Madame Salmatelli was still so beautiful, but Uliu could see a trace of exhaustion on her face.

It is not difficult to imagine that during this time Madame Sarmatelli had to flee with Ludvico, and the comfortable and comfortable court suddenly disappeared without a trace, only all kinds of hardships and days of fear that had never been imagined before, such days were undoubtedly a kind of torture for a woman like Lady Salmatelli, who was accustomed to the life of a noblewoman.

Even now that they were back in Milan, Ludevico did not dare to take it lightly, not only did he need to carefully flatter the emperor in order to get support from him, but he also had to keep an eye on the movements of the French, although he believed that the Austrians would not easily lose this war, but Louis XII left too many terrible impressions on him, and this fear was even stronger than when Charles VIII, after all, although Charles had arrogantly announced the annexation of Milan to French rule, However, he still allowed Ludevico to continue to rule Milan, and Louis XII simply wanted to depose him, which made Ludevico not only think that this man was simply crazy, but also had an inexplicable fear of the French king.

Madame Salmatelli was obviously also influenced by Ludvico, although she had returned to the familiar environment, but she felt that everything was different from before, they were no longer the only masters of Milan, in the court they had to humble and compliment in front of the emperor who regarded himself as a benefactor, even if the emperor was not in Milan, they had to be careful with those Austrians, all this was included in the eyes of the Milanese who were already gradually disappointed in the Sforza family, and Madame Salmatelli could even clearly perceive it, After returning to Milan again, the attitudes of both the aristocracy and the commoners have changed subtly.

This turn of events made Madame Salmatelli feel physically and mentally exhausted, and she was a woman who wanted to enjoy a life of ease and abundance, and did not want to waste her mind on so-called great things that had nothing to do with her, and her idea was simple, to receive favor from the Duke, and then to enjoy the good life without worries that other women might not have dreamed of.

Only now it seems that being the mistress of the Duke is not so easy, at least Madame Salmatelli is already exhausted by the days of worrying all day.

But even so, in front of outsiders, Madame Salmatelli still tried her best to maintain a calm attitude, she has gradually understood that now she also needs to take on some responsibilities, at least in order not to cause trouble for Ludvik, she must still look so unhurried, calm, only in this way can it appear that the Duke is well aware of the current situation, and is full of confidence, otherwise the slightest strangeness may cause all kinds of speculation.

It's just that although she has been reminding herself so much, when she sees Uliu, who appeared in front of her, the calm that Madame Sarmatelli had tried to maintain disappeared almost instantly.

She looked at the Moors in front of her in astonishment and a hint of fear, while her eyes kept glancing around, trying to find anyone who could help her.

"Madam, please don't be so nervous, I swear I won't do you any good." Uli's swarthy face always had a smile full of goodwill, and he didn't seem to care at all about the danger that a large crowd of guards might be called in at the slightest shout from Lady Salmatelli, "I know there may be some misunderstanding, or you think I killed Leonardo da Vinci and Brother Pacioli, but that's not true, trust me, they're all right." ”

"Didn't they flee with you?" Madame Salmatelli suddenly interrupted Ulliu's words and asked, "The Duke's men found the ship you had thrown down, and the blacksmith's axe, but they said that no blood had been found, and it was later discovered that Da Vinci had disappeared with some of his most important students and assistants, and even many of their belongings were missing." ”

There was a rare look of embarrassment on Ulliu's face, which made him feel as if he was somewhat contemptuous of Ludviko's men, thinking that so many people were missing at the same time, some of them even lost their luggage, as long as they were a little in their right mind, they would probably guess that there was something strange in this.

But it obviously didn't make sense to say this now, and Uliu's arrival in Milan at this time was also due to Alexander's orders.

When Alexander set out from Naples, he had already sent orders to Ulrius in Rome, which forced Ulliu to hurry to the road after arranging some things in Rome, but even so, when he arrived in Milan, Alexander's army had not only occupied Pavia, but had also marched on Monza.

Uliu's mission to Milan this time was actually very simple, neither to spy on Milan's military intelligence nor to cause any sabotage, the only thing he had to do was to come to see Madame Salmatelli.

"Madam, rest assured that I will never offend you in any way, so please relax, and those are all in the past, in fact, a da Vinci is not important to you," the exposed Ulliu had to honestly go straight to the point, "I am here to provide you with a chance. ”

"What are you going to say?"

Madame Salmatelli stared at Uliuu warily, not only because she noticed that the Moorish man did not seem to have any malicious intent, but also because she noticed that she did not see the shadow of a single guard around, which made her fear that if she shouted rashly, she might not wait for the guards to appear, either she would have been killed by this man, or she would have fallen into the hands of the Moors and become a hostage.

So Lady Salmatelli decided to hold Ulliu for the time being, and then wait for the opportunity to move.

Looking at Madame Salmatelli with twinkling eyes, Uliu shook her head secretly, this woman may be a little clever, but obviously not enough, her demeanor and eyes not only betrayed her mind, but also proved Alexander's speculation about the situation in Milan in the order he gave him before.

