For France, the greatest significance of the emergence of Joan of Arc was to turn a war of inheritance, which was originally only related to the nobility, into a sacred war between France and England, which aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the French people and prompted the birth of the modern concept of nation. ”

- "Teach You to See Interesting History"

In July 1465, Louis XI frowned as he watched the scene in front of him from above the city of Paris, as he saw the boiling banners waving like clouds.

"Bold Charlie...... It's so daring. ”

Louis XI, known as the Spider King, stroked his chin and couldn't help but sneer.

Louis XI, the son of Charles VII, had been a French nation of great enthusiasm since the incredible appearance of Joan of Arc, and even after Joan of Arc was captured, Charles VII continued to rule the country steadily, courting the Burgundians and negotiating with the British, while expanding his territory.

Finally, more than ten years ago, the former down-and-out crown prince recovered the last piece of French territory, King Henry of England admitted defeat, France won the Hundred Years War between Britain and France, and the century-long inheritance war came to an end, and King Charles of France also used this to expand the royal family's territory and enhance the status of the royal family.

However, because of his inaction in the Joan of Arc incident, Charles has been criticized by scholars, as the king who ended the Hundred Years' War and single-handedly laid the foundation of the centralized power of the French royal family, Charles VII was only praised by historians as the "victor" - the one who won the victory, which is certainly a praise, but there are also vague concepts that cannot be explained, and the one who won the victory is not necessarily the "great", and it is difficult to say whether there is a scholar's irony.

Since the death of Charles VII, his son inherited the throne of France, different from his father's moderate attitude towards the aristocracy, this "spider king" who likes to manipulate conspiracy and power after coming to the throne, he vigorously promoted talented commoners, completely ignoring the status of the nobility, depriving several nobles of their territories in a row, making the nobles look at each other, and finally triggered the rebellion of the "public welfare alliance" led by the Duke of Burgundy "Charles the Big" this year.

"Joan of Arc...... Joan of Arc ...... If I have someone like Joan of Arc under me, why should I be afraid of someone like Charlie the Bold, but it is a pity that the saint did not follow me, but followed that coward. ”

Looking at the Burgundian army under the city walls, the French king said with regret.

Beside Louis XI, several ministers pretended not to hear and were silent. Louis XI's dissatisfaction with his father, Charles VII, is well known, and when he was a Dauphin, he once rebelled against Charles with his generals, but Charles was subdued.

After he became king himself, he was even more unscrupulous, he had always admired Joan of Arc, and he had repeatedly lamented that he did not have such an outstanding general as Joan of Arc, and at this moment he was forced to be trapped in Paris by the army of the Duke of Burgundy, and it was inevitable to complain.

Gazing at the army in front of him, Louis XI pondered, but his mind couldn't help but recall the events of more than twenty years ago......

At that time, he was only a child of seven or eight years old, and was placed under the protection of Charles VII in a castle, where the gloomy castle and damp conditions, and the endless bad news were all he had in his childhood, and he lived in constant fear. Not to mention that he was just the child of the crown prince, even the crown prince himself did not know what his fate was, and it was not until that year that a young girl who was born changed all that......

It is difficult to describe what it is like for a child, the heroine who turned the tide became the idol of the child, but unfortunately the heroine was burned alive because of her father's inaction. This was not the core of the relationship between Louis and his father, but it undoubtedly had an impact.

"That coward", "incompetent fool"......

It is hard to imagine that this is a child's evaluation of his father, full of malice, and it is not until he takes over France that he can understand how much France owes Joan of Arc, and to this day, even after twenty years, France is still deeply affected by the heroine's deeds.

For the first time, the French people recognized themselves as French, and not just Burgundians, Normandians, Aquitaine...... When did it start?

At this moment, from the palace to the countryside, there is a strong craze in the whole of France, a craze called "nationalism", a strong cry for the true unification of the whole of France, not to be divided by various lords, large and small.

Joan of Arc ......

The "Spider King" groaned, envious of his "incompetent and lucky father" again, how could such a brilliant general be so fond of that coward, if Joan of Arc was under him, if that heroic figure was still there...... This kind of predicament will definitely not stump the saint who has repeatedly performed miracles.

"More efforts must be made to promote talented people, rather than to put incompetent aristocrats in high positions with mere family backgrounds. ”

The Spider King's mind was thinking again, he didn't trust the nobles, because he had seen enough of the incompetence and ugliness of those nobles when he was a child, and it was not the nobles who could save France.

