Tang Qi Tan

A few days later, Jiang Tian, ​​who was walking in simple clothes, was walking on the streets of Rotterdam.It's just that his current identity is that of a mercenary known as "War Hyena" and one of the "Gold Chasing Jackals" black market merchants; a member of the Salonian Chamber of Commerce from Italy.

Of course, the Salonian Chamber of Commerce is an old-fashioned chamber of commerce that really exists, and it is also a long-term partner of many large and small mercenary groups located between the North Rhine and the Netherlands.The long-term business is the discounting of loot and the sale of property of unknown origin; therefore, there are also branches in the Netherlands.

And it is not the first time to deal with these foreign Britons.And this time in the city of Rotterdam, he was also invited.Therefore, through the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom, Jiang Tian easily replaced a certain senior member from Alemanni.

And this time, he was accompanied by only two guard knights, Major Migne of the Mountain Regiment who was a sword and shield sergeant, and an old yellow-haired mercenary recommended by him; they just formed a small guard and guide business. On behalf of the group, mixed in the caravan inconspicuous.

Of course, in this era, the city of Rotterdam in the Earl of the Netherlands was built on a swampy sandbar, but because of its function as a transshipment hub for both an inland wharf and a sea port; under the management and expansion of successive rulers, it has already become quite a city. The basic prototype of a big city.

It is said that the foundations of the original city were laid on sandbars and swamps with wooden piles, and then beams and planks were laid on them; thus the original villages and towns were formed.Then when the population gathers and multiplies, it begins to dike and drain to open up more ground.

In the end, the scale of the city surrounded by many dams and all over the port was formed.Therefore, Rotterdam is also one of the few port cities in the Netherlands that can provide a large amount of taxes and trade commissions.The income alone is as high as that of more than a dozen cities in the inland.

In Jiang Tian's eyes, the outer walls of Rotterdam are not too high, and most of them are wooden structures; however, the dams, sandbars, and waterways surrounding the vicinity are natural lines of defense in themselves, which need to break through the outer walls Those bridges and checkpoints to enter.

Not to mention that in the process, they have to endure the continuous suppression and killing from the wooden city walls, the arrow towers, sentry towers and enemy towers, and the condescension.And slightly larger siege equipment; it is also difficult to survive the continuous attack, and insist on rushing to the foot of the city gate wall.

According to his assessment and judgment, if he does not take action, even if the New Kingdom Army attacks, it will have to rely on a little bit of occupation and clearing of the peripheral bridge checkpoints, and then under the suppression of intensive shelling, through the continuous operation of the engineering company, Lay several offensive channels.

Then, led by the special attack knights, they crossed the natural obstacles of the swamps and sandbars that were easy to fall into; they rushed into the gaps in the city wall that were bombarded, and cleared and suppressed the remaining defenders on the walls at both ends; only then could it be possible to capture such a sandy bay. large port cities.

However, after Jiang Tian came all the way, except for some wrecks of ships that were stranded in the river and were too late to clean up, there were not many traces of fierce fighting.Even the wooden city walls, arrow towers, and sentry towers showed no signs of serious damage under the storm.

This made him even more curious. Did these Britons really rely on internal agents lurking in the city to take Rotterdam easily?But what made her even more unbelievable was that after the British captured Rotterdam, there were still people who defected.

And it's the people of the Netherlands with their families, which is too outrageous.Could it be that the Earl of Holland is so inhumane that the people under his rule would rather seek refuge with the invading Britons?You must know that in the long-term rumors and propaganda, Britain is synonymous with wildness and blood.

However, when Jiang Tian inadvertently asked a similar question at a small vendor who sold bad wine and grilled fish in the open air on the street, the other party's answer was also very simple: "Guest, you just came from abroad, right? Naturally, I don’t know how cruel our lord is..."

"In contrast, it is a blessing to be robbed by the British; at least after they have robbed us once, they will not come to harass us for a long time. Even the leader of the British, after driving away those tax collectors and deputy officials, It will also burn the debt documents along the way.”

"In this way, at least my wife and children will not have to continue to be debt slaves and be sold to foreign lands. I don't have to go to a ship in the high seas and wear chains as an oarsman to pay off debts. At least in my village Here, more than half of the people were sold out because of their debts."

"Obviously the catches and land yields in the past two years have been harvested, but no matter what, they can't be sold at a price; the labor and taxes levied by the lord are getting heavier and heavier. The family's debts to the steward and the deputy official are getting bigger and bigger. The more, I don't want to be sold, so I can only run out desperately."

"There are many others who ran out with me. They were caught by the soldiers in charge and deputy officials. They drew lots and hanged them on the side of the road, or killed women and children with dogs. God bless me, I was just caught At that time, the Britons attacked and brought us into the city..."

After Jiang Tian heard this, he could only sigh.Regardless of the success or failure of the emperors and generals, regardless of the rise and fall, it is the people at the bottom who suffer in the end.This is not the case for the nobles of the kingdom, but at least under his leadership and promotion, the situation in the kingdom has greatly improved.

After cutting off most of the subcontractors, middlemen, and rentiers, including the old royal family/big aristocrats, the people in the vast villages and towns of the kingdom, even if they rented out half of the land and headed , Hukou tax, can also greatly improve the standard of living.

Even after the celestial turmoil, when aliens were rampant and anomalies frequently appeared; You had enough energy to respond to the call of the national salvation government and organized half-full-time town self-defense and rural patrols.But obviously, in the vast areas outside the kingdom, the situation of the people at the bottom is even more miserable because of this.

In this case, the foreign Britons who know how to protect the people (leek fields) and catch fish in a sustainable way are particularly special.With this complicated thought in mind, Jiang Tian walked through the urban areas, and saw groups of British people swimming on the streets.

Most of them are disheveled, and carry shields, javelins, one-handed axes, and Celtic broadswords. Only a few leaders have iron armor, and most of them are leather armor inlaid with iron or foam nails; Although there is no shortage of people who get drunk or have fun with women in their arms.

But there is basically no trace of disturbing the people.Therefore, Jiang Tian and others under the banner of the Salonian Chamber of Commerce were invited into the city hall in the central area of ​​the city after a short wait, and saw a figure kneeling with a sword in front of the temporary shrine.