Julio. The Medici returned to Florence before the feast of St. Michael (September 29), where he presided over the Mass of St. Michael's Day, and the nearly thirty days of pilgrimage that had left him emaciated and pale, and the people (especially women) could not help but worry, as if to prove that their uneasiness was not unfounded, after the Mass, the Archbishop of Florence began his life of seclusion again, but as the de facto ruler of Florence, the members of the Parliament of the Seventy had to come to Cadiz in person, Consult with him on important matters of Florence and seek his advice.

Florence in Giulio. When the Medici returned to the city, they began to add new walls on the basis of the old walls, just like Lucca, and now they are beginning to take shape. In Tana. When Nerry raised the issue, some lawmakers were secretly accusing him of collecting money for the Medici family. The Medici were in control, and the walls of a city were never a small project, and judging from the drawings, they had to dig the trenches around the walls, and build numerous star-shaped bastions, and they were puzzled that the new walls were so wide and low that they did not meet the requirements of the people of the day for walls.

"Because a large part of the future defense of Florence will be completed by artillery." Giulio patiently explained that he was always quite gentle, as long as it was not a deliberate provocation, but no one will forget how he completely reversed the fortunes of the Medici and Florence that night: "If the walls had remained of their original height and thickness, the vibration of the guns alone would have destroyed the masonry beneath them, and the only way to avoid this was to lower the height of the walls and widen them to give the artillery a solid base." ”

"But wouldn't the walls become the base of the artillery, rather than the main body of the defense?"

"That's why I ask you to dig a trench outside the city wall, and outside the ditch, build an impact slope with excavated earth masonry, so as to avoid the threat of enemy artillery to our city wall, and the distance between the impact slope, the ditch, the outer wall, and the inner wall can also effectively reduce the effective kinetic energy of stone or iron bullets...... Uh-huh," said Giulio, after a pause, to little Cosimo beside him, "bring me a blackboard and red and white chalk." ”

The parliamentarians exhaled softly, they listened very carefully just now, but the problem was that they didn't understand at all! All I can say is...... I felt like I didn't know what to do...... But if they don't understand, they will appear to be stupid, they can think of themselves as smart people, etc., they are indeed smart people, otherwise how can they gain a foothold in the vagaries of Florence, and even hold authority, but this, it can only be said that their archbishop is much smarter and wiser than them.

The small blackboard that Cosimo Jr. brought with him was only about an arm's length and an elbow wide, which Giulio had prepared for his many students, and later spread to his schools in Rome, Cadiz, Florence and Lucca, at this time, most of the teachers were still teaching only orally, so we can often see a teacher holding a book in his hand, reading to one or more students, and the students are writing books below, but in some places, like a market or a square, People would use plaster and lime mixed with pot ash to apply to the hard, flat wall, and then use a plaster pen similar to chalk to write or draw on it - the previous method of teaching can be said to be extremely unfriendly to students, especially those who have no foundation, so Julio painted the wooden board with black lacquer and fixed it to the wall, so that the teacher could write on it, and the students could read, copy or memorize it.

Sometimes, as he does now, he would use it as a demonstration, drawing on the blackboard a section of the walls, the ditch and the ram slope that the councillors could understand, and one of the younger councillors excitedly pointed to the trench and asked, "If the enemy breaks through the artillery defenses, then they will also fall into the trench, and then it will be time for the arquebus to take their lives." ”

"Yes." Julio still looked at the small blackboard from them around: "It was indeed a heavy work, and the size of Florence was destined to be guarded by at least nine bastions, and in addition to this, a number of small forts were needed to ensure that the arquebus attack would not be left behind." ”

At first, some members of the Council of the Seventy would have questioned whether Florence needed such a gigantic defense system, let alone more expenditures. Until, as Giulio had calculated, King Louis XII of France had recruited an army of 50,000 men and re-entered Italy – even the most naïve idiots would have thought that these soldiers had come to reclaim the Papal territories on behalf of Pope Julius II, as Louis XII claimed.

"Your Excellency," Tana. Neri said, "Joe. Cardinal Medici sent a letter saying that Pope Julius II had tried to reconcile the French and the Spaniards over Milan, but his method was to draw Louis XII's gaze to Tuscany, of course, the main one, was Florence, although Louis XII refused, but we think that it was because he had not yet taken Milan from the Spaniards, and did not want to use troops elsewhere, and if he got Milan, I think ...... "He looked around," He wouldn't give up on Florence easily. ”

The councillors silently agreed, and it was obvious to everyone that Florence had been reaped as it had been in 1494, due to the wool and fabric production of the Low Countries and England, but since they had been given the recipe for lanolin and cashmere, Florence had once again become a city of gold, and nothing to match it was the military power of Florence, and Machiavelli was still desperately praying for the parliament to establish an army for Florence when Julius II was elected. But the issue is always out of the question.

