"Here we are." Shang Luo stopped in front of the city gate.

The shadow of the high walls covered the street, and the gatehouse of the city gate blocked the sunlight. The world inside the doorway is far more lively than outside, but there are a few road gates blocking the city gates.

There is a plaque with the word "Acropolis" hanging on the gate tower, and a yellow sun flag on a red background is hung on the flagpole behind the gatehouse. This is not a national flag, but a "duty flag", which means that the city gate is open. It's very classical, but not everywhere is classical.

The outside of the city wall was covered with a layer of white cement. The centuries-old bricks of the city wall were encased in concrete, and the gate tower was replaced with reinforced concrete, although the cornices were symbolically retained on the outside.

There were barricade poles blocking the way at both ends of the doorway, and the barricades had fallen. A guard wearing a hard-capped helmet stood in the doorway, and the word "Yong" in the center of the helmet represented the identity of his guard. He is the man of the king's master.

"Ah, it's Mr. Xiao Shang. However, please show your ID. The guard didn't take off his rifle to intercept it, because he knew it well, and he asked Shang Luo to go in and "cast a spell" yesterday. He was just doing a routine job to check if anyone who came was eligible to enter the city.

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo took out a red certificate from his pocket, and each page of the certificate was bound with rice paper. The shell on the front is printed with the four big characters of "Nanjing Hubu", and it is a nine-fold seal with hot stamping.

Shang Luo didn't plan to take out the token that Lu Qianhu gave him yesterday. Because Jin Yiwei's token is too ostentatious, his own ID can also enter the door. That token is waiting to be used in the library.

The guards took the certificate, turned to the page of identity information, and compared the portrait with the appearance of Shang Luo himself.

Handing back the papers, the guard picked up the phone hanging on the wall and shouted inside.

The floodgates slowly opened, and he hung up the phone as well: "Okay, no problem, come in." But I'll have to go in with you. ”

The two men stood in the doorway and watched, watching the gate slowly lift up.

"By the way, you guards haven't arrived at the time to go back yet?"

"No, our Zhendongwei is still waiting for the Henghai Left Guard to change the defense. It seems that something has happened on the East Coast side, and they are improvised with some gear just in case - the rumor says. It's been a rough rough lately, you know? Don't tell anyone, someone was kidnapped yesterday! ”

"Oh, I heard that, scared people to death. How's that guy? ”

"Tsk, it seems that the soul is scared away. However, the kidnappers were swept by the Jinyi Wei plough court last night, and I really don't know how to write dead words. This kind of thing happened as soon as the brocade guard arrived, and the governor was so angry that he smashed the ashtray. ”

"By the way, what is Jinyiwei here for?" Shang Luo didn't plan to continue discussing with him about his soul being scared.

"Who knows, I heard that I came to investigate the case. In broad daylight, apart from a few thieves who are not long-eyed, where are there any cases to investigate? I guess it's probably because the governor was impeached, so the court sent Jinyi guards to arrest people. Tsk, with such a fuss, our service period is going to be extended. ”

"Ahh Although he can't be blamed for this, it is his own cause after all. He did feel a little sorry for delaying people to stay out for so long.

"Well, it's nothing." The guard shook his head, "I'm not in a hurry anyway, overtime is also considered a service period, and an extra shift can give you a few more years of rest." Alright, the gate is fine, let's go inside. ”

The San Francisco Acropolis is a square area of only 4 square kilometers that concentrates 30% of the entire population of San Francisco. The three sides of the cement wall isolate the two worlds inside and outside, and the law of the Great Ming is implemented inside the wall, and the outside of the wall is ignored. There is no parapet on the side near the sea, and it is the anchorage of the Yangzhou Marine.

Far from the mainland, San Francisco Wei is a solid earth guard, and 80% of the city's permanent population are military and artisan households. The 41-storey Golden Gate Tower, built at the north entrance of the Acropolis, was built by the 4th Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, and the façade is made of red bricks, glass curtain walls and cyan glazed tiles. The 14-storey podium below is the Golden Gate Hotel, and the 27-storey tower above is rented by the Yangju Governor's Palace.

"By the way, what's lunch today?" When he entered the door, the whole picture of the Golden Gate Hotel appeared in front of him. As soon as he saw that building, Shang Luo felt a little hungry, but when he thought that every time he went to eat it, it was a radish, and he felt less hungry again.

"As usual, radish stew and radish steamed buns are all old-fashioned radish meetings. And I don't recommend you to eat at this point, at this time Jinyiwei is eating. ”

"I was just looking for them, and there's a pocket watch there."

"Ahh Ah, that's right. The guard smiled at him and said no more.

[Why didn't he speak?] 】

"Because he thinks that I may be a spy of the Jinyi Guard, looking for the Governor's black material, and he doesn't want to cause trouble. Forget it, it doesn't matter, I'm more familiar with this place than he is. ”

So, you can eat here for free? 】

"Both military and artisan households can be. Because we came to Yangzhou on a mission, the imperial court is in charge of the rice. The households had to spend money to eat, because they came by themselves, and the court didn't care about the food. The canteen is on the second floor of the Golden Gate Hotel, and you can eat it by showing your ID, I remember when I was a child... Well, I think when I was a child, I used to eat here. When I was a kid, I would call this place the Carrot House. ”

[It's very similar, indeed.] The façade is red, but the top is covered with cyan glazed tiles, like a radish. 】

"I mean the food here is always turnips, because the outside farm is a turnip field except for the wheat field." He sniffed the air, "Hmm... Really. Eating radish again, I can smell the smell of braised radish on the first floor. That's what I ate when I was a kid. ”

The faint smell of radish is getting closer, and the rice is ready. Downstairs in the Golden Gate Building, the people who went in to eat were not yet in place, and the revolving door was also parked there.

Considering that there was a security check at the door, Shang Luo handed over the small bag containing Apollonia to the guards for safekeeping, and walked up to the two-story Sumeru seat of the foundation building himself, and walked in through the revolving door.

Minutes and seconds passed.

[I don't know how they're doing now... Father, am I doing the right thing? 】

Apollonia turned her gaze to the sky—but reality soon forced her to retract her attention.

A strong sense of crisis woke her up. I don't know where this sense of crisis comes from, because there don't seem to be any threatening targets around. Only a group of men in short shirts and leggings came out of the Golden Gate Tower. The men were not armed with any weapons, and they seemed to have just finished eating, and they even had the taste of turnips in their mouths.

The one who walked in front turned out to be Lu Huaiyang, who had taken a photo yesterday. He had just come out of lunch.

The men came out of the doorway, walked down the steps of the two levels of Sumeru, and passed by Apollonia.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Lu Huaiyang stopped.

"Huh? Master, what's the matter? ”

"Nothing, I ate too much radish stew and was a little flatulent. Where's your pocket watch? The small merchant hasn't delivered it yet? ”