The knights and arquebusiers of the Spanish general Gonzalo continued on their way towards Imola, and along the way, they probably saw more tragic events than they had ever seen sunrises and sunsets, and at first they could brew their anger, and at last even the youngest of them began to become numb and tired, and the chief of the knights, seeing this, planned to turn around and return as soon as he saw Forlì, lest the lads would go mad because they could not bear it—he had seen such a situation, When he fought in Granada with his general Gonzalo, he participated in a war that lasted for more than three hundred days, and as far as the eye could see, death was more terrible than death and plagues, and in the end, even the most valiant knights would mistakenly think that they had fallen into an endless purgatory, fever, crying, babbling, and then having a nervous breakdown, and finally they were possessed by the devil - either killing their friends or killing themselves.

Another night came, and they stopped at a place called Dovadora, and though they could see a village not far away, the knights did not have the courage to go forward, and they preferred to sleep in the wilderness rather than see those terrible scenes again—the servants who had gone to investigate soon returned, and when they returned, full of doubt, they told the chief of the knights that the village was sparsely populated, or rather, that there were no people in the few houses they had entered, but that there was still light in a church in the central square of the village, I could faintly hear someone praying.

The knight chief immediately raised his suspicion, and if it were to say the monks, they had not encountered them before, and a reclusive monk had even peddled venison to them—at that time, the knight chieftain did not even bother to expend his saliva, and with a wave of his hand, the servants seized him, and searched his hut by the woods, and the results were self-evident, and it was self-evident that in the midst of hunger, cold, and displacement, a monk would be willing to generously provide you with water, food, and a bed, and many would be grateful and accept it without thinking.

"Let's take a look." Said the knight chief.

They entered the village, which was a small village of about two or three hundred people, and although they were only houses of earth and wood, it was evident that there were industrious housewives who had put them in order, and the central part of the village was the square where the meetings and markets were held, and on the east side of the square was a church, which, like the dwellings of the inhabitants, was only of stone on its base, and the thin walls were painted with chalk, and the windows and gates were black of wood, and the light of the said light came through the gap between the windows and the gates.

The chief knight made a gesture, and the two knights stepped forward with crossbows, and he stepped lightly on the stone steps, pressing his ears to the gate.

There was indeed a prayer inside, with a weak but long voice with a tenacious force, and he said, "

…… He afflicted you and kept you hungry, and gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers knew, that you might know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD...... Observe the commandments of the LORD your God, walk in his ways, and fear him: for the LORD your God hath brought thee into a good land, which has rivers and springs and fountains, and water flows out of the valleys. And there was wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranate trees, and olive trees, and honey...... Thou hast lacked bread in the land, and thou hast lacked nothing. The stones of the land are iron, and the mountains may dig copper...... You're well fed...... Bless the LORD thy God, for he hath given thee that beautiful land............ Take heed that you do not forget the LORD your God, and do not keep his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you this day......

The chief knight immediately pushed the door open, and then he was startled, and the church was full of hungry people with yellow faces, sunken eyes, and swollen bellies.

They didn't even have the strength to sit in their chairs, so they could only lie on the ground leaning against each other, but there were no chairs here, and the knight chief saw the remains of the pult from the unburned fire, and the fire jumped and cast a dazzling red glow on the horrible faces, so that their faces did not look so terrible, or rather, they all had a light smile on their lips, and they did not look at the knight leader with the anger and greed to which he was almost accustomed.

Leaning on the stone altar was a monk who was so thin that it was hard to tell his age, and it was he who prayed for the people.

"Tell me, what's going on here?" The knight leader looked at the monk, and could tell that this person was probably the only one who could answer the question.

The monk opened his mouth and made a gurgling sound from his throat, and just as the knight leader wanted Hu Cong to give him a little water, he slowly raised his hand, bit open a half-congealed wound on his arm, drank his own blood, moistened his lips, and said, "Just like you...... See, Lord Knight. His mouth was stained with blood, but it was holier than any priest the knight had ever seen: "Here they are," he said proudly, "all righteous men," and he looked over one by one, "not a single hand has ever done sin, not a mouth has tasted the blood of sin." ”

The knight leader made a gesture in silence, and several servants hurriedly stepped forward and gave those people water, which was different, mixed with precious sugar and salt, and when they drank it, their eyes suddenly lit up, and the monk was helped up and placed on a blanket, and the knight leader saw that there were many wounds on his arms, small and small.

