Water Margin people

Chapter 1782 The Dead City
"Your Majesty, what should we do?"

Everyone was looking at Baldwin IV, waiting for orders from their King.

"Come to shore!"

Baldwin IV took a deep breath and said that although he was also worried, he had to take this step eventually.

Everyone was on high alert and the boat slowly approached the shore.

William was the first to jump onto the shore. He looked around vigilantly and saw several badly decayed corpses lying on the dock not far away. The corpses were already mutilated, and it was obvious that they had been eaten by wild beasts.

"Your Majesty, there is no one alive!"

William looked at Baldwin IV and spoke.

"Come ashore!"

Baldwin IV gave the order and went ashore himself, and the soldiers packed up their things and followed him ashore.

“There’s not even one person!”

Baldwin IV looked around and spoke. He thought there would be at least a few survivors, but now he saw that the death toll caused by the Black Death was more serious than he had expected.

"Let's go!"

Baldwin IV led his men towards the interior of the port.

As the crowd entered, a large flock of crows were startled and flew into the air, croaking.

On the streets, groups of rats were frightened and fled into the houses.

The air was full of mosquitoes and flies, buzzing non-stop.

"There's really no one left!"

When Baldwin IV saw that the rats were fleeing into the houses, he realized that these houses had long been empty and had become rats' nests.

The group arrived at the church in the city. At this moment, the church was in ruins, and there were even two dead bodies dressed in clergymen's clothes at the door.

Baldwin IV did not stay for long and led his men directly out of the city.

They headed towards Rome like ascetics.

Not long after leaving Naples, several women who were picking food suddenly appeared in front of us. When they saw living people coming out of Naples, the women were shocked and threw down their baskets and ran away.

"It looks like there are still people alive outside!"

Baldwin IV was in a better mood. As long as there were living people, there was hope.

Soon, a group of fully armed men on horseback appeared on the road.

"Who are you?"

The leader pointed the spear in his hand at Baldwin IV and others and shouted.

"I am Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem! Who are you?"

Baldwin IV looked at those people and asked.

"The King of Jerusalem? The leper king who was forgiven by the Lord!"

Those people immediately became agitated; they obviously knew Baldwin IV.

"How do you prove it!"

The leader shouted.

"I am who I am!"

Baldwin IV took off his hood, took off his mask, and looked at those people!

"It's really the Leper King!"

Someone recognized Baldwin IV and his face was full of surprise.

"Your Majesty, we are the garrison of Naples. I am the captain of the guard, Carlo. After the outbreak of the Black Death, many people died in the city. The city lord fled with his people. We could only escape here..." Carlo said to Baldwin IV.

However, no matter what they said, they always kept their distance from Baldwin IV and others, and did not relax their vigilance at all. They knew very well that Naples was already a dead city, and the King of Jerusalem should be in Rome, so how could he suddenly appear here?
"Sire, why did you come out of Naples?"

Finally, Carlo asked the question in his mind.

"After the Black Death broke out in Rome, I went out to sea on a ship to find a way to deal with it. Now I'm back to eliminate it!"

Baldwin IV spoke.

"Have you found a way to save us?"

Carlo looked at Baldwin IV with surprise. The Black Death was so terrible that it directly destroyed Naples and their beliefs.

“All the problems are on us!”

Baldwin IV spoke.

"On us?"

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Carlo was startled and looked at himself quickly, his face full of fear.

"I have received divine revelation from the East: Dirt gives birth to disease, dirt breeds black spots, and snakes, insects, rats and ants are messengers of the devil. God says: Keep yourself clean, ensure the cleanliness of the environment around you, and kill the messengers of the devil, and you will be able to stay away from disease!"

Baldwin IV clasped his hands in front of his chest like a charlatan and spoke with a pious look on his face.

"That's right!"

Carlo looked at Baldwin IV, his face full of surprise. The fact that Baldwin IV could bring people back from overseas and come out of Naples had already proved a lot.

When everyone heard this divine revelation from the East, they did not reject it. Instead, they were so excited that their eyes lit up, as if they had found hope of survival.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Carlo and others dismounted and saluted. At this moment they let down their guard.

"Your Majesty, please come to our village to explain. We need the guidance of the gods!"

Carlodo pleaded with Baldwin IV, saying that they had lost everything, that the Church and God had failed to save them, and that now no matter who it was, or where the god was, as long as he could save them, they would believe in him devoutly.

Baldwin IV agreed with a smile. This was also the solution he thought of. If he wanted to promote Qi's health regulations, he needed to have absolute say. Many things could not be easily changed.

Baldwin IV had thought about cooperating with the Holy See, but the pedantic Holy See simply would not listen to him, let alone promote Eastern health regulations.

For the Vatican, it does not matter how many people die; the most important thing is whether or not the Vatican's rule can be maintained. Promoting Eastern health regulations is a challenge to the authority of the Vatican, which is absolutely not allowed.

Therefore, Baldwin IV changed sides. He knew very well that in order to save 70 million Western people, he needed to "go to war" with the corrupt Church, the empires and kingdoms with their own ulterior motives.

But he was too weak, he didn't even have his own country, and his army only had a guard of dozens of people.

He needed to establish his own power, and using the name of Qi's Imperial Religion would be a good idea.

"Your Majesty, are you really going to do this?"

William asked in a low voice. Baldwin IV had told him about this idea, but he didn't dare to answer, let alone think about it. He was a devout Christian and had never thought of apostasy.

"You've seen the situation in the Port of Naples! If we do nothing, tens of millions of people will die, and I don't know if even half of the people on the entire continent will survive!"

Baldwin IV spoke.

"We have been gone for so long, what have the Church, the Empire, and the Kingdom been doing? They have done nothing but run away! They have abandoned their believers and their fellow citizens. They don't deserve to be in that position!"

Baldwin IV looked again in the direction of Rome.

"But your majesty, if this happens, they will all target you!"

William also knew Baldwin IV's difficulties. If he continued on the same path, he would die, and everyone would die together.

"We have reinforcements. As long as we become believers of the Imperial Religion, Qi will not ignore us! The more people we have, the more Qi will not be able to sit idly by!"

Baldwin IV suddenly laughed, but tears rolled down his eyes.