Chapter 13: Flying over the Great Green Sea

“…… With the dawn of dawn, the sun god emerged from the banks of the Nile, the mother of Egypt, in the distant distance. The golden glimmer of light shone on our faces, and reflected back on his countenance, day after day, year after year, the mighty sun god crossed the sky every day, and we watched his magnificent figure all the time......"

With the bald priests in the temple praying in the morning, the eighteenth dynasty of the ancient Egyptian kingdom ushered in another dawn.

However, a behemoth that does not belong to this era makes the dawn sky of this day different.

A huge silver-white airship is slowly heading north from the sky along the Nile River, Egypt's most obvious natural landmark.

And in the belly of this giant airship, in the spacious pod about the size of a small yacht, Wang Qiu, Doraemon and several other traversers who were in charge of driving and operating, and those Egyptian soldiers and Minoan sailors who were ordered to accompany them were all frightened by this imaginative air travel. Almost as soon as they saw the airship lift off the ground, they fell to their knees on the floor and chanted a word, praying to the gods they believed in fear, including Unas, the captain of the Egyptian palace guard, and Yuta, the commander of the Minova fleet.

Only the daring American chick Princess Carol dared to lean curiously against the alloy bulkhead, looking down at the scenery under her feet through the sturdy portholes. She grabbed the camera she had borrowed from the traversers in one hand, and opened the glass porthole with the other a small slit, and the hot air with the moisture of the Nile River blew in through the crack in the window, making a sharp whistling sound.

-- Touring this ancient civilization from the air was a wonderful experience that was extremely new and exciting, even for her.

If you open the satellite map, you can see that the golden sea of sand covers almost the whole land, and the mighty Nile flows from south to north, through the whole of Egypt, carving out a long valley in the desert, spreading green and wealth all the way to the Mediterranean - this valley is like a dark green ribbon, no more than 2 kilometers wide at the widest point, only a kilometer or two in the narrowest place, but the length is more than 3o kilometers.

This dark green valley is full of ditches and green areas, but just a stone's throw away is the endless Sahara Desert, full of sand dunes and craggy rocks, glittering in the scorching sun, but there is not a trace of life in sight.

So, when viewed from the air, the line between the two is so clear: green on one side and desert on the other. On one side is life, and on the other side is death...... Green and yellow, moist and thirsty, fertile and barren, life and death, heaven and hell are so tightly placed together that they are only separated by a green dividing line, forming a stark contrast that is absolutely impressive.

Overall, this long, winding Nile valley is full of lush greenery, with wheat fields, orchards and vegetable gardens. At the junction of the green field and the desert, there is a long protective forest belt, which protects the Egyptians from wind and sand. The shelterbelt is full of drought-tolerant tree species, and there are a large number of date palms with economic value. These date palms look graceful, among the many tall and straight trees, like gentle and beautiful "women", their oval fruits with a waxy luster, from a distance look like fake fruits made of plastic, but in fact these dates are very sweet and juicy, according to Wang Qiu's feelings after tasting them here, they are probably comparable to the fruits of the Hami region of Xinjiang, China.

Along the banks of the Nile, there stood countless temples, all of which were of similar style, built almost on the same structure and scale—the huge archway, the obelisk in the center of the square, the courtyard, the colonnade, and further in, the endless archways and colonnades, all of which led to the "sanctuary": a strange hut specially lit to give it a magical effect.

Almost all of the fishermen and sailors who were begging for a living on the Nile were startled by the silver-white beast of the air, and they were either stunned or screaming, and some of the people who were eating knocked their food into the water. Then, they scattered in all directions. Or immediately tremble and fall to your knees. But when the boatmen saw that the behemoth in the sky was not dangerous, they no longer ran away, and they all pulled out their small boats from the reeds, and followed the airships in the air as if they were looking at diorama.

In the cities along the Nile, the appearance of air monsters attracted many onlookers, and when the airship swept over a certain town, the ground was literally empty, and more and more people rushed to the street or climbed high places, kneeling in every open place and kowtowing to the airship. There were also countless heads moving along the trajectory of the airship, and the scene was truly spectacular, causing Carole to press the shutter and exclaim.

“…… Wow, this aerial view of ancient Egypt is amazing, there are places to take pictures everywhere, I really want to preserve all these scenes...... I just don't know if the film will run out of it."

-- Obviously, in the seventies of the twentieth century, in which Miss Cairol Lido lived, mankind should not have had a digital camera......

“…… Don't worry, Miss Carroll, film or something is old on our side, you can shoot as much as you like."

Ma Tong, who was beside her, said as she typed out the photos that Carol had just taken into her computer and printed them out one by one, while munching on ancient Egyptian snacks that had been used as a pastime for her travels—several shiny stainless steel plates filled with dates, palm fruits, melons and figs, one of which contained Egyptian snacks made from papyrus tuber flour...... What most Gentiles don't know is that the papyrus used by the Egyptians to make papyrus is actually a food plant similar to lotus root and water chestnut. The tubers of this papyrus are nutritious and can be eaten raw, roasted over a fire like a sweet potato, or sun-dried and ground with honey to make a very popular dessert among the ancient Egyptians.

