The appearance of the artillery caused a great deal of panic, but when Montina's army had to retreat after a burst of guns fired at the crossing, the rebels let out another cheer with mockery at the enemy.

"See, they are not invincible," Normeci shouted to his men, "or even if they are as good as the legend suggests, this monastery will protect us." ”

Normeci's words provoked another burst of cheers, and the rebels, apparently aroused by his courage and fighting spirit, began to shout loudly at Monty in the distance, some of them simply leaning out of the window, and shaking their hats loudly to provoke the enemy on the other side.

"This place is damn bad!" A Bal ** hand angrily ripped off the soft hat on his head and threw it on the ground, "We can't get close to that monastery at all, we can't even get to the place where we can see it, do we want my cannonball to turn around?" ”

"The junction is so close to the monastery that even a group of blind men can beat us into a honeycomb at such a close distance." Another Balkan soldier also said angrily, "Maybe there is some other way for us to get closer, but it won't work like this." ”

"What are you talking about?" Overlay, who was walking by, strode up to the soldier and stared at him, "Say your words again." ”

The Balkans looked uneasily at the angry marching captain opposite, and they had not been following this man for long, so they did not know what kind of man this young officer seemed to be smiling all the time, but now looking at him, the Balkans realized that they might be in serious trouble.

"Pull the cannon up, now!" Ofrei yelled at the soldiers, his neck flushed, his face stirred like a small mud pond with dust and sweat, "Ready to fight, soldiers, didn't you fight the Ottomans before, or did you all brag before?" ”

Enraged, the Balkans cursed loudly in a foul language that only they could understand as they pushed the gun carriage closer to the junction, and when they saw a corner of the monastery, a frenzied burst of gunfire swept over their ears.

"Those rebels are crazy, don't they know how to save some bullets?" The Balkans cursed and carefully pushed the gun carriage forward, "Hurry up, aim, let's teach them a good lesson." ”

The small muzzle of the eagle cannon barely peeked out from under the edge of a protruding stone and was aimed at the farthest tower of the monastery, from which it could be seen directly on most of the hillside around the monastery.

"That's it," Ofleiyi ordered, and he cautiously poked his head out to observe, then gestured to the gunner, "I'll reward you if you can get the first shot right." ”

"It's not easy, Captain," said the gunner, raising his right thumb and looking at it in front of his eyes, while muttering in his mouth, "from the wrist to the fingers is a number, and then the length of the arm is counted as eight fingers, and the elevation angle is ......."

Offrey looked at the babbling gunner with some curiosity, he knew that Gompati had studied a simple but practical method of artillery shooting, but he did not expect Gompati to teach these things to these Balkans.

"Okay, 3 No. 2 bolts under the cannon," the gunner, who had finally finished the calculation, shouted loudly, and immediately someone pulled out a few pieces of wood marked with numbers from the wooden box he carried with him and stuffed them under the Eagle Cannon that was pressed up hard, and looked at the raised muzzle, and the gunner showed a malicious smile on his face, "That's it." ”

Two more gunshots rang out from the direction of the monastery, and although no one knew where the bullets had got, the people couldn't help but retreat.

"Don't move," the gunner yelled at his assistants in displeasure, and then lit the twist with a torch.

The stinking thread of medicine sparked and burned, and people couldn't help but hold their breath and wait.

"Bang~"

A dull sound poured into people's ears, accompanied by a sharp jump of the barrel, and then the gun carriage began to slide downward.

"Boom!" With a bang, a large piece of rubble suddenly burst out from the stone wall at the corner of the monastery in the distance, accompanied by a loud clattering sound, and large stones rolled down the hill with thick smoke.

The whole monastery was like a beast that had been hit and enraged, and the bullets whizzed towards the crossing, and some of the lead bullets even hit the barrels of the eagle cannons that poked out, and the cannons made a ruffling sound from time to time.

