Bloodbath the altar and share the scepter
The night was as dark as ink, as if the god Amon had withdrawn all his light, shrouding Thebes in a shadow of deathly silence.
The atmosphere of a decisive battle is so thick that it cannot be dissolved.
Inside the tent, Ding Wei was dressed in black, which made her already fair skin look even colder.
On the sand table in front of her, three small red flags were precisely inserted in different positions.
"General Seti!" Her voice was cold and decisive, without any pre-battle trembling.
"Lead 5,000 elite troops, armed with torches and drums, and charge directly at the rebel main camp. Remember, this is just for show, not a drawn-out battle. If the enemy's main force mobilizes, retreat immediately."
Seti's eyes flashed, and he nodded heavily: "As you command!"
"The second route."
Ding Wei's fingertips moved towards a long and narrow canyon on the sand table.
"Hathor's guards, along with two thousand archers, will ambush here. This is the rebels' essential food supply route, and their only escape route in the event of defeat. I want you to turn it into a death trap."
Hathor, the former head lady, was now Ding Wei's most trusted right-hand man. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and determination: "Don't worry, Princess. Not even a mouse can slip past us!"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Ding Wei, waiting for the most critical third arrangement.
Ding Wei slowly stood up, picked up a white priest robe with gold thread edging from the side, and put it on calmly.
The complicated and sacred robe, when worn on her, not only did not make her look weak, but instead exuded a sense of mystery and majesty that seemed to see through everything.
She picked up a roll of papyrus that had been prepared long ago, on which was written ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics imitating the tone of an oracle.
"The third way."
She looked at everyone in the tent and said word by word, "I will personally lead a hundred guards and sneak behind enemy lines."
"What?" Seti was shocked.
"Princess, this is too dangerous! You are our backbone, you absolutely cannot..."
Ding Wei raised her hand to stop him from speaking.
Her eyes were as calm as a deep pool, yet they held an unquestionable power. "The most dangerous places are often the safest. Anubis is suspicious by nature, yet he also has an extreme faith in divine authority. He may not believe in me, but he dare not disbelieve in 'Amun.'"
She unfolded the forged "Oracle of Amun" before everyone, a cold smile on her lips. "As the temple's messenger, I will tell him that the Great God has tacitly approved his ascension to the throne of Pharaoh, but he must wait for the 'Moment of Divine Revelation.' He will hesitate, and his hesitation is our chance for victory."
Under the moonlight, a small team passed through the wilderness like ghosts, bypassing all the rebels' sentries and checkpoints.
When Ding Wei appeared in front of Anubis's central military tent, wearing a priest's robe and holding the "Oracle", all the rebel soldiers showed awe and involuntarily made way for her.
Anubis sat on his makeshift throne, his eyes gleaming with hawk-like alertness.
He stared at Ding Wei, trying to find any flaws in her face which was mostly covered by the hood.
"Who are you? Why are you breaking into my military camp so late at night?"
Ding Wei walked forward slowly, neither humble nor overbearing, and raised the papyrus in her hand high. "In the name of the god Amun, I come to convey the oracle to the future pharaoh."
"Oracle?" Anubis sneered, but a barely perceptible nervousness flashed across his eyes.
"The great god has recognized your bravery and piety," Ding Wei's voice seemed to carry some kind of sacred allure.
"But he has sent down an oracle, commanding you to suspend the attack on the city and wait for the divine revelation in three days. Then the gates of Thebes will open to you."
Anubis stood up suddenly, and a strong sense of oppression instantly enveloped the entire tent.
He stared at the papyrus, the imprint on it was indeed from the style of the main temple in Thebes.
His heart was in turmoil, half of it was ecstasy at the impending success, and the other half was doubt about this sudden "divine help".
He knew that this was the best time to attack, and if he missed it, the consequences would be unpredictable.
But if he disobeyed the oracle... the deep-rooted fear of the gods, like a poisonous snake, wrapped around his heart.
