Two mercenaries with axes stared at the people entering and exiting the gates, but they were clearly not very attentive to their work, but they were a little worried about the army on King's Hill in the distance.

"Maybe it won't start, after all, Savonarola has been executed, and I don't like that man, he doesn't pay enough for us to spend, and it's hard to find a prostitute when he's there." One of the mercenaries and his companions whispered, "At least our life is better now than before, as long as we negotiate terms with the Vatican again, there will be no war." ”

"But I've heard that the Pope may support Medici, and that Giovanni Medici isn't already in Pisa, if he thinks maybe he'll be out of town the next moment."

Listening to his companion's words that seemed to be full of worry, the previous mercenary also seemed to be a little uncertain, he craned his toes to look in the direction of the King's Mountain in the distance, and then whispered: "I have heard that the army of the Count of Montina is very strong, maybe we must be ready, maybe I should inform my nephew, I will have to take care of him after the fight, after all, his father entrusted him to me." ”

"You'd better take care of yourselves," said his companion disapprovingly, "and if there is a real fight, the Florentines may send someone to command us, and then it may be terrible." ”

The two mercenaries whispered, both of them a little worried, although they had never fought against the Montina army, they had heard a lot of rumors about that army, especially about the sometimes stubborn fighting attitude of the soldiers of that army, which made them feel incredible, at least in their opinion, it seemed that only those madmen from the Swiss mountains would do so.

The sound of horses' hooves came from the streets of the city, and the two mercenaries looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a priest on horseback at the end of the street, and then came to them in a flash.

"On the orders of the Bishop, I want to go out of the city." The priest shouted to the mercenary on his horse.

"Then you should pay attention to the priest, the outside of the city is not peaceful now." The mercenaries said to get out of the way, they knew that the person who could be called the bishop must be the messenger from the Vatican, since the Florentine people had executed the Florentine bishop who assassinated Lorenzo Medici because of their own execution, the then Sistines IV had deprived the Florentines of the bishopric power, and Savonarola, who was the most promising bishop of Florence, lost this opportunity because of the fierce relationship with Alexander VI.

"If God had given me a destiny to die at the hands of robbers, I should have taken the initiative to find the murderer who was destined to kill me."

With that, the priest urged his mount to run out of the city.

"Go find the murderer who killed you?" A mercenary looked at the back of the departing priest and shook his head, "If I knew someone would kill me, I would definitely kill him before he killed me." ”

The priest apparently did not hear the mercenary, and by this time he had gone far and, after passing through a small town, galloped along the mountain road to King's Hill, not far away.

The priest's whereabouts soon caught the attention of the sentinels halfway up the mountain, and although they found out that it was a priest, the two guards immediately raised their halberds in their hands in menacing.

"I want to see the Count of Montina," cried the priest at once, and at the same time quickly took hold of his mount, "I was sent by Master Nomerlo." ”

The identity of the priest apparently played a role, and soon he was led to a tent, and soon a young man came out of it.

"I beg your pardon, honorable priest," said the young man with a smile on his face, smiling at the inquiring priest, "Lord Earl is unable to see you at this time, I am Captain Oflaiil, and you have something to tell me. ”

"I have brought with me a letter from His Majesty's Secretary, Lord Nomerlo," the priest was a little anxious, remembering the order of Nomelo before he came, "and the Secretary must hand it over to the Count himself. ”

"Then you'll have to wait a little bit." Ofleiy didn't mind, and motioned for the priest to follow him into the tent, "Your Excellency is meeting the guests. ”

The priest followed Ofleigh towards the tent, not noticing Ofleiy's gaze glancing quickly towards somewhere in the distance.

Alexander was indeed meeting a guest at this time, and this person did have an extraordinary identity.

Giulio de Medici, adopted son of Lorenzo de Medici and brother of Giovanni de Medici.

As the adopted son of the former ruler of Florence, Giulio de Medici was undoubtedly a man who was destined to be smooth sailing from birth, and because of this, he had hardly ever worried about his future for the previous 16 years, but it was like walking on a strong bridge, but the bridge suddenly collapsed, and one day three years ago, everything suddenly changed.

The Medici family was driven out of their ornate palace, and Giulio had to flee Florence in a hurry with his brother Giovanni, not even daring to find their lost family, but instead fled all the way to Bologna to escape the murder.

For more than two years, the Medici brothers had to ask for help while inquiring about their loved ones' whereabouts, which made them experience a warmth and warmth that they had never felt before.

From Bologna to Milan, from Venice to Genoa, they wanted to be helped, both by former friends and former enemies, and they traveled almost everywhere in Tuscany and Romagna, and just as they were gradually feeling disappointed, a sudden turn of events in Florence finally gave them a glimmer of hope.

Now Giulio is very excited, and even in front of Alexander, he still can't hide the excitement in his heart.

Even if at this time Alexander was washing his face with hot water, instead of listening carefully to what he said.

"Count, I must thank you for all that you have done for Florence, your army has deterred the traitors, otherwise they would have sacked the entire city."

Alexander wiped the water from his face vigorously, then sat down and tilted his head back slightly.

Seeing the Moorish man standing beside the Count with a dagger and holding his head with his hand to make him stick his throat out, Giulio de Medici couldn't help but touch his throat with some uneasiness.

He wanted to remind the Count that it was not safe to do so, but he was afraid of angering anyone, and as the Moorish blade slashed across the Count's chin, Giulio could only stop and watch.

Uliu's hands were steady, his beard falling with the sharp blades, and sometimes he would stop to look at it before continuing what he was doing.

Ulliu was not good at the promising job of a barber, and the previous owners preferred to have a beard that looked very dignified, but this was not the case with Alexander.

Alexander liked a smooth chin and a neat hairstyle, so Ulius had to learn the craft as soon as possible.

However, Ulius soon became interested in the craft, and he became enthusiastic about dressing Alexander, and even when he accompanied Giulio to King's Mountain, he saw Alexander's somewhat sloppy appearance, and immediately threw down the young master of the Medici family, and took out the tools he had always carried with him to fiddle with his master's head.

Giulio sat across from him and watched the Moors raise and fall with their knives, and Alexander's beard flew in all directions with the light of the knives, which made him secretly nervous, and at the same time couldn't help but look at the Moors with some curiosity.

Although he had not been in Pisa for a long time, he had long heard of the reputation of this Moor, and from many people he already knew that this Moor was one of the most trusted people around Alexander, and even those nobles in high positions tried to maintain a good relationship with this Moorish servant. 、

But now that Alexander had given his life to this Moor, Giulio was very strange.

He knew that his adoptive father, Lorenzo, had a good relationship with the Ottoman Sultan, and that the Sultan had even sent someone to visit his adoptive father in Florence, but they had always been wary of the Ottomans, and now Alexander's actions seemed to him to be a risk.

It wasn't until his beard was shaved clean that Alexander sat up straight, and he gently wiped his face with the hot water from the basin that Uliuu was carrying, and then looked up at the young Medici opposite: "Priest, although I already know what you mean, I still want you to tell me personally. ”

After speaking, Alexander looked at the young man in front of him with interest.

Giulio de Medici was appointed as a priest, and his brother Giovanni de Medici was a delegate to the Church, just like the Borgia family, and Lorenzo de Medici wanted his sons to establish a strong enough influence in both the secular and ecclesiastical spheres, so he arranged for his eldest son, the incompetent Piero, to learn how to rule Florence, and at the same time arranged for his other two sons to enter the Church.

However, it was not the origin of the young man in front of him that interested Alexander, but the fact that this man would one day become pope, like his brother Giovanni.

And it was during the days of the Medici pope brothers that the entire Christian Church was divided into almost catastrophic ways.

Looking at the seemingly restrained young man in front of him now, it was a little difficult for Alexander to imagine that he would become a pope in the future, perhaps because of the sudden change in the family, the young man who had been on the run since he was 16 seemed to be somewhat insecure, which made him feel a little nervous when he sat opposite Alexander.

"Count, I hope to have your help," Giulio said at once upon hearing Alexander's inquiry, "Savonarola is dead, but those traitors still control Florence, and if you can help our family to restore rule, you will have the eternal friendship of the Medici family." ”

Giulio's words made Alexander's hand, which was touching his smooth chin, pause slightly.

The friendship from the Medici family could not help but make Alexander think about it seriously.

