Chapter 1475: But There Is Still the Ottoman Empire!

"Your Majesty," Leonardo hesitated, "our relations with the Pope are not very good. Clement X, like several of his predecessors, hopes that all of Europe can unite to deal with the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Although he also regards the Chinese 'blasphemy' as a threat, he still believes the Ottoman Empire is the greater threat."

The current Pope in Rome is the 83-year-old Clement X, who was elected Pope in 1670. Like his predecessors, he is also opposed to Ming Confucianism because of the nearly unsolvable problem of 'discovering the Heavenly Principle.'

But ever since this 83-year-old grandfather chose a clerical career, he has regarded the Ottoman Empire as his chief enemy, and over the decades this has long since hardened into a fixed way of thinking. In his mind, the Ottoman armies are far more dangerous than the Confucian Heavenly Principle.

After all, one is the danger of losing one's livelihood, while the other is the danger of having the skull that does the eating smashed in. Moreover, Zhu Cilang has no intention of imposing the Confucian view of the Heavenly Principle on Westerners. The way of thinking of those who 'discover God' is completely different from that of those who 'receive God's favor' — scholars who 'discover God' simply do not have the sense of mission of the 'God-favored.'

But the Ottoman Empire is a different matter!

Just as France and the Great Ming Empire were beginning to move toward confrontation, the Ottoman Empire was also moving toward revival under the leadership of the Köprülü father and son.

In the past two years, the Ottoman Janissary corps has undergone a comprehensive upgrade under the direction of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü. Not only has its establishment been further expanded, but it has also absorbed the fruits of Ming military reform, beginning to introduce studded explosive shells and wooden-handled grenades.

In addition, the naval reform storm stirred up by the 'studded explosive shells' has also swept into the Mediterranean, giving a shot in the arm to the Ottoman navy, which had originally been at a disadvantage.

In several recent naval battles, the Ottoman fleets have achieved remarkable results — even when they could not win, they could still fight to mutual destruction!

Now, several Catholic Eastern and Southern European states, including the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of Naples (sharing a monarch with Spain), and the Republic of Poland, all feel tremendous pressure.

So the Roman Curia has had no choice but to step forward and repeatedly call for the formation of a grand alliance against the Ottoman Empire.

But Louis XIV has no interest whatsoever in this, and even secretly undermines it — if the Ottoman Empire really does break through Vienna, then the only one who could inherit the legacy of the Holy Roman Empire would be Louis XIV.

Furthermore, Louis XIV is a Sun King who believes 'I am the state'! He practices absolute monarchy, and naturally cannot tolerate the Pope interfering in the internal affairs of the French Church.

So with Louis's backing, Bishop Bossuet of Meaux in France issued a document titled the Declaration of the Clergy of France. It greatly restricted the power of the Curia in France, and in particular its fourth article declared that papal encyclicals and decrees are not immutable — this practically drags the Pope down from his altar!

The Roman Catholic Church holds that the Pope is infallible! The Pope is God's representative on earth, his words are golden and jade — how can they be altered?

Even if they could be altered, subordinates must not say so! And to issue a declaration — is that not the same as slapping the Pope's old face?

In earlier days, when the Curia was still mighty, anyone who said such things would have been burned to death long ago.

And King Louis XIV of France, disregarding the Curia's opposition, ordered that the entire Catholic Church of France must comply with this document.

Against this larger background, one can well imagine the state of relations between Louis XIV and the Pope — perhaps in the eyes of the 83-year-old Pope, this short Frenchman is simply a heretic, and if the Curia's fortunes were not so poor, His Holiness would long since have smashed the Sun King with an interdict.

But now, the Sun King can march on Rome at any time.

And the Holy Roman Empire and Spain are both half-dead; no one dares provoke the great Sun King.

The Sun King's face had darkened. He said to his foreign minister, "Hugo, you may tell the Pope plainly that now is the time for him to prove to France that he loves God more than money. I expect him to make the correct choice!"

Good Lord! Cold sweat broke out on the French foreign minister's forehead: this king actually demands that the Pope prove his faith in God — if the Pope does not pay up, does he intend to replace the Pope?

Hugo Leonardo, who still believed in God a little, hurried off to Rome carrying Louis XIV's mission, and at the Vatican met the 83-year-old Pope Clement X.