"Pull the artillery back!" The gunner shouted, grabbed the rope and shouted, and the cannon was slowly dragged back behind the stone.

"That's a good shot," the gunner of the other eagle cannon laughed, but the look on his face became ugly at the sight of the bullet marks on the gun, and then he tentatively said to Oflei, "Captain, it seems that there is nothing wrong with me." ”

"Don't worry, it'll be your turn soon," Oflaiyi patted the gunner's shoulder casually, "Be careful, put the cannon a little farther away, and shoot from the right side of the intersection!" ”

Hearing Ofleiyi's words, the gunner's face became even more ugly.

Obviously, compared to the first cannon only hiding behind the stone corner, they were much more dangerous, and the rebels were likely to give them a head-on attack when they first appeared, but looking at Oflaiyi's unkind look, Barr had no choice but to beckon his companion to cautiously approach the intersection along the slightly open right side of the road.

"It's best to hit the walls of the abbey directly this time," Ofleiyi told the gunners, keeping a wary eye for the black holes in the thick stone walls.

The gun was pushed to a point where a section of the courtyard wall could already be seen, and seeing Ofreiil nodding slightly, the gunner breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ordered his assistant to fix the gun carriage with a wooden wedge.

Offrey stared in the direction of the monastery, looking at the nervous artillerymen, he opened his mouth slightly but said nothing.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a figure shaking in the dark corner of the window, and before Offrey could open his mouth to warn, a chaotic gunfire rang out.

The gunner, who heard the gunshot, was shot in the head by a lead bullet before he could raise his head, and his body shook and he fell on his stomach on the gun, and blood immediately flowed down the barrel of the gun to the ground.

"Go back, go back!" Offrey shouted loudly, and several soldiers holding the ropes of the gun carriage did not even care about the corpse of the gunner who was crushed under the wheels, and desperately dragged the cannon in the direction where the bullet missed, and the gun carriage was bumped back and forth, and the unsturdy body of the gun fell apart instantly, and the eagle cannon clanged against the stones, and the flying wooden wheels first bounced, and then fell down the hill in pieces.

The shouts came from the direction of the monastery, mixed with loud whistles and vulgar vernacular jokes that only Neapolitan natives understood, which angered the few Agri soldiers who were with him, but as soon as they came up, they were immediately shot back by heavy fire, and listening to the incessant shouts of the rebels in the monastery, the Agri soldiers could not help but be annoyed but at a loss.

Ofleiyi looked at the corpse of the gunner lying on the ground not far away, and said a word, but when he heard the shouting in the direction of the monastery that seemed to be about to subside, he suddenly waved his hand to the only remaining gunner: "Push the cannon up, this time both guns are in your charge." ”

"But captain, we can't hit at all like this, if we want to hit, we have to push the cannon to the front, that would be tantamount to death." The gunner looked at his companion who was still alive and shook his head, and then looked at Oflaiyi with some concern, he could see that the captain was not in a good mood at this time.

Offrey closed his eyes slightly and was silent, as if trying to restrain his emotions, then he opened his eyes and looked at the worried gunner, and then suddenly smiled: "Don't worry, I won't let you die, I don't need you to hit anything, you just need to keep firing." ”

Seeing the gunner's puzzled expression, Oflai, who was leaning against the edge of the stone, leaned slightly to look at the monastery where there were constantly flickering figures.

He was the only one in the attacking team who knew what the purpose of the attack was, and in fact he did not expect to take the monastery head-on, all he had to do was to try to attract the attention of the rebels.

The Balkans are natural mountain people, and for the Balkans, although the mountains of southern Italy are steep, fighting here is like returning to their homeland.

At least that's the case for Schelle.

If you look up, you can see the steep slope of the mountain, and the reddish-brown rocks that have been exposed by wind erosion over the years set off the monastery on the hill are unusually tall, and this purely visual impact will make those standing at the bottom of the mountain feel as if the monastery was built in the sky.

