Chapter 104 Hope Blue Diamond (Twenty-one)
◎War Progress◎
It was a routine cardinals' meeting. Raphael sat in the Pope's seat, his hands on the armrests, looking down with his eyelids drooped, expressionless.
The Notre Dame Hall is not large, just enough to seat less than twenty people. Twelve high-backed chairs are placed at moderate distances on both sides of the intricately carved long table. The shape of the chair backs imitates the tall towers of the church. The thin and sharp decorations and the carvings of thorns wrapped around them make these luxurious chairs look like some kind of artistically processed torture instruments.
At this moment, in the room filled with a frozen, oppressive atmosphere, these chairs seemed to be infinitely close to the function of torture instruments, and everyone sitting on them seemed a little uneasy - but in fact, no one dared to move.
Only five of the twelve chairs were occupied. As time passed, the seven empty seats became increasingly glaring.
The five cardinals present were all Portia's confidants, or possessed the red cloak through Raphael. They naturally belonged to Raphael's faction, but even so, the expressions on their faces could not mean that they were here because they agreed with Raphael.
Raphael had no doubt that if it were not for their stance, they would never sit here obediently on time.
There was deathly silence in the Notre Dame Hall. The cardinals lowered their heads and stared at the table, as if some rare flower had suddenly blossomed on the table and they needed to appreciate it immediately. The Pope at the top remained silent all the time, and his hands hidden under his sleeves tapped lightly on the armrests. The regular and low sound was like a heavy hammer, and each hit struck the cardinals' uneasy hearts.
"It seems that we will not be able to wait for those distinguished gentlemen today."
When the Pope suddenly spoke, the cardinals shuddered subconsciously and straightened their backs.
"Maybe we can send someone to urge them again..." Materazzi said tentatively, showing a more humble and respectful attitude than ever before.
When these words came out, the other cardinals glanced at him calmly, their eyes full of "Where did this idiot come from?"
The cardinals' meeting had been arguing fiercely about the promulgation of the "Act of Free Religion". The Pope had done a good job of keeping the bill secret, but the news eventually got out. After the priests who promulgated the bill boarded the ship to Assyria, the cardinals' meeting turned into a battlefield. The furious opponents who were kept in the dark waved vases and chairs and fought each other. They did not dare to attack the Pope, so the Materazzis, who were part of the Pope's faction, suffered a great loss.
Thanks to the excellent soundproofing of the Notre Dame Hall, the respected cardinals were fighting in a chaotic situation, but people outside did not hear much of the noise.
It was only after the meeting that the cardinals' disheveled robes and unkempt hair did reveal some secrets. Of course, a great contribution also went to the opposition's unremitting publicity and criticism of the "Religious Freedom Act."
The cardinals were not only dissatisfied with the bill that shook the foundation of the Vatican's faith, but they were even more dissatisfied with the Pope's decision to act first and report later. It is true that even if the Pope put the matter before them for discussion, they would never agree to the promulgation of this bill, but being completely isolated like this still made them feel extremely angry.
At that moment, they all felt the oppression from the Pope's authority. Unlike their previous self-deception, this time it was a blatant disregard, which made the cardinals feel great shame.
Raphael sneered. He certainly knew what these cardinals were thinking. Some of them could not tolerate the Pope's "heretical" behavior because of their piety, but didn't he know why most people opposed him?
The Pope folded his hands together and quite naturally ignored Materazzi's stupid remarks. Raphael had always been gentle towards the "Golden Robe" Cardinal. No matter in which era, people would always be more tolerant towards the financial sponsors, not to mention that Materazzi was the person chosen by Raphael to fill the gap - no one knew this except Julius and himself.
Even Raphael himself, after squeezing Materazzi's money dry and planning to make him a puppet Pope, a puppet of Julius - even Raphael would occasionally feel a little sorry. Of course, if Materazzi himself knew about this, he might be ecstatic, but this did not prevent Raphael from sometimes touching his little remaining conscience and feeling guilty.
