[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

As Yi Nan expected, the new "Gate of Justice" was built without official publicity at all, and the whole city knew about it.

And the pottery brick factory under her business is also booming, and the customers who come to inquire every day almost break the threshold.

People are obsessed with beautiful glassware, but they never thought that the smoothness and color of the glass surface can be transferred to the wall.

These days, who doesn't want their terracotta-colored brick walls to have a little more bright brilliance? -In the past people tried to cut holes in the walls and hang flower pots and colorful woolen blankets.But now there are ceramic tiles, as long as they are pasted on the wall, the plain brick wall will be transformed immediately.

People went to the pottery yard one after another, or asked familiar middlemen to find ways to buy.

"Any color tile will do, as long as it's tile!"

"... Fragments? Fragments are fine too!"

"What? The royal family is also looking for tiles?"

People sigh, it seems that their dream of decorating a beautiful home with ceramic tiles will be realized later.

However, Yinan gradually discovered that the "Gate of Justice" built with the latest decorative materials and paid for by her did not seem to be of any help to Herod.

That day she went to the "Gate of Justice" to find Herod.

This "Gate of Justice" stands near the original site of the first gate of the original "Seven Doors of Justice".

After the "Gate of Justice", there is a paved road leading to a small square.On one side of the square, there was originally a hut for the "gatekeeper" to rest.It is now converted into a small courtyard by Herod.

Herod's original intention was that, in order to ensure that justice and fairness could be conveyed to every corner of Babylon, whenever the "Gate of Justice" was used, the Babylonians could gather in the small square to watch.

However, if the case itself involves reputation and privacy, or the parties are afraid of reprisals and need protection, these cases will be held "closed door" in a small courtyard, and only relevant parties are invited to enter.

Inan's view, such a design and arrangement is very thoughtful.Who would have thought that when she met Herod, she realized that since the gate was built, Herod's small courtyard has not been visited by anyone so far.

"What's going on here?" Yi Nan opened his eyes wide in surprise.

She counted: "According to what the captain of the palace guard said last time, there are more than [-] people who appeal for grievances through the 'Seven Doors of Justice' every year. According to the probability, at least one person will come to appeal every two days?"

She glanced at Herod secretly, and thought guiltily: Could it be that the "Gate of Justice" that she spent so much time rebuilding did Herod a disservice?The enthusiasm of the Babylonians is not in the re-established "appeal channel" at all, but is all focused on the tiles she made?

This is indeed possible—when Yi Nan came, he saw a large group of citizens admiringly gathered around the "Gate of Justice" and praised it. If there were no guards blocking it, they would all have stretched out their hands to touch it. Tiles on the door.

"Herod... Tell me, what's wrong with this?"

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked cautiously, like a child who made a mistake.

It was obvious that Herod was in a bad mood.But he shook his head with extraordinary determination, and said, "No, Miss Ishtar, it has nothing to do with you."

"It's obvious that there are some things I haven't done yet. The meaning of this 'Gate of Justice' is still unknown, and everyone still doesn't understand what the scale on the lintel means."

Herod paced back and forth in his small courtyard.

Yi Nan sat cross-legged in the corner of the room, resting his chin on one hand, thinking wistfully: what went wrong.

Is it not publicized enough?

——The publicity must be enough. In addition to this absolutely eye-catching "Gate of Justice", the Royal Palace Guard will send a team every day to the city of Babylon to report the deeds of the "Seven Doors" that Hammurabi knocked down.

This propaganda team clearly told the Babylonians that the "seven gates" in the past were knocked down by the king's order, so that people who had suffered from injustice and humiliation could breathe a sigh of relief and have a channel to redress their grievances.

The propaganda team will also mention the name of "Lord Herod", saying that Herod is the most intelligent and wisest among the royal officials, and he is also the one who insists on justice most.With him, the appellants will definitely be able to give the fairness they want.

But that's it, no one came.

Yi Nan would even think of the woman who passed through the "Seven Doors" before her.

Could it be that even that woman has completely disappointed in "justice" and is unwilling to believe that Herod has the ability to avenge her?

Or did they encounter many obstacles on their way to justice? ——Yinan couldn't help but conspiratorially, sitting in a corner and imagining by himself: Those nobles who took advantage of the plunder may have arranged many killers on the road leading to the "Gate of Justice"...

Herod was thinking too.He frowned, with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth in the room, occasionally turning his head to look at Inan, and suddenly found that the little expressions on her face were very rich, sometimes terribly nervous, sometimes gnashing her teeth with anger—this seemed to Herod, It turned out to be very cute.

