[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

These newly made "annular eclipse" amulets were not only given to the craftsmen and their families, but also to all the serfs under the name of Ishtar's family. No matter men, women or children, everyone wore a talisman around their necks. pieces.

As the housekeeper, Bo An was so touched that he was about to cry. He knelt down in front of "Miss Ishtar" and said excitedly, "Miss, you are... so kind. You let us humble Valdu and Ah Mutu can also be blessed."

"With Miss here, none of us will be afraid of the dragon!"

Yi Nan looked at Bo An with a smile, but he had other plans in his heart.

She never planned to sell these amulets to Babylon—after all, what she observed here was an annular solar eclipse, and it is hard to say what happened in Babylon.What if there is a total solar eclipse or a partial solar eclipse?

So she only intends to sell this amulet locally.

The cost of the amulet is very low, a small copper ring consumes very little copper material, and it uses the "sunk cost" left by Miss Ishta's father. Yi Nan only intends to take advantage of the amulet to return it to himself a sum of money.And she will use this fund to renovate the existing jewelry workshop - to make some brand new jewelry and handmade products that have never appeared in this world.

The only problem now is that Dad left enough brass to make thousands of amulets.Yinan was not sure if the surrounding area had such a large population base and consumption power that it could digest all these amulets.

As for her giving these amulets to all craftsmen and serfs, it was mainly to promote the "function" of these amulets and to make these people more trustful and loyal to herself.

Sure enough, the serfs of the Ishtar family wore shiny amulets around their necks, which immediately attracted the attention of the neighbors.

Soon, Avelu from the neighboring farm sent serfs over to ask the serfs of Ishtar's house to know what those brass were made of.

The serfs were very honest, saying that it was a talisman.Someone also said vividly: This is the amulet made by the artisans according to the shape of the sun when "the dragon eats the sun" that day. It is said that it can protect people from the influence of the dragon.

That day, the craftsmen of Ishtar's family gathered in the jewelry workshop and observed the "evil dragon eating the sun" with clay pots filled with charcoal water. The news has already spread in all directions.It is known to those around that that day the sun "shrunk into a brilliant and shining ring" and then "conquered" the dragon.

This is the first time everyone has heard about the amulet.

But the neighbors agreed that this kind of amulet must be very effective—otherwise, why would Miss Ishtar have everyone in her house, including the serfs, wear it?

Yes, that must be the reason—everyone wears amulets, which protect the whole farm from the dragon.

So someone immediately went to the jewelry workshop to inquire how much the amulet was worth in silver.

On Yi Nan's side, a price needs to be determined quickly.She found Polk, and dug out the accounts of the clay tablet that her father had bought copper ore. She roughly calculated that the cost of every five amulets, excluding the craftsman's labor, was about one shekel of silver.

So Yinan made a decision: "Five amulets sell for two shekels of silver, and ten amulets sell for three shekels of silver. If the quantity is large, the price will be favorable and can be negotiated."

There was nothing wrong with her setting the price: brass, after all, was as precious a metal as silver.Every amulet can also be regarded as hard currency in a sense.

And the neighbors heard: cheap!

Three shekels of silver can buy ten amulets, that is to say, a serf can be exchanged for almost seventy or eighty amulets.For the utility of being able to drive away the dragon, this amount of money is really nothing.

So people began to come to Ishtar's workshop for "negotiations".

I don't know if it's because the output of the farms in this area is not too high. Most of the nearby farm owners are digging and searching.Although Yi Nanming said that "large quantities are preferred", most of them cautiously chose to buy amulets for their families and immediate family members.

The workshop produced a lot of amulets, and in the past few days, they sold about [-] pieces, which was equivalent to the "digested" output of the Ishta family themselves.

Bo An worriedly came to discuss with his young lady.

Yi Nan comforted him boldly: "It's all right! These amulets won't break if left alone."

"Besides, after two days, they may change their minds and think it's better to buy more."

Bo An didn't know where her young lady's self-confidence came from.He knew quite a few serfs from nearby farms, and those serfs were quite critical of their masters.After all, the masters think that the serfs are their own "property", and spend money on "property" to ward off evil spirits. Who has heard of this?

But as Yi Nan predicted, within a few days, the owners of neighboring farms returned to the workshop one after another, wanting to buy more amulets.When Yinan asked, he really wanted to buy amulets for all the serfs in the whole farm.

Bo An was puzzled and asked Yi Nan, but Yi Nan only smiled and said, "This is the role of a role model."

The reason is very simple, her farm has added amulets for every serf, and the news has already been spread in all the nearby farms.Every serf has heard that the serfs of the Ishtar family have a way to drive away the "evil dragon".

But when it came to his own head, his master was so stingy that he only bought amulets for his family.Where there is a contrast, there is harm, and the serfs all felt a great blow—after all, the "dragon" is a real threat, and everyone has seen it with their own eyes.