St. John's Abbey is actually not very tall, at least much shorter than the other two peaks less than half a mile from it.

Alexander was now standing on one of the peaks, looking into the distance at the roofs of St. John's Monastery.

In a few centuries, a beautiful rope bridge will be built from here to take people directly to the monastery, but if you want to challenge your mettle, you can try a rather exciting game by sliding straight from the peak of the mountain to the monastery.

As for the braver game, it is possible to climb directly from the foot of the mountain to the monastery.

Alexander searched carefully, and finally gradually saw a group of people slowly climbing down the opposite hill, a group of Balkan soldiers led by Scheer.

By this time Sher had already changed out of the crimson hunting uniform that he was proud of, and the cuirass was gone, he was wearing a dusty shirt and Ottoman trousers, a short knife and a musket pinned to his waist, and a saber on his back, and the others were dressed similarly to him, these Balkans were wearing soft-soled shoes suitable for climbing, and when they began to climb the hill, several wild goats suddenly appeared not far from them.

The ibex first stared at the intruders alertly, and when they found that they seemed to be in little danger to themselves, they were attracted by the uninvited guests' climb up the mountain, and they began to climb up the nearby places, and would stop from time to time to look at their opponents, and some would also bark a few times to indicate provocation.

"Hold steady, steady." Alexander looked at the seemingly slow-moving black dots on the opposite hillside that were barely noticeable if he didn't look closely, while he looked up from time to time at the monastery at the top of the hill.

Suddenly, several figures appeared on the roof of the monastery, and those people first ran back and forth near the gate, and then wandered back and forth around, looking at those people, the people around Alexander stopped, and some of them involuntarily lowered their bodies for fear of being discovered.

"Hurry up Oflaiyi, hurry up and make some noise." Alexander kept urging in his heart, although those rebels standing on the roof may not deliberately run to the direction of the back slope, but if it takes a long time, they may not find Scheer who is climbing up, especially at this time the sun happens to be shining on the back slope, if someone looks down, although Scheer has changed into earth-colored clothes that will not attract attention, but there is no guarantee that they will not be exposed.

"Look, sir." One of the hunters whispered as if he was afraid to alarm the rebels on the other side, as he pointed to the roof opposite.

One of the rebels was pulling at the roof of the house as he pulled his trouser belt towards the corner of the abbey, and at the foot of the slope not far from him, a few wild goats were giving a muffled cry defiantly to Schell, who was almost catching up with them.

"Damn it!" Alexander let out a curse, and without looking back, he ordered, "Ready, they will shoot as soon as the man finds Schelle." ”

"Your Excellency, we can't hit it if it's so far away." One of the guards said puzzled.

"At least it will draw the enemy in and give Sher a chance to escape." Alexander scolded his men angrily, he did not expect that this attack on St. John's Monastery would be unexpectedly difficult, although he did not doubt that he would win in the end, but the casualties caused by that might have been thought of before.

The rebel had now come to the edge, and then seemed to be attracted by the cry of the wild goat, and he leaned out slightly in confusion.

Alexander reluctantly admitted the failure of the surprise attack and raised his gun.

"Boom!"

The corner of the monastery where the man was standing suddenly burst up, and the rubble grabbed the body of the hapless rebel and rushed straight into the sky, and then collapsed down the hill with a "bang"!

Alexander looked at the monastery that was suddenly missing a corner and a roof, and then at the rebels on the roof, shouting and rushing in the direction of the main entrance, he paused for a moment and then suddenly smiled, "It seems that our luck is not bad." ”

Normezi was also frightened by the shelling, and when he saw the corner of the wall that had been blown up, he immediately turned almost all the muskets to the window of the front wall, and finally after a burst of non-stop firing, he looked at the retreating Montina army, and only let out a slight breath.