What is this girl thinking?

Herod's searching eyes fixed on her face.

After all, Miss Ishta is actually a victim of the "seven doors" in the past—how can these victims regain their trust?I believe that "Gate of Justice" will not repeat the same mistakes, it will not be the same as before.

Suddenly, Herod suddenly realized, stretched out his right fist, and punched himself heavily on the forehead.

"I see, Miss Ishtar. I have one very important thing to do—"

Once Herod figured it out, he only hurriedly greeted Yi Nan, and quickly left the small courtyard.When Inan jumped up, Herod had disappeared.

"This guy--"

Yi Nan said resentfully, "At least he is a teammate, and he ran away without even saying hello."

But on the second day, Inan finally understood what Herod was going to do.

On the small square behind the "Gate of Justice", a group of royal palace guards suddenly appeared. They escorted a group of "gatekeepers" to the square, stripped off the upper body clothes of the group of "gatekeepers", and then raised the gauntlet for execution. The weapon crackled and started beating.

Painful wailing and begging for mercy sounded immediately.

A lot of Babylonian citizens who came here to "look at" the new gate gathered near the "Gate of Justice".They were all shocked when they heard the sound.

Is this really the "gatekeeper" who used to always show off here?

Even if the Babylonians have not walked through the "seven gates" in person, most of them have heard of the legend of the "seven gates" and know the bad deeds of these "gatekeepers" - even before they passed the "seven gates", they would have noticed These "gatekeepers" will eye them maliciously.

The Babylonian women were particularly impressed by this. After all, these guys' gazes were so obscene that the Babylonian women would not be willing to pass by here unless it was absolutely necessary.

But today, these rich and powerful guys were all laid down in the small square, with their backs exposed, and let the palace guards draw bloodstains on their backs.

The "flogging" execution lasted for half a day. First, the "gatekeeper" was flogged, and then it was the turn of the royal ceremonial officer who corrupted the law and tampered with the hidden clay tablet in the Aligal/Ishtar case.

During this process, the whole of Babylon was a sensation—the Babylonians never imagined that King Hammurabi would publicly punish those "gatekeepers" who interfered and hindered justice, as well as those royal officials who violated justice. .

The news spread quickly throughout the city as if it had grown wings.

Anyone who can put down their business and come to watch the excitement will come to the "Gate of Justice" to watch the excitement.

The people in the front kept passing on the latest "information" they saw to the Babylonians behind.

"Tsk tsk tsk, those 'gatekeepers' have suffered a lot. Two people have already been knocked out, and they woke up after being splashed with water and continued to beat..."

"The ceremonial officer presiding over the execution is Lord Herod. The king ordered him to rebuild the 'Gate of Justice'. His actions are really bold!"

"What courage? Isn't this offending all my colleagues? Look... the other ceremony officials in black robes look at him strangely."

"So he has courage!"

"This……"

The executions continued until at last it was the turn of all the palace guards, including the captain, to receive ten blows with the cane.These palace guards were all punished because they were implicated by their "gatekeeper" colleagues, and they had participated in the distribution of spoils and received benefits.

The captain of the palace guard took the lead, bared his back, then gritted his teeth and received ten heavy beatings.

He took all the palace guards to accept the beating, and every time he was beaten, he would shout: "Maintaining justice is the bounden duty of the palace guards."

Herod, who was wearing a black robe, stood in front of the small square with a cold face, supervising the execution blankly.

The people who were severely punished in front of him were either guards he knew well or his colleagues.

However, seeing these people being tortured, Herod's expression did not fluctuate at all - he was like a cruel god, who came to the world to supervise the punishment of crimes and justice.

The "gatekeeper" who had been flogged and the former royal official looked at Herod, but they were not as friendly as the onlookers.

Most of them looked at Herod with resentment, probably thinking that if Herod hadn’t been so troublesome, the king might have forgotten about this, at least he wouldn’t have made such a “public execution”.

This Herod, for his own sake, wants them to attack... It's too hateful.

But the Babylonians who surrounded the small square obviously didn't think so.

Someone in the crowd shouted: "This is a good thing! The king will not let those 'gatekeepers' and ceremony officials join forces to fool them. People who have been wronged will have a way to stand out!"

"Don't be too happy too early. If you feel wronged, you may not be judged to win if you bring it to Lord Herod."

"I don't care about that. Have you seen the balance on the 'Gate of Justice'? As long as Lord Herod is neither biased towards me nor the other party - then if I am wrong, I will admit it!"

