In the legend, there was a story of an iron nail that decided the fate of a country, and in reality, there were many more insignificant small things, which eventually became the beginning of determining the fate of countless people.

There are too many such examples, and the fate of Massimiliano and Francesco, the two sons of Duke Ludvico Sforza of Milan, was determined by a branch of a tree.

The sudden incident of the Count of Broger, the commander of the French army, was seriously injured by an accidental flying branch caused the French to fall into a brief panic, which was not only related to the injury of the Count as the commander and the French army was temporarily without a leader, but also because the identity of the count was too sensitive, which caused many people, including Louis XII, to pinch a cold sweat for the possible change.

But fortunately, just when many people were at a loss, the arrival of several doctors from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pavia made a difference.

A few quacks who could only bleed were unceremoniously pushed aside, and then these doctors immediately began to treat the count, fortunately, the count of Broger was originally in very strong health, and after being tossed by several quacks, it was rare to survive, although the body still looked very weak, but after some twists and turns, the count's life was finally saved.

Louis XII was extremely happy, because the Count's salvation could not help but save the French army, or more so to save France from a possible civil war, after generously rewarding the doctors, Louis XII in order to show his concern for the Count, he decided to have the Count sent to a place away from the battlefield to recuperate.

The place chosen by Louis for the Count was a beautiful and quiet place, not too far from Milan, a small town controlled by the French army during the negotiations, Rovor.

The Count was well taken care of there, and Louis XII arranged for a group of clever servants and maids for the Count's use, and he also ordered a small but elite French soldier to be left in the town to protect the Count's safety.

Everything seemed normal, and the count himself decided to recuperate in this town for a while, although he could not command the French army in the future, but the previous achievements were enough to make the count a significant figure in the French court.

This result satisfied everyone until the news of the failure of the Milan peace talks came.

Massimiliano and Francesco had passed near Rovol during the peace talks to escort a shipment of supplies, but at that time everyone was still negotiating, and in this day and age, there was no such thing as secrecy for many people, so they accidentally learned that the Count of Broger was recuperating in this town.

The failure of the peace talks meant the resumption of the war, and at this time Massimiliano remembered the matter about the Count of Broger.

For his part, Massimiliano felt that the Count's presence was a great threat to Milan, and that the Count's recuperation alone in Rovol made him feel that it was a good time, so he encouraged his brother to join him in the attack on the town, believing that if the Count could be captured or killed, it would definitely be a heavy blow to the French.

Francesco agreed to Massimiliano's suggestion without hesitation, and the two with a squad of soldiers decided to raid the town of Rovor.

It was a good plan, the French did not expect to attack the town, and the French army in Rovol was pitifully small.

But it was such an infallible attack, but because of a small accident, it became a disaster for Massimiliano and Francesco to lose their lives.

When a servant who was fetching medicine for the Count discovered the Milanese, he immediately turned back to report to Rovor, but ran to a nearby French barracks for help.

The French garrison immediately poured out, and on the way to Rovol, they caught up with Massimiliano and Francesco, who had been preparing to hunt, from behind.

In an instant, the hunter and the prey switched roles, and it was only when the battle was over that the French were surprised to learn from the captives what they had killed in the battle!

When the news of the deaths of Massimiliano and Francesco reached Milan, it is said that Ludvico was stunned for a while, and then he slipped out of his chair at once, his body trembling and foaming at the mouth, and he couldn't make a sound even if the people next to him screamed like crazy.

Normezzi, who was in Montina, heard of this and immediately rushed to Rome overnight with Barentia's permission, but he was a little late, and soon after he broke the news to Alexander, the news of the deaths of Massimiliano and Francesco soon spread throughout the city.

For a while, many people's eyes became hot, and countless eyes turned to Milan.

Because it is known that with the death of the brothers Massimiliano and Francesco, Ludvico has only one daughter, which means that the Sforza family is facing the situation of no heir.

Francisco Sforza, the founder of the Sforza family, had acquired Milan from the Visconti family, and now they are facing this situation themselves, and for the other families, the heir of the Sforza family means their chances.

"The one whose name is Normezi has come," said old Rovere to Constantine, "Gombray has told us that he will support you in marrying Ludvico's daughter." ”

Konstantin took a deep breath, he felt a little dizzy, he knew that his father was right, Alexander's support may not be according to any good intentions, but thinking about it, as a force that can now compete with the Franco-Austrian monarchs in Lombardy, Alexander's support is undoubtedly a strong pillar for him.

"Father, I think we should still accept Gombray's suggestion, maybe he has other ideas, but it's not necessarily a bad thing for us."

Konstantin said with some hesitation, he knew that his father must have been much more thoughtful than he was, but the temptation of the Duke of Milan was too great, and he did not want to let go of this opportunity, even though he knew that it might be a trouble.

Old Rovere glanced at his son, he knew that Konstantin was tempted, in fact, in the face of this opportunity, Old Rovere himself was not so indifferent, after all, there were too many people who coveted Milan, and if Maximian, who was best at using the marriage of his children to expand his territory, took the lead, it would be a missed opportunity.

