[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Herod, wearing a black robe, stood in the jewelry workshop with his hands behind his back, looking at the scenery of Ishtar's farm in the distance.There are several soldiers behind him, assisting the craftsmen in the workshop to count the amulets made of brass.

These amulets, which have not been made for a long time, have long been polished, put on ropes made of flax, and tied into a bunch of sixty.Soldiers only need to count how many bundles there are in total.

On the other side, Boan was leading a craftsman to count the silver brought by Herod—he used all the weights in the family to weigh and weigh together, but he still couldn't finish weighing the silver.

Coincidentally, Yi Nan walked in and pointed to Bo An: "You can also add the silver that has been weighed out to this side of the weight, isn't that all right?"

"The weight here is ten shekels, you first weigh ten shekels of silver, and then add the silver and weights together, and you can weigh twenty shekels of silver, and then Forty shekels...wouldn't that be much faster?"

Bo An suddenly realized.

Herod, who had his back to Inan in the distance, suddenly turned around when he heard the words, and looked him up and down.

Yi Nan went up to him with a smile, and teased him: "Now do you think that I, an unmarried girl who acts on her own and has no control, is actually somewhat useful?"

"I didn't expect, Miss Ishtar, you still hold a grudge." Herod stared into Inan's eyes and said.

Yi Nan kept smiling: "Hold grudges? How can I have one?"

But in fact, she is indeed vengeful, and she doesn't like to be underestimated and restrained because of her identity as a woman, whether it is modern or ancient.Herod uttered a wrong sentence, and Yinan had secretly labeled her as someone she "didn't want to deal with".

"Then I apologize to you." Before Yinan could react, Mushiqinu, who had a high status beside Wang, bowed straight to her, and actually apologized to her.

Bo An, the craftsmen and several soldiers all watched this scene and stayed where they were.

However, it seems... It is not unusual for Mushchinnu, who serves the royal family, to salute the venerable Avilu.

After a while, Bo An greeted everyone: "Everyone work, everyone work!"

Everyone turned around together, leaving Herod and Ainan behind.Herod straightened up and said to Inan, "Miss Ishtar, please take a step to speak."

The two walked out of the jewelry workshop slowly, and Apu happened to be heading towards him. When he saw Herod, he immediately felt that his face was too serious and cold, so he didn't dare to follow Yi Nan, and turned to another direction go up.

Herod stopped.It seemed that he really wanted to "take a step" to speak, and he didn't want others to hear what he said.

"I apologize to you because I misunderstood you. I didn't expect you to be for the family inheritance."

"At that time, I saw that you deliberately attracted the king's attention. I thought you were trying to sway the king with your beauty. You know this kind of thing, such a woman, we have seen too many by the king's side."

Apparently, the first time Herod saw Inan, Inan was smiling brightly at Hammurabi, king of Babylon.So much so that he misunderstood this woman at first sight.

Yinan smiled and asked back, "Then did I succeed?"

Herod was furious. It should be that there was nothing he could do about this woman who refused to let her talk.

"What I thought at the time was not whether you will succeed, but if you succeed, you will suffer a lot."

Yi Nan raised his eyebrows, expressing his interest in it.

"Your identity is the distinguished Avell, and you also own a certain amount of property, although these properties are not very good..."

Herod glanced casually at the workshop behind Yinan and the farm in the distance, and then said, "But according to your status, it is impossible to condescend to be the king's concubine."

Yi Nan thought to himself: This seemingly gloomy and air-conditioned ceremony official may really analyze this matter according to the secular system prevailing in today's society.According to her understanding of ancient Babylon from later generations, all classes in this era can intermarry with each other, but cross-class marriages will either bear class losses, or they are not formal marriages, more Herod As mentioned, the woman becomes the man's concubine.

"It is impossible for the king to accept you as his wife, so you can only be the king's 'mistress'."

The man in the black robe spit out the word "mistress" directly, without any cover-up, as if he was used to speaking this way, and also as if he knew that Yi Nan could accept such directness without beating around the bush.

"But I understand now that you approached the king only to revive the business of your own workshop. So I apologize to you. I didn't mean to look down on you because you were a woman at the time-I just regret that you don't have parents and family members who can Come out and take care of you."

Er——Yi Nan scratched his head, wondering if the guy in front of him had a negative EQ.

