Louis XII did not want to enter Rome through the Porte de Saint-Paul, he planned to march into Rome through the Porte de Metronia, because in 1309, Philip IV, the beautiful man of the Capetian dynasty of France, sent his minister Nogale to lead his army to capture Rome, and from here, all the way through the ancient Arc de Triomphe, but after the exploration of his friend, Cardinal George, he thought that the Porte Saint-Paul was closer to the Vatican Palace and the route of the march was more secret. Unlike the Porta de Metronia, which had many Vatican guards (because it was part of the center of Rome), he chose the latter, but in Louis XII's mind, when he left Rome, he would also pass through one after another triumphal arches, and maybe he could erect a new one for himself.

As he passed through the Porte de Saint-Paul, Louis XII was finally able to understand Cardinal George's concerns, the gates of Rome had been damaged by thousands of years of wind and frost, and could not withstand artillery bombardment. The Medici became the uncrowned king of Rome, the first thing he did was to reinforce, build the city wall and the city gate, after the repair, this city gate is thicker and more solid than the Roman emperor's period, and there are many new battlements and holes for watching and shooting, it is said that there are secret passages for walking in the city wall, even the city gate is wrapped in black iron, and there is an iron gate weighing more than a thousand pounds inside, if you want to attack, he may be able to lay it, but it will undoubtedly cause great losses.

Fortunately, the Orsini family had many grievances against the current pope, or rather his agents, and Cardinal Georges only provoked them slightly, and they naturally leaned towards the side of the French, and after winning the personal promise of Louis XII, they readily agreed to open the door of St. Paul for the French, for which they took great pains, because the night guard was always given to the Gatizians under Cardinal Medici.

There were some twists and turns, but the result was as good as it could be, with the sons of the House of Orsini joining the French army with their heads on their heads, and Louis XII even graciously allowing him to follow behind his ministers and generals. Spearmen, halberders, and crossbowmen in front, knights and musketeers on either side, infantry and artillery in the rear, the footsteps of thousands of men echoed through the empty streets of Rome, they heard the exclamations hidden behind the curtains, cries of fear or subconscious curses came from the dark corners, and the doors and windows were closed, not daring to peep into this mighty army.

As Cardinal George had hoped, the Vatican Palace remained unconscious, with the French on their right side the dark Tiber River, shrouded in cold mist, and to their left were the mansions with faint firelight, Palazzo Essami, Palazzo Tologna, Palazzo Corsini, Palazzo Salvetini...... They were finally awakened, but even though they were all ancient Roman families, the soldiers they raised could not compare with a real army, they only dared to be vigilant behind the doors and windows, like foxes alarmed by lions, although they had minions, but lacked courage.

When the French conquered Rome in 1309, even the churches could not avoid the plunder, not to mention the humble merchants and weak families, each of whom made an unprecedented fortune, and even after two hundred years, they still talked about it, and almost every descendant of the soldiers of that time had heard their story, perhaps, Some precious jewel or relict in their home was obtained from that war.

And Louis XII also promised that as long as they could take Rome, the Vatican, and Castel Sant'Angelo, they would get a seven-day vacation, which was a holiday, in fact, it was to give them time and space to plunder, as long as they did not leave much of a handle and made some unforgivable mistakes, their king would erect the strongest shield for them to ensure that they would not be held accountable, which is why they had not received the money for three months, but they were still extremely fanatical and loyal— They were like wild beasts in a cage, starving from lack of food, and now Louis XII wanted to free them to tear at his enemies.

Louis XII had already made up his mind that he would not make the mistakes of Charles VIII, and the cunning and shameless Pope was not needed at all for a powerful king, and what Philip IV had done, he could certainly repeat it again.

What he did not notice was that, after crossing the bridge over the Tiber, the army of 20,000 men had drawn a thin curved line in the narrower and narrower alleys.

Giulio stands at the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, standing under the sword-wielding archangel, this statue was erected in the sixth century, Pope Gregory I in order to seek help from heaven to eliminate the Black Death. The Medici strangely coincided, and the latter would also wield his sword today, except that his enemy was not an invisible plague, but an enemy of flesh and blood.

Giulio gently lowered the telescope, a sharp weapon that played an important role on the banks of the Ravenna River, and did not disappoint here, the slender line of fire that curved and curled the outline of the neighborhood on the west side of the Tiber, and Giulio waited until their ends disappeared at the St. Paul's Gate before giving a silent command.

The bell of Castel Sant'Angelo rang loudly.

It is the clarion call of war and the roar of God, and with Castel Sant'Angelo, the bell of St. Peter's Basilica also rings, then the church of Santa Maria, the church of San Rosario, the church of San Gioacchino...... Church of Santa Maria de Forkina, Church of San Pancolazio...... Church of Jesus and Mary, Church of Santa Teresa, Church of Corpus Christi ......

One bell after another rang out, and Louis XII and his army were caught in an instant by the roaring bells.

There was almost nothing but the sound of bells between heaven and earth, the only sound, the clashing of the doors and windows of the mansions, and the creaking of the cannons that came out of the doors, and the creaks of the muskets and crossbow arrows sticking out of the windows, were almost negligible, but the torches lit by the people, both indoors and in the streets, had lit the nets that hung over the heads of the French.

