In the mountains of northern Italy, on the mountain road south of the Tellina Valley connecting the Mistel Valley in the Graubünden region of Switzerland, a group of disconcerted knights came...
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, led the remaining 1,500 light cavalry under his command, walking in embarrassment on the mountain road, heading for the Telina Valley...
After more than a year of bitter fighting, the Principality of Milan was still defeated. After all, the strength of the Principality of Milan and France is too different. Although the Principality of Milan prepared an army of 35,000 this time, it was powerless in front of the 30,000 French army. Why? Because the difference in the quality of the two armies is too great...
The French cavalry are all knights and apprentice knights from knight families, all of whom are highly skilled in martial arts. The infantry is even stronger, and they are the most capable Swiss mercenaries in Europe. In contrast to the Milan army, the cavalry are all light cavalry, and the infantry are all Italian mercenaries with average combat power. The combat power of the two sides is completely unequal.
Fortunately, after being reminded by Marin, Ludovico Sforza did not send Trivulchio and Count Cajazzo to command the troops. Therefore, there was no large-scale surrender of the Principality of Milan to France this time. Therefore, the Duchy of Milan has lasted longer than the original history. Moreover, this time, the Milan army mostly hid in the fortress for defense, and did not fight the French team in the open field. Therefore, this largely offsets the lack of combat effectiveness of the army.
Therefore, the French had to fight a protracted siege. After all, neither French knights nor Swiss mercenaries can fly, and it is difficult to easily conquer tall city walls.
However, the French still have a trump card, that is - artillery...
Seeing that the attack was hopeless, Louis XII simply sent someone back to the country to pull heavy artillery...
Then, after the French brought a batch of 12-pound bronze heavy artillery from the country, they launched a fierce bombardment on several fortresses of the Milanese...
Although, the fortresses of the Milanese are all made of stone, which is very strong. However, that is not a bastion structure to prevent bombardment after all. So, after a few months of bombing, the solid stone city wall was also smashed...
Then, the French conquered several fortresses on the border of Milan and approached the city of Milan...
As a large city with 100,000 people, Milan's city defense must be extremely strong. The Duke of Milan led more than 10,000 people under his command, relying on the strong city of Milan, and launched a resistance against the French...
The city walls of Milan are not comparable to those fortresses on the border. Because the city of Milan is huge and prosperous, the Dukes of Milan were willing to spend money to strengthen the city walls. The heavy artillery of the French couldn't be fired for a long time...
But, after the spring of 1500, the Milanese had a big problem of their own...
It turned out that the city of Milan was out of food...
After all, the city of Milan has a population of 100,000, plus the 16,000 army that the Duke of Milan participated in, the daily food consumption is an astronomical figure.
However, after months of siege, Milan ran out of food, and signs of instability soon appeared in the army...
In desperation, Ludovico Sforza had no choice but to bring 2,000 trusted light cavalry, opened the east gate in the middle of the night, and broke out from the gap in the defense of the French army. During the breakout process, 500 cavalry were stopped by the Swiss...
In this way, Ludovico Sforza took only the remaining 1,500 light cavalry and his most loyal tourney general San Severino and fled to the Telina Valley where the fortress had been built.
The main general ran away, and the city of Milan naturally surrendered. As soon as Ludovico Sforza ran, the city of Milan surrendered the next day. Louis XII swaggered into the city of Milan with his army. Sure enough, Trivulgio and Count Cajazzo, two rebellious boys, immediately came out to kneel and lick the king. Because of Marin's reminder, neither of them was reused in the previous battles, and they were also monitored. Therefore, they have no chance to betray. But now that the French have entered the city, they immediately jumped out and said they wanted to be a puppet army...
Fortunately, the Duke of Milan listened to Marin's advice before and built a strong fortress in the Tellina Valley, and quietly deposited a lot of money and food here. Not only that, there are 4,000 troops stationed here, led by a close friend of Ludovico Sforza. Even the young son of the Duke of Milan was brought here long ago...
With enough money and food, and 5,500 soldiers and horses, plus the important terrain of the Tellina Valley and Graubünden controlled by Maximilian I behind it, even the French have to weigh it.
Because there is only one narrow valley in the Telina Valley, which can be described as "one man guards the gate, and ten thousand men cannot open it". What's more, the Duke of Milan also built a defensive strong fortress in the valley in advance. The steep terrain and strong fortress, no matter how many people you have, it will be difficult to break through.
Moreover, the emperor's territory is to the north of the Telina Valley, and supplies can be continuously transported from the Graubünden area. I believe that if the French came to attack the Tellina Valley, Maximilian I would never sit idly by.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Ludovico Sforza, who has enough money, food and troops, can completely occupy this place for a long time.
You know, after several fortresses on the front line were breached, Duke Ludovico Sforza sent his cronies here early to escort 200,000 gold coins here. By the way, his son was also sent here. With this amount of money, plus a large amount of money and food that existed here before, the Duke of Milan led more than 5,000 men, and it would be no problem to persist here for several years. What's more, even if he had no money or food, Emperor Maximilian I would definitely be willing to lend it to him. Because, Maximilian I naturally did not deal with the French...
After Ludovico Sforza ran away with more than a thousand people, Louis XII did not send troops to kill him. Judging from the direction of escape, Louis XII believed that the Duke of Milan had fled to Austria. Obviously, the French are not willing to turn against the Shenluo Empire. Moreover, Louis XII did not know that Ludovico Sforza had already secretly transferred a large amount of money and food...
You know, the Duchy of Milan is the second richest state in Italy, a little richer than Naples. Because, although the agriculture of the Duchy of Milan is comparable to that of Naples, the handicraft industry of the Duchy of Milan is really too developed. Therefore, the Duchy of Milan has a lot of taxes, second only to Venice, and ranks second in Italy. Even though Duke Ludovico transferred more than 200,000 gold coins, 300,000 gold coins and a large amount of other property were left in the palace, which made Louis XII full.
Moreover, after the French army entered the city, in the largest city in Italy (larger than Venice, but not as rich as Venice), they robbed and robbed more valuable property...
The looting lasted five days and almost wiped out the citizens of Milan. Therefore, the citizens of Milan City resented the French army very much. A wave of dissatisfaction arose among the citizens...
Ten days later, Louis XII continued to march south with his army. Because he was going to attack the Kingdom of Naples. As for the city of Milan, Louis XII left it to the rule of several anti-bones who had defected from Milan. Its commander was Trivulchio, who was the first to defect to the French.
Before leaving, Louis XII also collected a lot of food from all over the Duchy of Milan to supply the needs of the army. Moreover, he only left 7,000 soldiers and horses for Trivulchio to prevent Trivulchio from becoming bigger. At the same time, Louis XII did not leave any food for Trivulchio, and only gave 20,000 gold coins as military expenses.
But where is this little money enough? In desperation, Trivulchio continued to rob the citizens after the French robbed him once, and sent troops to the countryside to grab food... In this way, Trivulchio became a villain in the eyes of the Milanese. . At this time, the Milanese began to miss the "Moor" Ludovico Sforza who was once cursed by them...