In July, Holy Roman Emperor Maximian suffered a minor setback in Switzerland.

The Swiss federal states led by Graubünden defeated the Imperial army at the Woodcut Castle after a bitter battle, forcing Emperor Maximian to recognize the Swiss dominion over his land, which means that the price of this setback was that the nine Swiss cantons had become completely independent from Maximian rule.

This was not good news for the emperor, who had always been arrogant, but the worse news that followed was nothing compared to this.

Maximian was stunned by the events in the Balkans from Hungary, and the bad news about the Fugger family sent the emperor into a frenzied rage.

Out of money?

Not only is the Fugger family in debt, but they may even be completely bankrupt?

This series of accidents made the emperor suddenly feel as if he had fallen into a trap as he walked, and his previous spirit disappeared in an instant, and as the plank under his feet seemed to have been suddenly pulled away, he suddenly fell into the bottomless quagmire.

With no money, no Hungarian copper mines, no financial support from the Fugger family, Maximian immediately panicked, he knew very well that although he had the title of Emperor of Venerable, this was not a reason for him to owe military pay on credit, and worse, his rule in Vienna was not very secure, and King Ladislas of Bohemia had been guarding against his coveting of Hungary, Maximian believed that if Ladislas knew that he had encountered such a predicament, He will definitely take the opportunity to eradicate those forces he has in Hungary.

Maximian felt that he had to be perked up, that he had to show his strength to all who were staring at him with a victory or something, or the enemies would come at him like hungry wolves.

The Emperor had a reason for this, for he had joined the Swabian League in the hope of intimidating the German princes who were always on the verge of reassuring the Swiss by suppressing the Swiss, and Frankfurt was the most reassuring of them.

The place seemed to have become active lately, but that activity was not what the Emperor wanted to see, for he already knew that Frankfurt seemed to have frequent trade with the Low Countries, and that the result of this trade was that there seemed to be a force quietly supporting the Swiss in trouble.

The Emperor, who had intended to teach the Swiss a lesson to the German princes, realized immediately after a setback that he had to reassert his prestige, and even though the bad news from the Fugger family made him a little scrambling for a moment, he nevertheless received a call for help from the Milanese, and ordered the march into northern Italy before the army that had just suffered defeat in Switzerland was washed away.

According to the emperor's order, the imperial army was divided into two groups from Turin and Varese respectively to march to Milan, although when he asked Maximian for help, Ludvik did not expect that he would not only be defeated so badly, but even directly deposed by Louis XII, but he knew that the French army was not good, so although there was no war at that time, he still hurriedly sent people to ask the emperor for help.

However, Maximian was not able to save poor Ludevico after all, and the day one of his troops entered Turin was the day when Louis XII announced the deposition of the Duke of Ludvico.

Louis XII did not expect Maximian's army to come so quickly, and after a short break, he decided to march south of Lombardy, in order to emulate the feat of Charles VIII and many of the great conquerors of history who came to the Vatican, but also because he heard about Romagna.

With the exception of Milan and Naples, which traditionally had various ties with France, no one can say whether Louis XII had further ambitions to invade all of Italy, because he never openly expressed his need for the entire Italian peninsula, but the war in Romagna still made Louis XII seem to see a rare opportunity to intervene in this important part of Italy.

When the French army set out from Milan, Louis XII sent Garol de Bauwicken, Count of Proswan, to lead an army south along the road not far from the coast, while he himself decided to lead the army along the eastern foothills of the gradually rising Apennines.

The aim was to control both Tuscany and Romagna.

When this order was given, the ministers around the king could not help but rejoice, because it meant that the king had decided to take Italy into his pocket.

It's just that Louis XII did not expect that his army had not yet left the plains of Lombardy, when news came about the imperial army entering the north of Lombardy.

Like Louis, Maximian, who divided his army into two parts, first captured Turin, which really startled the French, and many of the officers who had participated in Charles VIII's expedition would not forget the nightmare that they were almost cut off from returning to France, and now the emperor's army set out from Turin to directly threaten the French army's back, which caused panic throughout the French army.

Louis XII was a shrewd king, and his predecessor was obviously inferior to his Orleans successor when it came to court means, but Louis was not necessarily better at military affairs than Charles VIII.

When he heard of Maximian's arrival, Louis XII decided to gather his generals to discuss what to do, and after a period of discussion, he had to order a halt to the southward march and instead meet the Viennese army, which was rapidly approaching Milan.

At the same time, Louis ordered the army of the Count of Provão to advance on Varese to protect the flank of the king's army.

Louis XII's decision was resolute and decisive, but for Caesar, who was looking forward to the stars and the moon, and the French army came to the rescue, he finally did not hold out for the last few days.

At noon on 25 August, some 4,000 Montina troops were ready to go on the offensive towards Ferrara, after heavy artillery bombardment that was almost inclined downwards.

It was arguably the first real assault on the Montina army since it had been formed, and as it approached, flying arrows and whistling projectiles swooped down on the Montina from the walls.

Casualties began to appear among the Montina, with occasional arrows falling, and several of the cannons that Caesar had painstakingly brought into the city began to throw deadly shells into the Montina formation.

The battle was obviously much more difficult than Gompati had imagined, and the resistance of the Papal army even surprised Gompati and made him feel a little pressure.

Caesar climbed the city wall, wearing a not very heavy armor and a thick robe over the inside of the armor.

Caesar held a long sword in his hand, staggering on the potholed city wall, in addition to a few gaps in the previous incessant shelling, Ferrara's city wall was already crumbling, and in some places even a large area of gray stone would fall if it was even smashed, and now Caesar walked on it and looked at the Montina army under the city, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous from the bottom of his heart.

Caesar, however, was overjoyed by the Papal army's performance, and he walked around with such difficulty that he had not been shot and wounded on several occasions had it not been for the swiftness of the guards.

Caesar's extraordinary bravery apparently inspired the Papal soldiers, who began a fierce counterattack against the Montina, and when the Montina attacked a gap, a group of experienced veterans not only blocked the gap, but even launched a small but heart-wrenching counterattack.

Gompati looked at the city wall in the distance and muttered silently, he really didn't expect the Papal army to be so brave, and Caesar's almost desperate behavior also made him a little embarrassed.

In fact, Gompati had already ordered a ban on attacking in the direction where Caesar might appear.

"Don't hurt Caesar." This was a secret order from Barendi to Gompati.

The reason why she used the secret order was because Barendi knew very well that if this order was made public, it would inevitably affect Montina's morale, although she also knew that this order would soon be known once it was executed, but she had no other way.

Because this is what Alexander repeatedly told her in his letters.

Barendi suspects that this is the result of Lucrezia's letter to Alexander, but in the letter Alexander gives her a reason that sounds hard to refuse.

"I need the support of the Pope now, and you don't need to worry about the French intervening in Romagna, you just have to be patient and soon you can get Caesar out of Ferrara, so we don't need to eliminate Caesar himself."

Barentia was a little hesitant when she received the letter, she was worried that if the French really entered Romagna by supporting Caesar, it would be the beginning of disaster for Montina, after all, with Montina's army now, it would not be able to compete with the tens of thousands of French troops head-on.

This is also the reason why she still treats Master Ficher with courtesy to him, in Barendi's opinion, if she really has a head-on conflict with the French, maybe Master Ficher can be a good intermediary.

When the news of the French march on Romagna came, Barentia had a sense that the end was imminent, and she had even begun to consider whether she should avoid the French and lead her army out of Montina, even though they would lose their base from which they could rely on it, but Barentia could not see the army that Alexander had built up in danger of destruction.

When she heard that the French army had to turn back, Barentia was so excited that she ran directly into the church of Montina, and then vowed in public to thank God for this miracle with 100 days of penance with only bread and water.

