The heavy rain also shrouded Ampton City in a fog, and after walking quietly for half an hour, Ampton City appeared in front of Zhang Tie.
The city of Ampton was an unwalled, undefended commercial city, and the thriving commercial trade between the north and south of the Blackson Terran corridor has made the city grow larger and larger over the past two hundred years, and today, as the capital and most important stronghold and city of the Free Mercantile Alliance, the city has expanded into a large city covering more than 100 square kilometers.
This city is much more prosperous than Black Flame City.
The rolling southward crowd gave Ampton a deformed state of prosperity like fire cooking oil and ice and fire.
On both sides of the city streets, as long as there is a place to shelter from the wind and rain, there are refugees with simple tents or bunks everywhere, and next to or not far from these refugee gathering places, those apartments, hotels, and hostels can be seen everywhere. "76 Levins Avenue, 2 bedroom apartment for rent, water and heating, 10 gold coins per month" "Cosy family hotel, clean and comfortable, daily rental 600 silver coins Note: breakfast not included" "Dark Horse Hotel Suite, 3 gold coins per night" "The stairwell on the fourth floor of the Wall Building is rented, a 10-square-meter room, and the monthly rent is 2 gold coins" Such a rent, according to Zhang Tie's understanding, is simply a robbery, which is far beyond the ability of ordinary families to bear, but at this moment in Bampton City, it has become a very ordinary thing.
In addition to these ubiquitous residence advertisements, at this moment in Upton, the most, there are also scammers, Zhang Tie has just entered the city of Bampton, and the scammers who use the same trick have already met three people, those three scammers have something in common, the clothes are dressed as neatly and classy as possible, they talk endlessly, their "business" is the same, as long as you can give them a little money, they can help you contact and "book" the airship space to leave Ampton.
"Sir, our Silver Boat Airship Company is definitely a powerful big enterprise, you may have met other scammers, but please believe me, we are definitely different from those people, we are an airline with our own airship, and we have been operating many routes from Upton City to the south, 10 silver coins, as long as 10 silver coins, I can take you to see our company's airship, you can decide whether to book a cabin after seeing the airship" A man in his fifties held an umbrella and followed Zhang Tie, chattering in Zhang Tie's ear, as if in order to convince Zhang Tie, the man solemnly took out a few photos and some information from a briefcase that was already a little worn out on his body to show the truth of what he said.
"Can you get yourself a cabin" Zhang Tie stood still and looked at the man.
"Ah, of course, sir, as an employee of the Silver Boat Company, this is a piece of complete cake for me," the guy replied after a pause.
"So, you can get yourself a cabin quickly."
"Why?"
"If you don't leave the city of Ampton again, you may be in danger of your life."
"Ah, sir, you're joking, how could I be in danger of my life," the guy forced a smile on his face.
Zhang Tie didn't speak, just picked it into the distance with his chin, and when the guy turned his head, he saw several men's men, pointing at him, and several people were walking towards him quickly, and those men had water pipes and wooden sticks and other things in their hands.
He turned his head, just in time for the others to see his face.
"Catch him, catch him, catch that damn liar" "Give me back the gold" The men shouted and rushed over, and the guy's face changed, and he dropped his umbrella and ran Several men crossed Zhang Tie and chased after the guy, and the group disappeared into the rain in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the umbrella that was discarded on the street, a teenage boy wearing a coat came out of the nearby alley, ran over quickly, grabbed the umbrella in his hand, and turned around to run.
"Wait a minute," Zhang Tie called out to the little guy.
"Ah, this umbrella was picked up by me, and now it belongs to me, not yours" The little guy vigilantly hid the umbrella behind him and looked at Zhang Tie with a vigilant expression.
"I know, you picked it up, I just wanted to ask you for some news" Zhang Tie put his face softer.
"I'm sorry, I don't know anything," the little guy shook his head in a worldly manner, and slowly retreated into the alley.
Zhang Tie's hand flipped over and took out a silver coin, and the little guy stopped all of a sudden, looking at the silver coin in Zhang Tie's hand with bright eyes, and hesitated suddenly.
"You should know something by now."
"What do you want to know, sir?"
"Take me to the most well-informed place in Ampton City, and this silver coin is yours" The little one's gaze moved, "Two silver coins, sir, if you can give me two silver coins, I'll take you there" "Okay, let's go" Zhang Tie nodded.
