Gold, brilliant and fascinating, from the day this beautiful metal was discovered, it was as if a spell could never be broken, and countless people have been obsessed with it for thousands of years, and countless lives have been lost for it.

A well-dressed merchant walked up to the exchange office with a bag, which had been doing too good lately, especially for the parishes that had been forbidden to exchange gold coins, and which had a very reliable reputation and enough backers to rival the local church, and which had been even more prosperous after the collapse of many small traders.

When the merchant walked into the shop, he saw several people waiting there, and one of them was a familiar face.

After greeting him, the merchant sat down on a simple bench made of horizontal tree trunks against the wall, and watched as people walked into the room with large and small gold coin bags, and the merchant quietly opened his money bag and looked at it, and then frowned.

Huang Chengcheng's gold looked so tempting, which made the merchant feel a little reluctant, thinking about the harsh exchange ratio of this exchange office, he suddenly felt that this thing was difficult to accept.

"Maybe there's another way......"

The merchant thought to his feet, and as the others watched, he hurried out of the exchange office and down the narrow street toward a very dilapidated alley in the distance.

Before he could get out of the alley, a chaotic sound was already faintly heard, and the merchant pressed the place where the money bag was originally hidden on his robe, and after making sure that it would not attract attention, he walked out of the alley with his head down.

A louder noise immediately filled his ears, and the merchant covered his ears, and then followed a dirty path through the overhead street of tents to the door of a blacksmith's shop.

"Old Bud, do me a favor," the merchant greeted as he entered, and then took a pre-prepared Radia gold coin from his outer pocket and stuffed it into the blacksmith's hand, "I have some work to do for you." ”

The blacksmith, who still smelled of wine in his mouth, looked at the gold coin in his hand, and then at the merchant, and suddenly smiled.

"You're here to melt gold, aren't you?"

Hearing the blacksmith's words, the merchant was stunned, but then he realized that if he could think of it, then others could think of it too.

Maybe you might lose some of the gold when you melt it, and it would be a lot more troublesome to spend it again, but at least it would be much better than being eaten alive by those exchanges.

The merchant nodded, took out the hidden money bag and placed it beside the iron felt, and then looked at the blacksmith with a blank eye.

There was a strange look in the blacksmith's eyes, and he looked like a mockery to the merchant, which made the merchant feel a little baffled.

The blacksmith went to work cleanly, and he weighed the gold coins on a rough scale, and after signaling to the merchant to carve a new weight scale, he threw the gold into a melting spoon wrapped in a thick layer of plaster.

Under the blazing fire, the coins gradually began to soften and twist, and gradually the coins turned into a thick yellow water.

Looking at the gold water in the melting spoon, the merchant licked his tongue, he still had a lot of such Radia gold coins at home, and at this time he had already planned to melt them all into pieces of gold nuggets and store them well.

Gradually, the gold water began to seep down a very fine iron grate, and then into a square clay mold, and as it quickly solidified, the gold water turned into a heavy nugget of gold.

The merchant was already a little impatient, and when the nuggets didn't look so hot, he tried to touch them, and then immediately picked up the gold, which was still a little hot, and weighed it again.

Then the merchant's face sank.

He looked at the blacksmith, and then at the melting spoon and the clay grinding tool, and though there was indeed a little residue on them, he was sure that the weight would not be as bad as the scales were.

"What's going on?" The merchant asked angrily, "Didn't I pay you a Ladia, how much blacksmith do you think you have to do to earn a Ladia, but you are playing such a trick in front of me, maybe I should sue you to the mayor and the judge." ”

"What are you doing in such a hurry?" The blacksmith did not care about the merchant's threat, he pulled the grate from the clay grinding tool, and struck it on the felt with a soft sound, and with a soft sound, the few traces of solidified gold that remained on it were somewhat different from the metal that looked yellow and clear, and which were also solidified.

Then the blacksmith smiled strangely, and took out a gold coin from the pocket of his leather apron that was identical to the Radia that the merchant had given him, and held both Radia to the merchant.

"This is what you gave me, and this is my own," he said, placing the two gold coins on the weighing plates on either side of the scale.

The scales shook twice, then slowly sank to one of them.

The merchant's face became ugly with the sinking scale.

"What's going on?" He asked a little impatiently, it was obvious that two Radia gold coins of the exact same size had different weights, which was enough to prove that things were not usual, not to mention that those seemingly gold-seeming but obviously different metals filtered out of the gold water were enough to make the merchant realize that he might have been trapped.

