Barendi stared at the tall building surrounded by scaffolding in the distance.

The figures swayed above, and from time to time various noises could be heard from the construction site over there.

Barendi had seen the building very close, and it was a vast labyrinth of complex machinery.

The building was designed by Leonardo da Vinci based on the hydraulic windmill that Alexander built by the river.

However, it is much more complex than a windmill, and there are a frightening number of large and small fan gears that can be driven by the river.

According to Leonardo da Vinci, this huge fixed hydraulic tower was able to provide enough power for a huge hammer to move, which could even revolutionize the way blacksmiths worked.

Barondi was not very interested in the big toy made by Leonardo da Vinci, she only knew that it was expensive, because the bearded old man had already taken money from her to equip at least half of the regiment.

However, Barendi took Alexander's advice to heart, and she never refused Leonardo da Vinci's request.

Or rather, in her mind, maybe it was just to pay for some of Alexander's hobbies.

"At least it's better for him to be interested in these things than in women," Barondy once said to Ashley with contentment, "and it was a surprise to me that he didn't often meet a village girl in a territory who led his illegitimate son to the door or got entangled with those prostitutes, and when I was engaged to him, I thought I might have to solve this trouble for him for the rest of my life." ”

Hearing the Duchess's words, Ashley showed a very envious look, and as for the Duke's well-known affairs, she wisely ignored them.

A maid walked in to report to Barondy that the cardinal's messenger was waiting outside, much to Barondi's surprise.

Unlike Lucrezia, who always missed her family, Barondi and the Rovere family had almost broken off contact with each other except for business.

So when she heard that Lucrezia was crying and pleading in front of Alexander in order to seek forgiveness from Caesar, Barencia was annoyed by Lucrezia's wayward stupidity and dissatisfied with her husband's heroic shortness of breath.

And the content of Old Rowley's letter made Barundi fall into deep thought unexpectedly.

Even though he hated the pizza vase, Geoffrey's accusations were so vicious that Alexander's son was involved.

Barondi's unusually fair fingers tapped lightly on the letterhead, and although her appearance could not be compared with that of other women, her delicate and white skin compared to other women was what Alexander was most fascinated by.

The contents of the letter were so surprising that Barondi thought about it for a long time before she began to consider her father's intentions.

Obviously, when old Rovere told her about this, he was showing her so-called "goodwill".

Since the rift with the family, Barondi has completely changed her relationship with the Rovere family in an unusually calm way.

If it had been in the past, maybe she wouldn't have made old Rovere care too much about doing so, but with the possibility that she would become the queen of Castile, old Rovere would have to re-attach importance to this daughter who had almost been abandoned by him.

Telling Barendi about Lucrezia is his attempt to ease relations with Barondi.

Old Rovelle believed that Barendi would take advantage of the news, and he didn't care what she would do.

Alexander VI and Lucrezia......

Barendi thinks that Jeffrey is just a fool who doesn't know how to make that kind of rumor.

This has nothing to gain except that he was completely abandoned by the Borgia family, and by the way, he offended some of the most powerful people in the world.

Presumably, old Rovere would even feel that his death was not unjust at all, otherwise even the future pope would have to be careful when involved in such rumors.

However, this also gave old Rovie the opportunity to reveal the matter to Barondi, which not only allowed him to take the opportunity to repair the relationship with his daughter, but also got rid of a lot of trouble.

As soon as she thought of her father's wishful thinking, the corners of Barondi's mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

"Lucrechia, you stupid woman, should I let you repay me with pizza." Barondi muttered to herself.

She could imagine Lucrechia's reaction to hearing that vicious rumor.

It must have been panicked and lonely, and if Alexander had been around, she would have thrown herself into his arms and wept bitterly, and that pitiful appearance would have made Alexander feel distressed.

"A stupid woman who only seduces men."

Barondi cursed in a low voice, and she took a quill from the silver pencil case and gently repaired it with a pencil sharpener to write a letter, but her movements gradually slowed down.

She picked up her father's letter again and looked at it carefully, this time Barondi's mood seemed to calm down a lot, so gradually, she saw something from her father's letter.

