At noon the next day, when a rapid alarm bell sounded in Saurenburg, a team of business travelers was already riding on the road twenty miles northwest of Saurenburg.

"Master, I have counted it. There are nine gold coins, thirty-two big silver coins, 73 small silver coins, and some jewelry. I guess I'll be worth 30,000 to 50,000 Finneys." Ron took out coins from his arms on his bumpy horse and put them on a rag to count.

"It is equivalent to 48,000 Doffini." Att roughly converted these Lombardy currencies into Burgundy currencies.

"A castle tax officer's salary is only more than a thousand Finney throughout the year. This guy actually made so much money? It's really not a good thing!" Ron spat hard, and stuffed a rag into a cowhide bag on the saddle.

"Master, you can't give birth to a baby if you bring this money back. Otherwise, the price we use to buy spices and bring it back to Burgundy will be several times more." Ron now has a business mind and knows how to make money profit.

Yat turned his head and looked at Ron's bulging bag on his saddle. "I will naturally leave the business to do the sales of southern goods. I will use this money to other things."

"Master, are you buying armor? The armor made by the Lombards is really good. Those ordinary soldiers can wear plate armor; or the crossbows are also good. The day before yesterday, I saw a crossbow produced in Geryana in the weapons shop in Ravati. The owner said that it could shoot through double leather or cotton armor at a distance of 150 steps. The key is that the price is very cheap. A Geryana crossbow is only 800 Finneys, which is nearly half cheaper than Burgundy's..." Ron is already planning what equipment should he buy.

Yat waved his hand and interrupted Ron's meditation plan, "I do plan to buy something for the Legion, but the money is not used to buy military equipment."

"If you don't buy martial arts, what else can you buy?" Ron was puzzled.

"Buy a military book!"

"Buy books??!! Why do you buy books?" Not only Ron, but Matthew and several guards all agreed to look confused.

"It's not an ordinary book, it's a military book!" Yate specifically emphasized that it's a military book.

"I plan to buy a few sets of military books for the officers' school. Some things are not enough to rely on the officers' words and deeds alone." Yat affirmed and stopped talking. It was not easy to make these guys who were civilians not long ago understand their plans, so I wouldn't say much.

Ron's face was bad again. Not only did he expect that the armor and crossbow could not be purchased, but now he has become a book that he does not want to touch at all.

On the fifteenth day of going south, Yat and his party drove their horses to a northern Lombardy city called Noble, which is only two days away from the border of Provence. As a border city, Noble is not famous for its strong city barriers and iron armored blades. In fact, there are few defenders in this place because Noble is a city belonging to the church.

The city of Noble is less than two thousand feet in circumference, not much larger than the city of Tinets. It is about thirty feet taller and built with stones. There are no deep ditch moats under the city, and there are no armored guards on the city walls, except for a few red cross flags on the white background and wooden crosses that symbolize the church.

Of course, there are still armed forces in the city, but they are only less than fifty people in the church and are directly under the jurisdiction of the church in the city.

The entire Noble city is almost filled with the atmosphere of religion. There is a cathedral in the city, two monasteries, and a seminary and ancillary buildings. These church buildings almost occupy most of the area within the city wall. The rest are basically bakeries that maintain the city's operation, various shops, and large areas of farmland and manors outside the city. These are all church properties of the church. However, clergy cannot plow the fields and farmlands themselves, so these land estates are rented to those devout believers to operate...

It was Sunday when Yat and his men drove their horses to Noble. As a religious concentration in northern Lombardy, many devout believers come to pray and worship every year, which is another pillar of Noble City.

When he was young, Yat often went to Noble to worship with the priests of the territory. When he was twelve, he was sent to Noble's theological school for a year of theology education, so he was very familiar with it.

The religious holy land does not allow sharp blades and swords, so Yat stopped in a small roadside hotel outside the city, leaving behind horse weapons and two guards, and took Ron and Matthew and walked into Noble on foot.

It was mid-April, and the scorching sun was already getting hot. Yat and the others were still the business trip heads brought from the valley. They couldn't help but pull their collars and let the cold wind pour in.

The trip was tight, and Yat had no time to go to the city's church and monastery to worship one by one. After entering the city, he turned right and led Ron and the others to head straight to Noble's seminary.

The Noble Theological Seminary itself is not famous. It only occupies a small area in the east of the city of Noble. The seminary has less than a hundred apprentices every year. However, the library of the Noble Theological Seminary is extremely famous because it collects nearly a thousand ancient books in this library affiliated to the Noble Theological Seminary. In addition, it is also a place to produce book volumes.

