A few days later, Jiang Tian, dressed in simple clothes, walked on the streets of Rotterdam. It's just that his current identity is that he is one of the "Gold-Chasing Jackals" black market merchants associated with the mercenary known as the "War Hyena"; a member of the Bensalonia Chamber of Commerce from Italy.
The Salonia Chamber of Commerce is of course a real and established chamber of commerce. 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 stolen property of unknown origin; therefore, it also has branches in the Netherlands.
And this is not the first time we have dealt with these foreign Britons. And this time when he appeared in Rotterdam, he was also invited. Therefore, through the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom, Jiang Tian easily replaced a senior member from Alemanni.
The only people traveling with him this time were two guard knights, Major Migne of the Mountain Regiment who was a Sword and Shield Sergeant, and an old mercenary with yellow hair whom he recommended; they just formed a small business of guard and guide. The representative group blends in the caravan and is inconspicuous.
Of course, although the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands during this era was built on a sandbank full of swamps, it had the functions of a transshipment hub for both inland river terminals and sea ports. Under the management and expansion of successive rulers, it had become quite a city. The basic prototype of a big city.
It is said that the foundation of the original city was built with wooden piles driven into patches of sandbars and swamps, and then beams and planks were erected on top; thus the first settlements of villages and towns were formed. Then, when the population gathered and multiplied, they began to build up more land through dikes for drainage.
Eventually, the scale of the city that is now surrounded by many dykes and dotted with ports and terminals was formed. Therefore, Rotterdam is also one of the few port cities in the Netherlands that can provide large amounts of taxes and trade commissions. The income alone is comparable to more than a dozen cities in the interior.
In Jiang Tian's eyes, the city walls outside Rotterdam are not too high, and most of them are wooden structures; however, the surrounding dams, sandbars and waterways are themselves natural lines of defense, and it is necessary to break through the perimeter. Only those bridges and levels can be entered.
Not to mention that during this process, they had to endure the condescending and continuous suppression and killing from the arrow towers, sentry towers and enemy towers lined up on the wooden city walls. As for the slightly larger siege equipment, it is difficult to survive the continuous attacks and insist on rushing to the city gate wall.
According to his assessment and judgment, if he did not take action, even if the New Kingdom Army attacked, they would still have to occupy and clear the peripheral bridge checkpoints bit by bit, and then under the suppression of intensive shelling, through the continuous operations of the engineering company, Lay out several attack lanes.
Then, the special attack knights will take the lead and cross the natural obstacles of swamps and sandbanks that are easy to fall into; rush into the gap in the city wall created by the bombardment, clean up and suppress the remaining defenders on the walls at both ends; only then can it be possible to capture such a sandy bay. large port city.
However, after Jiang Tian marched all the way, except for some shipwrecks that were stranded in the river and had no time to clean up, there were not many traces of fierce battles. Even the wooden city walls, arrow towers, and sentry towers showed no signs of serious damage from the storm.
This made him more and more curious. Did these British people really rely on internal agents lurking in the city to capture Rotterdam easily? But what makes her even more incredible is that after the British captured Rotterdam, there were still people who defected.
Moreover, they are people from the Netherlands who are bringing their families with them. This is outrageous. Could it be that the Earl of Holland was so indifferent that the people under his rule would rather take refuge with the invading Britons? You must know that in long-term rumors and propaganda, Britain is synonymous with barbarism and bloodshed.
However, when Jiang Tian inadvertently asked a similar question to a street vendor selling bad wine and grilled fish in the open air, the other party's answer was also very simple: "Guest, you just came from abroad, right? You Of course I don’t know how cruel our lord is..."
"In contrast, being robbed by the British is a blessing; at least after they robbed us once, they will not harass us again for a long time. Even the leader of the British, after driving away the tax collectors and agents, They will also burn the debt documents.”
"In this way, at least my wife and children will not have to continue to become debt slaves and be sold to foreign lands. I will not have to go to ships on 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 overseas because of debts.”
"Obviously, the catch of fish and the output of the land have been bumper in the past two years, but no matter what, the price cannot be sold; the labor and taxes imposed by the lord are getting heavier and heavier. The debts owed by the family to the steward and the acting official are getting bigger and bigger. The more I don’t want to be sold, I can only run out as hard as I can.”
"Many others who ran out with me were caught by the stewards and acting soldiers, and they were hanged by lot on the roadside, or the women and children were bitten to death by dogs. God bless, I was just caught At that time, the British launched an attack and took us to the city..."
Jiang Tian could only sigh after hearing this. No matter what the success or failure of the emperors, generals and ministers, no matter whether they rise or fall, it is the people at the bottom who will suffer in the end. The same is true for the nobles of the kingdom, but at least under their own leadership and promotion, the situation in the kingdom has greatly improved.
After cutting off most of the subcontractors, middlemen and rentiers who passed through the hands of the old royal family/big nobles, the people of the vast villages and towns in the kingdom, even if they are based on the tenancy and capita income of half of the land output, , household registration tax, can also significantly improve living standards.
Even after the change in the celestial sphere, aliens were rampant and abnormalities appeared frequently; they were particularly able to respond to the call of the national salvation government, and organized semi-off-the-job self-defense and rural patrol teams one after another. But obviously in the vast areas outside the kingdom, the situation of the people at the bottom has become even more miserable because of this.
In this case, the foreign Britons who know how to protect the people (the leek field) and fish from the lake in a sustainable way are particularly special. With these complex thoughts in mind, Jiang Tian walked through the urban areas and saw British people wandering in groups on the streets.
Most of them have disheveled hair and carry shields, javelins, one-handed axes, and Celtic broad swords. Only a few of the leaders have iron armor, while most of them wear leather armor inlaid with iron or spiked nails; Although there are many who are drunk or having fun with women in their arms.
But there was basically no trace of disturbing the people. Therefore, under the banner of the Salonia Chamber of Commerce, Jiang Tian and others were invited into the city hall in the center of the city without waiting long, and saw a figure kneeling in front of a makeshift shrine with a sword in hand.
