Chapter 226: Strike
After a simple assessment through the eyes of a raven, Liang En could roughly estimate that there were about forty people in total, with fifteen to sixteen being illegal excavators and nearly twenty armed militants.
The remaining ten individuals seemed to be females brought by this group for some form of release, originating, judging by their appearance, most likely from South Asia.
Seizing the moment when the others weren't paying attention, Liang En manipulated the ravens to discreetly capture the overall layout of the area with their portable cameras. Then, stealthily, he returned to the village with his team.
"Finally done with the recording." As the ravens successfully flew out of the enemy's camp, Liang En severed the connection between them. He felt a bit fatigued as he had never maintained a soul connection for such an extended period before.
"Do you need a break?" Jeanne d'Arc, aware of what Liang En was doing due to some spiritual connection, asked with concern.
"No need, I'm just not used to it for the moment." Liang En shook his head and whispered in a voice others couldn't hear, "I've never been connected at the soul level for such a long time before."
Now, the two of them sat in an empty room in the village, both wearing bulletproof vests. In front of them were several disassembled firearms being inspected.
At the other end of the room, including Daniel and the eight Copts who joined Liang En's team, security personnel were also checking their weapons. However, the Copts seemed less comfortable with the heavy bulletproof vests compared to the security personnel.
These Copts were individuals with military service experience within the militia. Upon learning about Liang En's plan to take action, Daniel's father specifically called around several villages to mobilize any armed forces that could be quickly assembled. Unfortunately, due to distance and the darkness of the night, only eight people, including Daniel, could be mobilized.
"Lawrence's ravens have returned." While everyone was idly chatting to pass the time, a few children ran over, each holding a raven.
"Thank you!" After a simple expression of gratitude, Liang En took the ravens from the children, removed the electronic devices from them, connected them to the computer, and played back the recorded content.
"This is outrageous!" Watching the shackles on the women's feet and hearing their screams of torment, everyone present had extremely grim expressions.
As the images appeared one by one, the arrangement of the entire enemy camp unfolded before them. However, when they flipped to a photo of one person, Daniel and several Copts suddenly showed excited expressions.
"Do you know this person?" Seeing their reactions, Liang En immediately turned to ask. "From the position near the campfire in this person's photo, he should be the leader of the armed bandits."
"I swear to God, I'll never forget this person." After Liang En's inquiry, Daniel's face showed a furious expression.
"Three years ago, this person led that group of rebels to attack a village near us. Although we successfully repelled their invasion, we suffered immense losses."
"More than half of the village's houses were burned or destroyed, and many people died in the battle. For example, my cousin's husband sacrificed himself to protect the village during that fight."
Apart from this leader, Daniel quickly recognized that most of these bandits were seasoned thugs who had participated in the previous attack. The others, judging by their treatment of the women, seemed to be equally deserving of retribution.
After reviewing the photos, Daniel's father took out several wanted posters from his room, and many of those depicted were individuals from the photos brought back by the ravens.
"Many of these people are seasoned criminals, so official wanted posters have been issued for them and their affiliated groups," Daniel's father coughed lightly and continued. "These posters not only carry bounties ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars but also explicitly state that these individuals can be brought in dead or alive."
For Liang En and his team, this had both positive and negative implications. The downside was that since the enemies had been engaging in wrongdoing for so many years, they undoubtedly possessed formidable combat skills, making it challenging to capture them.
However, the upside was that, being less than reputable individuals, there was no need to hold back when launching an attack. The bounties provided a clear justification for initiating an assault, whether to capture them alive or eliminate them.
Since the valley had only one road accessible by car, set up with multiple visible and hidden checkpoints by the bandits, Liang En's team decided to bypass the enemy camp on horseback from an alternate path and then initiate the attack on foot.
"Do paratroopers have to learn horseback riding now?" Looking at Fan Meng riding alongside them on a horse, Liang En's face showed a curious expression. He hadn't expected his companion to possess such a skill.
