In the hot afternoon, there were bursts of knowing chirps, and the earth looked as hot and dazzling as if it was shrouded in a huge cover.

It was white everywhere, and it was obviously a good day, but because of the bright and dazzling sunlight overhead, even in the shade of the trees, I still had to squint my eyes slightly to feel comfortable.

A few businessman-like men sat together in the shade of a tree, the large and thick canopy blocking the harsh sun, the woods made a swishing sound, the leaves were blown away, and then a pleasant coolness hit the whole body.

A few people sat on the ground and felt the rare refreshment, and then there was a large bare hill, and then they had to cross a long, narrow, dry river where there was no shade to rest in.

A merchant with a bushy beard on his face looked back at a few donkeys tied to the shade of a tree not far away, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face, and beside each one lay heavy bags of goods on the ground, filled with all kinds of goods.

From large quantities of food to sharp weapons, from expensive jewelry to all kinds of cheap supplies that could be used in ordinary households, people sold everything they could in order to gain wealth, and at the same time went from one place to another.

These people are a few of the countless people who seek wealth, but they are not big merchants, and their goods are only worthless and low-priced goods, but even so, as long as they can sell these goods safely, it is enough to make their lives better.

The one that guaranteed them a lot of money was the city called Florence.

As one of the most prosperous cities in central Italy, Florence is proud of its thriving culture and is known throughout the peninsula for its boastful wealth.

The Medici family, who were adept at business, took the already thriving wool industry to the extreme, with many Florentine merchant families profiting from the industry and more ordinary citizens becoming workers in the huge Medici wool industry.

The Medici family made the Florentines richer, and the demand for goods brought about by the affluence of life gradually increased, and people were no longer satisfied with buying some necessities for their homes, but began to want more things.

For example, a tapestry that I never thought of buying, or a good tableware for entertaining important guests, or a fur garment that will not make others feel shabby when worn, you must know that if you can put a circle of precious silk lace on the outside of the skirt, or put a beautiful and warm little animal skin coat on the winter coat, it is a proud thing that can make others envy the whole season.

Most of these things can be bought from the shops on the street, and if they are not available, then people will try their luck in the largest market in Florence, because many merchants from other places are not willing to sell their goods to the shops in order to make more money, but prefer to pay a fee in addition to the gate tax, and then find a buyer in the market themselves.

Few people lose money in this kind of trade, and Florence is so big and its population so large that in the eyes of many merchants, the city is simply a paradise for people like them.

When the Medici family still ruled Florence, some merchants were even lucky enough to be favored by the Medici family and became lucky enough to do business with their family.

It's just that the Medici don't know where they've been driven now, and Florence isn't as dazzling and bustling as it once was, but even so, the city has a huge attraction that drives merchants crazy.

They found that with the gradual decline of the wool industry in Florence after the fall of the Medici, the Florentines were not as wealthy as before, but some of the goods that were originally produced by themselves also disappeared from the Florentine market.

For example, the disappearance of the wool dyeing industry, which had previously been difficult for foreign merchants to meddle in, made the local people produce fewer and fewer wool fabrics of their own, which gave the foreign merchants a great opportunity to start shipping a large number of fine and cheap wool fabrics to Florence, and then bring gold coins from the city that would make their faces smile.

In short, the city fed too many people except for the natives of Florence, and as for the young man who wanted to go to Florence to study art with this caravan, the merchant looked at him and shook his head.

"What are you going to study in Florence?" The merchant asked casually as he rubbed the tip of his beard and took a sip of the cider from the horseskin.

"I want to learn from Botticelli about his paintings," said the young man, still with a childish look on his face, at the mention of the name of the master he admired, and the small tuft of fluff that had just appeared under his lips trembled slightly, "I have been saving money at home for two years, and I have been working as a student in a workshop, and now I can finally go to Florence." ”

Seeing the young man's excited appearance, the merchant narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at him carefully until his face turned a little red.

"Don't lie to me," the merchant snorted suddenly, "You said that you like to paint, I believe it, you said that you worship that master, and I believe it, but I just don't believe what you said," the merchant said and leaned forward, looking the young man up and down with teasing eyes, "Tell me, you want to go to Florence to study painting so hard, it shouldn't be just for this." Tell me, whose girl is it? ”

The young man's face blushed even more, and he opened his mouth to argue, but in the end he just asked incredulously, "How do you know, how do you see it?" ”

"What's this, everything is written on your own face, don't touch it, you can see it when you reach my age." The merchant said and handed over the horseskin wine bag, looking at the young man with some hesitation and sipping, the merchant shook his head in disgust, "I think you are wrong to go out this time, you must know that when you really learn the skills of that master, maybe the girl in the family will not only be married a long time ago, but the children are not young, you should always stay by her side, not to mention the current Botticelli ......"

