Warlock Royal Family

The army did not enter the city of Mantua, but gathered two thousand Mantua runners-up and marched to Milan together.

The army hastened on, for the French threat had been temporarily relieved.

Along the way, although many details were still uncertain, the Marquis of Mantua informed others of the latest battle reports he knew.

On March 3th, the acting Grand Duke led the Austrian army across the dangerous pass of the Alps, suddenly appeared on the Po River Plain, rushed straight into the city of Milan with a thunderous force, and broke through the city that night.

Now the Kingdom of France in northern Italy and the coalition forces of the Republic of Venice no longer exist. Facing the crisis of being attacked on both sides, they can no longer maintain a consistent action.

The French army withdrew westward to their vassal duchy of Savoy, and the Venetian army retreated eastward to the Venetian mainland.

Soon, the reinforcements entered the range of activities of the vigilante cavalry of the acting Grand Duke.

Unexpectedly, according to the cavalry, the acting Grand Duke was not stationed in the city of Milan, but in a large manor named Bikka a few miles to the north.

Seeing the camp of the acting grand duke, Ladislaus understood why the acting grand duke didn't stay in Milan. The camp can only accommodate about 5000 people in total.

If the Duke of Bourbon controls his Venetian allies and returns to Milan, the number will be at a disadvantage, and the Austrian army in the ruined city of Milan will become a turtle in the urn.

In fact, when entering the camp, Ladislaus was sure that the acting Archduke Ferdinand's troops were much less than five thousand, because the camp was first and foremost a huge prison camp.

Sir Anton Fugger who greeted him at the gate of the camp also confirmed Ladislaus' guess that there were actually only less than 5000 Austrian troops in this camp of 3000 people, and the other more than [-] people were disarmed Venice Republic captive.

Treasurer Anton-Fugger has just received a lifelong knighthood recently. Obviously, the achievement of crossing the snow-capped mountains with the army this time will also leave a glorious page on his resume. Becoming a hereditary nobleman is already an imminent goal. .

Perhaps because of the prospect of becoming a hereditary nobleman, Sir Anton-Fugger almost eloquently told Ladislaus and his party about the experience of this battle on the short road.

He was so excited that the words he said in many places did not convey his meaning, but both Prime Minister Sarzastan and Ladislaus basically understood the process of this battle.

Acting Grand Duke Ferdinand had expected the possibility of an alliance between the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of France after a long period of no response to the request for the territory of the Republic of Venice.

After careful analysis, it is impossible to defeat the Republic of Venice through a majestic battle with the power of Austria alone. Only by crossing the Alps and attacking the enemy by surprise can it be possible to reverse the situation in one fell swoop.

This idea is not easy to achieve.

There are not many passes that can pass through the army.

Several passes on the border between the Republic of Venice and Austria, including the most accessible and, of course, the most important trade route, the Brenner Pass, were closely guarded by both sides.

As for Switzerland, the pass passed by the emperor last year was simply not suitable for large troops to pass through. Elite squads could forcibly break through the pass. If large troops tried this kind of passage, even if they encountered small enemy troops, disastrous consequences were likely to occur.

As for the pass that can pass through large forces, the Swiss side has also stepped up surveillance since last year.

When everyone was at a loss, the acting Grand Duke Ferdinand found a story from the pile of old papers.

Dating back to the era of the ancient Roman Empire, the Punic War period.

The Carthaginian Empire, with Tunisia in North Africa as its homeland and Spain as its base, once set out from Spain to attack the Roman Empire via France.

The great commander of Carthage, Hannibal Barca, chose to cross the Alps from a pass above the snow line in order to avoid the blockade of the Roman army.

Various documents agree that the number of the Carthage Empire’s army at that time exceeded [-], so this must be a pass that can pass through the army.

The Deputy Grand Duke and "Town State" Blavan-Fugger, after comparing ancient documents and modern geographical data, finally found out the clues of this pass called Traversett Pass.

This pass is hidden among the vast snow peaks of the Alps, where Switzerland, Austria, Milan and Venice are out of reach, and there is no national border at all.

The Austrian army was about to enter Italy at great risk.

Compared with Hannibal's difficulties, the acting Grand Duke's troops had better supplies and woolen leggings that could greatly reduce the marching intensity, but Hannibal crossed the Alps in midsummer, when the snow line was at its highest. <The snow line in the sky is much lower, and this pass has not been used on a large scale for many years. Only experienced hunters will cross this pass when the weather is the best.

