At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

"guard!"

Chapter 221 You are doing well!

The blue-gray light came in from the gap in the window and shone on Dovian's forehead covered with sweat. He sat in front of the sloping copying table, inserted the reed pen into the ink bottle, and stirred it unconsciously.

An apprentice walked by and asked curiously, "Priest Dovian, what's wrong with you?"

Dovian's whole body trembled violently, and even the ink splashed on the table. He glanced at the curious apprentice, swallowed, and forced a smile: "It's okay, may God forgive me, I was distracted .”

After driving away the apprentice, Dovian couldn't sit still anymore. He walked around the small copying room two or three times, but still couldn't hold back his trembling hands.

A week ago, when carrying a batch of papyrus, because he drank a little fermented fruit juice and walked unsteadily, he accidentally broke a box of ten rolls of papyrus, worth 1000 deniers in total.

In the past, this was just a small mistake, but due to the damn fire, a large amount of papyrus was destroyed and needed to be copied again. Now the price of papyrus in the market has skyrocketed, even rising to 130 or even 150 degne per roll Due to my high price, even if Duowei'an borrowed from many parties, the ten rolls of papyrus could not be completed.

For Dovian in the past, if he couldn’t do it, he would be fined, but now it’s not that simple. King Offa also released the news, whoever can complete the re-transcription, then he is the diocese of Hereford new bishop.

Dovian's immediate boss, the elder of his church, the elder who always disliked him, was competing with another elder, Bishop Higbert of Lichfield, for this seat. At a critical moment, Dovian lost ten important rolls of papyrus, which meant something self-evident.

Dovian didn't want to step on the charcoal fire to prove his devotion to the gods. Of course he was devout to the gods, but he didn't reach the level of stepping on fire for the gods.

After thinking about it, Dovian had an idea and thought of the paper vendor that day. They drove him away that day because the church was actually against business. Even their beeswax trade with Frank was done through mutual donations and gifts between churches.

But in the face of this problem, Dovian couldn't control it too much. He found the peddler, bought nine rolls of Siris paper from him, and asked him to give one roll as a gift. In the papyrus, wait for the price to drop in the future, and then secretly make up for it.

Because the warehouse keeper is his friend, and the papyrus is definitely "received" in excess, at that time, if someone else comes to pick up the paper, then the warehouse keeper only needs to put his paper in the back row.

But the problem is that the warehouse manager was accused of theft a few days ago, and screamed in pain after throwing his hands into the frying pan. He was thought to be possessed by a devil and was hanged directly. The new warehouse manager turned out to be the elder's nephew!

When Dovian learned the news and quickly entered the warehouse to intercede with the new warehouse manager, he learned a shocking news: the batch of papers had been transported to the elder's copying room.

Dovian has already started to secretly paint black mud on his feet. He heard from experienced people that if he is lucky, he can walk through the road of charcoal fire.

Dovian didn't wait long in the room, and the announcement of the trial came as scheduled.

"Priest Dovian, Elder Delibisson is looking for you."

"Understood." Dovian took a deep breath, sorted out his mentality, put on a painful and deeply repentant expression, and followed behind the apprentice who came to report the letter.

After passing through the promenade and the small garden, Dovian stepped on the stairs and slowly walked into Elder Delibisson's copying room under the gleeful eyes of everyone.

"Well, well done, Dovian, well done!"

"Elder Delibisson, I was wrong... huh?" Dovian was about to kneel on the ground as soon as he entered the door, but the words of Elder Delibisson sounded in his ears, and he was as soft as noodles The legs immediately stretched like a steel bar.

"It seems that I blamed you wrongly before. I always thought you were a greedy hypocrite. I didn't expect you to be so devout and help us get these precious papers."

Elder Delibisson is a somewhat skinny old man. At this moment, his eyes seem to have two golden lights: "Look, look at this paper. It is small and easy to carry. If you take it apart, it will not be broken no matter how you fold it. It is very useful to copy the scriptures and write letters..."

Touching the paper intoxicatedly for a while, Delibisson's eyes flickered immediately: "The most important thing is that King Offa also likes the dossier copied on this paper, which is much more convenient to carry. He just praised my paper at the meeting, in front of all the elders and bishops. Oh, you didn't see Higbert's stinking face... Now, tell me, Dovian, where did you get these miraculous papers."

