I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 182 Office

Antigonus and his party left safely. The robbers he was worried about did not come back. After leaving the village, they rushed along the road all the way in the direction of Siraya. It took four days to finally Come to this town.

Silaya is still the territory of Viscount Dunla. You can tell by looking at the flag fluttering on the city wall, but the atmosphere of this town is not good. Although the city gate is wide open, there are only a handful of pedestrians coming in and out , The number of guards guarding the city gates and walls is also much larger than before.

Antigonus naturally didn't know how many defenders there were before, but that didn't stop Tennyson, a local, from telling him.Judging from the number of defenders, this war with Gower is definitely not over, but this is also what Antigon expected. How could the war end so quickly? Viscount Gower just won a big victory with a night attack. , will definitely take the opportunity to propose an unacceptable peace agreement.

Because Antigonus and the others specially dressed up before entering the city, and because Tennyson happened to know one of the soldiers guarding the city, they were simply searched and put into the city. From Nissen's questioning of the soldier, we can learn that the atmosphere in Siraya City is extremely tense. Only Viscount Gaskell and his own brother fled back on horseback. After returning, they issued a new order. Calling orders, preparing to fight against the army led by Gower, and at the same time sending envoys to negotiate with the other party.

Negotiate?

It can only be said that I was scared of being beaten.

Most of the soldiers in the camp that was attacked that night became captives or deserters, and only a lucky few were able to return home safely.In other words, Viscount Dunla didn't have much military strength to continue fighting with Viscount Gower.

Antigonus felt a little sad. If Viscount Gaskell had been more vigilant, it would not have turned from a big victory into an irreparable defeat.

But all of this has nothing to do with Antigonus and the others. After settling down at Tennyson’s home in Siraya, Antigonus entrusted them to look for shops opened by Macedonians in the city, and at the same time let Morse and his son return to the village. Go pick up family over here.The result was similar to what Antigon expected. In the remote rural town of Siraya, the spies from the foreign battalion did not leave any trace at all, so Antigon could only continue to Burlap, the capital of Catalan Kingdom. .

Perhaps in order to repay the favor, after the Morse family was taken over, Tennyson and Dean's family paid for them to travel with a caravan that happened to be going to Bullrup, and they also got a lot of money. travel expenses.

……

The road from Siraya to Bulllap was peaceful, and it took the caravan almost half a month to reach the city of Bulllap.

Bulllap is a huge city built on the Cattelan Plain. The city is next to the Kona River, which is called the mother river by the Cattelan people. It is surrounded by a circle of seven or eight-meter-high stone walls. The moat is more than three meters wide, and the moat leads directly to the Kona River. Every day, countless garbage and filth are poured into the moat, and then flow into the Kona River along the flow direction.

Apart from the land, the most important thing for a human settlement to develop is the water source. With the almost inexhaustible water source of the Kona River, the population of Bulllap City and its surrounding land far exceeds The [-] mark, outside the towering city wall, except for the moat, there are farmlands and villages connected to each other. The uneven stone paved road crosses the farmland that has become a green sea, connecting the distance, walking on this road The flow of people on the street did not subside even at night.

After Antigonus's caravan passed through one village after another, it finally arrived outside the city gate of Burlap. Antigonus noticed that the land connecting the land he was stepping on to the city gate was not a bridge, but a bridge. A wooden suspension bridge held by two thick iron cables. This suspension bridge was lowered across both sides of the moat, allowing pedestrians on both sides to enter and exit. On the other side of the suspension bridge, dozens of fully armed guards holding spears looked like statues. Standing, scanning the people coming and going with vigilant eyes.

Perhaps because of their confidence in security, the guards at the city gate did not check the people who entered and exited, but just let them in after charging them an entry fee. The caravan where Antigonus was in paid all the fees at one time, and then slowly Drive through the tall, wide doorway.

