At noon on the second day, when the alarm bell sounded in Sorrenburg, a caravan-like procession was already riding down the road twenty miles northwest of Sorrenburg.

"Sir, I have already counted nine gold coins, thirty-two large silver coins, seventy-three small silver coins, and some jewels, I estimate that they will be worth thirty or fifty thousand fennigs." Ron took the coins in his arms on the bumpy horse, took them out and put them on a rag to count.

"That's 48,000 dophines." Yate roughly converted these Lombard currencies into Burgundian currencies.

"A castle tax officer's annual salary is only more than a thousand pfennigs, this guy actually makes so much money? Not a good thing! Ron took a hard sip and wrapped the counted gold cake and silver coins into a rag and stuffed it into the cowhide pouch on the saddle.

"Master, we can't give birth to cubs if we bring this money back, or we can use it to buy spices, and the price of bringing back Burgundy will be several times great." Ron is now also business-minded and knows how to make money profitable.

Art turned his head and glanced at the bulging bag on Ron's saddle, "I will naturally leave the matter of selling southern goods to the trading house, and I will use this money for other purposes." ”

"Sir, are you buying armor? The armor made by the Lombards was so good that ordinary soldiers could wear plate armor; Or the bow and crossbow are also very good, the day before yesterday in the weapons shop in Ravati I saw a cross crossbow from Geana, the shopkeeper said that a distance of one hundred and fifty paces can shoot through double leather or cotton armor, the key is that the price is still very cheap, a Genana bow and crossbow is only eight hundred pfennigs, nearly half cheaper than the Burgundian one...... "Ron is already planning what weapons to buy.

Art interrupted Ron's meditation plan with a wave of his hand, "I do plan to buy some things for the Legion, but the money isn't for weapons. ”

"Don't buy weapons? So what else can you buy? Ron was puzzled.

"Buy the Book of War!"

"Buy a book??!! What do you buy books for? Not only Ron, but Matthew and several of the guards all looked puzzled.

"It's not an ordinary book, it's a military book!" Art deliberately emphasizes that it is a book on the art of war.

"I plan to buy a few sets of military books for the officer academy, and some things are no longer enough to rely on the words and deeds of the officers." Art affirmed a sentence and said no more, it was not easy to make these guys who were civilians not long ago understand their plans, so they simply didn't say more.

Ron's face was bad again, not only could the expected armor bow and crossbow not be purchased, but now it had become a book that he didn't want to touch at all.

On the fifteenth day of their journey south, Art and his party drove to a city in northern Lombardy called Noble, which was only two days away from the border of Provence (one day on horseback), as a frontier city, Noble was not famous for its fortified walls and ironclad blades, in fact there were few defenders in this place, because Noble was a city belonging to the church.

The circumference of the city of Noble was less than 2,000 feet, not much larger than the county town of Tignets, about 30 feet high, built of stones, with no deep ditches and moats under the city, no armoured garrisons on the city, and no guard towers or anything like arrowheads on the walls except for a few red crosses on a white background and a wooden cross symbolizing the church.

Of course, there were armed people in the city, but they were only armed with less than fifty people, and they were under the direct jurisdiction of the church in the city.

The whole city of Noble is almost full of religious atmosphere, there is a cathedral, two monasteries, a seminary and attached buildings in the city, these buildings belonging to the church have occupied almost half of the area within the city walls, and the rest is basically the bakery and various shops that maintain the operation of the city, and there are large areas of farmland and manors outside the city, which belong to the church, but the clergy cannot cultivate the land themselves, so these land estates are leased to those devout believers......

The Ates drove their horses closer to Noble on Sundays, the religious center of northern Lombardy, where many devout believers come to pray and worship each year, which is another pillar of the city.

As a young man, Art frequented Noble with the priests of the realm, and at the age of twelve he was sent to the seminary of Noble for a year of theological education, so he was familiar with the place.

Razor-bladed soldiers were not allowed in religious shrines, so Art stopped at a roadside inn outside the city, left behind his horses, weapons, and two guards, and walked into Noble with Ron and Matthew.

It was the middle of April, and it was already a little hot under the scorching sun, and the Yates were still the same caravans they had brought from the valley, and they couldn't help but pull their collars and let the cold wind pour in.

The schedule was tight, and Art didn't have time to go to the church, monastery, and worship one by one, so after entering the city, he turned right and took Ron and went straight to the seminary in Noble.

Noble Theological Seminary itself is not famous, it occupies only a small area in the east of Noble, and the seminary has less than 100 apprentices every year, but the library of Noble Theological Seminary is very prestigious, because the library affiliated with Noble Theological Seminary has a collection of nearly 1,000 ancient books, and it is also a place for the production of books itself.