In order to explore the snow-covered ancient road, it is unknown how many pioneers died in the ice crevasses covered with a layer of snow, not to mention that there are strange enemies attacking them in the ice and snow.

Food is scarce above the snow line, and there are not many winter wolves and snow bears. After defeating them, they can get their precious eternal blood to restore their strength. The real crisis is caused by the terrible enemy named "Winter Ghost".

Even His Royal Highness Frundsberg, a dignified "protector of the country" warrior, almost died on the road.

The [-]th-level ranger who found the way was knocked off the ice crevasse by the sudden appearance of the winter ghost just after meeting him. This ranger is so important to the way, so Frenzberg, who was tied up with him, was determined not to cut the rope Abandoning him, the details of other battles between the two sides are not yet known.

Because when the deputy Grand Duke and another "National Town" mage Bravan-Fugger arrived with a dozen other elite warriors, the winter ghost immediately ran away without hesitation, its way of escaping was very strange and fast, It seemed to be able to distort the space, and disappeared into the vast whiteness in less than a minute.

Even though the two powerful spellcasters were not even sure what enemy they were facing, Bravan Fugger's ninth-level magic, the long-range missile storm, still hit it. The power of this magic was only equivalent to that of a sixth-level magic missile storm, but The shooting range has doubled, which is the top level magic invented by Blavan Fugger in order to reduce the threat of the archers to him.

Although the acting Grand Duke's reaction was not slow in any way, he arrived on the battlefield less than 10 minutes after the start of the encounter.

But the people on that rope, including a dozen or so Austrian-shaped corpses including two tenth-level dark sun priests, and the others all no longer exist, yes, they do not exist, only the deformed armor is left and ice shards in armor.

It was this dreadful shard of ice that allowed the two spellcasters to guess what enemy had attacked the Trailblazer, the legendary monster, the winter ghost.

A large hole was opened in the stomach of the comatose Frenzberg, and the internal organs, mainly the intestines, were covered by a horrible blue-black liquid.

The accompanying priest gave all kinds of divine spells to the seriously injured Frundsberg. The priest who was still alive at that time only got a bottle of healing potion, but he couldn't swallow it at all, and eventually died.

However, Frenzberg's heroic fight was not without value. He saved the fifteenth-level ranger. The ranger suffered the lightest injury. He was dying, but Frundsberg had consumed too much magic, and he couldn't get enough high-level magic, so he couldn't recover in time anyway.

Although this terrifying person never appeared again, after temporarily losing the fifteenth-level ranger, he could only let the lower-level ranger open the way, which greatly reduced efficiency.

I don't know how many people fell asleep in the snow nest, and they couldn't wake up again.

Less than half of the [-] Austrian troops that set off from Innsbruck survived to reach the Po River Plain, and more than [-] officers and soldiers died on the glacier.

Fortunately, the next battle was much simpler. Facing the sudden appearance of the Austrian army, the small number of troops deployed by the Republic of Venice to the north of Milan was slow to respond. None of the police messengers arrived in Milan before the acting Grand Duke's troops. city.

The performance of the Venetian in Milan was equally bad.

The Austrian army, like a divine soldier, broke through the city of Milan with ease. Although there were not many Venetian troops in the city, they were still more than twice the number of attackers, but their will was slack, and there was no city defense at all. Busy enjoying the beauties of Milan City, the few officers left behind are also busy gambling, no one is free to arrange any sentries, the soldiers are hiding in the house, and the lucky guy can sleep with a woman in his arms, summoned by the Grand Duke The elder of the earth element was not hindered at all, and no Venetians attacked it for a full 10 minutes, so it smashed the city gate in one fell swoop.

The weaknesses of the commercial mercenaries were fully exposed in this battle, and a small number of the direct-controlled army of the Republic of Venice were assigned to the area with the most oil and water, and they were even more useless when they were busy and happy.

The chaos at night made them wonder where the enemy came from, let alone how many enemies there were.

No one was able to organize an effective resistance at all.

In just two hours, the acting Grand Duke Ferdinand captured the city of Milan, and nearly [-] Venetians, including the contemporary Venetian consul, His Highness Anthony Gremani, became prisoners. ;