To Four Thousand Years Later

"Dear Pharaoh."

A person dressed as a priest saluted respectfully in front of the pharaoh: "Renebo has been dedicated to God Amon."

"Can."

Pharaoh nodded expressionlessly, showing no emotion: "God Amon will be pleased. Because this is a sacrifice made with him."

Only his wrinkled hands due to old age trembled slightly, and he could barely see his restless mood.

He himself was born as a priest... and Renebo was the guard of Amon raised by him. It is impossible to say that there is no emotion.

—However, he had to kill Renebo.

Of the 40,000 soldiers who went with him, although 8,000 were temporarily arrested laborers, more than 30,000 were God's soldiers.

Of the more than 30,000 people, only less than half of them came back alive.

Pharaoh had to give an explanation to his subjects, and more importantly, he had to give an explanation to God Amon.

Psuscenes II has a very ominous premonition...

He suspected that God Amon might not love him so much anymore.

He is not a wise monarch like Solomon, nor is he like the king of the Hittites who is good at fighting and has the hearts of the people. The main reason why Psuscenes II became king was that he was born as a priest in Thebes.

The reason why he became a pharaoh was because his contemporaries were trash...the other reason was that he was very pleased with Amon.

But since a year or two ago, he began to vaguely feel that God Amon no longer paid so much attention to him.

First of all, the call is sometimes not answered, and the sacrifices are gradually not accepted by the gods.

Psuscenes II felt bitter in his heart.

He suspected that the reason why God Amon gave Renebo a sigh of relief was to test himself—to test whether he would choose his favorite disciple or the voice of the people.

So Psuscenes II finally chose to dedicate Renebo to Amon.

Finally... this time Amon responded, and took away Renebo's soul.

—This is the first time God Amon has appeared to accept sacrifices this year.

I don't know which priest made a slip of the tongue, and now the folks have begun to spread rumors that they are not liked by Amon. He didn't take care of it at first, but concentrated on searching for the traitor.

But he killed three or four priests who might leak the secret, and the rumors didn't mean to fade away in the slightest.

He even ordered the tongue-tabbing civilians to be dragged to death by horses, and more than 20 people were dragged to death in a row, but the rumors spread more and more. Now, he has even heard that some people in the palace are discussing this matter.

Although Psuscenes II still had the same calm face that never changed, with no expression of emotions or anger, but there was still anger in his heart. Even more panicked.

It wasn't until God Amon appeared to accept the sacrifice this time that the momentum of this rumor gradually diminished.

But Psuscenes II was not at all delighted by this.

Because apart from this incident, there was another incident that also shook his position among the people.

It is said that the joint siege of Tyreans and Israelites led directly to the capture of nearly 8,000 people by Solomon.

That's eight thousand men—one-fifth of the entire military force of Egypt!

None of them were hard laborers, all of them were soldiers of God. If they can return safely, apart from the more than 8,000 untouchables, only six to seven thousand people will be lost this time.

Such a loss is barely acceptable.

In any case, Pharaoh could not leave these people alone.

After those nasty Israelites captured their fighters, they even kept sending people on the border to spread the word about it.

They also brought a hundred people to the border every day to show the Egyptians that their limbs were intact and their bodies were clean, and that the Israelites had not harmed them.

But the Egyptians heard that besides the more than 10,000 soldiers who returned alive, there were 8,000 people who survived. The people who had been in grief before immediately became excited and set off to the border one after another, trying to find their relatives and friends.

The Israelites claimed that if the pharaoh gave enough wheat, spices, papyrus, and cattle and sheep, these people would be released alive. And if Pharaoh doesn't pay them within one month, they will be reduced to hard labor for the rest of their lives—by the way, they will provide them with normal food standards for this month, and the food expenses will also be paid by Pharaoh.

They didn't advertise the total price, just the price to redeem one person. And this price is not high in the eyes of Egyptians, and even many of them can afford it...

However, the Israelis did not respond to the request for "retail sales" of the prisoners.

"King Solomon said that people are not commodities and cannot be bought and sold. And what Solomon is asking for is not money for captives—it is an indemnity for Pharaoh's surrender. From this point of view, Solomon will also send back 8,000 soldiers with good limbs, whether No matter how you look at it, you made money."

So they said.

As a result, in Egypt, public opinion gradually boiled. There were uprisings everywhere, and they were easily suppressed. However, the pharaoh's guards were exhausted after running around... After all, this is not a long-term solution.

Although the price for one person is not high, multiplying that value by eight thousand is not too low.

And what Solomon wanted was not gold and silver, but something that was really needed. The value of these things is not high, but there is a lot of demand... If you take out so much in one go, even Egypt will be hurt.

In desperation, Pharaoh wrote to Solomon. Can you tell me more about the price...

Fortunately, Solomon was still in Tire and did not come back. It was the prophet Nathan who made the decision for him... He did not immediately send people to the border to continue preaching that the pharaoh was still bargaining, which really made Psuscenes II heave a sigh of relief.

The letter was also easier to talk about—Nathan told Pharaoh that he could not reduce the price too much, or King Solomon would not agree. He can only reduce the price by a tenth at most, and Pharaoh must first send a delivery person to Israel. In this way, it would be difficult for King Solomon to refuse after returning to the city from Tire.

In order to thank Nathan, Pharaoh sent someone to send a large amount of gold and silver to Nathan privately.

And another additional condition, in the eyes of Pharaoh, is no longer a matter.

Nathan said that in order to appease King Solomon's anger, the son of Hadad the Edomite, the only remaining youngest son of the Edomites, had to be sent along with the goods.

For Pharaoh, this choice was relatively simple.

Although that child also flows with Amon's divine blood, he is a foreigner after all, and his blood concentration is far less than half... Don't worry that he will become a pharaoh. Let what happened to the Tyrians repeat itself in Egypt.

Kinubal, whom Renebo desperately wants to protect, is actually nothing in the eyes of Pharaoh.

It’s just a child born to a foreigner, and you can pay less to buy 800 people’s cattle, sheep and wheat... No matter what, it’s a big profit.

"Listen, write to King Solomon."

Pharaoh’s old voice sounded in the hall: “Remember, don’t say it’s addressed to Nathan in the letter. If you want to say it to King Solomon, just say I agree. The convoy delivering the goods will leave tomorrow, and Kinubal will be with them too. Let’s go. Then you send someone to inform Kinubal that he go to Israel with the convoy, in the name of…studying.”

"...your will."

The pharaoh guard respectfully agreed.