In Louis XII's view, the town of Tarot Valley was still the same as it had been, and when he saw the town at the foot of the mountain, Louis XII had the illusion that the first battle against the Roman army of Rome, which was still called Montina at the time, was in front of him.

After destroying 4 enemy defenses in succession, the Roman Thessia army on Magiorasca Hill finally could not resist the powerful French attack, they not only abandoned the defense line of Magiorasca, but also threw the town of Tarot Valley directly to the French, and then they retreated towards La Spezia.

This was a slight surprise to Louis XII, who had expected the enemy to continue to build a new line of defense in the Tarot Valley, and if he had done so, he might have had to resort to more means, but now it appeared that the Roman army had been intimidated by the French, and they had retreated to La Spezia, apparently in an attempt to retreat by ship from the sea.

At this point, Louis XII had two options before him.

One was to hand over Gompati, who was in Parma, to Bauwicken, while Louis XII himself led his troops directly south, into Tuscany, and directly threatened Montina.

The other was to fight with Boweken from east to west, first annihilating Gompati's army, and then exerting pressure south with absolute superiority to force the Duchy of Rome to surrender to him.

It took Louis XII only a short time to make a decision.

With nearly twice as many troops as Gompati as Boweken, it was clear that he would be able to deal with the enemy in front of him, and if he could invade the enemy's territory as soon as possible, Louis believed that the slightest threat would force Rome to surrender.

With an army of nearly 60,000 men, this is a powerful force that can make any country in Europe feel fearful, and even the Ottoman Empire has to be cautious, Louis XII can't think of any courage in the Duchy of Rome and Desia to dare to confront him, even if the Duke of Rome and Tricia seems to have some surprising feats in the war, but in Louis XII's opinion, under the deterrence of his huge forces several times that of the enemy, those feats will not be of much use.

Moreover, Louis XII was also confident in his skillful diplomacy, although he had heard that Caesar seemed to be imprisoned on the island of Elba, but he believed that this was only a last resort for Alexander VI to deal with his cheap son-in-law who had taken control of Rome, and he believed that as soon as the French army arrived, he believed that there would be new changes on the Vatican's side.

So it only took a short time from outside the town to entering the town, and Louis XII made a decision.

"There are 17,000 of Bowwicken's men in total, and his enemies seem to be less than half of his, and I think if we go to his aid at this time, maybe he will think it is an insult to him and come to me to duel."

The king's witty remark caused a burst of laughter among the generals next to him, and at the same time understood the decision that the king had made.

This made those generals secretly excited, after all, it was clear which weight was more important than destroying an enemy army and forcing the enemy country to surrender or even perish, and in the face of such a good opportunity, no one wanted to be a supporting role for others, but wanted to play the leading role themselves.

And Bowwicken's role as the deputy commander of the expeditionary force is enough to make many people jealous of him, so it is natural for him to be a supporting role in this war of annihilation.

Some people even secretly wondered if the king didn't want him to be too showy when he asked Boweken to deal with the Roman Tescia Gompati alone, so that he could not participate in this war of annihilation.

Louis XII, who had made the decision, immediately sent someone to convey the order to Boweken, as he said, Boweken was far more powerful than the enemy, so he did not worry about the threat that he might be exposed from the enemy country, and he believed that Boweken could not let this happen.

And he didn't think that the Roman general, who was said to have been quite conspicuous in the Battle of Bucharest, would be so stupid as to wait to be encircled.

So now all he and Bauwicken had to do was to invade the Duchy of Rome and Thesia from two different directions at the same time.

Louis XII's guess was accurate, and when he heard that the defense line on the Magiolasca mountain had been broken by the French, Gonzalo had no intention of continuing the battle with the enemy on the opposite side, and he knew that Louis XII, whether he dealt with himself first or went straight to Tuscany, meant that he had to retreat quickly.

So Gompati immediately retreated south with his army, trying to reconstruct a new line of defense in the interior of the principality before the French could continue to advance at both ends.

"Madame, I know that it is very inappropriate to make a request at this time, after all, the French have threatened the interior of the principality, but the situation cannot help but let me ask you for assistance, we need soldiers, weapons and food, I think that as long as we can withstand the Count of Provão on the opposite side, at least the north of the principality will not be directly threatened, then I think that then Ofleiil can concentrate on establishing a line of defense sufficient to withstand the enemy in the narrow strip from the Tuscan coast to Montina, So I beg you to send me reinforcements, so that we may have enough time to delay the French attack and wait for the opportunity to counterattack. ”

Letters of urgency for help were sent by messengers on fast horses, and at the same time brought with them all the hope of the northern army.

When Gompati's letter for help reached Barendi, Barendi was once again meeting with the envoy from Venice.

