Old Rovere walked out of the small prayer hall of the Holy Grace with a gloomy expression.

The fiery and bright sunlight shone on his face, but it could not drive away the shadows in his heart.

Just the night before, a man from Ferrara brought him a letter from Constantine.

In the letter, Konstantin complained to him in an angry tone about Barentia's behavior.

"She's not my sister, because I don't see a trace of the Rovere family in her, or the other way around, she looks like a Rovere, but her ruthlessness is entirely used in her own loved ones."

Konstantin's resentment was not without reason.

According to Alexander's vision, the armies of Rome and its allies needed to establish effective command, and even the armies of each country were to provide the necessary unified armies for this purpose.

This was perhaps nothing for "Alexander's country", but had a very different meaning for his other allies.

No one wants to put their army in the hands of someone else, and it is like shoving the hilt of a sword to someone else and pointing the tip of the sword at himself.

Although Parma and Taranto are also allies, they are not yet obvious because of their location, but Ferrara, which is located between the "countries of Alexandria", stands out a little.

Barentine unceremoniously demanded that he surrender command of all but the necessary city defenses, and after Constantine angrily refused, Barentine resolutely ordered the withdrawal of all the western legions stationed in Ferrara and the Adriatic Sea.

This meant that Ferrara was likely to face the threat of the Venetians coming from the Adriatic coast, especially now that it seemed that the Venetians had entered into a rather strange confrontation between Rome and Venice, the Venetians, who had been too busy to take care of themselves, finally had their hands free to teach Ferrara a lesson.

Konstantin didn't want to admit that he was scared, but the truth was that he was, and he was scared.

And the people of Ferrara fell into the fear of being abandoned.

The Venetians have always been obsessed with Ferrara, and they will not let go of such an opportunity now.

Even anyone who knows a little bit about the current situation in northern Italy knows that even if Ferrara cannot be captured in the end, it will only be used as a bargaining chip with Rome Thesia, which will be enough for the Venetians to fight Ferrara's idea.

Constantine clearly sensed the anger of the nobles and the populace of Ferrara, who blamed him for all this, and whom he regarded as Barentia's fault.

Old Roveley looked grim, and walked in the shade of the corridor with heavy steps.

He didn't know whether he should be proud or helpless, he always felt that Barondi was the one who really inherited his character among his children, but now he found that the daughter he had regarded as proud had now become his stubborn opponent.

At the same time, the elder Rovere was also annoyed with Constantine, feeling that his son's performance had disappointed him, and even sometimes doubting whether the decision to let him run for the Duke of Milan was correct.

Barendi must be stopped from doing so.

Although he was disappointed in his son, the elder Rovie still couldn't give up that tempting idea.

After all, the throne of the Duke of Milan is too coveted, think about the rise of the Sforza family at the beginning, and then think about how many times Austria and Austria have fought for Milan, you know how important Milan is.

What's more, everyone knows that if you get Milan, you will inherit the rich Lombardy.

And to get Lombardy means to almost master the northern part of the Italian peninsula.

Just thinking about this, old Rovere threw aside the idea of giving up Milan that had just come to mind.

Several priests approached from the opposite side, and when they saw old Rovere, who seemed to be unhappy, they stopped at a distance and stood aside, and at the same time bowed to the cardinal.

Now in the Vatican, if you don't call your name by name, but just "cardinal", it must be old Rovere.

Since the expulsion of Alexander VI from Rome, the elder Rovere has become the uncrowned pope of the Vatican, and now he is no different from the pope except that he cannot publicly wear the triple crown that was later remade.

In this regard, the old Rovere is still very satisfied.

He was even very grateful to the Queen of Sicily for this, and for this reason the elder Rovere made it clear that he supported the Queen of the Two Sicilies in the matter of crowning her.

A figure appeared in the distance of the hallway, and the priests who were about to leave stopped again, and they bowed again to the approaching man.

