Chapter 96:

"You have misunderstood the count." Umberto's smile was gentle and cordial when he spoke, with the peculiar sacred temperament of clergy (when fooling people): "Neither I nor His Majesty the Pope intend to interfere in the internal affairs of your country, we and them It's different, I don't like to be too exposed to some things that can easily corrupt people's hearts and make people fall into devils."

For example, rights.

It may seem a bit hypocritical to say this, but there were indeed clerics in the church during this period who were not interested in power and not greedy for pleasure. They walked out of the hustle and bustle and lived a pure and simple life in a monastery far from the hustle and bustle, telling God about their loyalty.

Unlike the monastery that became filthy later, the current monastery is still a truly pure place. The people living in it are all ascetic hermits. They are alone and hardly participate in disputes outside the monastery.

But neither the Pope nor Bishop Umberto is an ascetic, nor are the doves headed by them.

Umberto's so-called difference does not mean that they are truly devoted to their beliefs, just because their hobbies are different from those of hawks.

Hawks support the war because they want higher power and unique status, while doves, it's not certain whether they love peace or not, and it's a fact that they don't want to spend their time chasing power and waging war.

The clergy of the church can be said to be the most literate group of people in Europe, from the most common monk to the highest pope. Basic conditions, otherwise what if you don't even understand the Bible? Many people think that people in the Middle Ages were ignorant and addicted to superstition and that scientific explorers were always persecuted by the church. This was true in the middle and late Middle Ages, but in the early Middle Ages, before the church was completely broken, they were not interested in scientific exploration. The attitude of the people is not that of the church, the members of the dove group have a completely different attitude from the hawk group regarding the Eastern Church. Most of them have something in common, that is, they love to research.

This research includes but is not limited to alchemy. They study alchemy, medicine, astronomy, and everything else that they love. Of course, the most important thing is the study of theology.

It can be said that within the church, many people's research hobbies are heretical behaviours that are explicitly prohibited by the church after hundreds of years.

But in this period, this was just the personal hobby of most clergymen and was not expressly forbidden. There were even small groups within the church based on the same research direction.

Most of the doves come from these small groups, and they love their research more than their power.

But probably because these studies take up a lot of their time, the doves often have little real power within the church, and they are also a minority among high-ranking clergy.

Felix clasped his hands and pressed his chin to ask him: "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Just like what other businessmen want." Umberto said: "Ordinary business cooperation is fine."

Sa The goods in Dinson County are very tight now. They are in short supply in the Prady Empire. Some of them are sold abroad, and they can even be sold for ten times the price. But unfortunately, the production speed cannot keep up. At present, Felix has no intention to open overseas markets.

And because of Wei Wei's resistance to the church, and Felix's dislike, their business can cooperate with businessmen and nobles, but the church is never allowed to intervene, and even the bank that they choose when saving money is the one with the least power in the is also because he disapproves of the church that Roberto and others would not even have any intention of seeking cooperation, and would directly use those shady methods when they came I said before, the doves have no access to the important matters of financial power in the church. Naturally, they are completely inferior to the hawks in terms of wealth, and the party with power and money is naturally more likely to attract vassals.

Now the Pope is their dove. Although he is often just a puppet, his appeal is still very strong. If there is another lure of wealth, there will be more people who are willing to stand on their side. It will not be so passive in the church.

It is a pity that they have no access to profitable businesses, and most priests do not have the talent for business, so they have never thought about how to accumulate wealth.

Until they found out that the hawks were eyeing Felix, and that Pope John's old friend was serving him, there was such a relationship, not only the hawks thought they could take advantage of it, but even the doves thought it was a way to seek cooperation Opportunity.

Helping Sardinson to stop the visiting group is the first step to releasing their goodwill, and the second step is to investigate the kidnapping clues in the capital.

Since it's not about making trouble in Prady, Felix's attitude is milder, but the so-called cooperation is not easy.

"At present, the production of various products in Sardinson is in a bottleneck and cannot be improved. If you only need a small number of goods, I can think of a way, but if you want a lot, I can't supply it here."

