Water Margin people

Bernard was very satisfied when he saw those people kneeling on the ground and praying devoutly.

"That's it."

Bernard smiled in his heart, creating enemies, sowing fear, elevating one's own gods, and making believers believe unconditionally, this is what the church should do.

"Bernard, since you know this, you should also know how to prevent it!"

Enrico Dandolo looked at Bernard and asked

He knew very well that Bernard was talking nonsense. The Venetians knew best how powerful Qi was. If they wanted to conquer the West, why would they need to use the Black Death? The army could just push forward and these Western empires and kingdoms would be nothing to them.

But at this time he had no way to expose the lie, because there were many devout believers around him, and if he exposed it directly he would be labeled a pagan.

Everyone looked at Bernard. This archbishop with a holy name would surely be able to practice benevolence on behalf of the Lord, defeat the Black Death, and save Venice.

Bernard's face froze slightly. He didn't expect Enrico Dandolo to say such a thing. Now he had no choice but to go.

"I'll take people into the city right now!"

Bernard spoke up bravely.

"grown ups!"

The captains of the Royal Guards were very anxious. They didn't want to enter the city of Venice and fight against the Black Death.

"go!"

Bernard interrupted the captain of the Royal Guards and left the tent directly.

The rest of the believers also left, ready to see how Bernard expelled the Black Death.

"Governor, could it be..."

Among the few people who stayed behind, a general spoke up. He didn't elaborate, but hinted at something.

Everyone understood that this person was referring to Baldwin IV. During this period, the only outsider was Baldwin IV, and this person had converted to the Imperial Religion and was the pioneer of the State of Qi.

"Impossible. If he does this, he will only destroy himself. Think about it, if this is true, he can still leave alive, or why would he appear in front of us? Isn't it better for him to spread the plague secretly?"

Enrico Dandolo looked at everyone and shook his head. It's not that he didn't suspect Baldwin IV. The first time he learned about the outbreak of the Black Death in Venice, he thought of Baldwin IV, but he quickly ruled out this possibility.

Everyone nodded. Baldwin IV's whereabouts had been exposed, so it was impossible for him to spread the plague.

"But why is that? Our city of Venice has always been peaceful!"

Everyone was at a loss again.

"You didn't find any other problems in the city?"

Enrico Dandolo looked at the general who was entering the city to get food.

"Um... there are rats in the city! In the warehouse, in groups, lots and lots of rats!"

The general spoke.

"Rats? Where do all these rats come from in Venice?"

Everyone was surprised. There were rats in Venice, but only a small number. How could they appear in groups, let alone in a warehouse?

"It's true... I beat him to death..."

The general spoke vividly.

Bernard led his men back to his tent.

"Sir, we only hunt down pagans, not perform exorcisms or cure diseases. These are the duties of priests and bishops!"

Several captains of the Royal Guards immediately made clear their attitude that they were unwilling to enter the city of Venice.

"You are the Lord's sword, and you should kill all the demons for the Lord. How can you refuse?"

Bernard frowned as he looked at the captains of the guards.

"Archbishop, that is your responsibility. Your Bible, holy water, and cross can deal with demons, but our swords can only kill corpses!"

A captain of the guard spoke up.

"The order we received was to hunt down the pagan Baldwin IV, not to deal with the Black Death!"

"Yes, we didn't get the edict!"

...The others also expressed their attitudes. These were all children of nobles. They worked in the Vatican purely for gilding their reputations. No one would really joke about their own lives.

Bernard was angry when he saw this, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't force these people to go if they didn't want to.

In the end, Bernard could only choose a few trusted people to go with him.

The believers who lined the streets to see them off originally wanted to see the Vatican guards rush into the city and fight a decisive battle with the devil.

But unexpectedly, only Bernard and a few cavalrymen came out, and each of them was wearing a hood, covering their face with black cloth, and their bodies were also covered tightly.

"In the name of the Lord, drive out the demon!"

With a shout from Bernard, he rode his horse towards the city of Venice.

……

In the city of Venice.

Baldwin IV was paying close attention to everything in the city. He was looking for the cause of the outbreak of the Black Death. This time he witnessed the outbreak of the Black Death with his own eyes, so he could definitely find clues.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"What are those?"

Baldwin IV pointed to a series of moving black dots on the street.

"That's... a mouse!"

William looked closely and found that they were rats. Leading the group was a huge black rat, with the other rats behind it biting their tails, like a long string of black dots.

"Rat? A rat is walking around in broad daylight like this?"

Baldwin IV asked in surprise, it's noon now, how dare the mouse?

"Your Majesty, it seems there is more than one team, there are some over there, and there are some over here!"

William pointed to other streets, where rats seemed to be moving, either along the corners or on the walls, in groups.

"Rat! Rat!"

Baldwin IV repeated the word, as if he had grasped something, but couldn't remember it for a moment.

"Think quickly! Think quickly!"

Baldwin IV slapped his head irritably, trying to make his brain think faster.

"Your Majesty, no!"

William immediately dissuaded him, as he did not want to see Baldwin IV torturing himself like this.

"Teacher, I seem to understand something! I seem to be thinking of something, Rome, Naples, San Marino, Venice, I seem to understand!"

Baldwin IV said in surprise, but he couldn't express it for a while, which made him very anxious.

"What has your majesty thought of?"

William looked at Baldwin IV in surprise. He hadn't thought of anything yet! They had been under house arrest here for the past few days.

"It's the rats! The rats! It's all because of the rats!"

Baldwin IV finally said this.

"mouse!"

William was a little confused. What could a little mouse do?
"On the eve of the outbreak of the Black Death in Rome, the city was filthy and messy, with rats running everywhere!"

“We saw a lot of rats when we entered Naples, too!”

“Same with San Marino!”

"The streets in these cities are very dirty, and we ignore the rats. But Venice is different. The streets here are rivers, and the water will take away all the dirt. It is very clean here, but the Black Death still broke out!"

"And there are a lot of rats in Venice! That's the commonality, the diseases that rats spread!"

Baldwin IV said in surprise. He was sure that his analysis was correct. The disease must have a source, and rats were the source of it all.

"mouse!"

William's face was solemn. Venice was now infested with rats, which meant that the Black Death would become even worse. (End of this chapter)