"Here you are," said Massimo, in a slightly exaggerated tone, bowed slightly to old Rovere, and then stretched out his hand to make an inviting gesture, walking side by side with old Rovere, "I was on my way to visit you." ”

"Metropolis, what's the matter?"

Old Rovere asked a little vigilantly, he knew that this young cardinal was Alexander's agent in the Vatican, if it was in the past with his current status, he would not take this priest seriously, after all, even if he relied on his backer to have a smooth journey, if he wanted to compete for the papal throne, it would take at least another 20 years for his qualifications.

And by that time, the soul of old Rovie would have already gone to heaven.

But now he can't help but take seriously the juniors of this cardinal, after all, the rapid rise of the Duchy of Rome and Tesia has made Massimo's voice in the Vatican much louder.

"That's the cardinal, I hope you will allow me to leave Rome for the time being, and I will go to Bologna for a tour."

Old Rovere frowned slightly, cardinals cannot leave the Vatican casually, and at certain times, everyone must stay in the Holy See.

Although there were no major celebrations, let alone news of Alexander VI's ill health, Mashimo was always a little uneasy when he suddenly left the Vatican for Bologna.

He quickly guessed whether it had something to do with what Konstantin had to say, but for a moment he couldn't figure out what the connection was.

Old Rovere thought about it and said quietly: "It's not peaceful everywhere now, do you need to think about leaving Rome at this time?" ”

Mahimo made a gesture of helplessness: "I know that this is indeed a bit dangerous, and now people are less and less in reverence for the Church, and it is said that two priests who had made a pilgrimage from Osan were robbed on the way not long ago. ”

"It's horrible." Old Rovere showed his due concern, and then stared at Massimo with blazing eyes: "So what makes you insist on this dangerous trip?" ”

"It is the Lord of the Faith, the faith in God," said Massimo solemnly, "and I need to go to Bologna myself to make a judgment, and this is an important matter, and if I may be in danger because of it, I think it is precisely God who is testing my faithfulness to the faith." ”

Old Rovere looked at Massimo with some surprise, and he swore that this man's devotion to the faith would never be stronger than his, so he didn't believe a single letter of Massimo's words.

It's just that although he was worried that it might have something to do with Ferrara, Massimo looked like "whether you believe it or not, I believe it", and he couldn't find anything wrong with it for a while.

"Then it's up to God to arrange everything."

"Yes, it's up to God."

Massimo nodded to old Rovere as he spoke, and at the same time showed a smile on his face that made old Rovere guess again.

Massimo left Rome the day after he asked for leave from old Rovere, a move that made old Rovere suspicious.

It was customary for a pivotal body like Mahimo to be solemn, and even though Mahimo seemed to be known for being unconventional, he had not neglected the proper rituals so much in the past.

So old Rovere was even more suspicious of his trip.

It was too hot, but Massimo didn't want to wait any longer.

He was accompanied by an entourage of about 20 men, all but his secretary and an accompanying priest, all soldiers armed almost to the teeth.

Mahimo was careful, and that caution had been cultivated since his time in Naples.

He knew when to use his cunning to get money out of the nobles, and how to sneak into the bedrooms of the nobles by being able to speak well.

However, he has not been killed until now, thanks to his complete caution.

He was able to avoid those jealous husbands and wealthy businessmen who were cheated of their money, not just by luck, because he was always careful, so he was able to finally get mixed up with the Vatican.

Despite the heat of providence, Massimo did not dare to be careless, and he had the guards bring enough weapons to him, so much so that he himself not only wore a secret armor under his robes, but also hid two muskets.

The journey from Rome to Bologna is not very far, but it takes several days to walk.

Especially in these times of unrest weather and situation, no one dares to travel too much every day.

Because then it is either heat stroke, or it may be that you have to sleep in the wild because you missed the village for the night.

It is obviously unwise to spend the night in the wilderness at times like these, so that there is very little time in the day to travel.

Mahimo was clearly in a hurry.

After leaving Rome, he first relied on the many villages along the way not far from the city of Rome, and did not look for a place to spend the night until it was late, and then became cautious until the road became desolate.

