A col in a valley not too far from the city of Siye, because of the topography, the nearby ridges stood up to block the cold wind, although it was also covered with snow as if it was painted with a shiny layer of silver, and when the noon sun cast, in addition to the dazzling brightness, there was also a rare warmth.

The scouts walked along the side of the hill, and from a high point they could already see the camp in the col, and from time to time they could see a few small cavalry-like dots quickly leaving the camp and running into the distance.

Montina's army was cautious when they entered Bosnia, and Grand Duke Karl was generous, providing not only a lot of supplies but also some places where he could get help, including which route to retreat if he encountered a large Ottoman army and needed to evade.

Karl also told Alexander that he would send someone to meet him there, perhaps because he felt that Alexander might not trust him very much, and Karl explained that although he could not openly oppose the Ottomans, it would always be a good thing if he could make some trouble for the Ottomans, or delay their entry into Caniola.

This explanation may not have moved Alexander, but so far it seems that the Grand Duke's words have been fulfilled, and because of this, Montina's army was able to quickly find sufficient help after entering Bosnia.

Alexander was not in a hurry to contact the local nobles, knowing that there were indeed many nobles in Northern Bosnia who were always opposed to the Ottomans, and that some of the southern nobles who had fled to the north wanted to drive the Ottomans out of the occupied lands.

It seemed obvious that a large number of nobles had banded together to defend themselves against the infidel invasion in order to reclaim the fallen lands.

But in fact, once he got here, Alexander found that things were far from being as simple as he thought.

Suffice it to say, the situation here is far more complicated than what he had heard in Caniola.

In addition to the Ottomans, who had already conquered the south, there were many people who watched this northern land like Archduke Karl, including some of the great local nobles and the monarchs of other countries.

This is also a very normal thing, when a country is facing a crisis, in addition to the biggest enemy, often some neighbors who usually covet and watch will also take the opportunity to take a bite, and now Northern Bosnia is like this, many eyes are staring at this land, hoping to get a share of the benefits.

This is also why Alexander's army was given a cold reception when it entered Bosnia.

In the places they had passed, the local nobles were wary and hostile, and seemed to unite to drive them out of their territory at the slightest sign of stopping the army.

Alexander was not afraid of these nobles, and after a few days of observation he had a general understanding of some of the characteristics of the Bosnian army of this period, and based on his observations and listening to the accounts of some local veterans who had fought with the Ottomans, Alexander had a vague impression that "these people were not wronged by the defeat of the Ottomans".

There was no doubt about the bravery of the Balkans, but from the accounts of the veterans, Alexander found that the Ottomans clearly had a more sophisticated and advanced strategy and tactics than the Bosnians.

As for armament, Alexander could not fail to admit that today's Ottoman army can be said to be the pioneer of the development of military technology in the world.

Whether it is strategy, tactics or technical equipment, the Ottomans can be called the real hegemon of this era.

In the face of such an army, Alexander even admired the Bosnians a little, after all, the Bosnians were proud enough to temporarily stop the Ottomans from the south bank of the Nausava River.

Although they eventually had to sign a dependency treaty with the Ottomans, it is clear that the Northern Bosnian nobility, like the Ottomans, saw the treaty as a means of a temporary truce.

However, Alexander knew that there was a fatal weakness in Northern Bosnia, but the reason for the eventual fall of the land, and that was the lack of a common monarch.

The immediate royal family of the Kingdom of Bosnia did not survive the previous conquests of Muhammad II, and with a large number of nobles fleeing to the north, the question of who should succeed the throne of the country became a real problem.

There are not a few nobles who are qualified to touch the crown, and according to their proximity to the royal family, many nobles have successively declared their inheritance, which even almost caused a civil war of no small scale.

This result frightened many nobles, and some influential nobles finally decided to convene a council, and the result of their discussions was to temporarily establish a restoration alliance and put aside who would inherit the throne.

Although this choice temporarily put an end to internal disputes, such an alliance was too flawed for both the Ottomans and other countries to covet the land, and it also gave them plenty of opportunities.

As a result, all kinds of envoys and spies came and went everywhere in Northern Bosnia for a while, and it seemed that behind every slightly powerful nobleman there would be one or even several forces behind him.

What Alexander was looking for was a nobleman named Ivo Drana.

According to Grand Duke Karl, this Ivo Drana was a distant cousin of his, a nobleman of considerable prowess in Northern Bosnia, and the main thing was that this Ivo Drana's territory was rich in mines, which made him very rich.

