When Simon handed the leather ring armor to the leatherworker for repair, the carriage was empty.
"Little Klein, please take the horse back to the hotel first. I'll go find a mason outside the city wall." Simon patted Little Klein's head, straightened his clothes, and walked quickly away from this place that exuded a huge stench. leather shop.
Simon walked along the path under the city wall next to the leather shop, and soon came to the small side entrance of the city wall in the western section of Abeldoorn Port.
"Hello, sir." Two gatekeepers wearing soft armor hats and holding spears watched in amazement as a guy wearing mail and a heraldic smock walked out of a dark alley filled with excrement. .
"Perhaps he was a servant of a certain lord who was doing dirty work." It wasn't until Simon walked out of the side door that the two soldiers came back to their senses, whispering and speculating.
"What a fresh air!" After leaving the town, Simon suddenly felt that his nose had been baptized.
Since the construction of the new city wall in Abeldoorn Port started with the north wall, Simon had to walk north along a path surrounding the city wall outside the city.
"There's a lot of feces and urine here." Simon couldn't help but stay away from the city wall and off the path to walk on the grass. After walking for a while, a hot and slender water column sprayed down from the city wall.
Simon turned around and saw an archer on the city wall holding on to the wall stacks. Generally, guards stationed on the city wall like this are not allowed to leave their posts to go to the toilet. Therefore, when soldiers have internal emergencies, they basically solve them on the spot. No one cares or thinks it's inappropriate anyway.
Unlike the large stretches of vacant grassland outside the west side city wall, the north side city wall was shrouded in the dust raised by many stone carriages and stone oxen.
The rough masons, who were bare-chested and had big beads of sweat, were hard at work polishing the stones, while many workers in ragged clothes were doing their work under the shouts and scoldings of some decent-looking masons.
"You idiots, how many times have I told you, it's not like this!" A well-dressed mason was cursing loudly and directing a group of clumsy workers to build simple scaffolding.
After walking through the noisy and busy construction site, Simon came to this big red and white striped tent.
"My lord, what do you want?" Two soldiers wearing short mail and wide-brimmed helmets blocked Simon's way at the door.
They seemed to be the guards specially sent by the Duke to protect the senior craftsmen.
"I am Sir Simon of the Dorsten family, here to see the master stonemason Karen." Simon said to the guard, who bowed briefly and opened the curtain door.
The first thing that came out of the tent was the strong smell of alcohol.
Simon briefly looked around the tent. There were debris piled everywhere, and there were several plates of half-eaten bread and barbecue on the barrels.
The most conspicuous thing is the big wooden table in the middle of the tent, which is filled with various simple maps and structural analysis diagrams of the new city wall design plan.
In addition, there are pens, ink and various measuring tools scattered on the table.
Inside the tent, there were three old men in beautiful clothes sitting at the table, drinking from wine glasses and arguing fiercely, while a younger young man standing next to them looked scorched.
"Little Ryan, do you plan to build a beautiful big house on the city wall? Or do you think that after it is built, you can move in and live with those smelly wall-guarding soldiers? I don't know if you went there a few years ago What has Italy learned!" An old man with gray hair and big nostrils laughed loudly and slapped the parchment handed over by the young man to the edge of the table.
"No, Uncle Roy, please take another look. The towers and corridors designed in this way can definitely withstand the cunning attacks of all kinds of enemies!" the young man reasoned unconvincingly.
"Little Ryan, remember, our budget is not very generous. Let's not mention this useless pattern relief and the tower wall design that we have never seen and no one has ever tested its practicality." A The kind old man patted the young man on the shoulder.
"Oh? Who is this?" Only then did everyone in the tent notice Simon who had just come in from the tent door. "I'm sorry, Sir, we were too absorbed in the discussion just now and didn't notice you. What can I do for you? ?”
"I am Sir Simon of the Dorsten family in the south. I would like to hire a highly skilled stonemason to build a castle in my territory." Although Simon knew that hiring such a professional stonemason would be very expensive, he weighed his heavy money. bag, and I suddenly felt confident.
