Early the next morning, the overnight task force left the town and set out on the road to the city of Thorne.

Soon the group entered an abandoned monastery in the woods south of the city of Shorne, according to the shopkeeper who came to Sapbourg, this abandoned abbey was less than two miles from the castle, and there were originally a few monks who practiced here, but then a group of robbers ransacked the place and killed all the monks, and it was already remote and covered with blood, so for more than ten years no one cared about it except wild beasts. The monastery was overgrown with weeds, and the houses had either collapsed or broken walls, and most of the walls had collapsed.

Near the city of Saône, and isolated and undisturbed, Art had Ron set up a secret outpost at the monastery of Wài Wéi, which was used as a temporary camp for the task force and a rallying point outside the city.

After resting for a moment in the abandoned abbey, the soldiers of the task force who had entered the city changed into various clothes collected from Fort Sap and walked out of the woods towards several gates of the city of Thorne......

............

The city of Saône, the largest feudal city in the western part of the Count of Burgundy {distinct from the autonomous city}, has a circumference of two miles, an average height of fifty feet, a total of eight gates on land and water, a river of flowing water flows from the north of the city towards the city of Saône, and divides into three strands in the north city, and the two sides converge in the southwest corner of the city after half a circle along the outer city moat.

The other flows down the North Water Gate into the city of Saône, dividing the city into two parts of similar size, which are called the East and West districts.

On both sides of the river are the richest places in the whole city of Saône, where the tallest towers and the most splendid houses in the city are gathered, and most of the city nobles, church monks, city officials, wealthy merchants, etc. live on both sides of the river, so this line is also a place for the circulation of goods and valuables; The people who inhabit this area are called "recipients".

The houses that run on both sides of the river into the city gradually become low, and the streets become narrower and narrower, and these places are dominated by taverns, inns, blacksmiths, leather shops, bakeries, wineries, free markets, grain stores, and grocery shops, which account for the largest proportion of the city, and are also inhabited by those who can support themselves and do not pay taxes on the goods produced by the city; They are called "servants."

Further out, the stone wooden houses of red tiles and white bricks began to gradually decrease, and were replaced by grass huts made of miscellaneous wood, or simply shacks made of weeds, where the lowest people of the city lived, bankrupt citizens, urban hooligans, cheap hired laborers, miscellaneous servants in the rich districts, and a large number of homeless and beggars; They live on the "bread crumbs" that fall from the tables of the rich on both sides of the river, so these people are called "scavengers".

The city divides thousands of people into three classes by the distance of the river line, but there is one thing that the three areas of the third-class population cannot eliminate, and that is the accumulation of feces and urine all over the city.

Needless to say, the place where the untouchable "scavengers" lived, the original houses and straw huts were built haphazardly and in an orderly manner, so even though it was wide and only accessible to people, the streets were filled with toilet feces and urine dumped by residents on both sides at will;

It is true that the roads in the neighborhood of the "Servant" are wider and the houses are larger, but no madman has ever built a latrine in his house to store excrement, for the simple reason that there are no sewers under the block, and it is better to throw the excrement on the street than to pile it up in the house. If it is a rainy day, the thin mud mixed with feces and urine on the ground makes people have nowhere to put their feet;

Would the neighborhood where the "recipient" is located be better? Think too much. There are only two differences between the rich and the poor in treating feces, one is that the rich will try to ride a car or horse when they go out, and at the worst they have to wear a pair of special "high heels" to go out to prevent themselves from getting stuck in the dung and mud and not being able to pull it out; The second is to apply expensive perfume to the whole body, and use a pungent fragrance to mask the stench that will never linger in the air......

The people of Art walked through this stinking atmosphere. I saw that he was wearing a round-necked cotton robe, a rabbit skin felt hat, a cowhide belt around his waist, a pair of thin linen trousers in the skirt of the cotton robe, and deerskin boots on his feet, followed by an entourage wearing a sheepskin jacket.

The attendant waved his hand, trying to disperse the stench that came to his face, but obviously it had little effect, so he had to cover his mouth and nose, and said in a humming voice: "My lord, this city is too dirty and smelly, I am almost fainted, what do you say is good in this city?" These people had to eat, drink, and sleep in dung heaps like livestock. If you want me to say that our valley is better, although it is a little poorer, at least the air is always clean. ”

Art put the sachet of lavender in his hand under his nose and sniffed it, and said with a smile: "Dawson, you said call me master!"

