At noon on the second day, when urgent alarm bells sounded in Solonborg, a team that looked like a business traveler was already riding on the road twenty miles northwest of Solonborg.
"Sir, I have already counted. There are nine gold coins, thirty-two large silver coins, seventy-three small silver coins, and some jewelry. I estimate it is worth thirty or fifty thousand pfennig." Ron took out the coins one by one and put them on a rag while riding the bumpy horse.
"Equivalent to forty-eight thousand douphenis." Art roughly converted these Lombard currencies into Burgundian currencies.
"The salary of a castle tax collector for the whole year is only more than a thousand pfennigs, and this guy actually made so much money? He is really not a good guy!" Ron spat hard, wrapped the number of gold cakes and silver coins into a piece of rag and stuffed it into the cowhide pouch on the saddle.
“Master, you can’t give birth to babies with this money. Otherwise, if we use it to buy spices, the price of Burgundy will be doubled several times.” Ron now also has a business acumen and knows how to make money grow.
At turned his head and glanced at the bulging bag on Ron's saddlebags, "I will naturally leave the sale of southern goods to the merchant house. I have other uses for the money."
"Sir, are you buying armor? The armor made by the Lombards is really good, and ordinary soldiers can wear plate armor; Or the crossbow is also very good. The day before yesterday, I saw a crossbow made in Genoa in Lavati's weapons shop. The shop owner said that it can shoot through double-layer leather or cotton armor at a distance of 150 steps. The key is that the price is very cheap. A Genoa crossbow only costs 800 pfennigs, which is nearly half cheaper than the one in Burgundy..." Ron was already planning what weapons to buy.
Matt waved his hand and interrupted Ron's meditation plan. "I do plan to buy some things for the legion, but the money is not used to buy weapons and equipment."
的 somewhere??
"It's not an ordinary book, it's a book on war!" Art specially emphasized that it was a book on the art of war.
"I plan to buy several sets of military books for the officer academy. There are some things that are no longer enough to rely on the words and deeds of the officers." Art affirmed and said no more. It was not easy to make these guys who were civilians not long ago understand his plan, so he simply didn't say more.
Ron's face turned bad again. Not only could he not buy the armor and crossbows he had expected, but now they had turned into books and documents that he didn't want to touch at all.
On the fifteenth day of their journey south, Art and his party drove their horses to a northern Lombardy city called Noble, which was only two days away from the Provence border (one day on horseback). As a border city, Noble was not famous for its strong walls and iron-clad swords. In fact, there were very few defenders in this place because Noble was a city belonging to the church.
The city of Noble is less than two thousand feet in circumference, not much larger than the county town of Tyniec. The city is about thirty feet high and built with stone walls. There is no deep ditch moat under the city, and there are no armored guards on the city. On the city wall, except for a few red cross flags with white backgrounds symbolizing the church and wooden crosses, there are no watchtowers or arrow towers.
Of course, there are still armed forces in the city, but they are only church armed forces with less than fifty people and are under the direct jurisdiction of the church in the city.
The entire city of Noble is filled with a religious atmosphere. There is a cathedral, two monasteries, a seminary and ancillary buildings in the city. These church buildings occupy almost half of the area within the city walls, and the rest of the basic There are bakeries and various shops that maintain the operation of the city. There are also large areas of farmland and manor outside the city. These are the religious properties of the church. However, it is impossible for the clergy to farm the land themselves, so these land manors are leased to those devout believers for management...
It was Sunday when the Ates drove their horses close to Noble. As a religious center in northern Lombardy, many devout believers come to pray and worship here every year. This is another pillar of the city of Noble.
When Art was young, he often went to Noble with the priests of the territory to observe services and worship. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to the seminary in Noble to receive one year of theological education, so he was very familiar with this place.
Religious holy places do not allow sharp-edged weapons, so Art stopped at a roadside inn outside the city, leaving behind horses, weapons and two guards, and walked into Noble with Ron and Matthew.
It was mid-April, and it was already starting to get a little hot under the scorching sun. Ater and the others were still wearing the same business trip turbans they had brought from the valley, and they couldn't help but pull on their collars to let the cold wind in.
With a tight schedule, Art didn't have time to visit and worship all the churches and monasteries in the city. After entering the city, he turned right and took Ron straight to Noble's seminary.
Noble Theological Seminary itself is not famous. It only occupies a small piece of land in the east of Noble City. There are less than a hundred apprentices in the seminary every year. However, the library of Noble Theological Seminary is extremely famous because there are nearly a thousand ancient books in this library affiliated to Noble Theological Seminary. In addition to this, it is also a place where books are produced.
