Gompati walked gloomily in the damp mud, his boots creaking on the ground, and the wind pouring through the cracks in his cold armor.

There were figures swaying in the woods ahead, and there were people in the open field not far away, but Gompati didn't pay attention to them, his eyes fixed on a group of disorganized-looking Agri musketeers not far away, and his heart sank at the numbness or sluggishness on their mud-stained faces.

Montina's army was defeated, something he hadn't thought of before, or rather, none of the Montina soldiers had ever expected.

The successive victories, the constant victory over the enemy, and even the Ottomans surrendered in front of them, which gave the Montina army the illusion that they were the embodiment of victory, because of the sharpness of the firearms, even a large number of casualties in the battle were less and less than before, so that the Montina soldiers even had the illusion that they were invulnerable.

Now, they had suffered a defeat, and although the enemy was almost twice as numerous as themselves, and although they were able to organize themselves and withdraw from the battlefield even with a crushing defeat, this did not hide the fact that they had suffered a crushing defeat.

And the symbol of defeat at that time was the collapse of the positions of the Agri musketeers.

When the French army launched an attack on the Montina army guarding the town, even though the French army had already encircled the town of Tarot Valley with a large number of troops, the Montina army was still struggling to hold on.

The Genoese regiment had been forced to retreat to the woods southwest of the town, where the higher terrain temporarily allowed them to stop and block the French attack, but the subsequent waves of French attacks made it more and more difficult to communicate with the Genoese regiment and the town's Agri musketeers, and to make matters worse, the French had apparently learned the lesson of the last time they were bombarded by Montina artillery, and from the beginning of the battle they had launched round after round of fierce attacks on the Montina army's artillery positions. This forced the Montina artillery to change the position of the artillery positions several times in a row, so that the threat posed by the Montina artillery naturally decreased significantly.

The Agri musketeers, on the other hand, were suddenly unable to resist it, a very unexpected change, but as the French cavalry rushed over the corpses of their fallen comrades and rushed towards the positions of the musketeers, and as they saw the enemies who were getting closer and closer and seemed to rush in front of them at any moment, wielding spears and swords to slash themselves to pieces, some of the musketeers could not stand the terrible torment and abandoned their positions and fled backwards.

The retreat of the musketeers was so sudden that no one could even say who had made the cowardly retreat first, but they did abandon their positions, and the Agri fled from the town as they fired, even to the artillerymen who were not far behind them.

When they saw the Agri retreating, the artillerymen had to change their positions again, but soon they found that this time was different from before, the Agri musketeers had retreated in a hurry, and the formation had become chaotic, and the terrible thing was that the French did not give them any respite, and pursued closely behind.

The musketeers are defeated!

This was the only thought of the artillery commander at that time, which led him to immediately order the removal of the bolts holding the guns, and a group of soldiers struggled to pull the guns and retreat back with the musketeers.

However, not all the artillery could be transported in time, and when he saw the French approaching, the artillery commander had to order the gunpowder to be poured into the cannon, and then the muzzle of the cannon was sealed with stones and shells.

The cannon was destroyed in a violent explosion, and Montina's army retreated in the explosion.

Gompati walked through the musketeers, who now didn't look like they had been at all, dirty, hesitant and demoralized, and the whole team was immersed in an oppressive atmosphere.

Gompati's arrival lifted the spirits of the officers, who were also in turmoil.

Although the scale of the battle in Ferrara in the Second Romagna War was not very large, Gompati's command and authority were recognized by the officers, and it can be said that Gompati was the first general under Alexander, who was considered by everyone to be able to take charge on his own.

In this respect, even Ofleuil, who is considered Alexander's right-hand man, is slightly inferior.

"My lord, we lost?" An officer spoke to Gompati more as if asking than telling a fact, and he looked at the others, as if wanting them to tell him that he was not wrong.

"We have indeed lost, and we have suffered heavy casualties," Gompati had to remind his men, and seeing that their mood suddenly became even more depressed, he shrugged his shoulders at them, "Now talk to me, I think you have probably had a hard time since yesterday." ”

Gompati's words gave the officers an outlet for their depressed mood, and they began to report to Gompati about the whole battle.

They said that they had resisted many more enemies than they were, that they had inflicted heavy casualties on the French before retreating, and that even during the retreat they stubbornly resisted the enemy's pursuit, until finally they spoke of the losses in the battle.

The two groups of armies totaled nearly 3,300 soldiers and a total of 22 artillery pieces, and the Northern Army of Montina suffered more than 600 casualties, including 12 lost and destroyed artillery.

The French did suffer heavy casualties, which is why the French did not take advantage of the victory, and after driving Montina's army out of the town of Tarot Valley, they continued to pursue for a while before recovering their troops, leaving only a scattered corpse to spend the cold night in the wilderness outside the town.

Gompati's mood was also a little low, he actually felt helpless about this situation, and the fact that the victorious army could not accept the shock and blow of defeat and casualties for a while, which made Gompati feel that he did not know how to calm his subordinates.

It was only then that he finally understood why the Count did not seem so excited after a victory, and even sometimes had a vague hint of concern in his conversation.

"An army that is always victorious is not really something to be proud of, but an army that can stand tall in defeat is really valuable."

Gompati remembered what Alexander had said, and at the time he didn't fully understand the meaning of the sentence, but now looking at the depressed and demoralized soldiers, he really understood the deep meaning of Alexander's words, although heavy.

It's just that the price of understanding this is too high.

"Regroup your army." Gompati finally gave the order, and he thought of looking at the Agri musketeers in the open field from a slightly higher place, the musketeers had lost their pride, and they were now gathered together and waiting in silence, like a group of prisoners waiting for trial.

"Your Excellency, the casualties of the Agri musketeers are heavy." An officer of the musketeers said in a sullen voice, "The French are constantly attacking us, and the corpses of the heavy cavalry are almost all over the ground in front of the position, but even so they keep attacking us, and the musketeers have never been attacked before, they are all good, but the enemy is too strong." ”

Gompati didn't answer the officer immediately, he was actually wondering if such an army could continue to fight the French, especially after such heavy casualties and the loss of more than half of the artillery.

According to the previous plan, the total strength of the Northern Army of Montina would be 4,000 men, which was also the largest military operation formed by Alexander after his expedition to the Balkans, after all, even Alexander took only 1,500 Balkans with him in Naples.

And now in addition to the 200 men brought by Gompati in the name of the Pisa army, an army of about 500 men is marching overland towards Lombardy.

"Even so, in the end there are only 3,400 people," Gompati had a headache, and the huge loss of more than 600 casualties at once made him already feel that this intervention in the Lombard war had suffered a setback at the beginning, and even worse, looking at the current state of the army, it seems that it is impossible to fight again for the time being, "Maybe we should withdraw from the battle for a while, but where should we retreat?" ”

Gompati frowned, he not only needed to regroup his troops, but also needed to organize the army again, it would be very difficult for an army that had suffered a crushing defeat to fight again, let alone the first time it had suffered such a big defeat.

Finally, after some consideration, Gompati decided to temporarily retreat to the east: "We will meet up with the reinforcements and recuperate. ”

After making this decision, Gompati rubbed his head with a little headache, and he felt that more troublesome things were waiting for him.

He needed to write a report to the prospective countesses about the battle.

In the minds of the people of Gompati, or rather in the minds of most Montinans, Barentia was considered to be harsher and harsher than the Count, and even the people of the realm had no objection.

The Count was benevolent and the Countess was stern, a statement that was shared by the vast majority, and even the officers of Montina privately thought that Barondy seemed to be more of a stern lord.

Gompati was well aware of this, and when attacking Ferrara, although Barendi gave him ample power to command the army with maximum freedom, when she suspected that Gompati was not moving because of Lucrezia, she immediately wrote to him in stern terms to inquire about it.

In the original treatment of Bishop Tony, Barendi showed a decisive and harsh side, and no one would have thought that she would personally order her uncle to be executed.

This also made many people who originally thought that Alexander had been away for a long time and couldn't help but have intentions for Montina.

When Constantine reappeared at the new castle in Montina, Barentia was looking at a report sent by a very good merchant in the Balkans, in duplicate, one of which was being rushed to Naples and the other to Montina.

"That wild girl is arrogant now," Barondy put down the letter and looked at her brother sitting opposite with some annoyance, "You know, if you are not so anxious to tear down my platform, maybe Alexander can be a little nicer to me than he is to that wild girl." ”

"I'm sorry you say that, but as far as I know, doesn't Gombray trust you very much," Konstantin looked at Barenti, who seemed to be jealous, in disbelief, "You're now the regent of Montina, and the woman now called Alexandra can only go back to Wallachia to wait to give birth to her child, you're already victorious, aren't you?" ”

"You think so?" Barentine glanced at Constantine, "If I tell you that the woman deliberately had Pluto show me in the letter that she was building a castle in the mountains for her unborn child, and that all the money was spent on Alexander's, would you still think that I had won?" ”

"It's a bit infuriating, but you can't help but admit that it's you who wins in the end, and you're the Countess of Montina, aren't you?"

