The dining room was so quiet that it seemed as if they could hear each other's heartbeats, Cizer was shocked as he looked at the money that settled in front of Ye Sumineng, there was finally a look in his empty pupils, it was a shock that went straight to the depths of his soul.
The Pope took a deep breath and nodded slightly, "Yes, today is Sizer's birthday, and he will turn fifteen after tonight."
"That was calculated?" Pliny's eyes widened in shock at this magic from the East.
He couldn't help but believe that it was calculated, tonight was their first meeting, before that as an orientalist Yessoumeng didn't even have a chance to hear Sizer's name, more importantly, the boys of the big noble families never announced their birthdays to the public, so as not to let some heretics studying witchcraft use this as a way to cast unholy black magic to harm them. For the boys of the Borgia family, a grand birthday party would only be held after they graduated from the seminary, when they already had the patronage of the gods.
Ye Suminung picked up the money on the table and put it in a bamboo tube, gently placing it in front of Sizer, "To speak arrogantly, if Your Highness is truly unafraid to see the future, I won't begrudge you my full strength."
"To deplete what you call 'the fundamentals of life' to divine for me?" Cesaire played with the bamboo tube.
"As a diviner, with skill on your side, you will also want a chance to give your all." Ye Suminun's hands were sleeved into his arms, sitting withered as if in meditation, his face expressionless, "Your Highness, you're already in the game."
"Into the game?" Xizier frowned.
"As I said earlier, fate is a game of Heaven's Way, and divination is stealing Heaven's Way. But the diviner alone can't steal the Heaven's Way, I also need the questioner to come into my bureau as well. Your Highnesses Susa and Pliny have never been in the game, and their belief in my divination is somewhere between faith and disbelief. But your highness is different, I have just calculated your birthday, you have already believed in my divination. Once you believe in it, you have entered into the game, into the depths of divination. This lesson is the future, and you can't change your life, death, sorrow or happiness. Allow me to remind Your Highness that if you withdraw from this bureau now, it is still not too late." Ye Sumeng paused and said softly, "Those who want to see their future are not those who seek a good end."
"Father!" Su Sal suddenly changed his face and lowered his voice, "This kind of divination ..."
Although privately the nobles of Fei Leng Cui believed in divination, but the Pope's summer palace, practicing such forbidden divination at the Pope's table was a great disrespect. Not to mention that even Ye Sumeng herself said that the divinations of the depths had become demonic.
The Pope waved his hand bashfully, "Susal, remember what I rooted you to say, as long as one carries a devout heart, not even the devil can snatch you away from God's embrace."
He turned to Sizzle, "You can decide for yourself if you want to have this divination with Mr. Ye."
"Mr. Ye, have you ever divined for someone like this before?" Sizzle asked.
"There are only two people who are willing to enter my game and not back out." Ye Suemeng said lightly, "One was our country's ruler, Mr. Hara Makoto."
"And the result?"
"Of course it's an evil trigram." Ye Sumeng laughed, "Because the king of the country is asking who will kill him in the future, how can such a question hair ask for auspicious trigrams?"
"There really is someone who doesn't ask the trigrams for a good end, ah, it makes people want to meet him." Xizier eyes have light flashed, "Then what did he say when he knew?"
"An open man sat in the palace drinking all night, very despondent. But the next morning it was back to normal, as if nothing had happened." Ye Sumeng said, "Sometimes I myself suspect that the one who asked the divination that night was not himself, but his twin brother or something."
"What about the second person?"
"It was the teacher who taught me divination. On the day he thought I was ready to leave the school, he asked me to read a fortune for him. Because he was the master of Oriental Divination, there was no one else in the world who could match him, and there had never been a student under him who could leave the school at the end of his art." Ye Sumeng said softly, "That day when he came to ask me for divination, I realized why he urged me to learn divination relentlessly, even to the point of bullying. He always wanted a second self in the world so that he could ask for divination."
"Your teacher was such an interesting man."
"But it's lonely, isn't it? He can divine the affairs of the world, but very few people are in his game; he wants to be in other people's games, but his divination is like standing on top of a high mountain, no one can compare." Ye Sumeng sighed.
"What did your teacher ask?"
"He asked for the date of his death."
"Another one who doesn't ask for a good death." Sizer said, "And after asking the date of his death?"
