The appearance of artillery caused a terrible panic, but when Montina's army had to retreat after a while of gunfire at the intersection, the rebels couldn't help but cheer with mocking at the enemy.

"See, they are not invincible," Nolmitch took the opportunity to shout at his subordinates, "or even if they are as powerful as the legend, this monastery will protect us."

Normecchi's words aroused another cheer. The rebels were obviously aroused by him and their courage and fighting spirit. They began to shout loudly to the Monty man in the distance, and some simply poked most of their bodies out of the window, shaking their hats and provoking the enemy opposite.

"This place is damn!" A Barr angrily pulled the soft hat on his head and threw it on the ground. "We can't get close to the monastery, and we can't even get to where we can see it. Do you want my shell to turn the corner?"

"The intersection is too close to the monastery. At such a close distance, even a group of blind men can make us into honeycombs." Another Balkan soldier said angrily, "Maybe there are other ways to get us up, but it's not possible to rush forward like this."

"What are you talking about?" Ofulei, who was walking over, strode to the soldier and stared at him. "Say your words again."

The Balkans looked at the angry marching captain on the opposite side with uneasy. They said that they had not followed this person for a long time, so they were not sure what kind of person the young officer who seemed to be smiling was, but now looking at him, the Balkans realized that they might be in big trouble.

"Pull the cannons up, now!" Ofulei yelled at the soldiers, his neck red, his face stirred by dust and sweat like a small mud pond. "Prepare to fight the soldiers, have you ever fought with the Ottomans, or have you brag before?"

The Balkans were irritated, and they cursed loudly in vulgar language that only they could understand, pushing the cannon carts towards the intersection. When they saw a corner of the monastery, a burst of crazy gunfire swept their ears.

"The rebels are really crazy. Don't they know how to save some bullets?" The Balkans cursed and carefully pushed the cannon cart forward. "Hurry up, aim, let's teach them a lesson."

The small gun of the eagle cannon barely poked out from under the corner of a protruding stone and aimed at the tower that was the edge of the monastery. From there, you can directly see most of the hillsides around the monastery.

"That's it," Ofulei ordered, he poked his head out carefully and observed it, then made a gesture to the gunner. "If you can shoot the first shot correctly, I will reward you."

"This is not easy, Captain," the gunner said, lifting his right hand tree and looking at it with his thumb in front of him, while muttering, "From the wrist to the finger, it's a number, and then the length of the arm is calculated by eight fingers, and the elevation angle is..."

Ofulei looked at the gunner who kept talking curiously. He knew that Gompatti had studied a simple but practical artillery shooting method, but he did not expect Gompatti to teach these things to these Balkans.

"Okay, there are three No. 2 bolts under the gun," the gunner shouted loudly, and someone immediately pulled out a few numbers from the wooden box he carried with him and stuffed them under the eagle cannon that was pressed up. Looking at the raised muzzle, the gunner showed a malicious smile on his face. "That's all."

Two more gunshots came from the direction of the monastery. Although no one knew where the bullets were fired, people couldn't help but retreat.

"Don't move around," the gunner scolded his assistants in dissatisfaction, and then lit the twists with a torch.

The stinky line of medicine was burning with sparks, and people couldn't help but hold their breath and wait.

"Bang~"

A very dull sound came into people's ears, accompanied by the gun barrel jumping suddenly, and then the cannon car began to slide downwards.

With a "boom!", a large piece of gravel suddenly burst out from the stone wall at the corner of the monastery in the distance. With a clamor, the large stones rolled down the mountain with thick smoke.

The entire monastery was like a wild beast that was angry after being hit. Bullets roared towards the intersection, and some lead bullets even hit the eagle cannon barrel that was poked out, and the cannon made a thunderous bang from time to time.

"Pull the cannon back!" The gunner shouted loudly, grabbed the rope and kept shouting, and the cannon was slowly pulled back behind the stone.

"It's a good shot now," the gunner of another eagle cannon laughed, but seeing the bullet marks on the cannon, his expression turned ugly, and then he tentatively said to Ofulei, "Captain, it seems that I'm fine."

"Don't worry, it's your turn soon," Ofulei casually patted the gunner's shoulder. "Be careful, put the gun slightly away, and shoot from the right side of the intersection!"

Hearing Ofulei's words, the gunner's face looked even more ugly.

Obviously, compared with the first cannon hiding behind the corner of the stone, their danger was much greater. The rebels would probably give them a head-on attack when they first showed up. However, looking at Ofulei's unkind look, Barr had to call his companions and carefully approached the intersection along the right side of the road.

"It's better to hit the monastery's wall this time," Ofulei reminded the gunner, while vigilantly paying attention to the black windows on the thick stone wall.

The cannon was pushed to a place where a section of the courtyard wall could already be seen. Seeing Ofulei nodding slightly, the gunner breathed a sigh of relief and quickly instructed his assistant to fix the cannon car with wooden wedges.

Ofulei stared in the direction of the monastery, looking at the nervous artillerymen, he opened his mouth slightly but said nothing.

