Miss Alohia walked slowly through the forest by stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground, and the cold weather made the dry leaves hard, and once her feet were exposed to them, she would sink in, and the edges of the dry and hard fallen leaves pierced her ankles through her socks, and there was a faint itch.

There was a neighing of horses, and Aloxia stopped and looked into the woods, and she saw that the horse named Pagasus was wandering aimlessly in the woods, and when she saw Aloxia, she neighed two steps forward with a cheerful roar, only soon it stood still again and neighed in a low voice of disappointment.

"Valgina didn't come," Aloxia walked towards Pagassos, she reached out and tentatively touched the horse's nose before gently hugging its long head, "Are you thinking about Valgina?" ”

Pagasus snorted, and then flicked his tail in a random circle in place, somewhat boredly.

Morco had been gone for a few days, and he had taken Valcina with him, which made Aloxia feel strange, as if the only bond between the two had been inexplicably broken.

Alosia is not one of those girls who naively thinks that as long as there is love, she can overcome everything, the death of her grandfather and father in her early years, and the life of running away with her uncle made her much more mature than other noble girls, because of this, she has been carefully hiding her relationship with Morco, and now Morco is suddenly sent to Bucharest, and there is no chance to even let them meet and say goodbye, Alosia guessed that their affair should be discovered by her uncle.

As for the fact that her uncle was going to use her to facilitate relations with the Count of Montina, though no one had mentioned it to her until now, she would not be too surprised to know it.

Even Alocia had a hunch in her heart, at least since she found out that day that she was walking outside the camp with the Count, Viscount Helva, who should have been very angry, not only did not reprimand her, but even acquiesced to her permission to visit the Count in the camp opposite.

This made Alozia somewhat vaguely aware of her uncle's thoughts.

However, Alosa is not ready to do what her uncle arranged, and she may not be able to escape the fate arranged for her by her uncle in the end, but this does not mean that she has to bury her future as an accomplice.

As Pagasus walked aimlessly through the woods, he saw Alexander sitting in the distance on a fallen tree trunk.

Alexander was reading the letter, and he was reading it very carefully, and sometimes smiling slightly made Aloxia guess the contents of the letter and who wrote it would be, because although the smile on Alexander's face clearly showed good news, the smile made Aloxia feel that the content of the letter should have nothing to do with the war.

Hearing the footsteps, Alexander looked up and saw Alosia walking over, he habitually folded the letter and put it in his pocket, and then stood up and nodded slightly to Alosia.

"Miss Alosis."

"Count," Aloxia nodded slightly, she wanted to be polite like the ladies of the legendary court, but after a little effort she decided to give up, she tried not to look so casual, and then sat down on the trunk of a tree not far from Alexander, "I see you reading the letter, there must be some good news to make you so happy." ”

"Good news," Alexander smiled, "and the fact that your uncle has helped me a lot, is good news for all of us." ”

"I know, I heard that the villagers in the territory have promised to serve you?"

Although she knew that the contents of the letter were not the same as what they said, Alosia had no intention of asking anything, and as Alexander said, it was indeed good news.

A few days earlier, the same Rona Panoni that Gompati had met had found camp, and the Balkan mountain dwellers, either willingly or forcedly, had to accede to Alexander's terms.

In accordance with the agreement with Viscount Helva, Alexander had the right to recruit soldiers anywhere on the territory of Croatia.

Although this agreement has so far only been in effect in nearby villages, Alexander believed that his army would soon expand.

Alexander had no intention of building an army composed entirely of Balkan hill people, and that would not be a good thing for him.

The lessons of the Swiss mercenaries made it clear to him that the total use of foreign troops was much more harmful, and that it was enough to curb the excessive expansion of the Balkan population, even if these mountain people were indeed unusually strong, but at least now was not the time to make them the main force of Montina's army.

Most of Alexander's troops from Italy were now in camps on the border between Caniola and Northern Bosnia, and he had arranged this to prevent the kind of incident that had been told by Princess Caniola from happening again.

Although he guessed that it was Archduke Karl, he was somewhat surprised to hear that it was Princess Caniola who revealed his whereabouts to the Northern Bosnians, but Alexander quickly guessed the princess's intentions.

It is clear that Princess Caniola is not as affectionate as she describes her cousin, and while stirring up conflict between her cousin and her nephew, the princess has her own agenda.

Fortunately, Alexander did not intend to trust the family from the beginning, so he arranged most of his army at the Karl Archduke provided him with the border between Caniola and Bosnia, and ordered the army to be vigilant at all times, and to quickly move to the relative safety of the other side of the border if they sensed danger.

In order to make trouble for the Ottomans for Alexander, Archduke Karl had provided him with several locations that could be used as camps, most of which could be more convenient to obtain supplies and rest, and he did not reject this Alexander, he believed that as long as he grasped it well, these places could indeed provide him with great help.

Rona Pannoni didn't have a lot of men to bring with him, but Alexander didn't care much, all he needed was Helva's permission and open support, and as for the Croatian mountain people, Alexander had other plans for the natives, who were often disobedient and stubborn.

"So, Count, you're going to fight the Ottomans?" Sitting next to Alexander on the trunk of a tree, Aloxia asked curiously, "My uncle always said that although the Ottomans were evil, at least we knew that they were enemies, but many times you could not see the more terrible enemies." ”

"The Viscount is right."

Alexander smiled slightly, he knew that this should be Helva's heartfelt words, but maybe because of this he missed the opportunity to turn over again and again.

Herva was suspicious, or because of his father's and brother's experience and expulsion, he had an instinctive distrust of other people, and although this distrust was shared in many nobles, Herva was a little too serious.

For example, he was adamant that more than 10 Montina soldiers would not be allowed to follow Alexander into his camp at a time, and the number of guards in his camp had increased every day since the arrival of Montina's army.

Helva's caution allowed him to avoid many dangers, but it was also because of this that he imprisoned himself in this jungle.

This made Alexander even wonder if Helva would actually stand with him if it really came time for him to leave here and claim sovereignty to those people in Zagreb.

Trusting this is too much of a luxury for them, but if you are too suspicious, you will lose more than you can gain.

"You should go outside and have a look," Alexander stood up, "trust me, it's worth it, at least a young girl your age shouldn't stay here all the time." ”

With that, Alexander greeted Pagassos, who was not far away, and turned on his horse.

Looking at Alexander's back as he walked towards the camp, Alosia muttered silently and turned to walk towards her camp.

Rona Pannoni apparently had some prestige in the nearby village, and although the elders of the village were hesitant and even vehemently opposed to serving as soldiers in foreign armies, Pannoni was able to convince them.

In fact, Panoni also distrusted the foreign armies, although he had the same beliefs, but when he thought about what had happened in Poland, he had an instinctive hostility towards the foreigners.

The Poles took the Knights from the West as a savior to save and help them, but in exchange for the ruthless exploitation and cruel devouring of the Teutonic Knights, the Poles finally had an earth-shattering battle with the Teutonic Knights in Tannenberg.

Pannone knew the historical background of the Battle of Tannenberg, the intrigue behind it, and why the two sides had changed from a honeymoon tenderness like husband and wife to a life-and-death affair that never stopped, but he knew at least one thing, and that was that the arrival of foreign troops changed their lives.

Pannoni thought it was a terrible thing to do, and even made him angry, but what the man named Gompati said made him have to take it seriously.

The anger of the Ottomans was terrible, and this Pannoni knew it when he was a child.

Very young he had seen villagers hanged by the Ottomans on trees outside the village, and the reason for hanging them was simply because they refused to pay food to the infidels.

From that time on, Pannoni knew that the pagans who wore turbans and always had a big beard were terrible, and that even when he became an adult and became the head of the farm, he would wake up from his dreams because of the cruel scenes he had seen as a child.

But because of this, the stubborn and tenacious character of the Balkan mountain people also turned Pannoni from a peasant who could have turned into a relieving resister with a strong hatred of the Ottomans.

Pannoni was excited by the repeated attacks on the Ottomans, and although he knew that he would not drive the Ottomans away from the land, his unyielding disposition still led him to resist the tyranny of the Ottomans with those stubborn and brave mountain people like him.

It was only that Gompati's words that hit him to the point, and he began to fear that the Ottomans, who were thoroughly enraged, would hurt his loved ones, and when he thought of the terrible scenes he had seen as a child, he had no doubt that the Ottomans would become so murderous again.

"What is the use of a flag for us?" Panoni looked at the flag handed to him with some confusion, it was a flag with a strange coat of arms, and looked at the castle, the crown and the ears of wheat in the equilateral triangle above, and he looked at Gompati in bewilderment.

"This flag will save the life of your village, so if you don't want to see your family in misfortune, it's best to let the Ottomans see the flag in your hand when you fight," Gompati said with a little headache, and then waited for little Cacho to translate his words in half-life-old Bosnian to the farmer in front of him, looking at him always half-understood, Gompati couldn't help but look at Alexander who walked into the tent, "My lord, I think we may be wrong, these Bosnians are just a pile of stones." ”

"But it's the hardest stone, isn't it?"

Alexander smiled at Gompati and said that he already knew what was going on when he first came in, and that he had heard about these Balkan mountain people who refused to obey orders, but now it seemed that the rumors he had heard before were not enough, and in fact it was a miracle to train these fierce mountain people into a disciplined army.

"I'm starting to worry a little about whether these people are helping us or the enemy on the battlefield," said Gompati a little helplessly, "Your Excellency, you know, if they don't follow orders, they will only be a burden. ”

"You're right, dear Gompati, so I'm going to find someone to train these mountain people well," Alexander said, walking up to Pannoni and looking at the irascible and rugged-looking mountain people, "I believe that I have no one better suited to train and discipline these people than this man, and he will train them to be the soldiers we need, but before we can recruit enough men." ”

Gompati looked at Alexander in surprise, for he did not know who the Count was talking about, which made him a little worried.

He was deeply impressed by the stubbornness and stubbornness of the Balkan mountain people, which is why Gompati was somewhat skeptical that they could be trained as good soldiers.

"Nashan is the best place to train these Bosnians," Alexander said with a smile, "and believe me, soon these people will be able to cause more trouble for the Ottomans." ”

In the middle of February, you can already feel a little spring breath.

The weather is still terriblely cold, but whenever it is sunny, the slightly warm sunlight can already make people feel that kind of lazy comfort.

Pagasus walked through the woods, he liked the cool and warm weather from time to time, although there was less grass on the ground, but it was a pleasant time to be able to run around the woods casually, so whenever he went out for a walk, Pagasus would let out a cheerful hiss.

Alexander stood on a rock not far from the bank of the creek and watched Pagasus in the distance running from tree to tree, or deliberately hiding behind a tree to sneak into his eyes, as if he could hide his huge body.

It was a rare afternoon of leisure, as a group of hunters cleaned up the not-so-chaotic camp, and a few local mountain dwellers picked through the woods with axes to pick up materials for a house to be built.

Pannone is learning how to use a weapon with a few locals.

From afar, you could hear the wind from which they kept waving their weapons, and Gompati on the side looked at these people with a gloomy expression.

Watching the training of the Balkans, Alexander's heart had already flown to Italy.

When it was decided to recruit the Balkans, Alexander had the idea of training them from Nashan, and it now seems that only Nashan was suitable for the job.

In addition to the letter to Nashan, Alexander sent letters to Montina and Pisa and Cosenza, and just before that, a letter from Montina caught Alexander's attention.

In that letter, Barentia mentioned that she and her father, Rovere the Elder, had recently instructed the Genoese Parliament to sign a one-year contract with Venice.

According to this agreement, the two city-states will cease hostilities and enter into a temporary peace.

This incident caught Alexander's attention, and he knew very well how deep the old Roverere's hostility was towards the Venetians, and it was not because of the feud between the two sides, but what the old Rovere really cared about was the Venetians' coveting of Tuscany.

So the contract is very abrupt and even a little unsettling.

Alexander had reason to believe that the elder Rovere had done so because he had received definite news of the imminent invasion of the French, or that he had become aware of the collusion between Alexander VI and King Louis XII of France, for only then would he accept peace with the Venetians.

It's just that Montina has become obviously a little dangerous!

Although he had envisioned such a situation before he set out, and had made some preparations, when Barondi's letter arrived, he was secretly worried because of his worries.

This apprehension diluted the joy of Lucrezia's earlier letter, and the delicate situation facing Montina forced Alexandre to reconsider his previous arrangements.

"Dear sister, I have to ask you for help, Montina's situation is more complicated than I had guessed, and the cardinal seems to be planning to maintain their interests in Tuscany by negotiating with the Venetians, if that would probably mean that Montina could be used as a bargaining chip for both parties." After thinking about it for a long time, Alexander decided to write a letter to Jossa asking for help: "I would like to remind you here that the decision of the Cardinal Church at this time is obviously related to the imminent invasion of the French, and the ambitions of King Louis XII of France for Naples are obvious, so I suggest that you get in touch with Barentia while strengthening the forces of Cosenza, I have made some arrangements before leaving Montina, but it seems that these are not enough, I think it is necessary to build an army of the defenders of Cosenza and Montina, of which you and Barendi can be the commanders-in-chief, and Ofleiil can advise you militarily. ”

Alexander looked at the letter in his hand, and after a moment of thought, continued: "I did not make this suggestion because I considered that it might arouse suspicion among certain people, and now it is their own actions that have put obstacles in our way, and I have reason to believe that a conflict may arise between the cardinal and the French, although it may seem absurd now, but I believe that I will soon be able to prove my suspicions right. So before we take into account that the cardinal may acquiesce to the actions of the Venetians against Montina in order to contend with the French in the future, and that is why I need your help. ”

Alexander carefully sealed the letter, and as the messenger carefully put it away, he exhaled softly as he carefully put it away in a secret language that only two people could understand.

A horseman rushed along the stream, which caught the attention of Pagasus, who immediately trotted to Alexander's side, and by the time Pagasus rubbed his head on Alexander's shoulder, the horseman had already come to him and jumped off his horse.

"My lord, I just got the news that the Sultan has arrived in Sarajevo!" The cavalry said breathlessly.

On February 21, 1499, the royal camp of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid arrived in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, with 87,000 Ottoman troops!