Chapter 72
As soon as these words were uttered, Westminster Palace was instantly filled with praise for the Earl of Hertford, the voices no quieter than when he had loudly refuted the Queen's demands.
Members of parliament and nobles applauded, praising it as an act of great courage, kindness, and compassion—exactly the kind of role model Her Majesty the Queen needs.
With such role models stepping forward to get vaccinated, they no longer need to be required by Her Majesty the Queen to get vaccinated herself.
Mary "..."
In the end, the Queen of Scots said nothing, but simply had the matter publicized to the people of London. Then, on a fine, sunny day, Albert was taken to London Square and vaccinated against smallpox in front of all the common people. He was then allowed to rest for a few days in a temporary tent set up in the square, so that the people could witness firsthand how he developed a fever and smallpox, and how the fever subsided and he recovered.
To show their respect, on the day of the vaccination, Mary and the Earl of Hertford rode together in a carriage to the square and waved to the crowd.
"Long live Her Majesty the Queen!"
Praise be to Queen Mary!
People shouted for the Queen, and of course, some also paid tribute to the Earl of Hertford.
They shouted, "Hey, may God protect you from losing your life, Your Excellency!"
Get vaccinated against smallpox!
A nobleman was about to do something so dangerous, and the officials sent by the Queen said that those who were vaccinated against smallpox would never be infected with smallpox again...
Such a terrifying, dangerous, and wondrous event was quite a sensation in London, drawing countless onlookers who were kept outside by the railings and could only form a circle and shout loudly.
This is exactly the effect Mary wanted to achieve.
In the very center of the square, tents had been set up, and several doctors and a sick cow were already seated at a long table, waiting for the Earl of Hertford to arrive.
Surrounded by onlookers, Albert straightened his clothes, flashed a charming smile, and took off his hat to greet them, appearing quite composed.
Only Mary, who was standing next to Albert, could see that there was a fine layer of cold sweat on his forehead and that he was gripping his hat very tightly.
"Please lift up your shirt sleeve, sir," the doctor said.
“Okay,” Albert said.
Albert took a deep breath, then unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his muscular arm, and had the doctor make a small cross-shaped incision on it as a sign of God's blessing, before slowly squeezing the pus extracted from the cow into it.
Throughout the entire process, the blond youth's body was very tense, and his tension was obvious.
Mary, who had been observing coldly, said, "Alright, that's over."
“No, Your Majesty, for me, this test has only just begun,” Albert said with a wry smile.
Mary wanted to say a few words of comfort, but after thinking about it, she swallowed her words.
In her own eyes, smallpox vaccination is of course completely harmless. During today's process, she had the doctor use alcohol, and the entire square was disinfected by splashing lime the day before. She also kept the public at a distance to maintain a clean environment as much as possible. Even the cow used for vaccination was carefully examined to ensure that it had no other problems.
With modern knowledge as a foundation and so much prior preparation, she was certainly able to do so without fear, but for Albert, it truly meant he was risking his life to support her.
With modern knowledge as his foundation and so much prior preparation, he was naturally fearless, but for Albert, he was truly risking his life to support her.
"Am I really not going to die?" Albert suddenly asked.
“I already had the doctor explain this to you in detail,” Mary said calmly.
“But I still want to hear you promise me this yourself,” Albert said.
“I am the Queen, not a doctor. My assurances are meaningless when it comes to illness,” Mary said coldly.
“No, it’s meaningful, at least to me it’s very meaningful…” Albert looked up at the Queen, his brown eyes shining like warm amber in the sunlight. “…I need your assurance, because it will make me feel at ease. Even if I really get smallpox, your words will be like a rope hanging on a cliff, saving me from hell and giving me the perseverance to get through this disease.”
The Queen of England was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "If you are so afraid, why did you stand up in Parliament and demand to be vaccinated?"
“It’s partly out of trust in Your Majesty; I believe this is yet another wise decision on your part,” Albert said.
“And the other half?” Mary asked.
“The other half is also within you…” Albert said with a laugh, “…Your Majesty, I hope you can see me.”
...
In fact, none of the worries came true, and the smallpox treatment went very smoothly.
After a few days of fever and rashes, the Earl of Hertford recovered his health and emerged from his tent, walking around the square to show the public his ever-healthy and youthful body.
