"There are more and more houses on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Should we disguise it?"
"Just put on the ordinary nun's robe. I will cover the exposed parts of the boots with holy light."
"This is the church headquarters~ Wanted warrants and the like will definitely be sent here, right?"
"Because this is the headquarters of the church, I pretend to be an ordinary nun so I don't stand out. However, I really need to eliminate the features that were too prominent before, such as the big backpack. I'll find a place to go ashore later, and then enter the city at dawn."
"Why don't you go into town in the middle of the night?"
“Because defenses are strengthened at night and everyone is sleepy in the morning, it’s the best time to fish in troubled waters.”
"How do we get in?"
"It's definitely not possible to go in arrogantly. It's best to find a local's carriage."
"What about identity verification? This is the church headquarters, so the review must be very strict, right?"
"No, it is impossible to have a strict identity review system in this era. The larger the city, the more chaotic it will be. This is inevitable. Moreover, it is far away from the epidemic area, and the exchange of materials and personnel cannot be as closed as inland. So
There is no way to close the city even if it has a large population, so there should be a lot of loopholes."
"I hope so, I don't want any more accidents to happen."
"No, there will definitely be accidents. If there are no accidents, man-made accidents will have to be created."
"Why?"
"The goddess's bad taste."
"well……"
Night has fallen, but there is little light in the houses lined up on both sides of the river. There are only a few windows with dim firelight. There are many fishing boats on the gentle river. These fishing boats are so simple that they don’t even have closed cabins. They have two sticks.
People can live there with just a straw roof. There are no lights on these fishing boats. You can see that the fishermen with no clothes on have wrapped themselves in straw mats and lie down. In this world where the people at the bottom can't even light a lamp, staying up late is harmful to the world.
For most people, it doesn't exist at all, but this doesn't make them live a very healthy life.
According to the map, the church headquarters is located on the north bank of the "Fire River", where the river will expand to a very wide area, estimated to be several kilometers, and the flow will be very gentle. The map also draws more than ten kilometers downstream.
The estuary and delta are located there, but there are no detailed notes. I guess it is also a wasteland, and there cannot be anything like a navigation dock. In such a large area of water, except for some small fishing boats and slightly larger cargo ships, I didn’t see a single person.
It looked like a sea-going ship capable of long voyages, but I didn't see a decent dock.
Considering the need to fish in troubled waters, we took advantage of the darkness to drive to the edge of the city, and then logged in on the other side of the city. The city is indeed very large, but it is also a combination of city walls + a large number of low buildings. But it is different.
What is surprising is that there is a highland inside the city. The large number of castle-like buildings on it should be the headquarters of the church, and the bell tower that rises straight to the sky should be the tallest building in the world.
Even when I arrived near the city, I still didn't see a decent big ship. The level of shipbuilding in this world is as bad as the level of building houses. It is basically a level that can float on the water without capsizing. No, I doubt that the waves will be slightly larger.
It will overturn these boats, because these boats are flat-bottomed boats with a very shallow draft and no ability to withstand wind and waves. Maybe the church does not want to explore the sea at all, and does not even allow people to explore the sea. They are still filling up their granaries.
The era when we thought we were very wealthy was still far, far away from the Age of Discovery.
Sure enough, a powerful and closed-minded religious cult is not beneficial to the development of civilization, but they are the only people in the world who can unite their forces to fight the plague, so it is difficult to evaluate their merits and demerits.
The other side of the river is also a village and a large area of farmland. This model of material production bases surrounding urban branches is already very advanced compared to loose villages and towns. In theory, due to productivity limitations, such medieval cities need
A large number of farmers can meet the basic needs of food and clothing. However, the natural yield of crops here is very high, and it does not require much cultivated land to produce enough food. Why do they build so much farmland? Is it for trade? Just for trade?
By these crude boats?
The population density in the south is several times higher than that in the north. It seems to be the highest around this "Fire City". There are residential buildings along the coast. There were originally few people in the north, but now they are almost all dead. I want to supplement the population estimate in the future.
We can only move people from the south to the north. But that will involve a series of social and humanistic issues. We can't deal with it and don't need to deal with it. Let's leave it to professionals.
Most of the farmers had already gone into their houses to sleep, and only some houses, such as the village chief's house, might still have lights on. I chose a relatively remote place to go ashore, and then put the modified horse-drawn carriage, boat and large backpack in.
I don’t know where. The next task is to find a way to pretend to be a local. This is somewhat difficult, but it’s not a big problem.
"Why should we come to the other side of the river?"
"Because there are few people here. And you see, there are several city gates on the other side of the dock, and there are also tributaries that can directly enter the city by boat. It is very simple for us to just find a cargo ship to hide and sneak in."
