The army of King Charles VIII of France, from the king to the soldiers, was not the kind of people who did not commit any crimes, and the so-called chivalry was wiped out when they were vigorously plundering Milan, Florence, and Naples, and they would even scrape off the gold leaf from the frames and statues and take them away, some people said that they were more greedy than the clergy, and did not have much respect for God's earthly dwelling (church), and when Charles VIII passed through Rome, if they were not in a hurry to chase after Pope Alexander VI, I'm afraid that St. Peter's Basilica will not escape a catastrophe.

When he left Naples, Charles VIII took with him nine out of ten spoils, which was one of the reasons for the rebellion of the Anjou nobles, who had not been given official positions, lands and titles, and now they did not have a share in even the coveted treasures, so why should they support such a hairy boy? Of course, Charles VIII, carried away by the easy victory, did not notice any of this, he did not even notice that the excessive baggage caused the army to move slowly, and the syphilis spreading in Naples also invaded Charles VIII's main army, and people were constantly leaving, stranding and dying.

Such an inadvertently stretched procession was like a weak thread in the eyes of the Italians, and when Charles VIII chased Alexander VI into the Parma region above the big boot of Italy, there was not much left for this bloated team, not only the de facto commander of the Holy Alliance, Marquis Gonchaga of Mandova, but also the Venetian commander Nicholó, and even Gonzalo and Giulio, who were hundreds of miles away, guessed -

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Charles VIII had given up on the idea of continuing the hunt for Pope Alexander VI, unlike his army, where the Pope and their cardinals were small in number and light horses, they could not even take off their vestments and hide in the homes of the Italians, who were full of malice towards the French, his soldiers were exhausted, the supplies promised by the Milanese disappeared without a trace, and it was too difficult to fight on their own while searching for supplies in unfamiliar places, Charles VIII cursed the Spaniards who did not keep their word, Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as Pope Alexander VI, could only admit in frustration that they were too impatient, as Machiavelli sarcastically said to the French ambassador, "The French may be good at war, but not good at rule." His invasion of Italy had angered his enemies and pushed the neutral nations and allies against him, and his only thought now was to return to France as soon as possible, especially after hearing that the French army in Naples had been almost completely annihilated.

"Your Majesty?"

"What's the matter?" Charles VIII asked in disgust, and his expression relaxed a little when he saw that it was Bayar, one of his favorite knights, "I said I didn't want to be disturbed. ”

"But we have a problem with our artillery."

"What's wrong with the artillery?"

"It's so heavy that it's stuck in the mud and can't pull it out."

"Have you tried a horse?"

"I've tried," said Bayar, "and the ropes have been broken, and the horses have broken their legs." Bayar hesitated: "The soil of the valley is too soft. We tried laying grass and planks underneath but it didn't work. ”

Charles VIII frowned, he had not been able to get a good night's sleep for several days, even though he was still young, the consequences of insomnia were clearly visible on his face, his eyes were blue, his cheeks were sunken, his mouth was blistered, and he was a little feverish, but he did not want to receive any treatment until he returned to France: "So...... Not anymore," he said, adding that there would be no more places to use artillery, and that the wealth he had gained from Italy would allow him to rebuild hundreds of cannons.

Bayar sighed and went out.

Charles VIII hammered the table in annoyance, but he was helpless, and he valued his loot even more, and he had Bayard unload the cannons, and the empty wagons were used to stack the goods, so that the vehicles would not be too heavy and sink into the mud.

When the French army entered the valley of the Tarot River, the army of the Holy Alliance also quietly followed, compared to the slow-moving French army, the speed of the Union army was a little faster, not to mention, the French army was almost running out of food, they stopped in the small town of Fortvono, hoping to scavenge enough food from it, and while the French soldiers were busy stealing the wheat and chickens of the civilians, the Union army had been waiting on the other side of the river for many days, because they were not in the army, Giulio isn't very clear about the specifics, but he also has his own killer features.

Gonzalo put down his binoculars contentedly and flicked his tongue, "If only there wasn't so much rain." "As far as he was concerned, Gonchaga's formation was not good or bad, it was decent, and compared with the French army, which was only eight or nine thousand men, the 20,000 soldiers of the alliance obviously had a very large advantage.

Giulio took the binoculars and carefully wiped the moisture on them, "This rain is terrible. He said.

"yes, the arquebus won't work." Gonzalo said, "Do you think we should go and meet Gonzaga?" He might be angry, but this is his battlefield. ”

"Relative to the Marquis of Mandova," said Giulio, "believe Juan. Borgia was even angrier when she saw me. ”

Gonzalo smiled meaningfully, "It seems that the relationship between the Borgia brothers is not as good as our Pope Alexander VI proclaimed," he paused, "But even if Caesar is your friend, I still have to warn you, everyone in the Borgia family has a viper-like character, and they don't know when they will bite you in the heart, always be careful, young man, this may not be their idea, but it is their nature." ”

"I'll be careful." Giulio was a little surprised by Gonzalo's outspokenness, but thanked him anyway.

