Louis XII looked gloomily at the back of the Venice envoy who had just left.

It was an unsuccessful negotiation, and although Louis XII had already made good terms, the Venetians were clearly determined that the only thing they wanted the French to do was to withdraw from Italy.

Especially after hearing the news of the withdrawal of the Neapolitan army from Rome, the attitude of the Venetians was even more determined.

On the contrary, when he heard the news, Louis XII's only hope of negotiating with the Neapolitans was completely shattered.

Louis XII was oddly surprised, he didn't believe that the Queen of Naples could withstand the temptation to rule Rome, but the reality was that after 9 days of occupying the city, Jossa chose to withdraw from the capital, which everyone was fascinated by, and then led his army north to try a decisive battle against the French army.

Standing in front of the map, Louis XII looked carefully at the obvious boundaries on the map, and Louis XII suddenly felt that he seemed to understand something.

This is the latest map of Italy presented to Louis XII after the proclamation of the Duchy of Rome-Thesia, and although it is still rather crude, it is already one of the most detailed maps of the era.

However, for those Italian monarchs who had also heard of this map, knowing that the King of France had such a detailed map of the Italian peninsula, it was natural to understand Louis XII's ambitions.

However, Louis XII did not hide his ambitions for Italy, and he even made many envoys from the peninsula see the map with their own eyes, but now this map gave Louis XII a new inspiration.

He had Sharren called, and while he waited, he drew a striking line on the map with a pen dipped in red ink, and then when Sharren arrived, he pushed the map directly in front of Sharlon.

Charlen looked at the map and groaned for a while, then let out a soft sigh: "The ambition of the Duke of Thesia in Rome is really not small. ”

"So a war between me and him is inevitable," Louis XII and Charlain together tilted their heads and looked at the map on the table, "look at their attempts, Naples and Rome-Thesia, together have taken full control of the left bank of the entire peninsula, they have even jointly sealed off all the coastal coasts from Genoa to the Mediterranean Sea through the Tirenian Sea, and the Venetians, because of the threat of the Ottomans, have no second chance to enter the Mediterranean from the Adriatic Sea, except to fight us with them, and that Gombray, He even established a border established by him between his Rome-Thessia and Lombardy, and his intention was clear, that he could abandon Lombardy, but master the whole ......"

Louis XII said as he made a circle with his finger in the outline of the peninsula.

"This war is inevitable, Your Majesty." Scharron's voice was a little dry, and after a few encounters with Alexander, he already knew how difficult the young monarch was, even though he didn't seem to be in Italy now, but everything still seemed to be under his control.

"I've ordered Boweken to attack Pisa, but that's not the most important thing, and I wonder now if I can trust you, General Charron?"

Looking at Louis XII's inquiring eyes, Charlen bowed his head and bowed: "Please command, Your Majesty." ”

"For me to take the castle of Montina, I don't care whether the Duchess of Rome Thesia is in the castle or not, since she stubbornly refuses to surrender, she must be ready to accept what happens next, even if she herself has any accidents in the subsequent disaster, it can only be said that it is God's arrangement."

Listening to Louis XII's undisguised murderous intentions, Charlon's heart trembled slightly, he knew that the king had been thoroughly enraged, and the recent rumors of domestic troubles were also the reason why the king was determined to break the deadlock as soon as possible.

Then the inevitable bitter battle is looming.

Louis XII was clearly a man of resolute character, and once he had made up his mind, he would not drag his feet, and the day after he decided to attack Montina, a French army of about 13,000 men led by Charlain quickly advanced in the direction of Montina.

Two days later, without encountering any resistance, the French advance had reached the point where the faint outline of the castle of Montina stood on the hill of Verga, which was not tall but rather steep.

It was the scorching heat, and the scorching sun was unscrupulously dropping hot arrows from the sky on the earth, and the French soldiers were sweating profusely on the bare dirt road, while cursing the hellish place.

Montina was obviously completely different from what the generals had told them when they set out, and the only thing worthy of praise here was the flat road beneath their feet, which surprised everyone, a high-level and high-standard "national highway" that would not be found anywhere nowadays, so much so that the French soldiers said that if they did not deviate from it, they would not fall down even if they slept on this road.

But apart from this road, this "capital" of the principality of Rome-Thesia was nothing.

There were no human figures, no vineyards, not a single apple tree hanging with thirst-quenching fruit, and even the fields were fields of bare wheat stalks with no end in sight.

I don't remember the first one, but what Sharron saw was the empty villages with completely empty houses, and there was hardly anything useful to be found in the villages, and some people saw chopped bran in some corrals, but not a grain of grain was found.

Charron felt visibly uneasy, he vaguely knew what the Roman Thesians were doing, but he was not sure that they could actually do it, after all, such a move would probably cause dissatisfaction and even protest among the people of the territory, and Charlon did not believe that the Duchess of Rome Thesia had the courage to carry out such a method.

