The winter of early 1500 was colder than ever, and it snowed for days in a row that seemed to bury the whole world.

In addition to this snowfall, there was another year that made 1500 destined to be an extraordinary year from the beginning.

The Franco-Austrian war in northern Italy became unexpectedly brutal, and the armies of both sides had to trek hard even on snowy days, and the French barely built a weak line on the way to Milan, their purpose was only to prevent the Austrians from retreating to Milan, this line was built on the Lombardy plain, where there was no terrain to rely on, although some rivers could have been used as natural barriers, but the freezing of the rivers made this barrier have nothing to rely on.

And because of the fear that the Austrians might bypass elsewhere, the French army had to spread out their already scarce forces on several key roads leading to Milan, which made the French direction very fragile and even porous.

The only thing that could give the French some consolation was that their enemies were not much better than they were, and the Austrians were in a terrible situation.

With the few reserves in Alexandria, the Austrian army was struggling to hold on, and although superior in numbers, Maximian was well aware that his army was in danger of starvation because Alexander did not have enough supplies.

In addition, what disturbed the emperor was that several successive battles with the French gave him a taste of the power of French artillery, and the Austrian army was now permeated with a sense of fear of French artillery, which made his army always cower when attacking, and many troops were accustomed to trying to avoid the French artillery positions, but the enemy was obviously cunning, and the French placed their artillery in the entire French position almost in the center, so that they could move the artillery to various parts of the defense line as soon as necessary, Although this may have delayed some time, the French insisted on concentrating on the use of those weapons.

And judging by the results of the battle, the French made the right decision, when dozens of artillery pieces were fired head-on at the same time, the deterrent effect of the instantaneous destruction was even more terrible than the casualties they caused, and the Austrians already had more than one army completely collapsed after the first round of shelling, and this fear was spreading throughout the army, which made Maximian feel that his superiority in strength had been lost.

But these are not the most terrifying, the most desperate thing is that no one knows when this struggle in the ice and snow will end.

Even the Swiss, who were known for their discipline, began to get tired of it, and their captain approached the Emperor's men in the hope of relaying their request for a winter camp to the Emperor, but this request was not conveyed to Maximian, because the French suddenly attacked on their own initiative.

In fact, in this kind of completely almost field battlefield, it makes no difference who launched the attack first, when he heard that the French were coming, Maximian even couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, he knew that if he ordered to continue the attack on the French army, it was likely to be opposed by his generals, and now that the French took the initiative to fight, this problem did not exist.

Louis XII actually had a hard time, and like Maximian, he sometimes wondered how things had come to be the way they were.

In his mind, the battle for Milan was supposed to come after the arrival of spring, even if the weather in Italy was warm, but at least at the end of February, the offensive would not be resumed until at least the end of February, but now inexplicably everyone is involved in a blind slaughter in the harsh winter, and it is helpless that this winter war is like a frightened crazy horse, and no one can stop it.

According to the previous agreement with Alexander, Louis XII's original plan was to use a series of battles to force the Austrians to withdraw from Italy before the arrival of 1500, after preventing Maximian from retreating to Milan, at least to force them to stop intervening in Lombardy, and as for the next agreement with Alexander, it would naturally cease to exist at that time.

This was also in line with Louis XII's purpose, and he even suspected that Alexander was on his side when he first heard about Alexander's conditions.

However, after the war began, Louis XII gradually realized that things were not the same as he imagined, especially although because of the delay of the war, the time limit was soon exceeded, but Louis XII never expected Alexander's reaction to enter Lombardy, first capture the important city of Milan Pavia, and then march to Monza.

Louis XII knew that he had no way out, and if he didn't want to be flanked in front of him, he had to defeat the Austrian army before the Montinas could go straight into battle, and then he could turn back to the bargain-picking Gombray.

Therefore, the French army first took the initiative to attack, according to Louis XII's intention, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Austrians were still far away from Alexandria behind him, and crush the enemy in one fell swoop, preferably to drive Maximian's main force directly to Turin in the north, rather than back to Alexandria.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the attack, the French army arranged the route of advance mainly on the southern flank of the battle line, both in the hope of cutting off the Austrian retreat and then driving the Austrians from south to north to Turin, but also to protect their communication with Genoa as much as possible.

Perhaps because Alexander's defense was left behind in La Spezia, not far from Genoa, Louis XII always felt that Genoa was not so safe.

The French attack was swift and successful, and although they were not adapted to fighting in such cold weather, the French army was clearly superior to the Austrians.

Taking advantage of the good weather that finally cleared up, a large number of French troops held their weapons and stepped on the snow in their mouths to spit out a lot of gas, although the speed was not fast, but they were still neatly launched an attack on the Austrian camp, and because it was originally intended to attack, there were almost no fortifications built in front of the Austrian camp for defense.

