A young soldier walked on a somewhat rugged stone path, on both sides of the road were all kinds of colorful wild flowers, the air was filled with the smell of slightly moist grass, and the bluestones paved on the path were washed clean by the rain the night before, it was a very refreshing and cool morning.

The path went up to the back of a house, and then turned left from under the window of the house and disappeared behind the courtyard wall on the left side of the house, but the soldier did not continue along the path, but stopped under the window, picked up a small stone and carefully threw it at the closed sash.

After a soft "snap", there seemed to be movement in the room, and the soldier immediately stood up straight, with a self-confessed charming smile on his face.

The window opened, revealing the face of a gloomy middle-aged man who stunned the soldiers.

"I knew you didn't have the heart to be a soldier," the craftsman looked at Ofleiyi with disgust on his face, "How many times have I said it, my daughter ......?"

"Don't marry a soldier." A beautiful face appeared next to the window, Ashley smiled and looked at Oflei, who was standing a little embarrassed outside the window, and then reached out and put her arm around her father's shoulder and kissed him on the cheek, "I didn't say I wanted to marry him, he just came to pick me up to work, don't forget that the family is living better now than in the past, but I also have my credit." ”

"Then why is he dressed like a peacock, God, I've only seen some aristocrats dressed like this in those big cities." The craftsman looked at the shiny breastplate on Oflei's body and said angrily, "Look at how clean his clothes are, his collar is so straight, and his cuffs are not dirty at all, and as far as I know, even the most elaborate nobleman is nothing more than this, so I am sure that he is seducing you." ”

After making this assertion, the Pomperny craftsman raised his chin as if to demonstrate to Ofleil, who was standing under the window with his head raised and his neck aching.

"Daddy, you're deliberately finding fault, don't you know that all of the Earl's soldiers are like this, and the Count orders that they must dress decently," Ashley said, glancing out the window at Oflei, and then corrected him slightly, "It's just that he's a little more decent than the others." ”

"Just?" Pomperney snorted, for all this time he knew that the Count of Gombray seemed to be almost unreasonably harsh on his soldiers, but even then he couldn't get used to this guy named Ofleil,

Speaking of which, the craftsman was still very happy that Ofleiil had gone to war with the Count, and although there was no bad curse that he died on the battlefield, the craftsman still hoped that the rod would fight for a while longer, and that it would be better to wait until the fellow returned and his daughter had forgotten about him.

But not only did the fellow come back quickly, but the next morning he ran under his daughter's window, much to the displeasure of the craftsman.

"You're here to pick up my daughter, well, take care of her, and don't let the soldiers haunt her like a bear that sees honey," Pomperney said, pointing at Ofleigh, "but if you look at my daughter, I'm going to watch you, and if you dare to do anything strange to my daughter, I'll show you how terrible it is to be a man who deals with stones all day." ”

Ofleigh nodded his head and his neck was about to break, and at this time he just wanted to disappear from the eyes of the craftsman as soon as possible, although Ashley was indeed beautiful, but her father was a little too unbearable.

There was already a squad of soldiers waiting in the clearing, which in the early years was used by the people of the nearby villages to dry food, but with the expansion of the fort and the expansion of the town, it gradually became the meeting place of the people of the small town of Montina.

It was now a place for Alexander to conduct new parade drills and to watch the Montina with the small army used as an experiment.

The Montina called this small army the "Peacock Army", which was not a good name, just as Pomperny ridiculed Oflei, and the Montina saw these soldiers as a bunch of toys for the amusement of the nobles.

Watching them move back and forth with the artisan's daughter and her singing men, the people of Montina couldn't help but wonder if they were a lord with a bit of a brain problem.

Ashley sings well, but mostly optimistically, she likes to hum those cheerful tunes, but she is a little unaccustomed to being in front of so many people at first.

Fortunately, she slowly found that she only had to take care of herself, so she chose to ignore the neighbors who watched the excitement and the soldiers who were not very obedient at first, especially after an officer gave a hard lesson to some of the most violent with a stick, Ashley found that not only was she able to sing those songs naturally, but sometimes she could even deliberately speed up and slow down the tune if she wanted to, teasing the soldiers who were confused by her rhythm.

The drum sounded, it was a small, carry-on snare drum, stride, march.

The drums stopped, and the queue stopped.

The drums became rapid, and the soldiers in the front row quickly crouched down and raised their spears.

There was another rhythmic drum beat, and the muzzle of the musket's black hole protruded from the dense gap between the spears.

Then there is the continued drumming, the continued strides and advances.

Offrey stood by and watched Ashley carefully directing the drummers, while the soldiers in the open field followed the music points and repeatedly did the mechanical movements that they had become familiar with after nearly a month of practice.

In fact, Ofleigh himself was a little confused, and when he first proposed this suggestion to Alexander, he thought it was more interesting, and at most he thought that it would make the disorganized team more obedient on the battlefield.

But now he found that Ashley had done much more than he had imagined, but he knew that it was not Ashley's own idea, but Alexander's decision, which made Ofleiy a little worried that the lord was a little too enthusiastic about this little trick.

And Oflaiy found something very strange, that is, the weapon combination that Alexander used to experiment with the army was also a bit strange.

The contrast between muskets and spears, crossbows, swords, and shields was an astonishing 1:10, which made Ofleiil wonder how such an army could survive on the battlefield.

Ofleiil felt the need to remind her lord that although the Agri musketeers were indeed brave, the thought of the possibility of commanding such an army in the future made Ofleiil feel uneasy.

Of course, Ofleiil knew the power of firearms, and he himself had commanded those Agri musketeers more than once, but even so, he still couldn't imagine how an army with so many firearms could resist the enemy's cavalry on the battlefield, or even the charge of those knights, as long as he thought of the knights who were all draped in their bodies, and even their horses were wrapped in tight armor, rushing like monsters, Ofleiil felt the need to talk to the lord.

Ofleiil didn't think that an entire army could be a huntsman, not only because it needed too much money to change weapons, but more importantly, because he remembered the bravery of the Milanese knights.

And he didn't think his side was really lucky enough to hide behind some of the fortifications forever, and once he fought the enemy in the field, Ofleiil still felt that spears and strong shields were more reliable.

A man on a flying horse caught Oflai's idea, and he took a few steps forward and beckoned the soldier to come to him.

It was a strangely dressed man, a soft tweed hat buttoned up on his head, wide sleeves rolled up because of the hot weather tied two large bumps on his shoulders, and the blouse, which should have been tied in the belt, was now scattered and exposed, except for the bottom two, the entire row of wooden buttons had been unbuttoned, revealing a black hair on the man's chest.

"Who are you and where are you from?" Ofleiy looked at the panting man and asked vigilantly.

"I am the attendant of Miss Countess Cosenza, my name is Belleri, and I want to see Cambrai."

"You mean you're going to see the Earl?" Ofleiil frowned, although the man claimed to be from the Countess of Cosenza, but Ofleiil could sense that he did not seem to respect the Count, and even spoke of the Count's surname with some sarcasm.

"Yes, I want to see him, the earl." Breely said impatiently, he thought the soldier in front of him was annoying, but thinking of Zhsha's instructions, he said patiently, "I brought him a message from Miss Count, and the money he needs." ”

When talking about money, Bellery's tone became impatient, and he couldn't understand why Jongsa was working so hard for that half-brother who came out of nowhere, and if he had to talk about blood relations, Bolery felt that he was much closer to Camprey as Joysa's half-brother than that Gombray.

Hearing that he had come to deliver money to the Count, Ofleigh was a little better, and he had heard that the Earl's half-sister seemed to be very capable and of great help to the Lord, as was evident from the close correspondence between them.

However, he decided to send someone to report to the lord first, and then lead the Kosencha man named Boleri to the castle.

"This is Montina's new castle?"

Standing in front of the castle, Bellery looked at the castle with critical eyes, and then he deliberately pouted.

"It looks like an unfinished castle, and there isn't even the most decent ditch here, and I think I already know why the Rovere family was so generous with this place as a dowry."

Ofleiy looked at Bellery with a heavy face, he really didn't expect a squire to be so annoying, although what he said was true, but it still disgusted Ofleiy.

"The interior of this castle is almost entirely of masonry, and it is a group of fortresses that have been gradually formed over the centuries," Ofleiil brought out the history of the castle that Alexander had said, and he finally felt a little more comfortable when he saw the slightly surprised look on his face, "and the lord has decided to renovate the castle of Montina, and you may be surprised when you come back in a few years." ”

"Yes, with Miss Count's money." Bolery muttered dissatisfiedly, and then looked at the team behind him with a little reluctance.

Alexander was settling accounts in the vault, or counting money to be exact.

Calgino was so surprised that he not only sent for 5,000 florins, which had been negotiated with Alexander, but also proposed another deal.

According to the scouts' reports, the Venetian and Milanese armies had retreated to the edge of Romagna according to the lines stipulated in the Entente, and according to their speed of march, the Milanese could completely withdraw from Romagna in two days, while the Venetians were a little later, but judging from the signs of the march, Pittiliuno was indeed in a hurry to return to Venice as soon as possible.

In this way, the Genoese stationed in the city of Rearo, who were monitoring the withdrawal of troops in these two directions, could be regarded as a bad mission.

