Lateran Palace, Rome.

The sky was already dark, and the palaces that commanded Christendom had just had a sleepless night. All of them did not feel a trace of sleepiness on this night. Round after round of deals went on behind the scenes, land, titles, parishes, priesthoods, privileges, real money, all transferable benefits were exchanged. The holiest court of Christianity seemed to have become an auction house in Venice and Genoa. The Pope's crown became a priceless item in the hands of the auctioneer. The people who were qualified to decide who belonged to it all became Monopoly at the time of the day, except for Pontaleon.

He's bankrupt! In one night, he lost all his savings, parish, estate, and estate, and he was in debt, making him the poorest man in all of Europa.

However, he received the crown of the Pope - the election of the Pope will be held this afternoon, and it will not take long to discuss the election of the Pope. By the time of supper to-day, Pontaléon would be the head of the Ecumenical Church.

I am the poorest pope ever...... After a busy night's work, Pontaléon sat down in his chair and thought about the cost of becoming a Christian leader.

I am now poorer than St. Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and the first pope! The future Pope thought to himself that St. Peter had at least one fishing boat and could catch many big fish on a regular basis.

And he, the one hundred and eighty-fourth Pope Sirisius II (after becoming the Pope, he will give himself a new religious name, Pontaléon chose Celestius) in addition to a heart of faithful service to God, only debt, what a poverty! He was so poor that even God couldn't look at it.

Fortunately, God will not allow his most loyal servant to remain a pauper. Pontaléon sipped wine given to him by Henri III, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne – the best wine in all of Europe. He also served it in the most beautifully crafted Venetian goblet - admiring his virtue of being content with poverty, and at the same time thinking about how to get a lot of money......

Selling indulgences is one way to go. The future Pope thought to himself. There are so many sinners in this world that indulgences must sell well.

Selling holy water is also a way to make money. The water consecrated by the Pope has miraculous powers, heals diseases and cleanses sins, and is sure to sell very well.

Of course, the fastest way to get money is to sell the priesthood! As soon as you sell a few diocesan bishops, archbishops, and abbots, money will come pouring in like water. However, the premise is that there are enough parishes to sell ...... If the Mongols were allowed to occupy too much territory, the number of parishes that could be sold would be greatly reduced!

In view of this, I have to lead the Christians and the Mongols to do a good job!

Attaleon shook his head and smiled bitterly. Got up and walked out of the bedroom. Think of the room that belongs to the Pope. Get a taste of King's Landing Christianity in advance. Pushing open the door slightly, Alfonso X of Castile was seen wearing a purple silk robe. He was standing there with a glass wine bottle, one hand raised, as if ready to knock on the door. The future Pope and the future Emperor couldn't help but smile when they looked at each other. Alfonso X shook the bottle in his hand. Nodding to Attaleon. Pontaléon invited Alfonso X into the door, opened the champagne he had brought, took out a tall glass, poured it with champagne, and handed it to the King of Castile. Then he filled his own glass with wine.

"Your Majesty, have you come to Rome?"

"Just arrived, just in time for a great moment. Congratulations, my friend. ”

"Great moments...... But it's also a tough time! Very. It's tough! ”

"Yes, the two of us will face this era together......"

"God will be on our side!"

"Yes, and God!"

The two clinked glasses. Each took a sip of champagne. It was obviously celebrating, but their faces were not good-looking. Because they know. He may well be the last Pope and the last Holy Roman Emperor!

The pope of Pontaléon has been finalized, but the emperor of Alfonso X has not yet been decided. The two were about to discuss how to bribe the emperor. There was a sharp knock on the door, and then Giovanni was heard. Doria's voice trembled.

"Your Highness, Your Highness Pontalion, are you inside?"

Pontaléon and Alfonso X glanced at each other, and both had a very bad premonition.

"Your Highness Doria, please come in." Pontaléon stood up and walked to the door, ready to meet the young cardinal.

The door was slammed open, and Giovanni was seen. Doria stood there with a grim face.

"The Genoese Concession in Constantinople (the concession seems to have also been invented by the Italian merchant state, and the Eastern Roman Empire was restored with the help of Genoa, so Genoa had a concession in Constantinople) came with terrible news, terrible news...... The Eastern Roman Emperor Michael VIII has declared himself a vassal to the Great Khan of the Mongols! The Great Khan of Mongolia made him the Khan of Rome! This abominable traitor, the Antichrist, who sold his soul to the devil! ”

When the future Pope heard the news, his face immediately turned blue, his body shook, and he almost fell to the ground, but fortunately, Alfonso X, who was beside him, quickly helped him.