In short, just facing the dawn of ancient Egypt and tasting food while overlooking the scenery is really one of the great joys of life.

However, as the sun gradually rose towards the top of the sky, the appetite and interest of the two girls faded with the temperature.

In Egypt, surrounded by desert, the most terrible time of the day is the hot midday.

At dawn, a rare cool breeze would knock open the windows of the Egyptians and pour into the room, refreshing the spirit. However, the good times were short-lived, and as soon as the morning breeze blew away the slumber and lifted people's spirits, the scorching heat soon followed from the windows—the walls of the houses reflected a dizzying white light, and the clear sky was like a sea of fire, so that people could not open their eyes. Even if you stay on the banks of the Nile, you don't feel much coolness, because the glitter of the waves on the surface of the river is like a raging fire, and it is impossible to look directly at the sparkling waves.

Due to the tropical desert climate of Egypt, it is often not yet noon, going out has become a kind of torture in purgatory, and staying in the house is sleepy, and the sandman with the sultry heat is even more sleepy, and it is not until dusk that people can wake up from their slumber and feel a little more comfortable. The airship suspended in the air has to withstand more sun exposure than the ground, from the bulkhead to the porthole, it is scorched by the sun, even if the air conditioning is turned on, the temperature cannot be lowered.

Therefore, as time goes by, the sun in the sky becomes more and more dazzling, even the wind blowing in the air becomes very hot, making people unable to feel a trace of coolness, and the unchanged yellow sand and green fields under their feet also make everyone begin to feel visual fatigue, and even a little drowsy... Fortunately, just as they felt more and more sleepy, huge pyramids jumped into view

What's more, not far behind the Giza Heights, where the ancient pyramids and sphinxes stand, the once narrow green fields suddenly opened up and became vast and expansive - they finally flew out of the narrow valley of the Upper Egypt River and into the delta of Lower Egypt

And behind this delta is the vast Mediterranean, or "Great Green Sea".

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When the Nile River finally flows along the long valley and finally rushes to the end, it accumulates a fertile oasis at the mouth of the sea - this is the famous Nile Delta, the fan-shaped alluvial plain formed by the Nile River flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, the richest black soil in the entire Mediterranean region.

Placed together, this valley and the delta look like a famous Egyptian plant, the papyrus.

The narrow Nile valley is the flower stalk of the papyrus, and the wide Nile delta is its open leafy vines.

In the geographical conception of the Egyptians, according to the flow of the Nile, the flower stems in the south were called Upper Egypt, and the leaf vines in the north were called Lower Egypt, thus forming two symmetrical parts of Egypt - Upper Egypt had more emperors and monuments, and Lower Egypt held the window of foreign exchange.

As for the outside of the Nile Delta, it is facing the rippling Mediterranean Sea, or the "Great Green Sea" as the ancient Westerners called it. In the middle of this ancient sea of civilization, there are countless islands of all sizes, which have been inhabited since the Stone Age, and are collectively called "islanders" by the Egyptians. And the Kingdom of Minoa, to which General Yuta belongs, is the most powerful force among these islanders.

With a formidable fleet, the Kingdom of Minoa on the island of Crete is the overlord of the Aegean Sea and the source of the oldest civilization in Europe.

--Feeling the cool sea breeze with the salty smell on this "great green sea", and looking at the familiar blue sea waves under his feet, General Yuta, who had been scorched by the scorching desert sun, suddenly refreshed his spirits and told Kairol about his sailing experience as if showing off.

“…… O great daughter of the Nile, remember that when we came out of the island, we endured countless storms and waves along the way, fought a battle with pirates, and it took us twenty days to reach Egypt... Of course, you will be able to fly much faster than us mortal rowing boats on this flying ship now, and perhaps tomorrow you will be able to see our beautiful island nation of Minoa......"

However, before his words fell, Wang Qiu's slightly tired shout came from the cockpit in front of him.

“…… Princess of Carol, General Juta, please prepare Crete, well, it doesn't seem to be called that yet...... In short, the island on which the city of Knossos, the capital of the Kingdom of Minoa, is located, has arrived, and it will be 6 in a while."

“…… What the? It can't seem like it's just evening now," General Juta was taken aback by this, and quickly swooped down to the porthole, and tried to look ahead, and sure enough, he saw a familiar rugged coastline, and looming houses and palaces...... So I couldn't help but be stupid.

And on the "Book of Crossing" opened in Wang Qiu's hand, there is also an extra line of golden handwriting:

“…… Arrive in Crete early with Kairol, Unas and General Juta and get 1o6 bonus points......"

So far, Wang Qiu has easily swiped more than 35,000 reward points in the plot world of "Daughter of the Nile".

The only regret is that Comrade Zhang Daniu, the time-traveler who was lost in this world, has not found any news so far......