As the largest tributary of the upper Po River, the Pomi River is a large north-south river, which flows from north to south and flows through most of northern Italy.

The Little Mincio River flows through the city of Pavia, separating a corner of the city from most of the rest, and it was on that part of the river that the Romans built a military fortress on the high ground of the river to serve as an outpost for the Romans to monitor the barbarian invasion in the north.

The Roman fortress still exists, although the entire fortress has long been erased by the years, only the stubborn stones still stand on the high ground of the river bay, as if singing an elegy for the glory and decline of the Roman Empire, but from the ruins of those hideous stone walls, it seems that the roar of the Roman legions chanting battle horns can still be heard.

Gompati was now on the right bank of the Petit Mincho River, not far from the fort, where he led about 4,000 soldiers of the Northern Legion to keep an eye on movements from the west.

The Franco-Austrian armies had apparently known the news of Alexander's march into Pavia, which made them sober up as if they had been slapped in the face, and the emperor first offered to propose a truce, although it seemed a bit embarrassing, but Maximian I had nothing to care about.

Louis XII was also surprised by Alexander's actions, although he had ordered the French troops stationed in Genoa to pay attention to the movements of Montina's army before sending troops to Alexandria, but he never expected that Alexander did not directly put his army into the battlefield, but suddenly sent troops to Pavia, which looked like occupying Milan in one fell swoop.

This surprised and infuriated Louis XII, so when Maximian I proposed an armistice to him, the French king immediately agreed.

"That Cambrai is simply a thief and a thief, and a liar." When the words reached the Austrians, the alherto French king, who had been so angry, used several vulgar words that he would never normally use, and instead of laughing at the rudeness of the French, Maximian I felt that it was rare to agree with his enemies.

Maximian's anger at Alexander was even stronger than Louis XII's, he could never have imagined that the Count of Montina would give him a knife in the back at this time, although now the Montina people only occupied Pavia, but everyone knew that as the gate of Milan, the fall of Pavia actually meant that Milan was about to fall into the hands of others again.

Alexander's proclamation was too much for Maximian, who for many years boasted of being the protector of the Italian city-states, and the title of Holy Roman Emperor made him his natural sphere of influence.

But now Alexander, in his capacity as Romagna and Tuscany monarch, openly declared his protectorate of the two regions, much to the intolerable Maximian I.

It was only when the emperor was furious that he wanted to teach the "arrogant and ignorant Sicilian boy" a lesson, but he suddenly found that the army he was using to teach his opponent a lesson was recruited by the funds provided by the opponent.

This was really embarrassing, and the emperor angrily summoned his chief minister, and after complaining to Kotschach, Maximian angrily asked Kotschach how to solve such a problem.

Kotschach had been listening very deferentially, or indifferently, until the emperor asked him, he thought for a moment and then said slowly: "Your Majesty, maybe we can send someone to talk to the Count of Montina, you know that his father-in-law is a cardinal, and the cardinal has a very close relationship with you now, so I think we should first find out whether the Count of Montina has anything to do with the cardinal." ”

"You should know that there is more than one father-in-law," said the Emperor with a bit of sarcasm, "and if you are by your word, perhaps I should wonder if it has anything to do with the Pope, after all, Borgia is now in a hot fight with the French." ”

The Emperor walked up and down the room in annoyance, his small but shrewd eyes restlessly rolling back and forth, always habitually rubbing his somewhat sharp nose, and his hands were already covered with crisp and white snot, from the cold.

"But Your Majesty, negotiation is necessary, and a conflict with the Montinas at this time is obviously the most unwise option."

Kotschach did not appear timid because of the emperor's anger, he was well aware of Maximian's situation now, after all, after a series of battles with the French, the Austrian army had reached the point of exhaustion, although the French on the opposite side were actually not much better, but the French still occupied Genoa after all, which meant that the initiative was actually in the hands of the French, at least for them, the worst was to withdraw to France by sea.

For Maximian, the so-called suzerainty over Italy certainly gave him a decisive influence on the region, but this right also deeply bound him, no matter what kind of difficulties he faced, he could not back down, and once faced with a situation like this, in order to defend his name as Holy Roman Emperor, he had to respond, but now he obviously felt constrained.

"So that's you?" The Emperor glanced at Kotschach, and though he felt that the Chief Court Minister had come forward so quickly and that there would be no more room for manoeuvre in the negotiations, he really couldn't think of anyone more suitable: "Go and talk to that Gombray and tell him that I can accept his request as lord of Romagna and Tuscany, but that he must withdraw from Pavia, and that his army must join the camp against the French by my orders, and not make peace with the French as he had done before." ”

Listening to the conditions put forward by the emperor, Kotschach just listened silently, he didn't really think that Alexander would agree to these conditions, but at this time he could only come forward to negotiate before he knew what to do next.

