Many times, poverty limits one's imagination, but more often than not, it is the occlusion of information that is the culprit that makes a person make a wrong judgment.

However, the Fugger family was not lacking in either of these aspects, they had the richest resources of the era, and they also had the capital to send a large number of people to the places where they needed to know the news to obtain first-hand information, so when they got the news that "southern Hungary was about to fall, and the largest copper mine in Europe was about to fall into the hands of the pro-Ottoman Bosnians", they immediately got rid of the disturbing news, and then grasped the most real point from the intertwined rumorsThat is, "at least for the foreseeable period of time, because the copper mines are controlled by the Ottomans, the market price of copper throughout Europe will rise to an almost astronomical level for a certain period of time." ”

This may not seem like a difficult judgment, but if you can quickly grasp this source just a few days after the Bosnians invaded Hungary, you can see how much potential the Fuggers have.

Therefore, the Fugger family has been closely monitoring the situation in Hungary from the beginning, and when Royce launched a frenzied attack on the whole of southern Hungary with a ferocious offensive, and even broke through the city of Pécs, an important hub in southern Hungary, the Fugger family finally determined that this judgment was correct.

The downfall of the nouveau riche Prato was inevitable, but it was not easy to take advantage of the opportunity to get those copper ores from him at a low price, because there were not many mall rivals as sharp as the Fugger family, so when the Fugger family appeared in Venice, it did not surprise some people.

In a humble low house, a gray-haired, simply-dressed Jew received the Fugger representatives.

It's just that even at this time, the people of the Fugger family were still vigilant and cautious, and seeing that the Jews on the other side were not curious about their intentions, this Fugger couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Then you already know why I am looking for you?" ”

"Copper mines in Hungary." The Jews didn't care, as if they were talking not of an astonishing fortune but of a copper coin dropped by the side of the road.

"Now that you know why you don't invest yourself, you must know that we are here to borrow a large amount of money, which is enough for you to do a big business in the copper mine." Frank Fugger was naturally cautious and cautious, even at the last moments, where there might be a surprise, after all, even for the Fugger family, a loan shark of 3.5 million florins with an astonishing annual interest rate could be fatal.

"We're Jews, aren't we," the Jew on the other side smiled sarcastically, which annoyed the representative of the Fugger family a little, because there have always been rumors that the Fugger family was actually Jews, but Jacob Fugger concealed this fact, although no one paid attention to whether this was true or not, but every time someone admitted that he was Jewish in front of the Fugger family, it seemed to be mocking them at the same time, "The wealth of the Jews is like a castle on the beach, as long as a wave hits, there is nothing." , so we always hide the money so that others can't see it," said the Jew, pulling open a secret compartment on the table next to him to reveal the gold coins piled up inside, "Although the Hungarian copper mines are rich, it doesn't matter to us, because if we get the copper mines, whoever comes can take them away with just one sentence, because we are Jews." ”

The Fugger family nodded slightly, he knew that the Jew was right, and that a copper mine that could not be moved away and could not be quickly turned into cash was of little value to them.

"Then 3,500,000 florins, the annual interest is ......" The Jew cut open a tightly sealed paper bag with a knife, took out a contract from it and opened it slightly, and then even this Jew, who had seen too much of this kind of transaction, couldn't help but be slightly moved, he didn't say the interest that made him secretly staggered, but pushed the contract in front of the other party, "This money is enough for you to get the Hungarian copper mines." ”

The representative of the Fugger family groaned slightly, and finally picked up the pen and signed his name on the contract.

"The contract is in place, and we will provide you with the first payment of 1,000,000 florins within the agreed time, and then the other two promised will be provided separately, the largest of which is 1,500,000 florins to be paid in the last one." The Jews explained that negotiations over the money had already begun at the time of the crisis in Hungary's copper mines, and that the Fogel family had grasped the risks that might arise and were now just letting the deal be fulfilled.

