A dried bouquet of lavender flowers is held under someone's nose and quickly removed. The turmoil in Rome had subsided, but the smell of blood and decomposing corpses still filled the streets, not even the sealed glass could keep them out.

Henry. Tudor lifted the velvet curtain of the carriage window and looked out, an act that immediately drew the displeasure of his companions, his hand was pressed down, and the curtain was lowered: "Be careful, sir. His entourage indifferently reminded, "This is the church of Christ, but there are more assassins and thieves in the streets than hell." ”

Henry pursed his lips and turned his head, he was only 27 years old, he was a young man, because he was forced to go into exile in Brittany, France with the Tudor family at the age of 13, he had barely received a coherent and complete education, and his mother, Lord Margaret, had remarried Thomas of England. Lord Stanley was not able to care for and advise him, so even though the young man was recognized as the leader of the Lancastrians as the only remaining male heir of Lancaster, there were not many who were truly loyal to him and willing to die for him. His entourage was a Frenchman, not an Englishman, a confidant of King Charles VIII of France.

In September of the previous year, the Duke of Buckingham of England made contact with the Lord Margaret, and they planned to let the Duke of Buckingham take the opportunity to launch a riot in the west while Henry led his knights to "return" to England, so that they could echo inside and out, and remove the puppet king Richard III from the throne in one fell swoop. Tudor takes the crown that rightfully belongs to him. Who knows right in Henry. On the day Tudor boarded the ship, a hurricane struck and he and his knights had to be stranded in a small fishing port, and by the time he arrived at Poole Harbour in England, not only had his supporters long gone, but even the Duke of Buckingham had been beheaded by Richard III.

This made Henry's original supporter, the Duke of Brittany, furious, and he scolded Henry for being a useless boy who had wasted his efforts and investments, and sold Henry to the long-awaited King Charles VIII of France, despite the dissuasion of his daughter Anna.

Charles VIII was much younger than Henry, he was born in 1470, and now he is only 14 years old, and the power of France is controlled by his sister Anne and Pierre II, Duke of Bourbon, but this has not stopped the ambition and talent of this young boy, compared to the vicious and vicious (as a protector but murdered two heirs to the throne in a row who should be protected by him), shrewd and cunning, and in the prime of life (32 years old), as the king of France, he certainly preferred a cowardly and incompetent man to become the ruler of England.

Henry bowed his head, ** a box on his knees, the box was a stack of contracts for estate, farmland and vineyards, and a commercial bill of exchange issued by the Florentine Medici, the holder of which he could go to the Medici family's bank and withdraw the glittering gold and silver, these were the last capital of the Lancastrian family, the little blood and bones of Tudor, if he lost them, Henry. Tudor is almost equivalent to losing everything.

"Which one are we going to visit?" Is it the Pope? If so, Henry felt that he could turn around and leave, Richard III was not the kind of fool who would obediently give up the throne at the behest of the Pope, the days when the aristocracy ruled over the commoners, the king ruled over the nobility, and the church ruled over the king long ago, and every king, was wary and contemptuous of the church, look at the things under the holy robes - poison, bastards, priesthood trade...... Isn't that dirtier and filthy than the worldly people?

"Rodrigo. Borgia. Charles VIII's henchmen gave the answer, and then saw Henry. Tudor frowned, and he couldn't help but chuckle softly, he was certainly happy to see that his king had chosen such a ...... The wretched wretched creature came to become the king of England, and after a while he suppressed the sarcasm in his heart, "I cannot take part in the conversation between you," he said, "but remember, my lord, that everyone wears a mask in front of strangers, and that piety is one and absurdity is another, and that your Majesty, though he is young, will never be unpurposeful, and that he is equally sincere to his friends, and that you need not worry that he has done anything to you or that he has deliberately deceived you." ”

When they got out of the carriage, no one noticed it, and Borgia, though he did not become pope, was still the secretary general of the new pope, and with the position of vice-chancellor, there was a constant stream of people who wanted him or wanted to be asked of themselves, bankers, prostitutes, guild presidents, priests, lords...... In an endless stream. Given that they were in possession of the handwritten letters of Charles VIII, Henry and his retinue were soon led to a small room, windowless and a little stuffy, but soon, through a hidden door, Rodrigo. Borgia walked out.

The retinue introduced the two, and although everyone knew it, he withdrew after completing this step, leaving Borgia and Henry behind. Tudor in a room.

Under the bright candlelight, both Borgia and Henry were extremely secretive, carefully and in detail to examine each other's faces, physiognomy has a long history in Europe, it is said that Aristotle once used facial features to speculate on someone's character, so whether it is in marriage or in war, people will send a painter to paint a detailed portrait of the enemy or the future wife or husband, it is better to be able to see it in person.

The first to make the judgment was Borgia, after all, he had decades of more experience than Henry. Henry. Tudor was not a handsome man, he had a face that was too long, which made his eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips elongated, especially the length between his eyebrows and eyes, and his chin, which was too protruding and wide, and his eyebrows were too thin, which was a sign of lack of courage in physiognomy, his eyes were large, but they were godless, and they were single eyelids, which made him look very unenergetic, and his neck was too thick, which could almost be said to be the characteristics of a fool and a fool, and his hair was not black. It's not golden, it's reddish-brown, and the skin is yellowish, which indicates a liver problem.

But in the next few minutes, Borgia saw something more, such as a firm and sharp eye like a pinprick in a pin, and a hand with long fingers and broad palms, which the man with was always able to hold everything tightly and never let go.

