Although Alexander was one of the few officers who were quite handy, Oflaiyi was his real "descendant".

When the nephew of the Agri mountain stonemason joined the army, it was only because his uncle wanted him to see the world and reduce the burden on the family.

At the time, no one thought that Oflaiyi would have any great success in the future.

At most, it is to fight for some years and be lucky to survive, and then go home with all these years of savings to buy a piece of land and become a relatively wealthy small landlord.

Even if he later heard that his nephew was lucky to become the captain of the army next to the lord, he only thought that he would be upgraded from a small landlord to a large landlord in the future.

And Oflaiyi himself never imagined that he would get to this point.

At least looking at the gray church not far away, Ofleiyi was somewhat unconvinced that he had actually arrived in this place.

This is the city of Padua in Veneto, and the church opposite is the Clovini Church, with its famous painting by Giotto.

It is also the oldest church in the city of Padua, and the entire wall of the church is covered with religious frescoes, making it a sacred place for the Venetian school, which is considered the place where it originated.

The most famous of these is the painting "Judas and Jesus" by Giotto.

However, the reason why Ofleiil sighed was not because of the artworks, he would find it incredible, but because he actually made the decision to march on Venice.

As the marching captain of Montina's army, and later the chief of staff of the Roman Tescian army, Ofleuil was still very much trusted and expected by Alexander.

Ofleiyi was a man of great attention to detail and planning, and when Alexander began to implement all sorts of new military systems in his army, it was Ofleiyi who actually faced a lot of resistance as the executor.

From training the loose soldier to be like a standard part of the entire war machine, whether it is marching or shooting, to deeply etching the Montina-Roman Tescian military imprint in an almost demanding way, from the uniform to the demeanor, all of this is done by Oflei.

According to Alexander, the reason why Ofleiu was so serious was that he was interested in this kind of system of rules and regulations, not only because of his due diligence.

If Alexander created the Roman army of Thesia, then Ofleiil was the midwife who brought this new army to the ground.

Despite this, however, Alexander never left Oflaiyi alone in the army.

Of course, this is not because of a trust problem, but he knows that with Oflaiyi's character, it is actually difficult to be on his own.

Whenever he needed to make a major decision on his own, Ofleiil would inevitably hesitate, and it was precisely this personality that was different from the offensive Gompati, who had become Alexander's lieutenant and faced a strong enemy on the battlefield in Italy, but Ofleiil was still in Montina in charge of the distribution and movement of the entire army.

Putting Ofleiyi in command of the Eastern Legion was a risky decision.

Especially when it came to targeting the Venetians, who might intervene in Lombardy at any time, Alexander had deliberated over and over again before making this decision.

However, the only one in the Roman army of Thessia who could cooperate with Gompati and have the prestige to command an entire legion was Oflei.

It is clear that neither Busacco of Bologna nor Nicolas Macioni of Pisa have high hopes for Alexander, but neither their prestige nor authority can be compared with that of Ofleil and Gompati.

And as much as it was hoped that a few of them would emerge from among them, such as Hannibal and Scipio, Alexander also knew that at least for a long time as expected, the officers who had been trained at the Military Academy in Bologna could not be counted on.

"We are actually in Padua," said Ofleuil, who was standing next to Nicolas Macini, and when he saw the perfunctory face of his companion, he continued to ask persistently, "Don't you think it's strange that we are now less than 10 fats away from Venice?" ”

10 Fari may have been a long distance for other armies, but it was not so far away for the Roman-Thesians.

The Roman Thecian soldiers were more endured by training than any other army, and the experience of marching from Montina to Rome in two days had become the pride and characteristic of the Roman Thecian army.

Now these 10 fatales made a strange impulse swell in Oflaiyi's heart, as if the famous city was so close to him that he only had to stretch out his hand to reach it.

This made Oflaiyi can't help but show unconcealed excitement.

Macheni shrugged his shoulders secretly, he was actually more familiar with Ofleuil than with Gompati, and the experience of the expedition to the Balkans made him admire the brave commander, and as for the chief of staff in front of him, he was somewhat unfamiliar.

However, after this forced crossing of the Po River, Maceni somewhat understood the character of the chief of staff.

Cautious, meticulous and meticulous, but doesn't seem to be good at making decisions.

Maccheni secretly gave his boss such a comment in his heart.

Because of this, Ofleuil was a little too excited about being able to break through to Padua.

"I think it's because we're acting too boldly," Maccini looked at the group of Venetian generals who were standing not far away, waiting to be released, and looked a little puzzled, "but what are the Venetians doing now?" ”

As for Macioni's question, Ofleiyi was obviously confused as well.

After breaking through the Po River downstream, the Roman-Thescian army advanced in the direction of Padua, and then made a direct threat to Venice.

Although it was not an easy decision for Ofleiyi to make, everything was still under his control.

According to the previous plan, after crossing the river, the Eastern Corps was to cooperate with the Western Corps to encircle as much as possible the field troops that the Venetians had placed near the frontier front line on the Lombard border.

The ultimate goal was to force the Venetians to sign a contract and have to withdraw from the Lombard War.

It was only after crossing the river that Ofleiyi unexpectedly found that there were too few opponents in front of them.

In other words, because the enemy unexpectedly distributed his forces too widely, he had no chance to surround the enemy's main frontline at one time.

Rondoba Barbarig's troubles are now Oflair's.

The difference between the two is that they are only troubled by the lack of enough troops to form a strong defensive group, but they can only helplessly distribute an army of less than 3,000 people in a vast hilly area.