"You're not the first," the blacksmith tossed back the merchant's gold coins to him, "these Radia are not in good condition, I am the real pure one, if you don't believe me I can melt this gold coin, but you have to promise to compensate me with a full Radia or Florin later." ”

The merchant took the gold coin suspiciously and looked at it, and after seeing that although the edges on it were somewhat worn, the carving of the goddess of victory on it was still very clear and delicate, he slightly checked the gold coin in his hands.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but for a while he really felt that the weight of the two gold coins was really a little different.

"There's something mixed in there," the blacksmith took back his gold coin from the merchant's hand with a hesitant face, and stretched out his other hand to look at the merchant, seeing that he reluctantly put the previous gold coin back into his hand, the blacksmith smiled, "Those who exchanged for Radia made a lot of money, but this is nothing compared to the people who minted these gold coins, probably the Bishop has made a fortune now." ”

"Isn't this minted by the Vatican?" The merchant asked with a gloomy face.

"Not all," the blacksmith pointed his finger in the direction of the church in the distance, "many of them were minted by the bishops, I heard that they had the permission of the Pope, and I used to help them repair the furnace for melting gold, although I don't see how they made these gold coins, but you know ......"

The blacksmith gestured to his forehead, then smiled and threw the gold coin up and slipped it into the pocket outside his leather apron.

The merchant walked out of the blacksmith shop with a depressed expression, and although he had a heavy nugget of gold in his pocket, he always felt as if he had lost a lot.

At the same time, a wave of anger was brewing in this man's heart.

Louis XII frowned as he looked at a letter that had just arrived from home, and his queen Anne of Brittany had just brought him bad news that the coastal fortress near the French coastal city of Le Havre had been shelled by the British.

This really surprised Louis XII, although Britain also participated in the Holy Alliance against France, but whether it was before or this time, they had already fulfilled their obligations by sending an army of a few thousand men at most, and it was clear that at least the current English king did not seem to be very interested in the affairs of the European continent, which also made Louis XII feel a lot more relieved.

After all, the shadow of the Hundred Years' War still looms over the French, and some of those who fought in that long war are still alive.

But it is not surprising that the sudden and unannounced attack of the British on the French coast caused a panic among the French.

But in addition to this, there was another thing that caught Louis XII's attention, and that was the sudden and unforeseen gold exchange turmoil that began in Le Havre.

Louis XII did not know exactly how many French cities and ports participated in that trade union, and it seemed to him that those cities would be fine if they could provide him with more tax revenues than before.

So even though he heard that the trade alliance seemed to have a deep relationship with the Duchy of Rome, he didn't think it was very true.

The once thriving Hanseatic League is now in decline, while France is on its way to glory.

Louis XII was convinced that it was a strong army and a wealth of knowledge and talent that would make a mark on history.

Therefore, he spared no effort to support the construction and improvement of the University of Paris.

Although both of these required a lot of money to support them, the King of France believed that those who wield gold would eventually bow down to those who wield the sword.

But suddenly, he found that there seemed to be a hint of bad signs in his country, and the root cause of these signs came from the trade union.

The decision of the Free Trade Association to stop doing business with the French and the simultaneous start of the gold exchange on the west coast of France seem to have reached Paris by this time.

The Queen's letter describes how many of the goods that had been expensive but abundant seem to have suddenly become in short supply, and as the prices of all kinds of goods have risen rapidly as the black market has flourished, and even some things in the royal palace now have to be purchased from the black market.

What is worrying is that those black marketeers keep saying that as long as Florin and Ducat, who have the same value, as for the Ladia gold coins, they will be directly rejected.

Louis felt a faint sense of unease, and although he did not believe that the merchants could pose a threat to his rule, he instinctively sensed that some danger was looming at the thought of the chaos that was now in place in the country.

The clearest threat is the scarcity of goods caused by the trade union's embargo on French cities and seaports, and the high prices of goods due to the rampant black market trade, and the large amount of Flolin's transactions on the black market, which seems to be silently flowing to some unknown place.

Louis sensed the danger, but now he was on the front lines, and although the events in France had already affected the French army in Italy, Louis XII believed that the victory in Italy would be worth it.

"Is there anything else to worry about?"

Louis frowned and looked at the messenger opposite, a distant relative of his wife, Anne of Brittany, but Louis did not like him very much, because he always suspected that his wife had a leg with this oily-looking boy.

