Another heavy snowfall fell on the city of Rome, this time the snow was heavier than the previous one in winter, looking at the snowflakes floating in the window, Alexander stretched the thick blanket covering his body, and looked at Sophia who stuck her head into his arms like a lazy cat, Alexander couldn't help but smile.

Unexpectedly, Sophia, who had always been lively, became lazy after the winter, especially as the weather became colder and colder, she began to collect all kinds of food like a squirrel in winter, and then she curled up and squeezed herself into Alexander's arms like a large cat, and refused to leave.

Even at night, she ran through the door in the room of the two to Alexander's bed close to him, using his body to warm herself.

As a result, Alexander struggled to get out of bed for several days in the morning, and he was blinded all day.

Sophia obviously didn't know how much of a charm she had for Alexander, and how much he was guilty of having to endure it while watching her curl up and sleep on her chest every day.

However, Alexander still hopes that this winter will never pass, especially on this snowy day that is so cold that people don't want to get out of bed at all.

Perhaps God heard Alexander's prayers, and the snow never stopped.

On the first day, no one cared about the snow,

The next day, people braved the snow to go out to do business.

On the third day, there were only a few snowman children left on the street for snowball fights.

Finally, from the fourth day, the people of Rome panicked.

When one of the servants of the Council of Order came to the Marino Palace in knee-thick snow, Alexander was sitting with Sophia in his arms in front of a hearth piled with dry wood piled up to keep warm.

Alexander was holding a spoon in one hand and wrapping the other around Sophia's waist as he poured something black into Sophia's mouth.

Sophia, who was flushed, kept shaking her head, her face was a little unsightly, but she still insisted on refusing to drink the contents of the spoon.

"Sophia is obedient, a cold is a terrible thing." Alexander coaxed, he was a little worried, although he believed that he could deal with the common cold and fever, and Sophia's cold was not serious, but he didn't dare to be careless, after all, in this era, any headache and brain fever could kill him, and then think about the current doctors who are really unreliable, Alexander really didn't dare to take it lightly.

"It's not unpleasant with honey." Alexander said that he took a sip, and seeing that Sophia still closed his lips after hesitating, he sighed helplessly, and drank the potion that had just been boiled and was still a little hot.

Then he lowered his head and kissed Sophia's lips, which were a little dry because of the fever.

The spicy hot ginger soup crossed into Sophia's lips, and to prevent her from struggling, Alexander held her waist with his left hand, and his right hand held the back of her head tightly, and his lips tightly blocked Sophia's lips to prevent her from having a chance to spit out the ginger soup.

Sophia kicked and struggled in Alexander's arms like a cat, pushing him with both hands, and her unusually great strength forced Alexander to hold her even harder.

Sophia let out a muffled "hum" sound in her throat, which sounded strange, and made Alexander, who had just wanted to prevent her from spitting out the ginger soup, began to feel a little inexplicably hot.

Slowly, Alexander felt that Sophia's hands had turned into a clinging hug to his shoulders, and her head no longer swayed hard, but tilted up slightly, allowing Alexander to kiss her lips incessantly.

Because he was extravagantly burning a lot of wood, so the room was not cold, Alexander felt his throat a little dry, and his head was a little wet, he raised his head a little away and looked down, and saw Sophia's red face in his arms The big eyes were looking at him without blinking, Alexander's heart was hot again, he lowered his head and prepared to kiss Sophia's lips again.

It was at this time that the servant of the Council of Order followed a maid to Alexander's room and knocked on his door.

Alexander went to the door and opened a narrow slit, and when he saw the servant, he immediately recognized him as one of Caesar's personal retinues.

Caesar was very clever, and after occupying the chief position of the Council of Order, and having many of the seats occupied by the Borgia and the nobles who supported them, Caesar wisely did not assign his own people to the important positions of the Council of Order, and he generously reserved those seats for other nobles, which earned him a good reputation, and some even thought that he was much more generous than his father.

But in fact, Alexander knew that Caesar had placed a large number of his cronies and servants in the Council of Order on errands, so that he secretly controlled a large part of the forces at the bottom of the Council.

Although he was unwilling, after receiving the order summoned by Caesar, he still carried Sophia to the bed and covered her tightly, and after telling her to take her medicine on time, otherwise he would "punish" her as he had just done, Alexander kissed Sophia's wet forehead, which was already sweating, and then followed the servant out of the Marino Palace.

