Louis XII woke up in the night, the tent was hot and humid, and listening to the "buzzing" of mosquitoes flying overhead from time to time, the tireless King simply got up and walked out of the tent.

In the night, the cicadas chirp up and down, and the lights swayed slightly with the night breeze not far away, it was a hot midsummer night that was inevitably irritating.

The servant, who was napping outside the tent, heard the sound and barely opened his eyes, and when he saw the king standing in front of him, he immediately got up and waited in a hurry.

Louis XII motioned to his servants not to alarm the others, and then put on a thin robe and walked to the river not far away.

This was already the third day after the battle with the Neapolitan army, and Louis XII did not rush to attack again the next day, because the scouts reported to him that the Neapolitans had also hurried after the French army had shown their retreat, and even withdrew in a panic from their previous positions, and then retreated along a tributary called Vashra on the south bank of the Arno River.

This made Louis XII a little puzzled.

He recruited his generals, and although he lost the first battle unexpectedly, Louis still believed in the abilities of his generals, and he did not reprimand any of them, as he said privately to his personal attendants: "If you or I had been out of their position, I might have suffered a worse defeat, and in that case I have no right to condemn them." ”

The king's trust was of course appreciated by the generals, but that did not prevent them from disagreeing greatly about the intentions and direction of the Neapolitans.

The French generals were divided into two opposing opinions.

Some people believe that although the Neapolitan army has temporarily won a victory after a battle, it is clear that they are aware of the disparity between the two sides in terms of strength, so they take advantage of the opportunity to withdraw from the French army when they have just retreated, and then prepare to change their tactics and start a guerrilla war with the French army that delays time.

Other generals did not think so, they thought that the Queen of Naples must have had such a conspiracy, as was the case with the unusual frontal battle with the French army before, and now the unexpected retreat after gaining the upper hand, but what plan the Neapolitans were brewing, they could not say for a while.

These two opinions naturally led the French generals to disagree on what the French army should do next.

One side felt that the Neapolitans could not be given a respite, otherwise they would likely cause great trouble for the siege of Pisa and Montina.

The other side is adamantly opposed to continuing to entangle the Neapolitans, as that would lead to the enemy's misfortune.

"Take Florence in one fell swoop, there is the key to this war, as long as Florence surrenders, the Duchy of Rome and Thesia will be divided into different parts, and the whole situation will be in our favor," a general suggested to the French king, "Florence is the center of the Duchy of Rome and Thesia, once they take this place, they will inevitably be unable to communicate with each other, this is a great opportunity for us." ”

This suggestion clearly impressed Louis XII, and he himself knew that it was indeed the wisest choice, but when it came time to make a decision, Louis hesitated.

Militarily speaking, taking Florence first was indeed the right choice, if not the only one, but Louis XII had to think more.

After the capture of Rome, the queen of Naples, Josa Cosenza Astamara, once again set out as a Roman conquistador, and this previously completely different identity showed more of an identity that stood in an orthodox position and defended the hereditary territory of Rome.

This move undoubtedly put the French in the position of invaders, which may not seem like a big deal, but it had a special impact on Louis XII, who was now surrounded by enemies.

Unless he could quickly enter Rome to prove his legitimate claim to the land, not only the enemies who had declared war on him, but also the city-states that had already been conquered might be half-hearted towards him.

"That woman is really powerful." Louis felt the slightly hot night breeze blowing on his body, and whispered to himself helplessly.

This is politics, and many times a purely military action becomes different when it is mixed with political reasons, just like a perfect dish with some disgusting condiment, which will completely fear ruining the taste of the whole dish.

He knew that it was precisely because he knew his current situation that he would retreat without regard to Florence, because for Louis XII, the first target now was her, the queen of Naples, and her army, not Florence.

But what would happen if the pursuit of the Neapolitan army continued worried Louis XII.

The French army had gradually moved away from the coastline, and although the French army protected the supply lines in the rear from Genoa to Florence, the heavy fighting was considerable in the consumption of supplies.

Louis had come down to collect supplies as necessary, which was a blow to the French king, who had wanted to establish a good reputation in Italy, but from the news that Charlain had brought back to him, the sea line of communication from France to Genoa was also attacked by the Genoese exiled nobles, and the fleet they sent from Sardinia more than once attacked the transport ships seriously threatened the supply lines of the French army.

This forced Louis XII to think carefully about what to do next.

A neighing came from a short distance, and Louis noticed that someone seemed to be hurrying towards his tent, and after that he hurried out again, led by the servant.

"Your Majesty, news from Milan!"