"Impossible!" The young man interrupted the merchant, he threw the wine bag back to the merchant and shook his head, "She won't marry, I will study hard to become a real master, and then I can go back and propose to her, I just hope to impress her." ”

"Wait," the merchant asked, a little surprised, "do you mean that the girl doesn't like you at all, and you want to learn to paint just to impress her?" ”

"Yes, I hope I can impress her, you know, I fell in love with her from the time I met her, and that's why I learned to draw." The young man's eyes showed indescribable enthusiasm, as if he could say endless words at the mention of that girl: "You know, she is the most beautiful girl I have ever met, and I can give everything for her!" ”

"Oh, oh!"

The merchant nodded incessantly, and then leaned against the trunk of the tree beside him with great interest as the young man could continue.

"You just spend almost all your savings to go to Florence to learn to paint because you like people, but I remember you didn't even have the money to get out and take the car, so you had to go with us." The merchant couldn't help but shake his head, "Young people now, I think I was wrong just now, that girl shouldn't wait for you to get married in a few years, but not for you to go to Florence, and people are already married now." ”

The merchant's words caused several merchants next to him to laugh, but the young man was so angry that his face turned red and he didn't know what to say.

He stood up and tried to argue something, but before he could speak, he was startled by the merchant who suddenly stood up.

The merchant waved his hand to the people next to him, then tilted his head slightly to listen, and then he immediately lay on the ground and pressed his ears to the ground, and the sight of him like this immediately made the people nervous.

"Someone's coming, and there are quite a few." The merchant raised his head and said with a stern expression, "Hide all the goods in the woods, don't forget to leave some outside, so many people don't bring anything and no one believes it, they are all sharp!" ”

The people immediately got busy, and the young man picked up his little luggage, then threw it on the ground, and began to help the merchants hide their bags in the woods.

"Nice young man," said the merchant, as he ran forward with his bag, "if we hide from me this time, I'll stay in Florence for a while, and don't go to that Botticelli, he can't teach you anything now." ”

"What did you say?" The young man was taken aback, he asked anxiously, and even tried to pull the merchant who ran forward, "Why do you say that Master Botticelli will not teach me?" ”

"Let go of the fool, do you want us all to suffer," the merchant scolded and continued to run forward, "Don't mention those now, hide everything first, if these goods are gone, we will all lose miserably." ”

A group of people were busy with their hands, some people fell to the ground due to nervousness, the contents of the bags were scattered, and people had to throw the scattered goods into the grass.

From time to time, the merchant looked into the distance, and when he saw a cloud of smoke and dust rising from the slope in the distance, he immediately stopped what he was doing and reminded his companions loudly: "Enough is enough, how much is left, everyone sit down quickly!" ”

The merchant sat down on the ground in panic, and when the merchant leaned under the tree and tried to pretend to sleep, he saw the young man pull out a drawing board from his luggage on the ground, and then hold a charcoal pen in his hand and prepare to pretend to draw, but the sweat on his head and his slightly trembling hands obviously betrayed him.

"Lie down, don't do anything that will attract attention." The merchant kicked the young man, and by this time he had heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from behind him, "My name is James, James Columbus, if you have heard of this surname, you must know that I have a brother who is very famous......"

"Ron Zuo," replied the young man obediently, throwing away his sketchpad and lying down across from the merchant, "My name is Ron Zor Sabatini, and I am from Bologna. ”

James nodded, but he didn't dare say anything by this time, for he had heard a troop of horsemen rushing into the woods with the sound of heavy horses' hooves hitting the ground.

Knowing that he couldn't pretend to sleep anymore, James sat up with a look of panic and turned to look at the edge of the woods.

A small group of poorly dressed cavalry had broken into the woods by this time, and they had apparently already spotted the merchants resting at the edge of the woods, so their ranks had dispersed, and only two soldiers who seemed to be the leader had rushed their horses to them.

"You are...... Is there anything you can do? James looked at the uninvited guests with some blankness.

It is not at all clear from the way these people are dressed that they belong to the army or to the bandits of the territory.

Some of them wore light woollen coats, others wore a half-armour, and one of them wore the typical northern Germans with two thick shoulders on their shoulders.

"Who are you?" One of the leading horsemen touched James to the thigh with a scabbard hanging from his waist, and when he saw a small package he had placed beside him, he stabbed him with the scabbard.

"We are merchants, going to Florence." James replied cautiously.

He knew that now was not the time to say, 'Do you know who my brother was?', not to mention that his brother was only doing well in distant Castile, and even if he was the Pope in the Vatican, there was no guarantee that he would be slaughtered by them if he annoyed these people in such a remote place.

