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

Chapter 644: The Turmoil in the Ptolemaic Empire
On May 47, 5th year of the Han Dynasty, Khnum brought 20 elite soldiers and thousands of recruited soldiers and officially launched an uprising in the city of Tanis.

It's a pity that Knum's rebel army was a mixed bag, and Knum himself had too little experience. His Great Harmony Theological Society recruited almost everyone. The advantage of this approach was that it could expand rapidly. From the time Knum established the Great Harmony Theological Society, in just one year, the number of members of the Great Harmony Theological Society expanded to thousands. The disadvantage was that the organization of the Great Harmony Theological Society declined, and its internal management was chaotic. Even Ptolemy's spies entered the Great Harmony Theological Society.

The rebellion was known to the Ptolemaic high-ranking officials while it was still in the preparation stage, so Knum's rebel army fell into the pocket of the Ptolemaic army as soon as it was launched. The members of the Pax Romana Theologica suffered heavy losses, and only a few core members escaped.

This uprising can be said to have severely damaged the Datong Theological Society. Many members of the Datong Theological Society lost hope and left the organization. Knum thought that their Theological Society would have to lie dormant for some time, but he did not expect good news from the Global Datong Conference. The emperor of the Han Dynasty supported the revolutionaries worldwide and launched a crackdown on slavery. This gave them confidence in victory. They knew the strength of the Han Dynasty. As long as the Han Dynasty was willing to support them, Ptolemy VI's rule would not be able to continue.

Knum brought a group of senior officials to the meeting room of the Governor's Office, but he hadn't seen Zhang Pijiang, the Consul General of Daqinzhou for a long time.

Knum hesitantly asked the Han official of the Governor's Office, "Has the ambassador not arrived yet?"

The Han official said, "The ambassador has another distinguished guest. Please wait for a moment."

Knum said: "I understand."

Meanwhile, in another meeting room, Zhang Pijiang's old friend Diodos was saying earnestly, "Our country has always been an ally of the Han Dynasty. Since the two sides formed an alliance, our king has always been very respectful to the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Why do you want to protect those rebels?"

During this year, the Ptolemaic Empire carried out an extremely cruel purge against the Datong elements, killing those who were wrong and letting them go. However, a large number of Datong elements fled to the sphere of influence of the Yanzhou Governor's Office, which became a problem for the Ptolemaic Empire, because these Datong elements,

Zhang Pijiang said with a sullen face: "The Han Dynasty once had high hopes for the Ptolemaic Empire, but unfortunately your country is unwilling to keep up with the times, and instead goes against the times. I have lived for more than 40 years and have never seen a country robbing its own citizens."

Back then, the Han Dynasty trained tens of thousands of Ptolemaic citizens, hoping to use this method to subtly change the system of the Ptolemaic State and transform them from a slave system to a self-cultivating farmer system. Unfortunately, it failed completely.

The lesson learned from the Ptolemaic Empire made Zhang Pijiang suddenly change the Han Dynasty's attitude towards the purge of the nobles of the seven kingdoms.

The establishment of the Han Dynasty was a result of the complete cleansing of the nobles and tyrants of the Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States Period. It can be said that the nobles of the Han Dynasty had little to do with the nobles of the past three thousand years. Among the entire Han Dynasty, only his father and Duke Chen were the remnants of the nobles of the previous era. This was unprecedented since the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin dynasties. The previous dynasties were replaced by noble blood, and everyone was a relative. However, 99% of the Han Dynasty's high-ranking officials were born in the mud and had no relationship with the nobles. This is why the Han Dynasty was able to strongly cleanse the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms without being greatly affected.

But because of his background, Zhang Pijiang had his opinion on the purge of millions of nobles and powerful people by the retired emperor. Most of the families were innocently implicated in the purge. He believed that the retired emperor was too harsh and merciless to the nobles since the Warring States Period. Although he did not kill many people, tens of thousands of families were ruthlessly exiled.

But what happened in the Ptolemaic Kingdom made Zhang Pijiang understand that if the Han Dynasty had not purged these old nobles, the industrial development of the Han Dynasty would not have been so fast and without any obstacles. This is because the emperor had already cleared the obstacles.