"That day we went to the market to receive beeswax donations from Frankish believers. When we were discussing scriptures, we talked about the fire. At this time, a righteous man heard about our experience and felt deeply sympathetic, so he donated nine to us. Rolls of this kind of cerise paper, and a roll is also given away for free."

There was a sudden silence in the room for a few seconds.

"What about the price?" A knowledgeable deacon immediately asked.

"80 deniers."

"A piece of parchment actually costs 80 deniers? This is almost as expensive as a piece of parchment..."

"No, no, not a sheet of 80, but a roll of 80 Deniers."

The room fell into silence again, but this time, it was Delibisson who broke the silence. His old voice trembled a little: "Do you dare to assure Heavenly Father that what you said is true?"

"of course."

"Very good." Delibisson didn't care about decency now, and even revealed the essence of the donation, "I still have more than 400 Solidars in my warehouse, no matter how many he has, I want them all, Dovian, you take someone there, go now, and go on a horse."

In a church in the countryside of Litchfield, three priests rode three clumsy ponies, and under the protection of several entourages who followed them on foot, they rushed towards the previous market town quickly.

The horse's hoof splashed countless muddy water and landed on the faces of passers-by, but the curses and roars of passers-by couldn't catch up with Dovian's ass.

When he arrived at the place, Dovian resisted the feeling of wanting to vomit. Followed by two tall priests, he came to the market town. The market town ended four days ago, except for some vendors who were still purchasing goods nearby or could not leave due to other matters.

Suan Tou Nose's stall had long been empty, but thanks to his social-terrorist style of trading these days, many nearby vendors knew him, and they pointed out the direction to Dovian.

With God's blessing, Dovian and the others finally found the garlic-nosed truck on the side of the road before dark. He clipped a piece of Siris paper to the wooden board, sat on the edge of the carriage, and carefully copied the accounts.

Dovian recognized this young man with obvious features at a glance: "Who is that, with a bulbous nose, and so on."

Suan Tou Nose suddenly raised his head, saw that it was his previous big client, he quickly pulled the reins, got out of the carriage, and saluted him: "I didn't expect to meet again, Priest Dovian, it's really the fate of the heavenly father."

Dovian first took a few breaths and said, "Thank you heavenly father, vomit, cough, cough, you, how much of your kind of Siris paper do you have? I want them all."

"Hiss, I'm afraid this is a bit difficult."

"Do you want to raise the price? I can offer 105 desnels." Seeing Suantou still hesitated to speak, Dovian shouted, "120 desnels!"

"No, no, no, it's not a question of price." Garlic Nose lifted the oilcloth on the truck behind him, "Before you, someone has already bought all my Siris paper, and only this half roll is left in my hand."

Dovian was a little disappointed for a moment: "Okay."

He turned around and wanted to leave, but suddenly seemed to remember something, his face suddenly turned pale, he grabbed the garlic nose that was about to leave: "Can you tell us who the person who bought the paper is?"

"I'm still wondering. It was obviously bought by Bishop Higbert of your Litchfield Diocese. If you want it, why don't you go to him?"

Dovian almost fainted on the ground.

Not long after, in the church in the country, all the priests and monks heard a loud roar from the elder's scribe:

"Higbert! You demon-possessed wretch!"

Chapter 222 Nie Yinniang and Jin Yiwei

After the wheat planting work was completed in March, Feng Sen's affairs gradually became less and less.

He is now practicing martial arts and reading in the morning, and dealing with political affairs in the afternoon. He is much freer than before. Of course, there is another important thing that Feng Sen needs to work on himself, and that is the design of the counterweight catapult.

Feng Sen is in charge of this thing himself. After all, in this era, no one but him understands these mechanics knowledge, so every day he goes to battle in person, leading a group of craftsmen to study the counterweight catapult in the manor of Shanglinyuan.

Although Feng Sen knew the principle of the counterweight catapult, he didn't know how to design it specifically, just like he watched a food video teaching on a certain website, and others made it with a good taste, he made it exactly the same, and the result was based on the defense.

The same goes for the counterweight catapult, just like that damn iron blast furnace, there is no rush.

In mid-April of 784, the living courtyard of Jiangfu.

Sitting in the study, Feng Sen bit his pen, frowned at the latest catapult drawings on the oak desk, and looked at the constipated faces of those Arabic numerals. This reality is really far from the calculation problems on paper.

Just as Feng Sen was thinking hard, a neutral voice sounded from behind Feng Sen: "What is this? What are you painting?"