With such emotions, Rafael looked at Materazzi with a little forgiveness, as if he was looking at his mentally retarded son.
"Since they refuse to participate in the cardinals' meeting and refuse to perform their duties as cardinals, please ask them to take off their red robes." The Pope said these terrible words in an understated manner.
This time, not only the other cardinals, but even Raphael's brainless yes-man Materazzi fell silent in fear, looking at the Pope in shock and astonishment, as if they saw the Pope, who was sitting in his seat, suddenly turned into a creature they had never seen before. Of course, they would rather the Pope really turned into some strange animal than really hear these words.
God bless me, I must not have woken up today.
Similar thoughts flashed through the minds of the five cardinals at the same time.
In history, there have been cardinals who were stripped of their titles and church membership by the Pope, or even expelled from the Vatican and exiled for life. But looking back over the thousands of years of history of the Vatican, there are less than two such unlucky cardinals, and each of them has undergone strict and harsh screening and trial. But today, their Pope can decide the fate of the next thousand years with just a word. This high efficiency really makes the cardinals dizzy.
Even Materazzi, who stood most firmly on Raphael's side, felt a little fear of His Holiness on the Holy See.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I don't think they have realized their mistakes. Considering their past devout service to the Holy Lord, please maintain your previous tolerance and kindness and forgive their mistakes caused by ignorance and stupidity." Someone immediately stood up to plead for their mortal enemies.
The dismissal of seven cardinals at once would be enough to cause an unprecedented shock to the Holy See. Even the assassination of the Pope might not have such a powerful effect. At least when St. Vitalian III was assassinated, there were still cardinals supporting the Holy See. The current Holy See is already in a precarious situation due to the promulgation of the "Religious Freedom Act", and believers have doubts about the Pope. If the Holy See changes again, the consequences will be disastrous.
Raphael glanced at the faces of several cardinals, then smiled slightly, his tone so gentle that it seemed as if everything just now was an illusion: "Of course, I was just joking."
He was not really crazy. He killed seven cardinals at once, but he was the one who suffered in the end.
The tone you just used didn't sound like a joke at all.
The cardinals secretly complained, but they still felt relieved by this sentence.
Raphael took in all the changes in their expressions and said nothing more. He simply signaled that the meeting was over. The cardinals swallowed what they wanted to say, stood up with worried expressions and watched the Pope leave. The thoughts in their hearts gushed out like a spring, but they dared not say them out loud.
The news that seven cardinals refused to participate in the cardinals' meeting would soon spread throughout the continent. This would undoubtedly be a major blow to the Pope's prestige and tantamount to opposing the Pope himself in person. Raphael was indifferent to such insignificant opposition. He had so many things on his shoulders now that these bluffing oppositions could not attract any of his attention.
"Send this report to Assyria,"
Phil turned his head and said to Ferrante behind him calmly, "Let them know how determined the Pope is to push the bill through to the end."
This incident could even become a powerful driving force for him to win the hearts of the Assyrian people.
"Those seven cardinals..." Ferrante asked in a low voice, with a hint of coldness in his tone, as if as long as Raphael showed any intention, he would use any means to kill those seven people who made Raphael unhappy.
Raphael glanced at him helplessly: "Seven people died at once, do you think everyone else is a fool?"
Ferrante: “I’m not going to—”
"Okay, even if it's not them, someone will come up to oppose me. It's better to keep them. At least I am more familiar with these idiots and ambitious people." Raphael simply rejected Ferrante's proposal.
"What's the situation in Assyria?" Rafael reached back, and Ferrante immediately took out the latest battle report rolled up in his belt and handed it to him, pushing the wheelchair a little slower.
Raphael lowered his head and unfolded the parchment, quickly scanning the text on it. After a while, he said "hmm" with a little surprise: "Redrick did a good job."
