August 11, 1492. Inside Vatican City.

A veteran mercenary led the thirteen knights in front, followed by cardinals on horseback, wearing bishops' crowns and silk robes, followed by a large retinue. The surrounding houses and shops are covered with colorful flags.

"Borgia! Borgia! The surrounding crowd frantically chanted the name of the new pope.

Although the power of the Church has declined somewhat, the Catholic Church is still so strong until now that almost no one questions its correctness. Some kings have challenged the Church, humiliated and even killed and imprisoned the Pope, but the Catholic Church is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and still rules the minds of the people, even in the present Renaissance. The man who will be inaugurated as pope is by no means a person of outstanding character, but as the human representative of God and Christ, countless people still look at the Holy See with admiration. The Pope still ruled the Papal States, and for the next 100 years the secular kingdom under the religious leader not only did not shrink, but even expanded slightly, even though by that time the power of the Pope had truly waned.

The man who is going to be the pope today will divide the earth, and the whole of Europe, no one will openly question it, not even the monarchs who don't like the pope very much.

The Borgia rode from the Vatican Palace to St. Peter's Basilica and sat on a gilded chair with court officials kissing his feet. With a slight tremble, the Borgia stepped up the steps of the chapel of Sant'Andrea and sat on the golden throne. The pope's triple crown was then placed on his head.

"I'm the Pope! I'm the Pope! When he put on the papal vestment, he shouted excitedly. Like a kid who picks up money.

Not everyone present cheered as much as he did. The next Pope, the Medici, would say of God and Christ's earthly representation: "We have been caught by the most savage wolf in the world, and we have either fled or been eaten alive by him." ”

Isabella was both happy and worried about the Borgia's ascension, happy that for the second time in history a Spaniard had become pope, and that she had been allies with the Borgia family before; The concern is that Borgia's personal moral standards are worthy of the position, which may have a negative impact.

Unlike the lukewarm attitude of history, Ferdinand was the happiest: "Here comes our lucky star. I heard that he spent a lot of gold coins in his campaign for the Pope and almost went bankrupt. How about giving him 5,000 ducats now, although he may not look down on his standard of living, but the gift is light and affectionate, and he can give 10,000 ...... next year."

Borgia may be the first person in the history of the world to use campaign finance on a large scale with remarkable results. Although it was a bribe, he bribed quite responsibly, and almost bribed himself to bankrupt.

……

There is no need to tell the story of four mules pulling a cart of gold to Sforza's mansion, nor to seriously recall how the 96-year-old old Venice bishop sold the last crucial vote. Anyway, now Borgia is the Pope, and he wears the fisherman's ring.

Various sources account how corrupt the Borgia life was, but the church had long since fallen into depravity.

Pius II, perhaps the last idealistic pope of the time, was not only a humanist scholar but also a resourceful statesman, and he also succeeded in this regard, prompting King Louis IX of France to repeal the statutes established during the church split. The semi-Hussite King George of Bohemia also sent envoys to Pope Pius II to express his obedience.

Despite the severity of his illness, the kings of each country also passed the buck. However, he did not heed the advice and left Rome with a motley army of skeptical priests. On June 8, 1464, he went from Rome to Ancona to take the oath, and when he arrived, he found that no army had arrived as promised, and as late as August 11, the Venetian ships were late, and the Pope had to help him to the window and look at the ships coming from Venice. He died the next day. Those who traveled with him returned to their places after his death.

When Pius II ascended the throne in 1458, the cardinals of the Holy See convened a secret council to use the death of Pope Pius II as an opportunity to reform the Church's administrative system.

Before being elected pope, Peter Balbo, like other candidates, made the following promises:

Limit the number of cardinals to twenty-four.

It is forbidden to appoint a person under the age of thirty or uneducated as a cardinal.

The number of papals appointing their nephews or nephews as cardinals is limited to one.

The pope ruled in a more democratic manner and sought the approval of the Cardinal Conference before entering into political covenants or disposing of ecclesiastical property.

The Pope promised to go to war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

But when he was elected Pope Paul II, he immediately reneged on all his promises. In order to give an account to the Cardinal Conference, he allowed them to wear more noble clothes, rationed a large number of chariots, horses and retinues, awarded a considerable amount of "grants" to cardinals who were struggling to make ends meet, and, of course, appointed three nephews and nephews as cardinals, who had no respect for God but only a yearning for luxury.

In short, it is depraved.

Rodrigo Borgia didn't care what people said about him, he thought he could be the greatest pope of the Renaissance, and he called himself Alexander VI.

King Ferdinand of Aragon had been supporting the Borgia for several years before he was elected pope, approving his illegitimate son Pedro Luis to join the royal family, making him Duke of Gandia, and betrothed him to his relatives. The Borgia was very fond of this bastard. In May 1483, he gave Pedro 50,000 ducats to buy a fief in Spain. Unfortunately, this promising young man died in 1488, but he had three more illegitimate children from the same mother, and the second son, Giovanni, became the next Duke of Gandia.

"So people don't look down on the little money I sent, and buying a mining house for my son is enough for Columbus to go back and forth nine times." After recalling this incident, Ferdinand could not help but lament that the Spanish royal family did not give much financial support to the New World during this period. Historically, he was a very wealthy man, and now he has only a lot more money than Alexander VI.

50,000 ducats in gold coins, equivalent to 18.75 million Malawidi, the original appropriation of 10 million is still a bit shabby.

"Well, I'll give 20 million Malawidi and add another 33 ships to the fleet!" Ferdinand decided to make sure to triple the size of the voyage and establish Manhattan and Brazil.