From Concubine to Pharaoh [Transmigration Book]

"How many laborers are still working on the nearby construction sites?"

"How many civilians are still farming in the surrounding villages?"

High Priest Senmut put on his already soaked robe, wiped the water from his face indiscriminately, spoke quickly, and questioned the surprised and frightened militiamen gathered in the gazebo.

People looked at each other in blank dismay, they couldn't answer any of Senmut's questions.

In the end, it was Nanna who reminded her in a rough voice: "Forgive me, you can't calculate the total number of people. It is said that there are several teams of conscripts, several large villages nearby, and several small villages."

Alicia suddenly realized: it turned out that simple arithmetic multiplication and division, larger numbers.It is very difficult for ordinary people in this era.

"A total of six militia teams, one craftsman team, and one women team."

This time it was Uncle Deka who spoke in an orderly manner.

The militia team is the group of coolies and brute force in the construction of various projects;

The craftsman team is roughly designers, engineers and craftsmen;

Most of the women's teams are elderly women who help with cooking and laundry near the construction site, take care of logistics, and get enough food and clothing by the way.

The number of these personnel ranged from thirty to forty people per team, so Nanna quickly came to a conclusion: "About 40 people, at most 300 people."

The young people with plain faces stared blankly at Nanna together, with admiration in their eyes.

Ai Lixi brainstormed their thoughts: Wow, that's amazing, she knows how to do arithmetic, she deserves to be the head maid next to the princess.

Uncle Deka continued to add: "There is a large village and four small villages near Saqqara. The young and strong in the village are either conscripted to serve as soldiers or become civilians. The rest are old and weak women and children, probably like this number."

So the total number is about 600 people.

The area around the Saqqara Palace is low-lying and flat. Once the big river floods, these people cannot avoid it and are bound to suffer disaster.

After hearing this, Senmut immediately said: "Everyone, hurry up and find them all. Everyone, don't delay, and immediately go to the king's palace in Saqqara to hide..."

When he said this, he suddenly realized that he forgot to ask for the opinion of the first princess, Elyse, and turned his face away, seeing Elyse nod with a calm expression.

Although the Saqqara Palace is also easily destroyed by the flood of the river.

But Haolai is also the place with the highest terrain within three to five days' journey around.People who need refuge have no other choice.

"Yes!"

More than a dozen young militiamen immediately got up and set off, not forgetting to thank Elyse before setting off.

After all, without her, a member of the royal family, nodding in agreement, ordinary people are not qualified to take half a step into the palace.People's earlier resentment over the construction of the mausoleum dissipated a lot.

"Don't just focus on packing up your household items, and come here as quickly as possible."

Senmut did not forget to add this sentence.

"The road to the palace will be submerged by the river before sunset, and it will be dangerous if it is delayed."

"what?"

"Will the water really rise so fast?"

These young people listened dubiously.

"I just know!" Senmut said solemnly.

He probably sensed people's suspicion, and his eyes looked very anxious.

Erich sat on the sidelines and listened to Senmut's words, wondering if this high priest really has the ability to predict the future?

She immediately winked at Nanna, and Nanna immediately yelled, "This is the king's high priest, the person closest to God in the whole of Egypt."

"He said hurry up, hurry up! Lives matter!"

This voice really worked.

The boys couldn't wait for the buzzing in their ears to dissipate, and they all turned around in a hurry, as if a dozen loaches plunged into the pond at the same time, and braved the heavy rain, they all went to find someone and deliver letters.

Nanna directed the remaining servants to send the wounded to Saqqara's palace first, and then looked back at Sen Mut: "Master High Priest, the flooding of this big river...is it really so serious?"

Although everyone said that the Saqqara Palace was prone to disaster due to the flooding of the big river, but when things came to an end, they were always lucky—what if it wasn’t their turn to be unlucky this time?

Even Nanna was no exception.

Senmut looked worried and nodded.

"I have a hunch that flooding in big rivers is usually a slow rise of the river, giving people a chance to get to higher ground. But suddenly it started to rain heavily in this area, so the water will rise much faster than usual..."

"Once the road is blocked, there is no way to move to a higher place, and it will be difficult to escape after the big river floods."

"Princess, thank you for your accommodation, allowing these servants and common people to enter the palace for refuge."

Senmut sincerely expressed his gratitude to Elyse, and raised his eyes again, looking at Elyse without any trace, as if he felt that she could maintain such a calm and rational look, which was not much different from the rumored arrogant and domineering first princess match.

"High Priest, don't thank me."

Alicia has her own little plan:

It is hard to say what danger she will encounter if she stays in the Saqqara palace.She has only a few people brought out from Memphis around her.

Great difficulties require people to deal with them.

Even if she is full of wisdom, it is difficult for a good commander to solve all the problems.

It's better to push the boat with the current and accept the surrounding militiamen and civilians to come and take refuge together.

