Southern part of the Alemannic Federation, on the Mediterranean coast.
This is the territory closest to the Empire of the Seven Hills in the Alemannic Federation. After the military campaign against the Empire of the Seven Hills failed, the defeated Alemannic generals fled back to the Alemannic Federation in panic, bringing the Black Death to these lands. Now the Black Death has spread throughout the Alemannic Federation, and the epidemic is especially severe in these lands close to the Seven Hills Empire. The rapidly developing epidemic caused the Qiqiu Empire to give up its plan to counterattack the Alemannic Federation, and even closed the border with the Alemannic Federation for this purpose.
The number of patients increasing at a terrifying rate not only alarmed the princes and princes in the Alemannic Federation, but also alarmed the Abrahamic Church that had taken root in the Alemannic Federation. As the top leader of the Alemannic Federal Diocese, Gregory left Cologne with a team of clergy and personally visited the border.
The road was very quiet, with less than one-tenth of the number of people walking outside. Some uncollected bones were piled on the roadside, and the flesh on them had been eaten away by crows.
A very sick adult was lying on a stretcher, and was carried laboriously by two men, an old man and a young man, all the way to the local church. They knelt at the door of the church and prayed silently for a while. Then a priest came out, dipped his finger in some water, and made a cross on the patient's forehead. The old man and the child bowed their heads and thanked for a while, then took up the stretcher again and left the church gate.
Gregory saw it clearly from a distance. After entering the church, he frowned and asked the priest: "What were those three people doing here just now?"
"The man on the stretcher is suffering from the Black Death," answered the priest. "His father and son carried him and came to seek healing."
"Absurd! You should go to a doctor when you are sick. You are not priests of Ibn Sina's sect. Why do you treat people?"
Gregory's shout startled the priest, and he hurriedly defended himself: "But no doctor can cure this disease at all! Rather than a disease, this is more like a whip from God, sent down for the unjust." punish……"
"God's punishment? Ridiculous! Did these farmers enslave God's chosen people, steal the Ark of the Covenant, or commit serious crimes like the people in Sodom?"
Gregory gave examples of punishments from God in the scriptures. Among them, only the city of Sodom was directly destroyed by God, but it was only the size of a city; the Tepuis who enslaved God’s chosen people only killed the firstborn of each family; as for the other pagan In the case of stealing the Ark of the Covenant, the plague sent by God was nothing more than hemorrhoids; now the Black Death has spread to several kingdoms and empires. He used these three allusions to question the priest: What kind of sin can make God send This drop is larger than those three. A worse plague?
The priest was so frightened that he didn't dare to say a word.
While he was talking, a small parade came from a distance, which looked particularly eye-catching on the empty street. In the middle of the parade was a trailer with a cross erected high on it and a shirtless man tied to the cross. There were two other people, one holding an iron chain and the other holding a whip with nails, and they beat the man hard, leaving the man bruised and bloody.
Gregory recognized the man tied to the cross as a clergyman of the church and asked angrily: "What is this doing? What serious crime has he committed?"
"Master Gregory, he has not committed any crime. He is using this action to atone for people's sins." The priest replied in a low voice, "We don't know why God was angry this time, but as clergy, I think we should take the initiative to take responsibility. God punishes people just as the Son of God did."
"Absurd! Ridiculous! Ridiculous!" Gregory cursed three times in a row, "Diseases need to be treated by doctors. Even a three-year-old child understands this principle, but you have been treated like this! Stop this practice immediately!"
"But Lord Gregory..." the priest asked in a low voice, "If we don't do this, what else can we do?"
Before Gregory could reply, the man holding the chain suddenly fell to the ground. Immediately afterwards, a scream sounded near him: "It's the patient!"
The crowd panicked, and in the blink of an eye, they fled in all directions, leaving only the man tied to the cross and the man holding the chain who fell to the ground.
"Oh my God, it's one of ours again!" the priest shouted in panic, "There are only thirteen people in the local church left alive now!"
"It's actually during the procession... Can't God hear our prayers?" A priest behind the priest cried, "God doesn't even care about the priests he chooses. Could it be said that he has given up on us humans? "
Although Gregory made it clear from the beginning that he was displeased with associating the Black Death with God, the local church people still insisted on God's punishment - this idea was deeply ingrained in their minds. .
Gregory raised his head and sighed, feeling a little helpless in his heart: If the Black Death was allowed to continue to develop like this, the foundation of the church, both internally and externally, would probably be shaken.
"It would be great if Master Ibn Sina was here." A priest who was traveling with him sighed and said, "His words may be able to cure this basic problem, but it is a pity that he is on an eastern expedition and cannot come back."
"Not necessarily. I heard that this disease has also appeared in our Tianfang Empire." Another priest who followed Gregory interjected, "Perhaps the King of Kings will come up with countermeasures soon."
This "King of Kings" does not refer to the Son of God, but to an apostle who inherited the title of Son of God. Unlike other apostles, the apostles of this sect are hereditary. Members of this family are ranked first among the apostles because they can directly communicate with the Son of God, and they have also become the nominal leaders of the Tianfang Empire. Although the four apostles did not get along with each other, they still had to obey the orders of the King of Kings. If he said so, he would have the authority to bring back Ibn Sina from the Eastern Expedition to deal with this plague.
Gregory's face suddenly became very ugly: "This is the land of our Crusaders, how can we allow the apostles of the Xingyue Sect to enter? If I have to find Ibn Sina to solve the problem, then I There is a better candidate - the King of Sweden, what do you think?"
The priests rubbed their heads and smiled awkwardly: Gregory was right. If you want to find someone from the Crescent Sect to solve the problem of the Crusaders, it would be better to find a pagan.
But Gregory suddenly closed his eyes and seemed to notice something——
"You guys, wait a moment, I'll be right back."
(End of chapter)
