Chapter 42 Chapter 41 Later

The battle of Kadesh was a miracle. Not only was it the largest battle in the period of Ramses II in the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom, but it was also surprisingly complex and tortuous.Both Egypt and Hittite used separate tactics, but they were both seen through.The Hittites drove Egypt to their death with surprise surprise attacks, overwhelming numbers, and clever formations.With the victory already decided, the neutral country Assyria, which has been dealing with Egypt and Hittites, unexpectedly sent the core lion army to rescue the battle inexplicably, reversing the plight of Egypt being besieged in one fell swoop.

At this point, the Hittites and Egypt turned into a tie, but it is not yet clear which one will win.Just when Hittite clearly still had a chance to fight back, the supreme ruler was dragged and pushed down the Orente River by people who suddenly appeared from the Egyptian side.However, it was precisely because of this push that Jali avoided the hidden arrows shot by the Egyptian army in disregard of Pharaoh's order. And the most incredible thing is that in the end Ramses also jumped into the Orente River.No one knows whether he was here to rescue Princess Ivy, but it turned out that he rescued Yali.

Perhaps because of this unexpected move, Hittite and Egypt did not continue to fight, and acquiesced to the result of the draw.But Princess Ivy did not come back.Under the command of the ruler, the armies of the two countries dispatched part of their forces respectively, turned the Orente River from the river to both sides and searched it thoroughly, but there was no sign of the princess at all.The Orente River was swift and dangerous. In order to find Princess Ivy, some soldiers died. Although Egypt and Hittite both tried their best to search, after three days and three nights of long searching, nothing was found except one of her sandals.

The war is over, and neither side has the intention to fight again. If this delay continues, there may be a mutiny due to the lack of morale and insufficient supply.Seven days later, the two sides withdrew to their own countries after the search was fruitless. After this incident, there was no further movement in the diplomacy of both sides, and there was no tendency to see any closer political relations between Egypt and Assyria. The brief diplomatic gap left everyone at a loss.The historian received the report from the front-line recorder, but racked his brains and didn't know how to write about the situation.When writing history books, it is very important to speculate on the thoughts of those in power. Should this matter be recorded truthfully, embellished, or cautious? The historians have had a headache for a long time, and they dare not ask Pharaoh—since he returned to Upper Egypt from Kadesh, He stayed alone in the palace all the time, making only minimal national policy decisions.

Anyway, writing history books is not a big deal, and it won’t be a big problem to wait to make a decision. Nubia was defeated, Hittites suddenly fell silent, and Assyria would never appear again. Even if Pharaoh took a vacation, It doesn't seem to matter either.But this vacation lasts for three years.In three years, apart from Li Tah and Montus, I am afraid that almost no one will have the chance to see Ramses again.For the first year, Pharaoh did not move at all.But in the second year, the harem was continuously filled, and children were born continuously.This period of history is impossible to write. Therefore, during that time, apart from recording the birth of heirs, the marriage of concubines and the construction of temples, the history of Egypt was blank, and the daily work and decisions were handled by the council and priests.Some people said that Egypt was about to end. Although Pharaoh had no restraint in this area before, he did not delay his work at all, but now he does not know what he is doing every day.

Strangely, although the number of concubines and heirs kept increasing, the concubine entered the harem and never showed up again.Not only did the number of people serving the harem not increase, but the servants who accompanied his princess and noble daughters to marry were also sent back.The same is true for the sons and heirs. Except for appearing in the routine sacrifice and baptism, they are usually very low-key, and almost no one has seen them. Even a pharaoh is rarely seen in public.Only according to his instructions, build temples for countless priests, and then depict his appearance in the temples.The image can only refer to the past youth and the youth of the previous period.The pharaoh made countless boats out of papyrus, and each boat contained a small wax lamp.Every night, hundreds of boats are lowered from the gentler part of the Nile River outside the palace of Thebes, slowly drifting away with the steady and magnificent river water, and then slowly sinking to the bottom of the river.Like a stream of stars carrying pure light, it goes to the end of the river bottom, trying to illuminate the endless darkness.

But the darkness in Egypt only kicked off at this time, and the massacre of the Israelites by Ramses II reached an almost crazy level.He originally had an unwelcome and somewhat exclusionary mentality towards the Hebrews, but now it has turned into an inexplicable hatred.The hatred came fiercely, and from top to bottom in Egypt, all men who were identified as Hebrews were killed, even babies in swaddling arms.In a blink of an eye, the word of mouth of Egypt's relatively enlightened foreign policy disappeared completely. Among the officials, there were originally foreign aides, who also left Egypt one by one due to various worries.In the interior of Egypt, foreign assassination and guerrilla organizations that resisted the pharaoh gradually emerged.

