The French army was faltering.

Not just one army, but almost all of the French troops seemed to be in a state of uneasiness.

I don't know when all kinds of rumors began to spread in the army, and even in the fierce battle, some people hurriedly told others a few words about the rumors they heard while they were being replaced to take a breath.

"You know, the Duke of Bourbon seems to have lost another battle, and his men are retreating to our side."

"I heard that the Roman Thesian army never kept prisoners, nor did they ask for ransom, and those who were caught were directly beheaded."

"Some people say that it is their queen who commands the Neapolitans on the other side, and they all say that the queen is not only a beautiful mess, but also a goddess of war who can fight better than men."

"Are we going to lose, why do we always feel that the sound of artillery in the distance is getting closer and closer?"

"The king's retinue has been seen packing up their things, and it seems that things are not good."

………………

All kinds of rumors circulated in the army, some people only told others after hearing some gossip, but many more people were even more panicked because they didn't know anything.

The sky was already turning west, and the originally extremely tragic battle was gradually coming to an end.

The soldiers on both sides were exhausted, their march was muddy, their arms trembling and almost unable to lift them, and each face showed a look of despair and exhaustion.

A French cavalry dragged its heavy pace through the open field covered with corpses, and they did not dare to let go of their horsepower for fear that their horses' legs would be crapped by obstacles, until they saw the enemy on the opposite side, and they slowly lined up in an attacking formation.

"This may be the last time, brothers," said one of the horsemen, smiling wryly at his companion, and seeing the blank faces of the others, the horseman took a breath of air mixed with the smell of blood and gunsmoke, and silently recited a verse from the few scriptures he knew, and then clenched the straight sword hanging from the saddle.

There was a strong rope on the hilt, one end through a hole in the gauntlet, and the other side was loosely knotted and hung from the gauntlet.

This rope is used to fasten the wrist of the user, and the huge resistance of the stab sometimes makes the user unable to grasp the hilt, this rope can be wrapped around the wrist to prevent it from getting out of the hand.

Feeling the tightness on his wrist after wrapping it around twice, the cavalry took another breath, and then let out a cry: "Go!" ”

The cavalrymen began to loosen the reins and clamp the belly of the horse, and the horse gradually accelerated, faster and faster.

In the distance, the figure of the Roman Thesian army was becoming clearer and clearer, and gradually you could even see the vicious smiles on the faces of the soldiers standing in front of the other side with the terrible firearms on the gun racks.

"O'Oduron Sanhi!"

The cavalryman who rushed to the front shouted a battle cry with a native accent of his homeland, and at this moment there was no desire for honor or the pursuit of victory in his eyes, only complete despair and unwillingness before death!

The heavy arquebus was cumbersome and complicated to load, and the heavy body was even more clumsy, and such a musket would take a long time to use again with each shot, but its power was terrifying.

When the heavy muskets rang out, the people nearby couldn't help but cover their ears, and even then the ear holes felt like they had been punched.

The shooters wore thick earmuffs on their ears, because they couldn't hear the command, they all looked at the signal from the flag in the hands of the officer standing in the front, the flag waved down, pulled the trigger, the huge shock force smashed the shooter's shoulder and hit it back, the gun body on the gun carriage jumped up like a shiver, accompanied by the thunderous gunfire and the smoke of gunpowder, the huge projectile roared towards the enemy.

The first to be struck was not the horseman who had been hit by the head, but an unfortunate man mixed in with his companions, and when he was struck, the armor on his chest suddenly shrank into his chest, and with the sound of broken bones that he could clearly hear, the cavalry was thrown off his horse like a broken sack.

Two more men were shot off their horses, but the cavalry had already rushed to the enemy.

They raised their bayonet swords and stabbed them hard at the archers who had fled into the enemy formation, but instead of avenging their comrades, what awaited them was a wall of spears raised high.