In the Ptolemaic State, let alone developing industry, even the first step of developing some self-cultivating farmers was not willing by the nobles and priests of the Ptolemaic State. When the Han Dynasty helped their cheap self-cultivating farmers, they immediately showed their greedy faces, robbed all the property of these self-cultivating farmers, and forced them to rebel. This was when the Ptolemaic people made money from the Han Dynasty. It was hard for him to imagine that when Ptolemaic merchants wanted to build a water conservancy textile machine, a noble would suddenly appear and say that this section of the river belonged to them, and build a factory and say that this piece of land belonged to them. In this way, they occupied the mountains and robbed people on the road. What kind of industry could be developed?

Only with this strong contrast can we see the foresight of the emperor. If the old era is not completely destroyed, the new era of the Han Dynasty cannot be built. Although the emperor's methods were cruel, it was the cheapest method for the Han civilization to enter a new era. It can only be said that the nobles of the old era cannot keep up with the new era, and abandoning them is the most beneficial choice for the entire Han Dynasty.

Theodos said with a sullen face, "Those are not citizens of Ptolemy, but rebels. The unrest in Ptolemy today is related to these rebels."

He was still thinking in his heart: "If it weren't for the Han Dynasty's rebellion, there wouldn't be so many rebels in the Ptolemy Kingdom."

It can only be said that one honey is another's poison. From the perspective of the Han Dynasty, they are helping the Ptolemaic Empire transform, but from the perspective of the Ptolemaic Empire, the Han Dynasty is educating rebels. The current chaos in the Ptolemaic Empire was caused by the Han Dynasty.

Then he continued: "As long as the ambassador stops supporting these rebels, our Ptolemaic state will be stable."

Now Ptolemy VI and the top leaders regretted letting the Han Dynasty establish the Yanzhou Governorate in the Jordan region. Their original idea was for the Han Dynasty to help them isolate the invasion of the Seleucids, but they did not expect that they would place a time bomb next to them. Today, the top leaders of the Ptolemaic Empire believe that the turmoil in the country was caused by the Han Dynasty, and Theodos wanted the Han Dynasty to give up supporting the rebels in his own country.

Zhang Pijiang said with a serious face: "The Emperor of the Han Dynasty has issued a decree to eliminate slavery in the world. Now it is not the Han Dynasty that wants to be the enemy of your Ptolemy State, but your Ptolemy State is unwilling to give up slavery and wants to be the enemy of the Han Dynasty."

Theodos was stunned when he heard this. He never expected that Zhang Pijiang, who had always been a scholar, would say such overbearing words. At the same time, anger rose in his heart. What was wrong with their Ptolemy Kingdom using slaves?
It's a hindrance to you, the Han Dynasty. My Ptolemaic Empire has a history of using slaves for more than 3000 years, and has always lived like this. But you, the Han Dynasty, want to be so controlling and even don't allow us to use slaves.

But people have to bow their heads under the eaves. Now he is asking Zhang Pijiang, and Diodos said helplessly: "Do you know what the consequences of your actions will be?"

"It is recorded in your Han history books that the Holy Emperor launched an uprising against the Qin Dynasty. This war that affected the entire East killed more than three million people. At that time, the population of the entire East was less than 3000 million, and one-tenth of the population died in this uprising. Afterwards, the Holy Emperor exiled nearly 300 million nobles, severing the noble bloodline of the entire East for three thousand years. This uprising affected 500-600 million people, accounting for % of the entire population of the East."

"You know that if Ptolemy were to take over this generation, millions of people would die and millions of nobles would be exiled. If an uprising like the Han Dynasty really happened in Ptolemy, the blood of these people would dye the entire Nile red. You are a kind person. Do you want to see the entire Ptolemy become a river of blood?"

