The inexplicable scene of the previous night did not affect Alexander, who still got up early.

Or rather, to be woken up.

Before dawn, Alexander was awakened by a commotion outside the house, and he went to the window to see a myriad of shadowy figures outside, gathering towards the mine.

When someone passes under the window, they instinctively look up, and when they see a figure standing in front of the window, they are so frightened that they immediately bow their heads, and people's voices quickly become quieter, as if they are afraid of being heard, and they will continue to whisper until they are far away.

Alexander watched the flow of people outside the mining area as he wondered what was happening during the night.

It was a bit surprising that Connie de Malindaio would say that Lucrezia's husband, Giovanni Sforza, was trying to plot against the Borgia family, but it was what happened after all, so Alexander's real concern was not whether what she said was true, but why the woman was telling him about it.

It can be seen that this woman should not be simple, Alexander does not want to trust her so much, and Colombo's attitude also seems very strange, although he looks provocative from the beginning, but Alexander always feels that Colombo does this as if he is just deliberately covering up something.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Paolo Busako appeared in the doorway, followed by the maid he had seen before.

Following the maid to the square hall, Alexander saw Colombo and Connie who were already waiting.

Connie's expression was calm, at least from her face, she couldn't see the embarrassment of being ruthlessly rejected by someone who had recommended herself naked not long ago, and she nodded slightly when she saw Alexander coming.

"Is it okay to sleep," Colombo stood up and walked towards Alexander, "I think you must have learned our peculiarity here, which is this ubiquitous filth," Colombo said and grabbed it in the air, then clapped his palm and a puff of smoke floated faintly, and then he shouted to the anxious maid next to him, "See, it's so dirty for one night, go and clean it up, and if it's still like this when I come back at noon, you can go to work in the mines." ”

The maid immediately nodded in horror and ran away, and after a while she dragged a bucket full of water from the corner and began to wipe it down in the hall.

"Come to breakfast, leave her alone," Colombo said, motioning for Alexander to sit down at the table, "We actually talked very well yesterday, let me tell you a little bit more, I am preparing to expand this mine, and soon there will be more workers working here, and there is so much coal in the vicinity that you can pick it up with a bend down, and anyone can make a fortune by digging a pit in the ground, so it is perfectly fine that Rome hopes to restore their coal supply as soon as possible." ”

Looking at Colombo's smiling face, Alexander nodded knowingly: "But is there a condition, tell me what you want." ”

"That's right, there are conditions," Colombo slapped the table excitedly, then turned to Connieo on the other side and said, "Look, I know it's very simple, I like to deal with smart people." ”

Looking at Alexander, Colombo said word by word: "I want the Borgia to pay me a better price, they should know very well how troublesome it is to lack something to burn in this weather, believe me A frozen city of Rome is a disaster for anyone, the Borgia people who don't want to trouble themselves this winter will listen to the price I offer, and I want them to admit that my power in Sanroni is legitimate and protected, and that Giovanni's marital status cannot be affected in any way." ”

"I remember yesterday you were still indignant at the unfair treatment of your cousin," Alexander asked sarcastically, his eyes passing over to Conio across from him, and there was no look on the face of the woman who was just eating with her head down, "How did you become a pure mine owner overnight?" ”

"Isn't that what you want to see," Colombo said to Alexander's ridicule, indifferently "you want to get coal for Rome, and I want to get more, and it doesn't do us any harm, you know, I know very well the current embarrassment of Rome, and if this goes on the people will rise up against the Borgias, the Romans have always been impatient." ”

Alexander had to admit that Colombo was right this time.

The cold winter of the year is unbearable for people on the Mediterranean coast, who have been accustomed to warm winters for generations, especially many people who are traveling away from home are stuck on the road, because they are not fully prepared for the cold, and some even freeze to death.

Even in the cities, winter threatens to do the same, with people having to travel far to gather wood for a little warmth, or some families simply tear down furniture to use as fuel.

At this time, the patience of the Romans was indeed very fragile, as Colombo said, or their patience was not high, and if the problem of heating could not be solved as soon as possible, perhaps the Romans would really soon become irritable.

