It has been seven days since the clash in the Vatican Palace, the Grand Chamber, and the cardinals, at the end of their daily meetings, can see the windows of the Vatican Palace facing St. Peter's Square open, and although they cannot see Pius III from here, they all know that the Pope still holds on to the meager hope that his most beloved disciple will be Giulio after all. The Medici, although his personal secretary had been changed to Joshua. Medici served.

For this reason, Cardinal Grande Lovere also mocked his son - after all, a few years ago, when the Borgia family intended to expel Giulio from Rome, it was Joshua who temporarily took his place, but unfortunately, Picomini did not take him to heart, and as soon as Alexander VI died, he welcomed Giulio as if he had been lost for a long time. The Medici took it back, and Joshua returned to the embarrassing situation of being silent and unnoticed.

"Not this time." Joshua said calmly, "Even if Julio. The Medici has returned, and the Assassins you arranged for on the side of the Roman Avenues will also take his life. ”

"Oh," said Cardinal Grande Lovere contemptuously, "this time you are no longer pulling at my clothes, crying and crying out for me not to kill your little friend." ”

"If he returns, he will be my enemy."

"He's not coming back." Cardinal Grand Lovere said: "He is also your enemy. ”

"You can't do anything to him at this time," Joshua said, "Pius III's love for him has not been completely extinguished, and death can be hopeless and insane." ”

"I thought you would never admit this," Cardinal Grande Lovere tightened his red robe, put on a wide-brimmed hat, and lowered the brim of his hat to hide his face in the shadows: "I hope I don't regret the decision I made today." ”

He walked out of the room, and Joshua continued to sit at the window, from his room in the Loveare's mansion he could look down on St. Peter's Square, the Vatican Palace, and the Roman Avenue, which stretched from his feet to the sky, and just as he was about to get up for his evening prayers, a black carriage came from a distance, followed by a procession of monks and mercenaries—the mercenaries wore short white cloaks with crimson lilies and small ball coats of arms—the hallmark of the Medici! Joshua's pupils narrowed.

The carriage drove into St. Peter's Square and stopped in front of the Vatican Palace along the edge of the arc, and Joshua leaned almost half of his body out of the window to barely see the man jumping out of the open door—the same red vest and wide-brimmed hat as Cardinal Grande Lovere, but even from that distance, Joshua could see that the body of the man who came was at least twice the size of Cardinal Lauverre. Three times the size of the Medici, a clergyman with such a fat body is rare even in the Vatican—only Joe. Medici.

Joshua snapped his eyes shut, perhaps because he was overly emotional, and he felt nothing more than a whirlwind, and he had to sit slowly against the wall on the cold stone floor, his heart beating like a galloping horse, his stomach and intestines twisting together like a rope, the pain causing him to subconsciously clench his fists and press his knees against the underside of his ribs—nothing, it had been the case since he had fasted from time to time to cleanse his body and mind.

After a while, Joshua gathered some strength, he grabbed the kneeling stool under the window, got up, took out the sugar cube in the drawer and stuffed it into his mouth, he couldn't wait for it to melt slowly, so he just bit it and swallowed it into his stomach—he chewed the candy cube as he quickly put on his robe, put on his round hat, and rushed out of Lovere's mansion—since it was Joe who had returned. Medici, not Giulio. Medici, then, from today onwards, there will only be one person by the teacher's side, and that is Joshua. Lovere.

He will never make the same mistake again, and this time, no matter who it is, or what the reason, don't think about sending him away from the teacher's side.

Joshua was exactly as expected, and when he walked outside the door of the Great Council Chamber, he saw Joe. The Medici retreated from it in embarrassment, and the dripping marks and smell on his body indicated that someone had just poured a whole cup of hot coffee on his head, and of course, even another cardinal, at least on the surface, could not be so rude to him, especially in the Vatican Palace, where the only possible thing to do so was Pius III.

He was followed by Brother John, a personal servant of Pius III and one of his most trusted men, but this time he was not given preferential treatment, even though he was still shouting worriedly: "Please let me gather the pieces!" The door was still slammed shut in front of him.

And before the heavy door was closed, the pope's cries of grief had come from within.

Joshua sped through Joe. The Medici and Brother John slammed down in front of the door and shouted, "Teacher! Teacher! You still have me, and you still have me! I'm Joshua, teacher, please look at me! ”

The door didn't open, not even the faint crying stopped, Joshua was not sad or discouraged, to be exact, this was what he expected, he shouted a few times, and then cried out, "It's okay if you don't want to see me," he said sincerely, "I'm here, call me whenever you want, teacher, I'm always here!" ”

Brother John watched him quietly for a while, and then went away, and when it was time to pray before going to bed, the Holy Father still shut himself up in the great chamber and would not come out, and Joshua had been guarding the door, not eating or leaving, and Brother John brought him a fur cloak, which he only held in his arms, not on his body, and only pressed his face to the hard oak door with all his heart, and listened to the sound inside, and did not slack off for hours.