"Gombray made a condition," said old Rovere, with a slight look of eccentricity on his face, "and he demanded the release of Caterina Sforza. ”

"What, how dare he ......" Konstantin instinctively wanted to get angry, it was purely out of a reaction to being an older brother, but then he calmed down, and after frowning slightly, he also said with a strange look "He's interested in that woman?" ”

"Who knows, maybe he is interested in older women instead, after all, his women were very young before," old Rovere also frowned, he was sure that Alexander would be willing to help Konstantin in this way, probably without any kindness, but he couldn't figure out why Alexander did this for a while.

For this son-in-law, old Rovie did not like it very much.

Although unlike the professional pit son-in-law of the Borgia family, old Rovere did not plan to do anything to his son-in-law, but if someone got in his way, he would not mind using more ruthless methods against anyone than the Borgia family.

Alexander's performance made the elder Rovere feel that he was already an obstacle, but now Alexander is no longer the country lord who seemed to be at the mercy of others, but now he is the duke of Romagna and Tuscany, and one of the few people who can decide the fate of Milan and even the whole of Lombardy.

In this case, old Rovere didn't mind continuing to work with this son-in-law, as for whether he was really interested in Caterina Sforza, being an old man didn't care so much.

Forlì was already doomed to be annexed, the only difference was a matter of appearance, and since there were better options in front of him, old Rovere naturally would not let his son waste the opportunity to marry Katrina Sforza.

"Tell Gombray that I can agree to his terms, but he must prove his support for you by deeds, such as publicly declaring your support for your proposal to Ludvico's daughter in his name," said old Rovelle to Constantine as if he had not thought about Barenti's feelings, and after seeing his son nod his head in agreement, he suddenly said lightly, "Then you can write a letter to Barentie and tell him a little about it." ”

Konstantin glanced at his father, then nodded.

Normezi had been to Rome a long time ago, but that had been many years ago, and this time he had come to tell him that he was going to stay in Rome for a little longer.

After being captured in the Neapolitan rebellion, Normezi, who thought he might be executed, was already desperate for the future, but he did not expect that he would not only cooperate with the Count of Montina, but also be entrusted with the task by Alexander.

Although from the beginning he decided to agree to work for Alexander purely out of ambition for the betrayal of him by the Aragones, as time went on, Normezi found him increasingly fascinated by his current work.

Especially after he served as the plenipotentiary of the Milan peace talks, Normezzi was so excited that he couldn't sleep at night when he saw that the famous nobles of France and Austria had to helplessly listen to his suggestions and criticisms, and even sometimes had to condescend to curry favor with him in order to win him over in order to gain support in the negotiations.

After arriving in Rome, Normezi suddenly became interested in the prostitutes who filled the streets of Rome and even used the Vatican Square as a place for business, which made him decide to take a break from his busy work and take care of himself.

When Alexander heard about Normezi's feat of walking half a street of flowers overnight, he did not comment on Normezi's actions, but simply ordered Normezi to find a house outside, and at the same time wrote to Gina Brigitte, who was still in Montina, asking her to send some doctors with clean hands and feet.

"I'll arrange for people to teach them how to take care of patients, especially those that look terrible." Alexander was somewhat helpless when he wrote to Gina, saying that he was still very optimistic about Normezi, but after learning about his stupidity, Alexander thought it would be better to let him stay away from him.

Alexander is not against men's indulgence, as for those prostitutes, of course, many of them are forced to live, but there are also many women who purely want to make a lot of money without paying much for this kind of woman, and Alexander also does not want to reprimand this kind of woman, after all, everyone has their own life, and as for what price to pay for this choice, it is also the result of choice.

However, he did not want to see syphilis appear in front of his eyes, and he did not want to have serious consequences for allowing such behavior, but he remembered very well that it was unbridled indulgence that caused many French soldiers to contract syphilis, and then they brought back to France this terrible disease that had not yet been discovered and paid attention to, and then for a long time, this disease, which the French called "Roman disease", ravaged France. At its worst, it even led to Louis XII's second invasion of Italy, which had to be abandoned halfway due to the drastic reduction of the army.

Unaware that he had become a waster in Alexander's eyes, Normezi waited with great interest for the Duke to give him a new assignment, and at the same time pondered how to exert greater influence in the future Duke's court.

Normezi knew that he was an "outsider", of course, because he had taken refuge after he was captured, and naturally he was destined to be incomparable with those old men who had followed Alexander from the beginning, and another reason was that he had "impure purposes".

Normezi never forgot the promise Alexander made to him, in fact, while enjoying the power in front of him, he never forgot Ferdinand's betrayal of him, he wanted to take revenge on Ferdinand, although he would not have all this without Ferdinand's betrayal, but he still wanted Ferdinand to pay for what he had done.

Because of this thought, Normezi knew that he might have to leave Alexander's side one day, and what he wanted to do now was to try to make himself as influential as possible in front of Alexander, so that he could push him to fulfill his promise as soon as possible.