Ofleiuil, on the other hand, was annoyed that the enemy's forces were so distributed that only a pitiful few troops could surround him at a time, wasting his time and that of his army.

So when he was sure of the situation he was facing, Ofleil finally made the bold decision to march directly to Venice.

"10 Fari is not very far for us, perhaps......" Marceny looked at Ofleiuil, his gaze shining with a fiery light that even the dullest of men could see in it.

"Attack Venice?"

Oflaiyi's heart pounded.

Neither the Duke nor the Duchess had previously revealed to him any intention of attacking Venice directly.

After all, this idea was indeed too risky and crazy, especially now that the situation of the Lombardy war was not yet clear, and the Austrian army could not help but hesitate for a moment what would be the consequences of attacking Venice at any time.

"It's too risky."

"There may never be such an opportunity again," said Maccini excitedly, "our task is to defeat the army sent by the Venetians in order to force them to negotiate peace, but wouldn't it be more threatening if we marched directly into Venice?" ”

"But ......"

Macheni's words made Ofley's heart beat even harder, and he knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if he succeeded, fortune and honor awaited him.

In the Roman army of Thesia, Ofleiil and Gompati were Alexander's right and left men, but everyone knew that although they were of equal status, there was still some difference.

There is a difference between Gompati being the duke's partner on the battlefield and Ofleiyi being the duke's assistant.

What if they took the initiative to attack Venice and then force the Venetians to withdraw from the war, or even surrender?

The thought made Oflair's heart burn.

It might be a good idea to attack Venice and force them to surrender, or even to capture the city of wealth, which was known for its wealth.

The thought crossed his mind, knowing that he had always wanted to prove his worth with a victory, and now was a great opportunity that might never come up again.

"Bring those officers here," Ofreil suddenly instructed the guards escorting the Venetians in the distance, and as they walked up to him, he looked at their faces, "tell me how many troops Venice has now." ”

Ofleiuil's question immediately surprised the Venetians, they never expected that this Roman Thesian general would be so bold as to threaten Venice, which made them overwhelmed by surprise for a while.

"Isn't anyone willing to tell me?" Oflaiyi beckoned to the guards standing not far away, "Maybe my soldiers can help you decide." ”

Looking at the soldiers who came over with axes in hand, some of the Venetians couldn't help but show a panicked look.

This scene fell into the eyes of Ofleiyi, and he quickly found a target who could pry his mouth open.

"Put those men in solitary confinement," he commanded the guards, and then looked at the others, "Hold these men in solitary confinement, and rest assured, and let you go home when the war is over, but before that we can only wronged you." ”

The Venetians stared at Ofleiil unwillingly, although they didn't know what this Roman Thesia was doing, but it was clear that he was fighting Venice's idea.

This frightened and frightened these people, but there was nothing they could do.

To Ofleiuil's surprise, what he heard from the mouths of those Venetians was the Venetian army led by Rondoba Barbarig, only 6,000 men.

"The Venetians are crazy, they think they can achieve their goal with 6,000 people?"

Offrey found it incredulous, but repeated interrogations proved the information to be reliable.

"If Venice sent an army of 6,000 men, how many defenders did they leave behind?"

Macheni asked suddenly.

Hearing this, Ofleiyi couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Rondoba Barbareg's reaction was swift, and when he heard that the Roman-Thesians had crossed the Po River, he immediately did not hesitate to order the rapid redeployment of the troops already sent to Lombardy.

At the same time, while he had the people send a message to Venice, he ordered the rapid assembly of all the troops scattered along the upper Po River and elsewhere in the Veneto, ready to intercept the enemy, whose movements were not yet known.

For a moment, Rondoba Barbareg pondered whether to return to Venice first, and to wait until the hateful lords of the House of Lords had to call him for help for fear before returning with his troops.

Maybe then the House of Lords will know how important he is?

The thought made his heart flutter.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

Because he knew that it was not the House of Lords, or even Venice, that needed to be saved now, but his army.

He must reassemble his scattered army as soon as possible, or risk being annihilated by the Romans.

And if this happens, neither the House of Lords nor Rondoba Barbareg himself can forgive himself.

What Rondoba Barbarig didn't expect was that the herald he sent brought him back, in addition to the good news that the army that invaded Lombardy was returning from orders, there was also bad news that he didn't expect.

The Western Legion, led by Gompati, after defeating the French and occupying the city of Pavia, which was already approaching Milan, did not continue its attack, but suddenly turned around and closed in on Veneto after the retreating Venetians.

Rondoba Barbarig was faced with a difficult choice for a while.

Whether to let the army in the direction of Lombard continue to retreat and join him, or let them defend themselves in place to block the Roman Thesians who were about to invade Veneto.

On 20 April, a message from the local garrison made Rondoba Babarig decide, who was struggling with his choice.

"The Romettesians took Padua?"

When he heard this report, Rondoba Barbareg was stunned for a moment, he did not expect that the enemy would be so bold as to want to directly approach Venice, and then he suddenly let out an excited cheer after pondering for a while: "Thank God! ”

After shouting this, he ignored the Venetian officers who were panicked by hearing the bad news, and gave orders one after another.

"Order the front-line troops to defend on the east bank of the Mincho River, and be sure to hold off Gompati's army."

"Command to mobilize as many defensive troops as possible that they have arranged, and don't take care of those cities and towns, I want them all to be concentrated."

"Send another warning to Venice and tell them to defend the city." ……

After giving this series of orders, Toba Barbareg gave an order to his entourage: "Prepare yourself, we are leaving here." ”

"Where are you going, sir?"

"Vicenza, we're going to wait there for that Ofleyi and his army."