Seminaries are open and therefore have no gates, but outsiders are not allowed to enter the schools that belong to seminaries, where theological faculty and apprentices are studying.

On the north side of the seminary, there is a single-storey church-like building, which is the library of the Noble seminary.

Walking to the door of the library, an old man who looked like a librarian stopped several people at the door, and after explaining his intention to buy books, Art paid three small Lombard silver coins to the old man, and the old man returned to the wooden table at the door and picked up three bookmarks, polished and smooth small wooden boards, handed them to the three people, and told them to take care of the books and compensate for the damage.

Those three small boards are actually bookmarks, but this thing is also a voucher for consulting books.

After paying the money and receiving the wooden plank, the three of them pushed open the tall giant door of the library, and in front of everyone was a wide and bright hall, the hall was roughly divided into three areas, and there were several clerical clerks at the entrance, they stood behind a row of wooden tables, and then there were a number of tall wooden shelves, and each row of wooden shelves was neatly placed with books and books, and the books on the wooden shelves in the middle should be ancient books, all of which were tied with a long chain, and a desk wooden bench was specially set up under the bookshelf, Those who wish to consult it should only sit on the spot under the wooden frame and study it as far as the chain allows, in order to prevent people with ulterior motives from stealing the precious and unusual ancient texts.

The wooden shelves for books and books occupy most of the space, but at the innermost end of the hall there is an area where more than two dozen writing tables are placed.

This kind of writing table is different from the official table, its main body is a diagonal wooden board and wooden base, on the top of the wooden board there is a protruding block, the block is used to hold books, under the board there is a protruding short board, here is used to place pen and ink, and under the short board there is a drawer, in which spare pen and ink or parchment paper is usually placed.

The purpose of these desks is obvious—to transcribe books.

As a seminary, in addition to theological teachings, writing is also an essential skill for apprentices, and this is where the apprentices learn to write, and in addition to this, these desks also have another important function - the production of books.

Yes, in this era, there was only one way to produce books, that was handwritten copying, and the library would specially hire those who could write and write well to work in the library, and their daily task was to copy those ancient classics into parchment books, and these books were either turned into classics on the wooden shelves of libraries everywhere, or sent to other churches, monasteries, seminaries, and of course, those nobles and wealthy merchants spent a lot of money to decorate the study and act as elegant people.

"Oh my God~ God, there are so many books in the world, it's just ~ that's it~" Ron's eyes were already bigger than a cowbell, and he stood at the door of the library in a daze, his mouth open and he didn't know how to describe the shock in his heart.

Ron was proud of having read books.

During the years when he entered the valley and became Ath's retinue, bodyguard, and even the officer of the guard, Arter forced him to learn a lot of scripts, first in common language, then in simple Latin, learning to read the words of the Bible, until he was able to reluctantly write in common and Latin; Ron had read several books and could spell thousands of words, which was remarkable.

However, when he stood in the library of Noble Theological Seminary, he felt like an idiot for the first time.

"My lord, these are all books?" Matthew's mouth was also open, he had studied words in the parish school of the valley, but the content of those studies was either the fragments of the Bible copied by Father Hamish on a wooden board, or the old account books and documents that the old butler Cooper had brought out, and the books and documents he had seen (including the birch bark produced in the valley) added up to a palm-thick book, and the books that were now taller than people were indeed shocking enough.

"I brought the two of you here today just to let you know how much you have learned, and you think you know how many words you have learned sporadically on weekdays, and now you know how much ink you have in your stomach, right?" Art ignored the surprise of the two personal guards and walked straight inside.

A young man who looked like a librarian immediately greeted him. The young man was seventeen or eighteen years old, half a cut shorter than Matthew, but he looked energetic and well-behaved.

"Sir, I'm Barrol, the librarian, can I help you?" The librarian had just heard the conversation between the Atrons, and he spoke in a fluent Burgundian accent.

Art glanced the young man up and down, and handed the bookmark to the young man, "Are you a Burgundian?" ”

"No, no, sir, I'm from Lombard." Barol took the plank and denied it repeatedly.

"Then you~"

Balor smiled, "I've been here as an administrator since I was twelve, and I've been in contact with a lot of guests, Lombardy, Provence, France, Florence, etc., etc., I always like to talk to guests, and I like to learn, so that's it~" The young man shrugged.

Art subconsciously turned his head and glanced at Ron and Matthew who were following closely behind him, and the look in his eyes was "Learn!" ”。

However, Ron and Matthew just pretended to be nothing, looking left and right at the bookshelves on both sides.

"I guess you're here to buy books on the art of war, right?" Once again, Barol surprises Yat.