"Go to Florence," the soldier at the head shook his head, poking the package with his scabbard again, "open it and let me see what's inside." ”

James was tempted to object, but he obeyed the order honestly, and when he tore through the tightly sewn seal to reveal a pile of colorful things inside, he heard a whistle from the mouth of the man in charge.

"You're going to take these things with you to Florence, do you know it's impossible to get into the city?"

Hearing this person's words, James's originally nervous mood relaxed a little, and he could see that these people didn't seem to be robbers, which made him look at these people with a little curiosity.

"Qing forgive me for maybe I misunderstood you before, so what can I do for you?"

"You're right," James said, as he sat down and picked up the flask that James had placed on the floor, shook it, and then tilted his head and took a sip, "If you want to do business in Florence, you should ask more." ”

"Well, of course, we're in business," James asked, tentatively, "and may I ask who you are?" ”

"Look at this," the soldier at the head tossed James a crumpled roll of paper tied with a rope, "are you literate, if you don't know me, I can read it to you." ”

"I can read." James muttered under his breath as he opened the paper and looked at it carefully.

He noticed that the paper seemed to be worn out from the edges of the paper that had been opened so often, and he looked closely at its contents.

It was a letter of appointment, and under the imprint of the Florentine coat of arms, it was written the order to appoint the person in front of him as the leader of the Florentine mercenary team, and below the letter of appointment, in addition to a very eye-catching signature, there was also a sentence that seemed to be in sight.

"May the majesty and kindness of God forever shelter Florence, the purest city in the world, Giloramo Savonarola."

James looked up at the man in front of him in some dismay, and then returned the letter of appointment to him.

"See we're not robbers," the man looked at James and his companions with a slightly sarcastic look, "I know you've hidden all your goods, and this lad,"

As he spoke, he raised his scabbard again and slapped the thigh of the young man named Ron Zor Sabatini next to him.

"You should have changed your fellow, he's so nervous that he's been looking out into the woods since we came," the mercenary captain said with a sarcastic pout, "Okay, now we can talk about business." ”

James was completely relieved by this time, he seemed to know what the mercenaries were going to say to him, and after sitting down, he looked at the captain opposite.

"I know Florence is very strict now, so I wonder what you can do for me?"

"20 Florin will help you into the city," the mercenary gestured with two fingers, "you should know that the things you are bringing with you are against the anti-extravagance law, and if you are discovered, you will have to confiscate them all and even be fined." ”

James frowned, he knew that the mercenary was right, Florence now forbids all extravagant things, all depraving entertainment, and even forbids people to enjoy a good meal, because those who are greedy for appetite will eventually go to hell.

It was a city that had been surrounded by the majesty of religion, and everything that was mundane was being replaced by sacred religious ceremonies, and to outsiders, the man called Savonarola was sparing no effort to build a kingdom of God on earth!

But because of this, the truly clever people also see opportunities in it.

James, for example, at least knew that in today's Florentine black market, even the most ordinary piece of lace could sell for several times more than before.

This is because, according to the anti-extravagance law, those things that were considered useless and would only lead the people to depravity and enjoyment had been confiscated and destroyed by order of the consuls.

Because it is scarce, it is precious!

"Twenty florins is too much, I can only give you 15," James shook his head, "You know, I'm a small businessman, and I don't have any money to spare." ”

"Twenty is not negotiable," said the mercenary dissatisfied, "we all know how much you can earn, but you have to go to the city to do it, and you don't think that you are the only one who wants to do this kind of business." ”

James frowned, he could tell that the mercenary was telling the truth, and there were many people like him or more savvy.

"Okay 20 florins, but I'll only give you 10 first, and another 10 when I leave," James looked at his companion next to him, "We have a lot of people here, and we need to pay for it." ”

The mercenary seemed to hesitate, but finally nodded and agreed, he was not worried that James would regret it, after all, as he said, there are many people who want to do this kind of business, and if James wants to continue to make a fortune in Florence in the future, he must keep his word.

Watching the 10 Florin slip into someone else's pocket, James sighed a little distressedly, but when he looked at the one of the clearance papers in his hand, he immediately laughed again.

"You're going to get rich," the mercenary waved behind him as he walked out of the woods, "but be careful, Florence is a strange place right now. ”

Watching the backs of the mercenaries who quickly disappeared into the distance as a cloud of smoke and dust rolled up, James carefully put away the clearance paper.

Then he looked back at the young man next to him with an unknown face, and shook his head helplessly.

"You'd better be careful, young man, as the man said, Florence is a very strange place now."

The young man named Ron Zor Sabatini nodded a little stunned, but then shook a little dazedly.

Climbing the hill in the distance, I thought I would never go to it, and the shadow of the city was already faintly visible in the valley farther away.

There is Florence.

It is the cradle of a great change!