"However, I still don't understand until now. How did you know in advance that the king would agree to buy these amulets from your small workshop that is about to close?"

Yi Nan smiled happily at the other party: "Do you really want to know? Can you 'excuse' me?"

Herod frowned slightly, but he lowered his head again without hesitation, and asked in a respectful tone: "Honorable Aveiro, the sole heir of Lord Yerta and Lady Xerxes, Miss Ishtar, may I ask you?" ..."

Yinan immediately waved his hand and stopped him: "That's not what I meant. I didn't mean that because you are Mushchinu and I am Aviru, you have to be humble in front of me. What I mean is, Since you want to know something from me, you need to be sincere and polite, and then I will tell you what you want to know..."

When she said this, Herod blinked his eyes. He was really confused at first, but at the end, there was a little light in his eyes, and he probably began to think that Inan was a woman who was different from the world.

"As for why I thought of selling the amulets made in the workshop to the king——I first thought of the 'dragon swallowing the sun' a few days ago, although it didn't last long, but such a vision should be attacked by ordinary soldiers. It’s very big, I’m afraid the king has been thinking about how to boost their morale..."

While Inan spoke, Herod kept staring at her thoughtfully.Yi Nan guessed that her assumptions should be right.

"And the amulets made by my jewelry workshop are simple in style, cheap and high-quality..."

The more Yinan said, the more he put gold on his face.Herod's expression became more and more exciting.

"But it doesn't really matter what I think. Even if I can't sell the amulet to the king, I have nothing to lose."

She has always been such a character, she has the courage to try, and she is never afraid of any loss of face or even reputation.

When Herod heard this, he suddenly realized, and said, "So that's the case. Thank you for clarifying my doubts."

Yi Nan smiled and nodded to him, but in fact, Yi Nan was admitting from the bottom of his heart: this brother Herod was actually right in his judgment.She just wanted to be close to Hammurabi - not to be part of the Babylonian king's harem, of course, but for her own mission.

The code of Hammurabi was named after this person and passed down to later generations.Since she needs to understand the whole process of the birth of the law, it is natural to approach Hammurabi.

After all, even the "research madman" Daniel said: various social factors will push her to go to Babylon.

But she doesn't intend to go to Babylon now, doesn't want to be close to Hammurabi now—

Not long after she came to this society, she had already clearly realized that in this era, she only had the title of "Honorable Avell", and she had no strength yet.

There is an old saying: "Haste makes waste." Yi Nan resisted the urge to "hitch" Hammurabi's ride when she first met. She planned to manage the farm and workshop first.When she goes to Babylon, she will no longer be dubbed "the sole heir of Lord Yerta and Lady Xerxes"—she will become "Miss Ishtar from Uruk" as the world calls her.

However, Herod seemed to believe Inan’s words. After generously leaving two thousand shekels of silver, he left with his soldiers and left a sincere parting message to Inan:

"Miss Ishtar, I hope you have this luck to die in Uruk. Babylon is not suitable for you, so don't come."

Yi Nan thought to himself: Let me talk about whether Babylon is suitable for me, but the two thousand shekels of silver in front of me are genuine hard currency.

This small "success" has greatly inspired the enthusiasm of the craftsmen in the workshop - with this money, they can buy some expensive materials, such as gold and expensive gems, and then use their exquisite craftsmanship and noble "Aesthetics", to create beautiful handicrafts that make the world flock to them.

Yi Nan directly denied their plan.She made a list and asked the craftsmen to purchase raw materials according to her ideas.

"Sand, seaweed..."

"This……"

The craftsmen originally worried that Miss Ishta did not have the brains and courage to run a workshop, but the "big sales" of the amulets made them dispel such worries.

But now this purchase list has once again disappointed the craftsmen: the list is full of cheap raw materials, and it has nothing to do with the jewelry workshop.

Miss Ishtar, is this trying to change their careers?

The oldest craftsman in the workshop quit immediately.He took off the copper ring amulet around his neck, handed it to the young lady, and said, "Dear lady, since you don't approve of my craftsmanship, there is no point for me to stay in this workshop."

He is Aviru, with the status of a freeman, not a serf of the Ishtar family, and he has to be tied to this land for the rest of his life.

Yi Nan raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly.

The craftsmen were all frightened: To be honest, since the lady of the employer's family recovered from her illness and started to work, they were all afraid of her. They were not afraid of her getting angry, but only afraid of her laughing.