Now it's good, the blade is approaching, and the Florentine parliamentarians realize how stupid they are, they no longer say, just hire mercenaries, they have clearly realized that no amount of mercenaries can fight with artillery, arquebuses, but to give arquebuses to those who are not trustworthy? They also fear that these expensive weapons will kill them in the blink of an eye.

But it was not an overnight task to erect a strong army, and it was easier to build walls, build bastions, and dig trenches.

"My lord, if things don't go as planned," said one of the councillors, "may we seek your help?" ”

"You mean to say, hire the army of Cadiz? OK. Giulio said, "Why should I build Cadiz?" Ladies and gentlemen, isn't it for Florence? Florence is a free city, but that does not mean that it should be isolated, in fact, "he looked at some of the people, and they were ashamed, because they were also supporters of the Sodrini family when they tried to expel the Medici from Florence, and one of the charges that Sodrini's parents accused the Medici family of was Giulio. The Medici built the new city of Cadiz outside of Florence, and later, was loyal only to Giulio. The Medici Cadiz army controlled all of Florence, as if to prove it, but at this time they had to be glad that there were still Medici in Florence: "Not only Cadiz," Giulio continued, "but Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Piombino...... Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that they will all be allies of Florence. ”

"How is this possible?" One of the councillors blurted out, "Lukka is our enemy!" ”

"Yes, it is true that Luca and Florence were at odds, and my grandfather was once expelled from Florence for losing the Battle of Lucca-Florence, but are you not tired of it? One war after another, seemingly independent, but in fact rigged by people – by the Holy Roman Empire, by the Vatican, by France...... I don't know about you, but I'm tired of Florence bleeding for the sake of others, especially when we have to face a more powerful enemy," Giulio looked at the crowd, "Let's be honest. He said terrible things in a calm tone: "If you can't give me a perfect answer, although I love Florence - I would like to see the Tuscan Union, initiated by Florence, but if Florence can't, then Lucca is not impossible, even Pisa, Siena, Piombino...... As long as they are willing to obey my will, then I will not skimp on my power. Whether it's Cadiz, or something else. ”

"It's a dictatorship!" Someone shouted angrily.

"Well, yes." Giulio replied.

There was silence in the room, and someone suddenly remembered that on the night when the Sodrini family reaped the consequences, Sodrini's parents had also blamed Giulio. The Medici was a dictator, and Giulio gave the same answer at the time, and when they talked about it afterwards, they all thought that it was just the whims of a young man. The Medici, the tyrant of Florence, never dared to admit that he was a dictator, on the contrary, he always behaved very humblely, deliberately kept a simple and low-key attitude, and even instructed his son, "Unless you are called, do not go to the town hall, do not show off in front of people, do not attract too much attention, do not do things against the will of the people, avoid lawsuits and disputes." ”

So they have already acknowledged that Giulio though. The Medici were the uncrowned kings of Florence, but they thought he would still be like Cosimo the Elder, holding power but not becoming a real king, but now they found themselves making a big mistake - and Giulio. The Medici had the courage and courage to make such a declaration, and although he was a Medici, he was not all a Medici, he had the support of the Lucca, the loyalty of the Cadiz, the patronage of the Queen of Spain and the Queen of France, the patronage of the Picromini family of Siena, and the marriage of his brother Giuliano to the she-wolf daughter of Forlì, and the marriage of Bianca gave him the formidable ally of Madame Caterina of the House of Sforza, Piombino's reign in Caesar. After Borgia died, he had returned to the lady - so his plan was not in the air.

Florence once belonged to the ancient Romans and was later ruled by the Lombards, but since the establishment of the republic in 1282, it has been free, is it finally about to have a ruler?

"I don't need you to give me an answer right away." "But I'm not going to wait too long," Giulio said. He nodded to the clerk: "Next topic." ”

"Uh......" The clerk hadn't even been able to get out of his trance, he was in Tana. Inside, he looked at the file in his hand under the reminder, and then stumbled to read: "We...... We receive reliable ...... Message...... Istanbul has suffered a terrible disaster, said some surviving businessmen...... It was an apocalypse...... The ground breaks and the sea rushes into the city...... At least 10,000 people died......"