"I heard that he spent the years before his death indulging in wine and sex, keeping hundreds of beautiful concubines and cellars of all colors of wine from the East and West. Opened the door of divination, no matter who asked him to divination he agreed, as long as the money. So although he spent a lot of money, he still piled up a cellar of silver. Then suddenly one day another disciple of his came to me, brought a few big car 100 silver, more than a dozen big car wine, beautiful women stuffed more than a hundred big car, said the teacher to his family property are given to me." Ye Sumeng said, "That day I knew he was dead, the date of his death was as I had divined, and like all divination masters, he did not have a good end."
"I see." Sizer shook the bamboo tube in his hand.
"Your Highness," Ye Su Meng said, "after the six lines come together, it is like cast iron forming a mountain, and there is no way to avoid the hexagrams, even if they are the most evil."
"As my father said, he who carries righteous faith in his heart, not even the devil can take me from God's embrace. Even if I die, I will see the door of heaven open for me." Without hesitation, Sizer shook out the money in the bamboo tube.
All three pieces of money were Nuwa side up, the human-faced, snake-bodied woman smiling motherly and kindly.
"The first line, the old yin transforms into the young yang." Ye Sumeng dipped her knife in the sauce from the plate of rock lamb and drew a horizontal line on her napkin.
"Second line, old yin turns into young yang ... Third line, old yin turns into young yang ... Fourth line ... Old yin turns into young yang... ..."
With each time Sizer shook out the money in the bamboo tube, not only Susar and Pliny, even the Pope and Ye Sumeng changed their expression, and the only sound in the dining room was the sound of the money hitting the bamboo tube and the tabletop, and it was as if the temperature had gone down. Unbelievable things are happening at this table, Xizier rolled out each line is the old yin into less yang, each time towards the top of the world on behalf of the yin Nuwa, representing the yin of the world, representing the yang of the Fu Xi seems to be in order to avoid this person's fate and hide underneath the refused to show his face even once.
The first line to the fifth line, all of them are the most yin, the fifth time three gold coins settled, Ye Sumeng subconsciously clenched his fist, the pale bones made a slight popping sound.
Everyone's expression was grave and uneasy, Susal and Pliny whispered, Pliny even tried to turn the money over to see if the money had been tampered with. But when the money is in his hands, Fuxi reveals his face.
"Is it a sinister trigram?" The Pope asked in a low voice.
"No, not menacing, just strange." Ye Sumeng got up to straighten the sleeves of his robe and looked down at the table, "From the first line to the fifth line all move. I've divined no less than ten thousand times in my life, and I've never had a hexagram like this to the yin, and it's all moving lines."
"What is this symbol?"
"Less than the sixth line is difficult to distinguish, but has been out of the five lines, the last line is nothing more than yin and yang one of the two, counting the two phases of movement and static, a total of only four in the possible." Ye Sumeng said in a low voice, "This is like playing chess to the finale, the last few pieces will decide to win or lose. But the flow of the Heavenly Dao is so profound and subtle that I still can't see anything until the last piece of money is settled."
"It is an honor to have the privilege of seeing the masters of Eastern Divination give their best," the Pope nodded slightly, "but Sizer my boy, though I know you have been stubborn, do you really not want to give up? I do not wish to trade the fate of my dear son in exchange for witnessing the mysterious arts."
Sizel gazed silently at the bamboo tube on the table and shook his head gently. The boy's stubbornness was revealed at this moment, and up until this point he hadn't said why exactly he wanted to carry out this divination, it seemed that he just wasn't willing to back down in front of Ye Sumeng.
"Brother, what should we do?" Pliny came close to whispering in Susal's ear.
The two of them had already retreated to one side of the table, and the Pope had also gotten up and stood on the other side of the table, leaving only Ye Sumeng and Cesar standing at the table.
Susal frowned and shook his head, "What else? Stand here and watch."
While Susal and Pliny were born of the same mother and were close to each other as brothers, Césaire's mother is rarely mentioned. For the Pope's other wife, Mrs. Mercy Lindsay, was put to the flames for heresy when the current Pope, Gregory II, was only a cardinal. Of course this did not stop Gregory II from being the master of the Vatican, as by that time he had divorced both of his wives and dedicated his life to the service of God. The burning at the stake of Mercy Lindsay's poisoner was a powerful illustration of Gregory II's piety, and that anyone who disobeyed God was his enemy, even the women he had once been closest to.
