At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 629, Internal Compromise and Betrayal
Sobek did not want to compromise with the city lord Theodotus, but many leaders of the uprising wanted to become new tax farmers. It was difficult for people to transcend their own backgrounds. After these serfs living in the Ptolemaic Kingdom rose up, they actually wanted to be slave owners. For them, being tax farmers was the pinnacle of their ideal life.

But they also had their own concerns. They were worried that the city lord Theodotus would deceive them, lure them into the city and capture them.

The city lord Theodotus also noticed the concerns of these rebel leaders. He used the method of buying horse bones with a thousand gold coins to appoint five rebel leaders near Memphis as tax farmers. The taxes paid by these five villages were still the same as last year.

This caused a sensation in the entire Memphis countryside. The leaders of the rebel army felt that this was a rare opportunity to recruit people. After the tax rate was lowered, the farmers in the countryside did not have a strong sense of resistance. Instead, they felt that the city lord had corrected his mistakes and they should not continue to fight against him.

Only Sobek kept spreading the word, telling everyone not to fall for the city lord's delaying tactics, saying that the nobles were not trustworthy and if they entered the city, they would be like fish swimming into a cage and would only become food for the city lord.

But soon a new rumor came from Memphis that the king did not raise taxes, but instead imposed an asset tax, which was aimed at those who came from the Han Dynasty, not ordinary Ptolemy people, and the reason why Memphis is like this is because those who went to the Suez Canal refused to pay taxes. They killed innocent citizens around them for their own money.

In particular, the city lord also announced that everyone returning from the Suez Canal would receive a severance pay of 1 copper coins.

This news spread throughout the entire Memphis countryside, and everyone looked at the leaders who had led them to rebel against the tax farmers with hesitation. They only knew that these people were rich, but they never expected them to be so rich. Various emotions such as jealousy, anger, and greed began to appear, and the morale within the rebel army began to collapse.

The villagers looked at Sobek with extremely complicated eyes. Sobek's family would buy land almost every few years, and immediately built a large courtyard after returning. All of this was consistent with the rumors. If it weren't for tens of thousands of copper coins, how could Sobek's family afford to build a large courtyard?
At the same time, many priests from the city of Memphis, the Temple of the Cat, the Temple of the Bull, the Temple of the Sheep and other places assured the rebel leaders of their personal safety during the negotiations.

The Ptolemaic Empire was a polytheistic country, and these priests enjoyed extremely high reputation among the people of Memphis, which was simply incomparable to that of these rebel leaders.

Faced with this situation, the leaders of the rebels in various villages found Sobek and planned to go to the city lord's mansion to negotiate. If they didn't negotiate in this situation, their team would be disbanded. Sobek agreed.

But before he left, he called together his brother and the four families who worked with him in the Suez Canal. These people were his core team, and this wave of rumors had caused great harm to them, so Sobek could trust them. Sobek asked them to take all the Confucian guns and find a way to sneak into Memphis. He still didn't trust the mayor, so he had to prepare for the worst.

October 46, 1th year of the Han calendar, Memphis City.

A total of more than 30 leaders of the rebel army entered the city that was full of hostility towards them. Then, led by the soldiers, they came to the outside of the city lord's mansion.

Just as Sobek was about to enter, he was stopped by two soldiers who said, "You must disarm before entering."

He could only take out a Confucian rifle, and then took out the five grenades that were pinned on his body.

The only weapon that can be mass-produced in the rebel army is the hand grenade. The style of this kind of grenade is a bit like the wooden handle grenade in later generations. It has an iron shell in front, which can also be made by rural blacksmiths. Then they try to make a few cracks to increase the fragments of the explosion. This is also the most lethal weapon of the rebel army. Especially for Sobek, he was able to defeat the tax farmer a few months ago because of these grenades, so he almost never left the hand grenade since the uprising.

The other rebel leaders were similar, and soon the trays were filled with muskets and grenades. During the uprising, the rebel leaders did not sit still and wait for death. They tried every possible way to buy weapons. Even with the restrictions of the Yanzhou Governor's Office, it was too easy for Memphis, which was close to Alexandria, to get weapons. When the Yanzhou Governor's Office allowed the private smuggling of weapons to these rebel leaders, the price of weapons was not only reduced to only 30% of the original price, but also there was no limit on the quantity. Basically, anyone with money could buy them.