A man without a hat and with all the buttons on his chest open, revealing the sweat-stained appearance inside, hurriedly saluted Louis XII, although this dress was really rude, but looking at his hurried demeanor, Louis XII did not care about his rudeness and immediately took the seal in his hand.

A trace of shock flashed on Louis XII's face when he opened the wax seal and lit the torch and saw the contents of the secret letter, which did not escape the attention of the attendants around him, which made him even more curious about what the secret letter said.

"The Austrians have surrounded Milan," Louis XII handed the secret letter to the man beside him, and he went back and forth impatiently, sometimes stopping and sometimes clenching his fist hard, "Maximian, that thief, is using those dastardly tricks again. ”

Listening to the king's words, the attendant nodded slightly in agreement.

To the King of France, Emperor Maximian was a difficult and annoying opponent.

Starting with Louis XI, the Spider King, whenever the French tried to reach out to Italy, Maximian would jump out at a critical time to stir up good things, from Louis XI to Charles VIII and now Louis XII, Maximian was like a nasty snake entangled with them, making enemies of them everywhere.

Now, Maximian is once again using his trick to send troops to Milan while Louis XII is at war in Romagna, which makes Louis XII feel as if he has been stabbed in the back again.

"That so-called Holy Alliance must be completely defeated and broken, otherwise it will only be deadlocked again as before."

Louis XII, who had already made up his mind, ordered the generals to wake up, and although he knew that this decision was not in line with his own intentions, he had to make a choice at such times.

"Find the Neapolitan army and fight them in a decisive battle." Seeing the different expressions of the generals when he said this, Louis XII did not give them a chance to argue, and immediately issued a new order: "I want to know their whereabouts at once, I want to know what the queen is doing, and I want her to know that I am looking for her." ”

Seeing the king's resolute appearance, the generals who had wanted to oppose it fell silent, knowing that the king might not be a good commander compared to Charles VIII, but he had a more tenacious character than Charles VIII, as can be seen from the fact that he invaded Italy twice soon after he succeeded to the throne.

The French moved quickly, with a large number of scouts sent out to find the Neapolitan army, and the French army, which had been ordered to collect supplies from the area, became more irritable.

They looted grain, honey and wine in some villages, and the French soldiers, who had been somewhat restrained by Louis XII's orders, began to brutally suppress those who dared to resist, hanged a few uncooperative villagers in some places, and burned down many houses, and for a time the countryside on the outskirts of Florence was filled with smoke and wailing.

The French movement in the lower Arno River did not hide from Jotha's eyes, and the fact that the French army was in her sight made Josa feel grateful for Alexander's foundation in Romagna and sincerely admired his unusual attention to intelligence.

In the past, even if there was a great emphasis on the role of intelligence in warfare, there was no such thing as Alexander who was so obsessed with the idea that such a seemingly boring thing would play such a big role in warfare, so much so that he even suggested that Zhisa create a military attendant position in her army, and then gave her a group of soldiers who looked more like students than soldiers.

At first, Jossa used these people out of trust in Alexander, but now she felt that these people were somewhat useful, and Alexander's words to them were: "Keep an eye on them, don't let them get into trouble, and don't let them cause you trouble." ”

Jossa lived up to Alexander's trust, she protected these people well, and at the same time received some help from them, as Alexander said, "These people can only do so much now, maybe one day they will be able to do miracles, but now they just need to put on their ears." ”

"Louis has already made a decision?" As she watched the scout bring back the news, she sometimes felt a little tired, and she obviously had more responsibility on her own than Barendi and Lucrezia had trusted helpers by her side, which made her feel that this was Alexander's confidence in her, but she couldn't help but admit that the pressure it caused her was indescribable.

"Your Majesty, the French are looking for us for a decisive battle."

One general said with some concern that 3,000 men against the main French army was obviously a bit crazy in the eyes of many, and although the victory in the first battle greatly boosted the morale of the Neapolitans, the generals knew what kind of great threat they faced.

So when Jisha ordered to withdraw from the position on his own initiative, many Neapolitan officers couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

"Give me 2 days." Suddenly, he said to the generals, "I want you to use all means to buy two days for our army, and after two days everything will change." ”

The generals looked at each other with a look at him, and they didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Your Majesty, I beg your pardon for being unreasonable," came out with courage from a young officer standing in the corner of the tent with the "student soldiers", his voice was somewhat odd, obviously not a local, "if you can provide us with more information, maybe we can make a more accurate judgment, otherwise we don't know how to help in the next battle." ”

"Soldier, what's your name?" Visa glanced at the young officer with interest, she had noticed that this man was one of the most active among the student soldiers, and now she wanted to know if this man had some real skills as he appeared.