Look, there are no aftereffects or terrible scars, just a few days of discomfort, but the reward is that you will never have to suffer from smallpox again!
This positive example gave many nobles confidence and encouraged many commoners to seek out doctors and request vaccination against smallpox.
Taking this opportunity, the Queen of England ordered that bulletin boards be covered with simple drawings and announcements to promote the benefits of smallpox vaccination. She also ordered that nearly a hundred vaccination sites be set up throughout the streets and alleys of London and dispatched doctors to vaccinate the public for free.
In addition, the first 100 civilians to be vaccinated each day will receive a penny as a reward.
These are encouraging measures.
As for disciplinary measures, the Queen of England did not say anything on the surface, but announced that for the safety of everyone, all apprentices in the streets and alleys of London must be vaccinated against smallpox, otherwise the masters of the guild should not accept them as apprentices, and those who violated this rule would be fined. Servants, traveling merchants, and farmers in the fields were also subject to various restrictions, and they would be subject to control unless they were vaccinated against smallpox.
Inside the palace, hundreds of male and female servants at Whitehall were also vaccinated against smallpox in turn at Her Majesty's request, while nobles who had not been vaccinated were refused entry to the palace for the safety of Her Majesty and other nobles.
Seeing the Queen's decisive actions and the absence of a smallpox outbreak, the nobles gradually overcame their fears and began to tentatively vaccinate against smallpox.
As a result of this trend, for a time, even cows infected with cowpox became highly sought after in London, and they had to be driven around the streets and alleys in turn...
The Queen of England was very pleased with this, saying, "If this trend continues, by the end of the year, at least a quarter of the people in London will be immune to smallpox, and within about twenty years, half of the people in the British Isles will be vaccinated with cowpox."
This is not the technologically advanced information age, and it is impossible for everyone to be perfect. Mary only hoped that half of the population could be immune to smallpox, so that smallpox would not break out. That would be enough.
Another big thing has finally been accomplished.
...
Once the smallpox vaccination program was on track, Mary began to delegate the work to others and focused her attention on other reforms.
The first point is the reform of the military.
The British army can be divided into two types. The first type is the king's private army, which is funded by donations from Parliament and private subsidies from the king. The second type is the army of the entire country, or, to put it bluntly, the army of the nobles and members of parliament.
The latter type of army is usually dispersed and controlled by various nobles, and is not as powerful as the king's army. However, when members of parliament join forces to raise an army to achieve the same goal, the latter's tens of thousands of soldiers can instantly surpass the king's army in strength, whether it is cavalry, infantry or longbowmen, they will far exceed the king's number.
This situation is quite unfriendly to the current Queen of England.
Given the circumstances of that era, Marie Antoinette had no enlightened ideas about constitutionalism or a republic. To put it bluntly, her pursuit was that of a centralized monarch like Louis XIV, where only her voice resonated within the country's decision-making hierarchy.
To achieve this goal, a powerful army is essential.
Putting aside factors such as bloodline and religion, in the end, the strongest power in Europe still has the final say.
With the treasury empty, the Queen of England did not have the money to support a larger army, but she did have the capacity to equip it with the most advanced firearms and artillery in all of Europe.
Percussion flintlock muskets and smokeless gunpowder are actually not that difficult to develop.
The principle of smokeless gunpowder is simply to "nitrate" cotton with sulfuric acid. It is simple to manufacture, but far surpasses ordinary gunpowder in terms of power and concealment. The only problem is that it is too sensitive to heat; it will decompose and spontaneously combust if the temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius.
In this respect, thank God, Britain is not a hot country.
The percussion flintlock musket took Mary a great deal of thought and time to develop.
Although she understood the principle, there was a significant gap between the principle and the finished product. After many failures, Mary was almost ready to give up. However, a clockmaker had a flash of inspiration and combined the gears and flint, successfully igniting the gunpowder and bringing this firearm to the army half a century ahead of schedule.
When the Queen of England brought these two items to the army and had the soldiers test their power, the army generals who received these two treasures were overjoyed and fought a great battle against their dream enemy, defeating them decisively.
After the Queen of England left the camp, several Scottish generals gathered together for a chat.
Boswell couldn't help but say regretfully, "It's a pity that Her Majesty the Queen has already ascended the throne in England. Otherwise, how could we have had such a difficult time in that war? We should have taught the English a lesson they deserved!"