A momentary feeling of dizziness swept through the mind of the cunning Pontaléon. The news was scary, very scary, but not unexpected. The Eastern Roman emperor of Constantinople had no affection for the Latins of the West. His homeland, the Eastern Roman Empire, was destroyed by the Crusaders for 61 years! He has nothing but hatred for the West!

Now that Mongolia is about to be overwhelmed by a large army, what reason does he have to resist the Mongols for the West? If the Mongols allowed him to continue to rule the Eastern Romans, they could even help him expand his territory and allow the Greeks to maintain their orthodox faith. So taking refuge in Mongolia is probably the most acceptable thing for the Eastern Roman Empire, right?

What else would they have done otherwise? Do you want to fight the Mongols to pieces so that your enemies, the Latins, can buy time to organize resistance?

……

"In the power of immortality, in the great blessing and shade, the Great Khan's holy decree: the Eastern Roman King Michael. Palaiologos, Patriarch John of Constantinople. The two Josephs were very obedient in their usual ways, knew the righteousness, and knew the affairs well, and I also heard about them in the flicker. Today, I will raise millions of soldiers to march westward, unify the European continent, and open a time of peace for all generations. The two of them also sent envoys to ask for surrender, willing to welcome the king's teacher, and asked to be the vanguard, quite loyal and obedient, and even won my heart.

Sealed by Michael. Palaioliu was the king of Pingxi of the Great Mongols, the chief of the Mediterranean naval army, and the Roman Khan. Possessed Constantinople, Greece......

Sealed by John. Joseph is the Christian patriarch, the king of the Dharma, and the ruler of all the Christians in the world......"

In the imperial palace of Constantinople, the magistrate of the Great Mongolian State, the right capital of the Red Banner, Liu Xiaoyuan, the prince of Zhenguo, was holding a holy decree and reading it word by word to the Eastern Roman Emperor Michael VIII and the Patriarch of Constantine (the head of the Orthodox Church) John. Joseph also had a bunch of Eastern Roman and Orthodox bigwigs listening.

The proposal to woo Michael VIII was made by the Golden Horde Nahai, the Ilkhan Abaha, and the Mamluk Sultan Baibers, who had submitted to the Mongols. Moreover, the three men unanimously recommended that Michael VIII be made "Roman Khan", with Constantinople, Greece, Italy, western Asia Minor, the Iberian Peninsula, and most of the islands in the Mediterranean.

In this way, Michael VIII was barely able to restore the Roman Empire - either the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire was shouted by someone else, and Michael VIII and his subjects thought they were proper Romans.

In addition to wooing Michael VIII, Kublai Khan also decided to woo the Orthodox Church. Although he will not abandon the general policy of Lamaism and Confucianism. But he still planned to take full advantage of the strife within Christianity, and canonized Patriarch Constantine as the Christian patriarch and propagation king, and led the whole of Christianity!

In front of these two big cakes, Michael VIII and John. Patriarch Joseph no longer hesitated, and immediately expressed his loyalty to Kuyu.

Of course, just two edicts are not enough to make Michael VIII, known as the "omnipotent spider", truly submit, at most to offer some tribute and send a daughter to Kublai Khan perfunctory.

However, Liu Xiaoyuan, the judge of the Great Mongolia, brought a full 25,000 troops - the Mongolian Eight Banners Army!

This is a hodgepodge of military and political interest groups created by Kublai Khan after integrating the Mongols, Han Chinese, yellow people, and some Caucasian people in the land of the Three Rivers, and obtained some Kipchaks who were willing to follow (with more yellow blood) and Jochi Mongols, as well as a small number of Mongols who ran from Hexi, Hetao, and Qingtang grasslands.

The organization within this interest group followed the example of the Eight Banners of the Ming Dynasty and the later Manchu Qing Dynasty in breaking down the boundaries of tribes and ethnic groups and creating a privileged nation, which was very effective in integrating the miscellaneous brands.

After this integration, the population that Kublai Khan could control has reached 1.5 million! Among them, there are 1 million banner people and 1 million flag slaves (mainly white-eyed craftsmen, serfs and white slaves serving the flag man). Among the 1 million banner people, as many as 200,000 can enlist in the army. It was organized into 8 flags by Kublai Khan, each with a population of 125,000, 25,000 warriors and 125,000 banner slaves.

However, Kublai Khan did not listen to Liu Xiaoyuan's suggestion to organize the Mongols into the upper four banners and the rest of the bannermen into the lower four banners. Instead, it was reorganized according to the needs of military operations -- each of the eight Mongolian banners had 3,000 musketeers from the original Han and eight banners, forming a separate association, and four former Mongols from the association served as horse armor soldiers, and the rest were infantry soldiers recruited from various colors.

In this way, each flag is a separate combat cluster, and this time Liu Xiaoyuan brought the whole army of the Red Banner. (To be continued......)