However, before fulfilling her promise, Barendi gave Gompati the order to attack Ferrara, and then she took off her gorgeous costume and put on the black robe of a trainee nun and began her vow-making prayers.

As for the doubt that had been haunting her heart, Barendi had never mentioned it to anyone.

That is, she could not understand how Alexander knew in advance that Maximian would send troops to Milan, so she had to wait patiently to drive Caesar out of Ferrara.

The Papal Army is still resisting, but this resistance is not the same as it was at the beginning.

When the most elite mercenaries bravely fought back, Caesar thought a miracle would happen.

But in fact, in the face of the fact that there is a huge disparity in strength, such a thing as a miracle is not so easy to appear.

When the first passion and courage were torn into flesh and blood by muskets and cannons, the morale that had been built up in the Papal army was instantly lost.

From the beginning of the retreat of the soldiers to the fact that more and more people broke away from their positions and fled into the city, the resistance of the Papal army lasted about two hours.

Caesar's throat was hoarse, his sword-wielding hand was weary, and to make matters worse, there was no sign of him except for a few loyal guards around him.

Caesar could feel that the battle was always just around him, and it made him realize something, and seeing that Montina's army had begun to pour in from the gaps in an orderly manner, he finally threw away his sword weakly, and sat down on a rock.

Several Montina soldiers approached, they seemed to ignore Caesar, but someone took the sword he had thrown down, and when he saw several officers of Montina approaching, Caesar stood up with difficulty and straightened his back to look at the men opposite.

"I am the son of the Pope, Caesar Borgia, Duke of Valentino and Conqueror of Ferrara."

His voice was firm and powerful, and there was no hesitation, albeit a little hoarse.

"I am Charlotte Gompati, the Legion Commander under Lord Count Montina." Gompati smiled and nodded, "My lord, I need to explain to you that you are not a prisoner of our army but our guest, but your army will not be treated like this, and if you do not give the order to stop resisting, I will order my army to completely annihilate the enemy." ”

Looking at Gompati who said such things with a smile on his face, Caesar didn't know how to respond for a while, and it wasn't until Gompati reminded him again that he seemed to come to his senses.

"How dare you attack the Pope's domain, don't you know that I have declared the city to be dedicated to my father?" Caesar angrily questioned, he still couldn't believe that it was Ferrara who Barendi had ordered the attack, and he couldn't help but say loudly to Gompati, "Let Gombray come to me, I want to know what he wants to do." ”

Caesar's rebuke was not answered by Gompati, who simply turned back to the heralds around him and ordered the pursuit of the already broken Papal army, and when he gave the order, he seemed to deliberately raise his voice: "Order the destruction of all enemies who have not ceased to resist, because they have not received an order for an armistice, so all Papal troops will be considered to refuse to surrender." ”

Caesar's mouth opened violently, he knew what this order meant, looking at the herald who turned and left, he didn't care about dignity and reserve, and shouted desperately in his already hoarse voice: "Stop, I command you to stop!" When he saw that the herald continued to run forward in spite of his words, Caesar finally shouted helplessly to Gompati: "I promise you, truce!" ”

Gompati whistled vigorously, and the herald stood still, and all eyes were on Caesar.

Caesar took a deep breath, he looked at the Montina army that was advancing towards the completely defeated Papal army under the guidance of snare drums and flags, and finally spoke after a short struggle and hesitation: "I order in the name of the Duke of Valentino and the commander of the Papal Army that the Papal Army will cease fighting on the spot from now on. ”

Listening to Caesar's words, Gompati finally breathed a sigh of relief, bowed to Caesar, and then walked along the ruins towards the city.

At this time, Gompati was contemplating a carefully worded letter in his head: "Honorable Countess, allow me to report to you that Ferrara has been handed over to our army on the afternoon of August 25, with the permission of the Duke of Valentino. ”