Five centuries later, the Vatican Palace opened a portion of its collection that had never been displayed to the public, including a tempera painting only three feet wide and two and a half feet high, which was painted by the artist as "The Battle of Two Kings."

But the visitors who see this painting are all confused, for there are no neighing horses, no silver armor, no swords and war hammers, and no flags, skeletons, or the faint armies that are often seen in such paintings—only two boys, about five or six years old, scuffling.

The painter clearly has an unusual talent for depicting the gestures and expressions of the figures, and his delicacy and realism are not far behind even those of his contemporaries Raphael.

Look at that brunette haired kid!

He was richly dressed, cloaked in ferretskin, a tight black velvet coat, crimson pantyhose, a gold cross hidden under the collar of his neck inlaid with pearls and precious stones, a delicate sword on his belt, and even a decorative silver spur on the heel of his boots—an outfit that no merchant or official son could have. But what the painter depicted was already the appearance of this solemn garment, which had been disorganized by the fight—the cloak was crooked on his chest, the golden cross was thrown behind his back, one of his boots had fallen off, and his pantyhose had been torn off in half by the branches of roses, revealing his fat white legs.

His round face was flushed, his teeth were clenched at his lips, his anger overflowing, he grasped the chest of another child with one hand, and raised the other hand high, the palm of which was tightly clenched into a small fist.

And the child he caught, although he seemed to be at a disadvantage, could see that his enemy posed no threat to him—he raised his arm and calmly jammed the hand that was grasping the placket of his chest, and the other hand stretched forward, as if to push the brown-haired child away—but those who viewed the painting could clearly see that his right foot was leaning out of the left ankle that the brown-haired child used to support his body, and that the hand that was parked in the air, with its fingers slightly bent, was clearly aimed at the enemy's left shoulder, As you can imagine, if the brown-haired kid gets kicked in the ankle and loses his balance, he will immediately grab the opponent's clothes and throw him to the ground.

The painter of this painting captured an unusually vivid picture, but this kind of scene that happened in ordinary life is very rare even in Renaissance works, after all, almost all the paintings at that time were mainly religious themes, or pretended to be a saint or the Holy Spirit, such as the well-known "Madonna Lamenting Christ", it is rumored that the prototype is a beautiful woman in the notorious Borgia family, Luclesia. Borgia, and the two hundred and sixteenth pope, Alexander VI, also have images of her as a virgin in the frescoes left in the Vatican Palace.

But such a realistic and witty picture obviously could not be associated with any solemn and sacred scene, and people looked at the corner of the picture, where a small signature was left - Giulio. Medici.

"Yes, this is His Excellency the Pope, who was canonized three days after his death, the Spirit of Enlightenment, whose countenance is said to be as glorious as that of Michael in the sky, but unfortunately he did not like to leave his own traces on the canvas, and he did not even have his own portraits, and we can only try to restore one or two in sculptures and portraits that are said to be modeled on him - but he has left us such an interesting tempera." Professor Baglioni smiled and said, "Can you guess why this painting is given that name?" ”

His pupils immediately whispered with interest that the dark-haired, blue-eyed child was much more modest than the brown-haired child, who wore a linen white robe, black flats, and no precious jewels, but the beaver skin cloak that had fallen to the ground showed that he would not be just a lowly commoner.

"Is this just a metaphor?" One student boldly speculated: "Two children, meaning two countries? ”

"Hmm......" Professor Baglioni tilted his head and thought for a moment, "I can only say that you guessed part of it correctly - but these two children do not just mean two countries, to be precise, they are two countries, right- they ...... One was none other than King Cosimo I of Italy twenty years later, the founding king of the Medici royal family, and the other, likewise, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King Charles V of Spain twenty years later – so it's no surprise that the painting was named the Battle of the Two Kings. ”

“yoooooooo！” His students let out an irrepressible exclamation, and after apologetic glances at the passing visitors, Professor Baglioni raised his hand and motioned for them to be quiet.

If, at first, the professor's students only looked at a beautiful painting with the mindset of admiring it, now they realize that they are looking at history from a special perspective.

——————

Of course, historical figures were not very happy at this time.

It was Candlemas in 1506, and Queen Juana I of Spain customarily dedicated three large masses for herself and her children at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but unlike before, she came to Rome in person, with her eldest son Charles.

They had come on pilgrimage to meet the Pope, and after receiving the blessing of Pius III, the queen stayed, because there was something about Portugal - since 1415, the Portuguese had intended to go south from the west coast of Africa, bypassing the eastern Mediterranean, which was controlled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, to find a golden route that could trade directly with the pagans of the East - they did not know whether the Atlantic Ocean was connected to the Indian Ocean, nor how big the strange continent of Africa was, they just planned it, You can find a river that flows into the sea from the west coast of Africa, and follows the river into the Nile River in the interior of Africa, from which it enters the Red Sea and goes straight to India.

Year after year, they made arduous journeys along the coast, but the vastness of the African continent bothered and confused them for almost a century, and some even wanted to give up, fortunately, some wanted to give up, and some persevered, and in 1488, the Portuguese discovered the Cape of Good Hope, which laid a solid foundation for Vasco da Gama, who discovered India in 1497.

In the beginning, the Maharajas of India did not want to do business with these strange whites - they had been dealing with the Arabs for hundreds of years, but now that they had found India, how could the Portuguese let their nearly a hundred years of hard work go to waste, Vasco da Gama cut off the noses of about fifty Indians, hung them on masts, and left them to wail to death in the sea breeze.

The Indian maharaja was frightened and agreed to do business with them, and the Portuguese returned to Europa laden with gold and spices, and for a time even directly threatened the Venetians, who had a near monopoly on the spice business.

