I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 173 Journey to Cattelan Kingdom

one year later.

Crudesai, a border city of the Kingdom of Cattelan, welcomed a caravan from the Kingdom of Macedonia.

This caravan looks no different from the Macedonian caravans in the past. A team of caravan guards wearing leather or linen armor and holding new kite-shaped shields or round shields. If there is any difference, there is only one carriage mixed in the team that only carries people and does not carry goods.

After paying a fee to enter the city, the carriage slowly drove into the city to have a glimpse of the scene in Crudesay City.

Crude Sai City is located in the southern part of Catalan Kingdom, not far from the former Barra River Fortress Group. The Barra River Fortress Group used to be the first line of defense against the invasion of the Ograre Peninsula barbarians, and countless barbarians were buried in the Therefore, to a certain extent, the southern region of the Catalan Kingdom was protected.After the Macedonian Kingdom unified the Ogrell Peninsula, the threat of the barbarians was completely eradicated. After a heated debate, King Cattelan revoked the fort on the Barla River, leaving only a small number of troops stationed.

After the fortress group was dismantled, the Kingdom of Catalan and the Kingdom of Macedonia can be said to have "frankly met", and the trade between the two countries has increased day by day. Before the threat of the barbarians is eliminated, the two countries can only rely on the transit point of the Principality of Harun For trade, the trade volume is not high, and the prices of commodities from the Kingdom of Macedonia remain high, and now the caravans of the two countries can directly cross the Barla River for trade, and a large amount of commodities produced in Macedonia are transported to the Kingdom of Catalan, allowing They are no longer luxuries reserved for the rich and powerful.

Because of the close commercial and trade exchanges, the relationship between countries is becoming more and more harmonious. Whether it is the frequency of the exchange of envoys or the exchange and discussion of scholars, it can be seen that at Pella University, Cattelan scholars and students accounted for more foreigners. Half of the proportion, Greek culture penetrated into the hearts of these Cattelans.

According to rumors in the market, the young King Cattelan intends to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Macedonia, but the credibility is not high. After hearing this, most people just laughed it off and didn't take it seriously.

……

Through the curtains of the carriage, Antico silently observed the streets of Crudesa City. As he saw, this border city was not wealthy. After all, it was still being harassed by barbarians a few years ago. Although now, Thanks to the frequent commercial trade between the two countries, the economy still has not recovered much.

From the perspective of Antigonus, the walls of the buildings on both sides of Crudeside Street are covered with ivy vines, and some exposed walls even show signs of cracking and falling off, and the clothes of the pedestrians walking on the street are also covered. The cheapest rough linen clothes are still stained with more or less stains. Few people are glamorous. In other words, the few glamorous people that can be seen are either local nobles or businessmen from the Kingdom of Macedonia.

The stone streets of Crudesay have been in disrepair for a long time, and the road surface is full of potholes. It may have rained not long ago, and the potholes on the road surface are full of black muddy water, which will splash if people accidentally step on it. Got muddy feet.The air is filled with a damp smell, but it does not have the stench of feces that Antigonus imagined—in Cattelan Kingdom, every city has a dedicated excrement collector, and the citizens will not randomly dump the excrement. The excrement is dumped at the door of the house, so there will be no stench.

Although the living environment is not good, the citizens of Crudesay are still full of hope for life. Antigonus can see that the faces of the pedestrians on the street are full of vitality, unlike what he saw in the Gillies Federation So numb and lifeless.

"This is a city with a bright future." Antigonus commented, and at the end, he added: "If the flames of war don't burn here."

Hearing this, Agnes, the captain of the guard who was sitting next to him, replied with a smile: "Your Majesty, isn't it all up to your decision? After all, Crudesai is on the border between our two countries."

"If it is not necessary, who would want to start a war?" Antigonus shrugged. "The kingdom is booming now, and everything is developing for the better. If possible, I really want to go on like this."