For this diplomat who turned out to be the secretary of state in Venice, Barendi actually didn't like it so much, because whenever she saw this Venetian, she couldn't help but think of the time Alexander and Sophia spent in Venice before.

She knew that the Venetian had apparently seen Sophia, and though he had never mentioned it, but just thinking of the Venetian's famous mercenary and what he had said to whomever she had known, she knew that the man was probably as flattering and courteous to the bohemian savage woman as he was now complimenting her.

"Duchess, none of us want to see Louis become the master of this land, and we are of the same mind in this respect," said the diplomat to Barentia with a serious expression, although there was a woman opposite, but the Venetian had never thought to underestimate her, and this could only be seen from her willingness to consider his proposal calmly and seriously, "Your brother Constantine's escape from Milan is too bad and too stupid, although it will certainly make you unhappy, But we all know that his actions have deeply hurt the Duchy of Rome-Thesia, at least now that your Duchy is facing an invasion by the French. ”

Barendi listened silently, the diplomat's words did make her angry, but not because he was satirizing Konstantin, but because she knew that the man was using the matter to blackmail her.

"We can send troops to support you, but there is a condition for you to consider besides giving up your brother's return to Milan," the diplomat smiled slightly, knowing that this was the right time to force Barentia to accept his harsh terms, "We invite you to renounce your dominion over Pavia and Monza in your husband's name, and to declare your support for Venice in the protection of these two cities." ”

"This can't be?!"

Barendi barely thought about it before she refused, knowing how important these two places were to Alexander.

Monza in particular, because of the Iron Crown, owning Monza is like the king of kings in Lombardy!

It can even be said that it was precisely because of the capture of Monza and the title of protector of the Iron Crown that Alexander was able to successfully become the duke of the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany, and if he gave up Monza and the Iron Crown, not only Alexander's prestige would be greatly damaged, but even the existence of the entire duchy would be shaken.

"I will not accept this condition, and you may go back and tell your Doge and the senators of Venice that if they wish to see the French appear on their borders, and are willing to be their neighbours henceforth, then they may not send a single reinforcement, but I think that they are the same ones who are troubled in the end."

The diplomat listened calmly, and at the same time carefully observed the look on Barondi's face, he did not know whether the almost desperate Duchess was indeed determined to give in, or was bluffing to make a last ditch resistance, but in any case he felt that she would eventually have to give in to her terms.

Because as far as he knew, the French were menacing this time, and even if all the troops of the entire Duchy of Rome and Thessia were sent to the front, they would not be able to compete with the French in terms of troops.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to "persuade" the Duchess when they had both lost, or at least suffered heavy losses.

The thought caused the diplomat to immediately bow with a smile on his face and ask to leave, and then he turned away without waiting for Barondy to say yes, without giving her the slightest chance to stop her.

Barondi looked at the back of the departing diplomat with a gloomy expression, of course she knew what this person was thinking, but as soon as the person walked out of the door, she leaned back in her chair weakly.

With a trembling hand, he opened the drawer of the table in front of him, and Gompati's letter for help appeared in front of him, looking at the crumpled and dirty letters, Barendi could imagine how bad Gompati's mood was when he wrote the letter, and now the French were constantly approaching the interior of Rome and Thesia, and the Venetians put forward conditions at this time that she could not agree at all, which made Barendi's heart like a big stone pressed on it, and she would collapse at any time because of the unbearable oppression.

"Where's Ofrey, why hasn't he come yet?"

Barondi's tone couldn't help but become agitated because of the bad mood, she knew that Alexander had trusted them by handing over the army to Gompati and Oflai, but if there was nothing she could do about these two people now, then she would be completely desperate.

Is it really necessary to agree to the conditions of the Venetians?

This thought flashed through her mind and was immediately thrown aside by Barendi, who knew that the Venetians had only made such a condition at such a time, which showed the importance they attached to Monza and Pavia, which made her even more unable to agree.

Even after thinking about the importance of the Iron Crown, Barentia secretly made a decision that even if he had to lead the Roman court into exile if necessary, he would never accept the blackmail of the Venetians.

"Madame, the captain of the marching army doesn't seem to be in the castle."

Barondi's answer from an entourage made Barendi slightly stunned, she didn't know where Offrey had gone without organizing an army at this time, which made her surprised and secretly annoyed, but her face was still as calm as possible, because she knew very well that if she panicked, then maybe before the French called, there would be chaos in the principality.

"Whatever you're doing, Ofrey, I hope you're not doing something stupid."

Barendi secretly prayed in her heart that she really couldn't stand more blows at this time.

On the side of the road, which looked rather flat, Oflaiyi walked back and forth anxiously.

Patches of smoke and dust slowly floated in the air in the distance, and there was not a little moisture on the dry and bare earth, and Offrey licked his lips slightly, pulled out a small pot from the leather bag on his belt, pulled out the stopper, and looked up and drank rum.

