Chapter 23, The Coming of the Magical Era In the European Middle Ages, which had an extremely religious atmosphere, the power of faith was astonishing.
When the "angels" wearing cat ears publicly announced the "Oracle of God" in the square in front of the church, Marseille, the second largest city in France, quickly bowed its head and surrendered in front of the travelers.
Without further coercion, the city hall, courts, and churches all opened their doors to "Saint" Livy, and the citizens of the city obeyed his orders respectfully.
However, due to the invasion of the plague, the city's management structure had completely collapsed.
Li Wei had to bring the gang of people from his own manor to the city, plus a few remaining public officials, and finally managed to set up a It has become a government agency.
During this period, there was actually a brainless little noble who listened to the rumors and came with his private soldiers to cause trouble and wanted to expel Li Wei, a "heretical usurper who used witchcraft".
Fortunately, he was struck down by the angels with lightning.
After a few fools, the remaining people became honest.
Then, through the latest collected intelligence data, the travelers learned with numbness the current pitiable situation of Marseille Port.
According to Li Wei's original estimate, this prosperous city with a population of 80,000 in January should still have at least 10,000 people left, no matter how heavy the losses were.
But in fact, the city of Marseille carried out 57,000 corpses in February, which is about 60% of the city's population.
In March more than 10,000 Marseille residents died.
After counting those who fled in a hurry, there are currently only about 8,000 people left in the city, and more than 1,000 of them have already contracted the Black Death.
If they are not treated quickly, most of them will probably not survive more than a week. .
Under such a horrific death rate, Marseille's military power and administrative agencies have completely collapsed.
Marseille's city defense guard force originally had 200 standing troops, that is, mercenaries who had signed long-term contracts and received military pay every month.
The size of such a standing force was not small in Europe at that time.
However, because the living conditions in the military camps were too dense and the environment was very unhygienic, these strong professional soldiers were the first to be hit by the Black Death, and not one of them was left alive before March.
The courts and government in Marseille were not much better.
On the morning when the Chevalier Levi was burned at the stake, the last judge in the city had just died on his bed, and the last lawyer had died the previous week.
By the time Levi and his men took over, the entire city's law enforcement agencies had only one old janitor left who was blind and deaf, and all the case files and official documents were reduced to ashes in a fire.
As a medieval free city, Marseille was governed by a municipal council of ten to fifteen people.
Professional bureaucrats and professional politicians are not very popular in Europe these days, so the mayor of Marseille is actually the chief committee member and other committee members, who are usually composed of the most famous local businessmen and gentlemen, most of whom are the leaders of a certain guild and nobles.
It is their part-time job.
Occasionally, there are people from outside the country who "airborne" with royal appointment certificates.
But before the "angel came", all the members of the entire city committee had either been called by the Lord to go to heaven, or they had abandoned their positions and fled in haste.
There were only a few clerks left in the city hall, and all of them were sick.
Well, on the bright side, Knight Levi doesn't have to worry about anyone coming to compete with him for the time being at least.
The only relatively complete official institution in the city is currently the church.
In the time after the collapse of the city hall, it relied entirely on a guard under the church and a handful of dedicated clergy to maintain the minimum order in the city.
But even the church lost about 100,000 people during the Black Death.
Three-quarters of the manpower could only manage a small area of the city near the church, and the rest of the city was in a state of complete anarchy.
This is true for the powerful officials, but the situation among the people is even more appalling.
At this time, the city of Marseille was already disintegrating.
Except for those medicinal herbs that could only be used as placebos, which were sold at sky-high prices, all other shops were closed and all trade business came to a standstill.
The pier was full of "ships of the dead" whose owners and sailors could not be found.
For forty days, no ships entered or left Marseille, turning it into a dead port.
However, what is surprising is that although all the shops have been closed, the lives of the remaining citizens are still getting along, and there is no fear of hunger or cold in a short period of time.
The food stock originally provided for 80,000 people is not enough for 7,000 people.
People fill their stomachs.
When the family has no money to buy food, why do they need money at this time?
Most of the people in the city have died or fled, so the food, wine and firewood in their homes have become ownerless.
As long as anyone is hungry, he can go to his neighbor's house, which has become an extinct household, to "carry" some food back until he himself dies of the plague, covered in black sores.
