Power is like a delicate and blooming corpse-scented konjac, exuding a seductive fragrance that seduces the soul, attracting every victim to go forward and be willing to spill blood for him, stumbling on the shoulders and heads of others to climb dangerous peaks, exhausting and overdrawing life, on the way up, there is no flesh and blood affection, no mercy and sympathy for these most simple human emotions, only smiling and affectionate in front of hypocritical people, or mending the knife behind the insidious and vicious.

The conspiracy was born in the battle between you and me, it absorbed all the bad darkness and nourished itself, grew and bloomed wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally became a huge tumor that is difficult to ignore, occupying a vigorous and beating heart, grinding teeth and sucking blood greedily watching the sacrificial life, the more the more dissatisfied it is, the more it longs for new blood.

Now I'm busy cleaning up the cancer that is parasitic on my body, and I can see it, but I can't get rid of it!

It does not grow naturally, but through the deliberate infection of others, and takes root in my flesh and bones, or I already have the conditions and hotbed on which it depends, in other words, who does not like a proportional input-output, slowly approaching a height that was once unattainable by themselves, and accepting the feeling of being worshiped by thousands of people.

"You're obsessed, my lord, it's not good."

Leonardo spoke to me after Baron Lewandowski had left, his voice in a gentle but deafening voice that reverberated in the empty hall, constantly tapping on the tentacles that had pierced deep into the cerebral cortex.

"Don't be easily manipulated by other people's thoughts, we are all chess pieces, we can't choose our own destiny, don't fantasize about doing equivalent deals with these big shots, they will never care about the gains and losses of a soldier, and they will not make promises to the chess pieces."

"But the chips are tempting enough, and if successful, Nijmegen will become a new power on a par with the five principalities, and it's hard for me to pass up such an opportunity, isn't that what you're looking for?"

I understand Leonardo's worries, since ancient times, it is a helpless fate for the chess pieces to be sacrificed, we can only survive in the cracks, who is called Nijmegen is not a decisive force now, and before there is enough right to speak, I can only silently accept the role set by the superior, and be ready to be abandoned at any time.

"Remember what I said earlier? Don't make a decision lightly. ”

Leonardo walked up to me, revealing his face full of the vicissitudes of time, reminding me of the ups and downs he remembered in the long journey of life, just as when a mother reprimands a child, she always says that she eats more salt than he eats, as long as I do this, I can only silently accept the lessons of the old man.

"Isn't there another Pope's envoy who hasn't seen it, how do you know that His Majesty's conditions will be more favorable than His Majesty the Emperor's? Even former enemies may shake hands and say goodbye, as long as the final result is beneficial to themselves, they may not be able to release their previous suspicions. ”

At the banquet in the evening, I deliberately sat down separately for the entourage of the emperor and the papal envoy, so as to avoid any unpredictable conflicts between the two sides that could not control themselves after three rounds of drinking.

The kitchen was arranged by Wangcai to entertain him properly, and he was now able to handle these trivial matters with ease, one after another of the dizzying fresh dishes, so that the group of travelers who had been bumpy on the road for many days were relieved of their exhaustion, and enjoyed the antics of the clowns while enjoying the pleasures of their mouths and stomachs, and felt the hospitality and enthusiasm of Nijmegen.

"It's a sumptuous dinner, even at the table of an Italian aristocracy, never before have you seen such a delicious dish cooked, and the variety of ingredients is unparalleled."

Baron Lewandowski tied up the plate with a dagger, and the fried kung pao chicken was my masterpiece, a combination of Chinese and Western, and it tasted like it myself, but it was regarded as a delicacy by others who had never seen the world, and the aftertaste was endless.

"It's really hard to believe that chicken can be made so delicately, so much better than traditional roasting and frying."

Bishop Odoxes elegantly tasted the red wine in the glass, admired the container of wine, it was a delicate glass glass, the red wine syrup churned on the wall of the glass, after the dim candle shined, it immediately had an onyx-like smooth texture, people were reluctant to sip, he took the words of Baron Lewandowski and continued:

"This kind of glazed cup, even in Italy, is worth a lot, most of it is imported from Egypt, and when it is transshipped to Nijmegen, the price must have quadrupled, and the Earl is indeed rich, and I have heard for a long time that your territory is prosperous and rich, and today I see that what I say is true."

I nodded proudly, but replied modestly: "Where, where, it's just some outdated fakes, not worth a few dollars." This is all trafficked by merchants from afar, now Nijmegen has become an important transit base, connecting the German interior and the Low Countries, the large storage warehouse under construction will be the icing on the cake, I believe that it will not be long before more businessmen come here, I am using the spare money in their hands to develop themselves, but also in disguise to help this group of vampires who do not work to repent to God, Lord Bishop, please rest assured, the tithes dedicated to the Holy See will definitely not be less. ”

I explained with a smile, for fear that these greedy bigwigs would do something crooked, so I simply explained the way I made money, so as to save them from apportioning indiscriminately.

"Hehe......"

Bishop Odoxes smiled, and seemed to understand what I meant, while Baron Levan bowed his head, busy with the few Kung Pao chickens left on his plate, and did not know whether he understood the deep meaning of the words.

