Nikolai Maceni hurried through the street, trotting under his feet, the mess of various papers in his arms rattling in the wind.

Macheni made his way through the crowd, squeezed past a few vendors, and ran over a small wooden bridge.

Then stop in front of the door of a house facing the street behind the chapel of St. Donis.

It's a small 2-storey building, and it looks much smaller compared to its neighbors.

Macheni knocked the door, and as soon as the door opened, he hurried inside.

"My uniform, hat, belt, and boots, find them for me quickly."

As soon as he ran into the house, Macheni hurried to the servant, and then he hurried back to his room, and put the things in his arms on the table.

"What happened Nikolai," Marcchine's mother heard and came from another room to look at her son, who was rummaging through the room and tidying up his things, "where are you going, didn't you say that you were going to have dinner with the Porolanti family tonight, you must know that your father has decided to announce your engagement to his daughter with the elder Polanti." ”

"Oh, then you can declare it," Maccheni replied casually, stuffing a few underwear into his bag, "anyway, as long as I'm engaged to that woman, it doesn't matter if I'm not there." ”

"How can you talk like that?"

Old Marcheni came over and reprimanded his son dissatisfiedly: "You now have a decent job with the Duchess, and you will soon inherit the family business, but a family like us is not really decent if you don't have a good family, and you are not ashamed to marry the Polanti family." ”

"Well, I confess that it is an honor for me to marry this family, but now I have more important things to do, and my father asks you to tell me old Boronte and his daughter, if they are not afraid that she may have a fiancé who will die at any time, and I myself have no objection to this family affair."

"What, there's going to be a war?"

Hearing this, the good Marcheni who found that his son was preparing his military uniform immediately panicked, and he ran over to grab the saber that his son had taken off the wall, but he was still a step slower, and looked at his son, who had already begun to mount his boots, and the old Marcheni kept complaining.

"Miss Duke, I mean, didn't Duchess Lucrezia already appoint you to a civilian position, or to work as an errand in the court, but why is it that she is suddenly going to be a soldier again?"

"Father, I've been the company commander of the Pisa Regiment of the Duchy of Romagna and Tuscany, so I'll have to go back to active duty now," Macheni said, stomping his foot on the floor with a muffled thud, and then twisting his toes in his boots to make himself comfortable, "If you have nothing else to do, I'll have to rush to the barracks now, but don't mess around with the things in my room, especially since the manuscripts I just got back are precious." ”

After saying that, without waiting for his parents to ask anything more, Maceni hurried out of the house again.

In April 1503, just as the clouds of war were gathering in the Iberian Peninsula, the smell of gunpowder was growing stronger in Italy.

In fact, at the end of March, as the Austrian army advanced across the city of Milan in the direction of Parma, the signal for war was already very strong.

On 31 March, Skop, Duke of Parma, sent a request for help to the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany.

On 5 April, the regent of the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany, Duchess Barente della Combrai wrote a personal letter to Emperor Maxim.

In the letter, Barenti unabashedly stated that the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany had an obligation to protect the independence and security of Parma, and that if the Imperial Army persisted in threatening the safety of Parma, which was part of the Roman Tescian Confederation, the Duchy would be forced to fulfill its promise to the League.

This was the first time that the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany had officially and publicly announced the name "Confederation of Rome-Thesia".

The effect was even stronger than the Austrian threat to Parma.

On 7 April, two days after the handwritten letter was sent, Barentia declared the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany to be mobilized for war as regent.

The next day, the Duchess of Estelles of Pisa announced her preparations for war.

On the same day, the Florentine government announced that it would send volunteers to join the Pisa regiment.

Also on the same day, Constantine, Duke of Ferrara, who claimed to be the Duke of Milan, declared the Austrian troops who had entered the Milan area as invaders.

On 10 April, Metropolitan Massimo of Romagna set out from Bologna, where he was stationed, to inspect the archdiocese and at the same time publicly celebrate a blessing mass for all the Rotocyan troops.

It was on the afternoon of April 10 that Macheni arrived in Montina with his company.

He was the first unit of the Pisa Regiment to reach Montina, but his purpose was not to simply join the Montina army, but to "join the ranks".

In Alexander's vision, the future imperial army was a flexible and loose coalition with a unified command.

In peacetime, the armies of the various principalities and territories are stationed and maintain the security of their own countries, while in wartime, these armies need to quickly form a united army under unified command.

This requires that these militaries also be able to communicate with each other regularly and participate in joint exercises in peacetime.

When war comes, at least one unit of each country should be able to act alongside the forces of other countries, thus forming a complete confederate armed force.

