A tall, stout, blind middle-aged man carried a clay pot across the street to the eaves of a house opposite.

May afternoons are already hot, especially in the city, and the stone floors and grey brick walls can make the sun even more terrifying, especially for those who rely on manual work.

A young Moorish man who was working with his head bowed straightened up when he saw the middle-aged man walking over, and he grinned slightly, so that the dark and shiny skin echoed with a mouthful of snow-white teeth, which seemed to make the Moorish young man look full of vitality and vitality.

"You should drink more water," the middle-aged man said, holding up the clay pot in front of the Moor, looking at this clever young man, the middle-aged man sighed slightly, I don't know whether it was envy or regret, "You have done a lot of work, speaking of which, I have never seen you such a diligent and smart young man, but unfortunately I can't give you a raise, you must know that my own life is not easy." ”

"You're already helping me," the young Moorish young man took the clay pot and drank a few sips, then poured the rest of the water on his head, let out a comfortable cry of "oh", he shook his head, and threw the water droplets from his short hair in all directions, and then he saluted the middle-aged man to express his gratitude, "Thank you so much, Mr. Zoro, without you I would have died on the side of the road." ”

"No way," the middle-aged man immediately waved his hand with certainty, he dragged his chin with his thick palm, looked the young Moore up and down with his only eyes open, and then said with certainty, "You will not die, because you are very beautiful and clever, haven't you noticed that there are always some maids who like to walk around while you are working, and they are paying attention to you, not even the maids, but also the ladies and ladies who are paying attention to you." ”

Listening to the words of this one-eyed man named Zorro Astro, the Moorish man did not seem happy, on the contrary, he seemed to have heard something terrible, and his face turned slightly pale, but he quickly asked very diligently: "Mr. Zorro Astro, can you tell me what else I need to do?" ”

"What you need now is rest," the middle-aged man patted Moorish Youth on the shoulder very enthusiastically, "Of course you don't need to thank me, because I am not the one who paid you, and now you are allowed to rest because you may have to suffer next." ”

"What, does the master have a new job for me?" The Moores, who had been a little tired, immediately became excited.

"It's a bit of a thing, but it's not a good job," Zorro Astro looked back at the house across the street, and shook his head a little unhappily, "The master can't help it, you must know that although the Duke is very generous, the people under him are not necessarily magnanimous and good." ”

The Moorish youth nodded immediately, but judging from the blank look on his face, it was obvious that he didn't know what Zorro Astro was talking about, but more just to respond to the other party.

The middle-aged man named Zorro Astro also seemed to realize that there was no point in complaining to a stranger like this, and if these words reached the ears of some people, they might even cause trouble for the master.

Zorro Astro stopped thinking this, and after a few more words of advice to the Moorish youth, he told him that he could go back to his lodgings for half a day today, and then come to work for the master as soon as possible the next morning.

"That's a lot of work, so go to bed early today, knowing that if you mess things up, you won't get paid, and you may be punished." Zorro Astro didn't want to scare the young man so much, but when he thought of the importance of the job the next day, he thought it would be better to remind him.

The Moorish youth nodded at once, and he quickly packed up his belongings, then greeted Zorro Astro and hurried to his quarters.

The Moorish people lived in a very dirty alley not far from the cathedral, and before they even walked inside, they could smell a foul smell wafting out of the alley, and puddles of filth could be seen floating in the black and dirty water on the ground from time to time.

As the Moorish youth entered the alley, the two prostitutes who approached him immediately let out a cry of joy, and they scrambled to run towards him in the dirty ditch, which made the Moors startled.

He immediately turned around and ran in desperation, ignoring the two women who were yelling in anger behind him.

It wasn't until he found a fork in the road and ran in to get rid of the two prostitutes who had been pestering him, that the Moors slowed down and avoided the garbage and ponds beneath their feet, walked into the other side of the alley, and then came to a low, dilapidated house, and pushed open the hidden door and walked in.

