August 1497 was destined to be a very unquiet month.

On the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the Ottomans once again sent troops in the direction of Egypt, this time to destroy the remnants of Mamluk's forces left in Syria.

It was a long war that was destined to last a long time, and the August expedition was only the beginning of the final battle that would lead to the complete end of the Mamluk dynasty.

On the western shore of the Mediterranean, the sudden outbreak of conflict between Poland and Moldova surprised everyone, both the Holy See and the kingdoms, realizing the enormous impact that this war in the Balkans would have on the whole of Europe, from Vienna to Prague, from the Vatican to Belgrade, and countless people were clamoring for the war between the two Christian states to end as soon as possible.

As for France, it was reported that King Charles VIII of France, as soon as he recovered from his illness, was busy with his work, and in early August he sent several of his highly regarded men to inspect some places not far from Nice, which caused many who heard the news later to be worried.

Also in August, Caesar, the son of Pope Alexander VI, relied on his father's power and wealth to quickly recruit an army strong enough to confront any Italian city-state at the time.

Then, in all speculation, Caesar was the first to send troops to Pezzaro at the end of August.

This move attracted the attention of many people, especially the Sforza family, for which they sent an emissary to Alexander VI to protest, but according to Caesar, Pezaro was the domain of Lucrezia's late husband Giovanni Sforza, and he had the right to claim ownership of his sister.

It's just that everyone knows that this is nothing more than an excuse to hide his ambitions.

But even at this time, people did not think that Caesar was very ambitious.

On the contrary, the eyes are turned to a different place, which was once the symbol of the wealth and artistic charm of the era, and the cradle of many admirable masters, but which is now completely overwhelmed by almost repressive seriousness and almost harsh dogma.

It was Florence, and today its ruler is Savonarola.

Florence in August was clearly the focus of attention, because it was in this month that Pope Alexander VI once again issued a royal decree to Florence, in which the Pope ordered Savonarola to renounce the order of the Florentine abbot and at the same time decided to appoint him abbot of Legten, but this order was once again rejected by Savonarola.

Despite the fact that this would be the case, Alexander VI was furious, and he declared to all the bishops of the Roman diocese that Savonarola's actions were an act of apostasy, and even threatened to excommunicate him.

But these threats did not shake the faith of the Florentine ruler in the slightest, and to the Pope's embarrassment and anger, the Florentine people preferred to believe and follow the Savonarola whom he hated to the core, rather than the Pope himself.

After Savonarola announced that she would never accept the papal appointment, the Florence City Hall announced an embarrassing decision by awarding Savonarola with a golden key symbolizing the rule of Florence, and Savonarola responded to this decision by exchanging a simple prayer of thanksgiving for the honor of the town hall.

All of this behavior in Florence made Alexander VI extremely angry, and he felt that he had been insulted the most, and that he had been directly stripped of face by the monk with whom he had always been, which made Alexander feel that he had simply lost face.

It is said that when the Pope heard about Florence's response, he was so angry that he used a lot of almost obscene words to curse loudly, and if he was not dissuaded, he would not have threatened, but directly announced the excommunication of Savonarola.

August was a tumultuous month, and the other two things pale in comparison to all the hustle and bustle.

One of them was that Alfonso, Duke of Billyseri, had agreed to the Pope's invitation and decided to go north to Rome as soon as possible to negotiate the details of the marriage with the Borgias.

The other thing was an attempted assassination of the Count of Montina in Pisa, not far from Florence.

According to some merchants passing through Pisa, it was a dangerous operation that nearly cost the Count's life, as the Assassin slashed through the Count's clothes with a short sword and even narrowly impaled his inner armor.

The assassination apparently infuriated the Count of Montina completely, and his army stormed the city of Pisa in a fit of rage, then captured hundreds of men overnight.

It was only at dawn that reason finally prevailed over anger, and the Count ordered his troops to quickly withdraw from the city, while those who were caught were completely handed over to the Pisan government.

This may sound like a sinister thing, but it's actually a common thing in this day and age.

The nobles were assassinated, the nobles retaliated, and the nobles bloodied all their enemies.

All of this is a small thing in these turbulent times, so even if someone hears about it and thinks a lot, they are quickly attracted by more things that follow.

But for some, it's a big deal to happen in Pisa.

On the fifth day after the assassination of the march, an unexpected guest arrived in Pisa, and upon hearing the man's request to meet, Alexandria, who was negotiating a future Pisa-Montina economic treaty with Tomnio at the Ducal Palace, agreed to the man's request with only a slight hesitation.

But Alexander did not see this man at once, but promised him an appointment at dinner.