Suddenly, a figure seemed to sway in the darkness of the window, and then just before Ofulei could speak out for a warning, a mess of gunfire sounded.

The gunner, who heard the gunshot, had no time to raise his head and was hit by a lead bullet. His body shook and he lay on the cannon, and blood immediately flowed along the cannon barrel to the ground.

"Retreat, go back!" Ofulei shouted loudly. Several soldiers holding the ropes of the cannon truck didn't even care about the body of the gunner who was crushed by the wheels, and tried their best to pull the cannon in the direction that the bullet could not hit. The cannon truck's body was instantly disintegrated because of the bumps back and forth. The eagle cannon made a jingle sound and hit the stone. The flying wooden wheels first bounced, then broke into several pieces and fell down the hillside.

The shouts came from the direction of the monastery, mixed with loud whistles and vulgar local vernacular jokes that only the locals in Naples understood, which made the Agri soldiers who were following Ofulei angry, but as soon as they emerged, they were immediately shot back by fierce shooting. Listening to the constant clamor of the rebels in the monastery, the Agri soldiers couldn't help but feel annoyed but at a loss.

Ofulei looked at the body of the gunner lying on the ground not far away and said a deep expression. However, when he heard the yelling and scolding in the direction of the monastery, he suddenly waved to the remaining gunner: "Push up the cannon, and you will take care of both cannons this time."

"But Captain, we can't hit it at all. If we want to hit it, we have to push the cannon in front, which would be equivalent to death." The gunner looked at his companion who was alive just now and shook his head, and then looked at Ofulei with some concern. He could see that the Captain was in a bad mood at this time.

Ofulei closed his eyes slightly and was silent, as if trying to control his emotions. Then he opened his eyes and looked at the nervous gunner, and then suddenly smiled: "Don't worry, I won't let you die. I don't need you to hit anything. You just need to keep firing."

Looking at the gunner's face with a puzzled look, Ofulei leaned against the edges of the stone and looked at the monastery where people kept flashing.

In the offensive team, he only knew what the purpose of the offensive was. In fact, he did not expect to conquer the monastery head-on. All he had to do was to try to attract the rebels' attention.

The Balkans were born mountain people. Although the mountains in southern Italy were steep, for the Balkans, fighting here was like returning to their hometown.

At least that's true for Sher.

When you look up, you can see a very steep hillside. The exposed reddish-brown rocks that appear naked due to the years of wind erosion make the monastery on the mountain look extremely tall. This pure visual impact will make people stand at the foot of the mountain feel that the monastery is like it is built in the sky.

In fact, St. John's Monastery is not very high, at least much shorter than the other two peaks less than half apart from it.

Alexander now stood on one of the peaks and looked into the roof of St. John's Monastery in the distance.

A few centuries later, a very beautiful cable bridge will be built here, from which people can walk directly to the monastery through the cable bridge. However, if you want to challenge your courage, there is another exciting game to try, that is, slide directly into the monastery with ropes from this mountain.

As for the more brave game, you can climb directly from the foot of the mountain to the monastery.

Alexander searched carefully and finally saw a group of people slowly climbing under the opposite hillside, a group of Balkan soldiers led by Schell.

At this time, Schell had already changed the crimson guard uniform that he was quite proud of. As for the breastplate, there was no sign of it. He was wearing a gray top and Ottoman trousers, with a short knife and musket at his waist, and a sabre was on his back, and others were dressed similarly to him. These Balkans were wearing soft-soled shoes suitable for climbing. When they began to climb up the hillside, several wild goats suddenly appeared not far from them.

The wild goats first stared at the invaders alertly. When they found that they seemed to be in danger to them, they were attracted by the uninvited guests' actions of climbing the mountain. They began to climb in the direction of the nearby land, and would stop from time to time to look at their opponents, and some would scream a few times to express their provocation.

"Still steady, keep steady." Alexander looked at the seemingly slow moving black spots on the opposite hillside that he could hardly notice if he didn't look carefully. At the same time, he looked up at the monastery on the top of the mountain from time to time.

Suddenly, several figures appeared on the roof of the monastery. The people first ran back and forth near the gate, and then wandered around. Looking at the people, the people around Alexander stopped, and some even lowered their bodies involuntarily for fear of being discovered.

"Hurry up Ofulei, hurry up and make some noise." Alexander urged in his heart. Although the rebels standing on the roof might not have run to the direction of the back slope, if they have been in the long run, they may not have found Sher who is climbing upwards, especially at this time, the sunlight just shines on the back slope. If someone looks down, although Sher and the others have changed into earthy clothes that will not attract attention, they cannot guarantee that they will not be exposed.

"Sir, look," a hunting guard whispered as if he was afraid of disturbing the rebels on the other side, while he pointed to the roof of the opposite room.

A rebel pulled his belt and walked towards a corner of the monastery on the roof. On the slope not far from him, several wild goats were provocatingly calling towards Schell, who was almost catching up with them.

"Damn!" Alexander cursed, and he ordered without looking back, "Be ready, the man will shoot once he finds Sher and the others."

"We can't hit the ball so far, sir." A guard said in confusion.

"At least this will attract the enemy and give Sher and the others a chance to escape." Alexander scolded his men in annoyed manner. He did not expect that the attack on St. John's Monastery would be somewhat unexpected. Although he did not doubt that he would win in the end, the casualties caused such may be something he had never thought of before.

The rebel had already reached the edge at this time, and then seemed to be attracted by the screams of the wild goat. He leaned out slightly in confusion.

Alexander helplessly admitted the failure of the surprise attack while raising his gun.

"boom!"

A corner of the monastery where the man was standing suddenly burst out, and gravel rushed directly into the sky with the unlucky rebel's body, and then collapsed down the hillside with a "rattle"!

Alexander stared blankly at the monastery that suddenly had a corner and a roof, and then looked at the rebels on the roof shouting and rushing towards the front door. He paused a little and then suddenly smiled, "It seems that our luck is pretty good."

Normezi was also frightened by the shelling. When he saw the blown corner, he immediately adjusted almost all the muskets to the window of the front wall. Finally, after a constant shooting, he looked at the retreating Montina army, and then he let out a breath.

"It seems that your defense is not impeccable." Officer Aragon came over and said slightly mockingly. "This is only the first day. I don't know how long you can hold on if this continues."

"How long can I hold on?" Nolmezi slapped the stone wall with force. "Look at this stone, even the cannons cannot collapse at once, and you also saw that we killed their gunners just now. Now they don't even dare to emerge. They may want to shoot at the monastery from the nearest mountain, but there is no road nearby."

"It seems that you have the chance of winning," the officer smiled dismissively. "But I remind you that the king's army can only send troops after the French invade Naples, so you are now looking forward to Louis' army coming soon, otherwise I think this place is not safe after a long time."

Normezi's eyes twitched. He was a little tired of the arrogant Aragonese. He even thought that if all Aragonese had this attitude, it would be a bit doubtful whether it would be a wise move for him to surrender to Ferdinand. However, he had no choice now. When he heard the dull sound of cannons from outside, Normezi immediately ran towards the window with his men.

The Aragon officer climbed the second floor along the narrow stairs. When he came to the corridor, he happened to see several Normezi and his subordinate women bowed and retreated from the queen's room. The officer immediately hid in the shadows quickly until the women left.

"Dear Queen Sicily, I'm here to meet you."

The officer muttered quietly while walking towards the queen's room along the corner of the wall. His right hand wearing gloves silently pulled out a strange-shaped sword with sharp jagged sides from his waist and hid it behind his arm, then came to the door and knocked it lightly.

"Who is it?"

A voice that was still majestic came from the room.

"Your Majesty," the officer looked at the door and said calmly, "I apologize for my previous rudeness to you. Please allow me to report something very important to you."

"Are you the one before?" The queen's voice showed unconcealed disgust. "I don't think I have nothing to say to you, and I don't want to see you either."

"Your Majesty is very important, it is related to," the officer paused before saying, "it is related to your safety, for as far as I know there is a conspiracy against you, which involves the Earl of Normezi."

"What did you say? This is impossible, the Count is loyal!"

Listening to the queen's surprise voice in the room, the officer slowly pulled the dagger in his hand and put it in his sleeve.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to report to you in person, and I assure you that although I am employed with the earl, I am a Sicilian, and I swear to God that I am loyal to my king and queen only."

It seemed that he was moved by the outsider's swearing in the name of God. As the footsteps came from gently, the door slowly opened.

"Your Majesty." The officer standing at the door bowed respectfully to the queen, and at the same time, he used the bent over to hide the short sword that was gathered in his sleeve and slid into his palm.

"What are you going to report to me?" The queen tried her best to make herself look so majestic, but from her anxious flashing eyes, it can be seen that her mood was actually full of anxiety.

"Please allow me to enter your Majesty, this matter is so important." The officer whispered.

The queen hesitated, but when she thought of the officer's words, she immediately looked into the corridor carefully and opened the door a little wider.

The Aragonese immediately flashed into the room and closed it in the door.

"What do you want to report to me, but I want to warn you that Count Normezi is very loyal..."

Before the queen could finish her so-called warning, a powerful hand suddenly covered her mouth, and the short sword with a serrated blade had already pierced into her lower abdomen!

One! Two! Three!

The dagger quickly poked the queen's chest and abdomen, and the blood instantly penetrated the clean dress she had just changed into.

The queen's body kept trembling, and she let out a "whimper" cry, but the Aragonese covered her mouth hard, and at the same time she murmured in her ear in a very low voice: "I swear to be loyal to my king Ferdinand of Aragon, respect Jesus Christ as my only Lord, may your soul be saved."

The queen had already slid to the ground, her eyes widened, and she could no longer hear the nerve-wracking voices of the Aragonese. Finally, her legs trembled, and then there was no sound.

"Let God decide your sins, and I am just the king's sword." The Aragons slowly wiped off the bloodstains from the short sword, then took off their already blood-stained coats and opened the window and threw them out.

Just as he walked out of the queen's room and closed the door, the window was suddenly pushed open from outside.
Chapter completed!