Under such psychological influence, many serfs began to feel headaches, fever and discomfort, and some of them fell ill directly.Others act as if possessed by evil spirits.Externally, these people are all called "infested by the dragon".

Grange owners lived off the crops in their fields, but most of them never worked in the fields themselves.Once the serfs fell ill or were possessed by evil spirits, their harvests could hardly be expected.

It is precisely for these practical interests that the farm owners finally made up their minds to spend a little "blood" and "arm" every serf with amulets like the Ishtar family.

The brass amulets produced in the workshop are selling faster and faster.So full of confidence were the craftsmen in the workshop, they came to Yinan and asked if they should import some copper ore and make more batches of these amulets.

Yinan smiled and shook his head, saying that after selling all the finished products, he would think about other things.

She has two concerns: The first is the population in the vicinity. The population base is there. This kind of amulet is not a consumable. After the first wave of sales growth, it will enter a plateau immediately.

The second is the craftsmanship of this amulet.This craft is so simple that any copperware workshop can easily imitate it.Once a workshop finds out that this form of amulet is selling well, it will start making it.If there is a price war at that time, Ishtar's finished products will definitely lose more because of the high purchase cost.

Sure enough, as Yi Nan expected, after the first pieces of these amulets were sold, they gradually became unavailable.Later, it was reported that other workshops also planned to imitate.The craftsmen, who were all excited and thought that the "salted fish workshop" was about to turn around, finally calmed down and began to agree with Miss Ishta's "foresight".

There is also a backlog of thousands of completed amulets in the workshop, but no buyers have been found for the time being.

Yinan's "returning funds" plan has only been completed about halfway.

Is there any other way to publicize and sell these amulets?

Yinan: Don't worry, let me understand this era first.

On this day, Yinan came to the jewelry workshop, and with the help of Apu, he began to understand the current currency value system.

The currency used by people in this era was silver of a certain purity.

The way to identify the purity of silver is mainly by visual inspection, weighing with hands, rubbing with fur and biting the upper teeth.Most experienced businessmen have developed a sharp eye and can distinguish silver from metals such as tin and lead.

A balance is used to measure the weight of silver.This balance is basically the same as that of later generations, and the weights used were brought out from the city of Babylon, with weights of 1, 2, 5, 10 shekels and so on.People use balances and these weights to weigh silver.

As for coins, they already have prototypes—for the convenience of exchange, some jewelry workshops rolled out many small silver nuggets weighing about one shekel, and the fineness is also the most common.This small silver nugget is actually used as a silver coin.

Yi Nan thought about it, maybe she could consider asking jewelry craftsmen to emboss numbers on this kind of silver block, or add the workshop's imprint or something, and perhaps promote her jewelry workshop more widely.

Yi Nan learned about the balances and weights, as well as the recent "accounts" in the jewelry workshop.Apu didn't know when he went out.

"Miss, miss, it's terrible, it's terrible..."

Hearing the sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps, Apu rushed in quickly, his face flushed red, and panting, he shouted at Yinan: "Outside the farm...the big man is here."

Just as he was talking, Bo An also came in.The manor's face turned pale, and he said to Yinan, "The king... the king's army is passing by your farm."

Yi Nan was taken aback for a moment, and asked back, "King?"

Boan nodded: "Yes, the king of Babylon."

Yinan immediately stood up, thought for a moment, and said, "Let all the Valdu get some more clay pots, fill them with clean water, and gather on both sides of the road outside the farm. Everyone should go." Bo An immediately responded, Arrangements are to be made—indeed, it is quite welcome to bring fresh water to the king's soldiers in such a strong sun outside.

"Apu, you also go and get a clay pot of cool well water, and find me outside the farm."

Apu was so excited that he jumped three feet high. This young maid likes nothing more than "watching the fun".She responded and went right away.

But Bo An was extremely surprised: Miss... are you going to show your face outside the farm?She didn't even wear a veil, so she went to face the king with her appearance?

Bo An intuitively felt that this was a bit dangerous, after all, a large number of Babylonian soldiers passed by, including the king of Babylon.But the young lady has never worn a veil since her recovery.

However, the young lady may have a special purpose in doing this?

——Waldu is not qualified to guess the mind of the noble Avell.Bo An quickly dismissed these messy thoughts, and hurried to greet the serfs.

Outside the farm, groups of king's warriors came indeed.Most of them wore leather armor, but because the weather was very hot, many of them opened the outer leather armor, took off the bronze helmets, and held them in their arms.

At this time, the clear water handed by the serfs on the side of the road is the coolest thirst-quenching drink.

But they couldn't stop. Some of them took the clay pots from the serfs, and after drinking, passed them to their companions to drink again. When they were all drunk, they put the pots on the side of the road again, and the team continued to move forward. Never stayed.