"By the way, High Priest, I think you should have more travel with you. If you change your mind now and want to return to Memphis, I won't stop you."

Alixi deliberately spoke in a flat tone, but she was looking forward to Senmut's reaction in her heart.

After all, she was provoking—

She remembered that Senmut was a high priest of common origin.So she was betting that Senmut was a stubborn and serious man, betting that he would not leave her and so many civilians and leave Saqqara.

Sen Mutt gave her a fixed look, and suddenly smiled.

Just like when he saw Elyse in the Pharaoh's palace that day, he smiled brightly and innocently, without any impurities.

But he seemed to have seen through Alicia's heart, and he would never let go of her little narrow thoughts.

So Senmut took out two thin, gondola-like travel coins from the hidden pocket of the cuff of the linen robe on the spot, put them directly into the palm of Alicia, then folded his hands on his chest, and asked Alicia Xi bowed, glanced at her with a smile, then turned and left, walking into the heavy rain.

Erich stared down at the two stacked amulets, and couldn't help sticking out her tongue: she really succeeded in the challenge and won the bet; but this also proved one point——sometimes, It doesn't take any special talent to see through a person's heart.

Even if he didn't have mind reading skills, Senmut could see what was going on in her mind.

After noon, Erich had already enjoyed the first meal of the day. She tasted the soft bread freshly baked from the oven, the roasted pigeon mixed with dried figs and almonds, and the meat cooked with eggs, flour and honey. A small dessert made together.

In addition to cooking, the kitchen also prepared hot water for her early so that she could take a bath in hot water after the heavy rain in the morning.

Now Erich sits on a wide, thick wool rug with a low table in front of her.

Asin, the personal maid who has been serving Elyse, is massaging her limbs and applying precious ointment to her.

Asin's technique was appropriate, and he was familiar with Ailixi's physical condition, which made Ailixi feel so comfortable that she almost sighed.

Ailixi chatted with Asin one after another, but her eyes were only on a piece of papyrus on the low table.

Prior to this, Erich had slightly improved the reed pen used by the priests to write the results of divination.Using this pen, she successfully wrote down a line of strange symbols on the papyrus.

Footsteps sounded, and Nanna rushed in with strides.

"Miss, according to what you said, I searched all the storage rooms in the palace..."

Nanna was ordered by Elyse to take people to count the supplies in the Saqqara Palace, but only counted a batch of barley that hadn't gone moldy, and dozens of barrels of brewed beer that had gone sour.

The food they found was only enough for 600 people to consume for a day or two.

Erich added a few more marks on the papyrus that recorded the number of people and supplies, then folded her arms in thought.

"If you add the food we brought..."

Nanna said hesitantly.

Ailixi and her party also brought a lot of food—the wife of the high priest was very worried about the safety of her daughter in Saqqara.

Therefore, I tried every means to stuff all kinds of food, ingredients, spices, medicines...in Erich's luggage.

These things are enough for Alixie and his party to support them in Saqqara's palace for two or three months until the flood season of the great river is over.

But the food consumed by four or 50 people is not in the same order of magnitude as the diet needed by hundreds of people.

Most of the items supplied to Elyse are very fine and come from Upper and Lower Egypt.Even precious ingredients from other countries were carefully prepared by the great priest's wife for his beloved daughter.Not always so good at filling the empty stomachs of commoners.

Alicia listened to Nanna's suggestion, paused for a moment with the reed pen in her hand, and drew a few more strokes next to the line she just drew, then stared at the calculation result in a daze.

Now all the supplies can only support the people who come to take refuge for five days?

This reality is a little too skinny.

A whispered report sounded outside the door: "Princess, the High Priest has arrived. Would you like him to come in?"

Ah Xin hastily pulled a long woolen blanket to cover Ailixi's straight and slender legs, then stretched out his hand to help Ailixi sit upright, and arranged her clothes and jewelry a little, then stood up respectfully and stepped back. go out.

When Senmut came in, Erich was sitting in front of the short table in good spirits, with papers and pens piled up in front of her, looking shrewd in handling affairs.

Relying on Erich's eyes, the high priest sat down on the opposite side, just facing Erich's slightly improved reed pen and the piece of papyrus with strange symbols on it.

Senmut stared at the papyrus, but was unable to speak for several seconds.

The papyrus records all kinds of materials available in the Saqqara Palace, and they are all graphically represented: barley is long ears of wheat, wheat is short ears of wheat, beer is wine barrels, and live birds are cuckoo chickens... These graphics are all It's not difficult to recognize, and the writing is so naive and clumsy that it looks childish.

However, behind the material icon is another strange symbol, which Senmut has never seen before, so naturally he can't recognize it.

Even the priests of Tut, the god of knowledge and wisdom, would never be able to recognize the marks drawn by Elyse on the papyrus——Elyse thought with some pride: That's your neighbor's neighbor in 2000 Invented a few years later and shipped by your neighbors for use throughout the world.

