Alexander knew that with the proposal to rearm the Papal States, he had already made a choice between Alexander VI and old Rovere.

The choice was not as simple as choosing between two old men, but he made a big bet on who would rule Rome in the future!

He made a clear decision to choose Alexander VI.

Would have chosen the notorious Borgia over the future god of war Pope Rovere the Elder, Alexander was deliberate.

First of all, the old Roviere's ambition is too great, or rather he is a person who only wants to own everything and does not want to share it with anyone, which fundamentally determines that there will be an unavoidable conflict between them in the future.

This conflict may be later, but it may happen soon, and it will inevitably take down Alexander's energy and strength, and in the next plan, Alexander's eyes are already set on Iberia, which makes him have to choose between two old men who will each pose a different threat to him in the future.

In addition, the contact over the past few years has made Alexander feel a kind of antipathy from the bottom of his heart towards old Rovere.

Alexander VI was equally greedy, insidious, and ruthless, preferring to pit sons-in-law, but at least he was genuinely fond of his children.

Old Rovere was a man who used everyone as a tool for his personal ambitions.

The fact that he could coldly calculate his daughter in order to expand his power, and that he could let his son risk going to Montina in order to negotiate terms, and that he never even mentioned the name of Tony della Rovere to anyone else when he heard that his cousin had been burned to the ground, made Alexander feel that this man was ruthless and difficult to control.

It can be said that old Lauver is a person who does not have any scruples at all, whether it is family affection or something else, it cannot prevent him from doing anything to curb his interests.

This makes this man very dangerous, because there is no limit to prevent him from doing extreme things except for fear of possible reprisals.

Alexander was always very wary of old Rovere, and he believed that as long as needed, old Rovere would not only attack him without hesitation, but even his own own daughter.

These were all important reasons for Alexander's decision to support Alexander VI, but there was one most crucial point that made him finally decide.

Alexander VI, from Iberia.

Rodríguez Borgia was born into a prominent aristocratic family in Valencia, the Iberian Peninsula, with a long history dating back to the close in-laws of the Aragonese royal family.

Although the family has taken root in Rome due to the successive generations of popes so far, as the great nobles of Valencia, the Borgia family has a deep influence and status not only in Valencia, but also in the whole Aragon and even the Iberian Peninsula.

This was obviously very important for Alexander, who was about to embark on the Iberian project.

It was for these reasons that Alexander made the choice.

And the first thing he did after making his decision was to get ahead of old Rovere and form the Swiss Guard for Alexander VI.

In addition to the fact that he often waged wars and almost unified Italy centuries earlier in the early 16th century, the reason why the elder Rovere was later called the Pope of the God of War was that he formed the famous Swiss Guard.

This all-Swiss army dutifully guarded the Vatican for centuries to come, earning a reputation for its fervent faith, almost stubborn loyalty, and insistence on duty.

This paranoid sense of duty and the quest for honor was later brought to France by the Swiss, who paid a heavy price for it more than two centuries later.

Now Alexander wants to make the famous Swiss Guard appear in this era in advance, although it is not really a long time difference, but with the change of owners of this team, everything will be different.

Although he did not agree immediately, his seemingly hesitant expression let Alexander know that the Pope was indeed tempted.

The creation of an army in the Papal States was originally a plan and ambition that Alexander VI had been vigorously pursuing, but before he pinned all this on Giovanni and Caesar, but now with the death of his two sons and the prisoners, Alexander VI had to try to do it himself.

Direct command of the army was obviously unlikely, so the only option Alexander VI had was to hand it over to someone he trusted as a close confidant.

However, Alexander did not expect the Pope to choose himself, he knew that Alexander VI was very wary of him, which is why he was hesitant to rebuild the army, so he would never choose himself to command the Papal army, if that would mean that the Vatican surrendered to him.

"I think you may become the future flag-bearer of the Vatican," Alexander said in the hallway to Nomelo, who was walking side by side with him, "and you are the most trusted person of the Pope." ”

Nomelo didn't seem surprised, he just smiled slightly, and only said after seeing that Alexander had no intention of continuing: "I know what I should do, but I will always defend His Majesty's interests, and you should know that to me all the people of the Borgia family are like my family." ”

Alexander paused and looked at Nomelo silently for a moment, bowed slightly, and then continued to walk forward.

On February 2, the 2nd Balkan Regiment of the Montina Army officially accepted the order from Pope Alexander, in which the Pope announced that because of the previous attempts to rebel, and many of the original Papal Army had been involved, so that the flag officer Caesar Borgia was assassinated by the rebels and seriously wounded, so that the Pope had to secretly order Alexander's Montina army to enter Rome to quell the rebellion, and at the same time, until the Holy See rearmed, the Montina Army would be responsible for the security of Rome and the Vatican until the new Papal Army took over Rome.