But for Césaire the stain could not be erased, and even though the former Pope had granted him the right to disassociate himself from his executed mother, and his file contained only his father, leaving his mother's field blank, legally speaking he was a motherless man, the title "Child of the Witch's Blood" still followed him as he grew up.
The only reason this was never mentioned in public was that the Pope showed equal love for the son.
"But that oriental princess is your brother's!" Pliny said through clenched teeth, "Is Sizer trying to show he's different? He's always had a lot of spooky ideas, and now yeh're attention is drawn to him."
The two boys had received a message from their teacher before they arrived that Susal should be the star of the union and Pliny should help his brother by making him the one who drew the most attention at the dinner. This strategy had been executed well for the first half of the dinner, with Susal being the guest of honor who talked with Ye Suemeng, and Pliny occasionally interjecting to make the conversation a little more interesting, with Sizer being left out of that conversation.
Sizzle hadn't shown any desire to intervene in the conversation either, and he didn't seem to be interested at all in what Ye Suemeng had to say about the eastern customs and traditions.
Until it was his turn to do the divination, everything changed.
At this rate it was hard to tell if Suzal would be able to fulfill his teachers' instructions. Their teachers, Cardinal Cicero and Cardinal Gracchus, were of equal status, both cardinal secretaries, the most weighty religious ministers in Filippo, and the Pope had to respect their opinions. For the Borgia boys, the theology teacher was the equivalent of the "Eastern Palace" set up for the Prince in the Eastern countries. The prince had a full cabinet in his palace, including brave generals and outspoken civil servants, with the tacit approval of the emperor. When the Prince ascended to the throne, these men would be the new Emperor's governing body, and most of the old ministers would be purged. In Filippo, the pope assigned to each son a respected "teacher" as their political backer, whether Cicero or Gracchus, representing a large group of noblemen. The future political life of the boys in Filippo was at stake.
The Borgia boys were not just there for themselves, but also for the great families behind them.
The nobles behind Susar, with Gragoo as their leader, thought that Susar should take the chance of a marriage with the Jindu Kingdom, which was in the interest of many people. Susar did not have any opinion on this marriage, he was already close to the age of marriage, a princess from a small country in the east is a bit reluctant to match his status, but this marriage is valued and blessed by the Pope, that is, an important political bargaining chip, to get this bargaining chip for the soon-to-be-adult Susar's popularity will be helpful. In particular, rumor has it that the Pope is trying to open the door to the East with this marriage ...
Few Westerners had ever been to the East, and the scattered reports that came back said that it was a land of gold and ivory, where monarchs rode in golden chariots, turquoise and amber adorned their crowns, and petals of roses and violets paved their paths.
The gates of the East were the gates of wealth, the gateway to the end of the world.
Every aristocrat in Filippo believed that Susaar was a candidate for the papacy, and that he would be divorced anyway. Marriage for Susaar was a passing rite of passage, and Susaar didn't care who it was with, if it meant gaining important political leverage. What's more, pure princess that is a stunning beauty, young Su Sal heart absolutely comfortable a lot.
He originally had absolute confidence, regardless of age, speech, power, he should be the first choice of the emissary of the Jin Du country. A small country in the east, shouldn't it be the most powerful party? But Sizer's strange performance let things slip out of his control, that has been silent, has been away from the conversation outside the Sizer, in fact, Su Saar noticed that from the money in the bamboo tube to make a pleasant ringing sound, Sizer's attention has been attracted.
Sizzle cared about divination, but why?
Showing himself to compete for the princess?
"Don't worry brother," Pliny gave a mischievous look, "the princess will be yours, I promise."
"What?" Susal froze.
"Have you forgotten? Sizzle's sick, who would pick the sick one?"
"You mean his epilepsy?" Susal understood, "But you can't just tell the emissaries from the Jindu Kingdom that Sizer has epilepsy when father is around, it's something father asked everyone to keep secret."
"But what if he falls ill on the spot?" Pliny quietly held up his finger to show Susal, a drenching red, like freshly spilled blood that hadn't yet coagulated.
"Sizar is hemophobic and has epileptic fits at the sight of blood." Pliny gloated, "My chef heard that from his cook, that's why he never eats undercooked beef."