Listening to Alexander's orders to Ulliu, Tomneo was a little disappointed.

He really wanted Alexander to go and see the guest immediately, even if it was for a short time, at least so that he would not be under so much pressure for a while.

The Pisa-Monti Treaty of Mutual Economic Assistance, a new treaty that Alexander had proposed to him in the past two days, unlike the previous treaties, this time Alexander was very unceremonious and gave Tomneo only two options, one was to agree to all and the other was to reject them completely.

As for the consequences of making a choice, Tomneo knows very well in his heart.

Promised to give Montina 40% of the rights to operate the port of Pisa, promised to open all the customs of Pisa to Montina the right to cooperate, and promised to exempt Montina from all the shipping and transit taxes on all small commodities that were previously allowed, not just those previously permitted......

This treaty made Tomneo angry but did not dare to refute it, just think of the Pisan people who were still imprisoned, and he knew that he was completely free from bargaining.

Tomneo was troubled by the thought of those people, some of whom were nobles of Pisa, some of whom were officials of the former Republic, and some of whom were wealthy merchants and important figures in the city's chambers of commerce.

Most of them he knew, some of them were familiar, but it was not clear whether any of them were involved in the assassination or who knew about it.

Tomneo was eager to intercede for these people, he knew that this was a rare opportunity, and if he could save them, they would be grateful to him, and some of them might even become his supporters, but this idea was quickly dispelled after meeting Alexander.

This was because he saw Alexander's wrath.

Although he soon ordered all the suspects to be handed over to Pisa, Alexander privately told Tomneo in an unusually angry tone: "I want to see these people hanged on the lamp pole in Pisa." ”

This statement really frightened Tomneo, and just thinking about the identity and number of those people, and the possibility of hanging corpses along the streets in front of the Duke's Palace, Tomneo felt that Alexander was either mad or frightened.

This made the duke, who had wanted to intercede for those people, immediately shut up, and not only that, but even the amnesty decree that he had prepared to sign was put away and locked in a drawer.

Then, in front of him, a new treaty appeared.

Obviously, after calming down, the Count of Montina wanted some compensation, or rather, a quid pro quo.

In this way, the lives of those Pisas are now in the hands of Tomneo.

It's just that unlike before, when he thought of interceding in exchange for the gratitude of those people, Tomneo knew that once he signed the treaty, those people would not be grateful to him even if he was free, and even most of them would hate him more than before.

Even the next person to be assassinated may be him.

"Duke, this is not an embarrassing situation for you, on the contrary, it should be me who is embarrassed," Alexander looked at Tomneo, who was sitting opposite, "I thought I could get help from a friend when I was in trouble, so I didn't go straight back to Montina after leaving Rome and came to Pisa." But what has happened to me, after helping you to quell the mob, the Pisan people not only do not appreciate me, but repay me with an assassination for what I have done for the city, Duke you know, if I do not show the attitude I should be, then my dignity will be lost, and even my men will have doubts about my ability to be a good lord. ”

Alexander's words gave Tomneo a headache, and he knew that Alexander was right, because if it were him, he would have had to do it, and even resort to more brutal methods to retaliate in order to regain his prestige.

"But Count, such a treaty makes it impossible for me to give an account to the Pisa," said Tomneo, with chagrin, "you know, if the people knew what I had done, perhaps what happened to the Zaloni family a few years ago would have been my example. ”

Looking at the sometimes red and sometimes gray look on Tomneo's face, Alexander smiled imperceptibly.

He knew the time was almost up.

Alexander slowly took out another document from the leather bag next to him, and slowly placed it next to the treaty under Tomneo's somewhat terrified gaze.

Looking at the document with the words "Supplementary Articles of the Pisa-Montina Mutual Assistance Treaty" written in beautiful lettering, Tomneo's face had become extremely ugly.

"Maybe this will give you an account to the Pisa," Alexander said to himself, "Believe me, I value our friendship very much, so I hope you will try to keep it going, Duke." ”

Tomneo picked up the supplementary clause with some confusion, and when he saw that it also listed a clause, he couldn't help but look at Alexander in some amazement.

"Count, Montina can allow all goods from Pisa to cross the border without tax, and he can also give the lowest sales tax rate in the country?" Tomneo asked, stunned.

He suddenly felt that Alexander might have been so frightened by the assassination that he had a problem with his mind, knowing that the reason why he resisted signing that treaty was because if the unilateral preferential clauses in those treaties had put Pisa in a situation where it was almost completely subordinate to Montina, but if Montina had also given Pisa such a favor, then it meant that the two sides were once again on an equal footing.

