Mario, who has a strong personality, always tells the truth, so Ezio and Petruchio only spent one day resting and wandering in the city of Monteriggioni.
Early the next morning, Mario was forcefully pulled up from the warm bed by Ezio's wails.
As for Petruchio, he was still young and still had some privileges. He could sleep until 7 o'clock in the morning and then get up for training.
When Ezio cried for his father and mother while being trained by Mario's mercenaries, Lu Xiao and Mario led the troops to leave the castle in a hurry.
While it was still dark, the group of people marched quietly and quickly across the wilderness of the Tuscan plains, and finally arrived at the city of San Gimignano before dawn.
"boom!"
As soon as the formation was formed, the impatient Mario immediately pushed the cannon dragged by the horse to the front line, and first aimed at the city gate of San Gimignano that had just been emergency closed and fired a shot.
This shot was like exploding the gunpowder magazine in the city. The Patch family soldiers guarding the city hurriedly adjusted the firing angle of the cannon.
Due to the sharp increase in the number of cannons, the Patch family had to urgently train a group of artillerymen. One of the reasons why Mario chose the east gate to attack was because the recruits assigned here were the weakest.
"Boom boom boom!"
Several cannon shots were fired in succession, but none of them landed within 20 meters of the mercenary position. The miss was extremely outrageous.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The mercenaries deliberately laughed loudly towards the city, and Mario ordered his side to fire again.
There is no harm without comparison. The precision of the carefully trained mercenaries' artillery fire far exceeded that of the new recruits of the Patch family. One of them was so accurate that it blew up one of the city defense cannons, and the soldiers guarding the cannon were also bombarded.
It makes people turn their backs on their backs.
Under Mario's arrangement, the rude mercenaries began to curse and shout into the city, firmly attracting the hatred of a large number of soldiers.
Taking this opportunity, Lu Xiao moved quickly along the shadow of the south corner of the city wall, avoiding the Pazzi family soldiers who were focused on the east gate, and quietly came to the west wall of San Gimignano.
'really.'
Just like the information provided by Mario, a small section of the city wall on the southwest side of San Gimignano collapsed, and the wooden scaffolding put up by the construction workers responsible for repairs remained in place.
Because the war suddenly started, the entire city wall repair site was deserted at this time. The soldiers did not have time to dismantle the scaffolding, which was convenient for Lu Xiao to climb in.
The attack on the east gate attracted most of the defensive forces of this small city, but a certain number of defenders were still retained at the head of each city gate to prevent the enemy from attacking from the east.
When Lu Xiao climbed to the top of the city along the scaffolding, most of the defenders near the battlements focused their attention on the east gate, each one standing on their feet to check the situation in the direction of the battlefield.
Pulling up the hood, Lu Xiao squatted down and started to move. The leather boots with a small amount of noise reduction made almost no sound.
"嚓~"
The slight sound of the blade popping out did not alert anyone. The soldier who was stabbed into the heart from behind opened his eyes wide. The scream that should have come out was muffled by Lu Xiao's left hand wearing a gauntlet. Unwilling to lose all his strength, he fell back.
.
Gently placing the body behind the arrow stand and hiding it, Lu Xiao continued to act without anyone noticing, assassinating five soldiers who were standing far apart in almost the same way.
After kicking the corpses into the grass under the inner city wall one by one, and clearing the surveillance gaze of the city, Lu Xiao did not stay any longer, tightened his hood and blended into the crowd of San Gimignano.
The roar of cannons inside and outside the city made the residents of the city very uneasy, fearing that the flames of war would burn into the city and destroy their originally peaceful lives.
Following the direction of the crowd's walking and discussion, Lu Xiao looked around with alert eyes under his hood.
Even though the city's defenses have been strengthened with cash capabilities and the supply channels provided by Rodrigo, San Gimignano is still just a small city.
Although it was much larger than Monteriggioni, Lu Xiao, standing on the top of the fortress tower, could easily have a panoramic view of the entire city's structure.
