Like most cities in Kyushu Province, road idiots won't get lost when they come to Linfeng City.

Probably because the earliest planners suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Linfeng City was square, and the city wall was facing the four directions of east, west, north and south, with four gates of heaven, earth, mountain, and sea, and inside the gate was the urn city.

The city is divided into four districts with different functions in the north-south direction: the north-south Apusu Avenue as the longitudinal axis, and the east-west Hetiamat Avenue as the horizontal axis, which divides the city into four districts with different functions: the northeast is the religious district, with many churches and monasteries, the northwest is the school district, where the Wisdom Palace, the Qiluo Temple, the Imperial Medical Office, the Machinery Technology Institute, and the Tongkao Hall are all here, the southwest is the residential area, and the southeast is the business area. Each district also has a straight road running north-south and east-west, which also makes the city map look like a big chessboard.

Apusu Avenue and Tiamat Avenue are both 30 miles long, and the main road is 50 zhang wide, paved with bluestone slabs three feet long and one foot wide. The stone path on both sides is also three zhang wide and paved with cobblestones. The intersection of the two axes forms the Zhongdao Ring Road, which is just around the Changming Tower, and pedestrians need to pass through the overpass to climb the tower.

Except for the two axes, there is no separation of people and vehicles on the other roads, and the road surface is paved with small pieces of green bricks, which are undulating and slightly uneven.

Shen Zui walked on the road and noticed that there were a row of culverts on both sides of the road, no matter how big or small, and the iron fence was covered with them. Although it also emits a foul smell, the aesthetics are much better than those in the Daxi City.

There were still a few days left on the day of leaving school, and the two were not in a hurry to register for new students, so they went to the business district to find a good restaurant and had a meal. Then I bought some daily necessities at a nearby store, and finally went to the residential area to find a place to live.

The room that originally belonged to Brandon was on the top floor of a small five-story building, and they walked up the arc staircase to the fifth floor, where they saw only one entrance door.

Shen Zui said happily: "Wouldn't it be a bit luxurious to live alone on the first floor." ”

Brandon pretended not to hear, took out the key and opened the door, and Shen Drunk took a step forward and walked into the room.

Facing the entrance door is a large floor-to-ceiling window, the living room is at least ten zhang wide, five zhang deep, and the two sides are bookcase walls, full of books. To the left of the door is the bedroom, with a large bed in the center. On the right-hand side is the bathroom, which has a toilet that leads directly to the sewage drain and can be flushed with water.

Shen Zui looked around, and was very satisfied, so he patted Brandon on the shoulder and said, "Let's go, go to your place and have a look." ”

Because of poverty, before Shen Zui left, he casually found a merchant in the newspaper who provided dormitories for students, and booked a bedroom for four people through them. Because the whole building is not connected to the water pipe, it is very inconvenient to go to the public toilet on the street.

Brandon naturally can't live in this kind of place, but if he writes to his father now and asks for a room fee, it will be too long, and second, with his father's temper, he may not be able to give it. Therefore, he had to save money, and took out a part of the monthly living expenses and rented a single room nearby, which was not big, but had a separate toilet, which was barely acceptable.

When the sun was sinking, Shen was drunk and bored, so he wandered alone and came to the Palace of Wisdom.

Wisdom Palace, located in the north of Xuefu District, was built in 208 of the new calendar, with a history of nearly 150 years. Originally used to preserve the private collection of the Kyushu Imperial Family, most of the books and archives were moved to Kyoto due to the relocation of the capital to the north, and it was left vacant for several years.

In the year 273 of the new calendar, Wei Lun, the former imperial teacher who was also the governor of Linfeng City and the director of the Institute of Mechanical Technology, wrote to the emperor to request that the Wisdom Palace be donated to various schools for the collection of books. The emperor granted permission, but demanded that the Palace of Wisdom must be open to the public, and that all "studious and inquisitive people" should be able to enter it free of charge.

Different from the traditional buildings of Kyushu, the Wisdom Palace is more like a huge covered courtyard. The whole main building is circular, divided into two floors, the first floor is a corridor supported by 72 thick and high circular stone columns, and there is an arc staircase leading to the second floor at intervals;

Located in the center of the Wisdom Palace, the large atrium is the largest covered plaza in Kyushu, and the top of the plaza is made up of more than 6,000 triangular pieces of glass. In the center of the square is the Ancient Heritage Museum, a three-storey cylindrical building that was completed and opened in 291 A.D., exhibiting the remains of human beings before the "Great Tribulation".

Rather than skeletons and steles, Shen Zui is more interested in books. He went directly to the second floor, the kerosene lamp had been lit, and there were still many people reading books, most of them students from several years of high school, some of them were actively preparing for the scientific examination in the beginning of autumn next year, and some were looking for direction for the articles to be published.