When archaeologists a long time later evaluated this period of history, they couldn't help feeling sorry.Although the decline of Egypt did not begin to show until the next generation of Ramses, the turning point did indeed begin after the Battle of Kadesh.The Sun Kingdom, which was originally infinitely glorious, slowly sank from that day until it was invaded by the Sea Peoples a long time later, and then completely perished after a long time. time flies.In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed since the Battle of Kadesh. In ten years, the total number of Ramses' concubines reached more than one hundred.The strong background of the harem makes his rule more solid.After the death of the old minister of Siman, the original concubine Kami Luota voluntarily left the palace and was named one of the few female lords in Egypt in a wealthy town in the Giza Autonomous Region. Since then, there has been no news of her.Queen Nefertari, on the other hand, was confirmed to have betrayed Pharaoh with the noble Nolan, and her and Pharaoh's only two daughters were also suspected to be not Pharaoh's own princesses.The nobles tried their best to hide the scandal, so it became the queen who voluntarily went to the east bank of Thebes as a priestess.The history books still retain her position as queen, and it is recorded that she died of illness.However, the fact is that the queen was expelled from the palace because of her betrayal to Pharaoh, and she served the god Amon Ra on the West Bank for life, and finally died in depression.

Then time passed like water. The main temple of the Abu Simbel Temple was completed, and the murals painted the scene of the victory of the Battle of Kadesh according to the meaning of the pharaoh.The deified Ramses is magnificently engraved on the outside, but the place reserved for the female relatives is still blank.The construction of the temple will not be considered over until this section is completed.But no one dared to ask Pharaoh whose image he wanted to put on it. At that time, the life span of a normal person was only more than forty years.Everyone secretly thought in their hearts—of course they wouldn’t say it out loud—that this generation of pharaohs might be the only way to go, and they were about to start preparing for the next generation of the royal family, and within ten years at the most, a new king would definitely be ushered in.Therefore, we must establish the son of the old king as soon as possible, and then educate and guide him correctly, and we must not let similar things happen to him.

When you are worrying about how to imply that Ramses set up the crown prince, the first princess of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari, who is the only descendant of Pharaoh that everyone has seen in the palace - Mo Ye Tamon suddenly appeared at a sacrificial ceremony.She is nearly twenty years old, but she rarely shows up.As soon as he appeared, he forcibly broke into the state sacrifice hosted by the high priest Li Tah. Her face was haggard, but her tone became almost sharp because of her anger. She yelled loudly, her bony fingers trembling, pointing to the relatives of the prince who were stunned by her sudden appearance in the hall, "You have all been deceived by your father!" Already!"

