It was a Caucasian man in his fifties with a long donkey face, a long hooked nose, short gray trimmed ear-length hair, and a pair of small eyes that were close together and always released melancholy eyes.

He was a little thin, pale, and had a very cleanly shaved beard on his face. He wore a crown made of gold on his head and a purple velvet robe of Roman style. He was none other than Louis IX, the ninth king of the Capetian dynasty of France, the perfect monster of Christianity.

Louis IX had just finished Mass and was now sitting outside his court in the Vincent Forest to receive the appeals of his subjects, which most did not fulfill, although the monarchs of Christian countries were theoretically obliged to receive the appeals of their subjects. But Louis IX was a monster, so he spent a lot of time every day making decisions for the people.

Now many subjects have come from all over the country, standing far away, not knowing whether they have come to complain about their grievances or to see their holy king. Although many of Louis IX's actions seemed to Edward, a Westernist in England on the other side of the English Channel, to be a bit of a nervous abnormality - such as washing the feet of the poor himself, eating three poor people together every day, and serving lepers to eat.

But in the eyes of the poor middle peasants, the gods and the knights of France, they had the best kings in the world. He ushered in a golden age for France, commanding Europa's largest army, ruling the richest country in Europa, and he was recognized as an elder and role model throughout Christendom.

"Is it all here?" Louis IX asked. His voice is soft, full of humility, and gives a sense of intimacy.

"It's all here. His Majesty the King. "A knight in chain mail stood before the king, and behind him was a large pile of books. Most of them are parchment rolls, but some are thread-bound paper books. The parchment is the Qur'an and the Tanakh - the Jewish scriptures. It's actually the Christian Old Testament, but it has the Judaic Star of David on it. The paper-bound thread-bound books are the Three Classics of Heavenly Taoism and Niccolò. Polo's Travels in Seris was published in Latin and French by the Printing Office of the Viceroyalty of the Atlantic in Macau.

"Burn it! Burn them all! ”

Louis IX ordered in a deep voice: "I, Louis IX, King of France, once again reiterate that all pagan religions are forbidden in the land of France, including Celestialism, Judaism, Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Celestial Taoism!" All pagan books were to be turned over and burned at once, and anyone who possessed pagan books was to be tried by the Inquisition. If the circumstances are serious, they can be burned at the stake! ”

With the "discovery" of Europa by the Ming Dynasty, books related to Tiandao Buddhism also began to circulate throughout Europa. All kinds of legends and travelogues about Seris became a hot commodity for a while.

The Great Sect of Heaven and Taoism in Europe, based in Macao, also took the opportunity to publish a number of Latin and French (French was the most popular language in Europe at that time) editions of the "Three Classics of the Heavenly Taoism". Naturally, these books spread to France and were reported to the court in Paris. Louis IX was furious when he read it, believing that all the books on Seris were related to the spread of pagan ideas and must be burned. Therefore, an edict was issued asking all localities to confiscate all books related to Seris and send them to Paris. The burning was then personally supervised by Louis IX. Even when this affected the progress of France's procurement of arquebuses, cannons, and H-poison, Louis IX did not waver - between God and guns, Louis IX did not hesitate to choose the former.

"Yes, my majesty." The knight bowed. Then he took a torch from one of the attendants and lit the books piled up high.

Louis IX looked at the blazing fire and whispered to a young man standing beside him, dressed in a purple robe, "Philip." After I leave France, the decree against paganism must be enforced to the letter! No one could spread paganism in the land of France. France is Christian. We must firmly believe this! ”

The young man was the king's eldest son and heir to the throne, Philip, Count of Orleans.

"Father. I don't want to miss this crusade. Prince Philip, nicknamed the "Brave", was naturally brave. I really want to join the Eighth Crusade and try my hand at martial arts against the Mongols.

"No, you don't go." Louis IX shook his head, a worried expression on his pale face. "This time the enemy is not trivial, it is not the Celestial Cultists, but the terrible Mongol Empire! I am not sure of victory, so someone needs to be left with the spark that retains the French resistance! ”

He also remembers the panic caused by the Mongol invasion in Europa more than two decades ago. The Polish-German army was defeated at the Battle of Lignitz, Duke Henry II of Silesia was killed, and the Teutonic Knights suffered heavy losses. Almost at the same time as the Battle of Lignitz, another Mongol army invaded Hungary and fought a decisive battle with 100,000 Hungarian troops on the banks of the Chayo River, northeast of the city of Pest, killing 70,000 Hungarian soldiers.

