It's not the first time that Marin in Milan City has come here. The last time he came, he came here to knock Da Vinci unconscious and take him away. Therefore, the last time he came was very low-key, which can be regarded as "come in a hurry, and go in a hurry". But this time, holding a document issued by the emperor, Marin swaggered into the city, and also swaggered into the palace of Milan.
Ludovico Sforza is a dark-faced middle-aged man. Because of his dark appearance, he is called "the Moor". Despite his dark and earthy appearance, Ludovico Sforza was one of the most promising lords of the entire era. Under his governance, the city of Milan was extremely prosperous, and of course, it also attracted the coveted eyes of Louis XII.
"Welcome, Earl Marin!" Ludovico Sforza has received the official document that Marin was recognized by the emperor as the official earl. He and Marin have no feud, so it's okay to admit it.
"Thank you, Duke, I am here this time, entrusted by His Majesty the Emperor, to give you a warning!"
"Warning? What kind of warning?" Ludovico Sforza was no fool, and seemed to have guessed something.
"It's like this, the French went south, there is a great possibility that it was not to prevent the emperor from going to Rome to be crowned, but to seize the Duchy of Milan..."
"Why do you know that?" Ludovico Sforza frowned, and he also vaguely felt that what Marin said might be right. At the beginning, when Charles VIII marched into Italy, Louis XII, who was still the Duke of Orleans, wanted to raid Milan with more than 5,000 people, but was scared back by Ludovico Sforza's 30,000 troops. Today, Louis XII has become the king of France, leading the army south, may not have no intention of coveting the Duchy of Milan.
"By the way, Your Majesty the Duke, His Majesty the Emperor was assassinated in Graubünden, so he may not be able to enter Italy...Louis XII attacked Milan before, and now he is leading an army south, so he naturally refuses to go empty-handed. Facing such a fat piece of the Duchy of Milan Meat, I think he might not be able to resist..."
"Then what do you think I should do about it?"
"Try to recruit as many soldiers as possible and try to scare Louis XII. When he comes to Italy this time, besides wanting the Duchy of Milan, he will definitely go south to fight for the Kingdom of Naples."
"Then how about I hire the most powerful Swiss mercenaries?" Ludovico Sforza suddenly remembered that he could hire Swiss mercenaries. But Marin immediately denied:
"It's best not, my lord duke, if you want to fight with others, it's right to hire Swiss mercenaries. But to fight against the French, it's best not to hire Swiss..." Marin remembered, Ludovico Sforza was in After the first failed escape, he hired 10,000 Swiss mercenaries and returned to Milan to clean up the traitors. But when the French army came with a large number of Swiss mercenaries, the 10,000 Swiss mercenaries who had been employed by Ludovico Sforza refused to fight their compatriots in the French army. This forced Ludovico Sforza to escape with makeup, and was captured by the French...
"Why?" Ludovico Sforza was puzzled.
"The Swiss have a tradition that the Swiss don't fight the Swiss. There are so many Swiss in the French army, what if the Swiss mercenaries you hire refuse to fight the French army?"
"This..." Ludovico Sforza immediately hesitated.
"Your Excellency, you should recruit Italian mercenaries nearby. Choose someone with better character. It is said that your general Trivulchio and Count Cajazzo are somewhat dissatisfied with you. Please beware of them leading their troops to surrender to France." Ah..." The first time Ludovico Sforza failed was because the two men surrendered to France, leading to the defeat of Milan's defense. Moreover, Count Caiazzo's surrender was even more deadly. Because Trivulchio does not command soldiers, the harm is not great. The Earl of Cajazzo was an important general under Ludovico Sforza, who was the commander-in-chief of the Milan army when Charles VIII marched into Milan. If such a person rebels, he is definitely not alone, but with a group of people, which is extremely harmful.
"Count Caiazzo? Are you kidding me? It is an open fact that Trivulchio opposes me. But how could Count Caiazzo oppose me? Well... We have just had some differences recently..." Ludovico Sforza thought about it, and the past two years were indeed not in harmony with Count Caiazzo.
"Anyway, send someone to investigate and see if Earl Caiazzo is of one mind with you. Don't let him lead troops to resist the French army, lest the entire army fall to France."
"I will consider what you said..." But in fact, Ludovico Sforza didn't take Marin's words seriously. And Marin, and the Duke of Milan, did have a little "communication".
"By the way, Earl Marin, I wonder if His Majesty can send troops to support me?" Ludovico Sforza suddenly thought, didn't Maximilian I have more than 10,000 people under him, and could they be used? Woolen cloth…
"Difficult! Your Majesty's army, because of His Majesty's assassination, has angrily occupied the entire territory of Graubünden. You know, Graubünden is so big, there must be a lot of resistance. Moreover, Graubünden The Denners once formed an alliance with the Swiss Union. Your Majesty's general, Count Fürstenberg, needs to prevent the Swiss from attacking Graubünden. Therefore, he can't spare any manpower to help you... Moreover, according to the latest information, there are more than 2 Frenchmen 10,000 people, Louis XII stayed in Lyon and planned to hire another 10,000 Swiss mercenaries... "
"Then... In this case, it will be very difficult for Milan to resist the French attack..." Hearing that the French had added another 10,000 troops, and they were still the most powerful Swiss mercenaries, Ludovico Sforza began to feel unconfident.
