Great time travel

Chapter 9, First Experience of Medieval European Life
After using the [Camera Change] to put on medieval European clothes, relying on the efforts of the current owner of the manor, Li Wei and his wife, to smooth things over, Wang Qiu and Doraemon, a group of visitors from different worlds, were finally able to openly appear in the manor. He wandered around with curious eyes.

——During the outbreak of the Black Death, everyone in Marseille was quickly overwhelmed by the fear of death.Even the most suspicious and troublesome person in the past has lost all hope, like a walking dead, and has become much less responsive.

Therefore, regarding trivial matters such as "there are a group of strangers around my master for some reason", the servants just nodded numbly to express their understanding, and then asked if they would prepare breakfast and accommodation for them. After the affirmative answer, there is no more to say.The old housekeeper who might have doubted and came to test and question him, as well as the private clerk of the late old master Mr. Diderot, and another senior clerk just sent from Rhodes Island by the Knights of the Hospital, were all on board. He has been called by the Lord within a month and has been ascended to heaven.

In this way, the seaside manor with the octagonal and white cross flag flying on a red background has temporarily become a hall of speech for Knight Li Wei, which greatly facilitates the activities of Wang Qiu, Doraemon and others... Early the next morning , when it was just dawn, the Li Wei couple, who were so excited that they didn't sleep all night, took Wang Qiu, Doraemon and others to visit their home - the "Holy Warriors" under the name of the Hospital Knights. manor"!
In general, although this place is considered a manor in name, it is actually a small castle in terms of defensive power, at least comparable to the earthen enclosures of those rural landlords in the troubled times of China—and still No expense was spared, and the outer wall was made of stone.

The whole manor is located on a small peninsula protruding southward into the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by water on three sides, and a moat was dug on the land side, and it also has a small private dock and a strong breakwater.Outside the estate are vast fields and pastures, scattered with several small villages.These places used to belong to the owner of the manor, the Bacon family currently inherited by Knight Levi, but now they have been taken away by other nobles successively due to various complicated factors such as war, politics and family strife, leaving only the Bacon family. A small patch of land near the Mujahideen estate lingers.

Although the Bacon family has turned around in wealth since they joined the Knights of the Hospitaller, participated in the maritime trade, and received generous rewards from senior people who have never been short of money and whose gold and silver can be calculated in cubic meters. But the land is not available for a while.

Since the area of ​​the Jihadist Manor itself is too small and inconvenient to expand, a considerable part of the subordinate workshops, mills, docks, and the charity hospital opened by the Hospital Knights can only be built not far outside the manor. The roadside of Marseilles.

Inside the walls of the manor, there are more than a dozen houses of different heights. The tallest has four floors, but most of them are bungalows.Some are already decent brick houses, and some are still using shabby thatched roofs. A considerable part of them are barracks, stables and weapon depots, which are used to station overseas troops and recruits recruited by the Knights Hospitaller. There is a not too big fighting training ground.The other part is a warehouse for business, which is connected to the private pier by the sea.In addition, there are ancillary facilities such as cowsheds, granaries, farm tool stores, blacksmith shops and wells.

Finally, at the highest position with the best view, there is the small villa where the owner of the manor lives. It is a four-story building with a post-and-beam structure. And the cellar is the storage room.

The decoration of the hall is very simple, completely rough in the medieval style, far from the luxury of the future British manor: rough bluestone floor, large oak table and chairs, decorated with several flags and a tapestry on the wall, and there are several furniture in the corner. Armor, a few shields, and a low sideboard for the pottery and wooden bowls used at the daily table—Oriental porcelain was a valuable collection in the Western world in this era, even for princes and nobles. , and seldom bothered to eat china; six rough clay oil lamps were hung from the wall by chains, and a bare silver candlestick was placed in the center of the table—candles were also very expensive in this era.Even wealthy families who can afford lamps are only willing to use smoking and pungent oil lamps in normal times.Candles made of beeswax are generally restricted to churches and celebrations.

It can be seen that the "candlelight dinner" in the Middle Ages definitely meant not only romance, but also luxury: if it wasn't for chasing girls and digging into their pockets, how could ordinary men be willing to spend so much money and burn them at dinner? Candles! ! !
Finally, like a traditional Western living room, there is a huge fireplace that burns all day long, and even in the daytime, this fire provides most of the lighting, because the narrow windows are not glass, but glass. Oiled Parchment - While glassware is not particularly rare in the Western world these days, large pieces of plate glass are still rare and expensive.Unless it's the kind of cathedral that doesn't take money seriously, very few houses have panes of glass in every window... Because it's still February, so although the fireplace is lit, the empty hall It was still very cold, so Wang Qiu and the others took a few glances and went back upstairs again.

——What they didn't notice was that although the decoration of the hall was simple and there was nothing worth seeing, at least it was clean. There was not even a pile of feces beside the fireplace, in the corners and under the table... It seems to be a matter of course in the modern world, but in medieval Europe, it was already an unbelievable cleanliness—it should be said that this is indeed a place where a group of time travelers have lived for several years?
Compared with the simple and simple lobby on the ground floor, the second and third floors are much more comfortable and luxurious because they are the residences of the traversers themselves. The floor is covered with soft Persian carpets, the walls are painted with lime, and the windows are all the same. Glass windows make the interior look very bright.

Among them, the largest bedroom on the second floor was the residence of the late old master Diderot the day before yesterday.As for the many remaining bedrooms, they were originally allocated to the space reincarnators of the former commander-in-chief's team (according to the setting of the main god, they are considered members sent by the Knights of the Hospital).But during the Battle of Crecy, the Shuaidai team was almost wiped out, only Levi and his wife ran back, so most of the rooms are empty now, only a room on the third floor lives in Levi couple.Besides that, there is a small restaurant and two offices on the second floor.Out of curiosity about western mansions, the Doraemon Five enthusiastically watched the changes from room to room, but the results disappointed the primary school students.

"...It looks really shabby! The walls are bare, not even an oil painting! The pattern of the carpet is also very monotonous, and some of them are shedding and faded. There is also no decoration on the furniture, and some cabinets are not even painted. I haven’t brushed it, and I can’t feel any resplendent atmosphere!”

Mr. Gu Chuan smacked his lips in dissatisfaction, "...It's completely different from what I saw in the movies "Gone with the Wind" and "Pride and Prejudice"!"

——He seems to have completely forgotten that those two Western films were set in modern times in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is only 1348 now...

But in any case, even the bedroom where the owners of the manor, the Levys, sleep, is very austere and simple in the eyes of modern people: in the center of the room is a large bed eight feet long and seven feet wide, which looks quite tall. It is magnificent, but when I reached out to touch it, I found that the mattress was stuffed with wheat straw and hay!Since cotton has not been used on a large scale in the West, the sheets are made of rough linen, which is completely incomparable with modern cotton sheets, and quilts do not exist, only blankets are used to keep out the cold, and even the pillows are made of leather. Yes, at first glance I thought it was a leather bag for boxing training!
From the perspective of modern people, such a bed is almost the standard of a prison.But in the Middle Ages, it was already very good-in those days, just being able to sleep on a bed was already a symbol of a rich man, and most of the lower classes and even poor knights could only sleep on haystacks all their lives!For example, Wang Qiu just took a look at the places where the servants slept on the ground floor, and found that there were only two small beds in total, and everyone else could only sleep on the floor!
In addition to the big bed, there is no wardrobe, no full-length mirror, no dressing table, and no separate bathroom in the bedroom. There is only a table, two chairs, and a box full of old clothes, and the workmanship is very rough. What patterns and carvings.There are several horizontal poles beside the wall, on which the clothes and skirts of the Levi and his wife hang directly - but those clothes are very gorgeous at first glance, including velvet dyed purple, brocade embroidered with gold thread, And ermine robes.Finally, there is a more delicate bronze oil lamp, which is also hung on the wall by a chain.

In the eyes of modern people, this house is at best the level of a remote village, but by the standards of the Middle Ages, it is already extravagant.

Therefore, after wandering around the manor, Wang Qiu and Doraemon were both in a cool mood - the house of the dignified and powerful Lord is so shabby, only a few things are not bad. Clothes, gold, silver and jewelry are not seen at all, so how poor should other citizens be?How can we raise tens of billions of yen in this kind of place to repay Doraemon's debts? ! !

As for how to save this dying world, how to help Knight Li Wei earn points to redeem himself and go home... Sorry, they haven't thought about it yet.

Just when they were full of thoughts and frowning, a servant in dusty linen clothes came up and told them politely that breakfast is ready, honorable guests We dined in the hall on the ground floor.

