The Renault is a river that originates in the southern foothills of the Alps and flows through the rich Lombardy plains before finally emptying into the Adriatic Sea.

The Renault River is not very wide, even if it is close to the mouth of the sea, the widest part of the whole river is less than a mile, and because the drop is not large, the flow of the river is gentle, if a person has a good water nature, he can take a good dip in the river in the hot summer, or if he wants to walk less, he can also swim directly to the other side of the river.

However, such a seemingly small river would obviously be a problem for an army, and if there was another hostile enemy army on the other side of the river, it would have to pay a certain price if it wanted to cross the river.

Caesar's invasion of Ferrara had an army of nearly 5,000 men, the largest he could now muster, and in fact he had been considering learning Alexander's early methods, relying on a small but well-trained army, so that he could keep the army as well-equipped as possible while keeping his finances under too much strain.

Alexander's battle in Livorno left a deep impression on Caesar, not only because he was a prisoner at that time, but more importantly, it was precisely because of his status as a prisoner that he was able to see how Montina's army fought at close range, and how his army was defeated by Montina's army with a clear advantage of being outnumbered by the enemy.

It was because of this experience that Caesar became somewhat obsessed with the miniaturization of elite armies. He hoped to train an army that was completely under his command and could give full play to its might, both in terms of combat effectiveness and cost, and a trip to France showed Caesar the various compromises that the wealthy French king had to make to the French nobles in order to prepare for war, including the slowing down of the lordship system that had been in place since the time of Louis XI. That is, all the qualified French nobles must go to the king's court for a fixed period of the year to serve the king, not maybe not see anyone for a year, but once they show up, they either reach out for benefits or hope that the king will solve their troubles.

However, in order to invade Italy, Louis XII had to announce the temporary suspension of this national policy, although this was done for a larger purpose, but Caesar saw a lot of helplessness in it.

And the king made such a compromise only so that he could get the support of the domestic nobility and organize a large enough army.

This spurred Caesar even more determined to build a small but powerful army, but this was not possible for the time being, because he did not have so much time to train the army, so after receiving money from Alexander VI, he tried to organize a large enough mercenary army, with the aim of using this army to take Ferrara first, and then gradually achieve his goal when he had a foothold in Romagna.

It's just that the sudden entry of Montina's army into battle made Caesar a little nervous.

Caesar's current situation is that although Ferrara in front of him is weak, but there is a terrible opponent behind him, so he will take advantage of the fact that the Montina army has not yet arrived to take Ferrara first, and then never spit out Ferrara's fat meat whether he fights or talks, or take advantage of Ferrara's dare not act rashly to turn around and block the Montina people on the south bank of the Reno River.

Caesar knew that his father would find a way to buy him time, but he was unsure of how to negotiate with old Rovere, and because of that he became hesitant about what to decide.

But Caesar eventually made the arrangement.

He first sent men into Ferrara, bluntly ordering the Ferrarians to surrender in order to win without a fight, and at the same time he sent an army of about 2,000 men to the north bank of the Renault River, and after taking control of two wooden bridges over the River Renault at the ends of a town less than 2 franca at each end, the Papal army was somewhat relieved.

Since ancient times, rivers have often been natural barriers, as large as the border of a country, as small as a line of defense on the battlefield, rivers can always give the defending party a certain psychological sustenance and sense of security.

Although the Renault River is not wide, Caesar believes that this river is the key to his confrontation with the Montina army, thinking that the Roman Empire has blocked the barbarian invasion for so many years with the natural border barrier of the Rhine River, Caesar believes that the army of 2,000 people organized by himself can support him until he takes Ferrara, even if he cannot defeat the Montina.

Then, it's time for the negotiating table.

At this time, Caesar, who had heard that the Montina troops were a little worried, put down the letter a little, and he was in the mood to start writing, he felt that it was time for Lucrezia to come forward, lover or wife, which could have a greater impact on Alexander?

By the time Gompati's army reached the south bank of the Reno River, the Papal army had built a simple defensive line on the north bank.

In fact, in this era, the two sides of the confrontation across the river often did not need any fixed fortifications in most places, except for the breastwork erected near the two bridges and the improvised artillery batteries built on the higher ground slightly behind, and Gompati saw that the Papal army on the opposite bank was only lined up in long lines on the bank of the river.

Although the depth of the line was thin enough to see the locals standing in the distance, the Papal army had indeed established a riverbank defense.

The Balkan vanguard began to test the banks of the river, running back and forth along the banks on horseback, shouting and shouting, trying to get the attention of the enemy and then mobilize them, while some of the soldiers who had been selected in the ranks to read and hyphenate quickly wrote down the numbers and flags of the different units of the enemy on a writing board with a charcoal pen.