At this time, someone noticed that there were not only no seats, but also no crutches in this church, no, like the seats, there were also originals, and there were still blank marks of crosses on the walls. The monk also noticed, and he grinned, "Presumably Jesus Christ would not mind sacrificing for his people one more time." ”

Another daring guy. The knight leader thought.

His knights, who had stayed in the village that night, had seen so many disgusting things, and they had a great affection for those who would rather die of hunger and thirst than be beasts, and without the orders of their chiefs, they went out to hunt beasts, and catch birds and fish, and at this time it was no matter what Lent was, and anyway, the only monk here who knew how to calculate Lent was making a big finger at the oily roasted birds, and the arquebusiers had cooked fish soup (fortunately, the monk had hidden a pot) for them to drink, according to the monk's instructions. They slowly recovered, and some began to cry silently, while others began to laugh quietly.

"I should ...... What do you call it? The knight chief asked.

"Call me Brother Desi, I'm a monk of the Common Brotherhood." The monk said that his stomach was clearly stronger than the others, and after drinking the fish soup, he swallowed three more fish, and a roasted bird that was bright and crispy.

"Well, Brother Desi, listen to your accent, it doesn't look like Italian." Said the knight chief.

"Yes," said Brother Desi, "I am a Dutchman." ”

"So far?" The knight leader was surprised, "What are you doing here?" ”

"I'm going on a pilgrimage to Ravenna." The monk said, "On your way back you pass through Forlì." ”

"These people ......"

"Some are residents of Imola, some are residents of Forlì, and some are from this village."

The knight leader looked at them again, and found that among them there were only a few young men, and the others were women, children, and old men.

"How do you convince them?"

"Persuasion?" Brother Desi gave a wry smile, "How can you convince the beast?" You should ask, how did I flee with them—it was they who decided that they would die as the righteous died, and that they would die as the righteous died. ”

The knight leader patted him on the shoulder with relief: "Don't worry, it'll be fine after that, follow us, we will protect you." ”

Brother Desi paused as he bit the bird's claws: "You don't seem to be an Italian either." ”

"I'm a Spaniard," said the chief knight, "but I'm in the service of the archbishop of Lucca, and he needs someone there, so let me come here and see." ”

"What does he want people to do? Building a church? ”

"There are enough churches in Lucca," the chief knight seemed unaware of the monk's temptation, "he needs men to build the walls, a very large project, and many people." ”

"But I'm here with a lot of old people, women and children."

"As long as there are hands and feet, there is work for them." The chief knight said, "When the men go to build the walls, they need women to bake bread and make soup and sew clothes, and the old men and children can do their work, and they are not paid much for their work, but it is enough for them to eat and drink, and our archbishop has prepared a house for the workers." ”

"That's a good man." Brother Desi said this as he vigorously chewed the bone in his mouth.

——————

Brother Desi was initially very suspicious of these knights, of course, according to the doctrine that a Christian could not take another Christian as his slave, but the pagans across the Adriatic Sea had no need to be so worried, and during his pilgrimage to Ravenna he had heard that young men and women had been tricked into being sold to the Ottoman Empire.

But then, when the knights could find more and more people, and they even did not hesitate to exchange their golden florin for wheat, bacon and flour from the French, the curiosity of Brother Desi outweighed his suspicions, who was the archbishop of Lucca? Is he really a good person? If only soldiers were needed, young men were the target, but in the crowd, it was clear that women, children, and the elderly were the majority, and in general they were the least popular with the lords.

"I'll go with you to Lucca." One day, the Desi friar said to the chief of the knights.

The chief knight readily agreed, and the monk was a trustworthy and righteous man, and that the monk and his men had helped him a lot in his efforts to gather the exiles, and that in his usual conversations, he had also found that Brother Desi was a well-read and thoughtful man—just as the lord liked. After that, I'm afraid that the adult will be busy, and it would be nice to have one more manpower.

It's just that Brother Desi couldn't help but regret thinking in his heart that he had to do it to his little brother, Martin. Luther broke his promise, and it seemed that they would not be able to meet again in the Holy Year.