The people of Istanbul did not know that they were once so close to a catastrophe from the epidemic. In the month that Prince Suleimani was away from the golden city, it not only regained its former prosperity, but even became more noisy, with countless pedestrians and officers on horseback plying the streets, the Grand Bazaar with a river of gold and silver coins flowing in people's hands every day, and all kinds of goods, from pepper to coffee, silk to porcelain, from precious stones to pearls, from eunuchs to girls...... Once again, it was filled with the whispers and gestures of merchants, their hands hidden in their wide sleeves, haggling with the number of fingers.

There were also people who sold their goods in the form of auctions, especially slaves, slave girls, the chief of the black eunuchs of the Sultan appeared again in the Grand Bazaar, like falcons looking for fresh beauty for their masters, the departure of the first lady Esher took with him a large group of slave girls, and because of the sins of Lady Hafrin, no less than a hundred slave girls and maids were executed, and now the harem of the Sultan of Selim was empty.

However, the Sultan of Selim was not so anxious, whether it was a slave girl in the previous court or a newcomer, he had to be examined by a physician to make sure that he was healthy and then vaccinated in case of the horrible smallpox in the harem, even if the Sultan was not afraid of smallpox now, he did not want to see his court full of disgusting toads.

And the life of the Sultan was not as dull as the black eunuch governor feared, and he had a new friend, whom he gave considerable power, and it may be said that the Sultan generously shared everything of his own, except for the slave girls of the harem—

No one believed it if he had not perceived it, but his attitude was almost a silent resistance, and the Sultan of Selim was helpless about it, but his mother, the Queen Mother, when she heard about it, said, "My child, my Sultan," she said, "Is there nothing to be angry about, is it not precisely because he has such a stubborn mind and such a strong will that you find it difficult to give up?" She said proudly, "Is there not a better minister than a Christian by your side?" I think there are not only that, but there are many, and you just aren't used to being rejected. ”

As she said this, she cast a glance at the maid beside her, who immediately offered the Sultan sweet snacks and warm tea: "And you are such a forgiving man, Sultan, not only do I know, but the Christian also knows, and that is why he dares to make such an arrogant and impudent gesture, but if you really think that he has that value, then you need not keep him in your heart for so long—indulge him like a generous king, and one day, He would have regretted his arrogance. ”

Selim Sultan doesn't think so, and Julio. The Medici, the prince of the Christian Church, was almost certain to become the future emperor of religion, and although there were some differences, he also had all the ambitions of a monarch - so the Sultan of Selim promised to become the Patriarch of Constantinople if he wished to stay, and although the Patriarch of Constantinople did not now have any authority over the other patriarchs or the other dozen or so other autonomous churches, he remained the spiritual leader and chief spokesman of the Orthodox Church, and, Ottoman Turkey was even more territorial than Europa, and then Persia, Egypt, and Hungary, and as an enlightened sultan, he would not force his people to adopt their religion, so that the patriarch of Constantinople would still have ten million docile lambs, and the Sultan of Selim, in his opinion, did not think that the patriarch of Constantinople, of course, the patriarch of his trust, would be any worse than the pope who was trapped in a small Roman city.

"If you cannot tempt him with wealth, or threaten him with force, or conquer him with power, and are unwilling to send him to serve his gods," she said, "then you will have to let go of your stubbornness, and treat him like a beautiful bird that occasionally falls on your shoulder, and perhaps it will fly away just by singing a song for you, but perhaps he will come back in the future." ”

"That's all I can think of." Selim Sultan said, but in fact, he really didn't think about letting this golden-eyed wise man stay in Istanbul forever? Whether as a minister or as a prisoner, he was equally moved by the right covenant, and secondly, he ......

"What knowledge is, it is a shield, but also a weapon."

Julio. Medici said.

Duarte looked indescribable: "It's not true," he said, "It's unbelievable, you mean...... Can you manipulate other plagues besides smallpox? ”

"Manipulation?" Giulio said: "How is it possible, at most it can only be prevented, for example, smallpox can be stopped by vaccines, and the Black Death can be stopped by eliminating rodents, malaria can be curbed by reducing water and adding screens, smoking mosquitoes, but measles, jaundice, tuberculosis ...... I can't do much more than the way I do it now, I mean, spaced out the sick and burned the bones. ”

"But you threaten the Sultan." Duarte said incredulously.

"Yes, he may not be able to be sure that I can really manipulate the plague, but as the saying goes, if you are not afraid of ten thousand, you are afraid of what if, how does he know that I don't have such ability? You see, in these days, even his chief physician had to stoop down to ask the lowly eunuchs for advice—and it was none other than me who taught them, and they could hardly measure my level, and therefore could not determine the truth of every word I said. ”

"But you're here too."

"No one will be more important than Sudan." Giulio said: "He will not allow the slightest mistake to happen to him, and he should always know that there are always people who will never be willing to be slaves." He smiled and nodded Duarte, "Just like you, me, and Ezio, Cosimo Jr., and every indomitable soul." ”

"Not everybody understands this." "And the Sultan has always been the master of all," Duarte said, "and his worried gaze fell on Giulio's tunics, which were the Ottoman garments from the Topkapi Palace, a splendid garment known as "salayi", a fabric made of filigree and silk interwoven with patterns, which was only available to the sultan and his mother, sisters and children, and there was also a clear hierarchy, and the sultan allowed Giulio to wear the sarayi of the prince's rank, which was an unprecedented boon - but for the prince of Christ, These are just clothes, and the meaning of them has never been in his consideration, and he certainly does not appreciate or hesitate for them: "But he is like a brother to you, and I am worried, Your Highness, can the Sultan really accept such an end?" He found almost nothing. ”

Giulio certainly wouldn't let Duarte know about his dealings with the Sultan, Duarte was a devout believer after all, and he was full of indissoluble hatred for the Ottomans, but Giulio believed that as long as Selim Sultan was still sane, he would not easily break the covenant between the two.

