Creed of the heavens

Jacob nodded, and turned his attention to the two men dressed as monks: "I will use my connections to place you in the closest position to Lorenzo, and once I do it, I must ensure the deaths of Lorenzo and Giuliano. "

"Archbishop Salviati, you will be in charge of the army that invaded Florence."

Lu Xiao looked at the man called Archbishop, with a dignified expression. Francesco Salviati, the current Archbishop of Pisa, was very ambitious. He held a grudge because the Medici family refused to grant him the Archbishop of Florence. Nepotism with the current Pope Sixtus IV.

With the contacts this guy can mobilize in Pisa, he has to guard against it.

The three monks nodded in agreement at the same time, and this routine gathering was almost over.

"It's still the old rule, leave the church at a different time, and don't arouse the suspicion of others."

Jacob put his right hand on his chest and said piously: "May the father of insight guide us."

Others present also bowed their heads and prayed: "May the father of insight guide us."

"Spanish?"

Back at Auditore's mansion, Lu Xiao told Giovanni the news she overheard in the tomb.

Giovanni asked in surprise, "He plans to enter Florence to preside over this conspiracy?"

As early as the assassination of the Duke of Milan, Giovanni had dealt with Rodrigo Borgia, and it was after that encounter that the Assassin Brotherhood confirmed the identity of the old rival's generation leader.

Lu Xiao shook her head and said, "It's not clear whether Rodrigo intends to enter the city, at least he's in San Gimignano now, it's certain news."

Giovanni rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a while: "I have to stay in Florence to preside over the affairs, and I cannot leave the city to confirm the situation in person."

"I will write to Mario and ask him to send mercenaries and thieves to infiltrate San Gimignano and closely monitor the Pazzi family's estate."

Luciano, the leader of the Florentine mercenaries, said worriedly: "I am now worried about a problem, whether the Spaniards will take advantage of the conflict between Siena and Florence to provoke Siena to launch a new round of attacks on Florence, and he will hide behind the scenes to fish in troubled waters." .”

San Gimignano, like Monteriggioni, was sandwiched between the two great Tuscan powers of Siena and Florence.

With Rodrigo Borgia's authority as a cardinal, if he really intends to completely disrupt the situation, Luciano's worries are not entirely impossible.

"Don't worry about that for now."

Giovanni explained: "Siena's previous nine-member ruling party is preparing to return to the city under the tandem of Pandolfo Petrucci. There is no way to get a response.”

"Pandolph tends to be friendly with Florence. With the secret support of the Medici family, he is likely to defeat the current Siena government and take power."

Luciano breathed a sigh of relief: "That is to say, what we need to face is only the conspiracy group recruited by the Spaniards, mainly to deal with the sudden attack of the Paci family?"

"Yes."

Giovanni ordered solemnly: "Lorenzo's manpower can only guarantee to guard the core area of ​​the city. Luciano, the safety of the outer poor areas is left to your mercenaries."

Luciano hammered his chest heavily: "No problem."

Giovanni solemnly glanced at everyone present: "Everyone, Florence is about to usher in a period of intense turmoil. We must not allow the Templars to succeed in their plot to overthrow the Brotherhood's allies, the Medici family!"

Chapter 29 A Big Game

As Giovanni reminded, with the arrival of 1476 as the plot year, the beautiful city of Emerald became more and more undercurrent.

The Paqi family, which suffered two big losses in a row, still did not explode, but continued to endure under the pressure of someone who secretly controlled the overall situation.

After all, Florence is the home ground of the Brotherhood. On the premise of knowing the general framework of the other party's conspiracy in advance, Giovanni and others' targeted preventive measures were arranged in an orderly manner.

But Mario sent bad news to Florence at this time.

All the thieves and mercenaries he sent into San Gimignano to investigate intelligence disappeared. This small Tuscan town swallowed up all the surrounding information flow like a black hole.

Mario was a little worried about the follow-up response of the Templars, and the Florentine Brotherhood who received the news also raised their vigilance again.

Regardless of whether the scouts sent by Mario were only arrested or executed, this wave of failed attempts not only failed to get the desired news, but had the side effect of scaring the snake away.

"If I were Rodrigo, in this situation there are only two options: advance and retreat."

Lu Xiao solemnly analyzed at the brotherhood's emergency meeting: "Come on, before the brotherhood has the overall information, change the rhythm of the originally planned action and launch a surprise attack first."

"Retire, temporarily abandon Florence, which has already been prepared, and wait patiently for a more suitable time to launch it. Combine vertical and horizontal forces and force coercion, and use extreme pressure on the Medici family to force Lorenzo to make a political compromise."

Now the Assassin Brotherhood only knows that Rodrigo intends to assassinate the Medici family, but they don't know the exact time and place.

In the case of incomplete information, a slight error in judgment may lead to a complete loss.

Giovari had already issued a warning to Lorenzo, but as the lord of the Republic of Florence, Lorenzo could not stay behind closed doors because of the threat of the enemy.

As a last resort, Giovanni could only send more people to secretly increase the security of Lorenzo when he was out.

Lu Xiao's analysis made the senior members of the fraternity present deep in thought, and Giovanni expressed his opinion after a while: "I had a close contact with the Spaniard in Milan City, and I also interviewed him through various channels afterwards. Learn about it."

"As a powerful cardinal, Rodrigo is extremely self-confident, self-centered but thoughtful, and he is scheming."

"As early as when I sneaked into the city of Milan, he discovered the traces. At that time, he even tried to win me over to join the Templars with ease, giving people a sense of oppression that everything is under control."

"I don't think he's going to give up on a plan he's been working on for a mere fraternity reconnaissance."

The Templars and Assassins have been fighting for more than a thousand years. After Giovanni confirmed the status of the Supreme Master of the Templars, the Brotherhood launched various channels to turn all the information about Rodrigo Borgia upside down.

Just like Giovanni said, although Rodrigo has too much desire to control power, it does not mean that he is an incompetent idiot.

In the future, he can stand out from a group of old fritter cardinals and become Pope Alexander VI, which in itself shows his strong political skills and connections.

Lavolpe, Paula and the others bowed their heads and pondered for a while, and finally agreed that Giovanni's judgment was correct.

Lu Xiao rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "In other words, Rodrigo will continue to prepare according to the original plan, and at most make some fine-tuning on details and action rhythm?"

"Yes." Giovanni said seriously: "Although it is just some seemingly inconspicuous fine-tuning, these details can often determine the final success or failure."

"We must get more information from San Gimignano, and as soon as possible, and I fear that the moment they launch their plan is not far away."

san gimignano

Lu Xiao squinted her eyes, weighing the pros and cons in her heart.

With Rodrigo in charge, today's San Gimignano undoubtedly has extremely high vigilance and defense strength. If you enter this small Tuscan city rashly, there is a high risk of being discovered by the vigilant Templars.

But as Giovanni said, if the Templars' plan cannot be grasped in more detail, the Brotherhood will always be led by the nose and passively guard Lorenzo.

"Let's do this." Lu Xiao suggested after thinking for a while: "I'll go back to Monteriggioni first and discuss with Mario about the next plan for San Gimignano."

"Mr. Giovanni, you act together with the lord Lorenzo, and use various means to tease and lure the Pazzi family to show their feet, so as to weaken the influence of the Templars in Florence. It is best to take the Pazzi family out of the pot. "

Giovanni nodded solemnly: "That's exactly what I plan to do. Since we can't catch the mastermind for the time being, let's take his chess pieces first."

"The Patch family has secretly committed a lot of crimes over the years. Lorenzo was concerned about their influence in the early years, and has never really done anything to them. Now it's time to settle the old score."