The seminary is open and therefore has no doors, but outsiders cannot enter the seminary schools where theology teachers and apprentices are studying.

There is a single-story church-like building on the north side of the seminary, which is the Noble Seminary Library.

When he walked to the entrance of the library, an old man who looked like a librarian stopped several people at the door. After Yat Doming's purpose of buying books, he paid three small Lombardy silver coins to the old man. After collecting the silver coins, the old man returned to the wooden table at the door and picked up three small wooden boards with smooth polished appearances and handed them to the three, and told them to cherish the damage to the book and compensate for the damage.

Those three small wooden boards are actually bookmarks, but this thing is even a voucher for checking books.

After paying the money to collect the wooden board, the three of them pushed open the tall and huge door of the library. In front of everyone was a wide and bright hall. The hall was roughly divided into three areas. There were several clerks who looked like clerks at the entrance. They stood behind a row of wooden tables, and into the inside were several tall wooden racks. Each row of wooden racks neatly placed books and books. The books on the wooden racks inside should be isolated ancient books, with a long chain tied up. There were also wooden benches on desks and benches under the bookshelf. Those who wanted to check could only sit under the wooden racks and study them on the ground within the chains. This was intended to prevent people with ulterior motives from stealing those precious and unusual ancient books.

The wooden racks that place books occupy most of the space, but at the innermost side of the hall, there is an area where more than twenty writing tables are placed.

This kind of writing table is different from a business table. Its main body is a oblique wooden board and a wooden base. There is a protruding barrier above the wooden board. The barrier is used to shelve books. There is a protruding short board below the wooden board. It is used to place pens and inks here. There is also a drawer below the short board. Generally, spare pens and inks or parchment paper are placed in the drawer.

The function of these desks is obvious - used to copy book volumes.

As a seminary, in addition to theological teachings, writing is also a necessary skill for apprentices. This is the place where apprentices specialize in learning to write. In addition, these writing desks have another important function - the production of book volumes.

Yes, in this era, there was only one way to produce books, which was handwritten and copied. The library would specially hire people who could write and write well to work in the library. Their daily task was to copy ancient classics on parchment books. These books were either turned into classics on wooden shelves in various libraries, or sent to other churches, monasteries, and seminaries. Of course, they were inevitably bought by nobles and wealthy merchants to decorate their study rooms and act as elegant people.

"Oh my God, there are so many books in the world, it's just~~" Ron's eyes were already wider than cowbells. He stood blankly at the door of the library, opening his mouth and wondering how to describe his inner shock.

Ron has read books, and he is very proud of this.

During the years when he entered the valley and became an Att entourage guard and even the guard officer, Att forced him to learn a lot of words. Att started with general texts and characters, and he could barely write documents in general texts and Latin texts. After careful calculation, Ron has read several books, and the words that can be spelled have already exceeded thousands, which is already amazing.

However, when he stood in the library of Noble Theological Seminary, he felt that he was just an idiot for the first time.

"Sir, these are books?" Matthew's mouth was also full of words. He had studied words in the Valley Parish School, but the contents they learned were either the "Bible" fragments copied by Father Hamish on the wooden board, or the old account books taken out by the old housekeeper Cooper. The books he had seen were only slapped in the hand. Now the books that were placed higher than others were indeed shocking enough.

"Today I specially brought you two together to let you know how much that thing you have learned. I have learned a few words on weekdays and think that I know why I know it. Now I know how much ink there is in my belly, right?" Yat ignored the surprise of the two personal guards and walked straight in.

A young man who looked like a librarian immediately came up. The young man was seventeen or eighteen years old, half a shorter than Matthew, but he looked energetic and decent.

"Sir, I am the librarian Barol. Is there anything I can help you?" The librarian just heard the conversation between Atrohn and the others, and his mouth was fluent in a burgundy tone.

Yat looked up and down at the young man, handing the bookmark board to the young man, "Are you Burgundian?"

"No, no, sir, I am a Lombard." Barol took the board and denied it repeatedly.

"Then you~"

Barol smiled, "I have been here since I was twelve years old and have come into contact with many guests, including Lombardy, Provence, France, Florence, etc. I always like to talk to guests and learn, so it's just~" the young man shrugged.

Yat subconsciously turned his head and looked at Ron and Matthew who were following closely behind, and his eyes were "Learn to learn from others!"

However, Ron and Matthew just pretended to be nothing and looked around at the bookshelf on both sides.

