Paul. Orsini found the letter that had been placed directly on his desk—no messenger, only letters.

He carefully touched the letterbox, which looked like nothing else, made of brass, with a smooth surface, and a narrow but meaningless pattern carved on the ends of the end, and Paul called a servant to come in, and told him to open the letterbox, and then sent him away—there was not a small viper hidden in the letterbox, yes, in this day and age, it is true that someone would put a viper in the letterbox, and when someone opened it, the little snake, which had already grown impatient in the dark, would bite it at first—he did not know at this time, Inside the letterbox is something more terrible than a viper.

Out of the open letter was a roll of parchment, tied with a brown ribbon, where the parchment was overlapped, pressed with a bright red wax seal, which he spun towards the daylight, and although it was somewhat deformed, he could still make out the shape of the lion's head and the oval shield, which was the coat of arms of the Bentivoglio family of Bologna, and he hesitated, but still broke the seal with his fingernails and opened it—after a few minutes, he regretted it, very deeply. But as if enchanted, he kept spreading out the thin, dotted parchment, reading, rolling it up again, opening it again, looking at it, rolling it up again—a frivolous act he repeated many times.

He hadn't thought of it before, Gianoni of Bologna. Bentivoglio had such guts that he was ...... Actually tried to challenge Caesar. The authority of Borgia!

But on second thought, Caesar. What kind of authority does Borgia have? His prestige was almost entirely built on the crumbling papal throne of Alexander VI, who was originally just a cardinal in the Holy See, and he did not even appear on the battlefield when Charles VIII invaded Italy, when the commander of the church army was his brother Juan. Borgia, although there is nothing to praise about Juan as a person, it was his tragic death that made Caesar what he is today. Borgia – Some say, Caesar. Borgia viciously murdered his own brother out of a desire for worldly power - he was not satisfied with the path that Pope Alexander VI had laid out for him.

But if you really want to get to the bottom of it, can anyone know Caesar's talent better than the Orsines? In all fairness, Caesar. Borgia was not a stupid man, but he was only twenty-one years old when he actually became the commander of the church army, and before that, he had not been able to participate in a battle of more than a hundred people, and his knowledge of the army was only scratching the surface, although he was studying hard, but the most cruel thing about war was that a person should have experience rather than wisdom, but experience often requires blood and life to accumulate, sometimes someone else's, sometimes his own.

Since Caesar. Since Borgia sent his troops to Romagna, it seems that he has only been greeted with victory, and people who don't know the inside story may be shocked, frightened and even reverent, but can Orsini who has always been by his side still not know? A large part of these so-called exploits are due to the artillery of the French, the well-trained soldiers, the deterrence of Pope Alexander VI, and the help of some fools who cannot discern the situation.

For example, the populace of Imola and Forlì submitted almost to his feet on their own accord - because some arrogant idiot was unwilling to be ridden on the head by a woman, but it was one of the woman's lovers, along with his three hundred soldiers, a low castle, to Caesar. Borgia caused a lot of trouble; It took him three weeks to capture the castle of Forlì, again relying on the sharp artillery of the French, and as soon as he conquered the castle, the first thing he did turned out to be with the captain of the French mercenary who played a huge role in the battle. Alegre snatched ownership of the wolfh-she-wolf, to which Paul . Orsini really didn't know what to say.

Not to mention, he even made Caterina . Sforza fled.

Later, the people of Rimini mistakenly believed that they had driven away a greedy fox, but unexpectedly, they had a vicious hyena - their lord, a poor coward, had heard about Caesar. The rumors of Borgia frightened them and fled, but the people of Rimini, thinking that they had obtained a strong and benevolent monarch, could not wait to give Caesar the keys to the city with both hands. Borgia; As for Pesaro, there is almost no difference, they are all a bunch of short-sighted fools who want to make Paul . Orsini, Giovanni. Sforza is compared to Caesar. Borgia was a good ruler, at least he wasn't a madman.

Yes, madman, Paul. That's how Orsini called Caesar in his heart. Borgia, he must admit that at the Battle of Faenza, Caesar. For the first time, Borgia tasted the bitterness of war, but it doesn't matter, none of us came over like this, all of us have been defeated, Caesar. Borgia didn't care about one or two defeats, his master was also his father, and he was the eldest son of the Holy Father, so he didn't have to worry about being punished for losing the battle, nor did he have to worry about being removed from his position and stripped of his title, he just had to fight a war of attrition with Astor of the Manfredi family, even if Astor was indeed a young man with more talent for war and domination than he did - but he didn't have a day of peace in that winter, and when he attacked Faenza for the second time, He was not willing to listen to the advice of experienced lords such as Orsini or Yverezzi, nor did he want to accept the advice of mercenary captains such as Vitley, and insisted on going his own way, although he showed valor in the final battle, his actions caused a gap of more than 2,000 men in the army, not to mention the loss of artillery and equipment - and, to Orsini's greatest dissatisfaction, Astor of the Manfredi family died inexplicably within a few days after being escorted to Rome, although no one said it, but who did not think that the murderer was except Caesar. No one else in Borgia? How could he do such a thing that violated tradition and damaged his reputation? Did he really think that a monarch with no faith could command the loyalty of the people?

But his treatment of the Duke of Urbino can barely see a shadow of Pope Alexander VI, even for his own relatives, he is just as ruthless and cruel - Paul. Orsini, for the sake of profit, certainly can be like Caesar. Borgia generally ignored his sister's suffering, but he couldn't continue to say anything like "treat her as the jewel of his palm", which would be too shameful.

But there was nothing bad about such deception for a ruler with his soldiers, at least in the process of capturing Urbino, they did not suffer much loss. Later, the Pope's offer of compensation for the Duke of Urbino was also quite satisfactory - whether the other party accepted it or not was a question, but you could not hang everyone who would surrender to you - just like the Lord of Camerino and his two sons soon after.

