Montina, Florence!

In the land of Romagna, a great battle began with a total force of nearly 70,000 troops on both sides.

Machiavelli stood on the rampart and looked at the French in the distance, not far from him there was a small cannon with green smoke from the muzzle, and similarly, a cloud of smoke was rising from the ground in the distance, accompanied by a few French soldiers who were running in a panic into the distance.

Machiavelli heard a burst of laughter all around him, and he glanced at the laughing soldiers, and saw that many of them were the former Florentine city guards and civilians.

Now, many of the soldiers who had fled home because they were afraid to throw away their weapons have returned, but they have also brought their own relatives and friends.

This change is of course because the actions of the Chamber of Commerce Escort are very unexpected to them, and the other is that those Chambers are willing to spend a lot of money.

As the leader of the 11 largest chambers of commerce in Florence, the Wool Fabric Chamber of Commerce threw 20,000 florins at once, and the lawyers' chamber of 14,000 ducats at once was equally inspiring, and then the generosity of the Copper Chamber of Commerce, the Builders Chamber of the city, the Shipbuilding Chamber and other large and small chambers of commerce really moved or frightened the Florentines.

They couldn't remember the last time these chambers of commerce were so enthusiastic, but they could be sure that no matter how they were before, these chambers of commerce were definitely not as generous as they were now.

Although it was really painful for those chamber of commerce bigwigs to come up with so much money at once, Machiavelli knew that these people were actually quite willing to pay for it.

The benefits of a trade alliance were so great that even in the face of the French, the merchants could not resist the temptation of the great benefits.

And these merchants were willing to pay so much money, of course, not just to hold Florence, these people had apparently decided to take a hard gamble on Machiavelli, or Alexander behind him.

Defeating France may sound unrealistic, but what kind of reward will it bring them if they succeed?

This makes the businessman so excited that he can't sleep just thinking about it.

Investment is risky, and you need to be cautious when spending money.

But if this investment can bring tens or even hundreds of times the profit, then what is the risk?!

In exchange for a large sum of money, the Florentines began to frantically join the ranks of the defenders, and it was not uncommon to pay monthly salaries, and Machiavelli could not help but be stunned by the appearance of weekly settlements and even daily soldiers of the same system.

The Chamber of Guards, who received more honorariums, used their cannons and swords to show the new city defenders that even the French could be beaten to the ground in the face of true strength.

Louis de Bourbon's French attack on Florence was actually much smoother than Charlon's attack on Montina.

On 9 July, the French broke through the walls of Florence, but when the French swarmed in and tried to take the city, they were met with fierce counterattacks from the city.

The rugged and narrow streets and alleys of Florence became a barrier for the defenders, and to the surprise of the French army, the Florentines seemed to have guessed that the city walls could not withstand their attack, so they had blocked the streets and alleys leading to the city gate in many places near the city gate with stones, vehicles, roadside stalls, and even furniture that had been temporarily moved from nearby homes.

At the same time, the Florentines used crossbows and muskets for close-range attacks were surprisingly numerous, and for a time the square near the city gate was full of blood, and the French army suffered heavy losses.

The whole process of the battle is actually not very long, but even those veterans who have seen the big scene can't help but admit that it is this short period of street fighting that has exceeded the imagination of many people.

Those French soldiers never imagined that they would encounter such a tenacious and brutal bloody street battle in Florence.

The Florentines forced the French to retreat from the city gates after dropping a batch of dead and wounded with crossbow arrows that pierced their armor and stray bullets, and in the process of retreating, they had to endure a rain of bullets and arrows falling from the walls overhead, which made the French soldiers even suspect that the easy breach of the city gate was a complete plot of the Florentines.

When the French had completely retreated outside the city, countless people poured out of the windows of the streets and alleys and street houses, and they began to quickly block the city gates with large and small masonry and stones amid the loud shouts of the officers, and soon a thick pile of stones was piled up from the hole in the city gates, and the city gates of Florence were completely blocked.