"Yes, that's the reason."

A group of people were discussing, suddenly someone shouted from behind: "Everyone, please step aside, please step aside!"

"What? Is there really someone who wants to be wronged?"

Sure enough, the "gatekeepers" who used to flaunt their might in front of the "seven gates" are now being punished in public, and even the palace guards are implicated--King Hammurabi's attitude is clearly revealed, and finally touched some people, and re-opened. Hope and confidence in "justice" arose.

"Quickly get out of the way, hurry up and make way!"

In front of the "Gate of Justice", the crowd surrounded by three floors inside and three floors outside, unexpectedly gave way automatically.

A woman wearing a veil, kowtowed in three steps, was walking towards the newly built palace gate.She was holding something in her hands, a black mass, and no one else knew what it was.

With tears in her eyes, when she came to the "Gate of Justice", she stopped, raised her head, took a deep look at the scale made of tiles on the door, then knelt down in front of the door, bowed down solemnly, and said He muttered words, as if he was praying secretly.

Next, she got up and walked through the "Gate of Justice" alone, still holding the thing in both hands.

Herod has already received the news: he came to this small square to personally greet No.1 who passed under the "Gate of Justice"—he stood opposite the Gate of Justice and watched the woman pass through the door opening , came to himself.

And Herod quickly recognized what was in the woman's hand—it was a black robe, the black robe of a royal court official.

And this woman was muttering to herself, thanking the kind-hearted people bestowed by God.This black robe supported her through the most difficult moment, allowing her to stand up again, come here, and seek justice for herself.

Herod stood in front of the "Gate of Justice" with a solemn expression, obviously feeling the courage on his shoulders.

——So heavy, yet so important.

"Madam, please rest assured. I, Herod, will work hard to let the light of justice shine on the earth, destroy all sin and evil, so that the strong cannot oppress the weak." ①

Herod stood before the gate and swore aloud.

Since Herod's "Gate of Justice" accepted the first case, the place has been out of control, and people have complained to the "Gate of Justice" almost every day.

At the beginning, they were all "seeking justice" and "seeking a reversal", asking Herod to re-examine the previous judgments of the royal court officials, so that they had the opportunity to appeal and resolve their grievances.

Later, regardless of whether the Babylonians had complained to the royal court officer before or not—as long as they even encountered disputes, they would run to the "Gate of Justice" and ask Herod to help them adjudicate.

During this period, most of the cases Herod encountered could find similar cases in Hammurabi's previous judgments, providing him with a basis for judgment.

Every time a verdict is announced, the "Gate of Justice" will be surrounded by people.It was heard from Herod's mouth that on such and such a day and such and such a day King Hammurabi had passed the verdict in the same case.

Afterwards, Herod would order someone to go to the clay tablet warehouse of the royal family, and fetch the corresponding clay tablet files according to the index he provided, and read them in public.

The crowd listening at the side often sighed: Herod's memory has never been wrong-the king really chose the right person.

But in private, Inan would say to Herod with a smile: "Everyone has never seen you working hard alone behind your back."

Herod's unparalleled "professional ability" is the result of his years of accumulation, plus the result of studying hard every night during the recent period.

Every time Inan praised Herod, who was praised by the Babylonians as "iron and selfless", his face would blush slightly, but he would forcefully defend himself: "Seeing that there are more and more cases, I have to find a way. It is possible to sort out the cases that Wang has judged before, and summarize some rules and principles of judgment."

"In this way, in the future, I can hand over some simple cases to other royal officials and ask them to judge the cases according to these principles."

When Yi Nan heard this, he immediately pricked up his ears: Herod, is this...has it finally reached the stage of enacting laws?

Her heart began to beat excitedly.

I only heard Herod say: "But the more I sort out the cases that the king has judged before, the more I feel...the king's judgments may not all be justified."

This turned out to be the beginning of openly questioning Hammurabi's previous conclusions.

Yi Nan rolled his eyes and looked at Herod suspiciously: "Then... if you encountered a similar case recently, how did you refer to Wang's previous judgment? Could it be..."

Is it possible that Herod can still make mistakes?

Herod smiled and said, "The king's decision on similar cases is not exactly the same every time—this gives me some leeway."

That is to say, Hammurabi also had some discrepancies when deciding different cases in the past.The results of the two previous judgments were different - so that Herod could choose a "more fair" precedent and apply it to the case according to the actual situation.

