There are always some people who will not be easily bribed, because of honor, faith, or simply because of not giving a high bid code.

However, Kotschach believes that the Marquis of Baden is not listed.

And the facts also proved that he was not wrong.

Most of the Marquis of Baden's property was related to his businesses, and the benefits in the territory were obviously unable to meet his needs.

And not only him, many Austrian nobles, like the marquis, had close relationships with the trade unions.

And as the Marquis of Baden was concerned, the trading posts established by the French in Atlantic coastal cities did threaten the interests of these Austrian nobles far inland Europe.

Even Maximian himself did not know whether he had any entanglements with those omnipresent chambers of commerce, and whether these chambers of commerce were closely related to the free trade alliance became a mystery.

Kotschach met Maximian one afternoon a few days later. He did not care about Maximian's deliberate neglect, but knew that the more this happened, the more it actually means that Maximian cared about this meeting.

They will be deliberately neglected because Maximian hopes to gain more benefits from the subsequent bargaining.

What Maximian didn't expect was that Gong Xiang, who was dismissed by him, not only did he look at the slightest disappointment, but on the contrary, he looked better and his waist was straighter, with a hint of pride and red face.

Maximian looked at Kotschach silently and saluted him as before, but then the former palace star straightened up and looked at the emperor opposite him seriously.

"Prince of the Palace, I have to say that I didn't expect to see you again like this," Maximian's face was deep. No matter what the Fugel family had intended, the former Patriarch has become a lobbyist for others. With the knowledge of Kotschach working by his side for many years, Maximian cannot help but think that this person is a very difficult negotiating opponent. "So what have you brought to me?"

"It's your Majesty," Kotschach disregarded Maximian's coldness. He had long thought of being treated coldly, but the more he did so, the more he believed that the emperor was actually looking forward to this meeting in his heart. "I brought what you need."

"So you know what I need?" Maximian looked at Cotschach with disdain. "I have to remind you that during the years when you were loyal to me, your performance disappointed me, and I lost my errand because you didn't do well enough. So how could you think I would believe you."

"You don't need to believe me, but you just need to believe your own judgment," Kotschach smiled at Maximian. "You must have heard from the Marquis of Baden about the suggestions made by the brothers Jacob Fugel to you?"

Seeing Maximian nodding but not speaking, Kotschach continued: "Those who just make sure that all of our business will not suffer losses. After all, the French are coming in a fierce manner and they also want to share a piece of cake in the European market."

"Then are you lobbyists for their business?"

"Of course not. In addition to business, I have another suggestion here, which was proposed by the Duke of Roman Thesia. The Duke believes that this suggestion should be enough to prove his sincerity for peace."

“What is it?”

Maximian did not question the authenticity of Cotschach's words, nor was he angry that his former palace was so close to the enemy.

Instead, I directly want to know what the other party brought to him that would interest him.

In fact, the emperor was still somewhat grateful that Kotschach, a middleman who was not very conspicuous but must be quite reliable.

The situation on both sides of Austria is really not optimistic. The Bohemia and Wallachians in the east are ready to move. Although the French in the West have not shown a full-scale intervention, the French troops stationed in Genoa are approaching Milan.

No one can guarantee whether the French will take Milan in the chaos.

At this time, Kotschach suddenly brought news about the Duke of Roman Thesia, which made Maximian feel a glimmer of hope.

He hopes to solve the crisis in Milan and keep his in-laws busy in Iberia, but now it seems that the first thing he needs to solve is the troubles he encounters.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Romethecia believes that another meeting can be held on the issue of Milan."

"Meeting?

"Yes, the Duke agreed to rethink his attitude on the Milan issue, but he hopes you will also show enough sincerity."

Maximian thought secretly that he knew that Alexander deliberately drew a boundary in the south of Lombardy and divided Italy into two halves, with the intention of attracting him and Louis XII to continue to conflict for Milan.

And he himself reaped profits from it.

This can be seen from his brother-in-law who supported him that the Duke of Milan was declared.

But even though he knew, Maximian could not retreat. He would never tolerate Milan falling into the hands of others, especially the French, who was his old enemy.