As for why the Lord of Memphis does not restrict the entry of these smuggled weapons? He should have the ability to do so.

The armed soldiers were disarmed before they were allowed to enter, and then the rebel leaders sat in a hall under the guidance of the soldiers.

Not long after these rebel leaders took their seats, the city lord Theodotus appeared.

He looked at these rebel leaders calmly. Compared with the Ptolemaic people who were pale and thin and only had a piece of cloth to wrap themselves, the biggest feature of these people was that they had ruddy complexions, strong bodies, and were dressed very decently, wearing the kind of work clothes that big men wore. Mentally, they were not like ordinary citizens who were nervous when they saw him, and some even dared to look him in the eye.

That unruly look made him feel nameless anger rising in his heart.

The Han people are the rule breakers. If it weren't for them, everything in the Ptolemaic Empire would still be fine. If it weren't for them who made these untouchables so lively and even devoid of obedience, how could Memphis be in the chaos it is today?

At that time, the Han people wanted to dig the Suez Canal, and Memphis recruited thousands of people to go over there, and also sent thousands of slaves over there. The city lord regarded these people as dead.

After all, they had to dig a canal of more than 400 miles, and the Han people also wanted to allow tens of thousands of tons of sea-going ships to sail. The amount of work was dozens of times more than that of the previous dynasties of the Tolomi Kingdom. With such a large amount of work, it is estimated that one person would die for every shovel of distance dug before it could be dug out.

Therefore, the nobles of Memphis swallowed up the resettlement fees without hesitation. In their opinion, this amount of money was too little, only enough for half the price of a slave. Anyway, the civilians of Ptolemy were worthless. If this batch died this year, another batch would be born next year.

They even saw this as a long-term business. The Ptolemaic Empire also had a history of large-scale infrastructure. The port of Alexandria, which could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, was their masterpiece, not to mention the even older pyramids, which were the pinnacle symbol of their country's architectural technology. They naturally knew that the larger the project, the more likely it was to cause casualties. Tens of thousands of Ptolemies died when Alexandria was built, which is why there is such a magnificent city called Alexandria.

The Han people's Suez Canal is so huge that it is expected that tens of thousands of people will die every year. They will definitely have to recruit new people at that time. They can get several thousand people from the city of Memphis and several million dollars for resettlement. If everyone shares it, they can hold more banquets. Anyway, those who die are not their own slaves. Whoever gets this kind of no-cost business will make a profit.

But what the Memphis nobles did not expect was that not only did the Han people dig the Suez Canal, but the number of deaths was at least far beyond the imagination of the Ptolemaic nobles. The entire project took more than 10 years, but only a few hundred civilians died.

This number is even smaller than the number of civilians who are killed by crocodiles, trampled by hippos, and carried away by wolves in Memphis every year.

When the city lord Theodotus first heard this number, he couldn't believe it. The Suez Canal is more than 400 miles long and it is desolate and wild. Even if there are crocodiles biting, hippos trampling, wolves nibbling, and mosquitoes biting, it shouldn't be that only a few hundred people died in 10 years. Even in the city of Memphis, more than that many people died every year.

Later, he found out that the Han people had a brain problem. They actually treated these 10 laborers as 10 citizens. These laborers went to the construction site to cook three meals a day, one of which was meat. The laborers were naturally less likely to die if they were well fed. During the initial period of the project, the meat market in Alexandria was directly raised by the Han people by three times.

It was only later that they acquired fishing boats and raised cattle and sheep on a large scale, allowing the common people to eat beef and mutton, and the price of meat in Alexandria remained stable. But this also made the Lord of Memphis resentful for a long time, because beef and mutton had always been the food of the nobility, but the Han people gave it to the untouchables to eat.

Later he heard that if the civilians fell ill, the Han people would send doctors to treat them at all costs.

