With Laszlo with him, Constantine made his rounds around Athens, just to find out if the real situation in the empire had improved.

Due to the unique natural conditions of Athens, agriculture was not developed here, and even the soil was only a thin layer with hard marble and limestone underneath, which meant that Athens was difficult to be self-sufficient and had to rely on external supplies to survive.

However, the underdevelopment of agriculture led to the shipbuilding, navigation and handicraft industries of Athens, which was one of the more closely associated with Constantinople because of its large number of cities, dense population, and relative concentration, and the fact that the Greeks were still the majority despite the continuous migration of barbarians.

Walking through the streets of Athens, Constantine and Laszlo did not bring their guards, but their luxurious robes also highlighted their status, forming a small blank area around the two.

For the sake of low profile, Constantine did not even wear a purple robe, because in Byzantium, only the royal family could wear a purple robe, which would completely disrupt his plans.

"Your Majesty, there are so many people in Athens!"

Laszló was very emotional, the city of Athens at this moment was richer and more prosperous than Constantinople before the war, blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, merchants, stonemasons, etc., everywhere, each of them were selling, and the whole bazaar was in full swing, a vibrant scene.

"Okay, I didn't bring you here to see you like this."

Constantine was a little funny, and it was normal for young people to be interested in everything new, but he didn't bring Laszlo to play today,

Constantine took Laszlo to the blacksmith shop, and the person in charge rushed up to entertain him,

"Two nobles, what do you want to fight?"

"What can you fight here?"

"Oh, that's a lot."

The person in charge shrugged his shoulders and was very proud,

"Not to mention simple farm tools, scimitars, broadswords, shields, spears, and even a leg-stretched bow will do, as long as you can afford it."

The foot string bow is the crossbow, which may have been a terrifying device from the Far East that frightened the Europeans so much that at the Second Lateran Council in 1139, Pope Innocent II banned the use of crossbow machines in Christian warfare.

With such a powerful killing weapon, it is naturally impossible for Constantine to let it circulate in the world, and Constantinople also issued an edict to control crossbow machines, but he didn't expect that Athens would sell it almost publicly, and he didn't take Constantine's edict seriously.

Laszlo looked at Constantine with a little concern, but Constantine didn't pay attention to Laszlo's actions at all, as if he didn't care about what the person in charge said, and even had a smile on his face,

"Give us two handfuls of 100 pounds, and use them with ease."

"Okay, I'll pay the deposit."

Where would Constantine take money with him? In the past, he was always accompanied by his attendants, but now there is only Laszlo by his side, and he will naturally pay for the money.

Constantine turned his head to look at Laszlo, who reluctantly paid the money, not because of this reason that made him sullen, but because of the shopkeeper's blatant defiance of the imperial ban.

"Your Majesty, do you want to...?"

Laszlo approached Constantine and wanted to ask him what to do, but Constantine raised his hand and stopped him,

"Master, I want to ask you something."

The sharp-eyed Constantine saw a plate of fruit not far away, he walked over and picked one up and put it in his mouth, and said vaguely,

"Eh, your honor, as long as I know, I will definitely not hide it."

After collecting the money, the person in charge left, only a few blacksmiths clanged on the side, and Constantine found such an opportunity to inquire about the situation.

"I've heard that Constantinople has issued an order that it is not permissible to make a footstretch bow without permission, have you not received an order here?"

"Oh, you said that."

The movement in the master's hand does not stop, swinging the hammer again and again,

"I've heard about it, but we're not building it privately."

Constantine nodded, and then continued to ask quietly,

"Governor Moria has allowed it?"

"Hey, the provincial governor has a lot of opportunities, where would you notice that we are such a small workshop."

The master smiled, and continued,

"It's a noble man from Constantinople, I heard that he has a very high status, and on the day he entered the city, the governor of the province went to greet him in person, wearing a purple robe, hey, that look, not to mention how majestic."

"It's royal?!"

Laszlo whispered to Constantine that the Master's words frightened him,

Constantine's expression remained unchanged, but he probably already knew it in his heart,

"Is your family allowed to do so?"

"What's the matter?"

Speaking of this, the master also became interested, and counted them one by one with his fingers,

"The Modi family in the south of the city, the Ralph family in the east, almost all the blacksmith workshops in the city are licensed."

"Can't you give it for nothing, right?"

The corners of Constantine's mouth were teasing, and his words were tentative, but the master didn't care, and continued to speak to himself,

"For nothing? Our family alone paid 600 ducats, and I heard that several other workshops also paid a lot, and the highest was Modi's family, who paid a full 1,200 ducats, this damn miser, saving so much money..."

There was a complaint in the master's words, obviously this is a large financial burden,

"It's really fake, why don't I believe it?"

Constantine spoke with suspicion, which angered the grumpy blacksmith,

"My old Carter can do anything, he just can't lie, that's what the devil does, Carter ~ Carter ~"

He shouted inside, ready to ask his son, who was the person in charge just now, Carter, to take out the voucher,

"Take out that medal."

With little Carter's movements, a small iron medal appeared in front of Constantine, on which was the double-headed eagle emblem of the Byzantine royal family.

Constantine looked at it for a long time, then returned it to old Carter, and after agreeing on a date to take the crossbow, he left the blacksmith's workshop with Laszlo.

"What's going on?"

On the way back, Laszlo looked puzzled, and could only ask Constantine,

"Isn't it clear? It's all a good thing that my 'good brothers' have done. ”

Constantine sneered, this group of people is really the black sheep of the country,

As such an ancient country, it is inevitable that there will be more and more members of the royal family, after the Comunens family left, the Valleolho family has more and more members after several generations, and these people occupy a lot of the country's resources, just like Tang He said in the TV series "Zhu Yuanzhang", generation after generation of kings, and in the end there are thousands of kings, and the Ming Dynasty must not be broken?

The situation in Byzantium is also roughly similar, in fact, these people are not necessarily all wine bags and rice bags, there are also some talented, but talented people must be in the minority, after all, people born with a golden soup spoon, few are willing to take the initiative to struggle, which means that more and more resources are wasted, even in a strong country, this is also the reason for the weakening of the country, not to mention that Byzantium is already terminally ill, and it has reached the point where it cannot be cured without strong medicine.