"Looks like your defense isn't invulnerable." The Aragonese officer came over and said with a slight mockery, "This is only the first day, I don't know how long you can hold on like this." ”

"How long can I hold on?" Normezi slapped the stone wall hard, "Look at this stone, even a cannon can't collapse at once, and you can see that we killed their gunners just now, and now they don't even dare to take the lead, they may want to shoot at the monastery from the nearest hill, but there is no road nearby." ”

"It seems that you have a chance of victory," the officer smiled disapprovingly, "but I remind you, my lord, that the king's army can only be sent after the French invade Naples, so you should hope that Louis's army will come soon, otherwise I will not be safe in this place for a long time." ”

The corners of Normezi's eyes twitched, he was already a little tired of this arrogant Aragonese, and he even wondered if all Aragonese had this attitude, then it was a little doubtful that he would choose to join Ferdinand, but now he had no choice, and when he heard another dull cannon sound outside, Normezi immediately ran to the window with his men.

The Aragonese officer climbed up the narrow staircase to the second floor, and when he came into the corridor, he saw several of Normezi and his women bowing out of the queen's room, and the officer quickly hid in the shadows until the women left.

"Dear Queen of Sicily, I have come to see you."

The officer whispered as he walked down the corner of the wall towards the queen's room, and his gloved right hand silently pulled out a strange short sword with sharp jagged teeth on both sides and hid it behind his arm, and then came to the door and knocked lightly.

"Who is it?"

A still majestic voice came from the room.

"Your Majesty," said the officer, looking at the door, calmly, "I apologize for the rudeness I have done to you, and allow me to report to you something very important. ”

"You're the one from before?" The queen's voice showed undisguised disgust, "I don't think I have anything to say to you, and I don't want to see you. ”

"Your Majesty's matter is very important," said the officer, after a pause, "it is at stake for your safety, for I am aware, a conspiracy is being carried out against you, and Count Normezi is involved." ”

"What do you say? This can't be, the Count is loyal! ”

Listening to the queen's surprised voice in the room, it was noticeably higher, and the officer slowly pulled the short sword in his hand upside down and tucked it into his sleeve.

"Your Majesty, allow me to report to you in person, and I assure you that although I am employed with an earl, I am a Sicilian, and I swear to God that I am loyal only to my king and queen."

As if moved by the oath made by the outsider in the name of God, the door slowly opened as the sound of footsteps stopped at the door.

"Your Majesty." The officer standing at the door bowed respectfully to the queen, and slid the short sword in his sleeve into the palm of his hand under the cover of bending down.

"What are you going to report to me?" The queen tried her best to make herself look so majestic, but from the anxious flickering eyes she could see that she was actually full of anxiety at this time.

"Please allow me to go in, Your Majesty, this matter is too important." The officer whispered.

The queen hesitated, but at the thought of the officer's words, she immediately looked carefully into the corridor, and then opened the door wider.

The Aragonese immediately dodged into the room, and at the same time closed the door.

"You have to report something to me, but I warn you that Count Normezi is very loyal......"

Before the queen's so-called warning could be finished, a powerful hand suddenly covered her mouth, and the short sword with a serrated blade had already stabbed into her lower abdomen!

One time! Twice! Three clicks!

The dagger stabbed the queen between her chest and abdomen quickly, and the blood instantly soaked through the clean dress she had just changed.

The queen's body trembled and her mouth screamed, but the Aragonese covered her mouth fiercely and whispered in her ear in a low voice: "I swear allegiance to my king, Ferdinand of Aragon, and to honor Jesus Christ as my only Lord, and may your soul be saved." ”

The queen had slipped to the ground, her eyes wide open enough to hear the nervous voice of the Aragonese, and at last her legs trembled, and then there was no more sound.

"Let God decide your sin, and I am only the king's sword." The Aragonese slowly wiped the blood from his dagger, then took off his blood-stained coat and threw it out of the window.

As soon as he walked out of the queen's chamber and closed the door, the window was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Then, Shel, who was holding a bloodstained coat in his hand, climbed in through the window.