The cavalry charge was desperate, and from the beginning they knew that this would be their last, so these French cavalry rushed at the enemy desperately, forgetting what they had come to Italy for, and their only purpose was to kill more enemies before they died.

But even then they were disappointed, the French cavalry charge was brave and romantic, and the poignancy of despair made even Louis XII, who was faced with such an unfavorable situation, sigh heartily.

"Knights of France! Only a knight of France would prove himself with such a noble and courageous act! Louis XII said in a loud voice to those around him, and when he was reminded in a whisper that these were only cavalry and not knights, the King of France immediately announced to everyone that he would posthumously recognize these men as knights, and that his descendants would be recognized as nobles of France: "They died in battle for France, and they deserve it!" ”

Although the people next to him were tempted to praise the king's wise decision, the situation no longer allowed them to express it in words.

After the last French cavalry fell on the barrage of death in front of the Neapolitan grenadier position, the central part of the French army finally could not resist the heavy losses and began to retreat.

In the midst of the slow but unstoppable ebb tide of the French army, Louis XII appeared in the sight of the Neapolitans like a royal flag floating on the water.

"My God, what do I see?" A grenadier rubbed his eyes that were red and swollen from the smoke of the medicine and looked at the flag carefully, it happened that this soldier belonged to the well-informed kind, so he immediately recognized it as the royal flag of the King of France, he hurriedly reported his findings to the team officer, and then stammered and asked, "Sir, we, what should we do?" ”

The officer looked at the flag with a pale face, obviously he was also frightened by the scene in front of him, and after a pause, the officer came to his senses, he beckoned a soldier next to him to report to the back while leading his men to rush in the direction of the flag, and at the same time he did not forget to shout loudly: "Louie! That's Louie! ”

All the Neapolitan soldiers who heard this shout couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then they let out an earth-shattering cry like crazy: "It's Louie~~"

Hearing this shout, more and more people heard it, and the shouts that followed became louder and louder, and for a time the entire battlefield was full of shouts of "capture the French king, capture Louis alive".

The French soldiers were stunned, they did not know whether the enemy was going to capture the king, or if they had already captured the king, but it was clear that the situation on the battlefield had already foreshadowed the danger of defeat for the French army.

Louis XII looked at the scene in disbelief, he looked back at the banner beside him, and saw that one of his men was about to lower the royal flag, and the French king angrily stopped them.

"The king of France is either with honor or with the sword."

Louis jumped on his horse despite the resistance of those around him, he was not a valiant king, but he had a heart that was no more cowardly than his predecessor, so when he saw that the enemy had rushed to the front not far from him, Louis XII raised the royal sword inlaid with pearls and gems, and led the way with a shout and rushed towards a relatively empty line of Neapolitans on the side, "Follow me, rush out, follow your king!" ”

A few Neapolitan soldiers with spears in front of them saw the figure in gorgeous armor, they let out an excited and greedy cry, the flamboyantly dressed French knights who like to show off are always liked by their enemies on the battlefield, and now looking at such a target that obviously has a lot of oil and water, these soldiers desperately raised their spears and stabbed at the French knight lord opposite.

"France is with me!"

Louis XII's shouts rang out on the battlefield, his crown set in his helmet shining brightly in the setting sun, his golden armor enveloping him in holy light, and when he saw him like this, the soldiers stood stiff as if struck by lightning, and watched as the King of France rushed towards them, and then swept past them.

The cavalry that followed him instantly trampled the Neapolitan soldiers under the hooves of their horses.

The commotion on the battlefield also caught the attention of Josha, who ordered someone to report what had happened quickly, and when she heard that her troops were engaged with Louis XII's guards, Josa did not hesitate to give the order to surround the King of France.

