Chapter 1679 The Goddess’s Secret Word (24)

For thousands of years, the East, filled with gold and spices, has fascinated Westerners and attracted countless "conquerors" who wanted to set foot on that mysterious land.

First there was Alexander of Greece, and then there was Caesar. Westerners never felt guilty about being a robber. Instead, it was a problem for rulers like Louis XVI who did not take advantage of victory.

The symbol of Rome is a wolf, and Siena also has one. Legend has it that the son of Remus, one of the twins who was raised by a she-wolf, founded the city.

Without the oppression of Florence, it is difficult to imagine that Siena would not be what it is today, or that the rulers of this city would be as corrupt as other Roman nobles.

There is a Piazza del Campo in Siena, which is scallop-shaped and consists of nine triangles, representing the nine members who drove the aristocratic rulers out of Siena.

Also in 1260, when Siena and Florence were fighting a war of 20,000 versus 30,000 people, on Egyptian soil, the Mamluks repelled the Mongolian army at Ainjarut.

The Mamluks owned the rich land of Egypt and had the strength to defeat the Mongols but did not expand. This was not because the nobles were greedy for comfort.

The land and maritime Silk Roads can bring a large amount of commercial taxes. After the four major khanates established their affiliation with the Yuan Dynasty, the trade route shifted from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Mamluks had to increase agricultural taxes and domestic commercial taxes, which also resulted in

The merchants in Egypt fled, the burden on the farmers continued to increase, and the internal fighting within the Mamluk dynasty also arose.

It is difficult to organize external expansion by relying solely on agricultural taxes, but it is not impossible. The key is that the Mamluk dynasty is marginalized by civilization. Even if it wants to expand, it cannot declare war on all countries in the world at once. There will always be allies and positions.

The closed environment and unfriendly tax system for merchants almost stopped the development of the Mamluk dynasty for more than two hundred years. When the Renaissance was in full swing in the Mediterranean, Egypt was lifeless. Only the nobles occasionally knew something through merchants.

According to outside news, Europe and the Ottoman Empire had entered the era of hot weapons at this time, so in 1514, when the Mamluks, who continued to use Mongolian cavalry and archery tactics, encountered the Ottoman Empire's army, they had little power to fight back. First, the weapons

The second problem is that the Mamluks were unable to adapt to the new fighting methods of the Ottoman Empire. However, the muskets of the 16th century were not enough to become the protagonists that influenced the direction of the war. This was mainly due to the internal problems of the Mamluks. The Ottoman Empire sent people to lobby before launching the war.

He defeated the governor of Aleppo and made him defect in battle.

Whether it was Wu Sangui who let the Qing troops enter the country or Sforza who let the French intervene in the Italian war, the damage caused by the disintegration of a strong fortress from the inside is far faster and faster than attacking from the outside.

From then on, Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire, and the title of the highest official became Pasha, who was still appointed by the Ottoman Empire.

Egypt under the rule of the Ottoman Empire was still closed, so much so that when Napoleon led his army to land in Alexandria, he thought he had gone to the wrong place. There was a big gap between the legendary and magnificent cities in reality, especially those from the wealthy Italy.

Well, some people actually committed suicide because they couldn't bear the hardship.

Although somewhat unexpected, Napoleon still had to act quickly as always. Besides, the British fleet cut off his retreat. If he did not want to be forced to surrender because of the end of the road, he could only develop and build Egypt. Under his governance, Cairo

Gradually, the French atmosphere began to appear, people's lives improved, and the street order also changed.

But not everyone welcomes his reforms.

There were many artists and scientists in Napoleon's expeditionary force, and they moved a lot of good things from Egypt.

Experts often take away exquisite products. There was once a masterpiece of Caravaggio's Veil of Destiny. A buyer paid a lot of money to ask the Italian Mafia to remove it from the church frame. As a result, the Mafia member used a dagger to remove the painting.

Mark it down and give it to the buyer in a random roll.

When the buyer saw the famous painting, he shed tears. In his original words conveyed by Gong Saiyi, "It...it has no use at all."