"Oh, Sir! Although I am very interested, we have all signed a contract and have to stay here until the construction of the new city wall in Abeldoorn Port is completed." An old man with a mustache twirled his beard and said regretfully Shaked his head.
"That's such a pity," Simon was a little distressed, but he noticed the young man behind the kind old man in the middle who looked eager to try, "What about this young man? He also signed a contract?"
"No, sir, he is my nephew, little Ryan, and also my apprentice. Although he has gone to Rome in the south to study for a few years, I don't think he can take on the responsibility of designing and building a building for you now. The task of a practical castle." The kind old man explained to Simon with a smile.
"Please, Uncle Karen! I'm tired of simple and practical building plans." The young man covered his face and smiled helplessly.
"You unreliable brat, I'm afraid you'll give this adult some bad ideas again. If something goes wrong by then, our family can't afford the blow and compensation!" The kind old man frowned slightly and turned to the back. The young man scolded in a low voice.
"To be honest, respected Master Karen, I have to complete the construction of my castle before late summer, and the construction period is still a bit tight. Since this young man is capable of the job, I don't have that much spare time to find a new one. Free mason." Simon said, noticing the parchment manuscript that the old man with white hair and big nostrils slapped on the corner of the table.
"Although he designed a lot of useless fancy carvings and beautiful corner columns on the outer walls of the city walls and towers, the structure and concept of this tower design are quite novel." Simon thought to himself.
"Sir, if you insist so much," the kind old man squinted his eyes and kept twirling his long white beard, thinking in his mind, "Okay, I agree that little Ryan will go to your territory to help you build the castle. "
"Uncle Karen, that's great. Don't worry, I will definitely help this adult build the strongest and most difficult to attack in the entire kingdom..." Young man Ryan said overjoyed and loudly as if he had won a jackpot, but after being beaten by that The kind old man glared hard and then shut up angrily.
"Sir, although he comes from my sect, he is only an apprentice, and I can't charge you too much money. In this way, you give twenty Denier silver coins, and Ryan will serve in your territory until you The castle is completed." The kind old man touched his nose, stood up, and pulled out a crumpled blank parchment from the pile of debris behind him.
"No problem." Simon nodded. He knew that the expense of hiring a well-established and experienced mason would cause him pain for a long time. As for the apprentice who hired him, the price of twenty Denier silver coins was acceptable and not too expensive.
"Very good, sir, what a pleasant deal! Come on, Roy, write a contract for little Ryan," said the kind old man. He handed the parchment to the old man with big nostrils, and then looked at the full-faced old man. Ryan, who was blushing, said, "You little guy, you are really worrying. Remember it, and use a simple and practical plan, which is safe, stable, and won't cause any problems."
"Don't worry, Uncle Karen!" Ryan nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
………
Simon and Ryan came out of the tent together and walked towards the city. Looking at the drawings that Ryan was carrying, Simon was very curious.
"Ryan, I see that your drawings are very novel. Did you learn them in Rome?" Simon took out a roll of parchment manuscripts and drawings from Ryan's arms and read them carefully.
"That's right, Sir. In addition, I also visited many castles and towns left by the great Roman Empire. This gave me a lot of insights and new inspiration." Speaking of his old profession , Ryan couldn't stop talking.
"Hey! Sir, look at this," said Ryan, pointing to a cross-section of a tower on parchment. "Just like this tower, if we can build a bulge on the city teeth of the tower, and build a bulge on the bulge, The tower was built with thick and protruding arched columns and a roof, which made it difficult for the enemy to climb into the tower along the siege ladder. Secondly, it was difficult for the enemy archers to shoot arrows into this gap to kill the soldiers in the tower. The final effect is that the archers and soldiers in our towers not only have a wide field of vision, but can also throw large stones through the gaps to attack the enemies under the city wall."
"It's interesting." A slight smile appeared on Simon's lips and he nodded slightly.