So he just laughed: "The Sultan's brother is not a good term, Duarte, since their great-grandfather they have been used to hanging their brother with a bowstring. ”

"That's why I want you to leave Istanbul as soon as possible." Duarte said with a straight face.

Julio raised the book in his hand and covered his face, of course he also wanted to return to Rome as soon as possible, the problem was that the Sultan's gold and slave girls failed to contain him, and the Sultan's library made him linger - at this time, although the beliefs of the Ottoman Turks had gradually become rigid and authoritarian, the rational sect that had been handed down since the tenth century still had some followers, and from Selim I's grandfather, the sultans of all generations were enlightened and open-minded people, so that they jointly preserved the Greek, There are more texts and records of Persian and Arab culture than Rome or even the whole of Europa - for example, this ancient book in his hand was written by a Persian mathematician named Khwarazmi, who was also an astronomer and geographer, a scholar of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, and his algebra was the first systematic work to solve the first equation and the quadratic equation, and he was later called the creator of algebra. At his side is an illustration of a distiller invented by an Arab alchemist, from which the Italians used to distill spirits and flower dew originate, and this book contains a full twelve types of distillers, of which the Europa people have so far had only three.

If the culture is flourishing, Giulio must admit that the Europa people are not yet comparable to the barbarians they call them.

He couldn't help but sigh, "You're right, unless I really stay as the Patriarch of Constantinople, I won't be able to finish reading all the books here." He was planning in his mind which part of the books he would exchange his artillery and musket for, and smiled at Duarte: "By the way, what about little Cosimo?" ”

Duarte glared at him, all of them were good examples for this father! "He has been with the Sultan's son, Prince Suleiman, lately." Should it be said that biological father and son always have great similarities? Cosimo Jr. undoubtedly inherited Giulio. The daring of the Medici, and the greed and arrogance of Prince Suleiman like his father.

——————

And in the Topkapi Palace, not far from the mansion where Giulio and his party temporarily lived, the conversation between mother and son continued, and as if there was a tacit understanding, the Queen Mother also mentioned Suleiman.

"Ayche is dead." The Queen Mother said indifferently that she had never liked this woman, just as there can only be one Sultan in the empire, and the Sultan's harem can only have one master, but Selim Sultan's attachment to his mother is obviously not as deep as Suleiman's affection for Mrs. Eyshe, when Lady El Shea was still in Topkapi Palace, Selim Sultan favored her very much, and even allowed her to kill her own heirs, and the Queen Mother could not insert her own hands into the palace affairs except for enjoying her old age, Thankfully, the stupid Haverin had saved her of such a serious problem.

For her only grandson Suleiman, the Queen Mother doesn't like him very much, even if she doesn't hate him so much, but now that Selim only has such a son, she certainly won't do anything she shouldn't do.

"In that case," she said, "Suleiman is also of age to be divided, and it is not traditional and sad for him to remain in Istanbul, so it is better to give him a blessed land of honey and let him do things for his father." ”

Selim Sultan hesitated, having seen Julio with his heir, and although he thought Julio was too doting and weak for his nominal nephew, his de facto own son, he occasionally ...... Yes, occasionally I want to enjoy the undisguised and deceitful family relationship between father and son like that Christian, and Prince Suleiman seems to have understood something, and in these short ten days, they have been inseparable and intimate like an ordinary father and son—he also agreed to go hunting with Suleiman today.

"Let me think about it." In fact, in 1509, Bayezid II had given Suleiman the position of governor of Kaffa in the Crimea, but before Suleiman could take office, Bayezid II was assassinated, and the subsequent turmoil was needless to say, before the birth of the second son, Selim Sultan was not very willing to let Suleiman leave him and leave Istanbul.

"Well, that's your business, I don't want to interfere too much." The Queen Mother said with a seemingly relaxed expression, and then motioned to the Sultan, "Look at this girl. At the same time, she said, the maid, who had been instructed and advised, sat down on her knees, stretched out her slender fingers, and slowly lifted the veil—only then did Sultan Selim discover that she had brown eyes like fawns, very lovely, with a small nose and mouth, and a flush on her cheeks as beautiful as the morning sun.

"This is a slave girl from Albania, whose father was a Christian priest, and with whom she learned to write and read," said the Queen Mother, "I have chosen her for you, my son, and take her to your bedchamber and give birth to your son with her," she took the maid by the hand and carried her into the arms of the Sultan: "I could not wait to see so many children running around the courtyard of the court—this was what Aisher was supposed to do, but it turned out that she was wrong." So, now, Selim, you are to have more sons than your father Bayesset, so that you may choose the strongest and wisest one from among them to be the future Sultan. ”

She said this with a sense of wistfulness, but she did not notice that Sultan Selim's hand paused slightly, and then landed lightly on the thin shoulders of the maid.

。 m.