This order undoubtedly gave Montina's army a legitimate reason to enter Rome, and it also silenced everyone, and at the same time found a plausible reason for Caesar's disappearance.

As for how many people believe this flawed statement, no one cares too much.

It is only known that the fate of Rome and the Vatican was in the hands of the Count of Montina before the Holy See was rearmed, and many people realized that the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany was now on the verge of emergence.

The time that belonged to Alexandre Giulian Gombray has arrived.

Unlike the Romans, who speculated and the crowd was agitated, the elder Rovere reacted calmly to Alexander VI's almost face-to-face announcement, and he did not even attend the Council of Cardinals when the Pope issued the statement.

The elder Rovere now focused all his attention on his son Constantine, who sent people to constantly pass news between Rome and Forlì, keeping abreast of the progress of the war against Forlì.

Konstantin was a very orthodox soldier, and he was better suited to the army than the court than his father, so he immediately became active as soon as he returned to the barracks.

After leading his army out of Rome, he marched north along the coastline, and his march was rapid, although it was winter, but it took less than a week to approach Forlì, and on the seventh day he successfully captured Urbino, which was only about 20 fats from Forlì.

When he heard the news, the old Luo Weire, who had been secretly carrying his heart, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Urbino was south of Forlì, it was actually very close to the lower Po plain, which the Venetians regarded as their natural power, and it was for this reason that the elder Rovere had been in constant contact with the Venetian envoys in Rome during this period, and made frequent overtures as well as promises, the only hope was that the Venetians would acquiesce in Constantine's military campaign against Forlì.

However, the attitude of the Venetians was always ambiguous, which made the old Rovere seem calm but extremely anxious, he knew that if the Venetians thought that Constantine's actions threatened their safety, once Venice sent troops, with the fact that the Rovere family had lost support from Genoa, Constantine was likely to suffer a crushing defeat.

Asking Alexander for help, this idea was not unthought of by old Rovee, but he was quickly thrown aside.

Regardless of whether Alexander would risk offending the Venetians in this situation, even if Alexander was willing to help his brother-in-law, old Rovere did not intend to give him this opportunity.

The elder Rovere had begun to be wary of Alexander's rapid expansion, and allowing his son to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy Forlì was a reaction to this expansion.

Forlì was a good link between Venice and southern Italy, and although the capture of Forlì opened up a narrow overland corridor bordering the Adriatic Sea compared to the future Duchy of Alexandria, which almost cut the Italian peninsula in half, it was of great significance to old Rovere.

To this end, he did not hesitate to compromise with the Venetians.

Now it seemed that his efforts had finally paid off, and with Constantine taking Urbino and the Venetians not reacting, the elder Rovere knew that his previous efforts had finally succeeded.

On 9 February, Constantine sent an emissary to Forlì, who gave the Foleys a day to consider whether they were willing to surrender, and he was met with one ear from the emissary who had been sent back.

Forlì's tigress Caterina Sforza replied to Konstantin in this cruel and bloody way: No way!

Enraged, Konstantin immediately ordered an attack, and the next day, February 10, the Battle of Forlì began.

Old Rovere closely followed the movements of Forlì, and although he had received the tacit approval of the Venetians not to intervene, he still did not dare to take it lightly.

Fortunately, Constantine was indeed a very good soldier, and his performance on the battlefield was enough to make the elder Rovere proud, although the tigress of Forlì was known for her ferocity, but after two heavy defeats, Caterina Sforza had to lead her army back into the city, trying to use Forlì's walls to block the attack of Constantine's army.

At the same time, she sent people to Milan to ask for help.

It was in this situation that the emissaries of Milan came to Rome and asked to see Alexander.

Along with the Milanese came a letter from Normezi, Alexander's plenipotentiary in Milan.

In the letter, Normezi reported to Alexander on the progress of the Milan peace talks and the results so far, and looking at the series of nonsense, Alexander nodded with satisfaction, and could see that Normezi had done a good job.

Ludviko Sforza's letter of help was much more straightforward, asking Alexander to intercede with the Pope and convince Forlì to surrender on the condition that Forlì, whose son would continue to rule.

But this was not so much a plea for help, but it seemed more like a perfunctory letter of request for help, which did not arouse any interest in Alexander, and he did not care at all whether Forlì had fallen into the hands of Constantine, and as for the famous tigress, after Lucrezia had heard that the messenger of Milan had come, she immediately ran to the Marino Palace, and then stared at him with wary eyes for a long time, Alexander also showed some disregard.

Old Rovere may have thought that the capture of Forlì would be tantamount to opening a faint passage on land connecting North and South Italy, and might even abandon prejudices and cooperate with the Venetians when necessary, but Alexander did not care about these calculations of old Rovere.