The seminary is an open structure, so there is no door, but outsiders cannot enter the schools belonging to the seminary, where there are theological teachers and apprentices studying.
There is a single-story church-like building on the north side of the seminary, which is the Noble Theological Seminary Library.
Walking to the door of the library, an old man who looked like a librarian stopped a few people at the door. After explaining his intention to buy books, Art paid three small Lombardy silver coins to the old man. After receiving the silver coins, the old man returned to the wooden table at the door, picked up three small wooden boards that were polished and looked like bookmarks and handed them to the three of them, and told them to take good care of the books and compensate them for damage.
Those three small wooden boards are actually bookmarks, but this thing is more of a voucher for checking books.
After paying the money to receive the wooden boards, the three of them pushed open the tall door of the library. What appeared in front of everyone was a broad and bright hall. The hall was roughly divided into three areas. There were several clerical-looking people at the entrance. They stood behind a row of wooden tables, and further inside were a number of tall wooden shelves. Each row of wooden shelves was neatly placed. When it comes to storing books and volumes, the books on the wooden shelves in the back should be isolated ancient books. They are all tied with a long chain. There are also desks and wooden stools specially set up under the bookshelves. People who want to consult can only sit under the wooden shelves and study within the scope allowed by the chains. This is intended to prevent people with ulterior motives from stealing those precious and unusual ancient texts.
The wooden shelves holding books and papers take up most of the space, but at the very back of the hall, there is an area with more than twenty writing desks.
This kind of writing desk is different from the official desk. Its main body is an inclined wooden board and a wooden base. There is a protruding partition above the wooden board, which is used to store books. There is a protruding short board below the wooden board, which is used to place pens and ink. There is also a drawer under the short board. The drawer usually contains spare pens, ink or parchment.
The purpose of these writing desks is obvious - they are used for transcribing books and volumes.
As a seminary, in addition to theological teachings, writing is also a necessary skill for apprentices. This is the place where apprentices specialize in learning writing. In addition, these writing desks also have another important function-the production of books and volumes.
That’s right, in this era, there is only one way for books to be produced, and that is handwriting and copying. The library will specially hire people who can write and are good at writing to work in the library. Their daily task is to copy those ancient Chinese classics. These books were turned into parchment books and became classics on wooden shelves in libraries everywhere, or were sent to other churches, monasteries, and seminaries. Of course, they were also bought by nobles and wealthy businessmen who spent a lot of money to decorate their studies and serve as elegant people.
"Oh my god, there are so many books in the world, it's just..." Ron's eyes were already wider than cow bells. He stood blankly at the door of the library, his mouth open and he didn't know how to describe his inner shock.
Ron has read books, which he is very proud of.
Over the years when he entered the valley and became a bodyguard and even a bodyguard of At, Art forced him to learn a lot of words, first Common Chinese, then simple Latin, and learning to read the words in the Bible, until he could barely write documents in Common Chinese and Latin. If calculated carefully, Ron had read several books, and he could spell thousands of words, which was already amazing.
But as he stood in the library of Noble Seminary, he felt for the first time that he was just an idiot.
“Sir, are these all books?” Matthew’s mouth also opened wide. He had studied writing specifically at the Valley Parish School, but the contents of those studies were either fragments of the Bible copied on the wooden board by Father Hamish, or the old account books and documents taken out by the old butler Cooper. The total number of books and documents he had seen (counting the birch bark produced in the valley) was only a palm thick, and the books that were now placed taller than a person were indeed shocking enough.
"I brought you two together today specifically to let you know how much you have learned. You usually learn a few words here and there and think you know everything. Now do you know how much ink you have in your stomach?" Art ignored the surprise of the two personal guards and walked straight in.
A young man who looked like a librarian immediately came up to him. This young man was seventeen or eighteen years old, half shorter than Matthew, but he looked energetic and behaved very well.
"Sir, I am Balor, the librarian. How can I help you?" The librarian just heard the conversation between Atron and others, and spoke in a fluent Burgundian accent.
Matt looked the young man up and down, and handed the bookmark board to the young man, "Are you from Burgundy?"
"No, no, no, sir, I am a Lombard." Balor took the board and denied it repeatedly.
"Then you~"
Balor smiled, "I have been here as a manager since I was twelve years old. I have come into contact with many guests, including Lombardy, Provence, France, Florence, etc. I always like to talk to the guests and also like to learn, so that's it~" The young man shrugged.
Matt subconsciously turned his head and glanced at Ron and Matthew who were following closely behind him. His eyes were like "Learn from others!".
