Romagna in August was fascinating, at least as Cargino thought, and he felt that if he stayed here, he might never want to leave.

But in fact he was facing a terrible situation, and his army was running out of supplies.

In fact, even after entering the Romagna region, the Genoese followed the most common practice of the army today, collecting supplies to maintain the expenses of the entire army, which allowed them to be much more convenient and flexible than carrying large quantities of supplies themselves.

It was because of this that the Genoese were able to quickly cut off the connection between Montina and Alexandria.

If it weren't for the unbelievable speed of Montina's army, and the swift and decisive decision to come to Alexander's aid, the battle might have ended differently entirely.

"In that case, perhaps we are now enjoying a glass of wine in the Château de Montina, and then we can sleep soundly in the afternoon, instead of worrying about what to eat in this wilderness." Calgino said to the entourage in front of him, seeing that the faces of those people were ugly, Kargino waved his hand disappreciatively, "I know it's all my fault, but now we really shouldn't complain, so let's talk about your suggestions." ”

Since his defeat, Cargino knew his life was not going to be easy.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before rumors came from Genoa that someone in parliament had impeached him, and that he would have been severely reprimanded, if not dismissed, had it not been for the efforts of his uncle, who was the viceroy.

This was certainly not good news for Cardino himself, who had set his sights on the Genoa parliament seat, and if he returned to Genoa, he could change his status from a purely military man to a statesman.

But now he had lost the battle, and even if he tried to cover it up, the heavy casualties in the battle still caused the shock and anger of the Genoese lords.

Cargino was eager to have the members who had been noisy in parliament all day come to Romagna to see it for themselves, and he wanted to write to them and tell them, "If you think that my command is incompetent, then I suggest you come and experience for yourself what it is like to face the cannons of Montina." ”

It's just that he knows that if he really wants to write like this, then his situation will only be worse.

Just as he was in a difficult situation because he was rebuked by the Genoese parliament, an unexpected piece of news helped Calgino get out of his predicament.

Ludvico Sforza, Duke of Milan, suddenly sent an emissary.

The news had nothing to do with him, but he soon found something interesting in it.

Ludvico Sforza of Milan was a well-known rival to the French, or rather the main culprit in the introduction of the French into Italy, but Ludvico himself was the most staunch opponent of the French.

This is because after accepting Ludvico's invitation to send troops to Italy, Charles not only did not help Ludviko fight his mortal enemies the Venetians as promised, but on the contrary, Charles also announced that Milan would be under his rule.

This made Ludviko feel that he had become the biggest fool of all, and in order to avenge the treachery of the French, Ludviko Sforza worked harder than the other city-state monarchs who rebelled against the French in the later battles with the French.

However, this had nothing to do with Cargino, he was concerned with the dealings between Ludvico and his uncle as governor of Genoa.

Ludviko proposed an alliance to Genoa, and they offered lucrative terms.

That is, because the Venetians had previously violated the instructions of the Holy See, Venice had been deprived of all the right to pray according to the Vatican's edict, and any prayer in Venice during this period would be considered an offense and a challenge to the Holy See.

This excuse is boring, even a little funny, because everyone knows how Lucrezia's first husband, Giovanni Sforza, died, but it does not stop Ludviko from attacking his old enemy in the name of the Holy See.

And the reason why Ludvico is so anxious to compete with the Venetians has something to do with the new king of France who is about to ascend the throne.

The ancestors of the Duke of Orleans were a side branch of the earlier Duke of Milan, which was enough to give the future Louis XII too many excuses, if Charles VIII was still purely cunning, then Louis XII was a legitimate reason to seize the crown of the Duke of Milan.

Ludviko sensed danger and hoped to get out of the crisis, and his only chance was to have the support of Holy Roman Emperor Maximian.

Maximian is also very willing to help Ludvico, he can't watch the French eat Italy so calmly, but since Ludvik is so active, Maximian naturally has to raise the price.

A joint attack on Venice became a condition for Maximian to support Ludvico, who in turn set his hopes on the Genoese.

Ludvico spent a lot of money on the Genoese councillors, and Calgino's uncle received even more benefits as a Genoese governor.

As a result of this move, the Genoese not only enthusiastically agreed to the offer to attack Venice with the Milanese, but even accepted the proviso of an alliance with the Empire.

For Maximian, the unexpected benefit was clearly greater than having Ludviko encourage Genoa to attack Venice together.

Maximian was convinced that the French would make a comeback, so he urgently needed to establish a large anti-French holy alliance again, and he was annoyed by the Venetians' rivalry with him in Hungary and Bohemia, so an alliance with Genoa could be said to have been doubled for him.

During this period, the attitude of the Luo Weilei family attracted the attention of many people.