Brother John, who was not a cold man in the first place, did not stir up a ripple in his heart—he might have had not caught a glimpse of a smile on Joshua's lips at the moment he exited the room, when Pius III's cries came out, but now he could only thank God, fortunately his brother and master were always much wiser and sharper than he was.

For several days, His Excellency refused to see anyone, from the cardinals who were in charge of salaries, to the king's messengers, or to the people of his family, all of them - seeing that Lent was approaching, and that several Masses that had to be presided over by the Pope were imminent, the bishops of the College of Cardinals gathered together with sad faces and argued, and finally introduced Cardinal Lovere Jr., a disciple of Pius III, who was not as favored as the other, but at least who had accompanied Picromini for nearly twenty years.

Joshua did not know if he would be able to convince Pius III, so he knelt outside Pius III's chamber again, kneeling from morning prayer (three o'clock in the morning) to the ninth hour of the next day (three o'clock in the afternoon), kneeling and fainting—before he passed out, he saw Brother John rush over, pick himself up, and pound the closed door.

The door opened, and the March sun poured from the room into the dimly lit corridor, and it was in this light that Pius III walked towards Joshua.

——————————————

After that, everything seemed to be back to normal, except for Pius III, who appeared less and less in front of the people and cardinals unless necessary, and there were also legends that the Pope's doctors were concocting potions made of poppy 097 millet juice, mandala root, and fennel, and these potions were almost all for those who were unfortunately haunted by the devil and could not be relieved, and the Romans could not help but be worried, and they were all looking for the black-haired young cardinal, hoping that his soldiers would appear again, At the time of the papal election, Rome was guaranteed to be free from mobs.

"So," said Pius III, frowning, as he drank the bitter potion that had been boiling not long ago, "did Joshua assure them that his soldiers would also go out on patrol and arrest any sinner who dared to break the law while the Sistine Chapel was closed?" ”

"Yes." Brother John said.

"Shameless plagiarism." Cardinal Baglioni said: "It was he who forcibly dismissed the three hundred Swiss spearmen hired by Giulio, as well as the one hundred arquebusiers, who were also driven away. ”

"Let him go," Shelter III gasped wearily, "since he wants to do it, let him do it." ”

"But the soldiers of Lovere...... "Brother John worriedly, were not as disciplined as the Swiss mercenaries or the arquebusiers of the Medici, and they had all the common problems of all Italian mercenaries, they were the proud soldiers before men, and the sinister thieves behind them, Joshua. What is the difference between Lovelle asking them to protect the Romans and letting the wolves guard the flock?

"Julio would be sad if he knew." Brother John muttered.

"If you're talking about those Romans," Pius III put a thick piece of honey-stained dried apricots into his mouth: "No, Giulio will understand, it's their own choice," he chewed on a piece beautifully, and the bitterness of the potion was at once suppressed by the sweet and sour taste of honey apricots: "...... He's grown up, isn't he, John," he sighed as he continued to stuff his mouth with honey-stained dried apricots at lightning speed, "It was a long and painful process, but it turned out to be exactly what I expected—damn sweet, like these dried apricots." ”

"Those Florentines don't think so." Brother John said that what happened in Florence's Piazza Ville had been copied to Pius III in great detail, and that the Sodrini family had publicly rebuked Giulio. The Medici was a dictator – Giulio. The Medici's reply, which many might think was just a moment of anger from a young man, was known only to Pius III that Giulio was serious.

He will prove it to Florence, and indeed to Italy as a whole.

"It would be nice if I could see it with my own eyes, wouldn't it? John? Pius III asked.

"The one hundred and twenty-sixth."

"What?"

"You have spoken bluntly, or you have reminded me that I have watched little Julio ascend to the sacred and earthly throne on your behalf—the one hundred and twenty-sixth time, Holy Father, I count, and you have given me such a heavy task," complains Brother John, "but he will not give me even a piece of dried apricots." ”

Pius III blinked.

Then he took the candied fruit box, placed it on his lap, carefully selected it for a long time in the sunlight, and picked out the smallest, the most shriveled, and the least beautiful one, and handed it to Brother John.

"Take it," he said with a pretense of generosity, "the money is gone, my dear John." ”

Brother John stretched out his hand, but instead of taking the piece of dried apricots that had been "carefully picked", he quickly snatched the piece he fancied, of course, the largest, fullest, golden one...... He put it in his mouth, and then squeezed his eyes with the stunned Pius III as well.

The next moment, the two of them laughed together.

——————

Joshua couldn't have heard such laughter.

On the first day after Lent, known as Confession Tuesday, he was summoned by Pius III to the great monastery of the Picrominian family outside the city of Rome.

Joshua had hardly slept all night, and of course he knew what the great convent meant—it was the castle of the Picrominian family in Rome, the cornerstone and the final retreat, and only Giulio had the right to know and use it, although he was also a disciple of Pius III, but even the Picromini Palace, where he had lived for nearly twenty years, was not allowed to enter, let alone the most important of all. He had only heard of rumors or legends about it from Cardinal Grande Lovere.