"Take a step back and ...... later"

After taking a deep look at the Burgundian army in front of him, the Spider King turned around and left without looking back.

"Tell Charlie the Bold that I will agree to his conditions. ”

This king, who has always been cold, said in a rare categorical manner, which concealed some indescribable meaning......

......

1483 A.D., Florence, Italian Peninsula.

The night is deep, and the sky is full of stars outside the window, but a middle-aged man is still crouching in front of the desk, writing hard with the help of the candlelight next to the table, the tip of the quill pen keeps writing beautiful flower characters, his face is like a knife and axe, especially the slender eyebrows are extremely good-looking, there is a feeling of sharpness like a sword, and the solemn pupils are like obsidian.

Sometimes, he would stop his pen and think about it, and then write a long essay without thinking.

“...... I'm afraid, as I said, that it's not impossible for humans to fly into the sky, and in fact I'm working on a machine that uses air to glide...... God has mercy on me, and I regret that I am still living in poverty, which makes it impossible for me to do more. And for that I had to serve the Duke of Milan and design those damn new weapons......"

At the end of the writing, the middle-aged man seemed to be a little annoyed, as if the design of a new weapon made him feel quite resentful.

There were so many incredible imaginations in his mind, so many ideas that he couldn't help but want to make them come true, those steel chariots, flying flying machines, instruments for capturing thunder and lightning...... But he could only keep designing new weapons for the duke, because his ideas were not interesting to the noble lords.

When he wrote about his annoyance, he couldn't help but get up and paced around the room alone. After a long time, when he accidentally caught a glimpse of the small sculpture in the corner of the room, the resentment in his heart gradually dissipated......

It was a dignified woman in armor, less than a foot tall, her bright eyes shaped by precious stones, and her empty hands seemed to hold some kind of weapon, but the years had made the things in her hands disappear. Even to the discerning eye of a middle-aged man, this is a rare work of art, but that's not the point, what really interests the man is the secret contained in this sculpture.

Sitting down again, the man began to write again.

"My brother, I'm afraid it's hard for you to understand how I'm feeling right now. Last time I told you about the sculpture, which I bought from an antique dealer, and he boasted that it was the French general, Gilles de Resis, the famous Bluebeard's hand. ”

After the death of the Salvation Lady, the famous French general became mad and obsessed with black witchcraft, so much so that he killed more than 100 children for the devil's sacrifice ritual, and was finally executed by King Charles VII of France and burned at the stake. After his death, many of his possessions were liquidated and sold, and this memorial statue, said to be modeled after Joan of Arc's face, was one of them, and later passed into my hands several times. ”

"However, I was not interested in France, but what made me curious was that there was a complex mechanism hidden in this seemingly ordinary sculpture, as if there was something hidden in it. The unusually strong metal made it impossible for me to destroy it, and I didn't bother to destroy such an intricate mechanism with such a brutal method, but I couldn't break it after thinking about it for a long time...... I suspect that there may be a component missing from this sculpture, or something that is missing from the hand, maybe it's a flag, maybe it's a gun, or maybe it's a sword, but in short, it must be something that goes with it to be able to turn it on......"

Just as the middle-aged man was struggling to write, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, and he felt as if he was being watched by someone.

He turned his head to look at it, but saw nothing but the furnishings in the room and the female sculpture looking at him, the jeweled eyes of the female sculpture, which still shone brightly even after decades of time, and it was impossible to look at it directly.

"I'm so tired. ”

Shaking his head, the man felt that he probably had this inexplicable illusion because he was tired, so he prepared to end, left the last signature on the letter, and then lay down on the bed to rest, and fell asleep groggy.

In the hazy dream, he seemed to hear the whispering voice, his brows furrowed slightly, sweat stains gradually oozed from his forehead, and he fell into some kind of inexplicable anxiety and uneasiness......

In the middle of the night, the wind blew outside the window, lifting a corner of the letter on the table, revealing a line of floral characters on it.

“...... May the Lord bless you, my brother, Leonardo di Piero da Vinci. ”

In the room, only the heroic female sculpture remains, but I don't know when...... The gem's eyes changed their angle, and the cold gaze looked indifferently at the mortal lying on the bed, trapped in a nightmare......