Chapter 43: Fort Paulina (I)
Travel to Caesar in Perugia. Borgia was surrounded by a hundred men, thirty of the attachés and their attendants, twenty monks and priests, and fifty soldiers. Terazema walked by Caesar's side, triumphant, for Alexander VI had promised to let his son Caesar mediate, to persuade or force his aunt Atalante to relinquish the dominion of Perugia, and the moment they entered the hill city of Perugia, they were greeted with great hospitality, and Neto, the illegitimate son of Atalanta, came to meet them personally, and with musicians, clowns, and prostitutes, they were transferred to the bridge, and were placed under the shoulders of the servants, as the ancient Romans did, and condescendingly walked through the streets. People dressed in colorful costumes are constantly cheering and throwing flowers at them.
Perugia is a hill city, and Fort Paulina is located on the top of a hill, surrounded by a gray-red fortress with a winding and undulating wall, with cylindrical turrets in the corners, and a gatehouse with two turrets in front of the castle, consisting of five or six rectangular stone towers of varying heights, each topped by a crenellated low wall for shooting and throwing, connected by a rampart and a drawbridge, with slender and delicate willow-leaf windows on the walls. Upon entering the castle, the first thing you can see is a narrow courtyard, with tall and dense trees that provide shade to visitors, and the wilted and fallen leaves creak under Giulio's feet as he walks by. Attalante greeted them in front of the main building, she looked old and frail, she had to be supported by two strong maids by her side to walk, her eyes were dull and covered with a white film, was it because of this that she was willing to grovel and beg for forgiveness from her former enemies? Caesar guessed that if she was unwilling to accept the Pope's "advice," she might be accused of being a "witch," and even if she didn't have to be burned at the stake because of her nobility, she would at least be imprisoned to death, let alone be declared a witch, she would not be eligible for the sacrament of death, and she would fall into hell and never be detached.
She had a son, but he was an illegitimate child, and Tosino could not compare to Terra in terms of bloodline—rather than being threatened, it would be better to make a deal with the Pope, at least to ensure that her illegitimate son, Neto, would continue to enjoy the treatment of the Baglioni.
"Our soldiers must follow us." Giulio said, but Atalante insisted that the castle couldn't accommodate that many people.
"So be it," said Caesar disapprovingly, "we are guests, not enemies." ”
"Who dares to kill the messenger of the Holy Father?" Tyra scoffed, "Unless he's lost to the devil." ”
With this in mind, they entered the castle, which was already full of all the members of the Baglioni family, who behaved with humility and humility, and greatly satisfied Caesar's vanity as a young man and careerist, and for the week leading up to the wedding, they drank wine, dined and participated in all kinds of balls and jousting tournaments, and I don't know if it was because of Caesar's status, or because of Terra's post-Terra status, they took turns to win the crown in every game, and second, The third and almost all belong to their attachés, and there is only one person who is dull throughout, and that is Giulio. Medici.
Finally, on the day of the wedding, after witnessing the "bed-sharing" ceremony between Tocino and the bride, Neto took Caesar in his arms and Atalante in his arms and Terra in his arms, and returned to the wedding feast. At this moment, six people entered the hall carrying the last dish, which looked like two grown men, and when the covered silk was lifted, Caesar's face suddenly changed - it was a bull that had been skinned and roasted to a golden color, but still retained its curved horns and ****.
Everyone knows that the Borgia family's crest is a red bull.
Neto, who was sitting next to Caesar, pulled out the dagger while clasping Borgia's right arm, trying to stab him through his side, but Caesar's strength was obviously much greater than he thought, he firmly grasped the blade of the dagger with his left hand, although the palm of his hand was bloody, he was unconscious as if he had lost the pain, at the same time, his right arm that was held was bent up, and viciously hit Neto's waist with his elbow, Neto's ribs suddenly had a sharp pain like a break, and he cried out, The dagger fell from his hand to the ground, and at the same time he lost his weapon, he also lost his courage and fled with a roll and a crawl when he had no doubt of the advantage, and then Caesar was able to look at Atalante and Terra on the other side of the table, and Tyra fell to the ground, clutching his throat with his fingers, and bleeding from his ear - if Caesar had not been Borgia, he would have followed in Terra's footsteps by using only silver cups that showed signs of poison instead of gold cups.
Tarrant stood a few feet away, his sideburns disheveled, but his expression was calm.
Caesar saw this scene, and the intimidation on the tip of his tongue was immediately swallowed by him, obviously, Atalanta was ready, she may really be dying, but it was because she could die at any time, so there was nothing to fear, Caesar could only hold Neto, if Atalanta was still a mother, then he might still have a chance, Atalanta also saw him, she stretched out her withered fingers, pointed at Caesar, Caesar did not hesitate, immediately turned back and rolled into the overturned table, in the chaos Neto escaped, he didn't care, The arrows struck aggressively on the heavy wooden table, and several of the Baglioni soldiers followed the arrows and rushed up, Caesar jumped to his feet, gladly following Giulio's advice, wearing chain mail at all times, and drawing his short sword, his martial arts were taught by the Supreme Master of the Templar Order, and under the calm appearance he had the fierceness of a beast, he grabbed a large silver plate used to hold peacocks and used it as a shield, and one soldier stepped forward, his short spear pierced the silver plate, Almost stabbed Caesar in the eye, Caesar lowered his head, but still left a blood mark on his forehead, but his short sword had already stabbed out close to the edge of the silver plate, hitting the soldier's throat, he danced around the dying enemy for half a circle, came behind another soldier, the short sword sank into the opponent's spine, and at the same time as the soldier fell to the ground, he lowered his body, rolled out, and swung the short sword into the air, instantly cutting off the heel of the third soldier.
Atalanta shouted and shouted for the soldiers, but the Medici, who had been unnoticed by them, had broken through the encirclement of the soldiers and gathered with Caesar, who did not look for Terra again, he and Julio rushed out side by side, escorted by their retinue, but just as they rushed out of the hall, they saw dozens of leafy trees on the passage when they came, and countless branches and leaves completely obscured the way, and they immediately retreated, "Go to the Great Tower!" Julio said, and Caesar hesitated, but agreed, and Giulio led them through the winding corridors, empty rooms, and barren courtyards, followed by soldiers and Baglioni's people, but by the time the footsteps behind them were clearly discernible, they had reached the foot of the great tower. To everyone's surprise, at the foot of the large tower, there were several corpses of Baglioni soldiers, and they rushed in, and it turned out that the road was unimpeded, and the retinue immediately closed the door of the tower, bringing furniture and statues to block the doors and windows.
At this moment there was a clash of swords from above the tower, no less fierce than the battle in the hall, Caesar jumped up the stairs first, his anger had only now exploded in its entirety, the blood drove the killing intent in his heart, and now, even if a saint stood in front of him, he would surely stab his sword without hesitation - the first thing he saw was the open carved double door, from which he had only come out not long ago, it should have been Tocino who was celebrating the spring dinner with his bride, but now, the snow-white sheets, Blood was splattered on the drapery and dark brown walls, and the bride was lying on the edge of the bed, her snow-white arms stretched out towards the door, her eyes wide open, full of last-minute emotions, that is, disbelief and fear, the bridegroom, Tocino, and a few masked men were confronting a group of Baglioni soldiers, who were perhaps more capable than the besieging Caesar and Giulio.
Caesar only glanced at them and immediately understood what was going on, and it was clear that not only was the wedding seen by Atalanta as a good opportunity to get rid of Caesar and Terra, but her illegitimate son Neto also thought it would be a good place to get rid of his thorn in his side, his mother's nephew Tosino. He paused for only a moment, then pounced, and the short sword cut off the arm of one of the soldiers, and under the double blow they had with Tosino, the soldiers of the Baglioni family were killed and wounded after being entangled for some time, but before Caesar could speak to Tosino, one of his attendants cried out in horror. He pointed down, and then saw Baglioni's men piling up branches, sticks, and sprinkling grease under the tower.
Tocino looked down and saw Neto's trium face, and his aunt stood beside Neto, needless to say, she already had a choice.
And just when everyone was panicking, Caesar looked at Giulio, he didn't think that Giulio would rashly lead them to a dead end, sure enough, when the smoke rose, the sound of howling and fighting suddenly came from the nearby tower, Caesar didn't know how Giulio informed the soldiers outside the city, they not only entered the castle, but also captured the nearest building to the big tower, their numbers could not be compared with the people of the Baglioni family, but no matter the skill, Strength and equipment are beyond the reach of the latter, after all, they are essentially reserve knights of the Templar Order, and ordinary soldiers are as fragile as children in front of them.
By this time, the smoke had poured into the room where they were, and the corridor was even more chaotic, and Giulio immediately lifted the sheets, tore them into several pieces, and soaked them with wine from a silver jug, "Cover your mouth and nose with a damp cloth, bend down, lean your right arm against the wall, and go out!" Caesar immediately did as he was told, and the others saw and obeyed his orders, and they quickly and quietly broke through the smoke encirclement, and came from a room that connected to the outside world to the inner walls, on which were also Baglioni's soldiers, but all of them were dead, and one of the soldiers came and bowed to Caesar, who nodded anxiously and turned to Tocino, who in the midst of this conspiracy, Tosino. Baglioni was afraid and could not escape the blame, but with Terra dead, he became the only legitimate heir to the Grand Duke of Perugia.
The two soldiers immediately walked over and separated Tocino from the others, Tocino looked uncertain, but at this time he could not hesitate, but before moving his steps, he still subconsciously glanced at someone behind him, and this glance also attracted the attention of the others, especially one of them, an elder with gray temples, he looked very stable, reliable, and the only official member of the Templar Order in this team, his eyes fell on the richly dressed man, After two or three seconds, the Borgia "soldiers" had opened the door to another tower, and Caesar took Tosino's arm and walked with him like a close friend, but at this time, one of Tosino's "friends", the man who had been eyed by the Templars, suddenly appeared behind them - his movement was so fast, so light and erratic, for a moment, only the older Templar and Giulio reacted, and Giulio stepped forward with his sword, Inserted between Caesar and the man, the Templars' sword, which had been heading straight for the latter, stabbed Giulio instead, forcing him to hastily withdraw his sword and retreat, and at that moment, Tosino's men were already fighting with Borgia's men.
Shocked and angry, Caesar shouted the names of his father's subordinates, while the Templar just stared coldly at the masked stranger: "Ezio. Orittore? ”
Ezio. Ostore smiled slightly, he didn't expect to meet someone here who could recognize him even through the mask, he didn't answer, but faced his enemy, although the previous battle had consumed a lot of his strength, he was still fearless. On the other side, Caesar's tone was even colder and stiffer than the short sword in his hand: "Are you an Assasin? He asked Tosino. Tocino had been so frightened that he was so frightened that after a brief battle between the heavens and the man, he firmly denied it, saying, "No," he said, "I never knew who they were, I thought they were just some mercenaries." Caesar sneered,
Caesar did not hesitate any longer, he grabbed Tocino and walked forward, Giulio was on guard with his sword, but at this moment, the people under the tower had already noticed that they were fleeing, and from the window of a tower adjacent to the large tower, stretched out the arm holding the crossbow, and the light was fleeting, Giulio pushed Caesar violently, but he lost his balance and fell from the low battlement.