[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Yi Nan looked at the chess in front of him and thought: Could this be the ancient version of "Monopoly"?

The chessboard is very large, with neat latitude and longitude lines marked on it.One of the long straight areas is painted in turquoise and runs across the entire board - this obviously represents the Euphrates River.

The round chess pieces placed on the chessboard are made of pottery, and the two sides are painted red and blue respectively.The stack of chess pieces placed in front of Gilgamesh are all red facing up, but when turned over, they can immediately turn blue.

In addition to such round chess pieces, there are other shapes of chess pieces, for example: square earthy yellow chess pieces, which may represent fields, dark green pointed triangles may be forests, small squares of various colors may be mines , and the long strips of various colors...may be a business way.

Yi Nan felt sad: ... 2000 years ago, she was still playing backgammon with Du Muzi!

Why do you want to play such a complicated board game with this guy in front of you now?

The rules are also very simple. Inan and Gilgamesh, one holds the red, and the other holds the blue. First, each chooses a location to build their own main city.Then the two began to develop resources around their main city and build business roads...

Yinan: This sounds more complicated. How can this be a monopoly that can be won by rolling the dice and collecting rent?This... is like playing "Civilization VI".

She holds the blue piece, Gilgamesh holds the red piece, and the two are really going back and forth on this huge chessboard.Inan sadly found that she was really inferior to Gilgamesh in such a macro strategy game. After a while, she saw that her chess pieces were tightly surrounded by red pieces.

Unexpectedly, Yinan suddenly remembered something, and she asked casually, "By the way, why did the late king Lugabanda build a city wall for Uruk?"

As soon as she arrived in this era, she witnessed the "grand occasion" of building the city wall in Uruk—but the construction of such a huge project required unimaginable manpower and material resources in this era. What is the motivation behind this?

When Inan asked this question, Gilgamesh was squatting in front of the chessboard, reaching out to push and pull several of his chess pieces in the distance with a long wooden pole.Hearing Inan's question, Gilgamesh frowned suddenly.

He didn't answer Yinan directly, but stared closely at "Uruk" on the chessboard, where his biggest red piece was, and a large area north of Uruk.

Yi Nan suddenly remembered something, and asked, "Could it be... because of the Akkadians?"

Gilgamesh raised his head inexplicably: "Akkadian, who are you?"

Yinan couldn't explain it. Obviously, even later generations of historical researchers couldn't accurately name these ethnic groups in the contemporary population.

"There are many Semites living in this land."

Yinan: ... Well, Semites, it's the same.

The Akkadians are regarded as neighbors of the Sumerians, but they are also a branch of the Semites.

Perhaps the Akkadians have not yet become an independent nation, or they may have become an independent branch, but they have not yet given themselves the name "Akkad".

"They never grow food, they don't want to build houses, they raise livestock, but they let the livestock move with the migration of water and grass... They are not as smart as the Sumerians, they never calculate the calendar, and they have no own writing , but they are tough."

Looking at the open land on the chessboard, Gilgamesh seemed a little worried.

"It was because of them that the late king Lugabanda decided to build the city wall."

Yinan: ...!

At this moment, she couldn't help admiring Gilgamesh's mind and vision—after all, Sargon, king of the Akkadians, swept across the Mesopotamia around the 23rd century BC and annexed most of the Sumerians. land, wiped out countless small city-states of Sumer, and established the vast kingdom of Akkad.

From the deduction process of the ending, the Akkadians are the greatest enemies of the Sumerians①.

However, Lugabanda and Gilgamesh, who were in the middle of the game, judged the fearfulness and strength of the Akkadians from their life characteristics.

In history, there have been many examples of nomadic peoples with slightly "underdeveloped" civilizations invading mature and stable farming civilizations.The city wall is one of the effective methods for the settled farming civilization to defend against foreign invasion.

Probably because he saw Inan's admiring eyes, Gilgamesh suddenly became energetic at this time, and pushed out his red stones on the chessboard with the wooden pole, and hooked back the few blue stones of Inan. around his own main city, Uruk.

"Let's be wronged for the time being, just pretend that you are a Semitic." Gilgamesh said excitedly.

Inan figured out what Gilgamesh meant. He probably wanted Inan to pretend to be an Akkadian and attack Uruk. Gilgamesh looked at how Uruk should defend from his perspective.

So Yinan pushed up the blue chess pieces everywhere, without any politeness, and directly surrounded the red city of Uruk.

Since Uruk has a city wall, Yinan speculates that the Akkadians' response is naturally to "siege the city".

