For the Florentine, the "family" of the Count of Montina came unexpectedly and went suddenly.

While many citizens were still unclear which dignitaries were visiting Florence, Alexander had already escorted Lucrezia's mother and son out of Florence with the hunting guards.

A negotiation that is long, as in the Balkans and the Ottomans, is short in time and heavy in task, but can still be completed on time with quality and quantity, not so much as the result of the efforts of both sides, but because the situation compels it.

The Florentines were now pressed very hard, but the situation was not yet so imminent, at least they thought so, so that although they were annoyed by Alexander's aggressive conditions, they did not dare to openly oppose them, but they were able to delay it for various reasons, such as the need to convene a parliamentary assembly, the need to make known all the Florentine citizens who were entitled to know all this, and so on.

Alexander didn't have that much time to listen to their procrastination in these red tapes, and the exact status of the two cities in the Duchy of Pisa and Florence did need to be carefully negotiated, so after leaving the two officials who had come with Lucrezia to continue to fight with the Florentines, he himself left Florence with the hunting guards and Lucrezia.

Estelles was evidently fond of traveling in carriages, so her merry laughter never ceased, but Lucrezia was a little distracted, and from time to time she looked at her daughter, then at the maid next to her, and then at Alexander, and her eyes were almost as obvious as if she had already spoken.

It's just that she obviously didn't think it through when she came, so she only took one carriage with her, and when she left Florence, she was in too much of a hurry, and she was really embarrassed to let the maid take her daughter to another carriage, so the four of them were crammed into one carriage.

What made Lucrezia angry was that Alexander didn't seem to care much about the stares she kept casting, his attention was on his daughter, he kept teasing Estles, whenever he saw his daughter being amused to giggle and laugh, Alexander happily kept asking the two women next to him: "Look at her is very beautiful, there must be no more beautiful little girl in this world than her." ”

Lucrezia turned her head out of the car in annoyance, she felt that she had been completely left out, Alexander asked the Gompati to bring her a letter and let her rush to Florence overnight not to see her at all, but only to see his daughter, and to use her to put pressure on Florence, which made Lucrezia suddenly feel that she had lost her charm for Alexander.

The carriage was approaching the fork in the road, and this was the place of separation, and Lucrezia felt a congestion in her heart, and she patted the board with her hand with some annoyance, and the maid hurriedly beckoned the coachman to slow down.

The lush woods on the side of the road slowly passed by, summer had arrived, and there was life everywhere, but Lucrezia was not in such a good mood, she leaned back in her chair in frustration and looked at the green world outside.

"Stop." Alexander suddenly ordered, and Schell, who was following the car, immediately urged his horse forward and signaled to the coachman who had not yet reacted.

The carriage stopped at the side of the road, and Alexander carefully handed his daughter, who was already a little sleepy, to the maid, and then took Lucrezia by the hand and stepped out of the car.

"From here, it's the way to Pisa." Alexander hugged Lucrezia, who was a little stubborn and refused to snuggle in his arms, and smiled at the familiar scent of lavender on her body, saying that Lucrezia liked the smell of lavender, so Alexander had ordered many lavender perfumes of different light and heavy concentrations to be made especially for her, and these perfumes were filled with beautiful bottles, because some of them were also beautifully dyed, but the appearance looked quite pleasing to the eye.

It's just that what has always made Alexander a little strange is that Lucrezia likes the lighter smell of lavender, but he has always been thought that Barendi doesn't care much about these things, and is only more interested in how much it is worth, but prefers those perfumes that exude a rich and seductive scent, and then think about Barendi's appearance that although her face is ordinary, her figure is also very "ordinary", and when he is alone with her, he bursts out with surprising enthusiasm and even madness, Alexander can only sigh that people are really unseemly.

"Are you leaving?" Lucrezia asked coldly.

"There's a lot to do, so I can't go to Pisa for the time being," Alexander said helplessly, putting his finger on Lucrezia's chin and looking at her aggrieved look, "but you don't look at me like this, because I've decided to let you accompany me to fulfill it." ”

Lucrezia's face showed surprise, she obviously didn't expect this to be the case, she was a little stunned instinctively looked back at the carriage, and then shook her head at a loss: "But we only brought a little something, Estelles has to prepare a lot of things when she wants to go out, she has to bring the toffee she likes to eat, she has to have more change of clothes, and she has to bring more than one nanny, do you know how much she can eat, a nanny's milk is not enough for her to eat." ”

Listening to Lucrezia use all kinds of excuses to cover up the fact that his cheeks were already red and feverish because of the excitement, Alexander couldn't help but feel a little funny, he had been paying attention to Lucrezia's indignant expression along the way, which reminded him of her unwilling but helpless look when the two of them were forced to flee together after kidnapping her.

It seemed like a long time ago, when no one would have imagined that they would have a lovely daughter.

"Everything is ready, do you think I sent Gompati back to Pisa just to tell you to come to Florence?" Alexander said as he picked up Lucrezia and walked towards the woods, the road was too hot, standing in the shade of the trees, Alexander looked at the group that was temporarily resting, "We are going on a trip, just you and me and our daughter." ”

"And where are we going?" Lucrezia didn't feel any cooler, but rather hotter, for she noticed Alexander's hand on her back sliding gently.

"Go to Rome," a hint of determination flashed in Alexander's eyes, "do you know why I want to go to Bucharest?" ”

Lucrezia's head, which had become a little dizzy because of the intimacy of the people around her, instantly turned cold, she looked at Alexander as if she had misheard, and after confirming that he did ask this, her expression couldn't help but be slightly cold, "Isn't it because of a princess in distress?" ”

Listening to Lucrezia's slightly negative rhetorical question, Alexander just smiled, everyone thought so, even those closest to him, so Alexander knew that although this expedition had given him extraordinary prestige and huge benefits unimaginable to others, there were still many people who doubted it.

But Alexander didn't care about this, his goal had been achieved, and now it was time to harvest.

"Believe me, Lucrezia, you'll soon find out why I'm going to Bucharest, and I'm sure even your father will be amazed by it." As he spoke, Alexander suddenly pulled hard, pulling Lucrezia, who had not had time to react, to the back of a tree, looking at the woman who was already flushed and gasping, he first smiled, and then began to slowly taste the sweet food in front of him.

Lucrezia's fears were unwarranted, and at noon a small group of men came from the direction of Pisa to meet Alexander's party, and they brought not only enough snacks for Mademoiselle Duke, a diaper change, a well-stocked wet nurse, and, above all, a carriage for men, but also a whole cart of things that Mademoiselle Duchess's parents might need, including a large tent and comfortable sleeping mats, blankets, and incense necessary for camping. In addition, Gompati ordered a single bath bucket made of wood, a skill he had learned from the Balkans, and all kinds of kitchen utensils for a grand picnic dinner, among other things.

These arrangements made Alexander very satisfied with Gompati's ability to do things, and in Lucrezia's eyes, the soldier she remembered as only fiddling with cannons seemed to have the potential to replace the long-lost governor of the court of Ulius.

This was mainly due to the fact that Uliu had gone to Montina to serve the so-called Countess of Montina, which was of course a betrayal in Lucrezia's eyes.

Uliu didn't know that she had been put on her little blacklist by Lucrezia, in fact, there were not many people who could be hated by Lucrezia in the first place, and she was not a powerful woman like Barendi, so the people who could make her hate naturally not panic all day long.

However, despite this, Lucrezia had secretly made up her mind to drive Ulius away from her as soon as she found a suitable candidate, and it was better not to see the molish Moorish talent again.

Of course, Ulliu did not know that his errand at Lucrezia's side was about to fail, he was very busy now, and now in addition to his own subsistence work, he was also Leonardo da Vinci's personal assistant, that is, the kind that only worked without pay, not because the master was stingy, but because the master himself was now a little strapped for money.

Ludvikos Forza was a patron with a great passion for the arts, and he now had a large number of artists under his command, and these famous masters from all over the world all reached out to the owner for money, which made everyone have much less money to get in their hands, and the current situation forced Ludviko to invest so much money in the bottomless pit of patronage of the arts, which was neither rewarding nor improving the strength of his army, so the life of the artists was not easy.

And Leonardo da Vinci and Ludvico's private treasurer, Gio Comte, became enemies again, which made Leonardo da Vinci suffer a big loss.

Geo Comte despised Leonardo da Vinci's arrogance, and Leonardo da Vinci hated the bullying of this half-Moorish fellow, so although his friends Brother Pacioli and Zorro Astro repeatedly advised him not to fight the villain, da Vinci could not help but complain.

Even in the presence of Ludvico's mistress, Madame Salmatelli, he made no secret of his dislike for that Gio Comte.

Ulliu had heard of Leonardo da Vinci's bad temper from the beginning, but it wasn't until he became his personal assistant that he realized why many people admired his artistic achievements and at the same time declared that they were unwilling to work for him anymore.

Obviously, Leonardo da Vinci had a sensitivity to art that is difficult for others to reach, but he also had stricter and even more demanding requirements.

Therefore, whether it is color mixing or smoking, even the slightest negligence will be scolded by the master to the blood, and sometimes even a little noise made by inadvertently will cause him to be furious.

There were many reasons why Leonardo da Vinci was so irritable because of the injustice he had received, or thought he had, and he blamed all of this on Ludvico's private treasurer, which made the relationship even more strained.

Later, even Madame Salmatelli could not stop him from breaking down the already tense relationship by speaking ill of Gioconte.

Perhaps because his mother was a Moorish, Gio Comte was very sensitive, and he could easily detect the hostility of those who did not like or even dislike him, and because he was trusted to control Ludvico's private treasury, Gio Comte was accustomed to being carefully complimented to him, but the more so, the more Da Vinci's bad attitude towards him made Gio Comte angry.

Uliu has been waiting for the opportunity, he firmly remembered what the master told him before that he could not use rough methods against those two people unless he had to do so, so during this time he has been dutifully playing the role of a "good Moor", which made him not only appreciated by Brother Pacioli, but even rarely appreciated by Leonardo da Vinci, the master once said with a little regret, "If you are not a Moor, I really want to take you as a student." ”

Even Gio Comte had a good impression of the Moorish youth, as evidenced by his private advice to Ulriu to "leave that self-righteous fellow", and although Gio Comte had to admit that Leonardo da Vinci was indeed very talented, it seemed to him that Ulliu had no future in working for the conceited and arrogant master.

And Madame Salmatelli was also very fond of this clever Moorish lad, for he had made some small suggestions to her on the design of the room, which, though not very important, happened to impress women who liked elegance and perfection.

Even once, when Leonardo da Vinci went to see Ludvik with his new work, he saw Ulliu carefully holding the portrait, and Ludviko asked casually: "Master, is this your very clever Moorish boy who rarely satisfies you?" ”

All in all, Ulius mixed well in Milan.

But all these seemingly peaceful and comfortable days have changed since June.

Regarding the news that Alexander has returned to Italy, Ulliu has known it through the Chamber of Commerce in Milan before, and now many chambers of commerce in Milan have almost become an important tool for him to dredge up information, many merchants do not mind bringing some news or sending letters to others when transporting goods, it would be better if they could get something in return, so although Ulliu was in Milan, his news was not closed, and he also learned from the news from France that the situation had become more and more tense.

Especially after entering June, various rumors that the French could invade at any time sent Milan into a panic.

Some wealthy people sold their possessions and took refuge in farms in the countryside, while Milanese who could not escape began to snap up food, salt and all the other foods that could be stored for a long time, and many condiments were snapped up for curing meat and preserving it for a long time becoming more expensive than ever.

Some merchants took advantage of the opportunity to keep the price down, and then bought a large number of expensive furniture, porcelain, and expensive woolen carpets or beautifully woven tapestries from the hands of those who were in a hurry to get rid of them at very low prices.

The panic of the Milanese people inevitably affected Leonardo da Vinci, who had come to Milan because he wanted to be appreciated and funded, and because he was still worried about the turmoil caused by the invasion of Charles VIII that had occurred only a few years earlier, da Vinci and his friends could not help but worry about where they would escape the war in the future.

After much deliberation, Leonardo da Vinci gathered his friends, including Brother Pacioli and Zorro Astro, as well as a few rare students and assistants who could be eye-catching, and Ulliu seemed to be among them.

"We have to get out of Milan," Leonardo da Vinci said as soon as he opened his mouth as he did without bothering to find reasons for himself, "there may be a war, we have to stay away." ”

Everyone agreed with the master's suggestion, in fact, during this time, because of the panic of the people, some people had already planned to leave here, but now that Da Vinci said it, these people felt that they had more or less backbone, after all, the master must be more reliable than them in terms of fame and reputation and social relations.

"But where are we going?" One student asked with some concern, "It's not peaceful everywhere right now." ”

"We can go to Bologna," Leonardo da Vinci seemed to suddenly make up his mind, "I have a friend in Bologna, and he has always wanted me to go to him, but you know that it is the territory of the Pope, and I am not very suitable to stay in that kind of place," Da Vinci said and shrugged helplessly, "but now it seems that only there is the safest, unless we are willing to go to Rome or further afield, then Bologna is the most suitable." ”

"Or we can go to Florence," said Zoro Astro suddenly, and though he noticed the warning glance that Brother Pacioli immediately threw at him, the blacksmith stubbornly continued, "Master, you should know that the Florentines have always treated you with great respect, and that Lorenzo de Medici felt sorry for it when he left Florence. ”

"But he didn't keep me in the end," Leonardo da Vinci said with a heavy face, "Zorro Astro, I know that you have always been upset that I was not taken seriously in Florence, but I have really forgotten those unhappiness, you must know that my work in Milan over the years is enough to prove my achievements, there is no need to go back to Florence in person to let those people worship, and Florence is not peaceful now, we have to find a safe place for ourselves." ”

"Then there is only Bologna, which is under the patronage of the Pope after all." Brother Pasioli thought for a moment and said, "But have you already decided to resign to the Duke?" ”

Hearing the monk ask, Leonardo da Vinci showed a hint of chagrin on his face.

"I'm also worried about this, knowing that if he openly leaves Milan now, it may anger Ludvico, you know that he is not a very tolerant person, not to mention that Gio Comte, he will definitely slander in front of the duke."

Da Vinci's worries several people couldn't help but fall into a dilemma, they knew that the master's worries were not unreasonable, Ludvikos Forza was not a magnanimous benefactor, it can be said that if he faced Lorenzo de Medici, Da Vinci didn't have to worry about retaliation at all, but Ludviko obviously didn't have such a broad mind.

"Maybe I have a way, I can get people out of Milan quietly." Uliu, who had been sitting in silence in the corner, suddenly spoke, his dark and clever eyes flashing with a flexible light, but the people in the room did not notice the greedy eyes of a fox looking at his prey as his gaze swept over them.