Early the next morning, there was a noise downstairs.
The wheels of the wooden cart rolled over the cobblestone road, and the boxes hit the ground one after another, causing the dust on the window frames to fall.
He turned over, covered his head with a pillow, and lay there for another quarter of an hour before forcing himself to get up. Last night, he took advantage of the darkness to explore all over the capital, so he slept very late.
When he walked out of the room, he found that Arthur's door was ajar and no one was in the room anymore.
There was half a piece of hard biscuit and a crooked note left on the table, which said that he was going out for a walk and would be back around noon.
Lin Ze ate the cake and went downstairs to check out a room.
The shopkeeper glanced at him twice while he was counting the coins. He probably thought that this foreigner checked out too quickly, not like a traveler, but like he was rushing to run an errand.
Exit Golden Stag Inn, Lin Ze and walk north along the main street.
The palace is at the northernmost end of the royal capital. Walk along the main street to the end of the palace gate square.
There is a drug store at the third alleyway from the left, and the second intersection from the right is Blacksmith Street. Go straight to the end and you will see a high gray wall, with the crowns of several Old Oak trees peeking out from the top of the wall, and neatly pruned dwarf cypresses planted at the base of the wall.
Outside the palace wall, there are three posts, one post, five steps and one sentry. The soldiers' leather armor shines brightly in the morning light. The halberd in their hands is placed across their chests. They stand upright and follow the passers-by with their eyes.
Lin Ze Instead of approaching the palace gate, he turned into a narrow alley on the east side of the palace wall, pretending to be looking for water, and stopped at a stall selling soup at the entrance of the alley, asking for a bowl.
"Going north is the palace. You're going the wrong way, stranger." The stall owner was a one-eyed old man, and he looked at him with his cloudy eye while ladling soup.
"Yes, I just want to see the palace. The palace walls are so high and I want to see what the king who lives inside looks like."
"I'm afraid you won't be able to see the king." The one-eyed old man pushed the bowl over.
"But if you want to watch the fun, just wait a little longer, someone in the Palace Square will be whipped."
"Flogged? Who?"
"A deserter who was caught at the city gate yesterday." The old man wiped his hands with his apron.
Lin Ze drank the soup slowly and motioned to the old man to continue.
"I heard from them that they were the guards who served the Witch King before. They came back this time to complain for King Wu..." The old man lowered his voice.
"But who doesn't know that the current king is arbitrary and can't change things so easily?"
"Old man, have you seen the Witch King?"
"I've seen it... of course I've seen it. A few years ago, the city was closed by heavy snow in winter. There was almost no food in the city. Many people didn't have food in their homes, so he did it in the square and brought some game to the people in the city. The people still miss him very much..."
The one-eyed old man sighed, "Unexpectedly... he later angered the king for some reason and was imprisoned by the king, never to be seen again..."
Lin Ze put down the bowl, took out two silver coins from his pocket and placed them on the stall.
"Thanks."
He walked out of the alley and walked around to the side of Palace Gate Square.
At this time, many people had gathered in the square. Vendors selling vegetables and fruits were crowded on both sides. There was a long road in the middle, with a half-person-high wooden platform at the end. The platform was covered with straw mats, and there were a few dark brown marks on the straw mats.
Four soldiers stood under the stage, carrying leather whips, the tips of the whips dragging on the ground, like snake tails.
The crowd of onlookers slowly grew as time went by.
In the crowd, there were women holding their children and pointing around them, old men leaning on walking sticks and shaking their heads, and a few young men leaning against the wall with angry expressions on their faces.
Lin Ze mingled at the back of the crowd, looking past the soldiers and landing on the row of arrow stacks on the palace wall. Behind the arrow stacks, there was a vague figure swaying, the bow string was stretched, and the arrow pointed downward.
Just as he was thinking about how to sneak into the palace wall quietly, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
"Hey."
Lin Ze turned around, and saw Saira standing behind him, wearing a short coat of gray-brown coarse cloth, and his hair was tied behind his head with a cloth strip.
She was holding a greased paper bag in her hand, with the pastry shop's logo printed on the paper bag.
"Where do you live?" Lin Ze asked.
"The east side of the city is not far from here." Saira stuffed the oil paper bag into his hand, "Take it, chestnut cake, try it while it's hot, it tastes pretty good."
Lin Ze Opened the paper package and saw that the chestnut cake was still steaming, with a sweet aroma. He broke off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. It was soft, glutinous and dense, which was more than one level better than those snacks with added flavor in later generations.
"You came to the palace gate early this morning and wanted to go in directly?" Saira crossed his arms and glanced at the row of soldiers.
"The leader of the guards in the palace wall is the king's brother-in-law. That man is notoriously cruel."
"Are you worried that I will be caught by Muggle?"
"Muggle?" This is the first time Sela heard this title from Lin Ze.
"They are people who don't know magic." Lin Ze explained smoothly.
Saira shook his head. "I think you'd better be careful. After all, the so-called Witch King is also a wizard. Besides, don't forget the stick we use to deal with wizards. Although it may not be effective against you, how can you be sure that they have no other means to deal with wizards?"
Lin Ze looked at her for two seconds, then nodded.
"Okay, then is there any way you can let me enter the palace in a legitimate way?"
"I will enter the palace tomorrow in the name of reporting the North's situation, and you can go in with me as my follower." Sela said.
"Oh, that's a good excuse." Lin Ze nodded.
"Okay, you stay here and watch the fun, I'll go find an acquaintance first." Sela whispered and turned to leave.
Lin Ze watched Sela leave and leaned against the wall to wait to see what would happen next.
After he slowly finished the chestnut cake given to him by Sela, he found that his fingers were stained with a layer of oil, so he rubbed it on his pants.
About half an hour later, the side door of the palace on the north side of the square opened.
What came out was a short, fat man, wearing a dark red robe and a gold belt around his waist. He had a thick and short neck, a double chin and a double chin. He walked unsteadily.
Behind him were eight soldiers, the two in front holding whips, and the six behind holding sword handles.
The fat man stood next to the wooden platform, glanced around the people in the square, and cleared his throat.
"Bring it up."
Two soldiers dragged out a young man who was too thin and disfigured from the palace gate and pushed him to his knees on the wooden platform.
The young man was wearing a torn coarse shirt with only half of it left. Several unhealed whip marks were exposed on his back, and his skin was rolled up and turned black and red.
"Shout, don't you know how to shout?" The fat man walked up to him and raised his chin so much that he could see his nostrils, "Isn't it quite exciting when you cry out for the Witch King?"
The young man raised his head, his lips were chapped and there were blood scabs on the corners of his mouth.
He suddenly smiled.
"The Witch-King is... unjustly..."
The sound was not loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear in the quiet square.
The flesh on the fat man's face twitched.
"Okay, let's just fight."