Great time travel

Chapter 10. Making money is hard work

In the main hall of the Egyptian royal palace in the city of Thebes, among the rich and powerful families crowded shoulder to shoulder, a foreign traveler wrapped in a turban wandered.

His name is Hassan, and he claims to be a businessman who has traveled around the world. He was originally not qualified to appear in the palace, but because he had saved the life of the daughter of the Nile many times before, he was accepted by Kyrol as a benefactor. The princess and King Memphis have permission to enter and leave the palace.

——Although the role of this guy is a businessman, the strange thing is that in the plot of "Daughter of the Nile", he basically didn't see how this gentleman does business. Instead, he wholeheartedly played the important role of Kyroll's cheat: For some reason, this gentleman can always appear suddenly at the most critical moment without telepathic connection with Kyroll.Moreover, he is also one of the few male characters in the plot of "The Daughter of the Nile" who has not committed a nympho for Carol... Well, can he be called Carol's "blue-faced confidant"?

Take a look at how many great achievements this seemingly humble "businessman" has made in this world:
His first appearance was in the Assyrian palace, saving Kyrol who had just swallowed a poisonous flower.Next, when Kyrol was kidnapped for the second time in Babylon, it was he who secretly transported the oil to the Babel Tower of Babylon where Kyrol was imprisoned, and achieved the great martial arts of the daughter of the Nile River "burning the Babel Tower".Next, when the group fled to the Devil's Desert, the Hittite spy Luca deliberately pointed the wrong direction, wanting to let Kyrol go to Hittite to throw himself into the trap, but Hassan corrected it based on experience and let Kailuo Er finally returned to Egypt successfully and reunited with King Memphis.

Then, not long ago in the Temple of the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), when the pregnant Kyrol was forced to fall into the Salt Sea by Queen Isis, she was seriously injured, miscarried, and dying. How did he show up quietly and save Kyroll's life? Although Hassan is not very good at gynecological medical issues, the anesthetic he provided at least relieved the pain of Kyroll's miscarriage, allowing her to persist until the rescue team's arrival.

So far, this supernatural Mr. Hassan has saved Carol four times, and he will appear in every crisis. He can be called the strongest professional trick of this little blonde girl——Shangzhi Tianwen Xiatong Geography, extensive contacts, can get everything, can cure diseases, and is proficient in martial arts, and occasionally reads some lyrical poems, such as: "In the blue eyes of the daughter of the Nile, nothing can be seen..." Therefore, Kai Ms. Luo Er couldn't help sighing sincerely: "... Hasan, you are so omnipotent. Apart from giving birth, there is nothing you can't do!"

Originally, after the royal fleet arrived at the Thebes Palace in Upper Egypt, there should have been a highlight of Mr. Hassan's scene - that night, King Memphis was unfortunately plotted by his rival in love and drank poison at a feast for guests from all over the world. Alcohol, nearly killed.In the end, Mr. Hassan took out his housekeeping skills again and donated some precious herbal medicine to Memphis to save his life, thereby avoiding the death of the Egyptian king and the death of Kyrol...

However, due to the intrusion of the time travellers, the scheduled diplomatic banquet has not been held until now, thus ruining another opportunity for this Mr. Hasan to make meritorious deeds.But just relying on his previous achievements, it is enough to get along like a fish in water in the Egyptian royal palace.

At this very moment, he took an Egyptian court lady whom he had just hooked up with in the past two days, happily strolling through this crowded department store, enjoying the unprecedented wonderful pleasure of "shopping in the palace", followed by many dignitaries Squeezing together——Because of the exquisite swordsmanship displayed by a certain purple-haired violent lady, the booth displaying swords and weapons is currently surrounded by water, and Hasan, who came late, couldn't squeeze in for a while.

Moreover, Hassan was also worried that even if he bought a large number of steel swords, he might not be allowed to traffic them out of Egypt.

Therefore, Hassan focused on those civilian items that are not easy to be vigilant in a very pragmatic way, and he also felt that he had gained a lot.

He first noticed some beautifully crafted little bowls, cups, plates, and saucers, each of which seemed to him to be so colorful and wonderfully crafted.Although it is said that it is also fired with clay, it is smoother than jade.Some of the patterns adorning these tableware were flowers, fish, clouds, and ears of wheat that he could distinguish, while others were completely incomprehensible to him, such as flying metal birds and the like.But no matter what kind of patterns are decorated on it, Hassan and his female companion can't put it down because of the smooth appearance and beautiful patterns.Even the finest pottery in the palaces of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon is as crude as gravel by comparison.