Sardinson County The current output is all rounded up by those merchants. As the owner, he can reserve some, but it is impossible to break the contract because of the church. He has signed a contract with those merchants. The order can be placed in a year. You can't even jump is not a businessman either. He can't learn the way of a businessman. He was still worried about how to cooperate. Now he has an idea after seeing the wheat harvest in Sardinson told Felix directly that what they wanted to change was a way to make the land that he wanted this, Felix readily agreed. Originally, these things are not secrets. The nobles around Sardinson County will send people to learn secretly. His name is not blocked, but he does not care about spreading these methods. go through very clearly that Sardinson County is already a big tree now. If you try to hide this kind of thing that can't be hidden, the other nobles may not be as good as they are now, and the king will not stand by him. here.

So whether it is the composting and use of manure or the management of wheat fields, Felix had already handed it over to the king when he went to the capital last year. The current high-yield message has long been passed on to the capital.

Seeing that he agreed so readily, Umberto showed a happy smile, and without waiting for him to take out what he promised, he directly told him the clues in his hand.

"We found the remaining three of those kidnappers. They are now hiding in a monastery outside the capital of Prady."

As an outsider, it was not easy for Umberto to find out about this news. A wanted mercenary was able to hide in a monastery, and there was obviously someone there to meet them, but in the case of being wanted by the whole country, only an inaccessible place like a monastery can indeed allow them to hide.

Felix didn't expect that his clue was to find someone directly. He frowned and said, "The monastery? It's related to the church?"

Umberto kept his mouth shut. It was inconvenient for him to answer this topic.

But this is the truth. If there is no connection with the church, how can ordinary people enter the monastery? According to the information he has obtained, the three people are now monks who have been transferred from other monasteries. Without the help of church people, it is impossible for them to enter the monastery smoothly, and has not revealed anything so far.

Umberto told him the specific location of the monastery: "I sent someone to the monastery to watch them. If you want to arrest someone, you can find him."

As a bishop, he wanted to mobilize the lower clergy in just one sentence. , Although the monks of the monastery are far away from the crowd, it is common for people from different monasteries to transfer to each other.

Since no one suspected that the monks would be fake mercenaries, no one would find out that the new monks were spying on people.

You don't even have to worry about being asked too much, because the monks in the monastery believe that silence is golden. Except when praying, they must remain silent most of the time, and their daily communication relies on self-contained sign language.

Of course, what they can do is limited to this. This clue is enough. Since the church is involved, it is even harder for them to intervene in the follow-up investigation.

"Thank you for the clue." Felix couldn't wait to deal with the matter when he got this news, and he didn't say any more to Umberto: "I'll have someone

deliver what you want." Umberto heard In his words, the meaning of seeing off guests didn't stay long, he stood up and nodded at him, and left by himself.

When the servant standing at the door saw him come out, he respectfully escorted him back to his room.

Felix took a piece of letter paper and started to write a letter. He left someone in the capital to investigate the matter, and now he naturally wanted them to arrest him.

As for whether the arrest process will annoy the people of the monastery, he is not worried at all. Although Prady is relatively more tolerant of monks who are doing asceticism in the monastery compared to other clergy, those who harbour criminals are more tolerant. This kind of tolerance is unnecessary.

Write the letter, put it in an envelope and seal it, and send someone to the capital as quickly as possible.

After doing this, he took a deep breath, leaned back on the chair, put his hands on the armrests and meditated.

Wei Wei knocked on the door and didn't hear a reply. She opened the door and walked in. She saw Felix like this, staring ahead as if in a daze.

"What's wrong? What did Bishop Umberto tell you? It's like this."

"It's okay, Umberto just told me that the mercenary who kidnapped you had been found."

"This is the important thing he said. Wei Wei understood: "So, what did he ask for?"

She put the tray in her hand on the table, poured him a cup of tea, and placed a plate of cut watermelon and two stacks of snacks on it. Sitting across the table, he poured himself a cup, as if preparing for a tea party.

Of course, she didn't eat much herself, and the fruit snacks were prepared for Felix.

As July is approaching, even the temperature in Sardinson Castle has risen to more than 30 degrees. Although the castle is relatively cool, it is still sultry, especially since everyone is wearing robes and there is no fan or air conditioner. Sweat profusely.

The watermelon was chilled with well water before it was taken out of the well and cut and served. Eating it is the best way to relieve the heat. Felix ate two pieces in one go before he felt satisfied. He took the third piece and was ready to continue. Plan to drink tea.

"I changed your method of growing wheat."

Wei Wei smiled: "That's because we took advantage. Didn't you write a brochure before, just give him a copy."