Shen Zui didn't have these pressures, so he went through each row of books along the classification of the shelves, and when he saw the title of the book he was interested in, he took it out and flipped through a few pages. In this way, time flies, and when he feels a little tired, he realizes that most of the people around him are missing, and when he asks, he realizes that the rooster bell has been struck.

Because he had not yet registered as a student, and the documents on his body had not been filed with the household registration officer, Shen Zui was afraid that if he went back later, he would encounter trouble with the official who patrolled the night, so he hurriedly rushed to his residence. Luck was good, there were sparsely populated along the way, and the only ones I met were two husbands. Because it was too quiet, when passing by the house of the dog in the yard, a few dog barks suddenly sounded, which scared Shen drunk.

There are still two intersections, and when he arrives at home, Shen Zui was just about to speed up his pace, when there was a noise from the depths of the alley in front of him, and in order to avoid trouble, he decided to make a detour.

Suddenly, a deep voice roared: "Don't expect anyone to come to save you, the officials who patrol the night, we have taken care of it, they will not come here." The boss said that he wanted a finger from you, but he didn't say which one. If you don't move honestly, I'll cut off my little thumb, and if you flutter blindly, I'll cut my thumb. ”

For some reason, Shen Zui couldn't help but stop when he heard this.

Another coughed and said, "No matter which one you cut, it's unsightly if you cut it." Why don't you get a new toe?"

The person who spoke was calm and funny, which made Shen Zui curious. So he tiptoed his head out and wanted to see what was going on.

I saw a thin man in gray half-lying in the corner, and in front of him were two men, one tall and one short. The short man holds a kitchen knife in his hand, and the tall man holds a wooden stick in his hand.

The short man patted his face with a kitchen knife, sneered and said, "You, if you're unlucky, you're unlucky to have a stinky mouth, left hand or right hand, choose quickly." ”

The man in gray grinned and said, "Let's try to think differently, your boss wants my finger, but it doesn't have to be my finger that you give him." There are quite a few unclaimed bodies in the morgue, and it doesn't cost much to buy a finger. What's more, I had planned to leave Windy City early tomorrow morning and never come back, so you boss can't verify if the finger you gave him is mine. ”

He studied their expressions and continued, "Of course you will take the risk, but for the sake of ten silver coins, I must think it will be worth it. ”

The short one asked, "Ten silver coins?"

The tall man on the side said: "Don't listen to his nonsense, he still owes the boss gambling debts, where did he get ten silver coins." ”

The man in gray nodded and said, "Naturally, I don't have the money to pay you, but I can teach you how to conjure up money, which usually costs a fee, ten silver coins." For the sake of our friendship, I won't take this money, so that not only will you earn ten silver coins, but you can also use my method to make a big profit. ”

The short one was curious, and asked, "What way?"

The tall man was a little anxious and said, "This guy is famous for his mouth, you don't want to think that he wants to know any way to make money, and he will end up with his fingers cut off." ”

The short one said: "What's the hurry, listen to what he says first, outrageous words, and then do it." ”

"That's right, when I'm done, if you're not interested, you can take any of my fingers. The man in gray patted the dust off his sleeves, and then said, "Do you know what is most important to the nobles of all countries, and even a thousand gold cannot be replaced?"

The short and tall looked at each other and pretended to be overthinking.

The man in gray didn't give them much time to think, and said in a deep voice: "It's identity, and identity can bring them privilege and wealth. Usually in their fiefdoms, they can prove their identity with the family coat of arms. But if you leave your own territory, this method is not easy to use, for example, when it comes to money transactions, how to prove your identity has become a problem. In order to solve this problem, the current common practice in various countries is to issue a noble file registration form issued by the household registration department, but this form is only valid in the country, for the nobles who need to stay abroad for a long time, they also need to take the table to the foreign affairs department to change a certificate, which indicates: name, birth, genealogy, emblem and private seal information. ”

The tall man waved the stick in his hand and said, "What nonsense is this, I can't tell what you say has to do with making money." ”

"That's the point. The man in gray hurriedly added, "It is inconvenient for the foreign affairs departments of various countries to transmit information. In particular, the Great Western Kingdom and the countries on the mainland are thousands of miles apart and separated by the sea, and the transmission of documents usually takes several months. Therefore, if the nobles of the Great Western Kingdom come to the mainland, they all arrive first and prove that they arrive later. ”

Seeing that the short man nodded thoughtfully, he swallowed his saliva and said, "Imagine how much they would be willing to spend to change a piece of paper if you could get their documents before them?"