With an enviable wealth, this local nobleman did not gain any prominent position in the noble alliance because of his low title, but he also became the leader of the small and medium-sized nobles.

Karl hoped that Alexander would cooperate with this man, and that through him, he would also want to exert influence over the noble alliance of Northern Bosnia.

"I don't know why you came to Caniola, but I know your purpose is certainly not simple, so why don't we help each other," this is what Karl said to Alexander before he left Caniola, "You get what you want, and I get what I covet." ”

What Karl wanted, Alexander didn't really need to guess to think of, it didn't take long for him to enter Northern Bosnia to know why so many people have tried to conquer the Balkans since ancient times, in addition to the important geographical location here that increases the importance of this land, the rich resources here also make countless watchers salivate.

Because of this, Alexander was not in a hurry to meet the Ivo Drana, he wanted to take a good look at everything along the way, and at the same time take a closer look at the situation in the land.

Alexander knew that if he inquired about Ivo Drana, he would not hear what he wanted to know, and that man might tell him some truth, but most of it would obviously only be beneficial to himself or to Archduke Karl, so he needed to inquire with his glasses and ears.

When Busak appeared with the scout captain and the woman, Alexander was looking at a map he had drawn himself, and after gathering information on the march these days, he had roughly straightened out the forces of Northern Bosnia, but looking at the list of names and the intertwined distribution of forces, plus some specious but important things about the infiltration of other countries into the region, Alexander felt that this place was really worthy of being called a "Balkan powder keg".

Alexander didn't want to stay here for long, his goal was to find Sophia and then find an opportunity to make a fortune from the great Hungarian copper mines, which he never forget.

He came to Bosnia in agreement with Grand Duke Karl's suggestion, more because he wanted to use this opportunity to delay the Ottoman advance.

Alexander didn't know when Sophia would hear from him, and even if he knew the whereabouts of the other party, it would still be difficult to meet smoothly in such a situation where accidents could happen at any time, so Alexander wanted to make some trouble for Bayezid II, at least to delay his advance.

It seems like a good idea to provoke a revolt from the Northern Bosnians or Kaniola along the way.

Alexander didn't intend for Archduke Karl of Caniola to just hide in his own duchy and take advantage of it, and he wouldn't mind dragging the Archduke into the water if he could.

Alexander listened attentively to the scout's report, and repeatedly inquired about some of the seemingly trivial details, and when he heard that they had found the ashes burned, Alexander asked about the Ottoman attire, and when he heard that one of them had a turban with a hat made of horsetail mane hanging from it, Alexander was slightly surprised.

"So you attacked a group of Ottoman missions?"

"Looks like that."

"And killed everyone on the other side?"

"We didn't let any of them go."

"Don't you know that the attack on the mission is a grave crime?"

"Of course I know, but it's not our fault, those Ottomans didn't blow the trumpet to indicate the identity of the emissary, nor did they have any banner to indicate their identity, I think it must be that they have always thought that no one in this land dared to offend them, so they were so arrogant, which can only be said that they are unlucky."

Alexander shook his head a little helplessly, as for whether the messenger group was really as the scout captain said, it was already dead and unproven, and what the captain brought back did arouse his interest.

The fact that one of the envoys wore a horsehair hat and tail meant something that could not fail to attract Alexander's attention.

The Ottomans had a strict hierarchy, and the distinction in dress was obviously stricter and even harsher than that of the Europeans.

Wearing clothing that usurped one's status was a serious mistake and even a sin, and the horsehair tail meant an accessory peculiar to the Ottomans' high-ranking officials.

Considering that the Pasha, the supreme governor of some of the occupied territories, would have only three or two horsehair tails hanging from the brim, Alexander had already vaguely guessed that there must have been at least one high-ranking figure in the Ottoman mission.

It would only be as simple as a certain governor Pasha who would only send such a high-ranking official as an emissary, if not the Sultan of Bayezid himself.

It's just that now those people have been sent to hell by his own men, and looking at the scouts standing opposite, Alexander can't help but feel a little helpless.

Then his gaze fell on the woman standing behind.

"So what's the matter with this woman?"

Alexander, who had finally listened to the report, looked at the woman standing behind, he didn't think that the scout captain would be bored to find himself a woman back.

"She knows the pagan words."

The captain said with a little excitement, showing Alexander the letter and the scimitar he had found from the other messenger.

