On January 14, 1497, the weather had become slightly cloudy by noon, and by nearly 2 o'clock for lunch, a very sudden heavy rain came, and the sky suddenly became a basin of leaky water.

The icy rain washed the whole city directly, and the sky became dark, and some wealthy families even had to light candles to eat.

The people who were outside had to go back to their houses, and the streets were full of rainwater that had turned into streams along the terrain, and some people who could not go home could only step on the rain flowing under their feet one foot deeper, and endure the cold from their soaked feet and continue to walk on the road.

Because of the uneven terrain of the city of Rome, deep rain quickly accumulated in many places, and pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages had to make detours, and for a time some places that were not spacious but could still pass became crowded.

A carriage moved slowly through the crowd of people who kept moving slowly, and although the guards in front of the carriage had loudly announced the identity of the adult in the carriage, because there were so many people on the road, no one took the initiative to give way to the name of the adult, and perhaps because of the pride to which the Romans were accustomed, no one was willing to give way to a bishop from Sicily.

The contempt for outsiders made the Bishop of Palermo, Alfonso, deeply appreciate the arrogance of the Romans, who seemed to have this indelible arrogance in their bones, even at the lowest level, so that they did not bother to make way for a Bishop of Palermo.

Alfonso was a little annoyed, but it made him admire the pope who was born as an archbishop of Valencia.

It is well known that when Alexander VI came to Rome from Valencia to take up the cardinal position that his uncle had paid for him, the foreigner with a strong Aragonese accent was met with only contempt and distrust, and no one thought that this man could do anything earth-shattering in Rome, let alone that 20 years later, the Church of Flowery Bishops from Valencia would become the supreme ruler of the whole Christian world.

Alexander VI, however, did just that, he did a great job as cardinal, and then he finally ascended to the papal throne with straightforward and bold bribery and various intrigues, and not long after he became pope, he used his position as the supreme ruler of all Catholics to engage in a series of dazzling diplomatic maneuvers, the result of which was a ruling on the maritime affairs of Portugal and Spain that had a profound impact on everyone at the time. He completed the major move of dividing a papal meridian.

Today, the pope from Valencia has become the real master of the Vatican, and even if he openly seeks the interests of his illegitimate children, no one dares to stand up and resist, and although his mistress and illegitimate daughter are contemptuously called "the bride of Christ" or "the princess of Rome" by many people, this title is not a tacit acquiescence and envy of the great authority of Alexander VI.

Alfonso felt that Alexander VI was his role model, and although he was unimpressed by the man's extravagant private life, he felt that as a nobleman and bishop from Spain, he did not necessarily feel that he could not become the second Alexander VI.

The road in front of him was finally cleared, and the carriage began to move forward slowly with the rushing rain, because the water was so deep that water poured in through the gap by the door every time the car shook, and Alfonso's shoes were soon soaked, because of the cold he had to put his legs away, and just as he was secretly cursing the ghostly weather, a rapid sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from behind the carriage, and it soon rushed to the side of the carriage.

"Get out of the way! Make way for the messenger! A voice that sounded familiar to Alfonso sounded behind the carriage, and he looked out a little strangely, but saw no figure, and just as he was about to pay no attention to it, the anxious voice shouted again to the coachman who was driving him, "Give way, give way to the messenger of Lord Gonzalo at once!" ”

Alfonso remembered for a moment, and he knew why he thought it sounded familiar, it was because the accent of the caller was familiar to him, it must have been an Aragonese.

Gonzalo's messenger?

This caught Alfonso's attention.

Alfonso hadn't had anything to do with the French for a long time since he hooked up with the French and had the cunning French trick him up, but since he had to agree to Clarion's advice in order to become a cardinal, he couldn't help but be concerned about the French side of things.

It is said that the French had a very bad winter this winter, although the French army surrounded in the suburbs of Piedmont was very abruptly given a large amount of food as supplies to survive the most difficult days, but the situation was not much better because of the food, the low morale made the French hopeless, and the French generals did not dare to make rash decisions because the king was not around, although many people have understood that withdrawal is the only way out, but because at least nominal Rome is still controlled by the French, So not a single French general dared to order the withdrawal of troops before the king's consent.