Marin looked at Ludovico Sforza with a puzzled face, and decided to remind him:
"My lord, you should be prepared to fail and retreat..."
Although Marin's words were ugly, they were true. With the military power of the Principality of Milan, it is difficult to compete with France, which has the support of Swiss mercenaries.
"How should I prepare..." Ludovico Sforza was already a little lost. Hearing that the French were going to gather 20,000 Swiss mercenaries, he was already very unconfident.
"Do you know the Mistel Valley?"
"Um?"
"To the south of the Mistel Valley, it connects to the Tellina Valley belonging to the Duchy of Milan..."
"what do you mean?"
"Your Excellency, you might as well save some loyal troops, retreat to the Telina Valley, and lie dormant first. After all, even if the French conquer the Duchy of Milan, they will continue to attack Naples south. When the main force of the French withdraws, you, Your Excellency, Return to Milan with your loyal subordinates..."
"You mean to let me preserve my strength?" Ludovico Sforza is also a little confused now, and he can't help consulting Marin.
"Fighting is still necessary. After all, it can consume a little of the strength of the French. In addition to saving some soldiers and horses to retreat to the Telina Valley, the main force still needs to fight the French. However, you need to be prepared to retreat. , it can be regarded as leaving a way out. Moreover, the terrain of the Tellina Valley is steep. As long as a line of defense is repaired, the French will never want to break through. What's more, behind the Tellina Valley is connected to Graubünden, which is controlled by His Majesty the Emperor. There are soldiers of the Emperor With horses as their backing, the French did not have the determination to storm the Telina Valley. Otherwise, it would be a direct conflict with His Majesty the Emperor... "
"It makes sense... But if I send troops to retreat to the Telina Valley first, it may cause instability in the army..."
"You can send one of your confidantes to lead thousands of people there in the name of building a passage in the Telina Valley, without attracting attention at all..." Marin committed the mistake of being a dog-headed military adviser again, and successively sent out to the Duke of Milan idea. Although the Duke of Milan might not listen to Marin's opinion, he still listened carefully, but whether to execute it or not is another matter. After all, the Duke of Milan is not the emperor, and he doesn't trust Marin that much.
"This idea is not bad..." The Duke of Milan has no confidence in the war with the French. It is indeed necessary to leave a way out. The Tellina Valley is connected to Graubünden, Switzerland. Now Graubünden is under the control of Emperor Maximilian I. Even if the Duke of Milan can't stand the Tellina Valley, it is very convenient to escape to Austria.
"In addition, the Duke must bring enough money and food to the Telina Valley. Because if you retreat there, you will need to spend money to hire troops to fight back in the future..."
Ludovico Sforza nodded, agreeing with Marin's point of view. These days, some mercenaries in Europe recognize money but not people. As long as the money is given, many mercenaries don't care who the employer is. If you have no money, ghosts will fight for you.
Marin's meaning is also very simple, that is, if Ludovico Sforza retreats hastily, it may be too late to take away enough money and food. Without enough money and food, even if you flee with soldiers and horses, you can't afford it. In the future, they will not be able to hire more mercenaries. Therefore, he reminded Ludovico Sforza, and told him not to forget to prepare money and food before leaving...
After all, Ludovico Sforza said that he and Marin belonged to the same front, both on the side of the emperor. It would be nice to be able to help a little bit.
Although Ludovico Sforza is the Duke of Milan, in fact, he used to rely on his resourceful wife for advice. Strictly speaking, many of his previous good deeds were done under the guidance of his wife. But his resourceful wife died in 1497. Therefore, this year, Doludovico Sforza was a little bit confused, and even used some idiots under his command. For example, his most trusted general, San Severino, was just a warrior without a brain. . After the death of his wife, Ludovico Sforza actually promoted an idiot like San Severino who had only muscles and no brains to be the main general of the Milan army. Not only did he directly offend the more capable Trivulchio, Also offended Count Kayazo. If his wife was still there, she would definitely not let him mess around like this.
But this time Marin came over and gave him some advice, although Ludovico Sforza seemed to remember the scene when his wife gave him advice, so he actually listened to a lot of suggestions, but Marin's painstaking efforts were not completely wasted.
After this meeting, the relationship between Marin and Ludovico Sforza has become much closer. When Marin said that he wanted to hire a few craftsmen, Ludovico Sforza was not dissatisfied at all, and even brought someone to lead Marin to help Marin hire craftsmen. The reason for this is that there are too many craftsmen in the city of Milan, and there are 10,000 to 20,000 craftsmen. Marin wanted to hire a group, but Ludovico Sforza didn't care. At the same time, Ludovico Sforza sent people to follow Marin. In addition to helping Marin hire craftsmen, it also meant to monitor and prevent Marin from hiring away some of his most valued master craftsmen. For example, the master architect Bramante, Ludovico Sforza would never let him be hired by Marin. If Da Vinci was still there, Ludovico Sforza would not allow Marin to dig people. However, Marin had already started to take Da Vinci away in a rough way of kidnapping...