Chapter 5, Memphis’ worries
The capital of Upper Egypt, the city of Thebes
After experiencing the commotion for half a day, by the afternoon of this day, at least on the surface, the city of Thebes had calmed down slightly from the panic of the "visitors from outside". But whether it was in the streets, taverns, markets, or mansion courtyards, everyone could not help but look up at the huge airship suspended above the palace, whispering in surprise or worry, exchanging views and feelings with each other.
——There is joy at the arrival of the "God-man", but also fear of the unknown, and even more worry about the unpredictable future.
At least, in the heart of the elderly Prime Minister Imhodebu, he was definitely more worried than happy, and more bored than excited at this time. Especially after the grand welcome ceremony that he had carefully planned and prepared for many days, as well as the scheduled schedule to meet with foreign envoys later, were all completely ruined because of this.
"...Oh, what an incredible behemoth, it simply oppresses all living beings..."
Standing in the vast courtyard paved with boulders, Prime Minister Imhodeb squinted his eyes and looked up at the huge silver airship above his head, and murmured in a low voice.
As a veteran who has served kings for several generations, he has long passed the age of being curious and excited about new things. He only hopes that the world will continue to be the same, so that the years can pass peacefully to the end of his life... But just recently, he In the past few years, all kinds of unbelievable things have happened to the land of Egypt one after another, causing his old and decaying heart to be tortured, and it may stop beating one day.
——The sudden assassination of His Majesty the late king, the estrangement between the new king Memphis and Queen Isis’ brother and sister, the arrival of the Daughter of the Nile, one hastily prepared chaotic expedition after another...although many brilliant and dazzling victories were achieved. , once again established Egypt's reputation with the outside world, but it also consumed a lot of national savings, and failed to manage the occupied areas well. The country's balance of payments was barely even at best...
The King of Memphis showed off his power on the border and overseas, and launched successive expeditions in order to rescue Carol. However, Prime Minister Imhodeb in the rear had to rack his brains to raise weapons, food and transport fleets, and he had a huge headache... ...Finally, after the Daughter of the Nile returned, the continuous military conflicts came to an end for the time being. Imkhodbu thought he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly, such an incredible and strange thing happened again!
Fortunately, the attitude of these extraterrestrial visitors seems to be quite friendly, and the Daughter of the Nile also had a good time chatting with them. If their magical powers can be used to benefit this country, maybe this matter will be beneficial to Egypt... The old man With such calculations in mind, he walked into the palace.
When Prime Minister Imhodeb was ordered to meet with him, King Memphis of Egypt was lazily leaning on a soft couch cushioned with fur, squinting and playing with an all-steel folding knife that had just been presented to him by the travelers - as long as it was There are very few men who don't like weapons, no matter in ancient or modern times, at home and abroad. Therefore, when a dazzling array of "tributes" were displayed in front of him, Memphis fell in love with this shiny silver stainless steel knife at first sight.
For travelers in the 21st century, this stainless steel knife is just a commodity that can be seen everywhere in supermarkets. There are neither hollow carvings nor painted decorations. At best, they are just daily necessities that are made of relatively good steel, polished smooth, and have good practicality.
But in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians, who had just recently acquired the art of iron smelting, this was an incredible weapon.
——King Memphis silently played with the knife made of unknown materials and looked at the small mechanism of the folding blade. He fell into deep thinking: There is no trace of anything on this exquisite dagger. There are traces of being polished by hand, but no matter it is stronger than iron, The blade has no trace of rust, the blade is so sharp that it breaks the blade, and the handle has a moderate curvature that makes it easy to hold. They are all exquisite beyond anyone's imagination. They also make this small and exquisite dagger have excellent features. The piercing ability... This is definitely the weapon that all men dream of!
In comparison, the iron sword that Memphis originally cherished seemed crude: it was a Hittite iron sword captured from the Eastern battlefield and originally belonged to a captured Hittite noble. ——As the founder of the Iron Age and the first to smelt iron, the Hittite Kingdom far surpassed other countries in iron and steel making technology. But even this high-quality iron sword, forged by the most experienced craftsmen of the Hittite Empire using the best iron ore in the most suitable season, is definitely not as good as the ingenious divine sword in his hand now. One ten thousandth of a weapon.
Hey, if one could have the technology to forge a large number of such weapons, it would be just around the corner to conquer the world.
No, in fact, they can conquer any city in the world just with the huge and majestic spaceship above their heads.
