"If you are worried that you may be disturbed unnecessarily in Rome," advises Giulio, "rest assured, that monastery is twenty miles from Rome, beautiful and quiet, with only the monks and priests of the Picrominian family, and the library, where occasionally some scholars come and ask for some books, and you don't have to worry about having no friends to talk to." ”

Brother Dési didn't care much about money, his character and knowledge made him extremely popular with the nobility, and his personal style of sarcasm was often laughable and inspiring, so he had several wealthy patrons, and often received considerable gifts—and at last the thirst for knowledge outweighed the disgust of the Holy See, and he nodded. Lud jumped up with his hands raised, "then," and his eyes lit up with excitement, and Giulio felt that he could see a small invisible tail spinning behind him like a windmill: "We can go to Rome!" ”

"The only thing you can do is get out of here to Thuringia!"

"Aren't you going to university in Thuringia?"

Two voices rang out at the same time, one rough and the other mild, but they both meant the same thing - no Martin to Rome. For Rudd's sake, he had to go to university in Thuringia, the Holy Roman Empire, which his father had arranged early on to allow Martin. Rude disobeyed, and Brother Desi and Giulio agreed that little Martin needed to hone his out-of-the-box character in a disciplined place, even though the students were always a bit unscrupulous and reckless at any university.

Martin. Tears welled up in Lude's eyes, and he sat down on the box with his red and swollen hands in his hands, but Julio called him helplessly and rubbed him with some of the ointment prepared by Cardinal Picromini, which worked quickly, and although the swelling was still there, it drove away the pain at once, and he smiled again.

Brother Desi shook his head.

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Although the date of return had been set, there were still some things to attend to in Lucca, and Lucca's chief was once again summoned by the archbishop, but they were much more willing than the first - they had once again reviewed all the drawings of the walls together to determine how the final work should be completed; And the artillery erected on the casemates, to test the Spaniards, or to the cunning mercenary captain? And the outcasts outside the city, although most of them decided to follow the archbishop to the new land he had given him, but there were still some who stayed, almost all of them young men and women, who stayed here for nothing but love. When they worked with the people of Lucca, either she fell in love with him or he fell in love with her, and the Luccas did not want to leave their homeland, so their lovers had to stay.

Love, what a sweet word, Julio. The Medici was in a trance for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses, "I have something to give you here," he said, "Silk cashmere." ”

At the first hearing of the name, Guinicki's parents immediately widened their eyes, and he watched as Giulio took out of the box, pushed them to their parchment, rubbed his fingers, and snatched them before Castrolicio's parents, eager to look at them.

"The fabric is a blend of silk and cashmere, bright, smooth and pearl-like shine, while at the same time it is light like a cloud, stretchy, soft and warm...... I've also been able to dye a total of seven colors – I can't get a sample due to the tight schedule, but I'm sure you'll be able to prototype it soon," Giulio smiled, "I'm sure you've been waiting for this thing for a long time, probably ...... Let's start with my entry into Lucca. ”

Castelluccio's parents were not as anxious as Guiniki's parents, and he stared at Giulio: "Cashmere? Your Excellency, do you want Luca to work with Florence? ”

"That's what I hope." "But if you don't want to, I don't force it, anyway, the Luccas can buy cashmere, just as the Florentines can buy silk," said Giulio. ”

"I used to think you had no ambitions, but now it seems that your ambitions are as wild as your thoughts," Castelluccio's parents looked at each other with deep eyes: "You want not only Lucca, but not just Florence, you want us to dance to your rhythm together, regardless of all the hatred and sources of hatred between us." ”

"If you are speaking of a feud between the Returnians and the Ghibelins (note 1)," said Giulio, crossing his hands and placing them on his abdomen, "tell me, then, who do you want to save you, the Holy Roman Emperor?" Or the Pontifical See in the Vatican Palace? ”

Castelluccio was speechless, they were the Ghibelin faction loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor, but when Castellocani was excommunicated by the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor did not lend a helping hand, Castellucani died of grief, and his family became more and more declining, and was even deprived of the title of Duke of Lucca, and was almost expelled from Lucca, in order to obtain the Pope's forgiveness, the Castelluccio family can be said to be bankrupt, and the injuries suffered have not healed even now - even to this day, The first family in Lucca is still Guinicki, not Castrolicio.

