The pyramids of BC can really reflect the golden brilliance in the sun, and the metal inlaid at the top absorbs the energy of the sun, and it seems that the ancient pharaohs sleeping in it will one day return to the world.A hundred miles north of the city of Memphis, under the Great Pyramid of Giza, the northbound Han army was camping near the city of the dead to rest.Liu Gengsheng is using the altimeter made by Geng Shouchang to measure, plus the simple Pythagorean theorem, to measure the height of these pyramids.The tallest pyramid of "Khufu", he measured 700 Han feet.Slightly smaller is the "Khafre" pyramid, the top is covered with limestone, and there is a sphinx in front of the tower, which the Egyptians say is confirmed by Ren Hong of the "Sphinx", and the nose is still very intact.Even the smallest pyramid of "Menkaura" is a huge structure."
The height has exceeded the five tombs, and the largest one can be compared with the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin."
After putting down the altimeter, Liu Gengsheng had to admit this, and Chu Shaosun on the side hurriedly recorded that this exotic mausoleum system was also a part of his interest.However, don't let the princes of the Central Plains see and learn, and the same is true for the Duhufu, if anyone wants to follow suit, General Ren will teach them to be a man when he returns.Then Chu Shaosun sighed with emotion: "Egypt is not a big country, I don't know how much people's power it will cost to build such a large mausoleum?"
How many years will it take?
”He remembered the abandoned quarries and huge stairways in the eastern desert, and asked about the age of these mausoleums, and was even more surprised to hear that they were 2,000 years ago, and thought that the Egyptians seemed to have spent all their wealth on building temples and mausoleums."
There is serious internal friction, arrogance and lasciviousness, and manpower and wisdom are all invested in temples and death, so there are thirty-two dynasties in Egypt, but they are limited to one place after all, and they have not been able to expand out."
Ren Hong was also looking up at the wonders of the ancient world and felt a lot of emotion.In later generations, it was a solidified Ming fossil with no parents and no offspring.Regime changes, alien invasions, dead words, replaced races, forgotten beliefs, and only the pyramids and sphinxes still stand in the sand.Ren Hong once compared the history of ancient Egypt with the history of China, and found that it was too similar on the surface.Unique, the early geographical isolation from other Ming dynasties, the mentality of boasting the heavenly kingdom, and finally the cyclical dynastic cycle from the legendary Menes to Ptolemy, nearly 3,000 years, a total of 32 dynasties, 10 historical periods, is really the city head of the changing king's banner.In the early days, it was independent and invincible, and all barbarians outside Egypt were unrivaled.Once strong, it expanded everywhere, but soon retreated, and fell into the state of "Northern and Southern Dynasties" several times, and Upper and Lower Egypt was divided several times.There were also endless alien invasions, both in the south, east, west, and west: the Sisoks driving chariots, the Nubians in the south, the sea peoples, Assyria, Persia, Greece, etc.For example, the Ptolemaic Dynasty is equivalent to the Egyptian version of the Qing Dynasty, Alexander successfully entered the customs, he went to Siwa to worship the god Amun, and got the title of "Son of Ra", and Ptolemy I accepted the title of Pharaoh, these two are smart people, and the Manchu emperor worships Confucius to continue the Chinese Mandate of Heaven a routine, and Cleopatra is equivalent to Egypt's Yehnara.However, with the arrival of the warships of the two great powers of Han and Luo, Egypt had to open its mouth for trade, cede land and pay reparations, and Ptolemy 11th and 12th measured Egypt's material resources to win the favor of Rome.If the Han Dynasty is now in the youth of the Ming Dynasty, then Egypt, after 3,000 years of walking, is already dying, and has no choice but to maintain the dynastic lineage, which has assimilated countless invaders, and has gradually become outdated."
Egypt is really a mirror of China, and this trip is the right one, just in time for the Central Plains to step into the Malthesian trap and enter the cycle of history, as in history."
Ren Hong remembers that the historian Toynbee had a set of theories, Ming's "challenge and response".From ancient times to the present day, mankind has faced external challenges, and the wise and the people have responded to the challenges in order to push the wheel of the Ming Dynasty and turn the chiefdom into a state and further develop and grow.The challenge can be a natural disaster, or the enemy Han can complete the transformation from Gao and Hui to Han Wu, and the challenge from the Xiongnu is crucial.But if the external challenges are too great, they can destroy a Ming.If the challenge is too small, it won't motivate enough internal motivation.According to the urine nature of human beings, whenever this happens, it will begin to die endlessly, the aristocracy is merged, and corruption breeds from top to bottom. ”The leftist faction founded by Ren Hong has recently been under the leadership of Zhang Chang and Geng Shouchang, and the works of Xunzi, Mozi and others have been sorted out, printed and disseminated.But if there is no external stimulus, Ren Hong pessimistically believes that after the death of him and Liu Xun, it will only take a few generations, and the Han Dynasty will still be finished, since there is no enemy outside, or the enemy is far enough to not pose any threat, why should he sleep at night?