Henry's face also surprised Henry, in his imagination, as one of the most voracious maggots in Rome (or one of them could be removed), Borgia should have an elephant-like belly, a fat-filled face, cunning little eyes, pig-like ears and a nose, no, all imagination is wrong, Rodrigo. Borgia was not ugly, he had three or more handsome or beautiful children, and even with the bonus of his mistress's appearance, he was not without credit for it. His face can even be said to make people feel good at first sight, in addition to the upright facial features, his eyes are blazing, his waist is straight, more similar to a knight than a priest's strong body is wrapped in solemn robes, the walking posture is elegant and steady, only the temples mixed with silver threads reveal his age, only by other things, no one would have thought that he is now 53 years old.

Henry. Tudor didn't bend down to kiss the cardinal's ring, and Borgia didn't seem to mind much, or rather, his attitude towards gold was always good.

"The King of France has asked you to come to my help," said Borgia, smiling when he heard of Henry's intention, "but did he tell you why?" ”

Henry didn't know what to say, in fact, he only learned an hour ago that the person he was visiting was Borgia, a notorious cardinal, if anything, he didn't care so much, but he needed knights now, not prostitutes, could this Borgia really do it?

"My name is generally only passed down between kings and archdukes," Cardinal Borgia stood up, his figure obscuring the candlelight, and in the darkness, Henry. Tudor even felt a palpitation: "So," Borgia suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "Your Highness, how old are you this year?" ”

"Twenty-seven...... Year? Henry replied hesitantly, he didn't know why Borgia was asking, did he think he was too old and wanted a younger king to support him?

"At the age of twenty-seven, I was already the Grand Master of the Templar Order." Borgia said.

Even if there is a thunderbolt in the sky, it will not let Henry. Tudor was even more surprised, his ears were ringing, perhaps the devil was at work, and he heard such a terrible strange thing: "But, but......" he stammered, "Knights...... Not in 1307 ......"

"Yes, on the surface, it does." Borgia said: "At that time, the Templar leader Jacques . Morality. Molay sacrificed himself to make our enemies think that the Knights Templar had been utterly and completely destroyed, but no," he turned, "the Knights Templar still exist, but is no longer universally known. ”

He faced Henry again. Tudor was still smiling, but in the light of the sword he wielded, the smile was like a beast's snout that cracked to the sides as it sought its prey. He raised his arm, and the young Tudor only felt a darkness in front of him—when he could distinguish what was in front of him, he saw three faint lights jumping on the long sword, he stiffened his neck and looked at the candlestick on one side, the top of the three candles, the candle tears were still dripping, but the wick could not see the charred top—he had not seen a knight who could cut off three wicks with a single swing, but the three candles must have been on the same level, not arranged in a triangular staggered arrangement as he had seen, Rodrigo's blow, no, Three sorties, when cutting the second wick, to ensure that the first wick will not be extinguished due to the sword wind, when cutting the third wick, to ensure that the first and second wicks are not extinguished, such a skill can no longer be described with subtlety.

Borgia shifted his wrists and sent the wicks back to their original locations before they were extinguished due to lack of fuel and the drop in temperature, and the room suddenly became brighter, and the cardinal returned the sword to the scabbard hanging from the wall, so that it remained there as quietly as an ornament, and his residence, palace, and some of the places he frequented had such "ornaments", because the scabbard was decorated with jewels and gold, and people usually did not notice that it was loaded with an incomparable blade, It's like no one would have thought of being in Rodrigo. Beneath Bolgia's terrible reputation hides a good skill that ordinary people can hardly achieve in their lives.

"A little proof." Borgia said.

——————————————————————————————

"You shouldn't give this secret to outsiders so easily."

Rodrigo. Borgia put down his glass and rubbed his forehead, "That's Henry. Tudor, the sole heir of Lancaster, was also their chief. ”

"Do you think he's going to be a king?" The visitor asked, "In September of last year, they had already suffered a defeat. ”

"We won't." Borgia said.

"But it's not our job, it's our job to ......"

"Watch the Assassins encroach on our territory." Borgia continued, "Do you know how much we've lost? After the damned Babylonian exile and the Great Schism of the Church! ”

He jumped to his feet and threw the glass on the ground, and the pure gold glass immediately dented, and the crimson wine splashed everywhere, and the air was filled with bitterness.

The visitor sighed deeply, "But we're not mercenaries. He said bitterly, "We ......."

"Thomas," Bolgia said suddenly, "my brother, I know that you sometimes don't approve of my actions, perhaps, always thinking about money and vineyards may not seem very noble, but we need money, Rome needs it, the Church needs it, the Knights need it...... horses, armor, weapons, money, ...... Every day, gold coins flow out like water, not to mention the necessary bribes and bribes - we have to deal with not many saints, short-sighted, mercenary villains, who may be cut on their fingers by meat-eating daggers, but can give us a fatal blow at a critical moment - they don't even have faith, they have no scruples, think of the people around Philip IV at the beginning, either assassins, or villains and sluts that the assassins have taken over...... Sacrificed a Jacques. Morality. There are too many of Molay, and I am willing to die on the battlefield of the Lord, but I do not want to die again, and I, and any of my brothers of the Order, because of this ridiculous and disgraceful slander. We must grasp the hearts of every king and grand duke, if not," he glanced at the long sword hanging from the wall, "life is okay. ”