Early in the morning of the second day, the task force that had repaired overnight left the town and set foot on the road to Thorne City.
Soon the group got into an abandoned monastery in the woods south of Thorne City. According to the shop attendant who came with Sarpburg, this abandoned monastery was less than two miles away from Thornburgh. There were originally a few monks practicing here, but then a group of bandits looted the place and killed all the monks. This place was already remote and stained with blood, so no one except wild beasts cared about it for more than ten years. The monastery is overgrown with weeds, the houses have collapsed roofs or broken walls, and most of the walls have collapsed.
Hunting to Thorne City and being remote and undisturbed, Art asked Ron to set up a secret post outside the monastery and use it as a temporary camp for the task force and a gathering point outside the city.
After resting for a while in the abandoned monastery, the soldiers of the task force with the task of entering the city put on various clothes collected from Sarp Castle and walked out of the woods towards several gates of Thorne City...
............
The city of Saône is the largest feudal city in the western border of Burgundy (distinguished as an autonomous city). The city is two miles in circumference, each is fifty feet high, and has eight city gates on land and water. A flowing river flows from the north of the city towards Saône City, and is divided into three branches in the north city. The two sides circle the city along the outer moat for half a circle and then meet at the southwest corner of the city.
The other flow flows into Thorne City along the North City Water Gate and divides Thorne City into two parts of similar size, which people call the east and west areas.
The two sides of the river are the richest places in the entire Thorne City. Here are the tallest towers and the most gorgeous houses in Thorne City. Most of the city's nobles, church monks, city officials, wealthy merchants, etc. live on both sides of the river. Therefore, this line is also a place where goods and valuable goods circulate; people who live in this area are called "recipients".
The houses extending on both sides with the river entering the city as the central line gradually become lower and the streets become narrower. These places are mainly taverns, blacksmith shops, leather shops, bakeries, breweries, free markets, grain shops, grocery stores, etc. This part of the city accounts for the largest proportion. The people living here are also the people in Thorne who can support themselves and pay taxes on the city's produced materials; they are called "servers".
Further out, the number of houses made of stone, wood, red tiles and white bricks began to gradually decrease, and were replaced by straw huts made of miscellaneous wood or simply shacks fenced with weeds. Here lived the people at the bottom of the city, including bankrupt citizens, urban gangsters, cheap hired hands, handymen in wealthy areas, and a large number of homeless people and beggars. They maintained their most basic livelihood by relying on the "crumbs" dropped from the tables of the rich on both sides of the river, so these people were called "scavengers."
The city uses the river as a line to divide thousands of people into three classes by distance. However, there is one thing that cannot be eliminated by the three classes of people in the three areas, and that is the feces and urine accumulated all over the city.
Needless to say, the place where the untouchable "scavengers" lived, the original straw huts were built haphazardly and without any rules, so even though the streets were wide and only accessible to people, there were still toilets dumped randomly by residents on both sides;
The roads in the neighborhood where the "Servant" is located are indeed wider and the houses are larger, but no madman would build a toilet to store feces in his house. The reason is simple. There are no sewage pipes underground in the neighborhood. Instead of letting the feces pile up at home, it is better to pour them on the street. It's okay when the weather is sunny, feces and urine can always be dried in the sun, but if it rains, the mud mixed with feces and urine will make people have nowhere to step;
Would the neighborhood where the "recipient" is located be better? Thinking too much. There are only two differences between the rich and the poor in how they treat feces. First, the rich will try their best to take a car or ride a horse when they go out. At the worst, they have to wear a pair of special "high heels" to prevent themselves from getting stuck in the feces. Second, they smear their entire bodies with expensive perfume, using the pungent fragrance to cover up the stench that will never go away in the air...
Att and the others were walking through this stench. He was wearing a round-necked cotton robe, a rabbit fur felt hat on his head, a cowhide belt around his waist, a pair of fine linen trousers under the skirt of the cotton robe, and deerskin boots. He was followed by an entourage wearing a short sheepskin jacket, making him look like a country squire entering the city.
The attendant waved his hand in an attempt to dispel the stench that hit his face, but it obviously had little effect. He had to cover his mouth and nose and said in a low voice: "Sir, this city is so dirty and smelly. I almost fainted. What do you think is good in this city? These people must be like animals. They eat, drink and sleep in dung piles like animals. I would say it is better in our valley. Although it is a little poorer, at least the air is always clean." Art put the lavender sachet in his hand to his nose and smelled it, and said with a smile: "Dawson, you told me to call me Master!"