It would have been fine if Diodos hadn't said this. As soon as he said this, Zhang Pijiang's face suddenly darkened and he sneered, "Isn't there a river of blood in Ptolemy now? In this year, you haven't killed millions of Ptolemy civilians! The blood of civilians has dyed the entire Nile red." The rulers of Ptolemy did not hide their brutality. Since the failure of the Sobek peasant uprising, suppressing rebellion has become the most important thing for the top leaders of Ptolemy in the past year. Citizens returning from the Suez Canal were all strangled. Ptolemy VI even issued an order that even if thousands of citizens were killed by mistake, not a single rebel could be spared. And it happened that the noble priests of the entire Ptolemy were also frightened by the Sobek uprising. They magnified Ptolemy VI's orders from top to bottom, and bloody massacres and suppression of Ptolemy's people were carried out in various places. Mass graves continued everywhere in the Nile.

Zhang Pijiang was frightened by these crazy Ptolemaic nobles. Such indiscriminate slaughter of his own people was beyond his comprehension. Even during the Warring States Period when the Han Dynasty killed the most people, the tyrannical Qin Dynasty would only kill people to improve their military merits during the war, but they would not slaughter people after the war. After all, the tyrannical Qin Dynasty also needed people to pay taxes. But the nobles of Ptolemy State did not care at all and created mass graves everywhere in Ptolemy State.

Theodos was speechless. He also knew what had happened in Ptolemy over the past year, and he also knew that most of the civilians who were massacred were innocent. However, the nobles and priests of Ptolemy were naturally sensitive to protecting their rights. This was the first time that the civilian slaves of Ptolemy had massacred their nobles and priests. They didn't want to retaliate in the most brutal way. In the future, such things would happen more and more, and the dignity of the nobles would become nothing. They now wanted to use this cruel method to intimidate the civilians of Ptolemy.

Zhang Pijiang said coldly: "I have other guests to entertain, so I'm sorry I can't see you off."

After saying this, Zhang Pijiang went to see Knum.

While Knum and others were overjoyed to see Zhang Pijiang, they were still worried that Zhang Pijiang would not come to see them. Everyone had a panic feeling in their hearts, fearing that the Han Dynasty would not support them.

Zhang Pijiang saw that Knum's face was not very good. Although Knum had a great reputation in the Ptolemaic Empire, in his opinion, Knum was just a tall man among short men. He could neither train the army nor form a strict organization. He was defeated in his first uprising. He was good for nothing except deceiving people. When he looked at Knum, he thought to himself, "He is not a good ruler."

But what made Zhang Pijiang helpless was that Knum was a rare outstanding person in the Ptolemaic Empire. At least he dared to resist the rule of Ptolemy VI and proposed a method that seemed effective. It was a pity that Knum's military talent and organizational management ability were far inferior, even very poor. His Great Harmony Theological Society was not a strict organization at all.

So the first thing Zhang Pijiang said was: "Your Datong Theological Society has too many spies. If you don't get rid of them, your actions will not be a secret to the Ptolemy Kingdom."

This made Khnum and his men look gloomy. The failure a few months ago made them heartbroken. They knew the reason a long time ago, but it was very difficult to change this. The nobles, priests, and merchants of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who came to them, it can be said that all those who were dissatisfied with Ptolemy VI were potential supporters of their Maha Theology Society, but the support of the nobles was always a double bet. Their support for Khnum did not mean that they would not betray Khnum, they would only stand on the side of the final winner.

Khnum also knew this, but the nature of the Great Unity Theological Society could not change this. If they controlled the people who came to them, they would not have the current momentum, and maintaining the financial resources of the organization would also be a huge problem.

Any insurgent who wanted to rebel faced a huge problem, that is, where would the money come from? The Datong Theological Society had no territory of its own, and all of their current activities were funded by donations from patriots. In addition, they were closely connected to the Ptolemaic aristocracy, so it was naturally difficult to clean up the spies. But Knum naturally couldn't say such a thing. Instead, he firmly said, "We at the Datong Theological Society have learned from the last lesson and have found out many spies. The next uprising will definitely not fail like the last time."

Zhang Pijiang looked at the determined Knum but didn't believe it in his heart. However, the Han Dynasty had few choices at this time. He said helplessly: "We Han Dynasty will provide the Datong Theological Society with 1000 flintlock rifles, 10 cannons, and instructors to train your army."