Louis XII's eyes widened, and for a moment he thought he was in the midst of a great nightmare, but he closed his eyes and opened them again, and the sight and the sound in his ears remained unchanged, he knew that he had fallen into the trap of the Pope, but he did not think that he had lost - the strong king only stopped for a few seconds, then drew his sword and shouted, "Attack!" Offensive! Offensive! “

He shouted three times in a row, and the knights of the edict beside him shouted at the same time, and for a moment their voices even overpowered the bells, but a louder sound suddenly invaded the ears of the people, and at first, whoever thought it was the roar of artillery, but only those who stood on high could see it, and in the neighborhood on the west bank of the Tiber, four or five towers had fallen to the ground, and rubble was splattering in all directions, and dust was flying—they were falling towards the streets, and the wreckage was like hammers, Knock the slender French army into sections.

"I will say," cried a member of the House of Torlonia, "what was the Medici cardinal thinking, why had so many towers suddenly been built, had he already anticipated the present situation from that time?" ”

The Torlonian family, or any other family in Rome, was accustomed to fighting between families, as small as two or three people, as large as four or five hundred people pouring out of the nest, but in any case, they did not expect that they could expand the battlefield to such a large extent, but they had never encountered such an enemy before!

The small city of Rome, and the even narrower St. Peter's Square, was destined to accommodate tens of thousands of men in battle like Ravenna, so Louis XII led only the elite of the army, 3,000 men, including 500 knights of the Imperial Order, which he felt was enough for Rome, especially Rome, which had not been given an early warning, and it was true, if it were not for the members of the Friars of Mercy, who had already flown like dandelions to every corner of Italy and beyond, Giulio. The Medici may have been caught off guard, but with them and the Assasins, Giulio has at least taken full control of most of Italy.

The amputated army is like a severed serpent, with a head that cannot find a body, a body that cannot find a tail, and a tail that cannot find a head, and at this time the families of Rome - those who are willing to submit to Giulio. The family in front of the Medici took the opportunity to launch an offensive.

Unlike the French army, they were accustomed to fighting in the street fortresses, and among these people were people from Luca and Gatiz, who brought with them weapons that had a longer range and greater power than the muskets that had come before, and the Romans only had to stand behind the battlements of their family fortresses and shoot down condescendingly.

This is not a war, a son of the Corsini family said so after the war, it was a massacre.

The palaces of the various families were originally like fortresses in all directions, with heavy sandbags and stones piled up behind the doors, which could not be opened no matter how they hit, the walls were thick and tall, and the longest wood in the hands of the French was their halberd, and only the artillery team in the rear caused a certain amount of damage to the palace of Elsami - those clever people, when they could not get orders from their superiors and were attacked by the enemy, immediately set up artillery and bombarded the nearest palace of Al Essami, the walls of the palace were blown down to a corner, and the French swarmed in, The family of Asami was sacked, and God forbid, and when the people of the family of Asami saw that the situation was not good, they immediately got on the boat parked on the Tiber River and fled, and there were not many people who met misfortune.

But these wise men did a foolish thing, they should have turned around and made sure that the St. Paul's Gate was still open, and the following troops heard the sound of bells and towers collapsing, but as they were about to enter Rome, they found the gates closed, the iron gates falling, and the walls full of guards and artillery muzzles.

They were kept out of Rome, while their king was still inside.

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Louis XII was a brave knight and a wise king, but the victories of Philip IV and the cowardice of the Roman Church, as well as the innocence inherent in the Italians, made him despise his enemies, and now he had to pay the price for that contempt.

First the bolts, then the bullets, then the boiling water, the grease and the fire.

As he knew, the people of Rome lacked courage, but this did not mean that they did not know how to fight, especially when they occupied the opportune moment, the roads of the neighborhood were wide enough for people and carriages, but not so friendly to the army, especially the cavalry, the knights who had always had a good reputation for the edict had no room to play at all, even the smallest impact distance was not enough here, and even if it was a merchant's mansion, the outer walls were hard stone.

From hopeful to despairing, the time was so short, and when the first rays of morning light fell on the statue of the Holy Angels, Giulio met the messenger of Louis XII.

Louis XII bowed his noble head.

——————

When Giulio saw the emissary—for Pope Leo X was still recuperating, and therefore the only one who could speak on the Pope's behalf, and even make a decision—he looked unusually calm, and he did not seem at all surprised by the defeat of the French, like the rising sun and the setting of the moon, without the slightest surprise or emotion.

As for Cardinal Georges, as well as Cardinal Cisneros, and several other cardinals suspected of colluding with the French, they were all controlled, of course, a smaller matter, but Duarte couldn't help but think of Giulio's indifferent attitude when they talked about Cardinal George. Morality. In addition to being interested in getting a glimpse of the Pope's health, did Amboise also have the task of probing Rome for Louis XII?

But he didn't ask, he had already discovered that Giulio was no longer the one who could still be usurped by others, he was more and more like the former Piccomini, unpredictable, unsmiling, only a little warm when facing little Cosimo or his siblings.

Where would such a man take Rome and the Church? Duarte pondered as he walked out of the Vatican Palace.

The blinding light brought him to tears.

——————

Equally uncontrollable weeping were the knights of Louis XII's edict, blessed that they had not lost their lives at least as much as their colleagues on the Ravenna River, but who were also miserable because they had not only failed to achieve victory for their king, but had made their king, like them, prisoners of the Church.

How ridiculous, it is not that no king has submitted to the feet of the Pope before, such as the former Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, but this is the first time that the Pope and the people of Rome have directly defeated a king, although they have used despicable tricks, but no country or principality has intervened, only the Pope, the Bishop and their people, who were once despised and despised by Louis XII.

Louis XII was much calmer than his knights, he was not hopeless, the results of the battle of Ravenna had not yet reached his ears, and most of his army remained outside Rome.

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