"It is precisely because of your piety that His Holiness has been considering the establishment of a bishopric in Nijmegen, and perhaps even the annexation of the bishopric of Utrecht to strengthen the management, and of course, the person who will be appointed must seek your understanding and support."

"The unruly lowlanders, who not only rebelled against the rule of the Empire, but also rejected the glory of God, and the bishopric launched several public solicitations for the decoration of churches with little success, preferring to let the image of Christ rot in a church in disrepair rather than pray for the blessing of the Lord with the goods that brought original sin."

Bishop Odoses said to me bitterly, like a compassionate Red Cross spokesman in front of the camera, bullying anyone who does not understand the actual situation in Utrecht, the bishop's estate alone exceeds all the estates of the Count of Friesland, and the wealth that the church amasses every year is enough to replace the streets and alleys of Utrecht with gold bricks that dazzle the eyes of the blind, and he also pretends to be pure with this grandson crying poor, with a handful of snot and tears.

Baron Lewandowski was still obsessed with the sweet and sour Kung Pao chicken, and did not seem to care about what Bishop Odoses had just said, and devoted himself to the great cause of how to eat his own bowl and covet someone else's pot.

I picked up the glass with a heavy heart, and used the wine to hide my mental activity, but my eyes were dripping around, Leonardo was on my right hand and separated from the position of four people, and was squeezing his eyebrows at me to send some signals, but unfortunately my understanding was not good, and I really couldn't understand the mystery.

The bull and Hans lowered their heads and pretended to be dumb, it was not that they didn't want to participate, but they couldn't understand the various corners, Kohler silently played with the dagger, looking like he was out of the way, clearly knowing that this kind of problem was not something that his level could participate in.

"What a good dinner, Bishop Odosius, don't you think so?"

Baron Lewandowski finally put the last piece of diced chicken on his plate into his mouth, licking his lips and cleaning the soup from his beard.

"It's a pity that you can't taste such a rare delicacy in the world, it's really unfortunate, but God has given different people different missions, and who can tell if you have any ambiguous things, as his servants, your mission is to purify the souls of the guilty in the holy church, and exhort them to be single-minded for good, and the sweetness is in the hearts of the people."

What you mean could be more straightforward? I shouted hysterically in my heart, this Baron Lewandowski is not as stupid as he seems, at least the lip service is still worthy of the opponent's attention, and the off-string sound is so shocking that it is shocking.

Seeing that the field was about to cool down, I hurriedly said haha: "Your Excellency Bishop has received the power from God to redeem the world, and at the same time has infinitely magnified this power through the worship of secular kings, so as to achieve the sacred purpose of preaching and preaching, which is the result of the joint efforts of all devout Christians, praise the Lord!" ”

Bishop Odoxes smiled and nodded to me, thanking him for helping him out, and then slowly pushed away his chair and got up to invite: "May I talk to you further, Lord Earl?" It's just the two of us, the Pope's handwritten letters, and I want to make sure that you are the only one who reads them. ”

What more can I say? Leonardo began to exhort again with his own distinctive body language, and I looked up and didn't see it.

This old man pays attention to everything, making me feel like a puppet with a string, and every move must be strictly followed by the established plan, becoming a robot with a remote control firmly held in his hands, and I am physically and mentally exhausted in a short period of time.

Now that I finally have the opportunity to be on my own, I want him to understand who is the master, and he is a smart person with careful logical thinking and judgment ability, although he scolded me for always playing some clever tricks in the past, but being smart is also smart! I replied to him so strongly.

"That's the way it is!"

I put my hands on my cheeks and told Leonardo the contents of my conversation with Bishop Odosius, for it had been a long time since the feast, the moon had just risen in mid-air, and people were falling asleep, but we had to hurry up and come up with a solution.

"His Holiness the Pope's suggestion is tempting enough that if I were a third party who stayed out of the matter, I would never hesitate to choose to throw myself into the arms of God." Leonardo smiled inexplicably, this expression I have known for a long time is the most incomprehensible, and the girl always puts on the magic stick of an unknown prophet.

"So what do we do now?" I yawned and patted my mouth, trying not to let my upper and lower eyelids hug each other, my eyes the size of a cowbell.

"Sometimes, in order to ensure that I don't lose money, I will choose to bet on both sides and invest in two popular commodities, because no one knows whether they will continue to be popular when the goods arrive, and they may lose money."

"The battle between His Majesty and the Pope has just begun, and we cannot 100% predict who will win the final victory, so we can only divide our limited resources evenly between the two sides, and strive to achieve the right and left."

"It's the same reason that you can't put all your eggs in one basket."

I patted my head and suddenly realized, but soon became worried: "Will the two-faced approach cause suspicion on both sides, and pick and choose until the end of the day?" ”

Leonardo nodded with satisfaction, as if pleased that I could ask such a profound question, and he pointed to the old map on the table: "As long as we have the strength that no one else can ignore, whoever wins, we must give Nijmegen enough benefits." ”

"It seems that the marriage with Lorraine will be brought forward, and I will leave tomorrow to see the Duke of Shire, and after obtaining his understanding, find an excuse to send troops and actually control Friesland, plus the marriage with Flender, by that time the land from the Rhine to the sea will be connected, and we will have bargaining capital, and the two Majesties will definitely send more important envoys to come, as for whether to agree or not to agree, it is no longer us who look up to people, and the choice will be much greater."

(End of chapter)