Maccheni's company was the Pisa Regiment that had been transferred directly to the Confederate forces, and most of them had fought in Bucharest and the Second Romagna War.

So when Marcheni arrived, he didn't feel any rustiness or discomfort, but the entire company quickly joined the battle sequence of the Roman Thescian army.

No one in Italy knew what was going on on the Iberian side, and it would be a long time before the messenger could get the news, and perhaps by then many things had already come to fruition.

However, regardless of the advance communication between the two sides and their friends on the other peninsula, the two peninsulas on the European continent almost unanimously took up positions in April 1503.

April 12 was an ordinary day, but it was destined to go down in Italian history.

At noon, a horse-drawn carriage arrived on the coastal road leading from Piacenza to Lake Calbin in Palma, occupied by the Austrians.

On board sat several Austrian soldiers who were dizzy from the sun overhead.

When the carriage reached a small bay near Lake Calben, they were stopped by the Palma city defenses, which had already set up a checkpoint here.

I don't know if it was the hot weather that made people feel upset, or if it was supposed to happen sooner or later, and no one can remember which side made the move first.

Soldiers from both sides engaged in a bloody clash on the edge of the river bend on a small scale, but destined for great impact.

The battle was fought for a short time from the beginning to the defeat of the Parma, but the changes that followed were unexpected.

Just as the Austrians had been cut down and the cheers of the city guards of Parma had not stopped, a detachment of light cavalry suddenly rushing from the direction of Parma broke into the scene of the conflict.

Xue Liang's sharp saber slashed at the Austrian soldiers who had not yet reacted almost without hesitation, and then before their bodies could fall, the light cavalry had already swept past them and rushed towards a few of their companions who were rushing to help.

The appearance of the Bohemian hussars was completely unexpected by these Austrians, or rather, they could not have imagined that the war would come without warning.

What happened next was completely unexpected by the Austrians.

With Parma as the center, the Roman Tescian army quickly appeared at both ends of the already famous "Genoa-Parma-Po" line.

The Western Corps, commanded by Gompati, and the Eastern Corps, commanded by Ofleiuil, appeared on various positions of the defensive line almost overnight.

This surprised the Austrians, who had been advancing as slowly as a picnic, and especially the Count of Graz, who was at the front of the whole force, was completely stunned by this sudden change.

The Count of Graz was at the vanguard of the entire Austrian army not because of his valiant fighting skills, but because his territory was at the foot of the northern slopes of the Alps, which bordered northern Italy.

Crossing this natural border mountain, the troops of the Count of Graz could enter northern Italy without any problems.

Because of this, in the previous wars against Italy, Maximian used the count as a vanguard to fight for himself.

In the past experience of the Count of Graz, the war was always slow, and even if the two sides were already on the battlefield and could exchange fire at any time, it was still possible to fight for a few more days.

Or even if it has reached the point where there is nothing to talk about, it may still be a long time before the real fight begins.

Because this requires setting up camps, stockpiling supplies, waiting for follow-up troops, and if it is winter, it may simply be necessary for both sides to survive the winter before seeing each other.

This was the case with previous wars, which could take months or even years to drag on, so no one on the Austrians' side thought that they would have to fight to the death with the enemy as soon as war was declared.

But this time they were clearly wrong.

As early as March, when war was determined to be inevitable, Alexander made it clear in his letter to Barente that he wanted to wage a "new real war."

This will be a completely new war with a completely different strategy and tactics than before.

The swift, decisive, and unwavering implementation of the strategic resolve was finalized in February with the appointment of Gompati and Ofleiyi as commanders of the two corps of the northern defensive line.

It was a truly planned war, and for almost two months the Duchy of Romagna Tuscany was preparing for it with a speed and efficiency that no one else could comprehend.

By the time Barendi wrote to Maximian, the eastern and western corps of the northern line had already advanced only a few fats from the line.

At this time, the Austrians were still enjoying the warmth and comfort of Italian spring in the city of Milan.

In all of this, there is one person who plays a very important role.

The rumors of truth and falsity spread by the former court minister Kotschach in the Vienna court became a fog of war that obscured the eyes of the Austrians.

With the large amount of gold coins spilled by the Fugol family at all costs, many people believed Kotschach's statement that "the Duke of Rome Thesia, though bold, was not a madman".

They prefer to believe that the threat of war is just a clumsy diplomatic ploy by the nouveau riche duke, who only wants to keep his current territory.

Maybe when necessary, he will wave his sharp claws a few times like an enraged cat, but in the face of the emperor, he will obediently withdraw his nails in the end.

So it's inevitable that there will be some friction on the border, and maybe even one or two battles of some size, but a war in the real sense of the word will not break out.