Only Machiavelli knew that all this was the result of the hasty preparation of the Chamber of Commerce Guards after taking over the city defenses, and if it had not been for the fact that the guards had deterred the French with a cannonball before the battle began, and made their movements much slower due to caution, perhaps the French would have broken through the gates and entered the city before they could have set up a defensive line near the city gates.

Either way, standing on the walls and looking at the French army, which had to be redeployed almost overnight due to frustration, Machiavelli couldn't help but feel so spirited that he wanted to write a poem.

"The fruits of victory are so sweet that I can't help but want to think of her as a forbidden ......"

Just as Machiavelli was considering which rhyme would be more appropriate, an officer of the city defense army shouted: "The French are coming." ”

Machiavelli immediately looked into the distance, and he noticed that the French were slowly approaching in a slightly loose phalanx, but what caught his attention were the two teams behind the phalanx that seemed to be a little sneaky.

Suspicious, Machiavelli pointed to the back of the French army and asked, "What's that?" ”

His words caught people's attention, and soon someone could see through the cracks in the flickering crowd and guess what they were pushing with a few black things.

"It's a cannon! Cannons of the French! ”

The screams instantly sounded at the top of the city, and some of the city guards tried to flee from the city walls in panic, but they were stopped by the guards who had blocked the way behind, and at the same time, Machiavelli, whose face was a little pale, looked at the black things in amazement, and looked at the leaders of the guards with nervous expressions.

Machiavelli knew that the leaders of the chamber of commerce's convoys were actually Roman and Thescian officers, but now looking at the cannons, he suddenly remembered that he was actually a diplomat and not a general, which made him a little uneasy.

But at this time, he could only stand there with a pale face and look at the terrible weapons under the city, he knew that if he panicked first, then it might be a disaster.

At this point, Machiavelli suddenly remembered a description of the Duke of Rome in his unfinished book: "The reason for the success of great monarchs is God's preference for them, and above all their perseverance in the face of adversity, it is difficult to imagine the courage of a monarch who has been immersed in the crowd of court ladies for many years, but we must admit that there are always people who are different." ”

As he wrote this, Machiavelli was struggling to get the Council of Hundred to rule Florence through the Duchess of Estles, and he was even thinking that the Duchess's affair would cause more trouble than their enemies.

Now, looking at the cannons of the French, Machiavelli felt his heart beating and nervousness, and could not help but feel a real admiration for the courage of the Duke to be "immersed in the crowd of court ladies" for so long.

"Your Excellency, we can deal with them," one of the officers of the escort said to Machiavelli, drew his sword, and swung it in the air with a whistling "ready!" ”

The soldiers began to move into their positions, and from time to time there was a rattling sound from the foot of the loose masonry, which made Machiavelli even more worried, but at this time he could only try to calm himself down, and then looked at the cannons with secret worry.

"They can probably hit 6,000 yards," one officer muttered to himself for a moment before speaking to his companion.

"I bet I should be able to go further, look at the caliber of the cannon, and then calculate its filling amount, one shell is counted as 20 off, according to the amount of dime for every 2 half-offs......"

"That's impossible, you know, we don't have such a good artillery, even if it's according to your calculation of 2 half-detached dimes, but in fact, we all know that the cannon can't fully exert that power, I can bet you on this."

"Alright then, we'll make a bet."

The two officers each took out a small money bag from their pockets and handed it to Machiavelli, who was still standing aside with a pale face, looking at the pattern on it, Machiavelli knew that it should be the salary that the Chamber of Commerce had just given them a short time ago.

"My lord, please testify."

Machiavelli took the money bag a little dazed, although he really hoped that the officer who said 6,000 yards would win, but looking at the distance between the French artillery and himself, he found that whoever won the bet seemed to be very dangerous.

A muffled sound came from outside the city, and then a black shadow flew by!