Felix also thought about it, originally Regarding planting, they intend to promote it. Wheat, as the most common food, is the key target of promotion. Before, Wei Wei wrote a new booklet and asked people to print several copies to go to various villages and towns in the county to promote it. When the baronies knew about it, they sent people to them, and they all gave them generously. Although the implementation of the baronies was slower, and their management was not as good as theirs, they could increase production a lot this year. The barons have been quiet lately, and there is no sign of trouble.

The paper mill also left a pile of pamphlets. After the news of the harvest in Sardinson County recently spread, the nearby nobles also wrote letters, asking Felix about the rumoured yield per mu. Is it true? How did they achieve a large-scale increase in wheat production? I hope he can reveal some of the mysteries. Of course, it is not for nothing, they are willing to time Felix encounters an inquiry, he will send a booklet, and then he will get a lot of gold coins. At the same time, some people find that paper is easy to use. By the way, they want to place an order. Of course, because the current output of the paper factory is only Enough for their use, so they did not take the order, but the sale of the brochure for money is still very, and now there is important news back, which is a pleasure that he only ate watermelon and snacks, without touching the cup of tea, Wei Wei pushed the tea cup and motioned him to try it.

There may be some tea leaves in it, it would be a pity for him not to drink it.

Felix didn't want to drink hot tea in this weather, even warm herbal tea, but Wei Wei asked him to drink it, so he could only drink it.

As a result, when he picked up the cup, he felt a chill in his hands, and the hot tea in the quilt was not what he thought.

This surprised him. He lowered his head and took a sip. It was lemonade made of lemon and honey. There was a hint of bitterness in the sweetness and sourness, but this bitterness was mixed with a special aftertaste. He was no stranger to it. It is the taste called tea that Wei Wei has only recently started drinking.

But what surprised him was that this cup of tea was very cold, even colder than the watermelon he just ate. He poured all the tea in one gulp and felt that the whole person felt comfortable from the inside out.

"Did the kitchen buy ice today?"

There are many mountains in the north of Prady that are covered with snow all year round. Many people living at the foot of the mountains will collect ice and transport them to merchants and nobles, because the mining and preservation difficulty is not low, and the price is naturally not low. In the past, Sardinson County was too remote and no one wanted to sell ice here, but now it is different. Their territory is very popular among merchants.

Wei Wei: "Didn't I see someone selling saltpetre on the way back and I bought a lot of it? I used that to make some ice."

More than a lot, she just wrapped a carload of saltpetre in their hands. Saltpetre was mainly used as a paint and fireworks during this period.

Fireworks in Europe were brought by nomads in Asia in this century. They have not been in contact with fireworks for a long time, but they are not unfamiliar with gunpowder, their relatives of fireworks. They used gunpowder and firearms when they attacked Europe. That scene has shocked and terrified Europeans to this day. Countries that have seen that scene have always hoped to get information on gunpowder. Even because Great Mongolia does not prohibit the export of firearms, it was once possible for Europe. Unfortunately, they want to go further. When inquiring, Song Meng started the war again, but the former still prevailed, and Great Mongolia had to call back all the people stationed in Europe, so the opportunity to inquire about firearms was cut off. Naturally, no one in Europe knew that saltpetre was made. The raw material of gunpowder, so they only use this thing as paint.

Of course, Wei Wei didn't buy saltpetre to make gunpowder. She remembered that this thing can be processed into medicinal materials, and it can also be used to make potassium fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer. Before, she thought that she could try to make chemical fertilizer. She happened to see it on the way back, so she naturally wanted to buy it back. It is easy to make ice. Of course, the ice cubes with saltpetre are not edible. Her honey lemon tea is made by placing a metal basin in the water with saltpetre, and putting the drink in it to chill it out."Can saltpetre be used to make ice?" This was the first time Felix heard of it."Yes, but the ice with saltpetre added cannot be eaten directly. It takes more effort to make edible ice. I have already frozen some of it. If you want to eat it, you should be able to taste it tomorrow."Felix became interested ., After drinking tea and eating watermelon snacks, Wei Wei took him there if he had to go to the scene to see if probably had the idea of selling ice, but Wei Wei had to hit this thing can be reused, there are few natural saltpetre mines, and the price has not been low. The amount of saltpetre needed to make ice is quite large, and the saltpetre needed for large-scale production is something they cannot buy for a while, although it is not impossible to purify, Sardinson doesn't have nitrate-containing soil, and there are no raw materials, let alone now this car of saltpetre is not only used to make ice, the rest of Wei Wei intends to use it to study how to make fertilizer. In her opinion, selling ice is not as important as 's true that it's not as important as fertilizer. Although Felix doesn't quite understand what it is since it has something to do with fertilizer, he knows that things must be very good, seeing how much Wei Wei attaches importance to the idea of selling ice fell apart, and the next day Pope John and the two cardinals tasted a smoothie made with milk jam and grated ice after the meal, Bishop Roberto, who couldn't sit still since he arrived at the castle yesterday, took the opportunity to ask to visit the had already visited the castle yesterday, and found out that the production site of perfume and essential oils is not in the castle.

