Vatican, Castel Sant'Angelo.

It was originally built as a mausoleum for the royal family by Roman emperors, but over the centuries the castle has changed.

First it became a military fortress due to its sturdy architectural features, then a prison and barracks, and finally a splendid papal palace.

Now that the plague was raging, Pope Clement VI sealed off the entire Castel Sant'Angelo, leaving only the chosen clergy and soldiers, who had been washed by the flames of angels, to stand by his side.

In the hall, Clement VI sat on an elaborate throne and listened to the bishop's report on all the regions, while beside him were many elite guards dressed in armor and with their hands pressed on the ground with precious stones.

As he expected, almost all countries were already mired in the plague.

Countless people died under the shadow of the Black Death.

This disappointed him.

"I thought that only a very small number of people would die in the trial, but I was saddened by my overestimation of their devotion to the Lord."

After listening to the bishop's report, Clement VI said.

With that, he got up a little tired and planned to go to Mass, hoping to ask God for forgiveness.

But then, the bishop continued.

"Your Excellency, please wait, I have not yet reported to you the situation in Florence."

Clement VI stopped, but did not hold out any hope for it.

As one of the first cities to be tested, Florence has always been the worst, and he knows that.

Moreover, Giovanni's opposition to his idea of transferring the Vatican's sick to the past was, in his opinion, a great disrespect to God, who was afraid that they had lost God's blessing and that the whole city had now fallen.

"The Duke of Medici has refused my order, which is blasphemy against God."

Clement VI looked at the bishop condescendingly: "Come, tell me, Bishop Raphael, is there only a shell left in this sinful city?" ”

"No, Your Holiness Pope." The bishop's expression was unnatural, and his head hung lower: "In fact, my apostle told me that three nights ago, Florence had been completely freed from the ordeal and no one had died of the plague anymore"

"What?" Even under the monotheism of this continent, Clement VI, who was above ten thousand people, made a rare look of astonishment: "How is this possible, it is a test sent down by God Himself, can it be said that all Florentines are so religious?" ”

"That doesn't seem to be the case."

The bishop respectfully presented a stack of paper full of letters: "Look at this, here are some of what my apostles recorded in Florence. ”

Suspiciously, Clement VI took the paper and looked at them one by one.

The more he looked, the more hideous his expression became.

"Proverbs, Salvation Century, God of Salvation, Red Cross, Trinity St. Janlocke. What are they?! Even their teachings are copied from us!! ”

Enraged, Clement VI roared: "Heresy! They are all heretics! Florence has become a paradise for demons! ”

"I've noticed that, too." The bishop didn't know how to react, so he simply didn't know how to react: "It's a complete replica, but the bad thing is that he has the support of the Florentines because of this."

In addition, the unfinished Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was also demolished and rebuilt by order of the Medici Duke, and it was heard that the new Florence Cathedral would be renamed St. Janlocle's Cathedral."

"Sinners! Heterodox! Clement VI was so furious that he even said something unscrupulous: "All the 100,000 people in Florence should be hanged, no, no, they should all be burned to death!" Burn it all down with Florence! ”

Shocked by his anger, the bishop became more humble: "Your Majesty, what shall we do? ”

"When the test of the Lord is over, I will naturally gather all the lords and knights and start a holy war against Florence!"

Clement VI slammed the scepter in his hand, the symbol of divine power, to the ground.

"That is." The bishop raised his head and asked in trepidation: "Is the Crusades, which have ended for half a century, about to begin again?" ”

"Nope." Clement VI shook his head: "It should be the first purge of the Holy Army!" ”

"But." "I fear that those who do not understand the painstaking work of the Lord and you, whether kings, lords, knights, or ordinary believers, will be bewitched by Ginger Lock, and regard trials as beasts of prey.

If Ginger Rock uses his magic to make those who are not faithful to the Lord choose to rebel, then we are likely to be left alone. ”

Clement VI was silent, but the anger in his eyes seemed to burn everything he could see.

"Your Excellency the Pope, the latest news says that Jiang Luo made an appointment with the Duke of Medici and assembled an army to leave the city, but that was two days ago, and now I can't say whether he set off or not."

Clement VI was stunned: "Why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

The bishop smiled and said, "Don't worry, before I met you just now, I had the guards of Castel Sant'Angelo strengthen their garrison, and brought in a series of weapons to defend the city, such as trebuchets and crossbows, including a stone cannon given to you by the British as a gift.

They are just recovering from a serious illness, and even if they are coming soon, they must not be strong in combat or pose any threat, and the only trouble is that their arrival may affect the attitude of the people in the Vatican towards the Lord, which is the most worrying. ”

Hearing that the bishop had already made the relevant arrangements, Clement VI breathed a sigh of relief and nodded with satisfaction: "Good job." ”

After speaking, he seemed to comfort him: "Your worries are not superfluous, but they are really nothing to me, in order to reward your loyalty, I will take you to meet the real angel." ”

"A real angel?" A slight frenzy flashed across the bishop's face.

"Follow me."

The bishop commanded and walked towards the secret chapel in Castel Sant'Angelo, where the bishop followed and respectfully carried the red robe for him.

After being heavily guarded, the guards opened one iron door after another with heavy shackles, and the two went deep into the ground, arriving at the most taboo area of Castel Sant'Angelo - the mausoleum area.

It's like a huge gladiatorial arena.