Konstantin's words made Barendi feel a little better, in fact, she didn't understand this truth, but the thought that the two women had Alexander's children made her heart feel indifferent gradually become uncomfortable.

"And what are you here for?" Barenti calmed herself down and looked at Constantine, who was sitting across from her, "Speaking of which, it did surprise me that you would come to Montina again, especially after the incident with Uncle Tony. ”

Konstantin secretly swallowed his saliva, thinking of the tragic appearance of Bishop Tony being lit in the first place, he felt a chill in his back.

"Father asked me to express to you how much he misses you." After saying this, looking at Barondi, who was silent and just looked at him, Constantine, who couldn't stand this dull and depressed, finally waved his hand and gave up his disguise, "Actually, my father thinks that maybe I can work with Montina again." ”

"Oh?" Barondi's expression was slightly straight, she didn't pick up the stubble immediately, but pondered for a moment before asking, "Then how does Father think we can cooperate?" ”

"Barondi, do you think the French will occupy Genoa?" Konstantin asked suddenly.

Barondi's face showed surprise, she obviously hadn't thought about it, for her everything was now in Montina's interests, especially with the hunters stationed in Pisa, Barendi suddenly felt that she was a little overwhelmed.

In fact, at this time, anyone with even a little discerning can already see that a powerful domination centered on Romana and Tuscany is gradually forming, Montina, Pisa, Livorno, Florence, and Bologna and Ferrara, which are already under control, with these places as the core, this realm is expanding outward at an undisturbing rate in central Italy, and now it is Barenti who represents the power of this domination.

This made Barenti suddenly feel a little worried about whether she could rule such a large piece of land, which is why the French were still in northern Italy, but Barentia immediately sent an army to march to Lombardy after receiving Alexander's instructions, deep down, Barentia hoped to block the French at the border of Lombardy, because for her, this land in central Italy was already the Combrai family, and she was very worried that once the French invaded this land, there might be unexpected turmoil, It may even give other coveters of the land an excuse to intervene.

Now that she suddenly heard Konstantin's inquiry, Barondi was a little surprised at first, and then her heart couldn't help but sink.

"It seems that you have already thought of it," continued Constantine, ignoring Barondi's obviously surprised look, "if that is the case, although it cannot be called a disaster for the Roveret family, you know that it must be very unpleasant, our family and Shang Nian will fall into the hands of the French, and that Louis is now at odds with the Pope." ”

Barendi didn't speak, she thought of these things, and more importantly, she thought that if Genoa was occupied by the French, then the threat to Pisa would be too great.

From Pisa to Montina, a road is now being built that Alexandria calls an "intercity highway".

If the French had occupied Genoa, it would have meant that they could transport large numbers of troops to Montina via Pisa at any time by sea, rather than by land, in a matter of days.

In that case, her idea of forming the Northern Army with a large number of troops and supplies in an attempt to stop the French on the Lombard border would be meaningless.

"This must not be allowed," said Barendi's voice, with a hint of determination, "Genoa must not fall into the hands of the French. ”

Looking at Barondi's expression, Konstantin finally breathed a sigh of relief, and by this time he had some understanding of what his father said, "Barendi is a real member of the Roverley family".

"Father thinks we can cooperate," Constantine said to his sister, "and he has decided to give the family more support in Genoa to defend against the French, and he wants your army to act with the Emperor's army, and not to give the French a chance." ”

Constantine's words made Barentia's face change slightly, and she suddenly realized that since old Rovere could think of this, then it was impossible for King Louis XII of France not to think of it, and it was only then that she felt that it was obviously a risky move for Montina's army to act alone after entering Lombardy.

And with Alexander's offensive against the French in Naples, Montina's Army of the North was already in danger.

"Send someone to inform the Northern Army to advance towards Milan, and be sure to beware of a sudden attack by the French." Barondi hurriedly summoned her retinue, and she had no time to give orders through Gompati, although this would obviously cause interference with Gompati's command, but the great uneasiness made it impossible for her to control so much.

The day after his entourage left with Barondi's orders, a nervous Barendi received a report from Gompati from the front.

Even if she hadn't opened the letter, Barendi had already sensed something from the emissary's demeanor, so despite repeatedly telling herself to calm down, Barondi's fingers were already a little cold.

"Montina's army and the town of Tarot Valley were defeated, and the French army occupied the town of Tarot Valley and then advanced to Genoa!"

Two days later, another report of the same content was delivered to Naples.

Looking at Gompati's report, Alexander rubbed his forehead and raised his eyebrows.

"Defeated."

Alexander smiled wryly.