Then, there are some utensils made of plastic (hassan had a hard time remembering this word from Princess Carol before), which looks as gorgeous and exquisite as the previous "porcelain" and has a rich texture. Lighter, but not heat-resistant enough to cook food directly over fire.The most amazing thing is that the shoes made of this kind of "plastic" are as light as straw sandals, but stronger than wood, even if they are stained with rain and mud, they will not be softened and damaged by soaking.Among them are some particularly exquisite plastic shoes, which are so incredibly soft that they are almost completely transparent, making Egyptian court ladies exclaim that they are crystal shoes!
Therefore, Nafir, the Egyptian court lady whom Hassan hooked up with recently, gritted her teeth and took out a silver ring she treasured, and exchanged it for a pair of the most expensive purple "crystal shoes" from the booth. It is a wonderful work of art. Except for the sole, the upper and the upper of the shoe are all carefully carved into layers of flowers, dyed with various bright colors, and then covered with a layer of completely transparent material , to keep the surface smooth.Wearing such shoes on the feet, it looks like stepping into flowers with one foot from a distance.If it is shining in the sun, it will be as bright as a rainbow after a rainstorm... Miss Nafel really likes it more and more, and she is reluctant to take it off even when she is sleeping.

Now that there are such beautiful new shoes, it is natural to match them with the same gorgeous clothes... It is a pity that this Miss Nafer is just an ordinary court lady with a low status and very little salary.Being shy in cash, she could only look at the colorful and brightly colored brocade satins, printed cotton and chemical fiber cloths on the booth, drooling with envy—then, Miss Nefer, an ancient Egyptian court lady who lacked integrity, immediately decided to Selling his body and earning a lot of money, he took the initiative to act as a shopping guide and tour guide. He had a fierce fight with Mr. Hasan, who seemed to have a lot of money, and pestered him with coquettish and soft words, and soon let him go out for many days. The smelly Mr. Hassan was all over the place, and he made many promises from clothes to jewelry to perfume...

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In the bustling hall, when the men were watching all kinds of knives and axes with bright eyes, and the women were chirping to choose the cloth and jewelry, the children of the noble officials who came with the adults also found their belongings. fun of:
Many colorful transparent cubes are packed in large glass bottles, which look crystal clear and charming like gems.It contains the sweet taste of various fruits, and one taste can make people endlessly aftertaste. At this moment, the Indians who first invented sucrose in history have just learned how to grow sugarcane, and they don’t know much about sugar production. It has not been tinkered with.So on the other side of Eurasia, neither the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or the Egyptians have ever seen "sugar" and can only use fruit juice and honey as sweeteners...Unfortunately, due to the weather in Egypt It was too hot, so the traversers really didn't dare to put out the chocolate, lest it melt into lumps of paste.

In addition, there are also some cylindrical metal cans that are also exciting for children, with some colorful patterns painted on the surface, and delicious sweet drinks inside.It's a pity that opening this kind of metal can requires very troublesome skills. Although the big sister who sells things has demonstrated it many times on the spot, most of the children still don't understand how to do it.

Moreover, when you open this kind of can, you must not shake it casually, otherwise the drink inside will be sprayed out with a "poof", pouring people's heads and faces... It's just a trivial matter to get dirty on the body, but so What a pity that such a rare drink was wasted.

——For children, this is just a luxury for pastime, but in the eyes of businessmen, it is a high-quality product that can be sold for huge profits!

In the eyes of Hasan, a professional businessman, in addition to these delicious candies and sweet drinks that can make every child feel excited, the salt displayed here is also an unprecedented high-end product. At first glance, it is really white Like snow, as fine as sea sand, almost without any impurities.Rao Yihashan, who is well-informed, couldn't help exclaiming: "...how did this come about? How can there be such pure salt in the world?"

——Although modern people have long been accustomed to fine white refined salt, this ancient salt is not so fine and white!
In ancient times when the technical conditions were backward, most countries, whether in the East or the West, made sea salt by simply boiling seawater in a large pot, and scraping the remaining crystals from the bottom of the pot after boiling. , is sea salt that can be sold on the market.