This is an important reason for his departure, Ren Hong himself was a pioneer and rushed out of the inherent territory of China, not only to expand the horizons and chassis of the Han people.As far as Ren Hong knows, Liu Xun took the initiative to learn some of Ren's practices in the court, such as adding the Hatan Dong Protectorate, and on the Korean Peninsula, the climate is warmer than that of the northeast "Lintun and Zhenban", and some "Kwantung Hou" have been sealed.The same is true in the Southwest Yi region, the abandoned Xiangjun has also sealed a few small marquis, and he can't let Hezhong and the body poison become the only way out for those who are aspiring to be marquis.The imperial court even started to build a navy in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and Ren Hong was happy when he heard about it.It is said that it is to prevent Daqin, but in fact, who is it to prevent?
Defend against his "Western Sea Fleet".Coupled with Liu Xun's concept of "Wang Domineering and Miscellaneous", inhibiting mergers, not using pure virtue to rule, and constantly immigrating to Jiangnan under the light and meager endowment, the Central Plains in the past ten years has indeed been well-off.This is a change brought about by external stimuli, the Han Dynasty does not need people to support and guide, and has begun to change its own needs, this stimulus and challenge is not the Great Qin State, but he Ren Hong!
Liu Xun is not too afraid of him, but Ah Xun's children and grandchildren are afraid that they will always feel that there is Hong'an sleeping on the side of the couch, but because they are far away, it is difficult to tear their faces and fight.And if the situation and direction are not right, he may indeed go back at any time to set things right."
After I leave, they will build schools and hospitals for you, and they will raise your salaries, not because they have a conscience, nor because they have become good people, but because I have been here!"
Ren Hong muttered to himself, now, he just has to arrive in Alexandria, take down the last piece of the puzzle, and send it back to the Central Plains, the rest of Ren Hong's life is all supported by this thought.He is not a good person, it can be said that his virtue is at a loss, the bottom line is lost little by little, and he will never be a saint, but he wants to complete this thing before he dies.Is it possible to break the cycle of history?
I don't know."
Do your best, peace destiny!"
And at this moment, on the other side of the Nile, Lafayette of the Ptolemaic dynasty also returned."
It seems that the queen really brought a lot of people."
The queen had already put on the red and white crown that represented the pharaoh, and behind her was the army she had brought from the rich Heriopolis, and a thousand Egyptians had been conscripted as soldiers, dressed in simple linen armor, and with Memphis and those who had joined her, the queen had conjured up three thousand soldiers in her hands.Cleopatra took the initiative to boast of her victory to Ren Hong: "Apollodorus was originally the governor of Heliopolis Nom, and there were some officials there who were loyal to me, and when they heard that I was going to regain the throne, they were very supportive. ”Nome is equivalent to the county of the Great Han, and the local independence of the Ptolemaic Dynasty has been difficult to contain, and Nome is like a prince.Now at the junction of Upper and Lower Egypt, there are already three Nome chiefs such as Memphis who support Cleopatra, and the High Priest of Ptah also endorses her, which really deceives many Egyptians.However, these Egyptians could not be of great use, and could only serve as servant soldiers, helping the Han army to occupy the towns and towns that passed along the way, and the envoy secretly sent by Ren Hong to Alexandria had returned, and Ptolemy XIII really had a child's temper, and refused any peace talks, only asking the Seris to hand over his sister and retreat immediately!
Even the envoy vaguely said that he could send the queen over to exchange books.Since this is the case, then you can only fight.The queen who was kept in the dark also collected many cattle and horses to carry weapons for the Han army that were transported by ship from India for thousands of miles.There is a special army to take care of it, and there are craftsmen in the army and soldiers personally selected by Ren Hong, which is a good thing that he and his disciple Liu Gengsheng have been tinkering with for several years.Along the way, there were really many Egyptians cheering at the queen, which made her very confident and showed Ren Hong her popularity: "Two pharaohs, one can use Egyptian to worship the gods and often travel around to make people close, and the other is hiding in the capital and can't even speak Egyptian fluently, who will the Egyptians support?"
”"And what about the Greeks in Alexandria?
Who will they lean towards?
”Ren Hong asked rhetorically, the more Egyptian the queen has, the more hostile the Greek nobles in the port will be to her, right?
