immortal person

With each breath, he discovered that there was still a corner in his heart that allowed the Holy Grace to arrive, and as long as a little heat, he could call life out of death.However, there was not much time left for him to think about the shock in his soul.In the afternoon of the same day, the Florentine Executive Group passed the wartime decree, announced the establishment of a nine-member military committee, passed the proposal to build the city defense fortifications, recruited the most famous architect in the city, and appointed Giovanni Buonarrotti as the project director.As a sculptor, Giovanni enjoyed a high reputation throughout the Apennine Peninsula and had experience in building Lauren Street. This resolution was not opposed by anyone.The existing city walls in Florence were all built a hundred years ago, and everything is old-fashioned. Although it is tall and magnificent, it lacks moats, outer walls and internal fortifications.Giovanni spent the rest of the day assessing the condition of the walls and came to a less optimistic conclusion.Limited by the previous transportation conditions, the rocks on the inner and outer layers of the wall were all collected from the local mountains in Tuscany. This kind of rock is similar to travertine, and its toughness is very worrying. The wall is filled with gravel and lime slurry. It only takes two days for the pyramid to cut a small hole in the city wall, not to mention resisting the extremely powerful artillery now.His work started immediately, and in the evening of the same day, he discussed the first version of the plan with the other architects.The plan was quickly approved. Even if the war can be avoided this time, for the safety of the city-state in the future, it is imperative to strengthen the city wall.And "war" has almost become a tacit understanding of everyone - no one else in the ruling group has raised any doubts about it, and everyone is prepared for the worst.

"When I was very young, I thought," Lorenzo told him, "that if I had a daughter, I would call her Florence."

It wasn't until late at night that they finally got a chance to sit together.The duke was seated by the high window with a blanket over his knees, and Giovanni came up to him and handed him a glass of mulled wine and cinnamon.The rain has stopped, and the sky is as quiet as a flat blue-black flannelette, with occasional wind blowing faint stars.Not far away, the willows by the river are slowly swaying their branches with the wind, and the irises are about to bloom. It won't be long before the city will be full of fragrance again—if they can still see.

Giovanni lifted his hem and looked down at his wound carefully. "Don't go out for the next few days." The young man said with a frown.

The doctor had just left, and before he left, he warned the Duke in a restrained and annoyed tone that the recovery of the wound was not satisfactory. Please remember your self-consciousness as an injured person, and it is best to lie down and recuperate obediently.Lorenzo ignored his words, but coughed uncomfortably when facing Giovanni: "You know it's impossible."

Giovanni kissed his wound lightly. "Does it still hurt?" he asked.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Lorenzo looked at him.

"I heard someone pushed you today," Giovanni asked. "Who?"

He got an answer he hadn't thought of before.At noon, when Lorenzo returned to the Medici Palace from the city cemetery, the girl who had been guarding the palace gate rushed out from her hiding place.No one can recognize the former peacock-proud girl: Bianca Pazzi is huddled in a tattered cloak, half her face covered in mud: only in this way can she be here. In the past few days, the whole city has saved himself from the raging hatred towards Pazzi.She bumped into Lorenzo unexpectedly, and the guards immediately pinned her to the ground—they had never been so vigilant these days—and she grabbed Lorenzo's robe with all her strength, shouting: "I Please!"

"Leave me alone." In just a few days, her cheeks sunken quickly, and her eyes staring at Lorenzo were amazingly bright, "I'm innocent, I don't know anything, don't drive me away, I'm here Those who cannot live outside the city..."

As one of the most distinguished women in the city, she was once the most common figure at balls and dinners, the jewel known throughout Tuscany.Now that her family property has been seized and her title has been deposed, she is no different from a bird whose feathers have been plucked.Two lines of tears quickly slipped down from the corners of her eyes: "Please..."

Anyway, she's just a girl.After a short pause, Lorenzo said to Giovanni: "For a moment, I really wanted to promise her."

But he didn't.He remembered Albizzi's lesson, how his grandfather's kindness left troubles like Coronavli behind.The hatred will be inherited by blood, and one day it will explode again.As Biancapazzi was dragged away by soldiers, he turned around.

At this moment, he recalled, still sighing. "It's not your fault." Giovanni took his hand. "Think of the story of Hercules."

When the hero finally vanquished Hydra, to ensure victory, each time he chopped off one of its heads, his friends would sear its wounds with red-hot irons so that it would never come back to life.Lorenzo shook his head and smiled: "I know."

"I just discovered again how indecisive I am," he said. "I'm not fit to be a king, let alone lead an army. My grandfather used to say that many years ago." He shook his glass , "But after wearing a mask for many years, no one will remember what you used to be."

"If there is a war," Giovanni keenly grasped the point, "do you want to lead the army yourself?"

Lorenzo coughed lowly, and Giovanni put his hands on his sides and looked down at him: "Can't you let others go? - Florence also needs you, you can stay behind. Think about your Injury! How do you ride? How do you march?"

Lorenzo held his face and kissed him soothingly on the lips: "There is always a way, don't worry."

How could you not worry!Giovanni sat back beside him and said nothing.Lorenzo separated his clenched fingers and brought them to his lips for a kiss: "At present, there is no other candidate. Poliziano can stay here, but I must go with the army."

"me and you together."

"No." Lorenzo said bluntly.

"Today's appointment," Giovanni stared at him, "is it just to keep me here?"

"Not at all." Lorenzo gripped the hand he was trying to pull away. "Come on, Joe... I know I'm not a good lover."

"I am still accumulating the courage to face the war. If there is another way to achieve peace, I will definitely do it without hesitation. But now it seems... there may not be a second way."

Two cardinals were killed, one of whom was the Pope's own nephew; the Archbishop, who had been appointed by the Pope himself, was hanged in full bishop's regalia before the whole city.This is undoubtedly a great offense and contempt for Rome.Under such circumstances, even if the Pope has a guilty conscience, he must do something to maintain the dignity of the Vatican.The envoys from Rome are still missing, and Florence is in danger, like a ship shaken by wind and waves, which may capsize at any time.At the latest the day after tomorrow, there will be an echo from Rome, and Lorenzo said that the matter can no longer be brought to a hasty conclusion.He will be ready to face everything that may happen.

Giovanni said with difficulty: "You have never led a soldier."

"There is always a first time." Lorenzo said softly, "I have never escaped anything in my life except you. Do you want to shrink back at this time?"

Giovanni looked at him wordlessly, and suddenly embraced him tightly in his arms.Lorenzo patted him on the back lightly, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I won't die."

Lorenzo had said that to him as if long ago.

Only a few days before the night of the assassination, he re-felt his usual strength in Lorenzo.It was clear that he was in the center of the storm, but he was peaceful and still, like a rock that was once torn apart by the blow of destruction, but it has quickly healed itself and is stronger than before.Giovanni closed his eyes and sighed softly inwardly.He understands why better than anyone.The consolation he could give helped Lorenzo, who was first and foremost the head of the city-state before being his lover, to pass the most painful hours.He has devoted ten years to this city, cherishing it above all treasures.He was once discouraged by it, but he obtained the power of regeneration from it—that was the support and comfort that he could never replace.Absurd and wonderful people, even though they often behave like the carrier of evil, have a flash of goodness. For lovers, even if they are insignificant, they are enough, enough to pick up a burning heart from the ashes He realized a kind of great power, Lorenzo's lifelong persistence, which has been sharpened by reality, but is still unbreakable, and nothing can stop it—even if he knows that responsibility and honor are just eternal phantoms, he still pursues them with all his strength ;Perhaps, the process of chasing eternity is another kind of eternity.

Who says you are not a qualified monarch.

He looked at Lorenzo and felt a sharp pang of pain, and the unspoken words rolled heavily in his throat.But he realized so clearly that there was nothing more to say.It seemed that he had been looking up, chasing, and exploring this man all his life, and now he understood Lorenzo completely, and believed that Lorenzo understood him as well.His fingers slid across Lorenzo's face, from the brow bone to the bridge of the nose, to the corners of the lips and the ears, as if he was stroking the inside of the soul, and glimpsed the projection of God from the immortal humanity.

My heart, my ribs, my favorite riddle.

Lorenzo still looked tired, but his eyes were sober and soft.Giovanni gazed at him with a sudden, indescribable relief.

"Go to sleep," he bowed his head and kissed Lorenzo's forehead, and smoothed the hair around his ears.He had a hunch that they would have the same dream tonight.

Lorenzo's prediction was not wrong at all.On the morning of the third day, the guard at the city gate reported that the envoys from Rome had sent heralds to hand over the customs clearance documents, and they were about to pass through the city gate at noon.According to the original plan, the Medici messenger was supposed to send back the news before the official envoy arrived, but Niccolo never heard from him.This has to be alarming.The envoy's carriage did not go to the Municipal Palace as usual, but stopped directly in front of the Medici Palace.Lorenzo and Poliziano were waiting outside the door. The attendant stepped forward to open the door of the carriage, and a monk in black stepped out of the carriage and walked in front of them.

This face, which is seven points like Giovanni, is facing Lorenzo.Leonardo Buonarroti nodded coldly to the Duke: "Nice meeting, Your Highness."

The author has something to say:

*The description of the city walls comes from the records of the Venetian ambassador Marco Foscari in 1528, excerpted from the essay "Changes in the Italian city walls from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque period".

**Unfinished warning, there are about four or five chapters left...