Chapter 15 chapter Ten

Today is my fifth day in Paris. When I wake up in the morning, I feel my heart beating wildly. It seems that a certain voice is constantly calling me. I look up at the ceiling. I wonder if there is a female ghost walking on the roof of this ancient building in the middle of the night? Since arriving in Paris, I have made surprisingly slow progress, gained nothing useful from Professor Orleans, and made a few rounds of the city, finding nothing at all except the acquaintance of a vagabond.It was Yu Li who told me some things, which gave me a new understanding of "The Mystery of Louis IX".

Looking at the University of Voltaire in the morning from the window, I played back everything that happened over and over again in my mind, including the E-mail sent to me by Lin Hai, who is far away in China, and the words he said to me on the mobile phone.Although they are all so unbelievable, it seems that there are so many clues, and I don’t know where to start, but when I think about it carefully, there still seem to be some clues to be found—— Now, the two things I want to find out, the first is the parchment scroll of Louis IX, and the second is the 16th century oil painting "Marguerite".

First, why does "The Mystery of Louis IX" attract so many people's interest?What big secret does it hide? Second, how did the people in the painting get into Lin Hai's real life?This is completely beyond my knowledge. And what is the relationship between the two? From the perspective of historical time, Louis IX was the French king in the 13th century, while Marguerite was the French princess in the 16th century. The age difference between the two is more than 300 years.Although they both came from the French royal family, Louis IX was the king of the Capet dynasty, and Margaret was the princess of the Valois dynasty. They belonged to different families and dynasties, and there was no direct relationship between the two.

If there must be some relationship between the parchment scroll and the oil painting of "Marguerite", it is that the small attic where the parchment scroll was found also once had a portrait of Margaret. And these two things undoubtedly came from ancient France, so how could the old house of Lin Hai's family be related to ancient French things? Yes, the key lies in Lin Hai's grandfather - Lin Danqing. Thinking of this, I immediately rushed out of the room, and quickly ran down the ancient corridors and stairs, leaving a long series of faint echoes behind me. After a quick breakfast in the dining room, I ran to the research room to find Yu Li, but unexpectedly I bumped into Professor Orleans.Yu Li was also nearby. He said that the professor had just returned from Lyon early this morning and had found important reference materials about the parchment.

Professor Orleans looked a lot haggard, his gray hair became thinner, and his eyes were red, apparently he hadn't slept all night.It turns out that the professor has been in Lyon for more than two days. According to a name in the parchment, he searched for information about the spelling code of ancient characters from a research institute in Lyon, and he found a clue that can decipher the parchment. The professor seemed very excited. He grabbed my shoulders tightly and almost kissed me twice. I hurriedly moved my face away and took a few steps back.Yu Li was very calm, as if something was hidden in his eyes, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "This time the professor has gained a lot, we have deciphered most of the contents of the parchment."

I was also excited: "Can you tell me?" Yu Li and the professor whispered a few words, the professor seemed troubled, probably he didn't want to tell me.But Yu Li seems to be trying to argue with reason. After all, I brought this parchment, and without me, there would be no research results from them. Finally, the professor agreed to tell me the contents of the parchment. Yu Li's face was still stern, his cheeks were like sculptures, he said slowly: "There is no doubt that this roll of parchment is about the 'Mystery of Louis IX', and it can be confirmed that it was written by Louis IX himself, because The professor has already checked the handwriting and records on other medieval documents. The parchment book starts from the Seventh Crusade, and the first person 'I' at the beginning is Louis IX."

"Is it an autobiographical war record?" I suddenly thought of Julius Caesar's "Gallic War". "It's not just a record of battles, but more precisely a record of travels. Louis IX was a famous king in history. He combined the qualities of a king, a hero and a man. He was a rare wise king in French history. However, he was too He is devoutly religious, which makes him worship the fakirs Francis and Dominique, and even imitates the behavior of ascetics. He has the true medieval chivalry, and he is simply the French version of Don Quixote. the adventurous spirit of a knight-errant, and leave his throne to fight a demon or a witch in the wilderness."

"How does that sound like a Lord of the Rings story?" "At the beginning of this parchment, Louis IX said that the destination of his conquest was ancient Egypt. In fact, the Seventh Crusade in history did attack Egypt instead of Palestine. Louis IX launched With all the troops and financial resources of the Second Emperor of France, 1,800 sailing ships, loaded with 1,500 cavalry and 130,000 infantry, burst out to the mysterious east." "There are so many people?" Yu Li nodded, his eyes more calm and composed: "So it is said that it is the power of the country, which is also consistent with the historical records. Louis IX wrote in the parchment that he followed the flying French military flag, wearing a Armor, jumped on the beachhead of Egypt. His army progressed very smoothly, and soon captured the impenetrable city of Damietta, but the French army soon encountered a plague, which caused them heavy losses. But Louis IX Still advancing from the coast to the interior, trying to cross the Nile River, but the Nile River is controlled by the Egyptians, and all supplies are blocked. The whole army fell into disease and starvation."

"They're surrounded?" "Yes, many historians later believed that if Louis IX would abandon his soldiers, he could have escaped by himself, but he chose to stay and was captured by the Egyptian army. Louis IX was not mistreated , he was treated very well by the Egyptians, and after he promised to return the city of Damietta and paid a ransom of 800,000 gold coins, he was released by the Egyptian side." "And then he came back to France, isn't that what the history books say?" Yu Li shook his head: "No, in this section of the parchment, there are different records from the history. Louis IX said in the parchment that after he was released in Egypt, a group of Egyptian soldiers escorted him to Palestine , but was attacked by desert tribes on the road, and all the escorting soldiers were killed. He survived by chance and became a prisoner of desert tribes. He was taken to the depths of the Sahara Desert and saw the magnificent Great Pyramid. "

"Louis IX was taken to the pyramid?" "Well, according to the parchment, Louis IX was imprisoned in the pyramid by the desert tribe, and there was a secret passage to enter the innermost layer of the pyramid. Soon, for some unknown reason, the desert tribe abandoned the pyramid and left, and Leaving Louis IX alone in there. He wandered around the pyramids trying to survive, and found something special in a secret place." "What?" Yu Li said so logically that I couldn't help but gasp and take a breath. "It's a pity that the parchment didn't say it clearly, it just said something special. According to Louis IX, the source of this thing is extremely mysterious, which may be far beyond people's imagination. It implies Some kind of huge power is enough to change the history and destiny of mankind."

"Is it really that mysterious? But I think it's too general to make people understand." "That's true. The professor and I have repeatedly studied this passage, and we really can't see any other meaning. We even thought that this is a code and a riddle, but it is still difficult to see the clue. Let's say that Louis IX is playing tricks, maybe He doesn’t want to write this secret in the parchment yet, because it might not be a secret once it is revealed.” I sighed helplessly, watching the professor continue to study the parchment, I could only continue to ask: "Then what happened to Louis IX?" "He luckily found a secret passage to escape from the pyramid, and came out with that mysterious thing. He wandered in the desert for two days, met a caravan of kind camels, and sent him to Palestine. Several years After Louis IX returned to France, he claimed to have obtained something that could control the lives of countless people, but no one knew what it was. It is said that some nobles had seen this thing, but these people died soon , That kind of thing seems to have become a plague, whoever gets it will die, but only Louis IX is alive." "But why did he embark on the Eastern Expedition again?" "Yes, sixteen years later, Louis IX carried out the eighth and last Crusade in history. In fact, this Eastern Crusade is meaningless. The previous one has already learned from the past. He also knew that he would be defeated, but he still did not care about his own life, and he was sent to his door as a prisoner. As a result, his army was trapped in the desert of North Africa. As for Louis IX himself, unfortunately, he had not had time to be captured by the Muslims. died of illness in an army tent." "This is really ridiculous." Yu Li finally sneered: "Yes, even though Louis IX is a pious king, these actions of his are still illogical. The only explanation is that he has been fascinated by that secret, and he simply cannot resist someone hiding in the desert. They would rather kill themselves like moths to a flame, resulting in the most absurd Crusade in the history of the world." "Louis IX died in North Africa, and his death also means——no one knows what the secret is?" "That's right, that's where the 'Louis IX Mystery' comes in." But I shook my head and said, "But you've been talking for a long time, and I still don't know what the secret is." "Maybe there is a bigger secret waiting for us." "Where does this parchment end?" "It's about Louis IX preparing to go east again. He said that he would return to North Africa to find the source of the secret in the desert. This is the end of the parchment." I'm a little disappointed to hear this, I still can't connect all this with Margaret in the 16th century. Could it be that there is no relationship between them? I lowered my head and thought for a long time, then suddenly pulled Yu Li out of the research room, and said softly, "Can you accompany me to the university library?" "Why go there?" "I want to look up information about Queen Margaret in the 16th century. I can only ask you to translate for me." Yu Li hesitated for a while before agreeing: "Well, anyway, Professor Orleans can't figure it out now, so I'll accompany you to the library." It was almost noon at this time, we went to the restaurant to have a quick lunch, and then rushed to the library of the University of Voltaire. The library is still a building more than a hundred years ago, and it really feels eerie to walk inside.Yu Li seemed to be familiar with it. He quickly found the catalog of historical books and found the part of French history in the second half of the 16th century. Walking into a special reading room, the surrounding bookshelves display books about that period of history, most of which are old books from a long time ago, and some were even printed in the early 20th century. I couldn't understand the titles of those books in French, so I had to help me find them on the bookshelf. He even brought a wooden ladder and climbed to the top of the bookshelf to browse. Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something special, and carefully handed it to me at the bottom of the ladder. The cover of this old book was covered in dust, and I blew it gently.Yu Li slowly climbed down the ladder and said, "I guess no one has touched this book for many years. The title is very strange. It's called "Marguerite and Larmor." Of course I couldn't understand the content of the book, so I asked Yu Li to read it. He casually flipped through a few pages and said, "Unfortunately, it's a novel, not a rigorous historical work." Then he looked at the copyright page at the back. The publication date was 1925, which seemed to be an antique. I took it from him and flipped through it, and suddenly felt a hard card on the last page. It turned out that there was a library card inserted behind the back cover.I took out this yellowed card, and there seemed to be only one line of the borrower's name on it, and the signature seemed very neat - "Lin Tantsing". After reading it lightly, I feel that there are three clear syllables. It should be a Chinese name, right? Lin Tantsing In an instant, that name came to my mind - Lin Danqing. right! "Lin Tantsing" is Lin Danqing's Western name. Lin Danqing——The current Chinese pinyin is "Lin danqing", but decades ago people used the old pinyin, just like the pinyin used by Hong Kong people now. "What's wrong with you?" Yu Li asked me puzzled. I took a deep breath, pointed to the name "Lin Tantsing" on the library card and said, "Maybe, he is the person I'm looking for." I looked at the time on the library card, and found that this book was borrowed only once, on February 14, 1935, and returned on February 20, 1935. Yu Li nodded: "Well, that is to say, from February 14th to 20th, 1935, this book was borrowed by a Chinese named Lin Danqing." "Lin Danqing must have studied at the University of Voltaire back then!" This crucial question was finally solved, and I said excitedly: "It's really hard to find anywhere, and it doesn't take much effort to get it. Can we find out Lin Danqing's student status at the University of Voltaire?" "You can go to the school archives." So we hurried out of the library and came to the archives of the University of Voltaire. Soon I found the student status cards of foreign students in the 1930s, arranged in alphabetical order of names, Yu Li found the name "Lin Tantsing" in the "L" column, and there was a Chinese signature below it, which was a beautiful Italics - Lin Danqing. The calligraphy is like a person, and it really is the material for learning to paint.There is also a black-and-white photo on the student card, in which a handsome Chinese youth is smiling. The schooling time recorded in the student status card is from September 1932 to August 1936, a total of four years, but there are no other records. I sighed lightly: "Just knowing these things is not enough." Yu Li pulled me out of the file room, and he asked coldly, "Tell me, why did you ask this person? Does he have anything to do with the parchment?" On the playground of the University of Voltaire, there are students of all colors coming and going.I raised my head and hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Yes, I admit that this Lin Danqing may have a great relationship with the sheepskin."