Yi Nan nodded repeatedly as he watched from the side—the soldiers in front of him looked like a standing army, and their military discipline seemed strict.

The king's warriors, numerous in number, passed by the farm one by one.Yinan ordered his Waldus to keep bringing clean water for people to drink.

After more than a dozen groups of soldiers, someone kindly reminded: "You all stay away from the roadside later, but don't be scared."

Before the serfs could react, a lion's roar suddenly sounded at the end of the road.Looking at the trembling serfs in front of him, the soldier who reminded him smiled and said, "They are also the king's guards and have been with the king for many years, so you don't have to be too afraid of them."

Sure enough, the next moment, a few majestic lions appeared at the end of the road, walking proudly.

The serfs were all terrified, and even Apu, who loved to watch the excitement, froze in place. Yi Nan asked her what was wrong, and it took her a long time to squeeze out a sentence: "Little Miss, Apu...Ah I can't move..."

Yi Nan smiled: "Isn't it a lion?" She quickly took the water jug ​​from Apu.

In other words, she really misses Hakesh——

The lifespan of a lion is shorter than that of a human. When Hakish left this world peacefully on Gilgamesh's lap, Inan felt a lot of reluctance in his heart. He only hated that the time axis was adjusted too fast.

Apu watched his young lady standing calmly by the side of the road, looking at the approaching lion with an expression of admiration and love, and tremblingly turned her head to look at the road.

But it's okay to not look at it, and I was shocked when I saw it. I saw a majestic lion, saw them on the side of the road, and came straight over.

Apu's eyes darkened, and he fell back, fainting from fright.Because of this, she missed a wonderful scene: the lion raised by the king of Babylon came up to his lady, stretched out its front paws, kicked its body back, as if saluting.

Yi Nan carefully poured out a little bit of water from the pot on the lion's front paw.The male lion stuck out his tongue and "chucked" on his front paws, drinking all the water in an instant.

Not to mention the serfs in the farm, not even the king's guards have seen this wonderful sight.The king always likes to travel with these lions to show his majesty.Instead of being afraid, the passers-by stepped forward to feed the lion. This... is too bold, right?

But in fact, Yinan still had some self-knowledge, knowing that the male lion in front of him was an old lion, and he couldn't just step forward and masturbate like Hakesh.She only dared to feed water with clay pots, and she had absolutely no intention of doing any other intimate behaviors.

"stop--"

Behind the lions is the king's chariot.

A mighty but slightly old voice shouted softly.

But the whole marching procession, man and lion, stopped.

"Salute." Another voice was young and clear, probably the official of the ceremony, shouting loudly.The serfs of the farm, the passers-by who came to watch the excitement on both sides of the road, and even the soldiers marching with the team, all kneeled or lay down at this moment, and saluted in the direction of the king in unison.

In contrast, Yi Nan, who just bowed slightly and nodded, seemed to stand out from the crowd.

"Here is Hammurabi, the king of Babylon. Whoever sees it bows down." The young ceremony officer obviously saw Yi Nan.

Only the girl's beautiful voice sounded: "Excellent Avell will not bow down to anyone except gods."

But her voice still couldn't hide the excitement and excitement: Sure enough, it really was Hammurabi.The king sitting on the throne of Babylon today turned out to be the famous Hammurabi who has been resounding throughout history—Daniel said that once she figured out the era she was in, she would immediately understand her task at this stage what exactly is it.

Hammurabi, Code of Hammurabi—the world's first written law①... Doesn't this mean that her task in this historical period is to witness the birth of law?

"Sure enough, it really is a noble Avell. According to the etiquette system promulgated by the king in his early years, the honorable Avell does not need to bow down to anyone, including the king."

The old voice on the king's chariot sounded: "Young lady, it seems that you are very familiar with the king's etiquette system."

This is not the case. Inan has studied the Code of Hammurabi and has an understanding of the systems in criminal, civil, marriage, inheritance, trade, trial and other fields described in it.But in terms of etiquette, she was completely fooled—she only thought that since her social class was called "Honorable Avelu", she should be different from others.

She got it right.

"Honorable Avelu, young lady, please raise your head and face the king."

Inan raised her head as she said, and the king's chariot was turning her head and bending over. The person facing her was none other than Hammurabi, King of Babylon.

Hammurabi appeared to be about 50 years old, with black hair, a light mustache on his lips and chin, brown eyes, and a rather shrewd look.As soon as he saw Yi Nan's face, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

And Yi Nan's appearance at the moment is exactly the most beautiful and bright.There is no way to hide the bright look in her eyes—she is in the right mood and proud now.

The eyes of the two met, and Hammurabi smiled immediately.He turned back to call the officer of ceremony beside him: "Herod, do you remember this lady's name?"