There was a sugar workshop in the castle, but at this time there were no more sugar beets to boil sugar, so the workshop was closed, and the slaves in it were all assigned other jobs. Behind the closed dilapidated door is one of his goals this time.

So now he requested to take a tour of the manor first.

At this point, the Pope is not interested. He made an appointment with Raymond to do experiments together. Yesterday, he followed Raymond to see her laboratory and got to know each other with several other alchemists. If it weren't for him, the Pope would have It was another guest and had to dine with the host, so he just stayed at Raymond's place to eat, and their food looked pretty good anyway.

Having completed the task, Umberto wanted to follow the Pope, but after hesitating for a while, he still said that he would also visit the manor first.

No matter what Roberto wants to do, he is always there to help.

Felix has been away from the castle these few days, and he has accumulated a lot of official duties. It was when he needed to work overtime, so he turned to look at his wife.

He politely said: "Then let my wife show you around. She knows the affairs of the manor very well, and you can ask her any questions."

Wei Wei nodded and smiled at the two bishops: "I am honoured to have this opportunity to receive guys, but I'm afraid I'll ask you to wait a bit, I need to make some preparations."

Of course, Bishop Roberto wanted to set off immediately, but he also knew that the woman had a lot of preparations before going out, so he waited.

Wei Wei dragged herself into changing her clothes. When she came out, the Pope and Felix had already left, and there were only two bishops in the hall.

Oh, it's the three bishops, and Father Matthew, who didn't dine with them because of his cultivation, was also present.

Wei Wei was not surprised to see him. It was she who asked the priest to come here. Yesterday, when the priest greeted the Pope, he knew that he was well-trained, and it was perfectly fine to follow him.

However, Bishop Roberto's expression was a little gloomier than when she saw it before, probably because she felt that one more person was hindering her.

On the contrary, Umberto and Father Matthew got along very well. They seemed to have some friends before and got along very well.

The area of the manor is very large, and they may not be able to walk all day at their speed. The three bishops are too old to bear the bumps of horseback riding, so naturally, they can only go out by carriage, and their guards will accompany them.

The four of them sat together this time, and Wei Wei was in charge of the explanation along the way. It was uncomfortable to go out during the hottest time of the season, and there were many people in the carriage. Even if the curtains of the carriage were opened for ventilation, the effect of heat dissipation would be limited. Fortunately, it rained this morning, which lowered the temperature outside a little.

Along the way, when Bishop Roberto saw the building, he wanted to ask where it was. From time to time, he would ask to get off the carriage to have a look. At first, he only wanted to see some serf villages, but Wei Wei did not refuse. But later, when passing by the factory built around the essential oil factory, he asked to go in again, but Wei Wei refused.

"I'm sorry, it's a commercial secret, so we don't provide tours." Wei Wei smiled: "And now that the workers in the factory have gone back to harvest wheat, there's nothing to see in it."

Roberto probably didn't expect her to be like refused directly, without even saying a little euphemism, this attitude suddenly made him unable to step down.

But soon he relaxed.

Nobody is there? Wouldn't that just give his people a chance to go in and take a look?

With this thought in his heart, Bishop Roberto, who did not reveal the slightest expression on his face, changed the subject: "I found a special place upstream of the river in the castle. Is that also a factory?"

Of course, the old man's eyes couldn't see that far. This is what his knights told him.

Wei Wei said lightly: "Oh, that's a villa that was built recently. We're going to stay for a while in the fall. It's close to the woods, and the Count likes to hunt, so it's very convenient."

When Roberto heard what she said, it matched the words of the servants in the castle, and immediately lost interest and stopped mentioning it.