Then, when Wang Qiu and Doraemon walked to the dining table, their eyes suddenly became sparkling!

Well, it’s not about how rich and delicious this European medieval-style breakfast is, how delicious it is, and how delicious it is, making Doraemon so happy that it forgets the debt pressure. The real key lies in the food utensils on the table—he meow All shiny silverware!

In my conscience, those [-]th-century handmade silverware are already quite exquisite, some with geometric patterns, some engraved with elegant flowers and plants, and some even inlaid with precious stones!Even in a modern craft store, it's sure to sell!
Wang Qiu silently estimated the value of these silverware on the table, and found that if they were added together, they could sell for at least tens of thousands of RMB!
From this point of view, this place still seems to have a little oil and water, at least it won't make an empty trip to do volunteer work.

Thinking of this, Doraemon exchanged a look with Wang Qiu, and his mood seemed to become happier.

The food inside these shiny silverware looked mediocre by comparison - bread, cheese, hard-boiled eggs and broth, served with wine and milk, unfortunately due to It's winter so I can't whip up a fruit and green salad...

A breakfast with so many dishes is definitely considered extravagant and depraved in terms of the living standards of medieval Europe. It can be used for a banquet in a middle-class home.But in the eyes of modern people, there is still almost no place to speak.

For example, poor Nobi Nobita just curiously took a bite of the bread on the silver plate, and almost broke his teeth-this bread is still "high-end" white bread, not the kind of black bread mixed with bran and sawdust. What about the bread!But still as hard as a rock!
There is no way, there is no leavening agent on the earth these days, and the use of edible yeast has not even been promoted, so the bread eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages is not the same as the soft bread that is fermented and added with white sugar and cream in modern times The truth is that it is a kind of unleavened cake similar to compressed biscuits. It is dry, hard and chewy, and it tastes as harsh as wood, whether it is black bread or white bread...

Therefore, the correct way to eat this kind of hard bread that can be used as a brick to beat people to death is actually to break it into pieces and eat it in soup, just like steamed mutton, instead of directly competing with it with your teeth... However, when While laughing at Nobi Nobita's gaffe, Kotokawa broke off a small piece of bread and threw it into the soup bowl according to Doraemon's instructions. turned green.

——Because there is no salt in this broth! ! !
Well, it seems that until the 21st century, some western countries, especially the United Kingdom, still retain this custom. The food is cooked and served as it is, and all salt, sugar, sauce, vinegar, and pepper are used. You have to add it yourself.Some people had the honor of tasting mashed potatoes without salt when they held a fellowship meeting with Western European students in the university... and this was even more so in the Middle Ages when salt and other condiments were expensive.

Fortunately, the table had not only a fine silver salt shaker, but also expensive pepper, and it was placed in the center of the table.

After Fat Tiger poured a lot of salt and pepper into the soup pot unceremoniously, and even made the servants standing behind show distressed expressions, everyone finally felt that the soup and the bread soaked in the soup were It's barely edible—at least it won't make you spit it out.

In addition, the cheese on the table is even more daunting-because the pasteurization method was not invented, the bacteria in the cheese could not be cleaned, so most of the cheese in the Middle Ages was not the modern pale yellow solid, but lumps of glowing Green or blue streaked paste, and also exudes a strong fermented smell... Although the Chinese here occasionally eat stinky tofu, and the Japanese here are also used to eating natto for breakfast, but this medieval cheese with bacteria The unique sour smell that emanated from it still made everyone feel so sick that they almost vomited.

Even the fresh milk that was just squeezed out of the clay jug today has a strange taste to modern people who are used to drinking sterilized boxed milk—seriously, the so-called "natural and pollution-free" green Food is often not as good as some people imagine.

In the end, the picky ladies just ate a hard-boiled egg each, frowned and drank a few mouthfuls of broth, then pushed away their plates, refusing to eat any more of these damn things.And Wang Qiu and other men just ate a few more mouthfuls of "Western-style mutton steamed buns", and they couldn't swallow anymore.

At the same time, when all the travelers are sitting at the long table in the lobby on the ground floor, tasting the "pure European medieval flavor, pure natural and pollution-free green food" and are full of criticism, they have already endured in medieval Europe. Levi and his wife, who have lived for five full years, are also in the small restaurant upstairs, happily tasting the long-lost industrial-age food rich in various additives and preservatives...