flstandardbreds Chapter 248 Where is the road?
Chapter 248 Where is the road?
Mont-de-Marsan is a city full of opportunities, at least for outsiders. However, soon after entering the city, they will find out that they have gone from being exploited by a noble lord to being exploited by a group of powerful people.
Since the end of the plague, a large number of refugees from nearby territories have come here and quickly filled the vacancies at the bottom of the city. The main force among them are serfs from the noble territories in the southwest.
According to the local laws of Mont-de-Marsan, if a serf lived in the city for one year and paid taxes on time, he could get rid of his serf status and become a free citizen.
The law seems very good, but when they actually implement it themselves, they find that it is full of pitfalls.
Not to mention solving the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation, just finding a job is enough to overwhelm these newcomers.
Although the plague-ravaged city was in ruins after the disaster, with the continued influx of refugees, the city has become more crowded than before the plague, and a wooden board recruiting workers in the city's recruitment office would trigger a fight among dozens of people.
This also caused another problem. Because outsiders took away local jobs, the citizens of Mont-de-Marsan also hated these outsiders, which added pressure to the local law enforcement agencies, which were already transparent.
However, between the local citizens and outsiders, there is a special group, that is, the retired veterans who have not returned for many years.
"Peng!"
On the main street of the Mont-de-Marsan slum, a group of people are watching an unequal fight, which may be their only source of entertainment every day.
In the middle of the crowd, a brown-haired man with a bruised face and nose was being held by two bald men dressed as gangsters, with a few flying knives scattered around him. Opposite him, a strong man who was a head taller than him was swinging his fist and hitting the brown-haired man's abdomen fiercely. Every punch was accompanied by blood splattering from the corners of the man's mouth, which made the bloodthirsty audience cheer. In their opinion, although they could not be as domineering as the strong man on the street, it was satisfying to see the strong crush the weak and make blood flow.
"Today I will let you see how powerful I am. You are performing in my territory and you don't even want to pay me protection money?"
The gang leader who called himself Bobber cursed and punched the brown-haired man. After a long time, Bobber might have been tired. He shook his numb fist first, then grabbed the man's weed-like yellow hair and teased:
"You, and you're a veteran? It seems that those of you who have served in the military are not that great."
Having said that, Bober scanned the onlookers with a look as if he were looking at an ant. It was obvious that most people would not meet his gaze. Basically, they either lowered their heads or turned their heads away.
Bober satisfied everyone's fear of him. In his opinion, the more people feared him, the more respect they would show him when they saw him in the future, and it would be easier to collect protection fees.
Thinking of this, Bober picked up the brown-haired man who had been beaten to death, showed his bruised face to the crowd, and said smugly:
"Watch out! Anyone who talks back to Uncle Bob and refuses to pay the protection fee will end up like this!"
Just as Bobber raised his fist to continue the beating, a soldier wearing Midland soldier armor rode to the outskirts of the crowd. As the horse neighed as it stopped, the soldier shouted to the crowd:
"Everyone, get out of the way! Everyone, get out of the way! From now on, no unauthorized persons are allowed on this road!"
"These bastards..."
Bober snorted in dissatisfaction. Now was the perfect time for him to establish his authority, but this man was so ignorant of the current situation that he cleared out the people around him. Now who could he show off to?
However, reason still made Bober suppress his anger. A gangster boss who can carve out a territory in this city cannot rely on his fists alone. He also needs to learn the ways of the world and try not to provoke those he should not provoke. Although the city defense forces of Mondemarsan are just a group of people who live on salaries, they are also the official armed forces of Mondemarsan. If there is a conflict with them, it would be a slap in the face of those powerful people.
"So what's going on here? Why are you city guards here in the slums instead of patrolling for the councillors?" Bober asked, but the soldier said helplessly:
"We can't help it. You've gone too far in the slums this time. Such a large area has been burned, and so many people have died. The newly appointed governor knows about it. Now the governor's motorcade is heading here. We must clear the way for the motorcade in front. Until the governor leaves the slums, no unauthorized people can be on the main roads of the entire slum."
Seeing Bober still looking disdainful, the soldier reminded him again:
"If you don't leave now, when those people come, I won't collect your body if anything happens." After saying that, he pointed to the intersection they came from. Following the direction of the soldier's finger, Bober saw another team of soldiers wearing armor of a different style from that of the city defense forces.
Bober, who had excellent eyesight, could see the whole picture of the army from a distance. They were wearing full body armor that only knights or sergeants wore, and their iron boots made crisp and neat tapping sounds on the ground. The shining two-handed swords and crossbows in their hands made Bober feel a little bit of danger. After all, no matter how big he was, if he was hit by a crossbow arrow, even if he didn't die, he would have to be carried to see a doctor.
"Get out, get out, get out!"
Almost as soon as he sensed danger, Bobber and his men ran deep into the alley, leaving the soldiers and the unconscious man behind.
"Damn it, our city defense forces are asked to clean up the mess again."
The soldier dragged the man into the alley cursing, and kicked the flying knives into the alley. Then, without caring whether he lived or died, he returned to the main road and rode forward. He also had to clear the road to the destination before the convoy arrived. If he was slow, who knew if the newly appointed governor would start with him.
Not long after the soldiers left, John's convoy arrived at this road, surrounded by knights and sergeants, with the local city defense soldiers leading the way.
In the carriage, John boredly opened the curtains and looked at the buildings opposite with closed doors and windows. These buildings looked very shabby compared to when he first entered the city. Even those buildings that were well preserved looked quite old. He guessed that these were the local slums.
Sitting opposite John was Mayor Thomas. With such a big incident happening, he must show some ability in front of the new governor. Although he could not fire John, if he really annoyed him, his future life would probably not be easy.
"By the way, Mayor Thomas, you seemed to have told me before that many of the retired soldiers are living in slums?"
"That's right. Those people returned home after many years, and many people died of the plague during that time. As a result, many of them lost both their wealth and their relatives after returning home, and could only live in slums."
"Is that so? That's pitiful." John said casually. He already had a plan in mind and immediately said to Thomas:
"I want to start an organization to help veterans..."
In the alley, the man who was slumped next to the garbage looked at the passing convoy outside the alley with his swollen eyes. When he saw John's carriage slowly passing in front of him, he raised his arms and walked out of the alley, already unconscious.
"It would be great if this were me."
At this moment, such a thought suddenly flashed through the man's mind, and then the man's eyes went dark and he fainted in the garbage pile in the alley.