"So you came here in person." Agnes took over his words, "If we can form an alliance with the Kingdom of Cattelan, we will have no enemies around - oh, the Principality of Harlan is still an unstable factor. "

"Congreve, Duke of Harlan is a smart man." Antigonus said, and he explained the current situation of the Principality of Harlan in one sentence, "The Duke of Harlan has not yet recovered from the war, and its national strength has been damaged. Their northern There is also the Kingdom of Karenel, who is eyeing it like a tiger, and now it can only do its best to protect itself, so what confidence does it have to dare to be an enemy of us?"

"That's true." Agnes nodded. He remembered the envoy from Harlan Dukedom not long ago, and continued: "So Congreve sent an envoy to turn our enemies into friends. , in case we take the opportunity to attack him?"

Antigonus shook his head, "Not all, the most important thing is that our commercial embargo on the Principality of Harun made them unbearable. If the people of Harun want to use our products, they must buy from the Kingdom of Mateus or It is purchased from Cattelan Kingdom, which will undoubtedly increase the cost, which is fine for a short time, but they will not be able to bear it for a long time."

"Then did you agree to lift the embargo?" Agnes asked curiously. He was not present when the two talked, so he didn't know a word about the content.

"Of course, why not make money?" Antigonus had a victorious smile on his face. "The Harun people agree to lower tariffs and increase the priority of our merchants in their country. This is beneficial to our merchants."

"Then they must have paid a heavy price." Agnes also laughed.

……

While the two were talking, the caravan stopped at the largest tavern in Crudesay City, and the driver sitting outside steering the carriage reminded Antigonus and the two of them, and then stretched out his hand to lift the curtain for them. Antigonus walked out first, He poked his head out and looked around subconsciously. This tavern is a three-story building. It can be seen that the first floor is used to entertain guests for drinking and eating, and the second floor and above are the accommodation rooms.

Antico got out of the carriage in a few steps, and through the wide open door of the tavern, he saw many men sitting in the hall on the first floor. Although it was daytime, there were still many idle people staying in the tavern, drinking, bragging and spanking , He frowned slightly, but he also knew that there was no way to change the place, because there was no such thing as a hotel in this era, and the tavern assumed the status of the hotel.

Agnes also got out of the carriage. He and Antigonus hid their identities and hired a carriage to come out, so there were no other guards except the two of them.He walked up to Antigonus, glanced at the Greeks who walked into the tavern together, and said, "Master, let's go."

Because his identity was hidden, he couldn't address Antigonus as His Majesty outside, and it was a bit strange to call him by other titles. In addition, Antigonus was not very old, so he called him Young Master.

"Yeah." Antigonus nodded, followed the crowd and walked into the hall. Eratosthenes, the leader of the caravan, was talking with the tavern owner who came up to him in broken Calante. From the corner of his eye, he saw the two of Antigonus approaching, and he signaled the boss to wait first, then turned to Antigonus, and asked: "Your Excellency, Antichoros, we are discussing how many rooms we want to reserve. Are you and your attendant?" Do you want to be in the same room or separate rooms?"

"A double room is enough." Antigono replied.

Hearing this, the leader of the caravan talked with the boss again. After a while, the two reached a consensus. Eratosthenes said to everyone: "We will stay on the second floor of this tavern tonight. The boss will ask you to take you to your own room. Brothers, it’s time for free activities, I hope you don’t play too crazy, and you won’t have the strength to walk tomorrow.”

"Hahaha……"

The caravan guards laughed one after another, and they naturally understood what their leader meant.

Antigonus and Angnis did not join them, but rested in the room for a night. There was no place to go in a poor place like Crudsey, and the only place the caravan guards could go was within the city. Brothels and casinos, these two places cost a lot of money no matter where they go.

Speaking of which, Antigonus and Agnes hid their identities here simply because Antigonus felt bored, and wanted to visit the Catalan Kingdom, where the relationship is getting better and better, to see whether this country is suitable for forming an alliance, and take a look by the way Is there a chance to engage in a wave of otherworldly versions of "Qianlong's Jiangnan".