"Indeed, there is something, Your Majesty," said the elegantly mannered Brittany nobleman bowing to the King, "Her Majesty thinks that perhaps you should increase your share of war materials collected from the locality. ”

Seeing Louis XII's brow furrow even tighter when he heard this, the young nobleman said in a slightly helpless tone: "Your Majesty, although you have decided to exercise benevolence in this land, it will undoubtedly be a great burden for France, and because of these things that are now happening in the country, the queen thinks that you should probably show your tough side appropriately, so that the Lombards may be more aware of the authority of your rule." ”

Louis listened with a furrowed brow, he actually knew that his wife's advice was not unreasonable, and unlike his predecessor, the hapless Charles VIII, who regarded military conquest as the only means, Louis XII hoped to completely make the people of the land approve of him through kindness and convincing virtue.

Although his ideal was indeed great, it undoubtedly put no pressure on France itself, at least he could not wantonly plunder the materials here in a purely war-feeding manner, which naturally brought a lot of financial pressure to France itself.

Queen Anne was obviously dissatisfied with this, especially as she had the experience of replacing the king's regent Francis because of the expedition to Italy, and she could feel the difference more clearly, at least Charles VIII did not put such a burden on her.

"She wants me to be a Viking instead of me coming, I see, my conquered Caesar, right?"

Louis XII muttered to himself, knowing that Anne seemed to be dissatisfied with his inaction in Italy, which gave him the feeling that Anne was using the annoyance that he compared to Charles VIII.

Many people think that Charles VIII was just unlucky, and if it hadn't been for the accident, perhaps he would have been in Italy again, and might even have conquered Rome again.

It's just a pity that Charles VIII died at the prime of his life, which makes it impossible to imagine what would have happened if Charles VIII had been alive.

This was also the most helpless for Louis XII, because he knew that he was destined to live in the shadow of Charles VIII for the rest of his life.

Unless he can do something much greater than his predecessor.

Obviously, the conquest of Italy was such a good option.

"Go and tell my wife that I don't think brutality is in the interest of our rule, but if she wants so, I will do everything in my power for her."

When Louis XII had finished speaking, he waved his hand to the young nobleman and motioned for him to stand down.

Looking at the back of the Breton who bowed down, Louis XII couldn't help but ponder his wife's words.

As the Queen said, the inaction of the French army in Italy during this period was indeed very dissatisfying, but Louis XII knew that it was not the so-called mercy of the natives that Queen Anne thought was causing this situation, but the death of one man.

Louis XII never imagined that Caesar would die at the hands of the Queen of Naples.

The plan to join forces in the heart of Romagna was completely ruined with Caesar's death, and the French army was now located between Romagna and Tuscany.

This left Louis XII in a dilemma.

Onward, just through the plains of Romagna, is Florence, once described by Charles VIII as God's villa in this world.

The road is actually not very long, less than 30 fathoms is nothing compared to the distance from France.

But it was this distance that made Louis XII cautious, especially after Caesar's rather strange loss of his life on the battlefield.

Florence was tempting, but Louis XII was hesitant to find the city.

It was the hinterland of the Duchy of Rome, and if you look closely at the map, you will see that the city is like a lure that exudes an alluring atmosphere, and all around it is surrounded by tigers and tigers, as if at any moment they will pounce on the baited prey that will come and throw themselves into the net.

A squire walked in and whispered a report, and after a while Sharron walked into the king's tent.

"The weather here is really different from France," Louis XII said, handing a glass of cool wine to Charlon, "so you're all set?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, I can go at any time," Sharron nodded neatly.

"Tell the lady that I will consider her and my daughter's rights as long as she is willing to cooperate with me," commanded Louis XII, "and do not forget to remind her of the death of her brother at whose hands." ”

Charlon nodded earnestly, he knew that his mission was very important to the king, because only if he successfully persuaded the mother of the Duchess of Pisa, Louis XII could safely march to the heart of Rome and Thesia without Caesar's response.

Fortunately, the Borgia family had a special affection, which made Louis XII believe that the current Lucrezia should be the best to impress.

As long as Pisa can be taken, then the French army can confidently and boldly march towards Florence without worrying about the retreat behind it.

As for the Venetians, I believe they still know what to do, and Louis XII confidently said to Charlon, "So now the key to everything is your mission." ”

"Obey Your Majesty, I will definitely bring back a satisfactory result for you." Looking at Louis XII, whose face was full of expectation, Charlain replied cautiously.

This day is June 9, 1501.

It was also on this day, in Montpellier, France, that a shocking event took place.

A group of angry people, bloodied the Cathedral of Montpellier!