"Hell, why are your hands covered in blood?" Susal was taken aback.
"It's ketchup, does it look like blood?" Pliny narrowed one eye, "Brother guess why I just went to check the money and the bamboo tube?"
The money shook loudly in the bamboo tube, as if it was a restless spirit. Ye Sumeng also inhaled deeply, this is a very rare trigram, any diviner would take it as an honor to be able to solve such a trigram.
But the incredible thing happened, money from the bamboo tube mouth jumped out before the bright red blood jumped out. The bamboo tube seemed to be slowly filled with blood, and the blood splattered on the snow-white tablecloth, beautiful and hideous.
Once again, Sizer saw the hellish scene, the sword stabbed into the chest of the woman in the white dress, and the blood gushed out like a spring, as if it were warm, red, charming snakes.
These red snakes bit into his body and into his heart.
Ye Su Mian froze, Xizier's mouth foamed, his whole body couldn't stop trembling, and an unusually hideous look appeared on his face. Ordinary people's trembling and expression will never be like him, it seems that every muscle in the whole body has lost control, like a living snake desperately twitching. That was the symptom of an epileptic seizure, a disease that was regarded as God's curse on sinners in the Papal States, and this boy actually had this hidden disease.
"Call the doctor! Call the doctor!" Ye Sumeng said loudly.
The Pope grabbed the small bell on the table and shook it vigorously, and no one noticed the cold smiles on the faces of the brothers Susar and Pliny, who were hiding in the corner.
The door to the Hall of Mirrors was slammed open, and several burly Sisters rushed in, their rapid, powerful footsteps thudding on the floor. They surrounded Césaire, grabbing him by the arm and trying to shove a napkin into his mouth; people lose control of themselves during seizures and often bite their tongues off by accident. Apparently this was Césaire's first seizure, and the Sisters were used to it. Sizer twitched violently, gasped, rolled his eyes, and bit the napkin, but to everyone's surprise, he didn't fall down.
He stared at Ye Sumeng, still holding the bamboo tube. Money snapped in the bamboo tube.
At this time, he actually still used his last strength to shake the bamboo tube, as if nothing could stop him from completing this divination.
The sisters had a look of terror in their eyes, and some of them, with trembling hands and feet, grasped the crucifix in front of their chests and prayed. They did not know that this divination had been authorized by the Pope, and that it was heresy for a fourteen year old boy, trembling like a demon, to hold on to an evil oriental divination device and not let go of it.
Césaire flipped the bamboo tube violently, and the money fell on the table.
Two more cunts! And the third money rolled off the table, Ye Sumeng was stunned and then hurriedly lowered his head to look for the money in the belly of the table.
After throwing the last line, Xizier finally lost control of the fall, curled up like a shrimp shivering. Ye Sumeng from under the table to drill out, a glimpse of the small white figure stumbled in. She broke into Ye Sumeng line of sight, like candlelight lit Ye Sumeng's eyes. That is a girl in her early teens, a white lace silk dress, white boots, hair and Duke Suzar as dazzling as gold, hair woven with purple silk hair ribbons, combed into a beautiful braid. His complexion is also very white, but not like Sizer's blood loss like white, under the skin through the rouge-like red, like after a light drink of wine, features as exquisite as a master craftsman under the knife of the sculpture, without a flaw.
She pounced on the twitching Xizier on the ground, took him in her arms, put his head on her chest, and let Xizier spit out the white foam on her lapel.
"Brother! Brother!" The young girl was on the verge of tears, like a shepherd's maiden cradling a dying lamb.
"The Pope's daughter Adele Borgia?" Ye Sumeng understood in her heart.
This was the most mysterious of all the Pope's children, and very few outsiders were able to see her, but even so her beauty had been rumored to the East.
The Sisters had no use for her anymore, and could only stand around the morbid Sizer, their eyes unable to say whether it was pity or dislike. This scene was so awkward that Ye Sumeng couldn't help but want to go up and help Adele with something.
Adele suddenly raised her head. Seeing her eyes, Ye Suemeng was taken aback. Those eyes with tears were clear and translucent, with a sadness so beautiful that it would make the young man a little sad. But none of this mattered, what mattered was the moment he saw these eyes, Ye Sumeng thought he was facing a mirror. He had the illusion that he would see his own reflection in the girl's eyes.