This may have been one of the reasons why she was expelled by Ptolemy XIII and his ministers without help.The queen already had a plan: "As long as the generals can defeat my brother's army and come to the city, they will know what to do, and if I promise to protect their property, to distribute bread to the poor, to summon the nobles one by one, and to abolish the additional taxes levied from them, I will gain favor and trick them into opening the gates." ”It was a good card to oppose the Romans, and the Greeks of Alexandria, still living in the illusion of a great power, were very dissatisfied with the oppression of Rome.Ten years ago, Alexander's Greeks staged a coup d'état to expel the pipers because they ceded Cyprus to Rome and sent food to Rome to cause prices to rise.Cleopatra, who was in exile with her father, was deeply impressed by the encounter and knew exactly what her people wanted.Now that Rome is in the midst of a civil war, if the excess taxes and tributes can be removed, she will be able to gain the support of both the Greeks and the Egyptians.The only trouble was that if the Romans ended the civil war, they might intervene and retaliate against Egypt.The queen glanced at General Ren, the Romans were on the edge of Egypt in Syria and Cyrene, and Seris was too far away from India to help her win back her country, but she could not protect Egypt all the time.It seems that after using the Seris, he will have to think of another way out for Egypt, and the nobles in the city must curry favor with the Romans.But on her lips, she still said: "My father the piper relied on the support of Rome to secure the throne, and my brother is the same, but I have to rely on the generals, on the Emperor Seris, and on the people!"
”believed in your ghost, but Ren Hong smiled and said: "It seems that the queen's wisdom is not inferior to beauty." ”For some reason, the rare compliment from General Ren made the queen's heart flutter.They left the shadow of the pyramids of Giza and continued to march north along the Nile, and along the way, Chu Shaosun became more and more deeply aware that the so-called Egypt is actually a large oasis stretching for thousands of miles along the Nile, with the Gobi Desert on the left and right.However, the people fed by this "oasis" are dozens of times that of the Western Regions.It was the height of summer, and in addition to the scattered boats in the river, you could also see the vicious crocodile, and a terrifying monster that lived in the water, with a bloody mouth and terrifying teeth on the upper and lower jaws, which had never been seen in the Central Plains!
Chu Shaosun was deeply shocked when he looked at it.Ren Hong said: "This is a hippopotamus, a grazing one, let the soldiers don't mess with them, the temper is quite similar to a rhinoceros." ”Every year in Egypt, hippos are killed more in anger than crocodiles.In the middle of the fifth month of the fourth year of the Liuhe year, in June 48 B.C., the Han army finally arrived in the suburbs of Alexandria, a vast lake appeared in front of them, the place where Lake Mariutis meets the sea, is Alexandria, and when the camp was set up at night, Ren Hong, accompanied by the queen, could see the bright lighthouse across the lake and the city.Another spectacle.And the next morning, Ptolemy's army of the thirteenth century also camped on the road to the west of the Great Lake, and this vast plain by the lake was the battlefield."
The enemy has more than 20,000 men."
When Ren Hong was holding a clairvoyant mirror and looking into the distance, Chen Tang came to report that they still chose to fight in the field instead of defending the city, they were confident!"
It must be Aquilas's army, he led his troops to Syria and routed the mercenary regiments I recruited from Judea and Arabia, and he came back so quickly."
The queen also knew the news from the front, and the 3,000 Egyptians she recruited could not be of great use, and she could only rely on the army of less than 4,000 Seris to defeat the enemy.And Ptolemaic Egypt was a skinny camel, and there were seventy or eighty warships in the Mediterranean, and if it was combined with the Red Sea, it would not be easy for the Western Sea Fleet to even land.Relying on the clairvoyant mirror, the Han scouts didn't need to get too close, and they knew the types of troops when the enemy was deployed."
Most of them were archers and unarmoured soldiers, but there were also arrays of Greeks with shields and spears.""
And two thousand cavalry.""
There are dozens of chariots with scythes on their wheels, and some vehicles, probably carrying light ballistas.""
The scouts even saw a dozen elephants!"
Listening to the scout's report, the queen was quite worried, she only knew nothing about fighting, otherwise she would not have lost so badly.Achillas is a Ptolemy veteran, can the Seris win?
Ren Hong dismounted and stepped on it, and the ground was a little wet and soft, which was not good for the cavalry and chariots.It just so happened that they were almost pure infantry, and too many horses could not be transported to Egypt, and the Egyptians were not well selected for this battlefield, probably because the army came back late, or Ptolemy XIII was unwilling to let them go south, and chose to wait in the capital for leisure."
It's not a big problem."
Ren Hong said: "I have 4,000 Han family sons who have experienced a hundred battles. ”How to fight in the hot tropics and swampy areas, these soldiers, who are mainly jade diggers, have been training in India for ten years!
But he wanted to minimize casualties.And the good news, it's not raining!
Ren Hong smiled and patted the bulky guy on the ox cart."
Not to mention, there is also a mysterious power from the East!"
PS: There is only one chapter today.