Khnum was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "With this batch of arms, our Pax Romana Theological Society will surely be able to overthrow the brutal rule of Ptolemy VI."

At the same time, Theodosus returned to Alexandria with bad news, which made Ptolemy VI look very unhappy. He had planned to go to the coastal palace for vacation, but now because he could not persuade the Han Dynasty to give up supporting the rebels, he could only stay in Alexandria and summon his ministers to discuss how to quell the current unrest in the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Theodos said helplessly: "Ambassador Zhang believes that we have killed too many people, which has caused his dissatisfaction and even the dissatisfaction of the entire Han Dynasty."

He thought for a moment and said, "It has been a year since Sobek's rebellion. Millions of his accomplices have been killed, and almost all the civilians who have been to the Suez Canal have been killed. If they continue to kill, Alexandria will not have enough farmers to farm. We should stop. We also need to find a way to solve the problem of slavery. We don't have the strength to fight against the Han Dynasty. If we forcibly retain slavery, the country will never be stable."

But at this time, the minister in charge of punishment, Bias, sneered and took out a pile of documents and said, "Here are 52 documents that need to be executed. There are a total of rebels. They killed the tax farmer Thales in the suburbs of Alexandria. This happened in Alexandria, but a year after the kingdom purged them, such a vicious incident still happened. Do you still think there is no rebellion in the kingdom?"

"Do you know how chaotic the entire Mediterranean is right now? There are rebels from the Grand Council everywhere. They are splitting Rome. Now the traitor Claudius is gathering troops to launch an attack on Rome. In the Greek city-states, they are inciting citizens to go on strike and boycott businesses, colluding with the rebels to betray the country. They have even assembled an army of more than 100,000 in the Seleucid Empire and almost destroyed the powerful Seleucid Empire. If we don't find a way to clean up these rebels from the Grand Council, the country will suffer more than just a few dozen deaths, but tens of thousands."

Ptolemy VI said angrily: "How come we haven't killed all these rebels after more than a year? Hang them all, leaving no one alive. If they don't like to learn from the Han people, we will hang them all the way the Han people hanged them."

Bias talked about the pain points of Ptolemy VI. Since the Sobek Uprising, he finally began to empathize with other Mediterranean kings. At the same time, he was extremely wary of the Great Harmony of various countries. The history of the founding of the Han Dynasty was a book that all Mediterranean kings must read. They knew very well about the uprising of the Han Dynasty, and it was because of this that they were afraid. These rebels were really ruthless in their massacre of royal nobles. Millions of nobles at the founding of the Han Dynasty were slaughtered like slaves by the emperor of the Han Dynasty.

The nobles of the Ptolemaic State could massacre civilians in one village after another and could create mass graves, but when they had to face all of this, their inner fear would reach its peak. The history of the Han Dynasty had a huge impact on Ptolemy VI. When he thought about being killed by rebels and his entire family being killed by the rebels, he would develop a strong sense of fear and resolve all these dangers before they could happen.

"Your Majesty, those people in the Datong Society advocate achieving reform through killing, but I disagree. This is because such reform is too bloody and too brutal." Theodos thought for a while and said, of course, it was mainly because the Han Dynasty's ruthless killing of its own nobles that frightened him, and he would not approve of such a path of reform.

He admitted that the Han Dynasty had become extremely powerful after such changes, but if he had to sacrifice his own family and his own life to make the Ptolemaic Kingdom as powerful as the Han Dynasty, the prosperity without him and his values ​​would be meaningless.

But the current situation of the Ptolemaic Empire is difficult to maintain without reform. The rural priest Khnum proposed the idea of ​​equal distribution of land, which was supported by the entire Ptolemaic Empire. Obviously, the people of the Ptolemaic Empire have changed their minds. It is impossible to suppress them by force. There are tens of millions of Egyptians in the entire Ptolemaic Empire, while there are only tens of thousands of Greeks. If they don't change, they can only flee back to their hometown.

(End of this chapter)