"Regular paratroopers don't need to, but individuals like us from foreign legions often serve overseas and need to acquire additional skills." Fan Meng adjusted his posture on the saddle and explained, "For example, when we were stationed in North and West Africa, we were frequently ordered to infiltrate and conduct reconnaissance while disguised as locals. That's when I learned to march on animals."
He adjusted his posture again, "But, speaking of that, back then, we mainly rode donkeys, occasionally mules or camels. So, I'm not particularly adept at horseback riding now."
"Then you could stay in the village now." Liang En shrugged and looked at the group of fifteen people. "This mission doesn't require a tight manpower."
"You're my friend and also my boss. How can I let you charge to the front while I hide in the back?" Fan Meng looked at Liang En seriously. "More importantly, although I'm not good at horseback riding, I can manage."
What Fan Meng didn't say was that the newest member of the team, a girl who looked barely twenty, could now ride a horse into battle. So, him positioning himself as a security officer at the rear seemed quite unreasonable.
If Liang En knew what Fan Meng was thinking, he would definitely tell him he was overthinking. At least, purely judging from the scale and intensity of battles they had been through, Liang En believed Fan Meng was certainly not inferior to this French Maiden of Orléans.
A few hours later, under the dim light of flashlights and the moon, guided by one of Daniel's cousins, they swiftly traversed the desolate desert for several kilometers. Then, following a very discreet canyon, they circumvented the main checkpoint at the front of the valley and successfully infiltrated near the enemy camp on foot.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 227: Attack
Because they advanced at night and took some extremely rugged paths, it took them a full four hours to cover the approximately 10 kilometers.
But all this hardship was worth it, as with the guidance of the locals, they smoothly avoided the checkpoints set up by the bandits on the main village routes. Without alerting anyone, they reached the enemy's core area.
Upon reaching the vicinity of the core area, instead of launching a direct assault, they found a very concealed cave and hid inside. Liang En then released his flock of ravens.
"To be honest, those advanced drones can't compare to ravens." As a former soldier, Fan Meng praised the images on the computer screen.
After all, compared to the small drones he had used in previous missions, these three ravens surpassed them in terms of stealth, intelligence, and endurance.
Soon, the three ravens easily infiltrated the enemy camp and began transmitting crucial real-time images using the cameras attached to them.
"This outpost doesn't differ much from the previous situation." The first to scout the peripheral bandit sentinels, Fan Meng observed that there were only two additional hidden sentinels.
"It seems their level is a bit lacking." After circling the perimeter, Fan Meng's expression relaxed. "No mobile sentinels and no sturdy fortifications."
"Come on, they're just a bunch of bandits. It's good enough that they thought of setting up both visible and hidden sentinels at night. It's not like they can establish a defense as tight as your military back in the day." Liang En shook his head helplessly after hearing Fan Meng's remark.
"But for us, it's not a bad thing. Breaking through the defense of these disorganized individuals is much easier than penetrating a tightly fortified system."
"The hostages are kept in a separate truck." Jeanne d'Arc pointed to the screen showing a truck with a canopy. "Only two guards and one gun, so rescuing the hostages shouldn't be difficult."
"That's right, more importantly, most of the enemy has retreated to rest in their rooms, with few people outside. So, we have the opportunity to take them all down at once." One of Mr. Skoode's security personnel mentioned.
"Considering that these people are dangerous, shoot on sight if there's any potential threat. No need to worry about capturing them alive." These security personnel, with a background in mercenaries, were not the type to be taken lightly.
Therefore, they reminded Liang En's group specifically to prevent any potential dangers caused by the civilians' reluctance to open fire.
In fact, initially, they hadn't planned to bring Liang En and Jeanne d'Arc along. It was only because Liang En's skill in training ravens was exceptionally useful at this moment, coupled with Jeanne d'Arc demonstrating her combat abilities, that they were included.
To these security personnel, Jeanne d'Arc was essentially a personal female bodyguard hired by Liang En. As long as she could protect Liang En's safety, coming along was enough.
Once the ravens completed the overall reconnaissance, they quickly arranged the next steps. According to the plan, Liang En and Jeanne d'Arc would coordinate to observe the overall situation from the periphery and inform the various squads.