The Pope received the French foreign minister with great ceremony — His Holiness had no idea the man had come to ask for money, and thought the Sun King Louis XIV was preparing to answer his call and join with Leopold I and the Polish army's Regional Commander Jan Sobieski to oppose the Ottoman Empire together!

In the just-past year of 1672, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate jointly invaded Polish-controlled Right-Bank Ukraine. Under the command of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü, 80,000 Ottoman troops swept all before them, capturing the fortress of Kamianets in one stroke, and in August of that year successfully besieging Lviv, forcing the Republic of Poland to sign the humiliating Treaty of Buchach that October.

Under the treaty, Poland had to cede the southeastern provinces of Podolia and Bratslav, as well as large territories in southern Kiev. It also had to pay 22,000 thalers annually as tribute.

When the news reached Rome and Vienna, it immediately caused great alarm.

The Republic of Poland is an important member of the Catholic camp! If Poland does not cooperate with the Holy Roman Empire in resisting the Ottoman Empire, the situation facing the Holy Roman Empire will deteriorate sharply.

If Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, were seized by the Ottoman Empire — Clement X dared not even imagine it!

So when the old Pope saw the Sun King's envoy arrive in Rome at a moment of grave crisis for the Catholic camp, he was truly delighted from the bottom of his heart!

That child Louis still has God in his heart after all!

"Hugo, you must have come to Rome to defend the faith of God, have you not?" the old Pope said in French in a hoarse, aged voice (this was to show respect for France).

"Yes, yes..."

Hugo Leonardo was still weighing how to explain to this old priest who had fought his whole life to defend Catholicism that God's most dangerous enemy was not the Ottoman Empire but the Great Ming Empire, when the old Pope was already crossing himself.

"Thank God! Poland is saved, the Catholics of Eastern Europe and the Balkans are saved — Hugo, how many troops does His Majesty Louis intend to send against the Ottoman Empire? Thirty thousand or fifty thousand?"

Has this Pope gone senile? How could France possibly send troops to attack the Ottoman Empire before Vienna is broken by them?

"No, no," Hugo Leonardo shook his head.

"No troops?" The old Pope looked somewhat disappointed. "Providing some weapons and equipment would also be acceptable... In the siege of Kamianets, the Ottomans used imitation wooden-stocked explosive shells to bombard the fortress, with tremendous power. Poland's brave warriors suffered heavy casualties."

"We can certainly provide weapons and equipment to the Poles," Hugo Leonardo said, "but that is not why I came to Rome."

"Then you are..." The old Pope looked somewhat puzzled at the French foreign minister, who was speaking rather hesitantly.

"His Majesty the King believes that the Americas under Catholic rule are facing a grave threat!" Hugo Leonardo said. "The lives of the Catholics of New France are in extreme danger!"

"New France..." The old Pope blinked his aged eyes. "How many Catholics are there? Five thousand or ten thousand?"

"Nearly twenty thousand," Hugo Leonardo said. "Moreover, New Spain and New England have millions of Catholics, who are being threatened by the brutal United States of New Continent backed by the Great Ming Empire! If we cannot immediately provide support to the Catholics of the Americas, then the United States of New Continent may come to rule the entire American continent — that would be the greatest disaster in the history of Catholicism!

Therefore His Majesty the King intends to send a great army to New France and New Spain to defend the Catholic faith there. He also hopes that the Roman Catholic Church can provide military funds for this war to defend the glory of Catholicism... and he further hopes that the Church can provide funds for the soon-to-be-constructed Catholic city of New Rome in North America!"

The old Pope opened his mouth, somewhat dumbfounded. But he did not dare refuse King Louis's demand outright, so he could only ask Leonardo, "Approximately how much money is needed?"

"Five million, five million gold louis!"

The old Pope's eyes bulged out. "Good Lord, how can he demand so much?"

Chapter recommendation: Huadong Zhixiong's new work Great Power Heavy Tanks. To vindicate his father's name, Qin Zhenhua came to the First Machinery Factory, and from then on began a brand-new life — repairing tanks, modifying gun barrels, building engines, engaging in foreign trade, and in that special era, step by step forging the great power's heavy tanks!

(End of Chapter)