On the square in front of Hagia Sophia, Gironamo is recovering from a serious illness. Ambassador Minotto touched his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he carefully examined two delicate, gorgeous, crystal-clear small glass bottles.

-- These are the two bottles of "holy oil" that he has just bought from the Orthodox priests with a ducat, a gold coin struck by the Republic of Venice.

One of the glass vials is a noble light purple color, with a large belly and a small mouth, and the shape is like a budding rosebud. The wall of the bottle is clear and transparent, the jade is smooth and clean, and there is not a single porosity in sight. The upper part of the stopper is made in the shape of a stamen, also made of lilac glass, and the lower half is polished into a sandy skin, which fits perfectly with the mouth of the bottle and does not fall off when turned upside down.

The other glass vial, which is a dazzling golden yellow, is shaped like a golden melon, and the stopper is a green glass melon. The whole bottle sparkles in the sun, which is also quite a perfect piece of craftsmanship.

Even without taking into account the amazing efficacy of the "holy oil" in the bottle for gangrene and abscesses, the value of this glass bottle is far more than a ducat.

Girolamo. Ambassador Minotto gently weighed the holy oil bottle in his hand, and thought like this-even a man like him, who did not have many artistic cells, could not put down these two exquisite holy oil bottles, and if it were those delicate courtesans in the Venice wind and moon field, after receiving such a delicate and gorgeous little bottle, I am afraid that they would have already let out a scream of surprise.

After examining the "holy oil" in his hand, Girolamo raised his head again and looked at the "holy water" and "holy bread" that the Orthodox Church was distributing to the citizens for free—it was this slightly sweet holy water and small round pills that saved him from the suffering of high fever. More than 90 percent of the nearly 100 Venetian merchants and employees who were stranded in the concession due to illness were quickly cured and fortunately survived.

Even if it's just for that reason. Girolamo felt the need to donate a little money to Hagia Sophia as a token of thanks.

If it were under normal circumstances, Giramo would have patiently tried to find out the formulas and preparation methods of these special drugs through various channels, and even poached the doctors of the pharmaceutical industry with high salaries and asked him to serve Venice...... But the problem is, he doesn't have that much time at the moment!

-- According to his latest information, the great plague, which first broke out in Thrace, had gradually spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and had spread to the colonies of Cyprus and Crete under the control of the Republic of Venice. In just one month, the terrible disease led to thousands of deaths. And there is no sign of being stopped! In order to prevent the plague from causing greater losses to the Republic, he had to collect a batch of special medicines as soon as possible and transport them over, and a small loss of money was insignificant in the face of hundreds of lives.

What made the Venetian ambassador even more embarrassed was that. On the other side of the Aegean Sea, in the Peloponnese, the Venetian fleet had just done something very inauthentic against the Eastern Roman Empire...... Fortunately. This matter should not have reached the ears of the emperor for the time being. But I can't hide it for long.

Just as Giramo was bowing his head in contemplation, a royal ceremonial officer suddenly rushed out of the church, and announced to him in a long voice:

“…… The Supreme Emperor of Constantine, Bixia, the Holy Patriarch of Gregory, declared the Venice ambassador to Girolamo to come to the Venetian Chamberlas—"

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When the Venetian ambassador left, Emperor Bixia and the travelers couldn't help but celebrate. Celebration has become a business.

- Twenty barrels of "holy water" (a solution of high-concentration aspirin), twelve boxes of "holy bread" (antipyretic tablets, laxative and oral antibiotics), and one thousand bottles of "holy oil" (anti-inflammatory ointment) were sold for a whopping price of 50,000 ducats in this transaction. Although to deduct the cost. There was also a portion to be left for the Emperor and the Church, but each traveler would probably get half a kilogram of gold - not a lot technically, but it was an extra sum of money after all.

In addition to this, the city authorities of Constantinople had just submitted a report to the emperor on the damage caused by the plague, which was generally not satisfactory.

-- Before the expedition to Adrianople, there were 100,000 citizens in the city of Constantinople, 5,000 strong men. After the triumphant return of the army from Thrace, although there were some casualties in the battles along the way, because many Greek Christians who were originally under the rule of the Turks were coerced and instigated to move to the city after the war, the population of the city increased rather than decreased, and it was estimated that it reached about 130,000.

Thanks to the distribution of large quantities of modern medicines, as well as a series of sanitation and rodent extermination campaigns presided over by the emperor after his return to Beijing, the plague caused only about 3,500 deaths in Constantinople - a terrible figure that is quite large according to modern society. However, in medieval Europe, where plagues were frequent, the death toll was nothing. When the Black Death broke out in the last century, at least 30% of the population of any European city that was plagued by the plague died, and in severe cases, 90% of the population died......

Moreover, what is even more gratifying is that the work of preventing and controlling the plague has received the active cooperation of all citizens, and there is basically no contradiction.

According to the emperor's explanation, the vast majority of Greek Orthodox Christians at this time were already under the rule of Muslims. Even the Eastern Roman Empire, huddled behind the walls of Constantinople, had been subservient to the Turkish Sultan for a long time.

“…… Hiccup...... The most religiously fanatical Christians, who could not tolerate the slightest blasphemy, would have been killed by the infidels, and the rest were more sensible and knowledgeable - otherwise they would not have been able to continue living in a country ruled by Muslims...... Since even the rule of the infidels is acceptable, these more advanced health and epidemic prevention measures will not cause resistance......"

Emperor Bixia of Constantine XI said with a hiccup while drinking a can of Coke, which made Wang Qiu feel very amused to watch.

“…… Hehe, the Eastern Roman Emperor drank Coke in a purple robe...... If this scene were filmed and posted online, it would be very interesting......"

“…… Tsk, what's this? Netizens will only think that this is just a photo of the shooting scene of a costume drama. Wang Yao rolled her eyes disappreciatively, "...... I've seen an actor who plays Guan Yu before, and he squeezed the subway with a red face without removing his makeup! ”

……

Just as the sister and brother were biting their ears and whispering, there were suddenly several knocks on the door outside the room. Then, an armored imperial guard pushed the door and walked in, leaning into the emperor's ear and whispering something to him, which made Constantine XI's expression change in the blink of an eye.

“…… What the? The Venetian fleet attacked Moria without declaring war?! My brother Thomas is over there...... He's dead?! (To be continued.) )