Having Massimo become pope is certainly not an overnight thing, but a task that even now seems quite difficult, and even a little dreamy.

The millennial precipitation of the Vatican Holy See has condensed an incomparably deep power, just as Massimo saw during his tour, people hate the morally corrupt, corrupt and degenerate hypocrites who occupy the papal throne, but even so, when it comes to the Holy See, they still have great reverence and caution for the crown that rules the entire Christian faith world, and all the cardinals, and all the cardinals in the world who are qualified to become cardinals, the ultimate goal is that crown.

The cardinals of each diocese have backers behind them that cannot be ignored, and some of them have strong strength themselves, which makes this competition extremely fierce, and the competition for the papal throne is directly involved in the struggle and game between various powers.

It can be said that the competition for the papal crown is not only more complicated than the competition for a crown, but sometimes even more fierce and cruel.

Supporting Massimo to become his spokesman in the Vatican, this is a plan that Alexander had been planning and gradually implementing when he was still in Naples, and now it seems that this plan is going well, Massimo has been nominated as a cardinal, although the cardinal status of this era has been somewhat devalued because of the control and abuse of the magnates, just like Caesar became a cardinal when he was less than 20 years old, and then became a cardinal, which is of course a status that many ordinary clergy can never reach, But it can also be seen that the original high status of the cardinal has become a means for the magnates to raise their own value.

But even so, compared to the vast majority of the entire Christian world, there are very few people who can become cardinals, and even fewer who become cardinals.

It may sound strange that a crook who had wandered in Naples and elsewhere had become a cardinal by wearing a monk's robe, and was now challenging for the cardinal's throne, but considering that there have been robbers in the history of the Vatican who became popes, it is not so new for a liar to become a cardinal.

However, Alexander also knows that it seems to be quite smooth to get to this point, but the difficulties are not inhumane, or as long as you think about the old Rovere after so many years of hard work to become a cardinal, you also know that it is not easy to take this step, and the real reason why Massimo can challenge the cardinal throne in such a short time is only because of Alexander standing behind him.

The Duchy of Romagna-Tuscany, an emerging state in Central Italy that has been historically recognized by Alexandria, not only occupies almost the entire central part of the Apennine Peninsula, but also extends its power and tentacles to the border of Lombardy and Naples in the south, which allows many people to see the emergence and rapid rise of a menacing and powerful principality, and Alexander's influence in the Vatican is gradually revealed with the expansion of secular power.

Alexander VI's fiscal reform of the Vatican was no less violent, but the famously greedy and depraved pope was a skilful diplomat, and his papal meridian became a maritime guideline for Spain and Portugal to divide the world's wealth, and at the same time allowed him to regain the Vatican's once-lost right to arbitrate disputes between great powers.

Alexander VI was clearly not satisfied, and now he turned his attention to the Ecclesiastical treasury, which had been held by the Council of Cardinals alone, and tried to get his hands on the financial power that even the popes who had historically held great power had not been able to get their hands on.

It's just that the Pope was well aware that in order to get this coveted power, it was necessary to have the support of Alexander.

The promotion of Ladia gold coins in Europe has made this easier, and the number of coins issued by Ladia, which is guaranteed by the credit of the Holy See, has reached 1.7 million as of February 1500, which may still seem insignificant compared to the already mature Florin and Ducat, but if you consider that many commodity exchanges within the entire free trade alliance are first marked with Ladia as the transaction amount, and then the value of the goods is offset by each other as a means of transaction, Then, after using Radia as the balance calculation method, you will find out how amazing the liquidity potential of this huge market with Radia as the settlement standard is.

Alexander VI needed such strong support to help him carry out the Vatican's fiscal reforms, and it must be admitted that although his intentions for the reforms were really debatable, the Vatican's years of stubborn rules have made the Holy See, which had amassed thousands of years of wealth, financially porous and difficult.

Alexander VI wanted to get rid of this situation altogether, and he wanted to make the Vatican's wealth more useful, and of course it would be even more satisfying if it were completely in his hands.

And to do that, he would have to rely on the financial might of Alexander's FTA.

The making of Massimo a cardinal was one of the main conditions of this cooperation.

The other is the captivity of Caesar.

Alexander couldn't allow someone to drag him behind when he turned his energy to Iberia, and Caesar was obviously that kind of person, so even if the brother-in-law didn't want to do anything to him, Alexander was already prepared for accidents, and Caesar didn't disappoint him, which made Alexander explain a lot more in front of Lucrezia.

Caesar's provocations obviously disappointed Lucrezia, although she would probably miss Caesar again because of her brotherly and sisterly affection when the matter passed, but at least at this time Lucrezia could no longer tolerate Caesar's actions.

Everything was already more or less ready, and in Alexander's mind, the completion of three more things would mark the beginning of his real implementation of the Iberian plan.

The first is that Massimo becomes a cardinal, which means that there will be a voice in the Vatican that carries enough weight to speak on his behalf.

The second is the production of Sophia, whether Sophia's children are male or female, which not only means that Wallachia will have an heir to their principality, but also means that the future "Alexander's Empire" will be an indispensable part of the Eastern territory.

As for the third, Alexander wrote a letter to Josha in Naples, which he had carefully written after careful consideration, and after considering as little as possible to touch the temper that Josha might suddenly burst out in the most destructive way as much as Sophia, he invited him to come to Rome.

"My dear sister, I cordially invite you to come to Rome, because I have decided to have a wedding in Rome, and everything that Barendi has done for me before is obvious to all, she has safeguarded the safety and interests of my territory as a fiancée, for which she has even had a fierce conflict with her own family, I think I have an obligation to her, just as you thought she was very suitable to be my wife, and I also approved of your choice, so I decided to make the wedding official, It's a reward for all of her hard work and a recognition of your careful choices for me, so I hope you can stand by and prove it all when I get married, because you know that without you, this wedding would be meaningless. ”

Alexander read the letter several times, and only sealed it when he was sure that there were no inappropriate words.

Because the letter would be an accompanying document to the official invitation to the regent of the Kingdom of Naples, and could not be ambiguous and ambiguous, Alexander took great pains to choose his words.

In another purely private letter, Alexander wrote a bold letter in secret language that would cause an uproar if leaked.

Marrying Barondi is the third thing.

From their engagement to being called the Countess of Montina, Barentia did a lot for the two of them, as Alexander said in his letter, but it was not enough, and now Alexander decided to crown her as the Duchess of Rometesia.

This was obviously an exciting event, and when the first to hear the news, the elder Rovere decided to give his son-in-law a very large gift, and this gift turned out to be a fleet.

"Andrew Doria, this man is a real Genoese, which means that he is very ambitious, but if you can use this man well, you will find that he is a very good sailor and captain, and if you can, maybe he is also a good naval commander." When the old Rovere handed over the deeds of sale of those ships to Alexander, he introduced the situation of some of the crew members by the way: "The Doria family is a noble family in Genoa, but now their life is not very easy, after the French came, many people of the Doria family fled, this is not how loyal they are to Genoa, but because they hate the French more, this Andrew Doria fled to Corsica with a fleet, but the local Aragonese did not like them to have a conflict, so they had to continue to go into exile, Because he was desperate, he finally sold the boat to me. ”

"I am flattered by your generosity," Alexander bowed to old Rovere as he looked at the ship's owner's contract, "please rest assured that I will make Barondy happy." ”

"I believe this," snorted old Rovere, and then his eyes flickered slightly, "and the matter of Constantine, I have heard that the Emperor intends to marry one of his cousins, Henry of Udelus, and Caterina of Milan, have you heard about it?" ”

"I've heard a little." Alexander nodded, he had been prepared for this accident, after all, with the trick that Maximian had always used, it was common to annex allies and even enemy territories by marriage.

"So do you think we should consider giving Konstantin more support?" Old Rovere looked into Alexander's eyes, and then glanced at the ship contract he held in his hand.

It's the real deal.

"Don't worry, my lord, I know what to do." Alexander nodded to old Rovere in promise.

Old Rovere looked at Alexander with blazing eyes, although this person will soon officially become his son-in-law, but old Rovere never felt that this young man was on his side, on the contrary, even if he readily agreed to help Constantine fight for the Duke of Milan, but Old Rovere always believed that he not only did this with his own selfishness, but also probably had some unsettling reason.

Alexander did not feel the slightest apprehension because of the old man's aggressive gaze, and he met the old Rovere's eyes with a smile on his face, until the old man nodded slightly to indicate that the transaction was successful.

Alexander was not worried about old Rovere discovering his purpose, for he would never know what kind of quagmire he was in.

The Italian War in history lasted for more than 60 years.

And how long this time it will take, Alexander decided that it is up to him to decide!

Massimo's diocesan tour was a success, and although it is said that the metropolitan often left his retinue alone in ragged clothes to run alone to some villages to mingle with the commoners, and on several occasions seemed to have been chased by his family when he was teaching the Bible to female believers alone, the metropolitan's return was warmly welcomed by the Vatican.