But if so, what other advantages does Montina have?

The same tax exemption, the same price, under this mutual offset, what is Alexander after?

Looking at Tomneo's confused eyes, Alexander did not stop, but pointed to the document in his hand and motioned to continue.

And the rest of the content made Tomneo really wonder if Alexander was scared stupid, at least looking at the clause above that would not impose high entry fees for pizza and fishery, it made him feel a little strange.

Unlike Pisa, Montina is landlocked, and if the Pisan people can rely on the convenient trade at sea to obtain enough agricultural and sideline goods, it is much more difficult for the people of the inland cities to eat fish.

In addition to the increased costs caused by poor roads and poor transport conditions, the high entry fees for fish commodities in coastal cities are one of the most frightening costs for inland cities.

No fisherman or guild was not afraid of this fee, because they knew that their goods could not be kept for long, and that the slightest trouble would cause heavy losses, and the merchants had to bear the suffocating entry fee.

However, because of this, the price of marine fish in inland city markets has become ridiculously high, and in some places, except for the aristocracy and the rich, ordinary people simply cannot afford to eat those foods.

Now, Montina would voluntarily give up such an important payment, which made Tomneo feel that the treaty was simply a disguised favor to Pisa.

"Remember when I said that we can mobilize the maximum resources with the least amount of money," Alexander smiled at a puzzled Tomneo, "Trust me, this is just the beginning, and soon you will find that the decision to sign this treaty is the wisest decision you have ever made." And let's not forget that there are still many people who hope that we can solve this embarrassing matter in front of us. ”

Tomneo nodded with some difficulty, he knew what Alexander meant.

The suspects who had been held so far would certainly be released, and even if some of them had been involved in the previous murders, they should not have been held directly by the Montinas, but should at least be arrested and sentenced on the behalf of both parties.

It's about the dignity of Pisa.

So now, Alexander has clearly set the conditions.

A treaty was signed, at least superficially beneficial to both sides, in exchange for which Alexander promised to release those captured.

Tomneo hesitated, knowing that of course things would not be as simple as the terms he saw, but at least for now it seemed that Alexander had given him a step that was reasonable in front of the people.

It's just that once this treaty is signed, the relationship between Pisa and Montina is destined to become closer and closer, which makes Tomneo vaguely uneasy.

Seeing Tomneo's hesitation, Alexander decided to give the final "blow".

He leaned forward and whispered in Tomno's ear, "Duke, if you can agree to sign the treaty, I can find a way to get the Vatican to recognize your legal status." ”

There was a flash of excitement on Tomneo's face, and he looked at Alexander in disbelief, and he was met with a look of certainty.

Tomneo's hand trembled slightly, Alexander's promise was so important to him that he even completely forgot all his previous scruples, and for a moment he even thought that even if Alexander didn't come up with that supplementary clause, even if he would be opposed or even spurned by the people of Pisa, he would not hesitate to agree!

At the beginning, the king of Naples, Alfonso, in order to get the Vatican's recognition of his succession to the throne, tried his best to marry Alexander VI, and married his daughter Chasan to Alexander VI's son Jeffrey.

Compared to Alfonso, Tomneo was well aware that his duke's throne was not at all secure, and he felt an indescribable sense of trepidation at the thought that the Zaloni family, now in exile in Rome, could at any time announce their candidacy for the title of Duke of Pisa with the support of the Vatican.

And now, Alexander's assurances made him seem to see a glimmer of light.

Tomneo knew that Alexander's relationship with the Vatican, or indeed with the Borgia family, was too complicated to explain, as evidenced by the Roman princess who lived in a house near the river.

"Count, may I take these words as a promise?" Tomneo asked cautiously.

"Of course, that's what I promised." Alexander whispered.

Listening to this, Tomneo, who took a deep breath, finally nodded.

"Count, God bears witness, may our friendship endure forever!"

In the northwest wing of the Ducal Palace, through a corridor connected to the main palace, there is a palace belonging to Alexandria.

In addition to the Pisa guards in the garden, the palace was defended by hunters.

In the aftermath of the assassination, the garden near the palace was handed over to the hunters, according to negotiations with Pisa.

Outside, the slightly harsh sunlight shone in through the window, dragging the shadows of the guests standing in the room for a long time.

The guest seemed slightly agitated, as could be seen from the fact that he had been walking back and forth, so that he heard footsteps when Alexander had already reached the door.

"Your Excellency!" The guests immediately greeted them.

Looking at the relatively familiar face on the other side, Alexander smiled as he touted what he was coming from.

"Welcome, Machiavelli diplomat."