"I already know that." Julio. The Medici interrupted him, "There is one more thing," he said calmly, "perhaps you do not know it yet—you, the emperor of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, Sultan, Bayezid II is dead. ”

——————————

Regardless of the fact that the Florentine parliamentarians will be arrested for Julio. How frightened are the ambitions and powers exposed in Medici's bold declaration, and how frightened by the bad news he threw like a thunderbolt - the death of Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire was not just a pagan being thrown into hell, as merchants, they would not be ignorant of the Ottoman Turkish inheritance law, if the earthquake and tsunami in Istanbul were God's punishment, then the civil war that would inevitably ensued could be said to be a man-made disaster. And this man-made catastrophe made them even more anxious than God's punishment - it was not a thing that could be ended in a year or two, but the war that the three adult sons of Bayezid II had started would last for five or ten years. Although they should not do business with the infidels, everyone knows that this is only a written law, and the merchants, as long as they have interests, can even grind for the devil - not to mention, in the past few years, Florentine cashmere, lanolin oil, and Cadiz white pottery and bone china have become the most popular goods in Istanbul.

But facts are facts, and none of them would doubt Giulio. Medici - Not to mention the sudden change in the Ottoman Empire that would inevitably affect the war between Venice and the Pope's League of Cambrai, they had so many things to arrange, so many people to contact, and no one had the heart to continue the rest of the issue, and after a few minutes of hard work, Giulio had to allow them to leave.

Julio was looking for a rest—when he returned from Istanbul, exhausted not only physically but also mentally, and he would have liked to spend months in the chapel of Gatiz, regardless of the urgency. But at this moment, Cosimo Jr. came in and asked him that Duarte of Pienzi wanted to see him, if he wanted to?

Not quite wanting to see it, Giulio said in his heart, but he also knew that Duarte was not the kind of person who would bother him for no reason.

As soon as Duarte entered the room, he knelt down - on his knees as if he were worshipping God.

Giulio glanced at Cosimo Jr., who immediately walked out and closed the door.

"I really don't want to know what you've done." "But I think that must be a very bad thing," Giulio said. ”

"Yes," Duarte replied in a hoarse voice, looking up and looking even more haggard than he had been in Istanbul: "I have committed a great sin, Bishop, and even the rebirth of the Holy Christ cannot wash me away." ”

"Are you kneeling before me," said Giulio, "in confession to me?" ”

"Yes."

"Then you can say it."

"Smallpox," Duarte said, "I brought smallpox to Istanbul. ”

Giulio was stunned and fell back in his chair - people in the Middle Ages had long learned to use plague to strangle their enemies, for example, they would throw rotting corpses into castles on trebuchets, but smallpox ...... In order to promote the vaccinia vaccine, he and Picromini decided from the beginning to borrow the name of the Church, which is known as the "blessing of St. John", but it also meant that the Ottomans, as pagans, would never accept the vaccine - so, even at the most critical moment, Giulio did not think of using smallpox, which is a completely different concept from assassinating a king or modifying the same weapon.

It was a devil, a devil that even he couldn't control.

"Yes...... The bottle ......" he remembered, he thought that Duarte's panic was because he saw the enemy, nay, he saw his sin.

"Yes."

Duarte replied with a wry laugh.

"You won't be forgiven."

"I know."

"Well, we'll have to wait."

"Yes."

"Come with me to the church, Duarte, we must pray, pray that the bottle, has been shattered and carried away by the sea."

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A child bent down and picked up the small glass bottle from the mud and sand, he had never seen anything so delicate, he tried to open the cap, but he did not succeed, and could not recognize what was inside.

But it must be worth a lot of money.

He also wore belts, necklaces, and bracelets on his wrists that had been pulled from the deceased, as well as anything he could find that might be sold.

He searched Istanbul after the catastrophe for a whole day, only to return to his humble residence in the evening, and he was so excited that he didn't even notice a person following him.

A thief killed him and took all the jewels, and he noticed the bottle, but the silver cap could not be opened without breaking it, and he saw the powder in it—but he knew more than the child, and perhaps it was the reliquary of the Christians, which contained the ashes of the saints, and he thought of it so with great interest, and hung it around his neck with great interest, and if it could bless him, he kept it, and if it could not, he sold it.

Someone is going to love this.