Around the circular field, there are layers of man-high stairs, and there are many dark holes on the steps.

In these caves, the remains of Roman emperors and popes are slumbered.

Believers in every church believe that their heroic spirits still hover here, sheltering the Vatican.

Compared with the splendid hall, the mausoleum is primitive and simple, without much elaborate carving, but on the contrary, it appears more mysterious and awe-inspiring.

The bishop held an oil lamp that illuminated only a small area in front of him, and followed behind Clement VI with some timidity.

In such an environment, he didn't dare to make a sound at all.

Clement VI walked straight to the cross in the center of the ground floor.

The cross is quaint and old, with countless depressions and craters on it, and even mottled blood stains that do not know the historical geometry.

The bishop froze in place, tears of excitement streaming from the corners of his eyes.

He recognized it at a glance as the holy object of their Catholic Church, the True Cross.

That is, the cross of Jesus' crucifixion.

Noticing the bishop's strangeness, Clement VI muttered:

"It's here, the Orthodox Church will never be able to shake our position, we are God's chosen one!"

When the bishop heard this, he bowed uncontrollably to the true cross and prostrated himself as if he were pilgrimage.

Clement VI, on the other hand, stood before the true cross, opened a yellowed booklet in his hand, and began to recite the verses in Hebrew.

This is the first Old Testament that has been passed down from generation to generation by successive popes.

As he recited, the true cross gradually took on a reaction.

As the only remaining Catholic relic with the gold equivalent of the Gillus's Guardian's Necklace and the Savior's Bracelet, Clement VI was able to communicate with God through it.

After a while, golden dots of light began to appear on the top of the pitch-black cross.

The points of light gradually converged into a cluster of flames, which grew larger and larger, and finally, bloomed into a huge red golden flame.

"Follower, why are you calling me?"

The cold and grandiose voice echoed in the empty mausoleum, forming a huge echo.

The next moment, an angel with six wings poked out his feet from the flames and stood on top of the true cross.

Her presence instantly awakened the Heroic Spirit that had been lying dormant here.

Countless transparent shadows appeared on the huge stone steps bowing towards the cross.

When the bishop had seen such a scene, he was immediately terrified, and his awe reached an unprecedented peak, and just one glance at it made his head freeze on the ground, for fear of disturbing the spirits and angels.

Clement VI also felt endless pressure.

He forcibly pressed down on his instinct to kneel, raised his head, and looked respectfully at the angel.

Looking at Hasmol, who had three pairs of wings arrogantly flying in the air last time, and now he was wrapped tightly with his wings for some reason, he felt a little strange, but he didn't dare to ask anything, so he could only answer Hasmol's questions honestly.

"Dear oracle, I am fulfilling the will you have entrusted to me with great devotion, but I have encountered some problems in the process."

Compared to the peace and ubiquitous nobility and opulence of Castel Sant'Angelo, the situation is much worse at this end of the Pont Sant'Angelo, in the town across the bridge.

After the Red Crossers stationed their troops some distance from the Vatican to ensure that they would not be discovered, Jiang Lu and Giovanni took the lead and went into the city to find out what was going on.

Now, they are pretending to be two street walkers, wandering the streets seemingly aimlessly.

Along the way, starvation was everywhere, and blackened corpses were everywhere.

Because of the edict of Clement VI, the town hall did not take any measures against the plague, which led to the fact that the Vatican did not say that there was any quarantine at all, and the living and the dead were all mixed together.

The shops have long since closed, and the people of this holy place, known for its religion, have little ability to survive except their devotion to God, and even if they fall to the ground and watch the people around them die one by one, they will do nothing but pray to God.

As a result, there was no food supply from the food store, and these people had to go to the church's almshouse to get the most basic food.

As a result, it is impossible for them to stay at home, avoid contact with sick people as much as possible, and have to go to the streets to get food in order to survive.

Jiang Lu saw with his own eyes that a woman who took a child to the almshouse to get food fell to the ground as she walked, and her daughter pushed her mother, then numbly picked up the dry food that had been spilled on the ground and was still stained with dirt and garbage and ate it on the spot.

There is not a single energetic Birdbeak Doctor running around like Florence on the streets, but there are quite a few lifeless Birdbeak Doctors lying in the alleys or lying in the streets without anyone to care.

I originally thought that Florence was already a purgatory on earth, but I didn't expect the Vatican to be even worse.

Looking at such a tragic scene, even Jiang Lu couldn't laugh a little.

So he closed his eyes and said with a smile: "It seems that your governing ability has surpassed that of the Pope, win!" ”

Giovanni also closed his eyes and smiled: "Pope? What's blowing and sending? ”

Jiang Lu opened his eyes and said nothing.

Giovanni waited for a long time to hear the following, also opened his eyes, and then explained embarrassedly: "It's not you, I'm talking about Clement VI." ”

"Forget it, whatever, there will be only one pope soon."

Jiang Lu shrugged, wondering where to start with his plan.

At this moment, a group of soldiers, dragging a lot of linen-covered goods on horseback, drove up the Pont Sant'Angelo and headed for the Castel Sant'Angelo.

"What's that?" Jiang Lu was immediately attracted to attention.

Giovanni narrowed his eyes, "These linen-covered things look a bit like that."

"Like what?"

"It's kind of like something covered in linen."

“？”

(End of chapter)