There are even many citizens who usually have a hard time, simply giving up on themselves, taking advantage of this opportunity of the collapse of law and order to satisfy all their desires, as if they are on the verge of death seeking pleasure, drinking to their heart's content day and night, and getting drunk.
It's okay to break into other people's houses at will and do whatever you want, and take whatever you like.
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People came to stop them because everyone was alive today and could not protect tomorrow, so how could they care about their property?
Therefore, most of the residences in this city, whether they are magnificent palaces or narrow and simple huts, have almost become Any passer-by can break into public property and occupy it as if it were their own home.
Of course, these "carnivals on the eve of destruction" mentioned above are just the crazy reactions of the citizens of Marseille when the end is approaching.
After the miraculous "angel came" and personally promised to save them, those crazy guys immediately became good law-abiding citizens again for the survival of themselves and their families, and enthusiastically cooperated with the implementation Any decree issued by the knight Levi.
Even when Li Wei felt a little embarrassed, he publicly asked for "donations": asking citizens to bring their belongings to the church to express their piety and repentance, miraculously it did not cause much resistance, let alone this era.
The atmosphere of belief is so strong that even in later generations, there are very few guys like Grandet who insist on money rather than life.
When a person is about to lose his life, he must take property very lightly.
Not to mention that so many people have died in the city recently, and countless rich and wealthy families have all died.
As long as the property of the deceased is donated, it can probably satisfy the appetite of all the angels, right?
Those who emptied their neighbors' properties The citizens who came to borrow flowers and offer them to Buddha thought very optimistically.
Unfortunately, they seem to have slightly underestimated the greed and thirst for money of Doraemon, a billionaire.
"Floor from Florence, blankets from Flanders, sheepskins from the Alps, tinware, copperware and jewelry from Aquitaine, local cheeses, dried fish and natural soaps from Provence, natural gemstones from Eastern Europe and West Asia, and Champagne and Bordeaux grapes Even in the modern world, things like wine should be considered good things.
Why is the price given by the automatic pawn machine so low?
Of course, those natural gems were still sold at a good price, but the quantity was too small, and I couldn't get enough. 1.5 billion yen” In the large cobbled square in front of the church's main entrance, all kinds of "tributes" are piled up, including luxurious and gorgeous gold and silver vessels, gems and coins, as well as relatively simple wine barrels, blankets, cloth and other sundries.
There are also "big items" such as horse-drawn carriages.
Minami Rika and Doraemon were taking turns stuffing them into the automatic pawn machine, and at the same time collecting the stacks of Japanese yen bills that the machine kept spitting out.
Unfortunately, the price of these tributes given by the automatic pawn machine was far less than Nan Lixiang's lowest psychological expectation, which made her quite critical of it.
"What can I do?
These things were all found in the houses where plague patients died.
They are stained with unknown numbers of germs.
The pawn shop has to disinfect them before they can be sold.
The price given is naturally very low. ."
Doraemon sighed helplessly and explained.
But these “bacterial weapons” mentioned above are not the most deceptive.
In comparison, the "tributes" that are even more deceptive are those oriental porcelain, silk and spices that were considered priceless in the eyes of medieval Europeans.
In this era, a mere colorful porcelain vase could be purchased in Western Europe.
Thousands of gold coins were sold, but to an automatic pawn machine that was evaluated based on the market price in modern Japan, they were not as valuable as one gold coin.
As for the silks and spices, let alone those silks and spices.
No matter how you calculate it, it is more profitable to traffic spices and silks from the modern world.
Therefore, when all kinds of tributes sent by the citizens of Marseille, which seemed to be piled up, were all thrown into the automatic pawn machine, they were only sold for a very low price of 200 million yen.
Not to mention the 1.5 billion principal of the debt, even the monthly interest of 1.5 billion yen is far behind.
Fortunately, in any land of pious and ignorant people, religious places always gather the greatest quantity and variety of wealth.
This is true whether it is churches in medieval Europe or Tibetan lamasery before liberation.
I carefully searched the cathedral in Marseille Port. , two main monasteries After visiting the official residence of the Bishop of Marseille, Doraemon finally found some good things that seemed to sell for a high price.
First of all, it was a small bronze statue of a semi-naked muscular man.
The surface was stained with rust and there were many signs of damage.