In the end, superstition triumphed over reason.
He waved his hand and said in a hoarse voice: "...suspend the attack, and all troops stand by."
He didn't know that what he missed was not only the opportunity, but his entire destiny.
Three days later, in the Temple Square of Thebes.
The oracle retrial ceremony was held as scheduled.
Under the gaze of all the priests and nobles from all over Egypt, High Priest Amenhotep stood in front of the sacred fire altar, his face full of arrogance as if he had won the victory.
He believed that the "Scroll of Divine Command" forged by him would completely end Ramses' rule.
However, it was not Ramses who stepped forward, but Princess Nefertari-Dinwi.
With a solemn expression, she walked towards the holy fire step by step and took the scroll that was regarded as a sacred object by countless people from the maid.
Everyone held their breath.
Under Amenhotep's astonished gaze, Ding Wei did not read out or display it, but made a shocking move - she threw the "Scroll of Divine Mandate" into the burning holy fire without hesitation!
"No!" Amenhotep let out a shrill scream.
The flames licked the papyrus with a "boom", and the golden words were twisted and carbonized in an instant. In less than two breaths, they turned into a handful of black ash, rising and dissipating with the heat wave.
The whole square was dead silent.
Ding Wei slowly turned, her cold gaze sweeping across every priest present. Her voice, like a resounding bell, resounded through the heavens: "Everyone, look! This is what the high priest claims is the 'divine command'! I only have one question - how could a true oracle fear the sacred fire that symbolizes the glory of the god Amun?"
As soon as the words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar!
Yes, how could God’s things be easily burned by the holy fire?
This doesn't make sense at all!
Countless questioning gazes pierced Amenhotep like sharp swords.
"You...you blasphemous witch!"
Amenhotep's face was pale. In extreme panic and anger, he completely lost his mind. He roared, pulled out a poisoned golden dagger from his sleeve, and rushed towards Ding Wei like a madman.
"Protect the princess!"
A black shadow flashed by, and Seti could no longer hold back. He took a step forward, grabbed Amenhotep's wrist accurately, twisted it with his backhand, and the dagger fell to the ground with a clang.
Two guards immediately rushed up and pinned him to the ground.
At this moment, a carrier eagle representing the Pharaoh's order fell from the sky and landed on Seti's arm.
Seti unsheathed the letter and read aloud, "Pharaoh's decree: High Priest Amenhotep has committed treason and is imprisoned in the Celestial Prison, awaiting sentencing! Within seven days, all temples in the land must be brought under the control of the royal court. No delay!"
At this moment, royal power, with its overwhelming force, completely overwhelmed divine power!
At the same time, on the front line.
When Anubis learned that he had been fooled by a woman with a false oracle and that a political purge had already been completed in the city of Thebes, he fell completely mad.
"Attack the city! Attack the city! After the city is captured, massacre the city for three days. I want the blood of those civilians to pay tribute to my stupidity!" His eyes were red and he looked like a madman.
As soon as the rebels' horns sounded, a light cavalry unit rushed into the enemy camp from an unexpected angle on the flank like an arrow!
The leader was Ding Wei who was wearing armor!
The longbow in her hand was fully drawn like a moon, and a whistling arrow streaked across the sky, hitting the huge rope of the commander-in-chief's battle flag on Anubis' chariot!
With a crisp "pa" sound, the battle flag symbolizing the soul of the rebels fell down.
Everyone was stunned by this miraculous arrow.
"All Egyptian soldiers, raise your heads and look!" Ding Wei's voice, carried clearly throughout the battlefield by the wind.
"You are not following the future Pharaoh, but a usurper blinded by lies! You are not loyal to the great gods, but to the greed of the high priest!"
She reined in her horse and waved her hand suddenly, and the guards behind her brought dozens of captured Nubian warriors up.
"Let them go!" Ding Wei ordered loudly. Amidst everyone's puzzled gazes, she ordered people to distribute a stack of land documents with the royal seal to the equally stunned Nubians.