As for the soldiers in the fortress tower? Naturally, they were eliminated one by one by Lu Xiao.
The design structure of San Gimignano is different from Monteriggioni and Florence. The design concept of the entire city seems to be developing in the direction of a fortress city.
There are many towering surveillance towers in the city. The most eye-catching fortress tower is called Grossa Tower by the locals, and it is also the most heavily defended. This is the tower that Lu Xiao just cleared.
Standing at the top of the city, using the passive skill of clairvoyance, Lu Xiao scanned the city with lightning eyes.
"Found it."
Contrary to Lu Xiao's expectations, Rodrigo Borgia did not live in the luxurious mansion of the Pazzi family, but chose the city's famous building, the Church of the Assumption, as his base.
Of course, the defense surrounding the church is very tight, with a large number of iron cans wearing full heavy armor blocking all entrances to the church.
'How do we get in here...'
Lu Xiao stood angrily at the top of the Grossa Tower, using her powerful long-distance vision to monitor Rodrigo's every move.
Rodrigo Borgia was also wearing a hooded suit at this time. He was accustomed to a luxurious life and was unwilling to wrong himself even if he concealed his identity. He could be recognized at a glance from the gorgeousness of his clothes.
Rodrigo, who was wearing a hood, was chatting quietly with a man dressed as a monk in the atrium of the Assumption Church. Unfortunately, Lu Xiao didn't have a good ear and was unable to capture the content of their conversation.
Although Lu Xiao made some cover-ups for the soldiers he assassinated, it was only a matter of time before the soldiers who changed defenses discovered that someone had sneaked into the city. He had to complete the mission before the guards became alert.
'Anyway, let's take action first and conduct a reconnaissance around the Assumption Church. There may be some hidden defensive loopholes.'
Spotting a pile of straw in the hidden courtyard downstairs, Lu Xiao opened his arms and jumped high into the sky. He activated his passive skill Leap of Faith. The Grossa Tower, which took ten minutes to climb, quickly climbed from the top to the bottom in just a few seconds.
"Shua~"
Climbing out of the straw pile, Lu Xiao patted the remaining straw on his body, slowed down and pretended to be a pedestrian passing by, and slowly followed the flow of people again towards the Assumption Church.
[Xinbiquge www.xsbiquge.info] "Huh?"
When passing by a deserted corner in Glossa Tower, Lu Xiao suddenly noticed something strange and broke away from the crowd and turned into an alley.
He waved his hand to brush away the dusty, unknown protrusions on a moss-covered wall, and a familiar skull appeared in front of Lu Xiao's eyes.
'Assassin's tomb? Here?'
Lu Xiao observed the distance between the Grossa Tower and the Assumption Church, and suddenly thought, 'Is it possible?'
After confirming that no one nearby noticed him, Lu Xiao pulled the skeleton mechanism and jumped in from the secret passage exposed underground.
After landing, Lu Xiao looked around vigilantly.
The moist and stinking air stimulated Lu Xiao's sense of smell. This seemed to be a section of the city's sewers.
Opposite the wooden platform where Lu Xiao settled, there was a sealed door. Hidden beside the door was a general mechanism for tombs that Lu Xiao had opened several times.
After passing the first gate, what appeared in front of Lu Xiao was an underground wine cellar filled with a large number of wooden barrels.
Several guards were patrolling the wine cellar. This unnatural intensity of guarding aroused Lu Xiao's suspicion.
‘The wine cellar still needs to be guarded? What kind of wine cellar was built by a prodigal landowner... The wine barrels are filled with gold? Or...'
Lu Xiao thought of a possibility and his eyes flickered slightly.
'Catholicism prohibits alcoholism, but does not restrict priests from drinking a small amount of alcohol. If this is the underground wine cellar of the Assumption Church, this level of security would be justified.'
'This is to eliminate all possible uneasy factors around Rodrigo...that old boy is quite afraid of death.'