After all, she smiles so sweetly, once she makes a request, who can refuse.

The old craftsman is still biting the bullet at the moment, with a stern face, trying to hold on, but he is already prepared in his heart, and intends to listen to what the young lady will say to persuade him to stay.

I only heard the young lady say: "I have never disapproved of your craftsmanship."

The old craftsman raised his chest: listen, listen...

"I just don't approve of your vision and aesthetics." The lady smiled, but said very sharply.

All the craftsmen were shocked when they heard this.

"Do you know what kind of jewelry is popular in the nearby big cities? Complex or simple? What kind of gemstones do the ladies of Babylon like most now? What is the difference between the jewelry they wear in winter and summer?..."

The old craftsman babbled and babbled, but he couldn't answer any of them.

To be honest, he is just an honest craftsman, and he can do his best in both workmanship and craftsmanship—but he really doesn't understand what Yi Nan said, and he has no way to understand it.

Finally, a craftsman said something fair from the side: "But miss, after all, this is the reason for the decline of Uruk-it used to be a commercial center and a distribution center for jewelry. All jewelers will gather here. It directly dominates the wind direction of the whole river basin. But the situation is quite different now!"

Yinan smiled and said, "So, you have no ambitions at all. You have never thought of the possibility that Uruk can form a new industrial center and continue to dominate the wind direction of the entire river basin?"

Everyone was stunned there.Some people opened their mouths wide and couldn't close them for a long time.

But I saw Yi Nan's serious expression: "Of course, you will think, everyone can say beautiful words. But we are just a small jewelry workshop, why do we dare to think like this?"

Some people really think so. They feel that the young lady in front of her is more beautiful than her delicate face.

"However, if you don't even dare to think about it, then, I'm sorry, you are doomed to have no courage for the rest of your life, and you can only do nothing and be mediocre jewelry craftsmen."

The oldest craftsman's face turned purple immediately, and he waved his fist and said loudly, "Miss Ishtar, I don't accept such an insult."

Yinan calmly took out a clay tablet and said, "I also know that you will not accept it, and your contract with the workshop does not allow you to accept it."

The clay tablet she took out was exactly the contract signed by the craftsman and the workshop: the names of the craftsman and the workshop were written in cuneiform characters on the clay tablet, and the duration of the contract was agreed, and it was stamped on the clay tablet with a pottery roll. A series of complex imprints were pressed.The contract stipulates that if the contract is to be terminated, it must be when the old year is turned over and the new year arrives.

"You have to stay in my workshop at least until the end of this year." Yi Nan said bluntly, "Before then, I have the final say on all the affairs of the workshop. You must listen to me. But at the end of this year, I will give you the power to choose, whether to go or stay."

"It's the same for everyone else, do you understand?" Yinan's gaze slowly swept over the faces of each craftsman.

"I understand."

Answers were sparse, but everyone agreed, including the old craftsman who took the lead.

They instinctively feel that the current workshop is not the same as when the old master was in charge. In the past, the old master took good care of them and respected them. He would listen to what the craftsmen said—but this also caused the downturn of the workshop to a certain extent.The craftsmen feel that they lack a strong leader to give them direction.

And now the young lady is in charge, although she looks so beautiful and so weak, it makes people feel that there is a super powerful soul hidden under her slender body.

In short, it is very different from before.

"Just understand." Yi Nan looked at each of them seriously, "I hope each of you can know that we are going to do something completely different from before. What we are going to do is not to imitate, but to create."

"Okay, go find a way and buy back the things on the list!" Yi Nan announced, "These things look cheap, but I want a lot of goods, and I want the best."

After she ordered, the artisans began to rack their brains to find a way to find a middleman to purchase.

Miss Ishta's farm is located near the old city of Uruk, very close to the old wharf left over from Uruk.Although Uruk has declined, the transportation here is still in all directions, and the convenient conditions for trade are still there.

And the two most in-demand items on the list, one is sand and the other is seaweed.

It is easy to get sand, after all, there is an endless sea of ​​rolling sand to the south, but Yinan made it clear that high-quality, very pure quartz sand is needed.She described the texture of the sand, and it sounded to the craftsmen that the lady wished that every grain of sand was a diamond.