After the two wars, the chief of the Teutonic Knights, Gerhard. Feng. In his letter, Maleburg cried out to Louis IX that there was no longer a force left to stop the Mongol army in the vast land from Poland to the French border.

At that time, the whole of Europa was in a panic, and everyone thought that the Mongols were invincible, that they were the death knights sent by God to punish the morally corrupt Europa.

Just when Louis IX thought that the Mongols were going to attack Europa and invade France, the Mongols inexplicably retreated, allowing Europa and France to escape.

Now the Mongols have come again. According to reliable sources, it was personally commanded by their Great Khan Kublai Khan, and the number was as high as millions! It also had countless Rus' vassals, and also subdued the Eastern Roman Empire, which had long been a barrier to Europe.

"Poland is now a scattered sand, and there is no longer a decent army to organize. Although Hungary recovered under the reign of Béla IV, Béla IV was already an old man in his sixties and probably did not have the courage to fight another battle of the Sajo. For more than twenty years, he had been building castles in Transylvania, and it was clear that the Hungarians were planning to drill into the ravines. As for the Teutonic knights, they could not even defeat the Mongol vassal Duchy of Novgorod (the Battle of the Frozen Lake on April 5, 1242), let alone the mighty Mongol Empire......"

Louis IX's voice was low, as if he were presiding over a funeral—for himself and for the Kingdom of France—and he paused and lowered his voice a little: "Now, the strength on which the whole of Europa can count is the knights of France and Germany or the mercy of God." As the monarch of France, I must rise to the occasion and lead my knights into battle against the most powerful of enemies. And you, Philip, my son and heir, you are the future monarch of France, if I cannot fulfill the mission entrusted to me by God and the people. You have to be brave enough to take up the task of reviving France! ”

It is clear that Louis IX was not optimistic about the great war that was about to begin. The whole of Europa may not all fall, and England and Scotland, which are alone on the sea, will certainly survive. Sweden and Norway, protected by Nordic forests, snowfields, mountains and the Baltic Sea, are likely to survive. Italy, protected by the Alps and the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean, also has a good chance of holding out. Even the scattered southern mountains of Germany could become a bulwark against the Mongol invasion. And most of the Iberian states protected by the Pyrenees were spared.

But France was too flat to defend. Once North Germany is not protected, the Mongol cavalry will be able to storm into France!

In order to resist the influx of Mongols, Louis IX had begun to gather vassals and mercenaries to form a crusade to support the Christians in the East. He estimated that more than twelve thousand knights or attendant knights, twenty thousand light cavalry (mainly the knights' retinue), and twenty-five thousand Commune conscripted infantry would follow him to the East. In addition, he would hire 10,000 crossbowmen through Genoa and Venice. If you count logistics and baggage personnel, the personnel of the whole army will exceed 100,000!

"Can't complete the mission? God...... Prince Philip whispered, "will Paris fall then?" ”

"I'm afraid it will." Louis IX said.

"So...... Will Lance fall? ”

"Yes."

"And what about Orleans?"

"I'm afraid it will fall too!" Louis IX looked at his son and was silent for a moment, "If I am defeated in the East, France and Europa will usher in a difficult and dark era. But I believe that God will never abandon the French people, and that the great France will eventually be restored. Philip, I sincerely hope that you will become the king of the revival of France, and if not, please keep the flame of the revival of France for the future...... Remember, you must always have faith in God and love your subjects. God will bless you! ”

Yes, the great France will be restored - the prophecy of Louis IX, who later became a saint, did come true!

But it was not Prince Philip who fulfilled this prophecy, nor was it the descendants of the Capetian dynasty, nor in a foreseeable time. The French people will grope in the slow darkness for more than 500 years, until they will almost forget their proud French, and forget that the Europa Banners who rule them are foreign invaders. It was only because of a series of internal and external troubles that he barely aroused a little French national consciousness, and finally a revolutionary whose ancestral home was Naples. Under the leadership of Bonaparte, the difficult and long road to the rebirth of the French nation began...... (To be continued......)