Vol 3 Chapter 58: Colombo

I heard that I was going to let myself go. No one cares about the woman who was so scared, and immediately fled around.
The road below the Col is obviously farther than I thought, so after waiting for a while, there was no shaking in front of him.
There were not many people coming, so when they saw the team of Alexandria, they immediately stopped at a distance. Except for someone from the front who came out of the team and slowly moved forward, everyone else looked at the same place.
Carlo led the horse forward, looking at the fat face on the other side's suspicious face. He said aloud, "Here is the team of Lord Alexander Juliant Gumbre of Agrie. Who are you?
Lord Agry? Gumbre?
The person on the opposite side was dazed, he obviously didn't know where the lord came from, but when he saw such an army, that person's face looked dignified.
"We are the guards of Sanroni. Where are you going?"
"That's great. We're going to the San Niro coal mine," Carlo looked back and then said to the man in a low voice, "You better lead the way, our lord is not grumpy." Great, we are from Rome, it ’s not easy to go this way, so he is angry. "
"You came from Rome?" The man showed a surprised look. He looked involuntarily behind Carlo, and when he saw the baskets on the ground, his face was angry. "Then you must have seen the guys who stole the coal." , Let me cut off their hands first. "
"Wait, what's the matter with you, haven't you heard what I said?" Carlo's face was gloomy. "My lord was waiting for you to go to your coal mine under the orders of His Majesty the Pope, but you actually only Concerned about a few thieves who steal coal, are you blatantly ignoring a pope's messenger? "
The fat man was a little stunned, and seemed to be smashed by the crime of ignoring the pope's messenger. He glanced worriedly at the team behind Carlo. When he noticed the Bohemians, he couldn't help but draw a cross on his chest. Then muttered something in his mouth and immediately turned the horse's head towards his companion.
After a while, a knight wearing this thick velvet robe came out of the line and walked to Carlo.
The man's hair is very short and hard, and the purple velvet robe is a bit grungy, but even then it can be seen that the dress is very valuable.
But Carlo didn't know this, he noticed that this man actually had a musket hanging by the saddle.
Although it was just a matchlock gun, it had already surprised Carlo.
Although the vast majority of the military still uses cold weapons, and the matchlock has not yet been fully popularized, it is no longer a particularly surprising weapon.
In many places, because of their preference for firearms, some nobles will also find talented craftsmen to make more refined and artful firearms for them as personal collections.
The debate about the power of firearms and bows and arrows is still strong, but many people with a little vision have already noticed that firearms are obviously more powerful than cold weapons.
So no one can be sure that in the future firearms will completely replace bows and arrows, or even all other cold weapons, but at least in Europe, firearms are no longer particularly surprising.
Equipping firearms in Alexandria ’s team did not cause much sensation, but Carlo was the first time he saw someone use firearms besides his own.
Seeing Carlo's puzzled eyes, the man smiled slightly: "I noticed that many of us brought muskets," the man said with a slight head and glanced at the army behind Carlo. "I'm a quiz Colombo, Hoza Colombo is my father. I want to know why you are here and let me talk to your lord. "
Carlo seriously looked at the man named Colombo Jr. before returning to Alexander.
"Adult, this man has a musket." Carlo whispered, although he did not think that the opponent's musket would be too threatening, but he still reminded.
Alexander was also a little surprised. This was the first time he met someone who was also interested in firearms.
"I am Alexander Juliant Gumbre, Lord of Agrig," Alexander walked up to the man who claimed to be Colombo Jr. "I was ordered by His Majesty the Pope, and I want to see you immediately To your father. "
"People sent by the pope?" Colombo Jr. didn't seem to be held by the status of the pope's messenger. He seemed to be more interested in the army behind Alexander. "I'm sorry my father is not here now, but if there is any command in Rome, I can tell I."
"I think we should go to your coal mine first," said Alexander Shensheng. He could feel that the person didn't seem to care, or simply said he ignored the orders from the pope, which made him guess his previous guess. With further certainty, it is clear that people in this place do not seem to care about authority from Rome.