Fan Meng and the four security personnel would each lead a Coptic militia member as the main force for the attack on the bandit camp.
The remaining three Coptic individuals would serve as a reserve team and stay with Liang En's group, establishing a position on the side of the valley entrance, ready to ambush the part of the enemy scattered at the entrance.
"Now, attack!" Seven or eight minutes later, Fan Meng and his team had all reached their designated starting points. Following Jeanne d'Arc's command, they launched the attack.
Because the ravens had already identified the specific situation of the enemy outposts during reconnaissance, Fan Meng and the other two security personnel independently chose to silently approach and use cold weapons for assassination.
Within three minutes of the attack, they silently took down all five guards stationed outside without alerting anyone and moved towards the core area.
Taking advantage of the opportunity created by eliminating the sentinels, Liang En, with his bow and arrows, reached a turning point in the valley closest to the exit.
There, he bent his bow and shot an arrow with a reinforced kite string attached to its tail across to the other side of the valley, lodging the arrowhead in a crevice. The other end of the string was fixed to another rock.
As he completed these actions, gunfire suddenly erupted from the camp. Apparently, after entering the core area, there were likely some enemies inside the vehicles that the ravens couldn't detect.
However, this was anticipated beforehand, so aside from receiving numerous requests to scout their surroundings on the radio, there was not much chaos.
More importantly, compared to the bewildered bandits suddenly attacked, Liang En's side, which had a well-prepared plan, held a clear advantage with the ravens providing a continuous stream of information through their cameras.
They easily blocked the exits and entrances where the guys hiding in the vehicles could rush out using crossfire, knocking down several individuals who hastily came out after hearing the gunshots.
However, after five or six guys had their heads handed to them for free, no more fools appeared at the entrances of those vehicles.
However, those hiding in the vehicles couldn't endure for long either. Since the attackers carried several smoke grenades, they could smoke them out of the hiding places like smoking out field mice.
"There's activity at the valley entrance!" Just when the progress in the middle of the camp was smooth, the camera carried by the raven stationed at the valley entrance direction captured a speeding off-road vehicle heading towards the camp.
"It seems the guys at the entrance are coming to reinforce." Liang En grabbed his AKM, already loaded, and opened the safety. Then, he shouted in Arabic, "Fire!" while pulling the trigger. Simultaneously, the three remaining Coptic militiamen raised their assault rifles and opened fire on the approaching vehicle.
Perhaps because the guy who fell just now attracted the attention inside the vehicle, the people inside the vehicle couldn't react to Liang En's group.
A few seconds later, the car, now riddled with dozens of bullet holes, lost control and crashed into the nearby cliff, emitting thick smoke.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 228: Victory in Battle
Several minutes later, Liang En stood in the open space at the center of the camp. In front of him lay over ten corpses and eight captives, currently being interrogated by the militia.
"Are all these guys here?" Liang En asked Fan Meng, who approached. "Did any slip away during the chaos just now?"
"No, your big birds were watching from above. We even shot the guy hiding in the rocks directly," Fan Meng shrugged and replied.
"But, of course, the count here is not complete. Besides those four outside, three people in the camper were resisting stubbornly. So, we used the gasoline they brought to set the entire vehicle on fire."
"So now, there are seven bodies burnt to a crisp, like charcoal. Even moving them is a problem, so we left the corpses where they were, not here."
"Alright, anyone injured in the operation?" Liang En nodded after hearing Fan Meng's response and asked the next question.
"One security personnel and two Copts were hit. But, thanks to bulletproof vests, only one Copt got a flesh wound on the arm, fortunately not hitting the bone."
"What about the rescued hostages?" Watching as Jeanne d'Arc finished consoling the hostages, Liang En asked with a serious expression.
"These people are from India. Initially, they were kidnapped, deceived, or even sold by their relatives directly to certain entertainment venues in Kolkata," Jeanne sighed and explained.
"About two weeks ago, they were bought by the previous excavation team and brought here, serving as tools for these scumbags to relieve their desires."
"How are they now?" With Jeanne's explanation, Liang En and Fan Meng immediately understood the situation. At least for the Indians, this kind of situation should not be uncommon.
