carts that have just been put into use are also in constant condition after being on the road, and they need to be repaired almost every day-Dumuz and Little Ake are both good players. Thanks to them, the team can keep moving forward.

But Yinan probably calculated the time spent on the road, and knew that even if they walked all the way slowly, there would still be enough time for everyone to reach Uruk before the New Year.

She just took advantage of the time on the road to observe this group of young people and see if there was anything particularly worth cultivating among them.Also take this opportunity to inquire about Uruk and the priests.

A group of people passed by large and small villages along the way, sometimes drinking water from the well; at night, they would greet the villagers and borrow an open space at the entrance of their village to sleep.

Most of the villagers in this area are very friendly. When they saw this group of lovely young people, they not only let them stay overnight, but also let them use the well at the entrance of the village.Most of the tour group gave a small bag of maltose as a return gift, which left a very good impression on the villages along the road.

Inan asked these villages whether the priests of Inanna had been there, and the answer was probably yes.Several other villages said that the priests had just left.

Yi Nan knew that these priests should be nearby.

But along the way, the two sides have never met.

Until one night ten days later, Yi Nan and the tour group lit a bonfire outside a small village and camped to rest.

Dumuzi's twenty or so sheep huddled together obediently, with their heads together, and fell asleep standing up.

The others made their own floors.Inan and the four girls slept close to the fire, while the boys slept outside.

At night, suddenly there was a burst of intense dog barking, and the shepherd dog Xiao Hei barked wantonly in one direction, which woke everyone up for a while.

Dumuzi picked up a torch and chased in the direction pointed by Xiao Hei.He went there for a while and then turned back, saying only that there was a vast darkness in front of him and he couldn't see anything.

The sound of the dog's barking quickly alarmed the villagers in the village. Together, they held torches and searched for most of the night, but they couldn't find out what made the little black dog so angry, whether it was a human or a beast.

When Dumuzi and the local villagers came back, Yinan was sitting cross-legged beside the campfire, thinking with his chin resting on his hands.

She already had some ideas about this "rival" who sneaked close to their camp at night.