More than good, the Duke of Luxembourg showed extraordinary military talent on the battlefield. In just a few months, he established a base in the south and expanded steadily to the north with it as the center. The bandits and military groups in the south were no match for him. The "Sargon Dynasty" that established itself under the pretext of royal bloodline after the death of Queen Amenra all fell apart under his attack. His troops headed northward, forming a three-way confrontation with the Assyrian Pilgrimage Alliance in the north and the Calais Expeditionary Force that was also expanding in the east.
Thinking of the younger brother who always spoke ill of him, Raphael suddenly found that his memory seemed a little fuzzy. The hot-tempered boy who had persistently chased after him and taunted him in the seminary seemed to have only appeared briefly and was replaced by the man who fought bravely and took the lead in the battle report.
Raphael smiled to himself, not knowing what emotion he was feeling.
"Further north, we will encounter the Pilgrimage Alliance," Raphael said, feeling relieved because of the good battle situation, but his mood became heavy again, "Those old guys will not be as easy to deal with as the previous enemies."
The fact that they can run their own power in the north peacefully shows that they have enough patience and accumulated abundant resources. Moreover, most of the scattered legions disappeared after Amenra's death, which easily leads to too much speculation. In addition, when Amenra died, he brought many advanced weapons from Roman to Assyria, filling the gap of Assyria's lack of weapons. It is really difficult to guess how strong the Pilgrimage Alliance is now.
"I hope he can be more cautious," Raphael pressed his brow, "How is the recruitment of the fourth batch of soldiers going?"
Ferrante hesitated. "...It's in progress."
Raphael keenly noticed something from his pauses and words, and said, "Not many people signed up?"
Ferrante did not respond.
Because of the enactment of the Religious Freedom Act, many people who regarded this war as a sacred battle and hoped to plunder wealth from it were greatly disappointed. The devout believers had already boarded the first three batches of ships, and the rest began to wait and see and retreat. The conscription activities that were in full swing suddenly became deserted overnight.
Raphael nodded calmly: "I understand."
Redrick wiped his face, and the sticky blood and dust on his hands made a mask on his face. The Duke, who was always well-dressed and paid great attention to his noble appearance, raised his sword and pulled out a corner of his cloak that was pressed by the corpse with one hand. He pulled out the boots stuck in the mud and roared: "Where is the horse - who else has a horse?! Call back all the idiots who are chasing!"
He yelled at the top of his lungs in a very ungraceful manner, then sat down on the ground, not caring that there was a dead body with its eyes open next to his legs.
Redrick took a deep breath, and his personal soldiers came over from the side one after another. Each of them had a bloody face, and it was hard to tell whether their expressions were happy or not.
"Sir, please don't run forward next time." His captain of the guards pleaded painfully.
"A qualified general should be surrounded by the army, waiting for the results! Instead of rushing to the front like you, doing the same thing as those soldiers." The captain looked at his broken sword, a painful expression on his face.
"If anything happens to you, how am I going to explain this to Lady Cassandra?"
If it were in the past, Redrick would have been furious when he heard this, and would have jumped up and slapped the captain in the face, but after spending some time with him, he more or less knew that the captain was just such a sticky person, so he just rolled his eyes in an indecent manner: "Even if I die, my mother still has other children."
Seeing the captain showing a look of disapproval and about to start speaking again, Redrick, who had already sensed the headache, quickly changed the subject: "Why haven't those idiots who went to chase them come back yet?"
This was not their first encounter with the Pilgrimage Alliance. All previous encounters had come somewhat suddenly, and were mostly small-scale battles involving small armies. Both sides maintained a certain degree of vigilance and restraint, and the casualties were basically one to one. After several encounters, even Redrick was a little lax, but he always maintained basic vigilance and did not allow his soldiers to pursue the remnants of the enemy. But obviously, someone could not hold back this time.
"When they come back, we will forfeit their meal today and have the monks lead them in scripture reading for the whole night." Redrick said with a sullen face.
But until they returned to the base, those who had gone to pursue them had not returned.
Redrick looked grim, he realized something had happened, was the encounter in the afternoon a trap? But if it was a trap, they must have a bigger plan. In order to complete their plan, how could they not help but kill the few people who came to chase them? But to say it was a coincidence is even more impossible.