She arbitrarily pushed aside the khaki square "fields" outside Uruk, and cut off the colorful "business roads"——Gilgamesh looked at the opposite side in surprise, his expression seemed to have seen Ah Khad warriors are trampling the fields outside Uruk savagely, preventing caravans from delivering the necessities of life to Uruk.

If so, the walls of Uruk, though protective, would have become a prison, trapping the city's inhabitants as long as the siege lasted.

Gilgamesh rested his chin on his hand, frowned, stared at the chessboard, unable to utter a word.

Inan suddenly stumped the proud and intelligent king, and felt extremely comfortable. He went to fetch the blanket and pillow stuffed with rushes from Gilgamesh's bedroom, patted it, and lay down beside the chessboard. , Said: "You think about it slowly!"

She closed her eyes, ready to rest.

Unexpectedly, not long after, Inan heard Gilgamesh let out a breath of hot air, and then stretched out a hand near the "itchy flesh" on his waist, as if to "squeak" Inan.

Inan has a special physique, can't get hurt and is invulnerable to all poisons, but it wasn't until then that Yinan realized that he was still "itchy"——Inan almost jumped up before Gilgamesh touched her. When I went out, I couldn't help laughing out loud, even complaining while laughing:

"Does this make people fall asleep?"

Gilgamesh knocked on the chessboard angrily: "The king's chess has not been played yet, and no one is allowed to sleep if he has not thought of a way to break the siege."

Yi Nan jumped up and stared at him: "You are arrogant!"

Gilgamesh also stared back: "King, who is not arrogant?"

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he picked up Yi Nan by the back of the collar, lifted her up and put her next to him, and the two sat side by side, as if they had returned to the same camp.

"The people of Uruk have worked hard to build a strong city wall, just to resist foreign enemies when they approach... But what about supplies and food. Uruk's current population is [-], and if the surrounding people The population of small towns and villages are fleeing to Uruk together, and the population may increase to [-]..."

5, a number that almost never appeared in classical times.No city in the whole of Europe had a population of [-] in classical times.But when the war comes, what the Uruk people need to defend is the safety of so many lives.

Inan finally recovered his composure, looked more serious, raised his head and asked Gilgamesh, "Why don't you offend the king for a while and pretend to be a Semite?"

Gilgamesh readily agreed, and the two exchanged positions, restoring the fields and business roads on the chessboard one by one.The chess game starts again——

At this time, Gilgamesh, with a grinning expression on his face, imitated as much as possible the barbarians he could imagine.The king of Uruk looked very engaged at the moment.

While he was paying attention to the performance, Yinan suddenly stretched out his hand and put away all the chess pieces representing "field", and stacked them on the chess piece representing Uruk City, followed by the colorful "business road".

Gilgamesh was stunned, and immediately realized: "You bring all the food into the city, and so do the caravans."

Yi Nan nodded: "Yes!"

She is a soul from later generations, "siege" and "defend the city", there are countless cases in history that can be used for reference, Yi Nan hardly needs to go deliberately, and the opening is classic: "Strengthen the wall and clear the wild."

Gilgamesh is now obsessed with blue pieces, facing the empty chessboard, he is really at a loss.

He thought for a while, and began to "loot" other surrounding small cities with blue pieces, and then re-established his own business roads, expressing that he would continuously transport "materials" to the vicinity of Uruk.

"By the time I finish this, even if you have already stored a large amount of food, considering that there are 5 people in the city, you will almost run out of food at this time." Gilgamesh stared at the chessboard intently, really imagining himself as After losing the leadership of the foreign race, he tried every means to "target" Yinan's city.

Inan smiled at him, pulled out those colorful chess pieces, and played a chess game that Gilgamesh never thought of——

She spread these chess pieces representing the "trade of business" on the Euphrates River drawn on the chessboard.

Gilgamesh yelled, holding his head, as if he suddenly thought of something he had never thought of before, and it seemed that a brand new thought struck him like a thunderbolt.

After thinking for a moment, Gilgamesh suddenly raised his head, his eyes were bright, and he looked at Inan: "Duo, you mean...the gate of Uruk can be built on the water?"

Inan nodded.

The city of Uruk is now located on the banks of the Euphrates River.The city wall planned by Gilgamesh and the others is also very close to the river. If a waterway can be brought into the city from the Euphrates River, ships can sail into the city's dock through this waterway; The fence can be lowered to control the entry and exit of ships-then even if the barbarians cut off all land passages, the Uruk people can still use the waterway to obtain the resources they need.

