Vol 4 Chapter 31: Pope's roar

As the news of the Pope's convening of a cardinal meeting spread out, Ashurk was visiting the dignitaries in the city of Rome.
The Romans were very ambivalent about the suddenly appearing Eastern nobleman.
People are fascinated by his exquisite life and extravagance, and they are afraid of what is behind the extravagance and luxury.
So whenever someone sees a servant wearing a peculiar embroidered waistcoat appears at the door of someone's house and respectfully presents a precious post with the name of the owner, people are both jealous and gloating over them.
What is jealous is that this man actually gets the attention of this great man in the East and visits in person. The one who is gloating is that no one knows whether it is a good thing or a bad thing to be targeted by the messenger of this tyrant.
So far, there are not many people visited by Ashurk, but almost everyone is a person with a distinguished identity. What attracted people ’s attention is that, except for Alexander VI, he did not visit the cardinals of the Vatican, but instead visited. Old Rovere, who now has no identity.
Since the identity of the Archbishop of Genoa was given to his brother, the old Luo Weilei suddenly became relaxed, at least to the outsider, the former archbishop seems to have lost interest in fighting for the throne of the cardinal, in addition to participating in the various prayers prescribed by the Holy See , Old Rovere even disappeared in people's eyes.
However, Ashurk's visit to Old Rovere reminded people of this Genoa's "superior emperor". At the same time, people were also interested in Old Rovere's unusually low-key life at this time.
So when the news about the Pope's upcoming cardinal meeting spread, people couldn't help but focus on the former Archbishop of Genoa.
When Giuliano de la Rovere heard the news about the Cardinal Conference himself, he was watching his daughter wrinkling slightly thin brown eyebrows in his villa in Rome and staring at the pile of ledges in front of him.
"Father, I don't think it's right, or we should be said to have been fooled," Balenti flipped through several books and said with certainty that her faint eyebrows were picked one by one because they were angry, which made Old Rovere look at it. I want to laugh. "We all know that there must be something wrong with this account. Alexander said that he would allow our chamber of commerce to receive special treatment in Naples and more ports, but now I think he is more like eating non-stop at our house. The site of the port. "
"Oh, you actually said your fiance, tell me what you found?" The old Rovere said with interest. "As far as I know, your fiance seems to be unexpectedly active in Romagna. In fact, I didn't even think he was actually It ’s not easy on the battlefield, but listening to what you mean, does he have any special achievements in business? "
Listening to her father not knowing whether to pay tribute to Alexander or other intentions, the look on Barrondi's face paused. She seemed a little unsure of what to say. After a while, she seemed to wake up and continued: "I think he agreed with our Chamber of Commerce to exempt various taxes in those cities while also taking advantage of the opportunity to come into our business. You know that we can get wool from the North that is cheaper than other places, because of this wool business It is one of the biggest sources of wealth for our chamber of commerce, but from these accounts, it seems that some very strange small chambers of commerce are also doing wool business. I can feel this from the movement of wool prices in the Genoa market, although That volatility seems to be very small, but it has happened in recent months, and this time is exactly after we signed his trade zone agreement with Alexander. "
Barendi said that there was an imperceptible hum in her nose, and her original white face was slightly red, because the anger gently flicked the nose a few times and shivered, so that old Luo Weilei suddenly felt The daughter looks a lot cuter than before.
"You mean your fiance is digging the corner of our Rovere's house?"
Old Luo Weilei grunted. He stood up and walked to the table, looked down at the huge pile of books on the table, then stroked his forehead to the side.
Old Luo Weilei sometimes feels a bit strange, I do n’t know how Barendi is so fascinated by these books that can make people's heads look up. Although the Luo Weilei family has a lot of talents, but for the numbers, this family and others Aristocratic families are no different, they are all able to hide, even fearful.
"I don't know what he is," Barendi paused to think about it. She probably could guess how Alexander did it. His chambers of commerce were able to take more advantage of the so-called 'free trade' agreement with Genoa. Low prices get more goods from other places, and then these merchants sell these goods at a much lower price than the merchants of other places, and in the same business, they get more profits than before. At the same time, in accordance with the agreement between the two parties, the people of Alexandria began to acquire wool from the north using the warehouses that they could use for free in the port of Genoa.
According to the agreement, as long as the goods on the merchant ships of those merchants did not enter Genoa ’s market, they could not charge a high fee, so those merchants used this loophole to rent a large number of empty houses in the port, and they hoarded the wool purchased from the market. In these empty houses, then simply let some workers hired by the boat pickle and steam, dry and highlight them in those houses.
Next, these wools were re-entered into the market.
It is precisely because these wools are processed in an agreed free trade zone without leaving the port, so the Genoese cannot charge high tariffs according to the agreement.
"I should have thought that he would do this, he made me feel stupid."
Balenti said angrily that she felt like she was being teased, but in her heart she couldn't help but admit that Alexander's method was not only very good but even made her feel as if she saw a new trading method that she had never seen before .
Just think about the businessmen who are said to have come from Cosenza are increasingly dissatisfied, and even renting a house can't satisfy their appetite. According to the news from the people in the chamber of commerce, those businessmen actually proposed to build their own houses. Lundi got angry again.
"The brothers and sisters I am the most greedy person I have ever seen," Barendi said to her father. "I even think that the Shao Shabia Alexander is more greedy. Father, do you know, I heard that she brought a large number of businessmen , Those people went to camp everywhere in Rome, and I have every reason to believe that Alexander was bewitched by her. "
"She is your little aunt," Old Rovere shook his head a little helplessly. "My daughter, you should know that the Pope's throne is real wealth for our Rovere family compared to Florin, so if you can see The benefits your fiance brings to our family will not be dissatisfied with the little money he earned on us. "
"but……"
Barendi also wanted to argue that she wanted to tell her father that it was not "a little money", but a strange and novel way of doing business that no one had tried yet, and it went on until one day when people really noticed Maybe they will find that they are facing a behemoth they have never seen before.