"Yes, sir. This city stinks, worse than the pigsty in our village. ”

"It's the same in all big cities, just get used to it. I heard that Paris, the largest city in the northwest, has too much dung in the city, so in order not to block the road, people transport the dung to the outside of the city wall and pile it, and gradually the dung has formed a wall, and now the "dung wall" is almost as high as the city wall, if there is a foreign enemy attacking the city, just climb the dung heap......"

As he laughed and laughed with his entourage, he looked around to find a suitable house in Thorne to serve as a safe house for the task force, and if the matter was not out of the city in time or was not pursued, they would take refuge in the safe house.

The two of them wandered around the city for a long time but couldn't find a suitable place.

Eventually, the shopkeeper named Milleth, who had come with him from Sapp, found the two and said that he had found a dilapidated granary near the free market in the east of the city.

Art followed Milles to the East City and found the granary.

The granary was located in a narrow and secluded alleyway, a dilapidated two-story wooden structure, flanked by side walls of shops from the entrance to the storehouse, the alleyway was less than three feet wide, and at the innermost end of the alley was the main entrance of the storehouse, and a small back door opposite the main entrance led to another block.

Because this warehouse has been idle for too long, there is no one in the alley, so the nearby shops and residents all dump their feces and dirt at the alleyway, and over time the alley is clogged with feces and other materials.

Art lifted his trouser leg and stepped on the dung pile towards the alley, and after the snow melted, the snow water that invaded the dung pile soaked the dung heap, and when he stepped on it, his boots were deep in it and it was difficult to pull them out.

“tmD！” Art cursed in his heart, he really didn't like the feeling of being stuck in a dung heap.

After climbing over the dung heap, the road is much smoother, because there are no side windows on the side walls on both sides, so no feces falls from the sky.

Coming to the door of the storehouse, the wooden door was locked from the inside, Art climbed to the crack of the door and looked into the warehouse, because it was used as a grain warehouse, it was relatively closed, except for two doors and a few vents, there were no other windows or openings, the warehouse was very dark, Art looked at the warehouse by the light through the cracks around it.

The storeroom was empty, except for a long moldy table and a few low stools with missing legs, which still vaguely showed that it had once been frequented by people. There is a row of wooden ladders leading to the second floor on the right side of the main entrance of the warehouse, but because the roof leaks and the wooden ladder is covered with moss, it is estimated that no one dares to step on the wooden ladder to go up.

After observing the structure of the warehouse, Art took a few steps back and looked around the environment around the warehouse, where the houses were dense and messy, the people outside the alley were noisy, the alley was deep and secluded, and there was a back door to open to another street, which was indeed an ideal safe house.

"Milles, do you know who the owner of this storehouse is?" Art asked the shopkeeper who had come with him from Sapburg.

The handyman, whose name was Milles, replied respectfully: "Sir, the houses and shops in the city often change their names and owners, and for a hundred years few outsiders have found out who the owners of these houses are, but I have already inquired that the owner of this treasury used to run a grain store in the city, and later lost all his money due to his obsession with gambling, so this treasury was mortgaged to a pawn shop in the south of the city. ”

"Generally speaking, the landlord allows the pawn shop to sell the house for rent and collect rent to offset the loan, but for those who are no longer in the city, the garage shop and pawn shop often rent out secretly from the landlord to make money, but claim that no one is renting it, and then the landlord will have to repay the arrears in full. This is also a way for pawnshops to make money. ”

"This storeroom has been untended for a long time, and if you find a pawn shop, you will definitely be able to rent it secretly, and the pawn shop will definitely not let people know that this house has been rented out, which is more hidden than renting a warehouse managed by the owner."

Art didn't expect that in just half a day, Millers not only found a suitable place but also found so much useful information, and what was even more rare was that he also took into account the problem of concealment, "Millers, you have done an excellent job, and there will be a reward after the deed." ”

Millers replied humbly, "You should be more dedicated to doing things for your master." ”

"Okay, then let's go to the pawn shop." Art patted the dust off his hands and turned to walk towards the alley.

Under the guidance of Millers, the "Thorne", the three of them soon found the pawn shop under the Currency Guild in the South of Thorne.

Pawn is definitely a lucrative business, so this pawn shop in Thorne City lives at a three-way intersection in the heart of the downtown area, and the pawn shop is surrounded by taverns and inns, these places are not just eating, drinking and resting, almost all taverns and inns have gambling gamblers, and these red-eyed gamblers often take their valuables to the pawn shop and exchange them for silver coins to continue fighting.