Throughout the month of February, one of the most rumoured rumours in Rome was the death of the two sons of Duke Ludvico of Milan, which meant that the heir to the Sforza family had caused many to be moved.

At this time, Romagna and the Duke of Tuscany, Cambrai, openly supported the proposal of his brother-in-law, Constantin della Roverre, to Ludvico's only daughter, Caterina Sforza of Milan, which attracted a lot of attention.

Now, even the most stupid people admit that it was the Duke of Romagna and Tuscany who really benefited from the war in Northern Italy, and when France and Austria were unwittingly caught up in a war of attrition that had gradually become meaningless, Alexander took advantage of his special position in Lombardy, and then directly prompted the Pope to canonize him Duke of Romagna and Tuscany.

Now, the young duke, who is in high demand in Italy, is once again making his voice heard, this time to support his brother-in-law to become Duke of Milan.

For a time, in the eyes of many people, Alexandria was unique.

One day in early March 1500, the weather that should have been warmer turned out to be much colder than usual at this time, and Rome, which had snowed heavily just two days earlier, was completely covered in a white world.

A carriage was escorted by the scantily clad hunters to the Marino Palace, and Lucrezia stepped out of the carriage with the help of her maids.

As soon as the cold wind blew, she shivered slightly, and then quickly wrapped the thick cloak handed over by the maid, and then carefully stepped on the snow and walked towards the Marino Palace.

Several servants standing at the door hurriedly opened the door for the Duchess, and then, after seeing the obviously not very good look on her face, several servants cleverly chose to hide to the side.

Lucrezia walked into the courtroom, she stopped the servant who was supposed to go to report, and walked up the wide marble staircase alone, and when she came to Alexander's room, she stopped to examine her own dress, and when she was sure that it seemed to be more beautiful than usual, she first tapped it, and then pushed open the door under Schel's helpless gaze.

Alexander, who was busy sitting at the table, raised his head a little unexpectedly, and when he saw Lucrezia, he stopped the letter he was writing, in Marino Palace, there were only so many people who could break in directly without notice, and now only Lucrezia herself had this privilege.

"I heard you're going to release that Katrina Sforza?" Lucrezia showed a rare hint of annoyance, which surprised her a little, for it seemed to her memory that this was the first time she had had an unpleasant encounter with Alexander over another woman.

Lucrezia knew who she was, and she was willing to be a lover, so she didn't really show this expression even if she was jealous and jealous, but she was outraged when she heard that Alexander had decided to support Constantine in order to save Caterina Sforza.

Her brother was sent to captivity on the island of Elba, and Lucrezia felt despised for the sake of the old woman that he was willing to help the ill-intentioned Constantine fight for the throne of the Duke of Milan.

Looking at Lucrezia's hard expression, Alexander smiled a little wryly, he knew that this kind of thing would happen, and even glanced at a letter from Montina on the table.

It was written by Barendi.

"Don't you want to explain......"

"I'll explain." Alexander stood up and walked towards Lucrezia, which made Lucrezia's face immediately redden.

She stepped back, a little out of breath, and said, "I'm not asking you to explain it this way!" ”

"So what do you want me to explain?" Alexander asked amusedly, then handed Barentia's letter to Lucrezia, "Is this an explanation okay?" ”

"You want me to see your wife's letter?" Lucrezia's face was full of surprise, and although she knew that she shouldn't read it, her curiosity made her open the letter anyway.

Then, at Alexander's signal, a text appeared in front of her eyes that surprised Lucrezia.

"As you warned before, Konstantin revealed to me your attempt to rescue Caterina Sforza, and although he didn't go into details, I can guess that his purpose was only to convince me that you had betrayed our engagement once again."

Lucrezia looked up at Alexander in astonishment, she felt as if she had suddenly become a little fool, as if everyone she knew was much smarter than her, and at Alexander's signal, she looked down and continued.

"But I'd rather believe that it was my father's behesitation, and that the purpose was only to destroy the trust and affection between us, but despite all this, I'm also a little curious about why you had to save that Foley tigress, and if she really can really interest you at her age, I'm a little curious about that......"

Looking at this playful letter, Lucrezia was a little dazed because she couldn't turn the corner for a while, and after a while she asked in surprise, "Isn't she worried?" ”

Alexander knew what Lucrezia was asking, and instead of answering, he gently led her to the bench and sat down.

"You shouldn't be so impatient to question me."

"But ......"

Alexander held up a finger to block Lucrezia's words: "I don't blame you for questioning me, but because of the way you are, you know that it is not good for your body." ”

As he spoke, Alexander gently stroked Lucrezia's lower abdomen with his hand.

Not long ago, he had just learned that Lucrezia was pregnant again.

Mid-March 1500. Katrina Sforza, who had been in captivity for almost a month and a half, was released from Fort Cheney.

Waiting for her outside the prison was a comfortable carriage.

When the carriage had taken her to the Marino Palace, Alexander, who was waiting for her at the gate, opened his arms slightly to the tigress of Forlì: "Welcome Duchess, you are free." ”

Wonderful Book House