The first person to react was Li Tahe, who immediately raised his head, and several young and strong priests around him rushed over swiftly and quickly supported Moyetameng.But she was still yelling: "Father has gone mad, none of those children belong to him! Egypt is about to end—" But before she finished speaking, her mouth was blocked by the priest beside her, and she was immediately Forcibly took it out. After the excessive chaos, there was a deathly silence in the hall. Li Tah slowly looked around the shocked people in the hall, and then he smiled and said, the years have left traces on the corners of his elegant eyes, and his voice was steady and gentle, "Everyone knows that Princess Moyetameng is His Majesty's first princess. She heard strange things from somewhere, and she always wanted to imitate the former Queen Hatshepsut." Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs in Egyptian history during the Eighteenth Dynasty.In terms of the order of succession, if, as Moetamon said, the pharaoh has only one offspring, then she has every right to inherit the pharaoh's position.Speaking of this, others finally understood the reason for what she said just now.I couldn't help feeling a little regretful in my heart, for doing such a disrespectful thing, I'm afraid Pharaoh would not spare her. Li Tahe still smiled lightly, "It seems that we will be more cautious in educating your Highnesses in the future." Three days later, Moyetameng was married into the harem by Ramses.According to the usual practice, the craftsmen carved her image into a sculpture and recorded it in the history books, and there was no news of her after that. This pharaoh won hundreds of concubines, including his sister.Now, even if there is an extra Moyetamun—his daughter, it seems that people are a bit commonplace.His royal power was obtained by his strong military strength and strategizing in the early stage, and it was consolidated by these harem backgrounds in the later stage.It's not an unprecedented move, it's just that no one has ever done it as exaggeratedly as he has. It is said that the Pharaoh burned all his wisdom and pride at the Battle of Kadesh, and he became dissolute, depraved, and somewhat insane.Day and night, pointlessly lowering paper boats into the Nile in honor of the river god, seemed to be the only thing he cared about.If Egypt was able to sustain the past for ten years, if it were not for Li Tah and Montus, the consequences would be disastrous.But each of them is no longer young. If there is no heir to the throne, and the empire falls one by one, how worrying will be the future of Egypt. Amid the anxiety of everyone, Egypt ushered in the eleventh year after the Battle of Kadesh. It was the first day after the break of winter.In the early morning, there was a rare thick fog, and the skin was wet and sticky, which is rare in Egypt, but the sun had not risen for a long time.The first general, Montus, presided over the military parade in Lower Egypt and was about to return to Thebes in Upper Egypt when he suddenly received a letter from the audience. He wanted to leave this matter to others, but the person who came showed the royal family's coat of arms.The uninvited guest was escorted by several Egyptian soldiers to the city of Memphis—because he was a Hebrew.When seeing him, Montus was surprised at first, and then turned into surprise, looking at him with a bit of defense. "Are you the person in charge?" the young man asked coldly, his chestnut-colored eyes were like frost.A foreign girl with blond hair and white skin was tightly clasped in his hand, and his fingertips were hard and cold. Once he was in danger, he would attack without hesitation. It was an instinct of self-defense.The situation was unfavorable, he could strike at any time and kill the girl beside him.Montus knew at a glance that he must be a young killer trained by many Hebrew rebel groups active in Egypt. It's a pity that he has a good skill.Mentus sighed in his heart, but nodded slightly, "I am, I heard that you have the royal family's coat of arms, I'm a little curious." Just saying it's because of this curiosity is not entirely accurate.This young man has a typical Hebrew appearance, but he looks familiar.The light brown short hair and chestnut eyes, and pale complexion.He must have seen him somewhere long ago. By the way, that was the killer who was reused by Pharaoh many years ago, the one who inherited Colt's position. Montus thought to himself, but the visitor said impatiently: "I fished out a weird foreign woman in Orent River. She wanted to go back to Egypt, and she said to bring her to Montus, Ritah or Pharaoh will do. I will do good deeds every day and bring her here." Montus hesitated for a moment, then looked at the girl in the boy's arms.At that moment, his movements froze, and he stared blankly at the thin figure, speechless. The young man smiled contemptuously: "It seems that she didn't lie to me, you know her." He stretched out his hand, and the blond girl turned softly towards Montus, and the Egyptian general hurriedly picked her up carefully. Hold, and then carefully confirm her appearance. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a surprise, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a horror. More than ten years have passed, and the girl in her arms now has the same appearance as Ivy back then.She was wearing the same white dress as that day, and only one sandal was sent along with her.Or, rather than saying that this person looks like Princess Ivy who disappeared in the Oronte River that day, it is better to say that she is Princess Ivy. She has jumped over ten years, passed the baptism of time, and returned to Egypt . "Then, farewell." The boy turned around and left. "Wait." When he was in a hurry, Montus yelled softly, but the Hebrew suddenly took a few steps back very vigilantly and looked at him defensively, his eyes seemed to say, "I knew it would not be so easy let me go". Montus quickly shook his head, "No, if you send her back, I will definitely do it for you. But I am just curious, what made you willing to take her back to Egypt without fear of being caught and executed." Pharaoh's massacre of the Hebrews is an open secret. Does this person... really have any connection with Dong, or Dong simply ordered him to come here?Countless guesses flashed through his mind, and the young man just replied coldly: "Of course she paid me, but this matter has nothing to do with you." As soon as the words fell, he didn't want to make any more entanglements.In the blink of an eye, he had already covered his face with a cloak, and disappeared in front of Montus in an instant. Montus secretly sent the foreign girl back to Upper Egypt. It was his younger brother, General Buka, who met him in Upper Egypt.Later, an adjutant with him said