In the morning, a golden morning light came through the gap between the two distant cols, and this morning light shone directly into the open window, and then cast on the wall of the room, and as the light gradually enlarged, this ray of light slowly crossed the ground, crossed the towering bedpost, and fell on the two people lying on the bed.

Barendi had actually woken up early, and the refreshing morning breeze blew into the bedroom, which made Barendi want to lazily lie on the bed and not move.

Although waking up in this room in the morning was normal, Barendi felt that this morning was always different.

From this day onwards she is the rightful hostess of the room, and she is the first duchess of the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany since its foundation, and she will be regarded as the earliest ancestor of the Duchy no matter how young she is, and then many years later her descendants will find her place at the top of the branching family tree.

Barendi laughed at the thought of this, and then she saw Alexander next to her, who had opened his eyes, also looking at her and laughing.

"Good morning, my Duchess." Alexander wiped a trace of messy hair on Barondi's forehead to the back of his head, looking at her smile that seemed to be satisfied at this time, Alexander suddenly felt that he really owed her before, "You can rest for a while, I have to get up." ”

"No, we have to get up early for Mass, and this is the first time I've attended Morning Mass since I became a Duchess." Remembering her duty, Barendi got up and began to dress with Alexander, which was somewhat difficult for her, for it was usually the maids who helped her put on the cumbersome costumes, and it was destined that no one would help her this morning.

"Maybe I should call the maid."

"No," Barendi stopped Alexander, "this time belongs to you and me." ”

Looking at Barondi's expression, Alexander turned his head to look out the window at the height of the sun that had just risen a little bit from the col, and he smiled and threw aside the piece of clothing he had already picked up: "That's right, we still have some time." ”

Montina's Morning Prayer Mass took place on time, and Barentia's first appearance as a duchess began.

There were not many people who participated in the prayers, except for the family, there were only a few close ministers, this was specially ordered by Alexander, he knew that what Barendi cared about was not actually prayer, but the satisfaction of her status being respected and recognized, and watching those close ministers kneel down on one knee again to swear allegiance to Barondi, Alexander showed a smile of relief.

Barendi did not object to Estelles being brought to the morning prayers, she calmly understood what her daughter meant to Alexander, but she was not worried, even if Alexander said in front of her, "My daughter will be a great queen", she did not get angry because of it.

Barendi was smart, she knew when to show generosity, even appropriate indulgence, and in her opinion the stability of the Duchy always came first, and now that the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany was beginning to take shape, it was perhaps the greatest achievement of life for many people, but she could feel that this was not Alexander's ultimate goal.

"So what Alexander needs is a virtuous wife who can support him silently behind him and help him in a critical moment, and you are undoubtedly the best person for this," said to Barendi, who was still a little excited by the oath of her close ministers, after praying and partaking of the sacrament, "Lucrezia can't do this, she's just a beautiful woman who is beautifully dressed and pleasing to men, although I don't doubt her love for my brother at all, but it doesn't help much, as for that Sophia, "I suppose that with her bad temper she might be able to subjugate the Wallachian barbarians, but here she may not be able to survive even a week and will be calculated, so you are the most suitable, my sister-in-law." ”

Barendi looked at Jisha with strange eyes, even now she still hasn't eased up from Jisha's confession to her before, thinking that this brother and sister actually have that kind of intolerable relationship, Barundi was almost scared to meet Jisha again several times.

"Don't look at me so strangely," said Tsusha whispered in Barondi's ear, seemingly intimately, "You should be glad I have a good opinion of you, because I believe that my brother is absolutely willing to listen to me in this regard, and I can assure you that it is really only good for you, because I can do everything for Alexander, so I will always support you for him." ”

"However, you will always have to get married in the future," Barendi finally couldn't help but say, "This is what worries me the most, you must know this kind of ...... between you and Alexander" Speaking of this, Barendi paused a little hard before continuing, "relationship, I mean that this kind of relationship will affect your future marriage, and of course I would like to see your support for Alexander, but it is difficult for me to imagine that the future king of Naples would allow you to support him unconditionally like this." ”

"The future King of Naples?" Jisha's eyes moved slightly, she glanced at Barendi with a slightly strange expression, and after making sure that she was indeed not referring to something, she chuckled and said, "Please rest assured, my sister-in-law, if you are worried about the future relationship between Naples and the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany, then you don't have to worry at all, Naples will be your most determined companion, because the future king will not oppose his own country." ”

Hearing what Jisha said, Barundi couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

The wedding was over, but the people who came to the wedding did not leave Montina, or Alexander's wedding became a rare opportunity for all parties to test and compete with each other.

Old Rovere did not come, and he did not have the courage to openly admit to having illegitimate children as Alexander VI, and Alexander admired his papal husband very much, considering that at that time he was only the archbishop of Valencia and not the pope, and it really took extraordinary courage to be able to do so.

Perhaps it was because of his deviant influence that Caesar took the initiative to give up the priesthood later, which made Alexander feel that compared with the Rovere family, if there was no bad tradition of cheating on sons-in-law at every turn, in fact, those relatives of the Borgia family still thought about him very much.

Rovere's family was from Constantine, and now he was making the final push to become Duke of Milan, so as soon as he arrived in Montina, he immediately visited everywhere, and everywhere he was connected, from the Venetians to the representatives sent by the emperor's chief courtier, from de Charlon, who was sent by the French king to attend the wedding, to the queen of Naples, Constantine did not miss a single opportunity to negotiate, bargain and buy the support of those people at least the approval.

As for the others, they were also looking for their own goals in the hope of gaining something, and Montina became an "international conference center" for a while, where large and small, public or secret meetings were everywhere, so that the servants in the castle walked with a clattering sound under their feet to remind others that they were coming, for fear that if they accidentally heard something they shouldn't hear, they might be unlucky.

Alexander ignored these things, and he only wanted to stay with his wife for a while longer, for soon he would be leaving again, and this time even he did not know how long he would be gone.

The flames of Lombardy had been ignited, and in a way that pleased Alexander, and this time the Italian war was more complex than it was in history, with more participants and more inevitable both the troops invested and the attention paid to the war.

The French, the Austrians, the Venetians, and the British, though they came a little late, but were sure to soon sink deeper and deeper, would be completely caught up in the war and have no time to care.

This would make Romagna-Tuscany much safer, because the battlefield in northern Italy was enough for those people to fight to the death, and because of the supplies from the countries that had been able to rest well through the winter camps for almost the entire winter, under the deliberate guidance of Alexander, they were destined to be unable to divide their forces to the south.

However, Alexander knew that he could not take it lightly, because Aragon, as an important member of the Italian war, had not been able to send troops to the Italian peninsula again for a while because Gonzalo had changed the destination of the expedition without authorization.

"Your sister said that I have no need to worry at all that the future king of Naples may change his relations with us, because he will not oppose his own country," Barenti sat in the gazebo and looked at Jisha and Constantine, who were talking in the distance with their backs to him, "Can you tell me what this means?" ”

"I can," Alexander turned to look at Barondi, who looked a little nervous, "and it has something to do with you." ”

"And me?"

"Yes, listen to Barentia, do you know what your most important task is now, to tell you that it is to have an heir to us, because perhaps our child will become king of Naples in the future."

"God, what are you talking about?" Barondi's face was full of surprise, but her tone was already trembling slightly from excitement.

"I mean, have you ever thought about who the throne will go to if she doesn't marry again?"

"But is this possible, knowing that it is the Kingdom of Sicily, and Aragorn will not agree to her passing the throne to you or our children."

"Yes, but they need to be able to stop it." Alexander laughed.

In July, the hot weather continued, and the summer harvest had already begun in many places, but this year it was clearly worse, and many farmers were facing the trouble of tax arrears because of the poor harvest.

Even at the festive wedding ceremonies, some people can still be heard whispering about the unsatisfactory days of the year, and for the French and Austrians, the winter conflict and the subsequent spring wars have become more frequent, and both sides hope to ease the pressure on domestic grain requisitions through the harvest of Lombardy's grain-producing lands.

"But they still don't think that this is just the beginning," Alexander reminded him again when he was alone with him, "believe me, this lack of food may seem inconspicuous for a while, and it won't even have much effect for a long time, but it will be a long process, and the effect of this process will not only be famine, but may bring about unprecedented changes in the whole of Europe." ”

"What kind of change are you talking about?" Lying on the soft floor and looking up at Alexander, she actually liked to see Alexander predict the future in a tone that seemed to have pierced through time, which made Zhosa seem to be fascinated.

"It's something that hasn't changed before, because there is no harvest and a lot of people will flee the land because they are in debt, the countryside will no longer be able to support that many, they will become jobless vagrants and they will be flooded with cities, maybe in some countries these people will be a hidden danger, and here these people will become' Workers', I'm not talking about temporary workers, but workers who have been working entirely in factories for a long time, and even their descendants will not return to the countryside, but as the factories are built and expanded, they will become generations of such workers, and these people will make the cities more prosperous, and believe me that this will be an unprecedented change, and this change will even change the relationship between the countryside and the city for thousands of years. ”

Jisha looked at Alexander who was a little excited, she didn't quite understand what made him so excited, was it because there was an opportunity to have more cheap labor, and there seemed to be no shortage of such people, but it would become easier to find in the future.

Alexander also knew that it was not clear to him for a while, after all, no matter how clever she was, she would not see all the changes that would take place in the next few hundred years, and for Alexander this was not speculation and conjecture, but a fact that was about to happen.

