By the time the morning light fell on the high windowsill, Alexander was already up.

The early spring morning is still a little cold, and a faint mist drifting from the fields envelops the town, and the monastery of St. Teresa not far away, it looks mysterious and peaceful.

Alexander walked slowly down the street with a long cloak, and the Agri, who were not accustomed to wasting their good days in their sleep, were far more lazy than the Bohemians, who were allowed to get out of bed even before noon.

According to the old Rovere's arrangement, the Genoese reinforcements would meet Alexandria in two days, and after that they would march north along the coastal road, and then turn towards Montina when they reached the edge of Romagna.

This was done because the elder Rovere realized that the Venetians might quickly march westward before the Papal army could react, seeking to join the Milanese while entering the Romagna region.

If that's the case, no matter what the future war situation is, with the habit of the Venetians, unless they are destroyed by a catastrophe, as long as the place occupied by them will not give up easily, which is undoubtedly equivalent to making the Venetians wedge a nail in Rome.

Neither Rovie nor Borgia would like to see this kind of situation.

As Alexander walked, he pondered the situation in front of him, he understood the intentions of old Rovere, and knew that the reason why Alexander VI was willing to accept a temporary alliance with the Rovere family was actually only because he had not yet received a response from the Neapolitan side.

It was an embarrassing situation in which both sides were not satisfied, and because of this, Alexander was very skeptical that he could get support from the Papal army.

Before leaving, Alexander met Giovanni.

Aside from praising Alexander's bravery in the face of Gonzalo, the Duke of Gandino made no substantial commitments, and he even avoided saying how many troops he could provide, which made Alexander reaffirm that the "Montina Alliance" was unreliable.

In fact, apart from the parties themselves, almost no one thought that this alliance would be able to hold on, and some even suspected that perhaps the alliance would collapse before the Venetians were driven away, and Alexander, who was the vanguard of the coalition between the two sides, also nominally because of his fiancée, became the Count of Montina, was already a victim of this doomed alliance in the eyes of many people.

Alexander VI wanted a solid and powerful ally, and the Genoese clearly did not meet these requirements.

Although it was strong enough, an alliance with the Genoese could only be a stopgap measure, and even the old Rovere had to be on guard at all times, and to Alexander's annoyance, Giuliano della Rovere apparently wanted to use the opportunity to fulfill his desire to become a cardinal, which clearly made Alexander VI already uneasy.

So now for Alexander, it's not about when the Papal reinforcements will arrive, but whether they will come.

If he couldn't, Alexander would face a situation where he would be able to resist the combined forces of Milan and Venice, with a force of less than 2,000 men, which numbered nearly 40,000.

As long as people who are not brains are broken, they know that this is not war, but death.

Alexander walked along the stream, pondering the seemingly seemingly hopeless situation.

Fighting with the coalition forces with a meager army is undoubtedly self-defeating, not to mention the Count of Montina, even if it is the throne of the Duke of Romagna, it is meaningless to enjoy it if you live.

And Alexander didn't think that it would be so easy to get this earl crown, just thinking that Caesar would soon start a boundless war for the title of Duke of Romagna, Alexander felt that this Count Montina was really a bit hot.

Fighting with less than 2,000 men, this is obviously not possible, Alexander does not consider himself a great military genius, let alone Alexander Caesar Hannibal, who is not a worldly brilliant figure, although he and one of them have the same name, but if he could, he would rather have more troops, than play something for the sake of a famous general's false name.

But the situation was clearly not in his favor, and he even wondered if Genoa could send more troops than the thousand.

After all, for Genoa, if the Papal army could not fulfill its promise to engage the Venetian coalition in Milan, then the Genoese would have to risk an attack by the Papal army immediately after a crushing victory, even if they could defeat the enemy alone.

What a troubled time, a troubled place.

Alexander crouched down with a headache and washed his face with the cold water of the stream, trying to calm his swollen head.

The water of the stream was so cool that his feverish forehead was refreshed, and Alexander stooped down again and bowed a handful of water with his hand, and when he looked up and poured the water on his head, he opened his eyes just in time to see a maid on the other side of the stream who was beating her clothes hard with a mallet.

Alexander recognized it as the maid beside Lucrezia.

The maid seemed to see Alexander, too, and the stick she was holding paused in the air, as if she was a little hesitant not knowing what to do, and after a while she put down the stick and made a gesture of salute in a bit of a panic, and then she picked up the stick and lowered her head and slapped her clothes hard.

Alexander looked thoughtfully at the maid as he walked slowly along the stream, as a sudden thought raced through his mind.

Then he suddenly turned around and walked towards the town, leaving only the maid who had stopped what he was doing and looked at his back in a daze.

Alexander returned to the house where he was temporarily living and, while ordering Caro to be called, took out a few pieces of paper from the leather bag he was carrying and began to write letters.