However, what caught Alexander's attention was Colombo's later sentence, which was clearly implying that even if the Borgias and Sforzas became enemies in the future, they still wanted to retain their rule over Sanroni.

Alexander looked at Connie again, who was sitting across the table, and remembered what the woman had said to him about Giovanni Sforza during the night, and then at Colombo in front of him, he felt that he almost knew the man's intentions.

Obviously, the man was not optimistic about his cousin, so he simply made a two-pronged bet, showing his support for his relative by cutting off the supply to Rome, and at the same time wanting the woman to secretly communicate with Rome through himself.

Alexander felt a little sorry for the Giovanni Sforza whom he had never met, and everyone seemed to be counting on him, whether it was his wife or relatives.

"As for you and my friend, I won't let you get nothing," Colombo bent slightly, picked up a wooden box from under his feet and placed it on the table, and pushed it forward vigorously, "This is your share." ”

Looking at the wooden box that had slid in front of him, Alexander gently lifted the arched lid and looked inside, then closed the lid.

"So how much do you want Rome to pay for your coal?" Alexander asked.

Hearing this, Colombo's smug face smiled.

When breakfast was over, and Alexander offered to go out for a walk, Colombo not only agreed, but also asked if he needed to accompany him to see the whole mine.

Looking at the mine owner who spared no effort to show his wealth, Alexander politely rejected his kindness.

As soon as Alexander, who had only taken a few guards out, left, Colombo excitedly shouted to Connie O, who was sitting next to him: "See, I succeeded, now neither Sforza nor Borgia can take everything from me casually." ”

"Do you think you've succeeded?" Connie looked at Colombo as she walked over to the mirror to take in her own appearance.

Sensing Connie's meaningful tone, Colombo walked behind her with some suspicion, put his hands on her smooth shoulders and stroked gently: "Isn't it, as long as Gombray goes back and tells Borgia the news, they will make up for it without paying me, and they must also agree to my conditions, such a cold day is unbearable for many of us here, I don't believe that the Romans can endure a winter." As long as the Romans are frozen, the Borgias will not have a good life, and in the end they will have to beg me to come here. ”

Connieo was noncommittal to Colombo's words, and she only twisted her body slightly, making her uneven curves in the mirror more prominent, and she looked like she had a hint of indescribable charm.

Colombo let out a thirsty "grunt" in his throat, and his hand on Conio's shoulder began to slide down, but as soon as he put his arms around her waist, Connie had already turned and walked away.

"Do you really think that Cambrai will be fine with your money?" Connie asked disapprovingly, "Trust me, this person is not that simple. ”

Colombo frowned, and he walked up to Connie and asked in a deep voice, "Then do you think he will make trouble for us?" I've heard of this man, he was actually a Sicilian, a Sicilian envoy sent to Naples, you should know that many of these so-called envoys were actually exiled, but it is said that he was actually the illegitimate son of George Anne, the sister of Modillo, Count of Naples, and the Countess of Cosenza, so he got a small territory by virtue of this relationship. Speaking of this, Colombo's face, which was originally a little valued by Conio's words, showed a look of contempt, "Because of this, he became Modillo's errand, and even sent grain to Rome for his uncle to sell money, although I heard that he organized the order meeting in Rome, but now it seems that this person is actually Caesar's puppet, and you can see that after the order meeting was completed, Caesar kicked him out of Rome and drove him to Saniro." ”

Colombo snorted with disdain in his nose, thinking that he was trying to please such a person, he felt a little annoyed, and then thinking about the incident the night before, he looked at Connie with some anger: "Actually, you didn't need to seduce Gombray yesterday, look at me today I only spent 1,000 florins to buy this guy, you were really a little redundant yesterday, and let him take advantage." ”

"Are you jealous?" Connieo looked at Colombo's stinky face with amusement, "I said that he is not a simple person, just because he didn't take advantage of me yesterday." ”

"What?" Colombo's eyes narrowed, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, Connie's words clearly made him wonder what was wrong, and finally he asked, "What do you think of this man?" ”