"Go away, all of you, brother is just sick, he can't move right now," the girl said to everyone, almost pleading, "Go away! Go away!"
The boy seemed to shake his head in her arms, but his shaking was mixed with convulsions, inseparable. He stared at the envoys with wide, dead eyes, as if angry at them. The girl's tears flowed slowly, hitting the boy's face. There was something confusingly beautiful about her at this time, not because of her delicate features or beautiful complexion, but because of the light that seemed to radiate from her body, as unforced as the morning light. There were a lot of beautiful women inside the Fei Cui, and at this moment this girl who had not yet grown up made people feel extra precious and fragile. Her beauty was something that could not be touched, and when she got close, she would crumble.
Ye Su Meng looked at the brother and sister, the mirror fired the light of the crystal chandelier behind Adele, her figure was surrounded by the light, Sizer had not yet recovered from the spasm, exhausted, paralyzed on the floor, his head resting on his sister's chest, woodenly looking ahead, wide-eyed and expressionless.
Ye Sumeng suddenly froze.
He suddenly recalled the painting that the Pope had guided him to look at before his meal, the painting of the eyes of the Son of God. The first time he looked at the painting, all the light on the screen seemed to gather around the Holy Mother, who was the sorrowful mother and great savior, while the Divine Son was all but an empty shell. However, looking back again, Ye Suliang found that the artist's son of God is not expressionless, his silence in the wooden have a very complex and severe expression, with his tangled muscles and twisted joints, contains a huge power, all to illustrate that although he drank the poisoned wine, but still is the son of God. His eyes were pitch black, but if you looked deeply into them, you would feel that there were burning flames in them, which seemed to be an illusion caused by the reflection of the paint, and it also seemed that he was glaring at the person who was looking at the painting.
For a moment Ye SuMeng felt that he understood the eyes of this boy named Xizier, they were just like that, empty, dark and stern.
That boy, those incredibly dark eyes, with incredible hatred and loneliness, looking down on the world.
Suddenly danger swam through his heart like a snake, leaving a grim trail. He thought he saw the future!
Obscured by the dining table, the last money was embedded in the cracks of the floor tiles, perpendicular, non-yin and non-yang. This divination was fruitless. Ye Su-meng, however, got the final result of this divination in the depths of his heart, the money that plunged into the ground like a blade, the indiscernible future, the foreigner outside of destiny, the roaring beast behind the cold eyes.
"This child will destroy this country!" He said in his heart.
In early spring, the mission to the Papal States returned to Jindu Kingdom over the year-round snowy Alps.
In order to welcome the hard-working envoy Ye Sumin, the king of the country, Yuan Cheng, set up a reception at the foot of a mountain outside the city. It was the season of all things, the mountain streams were babbling, the wild grass was fuzzy clumps of small purple or white flowers bloomed to the sky.
"What? Marrying my daughter to an epileptic? You crazy old man! Believe it or not I'll really chop off your head?" Yuan Cheng had already thrown down all his poise and jumped up when Ye Sumineng reported the third sentence, stepping forward with a murderous rage and raising his foot as if he wanted to kick the skinny old man across the street into the mountain stream.
The surrounding music girls who played the qin and drums and the servants who served the wine shivered and knelt on the ground, as if they had done something wrong!
"None of your business, those who play the zither continue to play the zither, and sift me another cup of wine, wait for me to build up the courage to convince the sovereign." Ye SuMeng commanded the people on that floor with a calm demeanor.
"Ye SuMeng!" The veins on Yuan Cheng's face that jumped up due to his violent anger seemed like an angry dragon about to break out of his skin, "Don't think that you can muddle through with me by relying on a famous scholar's demeanor!"
"Well, I heard the king of the country asking, I did choose the Pope's second son, Cesar Borgia, as Princess Pure's fiancé on behalf of the king, and I also promised a dowry of 500 pounds of gold on behalf of the king of the country." Ye Su Union nodded.
"Five hundred ... five hundred pounds of gold? You think my family is running a gold mine?" Yuan Cheng's eyes almost fell out of their sockets, "I'm just a hardworking man who peddles hemp to make money!"
This is an honest truth, before usurping the country to ascend the throne, the original Cheng is a merchant who sells silk and hemp, the business is not small, but a large car of hemp thread from the mountains in the ancient road to Yin country to go also only earn a few taels of gold, is indeed hard money.
