monarch

On the morning of August 1547, 8, the great bell on the tower of Westminster Abbey rang as usual.The dull bells echoed over the city, like the death knell sounded at a funeral.

The sun rose slowly from the eastern horizon, and the daylight hung feebly in the dusty air, dim and pale.The sun shines on the Italian gardens behind Whitehall Palace, before the entrance to the arcades of the Parliament, and on the white ground that used to be called the "East End".

The slums in the East End of London have now become a smoldering ruin.Gone are the ugly, shabby buildings, replaced by piles of rubbish, wreckage, and smoking blackened wood.Between the gaps of these ruins, the survivors are like wandering spirits trapped in the world, wandering blankly in the places they used to call home.They stiffly walked to the still hot ruins, dug in vain with their scarred hands, and called out the names of their loved ones.

On the banks of the Thames, the fire brigade cleared an empty field where the collected bodies were piled up.Countless unlucky people who lost their families hugged the remains of their loved ones and howled. Compared with other people whose loved ones have been turned into smoke and no bones remain, they are considered lucky.

Flocks of crows gathered on the top of those charred and blackened pillars.They stared intently at the corpses exuding a foul smell, flew up from the pillars from time to time, circling in the air, and then fell from the air while no one was paying attention, and began to feast on them.

The eyes of those who came here to look for the remains of their relatives were numb at first, but as time went by, their eyes gradually turned into anger, and flames burned in their pupils.Those in power can hide in their mansions, play the lyre like Nero, and watch the desperation of the inferiors they despise.But they could hide from the fire of nature, but not from the fire that burns in the heart of man, which seems not to be a great fire, but it can burn the whole kingdom to ashes.

Among the howling and cursing, a voice finally rang out, "Go to the parliament!"

"It was the Protestants who set the fire! We want justice! We want revenge!" A middle-aged man was holding the body of his youngest son, who had suffocated to death. Full of blood.

Those numb faces glowed with a mixture of rage and desire for vengeance. "To Parliament! Blood for the blood of the Protestants!"

A patrol team of more than a dozen people was stationed in this open space. Seeing this scene, the patrol leader quickly drew his sword in an attempt to maintain order.

"Scatter, everyone!" He rode on the horse, pointing the tip of his sword at the angry faces, "You all go home!"

"We have no home!"

"We have nothing left!"

The encirclement became smaller and smaller, and the horses under the crotch of the patrol members seemed to foresee the coming danger, panting uneasily.

A young man climbs up the wreckage of a house. He stands condescendingly on the vantage point, overlooking the patrol. In his hand, he holds a broken brick with a missing corner. "Down with power! Down with nobles!" he shouted, throwing broken bricks at the patrol captain.

As if the fuse was lit, the crowd suddenly boiled up, "Down with the power! Down with the nobles!" The shouts were like a tsunami, and countless stones, rubbish and bricks were thrown towards the patrol by the angry people. .

"Retreat, retreat!" shouted the battered patrol captain.

However, it was too late, and the crowd rushed towards the patrol members on horseback like hungry wolves.Regardless of the edge of their swords, they seized the knights by their legs and feet, and pulled them from their mounts, and drove the white blades into their breasts, or strangled them alive.

In the blink of an eye, there were more than a dozen corpses on the empty field.

"Go to the parliament! We want justice! Blood for blood!" The blood was like a catalyst, exciting the nerves of the mob.

Just as streams merge into rivers, the angry bereaved one by one merge into a procession, and then converge into an ocean.There was a storm in the sea, and huge waves swept towards the parliament building.

……

At the request of the Lord Protector, an emergency session of Parliament was called in the morning.

However, as usual, the council hall was once again a colosseum where factions fought each other.Catholic lawmakers claimed it was another upsurge in religious persecution and that the fire was undoubtedly a Protestant conspiracy.The Protestants, on the other hand, accused the Catholics of summoning the divine punishment, and now they came to slander the loyal subjects who believed in the state religion.

Time passed by every minute and every second, but the adults in the parliament used this precious time to argue.

When the captain of the parliamentary guard ran into the hall in a panic, the members of the hall were insulting each other across a corridor without any grace.Some condescending members of the back row even took advantage of their geographical advantages to throw documents towards the opponent.

The captain of the guard came to the speaker, who was banging on the table in vain, trying to restore order in the parliament.He bent down and whispered something in the speaker's ear.

The speaker's expression suddenly changed. He supported the edge of the table and struggled to stand up.

"Quiet! Be quiet!" His face was flushed.

"Quiet! Keep order!" The guards also began to clamor. They struck the ground with their long halberds, making a loud "boom~dong~", suppressing the voice of the quarrel.

The crowd finally recovered temporarily, but they still looked aggrieved, and the hostility that had been forcibly suppressed would burst out again at any time.

"The captain of the guard has something to say." The chairman coughed violently because of the loud shout just now, the fat on his face trembled as if he had been electrocuted, one hand reached for the cup on the table, the other One hand waved in the air, signaling the captain to speak.

"Members." The captain of the guard walked to the center of the hall and bowed. "The Catholics are marching towards the parliament. They demand that the arsonists be severely punished."

The MPs looked at each other in amazement.

"Those Protestants who suffered losses in the fire are also pushing towards Parliament from the other direction. They claim that the Catholics have brought on God's wrath and demand compensation from the Catholics."

"You must hold this palace!" a fat middle-aged councilor screamed.

"It's like trying to block the flood with a dam made of branches and stones." The captain of the guard glanced at the pale fat man, "If you stay here, I can't protect your safety!"

The councilors were clamoring again.

"Catholics must take full responsibility for this rebellious act!"

"This whole thing is a Protestant conspiracy!"

The captain of the guard looked out of the window in despair. The footsteps of the giant wave were getting closer and closer, and they were about to set foot on the steps of the Congress.

……

Waves of fury poured down the high streets towards Westminster, as had not been seen since the Walter Taylor riots nearly 200 years ago.Victims held up weapons they had scavenged from the ruins: pointed wooden sticks blackened by smoke; a few rusty machetes; or broken bricks and tiles from the wreckage of houses.

Two waves are like fire and water, coming from two ends of the city to the same place, and the meeting point of these two waves is the Palace of Westminster.Believers of the two religions cursed each other, and at the same time cursed the dignitaries in the parliament building together.

A guard of 500 men was guarding the parliament. At this time, the soldiers were standing behind the iron railings, holding muskets and halberds, looking in fear at the roaring crowd.These soldiers have faced artillery fire, iron cavalry and sharp swords, but no matter how violent the bombardment of artillery fire is, it can't compare with the roar of the crowd at this time.

In the conference hall, the MPs from different factions finally stopped arguing. Fear made these former enemies huddle together, their faces pale and trembling.

The Lord Protector was as pale as his comrades, though not from fear, but from anger.As far as the minister in power is concerned, no matter what the reason for this riot is, everyone's anger will eventually be directed at him.And if the situation is completely out of control, both the king and the parliament will be happy to throw him out as a sacrifice, using his head to calm the anger of the mob outside. 20 years of hard work, but in the end I can only be a target to be set up to attract firepower, and I must thank Grace for this!The Lord Protector clenched his teeth tightly, staring angrily at the glass window that trembled slightly due to the roar outside.

Not far behind him, Bishop Gardner was also pale, this time he was really a little scared.When he set off this wave at the order of Princess Mary, he never expected that this huge wave would bring him to where he is today.Now the country has reached the brink of civil war, and once a civil war breaks out, the status of priests and civil servants will be quickly replaced by swords and shields.Not to mention that his life was now at stake, and that if his reputation fell into the hands of the mob, Catholics and Protestants alike would be more than happy to put lead weights on his legs and drive him out of Westminster. thrown directly into the Thames from the tower of the palace.

Big beads of sweat appeared on the bishop's face. He reached out to undo the button on the top of his clothes that was strangling him, but the button could not be undone.He yanked it violently, and the button fell apart, rolled to a corner, and disappeared in an instant.He gasped for breath, like a drowning man suddenly washed up on the shore.

The noise outside was louder, as if a giant beast was waking up, snorting, stretching its limbs, feeling the power it possessed.

A soldier burst into the room through the door, blood running from his hair. "Gentlemen, the mob outside has arrived at the entrance of the Capitol, and they are smashing the door." He looked at the Lord Protector, "Mr. Captain of the Guard asked me to ask you what instructions you have?"

"What instructions do I have?" His Excellency the Duke Protector said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, Your Excellency, we are running out of time." The soldier covered his head with his hands, with a painful expression on his face.

"How many people under the captain of the guard are there for him to dispatch?" A sneer appeared on the corner of the Duke Protector's mouth.

"About 500 people." The soldier hesitated for a moment, then replied.

"Send 100 people to stay in the parliament, and let him take the remaining 400 people to disperse those hooligans!" The Lord Protector slammed his fist on the table, making a terrifying loud noise.

"Are you mad, sir?" Bishop Gardner screamed. "What are you doing? Are you going to kill us all?"

"Please let me point out one thing." The Duke Protector had a terrifying grin on his face, his lips were white with anger and trembling uncontrollably, "I was the only commander in the army in this room." He pulled When the sword came out, the surrounding councilors quickly retreated to avoid it.

"Sir, please, don't do irrational things!" Bishop Gardiner shouted from the depths of his soul. He reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his political opponent. "This is simply suicide!"

There was a creaking sound outside, and the iron door crashed to the ground.Those iron bars were pulled out of the ground, twisted, and smashed.The cheers of the mob were deafening, as if they were going to lift off the roof of the palace.

"Ready!" The soldiers raised their halberds and guns, pointing at the mob that rushed into the courtyard.The weapon gleamed coldly in the sun, like a jungle of blades.

The congressmen stuck their heads out of the windows in horror, "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" They shouted in panic, but they were not worried about the safety of the people, but just afraid that they would be torn apart by the impact of the enraged mob. into pieces.

Suddenly, a horn sounded from the direction of the palace, and the crowd paused, looking hesitantly at the direction from which the sound came.

"His Majesty the King is here!" The voice came from the direction where the horn sounded.Members of Parliament looked at each other in surprise.

The violent ocean gradually calmed down.The crowd made way for a passage, and a carriage decorated with royal emblems, surrounded by a few cavalrymen, drove towards the parliament.

The carriage stopped in front of the twisted iron fence.A knight got off his horse, walked to the carriage, and opened the door.

The king leaned out from the carriage with a somewhat melancholy expression on his face.

The crowd who were still rioting just now quieted down.The townspeople, who had just now been vicious mobs, took off their hats and saluted His Majesty the King.

Robert, who followed Edward, breathed a sigh of relief. The king's prestige was still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. When the peasants in the middle ages faced the nobles, they regarded the king as their protector. Today's king is still under the shadow of this past tradition.When the people regard the nobles and the parliament as enemies, they still have reverence for the king, and this is one of the few reliance on the king at present.

Like a flock of frightened quail, the congressmen poked their heads out of the windows eagerly, watching the scene below with anxiety.Tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on the young king, and tens of thousands of ears were pricked up to hear what he had to say, which would determine their fate, and even the fate of the whole kingdom.