Gonzalo woke up in his room in the morning, the sea breeze carrying fresh air through the cracks in the wooden shutters, the serious middle-aged Spanish man shook his beard, grabbed the sheets and wiped his face, his servant had already woken up, and when he felt the clump above him vibrate and creak, he got up from a thick sheepskin and poured his master a glass of spiced wine, which was very valuable and did not taste very good, But the monks insisted that it had the effect of cleaning the teeth and mouth.

The general took the mulled wine and drank it down, pulled the linen sheets around his body, and walked from the room to the courtyard, when the sun was still thin and the wind was not so warm, Gonzalo was covered with a dense layer of small bumps, he shook his shoulders, bent down to lift the wooden barrel that the other servants had prepared for him, and poured all the cold water on his body, he howled loudly as he did so, he was forty-two years old, but when the water slid over his skin, it was still diverted by bulging muscles.

After the morning cleansing, Gonzalo went to pray for morning prayer before going to breakfast, which was Lent, but Sicily had fish, and he had eaten oysters and lobsters last night, and halibut this morning, and he was accompanied by his priest and a favored prostitute, and his hounds were prostrate at his feet, looking forward to the food that his master had left behind, like a servant. However, in order to ensure the cleanliness of the body compared to a sumptuous dinner, the quality of the food in the morning must be lacking, and Gonzalo disappointed the former to clean the contents of the plate, leaving no dross.

After breakfast, the priest began to read the letters and information he had compiled for Gonzalo, who had been in the service of the king of Castile (the predecessor of Spain) at the age of thirteen, and for nearly thirty years had fought the rebels of Spain, the Arabs, and the Moors, and the Latin, French, and Italian that he had learned with his mistress in the castle he had learned in his sojourn had long since been abandoned to Java, and like most of the strong and warlike knights, he read and wrote with great difficulty.

The priest first read the letter of King Ferdinand of Spain, in which the King of Spain may be said to have shamelessly forgotten the promise he had made to Charles VIII that Gonzalo should assemble his army and launch a siege of the French as soon as possible after joining up with the King of Naples, who had been exiled to Sicily, - however, neither Gonzalo nor Father Gonçalo (the Spanish priest) had anything to reproach for this practice, and their Majesty had always done so, and he did not hesitate to favor Gian in the power struggle between Ludovico and his nephew Gian, For Gian's wife was none other than Avia of Naples, and King Ferdinand I of Naples was his kinsman; But when Charles VIII of France offered Lucian and Serdagne in exchange for him to stand by in the French war with Naples, he immediately abandoned Ferdinand I; When Charles VIII entered Naples, he immediately became a member of the "Holy Alliance" against France, sharpening his sword against the French king and his army in the Italian peninsula.

"For Spain." After the priest had finished reading the letter, Gonzalo said, putting his hand close to his chest to show that he was still loyal to the king, but his face did not seem to be the same.

"My lord," asked the priest, "what makes you sad?" ”

"You know, my friend." Gonzalo pointed to the letter, "Our King is urging me - the snow has just melted, but he seems to want me to return triumphantly before the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin." “

"But we do have more troops than the French." The priest said that the Spaniards had provided the Holy Alliance with five thousand soldiers this time - javelin knights who were good at projection harassment, and skilled round shield swordsmen, and a small number of mercenaries for sentry patrols, and the king of Naples had recruited 10,000 soldiers here, and now the French in Naples had only 10,000 - the Holy Alliance was established in March, the Venetians took control of the Italian coast in April, and Milan suddenly counterattacked, which meant that the land and sea routes for the French army to return to their homeland were cut off, Charles VIII and his soldiers had only enjoyed the beauty of Naples for a few months before they had to start worrying about their future - in May, Charles VIII made the decision to leave Naples with most of his army, leaving only 10,000 men to be appointed to the governor of Naples, Bernard. Morality. Aubignie - that is, the enemy they are about to face.

Gonzalo glanced at him, and it was clear that the priest knew nothing about military affairs like the king of Spain, but he could not call the king a fool, but he could put the name of an idiot on the priest's head: "What is the use of a sheep that can only bleat and flee in a panic, even if there are ten thousand?" Though Charles VIII was gone, he left Aubigny with his knights, Swiss spearmen, and artillery, while our army was formed to defend against the Moorish attack—the French army was nothing like the wild men," Gonzalo said, looking out the window, as if he could see the dark-skinned devils from here. They had been a great problem for the Spaniards, but they were so incompetent and weak compared to the French knights and the Swedish spearmen.

At least Gonzalo did not think that the Spanish round-shielded swordsmen and javelin-knights who could defeat the Moors would be able to give the French army a head-on blow, and as for the 10,000 soldiers recruited by the King of Naples, Gonzalo never took it seriously, but only poor peasants who put down their hoes and took up spears and swords.