Feng Sen was startled, and looked up, and it really was Nie Yinniang, the unlucky child.

Nie Yinniang is one year younger than Feng Sen. She loves to play, but she is very skilled. No one can catch her, and the whole burger is messed up. Every few days, someone will come to complain, and he will be annoyed to death.

Gathering the drawings on the table and putting them in a small box beside him, Feng Sen turned around, stared at the uninvited guy, and said in a bad tone, "How did you get in?"

Originally, Feng Sen had a childhood filter and a long-lost reunion filter for this little girl, but after helping her wipe her butt everywhere, this filter was completely broken, and the relationship between the two gradually changed from childhood sweethearts to parents and friends. bad boy.

"It came in through the window." Nie Yinniang said naturally, "You should put a bell on this window to prevent thieves."

"You are self-aware." Feng Sen angrily pointed to the black wooden chair in front of the desk, "Sit down, what can you do with me?"

And Nie Yinniang poured herself a glass of water unceremoniously, sat on the seat, took a big sip of cold water, and then said with a mysterious look: "A Sen, is there a ghost in our Jingnan Army?"

"Oh? Really?" While talking, Feng Sen pulled out a half-written "Concise Phonetic Symbols and Chinese Character Draft" from the side and continued writing, as if he didn't care what Nie Yinniang said.

Nie Yinniang didn't care, and continued to say happily: "I found out that among the priest's apprentices, two were sneaky every day. I sneaked into their houses a few days ago and copied a copy of their recent correspondence. , someone translated it for me.

When I saw it, oh, they were really picky. The letter was full of your situation in Saxony and your ungodliness. They were sending letters to the barbarian king named Cha and the minister named Ma.

Asen, as long as you give me a word, I will chop them up immediately. Don't worry, there is no trace of murder. Others will only think that they were trampled to death by a cow or had a heart attack. "

Feng Sen asked without raising his head: "How much of those letters written in Latin can you understand?"

"Basically, I can't understand it." Nie Yinniang asked in surprise, "But what does it have to do with me being able to understand the letter? I can't understand the letter, shouldn't I kill them?"

He raised his eyes and glanced at Nie Yinniang. Feng Sen stood up, went to the bookshelf behind him, took down a book, and handed it to Nie Yinniang: "This is "Introduction to Latin" specially compiled by Deputy Envoy Zhenhui, waiting for you Let's talk about these things again when we can read through the Latin prayers."

"But……"

"Don't worry." Feng Sen sat on a pine chair, adjusted his posture, and said to Nie Yinniang, "I plan to form a Jinyiwei next year. When the time comes, you will be the general of the Jinyiwei. I don't expect you to be mine. Wei Xiaokuan, but it is still possible to help me find information, right?"

"You want to appoint me as a general? A female general?" Nie Yinniang said pleasantly.

Feng Sen put down the pen in his hand, and said to Nie Yinniang seriously: "This military formation is not as usual, so don't mess around, but although you are appointed as the general of Jinyiwei, the main duty of Jinyiwei is to organize and train spies. Provide information to me with foreign countries."

"I'm good at this." Nie Yinniang replied happily, "But what does it have to do with Latin? I can do it now, you give me seven or eight young girls, give me three years, whose head do you want, I will I can pick it up for you."

"You don't know Latin, how do you interpret the information? Do you still want to hand over the information to others like now?" Feng Sen reached out and tapped her on the head, "Also, the intelligence personnel must be loyal people, and we will wait until the freshmen from the Hamburg Elementary School graduate.

Also, your training method is prepared for the assassins, not only they have to practice, but you also have to practice. "

"Me?" Nie Yinniang's eyes widened, and a breath of disdain came out of her nose, "What do I want to practice?"

"Assassins and spies are two different things." Feng Sen said helplessly, "We don't need their strong force to be able to kill people like you, what they need to train is spies.

Will you disguise your identity?Do you know how to analyze and collect intelligence?Do you pass on messages in secret?Do you know how to organize and set up an intelligence agency?You don't know, so you have to learn.

And what you need to train most is your discipline. I know you are kind and funny by nature, but this kindness and funnyness must not be mixed into intelligence facilities, understand? "

After thinking about it, Nie Yinniang finally nodded. She was a little frustrated and grabbed the "Introduction to Latin" and was about to leave when she suddenly turned around and said curiously to Feng Sen: "Then what about those apprentices who eat inside and outside? manage?"