"Do as I say," Alexander touched the smooth strands of his hair, "make all the preparations before I leave, and establish a long-term system for long-term food storage in the future, which must be ensured to be carried out in the future, and in addition to the plantations in Crete, the factories of Agri are also going to be expanded, and the best workers are sent there, and enough arsenals are built, not just for our own army, I know that Agri has made great progress now, but it is not enough, We don't just make weapons for our own armies, don't you think that the war in Lombardy will have a greater need for weapons? ”

Jisha thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement, she didn't think that musket technology could really be kept secret for long, since it would soon be discovered by others, rather than let others imitate it, and then be inspired by a genius to create more powerful weapons, it was more certain that she would lead this military technology innovation from the beginning.

In the middle of July, the guests who came to the wedding finally slowly left, and no one knows how many intrigues took place during this period, but it can be seen from Constantine's happy appearance that he has gained a lot, and what is surprising is that the Queen Regent of Naples publicly expressed her support for him to become the Duke of Milan, which made Constantine excited and even had the idea of proposing to Josa.

It's just that as soon as he told Barendi about this idea, he wanted his sister to help him, but Barendi sternly refused, and was warned that if he didn't want the throne of the Duke of Milan to slip out of his hands, it was best to dispel this "bad thought".

In addition to Konstantin, there was another person who left with satisfaction, and that was Prato.

Prato was thrilled not only to attend Alexander's wedding, but also to be introduced to others along with Alexander's cronies, and to his greatest please, Tiego was the unexpected no-show.

Prato, of course, does not doubt that Tiego has fallen out of favor, because another equally important figure has not yet been revealed, and that is Grogenen.

As one of Alexander's money rakes, Prato certainly knew what kind of important position Tiego and Grogenin held in Alexander's group, and the fact that neither of them had come to the wedding made Prato realize that since there was not the slightest indication of a rift between the two men and the duke, it was almost a sign that something important was happening that would keep them from getting out.

Prato's guess was correct, and the day after he left Montina to return to the Balkans to take care of business, an emissary brought a secret message from Griggenin.

There were only a few words of congratulations on the newlyweds, and the rest was the news of Groganin's actions in Sicily, Flanders, and further afield on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

"Our friend in Sicily, the Honorable Consul Camus, has done a lot for us, and with our help he has succeeded in becoming an important figure in the government of the Governor of Sicily, Fromnsa, and in return he has begun to play a role in ensuring that our sea routes in Sicily are unimpeded, while our other friend Ashulk has played an equally important role by allowing us to get in touch with important people far away on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean."

When he saw this, Alexander rarely looked happy, and he was so excited that he clenched his fist hard, which made Barondi, who was sitting on the side, can't help but lean his head over with some curiosity.

"What makes you so happy?"

"Absolutely good news," said Alexander excitedly, "believe me, if he succeeds, your husband has the potential to change history." ”

Barondi looked at Alexander in bewilderment, she was so excited to see him for the first time, and this aroused her curiosity even more, so she simply bowed her head and slipped into Alexander's arm, leaned into his arms and read the letter with him.

"We may have to do some loss-making business for a while, but it is necessary, we need to provide guns, artillery, and everything that can help them fight against a strong enemy, and of course in return they will provide us with precious stones, ivory, gold, and precious oriental utensils, which will be enough for us to make up for those losses."

"Is it business?" Barondy asked.

"Big business," Alexander smiled, "or maybe a business that could buy a country, and it will most likely require your help." ”

Barendi immediately became serious, she knew that she could help Alexander in business, and the status of Duchess made her carry a burden that she had never carried before.

"We're going to get enough copper from Hungary and then ship it through Romagna to Agri in Naples, and then the cannons cast there will be shipped from Sicily to the East, and it's going to be a long and complicated process, and all you need to do is make sure our interests don't hurt."

Alexander explained to Barente that he had been working on a plan for a long time, and as he said it was too complicated, from the heart of Europe to Persia, far away in Asia!

Listening to Alexander's plan, Barendi couldn't help but be a little dazed, she suddenly felt that her previous decision to choose Alexander was really a strange decision, because at that time, she only thought about getting the support of the Count of Naples for her father to become a cardinal, and she never thought that her husband had a heart no less than that of the emperor.

"But what about you, you asked me to do this, what did you do?" It's just that Barendi, who was excited, still noticed the strangeness vaguely revealed in Alexander's words: "Or are you leaving me again?" ”

Looking at the lonely look on Barendi's inquiry, Alexander sighed softly, he knew that this was something he had to say to her sooner or later.

It's just that this time is different.

Because this time he is leaving, not his lover, but his wife.

In August, a long-awaited emissary from the Iberian Peninsula finally entered the castle of Montina, and Alexander gave orders to his men who had already been prepared.

The important generals of the Duchy returned to the Château de Montina, and from the castle came the important news that the Duchess of Barendia Juliant Gombray had been appointed regent of the Duchy.