Why did her father tell her about this, Barendi began to think about it seriously.

This was obviously a good opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Alexander VI, although it might offend Alexander, but with Barondi's knowledge of her father, if not to take full advantage of it, it would at least be exchanged for some benefits.

Then when old Rovere revealed this matter to her, he would not just hope that the father and daughter would be reconciled.

Barendi pondered carefully, and after thinking about the current situation in the Vatican, she felt that she had understood her father's intentions.

Obviously, old Rovere did not want to offend the two Alexanders completely, but he did not intend to let go of this opportunity, so he had to reveal this matter to the two people who were far away in Iberia through Lucrezia.

Figured this out, Barendi put the quill back in the silver pen case, and then she took a deep breath and pulled the cord of the rope bell beside her.

With a soft knock on the door, an attendant pushed open a small door in the wall and walked in from next door.

"Orders to go down and prepare the chariot and the accompanying party, and to invite Master Machiavelli to come, and tell him that I am going on a long journey."

"Your Highness, where are you going?"

The chamberlain asked in surprise, for he had the impression that the Duchess had almost never left Montina, let alone Rome Thesia.

"Pisa, I'm going to visit Pisa officially." Barondi said majestically.

………………

The plains that had just been washed away by the flood were left with devastation, as if they had been ravaged by the ancient giants who had descended on the earth, making everything look as if it had been torn apart and trampled on the ground.

The fields and roads are completely invisible, and there are farmland destroyed by floods and the remains of trees that have been uprooted, and the muddy ground will sink deep into it, making it impossible to walk normally.

Gonzalo frowned as he looked at the ruined and desolate scene before him, an army struggling to move forward in such a place, every step was so difficult that the whole army could not get far in a day.

This was a departure from the order he had received in Madrid, which had been intensified to quickly occupy the reservoir on the upper Ebro instead of fighting here and on the rough roads.

What's more, the forward force of Sicily and Castile has crossed the floodplain, and his main force has not yet made contact with the striker, which means that the force will be alone and in danger.

For the first time, Gonzalo really sensed what it meant when he said that this was a completely different war, and it was clear that it was really different from the wars he had experienced before.

This is an army that seems to be more focused on coordination, and from his contacts with the Sicilians, he can sense that no army can act alone, and that the Sicilian army is running like a tight machine.

However, in this way, when faced with immediate trouble, the whole army will inevitably fall into difficulties at the same time.

As for the strikers, Gonzalo's last report was that they were harassing the edge of the floodplain, where it was clear that they were preparing to set up a safe landing ground for the main forces that were trapped in the floodplain, so that once they had gotten past the damn floodplain, they could quickly deploy their troops.

It was the only piece of comfort that made Gonzalo feel comforted, and now he was just praying that the Aragonese would not show up so soon.

In fact, Gonzalo's fears were unfounded, and the Aragonese army, or rather, the Aragonese coalition of nobles, was still being conscripted in various places.

The 3,300 or so royal troops organized by Ferdinand were still slowly making preparations for the departure, whether it was the personal belongings they carried with them, or the camping equipment from the large tents to the small stoves, the ministers and the merchants who had heard the news were bargaining.

This annoyed Ferdinand but couldn't do anything, the 3,300-strong army was already the largest force he could take, but it was already making him feel a lot of pressure.

Many ministers complained about the king's large standing army, so when Ferdinand tried to expand the size of the king's army, he was met with strong opposition.

According to the countermeasures devised by Ferdinand and his generals, the first assembled royal army would quickly advance towards the upper Ebro region, where they would immediately establish an effective defensive line, but they would not be able to take the initiative because they would have to wait for the arrival of the noble coalition.

With a strong defensive line to hold off the enemy, it was now late autumn, and if they were lucky, they might be able to drag the war into winter, by which time both sides would have to settle into the winter camp, which would be enough to give Aragorn a chance to prepare fully.

