“I wonder where your lord, the Duke, got this news?” The Duke of Lombardy tried to pry out some useful information from the envoy.
The envoy did not want to waste any more words with the Duke of Lombardy, and replied: "In recent days, the news of the Lombard army's attack on the Kingdom of Burgundy has spread throughout the streets and alleys. Even the beggars on the street know your masterpiece, how can my lord the Duke not know about it."
The Duke of Lombardy, who was sitting on the big leather chair, was shocked, but his expression remained calm. He did not expect that his careful arrangements would reach the ears of the Duke of Swabia so quickly.
“What went wrong?” The Duke of Lombardy stroked his beard on his chin and glanced at the envoy from time to time.
In order to deceive others, the Duke of Lombardy deliberately ordered the Lombard army attacking the valley to arrive at the designated location in multiple batches. This way, the target would be smaller and the whereabouts would be relatively secretive and difficult to detect. Moreover, all the passages to the north were blocked, so outsiders had no way of knowing about it. Even if the Duke of Swabia had extraordinary abilities, he would not have been able to find out the news so quickly.
Since the matter has now been exposed, the Duke of Swabia has sent people to investigate, so he has to find an excuse first.
"That uninhabited valley has been uninhabited for hundreds of years and does not belong to the Burgundy Kingdom. Some time ago, banditry broke out frequently in the northern part of Lombardy, killing many Lombards living on the edge of the valley. In order to maintain border security, I specially sent people to suppress the bandits. It is a joke to be called by some uneasy and well-meaning guys as an attack on the Burgundy Kingdom!" The Duke of Lombardy's face showed a trace of anger.
"Your Majesty, Duke, you don't think of me as a kid. I heard that the valley is the territory of the Earl of Burgundy in the south, and it has a legal basis. There are rumors that the valley was divided by Flanders to the Earl of Wales, and they even have the canonization documents. A checkpoint was specially built in the south of the valley, but it was attacked by the Lombard army soon~"
Lies! These are all lies!” the Duke of Lombardy shouted, unwilling to admit this fact.
"The right and wrong of this cannot be decided by you in one sentence. Now, it is estimated that the Dukes of several major principalities have already known this news. By then, I am afraid that Lombardy will be boycotted by several major principalities~" The special envoy revealed the serious relationship between this.
The Duke of Lombardy was silent, but he understood that the guy in front of him was right. A few years ago, after the news of Lombardy's invasion of Provence was learned by the Dukes, they began to unite to resist Lombardy, and even threatened to break off contacts. Many countries directly and secretly sent troops to support Provence in its war against Lombardy. It was not until the armistice between the two countries that commercial trade and political exchanges with Lombardy resumed.
But the Duke of Lombardy still plans to give it a go. After all, the valley is related to the interests of the Lombard people, and he will never give up until the last moment.
"Sir Envoy, even if it is as you said, this is my Lombardy family matter, and you don't need to worry about it. Your Duke is not much better than me. When you invaded the Burgundy Kingdom, you were kicked out." The Duke of Lombardy brought up these old things.
"I have already said that the main purpose of the Lombard army is to exterminate the bandits in the mountains, stabilize the security in the border areas, and create a good environment for the people under my rule." The Duke of Lombard's tone became slightly gentler, but his face was still dissatisfied.
"It seems that the Duke is not planning to join forces with Swabia to attack the Burgundy Kingdom. Can I understand this?"
The Duke of Lombardy curled his lips and didn't care.
"It seems that you have acquiesced. In that case, I will go back and resume my duties immediately." The Swabian envoy stood up, bowed politely to the Duke of Lombardy, and then turned and left.
The Duke of Lombardy stared at the departing Swabian envoy and was very dissatisfied with this guy's attitude. But due to the kindness of the Duke of Swabia, he did not intend to embarrass this guy.
On the second day, when the Duke of Lombardy was discussing with several ministers in the inner court how to deal with the accusations from all sides, Viscount Paul, the leader of the army who was supposed to be commanding the battle on the front line, appeared outside the palace gate.
Paul looked embarrassed and sighed softly, saying: "Your Majesty, things are not what you think..."
The Duke of Lombardy frowned after hearing this. "Is it possible that the fortress is still in their hands?"
Immediately afterwards, Paul told the Duke of Lombardy about the battle situation in the past few days one by one...
“…What, it’s been so long, and your 500-strong army can’t even attack a single enemy checkpoint, I~” The Duke of Lombardy was furious and instantly smashed the glass in his hand to the ground.
"Your Majesty, please calm down~" Paul quickly knelt on the ground.
"You know, the special envoy of the Duke of Swabia has come to visit again. I don't know how the Lombard army's attack on the valley reached the ears of the Duke of Swabia. I had expected you to capture the valley in one fell swoop, and then go all the way north to attack the Burgundy Kingdom. Fortunately, not only did you not capture the valley, but in the end, Swabia was offended~" The Duke of Lombardy was very angry.
The original plan was to capture the valley by oneself and then invade the Burgundy Kingdom through the valley. In this way, there is no need for the help of the Swabians, and the Burgundy Kingdom will be in the possession of Lombardy sooner or later. But as the news came, the Duke of Lombardy's plan came to nothing, and he lost a powerful ally.
"Your Majesty, Duke, in my opinion, we can only withdraw our troops at the moment~"
The Duke of Lombardy thought about it, but he couldn't find a good solution. If we continue to attack, the result will still be the same. In addition to wasting a lot of money and materials, it will only increase casualties. And we have to face pressure from the outside world. But he was unwilling to retreat like this...
At the end of June, several hundred Lombard soldiers who were confronting the garrison at Taniguchi Fortress retreated hastily after receiving the order, leaving only some useless siege equipment in the camp.
In this way, this small-scale war initiated by the Lombards finally ended with the defeat of the Lombards.
But the withdrawal did not mean that the Duke of Lombardy gave up the valley and the entire Burgundy kingdom. After the incident, the Duke of Lombardy quickly sent an envoy to the Principality of Swabia, hoping to unite with the Swabians again to send troops to the Principality of Burgundy.
As punishment for the Duke of Lombardy's breach of trust, the Duke of Swabia flatly rejected the special envoy's request for an audience and sent people to drive the special envoy out of the country.
Since then, the relationship between the two countries has been lukewarm, and no one has mentioned the matter of joining forces to attack the Burgundy Kingdom.
In this way, Art used rumors to sow discord between the two countries and bought himself precious time to build his territory.