Chapter 35: The End of Rome

It has to be admitted that the mental qualities of most ordinary commoners in medieval Europe were quite resilient by the standards of modern society.

The citizens of Avignon, who were now strewn with corpses and no traces, and whose noses were rotten and clogged, were mobilized by the Church to clean up and burn the citizens of Avignon, did not express much shock or amazement. There were many people who knelt beside the [random door] in fear, looking like they were having a brain cramp and a nervous breakdown, and bowed incoherently - probably because the scene of the former was certainly tragic and horrific, but it was still within the comprehension of medieval Europeans: the villages and towns that were slaughtered in the war, and the mansions that were destroyed by the enemy, were likely to be in a similar situation. And even the "normal" medieval European cities, most of which are similar to the black ghetto of Detroit in the 21st century, have murders and mass riots at both ends of the three days, and most of the simplest citizens have seen the tragic scene of the victims being disemboweled.

The reason why they were afraid of the corpses of the plague dead was that they were afraid that they would also be infected with the disease after touching the corpses, and they would die like those unlucky ghosts. Now that there are angels to protect them from disease, what is there to fear?

In contrast, the [random door] that can cross thousands of miles in an instant is already a "miracle" that is completely beyond the comprehension of the common people of medieval Europe - fortunately, there has been an "angel" that has descended once before, so that their brains have been opened up like never before, and they have some adaptability to all kinds of incredible anomalies. Otherwise, it is estimated that someone will be stimulated to be mentally abnormal.

And the ability of the church to mobilize in this era is truly amazing. With the order of Pope Clement VI, the clergy who had not yet died of the plague immediately began to act separately, conveying them layer by layer, and wrapping them up in pieces...... In just one day, in Avignon, a city that was already empty, 3,000 volunteers willing to go to Italy to collect the corpses were mobilized. Then, seeing that there were not enough people, the Holy See sent priests to walk the streets and alleys of the nearby countryside with the Pope's decree, looking for the survivors, and finally gathered a team of 4,000 men

Looking at such a scene of unity and cooperation, Wang Qiu and the others, modern Orientals with weak religious concepts, vaguely understood what the so-called "theocracy supremacy" meant in medieval Europe -- just like the party organizations in the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century, Christianity had thoroughly penetrated into every corner of social life in medieval Europe and dominated the thinking and behavior of everyone in medieval Europe. God is the point of thought and action, and the authority of the pope, as God's representative in the world, can be imagined. Everyone's family, career, and public life are all subject to the constraints of the church, and people have long been accustomed to taking such constraints for granted. Although in the early Renaissance period, due to the frequent scandals of the church, this suffocating control had been loosened somewhat, it was still very far from its final disintegration.

Moreover, medieval Europe was also characterized by a hierarchical society, in which everyone was divided into different classes because of their origin or occupation, and they were all subordinate to a clear superior member, who should obey the command and leadership, and there was no real sense of freedom. The strict law sets out the rights and duties of the various ranks, and the gap between them is almost impassable, even in the midst of war and pestilence.

-- A clear and strict hierarchy, a fanatical atmosphere of participation by the whole people, and pervasive ideological control...... At first glance, this is a brilliant mobilization system set up for general warfare. It is a pity that at the top of this mobilization system, it is not a general staff composed of professional officers, but a magic stick that relies on lip service to fool people into eating and eating. The things planned every day are not invasions of enemy countries or all-out war of resistance, but drumming for various religious processions, pilgrimages and collective prayers, and at most some public welfare activities, as for the kind of crusade with the participation of the whole people, it is already a matter of the last century, well, this seems to be quite harmonious, right? At least it's a little better than fighting and killing all day long.

In short, under the vigorous struggle of this volunteer labor team, it only took less than a week for the city of Naples to be preliminarily cleaned up all over the place, and all kinds of gold and silver utensils, woolen blankets, natural gems, and antiques and other valuable things were also scavenged from all corners of the city by tireless volunteers, and sent to the machine cat and others like flowing water, and thrown into the [automatic pawn machine].

Unfortunately, the level of productivity of ancient agrarian societies was not comparable to that of modern industrialized societies, and many of the most valuable pieces of gold and silver were taken away in advance by the fugitives. Many equally valuable horses were scattered into the wilderness or starved to death in the stables......

Therefore, after such a toss-up, even though these volunteers who have no salary, no vacation, no labor insurance, and no human rights have worked very hard, Comrade Ji Qì Mao finally only received 300 million yen, which made him complain all day long that this money was not enough to even plug his teeth.

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On the other hand, after several days of searching, the men of Queen Giovanna, the Holy See of Avignon, and the paladin Livy finally found about a few hundred surviving residents of the Kingdom of Naples in several remote villages and small towns. In addition, in a castle full of dead people, there is a noble lord of high status, but at this moment his whole family is dead, and he sits alone on the tower like a walking corpse.

This guy was also one of the top traitors who colluded with the Hungarian army to expel the queen during last year's coup d'état. But now, Queen Giovanna, who has been disheartened by the undead realm at her feet, has not even been angry with the fire and execution of this traitor - the familiar faces she once knew seem to have all been summoned by the Lord at this moment, and it is rare to have an old acquaintance left, so it is better to spare him this time

However, even if Queen Giovanna pardoned him for rebellion, the once prominent and ambitious nobleman had no intention of being in love with the world - his castle had become a tomb, his relatives, subjects, and friends were all dead, and there were few people he knew in the world, even he himself had been seriously ill and narrowly escaped from his life, but he was also covered in scars and disfigured...... I'm afraid I won't live for a few years.

After watching the corpses of his relatives and subordinates be buried, he donated all the gold, silver and jewelry from the family's secret collection to the "angels" to atone for his sins, and then went to Avignon to find a monastery and become a monk.