Ferdinand pinned his hopes for victory on the spring of the following year, when his army was fully prepared, and the enemy was at a disadvantage because of the laborious expedition, and he was confident that he would use his skilful hand to find someone willing to cooperate with him in Barriaridud during these long months, at which point Alexander, who was on fire in his backyard, would have to be forced to withdraw.

Ferdinand's plan seemed perfect, at least in a passive situation where the enemy had already invaded.

The news from the front also lifted Ferdinand's spirits, invading other countries in such a season was risky, and the flood seemed to have become Ferdinand's strongest ally, and now that the Cassie coalition army was blocked on the other side of the floodplain, there was no way for them to continue their advance.

Ferdinand, who heard the report, was so excited that he quickly told everyone he could see the good news, and he did so to stabilize the panicked Aragonese people.

Not only did the report come to prove the conclusiveness of the news, but also that the scouts had been specially summoned to the court to report what they had seen to the generals and nobles.

"Their wagons got stuck in the mud, and some of the pack horses were out of breath, and it was a large swamp, and it was difficult for a man to pull out his legs once he stepped into it, and they were trapped in the adults, at least as I left, I saw more than one enemy army having to lay blankets in the mud and spend the night."

The scout's description delighted the generals of Aragon, while the nobles burst into laughter.

Even the most arrogant generals would not choose to attack the enemy at this time, if it was early spring, the Aragonese would be really nervous, but it is autumn, and with winter approaching, the enemy will be in trouble.

Zaragoza finally breathed a sigh of relief, and was even asked by Ferdinand if he was still in such a hurry to gather the nobles' army.

"Be quicker," Ferdinand was not discouraged by the good news, he knew Gonzalo better than the strength of the Sicilian army, so he did not take it lightly at all, "If I can, I hope that the army that invaded Aragon can be eliminated as soon as possible, although they are not numerous, it is a problem." ”

The nobles were unimpressed by the king's caution, while the generals were quite sympathetic to Ferdinand's ideas.

Many of them had dealt with Gonzalo, and some had fought with him, which made them know better than anyone else how powerful the Castilian was.

If there was a chance to defeat Gonzalo, it would be a good thing for the generals, so they prepared more actively, and at the same time sent their troops to advance near the upper Ebro River according to Ferdinand's orders, looking for the enemy's vanguard in order to annihilate it.

An autumn breeze blew with a characteristic Iberian smell, and Kulash sneezed.

Kulash didn't like this place very much, even though it was in the interior, but the air here always seemed to be humid, which was completely different from the Balkan air that always seemed to have a dry heat.

It's been a long time since he came out of his hometown, and although Kulash has long been accustomed to this kind of wandering days, he is still a little worried when he thinks of Omo in Barriaridod.

Their brothers' parents died young, and the meagre land left by their father was not enough to support their brother, and Kulash did not want to drive Omo to the convent as the rest of the family did with their second son, so he left his homeland to earn a share of the family business.

After years of hard work, he returned to his hometown, but he did not expect to be involved in a bigger war.

Now not only himself, but even Omo is involved in such a war far from home, which makes Kurash feel that this is completely contrary to his original intention.

But the thought that his brother seemed to mix well in the queen's court made Kulash happy again.

Their family was just a small landowner with little power, and although they had high hopes for their younger brother, Kurash also knew that with their family's situation at the beginning, the best outcome for Omo would be to serve as a retinue of the monarch in some court, or someone would be able to see his talent put to good use, but it was not known when and what month it would be.

Omo was already a staff attendant to the queen at a young age, and it is said that the queen had written him a letter of recommendation because she was so pleased with his performance in the previous battles that he was able to return to the University of Bologna for further study, and this time with the queen's recommendation, he was likely to become a personal student of a certain master.

This made Kulash feel that his family finally had a chance to come out, and his future as a soldier was on the battlefield, but Kulash never thought it was the best choice, because he knew that it was often the court officials who decided the fate of the soldiers, and he hoped that Omo would one day become like that.

A scout came running quickly, and he spoke quickly in a word that Kulash didn't understand, and then he quickly made a few gestures as if he remembered something.

