ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1284 In Memphis
Amid the cheers of the Egyptian people, Davos got on the carriage and drove into the palace of the city lord of Naukratis.

The next day, Davos led the second and first legions north. Under the advice of Asistes and Amenhotep, he did not take a warship, but took a land route, riding a gorgeous The carriage, led by a group of Egyptian priests led by Amenhotep, marched along the south bank of the Nile tributary in a popular way.

For other parts of the Mediterranean, it is now planting season, but in Egypt sowing has long since ended.When the flooded Nile River receded in August and September last year, the huge temporary pools built by farmers to prevent the river from flowing away too quickly were almost drying up. Instead, green wheat seedlings spread all over the banks of the Nile. Lush green papyrus also grows along the banks of the Nile River and its tributaries, making the entire Nile Delta region look like a sea of ​​green. Occasionally, small patches of yellow can be seen in this refreshing sea of ​​green. It was a village built by the Egyptian people with mud bricks.

But beyond this huge oasis is a very dry and dusty, vast desert.

Davos sat in the carriage and walked between the yellow and green world, feeling quite strange in his heart.

While he was leading his army to Memphis, his speech at the port of Naukratis had been spread by interested people, as if he had wings, and soon spread across the banks of the Nile.The Egyptians heard three main meanings from his words: first, Davos wanted to be the new pharaoh of Egypt; second, the huge army stationed by Dionia in Egypt was not to continue to provoke war in Egypt, but to It is to attack Persia and protect the tranquility of Egypt; thirdly, Dionia will not come to rob the Egyptians' land, and Egypt is still managed by Egyptians.

The Egyptians know that Dionia has always kept its promises. When there was a war with the Greek mainland, they still sent a large number of troops to help Egypt resist Persia. What's more, this was publicly announced by King Dionia in front of the Egyptian people. The probability of breaking a promise given by a speech given is very small.

After the Dionysian army put down the Egyptian rebellion, it has remained in the territory. There have been rumors that "Dionysia wants to annex Egypt" for a month. Now the King of Dionysia personally admits that he wants to be the pharaoh of Egypt, and It also received support from the priests of the Temple of Amun, which made many Egyptian officials and local forces feel mixed. At the same time, they also breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to meet the new pharaoh in person or send envoys in order to leave a good impression.

For ordinary Egyptian people, land, faith and peace are what they long for most, and since Davos has made a promise in public, most people not only are not angry that a foreigner is about to become the pharaoh of Egypt, but instead express Without a certain degree of enthusiasm, they wanted to know what the king looked like with a Dionysian army that could compete with the ferocious Persians.

This season is a temporary slack period for the Egyptian people. Usually they would make mud bricks, catch birds, and fish in their free time. At this time, everyone rushed to the roadside with their young and old to welcome the arrival of the new pharaoh.

At the suggestion of Amenhotep, Davos changed his appearance in the city of Naukratis. He officially put on the red and white crown representing the rule of Upper and Lower Egypt, and also put on a false beard representing the identity of the pharaoh, and then Wearing a golden one-piece armor, riding in a magnificent carriage, he looked solemn and unpretentious along the way.

The Egyptian people, who have always respected gods and feared power, saw the new Pharaoh sitting atop a magnificent carriage with dazzling golden light from a distance. They all felt awe and shouted long live.Towns passing through also opened their doors to welcome him, and officials rushed to show their loyalty.

Davos comforted them all the way, and the entire team was not moving very fast. They even briefly visited the pyramids in Giza, and finally arrived in Memphis more than ten days later.

Memphis is located south of the Nile Delta and north of Upper Egypt. It is right between Upper and Lower Egypt, so it is called "the scale of the two sides."The early capital of Egypt was Thebes. From the Middle Dynasty to the present, more pharaohs set their capital in Memphis because it was more conducive to the rule of Upper and Lower Egypt.

When Davos entered the city of Memphis, he immediately understood why Chalcides had been able to easily capture the Egyptian capital that was occupied by the rebels. Because unlike other Mediterranean city-states, it did not surround the entire city of Memphis with thick walls. Instead, city walls were only built in three places, one was the Temple of Ptah, one was the Temple of Osiris, and the other was the Pharaoh's Palace and the noble residential area.It is almost impossible to resist the siege of the Dionian army with such a small city area and meager manpower, not to mention that it is still very unstable internally.

