Caesar walked slowly along the side of the row of grants erected by the side of the street, sometimes stepping on it and taking a few steps, but most of the time only from the edge of the gutter.

The dryness of the winter had dried up the gutters, except for piles of dirty snow and cracked hard soil.

These gutters are much older than Caesar, or rather, older than all the people in this world, a product of Roman times.

At the same time that the Roman Empire was destroyed, the Goths also destroyed Roman civilization, and in the long era of thousands of years before that, the ancestors of today's Romans managed to make the whole of Europe run all the way to ignorance and barbarism for so long, that when people mention ancient Rome, they always sigh with a kind of miraculous emotion that seems to be looking at some miracle how they could have done so many things a thousand years ago that no one can do today.

For example, the gutter at Caesar's feet today made the life of the ancient Romans much more comfortable than that of today, and that comfort could be enjoyed even by commoners, rather than the embarrassment of filthy stench and moldy garbage everywhere as is the case now.

This dilemma is not only unbearable, but also embarrassing, especially when the envoys of the Ottoman Sultan came to Rome last year, and saw the arrogance and contempt of all these envoys, which made Alexander VI feel embarrassed and determined to change this uncomfortable situation for everyone.

The Pope was determined to make Rome a city that was not only gorgeous but also pleasant, or at least not less dirty, so he ordered that the drains left by the ancient Romans be excavated and searched in the city to see if they could be reused.

Caesar remembered his father's exclamations when he heard the news, some of which were not only not meant to be said by a Catholic pope, but would have been in great trouble if even the most ordinary people had said them.

However, it was a huge project, and the amount of money and manpower required was enough to discourage anyone, and Alexander VI was very wise, although the clean-up of the city had to be stopped by the arrival of the French, but he did not have the arrogance to think that such a large project could be completed quickly, and he did not even think that it would be completed in his lifetime.

Alexander VI hoped that in the future, whenever the enviable city of Rome and its many magnificent feats were mentioned, his name would be mentioned, and that it was he who restored the city to the wonder of the world, and that this city at the center of the world should be forever engraved not only with his name, but also with the rule of the Borgia family.

How to rule the city forever is one of the many problems facing the Pope and his sons today.

The French were having a hard time, but that was not a good thing for the Romans.

Just a few days after the proclamation of the Council of Order, the generals of the French garrison, led by de Charlon, asked the Pope to collect food and various winter supplies from the Romans.

Although this request was tactfully delayed by Alexander VI, the Borgia family was stressed by the hardening of the French as winter approached, as they were in dire need of winter supplies.

The coalition forces outside the city also seem to have changed a little, some of the armies left suddenly a few days ago, I heard that there were some new changes in the war in Lombardy, and the remaining siege coalition troops were obviously not higher than the French in terms of number and bravery, and some even said that they had seen that the coalition army was setting up a long-term camp far away from the city of Rome, and it was obvious that they were preparing to find a place to set up a winter camp on the outskirts of Rome, and then spend this long winter comfortably.

The Romans were not only surprised but also somewhat overwhelmed by the changes in the war, and the Romans, who had thought that the French would soon be gone, could not help but secretly speculate about what had happened, and various rumors about the Lombard war undoubtedly affected the Council of Order.

Caesar had great hopes for the Council of Order, and he was even considering whether he could take the opportunity to declare Rome completely under the Council of Order, which was in fact under his full authority, once the French withdrew and the coalition forces were unable to control the city for a while.

The idea was so tempting that Caesar secretly hoped in his heart that the French would not be too incompetent in the next battle, and that Gonzalo of the coalition would not be too powerful, so that he would have a chance to take advantage of the confrontation between the two sides and take advantage of the opportunity to get all of Rome.

But now the situation of the French was changed as he had hoped, but the situation of the Allied forces seemed to have become somewhat worse, as can be seen from the frequent transfer of the Allied forces from outside the city to the north, and the fact that the remaining troops had to cover their embarrassment of switching from offensive to defensive by setting up winter camps.

Caesar knew that all this change was because of that Cambrai.

Alexander's caravan of grain outside the city had been handed over a week earlier to the merchants in Rome from the Rovere family, and after paying a supposedly large sum of grain, it was loaded onto the ship and set sail for the north.

Anyone who heard about the deal could guess what the Roweres were spending a lot of money on to buy the grain, but strangely no one came forward to stop the deal.

The others did not stop because they were afraid of the power of the House of Rovere, while the Borgia were silent because Alexander VI also had his own agendas.

"It's time for you to become a cardinal, my child," Caesar remembered what his father had said to him, "Monteiro is not a very competent man, he is too fond of courtesy and lacks insight, which makes me a good dog but also makes his words weightless, if Giuliano della Rovere does become a cardinal, I think he will be able to top 10 Monteiro alone, which is too bad for me, so I need you to be a cardinal, only in this way can I contain Rovere." And in order for you to be a cardinal, I had to compromise on many things. ”

Alexander VI's idea was simple, let Caesar help him in the church against Roveret, and even pave the way for him to become pope one day, although they had their own plans, but the Borgia knew that only their father was in a stable position had everything they had, so they chose to turn a blind eye to the fact that the Roveret family secretly supported the French.