While sending Kotschach as an emissary to negotiate with Alexander, Maximian I moved his army in the direction of Turin, and after signing a temporary armistice, Louis XII generously gave way to the Austrian army to retreat from Alexandria to Turin.

Louis XII was not worried that the Austrians would be able to get the supplies they needed when they returned to Turin, because he knew that the military rations and supplies stored in Turin were simply not enough to supply the nearly 50,000 troops, so the only way to solve the problem at hand was to continue to advance to Milan.

But now it seems that Milan is within reach for Alexander, which makes Louis XII look forward to what is coming.

For the Pavians, the so-called Pavia Declaration had little effect on them, the rich people in the city were still living in affluence, and the commoners were still getting by, while the peasants outside the city were obviously more difficult, but because of the abundance of Lombardy, it was obviously much better than in other places.

The Pavians did not feel uncomfortable with a new lord, after all, they had been accustomed to being vassals for many years, and with the change of masters of Milan ushered in the rule of new families, and in this respect, the citizens of both Pavia and Piacenza seemed too casual compared to the Pisa.

But this is certainly not a bad thing for Alexander, especially when he decides to relocate the University of Pavia to Pisa in its entirety, and he can't help but be glad that the people of the city are not so backbone.

"Actually, don't think so," said Alexander, listening to Ofleil's report, correcting the contempt of the marching captain for the casual attitude of the people of the city, "knowing that to them they are not Milanese, but that Pavia is their city and home, and that in their eyes Sforza is no different from Gombray, but only occupiers." ”

"You may be right, but the people of this city really don't seem to care who rules them, and perhaps a ruler is more interested in them than the pattern on the gold coin."

Seeing that Ofleiyi casually took out a Radia gold coin and fiddled with it, Alexander just smiled lightly.

Alexander was relieved to see people using Radia gold coins in the market in Pavia, and although it was still a short time, the market for Radia gold coins was expanding at an astonishing rate.

This was largely due to its rapid development in the Lowlands and Switzerland, where the Port of Rotterdam's share of Amsterdam's trade was rapidly eroded, and the rapid occupation of the Swiss market by Lowland traders after the Swiss War, even more so than in the port cities controlled by the Trade Unions, mainly because of the barrenness of the post-war markets and the astonishingly enormous trade potential of the Lowlands.

This potential has now spread not only from Flanders and other places to the northern coast of Europe, but also into the interior of Europe.

The appearance of the Radia Gold Coin in Pavia was a testament to this infiltration, which made Alexander sometimes even think that he might be able to become the king of the continent himself without the need for troops and weapons.

But, of course, this was just idle thoughts, and Alexander knew very well that the end of wealth without army was like Fugger.

In fact, even without Alexander, the Fugger family did not end well, although they used money to raise Maximian's grandson Charles V to become the Roman emperor in the future, but they were eventually squeezed out of the last bit of oil and water by the greedy Charles V, and the whole family collapsed and gradually declined.

"How's the University of Pavia?" Alexander did not want to continue on the question of whether the people of Pavia had integrity, Pavia was only one of the stops on his path, and even the whole city of Pavia was less important to him than a corner of the university: "Know that we don't have much time, maybe in three months, maybe even less, and we will have to get out of these troubles." ”

Alexander's words surprised Ofleiil a little, and he knew that Alexander's so-called escape was to solve the Lombard problem in such a short time, which made Ofleiyi a little worried.

"My lord, maybe the French will attack us, maybe even the Austrians," Ofleiil said what he had been worried about, "Milan is too important for them, and if we continue to march towards Milan, we may be attacked by them at the same time." ”

"So we're not going to Milan," Alexander smiled lightly, seeing the surprise on Ofleiuil's face, he waved slightly and motioned for Ofleiyi to follow him to a map, "Our army is stationed in Pavia, and then I want you to occupy this place after completing the relocation of the University of Pavia." ”

Alexander's hand was slightly on a spot on the map, and looking at the sign on it, Offrey couldn't help but be stunned: "Meng."

"Yes," Alexander's finger tapped twice on the place marked Monza, and looking at Ofreiil's puzzled expression, Alexander whispered, "Monza is more important to us than Milan, at least for us now, because a Milan ruled by Sforza is the one that makes everyone want to stop." ”

Ofreil looked at the map with some puzzlement, he didn't understand Alexander's intentions for a while, this was obviously a bad performance for him, as the captain of the marching army, he had to understand the count's intentions more clearly than anyone else, otherwise it would be difficult to carry out the orders given by the count clearly.