Gonzalo did not continue on the subject, he picked up a cane, walked to the corridor, thrust it hard, and plunged it into the dirt at least a foot and a half, he pouted: "It seems that it is not just a matter of arquebuses or artillery. Let's hope there will be less rain tomorrow. ”

Still, he did not give Gonchaga the slightest hint of reminding him, but ordered his knights and soldiers to prepare for rain, such as wrapping their horses' hooves in linen, "We're going to let the French go back empty-handed," he looked at Giulio, "what about you?" ”

"Can they go back?" Giulio's eyes widened in surprise, Gonzalo laughed, and then gave him a hundred soldiers and thirty knights, "Ambition is not small, Bishop, then let's see how far you can go." ”

The next day, the rain did not diminish as Gonzalo had expected, on the contrary, it became so violent that it was difficult to distinguish the faces of the people from a distance of a hundred feet, and even if he shouted loudly, he would be beaten by the mixed sound of the rain, Gonzalo looked serious, "Too bad," he said, "In such a situation, even I cannot guarantee that my army will do what I order." ”

The Venetian commander Niccolò, who had the same idea as Gonzalo, rushed into Gonchaga's tent in a furious manner: "Not now! He cried out: "My herald can't even find my soldiers!" ”

"We must attack!" Gonchaga likewise exclaimed: "We are wandering here, the French are not, and they will be back in France in a few days!" ”

Niccolò's chest heaved violently, he was a short and swarthy man, but no one could deny his military prowess, and he had always been trusted by the Venetians, but in Italy this trust was inevitably compromised, and he breathed sharply a few times, lest he throw anything on the head of the marquis, "When, then?" He asked, "When do you want us to attack?" ”

"Afternoon."

"How do we see the time when it's raining?"

"We will come after you act," said Gonzaga, "as we have said before, you will contain and attract the French, and the armies of Milan and Parma will be outflanked from both flanks. ”

Nikro was visibly skeptical: "My soldiers will lose very badly. “

"We'll follow you, and you'll just have to hold on for a short time." "I promise you a thousand more gold florins, three more gold florins for each soldier, and your booty," said Gonzaga, "and you know that Charles VIII has almost emptied the whole of Florence and the whole of Naples." ”

Nikro hesitated for a moment, but greed eventually prevailed over caution, and of course, as the commander of the mercenary, if something went wrong, he would protect his soldiers first. Moments later, he spun his heel and plunged into the rain again.

Gonchaga was relieved to see him leave, the rainstorm had completely ruined his plans, but as he had said, it would be difficult for them to find such a suitable ambush again, and Parma was not far from France, and it would be ridiculous if the Holy Alliance army, which had been assembled with great difficulty, had not even been able to touch the hair of the French in the end.

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"It seems that Gonchaga is preparing to attack the main force of the French with the Venetians, and then the Milanese cavalry will outflank the right flank and prevent the French from going north, and the Parma army will outflank the left flank, leaving their baggage," Gonzalo tilted his head: "I'm going to go to the left flank, and the French don't want to take anything with them," he glanced at Giulio and said generously: "You can go and see first, if there is a ......" He originally wanted to talk about the Medici family, but thinking about how these things came from, he vaguely passed, "You can take them." ”

"Just want to leave something behind?" Julio clasped his hands: "What about people? ”

Gonzalo shook his head meaningfully: "Young man...... Of course. I haven't tried to capture a king yet. But there are risks involved...... Who knows where the French will break through, or maybe Gonchaga will be able to cope without us? ”

Giulio didn't speak, only nodded in a few places.

"It seems that you don't think much of poor Gonchaga either," Gonzalo looked down at the map, "Your assumptions are well-founded," he touched his beard and thought for a moment, "well, I admit that I was tempted by you, you may be a devil,

Dear Bishop, I may get nothing, except the ridicule of the people, but it is also possible that I will be crowned with great glory if, I mean if, as we expected, I have two vineyards in Tuscany, Sardinia......"

"I don't want a vineyard," said Giulio, "and it is said that you still have a piece of land in Nuoro." ”

"Yes," Gonzalo said seemingly nonchalantly, "the inheritance of a distant relative, in fact, it is still some distance from the city, and the land is barren, and there is no way to grow wheat or grapes, what do you want to do with that?" ”

"If you don't want to sell, then you can rent." "I want to do something," Giulio said. ”

"The clergyman's trade should be the priesthood and the amulet, at most some holy water, and the nearest ......'grace of the saints'......" Gonzalo turned to face Giulio, smiling, "You don't want to continue that business......

"Good for you, and for Spain," Giulio said amiably, "you have priority for my goods." ”

"I think it's more important to have the right to discount."

"Timing, General," replied Giulio calmly, "timing is what counts. ”

"So." Gonzalo said, "Will you give us the latest one first?" ”

Now it was Giulio's turn to stop talking.

"Seriously," said Gonzalo, "you priests, no, you wise men, sometimes it is terrible. ”