It ’s just that Old Lovere obviously did n’t want to talk about these things any more. He gently waved his daughter to stop talking about the pair of siblings. Then he lowered his voice and asked,
Tell Barendi, if I have a lot of expenses now, can you Help me get the money immediately. "
"A lot of money?" Balenti thought about it, and she could probably think of what the father said the money was for, but thinking about it was indeed a lot of money, Balendi had a slight headache, but she still Nodded. "I can help you prepare such a sum of money, and we can also take out the farm, vineyard or even the castle if necessary."
When talking about the castle, Barendi's eyes trembled, because she couldn't help but think of Montina.
"Barrendi, your brothers and sisters are always jealous of you and think I am partial to you. In fact, they don't understand at all that I am not partial, but proud of you." Old Rovere reached out and hugged his daughter "only It ’s a pity that you ’re a girl, otherwise you can completely ashame Giovanni Borgia and Caesar Borgia. "
Balenti smiled silently. She knew that her father had already vaguely expressed dissatisfaction with Constantine, but thinking about Constantine's almost crazy infatuation with her little aunt, Barenti felt It's better that Ruosha has no good feelings for Constantine.
Otherwise, if she really became her sister-in-law, maybe Constantine would become a pitiful bug turned around by his wife.
The reason why Old Rovere ca n’t wait to spend a lot of money is because of the upcoming cardinal meeting.
Alexander VI suddenly announced the convening of a cardinal meeting at this time, most likely to take the opportunity to announce the results of the election of a new cardinal.
Old Rovere has never looked at this opponent. When others thought that the Pope might choose to compromise and retreat under the strong pressure of the Ottoman sultan, Old Rovere vaguely smelled something different.
And the visit of Ashurk made Loveley's hunch even stronger.
Ashurk's gentle expression of Sudan's kindness also made the old Loweray realize that even the Ottomans in the east knew that Alexander VI was not easy to deal with.
It now appears that perhaps for Alexander VI, the sudden threat from the East may not be an excellent opportunity to be exploited by him.
Old Rovere ’s guess is very accurate, or it is his enemies who truly understand a person.
Just as everyone was caught in some kind of over-excitement and bewilderment because of the arrival of Ashurk, Alexander VI held a cardinal meeting in the famous quiet hall of the Sistine Cathedral.
Although the cardinals usually meet and discuss academic affairs, the cardinal meeting officially announced by the pope is more formal and solemn than the usual meeting.
And a pope does not often announce such meetings, and even some short-lived popes have not been able to convene several such cardinal meetings in their lifetime.
Surprisingly, at the cardinal meeting, Alexander VI not only appeared as a firm guardian of the world of Christ, but also showed rare toughness to the world for the conditions proposed by the Sultan of Ottoman.
"Lamb-keeping is not an honor that God has given us, but a mission and a responsibility," Alexander VI said to the cardinals at the meeting. "St. Peter finally realized that sacrifice is the last thing he needs to accept after experiencing three times of the Lord. The test, so instead of escaping in the face of the tyrant, he chose to face it. Now we can accept God ’s call here from this sacrifice. "
The words of Alexander VI made the cardinals stunned. They guessed that Alexander VI would not compromise, because then he would become the target of all the people, but such a tough attitude was also unexpected.
"If guarding all this requires sacrifice, I am willing to be a martyr like St. Peter and John I, so we must not accept any conditions of the pagans," Alexander VI stood up from the throne, his back hunched slightly Walking down the steps to the center of the room, my eyes slowly swept across the face of each cardinal in front of me. "I have decided to stop the war with the Venetians. At this time, any dispute between Christians is shameful or even sinful. For this reason, I can endure any harsh demands made by the Venetians. As long as they can fulfill their duties as believers, I can even promise them to give up their rights to Romagna. "
The words of Alexander VI immediately caused the cardinals to shake. They looked at each other unexpectedly, and some people could not help but whisper in front of the pope.
"Please forgive Your Majesty, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com. I admire your piety for your faith, but I have to remind you that the Vatican has the right to Romagna since ancient times. This is undoubted and not allowed to be denied. "A cardinal stood up with a little excitement and said," Although your decision is based on a noble responsibility for protecting the entire Christ world, we still cannot agree with your decision. "
The cardinal's words were immediately answered by several people. After showing their respect for the noble sentiment of the Pope in a uniform manner, they immediately expressed different opinions about the decision of Alexander VI.
They reminded the Pope cautiously but firmly that Romagna did not belong to a certain person or family, but belonged to the sphere of influence and wealth of the Holy See, which did not allow someone to give up these rights for some "distant" reasons.
Obviously in the eyes of the cardinals, God is far away and Romagna is very close.
Alexander VI expressed his extreme indignation at the apparently ungodly attitude of the cardinals. However, after some heated debate, Alexander VI decided to heed the advice of most people and withdraw some of the previous words.
"But even then we must stop the war with the Venetians," Alexander VI looked around. "And we must be prepared for a possible war with the pagans. For this I decided to submit to all the monarchs of the world of Christ It ’s almost 500 years after we sent out for help, it ’s time for us to respond to the sacrifice of self-sacrifice for Christ to save the world. "
All the cardinals were shocked by the words of Alexander VI. They looked at the pope in front of him with greed, insolence and cruelty. Some people even fainted because they were too excited.
Everyone has only one thought at this time: is this man crazy before him, is he still thinking about launching a holy war?