A small group of emissaries, escorted by a small group of Montina soldiers, consisting of Kotschach and several of his officers and a clerk in charge of the records, entered the city at dusk.

The chief palace minister looked a little embarrassed when he entered the city, the heavy snow for several days made the road extremely difficult to walk, and the palace minister, who did not take the carriage because he was in a hurry, struggled with the wind and snow all the way, and when they finally reached Pavia, the palace minister looked like a down-and-out refugee rather than a noble messenger.

Letting the hem of the torn tattered robe sway back and forth on the road, Kotschach snatched the hot ginger wine brought to him by one of his attendants and drank it in one gulp, and as the hot drink poured into his throat, the palace minister first blushed and shivered, and then let out a "hum" in his nose that he didn't know whether it was pain or comfort.

Hot sweat quickly seeped out from under his skin, making Kotschach's face look refreshed and red, and it was only then that he exhaled as if he had escaped from hell.

"Where is the Count?" The palace minister asked the guards in front of him dissatisfiedly, as the emperor's envoy, Alexander's attitude towards him was obviously a little rude, because even if Alexander himself did not come to greet him personally, as the lieutenant of the Count of Montina, Ofleiil should also be responsible for receiving his arrival, but now he saw only one guard who brought them hot ginger wine.

Of course, this made Kotschach very dissatisfied, and the court minister would not be upset if it was Ulliu who came to greet him, but it was clear that the Count of Montina did not seem to take the emperor's envoy seriously.

"My lord, the Earl is at the University of Pavia." The guard, who had an odd tone, closed his mouth and let Kotschach ask no more questions.

This could not help but make Kotschach, who was originally very confident, a little worried about his trip to Pavia.

According to Kotschakh's idea, with his special relationship with Alexander, he thought that he would be able to persuade Alexander to reach a compromise between him.

Kotschach thought this way, not naively thinking that the friendship between the two would be enough to impress Alexander, but that he believed that the key to truly convincing Alexander was the relationship between the two parties.

And it was precisely because he was Alexander's business partner that he was more aware of the great potential of the trade alliance that had gradually coalesced among the German city-states centered on Frankfurt in recent years, which made Kotschach think that Alexander could not easily give up his interests in the gain or loss of such a huge amount of wealth.

So Kotschach thought that it would not be difficult to convince Alexander, and perhaps he might have made some conditions that would not please the emperor, but even then none of this would be anything compared to the capture of Milan and the war of the French.

Instead, Kotschach was not worried about Alexander, but about whether the emperor would accept his offers.

But now it seems that things are not so simple, and it is clear that Alexander was not interested in his arrival, or at least not in a hurry, in contrast to the eagerness of Maximian I.

And the negotiation is precisely who is more patient.

Now, it seems, Alexander seems to have taken the initiative.

While thinking so, Kotschach anxiously thought about countermeasures, saying that his trip was not only to undertake the mission of the emperor, but also to have a lot to do with himself.

If no agreement can be reached, the Emperor is likely to seize Milan at all costs, which is not what Kotschach wants, because it will not only damage his relationship with Alexander, but will also likely lead the Emperor to take harsh measures against the free trade alliance in Germany, which will obviously be detrimental to the interests of the Kotschach family, even if the city-states will resist it out of their own interests, but the damage caused by that is enough to make people feel heartache.

But now Alexander refused to even see him, which made Kotschach secretly annoyed, but at the same time, he was helpless.

And the officials he brought with him were already furious because of Alexander's arrogance, and they questioned the guard loudly, and then some people simply cursed loudly in very vulgar language, but I don't know if they didn't understand it at all or because of what, but the guard just watched them silently with a black face, until Kotschach stopped talking.

"Tell Count Montina that I wish to meet him as soon as possible, and that ...... is at stake," said Kotschach, who seemed to ponder the words, before he said very seriously, "that the future between the two countries is at stake." ”

The guard remained silent, but his expression was a little better, and he nodded in understanding, then took a step back, stiffly bent in a salute, and then turned and walked out of the room.

As soon as the guard had left, several officers gathered around him, each of them with a look of astonishment on their faces, as if Kotschach had just said something that made them feel disobedient.

"My lord, you just mentioned the two countries?"

An official asked cautiously, and with him starting, several other people immediately began to ask questions one after another, and even questioned.

"My lord, is this a slip of the tongue?"

"I think you should call that guard back at once, and tell him solemnly that you were careless in what you just said."

"Yes, that's too bad, that person must be stopped as soon as possible, otherwise those words may cause an unexpected misunderstanding if they reach the Count of Montina."