And Pope Alexander VI's personal funeral for Massimo made many people realize that it might not be long before the metropolitan would rise to the top.

Sure enough, this suspicion was quickly proven, and on the second Sunday of March, after a modest debate, the Metropolitan of Romagna and Tuscany, Brother Massimo, was canonized by the Vatican Council of Cardinals as the 114th cardinal of the time, ranking 47th after the bishops and cardinals of the dioceses, and before the cardinals of the priests and deacons.

When Massimo, dressed in yellow robes and draped in cardinal girdles and crowns, walked out of the Sistine Chapel with the other cardinals, the people bowed down to the most powerful men in Christendom.

The sun, which had finally warmed up, seemed to shone on the new cardinal at this moment, so as they walked down, a ray of sunlight piercing the dark clouds fell on the steps in front of Mahimo, much to the surprise of many who saw the scene.

Mahimo paused, looked at the small but noticeable speck of light in front of him, and took a steady step forward after a little groaning.

For a moment, Mahimo's whole person seemed to be shrouded in this light, and the scene at this moment was also reflected in the hearts of many people.

When Massimo was canonized as a cardinal, Alexander was not in Rome.

Still with a small number of guards, Alexander quietly left the city of Rome the day before.

In Alexander's "Continental Development Plan", he hoped to realize the true sense of "all roads leading to Rome", with Rome as the center, based on the Duchy of Rome, to establish a road network covering the entire central Italy, and then radiating and expanding to the north and south at the same time.

The road from Rome to Montina is the most important thing at this stage.

Only the rapid dispatch of troops to Rome and anywhere in the duchy, and at the same time the ability to deter enemies from any direction, could truly ensure the security of the entire duchy, as Alexander had long been aware.

Of course, it would be a long time before the road could be built, but it was now much easier to get from Rome to Montina than it was when Alexander had traveled to Rome because of Giovanni's death.

But even then, when he returned to Montina, it was already noon on the third day.

Barondi, who had already received the news, led people to greet her returning husband outside the castle, and when she saw Alexander appear, Barendi took a few steps forward and walked out of the crowd to greet her.

Standing alone at the front of the crowd, looking at the approaching procession, Barendi lifted the ends of her skirt slightly with both hands, then bowed and curtsied to Alexander at the front of the group.

"Welcome back, Your Highness."

All eyes were on Alexander who was hurrying out of the ranks, and those eyes were full of inexplicable meanings.

At this moment, Barendi's head was lowered, and the fingers holding the skirt of her skirt were trembling a little because they were too hard.

Everyone knows that Alexander is now completely different from before because of the change of identity, and even the marriage of a powerful principality monarch is sometimes not something he can decide.

Perhaps reconsidering whether he should marry a noble princess was something he needed to think about now, and he couldn't help but tremble slightly at the thought of these Barendi's bodies.

The crisp sound of boots stepping on the snow woke Barondi, who was in a trance because of her nervousness, and before she could raise her head when she heard the sound, a dark shadow with a cold wind had enveloped her.

Then Barendi only felt that her body was light, and she had been picked up by Alexander!

"Your tricks were actually used on me, and this is punishable." Alexander whispered in Barondi's ear, and then strode toward the crowd that greeted him.

In front of them, he paused to look at them, and then announced loudly in a voice that everyone could hear: "From now on everyone is preparing for the wedding, and I can't wait to marry my bride!" ”

Hearing Alexander's words, people's eyes couldn't help but look at Barendi who was held in his arms at the same time.

At the same time, Alexander felt Barondi's body in his arms stiffen instantly, and then her back was tightly hugged by her hand.

The news that Alexandre Giulian Cambrai, Duke of Rometesia, was getting married, was the only good thing that could have been called after the tumultuous beginning of 1500.

Although many people are not optimistic about this marriage, as Zha said after receiving the letter: "Barentia of Genoa is the only person I can accept to be my sister-in-law", Alexander proved his promise to everyone with his actions.

Unbeknownst to Alexander, however, as soon as she returned to her dormitory after publicly expressing her support for Barondi, she hurriedly urged the maid to prepare her clothes.

"I'm going to my brother's wedding, so make sure he is satisfied."

Ji Sha said to the maid in a very joyful tone, just looking at her as if she was genuinely happy for her brother, but the forehead of the maid standing aside was overflowing with sweat in this cold spring season.