"The black star is already located in the main house, just with the power and majesty of the evening star, the scythe of the god of death is about to come in the horizontal human form, if they will come together, the dead school of fish will drown the illuminated continent."[1 ] The devil read such an obscure and strange remark.
This reminded the king of the young man he met during the negotiations in the Moon River Fortress.
According to the Knight Commander of the Oath, it was an astrologer.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The devil speculated on the King's thoughts. "This is indeed the prophecy of the astrologers. It foretells an impending disaster... You know what."
"It will come in four months."
The king pondered for a while, then expressed his judgment in a statement tone.
The devil sincerely wanted to applaud the king, look how keen he is to all the conspiracies.
However, this is actually not difficult for the king to judge.
Because in the original fate line, Purlan was hanged before Merenta in the fourth month after the assassination, and the original sentence was only exile. Although Purland is indeed a tyrant, according to the character of Grand Duke Glace who likes to manage his image, he should be more inclined to imprison the former king tightly to show his magnanimity.
The first exile verdict confirmed this.
A former tyrant alive without power still has a lot of political implications for the new ruler. He can elevate himself in people's minds by constantly comparing himself to former tyrants. When the goal is almost reached, the former tyrant can quietly exit the stage.
One month is not enough for Grand Duke Grace to establish an image.
But what if there was a terrible plague that people could do nothing about
What better target for this crime than a violent ex-king
"Apart from you, were the astrologers able to predict the Black Death?" The king grabbed a little, "Who do the astrologers work for?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." The devil duly took credit for himself, "Do you remember that crappy Mr. Astrologer? He once tried to spy on your fate, and then planned to tell his mentor, as your loyal knight, I We've helped you out of this little trouble - otherwise the dozens of Inquisition friars would have arrived like flies smelling blood by this time."
"They serve the Holy See."
The king made a judgment.
He thought for a while.
In general, astrologers should be heretical, incompatible with the Holy Court. And in his memory, from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the Holy Court once launched a vigorous campaign to persecute astrologers - the scale was almost comparable to hunting witches. But in the middle of the fourteenth century, the movement died down.
Judging from the devil's words, it seems that most of the astrologers finally chose to serve the Holy Court in order to survive.
This is not really good news.
If the new pope on the other side of the Abyss Strait is not mindless, he will definitely seize this opportunity to improve the status of theocracy. In the Black Death, a large-scale plague that people were almost powerless to resist at this time, religious beliefs and various theories of acquittals were the most likely to breed.
Legrand's most recent outbreak of the Black Death occurred in the fourth century.
Before that, the Qiangwei family ruled more strongly than now, and the Western Continent became the bleakest area of Shenhui. But the Black Death changed the political landscape. Nearly one in nine people died in the plague, and the royal family was powerless to stop it. The Holy Court is taking advantage of this opportunity to publicize it. It is precisely because the Rose family does not fear the Holy Lord, and the Holy Lord condemns it here.
"God is a righteous judge, and a God who is angry with the wicked every day. If anyone does not turn his back, his sword will be sharpened, and his bow drawn and ready. It's a rocket."[2]
The king slowly read out the words that the Rose family must remember.
The Black Death was God's judgment, and all sins stemmed from Legrand's contempt for the Lord.
This accusation, as the death spread, eventually became a riot known as the "Return of the Holy Spirit". Under the instigation of the Holy See, people began to build churches spontaneously. In the end, the kingdom of God on the side of the Abyss Strait expanded to Legrand.
From then on, the king of the Rose family needs to be crowned by the Holy Court.
Nearly a thousand years of hatred came from this.
The king sneered.
No wonder the Pope changed his attitude this time and suddenly sent someone to intervene in Legrand's battle for the throne. Turns out they had budgeted for the disaster.
It seems that they intend to take this opportunity to play the clichés of the fourth century on the land of Legrand again. Archduke Grace was just one of their puppets.
But damn, the Black Death was deadly.
With less than four months left until the outbreak of the Black Death, the king did not think that these four months of preparation would be able to resolve a catastrophe that was unsolvable in this era.
"Hell will gladly settle this for you, Your Majesty."
The devil bowed gracefully to the king.
"However, it depends on whether His Majesty dares to dance with hell."
The king looked at the devil who seemed to always have a smile on his face.
"What about the conditions?"
"No conditions. Do you need any conditions to serve your monarch?"
"I'm not going to go to hell with you now," the king refused.