Because although the time seems to be later than in history, from all the information obtained, the greatest threat to the Venetians will soon come, and at that time the Venetians will not be able to collude with old Rovere at all.

At the beginning of January 1500, Kemal Reis, the legendary admiral of the Ottoman Empire, assembled a fleet of about 70 ships of various sizes and set out for the small islands in the western Aegean Sea that had just been taken from the Venetians by the Ottoman army, with the aim of sending reinforcements and supplies to the Ottoman army stationed on the islands.

The Venetians were worried about the Ottomans' actions but did not want to start a decisive battle at sea, so for the next month, the Venetians watched dryly as the Ottoman convoys moved back and forth between the rear of the Aegean Sea and the islands, and then sent a large number of weapons and reinforcements, and then strengthened the fortresses on the islands with artillery.

This eccentric stalemate was finally broken after a fiasco at the end of January, and the protagonist of this fiasco was Gonzalo.

After leading the Aragonese army all the way east to the Aegean Sea, Gonzalo was warmly welcomed by the Venetians, and in order to satisfy the powerful reinforcement commander, the Venetians made a bloody effort to curry favor, and the result was that Gonzalo used the Venetian fleet to soar all the way, not only recovering several islands that had previously been taken by the Ottomans, but also seizing an important Ottoman base on the island of Kefalonia in the eastern Mediterranean in early January 1500.

Gonzalo was in high spirits for a while, and his soldiers were invincible.

However, his good fortune soon came to an end, and Gonzalo's movements in the Aegean Sea became increasingly difficult as the Ottomans strengthened the islands' defenses and the steady stream of reinforcements arrived, especially as Kemal Reis's fleet began to move further and closer to the east.

Finally, in the battle of Zakynthos, not far from the Greek coast, in the battle of Zakynthos, not far from the Greek coast, Gonzalo's Aragonese army was fiercely counterattacked by the elite Ottoman defenders, who were many times stronger than him, and to make matters worse, the base he had ventured to establish on the island of Kythera was also taken by the Ottomans.

The Ottoman army, supported by Kemal Reis's navy, then stormed the city, and Gonzalo's painstakingly established advantage in the Aegean Sea was wiped out almost overnight.

This result not only disgraced Gompati, but he blamed the Venetians for all this, and after running to Venice and throwing a tantrum at the old fox Barbarig, Gonzalo threatened the Venetians that if he did not stop the Ottoman navy's movements, he would lead the Aragonese army out of the irritating war.

Gonzalo's threat obviously worked, and the Venetians did feel the danger from the Ottoman navy, after all, if they passively avoided the battle, they could be completely blocked in the Adriatic Sea, and in the face of this situation, Venice decided to fight back!

Alexander received the news a little later than the Venetians, but he was much better than them in terms of the details of the information.

After Bayezid II was mortally wounded and lost control of the court, the Ottoman Empire now faces a decisive battle between the two princes, Selim and Ahmet, for the throne of the future sultan.

Kemal Reis, the general of Selim's faction, is now so aggressively provoking Venice in order to create more advantages for Selim in the upcoming battle for the throne.

Alexander knew that the Ottomans would win this future naval battle, and that after this battle, the Venetians had lost almost all of their colonies in the Mediterranean.

However, he did not intend to help Venice, especially at this time.

Since mid-February, several high-profile events have continued to take place in Italy.

First, after almost a week of siege, Forlì finally failed to resist Constantine's attack and surrendered, and then the Duchess of Foley, the famous Forlì tigress Caterina Sforza, was imprisoned and escorted to Rome.

Immediately afterwards, the peace talks in Milan were finally declared defeated because of the lack of sincerity on the part of the parties, and in fact the Franco-Austrian armies, which had taken the opportunity to recuperate, declared a state of war again, and Normezi returned to Montina after the successful completion of the mission given by Alexander.

Then, at the end of February, on the Greek coast not far north of Kefalonia, once again occupied by the Ottomans, Venice and the Ottoman navy engaged in a naval decisive battle of great significance for both sides.

After a day of fierce fighting, the Venetians were gradually defeated after losing more than a dozen ships, large and small, and the Venetian naval commander Grimani had to be forced to order the fleet to withdraw from the battle.

At this point, the Ottoman navy blocked the Venetians in the narrow Adriatic Sea in one fell swoop.

For a time, these disturbances not only dazzled the Italian peninsula, but also shook the whole of Europe.

But in the midst of all these upheavals, one thing stands out.

On the last day of February 1500, Alexandre Giulian Gombray, Count of Montina, was crowned Duke of Romagna-Tuscany by Pope Alexander VI in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.