This idea directly solves all the current problems of Gilgamesh: Although no one has ever done the construction of the water city gate, as long as this idea is born, it is easy to take root-after all, suitable craftsmen and workers can always be found. Architects come to do this, but not everyone can come up with such a brilliant solution.

Gilgamesh thought more and more smoothly, and all the problems in his mind have been solved.

He jumped up suddenly, laughed three times, and then strode towards the door, saying as he walked, "Duo, you accompany me to meet the elders of Uruk..."

When he opened the door, he and Yi Nan saw the starry sky outside the door at the same time.

It turned out that the two played a round of chess, and it was not yet dawn at this time?

"...but now is not the time." Gilgamesh stretched out his hand and scratched his head.He turned back again, and saw Yi Nan sitting back on the blanket and pillow she had laid just now, yawning with outstretched hands.

"Yes, sleep!" Gilgamesh finally remembered what he should do as a Uruk man at this moment.

He stomped over, came to Yi Nan, blew out the lamp in one breath, lay down on the blanket casually, and then rested his head on Yi Nan's lap extremely rudely.

Yi Nan: ...This is too much.

She pushed Gilgamesh's neck with her knees. Of course, if she really pushed hard, it is estimated that Gilgamesh would need cervical spine reset treatment immediately.

Instead of restraining himself, this guy turned around aggressively. A pair of bright eyes flickered at Yi Nan in the darkness, and his head was still resting on Yi Nan's lap.

Yi Nan: If you can sleep comfortably like this, you will be damned.

Unexpectedly, the next moment Gilgamesh looked at Inan and said, "The king is tired. During the day, the king takes care of you for so long. Why don't you take care of the king at night? Why are you so disrespectful?"

Yi Nan: ...It seems that there is a little truth in what I said.

She thought that it was Gilgamesh who carried her completely exhausted from the construction site during the day, carried her all the way back to the camp, and stayed by her side for a long time... If she just kicked him away from her side now, it might be a little bit Not interesting enough.

But the question is, Gilgamesh wants to "speak loyalty" to her?

Inan suddenly remembered the scene of the wedding in Uruk, and Gilgamesh did call her "the king's friend".

She hurriedly grabbed the pillow, and under the pretext of "making you sleep more comfortably", she forced the pillow under the other's neck, and she was about to run away.

Unexpectedly, Gilgamesh could only be faster than her. The young king of Uruk found Inan's robe corner with great precision in the darkness, and pulled it hard——

"The king can't sleep."

Get up if you can't sleep! ——Yinan endured it with all his might and didn't turn back.

"What are you so afraid of the king?"

"Don't worry, although the king said that looking for a woman is like you...but you are not a woman—"

Yi Nan: I...

"It's been a long time since the king has not been able to find someone who can speak freely, Duo, the king really doesn't want to order you..."

There was a small window at the top of Gilgamesh's room, and the light came in through the window. Inan could just see Gilgamesh's short chestnut hair through that light.

The current Gilgamesh is like the little lion of Hakish, cute and cute in front of Inan.

So Yi Nan quietly reached out to the top of Wang's head, and suddenly quickly rubbed his soft hair——

Gilgamesh frowned immediately: "You—"

Unexpectedly, Yi Nan lay down next to him, looked at the ceiling and said to himself: "I will be with you for a while, just for a short while."

Gilgamesh's anger was directly suppressed by Inan's gesture. He turned his face sideways and looked at Inan happily. After watching for a long time, he finally turned his head and lay on his back, looking at the ceiling, thinking about his thoughts.

"Duo, you said your full name is 'Enkidu', is it because others think you were created by gods?"

Gilgamesh stared at the ceiling with a pair of bright eyes, and suddenly asked this question.

Yinan: ...How can I explain this?

After hesitating for a while, she finally replied: "I discovered the name given to me by one of my saints... She rescued me and thought that I was a child created by the gods. But in fact, I... am not."

Gilgamesh replied, "No?"

He was still looking at the ceiling, and never looked back at Yi Nan, but asked quietly, "Then have you seen your mother?"

Inan vaguely answered something. Firstly, she was afraid that if she said more details, she would cause unnecessary trouble. Secondly, she also realized that Gilgamesh stayed by his side because he wanted to talk more than to communicate. As he himself said, the young king hoped that he could "speak freely" in front of Yinan.

"I never met my own mother."

"Lugabanda told me that my mother was a god—so I was born with the blood of a god."

"But I know very well that my mother should be just an ordinary woman next to Lugabanda. He created such a life experience for me in order to allow me to take over the throne smoothly."