It is well known that Rovere had close ties with the French, and it was no secret that this alliance with the Empire would actually mean that he was about to make enemies of the French.

The situation of the Rovere family became unavoidable, especially when Rafort della Rovere, who had just returned to Genoa, learned that the parliament had almost unanimously passed a resolution to form an alliance with the Empire, and even as a member of the Rovere family, he had to accept this fact.

It's just that if you want to wage war against Genoa, you must first pass through Montina, who has just fought a battle.

Whether the Genoese Parliament and the Doge regretted the complete rupture of relations with Montina due to their hasty decision, Cardino did not know.

But he knew that in this way, in order to remove the immediate obstacle, the council would have to continue to use him to deal with Alexander.

As for the rumors that his uncle offered to marry Barentia of the Rovere family, it was a family affair that Cargino didn't care much about.

"There's no way we're going to attack Montina, that's just too stupid." One of his men spoke, and seeing that the people next to him were nodding, he paused and said cautiously, "And we don't have many supplies left, our soldiers have to go further in order to collect food, and it is said that the soldiers who went the furthest even encountered the city guards from Pisa." ”

"Wait a minute, what did you just say?" Calgino suddenly pointed at the subordinate, his cheeks moved, and then suddenly pointed at the man's finger with excitement and couldn't stop nodding, "That's right, it's pizza, why didn't I think of this." ”

Calgino quickly placed a few cups in front of him as he spoke, then picked up two cups and gestured to his subordinates.

"This is pizza, this is Montina." Calgino said, picking up the third cup and placing it between the two, "This is what we see, what you see now, an empty and almost undefended city. ”

Calgino said and slapped the pizza cup!

"Order the whole army to get ready as soon as possible, we're going to Pisa." As he spoke, Cardino took a sip of the sour wine in his glass, and then spit it out, "We will soon not have to drink this kind of thing again, and the soldiers will be able to eat meat and rest, and I think it will be the Cambrai that will be uncomfortable then." ”

Calgino, who was in a good mood because he imagined Alexander's frustration after learning of the loss of Pisa, immediately gave the order, and with the sound of the order, the Genoese army, which had been resting for a week, began to agitate like a beast that had woken up from a dazed place with nothing to do.

Little did Alexander know that Cardino would suddenly have the idea of Pisa, and all his attention was on Genoa.

He wanted to know as soon as possible what had happened on the Genoese side, and at the same time he had to send a letter to the old Rovere in Rome, telling him that he had entrusted Barentia with the management of the territory, and at the same time unceremoniously asking the old Rovere in the letter.

"If you think that my marriage contract with your daughter is detrimental to the interests of the Rovere family, then allow me to remind you that in the process of maintaining this marriage Brevère family has gained enough benefits, and this is my proof that I can be matched with Barondi, so I am surprised and even angry at the decision of the Archbishop of Genoa, because the archbishop's actions are undoubtedly breaking this marriage contract, and he seems to think that I can tolerate this humiliation, and I wonder what made him have such a ridiculous and even extremely stupid idea, Or is it also your decision? This is hard for me to believe, so I hope that the Cardinal will give me an answer that satisfies me as soon as possible, otherwise I will not respond to Bishop Tony de la Rovere as a false rumor. ”

Alexander still remembers that when such a sternly worded letter was delivered, Barondi's eyes changed a little when he looked at him.

Barentia saw the contents of the letter, and when she saw the merciless sarcasm given to Rafort de la Rovere, Barentia immediately glared at Alexander angrily.

"I have to make everybody aware of my attitude in this matter," Alexander explained, "and I want to let those people know that when they decide to be my enemy, they will have to bear the consequences." ”

"And that includes my father?"

"Especially your father," looking at Barondi, who looked gloomy when she heard this, Alexander said very seriously, "although it is true that I inherited Montina because of you, but we all know that this is part of our marriage contract, and I am not attached to the Rovere family, on the contrary, the free trade alliance formed because of our marriage contract is of common benefit to both of us, so I will not passively accept or dissolve this marriage contract, which your father and uncle have obviously ignored before, so it is necessary to remind them." ”

Barondi was completely silent, she knew that such a letter would cause an uproar when it arrived in Rome, but what the consequences would be were beyond her imagination.

Alexander did not bother to quarrel with Barentia over the letter, and according to Barentia's suggestion, he selected a group of soldiers from the Genoese army to supplement Montina's army, and then ordered them all to be sent to the northeast of Montina, on the border between Romagna and Venice.

The soldiers selected were young-looking, not so sophisticated, many of them who did not appear to be adults, but if you looked closely, you could see that they had undergone very formal training.

"It must be admitted that the Genoese are much more sophisticated than us in training recruits."

Hearing Alexander's emotion, Ofleiyi nodded lightly in agreement.

