Relying on the inner ghosts, the Han army entered the city of Memphis almost bloodlessly.When Ren Hong rode into the city on a flowery radish, he quickly issued three orders."
Chen Tang, lead people to control the city defense, and execute all those who dare to resist.""
Wang Feng, follow the priest and the interpreter to control the granary.""
Judge, restrain the soldiers, do not plunder, and do not enter the temple.Tell them that when they return from the war, I will allow everyone to bring home some local products. ”Ren Hong did his homework before he came, and through Wu Zaihan's dictation, he had a general understanding of Egypt's class, poverty and wealth.The robbery of the temple in Memphis will arouse the anger of the Egyptian people, on the contrary, to rob the richer Alexandria, and see the bad luck of the Greeks who live there, the Egyptians may still applaud.Hearing this order, walking in the middle of the team, Gao Wutong, who was in charge of protecting the baggage and scholars, smiled at Chu Shaosun and said: "When I was poisoned ten years ago, the hussar general let us go and rob us. ”The jade diggers are really vicious, but after being a human being for ten years, not only have people gained weight, but there are people who serve them as meat eaters every day, and after living a comfortable life, everyone's robber nature has been slightly restrained, and ordinary things can't get into their eyes."
This expedition, we don't want money, it's more important to be promoted to martial arts, this thing can be passed on to future generations" After speaking, Gao Wutong stopped, looking at the white wall, a bull statue with a golden disc on his head, and his eyes were full of greed: "Is this gold?"
”Of course not, just a coat of plating.In the eyes of Liu Gengsheng and Chu Shaosun, Memphis is very different from ordinary soldiers.The streets were unremarkable, and the Egyptians closed their doors to the outskirts of the temple, and the charm of this ancient country began to be revealed when they reached the vicinity of the temple.First of all, on both sides of the street, two rows of sphinxes made of alabaster stone lie on both sides of the street to greet each other.Approaching the white-walled gate, there is an impressive obelisk in the center of the square, and on both sides of the door are standing colossias that stand impressively, carved from a single piece of granite, and the carving is exquisite.Look at the tall brim, it should be the ancient princes of Egypt, the interpreter asked the priest, and said that this is the statue of "Ramses II", which has been standing here for a thousand years."
A thousand years ago, it was equivalent to the time of Yin Zhou."
In fact, the oldest obelisk in Memphis was erected more than 2,000 years ago, and its history is even older than the history of 2020 in the future.Liu Gengsheng and Chu Shaosun were a little excited, these colossal statues and neat sculptures, tall white walls, really felt like a sacred place.Ren Hong didn't have their excitement, he hid his nose and entered the city, Memphis is good, it's just a little stinky, after all, it's a two-thousand-year-old ancient city, and sewage continues to flow into the Nile, but it also pollutes the groundwater.Cities with too long a history have this drawback, and Chang'an also has clues.And in the city, from the nobles to the commoners, everything is like life, as long as there are conditions, they all want to become mummies after death, and the temple in the city is the place where mummies are made, and the carts of bubble soda are transported in, although the corpses are indeed dried, but can they not stink?
When Ren Hong led the troops to the temple, he raised his hand, made the soldiers stop with heavy steps, and looked up at the white wall, a man-carried chariot was slowly welcoming him.The chariot was hung with a cloth dyed with precious Tyre dye, and the pole was covered with gold sheets, and when he came to him, Ren Hong ordered the soldiers to get out of the way of the halberd-holding block, and let the chariot come to him.The cloth was lifted by the Egyptian maid to reveal the queen within: she was dressed as the goddess Venus, and lay in a silk tent strung with gold thread as thin as a cicada's wings, and the maids stood on either side, each holding an incense fan and gently swaying it, while the pious priests followed behind, as if she had recovered them.Cleopatra straightened up to face Ren Hong, she was about twenty years old, her black hair hung down on her fair neck and gold leaf waist, even in Ren Hong's oriental aesthetics, it was still bright and moving.It's really strange, isn't it said that she is a strange and ugly sow, and Caesar and Anthony are blind?
The chariot was put down, and Ren Hongzong stepped forward, he did not dismount, and the horse's hooves of the carrot were stepped on until the chariot was closer, and only then did he smell the queen's chariot and body were full of fragrance, which was in stark contrast to the stinky Memphis.In Cleopatra's eyes, the general opposite who had an arrogant attitude and did not get off the horse to greet her in front of her was a little familiar."
Yes, he looks a lot like Pompey."
When she and her exiled father, Ptolemy XII, the Piper, fled to Rome seven years earlier, it was Pompey who helped them, and was impressed by the chubby Roman general, who at least he was younger than Pompey.After all, there are people who ask for it, and Cleopatra, who is extremely proud on weekdays, can only smile and salute Ren Hong, and she does not grovel, but is decent and generous.Although she is a loser, now, in this holy white city, she is still the queen of Egypt, the goddess!"
I was forced to leave Alexandria by my ill-hearted brother, who had colluded with the eunuchs and ministers to start a rebellion, and when I heard that the co-rulers of Seris had been invited to Egypt, my ignorant brother was rude and offended, so he came to meet him in Memphis." ”Oh, it turns out that the queen is "Nan Hunt Memphis".The queen straightened up: "But I am still the pharaoh of Egypt, guarding upper and lower Egypt, Memphis has opened the door for the co-rulers of the country of Seris, and I also ask the co-rulers to restrain the army and not to invade the temple, I am willing to provide food for the army of Seris." ”She proclaimed it loudly in Egyptian to reassure the priests behind her, and asked the interpreter to convey goodwill to Ren Hong, but she still pretended that she had many cards, hoping to negotiate with the Seris on an equal footing and figure out what they wanted."
