The Swabian side suffered a setback in the first battle, losing more than 100 knights, and the number of heavy cavalry reached more than 500, directly accounting for more than one-third of the heavy cavalry of the whole army.

Such heavy losses were undoubtedly great bad news for the Swabian regiment and a great blow to morale.

Otto III desperately needed a victory to boost morale, otherwise his army would have to crush if it continued like this.

"My lord, Count Allgäu, Lord Werner of Habsburg, who has routed the enemy's right flank and pierced the Adige River, is now advancing in the direction of the Rivoli Heights."

It was a much-needed victory for Otto III, crushing the Lombard Adige and Verona lines, allowing the Swabian legion to form a two-sided attack on the Rivoli Heights.

"Very well, when the Count of Allgau returns victorious, I will give him a third of the spoils, and when the Lombards have been defeated, the country of Graubünden will be his domain." Otto III laughed.

Count of Aargau Werner. Feng. Habsburg is the ancestor of the later Habsburg dynasty, and the Argauber country is the ancestral land of Habsburg. Origin of the Habsburg surname.

Later, the famous dynastic families, such as the previously mentioned Hohenstaufen, were only Earls of Swabia at this time, the Bourbons were only Counts of Bourbon under the Duke of Aquitaine, and the Hohenzollerns were only a baron named Zollenable who belonged to the Duchy of Swabia.

None of these families have ever made a living, so who would have thought that they would be able to shine brightly in later generations?

With this good news, the army of the Duchy of Swabia recovered some morale, and with the generous reward of Otto III, it finally recovered.

However, at this time, Otto III, who had learned the lesson of a failure, no longer dared to rashly attack the Rivoli Heights, and he would not launch a new attack until the army of the Habsburg Count Allgäu was in place.

In the evening, the Lombards, who were still celebrating their victory, received the bad news, and their right flank, the line of Verona and the Adige River, defended by Parma and Count Adonoi of Corsica, was broken, and Count Adonoi escaped with only a few Tuscan knights, and the rest of the three or four thousand Tuscan troops were almost completely annihilated.

The defeat of the Tuscans had deprived them of the strategic initiative they had gained over the Swabian knights during the day, and they were now under a two-pronged attack.

Before this news arrived, the Lombard Duke Ezzo II had not yet figured out the direction of the enemy's main attack and the real intentions. The next step is to move down the Adige River and move forces downstream; Or to move his forces upstream along the Adige River, Ezzo II could not make a final decision.

But it was only after this news that the true plans of the Duke of Swabia were fully revealed. Obviously, the spearhead of the main offensive of the HRE army was undoubtedly directed at the mountains of Rivoli. The battle in the future in the Rivoli direction will be a decisive one, and its victory or loss will largely determine the success or failure of the entire campaign.

The Duke of Lombardy reacted extremely quickly, and on the night of receiving the news, he drew up a new battle plan, and since the right flank Verona and the Adige line were completely defeated, he decided to ignore other directions for the time being, concentrate his forces, and first crush the attack of the Swabian corps in the direction of Rivoli.

After the battle in the direction of Rivoli was successful, he could swing his army south and quickly transfer his forces to other directions, so that the Italian army could break the attack of the HRE army from all directions while the total strength was at a disadvantage.

In order to take the enemy by surprise, Ezzo II also ordered General Oberto, who was in charge of commanding the left flank, to lead a lightly armed force to cross Lake Garda from near Salou, go around the back of the Swabian army, and cut off their retreat.

The Lombards contracted their line, and although the forces gathered on the Rivoli Heights did not increase much, as the defensive line contracted, the defensive capability of the entire Rivoli Highlands defense line was greatly strengthened, giving Ezzo II the confidence to crush the opponent's attack.

On the third day, after a short rest, the morale and combat effectiveness of the Swabian regiment were largely restored, and the reinforcements from the Duchy of Franconia and the Count of Burgundy greatly increased, which made Otto III confident of victory.

At the same time, Otto III also waited for his long-awaited Count of Allgau, Werner. Feng. The 5,000 Habsburg troops had moved to the flank of the Rivoli Heights in the morning, ready to attack.

Due to the absolute superiority of the Swabian legion, Otto III, Duke of Swabia, although he suffered a defeat, was still stubborn and did not take the Lombards who were entrenched in the Rivoli Heights seriously.

In his opinion, the forces that Ezzo II used to defend the Rivoli direction were at best about eight or nine thousand men. This force was at a clear disadvantage to the Swabian legion, and he was fully confident of seizing the Rivoli Heights and the entire area between Lake Garda and the Adige River, and then marching on Mantua to completely destroy the rebellious Italian states.

At dawn on the fourth day, Aberto, under the orders of Ezzo II, led a group of knights and armed soldiers to recapture St. Mark's Church, located at the southern foot of Manning Hill on his right flank, and planned to use it as a base to block the attack of the enemy legions on the Rivoli heights from the right flank.

Due to the swiftness of Aberto's movements, the Count of Allgäu was caught off guard and was forced to abandon the chapel.

By 10 a.m., when the enemy had begun to attack head-on, the chapel had become a strong fortress on the right flank of the Rivoli Heights.

At 10 a.m., Otto III personally led a Swabian corps of 15,000 men to attack the Rivoli Heights head-on.

Although the enemy had twice the superiority in numbers, the Lombards, with the help of favorable terrain, excellent equipment and high morale, under the personal supervision of Ezzo II, repelled the attack of the Swabians.

The frontal battlefield road is relatively wide, suitable for the enemy's superiority in strength, so this battle was fought very hard, and at the critical moment, Ezzo II even drew his sword himself, constantly bringing the guards to fight the fire, and always boosted the morale of the soldiers.

Fortunately, the most difficult moment has passed, withstanding the fiercest wave of enemy attacks, and the next situation will be much better.

Almost at the same time, on the right wing of the Rivoli Heights, Aberto and Count Werner of Aargau, fought again in the chapel of St. Mark.

Due to the rough road, the troops of Count Vilna of Allgäu were slow to march, and their vanguard was discovered by Aberto, who was stationed here and there, before they could even approach the chapel.

Ezzo II also learned of this and immediately ordered Tancred and his Norman knights to go to the aid with five hundred Lombard soldiers.