"Of course, lord," maybe it was to see that the other party was an army, and Colombo Jr. did not deliberately stop him. He adjusted the horse head slightly and then walked side by side with Alexander. "Please forgive us for not knowing that Rome will send a team in advance. The army came, so we did not prepare enough food, so ... "
Does this imply that you are not welcome here? Alexander thought about it. He knew that although the importance of coal has not yet been fully grasped by people in this era, most people think of it as a kind of fuel that can be used like wood, but this does not mean that those who have vision and vision People will not see its effect.
At least the artisans of Milan used the increased temperature of coal burning to exercise, creating the world-famous Milan armor.
Wait a minute, what did the woman say before, the family of Colombo is the nobility of Milan?
Thinking of the woman, Alexander began to feel that his errand was not so simple.
Obviously, Caesar Borgia concealed many things about him.
These thoughts just flashed in my heart quickly. Alexander looked at the person next to him: "I think my people can solve it by themselves. They brought enough food, and you should notice that there are many Bohemians in my team. , They are known for being tough and hard-working. "
Colombo Jr. could not help but looked back, looking at the bohemians who rode on the horse even in such cold weather, he nodded slightly: "Yes, I have been Heard of their name. "
Speaking of which, Colombo Jr. took hold of Ma rein's hand and suddenly closed slightly, and the mount couldn't help but stop walking, and then he looked at Alexander with some unexpected eyes: "Bohemians, I think When you get up, you are the Sicilian, and you and Caesar Pogia established the order meeting, right? "
"That's right, I'm the Sicilian." Alexander looked back at Colombo and smiled, turned his head and continued on.
Why did you come to Son Ronnie?
Looking at Alexandria's back, the look of Colombo Jr. suddenly became bright and dark.
As a branch of the western foothills of the Apennine Mountains, although Sanroni Peak is not very tall, it is already unique in the entire hills.
Even as long as you walk to the mountainside, you can completely overlook the whole land below, and you can no longer find a higher terrain around it, which makes Sanroni Peak look like a lonely giant.
The coal mine is located in the depression of Sanroni. Along the way, on the road that has been stained with black, a team of workers carrying frames can be seen passing by.
"All the stones here are carried by people like this," Colombo Jr. said while walking. "Most of the people working in the mine are hard labor. Many people are sent here after committing crimes." Speaking of which, he looked at Alexander "I think you must have met some people who stole stones, then give them to me, and I will let them know what mistakes they made and what punishment they should be."
"How much coal can be produced here every day?" Alexander ignored Colombo and asked, "I think Rome is very interested in this."
"Rome," said Colombo Jr. with a deep smile. "The people of the Pogia family must be in a hurry now. Such heavy snow must cause them a lot of trouble. So they let you come."
"Not Borgia, but Rome," Alexander looked at Little Colombo. "Rome needs a lot of things. Now the people there are fighting the winter. This is not an exaggeration. The pope ordered me to open the road from Rome to here. It has caused a lot of trouble for Rome, and I hope to be able to gain something this time. "
"Of course, this is undoubted," Colombo Jr. raised his hand slightly and made a salute gesture. "We have always been happy to obey His Majesty's orders. After all, Rome and Milan are intimate."
Alexander noticed the slightly sarcastic tone of Colombo Jr. when he said this.
Indeed, Rome and Milan are close relatives, or more precisely, the Borgia family and the Sforza family in Rome are close relatives.
After Alexander VI ascended to the Pope's throne, the pope with superb diplomatic skills thought he needed a strong alliance.
Then the Sforza family in Milan came into his sight.
After the high-quality brokerage of Cardinal Monteiro, and after some bargaining, Alexander VI finally decided to marry his beloved daughter Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza, who was the Duke of Milan. The illegitimate child of Stanzo Sforza I.
This marriage still looks good. After all, Lucrezia is also an illegitimate child after being spoiled, which makes her more or less difficult to marry an orthodox heir.