At least, the Duke of Rome Thessia did not have the courage to take the initiative to provoke a war, let alone the strength.

Austrians believe this too much.

This included both the nobles of the court and the generals of the army.

But most importantly, the emperor himself believed this statement.

The reason Maximian would have believed that Alexander's reluctance to go to war was because he saw the treatment of his old rival, Louis XII.

He thought that since Alexander did not dare to really offend the French king, and even after the victory, he still politely signed an agreement with the French, so he must have the same attitude towards him as emperor.

And the fact that it took nearly a week for Barendi to respond from Skop's request for help convinced the Austrians who occupied Milan that the Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany was a posturing scarecrow.

Some people even suggested that it would be better to go all the way south, invade Romagna, and capture Montina.

So when the Austrians heard of the clash with the city defense of Parma, the troops of the Count of Graz, who were stationed in the city of Piacenza as the vanguard, immediately mobilized and advanced in the direction of Parma.

However, Count Graz was a cautious man, and instead of sending only one company to take revenge on the Parmaans, he sent his entire army directly into battle.

He believed that a transfer of this magnitude alone would be enough to be able to make the Parma people their due.

As the vanguard of the Austrian troops in northern Italy, the troops of Count Graz numbered about 1,100 men.

Then his unit crashed headlong into the front of the Gompati Corps, which happened to be on the left flank of the northern line.

When he saw the Bohemian cavalry appearing behind the rolling hills in the distance, Count Graz was at first a little surprised, but he still did not realize the change in the situation.

He ordered his troops to halt their advance and form a neat array of spears, and wondered whether he should wait until the enemy's cavalry approached, and then ordered the few musketeers in his troops to fire and drive them away.

However, this is likely to scare away the enemies behind, and if they do, they may lose the opportunity to punish the Parmaans.

So the Count considered that after engaging the enemy in close quarters, he would drive the pesky cavalry out of his position with bows and muskets, and then start a massacre of the enemy's infantry.

"That should be enough for the Parma people to know how to respect others."

When the Count told his men of his intentions, he received a wave of compliments and flattery over his elaborate plans.

Then the Austrians saw the cavalry rushing far towards the flank of their position, and then the count had a vague sense that something was wrong.

The purpose of the cavalry seemed obvious, they intended to cut off the Austrians' retreat.

This made the Count realize that in addition to these cavalry, there was likely to be an enemy army approaching in front of him, probably no less in size than himself.

The Count immediately ordered all his troops to form battle formations, and he needed to first set up their positions and occupy favorable terrain at the same time.

But soon he discovers a terrible truth.

He was not facing an enemy of the size he had imagined, but an entire army of enemies.

With the Montina regiment as the core, the Western Army of the Northern Defense Line was formed with troops that had been drawn from Pisa and Florence before, with a strength of 4,400 men.

To the east of Palma to the Po River, the two Balkan regiments commanded by Ofleuil were the main forces, and at the same time the eastern corps of nearly 5,300 men was joined by most of the Bologna regiment.

This arrangement was due to the fact that Alexander was always very wary of the Venetians, so he placed the main force of the legion on the right flank of the entire defensive line, and at the same time was ready for a decisive battle with the Austrians, while vigilantly guarding against the movements of the Venetians.

9,700 men, which is almost all the troops that Alexander can devote to northern Italy, and there are indeed many veterans who have fought with him for many years, but many of them are new recruits who have just been drafted.

Like the Montina and Neapolitan armies, Alexander needed to temper his almost completely formed army in a war.

"Either rise with the Duke of Rome Thesia or sink together, we have no way back."

The words that Nomelo had said to Skop when he saw off Alexander VI came up again, but this time in a letter from Scoop to Nomerlo.

Nomerlo, who wisely chose to take sides when Alexander VI's ship was about to sink, is now the tribune of Rome.

When the letter arrived, Nomelo made his decision with almost a slight hesitation.

He began to move around the city of Rome, and thanks to his many years of business and the close relationship he now built with the elder Rovelle, who was now the chief cardinal, Nomelo was able to raise a large amount of supplies in a very short time.

These supplies were then quickly transported to northern Italy by a steady stream of trade alliances on land and sea.

"This is a new type of war in the true sense of the word, a way that has never been used before, and this war will change the form of future wars. However, the first thing to change will be the pattern of Europe in the future. ”

This is how Alexander described it in his letter to his wife.

The letter then became the future guide for the Confederacy of Rome and Thesia to wage war.

On April 12, on the shores of Lake Calban, about fourteen fats from Parma, the Roman army of Thessia annihilated the troops commanded by the Austrian Count of Graz, and the Third Italian War began!