He knew that Alexander was not a method of training, and at least in this respect Ofreil was proud to say that Montina's army was probably the most well-trained army of our time.

Especially with the battle experience of the Genoese, the Montina army is changing rapidly, if this army has always been a young and energetic army, but because it has not experienced real bloody battles and has not cultivated a firm will to fight, then after finally experiencing the test of blood and fire, the Montina army is already a real army.

"We are still short of time, so we can't build an effective training foundation from a very early age," Ofreil said to Alexander, "but if you say that the school can be set up as soon as possible, maybe everything will be much easier." ”

"No, even that would only produce a group of middle and lower-ranking officers," Alexander looked at the Genoese, "most of them were actually trained at a very young age, except for the usual training they are no different from others, but when it is time to be drafted, it only takes a short time to turn such a group of citizens or farmers who usually participate in training into qualified soldiers, which requires a system that has been formed in a territory or country for a long time, and this is what we lack now." ”

Alexander was a little helpless and said that his foundation in Montina was still too short, and even if Montina's army relied on training methods and tactics that were much stronger than those of the Genoese to defeat their opponents, if there was a long-term confrontation, the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides would soon be exposed.

"So we have to beat Cardino as soon as possible and I have to make sure that he can't gain a foothold in Romagna so that we can take the initiative in future negotiations."

Offrey listened silently and did not speak, he knew that Alexander's words were obviously not spoken to him, but he was thinking about what to do in the future.

However, from these few words, Ofleiyi still keenly understood Alexander's thoughts about the upcoming new battle.

A clean, swift attack that poses a real threat to the enemy, and is sure to completely shock the opponent with a deadly blow.

Ofleiyi secretly described the meaning of Alexander's words in his mind.

"When will our army be able to leave?" Alexander asked.

"We'll do it as soon as possible," Ofleiyi said, looking at the Genoese soldiers, "we need them to catch up with us as soon as possible, and it may be a little delayed." ”

"We don't have much time," Alexander shook his head, "leave them behind, let them organize the Genoese as soon as possible, and our main force will set off early." ”

"But my lord, we don't know where Karno is," Ofreil had to remind Alexander, "perhaps the Bohemians should be sent to find them first." ”

"No," Alexander pondered, but finally rejected Ofleiuil's proposal, "I said that I wanted to defeat Cardinal as soon as possible because it had to be before the cardinal made a decision, do you understand?" ”

Offrey was stunned for a moment, then nodded silently in understanding.

No one knows what the outcome of Alexander's unusually harshly worded letter will be, but one thing is certain: the outcome of the war in Romagna will largely determine the decisions of many.

What would old Rovere think?

Alexander was confident that he would definitely choose the side that would be in his favor.

Only a week had passed since the last battle, and the Montina army was again on the move.

This time, in addition to the Bohemian cavalry and the Agri army, which was the core of the whole Montina, there was also an artillery unit under the command of Gompati himself.

Perhaps having tasted the sweetness of the last time he used artillery to bombard the infantry phalanx, Gompati brought more than twice as many eagle cannons this time as before, that is, 12 eagles.

Compared with those guns that are often powerful and behemoth, the Eagle Cannon is much smaller in caliber and power.

This made many soldiers who were even keen on studying artillery not so much concerned about how to use the Eagle Cannon, but the last battle gave Gompati a new revelation, and after the battle, he took the trouble to find other people again and again to ask how they felt about artillery, and even in order to know more about it, he found many Genoese who had been shelled before, hoping to learn more from their personal experiences.

Eventually, when he left Montina with all the Eagle Cannons he had painstakingly scavenged, he rode on his horse and shook Gompati in a very lame script and wrote this short passage in a notebook:

"The experience of the battle tells us that when choosing the field to engage the enemy, we should take into account the full power of artillery, and try to let the enemy cause huge casualties before rushing to the formation, so that the enemy's military spirit can be effectively shaken, and in order to achieve this goal, when using artillery, we should concentrate to the greatest extent rather than scatter the direction of the artillery attack, so that we can play a sufficient destructive and deterrent role."

Looking at this passage, Gompatilo's eyes narrowed knowingly, and he guessed that he might have written a valuable piece of advice for future generations of artillery generals, but after thinking about it, he felt that something seemed to be missing.

So Gompati pondered for a long time, and finally remembered what he himself had said not long ago.

"As a soldier who values honor and bravery above all else, I personally despise compromise and negotiation, whether on the verge of victory or in adversity. So I prefer to give my opinion to my enemies with artillery. ”

After writing this paragraph, Gompati finally stuffed the little notebook into his leather bag with him.

On 2 August, Alexander led his army out of Montina.

What he didn't know was that on the same day, Cargino led the Genoese army to Pisa.