King Memphis rarely calmed down his love-dazzled mind, thinking this, and at the same time greeted casually, "...Imkhodb, it's you who are here! These are just sent by those guys in the sky. The gifts here look pretty good, you can just pick out a few that you like!”
Prime Minister Imhodbu looked down and found that the palace was filled with gifts just given by the extraterrestrial visitors - crystal clear glassware, brightly colored chemical fiber cloth, various cheap small jewelry, and gorgeous Gorgeous porcelain and metal work... The above-mentioned products were all plundered from supermarkets and private houses in the bed city. Although most of them were stuffed into the [automatic pawn machine] by Doraemon to exchange money to pay off debts, a small part was seized by Wang Qiu and others. Now Just take it out to borrow flowers and offer them to Buddha to open the eyes of the ancient Egyptians.
The old prime minister unceremoniously bent down and picked up a blue and white porcelain tray from the ground, which was as warm as jade and had plain flesh and bones. He first admired its beautiful shape and smooth lines, and then pondered the blue and blue colors on the plate that were full of Chinese characteristics. Beautifully colored patterns, and then flicked on the edge of the plate, only to hear a clear sound Niao, immediately couldn't help but exclaimed, "...It is indeed a rare treasure! What a beautiful pattern! What a smooth touch! This thing looks like it exudes the luster of gems, and the feeling when touching it is more like Touching the skin of a twelve-year-old virgin..."
"...There is a more beautiful one, Imhodbu. I'll give this to you too!" King Memphis smiled and handed over a metal craft.
At first glance, this thing looks like a branch with leaves and flowers. Each branch and leaf has a lifelike appearance and exquisite and delicate texture. But it exudes a lifeless and cold luster. If you look closely, you can see that this flower branch is actually made of some unknown light metal, shining with colorful luster such as gold, silver, green, and violet. In addition, each leaf and each flower is inlaid with sparkling zircons, pearls and various colored glasses, giving the entire artificial flower branch an indescribably gorgeous halo. .
"...My King! Thank you for your generosity! This is truly an amazing treasure. Before I saw it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe that there could be such a magnificent thing in the world. . But although they claim to be here for peace and friendship..."
After a long time, Imhodbu put down this exquisite and gorgeous metal flower branch and sighed solemnly, "...But, my king! I wonder if you have ever thought about it, there is never a gift without reason in this world. Since they offer you such a generous gift, they will definitely ask for something.”
"...Of course I understand this. Imhodbu." Memphis rubbed his forehead in distress, "...They must have come to take away Carol! I would never do such a thing. Promise! No matter what kind of force it is, it can't separate me from Carol!"
"...That's not true. Her Royal Highness the Princess is currently entertaining them... How should I put it? They are not from the same place as Her Royal Highness the Princess, and they have no intention of taking the Daughter of the Nile away, but Her Royal Highness the Princess seems to understand where they come from and thinks that They have absolutely no ill intentions..."
——Due to the huge differences in basic concepts and ways of thinking, the initial negotiations between the time travelers and Prime Minister Imhodeb almost became a chicken-and-duck talk. Therefore, the angry Carol simply drove away the old minister and directly communicated with the time travelers.
"...During the conversation just now, they said a lot of things to the princess that the old minister could not understand, but their attitude was still polite."
Prime Minister Imhodeb hesitated for a moment and replied, "...In the end, they seemed to intend to settle near Egypt..."
After hearing this news, King Memphis, who had regained his rational thinking as a politician, couldn't help but have a tangled look on his face.
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At the same time, in another palace of Thebes Palace, there was an atmosphere of joy.
Sitting cross-legged in the shady stone palace, wearing a smooth and comfortable white silk shirt, listening to the American country rock music played on the recorder, and sipping a can of Coca-Cola that she had not tasted for a long time, Miss Carol seemed to be in a very good mood.
"...Hiccup - wow! So happy! Since I came to ancient Egypt, I have never drank Coke so happily!"
Ignoring the repeated warnings and dissuasion from her confidant, Tasha, this blond-haired, blue-eyed American girl rarely relaxed herself in front of Wang Qiu and others. She drank Coca-Cola with her legs crossed without etiquette, and nibbled some dipped in ketchup. French fries, fully enjoying this long-lost experience on your taste buds.
Well, no matter how much doubts and worries the ancient Egyptian dignitaries such as King Memphis and Prime Minister Imhode had about these extraterrestrial visitors, in the heart of the innocent and kind-hearted Carol, there was only the joy of "meeting old friends in a foreign land" , and the excitement of enjoying a variety of modern goods again.