"What's engraved on this?"

Alexander frowned slightly, one of the worst things he did when he came to Bosnia was the language barrier with the locals.

One can imagine how much trouble an army would have encountered in a strange land full of hostility everywhere and bogged down by a language barrier.

Seeing Alexander's inquiring eyes, the woman stepped forward, bowing to him before reciting the words inscribed on the scabbard in a slightly hoarse voice.

"It's been a long night! When will you light up?

Despite the daytime, the melancholy continued unabated.

Why are the stars in the night sky like tethered to a cliff with a giant rope,

Unwilling to move a star. ”

Her voice sounded strange, perhaps because her Latin was a little rusty, so she chanted those words in a strange tone, with a rather strange flavor.

"This is a hanging poem by the famous Ottoman poet um Rul Qas," the woman whispered as she looked at Alexander, "and the man who engraved the words of this poem on his knife shows that he liked the poem very much." ”

"You said that this poem was engraved by the man himself, why not his ancestors?"

Alexander asked with a little curiosity.

The woman raised her head slightly, first looked at the young nobleman in front of her, then lowered her head and replied cautiously: "Because it is said that Mehmed II the Conqueror did not like the poet's works, and he even said that um Rul Qais was an exiled and dissolute nymphomaniac, so it was impossible for the Ottomans in his reign to put it?" The poem was engraved on the weapon he carried with him. ”

"Then the Sultan of Bayezid must have liked the poet's work, which is why you think that these verses were engraved by the present owner of the sword?" Alexander looked at the woman in front of him with interest.

"Yes." The woman said a word and looked up again, and met Alexander's inquiring gaze.

She licked her lips slightly, then carefully bent down and said, "My lord, I know you must wonder how I could know this, please believe that I am just an ordinary woman, and I just want to find a place to eat, I will do things for you, and I can report something very important to you now." ”

Alexander did not rush to ask the woman what she was going to say, but looked at her carefully.

He didn't think that this woman could be a spy of the Ottomans, after all, if it was really the Ottomans who had already known his whereabouts, and with this accurate source of information, the Ottomans would not have completely conquered Northern Bosnia by now.

The woman seemed to be well-behaved, and although her clothes were shabby and dirty, Alexander saw a faint pride in her as she stood there and looked over.

This should have been a habit cultivated in the years of affluent life, but the way she immediately bowed her head deferentially made him feel that her fear did not seem to be disguised.

"You are not a nobleman," Alexander affirmed after a moment's thought, "because your deferential appearance is not what a nobleman should have, but you are not an ordinary woman, otherwise it is impossible to know the poetry of the Ottomans, and I think you must have come from a very well-to-do family." ”

Poetry has always been associated with elegant life and leisurely time since ancient times, although it is true that there are some people who live poorly but still have an extraordinary passion for art, but in this era, if even women in a family are quite familiar with poetry, it at least means that the family has a wealthy environment.

The woman lowered her head again, her hands outside her sleeves looked dirty, her nails were black, her face and hair were covered with dust, not at all in line with Alexander's well-known origins, but her silence seemed to have acquiesced.

"Alright, now tell me what you're going to report to me."

Alexander didn't want to go on with a woman's background, everyone had their own secrets, sweet or unbearable, at least for now it seemed that the woman's secrets should belong to the latter.

Hearing Alexander's inquiry, the woman looked up again, and she looked at the letters that had been given to Alexander by the captain of the scouts from the Ottoman messengers.

Alexander handed her the letter, and the woman carefully flipped through it, then took one out of it.

The letter had been opened by the scout before, but he was at a loss for the words on it, which were like countless earthworms of different lengths.

"This letter is addressed to a nobleman of great prolimine in the north," the woman said, looking at the letter carefully, "and the writer promised that if the Bosnian nobleman was willing to surrender to the Sultan, he would become the deputy governor of Bosnia, and he would also receive the title of Pasha." ”

"Oh?"

Alexander took the letter with a little surprise, of course he would not just listen to the woman's words, but only think about such a messenger and think about such a letter, which made him think that if the woman was telling the truth, maybe he had really accidentally discovered some great secret.

"Tell me the name of that nobleman, and who wrote the letter?"

Alexander's words made the woman hesitate, but she finally spoke: "The nobleman is Rhoish of Northern Bosnia, and the person who wrote the letter is not named, but there are only two people who can make such a promise directly, one is the Grand Vizier, and the other is the Sultan himself." ”