(Due to the needs of the plot, the distance in the article is exaggerated, please do not go into details!)
Half a day's drive west from Thorne City, a mountain range hundreds of miles long runs across the plains leading to the Principality of Burgundy, dividing the plains into two parts, east and west.
The length of the mountain range is not small, but the width is not. From the entrance to the exit, it is no more than ten miles wide. The middle of the mountain range seems to have been cut in half by a giant axe, and a wide valley appears among the mountains, becoming a passage connecting the east and west.
There is a prosperous castle in the wide valley, which is the city of Beaune, an important border trade town between the Principality of Burgundy and the County.
The setting sun was like blood. On the driveway east of Beaune City, a group of cavalry escorted two carriages and galloped towards Beaune City, dragging a trail of dust on the road that had been sunny for several days.
"Sir, Stanley has already sent out a sentinel. There is no alert or abnormality in Bona City. The enemy must not have sent an order to block the border. Are we going to the city to rest? The horse has been running for a long time and must rest." Ron lightly kicked the horse's belly with his feet, and his body shook up and down with the galloping of the war horse, which made his voice tremble slightly.
Matt stood up slightly, moved the point of support from his hips to the soles of his feet, allowing his buttocks that had been bumping for half an afternoon to calm down, and then replied: "There are many people and it is easy to cause trouble. We will bypass Bona City and continue westward. If we encounter a village or town, we will stop and rest. If we don't, we will camp in front of the black end."
Beaune City is an important border trade town. However, due to the suzerainty relationship between the Count of Burgundy and the Principality of Burgundy, the role of Beaune City as a trade fair is far greater than the border military role. Therefore, Beaune City does not completely block the road from the county to the principality. If there are business travelers who do not want to enter the city, they can directly bypass Beaune City and enter and exit the border freely.
Since Andu escaped from Thorne City, Art has been heading westward with his team non-stop, and finally arrived at Beaune City before dark. After passing Beaune City, it no longer belongs to the country of Burgundy. Even if the opponent reacts, it is impossible to send an army to pursue it with great fanfare.
At the last moment, Att didn’t want any accidents to happen. Regardless of whether there was any abnormality, they would inevitably have to be interrogated when they brought the heretics in and out of the city gates. To accept the interrogation, they had to carefully disguise themselves, which was quite troublesome. So even though the sentry reported that everything was normal in the city, he decided to bypass Beaune and rush to the next inhabited village or market town to spend the night.
· When the convoy sped around the city of Beaune, the city was still as bustling and bustling as before. The trade of the two feudal kingdoms gathered here, and many merchants took advantage of the intermittent trade routes to complete the last trade trip of the year.
The defenders on the city wall of Bonanen were puzzled as they watched a dusty team speed past on the road about a mile south. They had been stationed here for many years and rarely saw people rushing on their way without entering the city after dark.
After crossing the city of Beaune, the team continued to move forward for about five miles, and finally arrived at a village in the valley before it got dark.
The village is located next to a carriage road, and there are often pedestrians and business travelers passing by to rest, so the villagers did not panic at all when they saw a group of people wearing caravan guard uniforms and carrying short swords and daggers on their waists entering the village.
An old man who looked like a village elder received the group of people.
The old man is not only the village elder, but also the owner of a hotel in the village. Almost all passing caravans will stop at his house, so the old man has basically broken away from the farmer's business and is quite tactful in dealing with people.
After entering the hotel, Art declined the old man's offer to send someone to take care of the carriage, and asked Ron to take care of it himself with a few soldiers.
Entering the first floor of the hotel, the old man ordered the chef to prepare a large table of bacon bread, pea cereal and other food. He also took out a barrel of high-quality beer from behind the wine cabinet and filled a wooden cup. He drank the wooden cup and turned the cup upside down to show that he had finished drinking. Then he asked the bartender to take several more similar cups and fill them up for Art and the others one by one. He said politely. : "This gentleman must be walking this trade route for the first time, so it is always right to be careful. However, this trade route has been prosperous for decades. Seven or eight years ago, business travelers were occasionally killed on the road. However, since the Principality of Burgundy sent troops to clean it up, such things have not happened on this road for many years, so you can eat, sleep and walk with peace of mind."
After speaking, the old man patted the beer barrel and said: "This barrel of beer is considered as a gift from me to all the distant visitors. In the future, when traveling merchants pass by, I will have a barrel of good wine here waiting for the guests to pick up for free, regardless of whether they have settled in or not." After saying this, he left naturally.
Matt found this old man very interesting, guessing that he was on guard, so he consciously tasted the first glass of wine for the guests to reassure the guests and avoid embarrassment. Then he generously presented the beer as a gift, threatening that anyone who passed by, whether eating or staying in a hotel, could come and drink a barrel of beer for free. Such a flexible mind can only be developed in a place where business is prosperous.
Matt drank a glass of beer and took a look at the hotel. Nowadays, the weather is getting colder and colder. Even if there are business travelers coming and going, they are rushing to their destination to complete their trade. Therefore, there are not many guests in this hotel, and the old man who owns the hotel is also very leisurely.
