Vol 3 Chapter 13: Meet another acquaintance

The cold wind in the winter blows from the river and pours into the gaps in the neckline of the clothes, giving people the pain of being scratched by sharp objects. Although the winter in the Mediterranean is warmer than the north, the cold is still unbearable. .
There are many people begging on the street, most of them are unclothed. When a gorgeous carriage passes by the street, these people will reach out and beg for some alms, but they are often scolded and abused, and some will simply be escorted to the carriage. The guards lashed out with a whip.
Rome is a prosperous capital, a glorious capital, but it has never been a haven for the poor.
As the carriage passed the bridge across the Tiber River, Alexander saw a circle of walls on the high hills west of the river bank.
Behind the wall, towering towers and buildings can be seen vaguely. Alexander knows that this is where the Vatican Palace is.
There was no such wall around the early Vatican Palace. Since Piping of the Carolingian dynasty centuries ago gave the church a large area centered on the city of Rome, Rome has become the territory of the direct rule of the church. With Pope Leo's coronation of Charlemagne, the wealth and power possessed by the church are like wild horses that have come to their peaks.
So for a long time, the pope who stopped at the Vatican Palace used the walls of the Roman city as the boundary of the city. This situation changed only after the 13th century.
The Vatican Palace has become more and more important and insecure. In fact, whether it is the emperor of Holy Rome or the king of France, it seems that they gradually regard entering Rome as a manifestation of their power, which makes Rome in These powerful European monarchs gradually became an undefended city, so that the Vatican Palace became the only place where the pope felt safe at night. Although Rome was still nominally owned by the church, it gradually became popular in people ’s minds. In the middle, the hill on the west bank of the Tiber River is where the pope lives.
It just made the first-time visitors feel unbelievable. It was a surprising scene when the carriage was driving on the bridge.
Swarms of flowers are spreading out, or they are simply women who are walking around on the bridge, and as the carriage advances, such women are also increasing along the way. When the carriage slowly passes through the doorway of the wall, it is even The woman surrounded.
These women kept sending Qiubo to the soldiers who guarded the carriages and those who seemed to have the identity, to show off their style, and some even simply pulled off the neckline that had already been exposed, and put a large piece of white flowers on the grave. Yau showed before the soldiers.
"Who are these women?" Although I knew in my heart, I still felt that some unbelievable Carlo whispered, when a woman chased beside his mount, and kept squeezing his thigh with a fleshy chest. At that time, Carlo could not help moving a dry mouth, but he knew it was not because of the winter dryness. "Are n’t they all prostitutes?"
"Don't you already guess it," Alexander smiled slightly. "Don't look like this, maybe you will see more spectacular soon."
"But this is the Vatican, where Holy Sao Paulo began to preach the gospel of Christ and stayed asleep." Carlo grumbled unacceptably. Although he had also participated in wars and saw some worlds, Rome was the first. In the second visit, it was the first time he saw this scene completely overwhelming him. "How can these women do these things in the Vatican!"
"So what do you think the Vatican should be?" Alexander glanced at the hunter slightly and saw him still look dumbfounded. Alexander had to whisper to remind him "Remember my advice, if you don't want to get some strange disease because of sudden Inexplicably dying, it is best not to touch these women, even if you spend more money to find a less beautiful rural villager than these women are safer. "
Carlo nodded dumbly, thinking about Alexander's words, he suddenly shuddered, and hurriedly urged the horse to get rid of the few women who had been with him, and caught up with the master who was going away.
Joanna was sitting in the carriage without looking outside. In fact, she knew exactly what was happening outside. When she thought that the Vatican was worse than she saw when she came last time, Joanna couldn't help worrying about whether the pope would It was more extravagant and greedy than when I saw him last time.
The carriage drove down a stone road next to a slightly old palace into a secluded corridor surrounded by crowded low-rise houses. On the left side of this large house, the old and decaying palace was semicircular. The shape is mixed with a slightly messy building, and on the right, a rather majestic building comes into view.
"Vatican Palace." Joanna whispered to her eyes, her hopes and desires were highlighted in her eyes. It seemed that the hard journey along the way made her feel that it was worthwhile to get here.
"Your Majesty, according to the arrangement of His Majesty the Pope, you will first temporarily wait in the side palace of the Carolingian Palace, and then someone will invite you to see your Majesty the Pope," the priest who came with Joanna whispered again to Joanna Tell her about itinerary "In addition, if you have any important documents that you need to present to His Majesty the Pope, you can greet your messenger in advance to explain the handover."
Joanna nodded. She knew that the priest's meaning meant to imply that she gave the gift to Alexander VI to the comer, and she had heard it before. The pope was often based on the gift from the audience. How much time to decide the summoning time and what attitude to take to the coming person.
"Also, your guard can only stay here, you can lead a servant to protect you, but when you meet, this person must also stay outside the palace." The priest reminded again "please allow me to say one more word, teach The guards around His Majesty Zong are all personally selected by the Archbishop of Valencia, which may not be the same as when you saw His Majesty last time, but the loyalty of these guards to His Majesty is absolutely beyond doubt, so you must make sure your servants Will not cause dissatisfaction with those soldiers of the guard, otherwise it may cause some accidents. "
When the priest said these words, he looked at Nashan not far from the carriage intentionally or unintentionally. The vague ambiguousness between the bohemian costume and the queen had already caused his Note that at this time, I had to simply raise a warning.
When I heard that I could only bring one guard, I instinctively looked at Joanna of Nashan. After listening to the priest, I had to withdraw my gaze. Then she looked at Alexander who was standing a little further away and ordered the Agris. .
