Juana didn't even look at the person's face, and stabbed him directly with a sword.

No one expected a woman to be so vicious, he was stabbed, let out a cry of grief, pressed the wound in his abdomen, and fell to the ground. But he did not come alone, and the two men behind him immediately pushed him away, one of them swiftly swung his short sword with a sheath and struck Juana in the arm, and the queen of Spain screamed, and the little sword with blood fell to the ground, and the third man then waved the cloak in his hand, covering her with her head, and with the help of the second, wrapped her tightly, and then one in front and one in the back, carried her out of the room and up to a higher place—this tower usually doubled as a bell tower, and a large bell hung from the top, And the bell tower is where they are, a small platform with tall arches on all sides, and for safety, the arches are inlaid with black iron grids, but these grids can be opened.

The staircase of the tower was very narrow, not only that, but the steps were very slippery because of the pigeon droppings, and they carried a woman who was constantly writhing and struggling, and although Juana was small, it also made them tired and out of breath, and in some places they even had to push and drag her with their hands and feet to get her up, and the third man was panting and constantly telling the people standing on it not to be too rude.

"God!" The man cried out, "Do you still want to show awe or mercy to her?" ”

"How so?" His accomplice said in a whispered voice mixed with a thick local accent, "but the Count has repeatedly instructed me not to leave too many scars on this woman, lest the Castilians come to see her and wonder that she did not fall by herself." He gave him a warning look: "So don't take her ring or necklace either, don't let people guess that there was someone else with her at the time." ”

The man he had warned had to sigh and withdraw the hand that wanted to tear off the gold chain.

They climbed all the way to the platform, and when they put Juana down, they sat on top of her alone, and held her down - really, he felt like he was in a small boat on the crest of the waves, and people said that a madman was possessed by the devil to have that much strength, and he really felt it now...... The other stepped over them to open the black iron grid—he opened the little latch below, and then the top, but his hand stayed strangely on the latch for a long time, and his accomplice cursed, "What's the matter," he asked, "Is it rusty?" ”

If there were still three of them, then he could have stepped forward to help, but he had to watch the mad woman—the man who went to open the grid didn't answer him, and just as he was impatient, a strange light jumped into his eyes, and it was a little light from behind the neck of the man standing there stupidly still—the mercenary who was still trying to hold Juana blinked, and he suddenly realized what it was! He jumped to his feet, drew his short sword, and rushed forward, but at that moment, a pair of powerful legs tumbled down from the eaves above and kicked the black iron grid with all his might.

A bang!

The black iron grid swung inward, pushing the dead towards his accomplices, and the dust fell, blinding the mercenary's eyes, who shouted in fear and brandished his sword indiscriminately—poor his friend, who would be tortured like this after death, Ezio shook his head and swung his Hidden Blade, slitting the other's throat and relieving his fear.

Little Assasin with round eyes stepped out from behind him, and it was she who had just hung from the base of the bell, hanging upside down, and a sword pierced through the mercenary who was in a hurry to open the grid, and the mercenary's accomplices saw the bright spot of the tip of her sword refracted in the faint light of the sky.

"There's no one else." She said.

"Of course." Ezio said, "To kill a queen, even if she has been deposed, there must be a great reward commensurate with the risk, and not everyone has the guts to do so." ”

"Ahem......" Juana retorted, coughing awkwardly, "though I don't know who you are, sir," she said, "but I have not been deposed, I will be their queen until the final decision of the Council of Castile, and they will never agree unless they are willing to surrender Castile unconditionally to the Holy Roman Empire." ”

Ezio glanced at her, he was not so familiar with the queen, judging by the rumors, she seemed to be a stupid little girl who was keen on religion and love, and from Assasin's information, these may have been just disguises for her, of course, it is also possible that they are real, but as a queen, those are only a part of her, and a fairly small part.

Now, Ezio felt that the legendary Mad Queen was a little naïve and shallow compared to one of the two kings who had been immersed in intrigue and politics for many years, Isabella I, and her mother—if it had been Isabella I, she would not have allowed herself to fall to this miserable state, but there was no doubt that even Juana had an innate acumen, and at this moment, even if she didn't know who they were, she immediately took out her biggest bargaining chips - although in the castles of Toledo and Segovia, She was no longer a queen, but she still had supreme authority among the Castilians, and the money and power that came with it, and whoever they came from, as long as they had all the greed of ordinary people, and who did not regard her as an enemy, could be impressed by her.

"We're going to be here right now." Ezio said, "Your Majesty." ”

The sound had already alarmed the people outside, but judging by the speed of the torches, the knights who called the Guardian Supervisor had probably been ordered, and it was obvious that they were negligent in their duties—perhaps they were complaining in their hearts that the mercenaries were making too much noise.

Juana immediately stood up meekly and quickly.

By this time, the round-eyed Assasin Assassin had waved his arm and tossed a heavy hook nail with a rope into the distance, and a few minutes later, on the wall beyond the tower, a man shook the phosphorus fire bottle in his hand and repeated it three times, indicating that he had secured the hook and nail - Ezio glanced approvingly, and in the darkness, it was not easy to throw the hook in the right direction, especially for a young woman.

