Not far from the south side of the church, which had been blown down by a naval gun, there was a row of very unique shops, with a very oriental wooden decoration on the outside, not only with signs but also with banners, on which were the names of the shops written in Latin, A\La\Bo, and Chinese.

Compared with other shops, this row of shops is obviously different, not only in terms of decoration style, but also in terms of atmosphere. Basically, there are not many people coming and going, and most of the customers are women, and even if there are men, they are all aristocrats dressed like flowers and butterflies. Hong Tao was dressed in a naval uniform, his face was hideous, and he was followed by a large group of heavily armed slave soldiers, looking very out of place here.

After a slight look at the environment outside the store, Hong Tao didn't stay on the street for long, and directly pushed open the middle door and stepped in. The store is quite large, there is no counter, except for a row of hangers, it is more like a living room for salon parties. Several European ladies in long skirts are sitting on Chinese Taishi chairs, drinking tea in Chinese porcelain bowls, looking awkward. Hong Tao looked at them awkwardly, and they were not very comfortable when they saw Hong Tao, so they all stopped talking, and looked at this uninvited guest carefully, and the room was instantly silent.

"Sir...... Is it to buy clothes? Probably hearing the doorbell ringing, a young woman with black hair quickly walked out of the room inside.

Although she was also wearing a wide skirt and half of her breasts were exposed, it was immediately clear that she was not an aristocrat, but should be a clerk here. After seeing Hong Tao, her originally smiling face immediately froze, obviously startling Hong Tao's face. However, she disguised it well, and soon got a new smile on her face, albeit a little reluctantly, but it was also a smile after all.

"I'm looking for your Miss Jiang. If you can, please use Chinese, she should have taught you, right? Hong Tao slowly paced in front of the hanger with his hands behind his back, without looking at the ladies at all.

"The master is out, you are a friend of the master's hometown, right?" The young woman behind her heard Hong Tao's words. The expression on his face immediately relaxed, and he also spoke Chinese, and his pronunciation was quite accurate.

"Oh God...... Are you ...... Your Majesty the Emperor! Before Hong Tao could praise this black-haired woman's good Chinese, another blonde girl with freckles came out of the back room. After just glancing at Hong Tao, she exclaimed, the first half was in Latin, and the second half was directly changed to Chinese, and she actually knew Hong Tao.

"You know me?" Hong Tao was also a little dizzy, this was his first time in the city. Why is it exposed?

"I have been to your big boat with my master, and just the year before last, I was ...... on a small boat" The blonde girl took a few steps, lifted her skirt and knelt on one knee on the carpet, grabbed Hong Tao's hand and kissed it on the mouth, and then this hand was taken by the black-haired woman just now.

"When will Miss Jiang come back?" Hong Tao really wanted to wash his hands, because the back of his hand was full of lipstick marks, and this thing contained lead. Or his own masterpiece.

"Will definitely be back before lunch, Your Majesty will go...... Or don't go to the master's bedroom...... "Blonde girls have more guts than brunette girls." Although he didn't dare to look at Hong Tao's hideous face, he didn't lose his coherence when he spoke, and he actually took into account that Hong Tao's identity was not suitable for casual interaction with those noble ladies in the living room.

"No need, you guys are busy, I'll wait at the door." Hong Tao didn't want to cause too many scandals to Jiang Zhuyi. It's not easy for her to mess around alone in a foreign land, so she pats her ass and leaves. A lot of things are in trouble with her.

Regardless of whether the two girls agreed or not, Hong Tao turned around and went out and began to wander around the shops. After looking at a few stores, I didn't find anything new, so I simply stood at the door of Jiang Zhuyi's store, basking in the sun with a cigar in my mouth. By the way, let the Italians of later generations admire the demeanor of Emperor Hong, anyway, there is no one who passes by here who does not rush here to look.

"Gee, how come I can't get anywhere...... Get your weapons ready! Before a cigarette had been smoked, there was a sudden noise from the side of the church, and soon a group of people were coming towards it, some with weapons in their hands. Hong Tao immediately stopped standing on the side of the street as a model, and swooped behind the slave soldiers, his little eyes stomping around for a way out.

The group of people quickly walked to the door of Jiang Zhuyi's shop, and it was a few knights and their servants who were holding weapons. They drove dozens of people in white cloaks in the middle of the road and walked along the stone road towards the city gate, followed by many ordinary people, some of whom picked up stones and threw them at the cloaked men.