Yi Nan, who was lying beside him, suddenly let out a soft cry, and she suddenly remembered——

Gilgamesh and her, the era they are living in now is probably an "age of god-making" in history.

If we go back in time, in the era before Wizard Dan, people regarded natural phenomena as "miracles", believed that all things had spirits, tried to communicate with other "spirits", and regarded "human" as one of them. There is no distinction of status between human beings, human beings, and other "spirits."

This point began to change in the hands of Wizard Dan.

From the time of the wizard Dan to Dumuzi, people began to worship several specific gods.God is the source of all power, and temples control the distribution of social resources because of their sacrifices to gods.Such a social system worked well for a time, but then began to decline, and finally ended in the hands of Dumuzi.

Dumuzi was the first person who became king as a "human being".But the source of his power is still inseparable from the gods - he is considered to be a person chosen by the gods, and he even has an identity in the stories handed down: "the husband of the goddess".

The age of Gilgamesh, another 2000 years after Dumuz.

During this process, the gods naturally did not reappear, and those who wanted to seize power naturally came up with such a method, "creating a god."

Gilgamesh's father, the former king Lugabanda, was taken to heaven by the gods after he was said to have passed away, and he was among the gods.The child left by the former king was directly endowed with divinity when he was born—two-thirds of gods and one-third of man, so Gilgamesh was born to be a ruler .

But that was cruel to a child, especially one so precocious and sober as Gilgamesh.

He knows that he is actually an ordinary person, the same as the people around him, but because of this he has to endure the separation and alienation of his family, and constantly thicken the mask on his face so that he looks more like a god.

At this time, Inan turned his head to look at Gilgamesh, and saw that his expression was calm, he didn't seem to have any grudges against Lugabanda, but more like he felt helpless against this "fate".

Just two days after they met, Gilgamesh's willingness to say these words to Yi Nan showed that he had unreservedly placed his trust in Yi Nan's hands.

But Inan's whisper just now did not interrupt Gilgamesh's thoughts, he continued to say quietly:

"When I was young, whenever my behavior and performance were slightly out of line with the wishes of the late king Lugabanda, he would wantonly beat and scolded me for failing to meet his requirements, and for not being qualified to be a half-god and half-human prince."

"Until one day, I couldn't bear it any longer. I rushed up and beat up Lugabanda violently with my small fists, clamoring for him to experience the power of 'insulting the Son of God'."

"Lugabanda was satisfied instead. His face was covered with scars after being beaten by me, but he laughed and said loudly that Uruk would be safe from now on."

"It was only then that I realized that the son Lugabanda wanted was actually an arrogant, irritable, ignorant bastard, but powerful."

When Inan heard Gilgamesh's evaluation of himself, he suddenly wanted to open his arms and gently hug the big boy next to him: Growing up with such a father, Gilgamesh is "Tainan" that one.

But she reined in at the last moment: After all, she is a "man" now, so she shouldn't have such gentle movements.

So she could only hoarse her throat, let out a dry laugh, and said, "But in my opinion, Wang is... quite fine now."

After understanding how the person around him became what he is today, the only thing Yinan can comment on is "very good".

Now that fate has pushed Gilgamesh to this position, he has no choice but to continue and take this responsibility on his shoulders.

After hearing this comment, Gilgamesh turned his face happily, looked at Inan's side face in the dark, and asked in a low voice, "Duo, are you... speaking the truth?"

Yi Nan closed his eyes, nodded, and said "Yes".

She suddenly felt that lying quietly beside Gilgamesh was actually quite at ease—after all, Gilgamesh is already a friend who can talk about everything, and he is willing to tell Inan the secret, and he is also willing to cherish it. Inan's opinion.

She closed her eyes, but Gilgamesh beside her was silent.The two just lay side by side, slowly fell asleep together, and woke up together to the clear and loud sound of gongs in the camp in the morning.

Everyone in the camp saw their king rushing out of the house together with a skinny young man. At the same time, they gathered at the washstand outside the door and washed their faces with their heads bowed. Their movements were in unison, just like brothers.

After washing his face, Gilgamesh and Lainan: "Go! Meet the king..."

He turned his head to look at the half-worn woolen robe Yinan was wearing, and shook his head: "No, before I take you to the elders, I need to take you to see Shengzhang first."

"The Holy Cult of the temple?" Inan was curious—after all, Sister Shahat hated Gilgamesh so much because he disrespected the temple and recruited the Holy Cult.But now it sounds like that doesn't seem to be the case, does it?

"That's right," Gilgamesh replied proudly. "Your king was brought up as a child by the elders of Uruk and the priests of the temple."