Well, it doesn't matter whether she is beautiful or not, Antigonus mainly wants to experience the customs of this world.

……

The next morning, the caravan left Crudsay and headed north along the not so smooth paved road.This caravan set out from Pella City to sell soap and paper to Burlap, the capital of the Catalan Kingdom. On their way forward, they often encountered passers-by or caravans robbed by robbers, so the caravan guards When there were more than 30 caravans, Antigon chose to go with them because they had more caravan guards than other caravans.

Although he didn't go there himself, he often heard about being robbed on the way to Bulllap. In order to save his dog's life, Antigonus had to be more careful.

Eratosthenes and his 33 caravan guards are all from Aetolia, a small Greek city-state. According to what he said when chatting on the road, there were originally more than 50 of them, but they were hired by Athens once. On their way to Sicily with the ship, the fleet they were in was harassed by a storm, and the ships they were on were also separated from the fleet. When the rain cleared, they came to this strange world. Together with people from other parts of the Greek world who traveled across in a daze.

After staying in this world for several years, they have experienced many battles, and the number has been reduced to the current 33. According to Eratosthenes, if the First Army expands, he must bring the remaining brothers. Go sign up, with their rich battlefield experience, they will definitely not be brushed off.

His idea is also the idea of ​​many people in the Kingdom of Macedonia. Under Antigonus' military reform, the Macedonian army has established a complete standing army system. An old retired iron rice bowl - oh, although no one has yet reached the standard of old retired.

……

Because sitting in the carriage was really bumpy, Antigonus and Agnes did not stay in the carriage anymore. They each rode a horse and walked in front of the caravan, alongside Eratosthenes. Forward.In order to prevent the technology of stirrups from spreading to other countries, they did not install stirrups on their horses, including the traveling caravans. Now Antigonus and others can only sit on the fixed saddles and use their legs as much as possible. Horse belly, don't let yourself fall off the horse's back because of bumpy road conditions.

"The roads in the Kingdom of Kalant are really rubbish. No matter how many times I walk on this road, I will always tell others this."

While feeling the bumps on the ground, Eratosthenes complained that he only felt pain in his butt and some sadness in his testicles.

"You should go and feel it in the carriage, that's a kind of torture." Antico couldn't help taking his words, and complained.

Eratosthenes waved his hand and said, "I don't need to go. When I first walked this road, I tried to sit in a carriage. The feeling..."

At this point, he didn't continue talking, but the pained expression on his face made it obvious at a glance that he must have been feeling very bad at that time.

"Speaking of which, how long have you been on this road?" Antico asked curiously, "If I remember correctly, it was about three years ago that the Kingdom of Macedonia and the Kingdom of Cattleya opened up business. Did you start at that time?"

"As you guessed, my brothers and I were hired by a merchant to escort his goods to Bulllap after the kingdom announced the opening of the land trade route. Since then, we have been cooperating with that merchant. As you can see, the goods in the dozen or so carriages escorted this time are also his property."

"Then you must have made a lot of money from it?" Antico asked again.

Speaking of this, Eratosthenes had a rare indescribable expression on his face. Seeing his appearance, Antigonus somewhat guessed something. He chuckled lightly and said, "You must not have a wife."

"How do you know?" Eratosthenes asked curiously.

"If you have a wife, then the money you earned over the years will basically be left to her to subsidize the family, instead of squandering it all yourself." Antico said teasingly.

"Actually, I have a wife in Aetolia's house." Eratosthenes said with a sigh, "and we also have a pair of lovely children. If it weren't for that damned storm, we would have died a long time ago. I have completed the employer's task and went home to spend time with my wife and children."

Is that right?

Antigonus was noncommittal.

Because according to Eratosthenes’s background before crossing, it is likely to be the war of Athens’ expedition to the city-state of Sicily. In that disastrous war, the Athenian expeditionary force was almost wiped out. If Eratosthenes still Inside, there was a good chance of being killed on the battlefield, or captured by the Sicilians as poor slaves.

(End of this chapter)