In the Istanbul operation, Round Eyes was the only one who did not give up on Duarte, and although she was still a little girl, it was enough to make her stand out from the newcomers in the same batch, so this time she was able to replace Paula, who was in Rome and could not escape, to become Ezio's partner.

The other section of the rope was fastened to the hanging beam of the large bell, and the round eye tested the firmness of the rope, untied the cowhide made into a figure eight, put it on the rope, grasped the bracelets at both ends, and slid lightly into the darkness with both feet, like flowing water—after about ten seconds, the phosphorus fire bottle that represented safety shook three more times. Ezio turned to Juana, "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty," he said, "I'm going to tie you to me." ”

Without hesitation, Juana stretched out her arm.

And as they leaped out of the tower together, the knights under the tower also sensed that something was wrong, and they hurried up the tower, but all they were left with dead maids, mercenaries, and a cloud of dust and pigeon droppings.

——————————

"Juana I has left Toledo and is on her way to Castile." Giulio said, letting the fat pigeon go.

He turned around and saw his son, Cosimo Jr. The Medici was trying to tie his two pale eyebrows together, and he couldn't help but cast an inquiring look.

"I don't understand, Your Highness," little Cosimo couldn't help but ask, after hesitating for a moment, "You know that this Your Majesty ...... She is not as inclined to you as she says - although she has always claimed that you are a living saint and has built you churches and monasteries, in fact she has almost never done anything good to you......" he said angrily, "she is not a trustworthy person, why do you repeatedly come to her in three places." ”

Giulio smiled, but instead of answering immediately, he looked at Machiavelli, who was beside them.

Machiavelli leaned slightly to Cosimo the Younger before saying, "First of all," he said, "you must realize that she is a monarch, and a monarch, as His Highness says, cannot be measured as a 'person', because in a sense, he or she is already the embodiment of a country or a principality, so that the emotions, thoughts, or beliefs that a person should have can only occupy a very small part of them—very, very small, especially in some great matter. It is so small that it cannot affect the situation or the outcome.

Many people say that Juana was a poor madwoman, but no one can deny that even if she was a madman, she was still a respectable monarch - she never let her country and her people lose because of her madness, on the contrary, on the contrary, her madness became her weapon in many cases...... Even Louis XII and Maximilien I were sometimes overwhelmed by Cambrai - you know, as a new king, she would have had a hard time gaining an advantage over them.

Cosimo, if you had to choose, would you choose such a monarch who lacks decency and acts roughly, but can work for the benefit of the country and its people, or choose a noble lady who is elegant and gentle, but knows nothing about state affairs, and only knows how to cry and retreat? ”

"The former, of course." Cosimo Jr. replied quickly.

"But she also has her failures." Duarte said: "Perhaps it was the name of madness that had given her a lot of benefits, and Juana I, either intentionally or unintentionally, had nailed this mark firmly to herself, without perceiving the danger thereof—she should have realized that she had countless enemies around her, besides her allies and relatives, and that the Holy Roman Emperor, how could she allow her eldest son, the heir, Philip, to become the husband of the Queen, if she did not want to get Spain?"

Even if Philip died, he and Juana's son still had two identities - the crown princes of two countries, of course, for Charles, these two are not much different, but for Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, they are completely different, after all, they are two huge countries, and between countries, there is only interests, but no emotions.

As Machiavelli said, when Juana became queen, she was destined to become enemies with Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, and her sons Charlie and Ferdinand, but she ignored this - everything that happened to her was not without reason, and even had traces - little Charles fought with you, do you remember? ”

Cosimo Jr. nodded vigorously.

"At that time, Juana should have noticed that her son was obviously being influenced and guided by some people, and as a mother, of course, she could be careless, but as a queen, she should be vigilant immediately, but she still regarded Charlie as a child, not an opponent to watch out for."

"Is this what you say, a monarch should put his feelings, thoughts, and beliefs under the affairs of the state?"

"Yes." Giulio said: "Far east, I mean, farther away than Ottoman Turkey and Arabia, there is a saying that a monarch is no small matter. Because as a monarch, he has too many things to bear, and too much power to wield, like a giant who stands up to the sky, even if he only sighs a little, or gently raises his hands and feet, it will cause incalculable losses and casualties, so ah, Cosimo, as a ruler, before making any decision, he must think twice and think about everything, in order to ensure that it does not cause irreparable tragedy - and in the process, something that belongs to the individual, It had to be abandoned or ignored. The Archbishop of Florence made a gesture: "Because compared to a country, a person is always unusually small, even a monarch." ”

"Are you too?" Cosimo Jr. asked.

"Of course I am." Giulio caressed little Cosimo's curly hair lovingly: "Although I am not a monarch, I also want to serve Florence, Cadiz, Lucca, even Pisa, Piombino and even Tuscany, but also Siena and Rome...... Perhaps there are more places and cities that have their part to do their part - the first time I reminded Gonzalo was because I could not let him lose his power and prestige and affect Nuoro - our weapons workshops and bases; And I reminded Gonzalo a second time because both France and the Holy Roman Empire needed an enemy, and now Italy did not have the strength to expel them. ”

。 Writing Chinese Network M.