The Spaniards, of course, would not be satisfied with this, given the two ideas at this time—first, that the Christian nations had the right to occupy the pagan lands; Second, the popes had the power to decide on the sovereignty of lands that had not yet been occupied by Christian rulers—they had asked Alexander VI to arbitrate between Spain and Portugal over colonies, markets, and wealth, and to draw a dividing line in the middle of the Atlantic to divide the New World, known as the "Papal Meridian." ”

Now the Spaniards asked Pius III to reaffirm that the Papal Meridian was straight around the entire earth, so that they could send their adventurers to explore the eastern half of Spain to see if some of the precious Spice Islands were in their pockets.

Such a conversation was obviously very boring for a five-year-old child, and his age was not suitable for such a serious meeting, so her mother, Queen Juana, asked the attendants to take him out for a walk, but just as they were about to end the subject, a priest ran in in a panic, "Oh no! He shouted, "They, they're fighting!" ”

Brother John solemnly held out a finger, and the priest realized that he had transgressed, but he could not help but look at Giulio and the Medici with a pleading look, "Cardinal...... It's your nephew with the crown prince of the Spaniards...... They ......"

Pius III rose from his seat and led the way to the door.

Giulio and Juana followed side by side, but luckily the children's clash was not far from the Hall of Our Lady, and when they arrived, the battle between the crown prince and the cardinal's nephew was not even over - the attendants and monks (who served Cosimo the younger) did not want to intervene, but both children thought that they could not defeat the enemy in front of them! Although they were still young, their status destined them to be more majestic than ordinary adults, and in the immature and sharp orders, no one dared to step forward and forcibly separate them.

Cosimo Jr. is actually more than a year older than Charlie, who was born in the Holy Year, but it is precisely for this reason that he is more sensible, while the Spanish Crown Prince, Charlie, seems to be crazy, regardless of it, howling, scratching and biting, making the scene very unbearable.

Julio and Juana hurriedly stepped forward, hugged one by one, and led them to both sides.

As soon as he arrived in his father's arms, little Cosimo immediately quieted down, only Charlie was still twisting his body and waving his fists so frantically that he accidentally hit Juana in the face, and the queen, known as the "madwoman", lived up to this nickname in the slightest, she put down Charlie and gave her eldest son a heavy slap without a moment's hesitation!

Young Charlie immediately fell to the ground, and just like that, Juana did not stop, and lifted her skirt, as if she wanted to give Charlie a kick - Charlie could even see the intricate gold thread embroidery on the edges of her shoes.

But he only felt that he was empty, and he was lifted, and a strong arm wrapped him firmly around his side, and as soon as Charlie looked up, he saw a pair of sympathetic blue eyes.

The owner of the eyes had just been fighting with him—and Charles knew what he was sympathizing with, the merchant's son had committed a greater sin than he was, but his uncle had no intention of punishing him, and he leaned comfortably on that solid arm, clutching the crimson cardinal's robe, while he was being beaten by his own mother.

Giulio was amazed by the way education was conducted in this era.

Fortunately, it was he who picked up the crown prince Charlie, and Juana finally came back to her senses, and after a few minutes, the madness of the pain passed, and she returned to what she should be like a queen, apologized to Pius III and Giulio, and left with her eldest son and attendant.

"How did you get into a fight with the crown prince of Spain?" Julio asked in a whisper

"He said you were his mother's ......" Cosimo Jr. paused and changed the word: "Lover." ”

"Huh?!"

"He also said that at first he wasn't sure, but when he saw you, he was sure." Cosimo Jr. touched his biological father's stiff face with pity: "It's nothing, it is said that the women of all Rome are rubbing their hands on you—it's not strange that you have a lover, it's not strange that you don't, but I'm angry that he claims that you're just a little man with only looks and no talents." ”

"A lot of people think so." Giulio whispered that since he left the Ministry of Jurisprudence, there have been many people, especially those such as Martin. People like Roeder were disappointed in him, but he never explained it, because in his plan, it would be difficult for a young man as radical and anxious as Martin to find a place for himself.

"They're wrong, aren't they?"

"Well......," said Giulio, "I can only say that they have chosen different paths from me, but only God can decide who is right and who is wrong." ”

"I don't understand," said Cosimo Jr., "but I will be very strong, father," he said in Giulio's ear, "and whoever dares to oppose you and slander you, I will knock him to the ground as I do today." ”

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Pius III returned to his room, and was about to undress for bed, when Brother John quietly came in with a candle.

"Did something happen?" Pius III asked curiously.

"Someone wants to see you."

"At this time?" Pius III subconsciously looked at the windows, and although they were all covered by curtains, he could still tell that it was dark outside.

"Yes." Brother John said, and then he turned around and whispered, "You can go in, but not for too long." ”

Pius III had already guessed who the arrivals were.

Little Cosimo stepped out from behind Brother John, frowning and looking very sad.

"What do you want to tell me?" Pius III asked.

"People say, 'You are omnipotent, Holy Father, may I ask you for one thing?"

"Only God is omnipotent." Pius III whispered, "But I may listen, what do you want?" ”

"I want to protect my father," Cosimo Jr. said, "My father has a lot of enemies, he will encounter many dangers, but I am too small and I want to grow into a strong warrior as soon as possible." ”

Pius III stared at him for a moment, he still didn't like those green eyes, but he, his Julio, would need such a small warrior.

"There are some things that can be done, even if it's just a child." Pius III said: "Cosimo the Younger, wait until soon your father, he will ...... The loss of an important person will be extremely painful and grieving, and at that time you will be with him, all the time—you must swear to me, that unless he can forget his sorrow, you will never leave him, not even a single step. ”