But because of the contract, the craftsmen still reluctantly asked businessmen in many places, and finally found this kind of sand in a small town in the south, and it cost a lot of money to transport this kind of sand over ten carts. ——Of course, even though the freight costs a lot, the cost of this material is almost nothing compared to the copper ore, tin ore and gold purchased by the workshop before.

The other is seaweed, which is very simple to meet.Lady Xerxes, the lady's mother, was from Eridu.Although Eridu is no longer close to the sea, it still retains a large-scale seafood trading center.The workshop procures a lot of seaweed from there.

But because the lady didn't specify what kind of seaweed it was, the craftsmen who were sent to buy it could only buy some of each kind in the end.

"It's a smart choice." Yi Nan praised this approach—because she didn't know which kind of seaweed to use.

"Take out all your crucibles and light up the kiln," Yi Nan ordered.

She directed the craftsmen to fill the sand bought with the capital in refractory pottery crucibles and put them into the kiln for burning.

"Charcoal, and bellows!" Seeing that the sand in the kiln hadn't changed much, Yinan continued to command: She knew it was because the temperature of the kiln hadn't been heated enough to melt the quartz sand, but luckily people had already started to melt the sand. The materials and tools used raise the temperature of the kiln to turn the sand into what she wants.

"Oh, by God, these sands will melt!"

Finally, the temperature of the kiln was heated high enough that the quartz sand in the crucible gradually melted and became a liquid.

The artisans squatting outside the kiln and watching were all moved, wondering if these sands, like copper ore and tin ore, could also smelt metal?

However, the scene in the kiln was not what they imagined.After the sand melted, it started bubbling and bubbling, and it took a while before it gradually stopped.

Inan asked them to take a crucible out of the kiln, and let the crucible and the liquid inside cool down slowly at room temperature in the workshop.

The craftsmen watched as the freely flowing liquid in the crucible gradually became viscous, and finally became too thick to flow and became a large solid.

Yinan asked someone to tap the cauldron lightly, and the contents fell out.This large hard solid was passed around in the hands of the craftsmen wearing leather gloves, and everyone's eyes were full of curiosity and eagerness.

It was a piece, almost transparent.

In this era, craftsmen are already very familiar with metals, knowing that sending ore into a kiln and raising the temperature will smelt the metal into a liquid.The molten metal can be shaped according to people's desired shape and become a hard solid with metallic luster.

The property of this thing is very similar to that of metal, but the solid that condenses after cooling has the same property that metal cannot match at all-it is transparent.

Yi Nan did not leave too much time for the craftsmen to express their feelings and reverie.She had another crucible taken out of the kiln, and the liquid in the crucible was poured into various models that had been piled up with sand in advance.

When the liquid poured into the model cools down, one by one, transparent solids of specified shapes appear before people's eyes: square, round, rhombus...

The craftsmen all opened their eyes wide, facing these almost completely transparent solids, they could barely breathe.

You know, transparent jewelry is more popular and more expensive than ordinary metals in this era. There are all kinds of crystals, red sapphires, amber...even amber with a little bit of impurities can be counted. It is sought after by jewelers as "tears of the gods".

Now, they have found a material that may serve as a substitute for these jewelry, which can change shape at will and even add other items inside as decoration.

Of course, the transparent solids they made with simple sand models are still not perfect, and their color is not pure enough. When you look closely, you can see that there are more or less air bubbles and other impurities inside.

But as long as they think that these transparent materials made of sand may replace those precious gems, the artisans are extremely excited-after all, how much is the crystal, how much is the red sapphire...and how much is the sand worth?

Thinking of this, the craftsmen in the workshop were like children, screaming and running around in the workshop.

The old craftsman who had been clamoring to leave earlier did not see a companion who had worked with him for many years, so he rushed up and hugged each other: "God bless, we are about to develop!"

Everyone with a little knowledge thinks that this workshop must develop in the future.

Only Yi Nan reminded them: "Don't, don't be too happy—"

"What you made is not a substitute for gems at all-it has very low strength and is much more fragile than crystals and gems."

As if to witness this to the craftsmen, Yinan picked up a transparent bead that had just been made, gently licked it with two fingers, and squeezed each other.

With a "bang", the crystal clear bead was directly shattered into powder in Yi Nan's hands.

Seeing this scene, the craftsmen felt as if cold water was pouring down on their heads, and their hearts were cold.

Could it be that the "path to getting rich" they just discovered is so fragile and vulnerable?

Yinan: Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my "strength".