Midday in August is hot, and even on the cooler western shores of the Mediterranean, it's not a good time to travel.

However, a small group of centaurs were walking slowly under the hot sun at this time.

Alexander had a large parasol on top of his head, which was not actually given, but was prepared for Barondi.

It's just that the weather is really hot, so even in the shade of the umbrella cover, a bead of sweat still floats on the tip of Barendi's nose.

Seeing Alexander tilt his head to look at her, Barondi instinctively wiped the uncomfortable sweat stain on the tip of her nose with her hand, and if it wasn't for Alexander to look at it, she would have wanted the sweat bead to stay for a while, as for why she didn't understand herself.

However, she knew that it would be terrible for Alexander to see her like that, so she quickly touched her nose in a bit of a hurry, and then suddenly stared back at Alexander with a little indignation.

Alexander didn't understand what was going on with Barendi's strange behavior, and in fact even Barendi herself didn't know why she was suddenly upset.

The village of the Holy Trinity is the farthest village from Montina, and the farmstead here is large, and the most marginal point even borders a distant village in Bologna, which also caused some conflicts between the two villages in the early years.

It is said that a minor Bolognese nobleman tried to settle a dispute between two villages by force, but the result was that the little nobleman was dragged off his horse by a farmer on Montina's side, and then beaten with the iron fist of the unceremonious low-level people.

It is not known how the dispute was resolved, but one thing is for sure, when Alexander took over Montina, the head of the village, which was disputed for ownership, came to Montina to greet the lord.

Because of this, Alexander took good care of the village, at least from the beginning, he did not intend to chase after the rent that the village had stolen over the years, and to cut a few pieces of meat from the sheep that seemed to have grown fat enough.

However, it was clear that this good life was coming to an end, and with the arrival of Miss Rovere, the peasants had already vaguely felt a completely different atmosphere from the time of the previous Earl.

The young lady of the Rovelle family was very strict, which everyone felt, but what was worse was that she was serious, and as a woman she had obviously read a lot.

So although the process of checking the accounts was slow, the young lady of the Luo Weire family still caught some people's handles.

Now that Miss Rowwere, accompanied by the Earl, had gone down to the village herself, upon hearing the news, a group of people in the village who could come together with an idea, but after a long time none of them had come up with a proper way of dealing with it.

Miss Ravile had apparently come to find fault, and although some had not gone to the castle to meet her, they had heard that she was obviously not so easy to deal with, and even less easy to fool.

"I hope the Countess will understand our difficulties."

That was the last thought of the villagers who could take care of things, even though they knew it sounded so pale.

When entering the village, some old people in the village cautiously surrounded the two nobles and went to the church.

Although it was more appropriate to say that it was more a thatched house than a church, and there were even two donkeys tied to the eaves next to it, at least along the way these people took the opportunity to complain to the young lady of the Rovie family.

Whether it was natural or man-made disasters or all kinds of unexpected troubles, these peasants said it all over again, but the most they talked about was war.

"Miss, you know, every day there is a war and a war, I don't even remember that I have had even a day of peace since I was born," an old man who was about to turn into stones in the wrinkles on his face complained incessantly, "If the army comes to collect grain, if it can't be taken out, there will be big trouble, so the village always has to find a way to keep more harvest." ”

"So you're withholding the rent that belongs to the lord?" Barondi looked at the old man coldly, and saw that the dirt on his forehead, which was trembling with restlessness, was about to fall down in fright, and Barendi continued, "I should have taken back your land, but I don't think my fiancé would agree to do this." ”

"Lord Earl, you are such a good man."

The old man immediately looked back at Alexander, who had thought that after the arrival of the young lady of the Rovelle family, the old lord of the count seemed to be useless, but now it seemed that things were not like that, at least Miss Rovelle seemed to care about the count's thoughts.

Alexander looked at Barendi, who had always straightened her back, and knew that she was not saying this to take care of his "Earl's" prestige in the realm, but to do so.

"What the hell do you want?"

When there were only two people together, Barondi finally couldn't take it anymore, and she stared at Alexander across the table as she endured the damp rotting grass of the thatched hut in the village and the stench of the corral just across the wall.

"You won't let me punish these thieves, so tell me what you think?"

"As I said before, let them switch to vineyards," Alexander thought for a moment as he looked at the dirty dish with a hint of suspicious-looking yellow-spotted lamb, but still hadn't ventured into this authentic country taste, "My Agri will have enough food to supply it, so I think Montina can be a high-value by-product." ”

Speaking of which, seeing the puzzled look on Barendi's face, Alexander thought about it and made an analogy.

"Just like the lace and all kinds of ornaments that you think are precious, they are not worth much, but once a cotton thread is woven into a pattern, it is worth several times more than the original cotton thread, and if it passes through the hands of a famous tailor, perhaps the lace will become an heirloom, so that it will completely get rid of the value of a cotton thread that was originally just a strand of cotton thread......"

"You want Montina to create lace, not just cotton?"

Barendi interrupted Alexander's words suddenly, her gaze calm, not glad that she understood the explanations.

"The vineyard can bring us a lot of money," Alexander did not get offended by Barondi's seemingly impolite behavior, he patiently explained, "grapes can make wine, believe me this business is much easier than you think, especially in the future, believe me this can make us rich." ”

Barondi noticed that Alexander seemed to be in a trance for a moment, which annoyed her a little.

If you think about it, Barendi realizes that sometimes Alexander seems a little eccentric, because he sometimes speaks with a strange look that is outside the ghost.

If it weren't for the fact that heresy was no longer so prevalent now, and that he was an earl himself, Barondia even felt that he might be disposed of as a heresy.

"Where did I just go?"

To Barondi's infuriation, Alexander seemed to be really out of mind at this moment, so much so that she couldn't even remember what she had said before after she was secretly awake.

"You say we can get rich," Barendi told herself to be calm, "or you can tell us how we should get rich." ”

"Oh, it's not clear for a while," Alexander prevaricated, unable to tell Barente that at some point in the future, with the opening up of the New World, all kinds of strange species from the New World could have a major impact on the whole of Europe, including jewels and gold, which made countless people madly obsessed, and syphilis that could not escape the doom when encountered, regardless of whether high or low.

As for the phylloxera, which was introduced from the New World and almost wiped out all grape varieties in Europe, it seems that it would be a long time before they appeared.

Alexander shook his head slightly, sometimes knowing too much didn't seem like a good thing.

For example, it was originally just a trivial matter between him and Barondi about those tenants who evaded rent and taxes, but he couldn't help but think of more things, and these things could not be hidden from the fiancée in front of him, and they certainly couldn't let her know too much, which made Alexander feel really a bit of a headache.

"My territory can provide us with enough food," Alexander makes it clear, "and Montina can be a dedicated vineyard, that's all." Trust me that the land here is definitely suitable for growing grapes, I can bet you on that. ”

Barendi looked at Alexander a little helplessly, she knew that Alexander's appearance meant that she couldn't ask anything, and she had heard that Montina was suitable for growing grapes.

As her own territory in the future, Barendi actually cares a lot about Montina.

When she heard that it would be her dowry a few years ago, she had inquired about the territory.

Therefore, when those village chiefs poured bitter water on her, she was able to immediately point out all kinds of untruths in these people's words.

Still, Barentie couldn't understand why Alexander was so sure that he would make a fortune growing grapes.

After all, there are many famous vineyards, not to mention Tuscany and Romagna, but also further afield, Lombardy and the north bank of the Po River.

"Trust me, it's all worth it in the end."

Alexander smiled at Barondy, who somehow he had a little love for teasing the notoriously calm girl in front of him, but he also knew that Barondy had been able to endure him only because his father had not sent her a reply.

Barondi writes Alexander's threat almost exactly in a letter to old Lauvere, in which she is already emphasizing that Alexander should not just be a threat, but probably a consequence of action, especially at the end of the letter, Barendi reminds her father very seriously:

"If you can't restrain a raging lion, you should put a strong enough shackle on it, I used to think that I was such a shackle, but now I fear that I am not up to the job, my fiancé is a man of great ambition, so I have no doubt that he will really make a deal with the Venetians, and if that would be a very unfortunate thing for the Rovelles and for myself, please take this letter I have written to you seriously."

When Barendi sent someone to deliver this letter, her feelings were very complicated.

She didn't know whether it was right or wrong to do so, or even whether what was written in the letter was inappropriate, so when she saw Alexander's perfunctory treatment of her, she felt unspeakably dissatisfied and even a little angry.

Inspecting a farm was a hard task, especially in this weather, but Barondi seemed to enjoy it, and she went from farm to farm, often inspecting a place and then urging her to the next destination without waiting for the horses to be loosened by the hunters.

Although she was very tired, and even felt more troublesome than she had been with the Genoese not long ago, Barendi's unusual diligence won the admiration of the hunters, especially when they heard her so decisive and clear debunking the little tricks of the peasants again and again, many of the hunting guards even secretly glad that they had not met such a landlord when they were peasants.

Miss Cosenza was also very strict, but she would never make a big deal about the few liters of wheat that were greedy, but this Miss Rovelle in front of her was obviously not like this, and she could find out even the few grains of wheat that she was greedy for.

"You are too merciful to these people, you must know that mercy alone cannot rule over your people, and it is God who should let them know what to do, but there is also a whip."

Looking at Barondi, who looked like a judge, Alexander couldn't help but smile softly, he didn't tell Barondi that he knew what these peasants were doing, let alone tell her that in fact, there was even himself who was contributing to this.

It was Alexander who had long since thought of making the peasants uncomfortable with growing food, and for him Montina's land was not originally a place to feed his army, so it didn't make much sense for Montina to grow more food.

As the heart of the border between Tuscany and Romagna, Montina is destined to be the place where the future will be contested.

At that time, a fertile land was enough to drive some people crazy because of greed.

But a land that produces grapes is much less attractive, especially in times of war, where there is a much greater demand for food than for wine.

"We're going to turn this place into a vineyard, a big plantation," Alexander said to Barentia, who was always a little indignant, "and then it will certainly not be possible to divide the land as it is now, and even some villages may be abolished." ”

"What are you going to do?" Barendi wondered: "Is it really necessary to build so many vineyards and plantations?" ”

"This is just the beginning."

Alexander's answer made Barondy a little stunned.

Although it was hard work, Barendi felt that it was much easier to visit the farm than with Alexander.

In the quarry, a few fats away from the castle of Montina, Barentia saw the captives.

Although these people were Cardino's subordinates, and most of them were mercenaries, Barondi couldn't help but feel a little strange when she saw that some of them were obviously fellow Genoese villagers.

"Why don't you agree to Kargino's conditions, ten thousand florins is already a lot."

After some consideration, Barondy finally made a suggestion to Alexander: "Perhaps my father can get more of your good in it, but you should release all of them, at least some of them." ”

"I think that part must be Genoese."

Alexander's words annoyed Barendi a little, but she nodded seriously: "The hard work you let them do is not comparable to 10,000 florins, and with that money you can even hire many more people than these." ”

"But these men are capable of doing the work which the workers would never be able to do," Alexander was unmoved by Barendi's suggestion, "and I would refuse Cardino because I knew that he would pay a greater price." ”

Alexander's guess was accurate, and when they returned to the castle of Montina, they also learned the news that the bishop had brought with them, after meeting the Bishop of the Rovere family.

Tony della Rovere was not a prominent figure in the Rovere family, otherwise he would not have come to Montina to serve as bishop, and according to the custom of the Rovere family, he should have been placed in a large diocese.

However, Tony della Rovere was a very good man, at least Alexander knew that he was close to several notorious bandits, and even personally instigated the use of bandits against the Florentine trade routes in order to deal with Florence.

"So you're here in the name of the Council of Genoa, Bishop?"

Hearing Alexander's question, Tony della Rovere immediately denied it: "Of course not, God testifies that I am a Rovere." ”

"A Rovere who is very close to Cargino." Sitting on the side, Barendi couldn't help but sarcastically mock her cousin.

"My dear niece, it really saddens me that you say that," Tony della Rovere looked at Barenti as if he was a little angry, "in fact I brought news of your other uncle. ”

"Uncle Lafour?" Barondi's expression became slightly serious.

"It's really unfair, I'm also your uncle, I've never seen you respect me so much." Tony della Rovere nagged dissatisfiedly, and then looked at Alexander, "La Faul is now in Genoa, and Giuliano sent him to deal with the Parliament, although the Cargino family has been sabotaging, but La Faure is doing well," said the bishop's rare look, "He brought the decision of the Genoa Council." ”

Alexander nodded silently, this is what he has been waiting for these days.

And after he had learned from Barente about the return of the Bishop of Genoa to Genoa, he had been waiting for the news.

Rafort de la Rovere is a diplomat and emissary of the Rovere family, even when the old Rovere and Alexander VI are in a hurry, Rovere can still work for the interests of the Rovere family in Rome, and even Alexander VI and Roverre have a good personal relationship, which alone shows how not simple it is for the old Roverelle to become a member of the Rovere family as the Bishop of Genoa.

"The news I have brought may not please you," Bishop Montina smiled at Alexander, "the Council of Genoa recognizes your dominion over Montina, and is willing to pay reparations for the previous wars. ”

Alexander nodded, but he didn't look happy, he was waiting for the next news, which was the most important thing.

"But there's one condition for all this," said Tony della Rovere, glancing at Barondy next to her, "and that is that you must renounce your engagement to Barondy. ”

"What?!"

An exclamation of surprise came from Barondi's mouth, and she turned her head to look at Alexander, only to see a smiling face.

Then she saw Alexander give an order to one of his attendants standing at the door: "Go and call both Offrey and Gompati." ”

"What are you going to do?" Barondi asked, stunned.

"Looks like I'm going to have to fight that Kalgino again." Alexander said as he walked towards the door.

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Nine Heavenly God Emperor mobile version reading website: