Europe in 1501 seemed destined for a tumult.

The countries that are filled with the smell of war and turmoil seem to be waiting for a certain moment in confusion.

This moment apparently came from the Italian peninsula, where the armies of almost all the countries of the Western continent were gathered on the battlefield, and people were waiting for a result.

It was surprising that King Louis XII of France was so quick to continue his unfinished business, but the power of the free trade alliance, which had previously been seen as a vast merchant organization, was even more impressive.

At the beginning of June, the Austrian army, which had rushed to the Italian battlefield after a period of hasty preparations, finally joined up with the northern army of Rome at Casalmacchi on the west bank of the Mingio River, on the border between Venice and Rome Thesia.

The arrival of the Austrians had clearly brought about a subtle change in the situation on the battlefield, and although Venice had been hampered by the constant caution of the Austrians, a real threat from the left had emerged for the French.

Lucrezia of Pisa's surprise refusal came as a surprise to Louis XII, as the idea of successfully eliminating and dismantling the anti-French alliance through diplomacy had suffered a setback from the start, and the news from Rome was not reassuring.

Although the agreement with Alexander VI was only for Constantine to command the Papal Army in order to ensure that Rome would not be occupied by the Neapolitans, the elder Rovere certainly did not give up this rare opportunity.

Although it was actually a disrepute to have his son intervene at this time to stop the Neapolitan army, which was also a member of the Alliance, the elder Rovere skillfully used the name of Alexander VI to declare the Vatican inviolable in the name of the Pope rather than Caesar's father, and at the same time announced the appointment of Constantine as the commander of the Papal Army, asking him to protect the security of the capital of Christendom.

Of course, Konstantin gladly accepted the appointment, and his reputation had been ruined by the abandonment of the city to the point of invincibility, and he remembered the look with which the locals looked at him as he fled to Ferrara in a hurry.

In those days he felt that he was not living in a palace of his own domain, but in a place of utter hostility, where even servants were mostly far away.

He knew that these people were not necessarily really angry that he had abandoned Milan, but more worried about what would happen to them if they themselves faced such a crisis.

Constantine knew that something had to be done to get out of this embarrassing situation, so when he arrived at the Papal army camp in the town of Pexia outside the city of Rome, the first thing he did was to see what had happened to the army.

Constantine had heard about Caesar's strange death, which made him much more careful, and after taking a large number of guards and ordering the troops that had come with him to secretly prepare, Constantine entered the town.

Pesha was a typical suburban town, and the people of the area lived well on the vineyards because of the large tracts of grape land nearby, and looking at the sturdy stone houses along the roadside, Konstantin wondered how to get these unruly papal armies into his hands as soon as possible.

He knew that his father was disappointed in his escape, and that the opportunity to be the commander of the Papal Army was not easy to come by, and that it was probably his last chance, and that even his father would probably despair of him if he messed things up again.

And old Rovere asked him to come to Rome for another reason, that is, in this way, he could avoid meeting Barendi.

Obviously, Barondi is already angry with Konstantin to the extreme, so that with the old Roviere's understanding of his daughter, maybe Barendi will really deny her six relatives because of anger.

There was some surprising silence in the town, and Konstantin looked up at the scorching sun overhead, and in his thoughts, shouldn't the Papal army all be hiding from the sun in the town at this time?

A conscript, driven by two buckets of water, came from afar, and when he saw Konstantin and his party, he hid aside with his pack horse.

"Soldiers, tell me where the army is." One of Konstantin's attendants, riding on horseback, asked condescendingly.

Hearing this inquiry, the conscription raised his head and smiled, revealing a mouthful of black and yellow rotten teeth.

"Of course you're going to do business, you must be new here, gentlemen."

"Doing business?" Konstantin was puzzled and asked, "Who went to business, where did it go, what kind of business?" ”

Perhaps it was because the armored Constantine looked too majestic, or perhaps his question was too profound, and listening to this question, which was like a classic question of life, the servant seemed a little confused, and he pointed blankly to the other side of the town, and he didn't know what he was talking about, and then suddenly whipped the pack horse's buttocks, and then hurried forward.

Konstantin looked at the conscript, who had suddenly run away, and he only vaguely heard the words "Neapolitan", which made him feel a little apprehensive.

He knew the Queen of Naples, and he had wanted to marry Alexander, the beautiful half-sister, as Caesar did, but now that Caesar had died at the hands of this woman, and he had to take over Caesar against the queen, which could not help but make Constantine nervous.

What surprised him even more was the scene he saw on the edge of the woods southeast of Pexia Town.

A large mess of tents were randomly set up in the open space near the woods, and these long tents with no curtains and only a shade roof were not used for people, but looked more like some kind of party.

This can be seen from the long string of tables in the tent.

In the tent, a large group of people were arguing about something, and it was clear from the clothes on both sides that it was the Neapolitan army and the Papal army, but although their weapons were not left with them, they were mostly placed aside at random, and they looked ready to take action when necessary.

And now these people are making noise, but at the same time grabbing the wine glasses on the table and pouring them into their mouths, some of them seem to have a result, and they hug each other across the table, and then raise a glass to celebrate what agreement the two sides have reached.

"What is this doing?" Konstantin watched in amazement at the scene in the slightly low-lying clearing, waved his hand to stop the entourage who tried to blow the horn to inform the Papal soldiers, and then dismounted from his horse and walked towards the clearing.

As we got closer, I could hear the loud content clearly.

Then Constantine unexpectedly discovered that the Papal army, which should be on guard as much as possible even if it had declared its neutrality, had actually started business with the Neapolitans.

Salt, sugar, pepper and olive oil, there was a bargain everywhere, and there were people everywhere shouting that they wanted to fight each other because they couldn't get along, but then a new round of bargaining began.

Konstantin walked slowly through the crowd, and although the arrival of him and his guards caused quite a stir, more people did not pay attention to them, and still vigorously argued about the price of a small bag of sugar or a can of olive oil.

A slightly better dressed soldier approached him, and he saw Konstantin stunned at first, and then immediately walked a few steps and saluted respectfully.

"My lord, I didn't expect you to come."

"You know me?" Konstantin looked at the face, which was very strange and should not have been seen before.

"I'm in your army," replied the mercenary, though he didn't go on to say his résumé, "Do you want me to report to the officers for you?" ”

"No, I'd like to see for myself," Konstantin refused, but he let the mercenary walk around the camp with him, "what are you doing?" And what about those Neapolitans? ”

"We're doing business with them, these Neapolitans are so rich," said the mercenary with envy, "we buy from them what they don't need and sell it, so that we can at least make up for ourselves." ”

"Who gave you permission to do that?" Konstantin's face was slightly gloomy, he didn't expect to see such a situation, "Also, doesn't the Queen of Naples care?" ”

"The queen doesn't seem to care about that," the mercenary shrugged disapprovingly, he swallowed at the gorgeous armor on Constantine's body, and said hesitantly, "My lord, if you can pay me something, I can find you some really valuable sellers, they are all Neapolitan nobles, and some of them are said to have a big business in the family." ”

Konstantin waved his hand silently, and one of his attendants immediately took out the money bag.

Knowing that this was not much chance for him, Konstantin wanted to know more about what was going on here.

Following the mercenary through the somewhat messy tent area, a few tents that looked much more neat appeared not far away.

Several decent-looking mercenary officers walked in and out of the tent as Konstantin saw men in Neapolitan army-style uniforms emerge from inside.

"Those Neapolitan nobles are here, but I can't go in, my lord," the mercenary said before stopping.

Konstantin nodded and continued walking, and when he came to the door of one of the largest tents, he happened to see several people coming out of it.

The Queen of Naples and the second commander of the Papal Army, the two enemies, who were supposed to be on the battlefield, met awkwardly in this situation.

Konstantin looked at the young and beautiful queen opposite, but the beautiful appearance of the other party did not attract him much, and all his attention was now on the papal army.

But the situation he saw really did not make him optimistic, and thinking about the absurd scene outside, Konstantin felt an indescribable bitterness in his throat.

"Duke, I may not be able to accept your request, it is a truce, and as long as the safety of the army is not harmed, I cannot stop my soldiers from doing what they want." "Let me also remind you that your army has not been paid for a long time, and if you can't guarantee that they will get their money, then be prepared for the worst." ”

Konstantin's cheeks twitched, he knew what he meant.

Mercenaries are indeed a very useful military force, and many countries like to use mercenaries because they can save a lot of money to raise a standing army, which is often unaffordable for those city-states, or even some large countries are willing to hire an army to fight for themselves because they cannot afford the huge military expenses.

But there are also many problems with mercenaries, in addition to the most troublesome loyalty problem, there is also the poor discipline of the mercenaries.

There are too many countries in history that have been looted by mercenaries because of arrears of military salaries, and there are countless mercenary commanders who have lost their lives because of mutiny.

Now Kontha's words made Konstantin feel an obvious threat, but he couldn't help but admit that what she said did have some truth.

Just let the Papal army be reduced to Neapolitan little fellows, no matter how you think about it, it is difficult for Konstantin to accept.

"I'll settle the pay," said Constantine sullenly, "and before that I think we should probably talk more about Rome." ”

Jisha didn't speak, just stared at Konstantin silently for a moment, and then she nodded silently.

"Now that there is a truce, we are now talking as relatives and not as enemies, so I feel it necessary to convey to you the kindness of my father towards you." Konstantin said and looked at Josha carefully, not knowing if it was an illusion, but he felt that the young and beautiful queen in front of him had become more attractive than when she was only Miss Count of Cosenza.

If the original Countess of Cosenza still had the beauty and liveliness of a young girl, then the current Queen of Naples shows the most intoxicating charm of a woman.

This made Konstantin suddenly a little jealous of the short-lived Alfred of Naples.

Konstantin shook his head secretly to stop thinking about all the mess, and if the embarrassing situation he was facing did not change as soon as possible, then his Papal army could become a horde of armed brokers who bought and sold.

If that's the case, he's really going to be the biggest laughing stock on the Italian peninsula.

"My father wants us to sign an armistice, after all, our common enemy now is the French."

Konstantin confidently paraphrased the words of old Rovere.

He believed that Josa would eventually agree to this suggestion because, as he said, Louis XII was their common enemy, and from what they knew about Josa, it was clear that the queen cared deeply about her half-brother.

Then, in order to help Roman Thesia, Josa will definitely agree to this agreement, which will not harm either of them.

"The Neapolitan army can enter Rome in a symbolic way, you can even go through the triumphal arch and then go to the Pope, but you can only lead 200 soldiers, and the rest of the Neapolitan army cannot enter the city of Rome."

Konstantin said and secretly paid attention to Jisha's expression, and he saw that Jisha seemed to be a little dissatisfied and raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything, which made his heart relax a little.

Although he trusted his father's judgment, Constantine, after watching the performance of the Papal army, already had little hope that he would be able to stop the Neapolitans.

Seeing that the reaction of Jisha now did not seem to be very strong, which made Konstantin a little excited.

He said in as calm a tone as he could, "Of course, because of your previous war with Caesar, I think it may not be a good idea to meet the Pope, but you can still be received by the Cardinals, and I promise you that you will be treated with the courtesy you deserve in your status." ”

She listened quietly until Constantine finished speaking, then she raised her hand and gracefully brushed a few strands of golden hair that fell from her sideburns, and then asked slowly: "Does my brother's father-in-law think that I have no guts and cannot occupy Rome?" ”

Zhosa addressed old Rovere in a strange way, and then looked at Konstantin with a more subtle look, which made Konstantin feel a little apprehensive, he didn't know what was wrong here, at least in his opinion, wouldn't this be a good opportunity for everyone to step down with dignity?

But now that Khusa is like this, Konstantin is a little bottomless,

But Khosa did not pay any attention to what he thought, and continued: "My army can enter Rome at any time, and I can assure you that even if you can reorganize the Papal army, there will be no way to compete with me, and if I can defeat Caesar Borgia, then I can defeat you as well, and I believe that the process must be easier than defeating Caesar." ”

Konstantin's face turned red instantly, he never thought that Ruo Xiao would ridicule him so mercilessly, and what he didn't expect was that Josha didn't seem to care at all about the war that broke out in Rome and Thesia now.

Konstantin even felt as if he was in a dream when he left, he never expected that Josa would refuse his proposal, so that as soon as he left the tent where the two were negotiating, he mounted his horse and fled from the field of the field immediately.

He remembered about Caesar's strange death, which made Konstantin feel that even with the guards could not guarantee his safety.

After returning to his barracks, Constantine informed him of the reply given to old Rovere, and at the same time he had to ask his father that he might try to raise money for the Papal army, for he feared that "the Neapolitans would have to have a few thousand more mercenaries."

It's just that old Roviere's reply didn't wait, but Konstantin received a letter that made him panic all of a sudden.

In the city of Rome, there was a riot!

Many people also began to sell Radia because of rumors of a run on Radia from France, and some of the Fugol family's shops in Rome reacted even more quickly.

They exchanged the gold coins of the Holy See, which had been collected at low prices from other regions, for the gold coins of the other dioceses, which were also in circulation in the city of Rome, and the wealth that had been rapidly accumulated in the process of just entering and exiting soon dwarfed the coffers of the Holy See.

Just one day earlier, Alexander VI had banned the exchange of Ladiana for each other, and an inevitable storm arose.

Listening to the anxious report of the comer, and thinking about the Papal Army, which he could not control at all now, Konstantin suddenly remembered the strange words that Zhisa had said before.

"Did my brother's father-in-law think that I had no guts and could not have taken Rome?"

At the time he only thought it strange, but now Constantine seemed to understand that he must be questioning, but telling him with certainty: she was going to take Rome!