The cold of Lombardy in January was unbearable, and the weather that used to be typical of the Mediterranean climate in winter, which was not very obvious, has changed significantly in recent years, and the weather has become colder and more snowy, which has caused great trouble for travelers, and even more so for soldiers marching in this season.

A group of hunters walked through the snow with difficulty, and the snow that almost covered the ankles was soft and made a "puff" sound, which sounded interesting, but if the sight was full of such roads that required some exertion to travel, then the trip became a chore.

The hunters panted and struggled forward, the front flag bearer had changed several times, and at this time the flag that did not seem very heavy seemed to be so heavy that it was about to crush the shoulders.

The hunters' dark red uniforms stood out in the snow, but Oflai, who walked in the middle of the group, was not worried about being attacked.

Because just two days ago, France and Austria had formally signed an armistice, and the two sides agreed to jointly send people to Milan to participate in the Lombardy peace talks.

Maximian sent Kotschach, Louis XII sent Charlon, and Alexander sent Normezi.

When it was learned that the peace negotiator sent by Alexander was actually Normezi, many people were surprised except for Uliu and Scheer.

In Alexandria's modest civil service, Normezi was never considered a "count's man".

The name is derived from the women who had complicated entanglements with Alexander, some of whom were from Pisa, some of whom were of Montina, and some of whom were of Wallachia, and the names actually implied that each of them would be the mother of Alexander's future heir, and these people were collectively referred to as "Counts' Men".

However, Normezzi was a native of Naples, and regardless of his previous rebels against the Neapolitan royal family, he was only a subordinate of the count's sister, not the count's woman, which was enough to remove him from the circle of "counts".

However, Alexander finally chose Normezi, which somewhat surprised some of the Montina generals, although the count had done many unexpected things before, but this time it seemed a little unpleasant for many people.

Only Uliu and Schell looked the same as usual when they heard about the appointment, and Schell even glanced at Uliu with a "only we understand" look.

In Scheer's opinion, this appointment was of course due to the unknown relationship between the lord and his sister, but in Ulliu's opinion, it was not so simple.

Ulius was vaguely aware that this might be a hint from Alexander, or rather a pre-mention and public opinion work.

First, to break down the barriers between the two sides by involving the Neapolitans in Montina's affairs, and then to pave the way for the eventual unification of the future.

Ulius wasn't sure if he had guessed his master's idea, but he didn't have any reservations about Normezi, who had been in Lombardy all this time, and handed over almost all the information he had to the plenipotentiary from Naples.

"Your job is to make sure that all of them are not idle for at least the next year," Alexander said to Normezi as he said his farewell, "and don't forget that you swore revenge on Ferdinand, and now you are doing it not only to help me, but also to yourself, and I need you to buy me enough time." ”

Although Normezi was not very clear about Alexander's true purpose, he had heard that he might be going to the Iberian Peninsula, so Normezi gladly accepted the mission.

The shame of being betrayed and betrayed by the Aragonesians in Naples and finally being defeated and captured made him unforgettable, although he knew very well that he might do the same if he had been replaced, but his personal experience made him unable to get rid of the anger and hatred of Ferdinand in his heart, after all, he could have looked at the change of the Neapolitan royal family as a decent nobleman, and even as a side nobleman with a blood relationship with the royal family, he could have won more benefits for himself by showing his support and indifference.

But believing in Ferdinand's temptation, he rashly raised an army against Josa, and in his most difficult moment, Ferdinand's men not only abandoned him, but even framed him.

When convicted of murdering the queen, his fiefdom was confiscated, his title was stripped away, and even though he was later acquitted by the queen regent in the name of the queen regent, he was left with nothing.

So his current status is only "plenipotentiary of the Count of Montina", not Count Normezi, which is enough to make him angry, and all this was given to him by Ferdinand.

"Let him go and bite each other with those men, this man is like a mad dog now, and the best way to prevent him from committing a crime is to throw him into that pack of mad dogs." This is how Alexander explained the appointment of Normezi, but not many people really knew his purpose.

The Huntsmen have become the signature of the Count of Montina, so that as long as you see the dark red uniform from a distance, both enemies and friends will know that the Count is coming, and when the dark red tide appears on the battlefield, both the enemy and the enemy will invariably take the direction of the hunting guards as the key part of the decisive battle between the two sides.

It's just that no one knows that Alexander is not among the hunting guards, and even Alexander is no longer in Lombardy.

Shortly after Maximian announced his acceptance of Alexander's offer of conditions and peace talks, the response of the French, who had also accepted this proposal, was sent to Pavia.

In fact, even without the accidental bulleting of the Count of Lancer, Louis XII would have been unable to hold on.