Eventually, they had to be copied in two copies, one directly to Gompati as the field commander, and the other to be kept on file for the future Montina military intelligence that was being prepared.

And looking at the enemy's arrangement, Gompati couldn't help frowning slightly.

Obviously, the Battle of Livorno was a heavy blow to Caesar, but it also taught him a lot.

At least Caesar was not easily fooled this time, and from the reaction of the Papal army, Gompati guessed that Caesar should have given a death order to this interception force, no matter what means the Montina army used to lure the enemy or provoke, they must be dead near the two wooden bridges.

Gompati thinks that such enemies are really annoying, because they don't care what you do, but only keep their own one-third of an acre, which makes people a little helpless.

"Looks like it's going to be attacked." Gompati finally came to this conclusion, he didn't care if he had to fight a bad battle, compared to Bucharest, the upcoming battle on the Renault River really didn't make him feel much, but Gompati knew in his heart that this war was not completely determined by the victory or defeat on the battlefield, and even the extent to which the war should be maintained was not up to the battlefield commander to decide.

This is something that Gompati hates, everything on the battlefield is decided by the deal behind the scenes, not by the talent of the commander.

But even so, Gompati decided to make the most of the current opportunity, so he sent Busako to lead his troops into Bologna, just to take into account various reasons outside the battlefield, he had to tell Busako not to approach Bologna too early.

Gompati hoped that by threatening retreats and supply lines, Caesar would finally make the smart choice to exit Romagna on his own.

But now it seemed that his hard work had been in vain, and when he heard that Caesar had seized the north bank of the Renault River, he already knew that things were probably not going to be good.

"Order: Prepare for a storm." Gompati gave the order cleanly.

Once you have made a decision, you must resolutely and decisively implement it, otherwise any foresight will only bring bad changes to the situation of the war.

Gompati climbed to a high ground near the bank and looked at the opposite bank, and the speed of the Renault River was not very rapid, which at least ensured that the Papal army could not abandon all kinds of debris from the upper reaches and go down the river to destroy the bridge.

So what if you cross the river from somewhere else?

This idea was quickly dismissed with the return of the scouts.

Since there was only one town across the river on both sides of the river, all the boats had to be found here, and to Gompati's slight disappointment, he did not find many boats on the south bank of the river that could cross people.

A small number of small boats, which could only carry a few people at a time, were of little value, and Gompati could not think of any use other than the fearless sacrifice it would bring.

The Papal Army had two batteries high on the opposite bank, and although the size of the artillery was certain to be small, it was still a great threat.

For this reason, Gompati decided to send a small force to try to attack, knowing that this would probably have some bad effects due to the predictable defeat, but he did not intend to easily send his troops within range of the enemy's artillery until the real threat of enemy artillery was determined.

The attacking army was a Balkan light infantry, these soldiers in gray cloth uniforms, armed with axes and shields, were often used as rapid units that broke into the enemy's formation during battle and quickly infiltrated and caused confusion to the enemy.

The movement of the Montina army caused a commotion among the Papal army on the other side, and after confirming that the Montina were not harassing and luring, but indeed crossing the river to attack, there was a faint panic among the Papal army, but it quickly calmed down under the reprimand of the officers.

The officers began shouting back and forth urging the soldiers to enter the makeshift fortifications, and standing behind the low breastwork, the Papal Army watched uneasily and vigilantly at the Balkans who had assembled across the bridge.

Many people in the Papal army had already heard of Montina's army, and some of them had participated in the original battle of Livorno, so when the Balkans were seen, there was immediately confusion among the soldiers of the Papal army.

"Don't panic, don't you see them on the other side of the river," an officer angrily whipped the helmet of one of the soldiers standing at the front, "they are on the other side of the river, as long as they hold the bridge, the Montina people will not be able to cross!" ”

The shouts of the officers seemed to have had a role, and the already nervous soldiers began to gather on both sides of the bridge, especially when they saw the Balkans wielding hatches and shields on the opposite side, and there was a rush of shouts among the Papal army.

"What are those brutes going to do," said a mercenary in half-armour, pushing the flat helmet that was buckled to his head, "are they going to rush over like this, knowing that even a group of old women with crutches can drive them back." ”

The mercenary's words caused a burst of laughter, and the Papal Army, which had been a little chaotic because of its timidity, began to become presumptuous.

"Let them rush over," an officer of the Papal Army instructed his men, "and then teach the brutes a good lesson." ”

The soldiers' breathing became rapid, and although the Balkans' weapons were rather rudimentary, the reputation of fighting the Ottomans made the Papal soldiers still nervous when they actually faced these "barbarians".

The Balkans began to advance in two groups from the bridge upstream of the town, and Gompati, after careful observation for a while, decided to place his troops in a larger open field outside the town upstream from the bridge.