"Child, let me remind you again," the priest did not forget to tell Alexander before leaving. "Don't do anything that would make the guard suspicious. For the safety of His Majesty the Pope, the Archbishop of Valencia has ordered the guard. Any suspicious person can be executed at will, remember to execute at will. "
Alexander bowed slightly to express his gratitude. When the priest left, he turned to look at the Vatican Palace opposite.
He knew that the Archbishop of Valencia, as mentioned by the priest, was the most favored and cruel illegitimate son of Alexander VI, known as Caesar Borgia of the Duke of Poison.
Although according to Catholic regulations, priests prohibit marriage and the relationship between men and women with women, but in addition to the earliest pious believers who regard the poor and defensive as sacred, the more such churches are ignored, the more special It is because the atmosphere is getting more and more degraded. Sitting on wealth and supporting a mistress is not only nothing new, but even many popes are still privately seeking benefits and status for their mistresses.
But the most special of these people is Alexander VI.
He not only has his mistress completely open, but also publicly acknowledges the status of his illegitimate children. Among his illegitimate children, his favorite ones are his second son Caesar and his daughter Lucrezia.
Even before he became a pope, Alexander VI still ignored the comments of outsiders and even the accusations of enemy opponents and stubbornly sought various rights for his bastards, from military commanders to religious leaders. He hopes that when one day he ascends to the Pope ’s throne, his children will become the most powerful pillars of the
Pogia
dynasty. He was awarded the title of Bishop of Valencia when he was 9 years old, and he had put on the cardinal vestment just as an adult.
His daughter was arranged with several valuable marriage contracts from a very young age, and in the end she just recently married the Duke of Milan, the famous Sforza family.
It was Cardinal Monteiro who was Zhang Rong's relative.
Caesar's guard for the Pope, Alexander thought about it. Thinking about the confrontation between the French and the coalition outside Rome, Alexander felt that Caesar did this not just to protect his father.
The gift from Joanna apparently played a role. It didn't take long for a senior secretary next to the pope to meet Joanna. After a little greeting, Joanna was told that she could have an hour of conversation with the pope.
This made Joanna very happy. Although the thought of the price paid for this hour is really not small, and it is not known how much to pay later, but at least the current situation is enough to satisfy her.
Alexander accompanied Joanna along the narrow road between the cluttered buildings, which looked unclean and chaotic, and still climbed on the scaffold of the unfinished Sistine Chapel It also looked vague in the dust, so that when passing through a scaffolding, Alexander had to reach out and gently support Joanna to prevent her from falling down because of unstable feet.
"A great building can be built here soon," the secretary said to Joanna as she walked. "Many masterpieces of famous masters have been transported here. After complete completion, the collection of books and art treasures here will cause a whole of Europe Jealous. "
"That's great, I hope to see this miracle again." Joanna echoed, but she didn't show much interest between her looks, which made the secretary seem a little disappointed.
However, Alexander was not interested in watching the lifelike and very different statue of a palace under construction and flying smoke, which was placed on the marble platform by many people.
In the smoke, those statues that were either heads up to the sky or passionately stood up like a curtain of open time, and at this moment Alexander realized what he was witnessing.
In the Renaissance era, a trace of contemplation floated in his heart until he heard a soft reminder from the secretary walking in front.
A team of guards stood in line along the steps of the Vatican Palace, their hands were armed with spears, and the cold armor shone in the sun.
"From here you have to go in, Your Majesty." The secretary reminded Joanna.
"Then you stay here until I come back." Joanna said to Alexander.
"Your Majesty." Alexander bowed and watched as Joanna was led by the secretary through the soldiers. He couldn't help but pay attention to the guards organized by Caesar specifically to protect Alexander VI.
These people look very tough, and Alexander vaguely feels from them that these people are not so much used as guards, but rather an elite army with a small number of people, but just think about it. Caesar's army should be more than just such a person in front of him. He couldn't help thinking of the French general called Henry de Charlene who had seen him the night before.
"In Rome, no arms other than the French team are allowed."
Alexander thought back to this sentence, and then to think about the intricate relationships that no one can fully explain in Rome today. He couldn't help but wondering what to do in the next period of time to make Agri in Such a complicated situation is supported.
For Alexander ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Agry is too small, but in view of the current situation, it is not easy to keep Agry, especially if the French are defeated too early, then yes For him, it's actually not a good thing.
While thinking, Alexander walked aimlessly along the steps. When he came to a sculpture that had just been completed, he stopped to look up and looked at this seemingly familiar sculpture. He knew that he should have seen this sculpture. It ’s just that maybe because the sculpture has n’t completely ripped off the thick cloth, and the surrounding scenes are different from what he remembered, so I did n’t see who was at this moment.
"Hey, don't stop there, I can't see the front."
A very angry voice came from behind, and Alexander turned his head to look back, and saw a young man with rough skin and messy hair standing on the top of his head with his head shaking, standing on a scaffold, holding him in his arms Holding a large drawing board, his right hand was holding a crayon and pointing at the Alexander below yelled loudly.
Seeing this young man, Alexander couldn't help smiling.
At that time, the young man also saw Alexandria clearly. He seemed to be a little stunned, and immediately yelled and jumped off the scaffold!
"Who did I see? Oops, I didn't expect to see you in Rome!" The young man shouted, holding the Alexander's shoulders tightly with his thick, cocooned hands.
"My friend, did you model me?"
The young Michelangelo said. 898)