All of Redrick's muscles were tense, and he began to think frantically about every battle during this period, digging out every detail that seemed reasonable but actually had problems, trying to find the source of it all. But no matter how he thought about it over and over again, he could not find anything suspicious. Everything happened just right, without any deliberate traces, just like the fate written by the Holy Lord.
Early the next morning, Redrick sent out several groups of Holy Crows to search for traces of the missing persons. They found nothing in the search. Finally, a soldier accidentally found a linen purse belonging to a missing person scattered in the jungle. Following this trace, they determined the death of the missing persons and found their bodies buried deep next to the tree roots.
The experienced Holy Crows quickly determined the cause of death of the corpses. They were almost all killed by violent cutting with cold weapons within a short period of time. The blades fiercely cut their necks and abdomens at the same time, almost cutting each of them into several pieces. This kind of strength is not something that ordinary people can possess. Even the specially trained and strong Assyrians could not cut several pieces in an instant.
But steam light armor can.
That is a weapon designed specifically for killing.
As expected, the weapons that Queen Amenra brought from Roman fell into the hands of the Pilgrimage Alliance.
This message was sent to Florence urgently, along with a request for steam-powered light armor. Knowing that the other party had such a weapon, insisting on using manpower to fight was not courage, but stupidity.
Raphael approved the application as soon as he received it, signed the Pope's commendation order, and gave it to the Holy Raven to take to Assyria.
Redrick couldn't tell how he felt when he received the unexpected Pope's commendation.
He stared and confirmed it four times before he was sure that the name on the commendation was really his, and that every word on it was in his familiar handwriting.
This is a document written by the Pope himself, not something mass-produced by the Secretariat of the Papal Palace.
Redrick stared at the document as if he was looking at gunpowder that could explode at any time, and for the first time he felt confused.
He doesn't understand.
Even Rederic himself admitted that he had been extremely bad to Raphael in the past. He had cursed and mocked Raphael with the most vicious words, fought with him, and was hostile to Raphael like an enemy. He tried every means to squeeze Raphael out of the Florence Seminary. If Raphael had not been taken care of by St. Vitalian III and studied with Julius, it would be hard to say what would have happened to Raphael.
But he thought vaguely and found that he could not remember at all why he hated Raphael so much back then.
An illegitimate child whose origins were unknown seemed to have reasons to be hated. He should have crawled in the mud and lived a miserable life like those low-class untouchables. But he actually stood under the bright sky, showing his extraordinary talent and brilliance, shining brightly above them...`
Redrick suddenly recalled the scene when he first met Raphael. He returned home from seminary and found that the servants at home looked strange and weird. He did not pay attention to these small details, but saw the person sitting in the garden through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hall.
The young Raphael was skinny and languid, with long light blond hair that looked frizzy due to lack of nutrition, and was forcibly tied into a bun with a silk ribbon. He was wrapped in a snow-white satin shirt with a starched collar, and his black breeches showed off his slender waist that seemed big enough to be embraced with one hand. The sunlight shone down from behind him, penetrating the silk shirt, making his fair skin vaguely visible through the fabric. His entire outline was covered with a soft, furry halo, and he was as quiet as if an angel had landed there.
He held a book, his back slightly bent, as cautious as a kitten brought into an unfamiliar environment, with all his hair puffed up carefully. At that time, he was not as handsome as he is now, and long-term hunger made his cheeks thin and shapeless, but even so, Redrick could discern the hidden refinement in his overly superior bones and high nose bridge.
Like a kitten that has fallen into the water and been washed clean.
Who adopted the child? Or a playmate for him? If it was this person, he could consider taking good care of him, at least he wouldn't let him starve like this, the proud young master thought with certainty that he would not bully him and could also give him the closest position to him.
At that time he didn't know who Raphael was, this was his first impression when he saw Raphael.
So he didn't understand. Redrick looked at the commendation letter and he didn't think Raphael would forgive himself... No, this word was really a bit disgusting, but why?
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