"Milan is a huge decoy," Alexander explained his plan to Ofleiuil, and it was also the first time he had fully explained his entire Lombard plan to anyone other than Oflei, "Pavia and Monza are the two gates to the north and south of Milan, and now that we have opened the south gate, then all I have to do is open another gate, so that Milan can be completely under my control, and not directly occupy the city," seeing that Ofleuil seemed to have gradually understood, Alexander exhaled" The occupation of Milan, the French did it, the Austrians did it, they all wanted to occupy this rich city, but once they occupied Milan, Milan became their burden invisibly, just think about how many troops they lost around Milan, you can know that the city is like a bottomless pit, constantly devouring life. ”

Offrey licked his lips, he knew that Alexander was right, from Charles VIII to Louis XII today, the invasion of Italy by two successive French kings was to capture Milan as the first task.

Louis XII, in particular, set his sights on Milan from the beginning, and then around Milan, France and Austria fought from the autumn of 1499 to the present day.

"But my lord, won't we take Milan?" Ofleiyi said and licked his lips, he had heard too much about the opulence of Milan, the charm of the most attractive city in Lombardy, known for its richness, and if Rome was intoxicated by power, then Milan was fascinated by wealth alone.

"Of course we have Milan," Alexander said, pointing his finger at the location of Monza on the map, as if consciously or unconsciously, "but before that, we have to wait, knowing that since Milan is such a sweet bait, we can use it to lure more people into this vortex." ”

Oflei's eyes lit up, and at last he understood Alexander's purpose, and at the same time he was excited by the Count's idea, but he could not help but be a little worried.

"My lord, do you think they're going to take the bait?" "Maybe they're not stupid, at least Louis is shrewd." ”

Ofleiil said this by remembering the defeat of the Northern Army not long ago, the first defeat of Montina's army, and only by considering Gompati's look of chagrin when he heard that so many guns had been lost, Ofleiil could not help but feel a little worried about Alexander's plan.

Alexander, however, was visibly unimpressed by Oflei's concerns, and he tapped his finger on the map of Milan with a strange smile on his face: "Tell me Oflei, if you were dealing with a city that seemed to be an unsuspecting girl, and you enjoyed her to the fullest not long ago, would you be patient?" ”

Oflaiyi paused, he wanted to say that he might be careful, but the words came to his lips but could not be spoken, thinking that he was licking his lips just now to be able to occupy Milan, Oflaiyi began to feel that he did not know if he would be able to calm down if there was such an opportunity.

And by this time Alexander had already continued: "And let's not forget that for the emperor, the victory or loss of Milan means the suzerainty of his Roman city-state, which is why the emperor knows that he should not waste all his forces on the city, but he cannot but insist on taking it, and this is equally important to Louis, who needs to declare his dominion over Lombardy by capturing Milan, so this war is inevitable." ”

Offrey listened quietly, although there were many things he did not quite understand, but at least he had a clear understanding of the count's intentions towards Milan, and that was enough, as for the count's plan for the whole of Lombardy, Ofleiuil was not so interested, because he thought that it should be more of a matter of Ulius or that Groganin.

"But before then, I want you to move the entire University of Pavia to Pisa without any loss," Alexander reiterated his previous order, "it must be intact, and if necessary, more troops can be mobilized to protect the university's relocation, remembering that this is more important than winning a battle." ”

Listening to Alexander's solemn advice, there was a strange look on his face, and he groaned a little, as if he was pondering whether he should say it, but after thinking about it, he still spoke: "My lord, maybe we are in a little trouble. ”

"Trouble? What is it, is there anyone who is not willing to migrate? Seeing Ofleiyi's somewhat helpless look, Alexander's face sank unusually "Who is it?" Is there nothing you can do, although I have repeatedly ordered that the rough treatment of everyone in the university is forbidden, but this does not include those who refuse to relocate. ”

"But the adults are too stubborn to deal with her, and we don't know how to deal with her......"

"I don't know how to deal with it, let me tell you, cut off their water supply, cut off their firewood and coal, and forbid anyone to give them food, you must know that this method will definitely work, after all, someone has already proven that this is the way to deal with that kind of stubborn nail household," Alexander, who instantly became the captain of the demolition team, took the trouble to support his love general, until he suddenly remembered something, "Wait, what did you just say?" She? ”

Offrey looked at Alexander, who seemed to understand at this time, and smiled bitterly: "Yes, my lord, it's her, that Gina Brigitte, she won't go to Pisa." ”