Machiavelli instinctively bent down, but he saw that the two officers were staring straight at the direction of the shell.

As the whistling sound swept through the air not far away, before they could turn back, a loud noise was already heard in the city behind them.

"Ha, I won!" An officer shouted happily, unceremoniously took two money bags from Machiavelli's hand in a daze, and when he saw the dull look of the chief, the officer comforted him by the way: "Please rest assured, my lord, even if the French break through the city wall, we don't have to worry, General Gompati taught us how to defend Pisa in the first place, and by the way, he also said that you were there at that time." ”

Hearing the officer's words, Machiavelli, who was already terrified, almost turned his back on his back in fright.

Louis de Bourbon walked anxiously back and forth, stopping every now and then to glance at the artillery position, and then to and fro.

Although it was only the second day, it was enough to make the Duke of Bourbon feel annoyed and fidgeting.

Thinking that he had solemnly asked the clerk to record the day of the capture of Florence, the Duke of Bourbon felt that he was going to be ridiculed by the king's favored courtiers again.

Another reason that made him anxious was that the king actually sent someone to ask him how the battle was going overnight.

The Duke of Bourbon realized that things might not be going well on Louis XII's side either, and that the king was well aware of his desire to take Florence.

Florence must be captured as soon as possible, and the Duke of Bourbon secretly made up his mind.

The power of the French artillery clearly frightened many people, and Machiavelli was annoyed by the embarrassment of the Florentine city defenses, but he was secretly worried about the crumbling walls that had been crumbling by the shelling of the French that followed.

The Duke of Bourbon apparently also noticed the already precarious city wall, and he immediately ordered several cannons to fire at the wall at the same time, which looked like it was about to collapse at any moment, and for a time the city wall was full of rubble and smoke.

"I can't hold it, I really can't hold it this time." A city defense officer shouted, he suddenly took out the salary he had received from his pocket and threw it on the ground, while shouting incessantly, "I'm not doing it, I didn't expect it to be like this!" ”

"Oh, you're quitting, are you?" An officer grabbed the money bag on the ground, grabbed the Florentine man by the collar with the other hand and pulled him in front of him, "You should have thought of it before you took the money." ”

As he spoke, the officer shoved a sword upside down with the money bag into the man's hand: "Either let the French kill or let me kill now, you choose." ”

The Florentine body trembled and stretched out his hand, and he saw the guards staring at him with murderous faces all around, and in the rumbling cannon and the incessant vibration under his feet, he cried out in despair, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and waved it indiscriminately at the French people in the city.

"Boom~" with a loud sound, everyone felt a huge force to fall to the ground, the smoke and dust in the sky smashed down their heads and faces, and the rubble scratched people's heads, faces, hands and feet, just when everyone was discouraged and didn't understand what was going on, there was a cheer outside the city.

A large gap appeared in the outer part of the wall, and the bottom corner of the gap was directly connected to the ground at the edge of the wall, forming a large crack.

"The walls have been breached?" Machiavelli looked at the huge gap in amazement, although the wall had not yet been completely destroyed, but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time.

"Looks like we're going to have to get to work." The officer, who had won the bet, pulled out his sword, shook it in his hand, and then took out a money bag and threw it to his companion: "At least you have to leave yourself a ransom." ”

"I will not be a prisoner, I will run for my life if necessary," said the other officer, turning back to Machiavelli, "My lord, have you thought about what to do if the French come?" ”

Machiavelli shook his head blankly, he wanted to say something, but because of the shock he had received from the previous shelling, his whole body was still trembling at this time, and he couldn't make a sound at all.

"I think you could say you were forced," the officer laughed wickedly, "but I don't think Louie would have believed it." ”

By the time Machiavelli's face turned pale, the two officers were already rushing towards the crumbling walls with their convoys.

At the same time, the French army also braved the rain of arrows and bullets fired from the city and rushed towards the breach.

A brutal battle begins!