Since ancient times, Romagna has been a very vague name, and no place has ever been explicitly named Romagna, and no one has ever built a state based on this place.

But such an illusory name has gradually become synonymous with a certain force, and it is gradually regarded as a benchmark for measuring the authority of the Vatican pope.

This is because whether a pope has a strong enough authority depends on whether he can become the master of Romagna, or if he does not rule the region completely, at least he can have a strong enough influence in the region.

The effects ranged from the direct collection of taxes to the ability to appoint bishops in the region and even to reward the owners of their domains.

So if you look at the influence on the Romagna region, Alexander VI was not actually a very powerful pope.

At least in this place, which is considered to be the Vatican's sphere of influence, there is a strange but dazzling city of its time.

The glory of Florence, not even Rome can hide!

If the Renaissance was the turning point for Europeans from darkness to light, then Florence was the light that led people out of it.

The millennium of ignorance came to an end with the roar of the pursuit of classical civilization and the exploration of humanistic ideas from Florence, and the sleeping Europeans finally found the path to the light after ten centuries of confusion, and Florence was the beginning of that path.

Many people have asked why it all started in Italy and why it was Florence, but no one has been able to answer this question.

For the Holy See, while they also enjoyed the unprecedented literary and artistic splendor brought to them by humanism, Florence was a city that he hated immensely.

This is because there is now a group of people in that city who violently drove out the original owner of the city, and then ruled the city in the name of the people, and the leader of this group of people is a person who makes the Vatican helpless and makes Alexander VI hate it from the bottom of his heart.

His name was Savonarola.

Savonarola was a priest and very religious, and his piety was even terrifying.

He hated luxury, and even more so the clergy enjoyed a life of extreme luxury, and he had no qualms about Pope Alexander VI's fooling around with his mistress, he wrote directly and sent people to the Holy See to read it publicly, and he was even more disgusted with the immoral depravity of those who were equally immoral, from noble cardinals to ordinary priests.

Again and again, Savonarola has unceremoniously attacked the Vatican for its degeneration into a filthy place held by some of the world's most despicable bastards, for which he simply declared that Florence would no longer obey the Vatican's orders.

In the face of Savonarola's merciless accusations, Alexander VI began to try to bribe, he announced the appointment of Savonarola as Bishop of Florence, and in an open letter to him, he praised the pious priest as "the example of the Church", but his overture did not bring the expected results, Savonarola mercilessly rejected Alexander VI, and to Alexander VI's annoyance, his appointment instead provided greater convenience for Savonarola to use his position as Bishop of Florence to spread his ideas.

In the end, Florence announced that it would no longer obey the orders of Alexander VI, and to everyone's surprise, Savonarola even launched a "revolution" to overthrow the Medici family, who ruled Florence!

It was a revolution that stunned everyone, and the populace stormed the beautiful Palazzo Medici and, after driving out the family that had ruled Florence for three generations and decades, proclaimed a republic city-state headed by Savonarola and led by a council of three hundred men.

It was at the same time that the Republic of Florence was proclaimed, and at the same time Savonarola declared that Florence would no longer obey any orders from the Vatican, and he openly declared that Florence would not return to the papal throne until "the man who paved the way to the throne with poison and money" was no longer the pope.

Florence's move was undoubtedly a blow to Alexander VI's face, and when he heard the news, he had even decided to send an army against Savonarola, who dared to openly defy him.

But no one could have imagined that at this time, the invasion of King Charles VIII of France would disrupt everything.

What people didn't expect was that Savonarola actually formed an alliance with Charlie.

In Savonarola's eyes, King Charles was like an angel sent by God to destroy a world that had been tainted by depravity, sin, pornography, and greed.

The French army is God's arm, and he praised Charlie's martial arts, and even more admired his courage to stand up at this time to correct this distorted and subverted world.

Savonarola sent the people to the city gates to meet Charles, and he even planned to send troops to march with Charles to Rome to cleanse the Vatican, which had been flooded with the filth of worldly vanity.

In order to show her reverence for Charles, despite Charles's young age, Savonarola called the King of France "a kind father" and "the man we all respected" in all public occasions, and even France was called "the country of loving fathers" by him because of his reverence for Charles.

It's just that no one thought that the French would actually lose.

The retreat of the French left Florence alone in front of the Vatican, and Alexander VI, who had endured it for a long time, could finally teach the poor priest who had humiliated him countless times.

It's just that Alexander VI didn't expect that before he could make a move on Savonarola, the Milanese suddenly entered Romagna!

The affairs of Savonarola had to be put aside, and in addition to the outliers of Florence and Savonarola, there were other forces in Romagna that also made Alexander VI unable to recover for a while.

One of them is a place called Montina.

Montina was originally the name of a mountain located in the northeast of Romagna, adjacent to the Rio Plain, which happened to overlook the Rio Plain, and the area around the mountain was dominated by a slightly narrow strip of land belonging to Montina's territory.

Montina is not very high, but it is quite steep, and in the early years the Genoese built a castle here to prevent the invasion of the Venetians by land, and it was at the foot of this castle that there was a rare fierce battle between the two sides.

But after all, that was two or three hundred years ago, the castle of Montina has gradually become desolate and decadent with the erosion of time and wind and rain, and with the increasing power of siege firearms, the castle of Montina built in the early years has gradually become no longer suitable for today's war.

So the owner of the territory decided to build a new, stronger castle, and named it the new castle, and then the owner happily gave the territory and the new castle under construction to his beloved daughter.