Matt picked up the wine glass, walked up to the old man who was standing behind the wine cabinet and counted the books, and said with a smile: "I have met a lot of people, but I rarely see a smart person like you. You can get this bucket of beer at any time, and I don't know how many business travelers you will attract to your shop to eat, drink and rest. I'm afraid you are not from an ordinary farmer, right?"
The old man stopped the quill in his hand, glanced at Art, and replied: "Sir, old man, I dare not call you "Your Excellency" in front of your nobles. My name is Brigitte Foss. You are right, ordinary farmers do not hold quill notebooks. My family was originally a business traveler family in France, but by my generation it was so dilapidated that it was difficult to keep a belly. Fortunately, my father and grandfather left a business mind and survived starvation. Over the years, they traveled around in business, and when they were old, they saved some money and settled the family business in the village. "
As expected, Yate has a clear mind and seems to be a man of ups and downs in the business world.
"Since you have been doing business everywhere, I would like to ask you, how can we go northwest from here to avoid castles, fortresses and checkpoints and reach Paris as quickly as possible?" Art said, taking out his wallet from his arms, taking out five small sparkling silver coins worth sixty pfennigs and gently placed them on the front desk of the wine cabinet.
Looking at the small silver coins on the table that were enough for the group of people to eat and drink for five or six days, he looked at Art and the people at the table again and again. The old man concluded that this was a caravan hoping to take a hidden road to evade business taxes. Such a thing was easy for him. Knowing the road well, he picked up the silver coins one by one and replied calmly: "Two miles west from here and out of the valley is a flat plain. Continue westward on the flat plain and stop at the first village you encounter. Find a middle-aged man named Sandra and tell him that you are friends of Old Bree."
"You only need fifty pfennigs per carriage, and he will take you around all the castles, fortresses and checkpoints along the way that require inspection and tax collection, and arrive at a port city called Auxerre. There, Sandra will find you a river boat that goes directly to Paris. Those boats are ships that transport military rations to Paris and do not need to pay taxes, but the conditions for boarding are really not that good."
The old man gave a special instruction after speaking, "Sandra only accepts the work of caravans of less than three carriages at a time. If the scale is larger, there is nothing he can do."
The old man glanced at Robert again, who was sitting on the wooden table in the hall drinking beer, and said: "But I see that there is a priest accompanying you in your team. The most direct way is to carry the flag of the church. As long as you threaten to deliver donations to the church in Paris, I guarantee that no one will dare to intercept the tax collection."
Matt wrote down the old man's words carefully, and asked the old man about his business trip. Then he thanked him and went back to the table to eat and drink seriously. After eating and drinking, he went to the stable to replace Ron and the others who were guarding the carriage horses...
It was an uneventful night, and early the next morning, after Art paid for the room and board, he led the team to continue their journey, and it didn't take long before they arrived at the old man's hotel. In the said village, after giving a small copper coin to a boy with a runny nose at the entrance of the village, Art easily found Sandra who was gambling with someone in a thatched hut in the village. She found a secluded place and explained her purpose. Sandra accepted Art's deal without any hesitation. Then, without even asking who and what was loaded in the carriage, she returned to the dilapidated thatched hut, tidied up a little, took out a mule, and then left the village with Art and his entourage to run south...
After leaving the valley, the terrain was originally very flat, and the westbound road was very smooth. If you followed the normal route, you could reach the river port city of Auxerre in up to three days.
But this is a trade route, with many castles and fortresses along the way, and even more outposts and tax cards. In order to keep a low profile, the group went south for a long time under the guidance of the gambler named Sandra, and then went west through some country roads, streams, farms, manors, and even farmers' cultivated land. They saw the villages and settlements along the way and turned a blind eye to Art and his party when Sandra led the way. Obviously, there are many doorways here.
Following Sandra, we traveled through rivers and wading waters until the team arrived at Auxerre at noon on the fifth day. The journey was far and many roads were very difficult to navigate, but we did bypass almost all the castles, fortresses and outposts along the way. Even the few remote outposts that were really impossible to bypass were determined by Sandra with a few words.
Fifty pfennigs for a car, it's fair to say that people are more expensive than others.
After arriving in Auxerre, the team found a small warehouse to rest near the dock, and Sandra went alone to find a river boat that could take the team to Paris.
Auxerre is a port city located in the middle reaches of the Yona River. The Yona River, which originates from the southeastern mountainous area, formed river transportation conditions suitable for large and medium-sized ships only here. Therefore, it can be regarded as the first port city on the Yona River. It flows northwest along the Yona River and merges into the Seine River in a city called Monteroff, and then continues sailing to the city of Paris.
· Due to Auxerre's special location and role as a port, it is one of the few cities that does not build walls and is not subject to the traveling merchant tax. Its main income comes from river transportation, food and accommodation, and trade.
After resting overnight in a warehouse near the port, Sandra brought back news early the next morning—the ship bound for Paris had been found.
Matt left Stanley, Dawson and others to guard the carriage, while he took Father Robert, Ron, Matthew and others to follow Sandra to the port cargo terminal to meet the cargo ship captain.
The group arrived at the pier. Although it was no longer the bustling and noisy scene in summer and autumn, there were still many ships sailing and moored in the port.