It is said that It is an antique from the Roman Empire.
Calculated in this way, even if it is only 1348, this thing should have a historical value of thousands of years, and it should be able to sell for a big price.
However, the final result made Doraemon very disappointed, "What is a pawn?"
Damn it, ten thousand yen, this thing must be a fake and it’s new.”
As early as the Renaissance, there were already many professional businessmen selling fake antiques in Europe.
At least a few dozen of the holy spears used to stab Jesus to death were sold.
There were so many skulls of St.
Peter that you could bowl a bowling ball with, and the shroud of Jesus could be used as a sail when put together.
On the contrary, Nan Lixiang found a gaudy-colored cloisonné enamel wine glass, decorated with patterns of roses and vanilla, and with a crystal handle.
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Although filigree enamel is fancy, it actually appeared quite early.
It has been known to Westerners at least since ancient Rome.
After being introduced to China, it was called cloisonné.
The craftsman coils the copper wire into a shape on the surface of the object, then fills it with enamel raw materials, and finally burns it into various bright and pleasing colors such as red, green and blue.
The wine glass in Nan Lixiang's hand is in ancient Roman style, with the Roman Colosseum embossed on it.
Because the color of this thing is still very bright and the craftsmanship is very exquisite.
It doesn't look like it has faded for a long time.
Nan Lixiang didn't treat it as an antique at first.
It wasn't until I put it in the automatic pawn machine that I was shocked by the price.
"I was scared to sell it for 50 million yen, but I didn't expect it to be a real cultural relic."
Comparing the few rough medieval gold and silver vessels next to her, she had to admit that medieval Europe seemed to be regressing in many aspects.
However, among the antique collections of the Marseille Church and wealthy people, fakes still account for many times, and genuine items may not be very valuable.
Doraemon, who was eager to raise money, even took down the Renaissance-style murals on the church walls despite the priests' eyebrows twitching and almost fainting.
However, because it was not a masterpiece by a famous artist, it still failed to sell for a few bucks.
On the contrary, the altar used for preaching in the church and the large carved bed where the bishop sleeps are actually made of precious mahogany.
After being dismantled by Doraemon and thrown into the automatic pawn machine, they were exchanged for more than 2,000 yuan. 10,000 yen Of course, Doraemon did not just dismantle it without taking care of the aftermath.
Instead, he pasted a modern three-dimensional painting with a Christian theme on the wall, took out a fiberglass podium and placed it in place of the altar, and then let these short-sighted priests They were surprised and delighted, and even exclaimed a miracle.
But even so, the monthly interest of 1.5 billion yen that was about to be paid was still not enough, and now it was too late to go from house to house, tear down walls and dig in the ground to find the inheritance of those wealthy citizens.
So, Doraemon's eyes were going crazy.
One turn, another I decided to go to the port.
As a maritime trade city that has been prosperous since the sixth century BC, there are naturally many warehouses full of goods at the docks of Marseille.
Now, because the owner and his family died of the plague, all of them have become ownerless. thing.
Now it happens that everything is dedicated to the "angels" for confiscation and emergency relief.
Every unowned warehouse of wheat, wool, ore, wood, and olive oil was swept away, no matter what goods were stuffed inside.
Even many owned warehouses were expropriated for free after being issued a receipt by Doraemon.
In the end, he even went so crazy as to not let go of the ships filled with dead people in the port.
He used a shrinking lamp to make them the size of a palm and threw them all into the automatic pawn machine.
In short, after such an inhumane and ruthless search, and after sweeping across most of the city, Doraemon finally collected the loan interest that should be paid this month.
This shows that the production capacity and wealth accumulation amount of medieval Europe was poor.
On the other hand, while the red-eyed Doraemon was scrounging around and amassing money like crazy, in the chapel of Marseille Cathedral, the blond and busty female school doctor Marikawa Shizuka, with angel wings spread out, gave full play to her medical skills.
The professional quality of the workers, with a compassionate and holy smile on their face, provides grace and salvation from heaven to every plague patient who comes for help and to healthy people who are worried about the disease.
"Don't worry, don't be afraid, the power of God will heal your physical pain.
Meow in French or Italian, in the name of the sacred cat, bathes in the holy breath, eliminates physical pain, blooms the vitality of life, complete healing skills Meow Japanese”oshow7: