To Four Thousand Years Later

By the time Benaiah and Zadok finished handling all the work and returned to Jerusalem and Solomon, the moon was almost in the sky.

There was no one left in the corridor, only two rows of torches were quietly burning, making a crackling sound. The footsteps sounded far away on the stone slab.

The quiet atmosphere could not help but slow down their footsteps, and even the sound of breathing slowed down. The closer to the end of the corridor, the brighter the firelight in the inner hall.

When they turned around the corridor and entered the brightly lit inner hall in an instant, the inner hall that they had visited dozens of times made them feel surprisingly sacred.

Solomon, who was sitting on the seat, just lowered his head and wrote something calmly. It's as if he didn't notice them coming.

Abishag, the new clerk standing beside Solomon, just nodded at them as a greeting, without making any sound.

Benaiah and Zadok knelt down on the ground with great interest, waiting for Solomon who was working to look up, without disturbing his thoughts.

They didn't have to wait long, though. In less than twenty seconds, Solomon raised his head and looked at the two of them with a smile: "You guys are here... It's been hard work."

"I'm very sorry, my king..."

Sadhu lowered his body and confessed in a low voice: "You wasted your time. It's just that no one wants to touch the corpses of the five priests and their wives and children. They just say that they are unclean... People hate them. No one collected the bodies for them."

"I thought that letting the corpses of the priests be exposed outside the city of Jerusalem might not have a good impact on passers-by who don't know why... I took them down on my own initiative."

Priest Zadok said in a low voice, "I...repent to you."

"You're doing well, Sadhu."

Solomon smiled gently: "Your decision is correct. I can't personally take care of everything, and I may make mistakes in specific situations. Do this in the future, Abishag, please remember—— After hanging, it is up to the executing priest to decide how long the body is to be lowered."

"yes."

Baimon's cold voice sounded, he fiddled with a pile of documents in front of him, opened a page and wrote down Solomon's words smoothly.

But hearing Solomon's words, Zadok was a little uneasy. Although Solomon was so gentle and open-minded, he was a little flustered.

"but-"

At this moment, Solomon spoke again: "Although your judgment is correct, it is wrong to deal with it without asking me. How can you be wiser than me?"

Hearing this, Sadhu's body trembled.

Benaya on the side also warned, "My king..."

"Appropriate punishment is necessary."

Solomon interrupted Benaiah's words: "I will punish you...not to eat meat for seven days. You should repent sincerely in your heart, because you have not worshiped me as your God in your heart."

"Yes, my king... I shall accept it."

Sadhu prostrated himself on the ground devoutly, and bowed down to Solomon: "Your decision-making is always so wise and kind."

Regarding the fact that he knew Solomon was "God" but Benaiah didn't, Zadok felt a wonderful sense of superiority.

But just when Sadhu had this thought in his mind, he looked up and saw Solomon looking at himself calmly and deeply.

Sadhu was startled.

He has a feeling that Solomon has seen all his thoughts

In fact, what he thought was not wrong. Solomon really saw what he was thinking.

In other words, the reason why Solomon handled this matter in this way was to emphasize his authority and kindness to Benaiah on the one hand, and to tame the priesthood on the other hand.

This sense of superiority in Zadok’s heart would give him a secret and unspeakable reward when he bowed down to Solomon and performed pious deeds. Then those priests who followed Sadok would infect the actions from Sadok because of their imitation behavior, and they would get the second type of moving in actions again and again—moving from the sense of ritual.

The priestly group, as a group that does not do manual labor, does not perform other repetitive tasks. Therefore, the sense of concentration of self-suggestion obtained in the sense of ritual will be attributed by them to the reward of piety.

Repeating this way, Solomon's status will be continuously strengthened and even deified—they are tantamount to worshiping Solomon in the mortal world, just like worshiping gods.

"I asked you to come here to show you the new policy."

Solomon signaled Baimon to distribute the plan he wrote to Zadok and Benaiah, and at the same time said solemnly: "If the plan succeeds, Israel will even replace Egypt."

"I hope you still remember Noam, the man who sold the salted fish. He told me that it took him less than a day to make a cart of salted fish, but it took him to bring the cart back and forth to Jerusalem to sell the salted fish. It takes three or four days... and it takes two or three days to sell salted fish, and sometimes close to a week is wasted. Do you know what this means?"

Solomon paused, and said: "It means that their time is lost on the road. Transportation requires time and energy, and this time and energy should have been more products."

"Let me give you an example, Zadok. You go to Tire to buy timber. What if there is no river between our two countries?"

Solomon asked.

Zadok pondered for a while and replied: "The king of Tire will not agree to let their workers transport timber to Israel... and if they use donkeys, it will be too slow, and the donkey will be injured, and the hard labor will need to transport the timber to Israel. Tire can only be taken away by splitting. If you use a car, it is easy to be robbed, and you need the guard of the army..."

"In short, more money will be spent and more time will be wasted."

Binaya on the side briefly summarized.

Solomon nodded. "Exactly. Think about it. If someone was willing to pay half the price for the material from where the material came from, they could make three times the money in the time saved — guess they'd agree?"

"If you make it clear to them, you probably will."

Sadhu thought for a while and said, "However, you must explain it clearly to them. After all, many people don't know how to count, and they only know that they have sold less than half of the money. In addition, if you transport too many things at one time, you will be easily robbed... "

"That's why I called you guys."

Solomon concluded: "Open the scroll that I have written for you."

"I plan to recruit another group of priests and old secretaries to form Wangli merchants, transform the elevated chariots into low-mounted trucks, and do business alone, selling things from the west to the east and selling things from the east to the east at half price. To the west, sell the surplus to the needy. And they will take a group of old troops—those who are not the Firstborn Sons soldiers to walk all over the country. No one will believe that the priests will cheat their money, and no one will dare to rob the priests and Army car."

Solomon said solemnly: "Of course, buying and selling are all voluntary. Zadok, you must not force collection, but first sell to a few wise people with promises and authority. Wait until those stupid people who don't believe in you see that the wise people earn money and eat it." meat, they will naturally know who is right. Buyers and sellers must keep accounts, and only 20% of the price difference is left—20% is enough for these priests to become the wealthiest people in Israel."

"Yes, my king."

Sadhu replied respectfully.

He probably realized what a rich country this would make Israel... and was excited about it.

"And Benaiah—you must make the soldiers not to tamper with the goods, because these goods are transported all over Israel under the sight of God, and they are to keep the brothers and sisters in distant places warm and fed. If they steal or rob, They killed their lives, so they should be dealt with as homicide.”

"Yes, my king."

Benaya also bowed his head and replied.

"Of the 80% tax paid, 40% goes to the national treasury, and 20% is used to pay the salaries of these guards. The remaining 20%..."

When Solomon said this, he paused slightly: "You two, each half. I will receive it here once every six months."

"...Yes, my king!"

Zadok and Benaiah were startled, then overjoyed, and responded loudly.