As long as people want to do it, there is nothing they can't do. —Leon Battista Alberti
When this story begins, it is the late Middle Ages. In this case, it is necessary to explain what the world was like at that time.
Overall, the human world in the fourteenth century can be divided into three parts: the Christian world, the Muslim world, and the Confucian world.
If an alien had been watching the Earth from the moon in that era, his first impression of the Muslim world would have been far more profound than the impression of the Christian world. He will see a very vast territory, and its territory is still expanding.
The earliest Muslims were the Arabs who first united in the Arabian Peninsula under the leadership of the religious leader Muhammad. Many readers may not know much about Muhammad. In a sense, he is another version of Jesus. He believed that he had accepted God's call to warn people that the "Doomsday Judgment" was coming, and that the faithful could go to heaven, while the wicked would be punished by going to hell. He required believers to perform certain rituals, the "Five Pillars" of Islam (including daily prayers, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrimage to Mecca, etc.). These rituals, combined with the precepts of the Quran, provide not only a religious belief but also a social regulation and political system. The believers felt that they were brothers with a common mission, which helped to unite the Arab nation, which was still very fragmented at that time.
After the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, the Arabs rushed out of the peninsula and rapidly expanded into the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Dynasty in the Middle East. Then it expanded eastward to China, westward through North Africa and into Spain. By the end of the first phase of Muslim expansion in 750 AD, a huge Muslim empire had emerged in the world from the Pyrenees to India, and from Morocco to China. Between 750 and 1500, the Muslims carried out a second phase of expansion. During this period, they entered Central Europe to the west, penetrated Central Asia to the north, broke into India and Southeast Asia to the east, and penetrated deep into the interior of Africa to the south; the territory of the Muslim world doubled again, and its area far exceeded that of Eurasia. The Christian world at the west end and the Confucian world at the east end.
During that period, in terms of territory, the Arabs were the group of people who were most qualified to call their territory "Tianxia". Of course, I don't know if there were words like "Tianxia" in their language.
Speaking of the world, let’s talk about the Confucian world. The Confucian world does not refer to China, but to the entire East Asia. China is the ruler, and North Korea and Japan on the periphery are considered subordinates.
The Confucian world is an inward-looking society based on agriculture. So the rate of change is very slow and confined within the basic structures inherited from earlier eras. On the other hand, there is one thing about the Confucian world that is very different from the other two worlds, and that is unity.
The puzzling minority groups like the various Balkan Christian groups in the Ottoman Empire, or the religious discord between Hindus and Muslims in the Mughal Empire, do not exist in China. This cohesion in China is not a new phenomenon; it has existed since the early stages of Chinese civilization thousands of years ago and has continued ever since. Chinese civilization is the oldest uninterrupted civilization in the world.
The main reason for the long-lasting continuity of Chinese civilization lies in geographical conditions. The extent to which it is isolated from other great civilizations of mankind is unparalleled in the world. The Mediterranean Sea connected Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, and the Indian Ocean allowed India to interact with the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. But for most of its history, China has been separated from all sides by mountains, deserts and the vast Pacific Ocean. Now it seems that this isolation may be a double-edged sword.
Finally, let’s talk about Western Christianity.
Putting aside unfounded national pride, objectively speaking, until the twentieth century, most people on the planet would have taken it for granted that only Westerners could make those things that changed the course of human life and ushered in a new era of world history. A historic reform or discovery. In fact, this view is completely unreasonable. Muslims and Chinese also have a great maritime tradition. It was only in the early modern times that the world pattern was reversed and changed.
For most of the Middle Ages, Western Europeans felt isolated and threatened at the western end of Eurasia. On the vast steppes that stretched across Eurasia from northern China to the Danube River Basin, there were the most powerful armies on earth at that time - nomadic invaders: Huns, Germans, Avars, Magyars, Mongols and Turks; once an empire weakened and they had an opportunity to take advantage, they took advantage of their unparalleled mobility to break into the centers of civilizations.
