On an open windowsill, a cat was lazily lying on it basking in the sun.

The weather at this time of year is the favorite of cats, warm but not hot, lying in such an afternoon sun to take a nap, not to mention cats, even people often feel that there is really nothing else needed at this moment.

A very clean and beautiful face appeared at the window, and the young woman reached out from the windowsill to pick up the sleeping cat, and when it made a silent cry because it was disturbed, and stretched out its limbs in protest, the young woman took the cat in her arms, and sat on the windowsill on her side.

The windows are high above the ground, and looking out of the slightly sloping street, you can see the whole street and a small open field a little farther away.

The young woman looked with interest at the group of soldiers in the open field, and she was always curious to lie at the window and watch the men do strange things, although her father had lectured her several times about this, but she did not listen.

Not long after the soldiers arrived in Montina, they were said to be the men of the owner of the castle that was being renovated, but the young girl didn't care about that, she was interested in what the men were doing.

If it weren't for the sight of the terrible weapons they all had in their hands, called muskets, the girl would have suspected that these people were either practicing dancing or a bunch of madmen.

This was because they didn't have weapons in their hands at first, so it wasn't strange to see a group of people standing in a row empty-handed, but when they moved, it was strange.

The people in the front row of them sometimes stood and sometimes knelt down as if they were holding something in their hands, and then they turned around at the same time to hand the invisible thing to the people in the back row, and at the same time seemed to take something from the hands of the people in the back, and then continued to kneel in front of them.

The movements didn't look very neat, but the woman knew that because of this, they had been repeating them over and over again, so they seemed to her as if they were dancing some unknown country dance.

What made her think this way was that once when she was inadvertently humming a local song in her mouth, she found that it was a coincidence that she had made a beat with the movements of these people, which made the young woman find it very interesting, so every time she saw the soldiers doing those strange things, she made an accompaniment for them on the windowsill of her house.

Her father was very angry and thought it was a bit dangerous, but after scolding his daughter a few times, he didn't bother to care when he saw that she was disobedient, but fortunately, his daughter just liked to lie on the windowsill of his house and watch the soldiers, and if she hooked up with those people, he would definitely not agree.

As a father, he can't take care of the trivial matters at home, because now he has greater difficulties.

As one of Monttina's best builders, Pomperny has always prided himself on his craft, but now he finds himself at risk losing his job.

It all started with the Count who had just arrived in Montina a few days earlier.

The castle of Montina is an ancient fortress with a long history, and it is said that the ancient Romans were the first to build the castle to resist the barbarians of the day.

Over the years, the original castle has long since disappeared, and in the vicinity of the original castle, a new castle has been built, and this construction has never stopped, and every once in a while someone will always build and improve on the basis of the original castle, so the name of the new castle of Montina has gradually spread.

If Château Nuova is just a fortress, then the name Montina is not a single city, but refers to the entire Montina region.

Because of its convenient transportation, Montina is not comparable to places like Roman Florence, but it is still a rare and wealthy area, and more importantly, the castle, which seems to have been renovated for many years, has created a long-term job for the locals.

Pomperney is one of those people who rely on building castles to support their families, relying on their skills that are much better than others, Pomperney can get a good salary, this money can not only make his family live well, but even allow his daughter not to go out to work like other women, but can lie down in the window and hold his beloved cat to watch the soldiers "dance".

But the new earl suddenly ordered the castle to be repaired.

Pomperney's world collapsed all at once.

He was eager to find the Count and ask him, "If you don't build a castle, be the Count of Montina, and go back to your country territory called Agri to grow wheat."

But Pomperney also thought about these words in his heart, and he actually didn't dare to say them.

Pomperny felt a little terrible just by looking at the soldiers brought by the count, especially the Agri, who had a typical southern accent, whose fierce eyes made people feel terrified from the bottom of their hearts, and the strong smell of blood that some of them could smell on them indicated that these people had just come down from the terrible battlefield.

Such a group of people would not care about killing a few more people, and even Montina's best craftsmen might not be able to make them hesitate.

Pomperney wondered if it was time to go out and get a job.

Outside the window there was a familiar shout, the soldiers were going crazy again.

Pomperney was impatiently ready to close the window of his room, and now he was annoyed at the sight of Agri in strange costumes.

A figure passing under the window caught Pomperney's attention.

Pompeny's house was so high that he would not have passed under his window if he had not come to his house, and in that direction was his daughter's room.

Pomperney suddenly became vigilant, and what made him wonder that the man seemed to be wearing the strange clothes of an Agri soldier.

Women are always more or less curious about the soldiers, and remembering that her daughter has always climbed in front of the window to watch the 'dancing' of the soldiers in the past two days, Pomperney can't help but be more nervous.

He hurried out of the room and into the hallway, because the door of his daughter's room was closed, and immediately ran back to his room in a rage, and leaned most of his body out of the window, trying to see the window of his daughter's room behind the corner.

At this moment, in the narrow aisle under the window, a young soldier on a horse looked up at the craftsman's daughter.

The window was a little high, and the craftsman's daughter had to lean half out of the window to see the soldier.

Although she did not know the status of these strangers, looking at the soldier's dress, the girl guessed that he should not be one of those ordinary soldiers.

The young man wore a black jacket with thin velvet sleeves, and the wide semi-long sleeves at the elbows revealed the armor inside, which seemed to have been trimmed, as the armour plates, which were supposed to be smooth, were both old and new, as if the armor had accompanied its owner through a terrible battle.

He wore a short cloak diagonally over his shoulders, and it was this short cloak that made the craftsman's daughter think that he looked very different from other soldiers.

At this time, the young man was looking up at the girl in the window, and happened to see the beautiful scenery of her leaning out of the window with her chest pressed against the windowsill and hugging the pair of snow-white peaks upward.

"It's the mountain I've ever seen that I've ever wanted to climb," the soldier sighed, smiling at the girl's slightly flushed face at the meaning of his words.

"I see you're laughing as you watch us train, and you're still babbling, what are you talking about?" The soldier asked curiously.

"Why do you ask this, are you saying that I am not allowed to watch your training, or that I am not allowed to talk about it?"

The craftsman's daughter deliberately kept a straight face, she felt that the young soldier under the window was not so annoying, and it was not the same as the soldiers she had seen before, although he had just taken advantage of some words, but she did not feel very angry.

"I'm just curious what you're talking about, and the way you look makes me feel like you're laughing at us."

The soldier's temper was evidently good, and he was not annoyed by the slight arrogance of the craftsman's daughter, or simply because of her good looks.

"You guessed it, I thought you guys were funny." The craftsman's daughter simply put the dozing cat aside, and then sat sideways on the windowsill, so that her clothes could not help but tighten because of the twisting of her body, making her body look more concave.

"Tell me what you're doing, are you dancing?" The girl gestured curiously, following the example of the soldiers, "But you don't dance very well, and you look weird when you walk, but it's fun to go with a song we sing here." ”

As she spoke, she began to sing two sentences.

The soldier looked at her with some curiosity, laughed when she sang the tune, and then looked back at his companion, and saw that his companion in the distance really seemed to be cooperating with the tune, and the soldier couldn't help but laugh too.

It was at this time that Pomperney jumped out of the window.

Years of working as a craftsman made him look nimble, or rather agitated, and as soon as his feet landed on the ground, he cried out around the corner, and shouted at the soldier like an angry hyena: "Hey! Soldiers, stay away from my daughter! ”

The soldier was taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of the craftsman, who looked at the girl who was jumping into the house from the window in a panic, and then shrugged helplessly.

"Don't be too nervous man, I'm just talking to your daughter casually."

"Say a few words," Pompero said as he stared at the young soldier, then looked up at his daughter hiding behind the window, "Go back to your room, do you want to be like that girl in the Miao family and let the soldier run away and then dump it, it's not a good thing to be a soldier." ”

"Hey, be careful what you say," the young soldier's face sank, "I may not be angry, but you're insulting the Count's army." ”

"Oh, Lord Earl." Pompero snorted angrily, but he didn't continue to speak.

The young soldier glanced out of the window again, and there was a hint of interest in his eyes, but he could only glare disapprovingly at the thief-like craftsman under the angry glare of his father.

Then he remembered what he had come here for.

"I'm inquiring about someone," the soldier said to Pomperney, looking at the other man's look of wariness, the soldier shook his head helplessly, "Is there a man named Pomperny here, little Pomperney, whose father is said to have been the best craftsman in the area before." ”

"He's the best himself." Pomperney angrily corrected the soldier's statement, and then stared at the other party with a wary look, "What are you looking for him?" ”

"I ......" the soldier was about to continue to say something and stopped, he tilted his head to look at the annoyed old man in front of him, and then smiled, "Are you Pomperney?" ”

The craftsman snorted and snorted vaguely in response.

"What are you looking for me?"

"The Count wants to see you," said the soldier, with an interested look on his face, and as he jumped off his horse and walked up to Pomperney, smiling, "you say that you are the best craftsman, and you may soon have to prove whether you are bragging." ”

Pomperney had an excited look on his face, he was a builder, and since his father and even earlier ancestors, they had been building all kinds of houses, but as the craftsmanship became more and more sophisticated, they went from building simple houses to building palaces for some nobles, and even in the early years his father served as the overseer of the castle for a certain nobleman.

Pomperny was annoyed by the new count's suspension of the construction of Château Monti, and he thought it was ruining his job, but Pomperney was immediately pleased to hear that the old count seemed to have a new job for him.

The soldier glanced into the window with a little nostalgia, and then turned helplessly and walked in the direction of the castle under the watchful eye of his father, whose face immediately became ugly.

The castle of Montina has always been built, and it is probably for this reason that this castle is simply called the new castle.

But it won't be until many years before the name is actually called.

Today, Montina is almost a transportation hub connecting Italy, but the town has nothing but a castle that seems to never be built, and only a proud church and bishop in it.

That's right, the church in Montina had a bishop, and that bishop was surnamed Rovere.

In fact, this Bishop of Rovere was a cousin of the elder Rovere.

When he heard about this, the first thought that came to Alexander's mind was, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." ”

Becoming a lord with a bishop's domain is not a good thing for most nobles.

In particular, this man was also surnamed Rovelle, and Alexander had reason to believe that this bishop would become a big problem on his side for a long time to come.

The bishop of the Roverley family was also very special, and despite having the Christian name of John, he preferred to be called Master Tony, which was his worldly name.

And this old man Tony is not so much like a bishop, he warmly recommended many beautiful local women to him when he met Alexander for the first time, and then unabashedly offered him that as long as he could help him collect the tithes of the year, he was willing to pay Alexander a "kickback".

"It's not a lot of money, but it's enough for you to do," Tony Rovere looked around with disgust as he stood in the main hall, "Count, you should know better than I do about the simplicity of this place, there are indeed many great works in this castle, but the castle itself is really not very good." ”

Looking at the bishop standing opposite, Alexander couldn't help but wonder why Rovere had given him the land.

A soldier walked into the main hall, and the sound of powerful footsteps sounded hurried.

"My lord, Duke Gandino has sent an emissary."

The soldier hurriedly said that these Agri's people did not know what it meant to act at opportunistic times, and they did not understand that they should learn to avoid it, so when they heard the news, Tony Rovere, who was talking happily, couldn't help but stop to look at Alexander.

Giovanni's messenger, Alexander, slowly stood up from his chair and calculated the time, and it was indeed time to arrive.

The Battle of Oral not only completely ruined Pitigliino's plans to defeat him, but he once again suffered his greatest losses since the battle with the French, and the Venetian lieutenant suffered unbearable casualties from both the Milanese and the Venetians.

Because of this, Pitiglino had to recall his former army, because after all, he was facing Giovanni's 20,000 Holy See troops.

30,000 versus 30,000, this is the comparison of the forces of the two sides after the Battle of Oral, and it was at this time that Alexander was stationed in Montina.

If Alexander had remained in Montina, the League would still be outnumbered.

Because of this, Giovanni had to send a messenger.

Unconsciously, everyone suddenly discovered that the Agri, who were supposed to be the least important, seemed to have become an important bargaining chip that could decide this war.