But Ron and Matthew just pretended to be nonchalant, looking left and right at the bookshelves on both sides.
"I guess the distinguished guest is here to buy books on the art of war?" Balor once again gave Art a surprise.
“Can you guess this?”
Balor smiled and said, "This is obvious. Both of your guards are brave warriors, and the ring on your finger and the sword cocoon on your palm indicate that you have been fighting all year round, so you are either a mercenary leader or a military noble. A noble who leads the army usually does not read those complicated poems and literary rhetoric works. Of course, those art of war books are the most suitable for you. "
Matt looked at the young man several times and said, "Your name is Balor? I remember you. Well, I really want to buy some art of war books here, whether they are ancient or modern. Can you recommend some for me?"
Balor's goal was achieved, and he was able to sell a lot of books and earn a lot of commission.
I saw Balor turning around in response to the call, and took out a piece of parchment from behind the wooden table. The parchment contained a special catalog of books - books recommended by merchants, books recommended by knights, books recommended by minor nobles, books recommended by craftsmen... All recommended books were classified according to occupation and social status.
This parchment is obviously the fruit of Balor's own wisdom.
He turned over the parchment and searched for a moment among the dense symbols, "Ha, found it."
"These sets of books are very suitable for you."
"The first set is "A Brief Introduction to the Art of War." This is a military masterpiece during the imperial period. The book consists of five volumes. The first volume mainly talks about the recruitment and training of new soldiers. The second volume talks about the organization and formation of the imperial legions and legion commanders, as well as the creation of this organization and how to organize the legions in combat. The third volume talks about strategic and tactical issues. The fourth volume talks about the advancement and defense of fortified areas. The fifth volume covers the use of the navy."
The parchment in Balor's hand is just a simple summary of the book. Art has also read this book. The book emphasizes that the first is that the army must be superb and well-trained, and only in this way can it win in battle; the second is to pay attention to the selection of soldiers. Soldiers must not only have a strong body, but also have a brave and fearless spirit; the third is to emphasize military law and discipline, and believe that military law and discipline is one of the decisive factors for the army to win in war; the fourth is to emphasize that army generals must fully grasp the enemy's situation and military situation, be familiar with the enemy and the battlefield, formulate correct and complete combat policies, and launch attacks at the right time. In addition, the book also elaborates on issues such as the suddenness of war and the necessity of maintaining reserves.
This is a set of military art books that are very suitable for high-level officers to learn and master, so Art directly asked, "How much does this book cost?"
"Dear guest, there are two versions of this set of books. One is a hardcover edition with exquisite illustrations, worth 5,800 pfennigs, a set of three books in total; the other is transcribed by a seminary apprentice, without illustrations, but with similar text content, and the price is much cheaper, only 2,200 pfennigs, for a total of two books."
Matt turned back to glare at Matthew, then turned his head again, "Hardcover illustrated edition, one set. Where are the others?"
"The second set is called "Strategic Examples", which consists of four volumes. The first volume is about the strategic examples used before the war; the second volume is about the strategic examples used to subdue the enemy in the war; the third volume is about the strategic examples during siege and lifting of the siege; and the fourth volume talks about military ethics. This book is a classified collection of historical examples of war, which contains rich ancient military philosophy and the use of troops."
This book. Shuat had not read it, but Balor had obviously read it carefully. He put down the parchment and introduced: "The book talks about a lot of war ethics, such as not bullying residents, because they are the source of food and clothing for soldiers; soldiers are not robbers, and defeating the enemy with kindness is as powerful as weapons; war is not against residents, but against armed enemies; attack wherever the enemy is garrisoned; forgive the enemy when he surrenders, etc."
"This set of books was copied when I was an apprentice. There are two books in total. My handwriting was not very beautiful at that time, so the price was much cheaper, two thousand five hundred pfennigs."
"I bought it!" Art did not hesitate at all.
Balor was of course extremely happy. The man in front of him was the most generous military noble he had ever seen.
"Is there any more?" Art realized that the young man in front of him had a lot of things in his stomach, so he simply asked more.
"There are only these two sets of great books on the art of war in ancient times. The others are fine for those little knights who have never been on the battlefield. I'm afraid they won't fool you if they are given to you. But last year, I copied a set of books called "Mercenary Manual" for an old man who once served as the chief of the Sword of the Dawn Mercenary Group. Clerk, he has written a set of books based on his mercenary experience in those years. I have copied one. If you are interested, you can buy it and read it. The content is not much, it is only one book, and the price is very reasonable, eight hundred pfennigs. "
"Mercenary Manual? Could you please take it out and let me have a look..."