In the late autumn of 1493, when the sun was still shining in northern Italy in the Mediterranean climate, Pope Alexander VI came to the residence of a secular duke.

It has been more than a year since the pope was elected, and his reputation has not been good because of his past bad deeds. However, the recent Madrid-Roman hemisphere experiment changed the impression of the pope among the common people a little, at least after the pope prayed, God let the horses pull the copper ball. The opponents suffered a small loss. Forced by the Pope to confess in public made the Medici family's position in Florence even more precarious, and a storm was about to sweep through the Florentine land.

However, Alexander VI was still good in the eyes of literary and artistic workers. During the Renaissance, many popes with questionable private life and character were like this, although their personal ethics were not good, they made achievements in promoting the development of literature and art, and some artistic legacies have been left to this day and admired by future generations.

He instructed the architect Antonio to rebuild the church of Angel Castle. This famous building still stands majestically in Rome to this day, and the frescoes in the court of Porzia, as well as Michelangelo's marble statue of the Virgin of Agony, are masterpieces of the ages. Alexander spared no expense in beautifying the Vatican Palace and the churches of Rome, and in the Holy Year of 1500, most of the pilgrims' donations were spent on the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica. In 1499, Alexander issued an edict granting amnesty to those who donated for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Cathedral, but this produced a number of ills and hastened the outbreak of the Protestant movement, so much so that Leo X took the blame for him. In addition, during his tenure, the papal meridian that cut the earth was divided, showing the political authority of the pope, and through marriage and some other means, the secular territory under the papal rule was expanded. At the same time, it united with Spain against the French invasion of the Apennine Peninsula.

But his character, his private life, and his "other means" were so serious that other contributions were overshadowed.

Pope Alexander VI's drug-making skills occupy a very prominent position in the history of poisons in the whole of Europe.

But now, of course, such a reputation does not exist, because today is the first time he has tested the waters.

Although the duke did not have any significant political background, his fortune was still considerable. The Pope had already told him to come in person, which made him feel quite proud, no matter what the Pope's reputation was, after all, he was the legitimately elected leader of the Catholic Church, and the monarch of the Papal State in which he lived, it was still a very face-saving thing to take the initiative to visit him. It's that his right eyelid has been beating non-stop this morning, which makes him always feel awkward.

If the Duke knew that he was about to become the first victim of the famous poison in the history of Europe, he would have known why he had this bad feeling.

"Hello, Duke Albenice." His Holiness the Pope was particularly enthusiastic and took the initiative to greet him, much to the flattery of the duke. From time to time, the Pope's eyes fell on some gold ornaments, furniture, and famous paintings in the Duke's house, as if he wanted to swallow the whole mansion into his stomach.

The Duke noticed that the Pope was wearing a shiny gold ring on his hand, which seemed to be different from ordinary gold rings, and he always had a bad feeling when he looked at it.

No, it's not a big deal, how can you wear ordinary jewelry under the crown of the Pope? The duke's eyes glanced away at such a trivial matter, but he did not know that he had missed the last chance to save his life.

The Pope saw that the other party was staring at his ring, his face was puzzled, and he was quite nervous, thinking that the other party had seen something. He had already decided that as long as the other party asked about the ring, he would immediately find an excuse to leave.

To his relief, the Duke didn't notice anything unusual, so the other party must be going to see God's dignity today.

The Pope and the Duke talked a lot, and he knew what the Duke wanted. To the Duke's ecstasy, the Pope hinted that if he was paid enough, he could help him become a cardinal! The Duke was so impressed by the Pope's generosity that he immediately hosted a banquet to communicate with His Majesty the Pope.

The Pope couldn't ask for it, and in the middle of the feast, he took advantage of the Duke's inattention to open the lid of the ring on his hand - there was some fine white powder inside, and the Pope stretched out his hand to avoid inhaling this thing through his nose, and then carefully approached the glass of wine, shook it slightly, and then quickly withdrew his hand, as if nothing had happened just now.

The duke drank the wine and had a good conversation with the pope, knowing that it would be a pity to say goodbye.

Nothing really happened.

Three days passed, six days passed.

On the seventh day, the Duke was suddenly in agony, and the world was spinning, and his consciousness was gradually slipping. He struggled for a while, and soon lost his breath.

It rained heavily that night.

Under the darkness of night and rain, a large group of men and horses suddenly broke into the deceased's mansion and removed everything of value without saying anything—there was nothing to say, the Pope had taken a fancy to the duke's wife and son, who was not alive.

The next day, soldiers sent by the Pope quickly took over the dead duke's mansion and a small piece of territory.

The Pope listened to the report of his entourage at the home of his mistress Giulia, his brows furrowed and furrowed, and finally he sighed.

"Alas, it is not worth the risk that I have only obtained 55,000 ducats, which is equivalent to the money I paid Pedro for the fief and the money that His Majesty the King of Aragon gave me. In the future, if you don't have 100,000 ducats at a time, you must not do this kind of thing yourself...... Oh, dear Giulia, your brother I have been appointed cardinal, are you satisfied......"

……

To this day, Pope Alexander VI and his son, Caesar Borgia, the Duke of Poison, used to poison countless people and eventually his own "Borgia Poison", the composition of which is still unknown. It could have been arsenic compounds, or cantharidin powder, but given Alexander VI's shrewdness and insidiousness, it is estimated that it was both.

Pope Alexander VI's murderous weapon is now not just the "Borgia Poison", Ferdinand inadvertently gave him a new weapon - a pool of mercury.

Soon, a dead duke was summoned by His Holiness the Pope. He was hot-headed on the hemisphere experimental field in Rome, and he spoke coldly on the spot, so that everyone present could hear it clearly. Moreover, the duke was not a serious oppositionist, he was simply a willful follower, and his mistress and illegitimate son were not inferior to the Pope's crown. It's just that he is still a little rich, and he has neither a backer nor a background, so he is really an excellent candidate for the first to eat crabs.

The Pope severely reprimanded the Duke for his misdeeds and ordered him to go to the pool of mercury for an hour of penance and to watch the power of God.

The poor duke was driven to the pool of mercury at night, and the pope declared disdain to go with him. The attendants lit a fire beside him, and then fled away. The Duke did not suspect that the Pope was trying to kill him—the Pope himself had been sitting in the midst of a raging fire when the Black Death was raging, and the Duke thought it was just a ritual to punish him.

A few minutes later, the Duke was dead.

The next day, the house where the mercury pool was located was ventilated for several hours, and the attendants carefully dragged out the duke's body with long hooks.

Naturally, the Pope declared that the Duke had been "chastened by the Lord" and died.

If the Pope can really be seen as the living representative of Christ, this is indeed the case.

When I went to someone's mansion, someone else died in a week, didn't anyone doubt it?

Some.

I went to the mercury pool and died for no reason, and no one questioned?

Some.

But no one dares to say it, or it is useless to say it, or it is not a matter of oneself.

The cardinals' pockets were full of gold bars that the Pope had stuffed into them, so they didn't have the energy to supervise the man who presided over the Holy See!

But the bishops could not have guessed that in the next few years they would be the main victims of the Pope's poison.

"135068 Ducat, this operation has been quite rewarding." After listening to the report of his subordinates, His Majesty the Pope spoke to himself triumphantly.