Alfrag Village is located on the high ground in the north of Lisbon. Because it is eroded by the southern sea breeze all year round, the south side is eroded by weathering and tidal rain. The terrain is steep and steep. Many houses are built directly on the edge of a rather steep cliff. A mountain road extends to the top of the mountain next to the cliff. From the bottom of the mountain, it looks like a road to the sky.

Just a few years ago, Alfrag Village was not very prosperous. Because of the terrain here, a small castle was built on the top of the mountain as a watchtower and barracks. There were dozens of soldiers stationed in it all year round. Because they were actually located on the edge of the capital city, no enemies would appear easily on sea or on land. Over time, there were fewer and fewer soldiers in this small castle, and it was almost abandoned.

But just two years ago, Mary of Aragon, who succeeded his dead sister Isabella, became the queen of Portugal, suddenly fell in love with this place.

The only reason why Queen Mary will fall in love with this inconspicuous mountaintop countryside in Lisbon is because of the stretched and slightly steep mountain road.

This mountain road, which was called the "Tiantian Road" locally, became a test site for Maria to promote her "Castilian devotion". She asked King Manuel to renovate the small castle on the top of the mountain, and at the same time transform the buildings in the castle to build a prayer hall there.

According to Mary's explanation, this mountain road is so steep and difficult to walk and dangerous, just like the painful path of the Bible that Jesus Christ wore a thorn crown and a robe wearing a sackcloth, walking barefoot step by step. As a devout believer, this feat should be repeated. Therefore, she asked Manuel to transform the castle on the top of the mountain into a prayer hall, and also asked the king to give orders to lead all the ministers and nobles in the Lisbon court to "retrace the path of martyrdom and remember the heart of Christ" on Jesus' Martyrdom Day every year. At the same time, everyone should reflect deeply on their selfishness from the depths of their hearts, and then be determined to carry out the great cause of rescuing the Christ brothers who were oppressed by pagans all over the world to the end.

Maria was obviously pious, and Manuel I could not suggest so devout his wife's pious and passionate advice in this matter, so with the order, the village of Alfragher became lively, the small castle was demolished, and the small castle was built again, and crosses were erected on the mountain road that was regarded as a symbol of the suffering road, to foreshadow the heavy burden that Jesus Christ had carried.

The Lisbon court had different opinions on this decision, but they still admired the queen's piety. Maria was also very happy. She felt that she had brought a new trend to Portugal. In her opinion, the Portuguese were negligent about faith, which was completely incomparable to the atmosphere in the Castile court. Manuel I's perfunctory attitude towards religious affairs made her unable to bear it. As long as she thought about how her mother Queen Isabella was keen on spreading the glory of the Lord, Maria felt that it was necessary to replace the king to become the religious spokesperson in the secular society of this country.

So she began to appear in churches, monasteries, and various religious celebrations. Because the recovery of lost land had just ended, and even many people who had witnessed the final victory of this movement that lasted for centuries could be witnessed, Maria's actions quickly gained support from the people.

This made Maria even more proud. She simply publicly used tough methods to deliberately show that she was the person who was more suitable for dealing with the church than Manuel I. Her behavior of building churches and spreading the gospel did gain favor from the church.

Maria was indeed very pious, which undoubtedly originated from her mother's influence, perhaps because of her nominal title of the Holy Land Protector and Jerusalem's crown, Queen Isabella's obsession with the Holy Land had made her want to reorganize the crusaders to liberate the Holy Land more than once.

Alfragrage village has inadvertently become a good place for Maria to show the Portuguese her character as a "devoted queen". She would come here on the last day of each month, then hike up the mountain road that is a metaphor for a miserable road, stay in the prayer hall inside for a night, and then go down the mountain the next morning to return to Lisbon.

This behavior has gained a group of supporters among the people. Although her Castile identity will inevitably make the Portuguese feel uncomfortable, at least she is much more popular than her sister when she was the queen.

At the end of August, Lisbon was already much cooler. The wind from the sea drove away the heat. People who had become lazy due to the hot weather also became active. However, the most important thing is that with the arrival of the monsoon season, those fleets that had already gone to sea to Africa in the first half of the year are likely to be back.

At this time last year, Da Gama's return caused countless people to be crazy. The rare treasures he brought from the East and stories about unimaginable wealth on that land made many people talk about even a year later. Da Gama not only made a fortune because of this, but also received the full support of Manuel I.

So Da Gama decided to continue his efforts. While providing all the information about the new routes to another expedition fleet Manuel decided to send, he also began to actively prepare for his second expedition. This time, because of the great success he had achieved before, countless people flocked to provide convenience and funds for his voyage as soon as the news spread. However, Da Gama did not seem to be so anxious to accept the kindness of those people, or he already had investors who were very satisfied with him.

Maria was of course very happy about Da Gama's success, because the precious gems, ivory and gold that Da Gama dedicated to Manuel were soon proposed to sell them into a large amount of money and then invested in the construction of the Lisbon Cathedral. This cathedral, which will be built for 200 years in the future, became a symbol of wealth and power in Portugal's heyday.

But no one would have thought that this church was also the bottomless pit that almost wiped out Portugal.

The larger expedition fleet, commanded by another nautical explorer and soldier Cabral, had already set out more than two months ago. This time, before leaving, Manuel generously gave the expedition fleet more rights, rather than waiting for the full load to show enough enthusiasm like Da Gama.

Not only was Cabral given the post of Deputy Commander of the Indian Navy, but he also received the huge power of "enough maritime self-defense" allowed by Manuel, which means that as long as he felt threatened, Cabral had the right to order war with any possible enemy.

This made Maria somewhat uneasy. She was worried that Manuel I, who was determined to open up overseas colonies, might eventually have conflicts with her mother country. Although Alexander VI had assigned the colonies to them before and divided the Pope's meridian, the final decision was often the warships and cannons.

Maria hoped that Manuel would focus on his devotion to faith, and as for wealth she felt that those things could be obtained through prayers to God.

The village of Alfragrage became lively again on the end of August. Several palace servants who had routine inspections took a walk on the "Passy Road" and checked the safety of the road according to usual practice and then went down the mountain. The queen would arrive here at noon. These servants should do not let the queen be harassed by the villagers after they arrived.

In fact, the villagers of Alfrag Village were so curious that they died of death. Since they were all locals living in this village, the servants just took a look and went to the cool place at the foot of the mountain to eat their lunch. Although the queen could not drink, the fruits that seemed good-tasting sold to them by foreign vendors on the road were still worth trying.

When Maria arrived at the foot of the Alfrag village, it was a little later than before, and it was almost afternoon.

She would be late because she heard that Juana went to Saint Jose Castle again for the morning blessing ceremony, which attracted Maria's attention. When the maid she sent out to inquire about the news came back to tell her about the eye-catching jewelry that Juana wore, Maria couldn't help but feel annoyed and angry.

She thought she was not jealous of Juana. After all, she was the queen of Portugal now, and Juana was her prisoner. But because of this, she could not tolerate seeing her prisoner live such a comfortable life, so this made Maria's mood suddenly worse, and even when she embarked on the "tragic road", she was not as peaceful as usual.

In the small castle that has been converted into a prayer hall, there is now a priest who is garrisoned and takes care of everything here. This priest came from Castilla with Maria. Now he has become the priest of this prayer hall, and the only one who serves is the queen.

Maria slowly walked on the mountain road, and her mood gradually calmed down, and she was also amused that she would be angry with Juana.

In Maria's opinion, this cousin is undoubtedly a tragic figure. Now that she has nothing, she actually has to use some jewelry to foil herself. This makes Maria feel that it may not take long for Juana to go crazy because she can no longer bear loneliness.

"If that was good for all of us, wouldn't it be?" Maria always felt that her sister Isabella of Aragon was too kind to Juana. "If I hadn't become the queen of Portugal and finally drove her out of the court, maybe the court in Lisbon would have become the woman's home."

Maria thought so and went up the mountain road until she walked into the small castle.

Then Maria saw a scene that surprised her.

The private priest she brought from Cadilla was actually sitting with a man on the stone steps in front of the prayer hall talking and laughing.

And she also knew that man, Tyergo, a businessman who often traveled to and from the Lisbon court and was said to be of some kind.

However, this man has not appeared in the palace at some point, and I heard that he had gone to Castilla or Aragon before.

But Maria wondered why this businessman suddenly appeared here, and her private pastor actually looked like he was very vocal.

Seeing Maria, the priest stood up, and Diego looked very surprised. He followed the priest to greet the queen. After bowing to Maria, he was very tactful and did not speak but stood quietly aside.

"Your Majesty, it's really time for you to come, and you should also hear this good news," the pastor obviously knew how to resolve the embarrassment at this time. He said in a happy tone, as if there was no irrelevant person here at this time. "It's news from the capital."

Maria looked at Tiego in a little surprised. She knew that the capital the pastor was talking about was not Lisbon but Valiadod of Castile. Although there were various signs that in order to solve the future rule of the United Kingdom, the capital might eventually move to Madrid, but the capital of Castile is still Valiadod.

"What is it?" Although I felt a little unhappy, Maria listened patiently because she talked about her hometown.

"Your Majesty, in a place called Frantan, a pure girl gave birth to a baby boy because she felt some holy trace," Tiego said to Maria in a happy tone. Seeing that Maria's face changed instantly, he immediately explained "I mean, she is a pure and holy virgin, but she gave birth to a baby boy in this innocent way."

Maria's expression changed again, but this time, besides the accident, there were unconcealed surprises and fanatical excitement.

"Is this true? A virgin gave birth to a child?" Maria asked in surprise, and then she immediately urged Diego to continue. "Tell me not to reveal anything at all, God, this is a real miracle."

"Who said no," the pastor next to him also interjected, "The Virgin Mary gave birth to the Son as a virgin by God, but Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of pagans. Many people were confused because they didn't know when they would recover the Holy Land. Their eyes were fixed in the East without notice at all, just under our own eyes, and in the country ruled by Her Majesty, a new miracle had actually happened."

Maria nodded happily. At this time, she had completely forgotten the unhappiness when she saw the merchant, but was completely attracted by the good news he brought.

She was so excited because she knew more about her mother, Queen Isabella's ambition.

Queen Isabella of Castilla aspires to be a great monarch, and this monarch ruled more than just secular states.

Isabella widely supported the movement to discover sacred traces in Castia. Whenever someone claimed that he dreamed of an angel, he would see something unusual, and he was encouraged to report to the diocese immediately. Then all these legends about the sacred traces spread wildly and began to spread everywhere. Many people began to "discover" the more sacred traces after guessing the queen's wishes.

And the virgin's son seems to be the most exciting of these holy sites, because it implies that when Jesus' hometown fell and the holy city of Jerusalem is shrouded in a crescent moon, a miracle under the rule of a devout Christian queen took place in the country as the birth of Christ.

This shrouded Castilla a layer of divine light, and all signs showed that Isabella not only wanted to become a secular queen, but also wanted to become the ruler of the heavenly kingdom on earth.

"Has this miracle been reported to the Holy See?" Maria asked overjoyed.

"Of course, your majesty, and this matter is too important and special, so I heard..." Speaking of this, Diego lowered his voice, "The Pope has sent a very special person to review the authenticity of this matter."

"Who is it a very special person?" Maria immediately asked.

"It is the son-in-law of the Duke of Romanesia, His Majesty the Pope."

Diego said so.bdshare();
Chapter completed!