"I can't tell," Connie pondered as she walked, "this man is very young, and he should be very impatient with a woman like me, but he didn't care about me at all last night, and I can see that he was very vigilant and careful from beginning to end, but today you only took out 1,000 florins to buy him, which is a little different from yesterday." ”

"Maybe he's not a man," Colombo looked at Connie and smiled, but then shook his head, "If he really guarded against you, why did he take my money today?" ”

"That's why we're going to be more careful," Connie whispered, "and don't forget that we're going to snatch food from the Sforzas, and I don't think you'll forget the tigress of Forlì, who is a real Sforza." ”

Colombo's face changed for a moment, and he let out a "grunt" sound in his throat again, but this time not because of desire, but because he remembered some memory that made him unhappy.

"Maybe I can give him some more favor, this man seems to be greedy," Colombo said tentatively, "knowing that the mines can make us a lot of money, and it doesn't matter if we spend a little more." ”

"Are you sure he just wants to blackmail more bribes?"

Connie O squinted at Colombo, her contemptuous eyes angered the man, Colombo took a few steps back and forth and stopped to look at Conio: "Then what do you think we should do?" ”

Connie Ou crossed his arms, his palms lightly patted his own arms, seeing him and her like this, Colombo waited silently beside him, he knew that this woman was much smarter than him, and even the things he had done until now that even his father Colombo Sr. did not know, in fact, were planned by this woman.

"We need to find out what he's doing here, whether it's really just Rome asking him to open the way, or if he's already found something."

"Something, you mean he knows what we're going to do?" Colombo's face changed suddenly, and he began to keep spinning in circles again, and then he looked at the woman in front of him with some hesitation, "Maybe, maybe you can go to him again to find out, I know that with your charm, you will definitely make a man tell the secret, help me Conneo once, help me again." ”

Seeing the anxious look on the man's face, Connie slowly stood up, she put her hand on Colombo's shoulder and stroked it gently, as if coaxing a child, reassuring him: "Don't worry, I will definitely find a way to get that Gombray to take the bait, I will let him tell him the real purpose of his visit to Saniello, and then we can find a way to deal with him." ”

Colombo breathed a sigh of relief, he believed that as long as Conneo came forward, there would be no problem, and those people who had been able to surrender to her in the past, this Gombray would not be an exception.

Alexander led the people along the hillside, everywhere was dark, if you looked closely there was even a fine powder floating in the air, Alexander tried to hold his breath, stepping on the gravel and walking slowly.

On the way, I saw a lot of numb workers passing by, and when I saw them, these workers would try to walk as far away as possible, as if they were afraid that if they got closer, they would get contaminated with something.

Alexander walked slowly, he was not in a hurry, and he deliberately walked very slowly, and sure enough, it was not long before Paolo Busako, who was following him, whispered: "My lord, there are people watching behind us, and they have been following since we went out." ”

Alexander nodded slightly, Colombo's bribes and Connie's strange visit late last night made him realize that what should have been a simple trip had become intricate and full of suspense.

"My lord, do you want me to kill that guy in the back?" Paolo Busako asked in a low voice.

"No, just don't let him catch up again." Alexander gave the order and walked down the hill along the road he had come, and when he turned a corner, he saw that the two guards who were following him had stayed, and immediately quickened his pace.

There was soon a rush of panic and struggle not far behind, then it soon calmed down, and then two guards chased after him.

"We knocked that guy unconscious, it's a small kid." One of the guards whispered to Paolo Busako.

"Where are they?" Alexander ignored the whispers of those behind him.

"Ahead." Paul Busako took a few quick steps and led Alexander down the path into the woods beside him.

In the woods, the woman who had stolen the coal was looking around nervously, and when she saw Alexander and them coming, she hurried to meet them and led them to the flat ground in front of a tree.

A man was leaning against a tree trunk panting, and next to him were two Agri soldiers dressed in civilian clothes.

Alexander looked at the man, who was clearly ill.

"My husband, my husband knows a lot of things, and I just ask you to save him." The woman said anxiously.

"Then tell me what you know." Alexander said to the man.