It's just that by this time, no one dared to try to correct Caesar anymore. Borgia's thoughts, well, so be it, a tyrannical monarch may not be able to accomplish something, and they were worried about Caesar's obvious heart - he did not seem to accept any defeat, Faenza was, and Florence was especially strong, they had also heard about Caesar and his classmates, former friends and brothers, but as far as Orsini was concerned, Caesar had a good relationship with Julio. The Medici's hatred was more due to jealousy, and he could not tolerate that he was inferior to the Medici - it seems, this also had something to do with his sister Lucalesia, and it seems that the rumors in Rome were not necessarily untrue.

But let them follow Caesar. The lords of Borgia were most worried about Caesar. Borgia far surpassed the unkindness of his father, Pope Alexander VI, and they followed Borgia, not for morality and ideals, but for their own and their family's interests - of course, they could receive money from Caesar's hands, but how could these meager money satisfy their appetite, what they wanted was to take the opportunity to expand their territory and power when Borgia was white and yellow, and fought in the east and west—but before the lord of Perugia, Giampaolo. Baglioni died in the battle against Florence, he had two sons, and his wife sent them to Rome, where the Pope prayed for protection and to prevent his territory from being taken from others...... And guess what the result is?

One of them was dragged by the feet of a frightened horse, the other fell from the bell tower, and the people of Rome secretly blew up, unanimously believing that it was done by Pope Alexander VI so that his son could become the master of Perugia. At first, Orsini was not convinced, after all, he knew Alexander VI well, and perhaps it would not be long before the Pope would support another side branch of the Baglioni family, or that the daughter of Giamparo would marry someone who belonged to their side, and that Perugia would be firmly in his hands.

But he clearly didn't know Caesar well enough. Caesar, Borgia brazenly declared that because the Baglioni family lineage had long been severed, the papal recognized by the Pope was Giamparo. Baglioni was also extinct, and as his master, Caesar had the right to reclaim Perugia and add the title of Duke of Perugia to his list of illustrious titles.

Seriously, Paul. When Orsini heard this, his hands and feet were cold, and he bowed his head so as not to be deceived by Caesar. Borgia saw his strange look, and involuntarily looked at the other colleagues out of the corner of his eye, those lords who followed Borgia had their own territories, and those mercenary captains, in addition to money, what they most wanted was to get a place for themselves and their descendants...... But if they unfortunately die in the successive battles, is this what awaits the orphans and widows?

Paul remembers Giamparo of Perugia, a fat man who was not good at war, and it was for this reason that he took Bolgia before many people, and he was always very loyal to him, and he believed that by virtue of this loyalty, he should also get the richest reward from Borgia.

Well, he got it, but unfortunately it was definitely not what he wanted.

Paul. Orsini hesitated for a long time, he thought about taking the letter to Caesar. Borgia went in front of him and exposed Gianoni of Bologna. Bentivoglio's conspiracy, but by magic, he threw the parchment in the fire and burned it, but every word, every letter on it, was deeply imprinted in his heart.

————————————

And almost in the last two or three days, the lords and mercenary captains who followed Caesar, or who were stationed on one side, received similar letters, but just like Julio. The Medici expected none of them to Caesar. Borgia exposes the affair - Giulio is curious about the party that will come a few days later, wondering how many people will come to this party, which means betrayal and conspiracy.

He thought about it for a moment and sent a letter to the former Duke of Urbino, who was in the Marquis of Mantua, and to the former Duke of Milan, Ludovico, who was hiding in Spain. Sforza, and Perugiagian Paolo. Baglioni's widows, etc., even if they could not go in person, they would have sent their own messengers—in the name of Orsini or Bentivoglio, of course.

"So," said Cardinal Picromini, holding up a piece of parchment as if he were appreciating a work of art, admiring the red marks left by the hard handwriting and signet rings on it, "do you know who killed Astor of the Manfreddy family, lord of Faenza?" ”

"It's not Alexander VI, it's not like Caesar," Giulio swept his lips with the tip of his quill, "but this death does remind us of Juan. Borgia. ”

"Hmm." Cardinal Picromini said lightly: "They did kill one man, well, to be exact, the one who instructed the killing, but that man was not Caesar. Borgia—" He smiled subtly at his disciple, "It's Juan's wife, Caesar's lover, Mary of Aragon." ”

"How?" He continued, "I didn't expect it, almost no one thought it, not even Pope Alexander VI, but for Maria, it was like killing two birds with one stone, getting rid of her husband who was a threat to her, and taking revenge on her lover who ruthlessly abandoned her." ”

"Where's Astor?"

"She was very kind to Caesar. Borgia's hatred was clearly not over, and she must have been unhappy to see her enemy so illustrious and glorious. Cardinal Picromini said: "And Caesar inherited not only the title of commander of her husband's ecclesiastical army, but also the title of lord and knighthood, what do you want her son to do?" ”

"Uh......-huh," Giulio subconsciously bit the tail of the quill, and Cardinal Picromini pulled it out in disapproval.

"And Gian Paoro. Baglioni's two sons," said Cardinal Picomini, "don't you think their way of death is familiar? ”

“…… It's Katerina. Sforza? ”

"Yes, it seems that she has the same idea as you, even if she can't recover the principal for the time being, at least some interest will be recovered - it is really worthy of being Foley's she-wolf, both revenge on the accomplice and framing the mastermind."

"Women are terrible," said Cardinal Picromini, leisurely, "right? ”

Julio. The Medici showed a slight hint of pity, "because they are weak," he said from the bottom of his heart, "so when they decide to do something, they must do it with all their might." ”