Gonzalo, as the commander of the coalition forces, obviously saw the embarrassment of the French, and because of this, he strictly ordered the coalition troops stationed outside Rome to besiege and not attack, and sometimes even to avoid the appearance of encirclement, they only had to stay in the camp on their side, and the reason why Gonzalo did this was soon understood.

Obviously, the guy who was favored by the queen of Castile saw through the French completely, so he deliberately put the French in a dilemma in this way, as if to relieve the siege of Rome only by marching to Rome, but everyone knew that this was impossible, but no one dared to give an order to retreat back to France, so the French spent the whole winter in this depression and helplessness.

Now that Gonzalo's messenger has suddenly appeared in Rome, does this mean that the war, which has lasted for almost a winter, is about to have a result?

Alfonso couldn't help but get a little nervous, not so much concerned about the fate of the French, but a little worried about his future, after all, if the French really lost badly, he could lose a strong patron.

Alfonso ordered the coachman to give way to the messenger while looking out of the door, and when he saw two guards surrounding a knight wrapped in a thick blanket to protect him from the cold, he immediately said to the man in a loud voice: "God bless your child, are you the messenger of General Gonzalo?" ”

Perhaps it was the same Aragonese accent that caught the attention of the man, who had tucked his head into the blanket and poked his head out into the carriage, and when he saw that it was actually a bishop talking to him, the man immediately bowed down on his horse, and at the same time replied in a loud voice: "Thank God, yes, my honorable bishop, I am the military attaché of the count's side." ”

Alfonso nodded, he knew that the count this person was talking about should be Gonzalo, in the early years, because of her outstanding performance in the Reconquista, Queen Isabella of Castile did not hesitate to reward the general she liked, and the count of Gonzalo was crowned by the queen at that time.

"So how is the front now, I heard that it is in Piedmont, is it, the French are there."

"Not a big man, that was before," the attendant seemed to be very excited to see the fellow, he slowed down his horse and marched with the carriage, "Now the French have retreated from the outskirts of Piedmont, but they did not enter the city, it was because the Piedmontese refused to let them enter the city, this thing is so funny, this time even their palace minister did not dare to speak, because the Piedmontese were afraid of being attacked by the coalition army, so they threatened their palace minister to overthrow him if they dared to agree to the French to enter the city." ”

"Oh," Alfonso jumped in his heart, this was not good news, but he continued to ask, "where did the French go, did they go back to France?" ”

"No," said the squire, apparently excited, and probably found it too rude to speak to a bishop in this way, so he simply lifted the blanket from his body, revealing a delicate-looking red coat inside, and seeing that Alfonso seemed attracted to his coat, the squire said in a ostentatious tone, "it was captured from a Frenchman, who was in a hurry to flee like a flock of frightened rabbits, and the French knight was captured by me without even wearing all his armor, Otherwise I'll get a whole set of good French armor. ”

Alfonso nodded absentmindedly, his mood was a little bad, he didn't expect the French to be so unbeaten, can't they hold on a little longer, at least until he becomes a cardinal.

"The French are now retreating to Nice, and it is said that the King of France has gone there to prepare to reorganize his army, but even if he comes, it will be useless, Lord Gonzalo's army is invincible, I'm sorry Bishop I have to hurry, I have to send this news to the Vatican." The attendant shouted triumphantly, and then he saluted Alfonso, and then urged his horse and his men to run forward.

Looking at the messenger who was running all the way forward, Alfonso's original good mood was somewhat affected, even if today was indeed an important day for him, but the news made him a little uncertain.

Alfonso's carriage left the crowd and walked up a slight upward slope, where the streets narrowed and the buildings on either side suddenly became disorganized.

This is the Jewish Quarter.

Alfonso didn't care that he would be discovered, the city of Rome was too big and he wasn't a big figure, and even if someone happened to see him passing by, they would only think that he was taking a shortcut to the Vatican, after all, many people go this way.