As the slightly sweet but somewhat hot taste poured into his throat, Oflaiyi's face showed a hint of gloom that could not be concealed.

Because he only had his own people around, he didn't need to deliberately face his subordinates with a face that was young but deliberately looked quite majestic as usual, and he didn't have to try to hide the anxiety in his heart.

The situation in the north is something that has always been unreassuring to Ofleiuil.

Although Gompati's northern army had an army of about 7,000 men, his army was insufficient because he had to defend a large area, and if the enemy held Gompati in a pinching down with one army and the other took the opportunity to move south, it would be a very bad situation for the Duchy of Rome to Thesia.

Ofleiil thought of this, and even did a simple deduction on the map with a group of officers who had previously been at the University of Florence in Bologna and Pavia, as Alexander had instructed him to do, and the results were clearly not encouraging.

Even so, Ofleiuil, like Gompati, had pinned his hopes on an alliance with Constantine in Milan, believing that unless the French had the strength to attack both Milan and the Roman Thecian border, any single attacker would inevitably be threatened from behind it by the other.

But now, the worst has emerged, and Konstantin's escape has made the most worrying of the most feared situations a reality.

Auf Elei raised the flask again to take a sip, but suddenly his hand flickered, and he immediately stepped out of the shade of the tree and stood in the middle of the road, looking carefully into the distance.

Then he simply called for someone to lead the horse, and could not wait to turn over and get on the horse, and half-stood on the horse's back in the stirrups and looked into the distance.

From the end of the road in the distance, a shadow was slowly coming, and looking at the moving team, Ofleiyi finally let out a loud "ha".

The "Montina National Highway", the first road to be built under the command of Machiavelli's Continental Development Company under the orders of Alexandria, started in Montina and Pisa.

When Alexander decided to spend a lot of money on the road, even Barendi was somewhat incomprehensible, and in private she even thought that Alexander was only building such a road so that he could communicate with Lucrezia more conveniently.

Machiavelli, on the other hand, was clearly Alexander's confidant in this matter, or he was still actively involved in it, even if it was purely for the purpose of securing this power through the expansion of the continent.

It was in this extraordinary enthusiasm that the national highway was finally completed after more than half a year, and with the smooth opening of this road, even those who had previously wondered about such a waste of money gradually understood Alexander's original intentions.

It was a road, as well as a bridge between Pisa and the two principalities of Rome, which was now sending an army from Pisa to Montina.

Nicolas Jo Macheni rode his horse and saw Ofleil standing in the middle of the road.

Although Ofleiil did not follow Alexander on his expedition to the Balkans, which led to a certain estrangement between the armies that came to be known collectively as the Balkan Expeditionary Force and the marching commander and chief of staff of the Roman Thesian army, no one doubted the position of the chief of staff in the principality's army.

Macheni jumped off his horse, wearing a small cuirass, which was even a little smaller than the knight's armor that was now standard with Maximian armor wrapped around a tin bucket.

"Your Excellency, according to the orders of the Duchess of Estles, the Pisa regiment has been ordered to arrive." Macheni reports aloud to Ofleuil that the future master, who would become a pioneer in the invention of modern statistics, did not quit the army after returning from the Balkans, and after the Battle of Ferrara, he returned to Pisa again and became a Pisa team officer for both Pisa and Roman Thesia.

"It's wonderful." Although he knew that Maccheni's army would definitely come, it was only at this time that Ofleiil really relented.

"My lord, I may not have good news for you," said Maccheni, looking at Ofleiy's smile, with a somewhat solemn expression, "something very bad has happened, and I must report this to the Duchess." ”

Looking at Maccheni's expression, Ofleiyi's heart jumped for no reason.

And what Macheni reported to Barenti later proved the old adage that disasters always come in pairs.

"Caesar Borgia escaped from Elba?!"

Listening to Marcheni's report, Barenti fainted almost instantly.

"Yes, Madame, Caesar landed in the port of Pisa, but Madame Lucrezia only allowed his men to repair and replenish supplies in Pisa, and then she expelled Caesar from the city of Pisa in the name of Mademoiselle Duchess Estles."

"God, that stupid woman!" Barendi cursed angrily, "Don't she know what will happen if Caesar is allowed to return to the Vatican, he will encourage the Pope to openly oppose Alexander, and then organize an army to wage war against us with the French!" ”

Barondi angrily walked out from behind the table, looking at the Duchy officials who couldn't help but show their worries when they heard the news, she suddenly turned and walked to the side of the shelf with the crown.

After carefully placing the Duchess's crown on her head, Barondi turned to the officials and said aloud:

"Now I declare that, with the power of regency of the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany conferred upon me by the Duke, I command the army of Rome and Thessia to prepare for a full-scale war!"