Chapter Ninety-Three: King's Landing I
Three days passed in a flash, and as King's Landing's tall and majestic walls appeared on the horizon, Bill, the merchant in the carriage, breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the continent of Westeros is still relatively peaceful at the moment, armed gangs such as bandits, robbers, and mercenaries have never been extinct, even if they are close to the transportation arteries of the capitals of the seven kingdoms, they will occasionally encounter one or two waves.
Therefore, whenever he arrived safely at his destination, he would pray to the gods to thank them for their benevolent protection.
Looking at the appearance of the fat man's mouth, Zhang Cheng smiled disapprovingly, and silently admired this huge city that clearly had the style of the Middle Ages and Renaissance on the earth.
According to the novels and TV series, King's Landing is supposed to be a city larger than medieval Paris, but smaller than Constantinople or the ancient city of Rome, with a permanent population of about half a million.
Without the support of modern traffic and transportation systems, this is almost the limit of what a densely populated city can accommodate, and any further increase would lead to incredible administrative, security, and food supply difficulties.
In fact, the rulers of King's Landing never really cared about the lives of the city's inhabitants, especially the large number of beggars and poor people living in flea nests, and even starving to death on the streets would not attract the attention of any of the big people.
Feeling the huge class contradictions vaguely revealed in the city, Zhang Cheng touched his chin and muttered in a tone that was not very uncertain: "Maybe I can channel the hatred a little, and then take this opportunity to create an unprecedented chaos for my own benefit......"
"What are you muttering, sir?" asked Bill, turning around at some point, with a curious expression.
After just three days of getting along, he had been impressed by Zhang Cheng's conversation and knowledge, and firmly believed that the other party was 100% a noble child who was traveling abroad, or a young bachelor from the school city.
Except that the body may be suffering from a horrible illness (in fact, it is a demonic addiction), everything else is so enviable.
"No, nothing, I'm just thinking about what I should do next. Zhang Cheng maintained his sense of mystery as always.
He knows very well that when he joins the game of thrones as a player, whether it is the famous careerist "Littlefinger" Petyr Berish, or the "Octopus Spider" Varys, who acts in secret, they will follow the clues step by step, and it is only a matter of time before the merchant reveals the location of his first appearance.
This means that the less a businessman knows, the easier it is for him to hide himself.
"Hahahaha! As a man, how can you not go to Silk Street when you come to King's Landing. Bill laughed and gave advice.
"Silk Street?" Zhang Cheng repeated in a low voice.
The confusion in his eyes showed that he didn't understand anything about a place where cloth was sold.
The fat man licked his lips and explained with a lewd face: "Silk Street is not a place to sell silk, but a place where beautiful women do business, and they only need to pay a few silver deer, and they can serve you comfortably." For a man who has been on a long journey, there is nothing more relaxing than this. ”
After hearing this, Zhang Cheng finally understood that Silk Street was actually a red-light district, a place specializing in meat and skin business, and hurriedly refused with a smile: "Hehe, thank you for your kindness, but forget it." I'm going to find a place to exchange some money first, I don't know if you have any recommendations?"
"For money, for what?" said Bill, visibly hesitating.
"Of course it's gold!" Zhang Cheng took out a small gold nugget with a golden luster from his travel bag without thinking.
Bill hurriedly took it and examined it carefully, and even took a bite of it, and after confirming that it was indeed very pure gold, he immediately exclaimed excitedly: "Oh my God, how much gold do you have?"
Zhang Cheng shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It's not much, about thirty yuan, can you give me an approximate estimate?"
While saying this, he was interested in observing the fat man's reaction, and if he showed a little greed or ill intentions, he would quietly end the other man's life before he approached the city gate.
In fact, the nuggets were brought back from Azeroth last time, and they didn't have time to deal with them until the team that provided Salas information asked for gold to pay for them.
And the point on hand is all left after the payment, but I didn't expect it to come in handy now.
"Three...... Three...... Thirty bucks?!" Bill's voice visibly trembled slightly.
After all, according to the price situation in Westeros, one golden dragon is equivalent to thirty silver moons and two hundred and ten silver deer, even in King's Landing, where the price is relatively high, one silver deer is enough to eat a table of good wine and food in the inn, and recover a large handful of copper plates, and a good set of armor is only about four golden dragons.
Ordinary people work hard for a year, and they may not be able to earn a golden dragon.
Thirty small gold bricks, each worth at least fifty to sixty golden dragons, thirty is fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred golden dragons!
The people who can come up with so much money casually are either from a prominent noble family, or from a wealthy merchant on the other side of the sea.
All of a sudden, the fat man's eyes changed, and his mind kept flashing one family name after another, trying to find physiognomy characteristics that could be associated with the young man in front of him.
But unfortunately, he couldn't find any of them in the end, so he could only resist his imminent greed and return the gold nuggets with a wry smile: "I'm sorry, sir, you have too much gold to eat with my financial resources." If you don't mind, I can show you a place. ”
It's not that Bill doesn't want to kill Zhang Cheng to seize the gold, but he understands that since the other party dares to show his financial strength, he must have a reliance to protect his property, and if he does it rashly, he is afraid that he will be killed immediately.
"Oh, where?" Zhang Cheng asked with interest.
"As far as I know, there is a brothel on Silk Street that secretly deals in the business of exchanging gold, and not only does it pay a fair price, but it never kills a customer because he carries too much gold. If you need it, I can take you around when I finish delivering. As he spoke, Bill's face was unabashedly antique.
"No problem, I've always had a good patience, not to mention the sights of King's Landing. Zhang Cheng spread his hands indifferently.
"Then sit tight. ”
The words just fell!
The fat man raised his whip sharply and slapped the horse's buttocks, and the aching horse quickly quickened its pace, and in the twinkling of an eye passed through the city gate and into the tumultuous streets......