After the comings and goings of the French and the Austrians, Ludvico's life was certainly not so easy, his cowardice in the face of the French discredited him, and the cowardice and humility he appeared in front of Maximian in order to curry favor with Austria was enough to shake his position.

Madame Salmatelli did not dare to shout loudly, for fear that the guards would not arrive in time, but not necessarily because she was afraid that something would make their situation even more awkward.

It is even possible that even if she became a hostage, the nobles might not care about her safety at all, and Ludvik might not be able to protect her at this time.

She's just a mistress after all.

These were all guesses made by Uliu, and it was because of this that he dared to appear so boldly in front of Lady Salmatelli.

"Madam, your current situation is not optimistic."

"Of course, I'm being threatened by a fugitive." Even though she was afraid, Lady Salmatelli wanted to maintain her dignity as much as possible.

"I'm talking about your situation," Uliuu deliberately accentuated his tone, seeing Madame Sarmatelli's expression move slightly, he respectfully bowed slightly and motioned for her to follow him to the paper-shaped balcony on the side of the corridor, "Madam, the Duke's life is not easy, and this has caused you a lot of trouble, with all due respect, Milan is not the same as before, don't you think you should make a plan for your future?" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Madame Salmatelli looked at Ullius vigilantly, she knew that this person should have been ordered by whom, and that he should have been ordered to act when he robbed Leonardo da Vinci, and now listening to his words, Madame Salmatelli couldn't help but be careful, "Who asked you to come?" ”

Looking at Madame Salmatelli's cautious expression, Uliuu felt no need to go around in circles.

It was clear that Madame Salmatelli had vaguely guessed his intentions, but she was more concerned with who was behind him, which was enough to prove that she was tempted, but she was only careful because she did not know who to deal with.

"My master is the Count of Montina."

Madame Salmatelli was slightly stunned for a moment, as if she didn't expect it to be this person, and then she opened her lips slightly and let out a meaningless "oh" before she said, "The Count of Montina who took over Pavia?" ”

"Yes," Uliuu nodded, also a little surprised by the unexpected surprise that the Count had so smoothly captured Pavia and knocked on the door to Milan, but now it seemed that it had become an important bargaining chip to aggravate the woman in front of him, "My master wants to be Madame's friend." ”

As soon as Uliu said this, he immediately regretted it.

For he saw a hint of panic, a little anger, a little shyness, and a strange expression that he didn't know if it was excitement or not.

Ulliu knew that he had said the wrong thing, and at the same time he remembered that the old man's reputation for liking beautiful women had already been very famous in the circle of ladies in Milan, and the most talked about were of course the anecdotes between him and Lucrezia, and with Alexander's return from the Balkans, his anecdotes with the Grand Duchess of Wallachia had become a hot topic.

Now that his words had obviously caused ambiguity, Ulliu felt that he had to clarify it quickly, otherwise even if he had done his errand this time, it might not be a good result for him to wait for him when he returned.

"Madam, my lord wants to help you out of your current predicament, and of course to help His Royal Highness the Duke," Uliu reminded Madame Salmatelli with a slight cough, "Although my master has occupied Pavia, please rest assured that he has no hostility towards His Royal Highness the Duke of Ludvico, and he is doing so solely to protect his own interests. ”

Madame Salmatelli seemed to be secretly relieved to hear that there were no more embarrassing hints in Ulliu's words, and then she was a little annoyed, for just a moment ago she had thought that the Moorish had come to pimp for his master.

"You ought to see the Duke," said Madame Salmatelli coldly, though she was not very clever but not stupid, and many nobles had hoped to get benefits from Ludviko through her, and she did introduce Ludviko to those people, which allowed her to accumulate a fairly good amount of private money.

But as Uliuu said, the money was clearly not enough to get her out of her current predicament.

Madame Salmatelli did not know how long she could live in such a comfortable life, and she had been frightened by her previous flights, which were completely different from the easy and pleasant outings of the past.

The days of being haunted by fear and anxiety are always so sad, whenever she hears something troubled, she must be ready to flee, even if it is later to meet with the rescue sent by the emperor, but whenever she thinks of those days of panic, she will wake up from her sleep.

So much so that even when she returned to Milan, she woke up in the morning thinking that she was lying in a wagon in the wilderness, rather than on the bed in the comfort of the royal bedroom.

Madame Salmatelli told herself that she never wanted to go through that terrible thing again, but she also knew that the money she had was not enough for her to sustain herself for the rest of her life.

"Do you have any suggestions?" Madame Salmatelli asked in a tone that sounded as if she was careless, and at the same time she could not help but think of what Ulius had just said.

"Madame, if you can do something for the Count, my master will not forget those who helped him."