However, when the French army penetrated deep into the interior of Montina and could already see the castle of Montina, Charlaon finally determined that the Roman Thesians had really carried out a strategy that was unthinkable to him.

"The Duke of Rome Thesia himself is not out of the country, as it has been rumored."

This was Sharlon's first reaction after coming to his conclusion, but he quickly overturned this idea, after all, if the duke was really not in the country, with his knowledge of the duke, he probably would have jumped out to make waves himself, instead of letting his wife, sister and lover come out.

So, is his current opponent actually the duchess?

Charlen felt a little helpless, even a little annoyed, by this conclusion, but as he approached Montina, he gradually put away his contempt for the Duchess, especially after some locals found out about what had happened in Montina before, and he began to look at the Duchess seriously.

"We may have to fight a tough battle," said Charlon, at the end of the last day's leisurely march, after camping with the whole army, "the army of Rome Thesia is now divided into two parts, one led by the duchess herself to defend Montina, and the other by Gompetti, the general of Cambrai, who is now stationed on the east bank of the Sekina behind Montina. ”

"We can bombard the castle with artillery," said one of the generals, with some excitement, "perhaps they think that we, like the Tatars, will retreat as soon as the siege is not taken, but our artillery will let them know that they are wrong." ”

Looking at his confident subordinates, Charlon did not speak, although he had not seen the castle yet, he had a vague feeling that the methods of the Roman Thesians should be more than these.

On 2 July 1501, the French army of Charlon arrived outside Montina.

Looking at the magnificent castle, which was far from finished, but its current appearance was enough to make people stagger, Sharron felt for a moment that he was seeing a huge and terrifying monster.

The combination of numerous hideous edges and cold-colored stones gave the impression that not only was the castle often oppressive, but also the illusion that the attacker was walking towards a bloodthirsty monster that could be broken at any moment.

Charron looked at the castle from a slightly higher place, he noticed that this castle not only broke many previous construction conventions, but also completely absorbed and borrowed all kinds of conveniences from the terrain in order to strengthen the means of defense, looking at the tricky firing gun positions on the protruding fortresses that could be faintly distinguished, and the construction of trenches and large independent fortresses in front of the castle on the hill, Charlon realized that this was a truly terrible structure for the purpose of killing, A bloodthirsty beast that was fortunate to be stuck in place.

"What kind of monster have you created, Gombray?" Sharron muttered to himself, then looked back at the artillery at the back of the line slowly approaching in the thick smoke.

"Build a position at once, and then bombard the castle with artillery," ordered Scharron, in a low voice, "we must make sure that these Roman-Thesians are first frightened by our artillery, and only if we shake their courage will we have a chance to take this castle, otherwise we will ......"

"Otherwise? My lord? ”

The generals around him asked with some doubts.

"Nothing, do as I command." Sharron did not answer his men's questions, he could not have voiced his fears, but looking at the hideous castle, Sharron felt as if a terrible beast had opened its mouth, waiting for prey or sacrifice to come to the door.

Alfleien knelt in front of the altar of the church, his hands clutching the cross on his chest, sweat dripping from his forehead, even in the shade of the roof of the church.

"Captain, you've been here for a long time."

A gentle voice sounded from the side, and Ofleiil looked up to see the priest's smiling face, since the Bishop had been lit a sky lantern, no one had dared to come to Montina to be bishop, and then, on a very coincidental round, the Duchess found the priest named Valvidora from a village, and then the priest, who had been only a village chapel, became the acting bishop of the diocese of Montina.

"I'm sorry Father, but I feel like I need the Lord's comfort." Offrey said apologetically.

"No, the Lord has given you enough comfort, and what you need now is the comfort of mortals, so that you can truly understand what the Lord has given you."

The priest said disapprerovingly, then pointed in the direction of the church entrance.

Offrey looked back and saw Ashley standing under the church door, his face flushing slightly.

"Go, boy, God made Eve out of Adam's ribs, and nothing else, to make men who might be weak at times like these." The priest patted Ofleigh on the shoulder, then ignored him and turned to the cross and prayed.

Offrey walked to the door in a trance, and before she knew it, she and Ashley had walked into a clearing that seemed to be steaming.

"Your prayers are over?" Ashley asked, looking at a sweaty Oflai.