"I guess the distinguished guest is here to buy books on military tactics?" Barol gave Yater a surprise again.

"Can you guess this?"

Barol smiled, "It's obvious that your two guards are brave warriors, and the power ring on your fingers and the sword cocoon on your palms both show that you are fighting all year round, so you are either a mercenary leader or a military aristocrat. A nobleman who leads troops usually doesn't read those complicated poems and literary rhetoric works. Of course, the most suitable for you are the books of military tactics."

Yat looked at the young man repeatedly, "Your name is Barol? I remember you. Well, I really want to buy some books on military tactics here, whether it is from ancient times or the present. Can you recommend some for me?"

Barol's goal has been achieved, and he can sell a lot of books and earn a lot of commissions.

I saw Barol turn around and take out a piece of parchment from behind the wooden table. The parchment records a special catalog of books - books recommended by merchants, books recommended by knights, books recommended by little nobles, books recommended by craftsmen... All of them are classified according to occupation and social status.

This parchment is obviously the crystallization of Barol's own wisdom.

He turned over the parchment paper and searched in the dense symbols for a moment, "Ha, found it."

“These sets of books are very suitable for you.”

"The first set is "A Brief Description of the Art of War". This is a military masterpiece from the Empire period. The book has five volumes. The first volume mainly talks about recruitment and training of recruits. The second volume talks about the establishment of the Imperial Legion and the commander of the army, as well as the establishment of such organization and how to form a legion in combat. The third volume talks about the issues of strategic and tacticality. The fourth volume talks about the advancement and defense issues of the building area. The fifth volume talks about the application of the navy."

The parchment in Barol's hand is just a simple outline of the book. Yat has also read this book. The book emphasizes that, first, the army must be skilled in martial arts and well-trained, so that only in this way can they win in battle; second, focus on the selection of soldiers. Soldiers must not only have a strong body, but also have a brave and fearless spirit; third, emphasize military laws and regulations, and believe that military laws and regulations are one of the decisive factors for the army to win in war; fourth, emphasize that the generals of the army must fully grasp the enemy's situation and military situation, be familiar with the enemy and the battlefield to formulate correct and complete combat policies, and launch an attack in a timely manner. In addition, the book also explains the suddenness in war and the necessity of maintaining the reserve team.

This is a set of military books that are very suitable for advanced officers to learn and master, so Yat said directly, "How much does this book cost?"

"Guike, there are two versions of this book. One is a hardcover version with exquisite illustrations, worth 5800 Finneys, a total of three books; the other is copied by a seminary apprentice, without illustrations, but the text content is similar and the price is much cheaper, only 2200 Finneys, a total of two books."

"Five,800 Finney??! Can it be cheaper?" Matthew couldn't believe his ears when he heard the price.

Att glanced back at Matthew, then turned his head, "Hardcover illustration version, one set. What about the others?"

"The second set is called "State Strategy". The book has four volumes. The first volume is about the strategy examples used before the war begins; the second volume is about the strategy examples used to subdue the enemy in war; the third volume is about the strategy examples when siege and lifting the siege; the fourth volume talks about military morality. This book is a collection of historical examples of war, implying rich ancient military philosophical thoughts and the way of using troops."

Ather has not read this book, but Barol obviously read it seriously. He put down the parchment and introduced: "The book talks about a lot of war ethics, such as not bullying the residents, because they are the source of food and clothing for soldiers; soldiers are not robbers, and the power of defeating the enemy with kindness is no less than weapons; war is not against the residents, but against the armed enemy; attack wherever the enemy is defending; forgive him when the enemy surrenders, etc."

"I copied this set of books when I was an apprentice, and there were two books in total. My handwriting was not pretty at that time, so the price was much cheaper, two thousand five hundred Finney."

"Born!" Yat did not hesitate at all.

Of course, Barol was extremely happy. The man in front of him was the most arrogant military aristocrat he had ever seen.

"Is there any more?" Yat found that the young man in front of him had a lot of stuff in his belly, so he asked more questions.

"There are only two sets of masterpieces of military arts in ancient times. It is OK to show the others to those little knights who have never been to the battlefield. If you give them, I'm afraid you can't fool them. However, last year I copied a book called "Mercenary Manual" for an old man. The old man once served as the chief clerk in the prosperous Sword of Dawn Mercenary Group. He wrote a set of books based on his experiences in mercenaries over the years. I once copied one. If you are interested, you can buy it and read it. The content is not much, and it is only one book. The price is very fair, eight hundred Finney."
Chapter completed!