When Machiavelli hurried to Montina, it was only early in the morning of the next day, and after a long night's trekking, he was almost falling apart, but although his body was exhausted, Machiavelli was excited in his heart.

As a man who was more interested in utilitarianism than anyone else, he was always eager to be appreciated and reused, whether it was during the Savonarola period, or during the Sazi regime, or at a time when he was beginning to be called a monarchy, Machiavelli tried his best to get close to the upper echelons of power.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with this, the pursuit of utilitarianism is not shameful in any era, and people often condemn only the unscrupulous behavior for the pursuit of utilitarianism.

Machiavelli could guess that the Count must have been in such a hurry to summon him that there must be something very important, which gave him a sense of excitement that his own spring had finally arrived in this cold winter.

Alexander summoned Machiavelli to the vault, which made him secretly agitated again, because he knew that the count would not normally meet outsiders in the vault except for foreign envoys or important subordinates.

"I need you to do something very important for me," Alexander didn't say anything superfluous at first, and then he looked at Machiavelli, whose clothes were crumpled and his face couldn't hide his tiredness, "Tell me how long it took you to get from Pisa to Montina." ”

"About a whole day, I left very early yesterday."

"Yes, the day is up," Alexander nodded, "tell me, do you think it's going all the way?" ”

Machiavelli's expression paused slightly, and if the previous inquiry had been a simple polite concern, he now had a vague sense that the Count seemed to be interested in his travels.

"Yes, my lord, the road was smooth, and the condition of the road was better than anywhere else I passed, and it even reminded me of the literature describing the city of Rome at its strongest."

"All roads lead to Rome?"

"Yes, those roads are very convenient." Speaking of this, Machiavelli suddenly remembered some things he had seen when he was studying the "History of Alexander's Origins" about Alexander's huge investment in the construction of the road between Montina and Pisa two years ago when he did not have such a huge wealth and influence as he does now, Machiavelli was a little strange at this time, but now he was vaguely aware of the Count's purpose in doing so.

"Now that you have enjoyed the conveniences, everything is much easier, and I believe there is no need to explain to you how important such a path is to us," said Alexander, laying his hands on the table and staring at Machiavelli with blazing eyes, "I want you to do this for me." ”

"You mean let me build the road?" Machiavelli looked incredulous, and although he could vaguely feel that the importance of the road was more than just the convenience of transportation, he never expected the count to ask him to be a "contractor".

"No, that's not what you should do," Machiavelli breathed a sigh of relief when Alexander waved his hand in denial, but then the count's words made him stunned again, "What I want you to do is to find someone to pull sponsorship." ”

Machiavelli looked at Alexander in a bit of a daze, of course he knew what it was like to pull sponsorship, those artists would ask big businessmen and rich aristocrats to pull sponsorship, explorers would also find people to pull sponsorship for their adventures, and even the kings would find those wronged bosses to pull sponsorship for a war, but to build roads, or to build their own roads, how to pull this sponsorship?

"I know very well that you are acting in Florence, Sir," Alexander said with a smile to Machiavelli as he opened the map on the table, "You are a good diplomat, and I can prove it myself, so I think this is a good opportunity for you to make the most of your abilities." ”

"Sir, do you think that's the case?" Machiavelli was somewhat suspicious of Alexander's words, and he wondered that perhaps the Count was going to let him borrow money from the merchants of the realm, but to his surprise that, according to his research and rough estimates over the past few days, the Count's wealth was absolutely staggering.

But even so, the Count still wanted to borrow money, which made him wonder what kind of road the Count wanted to build.

Seeing the confusion on Machiavelli's face, Alexander motioned for him to come to the table: "You can see, these are the places where I need you to borrow, to know how far our plan can be carried out, a large part depends on how much money you can get for us." ”

Looking down at the dense markings on the map, Machiavelli's face first showed a hint of confusion, and then his expression changed to a look of surprise.

Machiavelli was not an architect, so he didn't know exactly how much it would cost to build a road, but he had seen detailed records of the cost of the road from Pisa to Montina in the government records, so he had some impression of the huge investment required to build the road.

Machiavelli didn't think it would stump Alexander if it was just a route from Montina to Florence, but when he saw the criss-crossing road on the map, Machiavelli couldn't help but look staggered.

"My lord, this will take ......"

"A lot of money."

Alexander nodded at him.

Machiavelli rubbed his chin and looked down at the drawing.

With Montina as the center, a vast network of roads covering almost the entire Romagna-Tuscany region, Machiavelli was secretly alarmed by Alexander's ambitions as he thought of the high cost of such a huge project.

Machiavelli was a diplomat, historian and politician, which allowed him to think more and go further than anyone else.