But by this time, one of the soldiers who was accompanying Kulash in charge of interpreting had already reported to him the words of the scout, and as he listened to the report, Kurashi's expression slowly became solemn.

A coalition of armies from different countries may seem formidable, but it also has obvious drawbacks.

The language barrier was enough to cause a fatal disaster, as Alexander had realized since his time in Italy, so the first hunters around him were ordered to learn more of the local language while fighting for him.

This does stump a lot of people, except for some who have a real talent for languages, and the vast majority of people can understand almost nothing but simple everyday conversations.

This forced Alexander to teach simple sign language in addition to sifting through some of the necessary common military languages that they had to learn.

A qualified scout must learn the military sign language, which was common in all of Alexander's armies.

However, for the sake of the war with Aragon, Kurash brought an interpreter this time, and this was arranged by Jisha himself.

The scouts brought bad news, an Aragonese army of about 1,000 men was advancing west along the south bank of the Ebro River.

Their destination is obvious, the reservoir upstream.

This made Kulash a little embarrassed.

His task was to open up a forward position for Gonzalo's main forces, in order to ensure that the coalition forces would not be attacked by the enemy when they captured the upper Ebro River.

But now Ferdinand obviously wanted to take advantage of the inconvenience of Gonzalo's march to send troops to the upper reaches of the Ebro River, which undoubtedly had a great impact on the rest of the war.

Kulash knew he had to make a quick decision whether to hold off the Aragonese army or secure Gonzalo's main flank.

After some weighing, Kulash gave the order.

The upper reaches of the Ebro River, located in Aragon, generally refer to the section of the river that flows through the valley of the southern foothills of the Pyrenees and then into the western plateau of Aragon.

Due to the drop and topography, this section of the Ebro River is narrow and turbulent.

As early as the time of the Roman Empire, the Romans built long dams and dug waterways along the river in order to take advantage of the water potential of the upper Ebro River to form a convenient water transportation network.

It was only with the decline of the Roman Empire and the withdrawal of Roman power from Iberia that those dams gradually fell into ruins that no one cared about.

During the Moorish era, the Moorish rulers tried to restore the work of the Romans, but this wish was never fulfilled due to years of war.

It was not until the 13th century, when Aragon finally regained the land in the Ebro River basin, that as the situation stabilized, Aragon once again considered rebuilding the upper dams left by the Romans.

At the same time, the Aragonese planned to build reservoirs to improve the plight of Zaragoza downstream, using the foundations of the water conservancy facilities left by the Romans.

For more than two centuries, the Aragonese had taken on a grand scale.

At the same time, it is a clear proof of the determination of the Aragonese to never allow any failure in the reservoirs of the upper Ebro River!

The Lappian valley is the largest section of the Ebro River that flows into the western plateau of Aragon, where the Aragonese have been building an exceptionally balanced levee more than a century ago, using the remains of the important sites of the early Roman dams.

An Aragonese army, the vanguard of Zaragoza, was slowly advancing along the road to the east of the valley.

Their mission, according to orders, was to hold off any Cassie forces that tried to approach this section of the valley.

A gust of wind blew, and the flags in front of the team couldn't help but sway back and forth, and the soldiers walking in the front couldn't help but slow down slightly, looking at the cross that was also swaying by the wind.

An old soldier licked his tongue and fixed his eyes on the top of the cross, only relieved to see the string of rattles hanging on it finally stop ringing so wildly.

"We need to get out of here as soon as possible," said the veteran to one of his companions, "see that string of rattles, every time it rings the hardest, it doesn't work, believe me." ”

The veteran's words made the companion next to him clench the spear in his hand hard, and then asked in a low voice: "What will happen?" ”

"The last time we were attacked by the French in Naples, I almost lost my life, and that was a few years ago, when Gonzalo was in command, and it is said that he complained that we should not have hung the bells on the cross, that it was purely pagan custom. No wonder it summons bad luck ......"

Speaking of this, the veteran couldn't help but look up at the top of the cross.

A gust of wind blew, and the string of bells made a dense sound.

Somehow, the veteran's heart couldn't help but immediately beat wildly with the crisp ringtone!