Through the five-meter door opening, the streetscape of Burlap City is bright and bright. On both sides of the wide street are two or three-story stone buildings connected to each other. Wooden poles are hung outside each open window, and the air is hung on it. Clothes of various colors are hung, and those clothes that have not been wrung out will still drip water droplets. Sometimes the water droplets will drip on the passers-by who just pass by below. The passers-by just touch the water stains on their bodies and look up. At a glance, he muttered a few words, but didn't pay attention to it. More water droplets just fell into the sewage drains on both sides of the street, and flowed into the moat along with the sewage.

There are almost no roadside stalls on the streets of Bulllap, or they have a specially planned commercial area. The area entered by the city gate is a residential area, so there are no vendors, and some are just passers-by. And the child who shuttled through the crowd like a loach.After crossing this street and entering a large square, Antigonus saw vendors setting up stalls on both sides of the square. These vendors shouted loudly at passers-by, and their stalls also placed their goods for sale.

Antico noticed that behind some of the stalls were workshops with wooden signs hanging at the door, such as those blacksmiths, leathersmiths, bakeries, etc., because there was not enough space in the shop, so the stalls were placed outside, and the craftsmen Working inside, the apprentices yelled and sold things outside, but they also cooperated.

After entering the city, Antigonus and Morse's family separated from the caravan that came with them. After arriving here, he remembered that he seemed to have sent an envoy to stay here, so he didn't have to look for anything. The stronghold of the foreign camp was reached. After asking a few locals, they turned around and finally found the emissary station of the Kingdom of Macedonia outside the area near the palace.

Looking at the sign of the Virgina Sun painted on the wooden sign, Antigonus almost felt tears welling up in his eyes. He got off his horse, handed the reins of the horse to Tuttle, and walked towards the two men standing on both sides of the door. Two soldiers in linen breastplates holding round shields and spears.

"Stop! This is the office of the Macedonian envoy, please do not enter!"

The two soldiers shouted loudly in Cattelan, which they were not very proficient in.

Antigonus stopped in his tracks. He stretched out his right hand and showed the king's ring worn on the index finger of his right hand in front of the two soldiers. He lowered his voice and said, "I am Antigonus Borgia, King of Macedonia. I want to see your messenger."

The two soldiers saw clearly the king's ring on Antigonus's finger and listened to his words. They didn't care to think about why the king appeared here in such a dress. They quickly touched their chests and saluted and let him in. Not far away, More Seeing the two soldiers being respectful to Antigonus, the Si family felt a little confused and felt more and more that Antigonus's identity must not be simple.

In fact, they have long doubted Antigon's identity. Judging from Antigon's speech and behavior and the performance of fighting in battle, he is not like a so-called businessman at all (Antigon did not admit it himself), but Like nobles who have been on the battlefield, this is one of the reasons why their family dared to follow Antigonus to come here far away from home. They were betting that Antigonus was indeed a nobleman, and that their family would be able to live well after following him. better life.

Now it seems that they won half of the bet. Antigonus's identity is indeed not simple. If he is just a businessman, why would the guards of the Macedonian envoy salute him?

Thinking of this, they were all a little nervous.

Antigonus didn't know what the Cattelans outside were thinking. After being led in by one of the soldiers, he met the Macedonian envoy stationed here. Coincidentally, the Macedonian envoy Antigonus also met After a few times, the other party also recognized Antigon at a glance.

"Your Majesty?" The voice of the envoy Kostas trembled, and Antigon didn't know why he was so excited. "Why did you appear here? I haven't received any news from Pella."

"It's a long story." Antico waved his hand and changed the subject: "Arrange a few rooms for us, and prepare pens and paper. I need to contact Pella City."

"Us?" Kostas accurately captured a key word and asked.

"Yes, a Catalan family who came with me, they saved me." After speaking, Antigono added: "Oh, they are outside now."

Hearing that they had rescued Antigonus, Costas didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly ordered someone to invite the Cattelan family in, and at the same time asked someone to prepare paper and pens.