"Not good," Jeanne shook her head with a grim expression. "Among these eleven people, three are already pregnant, and it seems they were pregnant before coming here. The torture during this period has been very harsh on their bodies."
"Even worse, among these eleven, six are minors, with the youngest being only 12 years old. Honestly, even in all my previous experiences, I rarely encountered such despicable individuals."
"Disgusting!" After hearing Jeanne's words, both Liang En and Fan Meng showed angry expressions. While they had inferred from photos and recordings what these scum had done, they hadn't expected them to be so morally bankrupt.
Soon, they reached the location where Daniel was. They saw Daniel slowly smashing the fingers of the lead bandit with a piece of rock.
"Did you get any information?" Glancing at the bandit leader whose mouth was sealed and couldn't make a sound, struggling on the ground, Liang En asked Daniel, who was catching his breath.
"We got some information, like they were hired by a British organization. This time, they came mainly to find lost treasures through inscriptions on a monument near the Alexander Port in Egypt," Daniel wiped his hands and said.
It seemed to be related to what Liang En had discovered earlier. After all, the inscriptions on the monument in ancient Egypt had been preserved for thousands of years. If he hadn't publicly disclosed the secret of translating ancient Egyptian texts, these thieves might not have carried out this looting operation.
In fact, the impact of his previous decryption of ancient Egyptian texts was far more significant than he had anticipated. For example, there was now a surge of interest in Egyptian culture among the general public.
This was also why these thieves had come to the Sinai Peninsula to dig. The enthusiasm had led to a significant increase in demand for various items related to ancient Egypt.
For ordinary people, this enthusiasm might only translate into the purchase of various replicas and items related to Egyptian knowledge or a thirst for knowledge in this area.
For example, when Liang En authorized the Louvre Museum to sell various peripherals related to the Rosetta Stone, it was agreed upon a proportional share. Based on similar products, the annual income should have been around 60,000 euros.
But in the first half of this year, Liang En received a whopping 90,000 euros in profit sharing. Clearly, it was due to the frenzy caused by the deciphering of ancient Egyptian texts.
Moreover, this heat wasn't limited to the Rosetta Stone. Through conversations with personnel at the Louvre, Liang En learned that all peripherals related to ancient Egypt were currently selling well.
Unfortunately, for many wealthy individuals, these replicas obviously couldn't satisfy their desires. So, illegal transactions related to Egyptian artifacts had become rampant during this period.
Just like a slogan in a campaign to protect wildlife, without buying and selling, there would be no killing. Illegal artifact trading was the same; it existed solely because of a vast market.
As for the mindset of those wealthy individuals, it was easy to understand. For them, engaging in conspicuous consumption, buying things that others couldn't get, was the best way to highlight their differences from ordinary people.
"We were lucky to find the information they stored on this matter," Daniel took out a laptop from a camper, saying, "When the gunshot rang out, everyone in that house rushed out, but the laptop was left behind."
According to Daniel, the people inside the car were the core members of the looting gang. So, as soon as they heard the gunshot, they hurriedly threw down what they were holding and rushed out of the carriage, only to be completely wiped out by them.
While Liang En was studying the content recorded on the computer in a camper, Daniel and the others began to execute the captured prisoners.
Witnessing this scene, neither Liang En nor the security personnel intervened. After all, there was a real blood feud between these people and the Copts. So, the retaliation by the Copts at this time was considered normal.
As for the two looters mixed in with them, being executed at this time was not unjust. After all, the group of young girls who had just been rescued by Jeanne and Fan Meng were still being comforted over there. Even in the carriage, Liang En could hear their crying.
"Is there no problem with dealing with it like this?" After examining the important photos, Liang En walked down from the car and asked Fan Meng, who had just persuaded the girls to come over.
After all, he was here for an archaeological expedition. Once entangled in local armed conflicts, various problems would arise, regardless of right or wrong, hindering the overall progress of the operation.
"There won't be any problem. Daniel and the others handled these things well," Fan Meng nodded and said. According to him, for the Copts, these troubles in their eyes were not troubles but a gold mine.