So when the French army appeared less than a third of the way in front of the Austrian camp, the Austrians were already lined up and waiting, and a battle after the storm and snow began.

By the time Kotschach rushed back to the Austrian camp, the battle between the two armies had just come to an end, or rather, the Austrians had just been hit by the first blow from the French.

Seeing that there were panicked soldiers or bewildered soldiers everywhere, Kotschach asked his entourage to drive the carriage directly through the middle of the retreating ranks, although this caused many people to be dissatisfied, but looking at the armor of the guards of the carriage, the soldiers also knew what kind of big man should be in the car.

Kotschach was a little anxious, he feared that Maximian would make some impulsive decision before he returned, such as ordering an attack on Milan would be a temporary truce with Louis XII, if then even the palace minister could not imagine what would happen next.

So now, although he saw that the Austrian army seemed to have suffered a defeat, at least he was not worried that what he was most worried about would happen, which made the palace minister breathe a sigh of relief.

It was only soon that Kotschach realized that he was relieved a little too soon, for the French had no intention of stopping, but after first defeating the Austrian troops on the southern flank, they braved the bitterly cold north wind and continued their attack on the Emperor's camp in a wooded field not far behind the Austrians.

Maximian, already frustrated by the defeat, realized the threat, and he did not understand why the French did not stop after the victory as before, but continued to chase after them, but he was obviously not interested in being a prisoner of the French, so the emperor immediately ordered the camp to be moved, and at the same time he ordered the army to be regrouped, ready to meet the French again.

It was at this time that Kotschach returned to the Austrian camp, and as a result, the palace minister had no time to report to the emperor the results of this trip to Pavia, so he had to retreat north with the emperor's guards.

And about a mile behind them, the French, under the command of the French commander, Count Langserge, drove the Austrians like sheep to flee incessantly.

In January 1500, beginning with the third defeat of the Austrian army by the French near Mede, the war between France and Austria entered a new phase aimed at defeating and wounding the enemy, rather than the occupation of the city, which had been formed over the years.

Just as France and Austria were opening a new chapter for the purpose of the war, Schell also ushered in a momentous moment in his life, when he finally met the legendary almost omnipotent courtier, the chief of the court, and the legendary Moorish Ulliu, who was close to the Earl.

When he saw the old man's happy and satisfied smile at Uliu, and even reached out to hug him, calling him "my good fellow", Schell was a little jealous.

He had heard too many legends about the steward, but the one that impressed Sher the most was that the Imperial Commander seemed to be very comfortable with the women of the old man, and he was always able to maneuver around them like a fish in water and was clever enough to keep himself from getting into trouble, and it was even said that the same Madame Lucrezia, who had heard that she was very difficult to serve, had a reasonable attitude towards Ulliu.

Of course, Schell would not have thought that this included Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess, because according to some gossip, Her Royal Highness seemed to be at odds with all of the Earl's men, because she had been driven away from the Lord by those people in the first place, and Uliu seemed to be one of the masterminds.

These legends made Sher curious about Uliu, so he wanted to meet the legendary servant.

But what Schell didn't expect was that the steward, who was regarded by many as the same agent in Alexander's army and court as Oflai, looked like a very shy young man.

In Alexander's presence, Ulliu was very respectful, and when answering the Count's questions, he always stood there leaning slightly, responding with caution and humility, without the slightest hint of arrogance and slackness in the slightest for what he had done before.

Schell immediately felt that he had learned something, which made him more impressed by the steward, but he always seemed to understand what the old man and the two said, which made the Balkans jealous and a little frustrated that they might not be able to catch up with the steward for the rest of their lives.

"Ludviko's attitude is not resolute, sir," Ulliu reminded Alexander, who was silently pensive after listening to his account of his trip to Milan, "You know I've seen this man before," seeing Alexander nod in response, Ulliu continued, "But this time I see him again, I think he is not the same as before, he may have been ambitious and incapacitated, but at least he was brave even if he was stupid then, but now Ludviko looks like a broken house that will collapse at any moment, I mean......"

"I see what you mean." Alexander waved his hand lightly to stop Ulliu's explanation.

Alexander knew that Ulliu's description of that person was correct, and Ludvico's previous encounter with Charles VIII into Italy but betrayed by the French gave him a serious blow, because this Ludviko became the most active and extreme one of the anti-French holy alliances in the later anti-French war, and he even did not hesitate to raise an army to fight the French everywhere, although Ludviko at that time was the culprit who triggered the French invasion, But at least he was still very active and had a lot of confidence that he could beat the French.