"Pharaoh Ramses has decreed! Today, you are enemies on the battlefield; but from tomorrow, Nubians who lay down their arms will receive Egyptian land and protection, and become Egypt's shield guarding the Nile!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar among the rebels.
Many of them were originally mercenaries and low-level soldiers who were forced to work for them. The wealth promised by Anubis was far away, but the princess before them offered them real land and a future!
"Lies! All lies! Kill her!" Anubis roared in frustration.
However, the army was already in disarray.
The first to lay down his weapons was a Nubian centurion.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of weapons falling to the ground was heard.
The rebel front began to collapse from within.
The situation on the battlefield has been reversed.
This was the scene that Ramses saw when he, despite his sick body, rushed to the battlefield platform under the protection of Seti.
He looked at the woman who stood tall and straight amidst the thousands of soldiers.
He walked forward and stood side by side with Ding Wei, facing all the surrendered soldiers on the battlefield and the nobles who rushed over after hearing the news.
He used all his strength to make his voice heard as far as possible: "From today on, I declare to the Nile and the gods: Nefertari is not only my queen, but also the sole co-ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt! Her words are my will; her decisions are equivalent to the Pharaoh's orders!"
All the nobles were stunned in shock. This was unheard of in Egyptian history!
But looking at Ramses and Ding Wei's personal guards below the stage, as well as the tens of thousands of soldiers who had just surrendered, no one dared to say a word.
Seti was the first to kneel on one knee, and said in a loud voice: "I will obey the orders of Pharaoh and the Queen!"
Hathor then led her ladies-in-waiting and presented two crowns that had been prepared long ago - one was a golden cobra crown symbolizing the Pharaoh's royal power, and the other was a blue crown made of lapis lazuli and silver, symbolizing wisdom and the moon goddess.
With two crowns standing side by side, a new era begins in the baptism of blood and fire.
The postwar reckoning was swift and thorough.
Anubis was stripped of all his titles and escorted to the banks of the Nile, facing the land he had sworn to "protect".
He looked at Ding Wei, who was approaching calmly, with a twisted sneer on his face. "You win. But do you really think ruling is easier than seizing power? This country is riddled with holes. You can plug one hole, but you can't plug a hundred."
"I don't seek perfection," Ding Wei replied, as calm as the Nile. "I only seek to be true to my conscience and to the people."
Before he finished speaking, the sound of galloping horses and billowing dust could be heard in the distance.
A group of people came galloping, and the leader held high the eagle flag of the Hittite Kingdom.
It was a Hittite envoy.
This time, they no longer mentioned any humiliating proposals about marriage. Instead, they respectfully dismounted. The leading envoy bowed deeply to Ding Wei and Ramses who arrived later, and presented a thick draft of the alliance.
"Your Majesty, the Pharaoh, and your wise co-ruler, the Princess," the envoy's tone was filled with awe.
"The wisdom and kindness of your wife have spread beyond the desert and across the steppes of Anatolia. Our king wishes to forge an everlasting alliance with this Egypt."
Ding Wei took the heavy treaty document and looked at Ramses who was smiling beside her.
The two smiled at each other, and everything was said without words.
However, just as the Hittite envoys turned and left with a satisfactory reply, and the entire city of Thebes was immersed in the joy of victory and preparing for a grand celebratory banquet, no one knew that -
In the deepest part of the Temple of Thebes, in a crypt long forgotten by the world, a black stone tablet engraved with ancient mysterious runes is emitting an imperceptible vibration.
According to legend, it is the forbidden object "Eye of the Sun" that was sealed by Nefertiti, the greatest queen in Egyptian history, during her lifetime.
At this moment, a crack as thin as a hair was spreading quietly and silently on the smooth surface of the stone tablet.
It was as if a storm that had been dormant for a thousand years was slowly awakening in the shadow of the collapse of faith.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