A nondescript carriage had been waiting for a long time, and when Alfonso got out of it, someone came to greet him, and when he got into the car, the carriage began to make its way through the rugged alleys until it finally stopped in front of a shop.

The elderly Jews in the house had been waiting for a long time, and they were somewhat relaxed when they saw Alfonso, but then they became curious, for they could not understand how the bishop could have such a "thing" that made them jaw-dropping.

At the invitation of the other party, Alfonso sat down, he didn't really want to meet with these Jews, if it wasn't for Clarion saying before he left that it was part of the agreement, he didn't want to see these guys who made a fortune from loan sharks, their reputation was too stinky.

And now he didn't want to talk much, so he waved his hand to the silent coachman who was following him.

Several Jews had already paid attention to the masked coachman, but they all thought that this man might be an entourage, and they were aware of a very tight wooden box he was carrying.

It was supposed to be the "collateral" in it, and the eyes of the Jews began to glow.

Seeing the box on the table, Alfonso also glanced at it with some curiosity, when Cleion told him that he would use this thing as collateral for this loan, Alfonso was really curious about what was worth such a large sum of money, and now he couldn't help but look at it a few more times when he saw the person who Crane arranged for the box to be on the table.

"Forgive me, sir, for not being able to call you your honorific title directly, for I think it will be good for both of us," said an elderly Jew, who saw Alfonso's nod of approval, took out a contract bound together on several pieces of paper, and first looked at the candle to confirm the contents of his habit, and then began to read the terms and conditions inside...... In accordance with the above terms, the lender will provide a total of 12,000 gold florins with interest of 4 cents per month, which will be repaid within a period of 6 months in accordance with the agreement, with the expectation of an additional 1 cent, secured by the collateral provided by the borrower, but the collateral cannot be used as a dead pledge, and the borrower shall be entitled to recover the collateral after any repayment of all principal and interest......"

Although the old man's voice was muffled and he read slowly, he still read it sentence by sentence, and when he finally read everything, he slowly pushed the contract in front of Alfonso.

"Your Excellency, you can take a look at these terms now, don't worry, we can wait."

Alfonso frowned, he didn't really know what to think of these terms, and even he didn't know what kind of deal Crion had negotiated with these Jews, and when he heard that the interest was actually 4 cents a month, and he expected to increase it later, he even wanted to stand up and turn around and leave, knowing that even if Alexander VI spent almost bankrupt to bribe the entire cardinal order to become pope, he did not have to rely on usury.

But the strange masked man secretly pressed his shoulder, and the guy's hand was so strong that Alfonso suddenly realized that the person who borrowed the money didn't seem to be himself.

The masked man slowly picked up the contract on the table, and he looked at it under the surprised gaze of several Jews, then picked up the pen on the table and quickly signed a name in the space below.

The Jews were surprised, they didn't know how the retinue had come in, but they were soon attracted by the masked man's hand on the wooden box, and everyone's eyes became hot, so that Alfonso couldn't help but turn his head nervously and curiously at the mysterious box.

"This thing will be with you for the time being," the Masked Man said for the first time, his voice low and cold, completely different from Clarion's somewhat businessman's oily and boring tone, "You must take care of it, after all, it is a priceless treasure. ”

"Of course. We will do our best to protect it. The Jew named Isaac who had been in contact with Kryan said nervously, and he clenched his fist hard, although he knew that this thing could not belong to them, but he had always felt that he had done a great thing for all the Jews because of the great meaning behind this thing.

The lock of the wooden box is removed, and the lid of the box is gently opened under the gaze of everyone.

A few lights flickered in the light of the candles, and when they saw what was inside, all the Jews couldn't help but be short of breath and their faces turned red, while Alfonso, who was next to him, was completely stunned by surprise and shock!

It was a crown set with many precious stones, among which the large ruby in the center of the crown was exuding a dazzling magnificence, and the cross on the top of the crown was adorned with several brilliant gemstones.

But these gemstones, while precious, are not the most important.

What really amazes everyone is the unique shape of this tiara due to its three different layers.

It's a triple crown!