“That’s hard to say…” Arthur Erskine said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean? Does Her Majesty intend to purge the English nobles in the same way she purgeed the Scottish nobles?" Boswell said, a surge of excitement rising within him.
If that's the case, then his time to shine has come. To be honest, he's not very happy that Albert, this foreigner, is now sitting in the same position as him, and even has the title of Earl on his shoulders.
This was all because the Italian had distinguished himself in the previous battle for the throne, so the Queen valued him highly. Boswell believed that if he had such an opportunity, he would be no less capable than the Italian!
“I’m not referring to England, I’m talking about your Netherlands side. Her Majesty never does anything without a reason, and perhaps in the next few days, she will order us to go on an expedition,” Arthur Erskine said.
...
Mary had no idea what kind of conversations were taking place in the military camp, and even if she did, she would only tell them that they had all guessed wrong.
As the situation changes, she might seize the opportunity to send troops to help the revolutionary forces in the Netherlands, but it certainly won't be this year.
She has other important matters on her mind right now.
Upon returning to Whitehall after leaving the military camp, Mary heard some bad news.
Pius V of Rome dispatched the Marquess of Moreta as an envoy to congratulate Her Majesty the Queen on becoming the "blessed and rightful" Queen of England.
Anyone who says that Mary's throne is illegitimate is defying the authority of the Papacy.
This undoubtedly dealt a blow to Spain's arrogance, because Philip II had recently called him a usurper and a false king, and now the Papacy had stepped forward to support Mary Stuart.
However, on the other hand, it is also a silent urging.
“His Holiness the Pope is very concerned about whether you have been attacked by heretics in England, and he has asked me to convey to Her Majesty the Queen that you can always rest assured of your legitimate and orthodox status, and that heretics can never harm or threaten you,” Marquis Moreta said politely.
"Please thank His Holiness the Pope for his concern," said the Queen of England.
“Your Majesty the Queen, the Pope is also willing to do everything in his power to help you capture those despicable and shameless enemies who have harmed you,” Marquis Moreta added.
Queen Elizabeth II sat gracefully on her throne. After understanding Moreta's implied meaning, she raised her eyebrows slightly and felt a subtle headache.
Yes, the Protestant forces can no longer harm her.
On the contrary, it was her turn to promote the prestige of Catholicism and to attack and harm the power of Protestantism, which was one of the terms of the deal she and Pius V agreed on during their secret talks in Rome.
However, just like the old proverb in the East, "When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked."
She has absolutely no intention of keeping this promise, not even a little bit!
The religious conflict in Britain is already intense enough. Before she had fully consolidated her position, she had been avoiding any conflict with Protestants, not arresting members of their community, not changing the positions of Protestant bishops, and not promoting Catholicism...
But it was obvious that these words could not be spoken to the Marquis of Moreta, for he would not accept the Queen of England's betrayal, and the Pope in Rome would certainly not accept it either.
Should we break off all pretense...?
No, that won't do either. Spain is already a formidable enemy; she can't afford to invite a second one...
In the blink of an eye, the Queen of England picked up on the Marquess of Moretti's words almost without pausing.
“Of course, expelling heretics and promoting the Catholic faith, and restoring the glory of the Lord, is one of my most sublime wishes…” The Queen replied without hesitation, her tone extremely firm: “…No matter how long it takes, whether it’s a decade or a century, I am willing to continue this work until the Lord calls my soul to heaven.”
Yes, expelling Protestants is a huge undertaking that could easily take decades, and she would continue this cause on and off for her entire life!
After playing a little language game, before the Marquis of Morita could even react, the Queen of England began to greet him warmly.
Mary inquired in detail about how arduous his journey had been, the condition of the Eucharist of Pius V in Rome, and whether the Protestant forces in Germany were still arrogant and domineering.
Before we knew it, an hour or two had passed.
After glancing at the clock, the Queen of Scots seemed to realize belatedly that something was wrong and immediately apologized, saying, "Ah, it's time for dinner. I've taken up too much of your time. Let's continue our conversation tomorrow."
Marquis Moreta, whose mouth was dry from answering, was taken aback. Just as he was about to get back to the topic as the Pope had instructed, he saw the Queen of England get up and leave without hesitation.
She needs some time to think about what to do.
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