"Then what if we are found out!"
"Why do you always use modern thinking to think about ancient times? Do you really think that every ship that comes into the city is carefully inspected here?"
"This is the church headquarters!"
"The church headquarters is limited to the castle inside. The city outside is still the territory of ordinary people, so it is impossible to have such strict inspections."
"I hope your judgment is right... So which ship should we hide in?"
"That's the one with a lot of sacks piled on it."
"Why choose that one?"
“Because it’s relatively big, there’s room to hide.”
"That's it? What if we don't go to the city?"
"Then change to another one."
"This is too reckless! I don't agree!"
"Okay, let's implement plan B."
"Where's the plan B?"
"Currently compiled."
"???"
…
When the sky turned slightly white, the hard-working farmers had already lit their smoke and started their day. The old boatmen who were responsible for transporting the village came to the simple dock in Jiangbei and began to pile up the piles on the shore.
The goods in the cargo yard are loaded onto the ship. There are no stevedores here, so all the goods are moved and rowed by oneself.
It was still very dark, so we hid in the shadows and eavesdropped on the conversations of the boatmen, and then determined which ship was going to go directly to the city. Wearing sacks, we quietly jumped onto the ship, and then squatted with other cargo without paying attention.
You can't tell by looking at it. Baiyanghua and I had no difficulty keeping still, but small animals were a bit difficult. After discussion, I decided to use hypnotic holy light to put her to sleep, so as to ensure that she remained motionless throughout the process.
This boat is much larger than a fishing boat, but it is also very simple. The cargo warehouse is a layer of water-proof wooden boards directly on the keel of the boat, and then the goods are piled directly on top, like a large shallow pit. The rowing boat
People sit on the "driving seats" built with wooden frames at both ends of the boat. A total of four people can sit in the front and back, and there are no sails! That's right, the common people in this world can't even afford a sail, because the cloth used to make the sail is very thin.
It’s so expensive that I can’t even afford it! I heard the boatmen complain about this from time to time. It seems that rebuilding a sailboat is a lifelong pursuit for them.
The cargo transported on the ship is something similar to beans, but I don’t know whether it is used for eating or extracting oil or doing other things. These beans are packed in heavy sacks (real sacks) and are layered on top of each other.
It is impossible to hide people when they are piled together. But we are not human beings, we are goddesses. We can carry the weight of the goods above and give small animals a space to stay and breathe. Bai Yanghua kept talking to me in my mind
She complains, but her movements of holding up the "roof" are not out of shape for a moment. This girl just likes to complain and find faults, but she is unambiguous in doing business, and she is indeed a good child.
The loading process lasted about two hours. We hid under the pile of sacks for two hours, but this was just the beginning...
After feeling the shaking of the hull, we knew that the boatmen started rowing, and judging from the acceleration, the speed of the boat was moving slowly, which meant that we had to maintain the status quo for two or three hours. You see, it is also two or three kilometers
, it is very pleasant to sit on the boat and float away, but it is very painful to be pressed under hundreds of kilograms of beans!
The boatmen shouted a labor chant in a low voice while rowing. The rhythm was very obvious, and the content was a combination of simple language and onomatopoeia. Baiyanghua stopped complaining after hearing this chant, and her eyes
Staring straight at my chest. I knew she was feeling the original melody contained in the song, and I have long been used to beautiful girls staring at any strange places, so I didn't feel any discomfort.
.
Two hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty-two seconds later, we finally arrived at the entrance to the inland river of "Fire City". The noisy sounds around us indicate that this place is quite prosperous. The boat slowed down and finally stopped. I heard what seemed to be guards outside.
The people negotiated with the boatman, and after a while the boat started moving again. It seems that my judgment was correct. It is impossible for anyone to inspect a boat that transports supplies on a daily basis. It would be too troublesome and inefficient.
The boat travels very smoothly in the inland river of Fire City, and you can't feel the pushing force of the water on the boat at all. I suspect that this inland river is a man-made water diversion project, not a natural tributary, otherwise the water would move. The river channel
Although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were not crowded because it was too early, it was already too lively compared to the places we had visited before. When the boat stopped again, the distant sound of bells floated from a distance, leaking through the gaps.
The light below tells me that a new day has begun.
"How are we going to get off the boat? Are we going to be thrown off by someone disguised as a sack?"
"It's not impossible."
"It's okay! Even if we hide in a sack, we are still far from being a bean. We will definitely be discovered! We should have made an agreement with the boatman in advance so that no one can help us sneak in!"