Before the French came, those sculptures were left to dry in the desert. Occasionally, people who did not have stones to build houses would steal them from ancient temples. There were also tomb robbers starting in ancient times. The things left by the ancient Egyptian civilization were actually

There are not many left, only the pyramids and sphinx sculptures still support the facade of the ancient civilization.

Archeology is different from tomb robbing. Archaeologists don't use explosives for convenience. Only tomb robbers use explosives, even if their title is archaeologists.

For example, on the wall that Severus blew open, the archaeologists would carefully knock on it to see if they could find any gaps between the bricks. They would carefully remove it bit by bit, and then restore it to its original state.

Severus directly blasted a hole, which looked like Umbridge blasting the Room of Requirement with an explosive spell. Fortunately, he was measured and didn't destroy everything inside.

There is an Egyptian-style obsidian statue placed in the niche. It is not Anubis or Horus, but a bearded dwarf with short legs. He looks very funny and has a smile on his face, as if

I am happy all day long.

"That is the Egyptian god Bes, the god who protects weddings, music and dance." Gongsei said to Severus, and then raised his wand, but the stone sculpture did not move.

"Lumos" Gong Saiyi quickly used a fluorescent flash. Fortunately, this spell still worked, and the end of the wand shone brightly.

"I don't know where he went," Severus said. "How many more disenchanting sculptures do you think he has?"

"I don't know." Gong Saiyi pointed the wand at his wallet. "The clip is flying."

A long clip that looked like garden shears flew into his hand.

"It's best not to touch it with your hands." Gong Saiyi said as he stretched the long rod of the clip as if it could be extended infinitely.

Not long after, it came across the sculpture of the god Bess. The clamp caught the sculpture by itself and then lifted it up. It turned out that the sculpture was just a box lid, and the box contained red grease, which looked like dried blood.

Gong Saiyi smelled carefully and asked, "What do you smell?"

Severus looked at the grease and said nothing.

"I heard... the Philosopher's Stone is red." Gong Saiyi said softly, "Does it look like it?"

"I remember that Chevreul was good at refining fats. Is this his masterpiece?"

"how could I know?"

"Take some with you." Severus said, taking a silver box from the deformed lizard skin pocket and handing it to Gongsei.

"Don't take them all away?" Gong Saiyi asked.

"Leave some for others later," Severus said with a malicious smile.

"What are you thinking about?" Gong Saiyi frowned.

"I have a hunch." Severus looked at Gong Saiyi, "Someone will replace what we take away in the future."

"What?"

"I heard at the party before that some items were stolen from the Foundation. After I took these items away, they used those items to replace them, waiting for the next person to solve the mystery, or the next person to lose precious things.

people."

"How come you have this inference?"

"The signal next to the library was after the aurora appeared, and then people died on December 5th. It was like a curse from the Pharaoh. Some people were afraid of being cursed, so they returned the taken treasures as they were. We cannot break this magic circle.

Once it is destroyed, there will be consequences that we cannot imagine, so there will be unlucky guys like me."

"Then why didn't they stop you?" Gong Saiyi asked.

"Destiny." Severus said, "I killed a person because of my job...she was responsible for protecting the Muggle Prime Minister."

"You mean..."

"It was 1801. Napoleon Bonaparte in history should not have died that year. A British captain planned to use a cannon to bombard his carriage, but she blocked it with an earthen wall," Severus said.

"She's like the short guy's bodyguard."

"I don't understand why an English witch wants to protect the French emperor?" Gongsei asked.

"Why do you think wizards want to protect Muggle rulers?" Severus asked. "If Muggles perish because they kill each other, it will save us a lot of trouble. We had talked about it during the previous gathering. If Muggles were allowed to die, it would save us a lot of trouble.

If Gua knows about dragon pox, will they use this infectious disease to eliminate us?"

Gong Saiyi did not answer, his face was solemn.

"They have done it before, against the indigenous people who threatened them." Severus said calmly, "So I think we should strictly abide by the international law of secrecy and not let Muggles know too many wizards' secrets. Moreover, Muggles don't need to

Wizard’s Protection.”

"I don't want what happened during the French Revolution to happen again," Gongsei said. "How long will this turmoil last?"

"I don't know," Severus said. "I'm not a prophet."
Chapter completed!