But this time, the army that had been built with all his blood was completely crippled, and he himself was driven out of Milan, which had been ruled by the French for generations, like a dog, which dealt a fatal blow to Ludviko and completely shattered his confidence.

The historical Ludviko was briefly restored under the replication of Maximian, and was driven out of Milan again by the French not long after, and was captured and imprisoned by the French shortly thereafter, and did not have the opportunity to return to Milan until his death.

Such Ludviko, as Uliuu said, is like a dilapidated house that will collapse at any moment, because the inner pillar that supports his faith has collapsed.

However, this time the situation was somewhat different from history, the two countries did not avoid each other despite the fact that they had already started a war as in history, and even Milan was taken again, and Ludvico was later captured by France, and the Austrians did not react much.

This time, there was a fierce battle between France and Austria before they even got close to Milan, especially now, and they braved the bitter cold to fight a fierce battle.

"Ludviko is willing to accept your offer for peace talks, and he hopes that you will be an important arbiter in this negotiation." Ulliu's voice was slightly agitated, "He wants to use the Lombardy Iron Crown as collateral in exchange for your arbiter and a promise of safety to Lombardy, and he hopes to get your support whenever Milan is in danger." ”

Alexander listened attentively, then he stood up and walked up to Ulliu, reached out and hugged him gently, and while patting Ulliu on the back, Alexander whispered, "Good job, Ulliu." ”

As Alexander let go of his hand, Uliu bent down and bowed: "So, my lord, when are you going to Monza?" ”

Hearing Monza, even Schell, who didn't understand it very well, couldn't help but feel hot in his heart, and excitement flashed in his eyes.

The great significance of the Lombard Iron Crown preserved in the Cathedral of Monza was undoubted in the minds of the people of this era, and the thought that the Iron Crown would actually belong to his own owner made Schell tremble with excitement.

"Oflair is already there." Alexander said casually, listening to the puzzled expression on Ulli's black face, "But sir, that's the iron crown of Lombardy", Alexander seemed to have suddenly come to his senses, and said "Oh", "Then you go and run hard, go and help me bring back the iron crown." ”

Ulius bowed and nodded a little dazedly, and then suddenly realized what Alexander was saying, "Master, you mean to let me go to Monza?" ”

"Yes," Alexander said excitedly, turning to look at the tall shelves around the walls around the room, which seemed to be impossible to read in a lifetime, "I have more important things to do in Pavia, you know Uliu, although I knew from the beginning that there would be a great gain, but in fact the results of this trip to Lombardy were far beyond my imagination, and this library alone was enough to make me willing to pay the price of 2 regiments, I've already figured out that when I get back to Pisa, I'll set up a special office to deal with the university and education, and maybe all of you will be busier by then. ”

Looking at Uliu's excited expression, Uliuu couldn't help but look back at the bookshelves around him, and then said in a slightly sad tone: "I saw such a place many years ago. ”

"Is it in the East?" Alexander asked suddenly.

Uliu hesitated, then bowed and nodded: "Yes, sir, I saw this scene at my former master's place, in the hometown of the Venerable Grand Vizier, but unfortunately everything was owned by someone else. ”

"Bayezette." Alexander whispered, seeing that Ulliu's swarthy face suddenly twitched slightly, Alexander slowly sat back in his chair, "Ulliu, I may have to go to Castile after the business here is done." ”

Ulliu's expression perked up instantly, although he had vaguely known something for a long time, but this was the first time that Alexander had officially mentioned the topic of Iberia to him.

"Sir, I will always follow your ......," said Uliu, respectfully.

"No," Alexander said, raising his hand to stop Ulliu, "I'm thinking that maybe you should go home." ”

"Home?"

Ulliu was a little dazed, he had grown accustomed to the place of home, Montina, Pisa, Florence, and even the Marino Palace in Rome, but Alexander was obviously not talking about these places.

"I mean the East, your real home," Alexander said, looking at Ulliu, "you already know where Lady Conneo has gone, she is having a hard time doing things alone in the East now, and I don't trust her, so I want to send you there to assist her, knowing that she is doing something important that may give an impression of the future of the Ottoman Empire." ”

Ulliu saluted Alexander, knowing what he wanted him to do.

Although it was indeed a difficult task, the thought of returning to the East made Ulliu's heart stir violently.

In mid-January 1500, Ulliu, governor of Montina and prefect of the Pisa court, arrived in Monza and, to the astonishment and disappointment of the bishop of Monza and the ecclesiastical people, Ulliu, acting as Alexander's agent, declared the Count of Montina the protector of the Lombard Iron Crown.

At this point, Alexander's trip to Lombardy began to bear fruit.