"I don't think it's a good thing to contact them. People in this era are too simple, or timid, especially those who live a comfortable life. If we ask them to do such strange things, they will definitely not dare to agree."
"How is that possible! These simple people wanted to kill us for cheating!"
"It was in an infected area where human life was of little value, and it was a chaotic time. But here there are guards and the armed forces of the church. It is a place where civilization and order exist."
"Hey! What should we do then? It will be really exposed after a while!"
"Actually, there are many ways, but most of them are very immoral."
"Immoral?"
"Yes, for example, if I use the Holy Light to set the ship on fire, or dig a hole underneath and sink it, we can create opportunities to fish in troubled waters."
"How could you do this! That would really make you a villain! How pitiful these farmers are, what's the difference between destroying the ship and killing them! Maybe if the goods are spoiled, the whole family will be affected.
This is absolutely not possible!”
"You see, it's so difficult to be a good person in this world. If you want to achieve your own goals, hurting others is always the easiest and most efficient way, but not wanting to hurt others is full of difficulties and obstacles, and sometimes there is no solution.
"
"...or we should fight out!"
"With your weird logic, if you kill yourself, you're not doing something bad?"
"It's different! If someone dares to attack us, they are seeking death. We are just self-defense!"
"It is the bounden duty of guards to attack dangerous people of unknown origin. Why don't you think about their wives and children at home?"
“If people in the church don’t get married, how can they get wives and children?”
"Then they must have parents, right?"
"I'm so annoyed. Isn't there a way to avoid hurting anyone?"
"Actually, it's not impossible."
"Then tell me quickly!"
"It's okay to hurt ourselves, we are not human."
"???"
…
"Wow! Who are you!"
"We are... nuns on a secret mission."
"What secret mission? Who ordered it?"
"You soldiers have no right to know."
"I'm sorry, nuns, we need to report this to the captain and we can't let you go."
"I suggest you not to meddle in other people's business. If you delay the Pope's mission, you will all be executed."
I put on my best iceberg face and tried to scare the guards stationed at the dock with my momentum. We are very good at doing this, and it is very effective in dealing with these uneducated guys.
"Wow, they look so ugly!"
"How could a nun be so ugly?"
"It must be a disguise!"
"Have you seen that person's hair? It seems to be silver, so disgusting..."
"Is she pretending to be a witch?"
"Maybe she is a witch. Only witches can be so ugly!"
I could clearly hear the gossip of the crowd, and they started saying I was ugly again! And they actually found my hair, which I was so proud of, as shiny and smooth as silver threads, disgusting??? No, I'm going to be so angry.
, I want to throw all these damn melon-eating people into the river right now! Hold it back, Amy, you have to hold it back, people in this world have orangutan aesthetics, don’t be the same as them!
"Everyone spread out, spread out, what happened!"
"Lord Knight, we found two suspicious people, we suspect they are nuns disguised as witches!"
A knight came over with a group of church infantry, probably after receiving a report from ordinary soldiers. Why do these guys have to be so efficient and responsible in this kind of thing? Why don't you just stay comfortably in the military station and drink tea?
Oh, the military station is right next to it, that's okay. But what's going on with that idiot guard? Passers-by say I'm a witch and you call me a witch? I'm witching you!
"...Which church do the two sisters belong to?"
The knight looked us over doubtfully, and his questioning tone was full of doubts. He probably couldn't figure out why two nuns suddenly appeared on a cargo ship.
As for the small animals, they are still in the bag and have not been found.
"We are nuns from the Suncheon City Church branch and are here to convey an important message."
"Sunchon City? What is that place?"
Okay, the knights here are also educated, and the cultural penetration rate in this world is too low, right? They don't know about such a big city?
"It's far north, about four thousand miles from here."
"To the north? Then do you have a plague?"
"No, we have not been to places where the plague is raging. We are just following the instructions of the imam to deliver the latest epidemic news."
"Do you have any tokens of proof?"
"some."
Fortunately, I got the badges worn by two local church members from the dean, otherwise it would be really difficult now.
"The two sisters come with me, we need to confirm."
"OK."
"What's in that bag?"
"It's food."
I pretended to pick up the sack containing the small animal with some difficulty, trying not to show the outline of the human figure. Thanks to my foresight before, I filled some beans into it, and the child's frame is also very small, so it's hard to see it when curled up.
Pretending to be a person.
The knight glanced at it without saying anything, waved to the ordinary soldiers to disperse the surrounding crowd, and then took us to the military station for inspection. I guess he didn't recognize the badge at all, and could only inform his superiors, so we had to be controlled first.
"What should we do next?"
Baiyanghua asked in her mind.
"According to circumstances."
"What else can you do besides adapting to circumstances?"