Winters in Solo City are cold.

Especially in late winter and early spring, it is the coldest time of the year.

The gale from the Gobi carried a layer of fine sand, hitting people like countless small knives blowing indiscriminately.

If you are blown outside the house overnight, even wearing two layers of leather clothes will turn into a sieve, let alone a single thin jacket, and every morning, it is normal to find a few people on the street with a strange smile on their faces.

It is possible that he drank too much rum and fell drunk halfway and froze to death.

There are also homeless homeless people.

There are also people who are fleeing the war to escape the war.

This year, there are a lot of people who freeze to death, and every day when the sky is bright, there are corpse collectors dragging two-wheeled carts and throwing these unknown corpses together and dragging them to the mass pit outside the city.

If you meet a better-hearted corpse collector, you may be able to get a few handfuls of dust to cover it, and if you are numb and cold, you can just throw it there in the open air, and you don't have to wait until the evening to become food in the stomachs of those wild wolves and wild dogs.

When Wendell went out to pour black flint slag, a corpse truck happened to pass by in front of his door, and when he saw several figures on it that had not yet fully grown, he couldn't help but curse: "What a sin!"

The great rebellion caused by the simultaneous defeat of a large number of lords and nobles has been quelled, but its after-effects are far from over.

There are still a large number of refugees still stranded in big cities like the capital of Sauron, not because they don't want to return to their homeland, but because although the big war is gone, the small war has never stopped.

Some lords and nobles who were not completely exterminated became thieves after exile, picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Duke Faerun's direct territory has suddenly nearly doubled, and his troops are stretched thin, and his situation is very embarrassing.

If you use too many troops, it is easy for the opponent to take advantage of the loopholes and lose the unstable city that has just been defeated.

If the army is too small, they will go out to deliver food to others, and they can only guard the castle and the city, and let them plague the people in those remote places.

The road is not peaceful, there are many bandits and robbers of all kinds, most of them are formed after the escape of the noble private soldiers, they have no place to beg for a living, they can only make a living by robbery.

In previous years, if such a thing happened, Wendell said that he had no need to lend a helping hand, although his ability was limited, but if he could die one less, he would die one less, and he would be worthy of the gift of the Lord of Truth to him.

But the impact of this year's war is too great, and his small business cannot be maintained, and the family's food and drink have become a problem, so how can he have the ability to help others.

Thankfully, before the winter, he found a new job, helping a big merchant dig black flint outside the city, and after a hard day's work, not only three pounds of coarse grain, but also five or six copper wages.

In such a difficult year, such wages can be called the price of conscience, even if digging black flint is hard work, every day is overtime, often twelve or thirteen hourglasses, Wendell is also at ease.

This is still a trust relationship, and there are countless people out there who want to get this job.

As for whether the black flint dug by the big merchant was transported to the Andes Mountains to trade with the Andes, Wendell should not be concerned, he only cared about whether the daily salary could be paid on time, and if there was a delay, the whole family would starve together.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing happened yesterday, the grain truck had an accident on the road, I heard that it was targeted by those damn thieves, but fortunately, the guards with the team were quite powerful, and the thieves did not succeed, only a small part of the food was lost, but the convoy's trip was delayed, and when I rushed back to the mine, it was already midnight, and the food could not be delivered on time.

Fortunately, the head of the mine also has a conscience, knowing that everyone expects to survive on a day's wages, and pays them with copper according to the market grain premium, and if they do this in peacetime, most people will be happy.

However, after a year of turmoil, the land was largely barren, and the Manyu military commander itself was not a major grain producer, and even in a good year, there was a considerable shortage of grain, and a large part of it needed to be transported thousands of miles from the plains of Asia Minor.

In this kind of abnormal year, the price of grain is rising steadily, and it is no exaggeration to describe it as rising one day at a time, and it is no exaggeration to say that today is a premium of 10 percent, and tomorrow it may not even be possible to buy 90 percent of today's grain.

The key is that there is no price, and the hearts of those lords and nobles who have the most food are black, and in order to loot more wealth, the food released every day is very limited.

They are very experienced in this, and they will not let their subjects starve to death, which will arouse a lot of resentment among the people, which will be detrimental to their rule, and they will not feed everyone, so that people will buy high-priced black food.

When Wendell came back yesterday against the cold wind, it was already dark, let alone cheap food, even if it was high-priced food, he couldn't buy it.

Fortunately, there is a virtuous housekeeper at home, when the days are good, there will always be a little food from the corner of the mouth to store, last night the whole family also had a full porridge, although the bottom is clear, there are only a handful of grains in it, can only temporarily deceive the stomach, but it is better than drinking a stomach of water, shaking when it is stronger.

But the stomach is not so easy to deceive, especially after a day of high-load work, before the chicken crows, the gurgling stomach wakes him up, tossing and turning for half a night until dawn, before going out, and then he encounters this bad thing in front of him, which makes his already bad mood even heavier.

The rich aroma of the rice made him a little unable to move, and he didn't need to ask to know that the smell came from the house of a strange neighbor who had just moved in less than three weeks.

The reason why the other party is given the word weird is because the other party's style of acting is completely beyond Wendell's understanding.

In summary, the other party and him are peers and do business, but the other party's business is unheard of, such as the name of the other party's shop - medical clinic.

He knows all three words and knows the meaning of each word, but when they are connected, he is a little confused.

After observing it for nearly a week, I realized that feelings are a place for healing, but isn't that the business of church priests and monks of monasteries?