"But your Majesty, it is the King of France," said one of the attendants, somewhat bewildered, "and the soldiers say that his armor is sewn with fragments of holy bones and true crosses, and that no one dares to be unreasonable against the King of France, which may arouse the wrath of God." ”

"But if you let Louis run away, you will face my wrath," Zhisa rebuked the retinue that annoyed her with a jaw-dropping sentence that made those around her stunning, "pass on my orders, and whoever captures the king of France will be made a nobleman and rewarded with 10,000 gold coins." ”

When the order of Jisha and the words that made everyone couldn't help but be a little stunned when they heard it were conveyed, the entire battlefield instantly boiled.

Aristocrat!

10000！

Gold!

When this series of words was combined, the huge incitement and demagogy made the coalition army burst out with amazing power in an instant.

Louis XII's guards were besieged by a flood of allied soldiers, while the French soldiers collapsed in an instant due to the king's encirclement!

The king fled.

The king was captured.

The king was killed in battle.

One terrible news after another made the French soldiers unable to withstand the tremendous pressure, and the French troops began to gradually break out of formation.

Many did not know where to go, wandering back and forth on the battlefield in a daze, and some simply walked towards the Neapolitan positions against the enemy.

Finally, on a tightly guarded convex ground, a French knight knelt in front of a flag and kissed the corner of his family's flag affectionately, and then he raised his torch and lit it.

"The banner of the noble French nobility cannot fall into the hands of the vile Neapolitans."

The knight shouted madly at the rising flames.

It was like a signal that the French nobles, who found themselves surrounded, began to burn their own flags.

From this point on, the French army could no longer maintain its own front, and with Louis XII's guard as the center, the French army began to retreat northward.

The distant sound of artillery had already faded, the setting sun had sunk into the deep bosom of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the night was gradually falling on the cold and stiff bodies of more than 2,000 soldiers on both sides who had died on the outskirts of Siena.

The battlefield was already covered in a lonely night, and from a distance, the ground was undulating and rugged like a small mountain, and the corpses of dead soldiers were there.

The warhorses that had lost their masters wandered on the plains, neighing intermittently in the night.

The arrival of night saved the French army, which was on the verge of annihilation.

After retreating about two leagues to the south, Louis XII and the defeated Duke Louis de Bourbon met in victory at the ruins near the ancient city of San Girragnano.

At this point, the main force of the French army invading Italy was surrounded by the Roman Thessia and Naples and the legions of the Papal League of Nations in the ruins of the ancient city of San Giragnano.

The night was already dark, and the outskirts of Siena had become quiet, except for the occasional screams, which seemed to have nothing to do with the fierce fighting of the day.

Accompanied by several officers, she walked slowly on the grass, her gorgeous clothes at odds with the dead silence, but the corners of her skirt, stained with gunsmoke and blood, seemed to indicate that this was a legendary woman who was very different from other women.

"Your Majesty, you should come to inspect the battlefield during the day," said one of the officers, after a little hesitation, "your present appearance should be left on canvas by the greatest painter, and I believe it will be the most legendary scene in the history of the future Kingdom of Sicily." ”

This compliment was immediately praised by the attendants on the sidelines, and even Omo, who had always been a little out of place with these people, could not help but sincerely agree.

A smug smile appeared in the corners of her eyes, and her suggestion really moved her, and she began to wonder whether to find Michelangelo or the up-and-coming Raphael to paint this legendary work for herself, and at the same time she began to wonder if she should send someone to tell Alexander who was far away in Iberia the good news as soon as possible.

There was a commotion not far ahead, and people looked to see several soldiers pushing and shoving a French captive who looked like a nobleman, who was half-kneeling and clutching a motionless companion on the ground.

"If it weren't for the ransom you still worth, I'd cut off your head right now," a Taranto man shook the knife in his hand at the Frenchman, "I've told you that this man is dead and don't care about him, and if you don't obey me anymore, I don't care about those ransoms." ”

"What's going on here?"

She walked over, she looked down at the man lying on the ground, who should still be alive from his slightly heaving chest, and then she looked at the nobleman who was kneeling on the ground.