Watching the Fogel family leave, the Jew picked up two pieces of paper on the table and wrote the same sentence on each of them: "The fish has bitten the hook." ”

Then he sealed the two pieces of paper separately, and beckoned to a quick-witted Jewish lad and instructed: "Go and deliver these two letters to the Governor's residence and the office of the Free Trade Chamber on the way, and be careful on the way, young man." ”

When the young man had left, the Jew gently pulled open the dark compartment full of gold coins on the table, and gently stroked the glittering gold coin with a peculiar pattern of Athena with a gun, and he seemed to explain and said to himself as if he were triumphant: "We are Jews, aren't we, because we are Jews." ”

During Alexander's expedition to the Balkans, he passed through Venice, where he signed a deal with the Venetians in which the Venetians would provide him with a free military expense, and he would use the Cretan output as collateral to secure Venice, although no one knew that at the time of his public deal with the Venetian government, he had signed another secret agreement with a group of Venetian Jewish merchants.

The content of this agreement was somewhat peculiar, and it was clearly stated that if certain circumstances did not arise in the Balkans, the agreement would be automatically annulled, and that in the event of a special event, the Jews would have to provide the Doge of Venice and Alexander with unconditional information about the course of their dealings with certain people.

And in return, Alexander promised the Jews of Venice that he would solve the troubles caused by the Triple Crown in Rome for them.

At that time, Alexander was not sure what the specific situation would be in the Balkans, but the competition for the Hungarian copper mine had been determined from the beginning, so he would play Faprato to Bucharest in advance, in fact, the most suitable candidate in Alexander's mind was Tiego, and even Jeffrey Columbus was much more reliable than Prato, but now he is indeed short of people, Tiego is far away in the Iberian Peninsula, and Jeffrey Columbus was running around the northern markets opened up by Italy and Groganin.

So in the end, he had to choose Prato to complete this seemingly clueless at first, but as the situation changes, a huge net is gradually forming, and the target is Fugger and even Emperor Maximian's huge project.

No one knows exactly how many people were involved in this plan, but in order to get the Fuggers step by step into the trap, both Grogenin in the far north and Ashulk in Rome invested huge capital, and when it was determined that the Bosnians would launch a fierce attack, they began to absorb copper ore from the market, and for a time the price of copper ore in the entire copper market soared, and these copper ores actually transferred to a "New World" called "New World" almost without leaving the storage place and the nominal owner of this company is Prato.

An incredibly large plan is being carried out silently at this time, whether it is a bookmaker who intends to join, or a retail investor who has no intention of mixing in, countless people are frantically buying and selling in the copper market, which has led to the price of copper ore that has been artificially pulled up like a wild horse out of control, and then there is no need to artificially raise the price, whether it is in Pisa, Rome, Naples or far north Frankfurt, copper ore has become synonymous with getting rich.

It was under these circumstances that the Fuggers decided to take all the ore purchase rights in Prato's hands in one fell swoop, of course, they could not bid according to the market price, and they were also prepared to continue to lower the price or even slash Proto's body, but even then they would have to pay a large sum of money if they wanted to get the ore purchase rights at one time.

The situation was such that there was no time for them to raise such a sum of money calmly, and at such a time the only option was to lend money to the Jews, who had huge amounts of cash.

When the Fuggers knocked on the door of the Jewish house, they also knocked on an unknown door that did not know where their family was going.

The wind blew in through the window, and the heat that had already leaked made the young woman lying on the bed suddenly feel a little impetuous.

The woman sat up suddenly, which startled the maid, who was embroidering her skirt, for fear that the needle would pierce the mistress's maid's body, and she shrank back, and sat down on the ground with a "poof".

The maid quickly got up uneasily, but the hostess apparently did not notice her ugly appearance, and the young woman walked briskly to the window, looked at the soldiers who were practicing in the distance outside, and listened to the familiar and slightly dull command that was repeated over and on, and the young woman's trimmed brow was slightly twisted.

"It's already May," the woman said, her tone was affirmative rather than inquiring, so the maid standing behind her wisely did not answer, "why hasn't Alexander come back yet." ”

This time her tone changed to inquiry, but the maid was still honestly shrunk in a corner, in fact she hated to be in this room at this time, because as the weather gradually warmed up, the hostess's temper gradually became bad, which could have been unthinkable before, because for many years many people had the impression that Barende de la Rovere had always been a calm girl.

But now she is a little impatient because Alexander has not returned, but the reason for this is related to the fact that Alexander promised to return in the spring but has not heard from her, and more importantly, Barondi is under increasing pressure.

