The Rise of the European Emperor

It will take a month or so to wait for the European envoys to arrive in Rome. Therefore, Maximilian I simply stayed in Rome and waited. And his 20,000 army, the 10,000 militiamen disguised as the main force, were also sent back to China. However, before leaving, these people all went back with food bags on their backs. As for where the food came from, it was naturally provided by the big boss Marin...

And Marin was not idle during this time. Taking advantage of his free time, he approached Michelangelo once and talked about inviting him to sculpt a statue of himself on Liberty Island in New York.

"What? You want me to go to the wild continent to help you carve a statue with you as a template?" Michelangelo swore that he had never seen such a shameless person. When people are still young, they want to make a statue for themselves, and it is a huge statue twenty or thirty meters high.

Generally speaking, statues are made by later generations for predecessors. Even if there are occasional statues for themselves, they are all old and dying, and want to leave a trace for future generations.

But how old is Marlin? I'm only 30 years old, and I want to make a statue for myself. Moreover, it is also a super-large statue of twenty or thirty meters high. You must know that the "David" sculpted by Michelangelo was only 5.5 meters high when connected to the pedestal. Marin directly wanted to make himself a super-large statue of 20 to 30 meters high - it was really shameless...

Marin said nonsense seriously:

"Well, it is like this. The Pope will order me to spread the glory of Christ in the wild continent, so I plan to carve this statue. On this statue, I hold the Bible in my left hand and hold the cross of Christ Jesus in my right hand... You Look, does this show that I am trying to spread the glory of the Lord?"

Michelangelo rolled his eyes - if you really want to spread the glory of the Lord, why don't you get a statue of Jesus? You stink shamelessly and make a statue of yourself?

However, Marin's wishes Michelangelo did not dare to go against it. why? Because Marin is the VIP of His Holiness the Pope! Michelangelo was no more than a sculptor, and he was not yet known in the world at this time. Michelangelo's status as a maestro would not be established until Genesis was completed, and it was well received by visitors to Rome from all over Europe. Now, he is nothing more than a well-known young sculptor.

Moreover, even if he became famous, in front of Marin, it is really not enough to see. Unless, the Holy See is willing to protect him. But the Holy See and Marin were so good that they were wearing a pair of pants, so the Holy See could not turn their backs on Michelangelo and Marin.

Also, Marin didn't plan to let Michelangelo himself go to New York to sculpt the statue. He planned to let Michelangelo sculpt near the sea in Rome, and let the statue lie down first. When the carving is complete, Marin will send a ship to load it. After transporting to Liberty Island, prepare a lot of pulley tools and pull the statue upright.

Because there is no need to go abroad, and Marin gave a huge reward of tens of thousands of gold coins, plus he can't offend the other party,

Michelangelo agreed after thinking about it.

In order to carry this huge stone statue of 20 to 30 meters high, Marin also plans to let Beihaiguo Shipyard design and build a large ship of more than 1,000 tons according to the needs, which is specially used to carry this stone statue.

Even, Marin planned to send someone to paint a layer of gold paint on the stone statue after it was erected, that is, the golden paint configured with tin sulfide. In this way, the 30-meter-high portrait can be seen from a long distance with golden light, which is extremely pretentious.

Of course, in order to prevent the outlaws from coveting, Marin will also clearly tell everyone that this is painted with gold paint, not a real gold statue. Otherwise, it would be miserable to be pushed down as gold.

...

Taking advantage of the waiting period, Marin also sent 500 cavalry to return home to bring Felice and Robert to Rome. Before, Julius II mentioned that in order for Robert to be shaded as a cardinal, he had to show his face in Rome and let everyone know. Moreover, the identity of the side branch of the Rovere family was also arranged. After all, the Pope has the right to shade the younger generation of the family as cardinals, just like Caesar Borgia.

If the starting point is a cardinal that ordinary people can't reach in a lifetime, then they can get rid of ordinary people for decades. Moreover, as a cardinal, as long as you reach the age, you are eligible to run for the Pope of Rome. Now, Marin started the Bank of Siena, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of gold coins. At that time, as long as you have enough money, you will have a good chance of running for the Pope.

According to Marin's plan, after the two Popes of the Medici family died, Robert was almost thirty or forty years old. At this age, and he started out as a cardinal, running for the Pope is very beneficial. Maybe, Marin will have the opportunity to see his son become Pope in his lifetime...

Marin silently calculated that Clement VII died in 1534, when Robert was only about 30 years old...it seems to be a little younger... However, Marin provides a better oriental doctor, Medici The family's pope may not have died so early. As long as his death is delayed for a few more years, when Robert is older, he is eligible to run for the Pope. And even in 1540, I was only 62 years old, I should be able to live to that time...

...

Before the end of the year, envoys from various European countries arrived in Rome one after another. Many German princes also came to Rome to attend in person. Of course, those who came to cheer were mainly from the emperor's faction and from the centrist. As for the emperor's opponents, they mainly sent messengers to cheer. If the relationship is good, send the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come in person. Those with poor relations, such as France, directly sent an adjutant to the foreign minister to show their unwillingness.

The French were very resistant to the coronation of Maximilian I, because once Maximilian I was crowned, it meant that he would become an emperor half a level higher than the king. Later, when Louis XII met Maximilian I, he had to bow first.

But the French are aggrieved. It is clear that France is the strongest in Europe, and it is much stronger than Maximilian I, who only has Austria, the Netherlands and Franche-Comté. However, the monarch of France can only be a king, not on an equal footing with the coronation of Maximilian I.

At the beginning, Charles VIII specially bought the Byzantine crown, just to get the throne of the fallen Eastern Roman Empire, so as to be equal to the Emperor Shinra.

However, the crown was bought by the French. Andres Pariogalos, the exiled emperor of the Byzantine Empire, refused to admit that he gave the throne to Charles VIII, but only admitted to selling him the crown.

Then, with the help of Marin, Maximilian I spent money to buy the throne of the Byzantine Empire from Andres Pariogalos and performed the enthronement ceremony.

The problem is that a group of European powers such as France refused to recognize Maximilian I as the Byzantine emperor. They believed that only by occupying Constantinople could he truly become a Byzantine emperor. Otherwise, even if you get the authorization of the crown or the exiled emperor, it will be in vain...