"No, not ......yet," Oflaie said before pausing again, then sighing, "You know what, Ashley, I'm nervous right now. ”

"I know, I know." Ashley gently hugged Ofleiil, "Father Valvidora has told me, he said that you have been very bad for the past two days, although he cannot tell me the words of your confession, but he said that you are not good like this. ”

"I'm afraid you understand, Ashley, I've been commanding armies for the Duke, but I've never commanded a battle like this, you know, if it were in Lombardy, in Rome or anywhere I wouldn't be so afraid, but this is Montina, what if I'm wrong, what if I lose the battle because of a mistake?" "I'm really scared, if only the Duke were here," he whispered. ”

"But isn't it because the Duke trusts you that he asked you to keep Montina for him?" Ashley clasped her husband's face in her hands and made him look at herself, "Do you think the Duke would be so visionary to find a fool to look at his home, or do you think the Duke himself is a fool?" ”

Offrey opened his mouth in fright at Ashley's words, and he looked around in some panic, until he found that only the two of them were in the hot clearing, and he breathed a sigh of relief: "You are so bold that you dare to say that the Duke is a fool." ”

"I just said to my husband," Ashley laughed as Ofreiil seemed to relax, "and isn't that what you think, otherwise how could you doubt the Duke's decision, that he gave Montina to you, just as he gave the whole Duchy to the Duchess, do you think that the Duchess is also incompetent?" ”

"Of course not, the Duchess is the wisest woman I have ever met......" Ofleiil paused, then lowered his voice and said, "One of them, the other should be you." ”

Hearing her husband's compliment, Ashley's smiling eyes bent, she hooked her finger slightly to Oflei, and gestured with the eyes of the two of them, and then took Ofleiuil's hand and walked in the direction of her home, while she whispered, "We don't have much time, God knows how busy you will have to be next, those French people are really annoying." ”

Offrey, who had been provoked even hotter by his wife's words, suddenly felt that the road was a little too far, so he simply dragged Ashley to his mount tied to the shade of the tree, but before he could help his wife onto his horse, a loud voice suddenly came from behind them: "You are actually kissing me here, this is in front of the church." ”

Hearing that voice, Ashley turned around a little helplessly, and saw her father staring at Oflaiyi with a disgusted face, Ashley whispered: "Father, I'm married, is there anything wrong with me making love to my husband?" ”

Listening to his daughter's words, Pomperny glanced at his son-in-law with disgust, the court supervisor of the Duchy of Rome and Thesia has not changed because of the change in Oflei's identity and the fact that he has given birth to a grandson for himself, after pouting, Pomperny said to Ofleiuil: "I just came from the city wall, I think there are some places that need to be reinforced, remember what I said at the beginning, since Gonzalo has artillery that can threaten the castle, there is no guarantee that our enemies will not." ”

"Can the artillery of the French do it?" "Maybe we should thicken up a bit, but we've prepared enough stones before." ”

"No, I don't need stones now," said Pomperney, who ignored his daughter's displeasure, and pulled Ofreil into the distance, "We need sandbags, you know, the ones I had you fill up after I had you bring them back from the banks of the Sekina, and I want you to hurry up and let the soldiers carry some of them to the wall, believing that I have them better at shelling than a stone wall." If you don't want my daughter to be a widow, you'd better listen carefully......"

Looking at the couple who had walked away, Ashley slumped her shoulders helplessly, but she immediately turned and walked in the direction of the palace, because she remembered that the Duchess's previous mobilization decree clearly stipulated that all Montina women, including nobles and commoners, would support the war at the front by embroidery, craftsmanship, baking food, and making wine.

The whole of Montina was preparing for the race, and even the children were no longer running around because they felt the tension.

Especially after late May, the tension made the Montina people smell the smoke of gunpowder obviously.

And now, the French have finally called.

Barendi stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself carefully, she first looked at the ordinary face in the mirror and frowned slightly, this was the most dissatisfied with her, as soon as she remembered that Alexander liked beautiful faces, Barendi regretted that God had not made her so good-looking.

But when her gaze fell on her, she nodded a little contentedly.

It was clear how much Alexander was obsessed with her body, and it made her feel that she was at least no worse than the two in Pisa or Wallachia.

As for the Queen of Naples......

Barendi decided not to think about her, after all, it was secrets that would make her uneasy even thinking about it.

Then, when the female officer next to her respectfully walked over with a crown studded with jewels, Barendi looked at herself in the mirror with the pride of a victor.

There may have been many women in Alexandria, but there was only one Duchess of Thesia, and she was the sole owner of the crown.

Putting on her crown and taking the scepter representing the Duchy Regent from another female official, Barondi walked to a door and stopped, she took a moment of breath and bowed slightly to the servant at the door.

The two doors slowly opened, and Barondi, accompanied by the female officer, walked forward slowly.

There was a dull and oppressive clash of armor and saber, and Barondi looked into the room.

A group of officers were already waiting there, and when they saw her appearance, they bowed and saluted.

Barondi clenched the scepter in her hand, and she slowly made her way through the officers to the throne, but instead of sitting down, she stood there looking at the soldiers.

After a brief silence, Barondi took an order from the hand of the attendant next to her, she first looked at it and then spoke: "With the power of the prison given to me by the Duke, I hereby declare that the war with the Kingdom of France is a war of nations, and the whole country must do its best and fulfill its duties," Barendi paused for a moment, and then suddenly raised the scepter in his hand and did his best to let out a cry "War!" ”

"War !!"

The shouts resounded throughout the room.