"My name is Omo, Your Majesty, and my brother is Kuraš of Cachulica, and we both studied at the University of Bologna." The young officer replied a little nervously.

"Oh, I see." Jisha nodded at first, she ignored the burning passion in the young officer's eyes when he looked at her, it was familiar to her, but it was also the easiest to ignore, and then she seemed to remember something and looked back at the young man, "You said you have an older brother named Kulash?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, Kulash of Kachulica." Omo replied with some excitement.

"I think I've heard your brother's name," Tsusha gave a rare smile, "and if I'm not mistaken, you'll probably be going to see your brother soon." ”

Omo looked at Tsusha with some surprise, until he realized how unreasonable his actions had been.

"Mind you, that's why I want you to buy me two days," said Josa to the officers who had not yet understood, "and in two days, we will fight Louis again." ”

Outside Florence, Louis de Bourbon stared annoyed at the nearby city walls.

The place where he was standing was so close to the walls that it almost only took a good longbow to threaten the enemy on the other side.

But this distance made him unable to take a step forward.

The flag of France fluttering on the walls seemed like good news, but the Duke of Bourbon knew that the flag had remained there because neither of them dared to come near and pull it up.

The French finally reached the wall through the gap in the morning, and after an unexpectedly fierce battle, the French drove the Florentines down the walls and raised their banners.

At that moment, the Duke de Bourbon finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step was to completely defeat the Florentines in the city, which was his idea at the time.

It's just that the Duke de Bourbon never imagined that what would happen next would be more troublesome than he thought......

Before the French army that occupied the city wall had time to penetrate into the city, it was unexpectedly shelled from the city!

The streets and alleys, which had been blocked before, became another wall, from which the convoys attacked the French, who were mostly armed with melee weapons, and the rain of arrows from muskets and crossbows did not hesitate to cover almost every visible corner of the wall that was not protected by the inward battlements.

For a while, the French soldiers were shot one after another, and the artillery, which had been thrown down without hesitation when the city wall was about to fall, was lying in the ruins under the city at this time, and had no chance to become the trophies of the French army and exert the slightest power.

The French troops, who had poured into the city, were targeted, and because there was no cover, they had to huddle together, or simply lie on their stomachs and did not dare to raise their heads, until they simply retreated through the gap and gave up the walls that were completely exposed to the range of the enemy's guns.

De Bourbon, who was almost about to climb the city wall, was forced to retreat by the retreating soldiers, and he could not help but be annoyed when he looked at the lone banner that had been erected there at the head of the city.

It was only after sending men to climb the city wall twice in a row, and being shot almost completely at the head of the city twice, that the Duke of Bourbon had to change his strategy.

"Completely collapse the walls with artillery." The duke gave the order: "Since they have blocked the city gates, then we will open a gate ourselves." ”

The duke, who had wanted to laugh out loud for his humor, looked at the gap on the wall that had already been climbed by the soldiers who had trampled it like a crack in the mouth and laughed sarcastically at him, and his face gradually became unsightly.

The cannon moved forward slowly, in order to accurately hit the gap, the Duke of Bourbon asked the artillery to try to get as close to the wall as possible, and when he stood by the cannon and watched the dark muzzle gradually aim at the target, the Duke of Louis de Bourbon finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He could not wait any longer, and Louis de Bourbon secretly vowed to attack Florence before sunset.

"Seven points of medicine," a blackened gunner shouted to the deputy gunner, looking at the primer that had been added to the medicine tank with a graduated funnel, the gunner licked his lips and looked at the duke next to him, who couldn't hide his excitement, "My lord, stay away a little, this sound is enough." ”

"No, I'm just here watching." The Duke of Bourbon stubbornly said, "Okay, do your own thing." ”

The gunner shrugged helplessly, and after measuring the distance again, picked up the torch and lit the fuse.

A disgusting smell immediately wafted in, but the Duke of Bourbon inhaled hard.

There was a loud roar, and the tremor of the ground made the duke's body shake, and then the second, and then the third!

Then, the Duke of Bourbon was surprised to see that in addition to the first cannonball accurately hitting the gap in the wall and smashing down a piece of masonry, the following cannons were accompanied by cannonballs that fell into the French columns one after another, blowing up flesh and blood!

Following the sound of the cannon, the Duke of Bourbon turned his head, and then he saw a figure pouring out of the field in the distance.

The 6th Bologna Regiment of Busaco arrived at this time.