The Count of Lancer of Brittany lay on his bed, and beside him there were two doctors who had been busy, but they were obviously busy, looking at the blackened wound under the Count's ribs, but the two men were obviously helpless.

No one expected that when the French army was charging the Austrians all the way, Count Lanserge, as the commander of the battlefield, was hit by his own artillery.

It was a very sad story, the French artillery was obviously not keeping up with the speed of the attack of the ordinary soldiers, or perhaps the count was too far ahead, but somehow a cannonball fell not far from where the Count of Langserge stood, and the cannonball broke a tree, and a flying branch hit the Count of Lanserge.

The guards immediately sent the Count back to the camp to be treated by a doctor, but looking at the wound under the Earl's ribs, the only recourse available to the two doctors was to help him pull out the branch after pouring him a few sips of spirits.

However, they soon discovered that the Count's wound appeared to be infected, and the edges of the wound with thick water began to rot, and the doctor's solution was to bleed the Count, who had begun to have a fever.

Although it has been suggested many years ago that bloodletting is not a panacea for all ailments, this crude and violent method is still considered to be the most effective in this era, although some doctors have tried to use herbs to extract potions instead of bloodletting, but the results have not worked well and people have quickly lost patience.

"Bloodletting, bloodletting, more blood, only in this way can the sickness of the body be removed," the doctors used knives to make a hole in the count's wrist, and then used a silver basin reserved for the great men to treat the great people, and then the blood flowed constantly, while Louis XII anxiously awaited the result in the adjacent room.

Charles VIII left his successor with a decent Frenchman, a wife, and a group of aspiring ministers and generals, including the Comte de Lancer.

Louis XII valued the Count of Lanther, he knew that he might be a worthy monarch, but he was not a soldier who could command a certain soldier on the battlefield, so he handed over the army to the command of the Count of Lanther, and the count did not live up to his trust, and his three victories in Médé proved that the old general was indeed a great general, and more importantly, he was a Brittany nobleman, which made Louis XII more satisfied.

The problem of Brittany has always plagued the French monarchs, and unlike Burgundy, which has always been an open enemy of the royal family, Brittany's methods are more subtle and more destructive, and after pacifying Charles the Darling, France did not annex all of Burgundy as desired, but at least completely solved the threat from this always independent principality.

But Brittany's problems continued until the time of Charles VIII.

And the Count of Lancet's loyalty to the king was of great significance at this time, and it can even be said that the count had become a benchmark for Brittany's loyalty to France after the union of king and queen, and now seeing that the count was seriously wounded and dying, Louis XII was naturally very anxious.

To make matters worse, the Count was hit by the French army's own shells, which attracted too much gossip and suspicion.

Louis XII felt that he was about to go mad, and he was ordered to find out which bastard had fired the shot, knowing that it could become a great hostility to the Bretons towards the royal family and even to France as a whole.

After all, the Count of Langserge had been so good before, and it was inevitable that the Count's rapid rise in popularity might make the king feel threatened, and it was all too common for a monarch to want to see a courtier's reputation overshadow him, especially a soldier from an unstable principality such as Brittany.

Louis XII's worries were not unfounded, although his marriage to the queen did ensure the integrity of France, there were still some Bretons who refused to give up, and Louis XII could already imagine how those people would fan the flames now, and even now, some Bretons in the army were starting to get restless.

"The Count must be cured, you know," the King ordered the Medic who came out of it wearing a dirty leather apron and looking more like a butcher than a doctor, but he knew that things might be very unpleasant when he looked at the look on his face, "tell me if the Count recovers?" ”

"I'm sorry Your Majesty, it's hard to say about this matter, the earl's situation is very bad now, we are bleeding, yes, it will be better if we bleed, it's just this matter......"

Louis XII's cheeks trembled slightly as he looked at the doctor who was spitting but couldn't say anything, and he could imagine what kind of rumors and turmoil the Count would cause if something happened to him, at least the victory he had just won on the battlefield might not be saved.

Louis XII did not despise the Austrians because of several successive victories, he knew that Maximian's army was actually engaged in the Italian war again after the defeat of Swabia without having time to repair, and at first the Austrians had fewer troops than him, but even Maximian still captured Milan, so Louis XII was not complacent at all because of the victory in front of him, and with the unexpected wounding of the Count of Lanceger, there were already signs of instability within the French army, This made Louis worry about whether the French army, which had lost the strong command of the Count of Lanther, would be able to continue to gain the upper hand in the battle that followed.

The investigation soon came out, and to Louis's speechlessness, there was nothing in the shelling of the Count of Lanceger that he had previously guessed to provoke a split in France, but the drunken rampage of a few gunners after they had drunk too much.

The gunners had been arrested, and they were waiting for the punishment of hanging on the gun carriage without trial, but because of the turmoil and rumors caused by the Count's accidental injury, Louis XII ordered a public trial, and he had to let everyone know that there was no conspiracy in the matter, and that it had nothing to do with him.

It's just that whether people want to believe the results of this investigation or not, Louis can't care.

Now for him, the life and death of the Count of Langserge is a matter of great importance, which is not only related to the situation of the entire French army in Italy, but also to the stability of the domestic political situation.

So Louis XII took the time to write a long letter to the queen, in which he mentioned the turmoil that the count might cause if he did not have an event, and he asked the queen as regent to help him stabilize the situation in the country and report to him in time, and if necessary, he would end the war in Italy as soon as possible and return to the country to stabilize the political situation.

Louis was indeed prepared for this, and he ordered the French army to stop the offensive further, and even the Austrians hastily transported the supplies left in Alexandria, and what he needed now was to stabilize the interior of the French army.

The Austrians were surprised by the sudden cessation of the French attack, and Maximian even thought it was another conspiracy of Louis XII, so instead of letting up when the French stopped, he retreated to Turin overnight with his guards and ministers, while ordering the defenders of Alexandria to abandon the city and quickly join the main force with the remaining supplies.

After several successive battles, the losses of the Austrians were already very heavy, and the original superiority over the French in terms of strength was now not obvious, and the worst thing was that the morale of the entire army was low because of successive defeats.

From the defeat of the Swiss War to the fact that it is now being chased by the French, the Austrian army has suffered for more than half a year, which has made the entire Austrian army generally immersed in a frustration of defeat, in addition to these, the emperor is even more worried that the salary he can pay to Switzerland is no longer much.

Most of the money that Alexander had provided to Maximian through the Jews had been consumed in the past few months, in fact, if the scale and method of the previous wars were followed, the money could still last for a while, but the continuous fierce fighting made the material supply much more expensive than any previous war, so the money seemed not enough to spend.

"Your Majesty, we will not be able to hold out until the autumn tax is collected, and we may not even be able to make it until the summer tax is collected," Kotschach reminded in a low voice, looking at Maximian, who was walking around worriedly, "It is not detrimental to your dignity to accept a proposal that is favorable to us at this time. ”

"I don't care about the invisible dignity," the emperor paused and said to the palace minister, "You must know that I have encountered too many things that damage the dignity, I was once besieged by a group of businessmen and trapped in a friend's house for half a month, and I was robbed of my wife who had signed a marriage contract, so for me to damage my dignity will only make me remember those shames and take revenge, I am afraid that this may be an excuse for that Cambrai to take the opportunity to go deeper into Lombardy, of course we all know that this is his purpose, But even if we can't stop him, we can't be accomplices in doing so. ”

Kotschach sighed secretly, he knew that the Emperor was right, and Maximian had clearly seen further, the Emperor had not only realized Alexander's ambitions, but also seemed to see more clearly than the others, and he was already sure that Alexander was going to take advantage of the opportunity to get into Lombardy.

"So do you still think we should accept Count Montina's suggestion?" Maximian I asked, seeing Kotschach's hesitant expression, the Emperor's lips couldn't help but tense slightly, "That's exactly what I'm worried about, what do you think the French will think about this, they might be happy to have the Montina people come in, at least then they will have one less frontal enemy, and the terrible thing is that this may be just the beginning." ”

Kotschach nodded, the emperor was right, Louis XII thought that he was willing to see the Montina people, who were supposed to be the Austrian Alliance, become a so-called third power, which was not only a change in the attitude of the Montina, but even the attitude of other countries in the anti-French alliance in the future, they would intervene in Lombardy as a single intervener rather than an Austrian ally, which was obviously much more beneficial to Louis XII.

But not to accept Alexander's proposal, considering the dire financial situation of the Emperor today, Kotschach felt that it was obviously unrealistic to refuse.

Moreover, Kotschach actually knew better than the emperor himself the troubles facing Austria today.

Many of the chambers of commerce in the German city-states were now more or less connected to the trade alliances, some of which were due to commercial contacts and some of which were deeply related to the local aristocracy.

From the very beginning, the FTZ was not a purely commercial organization, but a variant of political forces with various interests entangled with local lords.

From the signing of the contract with the Count of Taranto, the FTZ has developed in this way in a seemingly silent way, and those local nobles and lords have become the biggest beneficiaries of the FTZ, and naturally become part of the association with the FTZ in order to protect their own interests.

Kotschach could imagine the reaction of the German lords to learn that the Emperor was in financial crisis.

For them, if they could make a lot of money from the emperor, and if they could use the problem of their own debts to blackmail the emperor, and even make concessions to him about the autonomy of the German city-states, they would probably not only not stop it, but even contribute to it, and even if Maximian I escaped bankruptcy, he would probably fall into the coercion of the city-state lords.

Perhaps from the very beginning Alexander thought of such a possibility.

The thought unnerved the minister, who wondered if Alexander had really planned it all from the beginning, but the situation was now moving in the direction he feared.

"Your Majesty, you must take the advice of the Count of Montina," Kotschach felt that things could not be made out of control, and his knowledge of the potential of the free trade zone made him know that the emperor had to stop him before he made the wrong decision, "The French are now as tired as we are, and although they are always winning, please do not forget that they are fighting in an enemy country, and everyone here is hostile to them, and it is very difficult for them to get a little supply, because no one will deal with them, and winter is cruel to us, The same is true for them, so Your Majesty we only need to hold on to turn the tide of the situation, but if we refuse the conditions of the Comte de Montina, because the debt dispute with him will bring us down, it will be tantamount to pushing him directly to the side of the French. ”

Maximi listened quietly, and even when he heard worse news than this, the Emperor did not burst into a rage, as he himself said, he had experienced enough to be able to calmly deal with the great changes that seemed to be about to turn into catastrophe at any moment.

"If we accept his terms, he will become the third person after me and Louis to have a say in Lombard affairs, and I think that's what Gombray wants the most." The emperor clenched his fist hard to express the anger in his heart, but then he reluctantly released his palm and patted it lightly on the table in front of him, "But do I have to accept such a condition, just because of that Gombray, or because of Sforza?" ”

Maximian's originally calm face finally slowly overflowed with anger, he stared at Kotschach and said coldly: "Sforza has agreed to accept Gombray's mediation, he is a betrayal of the alliance, and even more so a betrayal of me. ”

"Sforza is useless, Your Majesty," looking at the emperor's angry look at the end, Kotschach sighed helplessly, "The only thing he wants to do now is to keep his throne as Duke of Milan, so as long as one person promises to help him, he will not hesitate to take refuge in the past, so Your Majesty, he has no value to you anymore." ”

Maximian clenched his fist again and then released, then clenched and released again, and after a few times, he tilted his head to look at the courtier: "What do you think, that Count Montina just wants to develop his influence in Lombardy, or is there some other purpose?" ”

"At least for now," replied Kotschach, after a moment's thought, "he has great ambitions, and it is certain that perhaps he is not content to be the master of Romagna and Tuscany, but it seems that he intervened in Lombardy only to ensure that his rule in those regions would not be violated." ”

"Isn't it nice to think about offense instead of defense, isn't it?" The Emperor's right fist slammed into his left hand, then clenched it together and squeezed it slightly, and after a while he suddenly turned to Kotschach and said, "Write him a letter in my name, telling him that I am willing to accept his terms and recognize him as Duke of Romagna and Tuscany, but I want him to publicly declare his membership in the Holy Alliance against Louis, and I want him to declare that he will not support Ludvico." ”

Looking at the Emperor's gaze, Kotschach took a deep breath before bowing and nodding and turning to leave.

It was only after leaving the emperor's room that a faint white mist drifted up, and Kotschach slowly spit out the breath that was holding in his heart,

To Kotschach, Alexander's attempt to secure the central Roman realm by taking the initiative seemed to have been achieved, and the emperor was finally able to avoid the embarrassment of bankruptcy, all of which seemed perfect, or at least happy.

It's just that somehow, the palace minister always feels that things are not so simple, or he feels that Alexander seems to have another secret that no one knows.

And that's what keeps Kotschach uneasy.

During the fierce battle between the Franco-Austrian armies and the vicinity of Alexandria, Montina's army first occupied Pavia and Monza respectively, then declared himself the protector of the Lombard Iron Crown, and then publicly called for the convening of the Lombard Peace Conference as an arbiter, and for a time the name of the Count of Montina resounded on the European continent.

However, Alexander did not enter Milan as a victor or a savior, much to the surprise of many, including Ludvik, who had already resigned to his fate.

After receiving the letter from Kotschach in the name of Maximian I, Alexander drove everyone away, and then closed the door and kept turning his head and laughing for a quarter of an hour, until he was too tired to get up anymore and collapsed in his chair and gasped for breath to pick up a quill.

He's going to write to a lot of people, because he's really going to be busy.