Conrad III, Duke of Carinthia and Verona, and Ezzo II of Lombardy, on the banks of the Mincho River, suffered a crushing defeat and retreated to the city of Mantua with dozens of knights.

Although there were more than 8,000 troops stationed in the city of Mantua, the defeat of the Mincho River Blockade not only caused Conrad III to lose countless elite German knights and professional soldiers, but also shook the morale of the army stationed in Mantua, and the morale fell to an underestimate, so that the fortified city of Mantua, which was garrisoned by 8,000 soldiers, was besieged in the city by more than 10,000 Lombard soldiers led by Ezzo II, helpless.

Although Ezzo II defeated Conrad III's 5,000 troops on the banks of the Mincho River and successfully surrounded the city of Mantua, because he led his army to cross the river first, the subsequent large-scale engineering equipment did not reach the city of Mantua.

The elite Lombards might have been able to outnumber their German vassals in a field battle, but Ezzo II was helpless against the fortified city of Mantua.

He had previously sent his elite and horsemen as the vanguard to try to climb the walls of Mantua, but the walls of Mantua were so tall and strong, and the number of ladders they carried was small, so several attacks were in vain.

The typical layout of Mantua is an irregular whole formed by the splicing of regular parts, which is renewed and expanded on the basis of the existing town, and its main body is the city of Mantua, which is left over from the ancient Roman era.

After thousands of years of continuous expansion and continuous reinforcement by successive rulers, the city has long become an impregnable fortress, and it is impossible to break through Mantua without an army several times larger than the defenders.

Moreover, Duke Conrad III was not a mediocre man, and in a short period of time, he integrated the disheartened army of the generals, and canonized hundreds of valiant soldiers as knights on the front to boost the morale of the army.

However, although the morale of the defenders of Mantua City has recovered, they are still at an extremely disadvantageous disadvantage, and in the end they can only hide in Mantua City and hold on, and they are helpless to wait for help.

For repeated defeats on the Italian battlefield, the Nassau court certainly could not tolerate it. The special status of Mantua and the 8,000 HRE officers and soldiers who were entrenched in it prompted the HRE royal family and the German princes to send troops to Italy once again, urgently sending troops to the city of Mantua to aid Duke Conrad III.

The arrangement of the Eastern Front remained basically unchanged, and the Bavarian, Bohemian and Austrian sides formed the Eastern Route Army. Count Otto of the Wittelsbach family was the vanguard, the veteran Duke of Bohemia, Brzetislav, was the commander, and the veteran Austrian vassal Aldebert. Feng. Babenburg, as the deputy commander, led nearly 20,000 troops, starting from the Austrian city of Vienna, marching along the Styria Count and Aquileia Bishopric, and south along the Venetian Bay to the city of Mantua to rescue.

On the other hand, the middle route army was led by Otto III of the Barbenburg family, Duke of Swabia, and joined the Franconian legion of the Sallian royal family and the armies of Brysgau, Schwyz, St. Gallen and other countries, totaling more than 18,000 people.

This central army was frustrated by the attack on Graubünden, and inquired about the tragic defeat of the Duchy of Carinthia and the siege of the city of Mantua, Otto III, Duke of Swabia, immediately decided to abandon Graubünden, which had been attacked for a long time, and transferred to the Tyrol Counts and the Episcopal States of Trento, which were controlled by the Duchy of Bavaria.

The last army of the northern route, led by Bernhard II, Duke of Saxony, was the farthest away from the city of Mantua, and did not have time to reach Mantua in the shortest time, so they still insisted on the original plan, preparing to go all the way south to Geneva, preparing to gather the army of the Duke of Savoy, first annihilate the rebels in Provence, and then march from Turin in the Duchy of Savoy to the flank of the Duchy of Lombardy and threaten the rear flank of the Lombards.

The princes of the HRE Empire were menacing, attacking the Italian states on the east, west, and north, and the eastern route of Bohemia, Bavaria, and Austria were the most powerful armies, and posed the greatest threat to Ezzo II, with an army of 23,000 men, and powerful Bohemian and Austrian knights.

The Bohemians fought against the unruly Silesia and Poland all year round, and really trained a strong army, and the Bohemian cavalry was also one of the strongest soldiers in the entire empire.

Austria and Bavaria had a large army and were very good at cavalry warfare because they faced the Kingdom of Hungary, a powerful enemy of the empire.

Compared with the Eastern Route Coalition Army, the armies of the Italian states are mostly infantry and crossbowmen, and the number of cavalry is scarce, and some even have no cavalry at all, even the powerful Duchy of Lombardy, being able to come up with a thousand cavalry is already the result of their best efforts, and the quality of cavalry is not as good as that of the German knights and Bohemian cavalry who can conquer and fight.

Their opponents, with more than 5,000 cavalry in the middle army alone, including more than 2,000 hoplites and knights, were not matched by the Italian states.

In the face of the strong Eastern Route Army, Ezzo II decided to temporarily avoid the front, and this Eastern Route Army was no longer something that could be shaken by the first side of Lomba alone.

But Ezzo II could not sit still, as the Bohemian and Bavarian cavalry of the Eastern Route Army and the Swabian Army of the Central Route Army converged in the city of Mantua, and the Italian states would be completely desperate.

In order to resist the two-sided attack of the HRE Empire, Ezzo II had to make a decision: "The Alps are steep and steep, and the rivers are steep, and I expect that the army of the Duchy of Swabia will be exhausted after crossing the foothills and arriving at Trento, and our army should go north to meet Otto III of Swabia and defeat him completely." ”

"What the Duke said is very true, although Otto III of Swabia is a veteran in the army, but Lord Oberto and Lord Aberto are also veterans who gallop across the field, Lord Duke, you have the ability to anticipate the enemy's opportunities, how can our army not win!" Count of Bologna, Ugold, praised.

"Thank you for your compliments, Your Excellency the Count of Bologna, this battle is as your Excellency said, our army will win, but it is also indispensable for the support of your lords." Duke Ezzo II of Lombardy was not at all modest and said confidently.

The Count of Bologna was the first reinforcement to arrive from the Count of Bologna after the victory of Duke Ezzo II of Lombardy on the banks of the Mincho River, accompanied by the Northern Tuscan Army led by Adonoy, Count of Parma.

With a total of more than 6,000 men in these two support armies, plus more than 10,000 troops in his home Lombard county, the legion on this expedition was not necessarily in a weak position compared to the Swabian army in the center.