But even so, he still hurried to the road.

Finally, after 4 days, he saw the shadow of the dark red city typical of Bologna.

The arrival of the cardinal was a surprise to Paulo Busaco, who was stationed in Bologna.

He did not know how Massimo had come to Bologna out of the blue, although he knew that it was nominally the seat of the Metropolitan of Tuscany-Romagna, but it had been one of the few times that Massimo had visited Bologna since he took office.

Last time, it was when Barenti ordered Gompati to invade Ferrara, which led to the occupation of Bologna by Busaco, so much so that Bologna had to be the place where the Metropolitan was stationed.

So after bringing the cardinal into the city, Busako couldn't help but ask curiously about Massimo's intentions.

However, Massimo was a little absent-minded, he hurriedly sent the Bolognese nobles who greeted him, and then he couldn't wait to go to the University of Bologna.

Seeing that Busako suddenly looked a little strange when he heard his words, Massimo let out a smug laugh.

Rumors have been circulating for a long time that Busacco is courting female students at the University of Bologna, and although people don't really care that Busacko has several mistresses, it still surprises many people, including Alexander, when they hear that he is actually courting the daughter of an academic master.

"Tell me, where is that Leonardo da Vinci now?"

After laughing for a while, Massimo finally mentioned the reason for the surprise visit.

Hearing Busako say that he was now studying his knowledge at the University of Bologna, which no one could understand, Massimo finally relieved himself a little.

When the situation in northern Italy was grim and the situation was treacherous, Alexander still told his wife in a letter to Barentia that he must not easily mobilize Busaco's Bologna regiment.

The reason for this advice was not that he did not trust his avant-garde captain, but that Bologna had something more important to Alexandria than anything else.

University of Bologna-Pavia.

For Alexander, the territory could be recaptured and the army could be rebuilt after it was destroyed, but the University of Bologna-Pavia was a treasure that he could never lose.

"I know what you're worried about," Busaco said on the way to the University of Bologna, looking at Mahimo who was always distracted, "the Duchess ordered the abandonment of Ferrara, but that doesn't mean that we will allow the Venetians to occupy Ferrara, let alone allow them to threaten Bologna." ”

"You're right, but who knows," Massimo replied casually, he didn't really want to talk to Busaco about this, after all, what he was going to do in Bologna this time was seriously contrary to his identity, "We must be careful, you should know that these people may be more important to the Duke than we are." ”

Busako, who wanted to refute Massimo, thought about it and finally didn't speak, because although he didn't want to admit it, he knew very well in his heart that Massimo was telling the truth.

Alexander's emphasis on the University of Bologna was surprising from the outset, and with the move of the University of Pavia, Bologna became the most important institution of higher learning not only on the Italian peninsula, but also on the entire European continent.

In contrast to the University of Bologna-Pavia, which has gradually changed to a specific specialization, the University of Paris today has not really evolved into a modern university.

But even so, Busaco didn't quite believe that Mahimo had traveled all the way to see what the University of Bologna was like.

However, after seeing Mahimo, who seemed to be slightly relieved when he saw Leonardo da Vinci, Busako felt that maybe he had guessed wrong.

However, Mahimo only relaxed slightly, and then suddenly became nervous again.

He anxiously asked one of the school officials who accompanied them for the name of a student, and when he was sure that there was indeed such a person at the University of Bologna, Massimo finally relaxed.

It was a man who looked to be in his early 30s, his neatly combed hair was buttoned upside down like a lid, and there was only a slight stubble on his cleanly shaved chin.

The man was dressed in a monk's wide black robe, which swayed back and forth as he walked into the room, like a scarecrow in a wheat field.

At the sight of this man, Massimo's nerves, which had been vaguely tense, finally relaxed, and he waited patiently until the man had finished saluting him, first carefully examined him, and then said to the man: "It is you, Nicolaus Copernicus, the Duke of Rome Thessia needs your services." ”