——Although strictly speaking, the two parties are not from the same era, or even from the same world, there is also a big gap in their thoughts. But this is not very important. What is important is that they at least have similar values and world views to Carol, and can understand some of Carol's thoughts and feelings...which is something that ancient people could not do anyway.
I would like to ask, what is the most difficult thing for a modern person to adapt to when he travels back to the distant past unprepared?
For the pampered Princess Carol, food is obviously not the biggest problem. Although the food in ancient Egypt is far less colorful than that of later generations, and there is no popcorn and potato chips, the dining table in the Egyptian palace is also full of delicacies. There's never a shortage of fresh fruit and honey juice. Even when she was in trouble several times, with her noble status as the daughter of the Nile, at least she was able to fill her belly.
As for clothes, it's not a problem. In this hot place all year round, even if you are bare buttocks, you won't freeze. Many poor Egyptians can live their entire lives naked. Cloth and clothing are largely decorations in this place, not necessities. What's more, unlike other girls, Carol, whose biggest hobby is archeology, is not that keen on beautiful clothes.
There are also shortages of other daily necessities, which of course makes it difficult for ordinary people to endure. But for wealthy and powerful families, there are many alternatives - if there is no electric fan, let the palace maids shake long-handled fans to fan themselves all night; if there is no running water, there are slaves to prepare the warm water bath properly; There is no radio, but there are various bands and jugglers, ready to entertain Her Royal Highness the Princess.
In fact, in this distant time and space, the most difficult thing for Carol to adapt to is the loneliness and loneliness of the soul.
Although she understands the language of the ancient Egyptian world and can easily communicate with people in this world, she has also won the love of the noble King of Egypt, has a huge reputation and the title of "God's Daughter", and is known from the perspective of both love and career. Get a double harvest. However, the generation gap that spans centuries and the vast differences in consciousness, concepts, and knowledge structures still make her always have a lot to say in her heart, and she doesn't know who to talk to.
——In this world, as a literary girl, Carol is actually very lonely. Although she was moved by the love of Memphis and finally chose to stay, she also thought about the familiar twenty-year-old girl. Century Modern World: After all, no matter how strong, deep and passionate the love is, if there are differences in values between the two parties, there will always be some subtle regrets.
You know, in terms of heart and mind, in this world, Carol is always lonely and has nowhere to talk to.
For example, she told Memphis not to kill slaves at will. Memphis might smile and send away those people who were as cheap as ants, but it was just to make Carol happy instead of truly agreeing with her so-called "everyone is a slave." Equality, all lives are valuable" is a time-honored concept.
For another example, in the face of the regular flooding of the Nile River, Carol could tell Memphis the geographical and climatic factors behind it, but Memphis would neither believe nor understand it. Most of the time, he regarded her as a Children are generally perfunctory, although this does not affect their deep love for each other.
Therefore, after confirming that Wang Qiu and the others were not hostile, an indescribable joy gripped her heart tightly. After Wang Qiu and the others presented pre-prepared gifts such as cola, French fries, and silk clothes in order to please the daughter of the Nile, Carol felt even happier.
On the other hand, Wang Qiu, Ma Tong, Doraemon, Nan Lixiang and others were also surprised to find that Carol calmly accepted the "future history" about global nuclear war and the end of the world, only slightly. It was just a sigh, no sign of hysterical surprise at all.
"...In other words, you two guests from China and this strange-looking Mr. Robot come from a future parallel world where the Cold War ended peacefully and there has never been a nuclear war since. And in Japan, In another parallel world where the refugees came from, a global nuclear war finally broke out, and the entire civilized world was destroyed as a result? What can I say? What a cruel fate!"
——As an American girl living at the peak of the Cold War, Carole can be said to have lived under the constant fear of nuclear weapons since birth. At that time, American campuses even had special education courses on three aspects of nuclear war. The entire society, from top to bottom, was always worried that the world would disappear overnight in the flash of a nuclear explosion... So, when Nan Lixiang told After the world was destroyed by zombie viruses and global nuclear war in the 21st century, the reaction in Carol's mind was "Ah, this damn thing finally happened" instead of "Incredible! How is this possible?!"< br>
In this regard, I have to praise Miss Carol again for her extraordinary mental endurance. However, when the topic further deepened into the resettlement of refugees from another world, the atmosphere of the conversation was not so relaxed and pleasant.