A mysterious smile appeared on the corner of Feng Sen's mouth: "It doesn't matter, I already knew that they will not involve real internal information, but I still want to thank you for passing this news to me, thank you."

"Hey." Nie Yinniang grinned, went through the window and left.

Nie Yinniang went out, but Feng Sen stopped writing. He turned around and took a file from the bookshelf, and took off the wooden boards that bound it. It turned out to be Zhenhui's proud disciple Felix.

After re-reading the above text, Feng Sen thought for a long time, and finally, he called someone to call Cui Xutuo, who has been in charge of the yamen and the archery shop, and handed the file to him: "How many do you find?" Trustworthy people, look up this person, don't let him find out, hide a little bit, and see what he's been doing recently."

Cui Xutuo first simply flipped through the files in his hand, then nodded, and said with his hands folded: "Here."

Chapter 223 The Hoarder Is Crying

On the land of Saxony, there are countless impassable swamps or wilderness forests between tribes and manors. Therefore, if you want to do business or transfer food in Saxony, the only way is to go through those two places. waterways—the Weser and the Elbe.

The two rivers basically traversed the entire Saxony and could radiate to its surroundings. The Weser River was developed earlier due to its proximity to the Frankish territory.

And Charles's own palace is near Paderborn near the Weser River, and the Elbe River is dominated by tribes because Charles has not yet advanced here.

The two rivers form the main transportation artery of Saxony, providing fresh blood for the Duchy.

At this moment, at the gate of a manor not far from the Weser River, a duke envoy driving a carriage spoke loudly to the manor owner: "Our lord duke has given you so much gold and silver. You only use this little food and grass as a reward, isn't it a bit too little?"

Manorism replied sternly: "The owner of the manor has no food left. Otherwise, my daughter is 15 years old, and she is very beautiful. Or if you bring her to the Duke, it will be a gift in return."

"What's the matter, the Duke is already short of food now, so this is another mouth."

"Then I can only give so much."

"Then you return the gold and silver that Lord Duke gave me, and I will give it to other manor owners."

"Hey, don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive." The owner of the manor wearing a wolf leather jacket immediately stopped the stunned young man, and just when he was thinking about how to pay back the price, a businessman with a bruised nose and a swollen face appeared out of nowhere .

He nodded and bowed his head and said, "Master, if you want to sell grain, I can do it..."

"Get out, you humble businessman, don't you see that I am talking to the Duke's envoy?" The manor owner was furious, and he turned back and punched the businessman in the eye, which was still intact. It will turn green immediately.

"What did you say?" the young emissary asked impatiently.

"Come on, let's talk slowly."

Such scenes continue to happen on the land of Saxony, whether on the banks of the Weser or the Elbe.

During this time, Feng Sen's caravan traveled all over the land of Saxony, and countless grain ships sailed in the river, bringing together one ship after another near Hamburg.

The Solidar obtained by Feng Sen from the Jews is continuously poured into the hands of these manor owners, tribal leaders and nobles. While the grain in the barn is increasing geometrically, the Solidar in Feng Sen's bank is also increasing geometrically. reduced.

But to the surprise of most people, after the reduction to a certain level, Feng Sen's money pool rose instead of falling, until it was maintained at a good level, and remained so.

The reason is actually very simple. If these grains are not sold, they will be left to rot in warehouses.

No money, no tools, no manpower, even if there is a decree of three years of non-service and five years of non-discipline, but at most everyone can open up a little wasteland. Not everyone can gather a large number of people like Feng Sen. Intensive land reclamation will not lose money.

And when Feng Sen sent people to buy the grain, he himself first obtained the much-needed grain to supply the needs of the refugees and the cost of land reclamation, and the manor owners and nobles who got the money had ample money. After saving a part of the emergency, look at this favorable policy, should they also open more fields or buy more properties?

Do you need livestock to open a field?Do you need tools like iron hoes, sickles, and axes to open the field, and who should you buy them from?Even if you don't open the fields, do you want to be like Feng Sen, with an yield of 0.68 shi per mu?Who should I buy these things from?

Feng Sen's caravan.

Even if you have no ambitions, you can't eat Solidar, so why don't you get some beer to celebrate?Is it necessary to get some soy sauce and tempeh to stew the meat?Is it necessary to buy some bricks and tiles to renovate the house?Who can provide these things?