"Can you guess that?"

Balor smiled, "It's obvious that both of your guards are brave warriors, and the power rings on your fingers and the sword cocoons on your palms indicate that you have been fighting all year round, so you are either a mercenary leader or a military nobleman, and a nobleman who leads troops in battle usually doesn't read those complicated poems and literary rhetorical works, and the most suitable for you is of course those books on the art of war." ”

Art looked at the young man a few times, "Your name is Balor?" I remember you. Well, I did want to come here to buy some books on the art of war, both ancient and modern, can you recommend some for me? ”

Balor's goal was accomplished, and he was able to sell quite a few books and earn a lot of commissions.

Barol turned around and took out a piece of parchment from behind the wooden table, on which a special catalogue of books was recorded—books recommended by merchants, recommended books by knights, recommended books by minor nobles, and recommended books by craftsmen...... Recommended books are all grouped by occupation and social status.

This parchment is clearly the brainchild of Balor's own wisdom.

He flipped through the parchment and searched through the dense symbols for a moment, "Ha, I found it." ”

"These books are for you."

"The first set is "A Brief Introduction to the Art of War". This is a military masterpiece of the imperial period. The book consists of five volumes. The first volume deals mainly with the recruitment and training of new recruits. The second volume deals with the formation of the Imperial Legion and its commanders, as well as the creation of such an organization and how to organize the Legion in battle. The third volume deals with strategic and tactical issues. The fourth volume deals with the advance and defense of the fortified areas. The fifth volume deals with the use of the navy. ”

The parchment in Barrol's hand was a simple outline of the book, which Art had also read, and the emphasis in the book was that the army should be skilled and well-trained, and only in this way could it win in battle; The second is to pay attention to the selection of soldiers. A soldier must not only have a strong physique, but also a brave and fearless spirit; The third is to emphasize military law and military discipline, and believe that military law and military discipline are one of the decisive factors for the army to win in war; Fourth, it is emphasized that army commanders must fully grasp the enemy's situation and military situation, be familiar with the enemy and the battlefield, formulate a correct and complete operational policy, and launch an offensive at an appropriate time. In addition, the book deals with the suddenness of war and the need to maintain reserves.

This is a set of books on the art of war that are very suitable for high-ranking officers to learn and master, so Art said directly, "How much is this book?" ”

"Honorable guest, there are two editions of this set of books, one is a beautifully illustrated hardcover edition, worth a set of five thousand eight hundred pfennigs, a total of three copies; The other was transcribed by a seminary apprentice, without illustrations, but the text was about the same, and much cheaper, only 2,200 pfennigs, two copies. ”

"Five thousand eight hundred pfennig??! Can it be cheaper? Matthew couldn't believe his ears when he heard the price.

Art glared back at Matthew, then turned his head again, "Hardcover illustrated edition, one set." What about the others? ”

"The second set is called "Examples of Strategy", and the whole book consists of four volumes, the first volume is about the examples of strategies used before the beginning of the war; The second volume deals with examples of strategies to subdue the enemy in war; The third volume deals with examples of sieges and strategies when they were lifted; The fourth volume talks about military morality. The book is a collection of classified examples of war history, which contains a wealth of ancient military philosophical ideas and ways of employing troops. ”

Art hadn't read the book, but Barol had apparently read it carefully, and he put down the parchment and introduced: "The book talks a lot about the ethics of war, such as not to bully the residents, because they are the source of food and clothing for the soldiers; A soldier is not a robber, and the power of charity over the enemy is no less than that of a weapon; War is not against the inhabitants, but against an armed enemy; Attack wherever the enemy is strong; If the enemy surrenders, he will be spared, and so on. ”

"I transcribed this set of books when I was an apprentice, there are two copies, and my handwriting was not pretty at that time, so the price was much cheaper, two thousand five hundred pfennigs."

"Bought it!" Art didn't hesitate.

Of course, Barol was extremely happy, the man in front of him was the most atmospheric military aristocrat he had ever seen.

"Anything else?" Art noticed that the young man in front of him had a lot of things in his stomach, so he simply asked more.

"There are only these two sets of ancient art of war books, and the others can be shown to those little knights who have never been on the battlefield, but if you give it to you, I'm afraid you won't be fooled. But last year I transcribed a set of books called "Mercenary Handbook" for an old man, that old man served as the chief clerk of the flourishing Sword of Dawn mercenary group, he wrote a set of books based on his mercenary experience in those years, I once transcribed one, if you are interested, you can buy it back and take a look, the content is not much, just a book, the price is also very fair, eight hundred pfenny. ”

"Mercenary manual? I'm sorry you can take it out and I'll take a look......"