After all, for many years, these guys had preferred to attack the Copts when moving in the desert. The two sides had already formed a deep-seated blood feud. For example, Daniel's cousin-in-law was killed by these people.
So, these Copts were more than happy to take responsibility for killing these criminals. For them, killing these criminals not only caused no trouble but also allowed them to complete an important revenge, making their tribe and village famous.
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 229: Locking the Target
What Daniel referred to as revenge was the prevalent blood feud in the region, especially for the nearly 20,000 Copts residing there. Due to various reasons, the ties of kinship and friendship in this area were deep-rooted, leading to a collective hatred towards these bandits.
For the Copts, the elimination of these bandits was a cause for celebration. It allowed them to showcase their determination to the surrounding villages.
As for concerns about retaliation afterward, the Copts were not troubled. Hatred among them had long become irreconcilable, and killing a few more bandits at this point wouldn't make the situation worse.
In this scenario, Liang En and the other outsiders, guided by a local, returned to Daniel's village with important items and hostages. Meanwhile, the rest of the village took the opportunity to head to the battlefield.
"Nicely done!" Mr. Skoode, who stayed behind, exclaimed with excitement after Liang En recounted their recent experiences.
"Honestly, while I believe most sinners should seek redemption, for these scum, atoning for their actions in hell is the best thing," he added.
However, the interaction between the two groups wasn't prolonged. It was around 5 a.m., and after a night of staying alert without sleep, everyone felt exhausted.
After briefly recounting their actions and making some comments, they retired to their rooms to rest. They ended up sleeping until noon.
After a quick freshening up and a meal, Liang En gradually received information corresponding to the conflict from the previous night.
According to Daniel's father, official armed forces and archaeological personnel had already arrived at the conflict site early in the morning, taking charge of all activities. Additionally, they had arranged for the ten unfortunate girls.
"These girls can't return to their hometowns. Whether in Galgada or here, their experiences would be unacceptable to their families. It's life-threatening for them to return home," Fan Meng explained, having gathered specific information.
"The Copts have arranged things well for them, allowing them to stay here like normal villagers and considering them as new additions to the community."
"As for the few girls who are unfortunately pregnant, their health is too precarious for abortion, which poses a risk to their lives. So, we'll slowly rehabilitate their bodies and let the children be born."
"However, Daniel's father mentioned that if they are willing to raise the children, the village will support them to some extent. If not, the children will be sent to a Coptic family willing to adopt, just like their own children."
"It sounds like a very good arrangement," Liang En nodded, expressing his appreciation for the care and kindness shown by the Copts.
In the next two days, Liang En began studying the captured materials and communicated with the Egyptian archaeologists conducting excavations at the previous battlefield through radio waves.
After all, Liang En was a recognized scholar in Egyptology, so it was normal for the local archaeologists to communicate with him during their excavation process.
Through these exchanges, Liang En learned that the ruins were actually a station on an ancient road, but it became a small town because it was at the intersection of two roads.
As for why the bandits considered this place a treasure trove, the reason was simple: Liang En, to ensure translation accuracy, hadn't released the Ancient Egyptian lexicon.
As a result, the bandits could only translate the part of the data that was released, misinterpreting the embellished words as a treasure trove.
For the ancient Egyptians, a village with a water source located at the crossroads of two channels in the desolate Sinai Peninsula was indeed a treasure trove. Hence, they engraved it in the temple to commemorate.
After carefully reading all the texts related to the temple in the confiscated files, Liang En discovered that the reason the station turned into a village was that the Pharaoh increased the mining of a mountain at the end of the road.
In addition, from the unorganized praise poems, Liang En found out that the mine produced some kind of gem. One of the poems mentioned that the gems mined from the mountain adorned the Pharaoh's palace.
With the help of the local map and the activation of Logic Enhancement (R), Liang En quickly estimated the location of the mountain. He, along with Mr. Skoode and others, then took a car to the target deep in the Gobi hills.
"That place is allocated to us Copts." On the way, Daniel explained the situation of that piece of land to Liang En. "But for decades since we got it, we've never been there."