"Yes, sir. This city really stinks, worse than the pigsties in our village." In order to prevent the roads from being blocked, people transported their excrement to the outside of the city wall and piled it up. Gradually, the excrement has formed a wall. Now the "dung wall" is almost as high as the city wall. If there is a foreign enemy attacking the city, just climb up the dung pile..."
Matt was talking and laughing with his entourage while looking around. He wanted to find a suitable house in Thorne City as a safe house for the task force. Once the task was completed and they were unable to leave the city in time or failed and were hunted down, they would hide in this safe house.
The two of them wandered around the city for a long time but could not find a suitable place.
Finally, the shop boy named Miles who had followed from Sapp found the two of Ate and said that he had found a dilapidated granary near the free market in the east of the city.
At followed Miles to the east city and found the granary.
This granary is located in a narrow and hidden alley. Although it is a two-story wooden structure, it is very dilapidated. From the alley entrance to the warehouse, there are side walls of shops on both sides. The alley is less than three feet wide. The end of the alley is the main entrance of the warehouse. Opposite the main entrance, there is a small back door with a two-foot gap leading to another block.
Because this warehouse has been idle for too long and no one is walking in the alley, residents of nearby shops dump their feces and dirt at the entrance of the alley. Over time, the alley is blocked by feces and other materials.
Att raised his trousers and stepped on the dung pile toward the alley. After the snow melted, the snow water that invaded the dung pile softened the dung pile. Once he stepped on it, his boots got stuck deep in it and it was difficult to pull it out.
"TMD!" Art cursed in his mind. He really didn't like the feeling of being stuck in a dung heap and unable to extricate himself.
After climbing over the dung pile, the road becomes much smoother, because there are no side windows on the side walls on both sides, so there is no dung falling from the sky.
Arriving at the door of the warehouse, the wooden door was locked from the inside. Art climbed to the crack in the door and looked into the warehouse. Because it was used as a grain warehouse, it was relatively closed. There were no other windows or openings except for two doors and a few vents. The warehouse seemed very dark. Art looked at the warehouse through the light coming through the gaps around it.
The warehouse was empty, with only a long moldy table and a few low stools with missing legs vaguely indicating that it had been visited by people. There is a row of wooden stairs to the right of the main entrance of the warehouse leading to the second floor. However, due to the leakage in the roof, the wooden stairs are covered with moss. It is estimated that no one dares to go up the wooden stairs.
After observing the structure of the warehouse, Art took a few steps back and looked around the environment around the warehouse. The houses here were dense and messy, and there was a lot of noise coming and going outside the alley. The alley was deep, quiet and undisturbed. In addition, there was a back door that led to another street. It was indeed an ideal safe house.
"Millus, do you know who the owner of this warehouse is?" Art asked the shop boy who had followed him from Fort Sap.
The handyman named Miles replied respectfully: "Sir, the houses and shops in the city often change their names. Over the past hundred years, few outsiders have been able to figure out who the owners of these houses are. However, I have already found out that the owner of this warehouse originally ran a grain store in the city. Later, he lost all his money due to his obsession with gambling, and the warehouse was mortgaged to a pawnshop in the south of the city. "Generally speaking, the owner allows the pawn shop to rent out the house and collect the rent to offset the loan. However, for those house warehouses where the owner is no longer in the city, the pawn shop often rents out the house to make money without telling the owner, but claims that no one is renting it. Then the owner has to pay back the debt in full. This is also a way for the pawn shop to make money."
"This warehouse here has not been taken care of for a long time. As long as you find a pawn shop, you can definitely rent it secretly. The pawn shop will definitely not let anyone know that this room has been rented out. It is more hidden than renting a warehouse that is managed by the owner." What’s even more rare is that he also considered the issue of concealment of his actions, "Milles, you have done an excellent job, and you will be rewarded after the work is completed."
Miles replied humbly: "You should work harder for the master."
"Okay, let's go to the pawn shop." Art patted the dust on his hands, turned and walked towards the alley.
Under the guidance of Miles, the "Sorn Pass", the three of them quickly found the pawn shop under the Currency Guild in the southern city of Thorn.
Pawning is definitely a profitable business, so the pawn shop in Thorn City is located at a three-way intersection in the heart of the downtown area. The pawn shop is surrounded by pubs and hotels. These places are not just for eating, drinking and resting. Almost all pubs and hotels have gamblers. These losers often take their valuables to the pawn shop and exchange them for silver coins to continue fighting.