After everything was arranged, Costas asked again: "Your Majesty, are you here alone?"

"No, I came with the chief of the guard, Agnes." Antigonus shook his head. Speaking of Agnes, his heart became much heavier.

Seeing that there was no sign of Agnes beside Antigonus, Kostas seemed to understand something in his heart, his face changed slightly, and he did not continue to ask questions.After a while, the pen and paper were ready, and Antigonus sat behind the desk, picked up the pen, and began to write on the paper.

Costas stood aside and waited for a long time until Antigonus folded the paper, stuffed it into an envelope, handed it to him, and ordered: "Let someone ride a fast horse back to the city of Pella, and give the envelope to Queen Helen .”

"Of order, Your Majesty." The envoy promised, and then walked away quickly with the envelope.

After he left, Antigonus returned to his position, holding his chin in his hand, thinking about how to deal with the bandits. Angnis could not die in vain. With his vengeful character, those damn bandits must Blood for blood, tooth for tooth.

It is impossible to transfer troops from Macedonia. Even if it is an ally with the Cattelan Kingdom, it is unreasonable to rush troops into the country, not to mention that the two countries are only in the state of signing a non-aggression treaty. If the troops are allowed to enter the country , I am afraid that it will enter a state of war within the next day.

After much deliberation, the only way is to recruit mercenaries. There are many mercenaries in Catalan Kingdom. This is all because domestic nobles often attack each other. If the strength gap between nobles is too large, the weaker side will usually If you choose to hire mercenaries to fight for yourself and increase your strength, those wealthy nobles will also prefer to use mercenaries to fight. The conscripts in the collar die one less, and the mercenaries die and pay a few silver coins as pensions. up.

More importantly, mercenaries are legal in the Kingdom of Cattelan. As long as you don't do anything illegal to the local civilians, no matter where you go, there will be no leader in charge of you. On the contrary, if they happen to start a war, they will contact you. You ask about the price of hire.

Thinking of this, Antigonus had a solution in his mind. He got up and left the study, and went outside, just in time to see the Morse family coming out of the room assigned to them. Glancing around, seeing everything was novel, Morse, the leader, saw Antigonus appearing, stepped forward quickly, and said gratefully.

"Antiko, the environment of the room you arranged for us is so good, we have never seen such a good place, even the rich people's house in Siraya City can't compare."

Antico noticed the words in his words, smiled slightly, knowing that the other party had somewhat sensed his identity, and said, "You can stay here for a few days first, and let the servants go outside to buy what you need."

"No, no, no, we will handle it ourselves." Morse quickly shied away. After all, they were still civilians who had just left the countryside. They suddenly became the role of servants, and they still couldn't get used to it for a while.

Antigonus saw him shirk and didn't say much. He just asked them to pay attention to the dinner time and sent them away. Then he went to Kerstas, who had just handed the envelope to a Macedonian soldier, and told them that he had just handed the envelope to a Macedonian soldier. My thoughts came out in detail.

Kostas didn't object, or in other words, he was not qualified to object at all, he just remained silent for a while, and then replied: "Your Majesty, if you need it, I will ask the treasurer to provide you with the cost of recruiting mercenaries. "

After finishing speaking, he added: "After the establishment of the office, silver coins were sent from Pella every month. In addition, the Cattelan nobles and merchants who have made friends with us also sent some gold and silver coins from time to time. Jewelry, you don't have to worry about your belongings."

Hearing this, Antico was overjoyed. The most fearful thing about recruiting mercenaries is running out of money. If you want to drive mercenaries to fight for you, spending money is the most effective way. If you run out of money, it’s okay for them to cancel the contract and leave. If this is getting cold feet, it will be bad luck for eight lifetimes.

Antigonus, who had no worries, asked Costas to contact some famous mercenary regiments in Bulllap City, and planned to rest here for a few days before setting off to attack the bandits led by Trollope. .

(End of this chapter)