"Sir, can you pay me this silver coin first, count as half of the deposit first, I can't run away in front of you anyway," said the little fellow, rolling his eyes.
Sure enough, it is worthy of being the capital of the Free Business Alliance, and a child has such a business acumen, Zhang Tie smiled, and threw the silver coin into the little guy's hand.
The little guy took the silver coin, just glanced at it, and quickly put the silver coin on his body, and the whole person also showed a sigh of relief.
"Sir, come with me" After more than twenty minutes, the heavy rain slowly became lighter, and after walking for almost two kilometers, the little guy had already taken Zhang Tie to a place.
"Is this the place" Zhang Tie looked at a building not far away, and suddenly realized.
"Yes, that building is the headquarters of the mercenary union in Ampton, the mercenary empire Ames and the Free Business Alliance are the best partners, where many mercenaries take up tasks, the tavern next to the mercenary union is the most well-informed place in Ampton City, in addition to those mercenaries, many people will go where to drink and inquire about a little news" Zhang Tie smiled, took out his hand on his body, and directly took out a gold coin and threw it into the little guy's hand, "Reward you" "Ah, thank you, sir, you are really the best person I have ever met" The little guy looked at the gold coin in his hand in disbelief, and then bowed to Zhang Tie, and finally as if he was afraid that Zhang Tie would regret it, after finishing speaking, he quickly disappeared into the street next to him.
Zhang Tie smiled and walked directly to the tavern next to the mercenary union.
The little guy was right, there were a lot of people coming and going, and those who came and went in the tavern were all armed with swords and other weapons, and it felt very strong, and on the opposite side of the tavern were two weapons and armor shops, and a very large general store, and next to the tavern was a street full of temptations for many men.
The heavy rain had just stopped, and on that street, there were already many women with heavy makeup wearing coats, revealing a white leg under their knees, holding a cigarette or carrying a bag and standing on the side of the street, the posture and charm of those women, on those streets near the Heiyancheng Railway Station, Zhang Tie had also seen them, and when he saw those women, Zhang Tie thought of Mrs.
Anna, so he didn't need to ask, he knew what those women were doing.
As he passed through the street, a man with a weapon would whisper a few words to a woman, and then walk into the small hotel next to him with the woman in his arms.
The mercenary who licks the blood with a knife head and the warbler who stands on the street and laughs are a perfect match everywhere.
Zhang Tie didn't go to the headquarters of the mercenary union in Ampton, which required officially registered mercenaries to be eligible to enter, so he came to the door of the tavern.
The name of the tavern is also very mercenary, it is called "Gold Coin Tavern", it looks good, there is some style, Zhang Tie guessed, this may be an informal external communication window of the mercenary union, and many things that are inconvenient to carry out in the mercenary union or spread the news are done through such unofficial channels.
In and out of the tavern, in addition to many mercenaries wearing obvious mercenary group badges on their chests, there are also many people who can't see their identities and origins, those who can't see their history, some look like pioneers, some look like rangers, and some are dressed as free mercenaries, pioneers' multi-use cloaks and pioneer swords, rangers' feather hats and hand shields, as well as free mercenaries' bows and crossbows and white gloves, are all the signboards of these people, but they are just signboards, for Zhang Tie, since a person can even change his appearance, He himself often changes back and forth, so those so-called signboards have no meaning, so it is very naïve for a veteran to judge a person's identity from their appearance.
Zhang Tie's appearance at the moment is both like a ranger and a pioneer.
Zhang Tie walked into the tavern, took off the poncho, hung it in a cloakroom on the left side of the tavern door, and then walked inside.
There were many people in the tavern, and the atmosphere was noisy and warm, and everywhere there was a smell of alcohol mixed with the various drinks peculiar to the tavern, and the smell of men's smoke, but it was quite orderly, a half-naked stripper was writhing bewitchingly on the stage in the middle of the tavern under the light of a pink fluorite lamp, and the maids with bare thighs and half breasts walked around the tavern with their drinks, and laughed with the guests who came here from time to time.
Zhang Tie looked at it and found that the places with tables in the tavern were basically full of people at the moment, only the circle of seats next to the stage was still empty, so he walked over and found a place next to the stage and sat down: