Alexander VI frowned and stared at an open letter in front of him.

The letter was sent back by Alexander VI's emissaries at the front, and since he decided to join the Holy League against France, Alexander VI did not send troops directly, but he still sent his own cronies, the Bishop of Castrion under the jurisdiction of Valencia, as an emissary, and this bishop did not come empty-handed, but carried a large enough amount of money to provide for the military expenses of the coalition forces.

Alexander VI was indeed a little frightened of Charles VIII, he was afraid that the French ruler would recreate the tragic past of the captivity of Avignon, and he did not want to be humiliated and beaten like some of his predecessors, and finally die of depression.

Because of this, Alexander VI chose to join the anti-French coalition, and although the French invasion greatly weakened his influence on many of the city-states, he believed that if he could drive back the hated French king, there would always be a chance to re-establish the majesty of the papacy.

But now, looking at the letter from the front from the front from Bishop Kostrion, Alexander VI was not happy at the impending victory, but rather annoyed and even resentful.

Nomerlo, the Pope's secretary, stood aside, knowing that it was best to remain silent at this time, but Alexander VI did not seem to want him to be a silent foil to him.

"Nomelo, what do you think of this man, what is he going to do?" Alexander VI tapped his finger on the stationery on the table, "This is simply unreasonable, so what do you think he is going to do?" ”

The secretary touched his emaciated chin, he first signaled to the Pope, and after getting permission, he picked up the letter from the table and looked at it carefully, he looked at it very carefully, and after a while the secretary put down the letter, and said very carefully: "Your Majesty, you know that Gonzalo de Córdoba was a very proud man, and I heard that when he was young this man was completely illiterate, and every day he did nothing but drink, women, and duels, and was a famous playboy. ”

"Of course, I know this man well," Alexander VI frowned, "even in Valencia I have heard a lot of rumors about him, and I even heard that he once tried to smash the head of the court bishop with a dragon hammer because of jealousy. ”

Nomelo smiled slightly, he knew that the Pope did not want to prove how stubborn Gonzalo himself was when he talked about it, but because after such a big disaster, Gonzalo, who was still a playboy at the time, was not punished, but was only imprisoned in the queen's castle for a week of reflection.

And all this only because he is the cousin of Queen Isabella of Castile.

Obviously, the queen likes this guy who is in trouble everywhere and is not at all restless.

This is somewhat strange to say, because it is hard to imagine that the queen, who has lived in a dull and strict environment for many years, would have a crush on such an unruly person.

It is also hard to believe that such a playboy who everyone thought was destined to achieve nothing in his life later not only shined in the Reconquista, but also repeatedly performed miraculous feats in the subsequent wars and became the queen's most trusted military general.

It was for this reason that when he decided to join the war with the French, Ferdinand II of Aragon summoned from his wife the highly regarded hero of the Reconquista and sent him to Italy with an army of 38,000 men.

The Aragonese came to Italy as a liberator, and this Alexander VI knew very well that he had even heard that during the liberation of Naples, Gonzalo not only did not obey orders at all, but even directly deprived the then Neapolitan king Ferdinand of military power, and Ferdinand's cousin of the same name in Aragon actually turned a blind eye to Gonzalo's actions and did not make even the slightest reprimand.

But after all, those are just legends, and they are someone else's business, so it seems that they can be ignored.

But it was only when this almost unreasonable and arrogant act offended Alexander VI himself that he began to truly appreciate the mood of Ferdinand, King of Naples at the time.

"Not only did he demand acceptance of the ceremony to greet the liberators at the Arc de Triomphe, but he even demanded that all the Roman nobles must salute his military flag." Alexander VI looked at his secretary with a gloomy face, "I heard that at the front, as long as he proposed a plan, it is never allowed to refute it, because this he even whipped some nobles with his own hands, before I only thought these were rumors, but now it seems to be true." ”

"But Your Majesty, he is the liberator of Rome and the conqueror of Charles." "It is not a problem to give high courtesy to a hero who saved everyone from the King of France," said Noelo cautiously, and as for your statement that he had whipped some men, perhaps it would have been right to do so at that time." ”

The secretary paused for a moment, and then continued in a slightly heavy tone: "Please don't forget that it was Ferdinand of Aragon who supported him. ”

Alexander VI looked up at Nomelo, he knew what the secretary was implying by saying this, and this was what made Alexander VI feel angry.

It is clear that Ferdinand II is not a bad man who does good deeds without leaving a name, on the contrary, he knows how to reap the benefits, and for him, he is willing to send people to join the anti-French alliance not just to avenge the siege of the Kingdom of Naples, which is also the family of Aragon, he has his own purpose.

So Gonzalo's audacity in Naples and his arrogance in the coalition forces could be easily explained, but even so, Alexander was still angry.

What kind of attitude was he going to use to enter Rome? Liberator or conqueror? Alexander VI said gloomily, "If he thinks of himself as another Charlie, then it is enough for me to take only one." ”

The secretary picked up the letter from the table again, looking at the contents on it, he couldn't help but feel a little gloomy in his heart, Nomelo understood why the Pope had such a big reaction, the arrogance of that Gonzalo could be felt even through the letterhead, this was still relayed by the bishop of Castrion, Nomelo believed that Gonzalo's own words must have been more direct and unreasonable.

"In this letter, we are also asked to hand over to him the property left by the French in Rome," Nomelo frowned, although he did not know very well whether the French had left a lot of things in Rome, but thinking about the current chaos in the city of Rome, he knew that it would be difficult to find the so-called French property as requested in the letter, "But Your Majesty, I don't think he actually wants any French property. ”

"Humph!" Alexander VI snorted dissatisfiedly, of course he understood that Gonzalo was actually asking for benefits from Rome in disguise, but now that the people had indeed won the victory, they would soon enter the city as a victor, even Alexander VI, as the Pope, had to consider bowing his head in front of this person temporarily.

"I'll leave it up to you to do Nomelo," the Pope leaned back in his chair a little tiredly, "and it's a good thing that the French are finally leaving Rome, compared to which Gonzalo is really not a big problem. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's all worth it." A smile appeared on Nomerlo's emaciated face, and with his familiarity with the Pope, he knew that Alexander VI had decided to put up with Gonzalo's unreasonableness, but he also knew that the anger in the Pope's heart had not completely subsided.

What Alexander VI was really worried about was not just Gonzalo's arrogance, but whether there was the dictate of King Ferdinand II of Aragon behind all this.

Alexander VI's decision to join the anti-French alliance was made because of Charles' inflated ambitions.

After claiming the right to inherit the throne of Naples, Charles did not stop there, but issued a claim to Milan, and it was precisely because of this that Ludviko Sforza, who was originally the culprit who introduced Charlie into Italy, completely turned his face with Charlie and chose to join the anti-French alliance.

Similarly, after the capture of Florence and his entry into Rome, Charles stayed in Rome for a time and did not go south to Naples, while his men began to wreak havoc around Romagna, even attempting to invade Venice at one point.

It was at that time that Alexander VI was frightened by Charles' ambitions.

He was keenly aware of Charles' apparent ambition to annex the entire peninsula, which seemed impossible, but Alexander VI could no longer afford to ignore the whole of France behind him.

The shadow of the prisoner of Avignon began to loom over Alexander VI, who feared that one day he would be the same.

It was because of this that Alexander VI finally decided to join the anti-French camp, only now it seems that the cost of driving out the French may be much greater than imagined.

Nomelo knew that the Pope was in a bad mood, which made him hesitate slightly, because what happened next was obviously not a good thing either.

"Anything else?" Alexander VI noticed the strangeness of the secretary's expression, and he was still very pleased with Nomerlo, who had been quietly serving as his assistant by the man he had brought with him from Valencia, and who had always been by his side faithfully when many people, including his children, were scrambling to get their favor from him.

"There's one more thing, indeed." Nomerlo's cheeks twitched slightly, he knew that what he said next might make the Pope, who was already in a bad mood, even more angry, but when he heard the news, he knew that this matter must not be hidden, because it concerns the entire Borgia family.

Nomelo was Alexander VI's secretary, but more often than not he was a member of the Borgia family.

"Today Jeffrey went to City Hall."

Nomelo looked at Alexander, and when he saw that the Pope's face sank when he heard the name of his youngest son, he sighed secretly, Alexander didn't like Geoffrey, not only because he thought Geoffrey's personality was mediocre and useless, but more importantly, the Pope seemed to have always suspected that he was not his own son.