Alexander can't help but admit that compared with the Medici family, the reputation and character of his father-in-law's family are really a little poor.

After the Medici family was expelled from Florence, although they also suffered from white eyes and cold reception, relying on the connections accumulated over the years, although they could not find a backer to help them retake Florence, there were still people who were willing to lend a helping hand to them.

Medici showed commendable gratitude to those who reached out to them in their downfall, and that Giulio and his brother Giovanni had rewarded those who had helped them in the first place, after becoming popes respectively.

As Giulio said, those men were given eternal friendship by the Medici family.

And compared to the Medici family, the surname Borgia is really terrible.

In addition to the depraved life and greed, intrigue and treachery of all kinds, which made the family's reputation for bad people breathtaking, if it weren't for the fact that she was still young and naïve when he met Lucrezia, and his beauty was so charming, Alexander really didn't know if he would have been so obsessed with her.

After all, the pit family is the tradition of the family, especially the son-in-law, thinking about this Alexander really admires his courage.

But Giulio's words did make him wonder.

Some say that Medici's splendor has disappeared with the death of Lorenzo de Medici, but Alexandre is well aware that the family's future is only just beginning.

Gaining the friendship of the two future popes seems like a good idea.

As if to see Alexander's hesitation, Giulio stood up.

"Count, our family needs your help, and if you can get the Pope to lend a helping hand to the Medici, it will be the beginning of a forever union of your name with the Medici."

Giulio looked at Alexander with a hopeful gaze, he came to see Alexander according to Giovanni's arrangement, although he hoped to get help from him, but he did not have the luxury of borrowing Montina's army to capture Florence so easily.

Their real purpose was to get help from Alexander VI through Lucrezia, because only then would the Medici have a chance to continue to rule Florence in peace after the Restoration.

Now their biggest fear is that the Vatican and the new government in Florence have reached some kind of agreement, which would be too bad for the Medici family.

Alexander could sense Giulio's vaguely anxious mood, and he could guess the thoughts of the Medici brothers, which was why Alexander couldn't help but think about Giulio's suggestion.

It is indeed a great temptation to gain the friendship of Medici, in addition to the family's good reputation, and more importantly, the Medici family will continue to prosper for a long time in the future.

Such a friendship with a family that will be important in the future cannot be ignored by anyone.

Alexander looked at Giulio across from him, and he was guessing how reliable this man's words were, after all, Giovanni de Medici was the most prominent of his generation.

Lorenzo de Medici was undoubtedly a wise ruler, but he was not wise in choosing his successor, perhaps due to the tradition of primogeniture, and although Piero did not show any of the virtues of a leader from the beginning, he became the ruler of Florence.

Later, with the invasion of the French, Piero proved himself weak and mediocre, and after being driven out of Florence, he appeared even weaker, and the Giovanni brothers were more like Medici.

Now Giulio offered him an olive branch, which made Alexander hesitate a little about his previous plan.

There was a sound of footsteps, and Ulliu immediately walked outside, and in a few moments he was back into the tent.

Ullius whispered softly in Alexander's ear, and he paused at the mention of a priest from Florence.

Noticing Ulliu's strange appearance, Alexander glanced at him.

"Sir, I think I know why the priest came," said Ulliu, again in a low voice, "I have some friends in Florence who can quickly find out what is happening, and I think he brought the news that the Florentine government has agreed to the Pope's terms. ”

Listening to Ulliu's words, Alexander couldn't help but glance slightly at the Moors standing aside, and then he spoke to Giulio opposite: "Priest, I am very willing to establish a true friendship with the Medici family, but you also know that any commitment to you requires the permission of the Pope, so I suggest that you speak directly with the Pope's personal secretary, Nomerlo, and I am willing to be an intermediary between you." ”

Julio looked at Alexander in surprise, although this was what they had been hoping for, but the surprise brought by the sudden realization of the wish made them unresponsive for a while.

"I sympathize with the Medici family, like many others," Alexander smiled, "I think the Pope would have thought the same, well, he must have thought so." ”

Listening to Alexander's words, Giulio couldn't help but show a look of joy.

Ulliu, beside him, shook his head secretly, and told himself in his heart that this conversation here today must not be known to Madame Lucrezia.