"Why not take a look?" Liang En asked after checking the land on the map pointed out by Daniel. "It's nearly a hundred square kilometers."
"But it's all barren desert and hills without water," Daniel shrugged. "For us who don't have money for mineral exploration and can only farm and herd, this barren land is worthless."
"At least my father firmly believes that when the authorities assigned such a large piece of land to us, it was just to shut us up with barren land."
"For example, those Egyptians may not have much land, but it's mainly concentrated in the south and north coastal areas, close to those tourist cities or ports. It's much better than us, stuck in the inland wilderness."
"Now you're about to have good days." Fan Meng, driving the car, said. "At least since I followed Liang En on the path to find treasures, I haven't seen him make a wrong judgment on the big picture."
"Let's hope so," Daniel sighed. "At least for us, any gem mine would greatly improve our quality of life."
Soon, the car left the flat Gobi and entered the hilly mountainous area. The rugged terrain and frequent forks in the road made the entire area resemble a giant maze.
Especially the almost identical yellowish-brown mountains increased the perplexity for travelers, making it difficult to distinguish between different entrances.
Under the sunlight, the entire mountainous area seemed to radiate a golden glow like a furnace. Even with the air conditioning on in the car, they could feel the waves of heat from the surrounding mountains and ground.
No wonder the Copts rarely entered this mountainous area. After all, this area lacked anything they needed, and the complex terrain and extremely high temperatures easily posed a life-threatening danger to those entering the region.
But also because of this harsh terrain and environment, not many people had stepped into this area before. So if Liang En's deduction was correct, there should be many precious items and relics left in this place.
"Wait, stop the car." As the car passed through a dried-up river valley, Liang En suddenly picked up the car's radio transmitter and shouted to the other cars. "I seem to have found something valuable."
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Table of content - Next Chapter
Chapter 230: Arriving at the Destination
What caught Liang En's attention was a series of blurry reliefs on the cliff that appeared to have been eroded by wind and sand. Without the card "Detailed Observation (R)," these relics would have been easily overlooked.
Upon closer inspection after disembarking, Liang En discovered that these seemingly indistinct reliefs were likely sculptures of several individuals. Judging by the varying sizes among them, the sculpture probably had a connection to a pharaoh.
This judgment stemmed from the fact that ancient Egyptians determined the size of sculptures based on the social status of individuals. The greater the disparity in status, the larger the difference in size between the statues.
Comparing the sizes of the largest and smallest sculptures in the image, Liang En deduced that the stone carvings on the rock likely depicted the image of a pharaoh.
"It seems like there are inscriptions here." While everyone was disembarking and proceeding with the usual process of photographing and archiving, Joan of Arc unexpectedly discovered a line of text preserved beneath the stone, untouched by weathering.
"Let me take a look." Upon hearing her words, Liang En walked over and found that the hieroglyphs on the stone dated back to the Early Dynastic Period.
Deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs related to the Early Dynastic Period posed some difficulty for Liang En. Fortunately, the text was not lengthy, so Liang En spent some destiny points using "Cipher Decryption (R)" to decipher the inscription.
"Henum Hufu, the great god, destroyer of Yountiu." Liang En quickly recited the translated words. "This is a text left by Hufu back in the day."
"Hufu? The one who built the pyramids, Hufu?" Mr. Skoode, who was currently in command, became excited upon hearing Liang En's revelation.
"Yes, and Yountiu here refers to a native tribe on the Sinai Peninsula." Liang En pointed to a word in the inscription.
"According to existing historical records, Pharaoh Hufu was the founder of the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. He continued the strategy of his predecessors, conducting expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula and Nubia, consolidating the empire from the Nile Delta to Nubia."
"However, the Sinai Peninsula expedition was the last one initiated by him. After that, Pharaoh Hufu ceased further expeditions and redirected his attention to the internal affairs of the country."
"For example, he unified divine and royal authority, declaring himself the living Horus. Simultaneously, he constructed the largest and tallest pyramid, the Hufu Pyramid, which stands today."
"Clearly, this inscription should be a record left locally after the completion of his final expedition, intended to showcase the military achievements of Pharaoh Hufu."
This inscription was just an unexpected find on their journey, but as they progressed towards their destination, they encountered more and more carvings along the road.
Due to the strong winds in this area, not many sculptures had been perfectly preserved. Therefore, Liang En and his team only needed to take a few photos from the car and use GPS coordinates.
After a bumpy morning, several cars entered the valley of their destination. As soon as they entered the valley, they noticed many human figures on the surrounding cliffs.
Perhaps because the surrounding mountain walls blocked the sand, these figures appeared to be better preserved than the previous statues. Moreover, many of these figure sculptures had well-preserved inscriptions beneath them.
"Snefru, Nusera, Userkaf..." Liang En quickly read the recognizable inscriptions. "These are statues of pharaohs from the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt."
"It seems we've found the right place," Mr. Skoode became excited. "The ancient Egyptians were allowed to carve statues of pharaohs in only a few places, and a gemstone mine is worth doing so."
"More importantly, in this desolate wilderness, seeing statues of those pharaohs for hundreds of years provides evidence that this should be a mine that has been in continuous operation for a long time."
"You're right. So, from now on, we just need to search for traces of human activity in the vicinity. Since it's an abandoned mine, there should be plenty of traces left." Liang En nodded in agreement.
After confirming the safety of the surroundings by making a complete circle, except for leaving two groups of people to observe the situation from high vantage points nearby, the rest of the team immediately dispersed to explore the situation in the valley.
Liang En, Fan Meng, and Joan of Arc climbed to a platform about three stories high from the ground and discovered a cave about 3-4 meters tall.
"This should be a temple," Joan of Arc said, examining the well-preserved reliefs inside the cave. Before coming, she had read a stack of books sent by the Louvre related to ancient Egypt, so she had some understanding of this.
"You're right, it is indeed a temple." Liang En carefully examined the walls on both sides, saying that, with the sunlight from outside, he noticed that both sides of the cave were adorned with reliefs of human figures.
Unlike the severely weathered reliefs on the cliff, these reliefs inside the cave appeared clearer due to the shelter.
When they reached the end of the cave, the relief of a person with a hawk's head on the stone wall directly indicated that this was a temple dedicated to one of the nine pillar gods of ancient Egypt, the guardian god of pharaohs, Horus.
"It seems that this place held a high rank in ancient times." Seeing the image of the hawk-headed god, Liang En smiled because temples dedicated to Egyptian pharaohs' guardian gods were not found everywhere.
If this place was indeed a mine, the appearance of the Horus temple indicated that this mine belonged to the direct jurisdiction of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
"There aren't many places in ancient Egypt that could serve as directly controlled mines for the royal family." Liang En explained in French while looking at reliefs depicting various stories about the legend of Horus on the walls.
"As far as I know, theoretically, the pharaoh owns all of Egypt's produce, but only gold mines, silver mines, large copper mines, and some gemstone mines are directly controlled by the pharaoh."
"I understand. In our ancient times, emperors were the same. Although they claimed to be rich in the four seas, there were emperors who ended up so poor that they couldn't afford an army, and enemies invaded their capital, leading them to hang themselves on the eastern branch." Fan Meng nodded with his hands crossed.
"There's a small question. Do you think the precious minerals valued by ancient Egyptians are equally valuable to modern people?" At this moment, Joan of Arc suddenly asked.
"For example, pepper in my time—was a precious thing, even as expensive as gold. But nowadays, you can buy a large pack for a small amount of money."
"Rest assured on this point. At least, according to archaeological discoveries so far, the gemstones of ancient Egyptians are still gemstones today, with only some fluctuation in prices." Liang En smiled and said.
"But even for low-grade semi-precious stones, if we can find a mine, we will still make a fortune this time. Not to mention that this mine belongs to the ancient
Egyptian pharaoh. With a simple packaging, we can sell those things at several times the price of ordinary goods—"
"Look what I found—" Just as Liang En was telling Joan of Arc stories about ancient Egyptians and gemstones, Fan Meng suddenly shouted, "I know what kind of mine this is."
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