There are many benefits to being able to get around, but the most important thing is that Machiavelli sees the whole of Romagna and Tuscany as much as possible!

How to firmly hold the territory is a problem that almost all lords face, and for the emerging Montina family, it is a key to pay attention to.

Because after all, it's about a country that is more akin to being united.

All may have been fine while Alexander was alive, but once he was gone, the whole country would fall apart.

In Machiavelli's view, this hidden crisis is precisely where he really realizes his value.

To be the one who laid the foundation for the future existence of Romagna and the Duchy of Tuscany is greater than the conquest of the enemy on the battlefield and is bound to go down in history.

Machiavelli believes he can do that.

Looking at the map of the intercity highway now, Machiavelli immediately realized that Alexander had clearly thought about the problems he was about to face, so he wanted to build a network of roads to try to tie the whole duchy together.

Just thinking about the funds needed to carry out such a huge project, Machiavelli's face showed a hint of bitterness.

He could already imagine how difficult it would be to raise such a sum of money, and even in his mind, no one in the whole of Europe could afford to shell out such a large amount of money.

"That's something you can do only if you can, sir." Alexander looked at Machiavelli, who looked a little gloomy, and smiled strangely.

He had the impression that Machiavelli was a very peculiar man.

Because of his enthusiasm for utilitarianism, Machiavelli once wandered among the rulers of Florence, for whom there was no such virtue as loyalty, and the only thing that could make him filial was a position of power that could impress him, but he ended up depressed because he was not appreciated.

Alexander knew he wouldn't die to himself either, but that didn't matter, because Alexander believed he had something enough to make him willing to serve him.

"I need you to convince the merchants, but first I think you should first convince your fellow Florentines to tell the Florentines that I am going to set up a 'Continental Exploitation Company' from which they can buy from me by investment the right to collect road tolls for a period of thirty years, on the same terms and conditions apply to all cities and individuals willing to provide us with support."

Alexander said and looked back at the map behind him: "State Officer, do you know what this means?" ”

The muscles on Machiavelli's face twitched slightly, and he licked his lower lip slightly, nodding a little hard.

The sale of road toll rights may sound like a strange thing, but it is not without precedent.

In fact, this kind of tax card in disguise has been around for hundreds of years, and has been around for centuries to come.

What impressed Machiavelli was the "Continental Development Company".

Just as the Free Trade Association would never be regarded as a simple chamber of commerce, Machiavelli would never have considered this "Continental Development Company", which sounded like a simple business business, to be a simple road-building and money-making organization.

It's not that simple!

Machiavelli felt that he had vaguely groped the context and key to Alexander's rapid rise in such a short period of time, that is, he did not show the same ambition as the other nobles from the beginning, and although his elite army was far smaller than the other nobles in size, in Machiavelli's memory, there was no army he knew that could compare with the Montina army.

The vast sums of money saved by the mercenary army were used by Alexander in what was obviously more important, and he invested all of his money in commercial expansion in addition to equipping himself with the most powerful weapons of the moment.

This made Machiavelli can't help but have a kind of speculation that seems absurd, but now that he thinks about it, he feels more and more probable.

That is, Montina seems to be going to penetrate more through the economy than to conquer the whole of Rome by pure force.

Once the idea was formed, it could no longer be erased from Machiavelli's mind, and now listening to the Count's proposal to establish such an organization called the "Continental Development Company", Machiavelli could not help but feel his breath suddenly become short.

He could imagine what the true mission of the "Continental Development Company" was, and by accommodating more and more funds to participate in the huge and time-consuming project of building roads, the Continental Development Company would penetrate into every aspect of Alexander's power as quickly as the Trade Alliance.

It can be said that if the Trade Alliance is compared to a giant with a huge but still slightly rough skeleton, then this continental development company is a huge body supported by this skeleton, covering the ubiquitous blood vessels and nerves throughout the body.

And as Alexander's influence expanded, the continent development company was bound to expand rapidly.

Machiavelli, of course, didn't know what blood vessels and nerves were, but he thought he had the key to something, so when he heard that Alexander had asked him to take charge of raising money, he almost lost his temper from being too excited.

Machiavelli knew all too well what that meant this, and he even wondered if he should ask the Count for a position in the future Continental Development Company now, even if he had to give up the title of state officer, which he was proud of, he hoped to seize such a rare opportunity.

Because once the Earl's plan can be put into effect, it will soon be realized that this continental development company will be one of the hottest groups under the Earl.

"Tell my commissioner that I can trust you?" Alexander asked in a deep voice.

Machiavelli took a deep breath and told himself not to panic, but to appear calm and trustworthy at this point.