However, in the early modern period, with the rise of the vibrant new West, Westerners had the upper hand in technology, especially in weapons and shipbuilding. This gave Western Europeans the same advantages on the world's oceans as those on the Eurasian steppes. mobility and advantages enjoyed by nomads.
In that era of change, the Islamic and Confucian empires closed themselves off and became increasingly rigid. But in Western Europe, the Renaissance and the Reformation brought about profound changes in all aspects of Western European life. A new type of civilization full of vitality and expansionism - modern civilization was born. It is fundamentally different from any other traditional, agriculture-based civilization on the planet. This modernization process continues at an accelerating rate to this day, and controls the historical process of the modern world...
1314, that was also a summer. Rome, Italy.
Europeans these days believe in everything. Regardless of fantasy, science fiction, fantasy, or magic, if you set up a table and tell stories, you might be able to name a group of believers.
God, evil gods, witchcraft, magic, alchemy, black technology, basically everything is studied by people. Of course, you can't do more discordant things openly.
People at that time could tie up your innocent teenage daughter as a witch and burn her to death just so that you could sleep peacefully.
It was a time when the struggle for royal power and ecclesiastical power was intense. It was a dark age. There were many charges in the Inquisition that seemed unimaginable to modern people, such as "witch crime" and "heresy." Until a hundred years later, Europeans still condemned people in this way, and Joan of Arc was burned to death in this way.
Speaking of burning to death, on March 18 of this year, de Molay, the head of the Knights Templar, was burned to death. As mentioned in the previous article, this guy cursed two people before his death. One was Pope Clement V. This dear friend died on April 20 of the same year, while the other, Philip IV, was still alive in the summer.
It is said that he was a handsome man, and he was also a very capable king. Although he died mysteriously at the end of the year, after all, he was still alive and kicking at this time.
Therefore, when this man was still alive, some people were under great mental pressure, and that was Molay's nephew, the young Count Guiche de Beauge.
He had secretly inherited the position of grand leader a few years ago, on the eve of Black Friday. Of course, this position has now basically become synonymous with wanted criminals.
The important thing is that he had a fortune that was unparalleled and he led a group of his most reliable cronies to flee France and come to Italy.
This pile of treasures that he vowed to "hide until the end of the world" is like a curse that follows him, as if there is an unknown force that causes those who are related to these treasures to die one by one. Since the treasures were smuggled out of the pillars of the tomb, in the past few months, several of Count Beauje's close associates have passed away due to various reasons. As I just said, people of that era were more afraid of ghosts and gods than firm beliefs. The theory of evolution had not yet been proposed, so people had to find some spiritual sustenance to explain those unexplainable things.
The earl carries a very heavy burden on his shoulders, which cannot be put down. The treasure is really a troublesome thing. It cannot be hidden randomly, dare not use it randomly, cannot be discovered by others, and cannot be carried around forever. Mentally, I also worry about whether I will be cursed to death.
It was under that pressure that he came to Rome.
That night, the count came to an alley. The place was very dirty and smelled like a slaughterhouse. Maybe there was a pig farm nearby? Who knows, anyway, you can see all kinds of disgusting things in this alley, swarms of mung bean flies circling around a puddle of swill on the ground; drunken drunkards being thrown out of the bar and falling asleep Snoring beside the stinking ditch; bullies beating the skinny old man; even the women in the erotic place have rough skin and unconcealable armpit odor.
If a Roman man were to write an autobiography, and he was trying to recall the worst night of his life, this would most likely come to mind.
The earl was dressed in a low-key manner, but the manner in which he walked made him somewhat incompatible with this environment. He covered his face with a handkerchief to slightly block the unpleasant smell.
After searching for a long time, he finally arrived at his destination. The count spent a lot of money to find out about this place from "well-informed" people in the city. It is said that the boss here can help you solve all your problems.
It was a bookstore, occupying a medium-sized area. The word "books" was casually painted with paint on the wall. The shabby wooden door was ajar, and the shop was chosen in such a location. It didn't look like there would be anyone there at all. Patronizing.
When the count saw this, he wanted to back down. After hesitating for a while, he sighed and thought: Since you are here, let's go in and take a look.
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