that at the moment he saw the blonde girl, General Buka could hardly stand still, and the hand holding her soft sedan was trembling unceasingly.Buka instinctively blocked the news, and then sent Montus's secret letter to Li Tah, and Li Tah sent the secret letter up. The Pharaoh, who hadn't shown up for ten years, finally opened the palace door and took the girl back to the palace himself. But her eyes were closed and her lips were pale.No matter how many famous doctors are gathered, the most precious herbs in the country are used up, or countless priests are summoned to hold a grand sacrifice. No one can wake it up. She seemed to be in a sweet dream, her eyes vibrated slightly under the thin eyelids, but she was persistent, unwilling to wake up in reality. Pharaoh stood by her bedside and held her in his arms day and night. In his arms, her dream seemed to be over, her eyelashes stopped trembling, her breathing became longer and more steady, but it seemed that there was no breath of life. According to the pharaoh's wishes, the ceremonial officials put on a dark blue wig for her, put on the gown of the great Egyptian wife, covered her with a beautiful shawl woven from eagle feathers, and rebuilt her with the most expensive gemstones and gold. The Alas crown was worn on her forehead.Pharaoh himself will hold her and bring her to the temple of Karnak on the east bank of Thebes.At this moment, she has won a more supreme honor than Queen Nefertari before, or even the famous Princess Ivy. They walked through the huge stone pillars carved by time, stepped over the solemn shadows that alternated with the sun, and came to the statue of Amon together.Pharaoh cupped her cheeks, lowered his head, and leaned on her forehead affectionately.In the Temple of Amon, in front of the statue of the sun god, they maintained this posture, and they did not move for a day and a night.Morning came again, and the golden light drifted into the grand temple.The Pharaoh spoke softly, and the historians, priests, and attendants around him immediately flocked forward. His voice was weak but firm, and every word was recorded in history with the sound of the pen rubbing against the papyrus. This is the first time he has personally issued an order in ten years. "This beautiful woman is called Isis Neft." "Her name is the nostalgia of the goddess Isis." "She is the light of Egypt, the blessing of Pharaoh. She is loved by the goddess Isis and returns to Egypt again." The voice echoed in the empty temple, and he hugged her, looking lovingly at her peaceful face.His fingers gently slid across her delicate and fair cheeks, depicting every gentle line and every slight ups and downs of her face. "From today, I marry her as my great wife, the supreme queen of Egypt, and you will engrave her in the temples in the image of black hair. She will give birth to several children for me, then I will There will be several princes, our first son will be remembered as the elder king's son, and our first daughter will be remembered as the king's favorite princess." "From today, I want her to stand by my side. In temples, on murals, and in history books." After a long silence, he held her hand tightly.Lowering her head, a subtle and gentle smile appeared on her lips, "Record her name in the history books, and write down that she is the mother of the Egyptian heir and my most precious queen." The slender and cold fingers in his hand trembled slightly.As if in response to his gentle words, she gently took back his palm. Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.During his long life, he launched wars against Syria, Nubia and Libya many times, and fought an unprecedented battle with the Hittites on the Orent River in southern Syria - the Battle of Kadesh.He also signed the first formal peace treaty with Hittite in ancient Egypt.After his middle age, he turned his attention to the construction of temples and tombs.Representative buildings include Abu Simbel in the south, which awes the Nubians, and the expansion of the Karnak Temple in praise of the sun god.He has married hundreds of concubines in his life, and it is said that he has nearly one hundred heirs.Among his concubines were foreign princesses, his sisters, and even Moyetamun, daughter of Nefertari, his favorite queen, and Bantana, daughter of Isis Neft.Among his many concubines and eight main wives, only two have won the honor of queen. One was Nefertari, a priestess chosen by the former king Seti I.The other was Isis Neft who gave birth to his heir. Queen Nefertari died of illness when Ramses was in his middle age.But the image of her black hair appeared in temples all over the Ramesses period, and her fame spread throughout the countries of West Asia.However, none of her and Ramses' heirs lived past Ramses' age, and naturally they did not become Ramses' heirs.Because of Ramesses' love for the queen, her tomb is the most beautiful and magnificent in the Valley of the Queens, and her funeral objects are unprecedentedly gorgeous.Ironically, because of her fame and well-known favor, her home was discovered by archaeologists at the time in 1904, and her body and funerary objects have long since disappeared. After her death, Isis Neft—a wife rarely mentioned in history books—became queen of Ramesses.The appearance and existence of Isis Neft are very low-key. Apart from seeing her recorded as the queen in the history books, people don't know much about her origin and the reason for being chosen as the queen. This unknown queen gave birth to several children with Ramses, each of whom was appointed to an important position in Egypt.These included Morenputa, who later succeeded Ramses to the throne, Kamowaset, who was appointed as the first priest of the Memphis Temple and was well-known for his erudition and archaeological ability, and was later married by Ramses and portrayed In the main temple of Karnak, the princess statue on the lower leg of the pharaoh statue is Bantanana. However, after Isis Neft became queen, she only accompanied Ramses by his side for ten years.There is not much description in the history books about her death ten years later.When later generations commented, it only became a cold and simple sentence - "We don't have many opportunities to learn about Isis Neft. The only thing we know is that her death has brought great impact to Ramses II. grief." And it is.After her death, Ramesses made the young Bantanana his concubine and kept him by his side all the time, but he did not appoint any of his wives as queens.He carefully constructed the tomb for Isis Neft.Because of her low profile and mystery, her shelter has not been found so far. In the following decades, he spent the rest of his life alone in the legendary city of Be Ramses, where temples were being built and turned into dust in later generations.