The streets were filled with white landscapes, which were supposed to be pleasing to the eye, but now they became unsettling, especially when he saw the frozen Tiber River reflecting the cold ice like a mirror in the gray sun, and Alexander knew that things might be much more serious than he thought.

Sure enough, when he saw Alexander, Caesar's face showed a slightly relieved expression for a moment.

"We need something for the winter," Caesar said in the first sentence, with a little anxiety and even a vague puff of rage, "perhaps you should not have been asked to sell all your grain to the French, but now it is our turn to face our own difficulties." ”

"The city of Rome is short of food?" Alexander looked at Caesar with some astonishment, he thought that this was a little incredible, although there was no such large production area as Agri near Rome, but the richness of the Lombard region and the convenient sea communication of the Tyrenian Sea could not have the dilemma of running out of food.

The main thing is that this is Rome!

Unlike when the French looted all the grain in the granary of Naples before leaving, Rome, as the holy place of Christendom, even the French king Charles, as the invader, did not destroy Rome in the slightest, so how could there be a shortage of food.

"It's not just food, it's a lot of things, and the whole of Rome is in trouble because of this heavy snowfall."

Caesar walked back and forth with some anxiety, saying that although he had always had extraordinary ambitions, and had received the priesthood from a very young age, and had become a cardinal at a young age, and even soon to be a cardinal, everything had been arranged for him by Alexander VI so far.

This is the first time that he has really been completely in charge of the orders.

"Alexander, we are short of food, we are short of vegetables, we are short of olive oil to illuminate, we are not even short of firewood for the winter, and no one expected that this snow would fall for so long, it is a disaster." Caesar said anxiously, "There are already houses that have been crushed by the snow and some people have died, and many roads outside the city of Rome have been blocked by heavy snow, and if these things are not solved soon, there may be riots." ”

Looking at Caesar's gloomy expression, Alexander knew in his heart that what Caesar was really worried about was not the loss of Rome caused by the snow disaster, but the riots.

Although the Council of Order seized control of most of Rome through the execution of the town hall, the French were clearly unwilling to give up their rule over Rome easily, so even the slightest mistake could be an excuse for the French to regain control of the city.

Caesar could not have given up his power, and unlike in the past, when he had created excuses for all kinds of riots, he was most concerned about how to make sure that the city was safe.

Now that several days of heavy snow had become the first problem he faced after "rule" the city of Rome, if he did not get out of the current predicament as soon as possible, not to mention that the French might find an excuse to take back the powers they had promised, there might be people within the Council of Order who would question his authority.

Caesar could not allow this to happen, not even a single call-up.

"We need to send people out of the city to collect those much-needed items, God, there are so many things you need for a winter besides food, I never knew there were so many things to do before," Caesar looked at Alexander, and saw that he was indeed listening to himself, and he touched the beard on his chin that had just become thicker, "Food, firewood, lamp oil, enough cotton and some cloth to make tents, these are the relief of those whose houses have been crushed by the snow and have no home." ”

As soon as Caesar began his work, he seemed to be the man who always had great faith in himself, and he began to issue orders incessantly, while at the same time revising some of the previous orders that had apparently become invalid due to several days of heavy snowfall.

Surprisingly, Caesar's memory was so good that he didn't even need to look through the archives of those orders from a long time ago, as long as it was all the documents he signed, he seemed to be able to remember.

And he also showed an unusually exuberant experience, working from day to evening when the current de facto ruler of the city of Rome worked non-stop, with little rest except for a cold lamb and a sweet soup.

Looking at Caesar who kept working, Alexander had to secretly admire in his heart, he knew that many people were hostile to Caesar's ambitions, and they were even more dissatisfied with Alexander VI for his son's position in the church, but Caesar was obviously not the kind of gentleman who only relied on returning to the stage to make a fortune everywhere, in fact, the first time he really faced a crisis, Caesar not only quickly calmed down, but also showed extraordinary wisdom and skill,

He decreed that all members of the Council of Order should be given responsibility for the areas under their jurisdiction, and even decreed the decision to temporarily proclaim the position of Tribune in ancient Roman times, and at the same time declared all members of the Council of Order to be Trojans, responsible for rescuing and maintaining order for the inhabitants of their respective districts.

It took only a few minutes for Caesar to say casually, "Perhaps, the Tribune," and only a few minutes before he announced that the order to establish the office would take effect, made Alexander realize that the seemingly helpless appearance he had shown before was a complete disguise.

It is clear that Caesar had already thought about what to do, and perhaps he had even figured out how to take advantage of this snow disaster to seize the control of the city of Rome more firmly.

"Alexander, we have a problem," Caesar, who was looking at a document that had just been delivered, said to Alexander, "and now we don't have enough firewood, and what's worse is that the road out of the city has been blocked by heavy snow, and we have just received a report," he leaned forward a little and lowered his voice, "There are two bridges leading to the Sonroni that have been broken by the snow last night," and Caesar explained in a low voice, "There is a coal mine on the mountain of the Sonroni Peak, which is the kind of black stone that can be burned. ”

Alexander nodded, he knew that few people in many continents today knew about coal, and even fewer knew about coal mines.

On the other hand, some of the outlying parts of England and northern Europe seem to have made use of coal earlier than Europeans in the south.

As for the coal mines on the mountain of Sanroni Peak, Alexander had heard of it.

As the first place to use coal in Europe, Italy has enough coking coal mines, and even the famous Milan armor is inseparable from the fact that the use of coal instead of firewood increases the temperature of the forging furnace fire and improves the strength of the armor.

Peak Sanroni is a well-known coal-producing area in central Italy.

"We'll have to send someone to open this way," Caesar said in a lower-voiced voice, looking at Alexander, "we must get in touch with the coalition forces, and I'm afraid the French might take advantage of this heavy snow to do something." ”

Alexander, a little bit as he had been, understood what Caesar meant.

Amazingly, there were fewer allied troops besieging Rome than the French, and the so-called siege was more of a symbol, and the armies of both sides sometimes faced off outside the city for a short time, and many traders even started to trade in the open space where the two armies faced each other.

This strange phenomenon persisted until the main French army was surrounded on the outskirts of Piedmont, when the French began to become a little flustered, and there was movement on the side of the coalition forces, and it was said that artillery was seen outside the city.

But now that the snow had blocked all roads, and it was no good time for the coalition forces outside the city to take the city, the situation began to turn in favor of the French.

"If the French want to sack the city of Rome at this time, it will be a good opportunity," a hint of melancholy flashed in Caesar's eyes, "Our Council of Order has just been formed, there are not many Roman nobles who are really armed, and my guards want to protect the Vatican." ”

Alexander knew that Caesar's words were true, and that his army was already having some difficulty protecting the Vatican, and that it was impossible to take care of the city of Rome on the other side of the Tiber River.

"So you're going to ask me to open the way?"

Alexander knew that since the words had already been spoken, there was no need for Caesar to find out for himself.

"I need your help," Caesar's eyes fixed on Alexander, "I would have preferred to do this task myself if I could, but now I can't do without Rome." ”

Alexander nodded, he knew what Caesar meant, and it was clear that opening this path was not only important for Rome, but that whoever completed this task would become a hero to the Romans besieged by the snowstorm.

If you think about it, you can see that the only member of the entire Council of Order who is suitable for this job is Alexander.

As for Giovanni or Geoffrey to do this, not to mention that the other Councillors of Order would have any scruples about the Borgia being too powerful, even Caesar might not be willing to see his two brothers do that.

Alexander, on the other hand, had no such scruples at all, because he was not a Roman, but a Neapolitan, or rather a Sicilian.

"Well, I'll go back and prepare for tomorrow's departure," Alexander continued, nodding his head in agreement, "but I need the Romans to bear the cost of this expedition for me, and I hope to receive the prize paid in the name of the Council of Order when I am well returned, knowing that the bravery of the Bohemians is proportional to their commission." ”

Alexander's request made Caesar smile slightly, and he was very satisfied with Alexander's attitude of treating it purely as a business.

Caesar did not know the phrase "no problem that can be solved with money is not a problem", but he was happy to see such a simple and pragmatic relationship between him and Alexander.

As for whether this young man who has just walked out will become the second Sforza, Caesar has not yet considered this issue.