Old Rovere had sent letters to her back to Rome to meet him many times, and Bishop Montina had taken the opportunity to fan the flames everywhere in the diocese, although Barentia was still able to suppress the restlessness in the territory, but as the lord of Alexander, because he was always outside, Barentia still felt a lot of trouble.

To make matters worse, rumors of war are growing.

The news that the French might invade Italy again at any time made people in the territory already fearful, as the unease caused by the Count's absence in the territory was even more worrying.

It is clear that Barondi's rule in the realm has been successful, but when faced with war, not every woman is as fierce as a man as Forlì's tigress, or as Jossa seems to enjoy it as some kind of interesting challenge.

In fact, Barondi was already a little exhausted, and she had to face pressure from her family and the doubts of her lords, so her temper became worse and worse as she entered early summer.

The soldiers in the distance are still monotonously carrying out the orders again and again, and there is not much secret to the formation of a disciplined army, and the only way is to make the soldiers completely take the regulations and orders as their own reactions and implement them without hesitation, and as for whether they can hold out on the battlefield, it must be proved by the baptism and training of war.

Barondi shook her skirt, only then did she notice that the hem of her skirt that had been torn by the fence when she had patrolled the territory had not yet been sewn, and she waved her hand to the maid to continue working, while she picked up a thick ledger on the table and looked at it.

Barendi doesn't throw away her skirt as soon as it is torn, not because of frugality, the wealth of the Rovelle family is enough for her to enjoy things that most people can't enjoy in their lifetime, she just finds it troublesome, and the dress is simple and suitable for walking around the countryside.

However, this reminded Barondi of that Lucrechia, if it was her, it would probably be difficult to bear to wear a dress all day, and in Barendi's impression, the Borgia lady seemed to be unable to do anything except change in front of the mirror all day long, putting on and taking off.

But Alexander seemed to be infatuated with the woman, and even had a daughter with her, and Barondi could not help but admit it with a little dismay.

"More food must be bought, there must be no shortage of food in the territory due to the possibility of war, there is enough cloth and medicine to be necessary, and I doubt why a whole strip of white wood should be woven as a fence for the boundary wall instead of the much cheaper cut rattan, which I believe I will have the same effect, although it is not very pretty. Please be aware that when you carelessly spend money on such things that don't make much sense, maybe our soldiers may be in danger because they lack a dagger or a buckshot. ”

After writing a reply in rather harsh terms to a mayor who had asked for a grant, Barondy stood up from the table, paused in the middle of the room, and then said to the maid who had already mended her skirt and was waiting beside her, "Go and tell my brother that I will have dinner with him later." ”

Constantine de la Rovere stood in the vault and admired a large portrait on the wall, a full-length portrait of Barentia.

What intrigued Konstantin was that this portrait was very different from the previous works he had seen, and one of the most striking things was that the portrait seemed to make the whole picture seem more profound than the usual shallow flatness.

This makes Barenti look as if she has come out of the painting and is standing in front of him.

In addition, the content of this painting also makes him feel very strange, the painting does not appear in a single still posture like most of the characters in the portraits at the moment, but leads a horse to stroll on the path away from the castle, and several kingfishers around her seem to be frightened and ready to fly, the whole picture seems to freeze this moment on the canvas, for a time in the distance of the still castle, slow walking figures and kingfishers who want to escape but not flying gather on a square canvas, people can't help but think about it.

The structure of the painting is novel and the technique is extraordinary, but Konstantin is not so fond of it.

In Constantine's opinion, if it had been the former Barentia, he would not have allowed someone to paint such a picture of her, because the way of description used in this painting was by no means suitable for a noble lady.

"That Cambrai broke Barentia."

This was Konstantin's only thought, and what made him even more unhappy was Barondi's previous attitude towards the family that made him uneasy.

If it was before, Barendi would definitely do everything possible to seek benefits for the Luo Wei Lei family, but her actions in the recent period have made the Luo Wei Lei family obviously unfamiliar.

Constantine's suspicion of Barondi's indifference, and his lack of appearance until dinner, seemed to prove his fears.

Clearly, Barondy was complaining to him.