When he first heard the news, he couldn't believe it. In the Consulate General of Daqinzhou in Ptolemy, there were doctors from the Han Dynasty whose skills were more than 10 times better than those of the doctors in Ptolemy. It was very difficult for the nobles of Ptolemy to ask these doctors to treat them, but the doctors with such superb medical skills went to see the lowly people.

Later, the Han people gave classes to the untouchables and taught them knowledge. The nobles of Alexandria were no longer surprised. With their previous experiences, they could understand no matter how strange the Han people's actions were.

But he never expected that after being infected by the Han people and becoming a pariah, and taking on the Han people's character, he would become so unruly and disobey the rule.

Sobek in particular made the city lord Theodotus both angry and frightened, as he actually followed the Han people's example and distributed land equally in Memphis.

What made him angry was that a pariah like Sobek dared to share the land given to them by the gods, and those pariahs dared to ask for these lands. To use the common words of the Han people, this was simply treason.

What they feared was that the land distribution movement would expand, and by then all the civilians in Memphis would be bribed by Sobek, and the situation would become out of control.

Theodotus and the noble priests of Memphis had read books such as "The Words of the Sacred" and "The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty" by the Han Dynasty.

They knew even more clearly that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty had won the hearts of all the citizens of the Han Dynasty by means of the land distribution move, and eventually he overthrew the Qin Empire, which had a million-strong army, with the help of a few hundred criminals.

They were also worried that Sobek would use the same tactics as the Han to overthrow their rule. But fortunately, they were relieved that Sobek was the only one in Memphis who did this, and the land distribution action did not spread. They only had to deal with Sobek and his followers.

The city lord Theodotus said: "I can appoint you as new tax farmers. This year, we will still collect grain and the tax will be the same as usual."

The rebel leaders present all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the city lord's words. This was the best outcome they had expected, but they did not expect the city lord to agree so generously.

But the city lord Theodotus changed the subject and continued, "But the property tax is set by the king. Each of you who returned from the canal must pay 3000 coins."

Hearing this, everyone frowned again. They did make a lot of money in the beginning, but in the past year or so, they had driven away the tax farmers and purchased weapons. Most of the money they had was spent, so how could they have money left to pay the asset tax?

The city lord Theodotus sneered and said, "As long as each of your villages can pay 3 coins in asset tax, how you collect taxes is your business. I will not interfere."

When the rebel leaders heard this, they suddenly realized that, yes, they were now tax farmers, and although 3 yuan was a lot, it was not a lot when divided among the entire village.

After hearing what the group leader said, Sobek flew into a rage and said, "You want us to be your lackeys? You are dreaming. My teacher in Dahan taught me that when friends come, we have wine, and when enemies come, we have hunting rifles. If you want food from our village, see if the gun in my hand will agree."

The city lord Theodotus snorted coldly, pointed at Sobek and said, "The last condition is that you must capture Sobek and hand him over to me, so that your appointment as tax farmer can take effect."

He could also recruit other rebel leaders as his lackeys. As long as the money they offered as tribute was sufficient, it didn't matter to him who became the tax farmer.

But Sobek, who dared to divide the land, was a sinner whom even the gods could not forgive.

When the other rebel leaders heard this, they began to look puzzled.

Sobek said: "Why should we listen to these greedy and shameless nobles? We have more people now, so we can capture him, and then find a way out, and then lead the troops to capture Memphis. Then we will be the masters of Memphis."

But these words had no effect. Several rebel leaders who were close to Sobek pounced on him, grabbed him, and tightly grasped his limbs so that he could not move. Then they looked at the city lord with flattering eyes.

Sobek was furious and said, "You betrayed the civilians of Memphis City. You will not have a good ending if you become the lackey of the city lord."

The city lord Theodotus sneered and said, "I heard that the Han people's favorite punishment is hanging. Inform all the civilians in the city that the criminal Sobek will be hanged in the town square tomorrow. Now take him to the prison."

The city lord's soldiers took Sobek and took him away.

"You lackeys will not have a good end." Sobek shouted as he was taken away.

The city lord Theodotus looked at the terrified rebel leader and laughed, "After killing Sobek, we will all be one family."

(End of this chapter)