Although Giovanni Sforza is an illegitimate child, he is very much loved by his father. There are rumors that if it is not for identity reasons, the Duke hopes that this son will inherit the powerful Duke of Milan.
More importantly, the strong Milan is enough to be a powerful ally, and this marriage did bring a lot of benefits to Alexander VI at the beginning.
However, Alexander knew better than everyone else that this marriage would last for another year at most, and the young couple would break up after a year.
But this is not the worst.
What's really bad is that Giovanni Sforza, who lived in Rome with Lucrezia, almost lost his life.
But now it seems that maybe not a year later, this time there has been a crack between Rome and Milan.
Sononi ’s coal mine was controlled by the Milanese, which surprised Alexander. He realized that Caesar would not let him come here.
But he was somewhat curious about the coal mines of this era.
It's hard to imagine how people in the 15th century started mining and mining coal, but Alexander knew that Sanroni was a famous shallow mine, which provided rare and superior conditions for mining coal in this era of extremely lack of technology and tools. It is even a gift of God.
So when he followed Little Colombo over a grungy hillside, although he was shocked by the magnificence of the large and dug-out mountains in front, he soon realized that it was a large open-pit coal mine.
Of course, Alexander is not good at mining, but he also knows that the coal quality of open-pit coal mines is definitely not as good as deep coal mines, but this is rare in this era.
Even relying on this kind of coking coal, which is not the best in terms of fuel consumption or temperature, Milanese still manufacture Milanese armor that is much more superb than other places. Know that Milanese armor is regarded as the most important Good armor is not just beautiful, but because of its solid texture and enviable craftsmanship.
It can be imagined that when a knight rushes towards the enemy line, a set of strong and reliable armor can not only resist the sword for him, but even block the attack of the powerful firearm from the enemy, thus providing him with confidence and gallop to kill the enemy with enough confidence and Guarantee.
This is enough for anyone who wants to go to the battlefield to crave such a life-saving artifact like an amulet.
It is just that Milanese armor is so prohibitively expensive that many people are discouraged from being able to make such a powerful armor, which shows the exquisite craftsmanship and forging technology of Milanese craftsmen.
But this is inseparable from the dirty and chaotic appearance in front of me, it seems that everything around is shrouded in a dark mine.
Looking at the pits that were dug everywhere, as if smashed by a meteorite, Little Colombo showed a complacent smile.
"This is the mine of Sanroni," Colombo Jr. said to Alexander. "Whether it is Rome or Milan, or Venice or Genoa, everyone has to ask us to warm up or drink hot soup in the winter. . "
"People can also cut down trees and use wood to keep warm and drink hot soup." Alexander said quietly.
"But wood can't provide enough heat and it will burn fast, and in such weather," Colombo Jr. looked up at the dry and cold sky without sunlight. "I think even sending a lot of people to cut trees Trouble, it reminds many people of Sanroni ’s mines, or of us. "
Colombo Jr. said a gesture to the entourage next to him. The entourage picked up a big horn and blew hard ~ EbookFREE.me ~ The sound of the horn drifted to the mine below with the wind, and soon all was working The people all stopped, and the workers looked up at the little Colombo on the slope. For a time, there was no more sound than wind in the messy and noisy mine.
"There is no comfortable and warm place to sleep without ore, without a delicious hot soup, and it is impossible even to take a comfortable hot bath," Colombo Jr. looked at Alexander, his eyes flashing with excitement. " One day ore will replace wood for all this, and by that time anyone who can master such a mine can let others do anything they do n’t want to do. "
"And now this mine belongs to the Colombo family, isn't it?" Alexander asked calmly.
"No," Colombo Jr. chuckled. "This mine belongs to the noble Sforza family, and the Colombo family is the most loyal servant of the Sforza family."
After he finished, he signaled his followers to play the horn again.
Hearing the horn, the workers took off their hats and bowed to the little Colombo on the slope, and then began to work silently.
Looking at this scene, Alexander fell into contemplation.