After about 12,000 displaced people arrived in Lucca, the construction of the walls of Lucca finally began, and in addition to the displaced people, nearly a third of the inhabitants of Lucca were involved in this huge project, nay, it should be said, all the inhabitants of Lucca, when they heard from the mouths of the homeless people about the atrocities of the French and Borgia, they all trembled—is not the yesterday of these people their own tomorrow? The French were brutal and incompetent, Borgia groveled and did not speak any faith - there is a legend in Rome that when an Italian clashed with a Frenchman, Caesar. Borgia would rather give the Italian 20,000 gold ducats than have them fight a duel, lest the French be wounded or even killed. How can they expect a commander like this to do justice for themselves? Even the nobles of Lucca City, when they found the descendants of the Visconti family among the homeless, had a clear understanding that this war was no longer something that could be balanced or controlled by identity and blood, or by the clanging golden florin.

The men worked, the women cooked and did the laundry, and the old people and children did the little things they could—but in the beginning, their main work was to dig the soil. The new wall of Lucca will be 15,000 feet long, 30 feet high, and 12 feet wide (because the section of the wall will be a trapezoid, so the width of the base will be 20 feet), according to the calculation of the Archbishop of Lucca, the Lucca people first had to dig two trenches with a depth of 30 feet and a width of 20 feet, and then build cement and stone bricks into them, and pour concrete, pebbles, and earth to make the foundation of the wall, which makes many people wonder. It wasn't until the Castrolicio family and the Guenician parents stood together for the first time in support of the Florentine archbishop.

However, when the foundation was excavated, the other craftsmen who had been recruited for a lot of money were not idle—there was still some time before the masonry of the city walls, but the machinery and utensils needed to build the city had to be built, such as ropes woven by plants, baskets, wheelbarrows made of wood, flatbed horse-drawn carts, shaped boxes for cement bricks, foot-operated pulley cranes also made of wood, slewing cranes, and pulley cranes with swivel arms, detachable scaffolding, movable tower cars, etc., for which Julio provided drawings.

The merchants were also frantically busy, pouring brick joints is a kind of mortar that needs to be mixed with glutinous rice slurry and lime and neem leaves, and the solidification and waterproofness are far more than sand and lime, but at this time in Italy, the introduction of glutinous rice is not long, and the planting area is not extensive, so the merchants have to go to the Arabs to buy, but this is not without benefits, for example, they brought back a large amount of asphalt from the Arabs - similar to cement, asphalt can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome, Pompeii's Roman avenues used to fill joints and paint the surface with asphalt, but since the decline of the Roman Empire, asphalt has gradually disappeared from the long time and continuous war, like cement, and in some places a small amount of natural asphalt can still be found, which is used to defend the city and build ships, but it is almost impossible to complete such a huge project - the Arabs began to use asphalt widely hundreds of years ago, but the method they used was no different from that of the Romans, that is, heating natural asphalt to remove impuritiesuntil the asphalt precipitates out automatically.

"Asphalt, gravel and lime are mixed together, the cap is tamped, the thickness is six feet, the top of the city wall is set up with drainage ditches, and every ninety feet a drainage outlet is added, and the ditch and drainage outlet are made of stone and polished smooth...... Opening Diameter...... Wait for me to estimate. Julio pressed his hands on the drawing he had pulled open, silently calculating in his mind as he continued to add small annotations to it.

"That is," Alfred said. "These drains are not only going to be used for drainage, but also for defense, right?" ”

"Yes, so not only do you have to make sure that the water is drained out in time, but also that it doesn't get clogged up easily with grease or asphalt. In addition, the water gates and culverts at the bottom of the two city walls must be calculated according to the weight of the water height exceeding eight feet, so as not to be unable to pull it up when it comes. Giulio said casually. How many bastions are you going to set up? ”

"Seven."

"Not enough," Julio pulled over a piece of parchment, and gave him a calculation formula: "At the current length, seven bastions will not cover the range of the left and right bows, and there will be blank dead spots that will not be able to attack the enemy...... At least...... There should be eleven. ”

"Eleven bastions," said Danilo and Guenicki's parent, pointing to the little square on the floor plan, "may I ask my lord, what is this?" ”

"Semi-stationary turrets."

"Do you want to put artillery on it?" Danilo asked in surprise: "But will the French sell us artillery?" ”

Machiavelli's hand, which was recording, paused slightly, and Giulio replied without hesitation: "The Spaniards also have artillery for sale." ”

Oh, and the artillery from the Nuoro territory that you lent to the Spanish General Gonzalo? Machiavelli raised his quill to hide his smile, perhaps due to the Medici family, whose monarch was unusually good at trading - Ralph sold twenty small guns for two hundred thousand gold ducats to Duke Ludovico of Milan. Sforza, who has now sold eleven cannons to the Luccas. Machiavelli had seen Nuoro's artillery, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was like the thunder of God, but Giulio had told him that it wasn't the best - he now knew why Giulio. The Medici were able to build walls for Lucca as they pleased, completely disregarding the interests of Florence, because he was able to build the strongest walls, and he could also build sharp artillery to destroy solid walls.

"Then," said Danilo, "we should probably open a door in that direction." He looked at Alfred slyly, and Castrolicio's parents could see what he meant—it was in the direction of Florence, which was indeed a bit embarrassing, for Luca and Florence were enemies, but they had to accept the Florentines in matters relating to the city walls.

"No, I don't." Giulio simply refused, he had no less than twelve ways to capture Lucca, why bother to make the Lucca suspicious from now on: "I think that the Holy Year is approaching, and you may be able to go to Rome and ask the Pope for his blessing and care." ”

"What care?"

"The coming feud between Luca and Fiorentina." Giulio threw the charcoal on the table: "Why did Luca build a new wall, of course, to defend against a powerful enemy, so who is this enemy?" Either Borgia or Florence, I believe the Pope would prefer to believe the latter. ”

But if he proposes...... What about you? Danilo asked tentatively.

“…… Tell me," Giulio said sincerely, "Am I taking a child?" ”

Once again, Castrolicio's parents glared viciously at Guinici's parents.

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Danilo. Guinicki sat on a sturdy mule, looking from side to side, in order to meet Caesar. Borgia's triumph would have made the whole city of Rome come alive, but there weren't many flowers in February, and only silk and satin would have the effect, a third of which would come from Lucca - they knew that Pope Alexander VI was greedy by nature and insatiable, and that in addition to paying six tithes and all sorts of taxes, he would be able to offer him tens of thousands of golden florins, but the Holy Father would have the Templars cleanse the whole of Lucca three times— Just like they did to the infidels.

But if you want to make the Holy Father biased, even if you don't say a word, do nothing, you will definitely provoke his anger if you go empty-handed, and after discussing today, the Lucas decided to take out all the silk they had in stock and give it to Danilo to try to perfunctory and confuse these greedy Roman priests - this is a difficult and dangerous person, Danilo feels that he must have been retaliated against by Castelluccio's parents, but at the same time he is proud that he can do it well - he is tall and strong, and his face is good, Not like a merchant, but like a knight, which makes him feel extremely satisfied when he is subservient to someone, and at the same time involuntarily gives rise to contempt.

Danilo is not afraid of being scorned, he is only afraid of being taken seriously, if he is scorned, he can save Lukka and Guinici from disaster, and he is willing to continue to be looked down upon for a hundred years.

Yesterday he finally saw the Holy Father, kissed his feet, the Holy Father's body exuded an unpleasant stench, but Danilo acted as if he was in a rose garden in heaven, when the Pope's secretary Duarte sternly asked him why the noble Archbishop had been repeatedly hurt in Lucca, Danilo, who knew it, immediately began to weep in grief, there was not much place for him to disguise, and the fact was that the Archbishop of Lucca was surrounded by not only one hundred and fifty knights from the Spanish general Gonzalo, There were also one hundred and fifty knights from Anne, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of France, and a hundred arquebusiers, as well as monks who were as strong and fierce as a group of assassins...... And as a Florentine, he didn't trust any Lucca at all, and it was difficult for them to get close to him, let alone "protect" him.

When Duarte pressed him further, Danilo simply spread his hands and admitted that the Luccas could manage to hire more soldiers to "protect" the archbishop of Lucca, the problem was ...... Lucca was now empty, gone, and even the last bit of silk had been brought to Rome to decorate the pillars and eaves, and the stones and plasters for the construction of the walls were still owed to the stone merchants.

Duarte had no choice but to reprimand Danilo even more fiercely, and Danilo took out his purse and bought a stack of indulgence vouchers, and the matter was barely over.

——————

"Holy Father? Holy Father? Duarte asked softly, "Do you have any other will?" ”

Alexander VI shuddered and woke up, he had been falling asleep more and more easily lately, and his mind was in a state of confusion - what's the matter, oh yes, Luca was going to war with Florence...... His plans with Caesar needed to be adjusted, but the first thing was to conquer all of Romagna.

Compared to Lucca, Fiorentina was much more sincere, and it was Piero who came to Rome this time. Carboni, the current No. 1 standard-bearer of Florence, like Luca, also paid 6 tithes, but Carboni also brought mirrors and cashmere worth tens of thousands of gold florins, and promised that within three years, Florence would also pay a "settlement fee" of about 50,000 gold florins in installments (note 1), and he promised that no one of the Medici family would participate in the governance of Florence, and no Medici would be allowed to join in new business, even Medici's in-laws, The Neri family was cut off from the Florentine social circle - their business was already very difficult and it was impossible for Julio to do so. What financial help the Medici offered.

The Pope was pleased with this, but he was not prepared to really favor Florence, even without Giulio. Medici, who also hopes that Luca and Fiorentina can lose both sides and have a bitter hatred.

As for Julio. Medici ...... For the nonce...... So be it, Alexander VI thought wearily, before the Holy Year, he had too much to do, he also had to meet the Spaniards (by the way, ask Gonzalo what was going on), the French, the people of the Holy Roman Empire...... And the Neapolitans...... Milanese ...... The stupid King of France, Louis XII, went so far as to let Ludovico . Sforza recaptures Milan......