And in the face of such a bleak end for this old enemy in the political arena, Queen Giovanna is also embarrassed, and she can't even lift her energy for the great cause of restoring the country.

-- As we all know, every country throughout the ages has been made up of human beings, not land. In the long history of mankind, some people once lost their homeland that they had worked so hard to manage, but as long as they found a new place to settle down after being displaced, they could rebuild their kingdom again. But if a kingdom loses its subjects, no matter how rich the land it has, it is meaningless.

This is also the so-called "loss of land, loss of people, loss of people and land; Whoever loses his land, and everyone gains his land" -- so, in the silence that frightened and palpitated the observer, the kingdom of Naples, which once dominated southern Italy, was in fact on the verge of extinction.

Although the murderer who subverted the country was not any foreign enemy or rebel, but the more unpredictable and irresistible Grim Reaper...... But as far as the result is concerned, it was more desperate for the queen than any invasion of foreign enemies or rebellions of her subjects.

-- Subjects and territories lost to the enemy, perhaps regained by means of war and diplomacy. But where can the soul that has been cut off by death with a scythe go be recovered? Even the angels don't seem to have the ability to bring the dead back to life, right?

In the same way, the traversers tossed around in Naples City, but they couldn't even get a reward point from the main god system.

-- Even the most basic carriers of humanity are almost dead, so what history can change in this place?

Next, all of you, who still have a little discipline and a sense of responsibility, originally planned to send the Buddha to the west, and continue to hover in the Kingdom of Naples for a while, so that Her Majesty Queen Giovanna, who is determined to restore the country, can gather some surviving subjects and establish a safe settlement or refuge, and it is best to set up a temporary regime of the Kingdom of Naples, so that she cannot be left alone in her own land like a beggar.

But Pope Clement VI and the members of the Holy See of Avignon were greatly stimulated after witnessing this tragic state of destruction in the Kingdom of Naples, fearing that the city of Rome had already suffered such a fate, and they were anxious to go to the Eternal City to find out, if there was any salvation, it was best to use the divine power of the angels to seize the time to rescue it, in short, nothing could make the Papal States become a country of the dead...... Therefore, they insisted on not wasting time in the Kingdom of Naples, and they were eager to rush to the Papal States centered on Rome in the next second.

In addition, Queen Giovanna herself was not angry, and was discouraged by the tragic situation of the country, so she actually felt that it didn't matter if the kingdom of the dead was restored or not, maybe it would be good to continue to stay in Provence and receive the blessings and blessings of the angels nearby, and wait until the plague completely subsided...... So, after the vast looting of the remaining belongings in the city and the few survivors of the Kingdom of Naples found in the nearby countryside were rescued back to the city of Avignon, Queen Giovanna's trip to the country ended hastily.

Before leaving, everyone also set a fire in this silent city of death, so that the corpses that had not had time to dig a pit and bury them were reduced to ashes along with this abandoned city, which should be sterilized and disinfected - a settlement like this is completely contaminated by plague bacillus, and ordinary people without resistance to live in it are simply suicide, it is better to rebuild the new city after burning it - and then left through the [random door] with a sigh.

Then, after returning to the city of Avignon, France, for a short rest, Doraemon once again opened the [random door] that changed the destination, and embarked on a journey to Rome with the apprehensive papal people... Until the time he stepped into the [Random Gate], the Pope was still muttering to himself while drawing a cross, praying that God would forgive the ** depravity of the Holy See, at least not let Rome, the eternal city, be swallowed up by the plague.

However, Pope Clement VI's overly extravagant plea was doomed to fail.

-- In the midst of this terrible plague, which seemed to burn the plains, the once densely populated Italian peninsula had fallen from south to north in just half a year, and almost all the cities and villages had been turned into a place of death.

Obviously, in the midst of this indiscriminate and unprecedented catastrophe, Rome, the so-called "Eternal City", will naturally not escape the catastrophe......

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In the middle of the Italian peninsula, the "Eternal City" of Rome

Since Rome was technically a city within the sixth, its main urban area was not close to the sea, and it did not have direct contact with the "death fleet" of the Fever, which brought plague germs from the Crimean peninsula. Therefore, in the midst of this ferocious plague, at least in terms of the limits of the Italian peninsula, the city of Rome was already a relatively late part of the Black Death.

However, as far as the miserable scene that everyone saw after stepping into the city of Rome was still shocking everywhere - when Wang Qiu opened the [random door] and raised his feet to the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica (St. Peter's Basilica before the reconstruction), the holiest in Rome in this era, he was immediately stunned. A considerable number of the people were already dead, and the rest of the living were panting half-dead, without any nurses to take care of them, and even the most basic food was not provided, so that these hungry and thirsty patients could only lie down in despair next to the dead, moaning slightly with cracked lips, surrounded by large pools of vomit, and mosquitoes and flies buzzing and flying, the smell was really terrible. In addition, every room of the church was littered with dead and rotting corpses, emitting a strong stench, but no one went to bury and burn them.

Even if I occasionally meet a few citizens who seem to be normal, they are also dull-eyed, unresponsive, and only know how to walk around stupidly, no matter how they call them, they don't respond, like mentally retarded or demented children. And often while walking, he suddenly vomited blood and collapsed, and he never got up again.

Of course, compared to the eerie silence of the city of Naples, the fact that there are so many "very alive" living people in Rome is already a great step forward to celebrate. The problem is that in many cases, having more people alive in a city is not necessarily a good thing, especially when morality, order, and law have collapsed......

――After passing through the [random door] to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, before the "angels" could perform healing techniques to save the sick, they noticed the billowing smoke rising from the streets not far away, and heard all kinds of hysterical roars and screams...... If you look closely, you can see many crazy people using swords and torches to wreak havoc on this sacred city that belongs to God

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