Several of the officials in the retinue said angrily, their faces full of anxiety, and for a moment they seemed to have forgotten the identity of the person in front of them.

"Watch what you say and do, my lords."

Kotschach's face sank, although the Kotschach family has always been a famous family in Austria, but this family has never been able to become a part of the most important part of Vienna, this is because the Kotschach family was the leader of the rebellion against Maximian's father Frederick III in the early years, so when Frederick III finally won the victory and turned the Duchy of Austria into a grand duchy, the Kotschach family was swept away from the court.

Now Frederick III has long since passed away, and Kotschach has once again become an important minister in front of Maximian I, but in the eyes of many people, the Kotschach family is obviously still not the most noble family in Austria, so when there is a chance to question him, those officials do not shrink because of his status.

"I must remind you that you are questioning the Emperor's aides and those who write for him." Kotschakh's words made the arrogance of the officials not help but restrain slightly, as he said that the palace minister is the emperor's minister, but also his secretary, adviser and assistant, and the chief palace minister is the emperor's agent, looking at Kotschakh's gloomy face, several people closed their mouths and lowered their heads slightly.

"I'll find a way to see Count Montina, and as for your Guingamp's slip of the tongue, do you think that Count Montina's declaration is just his own wishful thinking?"

The officials looked at each other in astonishment, they didn't know for a moment how to understand the words of the palace minister, but Kotschach, who looked at them with a suspicious look, shook his head slightly, he walked to the window and looked at the heavy snow outside, and his already frowning brows were about to twist into a pimple.

"It's snowing again, when will the weather get better?"

Sitting in front of a hearth, looking at the burning wood in the firepit, Gina Brigitte muttered to herself with a little worry.

It had been snowing heavily outside for days, and she remembered that it had been snowing since Montina's army entered the city of Pavia, and it had been a few days now, but the weather had not improved.

Montina's army wore thick winter clothes, which looked bulky but warm, and it was hard to imagine that the army could wear armor in such weather, after all, the slightest bare skin could stick to the armor.

After being convinced, Gina finally walked out of the dissection room that had been held for two days, in fact she was almost unable to hold on, and if it weren't for the hot soup and hot meals every day, she might have to surrender to the enemy after spending a day there.

Gina is not a dull and inflexible person, nor is she one of those nerd fools who reads books, on the contrary, she is very clever, and even her deliberate occupation of the dissection room is only to get Alexander's attention, because only then will it be possible to solve the problem she is about to face.

Now that the trouble has been solved, she naturally does not want to suffer that sin again.

Simply moving a university is no easy task, and even before Alexander's crude and simplistic approach of "having money to do whatever you want", a move involving a historic university can be daunting.

But Alexander had already thought of the simplest, but most effective, way to do it.

According to Alexander's instructions, the demolition captain Ofleiyi and his subordinates first began to count the personnel of the University of Pavia, they were not in a hurry to count the piles of books and literature, but first found out those who were familiar with the affairs of their own discipline from the teachers and students of the university, and after gathering them to form a "Relocation Committee of the University of Pavia", Ofleiyi began to deal with the teachers who either refused to leave or were distracted.

The simplicity and brutality of the rich make things really simple, and looking at the Montina soldiers who are polite and always wielding gold coins on the surface, but in fact display sharp weapons from time to time, many people finally choose silence and obedience.

"It's that simple," Alexander said to Gina, who was sitting across the fire, "It's hard for anyone to really stick to their creed against an opponent with a sword in one hand and a gold coin in the other," and he smiled at Gina, "Of course I'm not completely unkind, at least I'll help those who reach out to me." ”

Gina looked back at Alexander with a calm expression, unimpressed by the hint in his words, and after a while she suddenly said: "I hope you can tell that Busako so that he doesn't have any unrealistic thoughts about me anymore, I don't choose to satisfy myself with learning because love is something unattainable, as my father's daughter, if I wanted to marry one of his proud disciples as early as 2 years ago, I chose celibate only because I like to read and like what I'm learning now, Love is such a waste of time and life for me, after all, life is so short, but there are so many things to learn. ”

Alexander listened attentively, and then he nodded solemnly.

Everyone has the right to choose the future of their life, even if reality often does not satisfy this desire, but this pursuit is worthy of respect.

Gina Brigitte's desire to learn and explore the unknown world is her right, and her choice to be celibate is the price she is willing to pay for her ideals.

Alexander looked at Gina's ordinary face with a slight distraction, and he could not help but admit that at this moment he even had a little reverence for this young woman, a brave and resilient woman, such a person often makes people gradually ignore her appearance, origin, and even gender, and instead turn their eyes to the great discoveries she has made.

It is also such people, with the advent of the new era, more and more will emerge, and they will become the key to dragging this continent out of the long chaos and darkness, and then singing all the way to a new era full of light.

"Go to Florence," Alexander said calmly to Gina, "although it is very close to the Vatican, I promise that no one will disturb you, you can do your research quietly, and my only condition is that I have the right to know about all your research, and if you have any results, I have the right to bid first." ”

Gina listened quietly, she was not surprised by Alexander's conditions, it seemed that she had known that there would be such a result, and then she shook her head: "I can't make decisions about this, you must know that I am only a student, and I am also an international student, according to the previous contract between the two parties, I can only study at the University of Pavia for one year, so you should talk to the university officials about this." ”

Alexander didn't look disappointed by Gina's words, he just smiled disapprovingly, and then prepared to say something else.

Just then, there was a knock on the door from the outside.

Listening to the knock on the door, Alexander had a strange look on his face, because he heard that the person who knocked on the door was obviously very careful, the voice was neither high nor low, the rhythm was neither fast nor slow, but he was afraid that the voice would be too low for the people inside to hear, and if it was loud, he was worried that it might disturb the interest of what was going on inside.

It can be said that this knock on the door is really quite exquisite.

"Come in." Alexander deliberately waited for a while before responding, he did this so that the atmosphere would not become embarrassing and uncontrollable, just think that if he opened his mouth to respond immediately, but it took a while for the people outside to open the door and enter the house, Alexander felt that even he would feel a fever on his face.

As the words fell, Schell pushed the door and walked in, and saw the two people sitting there across the fire, the chief guard walked to Alexander's side with a calm face, bent down and whispered in the earl lord's ear: "My lord, the palace minister has already made arrangements, but he seems to be very dissatisfied with not seeing you." ”

"Oh." Alexander listened to the report of the chief of the guard and responded quietly, until he heard Sher relay Kotschakh's words, and his otherwise calm face finally showed a clear hint of excitement.

"That's what the palace minister said?"

"Yes." Schell handed Alexander a piece of paper, "This is the words of the palace that our scribe recorded, and that's what he said." ”

Alexander quickly took the piece of paper from Schell's hand, although the chief of the guard was loyal, he was obviously not up to the important duty of conveying the intentions of the palace minister, so someone specially copied the words of Kotschach at that time, looking at the above sentence "This is related to the future between the two countries", the corners of Alexander's mouth were slightly raised, showing a knowing smile.

It is clear that Maximian I has shown his bargaining chips, or rather a promise to Alexander, although this promise may have been just a delaying ploy by the Emperor to alleviate his current embarrassing situation, and Alexander did not need to secure his status in exchange for the Emperor's recognition, but this recognition was clearly a good start.

The master of Romagna-Tuscany, the monarch recognized by the Holy Roman Emperor, reminded Alexander of Ludvico Sforza.

That man was also recognized by Maximian as the Duke of Milan, but he did not escape the fate of being imprisoned for life by the French king.

Alexander couldn't help but smile at the thought of this, he knew that this was a condition that the emperor had put forward in order to compromise him, in exchange for recognizing his dominion over the two places, hoping that he would give up Milan, and perhaps when it came time to negotiate, he would also ask him to join the Holy Alliance against Louis XII.

Alexander stood up and walked towards the door, pondering the Emperor's tricks, and as he walked down the circular corridor through the campus to the doorway in front of the university, as the gate opened, a bitter cold wind greeted him, and at the same time, large snowflakes piled up on the top edge of the gate fell like an avalanche and landed on Alexander's head and shoulders, and some of them made him shiver because they had burrowed into the collar.

"It's snowy." Standing in front of the University of Pavia, Alexander looked up at the sky, overhead, the heavy clouds of lead gray, and there was no moonlight, not a single star, only a heavy snow that seemed to never stop, as if it was about to cover the whole world.

"It's snowy!"

Alexander said again, this time his voice was loud, more like a shout, and at the same time he opened his arms, as if to embrace the snowstorm, but his voice was muffled by the snow, and no one except the people around him heard him shout.

"Sher," Alexander suddenly turned back to the chief of the guard beside him, "and send someone to tell Ofreil that it was time for him to go." ”

On 11 January 1500, an army of Montina, led by the marching captain Ofleuil, marched to Monza.