The young ceremonial officer next to the king immediately bowed his head and took two steps forward: "The honorable Avelur who lives in this area, and as a young woman, the only one who can do things on his own without anyone being in control, should be the only one from Uruk. Miss Ishta, the unmarried daughter of Lord Erta and Lady Xerxes of Eridu who has inherited the entire family business."

Yinan immediately glared at the ceremony official, what does it mean to "do things on her own without anyone's control"? Since an unmarried girl can also have the status of "Avilu", it proves that this social class is gender-neutral, so why should she stay in the house all day long? At home, can't see outsiders?

She looked up and down at the ceremonial officer named Herod, and saw that he was wearing a black robe. Knowing that he was a Mushchenu with a lower status, she couldn't help but sneered: "This Mushchenu has a good memory. .”

But as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she suddenly remembered that she despised others based on differences in social status, and what was the difference between Herod in front of her who treated others based on gender?

Who would have thought that Herod lowered his head even lower, and said in a loud voice: "Thank you, Miss Ishtar, for your public praise." The words were sarcasm, and the taunt that Inan sent him was sent back as it was.

The two men's secret exchange of words and swords could not escape Hammurabi's eyes.

The king of Babylon laughed loudly: "The king and the king's soldiers naturally thank Miss Ishtar for leading someone to offer the sweet spring. However, young lady, you did not misunderstand Herod's talent. After reading all the inheritance documents in this area, you can guess your identity and first name."

Yi Nan nodded and smiled, acknowledging that the other party's ability is really great.Herod raised his head, just in time to see her generous smile, and the eyes of the two clashed again.

"Okay, very good! As expected of the king's subjects, Avelur was chosen by the gods." Hammurabi continued to smile comfortably, as if he was satisfied with Yinan's reaction.

"By the way, all of you are wearing a yellow... ring? Is that a ring?" Hammurabi asked, as if he had been here on a royal chariot just now, and was caught by someone while passing by. People on the side of the road are dazzled by such yellow things hanging on their bodies.

Yi Nan replied with a smile: "It's an amulet made after the appearance of the sun during the 'evil dragon eclipse' a few days ago."

"What does the sun look like?" Hammurabi asked curiously, "Did you see what the sun looked like at the time of the 'evil dragon eclipse'?"

Yinan nodded: "Use a pottery basin, fill it with clear water that will be covered with charcoal ashes, and the clear water will be dyed black by the charcoal ashes. When the water surface calms down, you can see the reflection of the sun from the water surface - that's what the sun looks like, exactly It's a brilliant ring."

Hammurabi was obviously taken aback, and looked around with Herod beside him.

Yi Nan didn't know that they were so surprised because this method of observing the "evil dragon eclipsing the sun" by borrowing the water surface that was dyed black was actually an observation method that only the Babylonian court knew.Once there is a solar eclipse, the king's fortune-teller will use this method to observe the shape of the sun for divination.

"So, you just found a bronze workshop and made many, many amulets like this?" Hammurabi continued to ask, looking at the serfs and craftsmen who were still kneeling beside Yi Nan—each of them was shining brightly. Wearing an amulet on the ground, it seems that it is actually a bit deliberate.

Yi Nan was a little stuck here, and she could already sense the unusual meaning in Hammurabi's tone.After deliberating for a while, she replied in a low voice with a hesitant look: "Actually, there is a bronze workshop in my house. I asked someone to make such amulets, in fact, to save this workshop that was on the verge of closing down." .I don’t want the inheritance that my father passed on to me to be ruined.”

She answered very honestly, telling all of her narrow-mindedness.

When Hammurabi heard the truth, he couldn't help laughing, stretched out his hand to support the mustache on his lips, and laughed out loud.

"What a stubborn girl who refuses to admit defeat!"

Yi Nan let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she had made the right bet. She didn't take the risk of playing tricks in front of an old king like Hammurabi who was so familiar with people's hearts. Good impression.

"The order goes on. The 'Evil Dragon Eclipse' just happened a few days ago. However, today, the king will equip every soldier under the king's command with an amulet that can resist the 'evil dragon'."

Hammurabi ordered decisively.This order passed through the mouth of the ceremony officer to the ears of every soldier.

The front and back teams immediately turned to the direction of Hammurabi, knelt down on one knee, and thanked the king for his generous gift.

When the craftsmen around Yi Nan heard this, they all showed disbelief.Apu, who was stunned by the lion earlier, has also woken up. Now he is kneeling beside Yi Nan, pulling the hem of her robe, and asking repeatedly: "Miss, did I get it wrong? Can the amulet produced by our workshop be To supply the king's warriors?"

Yi Nan was in full bloom, thinking that her hard work was not in vain——

But Hammurabi turned to Herod, the ceremonial official, and said, "Herod, I leave this matter to you."