Madame Salmatelli's heart moved, and although she knew that what Uliuu said would not be so simple, she could not help but ask, "What is it?" ”

Then she immediately said in a very firm tone, "Don't think of making me betray the Duke, it's impossible. ”

Uliu immediately shook his head: "Madam, I am not stupid enough to do that, what good will betraying the Duke do to you, and what can I use to buy you, after all, you can get everything you want from the Duke." ”

Ulliu's words made Lady Salmatelli seem relieved, and only then stared at Ulliu and continued, "So what do you want me to do?" ”

"Actually, this is a good thing for you and the duke, but I think maybe we should talk about it in your room," Uliuu bent down and invited Madame Salmatelli to walk forward with him, and he deliberately took a half step back, "Please believe me, my master just wants to establish a relationship of mutual trust with the duke, and you can exert influence in front of the duke appropriately, madame, we all remember that the duke even canceled a bronze horse statue that was originally customized to Master Leonardo da Vinci in order to strengthen the military power of Milan, Also because this master is very angry. ”

"There's no way around that, the Duke has to think about the big picture."

Madame Salmatelli did not reply in a very good tone, and Uliu's words made her go forward with a bad experience, and after the news of the French invasion came, Ludviko became nervous, not only canceling many of the contracts that had been set for buildings and works of art, but also trying to raise money to expand the army.

But the army, which had been formed at great expense, was vulnerable to the French.

As a result, they had to flee in a hurry.

Now Ulliu had once again brought out the unbearable past, which made Lady Salmatelli's mood immediately turn bad.

The guards in front of them approached, and Madame Salmatelli's face changed instantly, the corners of her lips moved slightly, and her fingers clenched into fists, looking at the guards who were getting closer and closer, and listening to the unhurried footsteps of Ulius behind her, Madame Salmatelli's heart beat fiercely.

"Madame, my lord thinks you deserve a more respectable position," said Ulliu, who was behind him, and seeing Madame Sarmatelli's stiff shoulders move slightly, he continued to whisper, "Perhaps a piece of the domain given to you and the corresponding title will help you to add more weight to the duke." ”

Madame Salmatelli's footsteps stopped, and by this time the guards had come not far in front of them and nodded in salute to Madame Salmatelli, and then they continued on their way.

One, two, three, until all the guards staggered past them, and Lady Salmatelli stood still.

Then she seemed to step forward a little suddenly, but the expression on her face changed again and again.

Ludvik Sforza has not had a good time lately, after losing almost half of his army, he has no leverage to continue to fight Louis XII, although Maximian I later publicly expressed his support for him, but the emperor's arrogance also made Ludvik extremely uncomfortable.

In gratitude for the support of the Austrians, Ludwicko had to collect a large amount of jewelry, gold and precious works of art as a token of gratitude, which made the Milanese crowd feel very emotional after the looting of the French, and now Milan is like Naples in the past, and Ludvico's rule is actually a bit shaky.

However, the Austrians wanted him to continue to sit on the throne of the Duke of Milan, so Maximian graciously declined Ludevico's "gift" and unceremoniously transported the spoils of war from the French back to Vienna.

Looking at the mountains of marble sculptures, bronze figures, fine porcelain, and boxes of gold coins that were piled up on horse-drawn carriages, Ludviko's heart was bleeding.

He swore that since this was the price for his return to the throne of Milan, he would never be removed from the throne of the Duke of Milan even if he died, and he was grateful for Maximian's last generosity, so he used the money he had intended to curry favor with the Emperor to arm once again an army of great significance, albeit small.

In Ludvico's view, this army at least proves his determination to continue to fight the French for Milan to the end, and more importantly, it proves to everyone that he is still the master of Milan and not a puppet of anyone.

It was only to Ludviko's annoyance that just as his army had been formed, and he hadn't even had time to inspect it himself, bad news came from Pavia.

One of the actions of Montina's army after entering Lombardy was the unexpected capture of Pavia, and for the Milanese, who were still accustomed to believing that the war would stop in winter, the Montina maneuver was nothing short of a heretic break from the norm.

When they heard of the occupation of Pavia, many Milanese even compared Alexander's occupation with Hannibal's attack on Lombardy over the Alps, so much so that they called the Montinas "the new Carthaginian invaders".

Ludviko was in a dilemma for a while, he knew very well that with his current army, he would be killed in vain to deal with the Montina army, which even the French dared to face head-on, but if he ignored Pavia, he would not only lose the hearts and minds of the people, but also possibly make Milan a direct threat.

Ludviko chose to remain silent, refusing to receive the messenger sent by Pavia for help, even though he knelt in front of the wall of the Last Supper painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Duomo of Milan and cried, but Ludviko did not respond.

However, it was fortunate that the Montina did not continue to march towards Milan, which made the secretly worried Ludevico sigh, but he never expected that just when he thought that perhaps the Count of Montina was satisfied with the capture of Pavia, a terrible news suddenly came.

The Montina suddenly sent troops to occupy Monza!

When he heard the bad news, Ludvico woke up to a dream, knowing that from now on the fate of Milan would be decided by Louis XII, Maximian I, and the Count of Montina.

The only one who didn't participate was him, the Duke of Milan of the Sforza family.