After this moment of surprise and curiosity, Senmut became calm again, and said to Erich: "Princess, I heard that you sent someone to count the supplies in the palace."

"Yes!"

Erich deliberately showed off, she used a newly made reed pen to point to the numbers she wrote down on the papyrus: "Four hundred sacks of barley, three hundred sacks of wheat, fifty live poultry, four calves, two pigs, three hundred sacks of dried meat. Ten sticks, two baskets of poultry eggs, ten baskets of figs, ten baskets of grapes, ten baskets of dates, two baskets of coarse salt, two baskets of fine salt, some seasonings... and dozens of buckets of sour beer, but if you really want When there is a shortage of water, you can also drink it."

Erich, who had finished reporting the name of the dish, stroked with a pen and told Senmut: "If the food is distributed equally to all the people entering the palace, assuming the total number is 600 people, it can last for two to three days. If If the rations allocated to each person are halved, then we can probably last for five days..."

Senmut's eyes kept turning with the tip of Erich's pen, as if trying to figure out which numbers in her mouth the symbols on the papyrus corresponded to.

After a while, he gave up, turned to Erich, and asked in an unbelievable tone: "You mean, you want to share all the food equally among everyone?"

Alixi looked at him calmly: "What else?"

What kind of person do you think I am?

Senmut nodded knowingly, then sighed softly.

"Big river flooding never ends in a month. Having food for only three or five days is really a problem."

"In order to allow people to arrive before the roads are flooded, I specially sent a message to tell them not to patronize packing up their belongings, but forget to mention food..."

Senmut seemed mortified.

But if they brought food, they were afraid that those civilians would only focus on transporting food and delay the journey to the palace.

"Now we can only hope that the people will have prepared for the flooding of the river on the day Sirius rises, and have packed their food and can take it on the road at any time..."

Alicia smiled and said, "In this way, it doesn't seem like a bad thing for Sirius to rise five days earlier?"

What is the truth about Sirius rising with the sun has long been impossible to verify, but it has become a tacit consensus between Erich and Senmut.

Elyse is confident now: so what if you get a glimpse of the truth?You have no evidence.

Senmut could only nod helplessly, expressing his agreement with Erich.

Nanna reported outside the door: "The first batch of servants have arrived..."

After noon, the folks who built the royal tomb near the Saqqara palace and the villagers from the village rushed to the palace one after another.

Both Nanna and Asin were sent to count whether all the people who arrived at the palace had brought food and other supplies.

The answer is mostly no.

Erich moved a short table and sat in a dry corner of the courtyard to record, her brows gradually frowned.

The people who came here were all panicking about the dangers they encountered. The torrential rain caused the roads to be eroded in an instant, and the villages they lived in were quickly submerged by the rising river...

Either because of Senmut's reminder, or because of the panic when fleeing, most of them came with empty hands and nothing.

When people arrived at the Saqqara Palace, the scene was extremely chaotic:

The woman lost her beloved child, and was in a hurry to run around;

Children can't find their parents and relatives, they can only cry bitterly;

Some people rejoice that they have a safe place to take refuge when the river floods;

Others were sighing, since the star Sirius had already risen high a few days ago, how could they have made a mistake in thinking that the river would not flood too much this year?

"This is terrible!" A stonemason who lived in the village of artisans cried out regretfully.

"Two days ago, we clearly packed up the food that was needed by several nearby villages, and specially piled it in the highest warehouses in several villages."

"As a result, I was frightened by the heavy rain today, and ran directly to the king's palace, but forgot all the food behind me..."

His companion answered from the side: "Even if you think about it, so what, we can't escape to the palace in time with so much food on our back..."

"My life is escaped, I have nothing to eat, I have to starve to death, but... what should I do...?"

The mason became agitated, and pulled his hair angrily.

Senmut keenly caught something, walked up to the stonemason, stopped about a step away, seemed to reach out to pat the other person's shoulder to show comfort, but finally retracted his hand.

"You mean, you have sorted out all the food and piled it at the highest point in the village?"

Senmut asked loudly.

After getting an affirmative answer, Senmut's eyes lit up: "Lead me there!"

Suddenly several people around him shouted at the same time: "Are you crazy?"

"Even if the granary wasn't submerged by the big river for a while, the road along the way has been washed away a lot. Besides, it's been so dark this day, and it will be completely dark at some point. If you go there, you won't be able to come back! "

"Not afraid!"

Senmut immediately turned around to look for Erich who was sitting in front of the short table.

"princess……"

Before he could open his mouth, Erich had already stretched out her hand, and put a thin piece of amulet shaped like a gondola in the palm of his hand.

Senmut laughed immediately, knowing that Erich had also thought of what he wanted in a very tacit understanding——

travel.