"You misunderstood me," said the devil, but with a hint of regret, "Then... well, a small condition, it's not difficult for you to do."
The king waits for the devil's words.
"Mind the many knights from hell? My dear majesty."
…
The devil has an identity on the bright side, he has become a member of the king's sworn knights.
However, the devil seemed to have other things to do. After he got this promise from the king, he left in a hurry.
After the devil left, the former Templar commander crept in.
"Your Majesty, you devil is very dangerous. I don't know why he is so humble to you, but his breath reminds me of the past. At that time, I was still with the temple on the east expedition. The team on that expedition I came across a monument, and I felt a similar atmosphere in the monument."
The former Templar commander had a rare seriousness on his face.
"How was the situation?"
"Disaster. Your Majesty."
The former Templar Commander replied, his voice undisguised in pain.
"A mortal catastrophe."
…
The devil bids farewell.
The king did not intend to pin all his hopes on a dangerous devil of unknown origin and purpose, and he began to prepare himself.
In the past two days, the king's finance minister has sorted out the royal family's financial files that the king wants. It is so heavy and complicated that even the full-time staff of the Ministry of Finance will not be happy to read them.
The king frowned, endured the poor recording method and the troublesome currency unit to read the part he cared about most, and then deeply realized one thing-
The royal family is poor.
The king himself earns about twenty-seven thousand pounds a year, which on the surface is definitely a huge sum of money. Because in today's Legrand, a person can be called rich if he earns 20 pounds a year, and even an earl rarely earns more than 5,000 pounds a year. [3]
But the king's income is used to maintain the expenses of the entire royal family and the operation of the entire king.
This is also the norm for most royal families in most countries today.
They are always in a situation where they can't make ends meet.
The construction of military castles also belonged to the financial expenditure of the king. Construction of the royal castles in Newcastle in the north and Nordover in the west began at the end of last year. The construction of the castles will take a long time, but it is conservatively estimated that the entire construction of Newcastle alone will cost 27,000 pounds. [4]
The Duke of Buckingham now has no money for granted.
Anyone who maintains such a huge expenditure stall must end up in extreme poverty.
When the king finished reading the archives, the nobles of the New King's Party carefully submitted the first ransom money-the value of their own heads made them write the amount that they could use with all their might, so they could only be submitted in batches.
At this juncture, the king looked at the sum of money he had collected, thinking whether he should just kill everyone.
All territorial money will be confiscated at one time, saving worry and effort.
The nobles who paid the money always felt cold in their necks for some reason.
Ransoms are often in the thousands of pounds, which add up to a considerable sum. By the time the nobles had paid the first ransom, plus the inheritance tax levied earlier, the king had almost collected enough money to redeem General John, the son of the Duke of Buckingham.
At this time, there was also news of the missing negotiating mission.
"Let's talk as we walk? You've been in the room long enough, Your Majesty." The Duke of Buckingham, with his robe draped over his arm, saw how many files the King had read during this time, "perhaps you'd like to come with me. take a walk?"
"Of course, I'd love to."
The king glanced at the Duke of Buckingham in surprise and put down his quill.
It is now October and snow is starting to cover the ground thickly. The king and the Duke of Buckingham walked through the long corridors, and saw that the trees of the castle began to be covered with crystal clear ice, and the sun shone magnificently and dreamily.
"Stay in Tru Castle."
After listening to the Duke of Buckingham's remarks, the king thought deeply.
"Baron Sheehan? He does have a bit of guts, and it's not too stupid."
While speaking, the two had already passed through most of the palace. The Duke of Buckingham stopped and looked out from the corridor. He looked at the stone pavilion on the left side of the tower not far in front of him, and said with emotion: "There used to be no pavilion there. , that was built by your father later."
The king also looked at the stone pavilion surrounded by rose vines.
It is conceivable that in the flowering period, countless strong red roses will decorate it into a beautiful landscape.
"Go and see?"
The king agreed.
They made their way through the cold wind and into the snow. The black tower stood not far away, and the snow fell on the tower and quickly slid down again.
Black Tower was silent.
It seems to be watching all this too.
The author has something to say: [1] The original text is "If Anyone Knows", created by the Prague court poet Heinrich von Muggen around 1349-1355, with slight modifications to the original poem according to the world context.
This is one of the many "literary disasters" that occurred during the "Second Pandemic" of the Black Death.
[2] Quoted from Psalm 7:11-13
[3] The data refers to the current situation of the monetary economy of Edward I.
[4] It is actually the construction cost of Caernarfon Castle