There are no co-rulers in the Han Dynasty, and there is no vice king."
Ren Hong asked Wu Zaihan to correct this small misunderstanding of the translation: "The queen can call me General Ren, or Da Sima." ”I don't know if the Greeks would understand Da Sima as a "great horse breeder"."
As for bread and milk," Ren Hong glanced at Wang Feng, who came to report to him, saying that the city defense and granaries had been taken, and said with a smile: "I should provide it to the queen, right?"
”Cleopatra returned to the garden next to the temple with a sense of frustration, and she took off the gold leaf and jewelry she had painstakingly pasted on her body and threw it on the ground, angry but her mind was spinning, knowing that she had messed up today's meeting with the Serisians.The general was not at all kind as he had been when he had sent gifts to each other, but he was extremely powerful, and as soon as he entered the city, he sent people to take control of the city defenses, granaries, and workshops, and asked craftsmen to make arrows that fit the length of the Serisian crossbows.These were all bargaining chips that she wanted to put on the negotiating table, but Ren Hong took them first, and now there is only a group of priests left around the queen who serve the sacred cow of Apis, what is the use of them?
And when it comes to future plans, the Seris are also ambiguous, which makes Cleopatra very frightened.Cleopatra repeatedly emphasized that she was the lord and pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, but she became more and more pale and powerless.And Ren Hong always smiled without saying a word, as if to say: "Whoever controls Upper and Lower Egypt is the pharaoh, and now you are not even the master of Memphis." ”In the end, the queen became more and more weak in the mysterious smile of the other party, and was defeated in embarrassment.The fox is still inferior to the old fox.After thinking about it carefully, the queen knew where she had lost, not only in terms of unbalanced strength, but also in intelligence.The other party knew very well what she wanted, with the help of the Seri people, to kill Alexandria, kick Ptolemy XIII off the throne, and regain power.But she didn't know anything about General Ren's purpose."
Does that general Ren want to be the second Alexander the Great?
The conquest of Upper and Lower Egypt depended on a few thousand men?
”Cleopatra couldn't figure it out, so the queen summoned Aya, who was marching with the Seris through the Eastern Desert, and asked her if she had found out about the purpose of the Seris.Aya told her about an incident that General Ren asked Wu Jaehan to ask her."
The envoy of Wu asked me about my ethnicity, and I said that it was of mixed Greek and Egyptian descent.""
The envoy of Wu said that Egypt should not be the Egypt of the Greeks, but the Egypt of the Egyptians."
This may also be what Ren Hong meant, and Cleopatra's heart suddenly cooled in half.The Ptolemaic dynasty was indeed popular when it was first established, but that was compared to the tyrannical Persians.Three hundred years have passed, and the contradictions between the Greeks and Egyptians have increased day by day, especially in Memphis, Thebes and other places, and the rebellion has continued.The Greeks did not affect this at all, but the Egyptians were heavily taxed and complained, and there have been many times when the statue of King Ptolemaic on the side of the road has been broken and destroyed.It would be difficult for the Seris to conquer Egypt with a few thousand soldiers, and even if there were follow-up reinforcements, the war would continue for many years.However, if General Ren had followed Alexander's example in the name of "Egyptian Egypt" and supported the priestly class, I am afraid that a large force would have been gathered.In this way, the only sacrificial class that the queen has attracted around her will quickly abandon her.The queen was a little troubled, hugged her knees and thought for a long time, and suddenly laughed."
Aya, you said, is it possible that General Ren's purpose is me?"
Aya shook her head, "When I was in the port, the officers and soldiers of Seris asked for women."
Only General Ren didn't.""
That's even better."
Cleopatra's eyes rolled, and he gently stroked his slender arm: "From the time he was in the port to the time he arrived in Memphis, at least half a month, there were no women around." ”"And as far as I know, five days, five days at most, men will surely crave women!
Unless he's "don't ask her how she knows."
Cleopatra smiled: "The unmarried vow to marry a wife, while the married man rode home and couldn't wait to find his wife." ”This is Xenophon's depiction of the audience's reaction after watching an erotic performance at a private house banquet, and there are many similar activities in Alexandria."
And General Ren has no wife by his side now."
Cleopatra has an idea, since dressing up as a noble goddess is not in his eyes, then change the trick!"
General Ren's purpose in coming to Egypt may not have been for me in the first place.""
But later, not necessarily!"
Cleopatra regained her self-confidence, and she was well aware of her strengths over her brother.She sniffed her hair and began to untie her clothes, apparently in need of another shower after going out to the stench of Memphis dust."
Aya."
When the queen took off her silk robe and stepped into the bath, she turned back and called out to the maids: "Prepare a thick blanket!"
”And living next door to the palace, in the garden surrounded by the guards three times and three circles outside, General Ren, who had just finished a meeting with the captains, received a report from the chief of the guard."
Hussar General, the queen has sent a servant.""
What are you going to do?"
Ren Hong squatted on the ground dangling a dog's tail grass, and wanted to tease the cat, so he asked casually."
It was said that it was cold at night, and someone sent a blanket to the general!"