At the door of the pawn shop stood two stout sword-wielding guards, and seeing that the three of them were unarmed, the guards let the three of them go without even looking at them.

At this time, it was early afternoon, and when I entered the shop, I saw a few pawn counters crowded with people who pawned or ransomed. A smiling shopkeeper walked up to Art and politely asked, "Do you need a pawn or a ransom?" ”

"Sir, I neither pawn nor ransom, I'm here to rent a house." Art whispered.

The hired person said politely: "Then please wait in the room, and I will go to the deputy steward immediately." ”

The hired led the Yates to the pawn shop and sat down in the side hall of the pawn shop, took the side hall door and left.

After a while, a middle-aged man who looked like a shop manager came to the side hall.

Seeing that Yate and the others were not familiar with each other, they were obviously foreign merchants, so he didn't have too many worries in his heart, took off his hat and bowed slightly to Yate, "This lord, where do you want to rent a house or shop?" Or maybe I'll pick it for you. ”

"The granary in the alley between the cloth shop and the leather shop in the free market in the east of the city, my lord, I want to transport a large amount of grain from the south to hoard in the city, and I need a warehouse." Art said.

The middle-aged man's eyes flew, searching for information about the warehouse in his mind, and suddenly his eyes lit up, obviously remembering the dilapidated warehouse, "Master, you really have an eye, that warehouse is very spacious, can store hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain, and also has a two-story pavilion that can not only stack valuable goods, but also live in people." This condition is really good, but the price is a little more expensive, annuity 3,000 fennig? But if you can find it, you must know the rules, and you will have to move out as soon as the owner returns. ”

The middle-aged man looked at Art with anticipation on his face after speaking.

Art didn't answer, he glanced sideways at Millers beside him, Millers understood, stepped forward and said: "Man, don't just pick and choose, we have been to see that warehouse, not to mention the rain leaking everywhere in disrepair, the roadway in and out is too narrow to pull the goods and carriages to enter, and we have to spend a lot of money to hire laborers to carry it." ”

"Besides, if this is really as good as you say, it would have been rented a long time ago, and the alley would not have been clogged with feces. So, let's give an annuity of 1,000 fennigs. ”

The middle-aged man's smiling face stiffened suddenly, "Man, this is not a bargain, this is already a beheading." ”

Milles has been in the city for many years, and he has a good understanding of these people's mentality, "You can still get a head after beheading, if we don't rent it, your treasury can only be used as a nest for rat wild dogs." ”

The middle-aged man's smile disappeared, it seems that this fat cat can't be slaughtered today, "Man, it seems that you are also an understanding person, I won't be verbose, the annuity is two thousand five thousand, and if it is less, we will have to lose our capital." ”

"I'll give you a thousand and a half, haven't you been losing money in that place? It's always lucky to be able to recover a few copper coins. ”

"Two thousand three, this is the lowest price offered by the owner of the warehouse, and we can't even earn a copper plate if we rent it to you."

"One thousand seven, I guess the guy who mortgaged this treasury to you ran away bare-assed, and the rent you collected won't fall into the owner's money bag."

The pawnshop manager was slightly surprised, it seemed that the other party had inquired about the situation of the warehouse, and was also familiar with the "secret rent" nèi mù in the pawnshop, "Two thousand two, it can't be lowered anymore, if you are willing to rent, I can collect rent on a quarterly basis." ”

"One thousand eight, we will send someone to repair the leaky place in the warehouse, and you can save a repair cost......"

The pawn shop steward and Millers went in and out, and step by step the rent of the treasury was reduced to 1,900 phines versus 2,100 pfenes.

Yat, who had been watching the excitement, finally made a decision, set the rent at 2,000 pfennig a year, and paid the rent of 700 pfennig on a quarterly basis.

While the pawnshop was hired to find the key to the treasury for Art, Art whispered to the steward to inquire about the general situation of the business in the city, the changes in the price of grain, the flow of goods in the city, etc., and the steward was in a good mood after completing a business, and patiently answered them one by one for Art.

Since the pawn shop is a "secret rent", there is no need to sign a rental contract or anything, and the group left the pawn shop after taking the key.

Art handed the key to Dawson, and ordered, "Tomorrow you take two well-mouthed men into the storeroom through the narrow passage of the back door, clean the storeroom a little, and then go to a farther place to buy more bread, bacon and beer for easy storage." Remember, keep your entry and exit hidden, and it's best not to attract the attention of outsiders. ”

"Yes, I see."

"Let's go back to the convent out of town and see if Ron is done."

............