What's even more inexplicable is that the other party actually opened a restaurant next to the medical center, and the reason why it is called a restaurant instead of a tavern is because the other party mainly sells all kinds of food, supplemented by alcohol, which is completely upside down from the tavern.

However, this is also robbing the tavern business in disguise, and recently there are always some indiscriminate people hanging around, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, which is provoked by the other party.

However, there are only a handful of people who really dare to come to the door, after all, when this kind of grain is used as a saught-after commodity, it can still do related business, if there is no deep background, no one will believe it, and the source of food is a big problem.

It is commendable that the things made by this restaurant are really good, whenever they start to start the fire, the whole street is filled with a strong smell of food, which makes people appetizing, every guest who comes out of it is full of praise, and the price is relatively fair, just go with the grain market.

Wendell hesitated at the door of the restaurant, gritted his teeth, or pushed the door in, he still had to rush to work, and he couldn't wait for his family to buy food back, but he was now engaged in high-intensity physical work, although because he could read and write a little, the mine would give him a little preferential treatment, but it was relatively limited.

If you go to work hungry and don't stick to the dark, it's bad, no food and wages, which means that you have to be hungry tomorrow, and then go back empty-handed, this vicious circle, he still understands, today is a harvest festival, spend a few more coppers and admit it.

The area of the restaurant is larger than Wendell imagined, and the two or three houses around it have been opened, with five log tables and thick log benches on both sides, so it is not a problem to squeeze in 100 people.

It may be that the location is favorable, he is a relatively early guest, there are only three or five people in the restaurant of Nuoda, but it does not look like a guest, but the waiter in the restaurant, who is eating fragrantly, seeing that a guest comes to the door, they have stood up.

Seeing the appearance of the person closest to him, Wendell turned his head and wanted to leave, because it was an acquaintance, a very familiar person, a young waiter Eller who had worked in his small shop for two years.

The meeting on this occasion made him feel very embarrassed, because the store was not running well, and before closing, he fired the other party, and he always felt that he owed the other party something.

"Boss, Mr. Wendell, you're here, inside, inside, please. ”

The young waiter, Eller, also recognized Wendell and hurried up to meet him, smiling brightly.

"It's really a coincidence, I heard that you live nearby, I have always wanted to take the time to visit you, and I am afraid that it will be too abrupt, I didn't expect to meet, the first time I came, right? ”

The young waiter was as enthusiastic as Wendell remembered, the other party was born to do this piece of material, if it weren't for the fact that his own shop couldn't support it, and he was reluctant to fire him at the beginning, everyone recognized it, and if he left again, it would be even more embarrassing.

Wendell sat down nearby, and said with a slightly stiff smile, "Thank you very much, just a bowl of noodles you said, I'm still in a hurry, it's better to hurry." ”

"Okay, you'll be there later. ”

The young waiter, Eller, was very numb in his hands and feet, and before Wendell sat down, he had wiped down the spotless log table and log stool with the sack cloth on his shoulder, and at the same time greeted him.

"A big bowl of noodles, more noodles and less soup, enough oil and water, this is my former boss, my own family, I can't afford to lose. ”

The young waiter Eller quickly ran to the corner where they had been eating, brought a small plate over, and said in a low voice: "Sir, this is the pickle soup that has just been made, this boss is in charge of it for free, and it hasn't moved yet, if you don't dislike it, let's drink some mats first, I know the taste of starvation, this time of the day is the most difficult." ”

"I can't help this, I can't help it, what are you eating?" Wendell said repeatedly.

"Sir, this is not an outsider, what are we doing here? Restaurant, I run to the back kitchen all day and night, the relationship is familiar, I can always pick out a bite of my food, you see, I have just been here for a week, and the whole person has gained weight. ”

The young waiter, Elle, gestured at his thin arm.

"My current boss is as amiable as Mr. Wendell, he doesn't care about our own people's stuttering, taste it, the salty soup tastes good, I go to the back and watch, I can't let those cunning fellows cut corners and steal a few bites. ”

"Thank you. Wendell felt warm on his body, and he wondered if it was because of the black flint fireplace burning in the restaurant.

......

The currency of the Byron Empire was on the silver standard, although there were also gold coins in circulation, but the value was larger, most of them existed in large quantities of trade between nobles, and ordinary people did not necessarily have the opportunity to deal with gold coins throughout their lives, they were more commonly used silver coins and copper coins, because the appearance of copper coins resembled a flat stone, also known as copper.

The exchange rate of copper coins and silver coins fluctuates between 100 to 1, and the ratio of silver coins to gold coins is 123 to 1, and the floating situation is directly related to the minting level and content of silver coins and gold coins.

Recognized and most popular on the continent, it is not the royal gold coin printed by the royal family of Lancelot, the actual ruler of the Byron League, but the twin gold coins from the Harrison family of the North Island of the Twin Islands, who have the best purification and printing technology in the whole continent, and the gold twin coins are also known as the gold witches.

Not only are silver and gold coins superior and inferior, but even copper coins are also different, and there are exchange differences between copper coins produced by different military leaders, such as the Manyu copper coins produced by the Manyu military leader are less technical, have more impurities, are easy to break, and are not popular in other territories, and have a relatively low value.

It is normal for 1,000 Manyu Copper Coins to be used as 900 or even 800 local copper coins in other territories, but this kind of trouble is only available to those merchants, and ordinary people have long been accustomed to the purchasing power of copper coins in their own territories, and it is difficult to appreciate the difference.