The owner of the present territory and the castle is Barentia della Rovere.

Alexandre knew about Montina because Barentia had said that her father had given her the castle, which was being renovated.

Now, having heard that the Milanese had arrived in the city of Reyaro, just across the plain from Montina's castle, Alexandre realized that he might be in trouble.

There was no basis for such an idea, but Alexander instinctively sensed some sign that something was about to happen.

Sure enough, Alexander's premonition was unfortunately fulfilled.

On 2 April, just a few days after Alexander VI sent a second emissary to Milan, news came as a surprise to many.

When the news came that the court secretary of the Duke of Milan, Ludvico Sforza, suddenly appeared in Venice, many people were surprised by the surprise.

At the beginning, Ludviko was fighting against Venice, so he did not hesitate to ask for help from France, which attracted Charles VIII, who had already coveted the entire Apennine Peninsula.

If there is an old feud between Venice and Genoa, then there is a new feud between Venice and Milan.

Control of Romagna was not only a measure of the Pope's authority, but also a testament to who was the real power of the Italian land.

Both Venice and Milan had a desire for the land, while the Genoese saw Romagna as a buffer against their eastern security.

Alexander VI certainly did not want to see the traditional areas belonging to Rome becoming the target of contention by others, and more importantly, Ludviko actually colluded with the Venetians, which he neither expected nor wanted to see.

If the Milanese turned against the Borgia only because of Giovanni Sforza, the Venetians came purely for Romagna.

The desire for the vast territory of Romagna has made the Venetians test all their opponents more than once.

However, both Genoa and the Vatican were full of vigilance against the Venetians, which made the Venetians a lot more cautious.

Now that the Milanese had sent an emissary to the Venetians, Alexander VI immediately sensed something that disturbed him.

Sure enough, a few days later a shocking news reached Rome.

Milan formed an alliance with Venice, and their enemy was Alexander VI of the Vatican.

This was certainly news that surprised and shocked many, as it was discovered that the balance of power in Romagna was tilting with the sudden involvement of the Venetians in the dispute between Milan and the Vatican.

The Venetians, who had long coveted Romagna, like the French, became the arbiters of the dispute.

Now as soon as they move a little closer to either side, the situation will change in their favor.

Angry at this situation, Alexander VI knew that this was the most difficult time for him.

The mission to Naples was Caesar's first assignment after abandoning the priesthood and taking over secular affairs, and although this is enough to prove how much Alexander VI valued this alliance with Naples, it was not possible to get King Frederick of Naples to agree to such an alliance in such a short time.

The Milanese army had already entered Reialo on the edge of Romagna, which made Alexander VI angry but helpless for a while.

With Maximian, the German king and emperor, behind the Milanese, and the Venetians trying to infiltrate Romagna in the dispute, Gonzalo turned a blind eye to what was happening.

For the first time, Alexander VI felt isolated.

By this time, Alexander VI had to begin to seriously consider whether to support Alfonso as a cardinal in exchange for the support of Ferdinand, king of Aragon and Sicily.

It was at this time that Alexander was again called to the villa of the old Rowelle.

Although he had not yet met Giuliano della Rovere, Alexander had already guessed why he had come to him.

This time, Alexander did not want to agree to Giuliano's request so easily.

As if he had guessed Alexander's thoughts, old Rovere had him taken directly to his study in the villa, and when he walked into the huge room, Alexander couldn't help but be deeply shocked by what he saw.

With its delicate marble sculptures, frescoes on its beautifully vaulted domes, and paintings by famous artists who would drive collectors crazy for generations to come, the elder Rovere's study is a small art museum with a wealth of artistic treasures that are fascinating.

"These are only a few of them," said Giuliano, who seemed to not notice Alexander's stunned expression, as he walked from behind his precious pear desk and beckoned Alexander to sit down, "You know, perhaps the papal crown may not be more valuable than these artistic treasures that will be handed down to future generations." ”

For Juliano's words, Alexander was deeply convinced.

He knew that the Rovire family, like many of the nobles of this era, were staunch supporters of the Renaissance.

Not only do they spend huge sums of money to fund the great masters, but they are also willing to become the protectors of artists who are not famous, and even do not encounter destitute because of their talents.

In this respect, there are some striking similarities between Rovelle and Borgia, or Sforza in Milan and Medici, who is now in exile.

Just when Alexander was filled with emotion about the importance that the wealthy families of this era attached to art, Giuliano's next words instantly brought him back to reality.

"But although the things here are all treasures, they are much worse than the Montiburg collection, and you must know that Barendi is my favorite daughter, so I am willing to give her the best things, just think of the paintings of Chimabue, Pisanello, Masaccio and other masters in the city-state who are in the possession of the Venetians, I think it is a pity that all this is really a pity."

Alexander looked at Giuliano a little sluggishly, and every time he heard him say the name of an ambassador, Alexandria felt as if his heart had been pinched hard, and when he heard Giuliano say in a tone of great pity: "If you think that there are still the paintings of Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci that I brought back from Florence myself, but now they are definitely going to fall into the hands of the Venetians." After that, Alexander knew that this could not be endured any longer.

"Never give up Montiburg to Milan or to the Venetians," said Alexandre, "shouldn't we do something to defend Barentia's rights?" ”

Looking at Alexander's indignant appearance, old Luo Weilei, who originally looked a little old, grabbed the nuts on the table and crushed the hard husks with just two fingers.

"That's right, my son-in-law, you really have to do something for Barondi's sake."