Memphis's handicrafts and metal processing industries are famous throughout Egypt. Half of the city of Memphis is occupied by handicraft workshops and its residential areas. Therefore, Ptah and Osiris, the patron saints of these two industries, are highly respected here. People not only worship Memphis' The three pillar gods Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertem also worshiped Osiris, the god of the underworld, and even monks regarded the Apis bull as a sacred object and enshrined it in the temple.

In fact, Davos also imagined using Osiris as the incarnation of Hades in Egypt, replacing Amon and becoming the highest belief of the entire Egyptian people, but obviously this would require a long process.

Among the officials who came to greet him, of course, they also included the priests of the Temple of Ptah and Osiris. Davos promised them that he would take time to go to the sacrifices and let them leave with satisfaction.

After appeasing the officials of Memphis, Davos did not go to the palace immediately, but went to the Dionia barracks outside the city to comfort the soldiers. For this reason, he took off the fake beard, took off the red and white crown, and put on the golden crown , entering the military camp as the king of Dionia.

At dusk, he drove into the Memphis Palace. The palace guards quickly took over the protection of the palace, while Hernepolis took over the internal affairs of the entire palace and asked the royal chefs who came with the team to prepare a safe and delicious dinner. .

Davos invited Asistes, Tapyrus, Chalcides and the commanders of the legions who subsequently led their armies to Egypt to thank them for their efforts during this period.

The atmosphere of the banquet was not very lively because Davers did not allow drinking.

After the banquet, Davos left them behind and held a meeting.

"Today, all our troops have entered Egypt. With such a large number of soldiers, it may be difficult to fully meet the needs by relying solely on logistical supplies from the distant Kingdom. Is Egypt capable of providing long-term and sufficient logistical support for the army? Asistes, you have been in charge of the administrative affairs of Egypt in the past few months and have a sufficient understanding of the situation in Egypt. What do you think?" As soon as Davos opened his mouth, he raised the question he was most concerned about. After all, his real purpose in personally leading his army this time was to defeat Persia, and the annexation of Egypt was just a matter of convenience.

"Your Majesty." Asistes was well prepared for this. He replied seriously: "It is really difficult to meet the needs of the entire army if we rely solely on the food reserves in the Nile Delta. You have to know that it was only the food reserves that supplied Karl some time ago. The army led by Commander Sidis has already emptied the grain warehouses in the towns in the Nile Delta, and now there are still two or three months before the grain harvest——"

"Isn't Egypt known as the granary of the Mediterranean? There is so much food that we can't eat it all?!" Matonis, commander of the First Army, interjected.

"This is because Nectanipos launched a rebellion a few months ago, which caused turmoil in Lower Egypt. In order to protect themselves, various towns had to urgently recruit troops, resulting in a huge increase in food consumption in various places. If Commander Chalcedis had not acted quickly , It took a short time to quell the unrest in Egypt. I am afraid that the subsequent troops arriving will have to rely entirely on the kingdom's logistics supply." While explaining, Asistes also praised Chalcedis for his role in Egypt. The military and political leaders of Dionia, the two have been cooperating well in the past few months.

Chalcides smiled at Asistes as a token of his gratitude.

Davos saw it and didn't have much disgust. Fighting outside, only by uniting as one can win. This is the concept he has always emphasized. He asked calmly: "Asistes, although you can It seems very difficult, but you don't feel nervous at all. It seems that there must be a way to solve the problem of military food supply."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Asistes smiled and said calmly: "Egypt has always been based on agriculture, so it attaches great importance to the cultivation and storage of food. Like a kingdom, it has granaries in large towns. The collected grain was stored for use in times of famine (what the Egyptians called famine refers to when the Nile flood was too small in June and July, so when the flood receded, the area of ​​cultivated land was significantly reduced, resulting in a significant reduction in food production), or when the Mediterranean Sea The price of food increases and then sold...

In addition, there is another force in Egypt that reserves a large amount of food, and that is the temple.Monks in Egyptian temples owned a large amount of land and slaves, especially in Upper Egypt. These monks did not assume administrative responsibilities and only shared a small amount of food with believers during temple celebrations, so their food reserves Far more than the granaries of towns...

It was precisely because the monks in Egypt were too rich and powerful that Jie Hao issued a decree to suppress the power of the monks when he was in power. "Although in order for Dionia to annex Egypt smoothly, Asistes had to cooperate with the Egyptian monks headed by Amenhotep, but as an administrative official, he could not bear to see these monks in Egypt. It was so popular that I couldn’t help but say one more thing.

(End of this chapter)