He didn't think that Pius III was just trying to taunt him or tease him, that Alexander VI was Cardinal Lauvere the Great or that it was possible, but Pius III, even those he hated or hated, would not have done such a boring and time-consuming act in order to humiliate them, he was such a strict and rigid man, Joshua knew him, and at the same time his heart could not help but feel a bitterness, should he say, should he be grateful for Pius III's coldness? At least he's never been tortured like this.

But no matter what he thought, for Pius III, it would not waver in any of his decisions - it rained in Rome on the first day of Lent, and under the lead-gray sky, they hurried out at the first hour (six o'clock in the morning), and arrived at their destination at the time of evening prayer, and the monks of the great monastery were already waiting outside the door, and Pius III, without even having any desire to talk to them, motioned for Joshua to put on the heavy robes prepared by the monks, and went down the stairs with him to the underground mausoleum of the monastery.

As soon as he entered, Joshua shuddered - it looked too much like the underground mausoleum of St. Francis's monastery, where he had been nearly strangled to death by the Assassins sent by his father, Cardinal Grande Lovere...... No, sometimes, he felt that the naïve and ignorant Joshua was dead, and his body was left in that empty sarcophagus, unknotted, unattended, and left alone to rot...... Standing here now is Julio. The Medici performed terrible sorcery, a demon dragged out of hell - how else to explain it, the purest and most tender soul once under the ugly shell, but now hidden in this beautiful shell is the filthy embodiment of jealousy and rage......

Pius III, however, seemed to be unaware of it, and even paused in front of a sarcophagus: "This is similar to the sarcophagus that Giulio dragged you out of there when you were in Assisi." ”

Joshua let out a low gretch of impatience, unwilling to lose his temper in front of the teacher, and he pressed his mouth hard, and a sharp pain caused him to hunch his back.

Fortunately, Pius III only said one sentence and continued on his way.

The monks followed them, Joshua never knew what they meant, until they came to a huge hollow with three sarcophagi neatly arranged in it, and with a nod from Pius III, the monks stepped forward and opened the sarcophagus - as they did so, Joshua could barely suppress the urge to retreat and flee - but it was not empty, and the monks continued to move out five simple pine wooden boxes, undecorated, and even the horns were only black iron, and Brother John took out the keys and opened them one by one.

Under the blazing torches, Joshua was dazzled by the glow of gold.

"Here's 200,000 gold ducats." Pius III said simply.

Joshua wanted to say something, but Pius III had moved to another sarcophagus, and the monks opened it as before, and moved out of the wooden boxes inside, which were also filled with glittering Jinducat.

After the three sarcophagi here were opened, they turned to the other side, there were also three sarcophagi, but they were filled with golden florins, also one sarcophagus of 200,000 gold florins.

In other words, these six sarcophagi alone amounted to 1.2 million gold coins, enough for Alexander VI to marry his daughter thirty more times or his son to marry a princess thirty times.

As if this was not enough to shock Joshua, Pius III led him towards the depths of the mausoleum, and under the witness of a crude and huge statue of a saint, there were five sarcophagi side by side, which contained countless rough stones, jewels, and precious metal vessels, and one of the chests, Joshua even felt a little familiar, and Pius III noticed it, so he asked the monk to move it closer, and pinched one of the rings to Joshua to see— On the back of the ring is the name of the owner: Alexander VI.

"Of course you'll feel familiar." Pius III said lightly: "This box is full of rings worn by Alexander VI. ”

Joshua took a soft breath, no one knew how greedy and tyrannical Alexander VI was, even if he squandered a lot of money on the marriage of his children and the business of the Borgia family, he left behind a considerable inheritance, but he did not know Caesar. How did Borgia do it, anyway, after he left Rome, not only Borgia's private treasury, but even the holy treasury was empty, and the entire Holy Court was almost shut down because of this, and everyone, including Cardinal Grande Lovere, was desperately searching for its whereabouts, who knew that Pius III, who was still Cardinal Picromini at that time, had already taken the lead.

Joshua's heart could not help but feel a strong sense of admiration, if he hated his biological father, Cardinal David Laure, but also had some appreciation for his courage and determination, then now he had left all these seemingly non-existent emotions behind him, and the teacher who had put the real treasure in front of him was undoubtedly more worthy of respect and admiration than his biological father, who was still blindly searching for the "treasure of the Templar Order".

But that's not all, they went to another connected underground tomb, and the numerous sarcophagi, in which no longer hid gold coins and jewels, but were replaced by crossbows, swords, scimitars, and other exceptionally well-maintained weapons, as well as hundreds of arquebuses, twenty cannons, and gunpowder stored in wine barrels.

Sets of chain mail, busts, and leather armor are arranged like guards in beehive-like niches.

Even arming an army of thousands of men would not be a difficult task—Joshua had forgotten his fears and pains, and he walked over to a single, full-body armor and marveled at its exquisite craftsmanship and beauty—until he saw the familiar orb and lily coat of arms above the shiny breastplate, and he came to his senses as if he had been immersed in ice water.

"That's right," said Pius III calmly, "everything here was originally left by me to Giulio, the Medici." ”