But as soon as he entered the room, the Moore stopped, staring at the dark corner of the room a little nervously, trying to calm himself down, and at the same time asked in a low voice, "Who is there?!" ”

A figure came out of the shadows, a man of ordinary appearance, and even though the hilt of a short knife was exposed at his waist, it was evident from his dress that this was a traveling merchant that could be seen everywhere.

These people are always going from city to city, and in addition to bringing goods and goods to various places, these people are also the open intelligence brokers of this era.

"Sir, you don't look good."

The merchant looked at Uliu in front of him with a little schadenfreude.

Speaking of which, in the minds of these people, although he is a heretic, the head of Ulliu is a decent person.

At all times, the young Moorish man was well-dressed and dutiful, and although he was deeply favored by the Earl, Ulliu never relied on the Count's power to do anything unpleasant.

And he was always respectful to all, humble and courteous to even the most ordinary small merchants.

It's just that such a decent person is now dirty all over, and if you smell it carefully, you can smell the smell of sweat from him.

"What's the matter?" Completely ignoring his usual good image, Uliu sat down lazily and leaned against the corner of the wall beside the bed, his eyes swept over the merchant's face, and then waved his hand, "Sit down yourself, but I don't have anything to drink." ”

"I know this, so I'll bring you something good," said the merchant, pulling out a tightly-sealed bottle from his leather pouch, "the best Cypriot wine, don't you want to taste it?" ”

"You deserve to go to hell, you know I can't drink, it's against my beliefs." Uliu scolded angrily, but looking at the merchant's blinking eyes, he seemed to pout a little helplessly, "But Cyprus wine, you can taste this." ”

The merchant smiled, knowing that Uliu's would do this would mean acknowledging that he was "one of his own", which was important to them small merchants.

Alexander valued the merchants, but unlike the Venetians, the merchants were seen by Alexander as an important group in his future vast empire, but by no means the whole of the empire.

A country supported by commerce is rich, but a country dominated by merchants is terrible, and merchants have no country, as is true of the Jews, and the other merchants are about the same.

Because of this, Alexander could respect and abide by the contract with the merchants, or share the profits with them, but he would not be their agent, because that would mean that he would lose his own initiative.

Ulliu was undoubtedly the most aware of Alexander's thoughts outside of Trotha, and even Grogenin or Tiego were not more aware of him.

As Alexander did with the big merchants, Uliu did the same with the petty merchants, the news brokers, and the spies from other countries who were obviously of all sorts of thoughts.

It was not difficult for these small merchants to gain the respect of the governor of Ulliu, but it was not so easy to be regarded as 'one of his own'.

"I heard that the Earl is fighting with the Ottomans in Bucharest," the merchant sat opposite Uliu and asked cautiously, "but the situation does not seem to be very good, I have inquired from the Chamber of Commerce before, it seems that Bucharest has been besieged for more than a month." ”

"Don't listen to those rumors," Uliu glared at the other party dissatisfied, "The master is comfortable now, and I sometimes worry a little bit about whether he is still willing to come back, after all, tsk tsk......"

The Moore stopped talking just right, although it was unlikely, but he still carefully controlled his mouth, who knows what the terrible young lady of the Roverley family would do to him if he knew that he was talking ill of her behind his back.

"How's it going?" Uliu asked in a low voice.

"It's all ready, but you can actually do it yourself, doesn't the man named Zorro Astro next to that master appreciate you very much?" The merchant asked, a little confused, "If you want to get close to that master, it's too easy. ”

"Do you think so," Ulliu asked in a low voice as he took a sip of his wine, and then he shook his head, "I can't take any chances, that person is important, and I don't know why, but this matter can't be mistaken and can't arouse that person's suspicion, so it's up to you to do it, and you must make sure I get into that room." ”

"You can rest assured that everything has been arranged," the merchant said, looking at Ulliu with a slight worry on his face, "As for my business?" ”

"You can rest assured, as long as this time is successful, you can get the right to sell sugar in Milan."

Ulliu leaned back against the corner as he spoke, he was so tired that he had been doing heavy work all this time, so that his hands, which were dark but smooth, had become calloused.