The ambiguous attitude of the Roveret family at the time of Genoa's war against Montina had made their relationship with Alexander unusually cold, and although Barentia was able to make up for it, it was an indisputable fact that there was a rift between the two sides that would not be bridged.

Now looking at Barondi's indifferent expression, Konstantin couldn't help but be even more worried.

"You want to leave with me, whether you want to go back to Rome or Genoa, but you can't stay here any longer." Konstantin simply said directly: "The current situation is very bad, war may break out at any time, and it is uneasy for you to stay in Montina." ”

"My fiancé will protect me." Barendi took a sip from her glass.

"He can't protect anyone now, do you know that the Ottomans have been besieging Bucharest for almost a month, God knows why he went to that place, and now he is not by your side and cannot protect you!"

Konstantin said excitedly and loudly, he walked around the table to Barentia and stretched out his hands to grab her shoulders hard, "Listen to Barentia, if war breaks out Montina is dangerous, you must know that father has rejected Louis's suggestion to invite him to the city of Nice, do you know what this means, this means that the French are no longer our allies, once the French arrive in Montina, unless you surrender, you will face war." ”

Barondi listened in silence until Konstantin gave her an inquiring look.

"What are you going to say about Konstantin," Barentine gently broke free, she took two steps back and tried to confront Konstantin, "it was my father and you who chose Alexander in the first place, and my father agreed to let me come to Montina, and now you say that it is dangerous here, but do you know Konstantin, I have to live faster here than at home, because this is my home. ”

"But you're a Rovire!" Konstantin said with some anger

Barendi shook her head slowly, her eyes looking out the window, looking at the trained soldiers, a smile appeared on her ordinary face.

"I'm just a useful man in the Rovere house, and my father wants me to help you," Barendi said to the window, and she pointed out, "but here I am their countess, the mistress of the castle, the wife of my fiancé, his treasurer, the regent of his realm, and his most trusted companion. ”

"You're really crazy, tell me who instilled these strange thoughts, is it Gombray? Are you really in love with him, you have fallen into his trap and snare, he has made you sentimental and even separated from your family, he has bound you with affection, so that you can't escape from his side at all, but he himself ran away, that prodigal even gave birth to a daughter with Lucrezia, how can you tolerate this kind of thing happening? ”

"You're jealous!" Barenti suddenly raised her voice, "You are jealous of all the men who can get her favor because you have not been able to marry Lucrezia, you are jealous of Giovanni Sforza, you are jealous of Alexander, and even jealous of Caesar Borgia, but this only shows that you are indeed not worthy of that woman." ”

Konstantin looked at Barendi dumbfounded, he really didn't expect Barendi to say such a thing, which made him not even know what words to refute for a while.

As if sensing that her words had hurt Konstantin deeply, Barenti wanted to ease the atmosphere between the two, but after opening her mouth and hesitating for a while, she really didn't know what to say.

"I will tell my father your decision," said Konstantin with a somewhat dejected look, his eyes dazed, and he did not even glance at Barenti as he spoke, "but I will say that you will regret it, that Cambrai is not worth your hopes in him, if you know what he has done in Bucharest, you will understand what I mean by this, you must know ...... him"

"I don't want to hear you say that again," Barentia interrupted Constantine, "we all know that war can break out at any time, so you should stay with your father now, since he has decided not to cooperate with the French anymore, then he has nothing to rely on, Borgia will not let go of this opportunity, his situation in Rome must become very bad." ”

Konstantin nodded, grabbing the hat he had set aside and putting it on his head, only then did he glance at Barondi.

"Hopefully your decision is right, or you'll be hurt."

With that, Konstantin turned his head and walked out the door.

Seeing Constantine disappear at the end of the corridor, Barondi slowly walked out of the vault, she walked down the corridor back to her room, and after pausing at a table, Barentine called the drawer of the table and took a letter from it.

The letter was sent by Josha, in which, in addition to telling her about Alexander's experience in Bucharest, Josa wrote in a separate large part of it: "...... My sister-in-law, whether as my brother's fiancée or as a very good friend, I feel that you have the right to know some things, which involve a lot of people, but the main ones are two, one of them is my brother, and the other is the bohemian woman named Sophia, I think you must remember her, but now her name is Sofia Alessandra Valleo......"