In the early morning, the sun was just half showing its face, and the thick fog was still everywhere, blocking the morning light.

The melodious sound of the bell pierced the silent sky and abruptly spread to thousands of households, reminding those at the bottom of the society who were still sleeping that they should get up and work to fill their stomachs and work for themselves and their families.

Half an hour later, a strange scene appeared, the whole city was bounded by the river, the north and the south respectively, the north side was boiling like boiling water, the sound of people, animals, and the sound of various objects colliding was endless, and the south side was still unmoved, as if it had not been heard.

The north side is inhabited by the poor, and the south is inhabited by the rich, and the poor are not entitled to sleep in.

There is a proverb that says: Early morning is the only gift that the gods give to the poor.

As for the nobles and the rich, they may have attended a grand banquet last night, or enjoyed a concert or an art exhibition, or fought all night in a lover's bed, and their evenings were so colorful that they would not have gotten up so early.

Ricks thought the same way, and he hoped that the gods would give him the night, so that he could go to the tavern to have a good drink and relax, but he had no money, and he had three children to raise at home, so he had to get up early in the morning, put on the only set of clothes, and leave the dark and simple shack and rush to the place where he worked.

"Ahh It's damn weather! How did it get cold so fast. ”

It's October, and as summer turns to autumn, the temperature plummets in the morning and evening.

Ricks tightened his thin clothes, and while hurrying away, he thought about it in his mind, and found that there was no extra copper plate to buy new clothes, and it seemed that he could only find a way to smooth one or two while he was working.

Autumn is over, it's a cold winter, even if he can bear it, the few small ones at home can't do it, he has to think of a way.

Sigma is on top! Bless the arrival of a big ship today, let me earn more.

He quickened his pace, skilfully navigating the damp, cramped, perpetually foul-smelling alleys, the labyrinthine slums as familiar to him as his own back garden, and of course, he couldn't have one, even if he struggled all his life.

His goal is simple, one of the three little ones in the family can become a full citizen.

Because it's still early, there aren't many people on the street at this time, so it's not particularly crowded, but the further south you go, the more people you feel.

They were dressed similarly to Ricks, wearing trousers made of the cheapest homespun cloth, straw hats or felt hats in better condition, and no shoes in worse condition, walking barefoot on the cobblestone streets mixed with sewage and excrement.

Turning the last corner, the dark street suddenly opens up, and in front of it is a wide open space, no, it is the dock to be exact.

Although it had only just dawned, it had already begun to get noisy, and people from all over the slums of the North End, including Ricks, were flocking here from all directions like bees returning to their nests.

The first person to arrive can find the largest ship, the larger the ship, the more goods on it, the more things to move, and the more copper plates in hand.

Time is the copper plate.

This is the secret of the success of a legendary man who went from slave to big merchant in "Marienburg", which has now spread all over the world.

As long as you are willing to work diligently, you can get a reasonable salary, even if it is the lowest work, you can also support your family.

Even the dockers can understand the meaning of this phrase and use it as motivation to struggle, which is also a truth that all ordinary people living in the city can understand.

This is Aldolf, the most vibrant city in the Old World.

………

Ricks was really lucky today, it seemed that the great patron saint of the empire really heard his prayers, and as soon as he arrived at the docks and said hello to the people in the gang, he saw a large three-masted sailing ship coming in the distance.

There was a burst of cheers at the dock, and the "old dock" hadn't seen a big ship for a long time.

As the capital of the empire, it is also the oldest and most populous city in the country, and there are three piers in the "Aldolphe" alone.

Like "Nunn", the city was built at the confluence of two rivers, one Rik and the other Tarabe, which simply divided the city into two large districts, north and south, and could only be connected by four bridges.

The newest and largest of these, Rick Harbour, is located on the northwest coast of the Southern District, where the number of berths is several times that of the other two docks combined, and the narrow river and low trade trestle allow ships to dock safely, making it not only the first choice for large ocean-going ships, but also for the Imperial fleet.

Prosperity can be imagined.

The other two docks, both located in the old town to the north, the "Old Pier" and the other "Reshallow Port", both former docks, even witnessed the development of Aldolph from a village called "Rickdorf" to the core of the empire today.

It's just that time has passed, and now they are all synonymous with dirty, chaotic and backward, and usually only a few small merchant ships would dock here.

A small ship means less cargo, and less cargo means less work and less money for these workers at the docks, and their families may have no food to eat and no clothes to wear.

It's not that they didn't want to go to work on the other side of the river and earn more copper plates, but the problem is that they can't beat each other.

Where there are people, there is right and wrong, and where there is right and wrong, there is a group.

Three docks, each with a gang that has a voice.

Rick Harbor with the best conditions belongs to the "dock rat guild", they are different from other rabble, they are officially recognized formal guilds, they have the best relationship with the big people in the city, occupy the best resources, and naturally have the most power.

The old dock and the shallow port belong to the "Rotten Fish Gang" and the "Hook Gang" respectively, and both sides are spontaneously formed by local dock workers to prevent bullying, and they also have a history of dozens or hundreds of years.

But even if they add up, they can't defeat the "dock rats", not to mention that both sides have their own evil intentions, always trying to grab each other's territory, and at the same time, they also have to guard against the small gangs below, so let alone going to "Rick Harbor", it would be good to be able to hold on to their own one-third of an acre.

Ricks has been in the docks for more than ten years, and his greatest achievement is to become a member of the "Rotten Fish Gang".

At least no one can bully him here.

As soon as the big ship, which had not been seen for a long time, came to shore, there was no doubt that it was naturally their "Rotten Fish Gang" waiting to unload the cargo.

This is a symbol of unspoken rules.

Although they are not as good as the "dock rats", they still firmly hold the supremacy in the old docks.

But the reality taught the elated workers a hard lesson, and what made them disappointed was that after the sailboat docked, it was not a mountain of goods that came down, but a large group of tired mercenaries, and the most hateful thing was that they unloaded the only cargo they had?!

Ricks' face was pale, and he was relatively speechless with the foreman, who could only hint that everyone should not act rashly, and the other party would not be easy to provoke at first glance.

The disappointed workers could only curse in their hearts.

What the hell Sigma, it's useless!!