But it's all worth it.

Uliu couldn't help but hear the things he had been told to do in the letter he had left him.

"Go to Milan, find two people there, and find a way to bring them back to Montina."

"Okay, find two people and bring them back."

After the merchant left, Ulliu lay down and closed his eyes, as the previous Zorro Astro had said, he had important work to do tomorrow.

Sforza Castle is an ancient building located in the southwest of Milan where the Sforza family has lived for generations.

This castle, built by the Visconti family in the early years, then destroyed in turmoil, and then rebuilt by the Sforza family, is like an old man who has experienced the vicissitudes of life, coldly watching the rise and prosperity of one family after another, and then the decline and obscurity.

A branch of the Visconti family, which ruled Milan, had been wiped out in the dust of history, and in their place was the rising Sforza family.

The Sforza family, who rose to prominence as commoners and became the most powerful family in Italy, have a proud past, whether it was the bravery of the mercenaries as a professional mercenary or the brains and skills of the Sforza family after replacing Visconti as the ruler of Milan, the result of the Sforza's continuous expansion of power over the decades, the family has become almost the masters of the Lombardy region.

Of course, no one has ever said this openly, but everyone knows about the great influence of the Sforza family in Lombardy, which has even led several popes to be keen to establish in-laws with the family.

These include Caterina Sforza, who married Girolao, the nephew of Sistines IV of the Rovere family, and Giovanni Sforza, who married Lucrezia but was unlucky enough to be killed by her husband's family.

However, the family's wealthy commoners were somewhat concerned about their status, so after becoming the rulers of Milan, the Sforza family began to spend a lot of money on supporting artists, building churches, monasteries and schools.

The result of this spending was a reputation as a benevolent monarch and generous patron, and many of the great masters and craftsmen came to the house, bringing to them luxurious fashion, elegance and an enviable array of masterpieces

In short, the Sforza family is a wealthy family in Italy.

But this is also a family that many people hate.

It was because of the greed of this generation of Duke Ludvico Sforza of Milan that he appealed to France for help against Venice, so much so that it provided an excellent pretext for King Charles VIII of France to invade Italy.

Although Ludvico then paid the price for his stupidity, so much so that in revenge for the French annexation of Milan, he almost became the vanguard of the expulsion of the French invaders, but for a long time the Sforza family was in an awkward position among the Italian aristocracy.

Regardless, the Sforza family remained the owners of Milan, especially after driving out the French, and Ludviko was convinced that his bad luck had left him with the French.

Inspired by the unrest of the last two years, Ludviko decided to increase his funding for the Duomo of Milan on the condition that several bones of the Sforza ancestors be sealed in the highest spire of the cathedral along with the relics of many saints when the cathedral was topped out.

The implication is that as soon as the cathedral is erected, the glory of the Sforza family will always hang over the whole of Milan and Lombardy.

At the same time, in order to follow the current custom that the aristocracy had to maintain a decent life in order to demonstrate his authority and dignity, Ludviko decided to pay for the restoration of his family's castle, which had been damaged during the war.

And the room of Madame Salmatelli was very important to Ludvik.

Madame Salmatelli was the most favored of Ludvico's many mistresses, and she could even live in the Sforza family's castle instead of being kept outside like other women.

Madame Salmatelli was a lively person, she was fond of attending banquets and tournaments, and during the days when she had to go into exile with Ludviko, she continued to attend parties, which in turn allowed Ludviko to re-establish trust with other nobles.

So Ludviko was even more fond of her, and when it came time to renovate the castle, he consulted Madame Salmatelli for advice, and then left the decision on the style and style of her room to Madame herself.

Madame Salmatelli was so pleased with this that she sent for a number of well-known masters of the arts, and asked them to prepare several different styles of schemes according to the characteristics of their rooms, and then went around collecting works of art that could decorate their rooms, and for a time the lady appeared in the shops of some merchants.

But Madame Salmatelli's enthusiasm was somewhat frustrated, and the artists who served her, though they were of great skill, did not satisfy her, and some of them even had the tone of the colours of the room quite different from what she had in mind.

