After a series of consultations, the Duke of Lombardy, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and the envoys of other states agreed that the army of more than 20,000 people would be divided into three routes, of which the middle route would be personally commanded by Ezzo II, Duke of Lombardy, and his two cousins, Oberto and Alberto, would serve as lieutenants, and together with Ezzo II, they would command the middle army, which numbered as many as tens of thousands of people.

As a prince second only to Duke Ezzo II of Lombardy, the eight-year-old Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Spoleto was quite personable, and she sent her important ministers Parma and Count of Corsica Adonoi, Count of Lucca Anselmo and the Mayor of Florence Urbano as the chief and deputy commanders of the whole army, and the 6,000 troops in charge of the Duchy of Tuscany as the right wing of the coalition army.

In addition, the states of Ancona, Ravenna, Urbino, and Bologna formed an army of 3,000 to support it, which was led by Count Ugo of Bologna and Giacinto, consul of the city-state of Ancona.

In addition, an army of 6,000 formed by Provence, Saluzzo and Montferratto acted as the left flank of the coalition, under the command of Jofrois, Duke of Provence, and with Montferratto Audunno as his lieutenant.

In Northern Italy and Provence alone, a coalition of 25,000 men was formed to rebel against the rule of the Holy Roman Empire.

Of course, they were able to raise such a large army, which was inseparable from the joint support of the Papal States, the Normans, the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Pisa, without which the Italian princes would not dare to stand up and resist, and without the financial assistance of Genoa and Pisa, they could not maintain such a large coalition.

The only regrettable and angry thing is that the Duke of Verona and Carinthia, Conrad III, not only did not want to join the camp of the Italian states, but made public the news of their intention to rebel, and completely stood in opposition to the Italian states.

Speaking of which, it is no wonder that Conrad III, Verona and the Duchy of Carinthia were originally the domain of Henry III, and he was able to obtain the canonization of Henry III and had the honor of becoming the Duke of Verona and Carinthia, so he was naturally grateful to Henry III and the Sallian family.

What's more, Duke Conrad III was an orthodox Germanic nobleman, a duke who monitored the Italian states on behalf of the royal family and princes, and was a member of the meat eaters, so naturally he would not follow those Italians to rebel and damage his vested interests and those of the Germanic princes.

In addition to informing the emperor and his princes of the rebellion of the Italian states, Conrad III, Duke of Verona and Carinthia, also recruited all the soldiers and vassals in the territory and formed an army of 8,000 to garrison the country of Mantua.

The country of Mantua is located in the middle plain of the Po River, southeast of the city of Milan, and only 113 kilometers northwest of Milan, the capital of Lombardy. Its capital, the city of Mantua, was founded in 2000 BC, surrounded on three sides by several lakes formed by the Mincho River, a tributary of the Po River, and is located in the heart of the Po River Plain in Italy.

The dukes of Verona and Carinthia placed an army of 8,000 men in the city of Mantua, like a dagger against the heart, like a fish in the throat, extremely deadly, if the city of Mantua could not be uprooted, Ezo II's original strategy of relying on the Alps to defend the German princes to the south would be completely ineffective, and there was a danger that the German princes would be broken by each of them.

To the urgency of Ezzo II and the Italian states, the German princes, who had been on the verge of the succession of the young Henry IV, were now united by the news of the Italian states' intention to rebel, and they were once again rallying around the Salian royal family, and were gathering their forces to go south to Italy to quell the rebellion.

Attacking wealthy Italy was a great temptation for the financially strapped German princes.

The riches of the Italian states were among the best in Europe, and the cities of Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa were filled with gold and honey.

More importantly, Italy's military strength was extremely weak compared to the German princes, for whom the Italian states were weak and bullying, with small input and high output, no wonder the German princes put down their ambitions to fight for power and profit, and prepared to go south to Italy with great force.

In order to maintain the rule of the Salian dynasty, the Empress Dowager Agnes of Poitu declared that the Salians would not take any of the territories and wealth obtained in the Italian counterinsurgency war, which further stimulated the ambitions of the German princes for Italy.

The Duchy of Saxony, Brandenburg, Holland, Girrear, and Braunschweig in the north of the empire, the Duchy of Franconia and Swabia in the center, and the Duchy of Bohemia and Bavaria in the east.

These dozens of princes were headed by Bernhard II, Duke of Saxony, and Otto III, Duke of Swabia, respectively, and Duke Brzedislav of Bohemia as a partial division, and marched into Italy in three ways.

Among them, the central army of Otto III, Duke of Swabia, led his army south to Graubünden, a hundred kilometers away, preparing to cross the Alps from here and directly attack Milan, the capital of Lombardy.

Another Bavarian army of the Sallian royal family, accompanied by the Bohemian army, marched south from Austria and passed through Carinthia, preparing to support Verona and Conrad III, Duke of Carinthia.

There was also a northern army led by the Duke of Saxony, which marched south from the Rhine, passing through Baden, Geneva and Savoy to the Duchy of Provence, and after defeating the Provençal army, marched from Genoa to Milan and Florence in Italy.

For the Italian states, Graubünden's terrain was dangerous, and it was heavily guarded by the Lombards, so it could be protected for the time being, and the Duchy of Provence was not weak, it was fighting on its own, and it had the support of the Genoese, at least it would not suffer defeat in a short time, but the only thing that worried all the Italian states was that the enemy of the Duchy of Verona from one direction - the powerful Kingdom of Bohemia and the army of the Duchy of Bavaria, which belonged to the Sallian royal family.

The most fatal thing is that, because of Verona's relationship with Conrad III, Duke of Carinthia, this army will enter the rich Po plain without hindrance when it enters Italy, which is not tolerated by all the Italian states.

All this would require at least the capture of the strategic city of Mantua and the expulsion of the Duke of Verona's army north of the Po River, so that the security of the Italian states could be assured.