The Austrians had taken almost all the supplies stored in Alexandria, and the French had to be stationed to maintain the lines of communication from Genoa, and Louis XII's army, which had been watching the French rear in La Spezia, near Genoa, worried Louis XII.

In this case, it is impossible for him to approach Turin with peace of mind, and then fight Maximian, after all, whether it is the southern line of communication or the eastern flank, there is a threat from Montina or even the Milanese, although he disdains the Milanese army, but thinking about Ludevico's hatred of himself, Louis XII did not dare to make a bold move behind the abandonment.

So the king of France was also quick to accept Alexander's proposal.

But what no one expected was that not long after the envoy sent by the French to Pavia left, Alexander quickly left Pavia with a small guard of only a few dozen people, mainly led by Schelle, in disguise.

In the port of Pisa, a ball-wrapped port official is listlessly recording the size of the ships that come and go, the type of cargo, and whether it should be classified as taxed or exempt.

The official felt a little hot, not because he was dressed too much, but because it was not cold, but because he had been really busy for most of the day from the dawn of the morning to now, and the ships that came and went might seem indescribable to the merchant, but to him they were just strings of meaningless numbers.

So he couldn't be as energetic as the merchants, and he just wanted to finish his last bit of work quickly so that he could get back to the little house behind the dock for a hot drink.

The Mediterranean is busy, and Pisa is even busier, as one of the first futures exchanges on the European continent, Pisa has a market that is not inferior to Rome, and even for some special reasons, Pisa's trading market is even more noticeable than Rome's exchanges.

It's just that although many of the ships come and go from the free trade zone, of course, these ships do not have to pay the ship tax, but after all, more of them are from those non-free trade zone merchant ships, so the port officials have to carefully check the tax, so as not to let those tricky businessmen take advantage of the loopholes.

For example, now there is a galleys that do not seem to be loaded with much cargo in the draft, which immediately attracted the attention of officials, you must know that in these years, there is no distinction between passengers and goods, and even the transportation of passengers is just extra money for many ship owners, and the real money is still the transportation of goods.

Such a ship is either a big man on it, or they are probably carrying some incredible cargo.

A group of men and horses quickly disembarked from the ship, and the obvious soldier's aura on those men made the port officer a little uneasy, and he looked at the nearby fort, not knowing whether to warn the fort or not.

But by this time a stout man with a crooked beard had come to the lead, and he said to the port officer in a somewhat lame tone, "Go and find someone in charge here." ”

"What?" The official was stunned and asked.

"Here is the man in charge," said the man impatiently, "the Earl is here." ”

"Earl? Which earl? ”

The officer followed the man's backward gesture and saw Alexander coming down from the deck and taking off his hat, the officer's lips twitched, and then let out an unexpected "Oops!" ”。

"Don't alarm the others," Alexander waved at the dock officer, who had already pulled him over to Pagasus, who, under the official's surprised gaze, rolled over and jumped on Pagasus' back, clamped his horse's belly with a slight force, and ran in the direction of the city.

Despite the snow, the Palazzo Lucrezia, located on the riverside, is still full of greenery, and the small houses surrounded by large cedars look full of vitality that is rare in winter.

According to Alexander's design, a small building along the river will be built along the river, which will become Lucrezia's usual villa.

Almost two years later, the main building of Palazzo Lucrezia is still under construction.

The palace envisioned by Alexander was more of a villa for resting hours, and compared with the Duke's Palace, it had more of a sense of life, and the small two-story building seemed to exude more of the comfort of the wealthy class than the luxury of a noble palace.

Living here is quiet and comfortable, just like Lucrezia feels now.

Lucrezia lifted her daughter to the level of her own eyes and looked closely, Estelles looked a little sleepy, and tried to open her eyes, but this effort was not very effective, so her little body dangled in Lucrezia's hands, and her head was lit back and forth from time to time, as if she would fall asleep at any moment.

Lucrecia's hands shook slightly, sobering her daughter a little from her daze, but then the Duchess of Pisa began to nod her head again.

Lucrezia narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at her daughter carefully, and then she said in a somewhat harsh tone, "You are like a little pig, and your father is a big pig." ”

The honorable Duchess of Pisa seemed to suddenly understand these words that were insulting to her dignity, and her eyes, which were about to open them, suddenly widened, and as she spat out a series of bubbles, her mouth also made a protesting "babbling" sound.

"So you're a piggy." Lucrezia said a little angrily that the duchess was unexpectedly late in learning to speak, and now in addition to being able to say some simple words, more often than not, she keeps using "babbling" to express happiness, anger, hunger, thirst, or wanting to laze such things.