The letter was addressed to the Count of Mordiglo, in which Alexander gave a detailed description of his present situation, and then he wrote: "Dear Count, at such times I think it necessary to make the Pope aware of the importance of an alliance with the Genoese, because only in this way can he be guaranteed to fulfill his promise to send an army, and it is precisely because of his illusions about Naples that he hesitates in this matter, and probably the best outcome for him is, of course, a speedy treaty with Naples, Then he could unite with Naples against Milan and Venice, but that would be a very bad situation for me or for the Genoese, so if you can, I hope you will play a role in this, and at least postpone the conclusion of the treaty for a while, so that our Pope His Majesty can concentrate on the affairs of Romagna as soon as possible. At this point, Alexander paused slightly to look at it carefully, and then continued: "Let me also inform you that King Ferdinand did not seem to have sent Gonzalo for a simple purpose, and Gonzalo's actions in Naples proved that his king also had great ambitions for Naples, and the fact that the two Sicilies were both descendants of the Costala family is likely to cause Ferdinand to covet the crown of Naples." ”

Alexander folded the letter and sealed it carefully, and as the seal on the wax cooled and solidified, he patted the letter lightly in his hand.

It was a letter to Modillo asking for help, but it was also a letter of temptation.

Alexander had always suspected that it was Ferdinand, the king of Aragon, who had driven Modillo to deliver grain to the north, because with Mordillo's situation at that time, he should have been further away from the French than anyone else, but he did not hesitate to deliver grain to the French at that time, which was unreasonable to think about.

After all, Modillo is not the old Rovere, and he always has to be wary of being unscrupulous as a leading party.

And letting the French hold on for a while more would have been more in line with Ferdinand's intentions, and he might even have thought of staying in Italy forever.

This can only be seen from Ferdinand's indulgence of Gonzalo in Naples.

It's just that it is impossible for Mordillo not to know such a simple truth, so what Modillo thinks has become a question.

So the letter was a warning, but also a temptation, and he needed to understand what Modillo was thinking.

If Mordillo heeded his warnings and requests, then he would have found a way to be wary of the Aragonese while sabotaging Alexander VI's alliance with Naples, otherwise things might have become complicated.

Thinking so, Alexander pulled out two more pieces of letterhead, and he felt the need to write another letter to Massimo.

Although the monk was often unreliable, his wit and ability to read words and expressions were impressive, and when you think about what he wanted to do, only Massimo could do it.

"Protect my sister seriously," Alexander wrote, after thinking about it, "I believe in your loyalty, and I believe that you have a good enough vision, and I am now the Count of Montina, but you should know that this is not the end, my future will go further than I am now, and as long as my luck is not bad enough to die halfway, there will always be a more brilliant prospect waiting for me, and you will follow me, and enjoy the status and wealth you deserve, and you will only pay for your loyalty." So remember everything I want you to do, pledge your allegiance to me, and you will be rewarded enough. ”

As Alexander finished writing the last sentence, there was a knock on the door, and Carlo entered.

"Send these two letters out to find the most trustworthy person."

Carlo put the letter away, but instead of leaving immediately, he looked at Alexander as if he was about to say something.

"What's the matter?" Alexander asked.

"My lord, our soldiers are a little uneasy," Carlo pondered for a moment, and then whispered, "I heard some of the soldiers talking, and they were all worried, or rather they were a little afraid of Milan and the Venetians. ”

Alexander bit his lip slightly, he could understand the meaning of Carlo's words, and in fact even he was not as calm as he appeared.

Karma also knew that this fear was inevitable until there was no rendezvous with the Genoese.

After all, they were going to a castle that was known for its fortification, but the disparity in strength between them and the enemy was too great.

In fact, even if the Genoese arrived as scheduled, Alexander did not think that he would be able to stop Milan and the Venetians, even if there was a Montinew Castle to rely on.

"Tell our people that we will not go head-to-head with the enemy." Alexander felt the need to make the soldiers aware of his intentions, at least for now.

"What are you going to do, my lord?"

Carlo's mood was somewhat better because of Alexander's words, and it was clear that the captain of the Agri was also not optimistic about the upcoming battle.

"Do you know how Gonzalo dealt with the French before?" Alexander asked, and without waiting for Carlo to speak, he continued: "He did not rush to seek revenge on the French immediately after the initial defeat, but continued to harass the French, destroying their makeshift camps and attacking their supply teams, or looking for an opportunity to destroy the small French army that had fallen behind, and he not only taught the French a hard lesson, but more importantly he bought time for the others. ”

"Are you prepared to do the same to Milan and the Venetians, my lord?" Carlo asked with some excitement.

To Carlo's surprise, Alexander shook his head slightly.

"No, Gonzalo was able to deal with the French like this because they came from afar, and no one welcomed them, the French were fighting entirely in the enemy's country, but Milan, especially the Venetians, was different, Venice was too close to Romagna, and they were not without support in Romagna, so it was not so easy to cut off their supplies."

Alexander said as he took out the map from the side and spread it out on the table, his eyes fixed on the location of Montina on the map.

"Now the real crusade is the Vatican," Alexander's finger tapped on the map, "and everything can only be solved if the Vatican sends troops, otherwise we will not be able to compete with the enemy." ”

There was a look of disappointment in Carlo's eyes, he had always seemed to him that Alexander was almost omnipotent, he could always solve all problems, so even if some of the soldiers panicked, he didn't care very much, but now it seemed that Alexander was helpless about the current situation.

"My lord, doesn't the Vatican send troops?" Carlo asked, a little uneasy.

"No, they'll send troops." Alexander didn't know whether to comfort Carlo or whisper to comfort himself, but his brows were already together.

How can the Vatican be forced to send troops?

Alexander's hand unconsciously tapped lightly on the table.

Suddenly, he stopped to look at his hand, and then tapped it on the table a few times, as if imitating something.

Carlo saw Alexander's almost glued brow suddenly distract, and then he heard Alexander whisper a name: "Lucrezia." ”