That Cambrai, Caesar wondered in his heart as he walked along the gutter, and unknowingly did such a thing.

Caesar, of course, would not be naïve enough to think that Alexander just happened to be doing a good business, and just think that the man was the nephew of Modillo of Naples to know that it was not an easy business.

As for the fact that he was said to have made a lot of money in this business, Caesar did not care so much.

What he cared about was that he suddenly discovered that before he knew it, Alexander's identity had undergone some subtle changes.

First of all, in the name of self-preservation, the Bohemians were transferred to Rome, so that Alexander really appeared in the sight of the Romans for the first time, and then he was the first to propose the establishment of the Council of Order, although he wisely ceded the chief who was obviously impossible to occupy by him, but as one of the founders of the Council of Order, Alexander still became a member of the Council of Order's 39 members.

But that's not all, what really caught the attention of many Romans was that he now not only seemed to have a good enough relationship with the Roveret family, but also had a sudden difference in status even with the French.

And because of his good business, Alexander generously procured for his troops who had brought food from Naples.

When he bought a lot of things from the French and the coalition army to equip his army, people suddenly realized that this army, which had previously heard of defeating the French in the Bruiny Valley, was the fourth real military force of Rome after the French and the allied army, as well as the Papal army commanded by Caesar!

With an army, one of the 39 members of the Council of Order, and his relationship with the soon-to-be cardinal Rovile and the French who still occupied the city of Rome, when did this person who he didn't pay much attention to before become so hard to ignore, and how could he not notice him for so long?

Caesar blamed himself and asked himself secretly, although he knew that Alexander had brought too many changes, but Caesar couldn't comfort himself because of this, because he knew that there were too many things to deal with Alexander next, some of which were even destined to affect the fate of his life, so he couldn't allow those previous negligences to happen again.

Caesar has decided to propose to Joanna.

He had deliberated this through this, and although Alexander VI had decided to make him a cardinal, Caesar preferred to see this opportunity for ascension as a capital to propose to Joanna in the future.

Marrying Joanna and preparing for the future to the crown of Naples was the perfect goal for Caesar, and even if this wish was not attained, it was nothing, for he was already planning that even if he could not get the crown of Naples from the Aragonese, he could instead offer it to Charles, and the king of France could not be so petty in return or compensation.

This idea had been brewing in Caesar's mind for a long time, and it was because of this that he was so unceremoniously reprimanded Sharron because he could not tolerate the assassination of Joanna and ruined his plans.

However, no matter what he thought, Alexander, who protected Joanna, was an important player in this, not to mention that he was now an ambassador to the Neapolitan in Rome.

That's right, ambassadors.

Whether at the Order Council or elsewhere, people had begun to call him that Cambrai, and even some of the lesser nobles were proud to have a few words with him in the street.

Caesar, of course, knew that he was not jealous, but that he was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of such a figure.

He needed Alexander's support, which was important, but he didn't want to see a disobedient person, and now Alexander's unexpected development made him feel somewhat inappropriate.

No one wants to be a foil forever, and Caesar believed Alexander would not be an exception.

Maybe it's time to rethink how to get along with this person, although reluctantly, Caesar still began to think soberly, or it would be a good idea to make this person completely his side.

Caesar remembered that in the Council of Order people saw Alexander as his faction, at least Giovanni and Geoffrey, who saw Alexander as Caesar's dog.

Perhaps it could have made the relationship a little more real, at least so that Cambrai thought, and Caesar's mind flashed back to the obvious interest shown by Giulia Farne in him the last time Alexander went to the Potico Palace.

Caesar didn't think there was anything wrong with letting his father's mistress seduce someone he saw as someone he could woo, and Julia Farne herself might not be unhappy to do so.

Caesar was still very confident in Julia Farne's charm, the main thing was that he hadn't heard of any decent women in Rome for Alexander, thinking about a single and energetic young man suddenly facing Julia's kind of stunner, Caesar felt that things suddenly became a lot easier.

Alexander did not know that Caesar was playing with his idea, and he was reading a letter at this time.

The letter was sent by the Count of Mordiglo, and in addition to inquiring about the deal with the French, the Count mentioned another matter.

The Venetian fleet visited Naples, and although it did not stay long before leaving for Sicily, the Venetians made a request that the count was quite concerned about:

They hoped that the port of Naples would give their fleet a fixed priority for supply, and for this they were even willing to sign an unusually generous treaty.

According to the Count's inquiry, the Venetians had made the same request to Taranto not long ago.

The Count's letter caught Alexander's attention, and when he opened the map and looked at it, he realized that the Venetians seemed to be in a hurry to build a long supply line for their fleet along the Mediterranean coast.

Clearly, the Venetians seemed to sense some kind of threat, which forced them to be prepared rather than pay some price.

Looking at the map, Alexander's fingers moved slowly southeast, past Sicily, past Malta, and from Crete until he stopped at a place marked by a city.

The thousand-year-old capital of Constantinople, a city that still radiates dazzling light under the new moon, is now called Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and now watches over Europa like a terrible beast.

For hundreds of years, Europe will tremble uneasily in its great shadow.

And now, it's just the beginning.