"Then this letter may make you a little happier." The priest held up a piece of parchment that was exceptionally white and delicate, and the handwriting on it glittered in the sunlight, "Mineral ink? Gonzalo took the piece of paper, rubbed it in his hand a few times, and then checked the beeswax: "It's Duarte, the secretary of Alexander VI...... Yes," he said, "I have to pay extra attention." What was said above? ”

"There is a question of the Pope's second illegitimate son," said the priest, "Caesar. Borgia. ”

Gonzalo looked confused: "He has succeeded in putting one of his sons in command of the Alliance, Caesar. Borgia is already a cardinal, right? Was he ready to renounce the priesthood? ”

The priest shook his head: "It seems that he has no such intention for the time being," he leaned forward and pointed to a few lines of the letter: "But our Archbishop of Valencia does seem to have the intention of fighting with his brother, and the man who came is one of his confidants, said to be a Medici," Gonzalo smiled strangely when he heard the surname, Pierrot. The acts of treason of the Medici have become the latest joke among the nobles of the nations, but for Giulio. The Medici, who knew him well, did not know much about him, for neither the Council of the Seventy nor King Charles VIII of France would have spoken out about the time of the Covenant, the former in order to prevent the Florentine citizens from submitting to Medici authority once again, and the latter, probably the first near-fatal humiliation suffered by the young Charles VIII, who would have kept his mouth shut for the sake of his own honor and position. "Julio. Medici," the priest reminded, "he was a disciple of Picomini, and it is said that the cardinal loved him as if he were his own son, and really, if not for the wrong age, perhaps it was more than just a rumor...... Caesar. Borgia also studied under Picromini, and they were brothers, and the papal throne of Alexander VI was also indispensable to the Medici gold. ”

"It's entirely possible," Gonzalo said, "that the Medici were said to have drawn money from their own banks and merchanthouses that year as if they were bleeding a dying patient." ”

"It is a pity that Alexander VI was not one of those good men who knew how to repay his kindness," said the priest, "and now the Medici were in a very awkward position in Rome. ”

"Not necessarily," said Gonzalo, "is already a big step forward for the Medici family, let alone two Medici." He looked down at the letter again: "Three hundred of them?" ”

"Ying Juan. Borgia's orders came to our aid. The priest smiled and said, "The Borgias are not stupid, but for us it is a good thing, eh...... At least there were no peasants in it, although they were all mercenaries, they all belonged to Lucca and Florence, and a hundred were private soldiers of the Picromini family. ”

Gonzalo, of course, would not refuse, and there was no need to refuse, just a child, "When will they arrive?" ”

"After the Holy Trinity, but the Feast of the Holy Body and the Blood." Said the priest.

Although Gonzalo had made up his mind to see his three hundred soldiers as soon as possible—yes, he had no intention of leaving these precious troops to a bishop, even if he was Archbishop of Lucca, to say that these robes, who read letters and chanted scriptures, were to be made to take up their swords and mount their horses, unless they were knights or generals, and the Medici had been mere merchants before. However, it backfired, and the party arrived in Sicily the day before the Holy Trinity, and at that time Gonzalo was at the invitation of the king of Naples to prepare for the Great Mass with them in the palace on the other side of Sicily, and there were three days of great celebrations after that, Gonzalo, as a general, was impatient with such a thing, but as a courtier, it was quite a failure to break his promise to a dignitary, and he endured it for a few days, and finally left the king's palace on the day of the celebration, and drove his horse back to the camp surrounded by the dawn mist.

As they crossed a thorny hillside, a wild goat suddenly jumped out from behind a rock and flew past Gonzalo's horse, who immediately reined in his horse and raised a hand: "Go and see," he commanded, "If there is nothing to drive away, the wild goat will not easily jump in front of man." A knight was ordered to go, and after a moment he turned back: "It is the army of the Pope," he said, "led by a bishop." ”

Gonzalo raised his thick eyebrows when he heard this: "It seems that our friend has arrived." He glanced at Father Shen, "Just let me meet them here." ”

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Julio. The Medici knew that although the productivity and technological level of this era can be said to be quite low, people's IQ and emotional intelligence will not be reduced, or it is precisely because of the lack of materials and the poverty of ideas that some ugly and filthy things in human nature have been exposed to the outside world in the open, just like Juan. Borgia had little to praise him for other than being a woman and gluttony, but that did not prevent him from hearing of his identity and immediately sending him to Sicily, far from the main forces of Rome and the Holy Alliance.

Giulio had nothing to complain about this, and it was just as he could stay away from Rome and the main army of the League, the main army of the Holy Alliance, even if it was President Juan Brown. Borgia is just a signboard, the title of an archbishop and three hundred soldiers simply cannot give him a voice among the princes - Sicily only has General Gonzalo of Spain and King Alfonso II of Naples, because Pope Alexander VI is a Spanish relationship, he will not be regarded as an enemy by Gonzalo when he comes here as a papal envoy, and as for the king of Naples, he will only need to rely on Alexander VI more than Gonzalo - Instead of worrying about the pathetic exiled king, Giulio should worry more about the three mercenary leaders in his ranks.

Beyond many people's imagination, in 15th-century Italy, becoming a mercenary was the best option for many young people, especially those who were neither the eldest sons who could inherit the family property nor the pampering of their parents. What a thing to be a warrior and to gain honor and money for it, compared to a mediocre painter, a dirty leatherman, or a goldsmith of poor craftsmanship! Not to mention the example of the Sforza family of Milan, who knew that the first Sforza was nothing more than a humble mercenary, but his descendants had become dukes of Milan - and even if they did not achieve this goal, there were many powerful mercenary leaders with their own possessions and fiefs, and became guests of honor for bishops and lords.

When a large number of people of the same kind advance for a goal, it is almost inevitable that they will fight each other, and those who can hold on to the end are some people who do not lack courage, martial arts, wisdom and luck, and those who can command these people should not be underestimated, the tricky thing is that they all have an equal number of soldiers, and their status is not higher or lower than the other two, except for the Florence mercenaries, they are not familiar enough with the Medici, and the prefect from Florence is also familiar with Pierrot. What the Medici had done before was quite slight.