In addition to the wealth of the Lombardy region, there is also an important reason that he must not ignore, that is, Lombardy is too close to Rome.

The Habsburg family has served as the Holy Roman Emperor for several generations. Although there have been brief transfers among them, the title of emperor has almost been revolving around the power of the Habsburg family for nearly a century.

So they have gradually regarded the title of emperor as their own private property.

But if the French occupied Milan and then ruled the entire Lombardy, the French's influence on the Vatican would inevitably expand a lot. By then, any French king could easily march into Rome and then pass the election of the Holy See emperor.

This was a result that Maximian could never accept, so even though he knew that the Duke of Romanthesia had no good intentions, under the greed of such French people, he had to insist on seizing Milan's rule.

The unexpected news brought by Kotschach now made Maximian feel a little hopeful.

However, the emperor still looked gloomy on his face, and at the same time, he said to Kotschach with a little dissatisfaction: "What, it's just a negotiation?"

"Your Majesty, you know that the Duke is the supporter of his brother, Constantine de la Rover of Ferrara became the Duke of Milan," Kotschach was unmoved by the obvious displeasure of the emperor. "I know to you, the Duke is to his family," Gong Xiang pondered the words "Well, I care very much."

Maximian looked at Kotschach with a deep face. Of course, he was very ridiculous about how ridiculous these words of his family were, but I think this should be the conditions of the Duke of Roman Thesia.

"If so, I can consider compensating Constantine, but if they really want to negotiate, they must first clearly declare the so-called right to the Duke of Milan."

Kotschach nodded silently, he knew that this was actually what Maximian was hinting at his request, but Kotschach did not intend to negotiate with the emperor immediately.

In the following days, Kotschach became more active.

Although many people had known that he had returned to Vienna, he was only half openly interacting with those familiar nobles. After meeting Maximian, he started to move among the nobles in Vienna without any concern.

During this period, news about Italy came from time to time.

What surprised the Austrians was that after crossing the dividing line, the Romanesian army quickly advanced northward. When their western legions finally stopped after occupying Paveia, they did not rest on the spot. Instead, after leaving a small number of troops to monitor the Austrian defenders in Milan, the western legions suddenly turned around and approached head-on towards the Venetian army entering Lombardy.

At this time, whether it was Maximian, who was far away in Vienna or Louis XII who received this information soon, they finally realized that the target of the Romans was the Venetians!

Since the Venetian general Pitti Rino severely damaged the French army led by Charles VIII in the Battle of Fornovo a few years ago, which led to the depressed French people who invaded Italy and had to retreat in a mess, although the Venetians had participated in several wars later, they were not as glorious as Pitti Rino at the time.

Moreover, Venice's luck in recent years was obviously quite unhappy. The successive failures at sea had already made them lose their last overseas colonies. The shrinking trade and the loss of territory made Venice gradually become a little staggering and struggling from its former wealth and prosperity.

At the same time, the forces of the new and old governors were fighting each other, and Venice, with many factions in the aristocratic courtyard, was constantly wasting the wealth and opportunities that their ancestors had given them to them for centuries.

The Venetians are now extremely difficult to even walk out of the Adriatic Sea, which makes the nobles dissatisfied, the merchants dissatisfied, and the ordinary Venetians dissatisfied.

They need an opportunity to vent all their dissatisfactions, and at the same time, they also need to show the strength of Venice to the outside world as soon as possible.

Obviously there is no more war than that.

It happened that the Romanesians destroyed the treaty they had proposed and invaded Lombardy.

The new Governor Leonardo Rollet proposed the proposal to dare to Lombard in this atmosphere and emotion that everyone in Venice needs a war.

It was proposed to support Leonardo Rollet's adventure by almost unanimous vote. At the same time, in order to demonstrate support for this military dispatch, the House of Nobles decided to award Leonardo Rollet the title of "General".

However, the Governor, who is over 70 years old, does not have to go to the battlefield in person. He is a general named Rondoba Barbarig.

This man is the nephew of the old deceased old Barbarig, and now the Barbarig family is regarded as hope for revitalizing the family status.

However, although he did rely on his uncle's elegance, Rondoba Barbarig was not useless.

He once participated in the Fornovo Battle of Pittiruno to defeat the French. At that time, he was one of the captains of the four combat squads under Pittiruno, and his performance in the battle was quite extraordinary.

What made Rondoba Barbarig the deepest battle against Fornovo was not the battle process and how to win.

On the contrary, what he could never forget was the difficulty of Pittiliou after returning to Venice.

Although he won the victory, the casualties of the Venetians in the battle made the nobles extremely annoyed. When he heard that the losses of 2,000 people in the Venetians were as high as 2,000, Pittirino was severely rebuked by the nobles.

Rondoba Barbarig once privately asked his uncle to speak out for his commander, but Barbarig told him sternly: "Venice can no longer afford such a huge loss."

At that time, Rondoba Barbarig did not understand the meaning of his uncle. But a few years later, when he became a general of the Venetian army, he finally understood the meaning of his uncle's words.

When an army of less than 6,000 people was handed over, he remembered the strange look of many members of the House of Nobles when they decided to accept Leonardo Rollet's suggestion and appoint him as commander-in-chief of the Venetian front.

6,000 people, which was all the troops that the Governor of Venice and the House of Nobles could give him. Not only did he need to use this army to deal with the invading Romanesian army, but he also needed to establish effective defenses in the lower reaches of the Po River.

Rondoba Barbarig felt that his current situation was too far from Pitti Rino at the time. When Pitti Rino was approaching, he was facing the French army, which was far inferior to the strength and morale. What he wanted to deal with was an army that had defeated the Ottomans and was strong because of the newly established country.

So while deciding to divide the army into two groups and send 3,000 people to march towards Lombardy, Rondoba Barbarig, despite the opposition of his generals, left his other half of his troops near the lower reaches of the Po River to prevent possible invasions by the Romanesian army.

However, this decision was not only opposed by many people under his command, but when he heard the news, the Venetian Noble House sent people to the front line to express his strong dissatisfaction with his actions to Rondoba Barbarig.

"We can use not many troops originally. The Venetian government cannot send more troops while restoring the navy with all its might. Your division of troops will undoubtedly weaken the effect of this invasion of Lombardy..."

Looking at the stern-worded letter from the Governor Leonardo Rollet brought by the messenger, Rondoba Barbarig couldn't help but frown. He understood why Pittiruno insisted on retiring at the time.

"General, you leave your army in the lower reaches of the Bernese River to guard against enemies that are impossible. This decision is obviously wrong. There is no sign that the Roman Thesians will take the initiative to attack the Veneto area, and all their main forces are in Lombardy, so when it is still time to redeploy the army as soon as possible, we must give the Roman Thesians a heavy blow in Lombardy, not Veneto."

Looking at the letter, Rondoba Barbarig's heart, which should have been angry, became inexplicably nervous at this time.

From the lines he found that no one except himself thought that the Romanesians would take the initiative to cross the Po River to launch an attack. Thinking about the attitude of his generals when he proposed this idea, Rondoba Barbarig suddenly felt a strong sense of uneasiness.

If everyone thinks it is impossible, then is there anyone besides him who really guard against possible invasions?

At this time, wasn’t Venice like a completely unprepared beauty standing in front of a criminal full of evil thoughts?

If the Romanesian commander on the other side happens to be a brave and adventurous opponent...

Rondoba Barbarig could not imagine it anymore.

While replying to Leonardo Rollett to explain his speculation, he reminded Venice to be more vigilant, and ordered the troops deployed on the north bank of the Po River to be more vigilant.

But just the day after he issued the order, on a rainy afternoon, a soldier suddenly broke into his room at the Osdia command center. The panicked soldier brought him news that shocked Rondoba Barbarig.

The Ofulei tribe of the eastern Romanesian army suddenly crossed the lower reaches of the Po River at noon on April 17, and then the Romanesian army was pushed along the road leading to Padua.

Their goal is Venice!

What Rondoba Barbarig didn't know was that just a week after the Eastern Legion forced the crossing of the Po River, the Battle of Seville-Rio broke out in Andalusia.
Chapter completed!