This made Lucrezia think that Estelles was a bit stupid, and the reason was attributed to her father's long absence.

The duchess kicked her legs hard, but was lifted up by her mother's armpits.

"You are the Duke of Pisa, and you will inherit your father's title, you know?" Lucrezia said to her daughter in a consultative tone, and when she saw that Estelles seemed to want to fall asleep again without understanding at all, she sighed softly and held her daughter in her arms.

I heard that the Bohemian woman who was far away in Wallachia was also about to give birth.

Lucrezia felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of this, and she didn't even think that Barondi seemed so hateful in comparison.

At least Barendi still hasn't had any of her children, which makes Lucrezia feel that she is not only lucky, but also invisibly closer to Alexander than Barendi.

"I don't know what that wild woman will give birth to."

Lucrezia suddenly felt a little worried in her heart, although the inheritance rights of the Roman city-state were not limited by men and women, but if Sophia gave birth to a son......

Lucrezia's mood has not been very good because of this period of time, especially when Alexander passed through Pisa but only stayed for two days in a hurry, which made Lucrezia even more vaguely angry.

Looking at her daughter, who was sleeping with saliva on her shoulder, Lucrezia sighed helplessly, she handed Estlese to the nurse who was standing and waiting, and then walked to the window to look at the street scene in the distance of the yard.

The nurse carefully took Her Royal Highness the Duchess over, and after carefully looking at the lady with a bad look, the nurse, who was about to leave, suddenly saw a figure appear outside the living room leading to the staircase.

The nurse looked at Madame and then at the passer, and tried to warn but Alexander raised his hand to stop her.

The nurse stood honestly to the side, watching the Count walk behind the lady but not bother, but just quietly watching her, and the nurse looked carefully out of the door again.

There was no familiar Moorish in sight, but a stout man with a strange dress and a strange beard blocked the doorway like a sculpture.

The nurse recognized what seemed to be the new guard officer beside the Count, who seemed to be a strange soldier from the Balkans who didn't talk much.

The nurse, who had wanted to hold Estelles and quietly avoided it, saw that the attendant was at the door, so she stayed silent and looked at the two people standing there, until Lucrezia seemed to sense that someone behind her had turned around, and then let out a scream of surprise, first of surprise, and then of ecstasy.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Alexander, who was so close that he almost touched the tip of his nose, and Lucrezia's cry of surprise from the initial surprise resounded throughout the small building, which made the guards in the hall below look in the direction of the staircase, and then turned their heads.

Lucrezia's arms tightened around Alexander's neck, and because she was pushing too hard, Alexander's words were clogged back into her mouth.

"When did you come back? Why didn't someone send the letter in advance? How many days will you stay this time? Lucrezia just kept asking, and it was a while before she let go of her arm and looked at Alexander carefully, "I know what you did in Lombardy, you are so daring." ”

"I'm all for our daughter, don't you think her title should one day be the Grand Duchess and not the Duchess?"

Alexander asked with a smile, and seeing Lucrezia's mouth open as cutely as a mouthful of goldfish in surprise, Alexander couldn't help but poke his finger lightly on her bulging cheek.

"Trust me, it's all going to happen, and if I'm not miscalculated, it's probably going to be soon." Alexander thought about it for a moment, and couldn't help but smile.

The Franco-Austrian war did not stop with the arrival of winter, as he had hoped, and although he proposed to convene a conference for the peace of Milan, Alexander was able to guarantee that the two sides would be entangled for a long time around Milan, until the English finally decided to participate in the Italian war, and then Maximian would think that there was a chance to settle the problems of Lombardy and the whole of Rome in one fell swoop, because the balance with the French was broken.

During this time, Maximian had little time to attend to the affairs of the Iberian Peninsula.

Seeing that Alexander was talking with another thoughtful look, Lucrezia couldn't help but be a little annoyed, and she took her daughter from the wet nurse and held it up to Alexander.

"I think I should remind you to do your duty as a father, knowing that you have spent so little time with Estelles that she may not even recognize you as a father."

To prove her words, Lucrezia turned her daughter to herself and asked, "Call Mommy." ”

"Mom."

Estelles screamed very obediently, which made Lucrezia smile, and then she turned her daughter to Alexander, "Call Daddy." ”

The young duchess looked at the man in front of her with some confusion, she first stretched out her tender little hand and poked Alexander's cheek, as if to determine whether it was a real person, and then her mouth made a monotonous sound of "babbling".

Just as Lucrezia was about to open her mouth to reproach, several people in the room heard the Duchess of Pisa say two words in a very positive tone: "Alexander! Pigs! ”