However, it is obviously impossible to dissolve only sodium chloride in seawater, so this rough sea salt will inevitably be mixed with some other impurities, such as magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, magnesium carbonate, etc., and the taste is also very bitter. There are more impurities mixed in the salt grains, such as dust and wood chips that enter in the process of cooking or transportation-not to mention that there are many profiteers who like to mix sand in the salt to cheat money.

Even the so-called pure mineral salt produced in natural salt pools or salt mines contains much less impurities than sea salt.But it is impossible to be like modern refined salt, it looks like white snow, not even a trace of black spots can be found... but it is more or less yellowed and blackened, which makes modern people feel unappetizing at first sight.As for the coarse salt eaten by the poor, it is directly called "black salt". It is said that the bitter taste is stronger than the salty taste...

According to Hasan's experience, if these snowflake-like refined salt can be transshipped and sold to inland areas far from the coast, then they can definitely be sold at a high price equivalent to gold.Even in coastal ports such salt was at least equivalent to silver.

In addition, there is a thing called a match, which also surprised Mr. Hassan - just a short wooden stick, as long as it is rubbed on the box, it can actually ignite a ball of orange flames. It is really convenient and can be called the best partner for travelers.

In ancient times, whether it was the East or the West, lighting a fire was an extremely troublesome thing. In those martial arts novels, the scene where martial arts masters carry a fire pocket with them and light a bunch of bonfires with just a flick of it is obviously a The overly artistic fabrications of novelists are at least very late.In fact, when the ancients in BC really needed to ignite a fire, they could only use a special knife to repeatedly hit the flint—that is, a stone that is relatively hard and can generate sparks when it is hit violently—to make it burst into sparks. Burn dry tinder, then ignite dead leaves and hay, and finally ignite firewood to light a bonfire... You don't need to try it yourself, just by listening to it, you will know how troublesome it is.If you encounter a guy with clumsy hands and feet, or encounter rainy and humid weather, it is common for half an hour to toss and still fail to ignite the fire.

In those densely populated villages or towns in ancient times, lazy housewives often went to neighbors' houses to "borrow a fire".But the problem is that in the sparsely populated ancient world, people who can "borrow a fire" can not be found everywhere-compared with modern matches that are easy to use, reliable in performance, and easy to carry. For travelers, it is extremely practical in the wild.

Therefore, almost as soon as he saw this magical "match", Hassan made up his mind to buy a large number of them... However, before that, he had to deal with Miss Nafel's soft-spoken pleading——this sidekick The wealthy Egyptian girl from the money worshiping family accurately measured Hassan's net worth and bottom line, grabbed a roll of Japanese silk, a piece of dyed cotton cloth and a small butterfly-shaped aluminum alloy jewelry from the booth, and walked towards her boyfriend and her boyfriend. Mobile wallets keep beckoning.

In short, under the coquettishness of his female companion, Mr. Hassan, who had just received a large reward from the king of Egypt, boldly took out a handful of broken silver nuggets and patted them on the booth.Looking at the small silver nuggets that Hasan took out from his bag, Nan Lixiang, who was sitting behind the booth, also sighed with relief:

"...Finally there is another guy who is willing to pay with gold and silver! Ma Tongsang! Ma Tongsang! Hurry up and collect money here!"

"...Let him wait for a while, I'm busy here!" Senior Ma Tong, who was standing on the other side of the hall, replied casually without even turning her head, without the slightest awareness of "the customer is God", "... …You idiots, be careful when you carry me, don’t break the rope, let this beast escape, and rush into the distinguished guests here! Otherwise, even if I can spare you, King Memphis will also peeled off your skin!"

——At this time, she was directing a group of naked black slaves with big arms and round waists to lift up a live crocodile tied up with five flowers and stuff it into the [automatic pawn machine].And behind the Nile crocodile that was used to settle the bill, there was a hippopotamus, a lion, a herd of goats and two elephants...

Well, if a certain pawn shop in modern China in the 21st century unfortunately received such a large number of live and offensive "pawns" one day, then it would be immediately All hysterical, mental breakdown!
However, this is the sad business situation of "bartering" by the Egyptians and even the entire Middle Eastern civilization in the early days of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt...