On the morning of April 21, 1497, the Venetians, who had crossed the Arno River, began to advance on the outskirts of Pisa, to the sound of drums.

The wind was blowing warmly, and a Venetian picked up a wildflower from the side, put it in front of his nose, smelled it, and threw it away.

As soon as the wildflower landed on the ground, it was trampled into the soil with one foot, and then crushed by another foot until it was completely mixed in the dirt and completely disappeared.

One of the mercenary captains who walked at the front of the group looked back at the line behind him, and let out a soft grunt.

The two men who had escaped unexpectedly the night before annoyed the Venetians, who they did not know, but because they were worried that they might arouse the vigilance of the Pisa, the Venetians did not stay long in the previous village, and despite the priest's repeated attempts to stay, the Venetians decided to cross the river as soon as possible, taking the city of Pisa quickly before the Pisas realized their attempt.

These Venetian armies consisted mainly of mercenaries, although there were a small number of Venetians, but most of them were involved in the meeting with the Milanese in Reial.

Like other city-states, the Venetians had mixed feelings about mercenaries.

The ambivalence of relying on them and guarding against them makes it rare for a city-state to sign a contract with a single mercenary organization for a long time, especially since the Sforza precedent, the city-state has been even more wary of mercenaries.

Because of this, the task of capturing such an important city as Pisa was supposed to be led by an important Venetian official, and even one of the consuls of the Order of Ten if necessary, but because it was too dangerous for Realo, or rather to penetrate deep into central Romagna, or even to take the city in a surprise attack under the nose of Rome, it was only a general sent by the Venetian Consulate who was sent to direct the battle.

Pisa, as important as it is, is not important enough to require a ruling adventure, at least that's what the Venetians think.

Because of the topography, the east side of Pisa City is slightly higher, and when the weather is good, you can still see the Tirenian Sea in the distance from the east high ground, but because of the distance, those high ground does not pose any threat to Pisa, at least there is no artillery that can threaten Pisa from the high ground now.

Therefore, the Venetians also quickly approached the city of Pisa with only a slight repair on the high ground, hoping to take the city in one fell swoop if they went far away.

But this wish was not destined to come true, and the news from the scouts in front disappointed the Venetians, who had apparently noticed their whereabouts earlier, and had even dug many trenches on the road, although according to the scouts they were supposed to have only been dug in a hurry the night before, but when several officers came to the place where the trenches the scouts had spoken of were very close, they found that although the fortifications did seem to have been built in a hurry, after looking at the surrounding terrain, they could not help but admit it, The pizza man still gave them a lot of problems.

A large slope that sloped into the distance on one side of the road was impossible for the army to pass through, and on the other side, too, because of the rugged terrain that was not suitable for the troops, the Venetians only hesitated to give the order after looking at the dug up road in front of them and the walls of Pisa beyond.

"Let's get over, we may have to delay a while, but it won't help them," said the Venetian general to the mercenary captain, his face looking gloomy, "I think the Pisan people are on guard because the two men who escaped, apparently they have reported to the Pisa." ”

The captain snorted gloomily, he was annoyed but there was nothing he could do, it was indeed because of the negligence of his people that he let the two people who came out of nowhere escape, and now it seems that they may be the Pisa.

"It won't take too long," said the captain indignantly, "and my men will soon be able to take the city of Pisa." ”

"But they have artillery," the Venetian general looked at the walls with some concern, "if we don't take Pisa as soon as possible, we may attract the Pope's army." ”

Just because you know the danger, those old men will send you, don't they? The captain gave the Venetian a mocking look.

Even among the Venetians, the plan to take Pisa was not entirely in favour of it, and although it was indeed a tempting and tempting note, one could not help but feel powerless when one thought of the location of Pisa, for if the city could not be taken quickly, it would be not only passive but also dangerous.

The captain looked at the rather messy-looking ravine on the other side and gave the order to the herald behind him.

"Let's see how the pisaders greet us."

As the herald turned back and ran towards the back, the Venetians began to slowly change formation.

The drums of war became quick, as if urging the soldiers to quicken their pace, and from the long column rushed up several detachments from behind, which were rapidly running to the side of the detachment that was the leader, and at the same time slowly changing from column to side, and when they finally reached the position of the leading detachment, they were about to become an elongated horizontal line.

"That's the Venetian." Standing on the city walls, Alexander looked at the Venetian army in the distance and whispered that this was the first time he had actually confronted a prepared army, and the previous battle with the heavy cavalry outside Rome should be more of a "movement war" for which neither side was fully prepared.

The Venetian army was clearly well-trained, and the constant conquest made them not show any panic even when they changed formation in front of the enemy, and the team that was the first to complete the change from column to horizontal was clearly the elite of them, and watching them quickly complete the line from afar, and then vigilantly guard the front for his companions on both sides, Alexander could not help but feel glad that he had not let the Pisians attack rashly.

In the face of the Venetians, maybe those mercenaries will be able to resist for a while, but those temporary teams of sailors are likely to be crushed at such a time, and this has nothing to do with whether these people are brave or not, but in this kind of real battlefield, any reckless move can lead to defeat.

But it's another thing to put those men behind the ditches and fortifications.

Using bunkers as a barrier, even a mediocre army would have a little confidence because it was protected by fortifications, not to mention that those sailors lacked not courage but organization, and bunkers just filled this gap.

Seeing the Venetians unfolding the formation in an orderly manner, Alexander's face was always calm, which made Gompati standing next to him slightly relieved, he knew that in fact, the other people next to him were quietly looking at Alexander like him, if Alexander's face was panicked at this time, Gompati really didn't know what to do.

He didn't want to explain that he was only hiding behind cover and fighting people, he knew that he was not afraid but unwilling to give up his life rashly, but every time he watched the enemy rush towards them, Gompati still felt nervous, and the best way at this time should be to rush towards the enemy.

"But if the fortifications had been built stronger, perhaps there would not have been the fear that the enemy might break the bunker at any moment."

Gompati couldn't help but think a little cranky in his heart at this time, and at this moment, he heard a soft cry from someone not far away.

"It's coming!"

Gompati looked in the direction of the man's finger, and sure enough, he saw that the formation on the far right of the Venetian was moving forward slowly but in an orderly manner.

The Venetians, at last, are on the offensive.

"How many are there?" A mercenary asked with a spear as a crutch on the ground with an indifferent look, and saw a sailor next to him eager to try, this mercenary deliberately showed a disdainful look, "Don't rush to death, there is always someone over there who is arranged by God to kill you." ”

The mercenary's words stunned the originally excited sailor, and then a playful look appeared on his face.

"Do you think I'm a kid just out of the house, if you've seen what we've done at sea, it's nothing."

"Okay then, but don't let people slaughter them in the first place." The mercenary with the spear smiled contemptuously, and after speaking, he looked up at the Venetians who were advancing in the distance, but he couldn't help but mutter, "But there are a lot of Venetians this time." ”

In fact, there are not many Venetians, and even a little less than the main Venetian force that is heading towards Realo.

However, the number of defenders in Pisa is obviously smaller, because the number of mercenaries remaining in Pisa is much smaller than before because of the critical moment when a new military contract is being signed with Pisa, and the republican government is delaying the signing of the contract because of the need to pass the terms of the contract.

"There were about two thousand people, really."

Gompati muttered to himself as he watched the Venetian army on the other side as the Venetian flanks approached the edge of the ravines that had been dug slightly forward.

"Captain, I have to admit that you are a genius." Alexander, who was staring closely at the outside of the city, suddenly spoke, and then his eyes were fixed on the left flank of the Venetians, who had approached the trench first.

Because the intertwined trenches were dug like an inverted arc outward, when the Venetian procession began to cross the most marginal ravine, the procession began to move involuntarily along the edge, and this movement was actually completely unconscious, just as when a path appeared in the middle of nowhere, even if it was possible to walk a long way longer than through the wilderness, people often involuntarily followed the road.

It's not that people who walk are stupid, it's just because of the illusions and habits that have been formed.

Now, because of this delusion and habit, when the Venetians crossed the outer ravine, the left-wing column at the very edge began to involuntarily follow the direction of the ravine's inclination towards the center.

"Am I a genius?" Gompati was a little puzzled, and although he was complimenting him, Gompati still didn't understand why Alexander said that.

As he heard Alexander whisper, "This is the best target," Gompati saw Alexander raise his arm.

A striking banner was raised from the city walls, which caught the attention of the Venetians, and several mercenary officers walking in the gap between the lines stared at the flag, while the captain of the team simply stepped forward and stood on a dirt bag, his eyes narrowed in the direction of the walls of Pisa.

The enemy was clearly behind the walls and the hastily piled earthen walls beneath the city, but what were they going to do when they suddenly raised their flags? Bow and arrow or musket, but doesn't that seem a little far?

This distance, unless the enemy uses artillery!

This thought made the captain's heart tighten.

But how many artillery did the Pisas have?

Just when the captain was still pondering this thought, he suddenly saw the flag fall down.

Or rather, it was waved down by someone, otherwise it wouldn't have been that fast, but it didn't matter anymore, and at the moment when the flag fell, a roar that was not neat but seemed to come from hell instantly resounded over Pisa!

"Artillery!"

The captain only had time to let out a cry of surprise, accompanied by a buzzing roar, and he felt a scorching heat wave pass in front of him, and the steaming breath of the heat wave burned him to let out a scream, and then he heard a terrifying loud sound as if something had been completely torn apart.

The sound was accompanied by a miserable cry that was not unfamiliar to him.

When the captain turned his head to look at the voice, his face, which had been burned into a bubble of fire, suddenly became distorted.

A scratch on the ground that was still smoking because of the violent friction swept through the team around him, and the shells ploughed a terrible alley in the middle of the team, and the mutilated limbs of the unfortunate soldiers were scattered all around, and several wounded people fell to the ground screaming miserably, some of them had smashed limbs, and some of their bodies were mostly blackened, and they couldn't see what they had been beaten into at all.

The captain looked back in disbelief, not because he was surprised by the artillery attack, but because he was surprised by the sound of the cannons.

How could the Pisians have so much artillery?

This is something that the mercenary captain could never have imagined.

In the first round of firing, ten guns that had already adjusted the angle of fire several times fired at the same time!

The target is the edge of those trenches.

The outward-facing trenches caused the Venetian column to unconsciously rush to the center, and Alexander did not place the artillery on the front of the wall, but placed it in a more open area on both sides of the wall.

When the cannonballs whistled from both sides towards the Venetian queue that was gradually concentrated in the center, you could see a few black shadows in the sky and the thin smoke that flew behind it, this scene did not look very terrible for a moment, but the moment those shells landed, with the tragic image of stumps and broken arms flying in the mass of blood mist that was brought up when they smashed through the crowd, a great sense of fear instantly enveloped the entire battlefield.

"Pisan artillery!"

The captain was not the only one who shouted like this, many Venetians couldn't help but exclaim, they didn't expect that it was the Pisa who fired first, and they didn't expect that they would have such sharp artillery.

The Venetian procession, which was crossing the trench, was instantly a little chaotic, and the queue, which had been somewhat uneven because it had to cross the ravine, could not help but become shaken by this sudden attack.

The team began to hesitate, and many of the leading officers couldn't help but look in the direction of the captain's flag in the center.

No sooner had the battle begun than the Venetians were struck head-on by an unexpected blow!

Lucrezia was writing in a room at the town hall as the rumbling cannons rang out, and she felt the need to send some more people for help.

Lucrezia was startled by the sudden sound of cannonballs, and although she knew that there would be a war, she was so ignorant of the word war that it was still a distant thing in her mind.

But when the cannon rang out, Lucrezia's face turned pale for a moment, and she hurried to the window to look at the sound from which it had come from.

She saw that the pispers outside also stopped and looked out of the city in horror, and then a panicked shout came faintly from outside: "The Venetians are coming, and there is a war!" ”

Lucrezia turned uneasily and walked to the table, stunned as he stared at the blackened quill, which had fallen on the letter paper in fright, and it was only then that she realized for the first time that she was in a city under attack.

"God, who's going to help me," Lucrezia's lips trembled slightly, she had never heard such a terrible sound, the huge roar as if the whole world was going to be overturned, "Caesar, Giovanni, where are you?" Daddy......"

Lucrezia muttered to herself in a panic, at this point she really regretted why she didn't listen to Alexander and left the city as soon as possible, when in fact she could leave Pisa by boat if she paid enough money.

"What was I thinking," Lucrezia shook her head vigorously, "now let the Pisians send me away, just promise them enough money, and tell them that I was actually hijacked by that Cambrai, and that they will receive a great reward if they send me back to my father." There will be people who are willing to make this money. ”

Lucrezia kept thinking about it, but when she ran to the door, she stopped, and for some wonder she suddenly felt that her thoughts were terrible, or rather terrible.

She walked back to the table, threw away the soiled letterhead, replaced it with a new piece of paper and a new pen, and began to write.

"Dear father, when you read this letter, your daughter is trapped in the city of Pisa, the Venetians are terrible, please come and save your poor daughter......"

Lucrezia paused after a moment of writing, brushing the soft goose feathers against her lips, the feeling reminded her of the confusion that someone had once touched.

"Alexandre Giuliante Cambrai, if you dare to play tricks on me afterwards, I won't spare you." Lucrezia said viciously as she continued to write.