"I have to sell that mountain of twine in front of me to Yin Kingdom to earn five hundred pounds of gold!" Yuan Cheng growled.
"Charge you this petty can also sell a twine ..." Ye Su League muttered.
Before his words fell Yuan Cheng had already grabbed the wine jug, looking like he couldn't wait to snap the thing to pieces on Ye SuMeng's head.
Ye Su Mian calmly drank the wine, finishing the cup and handing it to Yuan Cheng. One side of the killing energy as fierce as a tiger, one side of the silence as an old monk meditation, the contrast between the two sides actually reached a balance, the original Cheng raised the wine pot, Ye Su alliance end of the cup, sculpture-like silence.
A moment later, the original Cheng actually moved, he actually in the leaf Su alliance empty cup filled with wine. The situation that was on the verge of bloodshed was so subtly eased, and the harmony between the two was restored.
The servants looked at each other in disbelief.
"What are you looking at? Those who should sift wine continue to sift wine, and those who should play the qin continue to play the qin!" Yuan Cheng glared at the music girl and the servants, "We discuss matters of state between the ruler and the minister, how can you people understand our deeper meaning?"
He breathed deeply and turned to Ye Sumin, "Tell us your reasons."
"It looks like if I don't give a good reason, the king is still going to kill me." Ye SuMeng said carelessly, "Then I'll try to give a better one."
"In fact, long before I met the Pope's sons, I already had an order in my mind, Sizer first, Susar second, Pliny third." Ye Suu Union said.
"Oh? So you have a plan in mind?"
"I know that the deputy ambassador a little bit of what I told him have written a letter of confidentiality to the king of the country, said that Ye Su alliance for this mission feel no bottom, said that the weak countries have no diplomacy, we can this time to beg a Borgia family boy would like to marry the princess is a success, the missing arm and leg is not a big deal. Right?" Ye Su Mian rolled her eyes.
"Hell! This guy is not doing things securely, the letter-writing thing has been discovered by you!" Yuan Cheng glared.
"He's very cautious, he didn't find out for me, I just guessed. What the king is most worried about is me acting recklessly, if there isn't a mediocre and incompetent but obedient person placed in the mission to supervise me, it's not the king's style." Ye Su Mian said, "But has it occurred to the king that the nobles of Fei Leng Cui know which son of the Pope we are courting, and that it will have an impact on the future balance of power in Fei Leng Cui? Before the matter is finalized no, if I show a little inclination, it will affect the final result."
"So you tricked even the king of the country?"
"At best, it's a tease, how can I say it's cheating?" Ye SuMeng was full of seriousness.
Yuan Cheng felt that he hadn't been able to kill this obnoxious heavy minister for a number of years, not because of his name or his talent, but because he was sometimes a bit cute in his brazenness.
"How do you judge?" Hara Cheng asked.
"In the politics of the Papal States, religion is the most important part. But the Pope is not inherited, but elected. So the choice of the next pope affects the balance of power among the parties. It is now predicted that there will be another Pope from the Borgia family, which is now at the height of its power. The current Pope, Gregory II, has enrolled all three of his sons in seminaries and appointed cardinals as their teachers, clearly wanting them to have the qualifications to become pope. While there were other families competing for the papacy, the competition among the three boys was the fiercest, each of them backed by a clique of nobles."
"And the Pope watched his sons fight amongst themselves?"
"It's a power play. He wants his sons to cultivate political power in the competition, and at the same time build up as many candidates as possible to compete with the other families. Assuming that he has made it clear that he wants to groom a certain son to become the future Pope, this son will become a target, and if something happens to him, it will be very difficult for the Borgia family to put forward a new candidate in the short term." Ye Sumeng raised his eyes, the sharp light under the eyes flow, "Borgia family boys are born to be the emperor, the emperor is like a group of wild dogs are locked in a cage ..."
"In the end, the strongest wild dog that bites all the brothers to death can come out of the cage and inherit his father's territory and bitches?" Hara Makoto sneered.
"Yes, this is the destiny of the prince." Ye Sumeng nodded, "In this competition, Susar has an absolute advantage because he is the oldest and meekly listens to the nobles, if he becomes the pope, those who follow him will have more power. Pliny, who was born to the same mother as Susal, was the youngest and did not have the opportunity to compete with his two older brothers, so he simply attached himself directly to Susal. Their teachers, Cardinals Cicero and Gracchus, were also political allies. So the weakest is the second son, Cesare, who has basically no power over him, and even his teacher can't support him, even though he's also a cardinal."
"Why?"
"His teacher was the youngest cardinal, Drusus, who was an anomaly among the cardinals. He was worshipped by the faithful in the name of the saints, and in the last few years he suddenly rose to prominence and was made a cardinal by the Pope. He's not even in the city of Filippo, his parish is in a remote desert region. A man like that can influence the poor underclass, but he can't win over the nobility."
"Drusus?" Yuan Cheng whispered the name over and over again, clearly this anomaly among the cardinals had aroused his interest, and he was trying to memorize the name.
"The only explanation for the Pope being so interested in this union is that at the same time we are scheming against the Papal States, the Papal States are also scheming against the lands and riches of the East. The Pope wants us to be the front battlefield for his attack on the East. War is one of the best ways to solve internal conflicts. If the people are too poor and the nobles want to keep on exploiting them, then go to another country and loot it. On the one hand, the people will become richer, on the other hand," Ye Sumeng sneered, "those poor young adults who may rebel will join the expeditionary force, and most of them will die on the battlefield. But will anyone blame the Pope for this? No, the anger of the lower classes will be vented on the Orientals."
Hara Makoto high-fived, "That's a great revelation!"
"Yes, with a fanatic like you, if the country reaches the point of the Papal States, you will also use this kind of unconscionable trick." Ye Sumeng was very sure of himself.
"Okay, okay, can you not always flirt with me as the monarch of a small country that comes from selling hemp?" Yuan Cheng once again poured wine for Ye Sumeng, dragged his own seat next to Ye Sumeng, opened his eyes wide and came very close, as if he was attentive like a servant serving wine.
He has always been like this, as long as he hears something valuable, immediately back to throw down the king of the country's decent road out of the businessman's nature. If playing a servant for a while can learn important strategies of governing from Ye Sumeng, Yuan Cheng will definitely be happy to do so, anyway, when he comes to the throne in the future, if he still feels ashamed when he remembers this matter, he can also just give an order to cut off Ye Sumeng's head, and delete this old story from the history books.
Ye Sumeng slowly drank the wine poured by the king of the country. He also knew in his heart what kind of goods Yuan Cheng was, anyway, he didn't know when he would lose his head, so why not take advantage of this to enjoy the service of the state ruler in a low voice?
"Conquering the East is the worst for us. We will have to go to war head on with the Yin Kingdom behind us, and with the flames of war burning on our own land, all of the accumulations of the past ten years will be destroyed. If the Princess marries Susar or Pliny, who are politically powerful, whether or not these two boys can be subdued by the Princess, the forces behind the boys will try to utilize the Princess in every way possible, and bind us to their chariot of conquest in the East. The only way to create a check and balance between the three boys would be to marry the weakest of the forces, Sizer, instead. We have given Sizer a chance, and he will gain political points with this marriage. His powerful brothers will have to compete with this half-brother first if they want to play the hero of the conquest of the East, and that should slow down the war and buy us more time." Ye Sumin said, "For this outcome, not to mention an epileptic child, even if he really is missing an arm or a leg, I'll take it as it is!"
Yuan Cheng pondered for a long time and nodded slightly, "I understand what you mean now, but ... it all depends on Xizier himself. We phase to support him as a contender for Susar and Pliny, he must also have the heart of a tiger and wolf himself."
"Yeah, that's something I can't be sure of, so until I saw those three boys with my own eyes that night, I couldn't make a final judgment." Ysumun said softly, "But the heavens gave me a good opportunity, and the boy named Sizer ... he asked for a divination."
"Asked for divination?" Yuan Cheng froze.
"The divination technique I used on him is the same as the one I used on the king of the country in the beginning." Ye SuMeng said in a single word, "I used the art of stealing the sky."
Dead silence.
After a long time, Yuan Cheng clicked his tongue, "He was willing to enter your game? This future son-in-law of mine is only fourteen years old and chooses this path towards death, I can't help but be a little worried about my daughter's widowhood!"
"He entered the game. You're not the only one in the world who asks for divination and doesn't seek a good end."