"But I still hope that I can find some basic principles, because I also want to convince myself that these judgments that come out of my mouth have indeed brought justice to the world."

"Okay!" Inan clapped her hands, she simply sat down beside Herod and said, "Maybe I can help you."

Herod was very surprised, and watched Inan sitting down next to him like this, her hair almost brushing his cheek.

He quickly collected his mind, turned his head and looked at the clay tablet in front of him - there were some notes he had just scribbled on it.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..." Yi Nan read while holding the clay tablet.

"How about an eye for an eye?" Yi Nan turned his face, deliberately widened his eyes, and looked at Herod, "Is that so?"

It's just that this look is not scary at all, it's just cute.

Herod couldn't help but widen his eyes: "How can it be such a joke? This sentence means: If one person blinds another's eye, then his other eye should also be blinded." blind."

"If a man knocks out another man's teeth, one of his teeth should also be knocked out as punishment."

This is the original meaning of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

"In the same way, if a man breaks another man's leg, his leg should be broken as well."

"If a man kills another, then he shall pay with his life." Herod kept making analogies.

Yi Nan nodded, and said, "So this is—homosexual revenge."

Whatever evil a man does, he does to himself in the same degree.This is the simple "equality" and "fairness" developed by early human civilization.In a sense, it is indeed just, though extremely crude.

"Homosexual revenge?!" Herod heard what Inan said, and quickly wrote down the words, thinking that what Miss Ishta summed up was better than what he said.

"However, what if the party of 'homogeneous revenge' is Waldu or Amtu?" Yinan recalled the issue of class inequality in this society.

"You're asking, what would happen if an Avelur killed a Valdu, right?" Herod countered.After receiving an affirmative answer, Herod quoted a passage from Hammurabi's judgment, and concluded by saying: "This Avelus who killed Vardu shall pay twenty shekels of silver to the master of this Vardu, as a reward." Compensation for the owner."

Yi Nan was shocked by this: It turned out that in this society, people in the higher class did not regard slaves as "human beings" at all, and they were completely objectified.She had to think about how to change this situation.

"In fact, King Hammurabi once judged a case. I still feel very disturbed when I think about it." Herod also mentioned a "judgment" he had read.

"You said?" Yi Nan turned his face and looked at Herod.She saw the worry in the eyes of this indifferent young man very clearly.

Herod opened his mouth to tell that the culprit in that case was an architect. The house he designed went wrong, and the house collapsed, crushing the client's wife and children to death.The client sued Hammurabi, demanding that the architect be punished.

In the end, Hammurabi ruled "homogeneous revenge" and ordered the execution of the architect's wife and children②.

Inan was dumbfounded, and Herod couldn't bear it, and it took him a long time to say: "But it's...it's indeed 'homogeneous revenge'." He has quickly mastered the terminology that Inan taught him.

Yinan suddenly lowered his head and thought: Isn't this kind of "homogeneous revenge" too absolute and too arbitrary?To be able to draw such a conclusion...

"I think, 'homogeneous revenge' is a principle, but there should also be a condition." Inan finally raised his head and looked at Herod.

Herod pursed his lips and listened attentively, for fear of missing any word that Inan said.

"The principle of 'homogeneous revenge' should only apply to the perpetrator himself, and should not involve any other innocent people."

"Take this example as an example. The architect's wife and children died because of the architect. They can also be said to have been killed by the architect. According to the principle of 'homomorphic revenge', the wife and children also died. The architect should be required to pay his life... However, the fact that the architect is still alive is enough to prove that the sentence of executing his wife and children was not completely fair..."

Inan continued speaking in one breath, while Herod hurriedly wrote down all these contents on the clay tablet.

He intuited that these "principles" that Yinan helped him refine were very important.Even if these principles cannot be passed by Hammurabi in the future, he will fight for them.

The two talked about it, and before they knew it, time passed quickly.

Yi Nan glanced out the window: "Oh, it's already so late. I have to go back."

Except for the night when Inan stayed overnight in the clay warehouse to protect Herod's safety, Inan never stayed in Herod's "single dormitory" again.Today is no exception.

She stood up, and Herod, who was sitting beside her, suddenly raised his hand and said impulsively, "Don't go!"

Inan turned her head in surprise—it was the first time she saw Herod showing such an emotional side.

Herod's budgerigar also jumped out at the right time, and while hopping on the window sill, he tried to imitate Herod's tone with his characteristic voice.

I could only hear it calling repeatedly: "Miss Ishtar, Miss Ishtar!"