"So that's a problem that only barbarians have." Guinicchi's parents smiled and said, "Don't forget, we are all merchants, and Lucca was originally just a commercial city, although the old man Castellacani was originally a mercenary, but Alfred, I believe that you would also prefer your children to dance with the Florentines than with the Grim Reaper." ”

Alfred. It took a long time for Castrolicio to exhale: "Then, while you are still looking at us, I can swear to Our Lady that if it were not for the Florentines raising their swords against us, we would never have deepened this hatred." ”

Danilo, the Gentician head next to him, also raised his hand, and the heads of several other families looked at each other, and then raised their hands one after another - if Florence was still in chaos and weak, as it had been in previous years, they might still want to profit from it, but now that they have this archbishop, as a Medici, what the Lucca people have, will the Florentines not have?

"Then I swear to God and Our Lady in the same way," said Giulio, "that Florence will never be the first to be the first to fight." ”

He raised his hand and lightly drew a cross in front of him.

"May God bless us."

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Martin. In the end, Lud had to say goodbye to his favorite Luca and Archbishop Lucca in his arms with a bag full of chestnuts and go to the university of Thuringia, but Giulio also assured him that if his grades at the university were good enough to be recognized by him or the Friars Desi, he could also come to Rome, and Giulio would reserve a place for him as a notekeeper.

Giulio and Brother Desi will leave for Rome before St. Matthew's Day (September 28). And the one hundred and fifty knights of the Spanish general Gonzalo, and the one hundred and fifty knights of the Duchess of Brittany, have also completed their mission, and are about to return to Spain and Brittany respectively, and in the past two years of coexistence, they have been able to accumulate a friendship with Giulio and the Medici, which is not shallow, if not deep, and this friendship will probably continue to deepen in the trade of artillery, silk, cashmere and porcelain, not to mention, the knight captain of General Gonzalo took the drawings of light artillery, And the knightly captain of the Duchess of Brittany took the recipe for bone china.

On this day, Cardinal Picromini deliberately got rid of all his chores and rode out of Rome nearly five or six miles outside the city to meet his most beloved disciple.

As soon as he saw Giulio, the cardinal, who was over sixty years old, jumped off his horse, spread his arms far away, held Giulio tightly in his arms, and kept shouting: "Child, my child! …… You're finally back! …… I miss you so much! Something like that.

Brother Desi stood aside with an embarrassed but polite smile, and he felt that ah, Giulio. What the Medici said, which his mentor was looking forward to with great ferventness, probably...... It's not him, it's Julio. Medici themselves......

Cardinal Baglioni was also standing in the welcoming crowd, and one of the cardinals beside him, Bouns from the Netherlands, stabbed him with his elbow: "I say," he whispered, "but is he really not Cardinal Picromini's 'nephew' (illegitimate child)?" ”

"Of course," Baglioni shrugged, "although the Romans have always rumored that my brother had twelve illegitimate children, he really didn't have one, he hates children as much as we hate devils!" ”

"Your message is a little behind." Cardinal Buins whispered: "Now the Romans say that your brother, our Cardinal Picromini, has thirty-six illegitimate children. ”

"Well," Cardinal Baglioni turned his head abruptly, "what are they talking about, why don't they say that Cardinal Picromini had seventy-two sons, which is two more than the mighty Gideon (note 2)!" ”

"Hmm...... Probably because," said Cardinal Buins, "that would be too unreverent." ”

Note 1: Ghibeline, royalist (a faction in the political struggles of Italy between the 12th and 15th centuries, mostly composed of large feudal lords. They supported the Holy Roman Emperor and sought to maintain feudal privileges)) to the Erfu, the Papal faction (which was opposed to the Holy Roman Emperor and was hostile to the Ghibelline).

Note 2: Zen Gideon, the mighty man of the Israelites, led 300 men to defeat the 100,000 Midianite enemy armies, and made peace for the Israelites for 40 years, and had seventy sons.