How did salespersons of the aforementioned period(s), whether affluent merchants or peddlers, tend to travel? I'm familiar with caravansaries/caravanserais, but how did this concept translate to vendors staying within city limits? Would a merchant who planned to be "at market" for more than one day have his goods and means of transport stored within the city, and how? Was this common?
Were goods typically sold off the wagon, or was it more common for wares to be sold to a retailing vendor in town, the traveling merchant then acting more as a courier? What manner of merchant could afford a guard? What were some of the implications of traveling with other groups to achieve safety in numbers?
Inquiry is prompted by a writing project (fiction) in which two capital cities, each bordering a body of water, have no viable waterway between.