Chapter 1553 The Beautiful City

Do you enjoy your job every day?

Even if it is a job that seems very good in the eyes of others, or a job that was chosen because of interest at the beginning, it will be very boring if you have to do the same thing day after day for a long time, such as cleaning windows, etc.

Or a butcher.

I clean windows every day and slaughter animals every day. One day I will want to change my job.

The same is true for soldiers. The battlefield is their working place. The working conditions are very harsh, not to mention life-threatening. Even if the war can bring them rich spoils, some people still choose to be deserters or evade military service.

Perhaps those who hate war the most are those who are most familiar with it, not pacifists. As for those who are warlike...

However, after leaving the battlefield, the skills they learned are of no use in a peaceful environment, just like housewives who cannot adapt to survive once they leave the family and return to society.

These people will live in confusion and poverty, living on the streets without shelter from the wind and rain.

This may be different from the world ruled by rich and educated people as Madame de Staël expected. After all, not everyone in this world is rich and educated. Cooking is the right of the rich, and even more so for the poor.

Focus on how to get the food, rather than making it delicious. Even animals that die from illness will still be eaten by people. This is how some diseases are transmitted from animals to people, and then from person to person.

, then expanded, and finally turned into a plague.

After seeing too much death, doctors will become numb to death. Although they don't have guns, they have scalpels. They know what to do to kill themselves quickly, and there is absolutely no hope of being saved.

In Dante's Hell, there are trees transformed by suicides. These were not all people who were driven to desperation by gambling debts in their lives. They may have done things that many people think are great.

Soldiers need a reason to fight. They are not machines, they have emotions. They also long for their souls to go to heaven and be saved. Gentle comfort will make them discouraged at critical moments, whether this comfort comes from religion or a female nurse.

Movable type printing did increase the speed of printing, but it also brought rumors and false news. In Venice in the 16th century, we often saw such a situation, when ships loaded with dazzling goods and the latest news appeared in Venice.

When arriving at the port of Venice, the reporter immediately asked the captain and sailors for the latest news. Then he would write down the news and post the manuscript on the wall. People did not believe the information printed in printed fonts, but would gather together to read the manuscript.

There are two reasons for this.

First, the manuscript is copied quickly. After the person who collects the information has written it, it can be posted on the wall. There is no need for typesetting or checking. The speed is faster than printing. Second, because it has not been reviewed and corrected, no one will use ink to copy the article.

Large sections of text were scrawled.

When Napoleon passed through Venice, he left nothing behind. All manuscripts and printed matter were confiscated, including 5,000 ancient classics stamped with the seal of the "Venetian Government".

Among them, the one with the most exquisite binding and the most magnificent appearance is the "Grimani Prayer". This book has more than 800 pages and has more than 50 exquisite miniature paintings. It originally belonged to a bishop and was later acquired by a Venetian

It was owned by aristocrats, and later it was placed in the Library of St. Mark. Its status in the printing world was comparable to the Sistine Chapel. Georgiana lived in the Paris library for a while and read this book. Of course she read every word of it.

I don't understand. She doesn't know Hebrew.

Moreover, the staff in the library do not attach much importance to this book. They are more interested in discussing the first edition of "The Golden Ratio" by Leonardo da Vinci. In addition to the famous "Werther" illustrations,

Luwei Man", and Leonardo da Vinci's strange and wonderful ideas.

This book was found by Napoleon's soldiers in a cemetery in Venice. Cemetery managers are often priests. When the soldiers went to find the priest guarding the cemetery, they had long since disappeared.

The mention of Leonardo da Vinci drives people into an irrational madness, but even this book is not a core collection of the Bibliothèque San Marco.

It is impossible to verify whether the Crusades snatched Greek books from the Arabs. Anyway, the core collection of books in the St. Mark's Library is in Greek. They are not classified as banned books. Borrowers can read them as they wish.

You need to be able to read Greek.

So Georgiana once again found the feeling of seeing hieroglyphics in the Louvre, but having no idea what they said.

After asking someone for advice, she learned that these books included law, classical anthologies, medicine, geography, but not military affairs. She didn’t know whether Napoleon did this intentionally or if it was not originally in the collection. But from the information left in the manuscripts

It can be seen that military books were a big business in the 16th century. Printers from all walks of life rushed to get involved and wanted a piece of the pie, but no one became the leader in this field.

The donor of the core collection of the Library of San Marco was a Greek. Greece has always been less warlike than Rome. Since then, there has been a Greek brotherhood in Venice, and then the Greek printing industry has started. Europeans at that time were eager to know more about it.

The knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, and Venice was the center of knowledge dissemination, where Eastern and Western civilizations met. The printer who printed the "Golden Ratio" also printed the "Quran".

Not only that, there are bookstores in Venice marked by prophetic witches. This place is full of "heresies", but the power of the church is very weak in this secular world, far less than other places in Europe. The bishop of Venice is appointed by the Doge, and Venice

There is also a powerful navy to rely on.

Successful merchants would open shops across Europe to sell Venetian goods and printed matter. There is a painting of "The Last Judgment" in which King Carlos III of Spain and the Devil are placed together. This may be the earliest satirical cartoon.

.

In addition to these printed materials, there are also a large number of alchemy and magic books. Some of these books are true or false, and they have all been confiscated by the Brotherhood.

The "Free Masons' Union" built a stone building on the outskirts of Paris. It was not used for parties, but for storing some things. There were many divided small rooms in the castle, and each small room had a letter on it.

, the intruders would play a game called the "Dead Wall Game," where you would go in through an entrance and then spell a word you guessed. Enter these small rooms and press buttons, and a letter would appear in a word.

Many times, if you guess correctly, the secret door to the secret room will open. If you guess wrong, the mechanism will be triggered, and the two walls will slowly close together, eventually crushing the intruder into a "biscuit."

The castle is maintained by a group of people who look like monks, but they are not monks. This can be seen by looking at it. An insider revealed that they wear black hooded robes and keep their hoods covered even when eating.

With my own eyes, the meal was quiet and the dishes were very rich. The dean's only privilege was to have wine, which was only used to entertain guests.

"At first I thought they were mute," an insider revealed, "because they all communicated in sign language, but later I found out they could speak."

"Is their sign language used by ordinary deaf-mute people?" a curious reporter asked.

"No, it's the internal language used by monks in the monastery." The insider said, "Do you want to break through?"

The reporter shook his head.

Although she doesn't understand Greek, she still knows how to fight to the death.

"It's unimaginable that someone actually lives like that," the reporter said in disbelief.

"Maybe it's because the Bible doesn't allow them to laugh." An insider joked, "That place is like a monastery."

The reporter remembered that Reading planned to restore the monastery, but there were almost no churches in France, let alone monasteries.

"Are they female admirers?" the reporter asked curiously.

"What do you think?" the insider asked.

The reporter curled his lips and stopped asking such silly questions.
Chapter completed!