Almost everyone in the Borgia family knew about it, but no one had ever completely uncovered it, but because of this, Geoffrey's relationship with the other brothers was also not good, and now that he heard that Geoffrey had gone to the town hall, Alexander VI immediately realized that this should not be a good thing.

"Did something happen?" The Pope asked quietly, knowing that if it wasn't a big deal, Nomelo wouldn't tell him such a thing.

"It's about that ...... of Cambrai"

Nomelo wondered how to explain, but although he had tried to be as subtle as possible, as he described it, Alexander VI's already ugly face became more and more gloomy, and when he heard that Alexander ordered the hunters to shoot into the sky when he left the town hall, the corners of Alexander VI's eyes twitched instantly.

"That Cambrai, is he threatening Caesar?"

Nomelo was stunned by the Pope's question.

Having soldiers fire their guns en masse outside the town hall is hard to think of any justification, if not a threat.

So Nomelo knew that the Pope should not be a simple inquiry.

Sure enough, Alexander VI continued to ask: "I heard that he attacked the coalition forces outside the city before and captured the imperial court, right?" ”

"It is true," replied Nomelo with a nod, "I have heard that he once humiliated Gonzalo's nephew Córdoba the Younger outside the city, but he finally made a deal with Lord Kotschach, and I heard that he finally sold all the captured and captured coalition camps for 12,000 ducats." ”

"12,000 ducats?" Alexander VI had a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Yes, that includes all the captured nobles and the food used by the coalition to stockpile," Nomelo said, shaking his head slightly, "Your Majesty, I have to say that the price ......"

Alexander VI looked at his secretary, and he could see a look of bewilderment in Nomelo's face.

"Yes, that's an interesting price," Alexander VI said to himself, standing up and walking over to the marble globe and stroking the cold sphere with his hand, "He humiliated Gonzalo's nephew, but then he released all the captives for such a small price and gave the coalition a chance to rearm, Nomelo, what do you think this Gombray is doing?" ”

The secretary's eyes narrowed slightly, and he habitually stroked his thin chin, and after a while, Nomelo looked at his employer: "Your Majesty, it seems that he is not targeting the coalition forces, because I heard that he then sold all the looted things to the Rovere family, and these things were sent directly to the coalition camp by the Rovere family. ”

"Cunning and shameless duplicity," Alexander just scolded angrily, and then stopped caring about the Rovere family, "So does that Gombray only care about the ransom?" ”

"No, Your Majesty, it seems that he only cares about getting more money, but maybe it's not more than that," Nomelo's eyes lit up slightly, "I think he only seems to care about Córdoba, or rather he cares about Gonzalo." ”

Nomelo was excited by his thoughts, and when he saw that Alexander seemed to be interested in his statement, the secretary's mind spun faster.

He had humiliated the young Córdoba as an emissary, and discredited him in the matter, but he seemed to be willing to release all the captives for a small price, and even return the cannons to them, knowing that the coalition would soon liberate Rome. And his only purpose in doing so seems to be to prevent Gonzalo from becoming the sole liberator of Rome. ”

Alexander VI nodded silently, although he had guessed this possibility from the beginning, but he preferred to listen to Nomelo analyze the results of his conjecture for him little by little.

"Your Majesty, though I don't know why, this Gombray seems to have a deep hostility towards Gonzalo, or rather a wariness, that he would rather lose a large sum of money to make peace with Kotzchach than see Gonzalo win."

"Yes, that's a very interesting thing," Alexander nodded approvingly, "maybe that's a good thing for us, at least I'd rather see Kotzchach's orange-peeled face than Gonzalo's arrogant face." ”

Seeing that the Pope's mood seemed to improve, Nomelo breathed a sigh of relief, but as soon as his mood relaxed, Alexander VI had already frowned again and said in a low voice: "Tell my sons that I will have dinner with them at the Potico Palace tonight, so that all of them must attend." ”

Nomelo nodded lightly when he heard this, looking at Alexander VI's gloomy face again, his eyes couldn't help but flash with worry, he knew that today's dinner would not be easy.

"Where is that Cambrai now?" Alexander VI suddenly asked again.

"I heard that I have already returned to Marino Palace."

"Well," muttered Alexander VI, then he waved his hand to the secretary, "Write it down, I hope he will come to the Vatican once sooner, and I want to see this young man again." ”