Chapter 3455 Shelter from the Wind (IV)

Georgiana followed Caroline and Paulina towards the Duke's Courtyard.

The goddesses of grace represent all the beautiful parts of life. They do not compete for the title of "most beautiful" and golden apples like Hera, Venus and Athena. Therefore, they coexist harmoniously, forming the order of an ideal city-state in Aristotle's eyes. .

Dante passed through the gate of hell and before reaching the first level of hell, he met Charon, a man crossing the river. The river only flowed in one direction.

Georgiana raised her head and looked at the patterns on the ceiling of the corridor in Sforzesco Castle. If it could be called the sun during the day, then it looked like a group of snakes at the moment.

This was her personal feeling, perhaps because after marrying into the Visconti family, Sforza still used the Visconti family crest. She saw too many snakes in this castle.

If hell is a downward funnel, purgatory is an upward mountain. In theory, the first level of purgatory should be closest to the first level of hell.

No one can go upstream from the river that flows from Purgatory Mountain to the center of the earth, but the old man has been waiting by the river for his lent wife. Even in this world, boats can often be seen going upstream.

Dante and the others did not break this rule and moved forward in the direction of the current.

The counterpart to the Graces was the Furies, whom he described as like Gorgon sisters, with heads covered with snakes and living in fetid swamps.

The goddess of revenge represents conscience in ancient Greece. At the same time, revenge will bring endless continuation of hatred and madness. Agamemnon's son fell into that difficult situation to escape.

Georgiana turned her gaze forward.

The Pontine Swamp is located south of Rome. It was once a "natural barrier" to protect Rome. In addition to the muddy roads, it was also because the swamp was full of malaria. For two thousand years, it protected Roman invasion more effectively than the city wall.

It was once a forest, but was abandoned due to over-logging. In the 3rd century, due to neglect of drainage and irrigation projects, this wasteland turned into a swamp. The way to control Pontine Marsh was to drain the water in the swamp...

She suddenly remembered Dolores Umbridge, who was helpless against the Weasley brothers' portable swamp.

Umbridge wants to keep everything under "her" control by establishing rules and discipline.

Before the War of the Spanish Succession, Portugal had been involved in the Royal Restoration War, which ended the Habsburg dynasty's rule in Portugal and then began the Braganza dynasty.

Pedro II died in 1706 and was succeeded by João V. He reigned for 50 years and was the longest reigning king in Portuguese history.

His era coincided with the influx of gold from Brazil and the unprecedented wealth of Portugal. However, he gathered huge power and wealth, but followed Louis XIV and built palaces and monasteries on an unprecedented scale.

Such a large project requires a large amount of labor, but all the strong Portuguese laborers went to Brazil to pan for gold. The royal family had to send out soldiers and recruit 45,000 able-bodied workers from all over the country.

The greatest livelihood construction during his reign was Lisbon's "Water of Liberty" aqueduct. This project was built in imitation of the ancient Roman aqueduct. The king did not earn a penny, but the citizens of Lisbon still wrote " During the reign of the benevolent, auspicious and generous King Joao V, the Lisbon City Hall and the people, relying on the strength of the people of the city themselves, finally introduced the free river water to the city that they had been waiting for for two centuries. ".

João V knew Spanish, French, and Italian, was also proficient in mathematics, and had a good education. Moreover, as a young monarch at the beginning of his succession, he did not give any chance to the conspirators and became the first real person in Portugal. In the sense of being an absolute monarch, the military also expanded the navy and land forces, allowing Portugal to temporarily return to the same level as Europe militarily.

In order to repair the water conservancy project, the citizens agreed to levy additional taxes on raw meat, wine, olive oil, etc. sold in Lisbon. Instead, the royal family intervened and did not allow additional taxes on salt and straw.

This brings us to Brazil. In Brazil, cattle are needed to transport gold sand, and cattle are also needed to cultivate land. Not to mention animals, if people engage in physical work, they also need to add salt. In summer, salt water is even more thirst-quenching than pure water.

When people have money, they will want to eat meat. The cattle in the northeastern pastures of Brazil were all slaughtered in the first quarter of the 18th century. Seeing the business opportunities, the church moved the cattle to Pinies, where they were bred for eight years and finally owned Hundreds of thousands of livestock.

Not only do they have a monopoly on the beef market, but they also have Brazilian shipping capacity. Conflicts intensified among gold diggers, and sugar plantations revolted over salt taxes. In order to suppress these rebels and maintain order, the Portuguese army went there. Europe had no troops and no way to join the Spanish Succession War. João V has always remained neutral.

When the war was over and the results were divided, Portugal only gained recognition as a territory in the Amazon River Basin.

There is so much gold, the Portuguese royal family should bear the cost of repairing the palace themselves, but those gold-rimmed mirrors, porcelain, glass, etc., Louis XIV used mirrors to decorate Versailles because he got the secrets of Venice, the rich Portuguese royal family It was paid in gold.

So the Lisbon city government had to raise the money the king needed to build the palace, which eventually led to bankruptcy.

Georgiana still remembers the man who drank 16 cups of coffee a day in the court of Louis XVI. If he were in front of her, she would definitely watch him drink 16 cups to see if he could write articles like Balzac.

During Mussolini's reign, the Ponting Swamp was drained for a period of time using a water pump. Without malaria and mosquitoes, this place became a very fertile land. When Mussolini first came to power, in order to protect the interests of his country's farmers, he stopped the previous grain import and export trade and switched to self-production and self-sales.

However, this did not solve Italy's food problem, but instead fell into a food shortage.

The food structure of Italians is relatively diverse, and rice and corn are acceptable, but wheat is still the staple food.

Maybe there is still water in the swamp. Mussolini encouraged Italians to eat rice, but with little effect, wheat is still the staple food.

It took two generations for Maria Theresa to develop the swamps in Trieste, but the Ponting Swamp could not be completed in one or two generations.

Even if Georgiana saw Archimedes' screw water pump in Leonardo da Vinci's manuscript, it lacked the necessary power. Wind is needed to use a windmill, and water is needed for a waterwheel. Steam engines can also pump water, but today's steam engine locomotives cannot run faster than horses. It is much more convenient to raise animals such as horses and cattle near swamps.

Oh, and electricity. Mussolini's water pump should be powered by electricity. The question is where to find a power station in the 19th century?

In addition to the French assignats, Italy also has a kind of paper money issued by the Papal States.

Not only the property of the Knights Templar and the Knights of Malta was confiscated, but also in the Diocese of Liege and other regions. What did the Pope rely on to issue paper money? Indulgences and merits?

Since Gregory XI moved the Holy See back to Rome in 1378, the Holy See began to organize the construction of libraries. After the Sack of Rome, Sixtus V rebuilt Rome and left a lot of gold reserves.

But when the French entered Rome, they turned over all the libraries, but still did not find the gold left by the old Pope.

When the French withdrew, the gold "appeared", and then the Papal States issued paper money based on it.

Is it true?

Yes, but I can't tell you where it is, nor can I show you, lest the news leak out and attract "thieves".

Is such a big church afraid that they will run away? What's more, they still have so much land in Italy.

So there are two paper money systems in Italy, and even Piedmont itself is issuing paper money. It once belonged to Savoy. A sovereign state must have monetary sovereignty.

And this is only a small part of the "dark forest" mentioned by the Finance Minister of the Shannan Republic.

Rome also has a Santo Spirito Bank similar to the central bank, which is the "Holy Spirit" in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The appeal of the Holy See still exists. Many people go to the Pontin Swamp for voluntary labor. In addition to eliminating sins, they can also get a piece of land. The Pontin Swamp is not all difficult to conquer. This part of the drained swamp absorbed 1.6 million scudi.

When the three of them came to the courtyard with a long water tank, the yard was full of people.

The jugglers who had performed at Caroline's house before were performing on the sink. Their clothes were so thin that they stuck to their bodies when they got wet.

At the other end, Paganini was performing a violin solo. She didn't know if it was her illusion, but the fire around him was obviously brighter than the other fires.

The etiquette officer knocked the copper-wrapped wooden stick three times and shouted their names, and the guests turned their attention to them.

"When did you organize such a big banquet?" Georgiana asked Caroline.

"It's just a 'casual meal'." Caroline said lightly.

"Isn't there not a lot of people standing in the yard?" Paulina said, "Wasn't the scene when you went to Belgium much bigger than this?"

Although that was the case...

At this time, applause rang out outside, and the radiant Paulina and the elegant Caroline walked towards the crowd with a smile.

Georgiana felt that she should also wear a "mask", just like the guy playing with silver coins in the dream just now.

Her eyes quickly swept across the faces at the banquet, trying to find him.

Most people lowered their heads after making eye contact with her, as if avoiding direct eye contact with her.

"You look like a fair judge." Bonaparte once said to her jokingly.

She pouted secretly, then straightened her back and walked into the meeting with a fake smile that she had practiced for many years.