Two stalwart sword-wielding guards stood at the door of the pawn shop. Seeing that Art and the three were unarmed, the guards let the three of them pass without even looking at them.
It was mid-afternoon, and when I entered the shop, I saw only a few pawn counters crowded with people pawning or redeeming money. A store employee with a stooped waist and a smile on his face walked up to Art and asked politely: "Sir, do you need a pawn or a ransom?"
“Sir, I neither pawn nor redeem the property, I’m here to rent a house.” Art said in a low voice.
Him said politely: "Then please wait in the back room. I'll go ask the deputy manager right away."
Him led Art and the others to the side hall of the pawn shop, sat down, closed the side door, and left.
After a while, a middle-aged man who looked like a shop steward came to the side hall.
He saw that Art and others were not familiar to him and were obviously foreign businessmen. He did not have too many worries in his heart. He took off his hat and bowed slightly to Art, "Sir, where do you want to rent a house or shop? Or? You need me to select it for you."
"The granary in the alley between the free market and the leather shop in the east of the city. Master, I want to transport a large amount of grain from the south and store it in the city, so I need a warehouse." Art said.
The middle-aged man's eyes flew around, searching for information about the warehouse in his mind. Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he obviously remembered the dilapidated warehouse. "Sir, you are really discerning. That warehouse is very spacious and can store hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain. It also has a two-story pavilion where valuable goods can be stored and people can live there." The conditions are really good, but the price is a little expensive. Three thousand pfennigs annuity? But since you can find this place, you must know the rules. Once the owner comes back, you have to move out immediately. "
The middle-aged man looked at Art expectantly.
Att did not answer. He glanced sideways at Millers beside him. Millers understood, and stepped forward and said, "Brother, don't just pick a good one. We have visited that warehouse. It is in disrepair and leaking everywhere. The alleys in and out are too narrow and cannot be accessed by trucks. We also have to spend a lot of money to hire laborers to move it."
"Besides, if this was really as good as you said, it would have been rented by someone long ago, and the alley would not be clogged with feces. So, we will provide an annuity of one thousand pfennigs."
The middle-aged man's smiling face suddenly stiffened. "Man, this is not a bargain, this is a beheading." Millers has been in the city for many years and has a good idea of the mentality of these people. "After beheading, you can still get a head. If we don't rent it, your warehouse will only be used as a nest for rats and wild dogs."
The middle-aged man's smile disappeared. It seems that this fat cat cannot be killed today. "Man, it seems that you are a sensible person. I will not be nagging. The annuity is two thousand five thousand. If it is less, we will lose money."
"I'll give you one thousand and fifty. Isn't your shabby place always losing money? You're always lucky to get back a few copper coins." You can't even earn a copper coin. "
"One thousand and seven, I guess the guy who mortgaged this warehouse to you ran away naked, and even half a copper coin from the rent you collected will not fall into the owner's pocket."
The manager of the pawn shop was slightly surprised. It seemed that the other party had already inquired about the situation of the warehouse and was familiar with the inside story of "hidden rent" in the pawn shop. "Two thousand two thousand can't be reduced any more. If you are willing to rent, I can collect the rent on a quarterly basis."
"One thousand and eighty, we will send people to repair the leakage in the warehouse ourselves, and you can save a lot of repair costs..."
The pawn shop manager and Milles just moved forward and retreated, and gradually negotiated the rent of the warehouse into one thousand nineteen pfennigs versus two thousand one hundred pfennigs.
· Art, who had been watching the excitement, finally made the decision and set the rent at two thousand pfennigs a year, and paid seven hundred pfennigs quarterly in advance.
While the pawn shop hired Art to find the warehouse key for Art, Art communicated with the steward in a low voice and asked about the general business situation in the city, the changes in food prices, the transportation of goods in the city, etc. The steward was in a good mood after completing a business, and patiently answered Art's questions one by one.
Since the pawn shop is a "hidden lease", there is no need to sign a lease contract or anything like that. After taking the keys, the group left the pawn shop.
Matt handed the key to Dawson beside him and ordered: "Tomorrow, you will take two reliable guys with you to enter the warehouse through the narrow passage at the back door, clean the warehouse a little, and then go to a distant place to buy more bread, bacon and beer for easy storage to stockpile in it. Remember, enter It’s better to go out quietly and not attract the attention of outsiders.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Let’s go out of the city and go back to the monastery to see if Ron and the others have finished their work.”
…