This annoyed Madame Salmatelli, especially after being ridiculed by Ludvico's children, and she became even more determined to make her room the prettiest and most charming place in Sforza Castle.

Eventually, the idea of an artist named Leonardo da Vinci caught the attention of Madame Salmatelli.

Madame Salmatelli knew that the master had lived in Milan for a long time and was highly regarded for his extraordinary artistic talent.

However, this master seemed to have a lot of trouble during this time, especially because of the lack of money, he had to give up his important work again and again, and in order to make a living and maintain his small painting boat, which was small but had to support several people, Leonardo da Vinci could only take on some work that could support his family.

Even when creating the Last Supper, a painting that was important to both the painter and Sforza as a patron, Leonardo da Vinci had to stop what he was doing on several occasions to find a way to make money.

There are many reasons why things have turned out to be like this, because the situation has changed and he has to devote more energy to the expansion of armaments, so that Sforza can pay much less for the artists, and because of his bad temper, he offended Sforza's private treasurer, Geo Comte, and the master lost a lot of opportunities in front of Sforza.

So much so that when it came time to pay his two students and a few craftsmen, the master, who had created countless brilliant masterpieces, found that he was so ashamed that he couldn't even take out dozens of ducats, and he didn't even get a third of the 2,000 ducats a year that Ludviko had promised.

Fortunately, however, Madame Salmatelli's work to completely renovate her rooms in the castle provided Leonardo da Vinci with a decent opportunity, and Madame Salmatelli, having finally found a satisfactory master, set strict demands on the craftsmen who carried out the work.

She thought that many of the workers were either lazy or stupid, and that she would certainly not feel comfortable giving her room to those people.

Fortunately, one of the merchants recommended a few seemingly reliable workers to Madame Salmatelli, including a very clever Moorish man.

And for this Moor, who was never lazy in his work, and was so clever that he was easily liked, not only Madame Salmatelli was more satisfied, but also the craftsman named Zorro Astro, who worked for Master Leonardo da Vinci.

It's just that no one knows that this young Moorish who seems to be very diligent will appear in Milan for an ulterior reason.

The next morning, when Ulius entered the castle of Sforza, it was not yet fully light, and through the tall porch, which looked somewhat solemn, he was greeted by a large square courtyard.

The courtyard is surrounded by a tall castle in a square, and in the middle of the castle, which lacks beauty but is ubiquitous, is a large flat garden.

Looking at this view, Ulius could understand why the Madame Salmatelli insisted on decorating her room in her own style, after all, with the castle's style, which was entirely for military defense and neglected its artistic value, even if Ludviko was willing to invest a lot of money, probably would not have created a pleasing work of art.

Ulliu followed the group of workers down the corridor towards the castle, his head hanging low, not out of curiosity, for he had not come to Milan to spy on the castle of the Sforzas.

Madame Salmatelli's room was located near the southeast corner of the castle because it allowed enough sunlight throughout the day to get enough sunshine, so Madame Salmatelli chose this room.

As the workers walked through the corridor, they saw that Madame Salmatelli was already waiting at the door of her room.

Madame Salmatelli, though no longer young but full of energy, earnestly instructed the workers to do their duty, promising them a good reward while slightly threatening the punishment for laziness or carelessness.

Then the lady turned and pushed open the door, and led the workers into her room with pride.

It is a room with multiple vaults to bring out the depth of the space, and two men are standing by the window of the room.

Seeing Madame Sarmatelli, the two men stopped talking and bowed slightly to Madame.

"Please don't be too respectful to the honorable Master Leonardo." Lady Salmatelli smiled at one of the men with bright eyes with his beard hanging down to his chest, and then she turned her head slightly to the other man dressed as a monk and nodded slightly, "It's an honor to have your help, Brother Pasioli. ”

Master Leonardo, Brother Pacioli.

Listening to these two names, the corners of Uliu's mouth curled up slightly, and he knew that the goal of his trip to Milan had finally appeared.

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