This was a very strong Frenchman, and it was evident that he should be very wealthy, and his armor-stripped upper body revealed a fine silk shirt worn underneath, the pearl buttons of which shone slightly in the light of the torches, but the man looked a little embarrassed now, with a wound on his head, and one hand holding his companion tightly, and the other arm hanging limply.

"Soldier, how much ransom are you going to make this man pay?" Josha asked the Taranto man.

“200…… No, 400 florins. The Taranto man said slyly.

"I'll give you 600, and these two are mine." Jossa said and waved her hand to the attendant next to her, and then she looked at the two Frenchmen condescendingly.

"You are, God you really are her," the knight looked at this beautiful woman who should not have appeared on the battlefield in the first place, and then he immediately knelt down and said respectfully, "Greetings to your honorable majesty, I am Count Eugène de Weaslaine of Avalon, and I am now your prisoner." ”

"He's your friend?" Visa gestured to the man lying on the ground.

"It's my brother," said the nobleman named Eugène de Weaslaine with some sorrow, "Your Majesty, I know that I am not qualified to ask of you, but I beg you to save him, and I will do anything for you." ”

"Anything?" Jisha smiled, and after she looked at the wounded man on the ground, and after making sure that the man was indeed alive, she motioned to her men to lift him aside.

"Your brother will be treated, and it is up to God to decide whether he will survive or not," said Jossa and raised her hand to Eugène de Weslain to ask him to walk with him, "I notice that you are also injured, I suggest you go and see it as soon as possible, believe me that it will be good for you, knowing that after being shot with a musket, even if you don't die, you will be in some trouble." ”

Eugène de Weslaine bowed gratefully to Josha, but instead of rushing to the doctor, he continued to walk after him.

"You probably know that I didn't save you for nothing," Tsusha was quite pleased with the discerning knight, and she paused to look at the hazy battlefield at night, which didn't smell very good at this time, and the smell of nausea made it almost impossible to stay on the hot night, "Do you know how many people died here?" ”

"No, Your Majesty," replied Eugène de Weslaine dryly, "but all my men are dead, and they have come out of Avalon with me, and now only two of us are left. ”

"I think there are about 1,400~1,700 people," she said after a moment's thought, and then she added, "I'm talking about the French." ”

As she spoke, she looked at the stiff-faced French knight beside her and asked, "Don't you want to ask how I know this number?" ”

The Frenchman shook his head a little dazedly, he didn't know if the queen was right, but he guessed that maybe more French soldiers had actually died here.

"Well, maybe I'll tell you how I know when you're done with me," said Josa, looking at the French knight, who was half a head taller than herself, "I'll write a letter to Louis, and you're going to bring it to him for me, and I'd suggest you take a walk around here first, and then tell him what you've seen." ”

Eugène de Weaslaine nodded, he knew that this should be the condition that the Queen of Naples was willing to save his brother, and he was not in a position to refuse.

Seeing that the French had agreed, as if she had a matter on her mind, she returned to the royal camp she had set up in a village on the outskirts of Siena.

Along the way, the shouts of the soldiers who saw the queen's figure and cheered echoed through the night sky.

The hem of her riding skirt, specially designed for the march, fluttered upward with the night wind, and the blood-stained hem of the skirt seemed to be a little abrupt, but this did not destroy her majesty, but made the soldiers cry out to her even more frantically.

"Long live the Queen!"

"Long live the Kingdom of Sicily!"

"Long live the grenadiers!"

Cheering and cheering all the way until Tsusha stood at the door of her barracks room, and the officers who followed him bowed respectfully to the queen as a sign of respect for their queen and commander-in-chief.

Josha greeted her generals with a smile and walked into the room with a calm demeanor.

It's just that when the door was just closed, Ji Sha, who could no longer suppress the joy in her heart, excitedly clenched her fists and jumped upwards: "Brother, we succeeded!" ”

On July 15, 1715, after a day of fighting, the anti-French coalition defeated the French army outside Siena!

The Third Romagna War shook the world in such a way.