After quietly calming his ups and downs, Machiavelli bowed to Alexander: "You can rest assured of my judgment, and I will prove to be the most suitable person for you to accomplish this great idea." ”

Seeing Machiavelli's confidence in just the right place, Alexander smiled slightly and pushed the drawings on the table towards him: "State Officer, I am waiting for your good news. ”

When Machiavelli came out of the vault, he saw a group of squires who looked like the local squires in the hallway he had seen when he had arrived.

Seeing that they looked anxious and helpless because they had waited too long, Machiavelli shook his head sympathetically, and then went to look for Ulliu, accompanied by the attendants who were waiting outside.

Alexander, on the other hand, did not receive the squires, who were already freezing, for he was so tired that as soon as Machiavelli had left, he ordered no disturbance, and then slipped comfortably into the warm blanket.

It's just that before falling asleep, he couldn't help but let out a deep voice like a whisper: "I don't know how Rome is doing......"

Konstantin stood in front of his father, looking at the expressionless face of old Rovere, and he wondered what his father was thinking at this time.

"Do you think Gombray is a threat to us?" Old Rovere finally spoke, his tone was gloomy but unambiguous, and every pronunciation was accompanied by a calm and powerful finish, which made people feel that even if he was asking, he had already reached a conclusion.

"He occupied Pavia and Monza, and he also proposed the so-called Milan peace talks."

Konstantin did not answer directly, he knew that it was not easy to convince his father, old Rovere was not a stubborn person, a person who was too stubborn could not achieve enough, having firm conviction and stubbornness were two different things, which can be seen from the fact that old Rovere was able to quickly show favor to Montina after Tony Laura Rovere was burned alive.

"Go on."

"This shows that he has great ambitions for Milan and even for Lombardy as a whole, which is enough to prove how big a threat he is, and if he is really allowed to continue, maybe one day his target will be Genoa," Konstantin was encouraged, and his tone became active, "Maybe you still don't agree with me, then do you think that his breach of contract is a betrayal of our Rovelle family." ”

"Are you saying that he promised you to become the Duke of Milan?" Old Rovie asked, seeing a touch of anger on his son's face, he stroked his gray beard and nodded slowly, "You are right, he did break the contract in this matter." ”

"So father, what do you think ......?"

"I don't think your reasons are sufficient," said old Rovere interrupted Konstantin, "to get me to support you, or to support you, you must have enough benefits that will bring me much more benefits than Gombray, or you must be able to show evidence that he does threaten the real interests of our Rovere family, otherwise you know very well that this so-called promise is just a small means in the negotiations, and anyone can play it as they please, as long as they can guarantee that they will not pay for such a small trick, People will even be more inclined to use this kind of diplomacy than to rely on the military alone to solve problems. ”

Konstantin looked at his father helplessly, he had already roughly understood at this time that his father's attitude was purely utilitarian, and all that mattered to him was whether it could bring enough benefits, so unless he could come up with something necessary to oppose Alexander, his father would not express his attitude easily.

Looking at the back of Konstantin helplessly leaving, Old Rovere's expression slowly became gloomy.

He walked over to a tall cabinet, opened the door with the key he had with him, and took out a letter from one of the compartments inside.

The wax seal of the letter had been opened, and there was no mark on the seal, and when the letter was opened, old Rovere looked at what had been written in scribbled pen on it.

"Honorable Cardinal, I have every reason to believe that the Count of Montina is engaged in a vast project, and although it is not clear what the purpose of this count is, the places included in this plan are unimaginable, and in addition to the regions and cities he already owns, he seems to be coveting other lands and cities in Rome, including Milan and Genoa......"

Old Rovere looked at the letter, and even in front of his son, his face was gloomy and uncertain, and he looked at the contents of the letter repeatedly, trying to understand what the informant had said, and at the same time he repeatedly guessed in his heart what Alexander wanted to do.

"Romagna and Tuscany," said old Rovere, walking to the map hanging on the wall, looking at the outline of the land, which he had sketched with his pen not long ago, and which had cut off the whole Italian peninsula directly from the north and south, except for the eastern seaboard, which had a very narrow section connecting Venice in the north with the south, the whole of the Italian peninsula had been cut off from the middle.

"What do you want to do with Cambrai, can't Romagna and Tuscany satisfy you?" Old Rovere muttered softly to himself, though he did not yet know what the plan of this so-called strange name was about, but, as the letter writer had said, he already felt the suffocating ambition in it.

Perhaps Konstantin was right, and Gombray had indeed begun to pose a threat.

Old Rovere's eyes fell on the location of the city of Rome on the map, and from the map, Rome was vaguely surrounded by Alexandria's gradually formed sphere of influence, which made old Rovere have to seriously consider his son's words.

"Perhaps," said old Roverley's hand, tapping on the map, and then his gaze gradually fell on a place on the map, "this is also an opportunity. ”