"See, this is religious persecution...... Hong Tao didn't come at him, he immediately came back to life, opened his mouth and began to comment. Even if these slave soldiers did not have a good level of Chinese, he had to show his knowledge.

"Daddy...... Father...... Please let him go, he's not leprosy, let our family go......" Before the slave soldiers could praise Hong Tao's explanation, two people in the crowd suddenly fell to the ground, and then two short figures pounced, hugged the two people on the ground and began to cry. After such a toss, their cloaks slipped from their heads, and they were two children of about ten years old, a boy and a girl, with small faces and white faces.

Leprosy! Hearing this word, Hong Tao finally understood what these people were doing. They were knights of the Church, driving the city's lepers into quarantine and leaving them to fend for themselves, the only option available to medieval Europeans against leprosy. They don't know that this disease is not very contagious, as long as they take proper protection and do not have physical contact, they will not be transmitted to others, and it is even safer than tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases.

It may be that the symptoms of leprosy are a little scary, and there are usually ulcers, nodules, and tumors on the face, hands and feet, which look like monsters. In the Middle Ages, people did not understand the cause of leprosy, so they naturally associated this disease with gods and demons, and regarded leprosy patients as sinners who had offended the gods and were condemned, and the whole society discriminated against them very much.

It is common practice to distinguish lepers from healthy people by clothing, such as wearing such a hooded gown and tying a white ribbon around the hat. In some places, brass bells are worn on the body to remind others that I am leprosy, and I am coming, so please stay away from me, and do not be infected by me. In more severe areas, lepers are placed in a fixed area, either on a desert island or in a deserted place, where they are only allowed to come out at a fixed time to buy groceries and wait for them to fend for themselves.

This phenomenon is not only in Europe, but also in Asian countries, and the same is true of the Great Song Dynasty. As early as the Qin Dynasty, there were records of leprosy, which was called furuncles at that time. Soon after the patients are discovered, they will be sent to the furdy center for isolation, and then sent to the border or directly killed on the spot. Of course, countries are also studying how to treat this terrible disease, and some leprosy hospitals have been opened, but with little success, and the usual practice is isolation and physical extermination.

However, in the process of isolation, misdiagnosis is inevitable, and many family members of leprosy patients are also quarantined together as potential leprosy patients, and this proportion is usually very large, which is a bit of a meaning that it is better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go. Those who had a chance not to get sick were thrown into the leprosy group and did not know how to prevent it, and sooner or later they would be infected, and their fate can be imagined.

The group of white-robed people in front of them were obviously several families of lepers and their families, who were being expelled from the church in the city of Rena. Hong Tao understood the causes of leprosy and how to prevent it, but he could not convince the Europeans of his claims, and if he rashly came forward, he would not only not be able to save these people, but might also arouse the hatred of the entire Renaa people against him. Customs are very difficult to change in a short period of time, and even if Emperor Friedrich II issued an edict, it would not have much effect.

"Aniah! Aniah! Why did they arrest you? My brother and sister don't have leprosy, let them go, and I'll vouch for them!" Hong Tao leaned against the wall, his eyes looking at the sky, intending to be out of sight and out of mind. But God had to make trouble for him, and just as the two children threw themselves on the ground and hugged their relatives and cried, a woman ran out of Jiang Zhuyi's shop, and also rushed into the middle of the group of lepers, and together with the two children, pleaded with the knight in charge of escorting, trying to take away the two children, a man and a woman.

"Madam, please leave here immediately, this is the order of the Bishop and the City Lord, and no one has the right to change it." The knight in charge of the escort had a decent attitude, and did not use force against the woman and the two children, but only warned them verbally.

"No, I'm not leaving, I'm going to be with my younger siblings! I have money, I have gold coins, please let them two go, they are still children......" The woman did not give up, and while pleading, she took out a few gold coins from the small purse on her waist, held them in her hands and begged the knights to spare the two children.

"How did you find someone who is big-chested and brainless, even if you are bribed, you can't give it in front of so many people, isn't this a slap in the face of someone!" Hong Tao, the woman who ran out of Jiang Zhuyi's shop, knew that it was the blonde girl with freckles on her face just now. Hong Tao fully affirmed her courage to defend her family, but for her subsequent treatment, Hong Tao thought that it was too inconsiderate and too lacking in common sense. Not only would this not save the two children, but it would also anger the knights in charge of the escort, and even if they wanted to be accommodating, they would now have to grit their teeth and pretend to be business-oriented.

(To be continued.) )