"Their artillery is a bit of a hassle." Gompati muttered something in a low voice as he looked at the enemy artillery on the high ground on the opposite bank.

The Papal Army placed their artillery on a high ground in the middle of the two bridges, almost far from the two bridges upstream and down, so that their artillery had almost complete control over the only communication choke point on the river.

The Balkan light infantry was fast, and they only stopped for a moment before they suddenly attacked, and the Balkans rushed along the road on the bridge with shields and hatches, or swords brandished.

Several hurried orders rang out in the papal army.

A black hole in the muzzle of a gun protruded from the ranks, and with a few orders one after another, a burst of gunfire rang out from near the mouth of the bridge on the opposite bank as the Balkans rushed halfway to the bridge.

Suddenly there was a scream on the bridge, although the number of musketeers of the Papal Army arranged on both sides of the bridge was small, but because of the narrow bridge deck, the Balkans crowded together became obvious targets, almost as long as they shot at the bridge, they could be shot, and the Balkans on the bridge were immediately beaten to the ground of flesh and blood, and the screams continued.

A few more shouts, and an officer in the Papal army gave the order to attack.

Bands of spearmen crowded toward the bridge, and the attack on the Balkans relieved the Papal soldiers, who had been somewhat frightened, especially when they realized that their spears were clearly superior.

Looking at the soldiers of the two sides that finally collided on the bridge, and the sound of weapons clashing from the bridge, the fierce fighting and the terrible screams, Gompati's attention was completely focused on the enemy's artillery position on the opposite bank.

Although he couldn't see it very clearly, he could faintly see the flickering and running figures on the artillery positions of the Papal Army, Gompati raised his arm and put his thumb in front of his eyes to calculate slightly, and then shook his head a little frustratedly.

The artillery he carried was more than enough to hit the opposite bank, but it was not enough to suppress the enemy's artillery range, and once it was necessary to force the crossing, the narrow deck of the two bridges would inevitably become the most dangerous area, if the commander of the Papal army was too conservative, perhaps he would directly order the artillery to blow up the bridge, but if the commander of the other side was a risk-taking man, then he would probably order to deliberately give up the bridge mouth on the north bank, and then take advantage of the favorable terrain of the artillery to inflict a large number of casualties on the Montina army that set foot on the north bank.

Gompati didn't know which way the opposing commander would choose, but no matter what he chose, it would lead to a stalemate in the battle.

Gompati knew that Ferrara didn't have that much time for him to make the usual arrangements, or to bring in enough range of artillery from Montina.

"Order the cavalry to get ready," Gompati ordered, and then, because he was not at ease, he simply went straight to the artillery positions arranged in the town, "Guys, maybe we can't hit their artillery, but let's teach them a lesson that the infantry is always okay." ”

Gompati's words caused a cheer from the gunners, some of whom climbed onto the roofs of nearby houses to take a closer look, and when they saw the hats of some of the Balkan hussars wearing hats visibly stained with a striking red paint, the gunners immediately shouted to Gompati below about the approximate distance they had seen.

"The closest distance between the mapper and us is ......" Gompati muttered as he took out a thick notebook from his pocket, and then corresponded the numbers he heard the report with the values that had been marked in advance in the notebook, and when he found a similar number, he immediately compared the results of the formula that had been made behind him, "Okay, listen, put on the No. 4 wooden bolt!" ”

At Gompati's order, the gunners quickly pulled out a large triangular wooden bolt from the compartment of a marked box, and then neatly chiseled the wooden bolt into the hole under the gun carriage with a hammer.

"Let's teach them a lesson," Gompati shouted, watching the artillery aimed at the Papal troops on both sides of the bridge on the other side of the river, who kept firing muskets and crossbow arrows at the bridge, the corners of Gompati's mouth moved slightly, and he gave the order, "Fire!" ”

A low, oppressive sound of cannons rang out from the town, and then the black cannonballs quickly swept across the river, in an almost straight trajectory towards the Papal army on the opposite bank.

Across the wide river, Gompati could not hear the terrible sound of the moment when the shells pierced through the enemy ranks, but he could hear the terrified screams that followed from the opposite bank.

One of the Papal troops, which had been placed on either side of the bridge, abandoned their positions and retreated without even waiting for a second round of shells, leaving behind several fleshy corpses on the river bank, and at the same time Gompati gave a new order to the artillery.

"Shoot at the rear of the enemy on the bridge, remember to shoot as far as possible, I don't want to be chased and cut by the Balkan barbarians because I missed my own people."

Seeing that the gunners were busy again, Gompati walked to the edge of the open field, and a group of cavalry not far away was ready, and when the cannon sounded again, followed by the chaotic noise from the rear of the Papal army fighting the Balkans on the opposite bank, Gompati raised his arm, and then swung down hard!

On August 2, 1499, the Montina army crossed the Renault River!