To Four Thousand Years Later

"My king, this is the progress of this month."

Marshal Benaiah respectfully handed the bundles of papyrus to Solomon.

Solomon asked him to report to him every month on the progress of the construction of the temple. These include the use of stone and wood, and the learning of the Firstborn from the artisans of Tyre.

Solomon untied the rope and unfolded the papyrus. While looking it up, he casually asked, "Where is Sadhu?"

"Today is Monday. The high priest didn't go home yesterday. Instead, he lived in the military tent and was routinely speaking your words of wisdom to the eldest sons. He hasn't come here yet. There should be some doubts from the children... According to what you said Yes, he cannot show impatience in front of these eldest sons."

Marshal Binaya apologized: "He asked me to bring it. He may still arrive later."

"It's a good thing, Benaya."

Solomon chuckled: "This shows that Zadok loves people. He loves these children and his work. This is something to be proud of, and there is no need to apologize-I still want to praise Zadok well, and praise Zadok to all the people." .”

"If he hears it, he should be happy, my king."

Benaya couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth.

"The exercise plan has reached the second stage... Have you finished training for changing formations?"

Solomon looked at the content of the papyrus, and his eyes lit up: "Yes, give them extra meals and let them eat more meat. And let them be divided into four groups, and they will take turns to train horseback riding skills every month. In addition, they are going to train them to archery... But this first Don’t worry, wait until the workers from Tire leave.”

"...are you going to send them to war?"

Binaiya was startled, and then dissuaded: "If you are not in a hurry, you will have to wait a few more years... Horseback riding is not something that can be practiced in a short period of time. There are not many people who can learn it as quickly as you."

"I know this. The construction of the temple must be the first... I will not let their hands shed other people's blood before the construction of the temple is completed."

Solomon nodded calmly: "What's more, I have something else to give them then."

—For example, saddles and stirrups. And more mature wrought iron technology.

The reason why he asked Benayah this question was because when Floros gave his semi-annual census report a few days ago, he mentioned in passing: "My king, the papyrus exported to us from Egypt has recently increased. some price."

Although Floros didn't realize how serious the problem was, Solomon was suddenly shocked.

He immediately asked Floros: "How much has it increased? Is it a general price increase or a price increase by individual merchants? Is it only the papyrus price increase?"

Although Floros didn't know why Solomon suddenly focused his attention, he still replied obediently: "It's a large-scale price increase... Only the price of papyrus has increased. But the increase is not much, only about half, the most Less than 10%...Is there any problem, Wang?"

So Solomon immediately realized that Egypt might be preparing to attack Israel.

Papyrus is not a necessity of life, but a political necessity. Others did not raise the price, only the price of papyrus increased... This is probably because the Egyptian merchants vaguely realized that the demand for papyrus in Israel had increased.

If they have someone capable, they can quickly analyze that Israel is now undergoing large-scale political reform. Israel at this time is in a state of emptiness, both militarily and economically.

So Solomon decided at the time that he couldn't sit still. Even if it's a false alarm...

He asked the prophet Nathan to find some trustworthy royal merchants and go to Egypt to buy some horses. According to the price of one hundred and fifty shekels per horse, which is the same price as the horses bought by the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, they were purchased in batches from different merchants.

At the same time, the research on preparing harnesses began in the country.

The two technologies of the saddle and the stirrup were the two technologies that Solomon thought about for a long time before deciding to point them out.

He wasn't worried that the Israelis would directly occupy the Mediterranean region if they got the harness technology... There are many technologies that can change history, but stirrups are not among them. After all, Israel itself is a mixture of farming and nomadic people, and many of them are good at riding. The original stirrups are incomparable to the direct combat power improvement rate and pure farming people.

Israel's main fighting force is cavalry and chariots. But whether it is cavalry or chariot driver, you need to be proficient and familiar with horses. The number of these people in Israel is not many, not many, not few... But if it is limited to the eldest son, the number can be said to be quite small.

After all, there are a large number of teenagers in the current eldest son army, and not many of them have access to horses.

At this time, relatively primitive stirrups and saddles—even a simple ring and a cushion can liberate the shooting angle of the soldiers on the horse and greatly increase the training speed of the cavalry.

But a problem that must be faced squarely is that the original stirrups are relatively dangerous. Once the stirrups are assembled, they will greatly increase the death rate after falling off the horse. Another question is, if Israel is still conquered by nomads as in history, will the harness that appeared hundreds of years earlier enhance their combat effectiveness and cause continuous historical changes?

After careful consideration, Solomon decided to point out the technology of wrought iron a few years in advance, shifting Israel's core tactics from melee to long-range. This can reduce the possibility of some falling off the horse.

Contrary to his initial expectations, the difficulty of forging iron is actually not too great.

Solomon remembers that the knowledge of iron began to spread in parts of Egypt by 1200 BC. From 1,200 BC to 1,000 BC, ironmaking technology developed rapidly in Syria, Palestine and other places, followed by Cyprus and Crete. Ordinarily, during this period, Israel should have rudimentary iron-making technology.

With this question in mind, Solomon asked some craftsmen carefully. They did study Hittite iron, but they were limited to wrought iron.

To turn wrought iron into more useful steel requires a complete technical chain of carburizing, quenching and tempering. Solomon intends to teach them this part of the skills step by step—at least teach them the carburizing skills first, so as to catch up with the progress of Egyptian iron research.

According to the current research progress, a more systematic carburizing process can be made in two or three months. But the saddle and stirrups still remained in Solomon's ideas... He planned to push the saddle to the Firstborn Army within three years, and then make the stirrup one year before the war.

However, in order to develop bows and arrows, in addition to cheap and high-performance iron arrows, high-quality wood is also needed—even compared to iron arrows, high-quality wood that can be used to make bows is more important.

And when it comes to wood...that's Tyre.

Solomon fell into deep thought, and said softly to Benaiah, "Go find the prophet Nathan and let him come over. I have something to discuss with him... Just stand at the door. If you see Zadok, stop him and wait a while I have a big deal with you two."

"Yes, my king."

Benaiah didn't understand why, but just nodded to Solomon.