Northern Italy is obviously much colder in winter than in the south, perhaps because the weather has gradually become colder in recent years.

The snow is very thick, and in some places it even ends up on the calves with one foot, and it is very difficult for people to walk in the snow, and it takes a lot more effort than usual, so that they will sweat and be exhausted after not walking far.

It was in this weather that Montina's team crossed the Maggiolasca mountain.

The altitude of Mount Magiolasca is very high, and of course no one can accurately estimate the height of this peak at this time, but looking at the top of the mountain that is shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, many people are scared at first.

Alexander did not rush his troops to speed up the march, for he knew that he should not be so nervous.

It was almost at this time that the two countries really got into a fight, the kind of aristocratic entertainment war that had been gradually replaced by brutal fighting, the knights could no longer go to the battlefield to slash each other, go off the battlefield to drink and have fun, and more importantly, both sides seemed to finally realize that this war seemed to be about destroying each other's army, not like a peacock competing for a mate, as long as the beautiful feathers were shown to intimidate the other party to retreat.

Classical and elegant warfare is quietly retiring from the stage, and with the advent of the 16th century, the methods of warfare are gradually changing.

The confrontation and even the fierce conflict between the two European powers is obviously not so quick to come to fruition, especially when the two monarchs appear on the battlefield, such wars tend to be long and complicated, even if many find that the war is obviously much more brutal and fierce than the recent invasion of Italy by Charles VIII, but the decisive battle that can decide the fate of the armies and even the country will not break out for a while.

It was at this time that Alexander took advantage of this time and led his Montina army to cross the Maggiolasca Mountains and enter the Lombardy plain in four days.

Although the mountain is towering, it is not completely impassable, and the process of climbing the mountain is not very difficult, because there is a lot of preparation and time to spare.

Crucially, Montina's army had discipline that was not found in any other army of its time.

Alexander did not want to coax his soldiers with so-called spiritual encouragement, and in his opinion any agitation that did not talk about good but only feelings and beliefs was a hooligan.

Montina's army was trained with whips and batons, and the repetition of the movements had made the soldiers completely numb, and they did not need to know what kind of enemies and dangers they were going to face, just what they were going to do when the battle began.

And the motivation to maintain the discipline of the soldiers was not faith and honor, but the booty that Alexander promised them and the reward after receiving the exploits.

Land, money, and finally honor, everyone has different desires, and Alexander only promised that they could get what they wanted most.

The Balkan soldiers were fierce and brave and wanted to be paid, the Agri musketeers were a group of wooden-tired soldiers who had been trained to be dull and longed for land, while the sleek but battle-experienced Genoese wanted to make a fortune in the war, and the hunters were soldiers with a greater sense of honor than anyone else.

6,000 men, leaving behind an army of about 1,000 men to garrison La Speya, this was Alexander's entire force into Lombardy.

On January 4, Montina's army first appeared on the Gaffna plain in Lombardy, and when he saw the wheat fields in the distance, which were covered with heavy snow but could still imagine what a beautiful scenery was during the harvest season, Alexander could not help but exhale deeply when he looked at the vast land that stretched far as the eye could see.

The breath turned into a white mist in the icy weather, and then drifted away, but the fire that burned in Alexander's heart became even hotter in this cold season.

"It's a gift from God." Gompati, who stood beside Alexander, sighed heartily, although he had heard of the richness of the Lombards, but when he saw this fertile land with no end in sight, Gompati felt as if he could not think of anything else to say except to sigh for God's favoritism towards the Lombards.

"But the richer the place, the more it will be coveted." Alexander disagrees that in his memory, the richness of the Lombardy has indeed become the original sin of the land, and countless people covet the land, which led to the Italian wars in the following decades, and even many wars in the centuries to come, for the purpose of fighting for the Lombardy region.

"What about you, my lord, are you interested in this land?" Gompati asked interestingly.

"Interested," Alexander did not hide his inner desire for the Lombardy, "You must know that there is something more attractive to the Lombards besides wealth," he said, looking into the distance, his eyes narrowed slightly, and then muttered to himself in a low voice, "There is a truly noble crown here." ”

The sky was gray and overcast, and the snow was falling heavily, so you had to be careful when walking on the road, or you would either slip or trip over something buried under the snow.

A woman who was tightly wrapped in her body walked the street with some difficulty, although her whole head and face were wrapped in fear of the cold, it can still be seen from her healthy body and very dexterous gait that this woman should be very young.

With a pop, the woman's right foot in thick boots stepped into a snow pit, although the snow pit was not deep, but this time her body lost her balance, and then her body fell forward, and the whole person fell on the snow.

The snow was very thick, so it didn't hurt much to fall, but the young woman lay on her stomach in the snow and didn't move, until after a while, it was too cold to stand it, and she got up with some difficulty.

The turban around her head had fallen out, her black hair was disheveled and disheveled, and her face was covered in snow.

The young woman seemed to be patient, and she slowly and methodically packed her body, and when she was almost done, she took a few steps forward, bending down to pick up a small package that had been thrown out when she fell.

The package was leather, with a long strap, and this more like a school bag was also covered with snow, and the woman carefully unbuckled the belt and saw that some of the paper books placed inside were not soaked, which seemed to be relieved.

But then, the woman suddenly turned the bag around, and in a hurry, she dumped all the contents into the snow.

Then she stepped on those notebooks with all her strength, and then as if she was still a little puzzled, she bent down and grabbed those notebooks and kept tearing them until they were completely broken and sparse, and then she threw the torn shredded paper and scattered it all over the sky.

This toss made the woman so tired that she couldn't breathe, she kept gasping for breath, and then put the schoolbag on her shoulder, and continued to walk forward a little dazed.

In the distance, two men pushing the cart walked forward with great difficulty, their contents piled full, the wheels grinding two deep marks in the snow, and the heavy body made it difficult for them to push.

The woman quickly caught up with the two of them, but because the oncoming wind and snow suddenly became heavier, the woman simply followed not far behind them, letting the car in front of her shield herself from the sudden increase in wind and snow.

The two obviously didn't pay much attention to the woman behind them, although the wind and snow were very strong, but the mood of the two seemed to be surprisingly good, and they even chatted while walking, but because the wind and snow were very strong, the two had to speak loudly, so that the woman behind them could vaguely hear their conversation.

"God willing, these things should sell for a good price." The person pulling the cart in front turned his head and shouted to his companion behind, "We are enough to suffer from this kind of weather, I hope that the adult will see that the price is fair for our sake." ”

"How dare you think," said the man behind him, not knowing whether it was a joke or a sarcasm, "aren't all the nobles the same, stingy to death, and some poor jingle and like to play music." ”

"But this earl lord should not be so stingy," said the man in front of him with some uncertainty, "I heard that his army is well dressed, and many of the soldiers look like decent people, such an army is rare, maybe our luck came, and I heard that this earl is very rich." ”

"If that's the case, it might be better, but the rich nobles aren't necessarily stingy," replied the man behind a little deliberately as if he were raising the bar, but then thought about it and said, "I hope we are lucky, after all, there are not many people who can bring him things in this weather, this is our chance, as long as the Count of Montina is not too stingy, I am still willing to sell him these dishes." ”

The two men struggled to push the cart full of goods forward as they spoke, but the young woman couldn't help but stop after hearing them.

She looked at the back of the car that was getting farther and farther in front of her, and then looked back at a tall building looming in the wind and snow in the distance behind her, and after thinking about it, the woman took a step and chased in the direction of the two men.

Pavia is a city located in the middle of the Lombardy plain, the Po River provides abundant water for Pavia, and in addition to the large area of fertile land that can provide enough food and clothing for many people, it has also become an important commercial city in the Lombardy region because of its excellent transportation.

The Pavia people were intelligent, and the first recorded waterwheel in European history for irrigation of farmland appeared here, and the University of Piacenza was built on the basis of the University of Pavia, which is as famous as the University of Bologna.

As a vassal of Milan, Pavia has always been a vassal of the rulers of Milan, whether it was Visconti or the Sforza family, Pavia was very obedient and became their vassal.

Only now, the Pavians are a little dazed.

When the French arrived, they drove out the Sforza family, who had ruled Milan for almost 50 years, and then the French king declared himself the ruler of Milan, and the Pavians did not hesitate, and they immediately declared that they would accept Louis XII as their monarch, according to the tradition of many years.

But before the Pavians could clean up the city of the Sforza mark, Ludviko Sforza returned to Milan under the protection of the Emperor and took power again.

This is inevitably a little embarrassing, although seeing the wind and making the rudder has always been the secret of the Pavians' self-preservation, but the wind and clouds are changing too quickly, and they feel a little uncomfortable.

And now, Pavia has a new occupier, Alexandre Giuliante Gombray, Count of Montina.

The young count was no stranger to the Pavians, for the mention of Lucrezia, the widowed wife of the hapless Giovanni Sforza, would naturally be mentioned.

There is a big market in Pavia for all sorts of gossip about the cause of Giovanni Sforza's death.

People talk about all kinds of secret anecdotes about the duke's family, and if it involves the adulterer's murder of his husband, it will be even more enjoyable.

Now the legendary Count who hooked up with Lucrezia and then teamed up to poison Giovanni Sforza suddenly arrived in Pavia, and for a while the locals were both scared and curious, and because the legend that Giovanni was poisoned was already well known, so in the streets and alleys of Pavia, Alexander had a rather popular nickname "Count Poison".

Not knowing that he had succeeded in stealing the title of brother-in-law, Alexandre led Montina's army over Mount Magiolasca and arrived at Pavia on 6 January after two days of marching.

When he saw the city of Pavia from afar, Alexander was vaguely excited, because Pavia could be said to be the gateway to Milan, and once he captured this place, it meant that the door of Milan had been opened to him.

Alexander could guess that the Franco-Austrian monarchs should have known his whereabouts by now, but now they obviously didn't care about him.

Although Maximian was obviously inferior to Louis XII in decisiveness, and his generals were obviously not as intelligent as the Count of Langserge, the Austrian army showed courage and tenacity in the face of a great crisis that could be completely defeated by the French and even the emperor himself could become a prisoner.

The result was a massive winter campaign on the plains of western Lombardy, in which nearly 90,000 troops from both sides were locked in a brutal battle like never before in snow-covered northern Italy.

At this time, the battle was no longer something that anyone could stop, and both sides did not dare to withdraw from the battle on their own initiative, and even during the brief ceasefire confrontation, the two armies could no longer look as relaxed and comfortable as before, but sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the enemy's movements, so as to formulate countermeasures at any time and prepare for battle.

The traditional chivalric warfare of the Middle Ages is rapidly disintegrating and dying out at an unbelievable rate, and war is no longer the romance and passion that troubadours celebrate, but the horrific and brutal bloodshed.

It was at this time that the Montina appeared in Pavia.

Alexandria was interested not only because it was the only way to Milan, but also because of the University of Pavia.

For the University of Pavia, Alexander is most impressed by the fact that the enlightenment of modern medicine in Europe originated from the medical school of the University of Pavia, which has almost the most advanced medical education system in Europe at present.

Alexander took a keen interest in the university, and when he stood under the circular columns of the lakeside palace in Pavia, he was thinking not about how to squeeze more oil and water out of the wealthy city, but how to "move" the university.

While Alexander was thinking about this, Schell approached him, with a strange expression on the swarthy face of the guard officer, and when he stood in front of Alexander, he hesitated for a moment before saying, "My lord, a woman has asked to see you." ”

"What?" Alexander was slightly stunned.

"A young woman," said the Balkan, and then with a ghostly emphasis, "a woman who is not very pretty." ”

"Oh?" Alexander remained silent and looked at the Balkans.

"She said her name is Gina Brigitte, she is a student from Bologna, and she asked for your reception."