So Calgino, who was anxious to return to Genoa, proposed to Alexander what seemed to be a good deal for everyone—to sell Alexandria at a low price the supplies that had been discarded by the large coalition troops that had been hoarded in Réaro before they had time to take it with them.

These supplies not only contain all kinds of weapon replacement parts, and many miscellaneous things necessary for the march, but also a batch of food that can be eaten for a long time.

According to Cardino, it was hard for him to imagine his army returning to Genoa with so much so-called booty of little value, which would only make others laugh at him.

Seeing that Alexander was holding the list sent by Cargino's people, Carlo next to him muttered dissatisfiedly: "Why didn't that Genoese just send someone to send only one list, and then we sent a few people over to see if the things he said were worth buying, and then just deduct the money from it?" ”

Alexander looked up at Carlo and stopped, and then said: "First of all, none of us can send it, because my subordinates, including you, many people don't even know a word except for being able to fight, let alone something that involves numbers, and the only one who can be sent out is Gompati, but do you think he is suitable?" The other thing is that I think Cardino would have liked me to have this little embarrassment, because then maybe he would be happy. ”

After saying that, Alexander lowered his head and continued to look at the rather scribbled list in his hand, looking at the specious things on it, and soon he came to the conclusion that there was a shortage of qualified accountants in the barracks of Calgino, like him.

But even so, when the rough calculation is made, Alexander can't help but admit that the business has really been done.

At least compared to the supplies he had received from Giovanni, what Calgino's hands didn't look much inferior.

In order to feed the current army, and to prepare for Carlo's imminent arrival in Agri to recruit a new army, Alexander felt that the hand, which had just been a little rich, had become a little tight again.

So when he saw Berelli, Alexander rushed up and gave the other party a big hug almost without thinking about it.

"Welcome, my brother." Alexander greeted excitedly.

"Fake intimacy." Berelli muttered, and then reluctantly took out a thick notebook from his leather satchel, "Miss gave it to you, I don't know what is written on it, but Miss said it was very important." ”

Alexander took the notebook and opened it to look at it, and his eyebrows immediately twitched slightly.

"It's important, it's really important," Alexander looked up at Berelli, of course he knew that this half-brother of the Shosha didn't like him, just as he didn't like him, but at this time he was really a little grateful to Berelli who came so timely, "This is a gift from the Jarley, with which we can have the opportunity to get enough money." ”

As he spoke, Alexander solemnly took the notebook containing the Carolingian Palace journal into his arms.

He knew that this precious information must have been obtained by Josa through Lucrezia, which made Alexander feel the urge to hug the two lovely girls and kiss them.

"Caro, I think you can now meet Agri in peace, and I hope you can recruit for me a group of Agri who are as brave as these soldiers now," Alexander instructed Carlo, and then he looked at Ofleigh, "As for you and my marching captain, I think you should speed up the training of the Model Army, and of course I know you must be willing to do it." ”

Without waiting for Ofleiil to speak, Alexander looked at Bellery.

"I think you may have to work hard," Alexander said, beckoning to Beleri, "and you will probably only be able to stay here for one night, and I will write a letter of equal importance to Josa, and you tell her to do what I say." ”

"I am now a messenger between you," said Bellery, with a slight resentment, "then you shall write quickly, for I need not rest, but shall be on my way as soon as I have eaten a full meal." ”

Alexander nodded indifferently, he didn't expect Bellery to hate him so much that he didn't want to stay with him for a while, but Alexander didn't care about that, and he really needed Bellery to return to Rome as soon as possible.

"Dear sister, I want to thank you in advance for everything you have done for me, it makes me feel that you are so cute, and even at this time I was already wondering if anyone wanted to propose to you, would I challenge him out of jealousy, and I really hated this relationship now when I thought that I didn't have the name to stop it from happening......"

Alexander wrote quickly on the letterhead, although he had already discovered that the content of the letter was really an adventure, and even to expose himself, but thinking of everything that Josha had done for him, Alexander felt that not only would he not get himself into trouble by writing like this, but on the contrary, a strange feeling of taboo permeated between the two, which seemed to promote the relationship between him and Josha even more.

"But what I will tell you now is that some of the unexpected actions I may have here may provoke a violent reaction from some in Rome, so I need you to settle these troubles for me if necessary," Alexander paused as he wrote, his gaze on a calendar chart on the table, and the day on which he had carved a mark with his knife, Alexander continued with a slight mutter, "Remember an important day, Shosha, June 15th, that is, in 12 days, On this day I want you to leave everything behind and be by Lucrezia's side, believe me, it's important to all of us! ”