"Leonardo, what do you think about leaving your hometown and embarking on a journey? Do you feel reluctant to leave?"
Upon hearing Lu Xiao's inquiry, a head popped out of the carriage carriage. It was Leonardo da Vinci who was busy studying in the Florence studio not long ago.
"On the contrary." After sorting out the items in the carriage, Leonardo da Vinci sat next to Lu Xiao who was driving, and said to him excitedly: "Leaving Florence gave me a sense of liberation. Sure enough, if you want to know more about the world, you must first
Take the first step bravely.”
Lu Xiao had already anticipated Da Vinci's answer. He smiled noncommittally and concentrated on steering the carriage forward at a constant speed on the road.
Leonardo da Vinci lived up to the title of universal genius given to him by later generations. After a period of analysis and research, he finally fully understood the mechanism principles of the boot blade, and learned some Eastern mechanism concepts from it without any teacher.
Lu Xiao speculated that the manufacturing concept of boot blades should be passed down from descendants of the Mohist family.
From the records about the East left by the brotherhoods in the Middle East, we can know that almost all the Mohists who have hidden among the people have joined the Oriental Brotherhood.
Not only the Mohist school, but also due to the ideological restriction policy of King Qin Yingzheng who deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, the suppressed schools of thought such as the Mohist school, the Yin-Yang school, and the Politicians all quietly disappeared into the dark.
They started a thousand-year-long battle with the Confucians who respected royal power and order, that is, the Templar Knights. The conflict of ideas between the two sides ran through the entire history of China.
Wang Mang, who has been complained about as a time traveler, is the new king fully supported by the Eastern Brotherhood. With the Golden Apple of Eden in his hand, he has gained vast knowledge that transcends the times.
Unfortunately, he took too big a step and did not take into account the acceptance of his policies by the people at that time. Moreover, he was unlucky to meet another opponent holding a powerful Eden artifact - Liu Xiu, who was supported by the Templars.
Wang Mang, who was eager to promote social change, was defeated by Liu Xiu with the help of the Eden artifact to induce the celestial phenomena and earth veins. Under the successive meteorite rain, divine thunder and **** strikes, Wang Mang finally failed to recover, and finally ushered in the Guangwu ZTE recorded in history.
.
When he saw this part of the record, Lu Xiao's expression was very strange. He did not expect that the Guangwu Zhongxing created by Liu Xiu, the "Son of Destiny", would be interpreted this way in this world... and it was quite consistent with the world view.
Leonardo da Vinci understood part of the Mohist philosophy through his study of the Mohist mechanism. Geniuses are so unreasonable.
In the early years, Leonardo da Vinci became very interested in the vast world through Lu Xiao's description of the unique Eastern culture.
When he learned that Lu Xiao planned to leave Florence and go to Venice, a water city in northern Italy, Leonardo da Vinci proposed on the spot that he wanted to accompany him all the way to Venice to see the world and find inspiration.
The Auditore family had no objection to this. Maria promised to provide Leonardo with sufficient financial support as always, and entrusted members of the Venetian Brotherhood to prepare a new studio for Leonardo in advance.
The wealthy boss agreed, and Lu Xiao naturally had no reason to refute. After completing preparations for departure, he took a carriage with Leonardo da Vinci and left Florence with the Auditore family seeing him off.
Venice is the capital of the Veneto region, a famous port city, known as the Pearl of the Adriatic Sea.
In this era, like most city-states in Italy, Venice also established the Republic of Venice with itself as the center.
The most convenient way to get to Venice is by boat, but unfortunately Florence is an inland city.
If they wanted to take a boat to Venice, Lu Xiao and Leonardo Da Vinci could only take a carriage to the Romagna region in northern Tuscany and board a boat to Venice at the local Porto Forli.
The name Romagna is very unfamiliar to Lu Xiao, but when it comes to Forli, he is impressed.
If Lu Xiao remembered correctly, there should be an assassin's tomb in Foli City, but he couldn't remember where it was specifically.
"Leonardo, I'm going to look for an ancient tomb in Forli. Maybe we'll stay in the Romagna region for a short time."
Da Vinci had no objection to this. For him who had just left his hometown, everything in the outside world was new.
"No problem. It just so happens that you can fulfill Mr. Giovanni's commission and visit the brotherhood's ally, the local lord's wife."
The lord's wife of Forli is Caterina Sforza, the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the former Duke of Milan who was assassinated by the Templars.
Like her father, Katarina became associated with the Assassin Brotherhood at a young age.
It was only with the help of Giovanni that Caterina escaped from the sudden assassination.
A few years before the assassination of the Duke of Milan, 10-year-old Caterina was engaged to Girolamo Lirao, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.
Before Lu Xiao and Leonardo Da Vinci set out from Florence, they just heard the news of their marriage. The Pope designated Forli, the capital of Romagna, as Girolamo's fief and ordered him to closely guard against possible invasion by the French.
The contemporary king of France is Louis XI. He has just defeated the last powerful enemy at home, the bold Charles, and is now ambitiously preparing for external expansion.
The Papal States were not fools either. Sensing Louis XI's intention to invade south, King Sickste IV immediately arranged for Girolamo to be at Forlì, where the French army was heading south to invade.
The only place to pass through the core territory of Italy.
Lu Xiao has no interest in the conflict between France and Italy. Romagna and Forli are just stops on his journey.
As long as they get the Assassin's token and Altaïr's Codex that may exist locally, Lu Xiao and Leonardo da Vinci will board the ship to Venice.
Lu Xiao still has some impressions of the name Caterina Sforza. She appeared in Assassin's Creed 2 and the sequel Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and she seemed to be one of Ezio's lovers.
However, the relationship between the two is more based on political considerations, and it is difficult to say whether there is any affection between them.
After calming down the internal crisis, the Republic of Florence, led by Lorenzo, turned its attention to the outside world. In order to resist the next round of conspiracy that the Holy See might launch, Florence needed the support of more allies.
Giuliano Medici took his brother's orders and personally went to the Republic of Siena, hoping to persuade them to stand on the same front as the interests of Tuscany.
On the other hand, the Republic of Venice, which has huge financial resources and impressive military strength, is also an ally that both the Holy See and private capitalists hope to win over.
Of course, the Romagna stuck in the middle has become the most popular one.
As the nephew of the Pope, Girolamo's stance towards the Templars is self-evident.
Fortunately, Caterina Sforza, who had just completed a political marriage with Girolamo, did not share the same position as her husband. She was more inclined to cooperate with emerging capitalists such as Florence.
Lu Xiao went to Venice at the right time, and Giovanni sent him a commission on behalf of Lorenzo, hoping that Lu Xiao could "hand-deliver" a letter written by Lorenzo to Caterina.
'With your own hands...'
Looking at the Foley Castle that gradually appeared in the field of vision, the corners of Lu Xiao's mouth curled up in a sarcastic arc.
'It seems that the relationship between Caterina and her husband is not good at all. I wonder if Girolamo, who has a different bed and a different dream, is wary of his wife who has a good relationship with the Assassin Brotherhood every night.'