The road conditions in the Romagna region are very bad, with swamps, wetlands and large fragments of abandoned buildings everywhere.
The carriage had to slow down after entering the Romagna region. Lu Xiao had to concentrate on driving. If he was not careful, the wheels might get stuck in a hidden pit of a pond.
Leonardo da Vinci was very interested in the strange scenery of Romagna. He sat in a rickety carriage and nonchalantly sketched the frame for a new painting.
After finally driving around numerous ponds and potholes, the carriage finally stopped in front of the gate of Forro Castle.
The defense of this castle is very complete. A typical medieval suspension bridge connects the inside and outside of the city. The natural moat adds a lot of difficulty to the attackers.
The large number of cannons erected on the city walls also show how much Sixtus IV valued this city that connected the main road between the north and the south.
Most of the civilians who came and went inside and outside the city had wet mud under their feet, and the fishy smell wafting from the seaside near Port Forly made Lu Xiao very uncomfortable.
'I hate seafood...'
Foley is a small city. Except for certain privileged classes, civilian carriages are not allowed to enter the city.
After arriving in Romagna and on the next journey to Venice, Lu Xiao and Leonardo no longer needed a carriage.
The carriage was sold to a post station outside the city at a discounted price on the spot. Lu Xiao and Da Vinci entered Forli City with a lot of luggage and looked for a hotel to stay.
Lu Xiao has very little luggage, only some changes of clothes and necessary belongings.
In contrast, even after being dismantled, the large number of packages carried by Leonardo da Vinci was enough to attract the attention of passers-by.
Lu Xiao complained angrily: "Didn't I tell you that you only need to carry the necessary things when traveling abroad? You can have your gadgets arranged by the Auditore family to be shipped to Venice."
"No, no, no." Leonardo da Vinci shook his head repeatedly in disapproval: "These unfinished products I made can help me kill the boring time on the road. To use the Eastern proverb you mentioned, a sharpened knife will never make a mistake in chopping firewood.
Work."
Lu Xiao shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, it's up to you."
Although Sparrow is small and well-equipped, the city of Forlì is far from Florence, but the necessary infrastructure is available here.
After finding a fairly clean hotel to stay in, Leonardo da Vinci went out to the streets with great interest, intending to take a closer look at this small city with different customs and customs from Florence.
Lu Xiao was not as leisurely as him, so he took Lorenzo's autographed letter that Giovanni handed to him. Lu Xiao first climbed up to the tallest tower in the city out of habit, scanned the city's layout with clairvoyance, and kept the more important locations in mind.
There are very few places of interest in the small town of Forli, and there are only two worth recording in detail.
One is the Church of St. Mercury in the center of the city, and the other is the Levadino Rock Castle where the local lords lived.
As usual, Lu Xiao took a general tour of Forli City through the rooftop route. On the way, he also saw Leonardo da Vinci arguing with a local artist.
As expected, Lu Xiao discovered a familiar skeleton mechanism next to a hidden pool near the edge of the city wall.
After confirming that no one was watching around, Lu Xiao pulled the machine and successfully entered the tomb.
Counting this assassin's tomb buried under Forli City, Lu Xiao has experienced the baptism of four tombs and is already familiar with the exploration process.
The tombs of Forli City seemed to be connected with the basement of Leverardino Rock Castle. During the exploration, Lu Xiao found a small number of soldiers from Forli City, as well as some food, grass, horses and other baggage.
Without alerting the guards, Lu Xiao sneaked into the depths of the tomb without anyone noticing.
The last time-limited door gave Lu Xiao some fresh experiences, but this little problem didn't bother him.
The token was successfully taken out from the tomb of the Mongolian assassin Gao Qulan. A set of bows and arrows representing Gao Qulan were carved on the token disk.
Opening the manhole cover of the sewer and observing quietly, Lu Xiao found that he had arrived at another corner of the city, but still outside the Levadino Rock Castle.
Quietly closing the manhole cover, Lu Xiao gave up leaving the exit and dived into the tomb to search again. Finally, following the movement route of Foley's soldiers, he found a direct passage to the interior of the castle.
'Next, let me find where little Princess Catalina's room is.'
Caterina, who was born in 1463, has just turned 14 this year. Marrying a girl of this age would take at least three years in modern times and could lead to the death penalty.
But during the Renaissance, this situation was not uncommon among nobles.
The defense inside Levardino Rock Castle is not as tight as Lu Xiao imagined. It is not the same as the defense outside the castle. It should be a defensive strategy of tightening on the outside and loosening on the inside, which provides Lu Xiao with different opportunities for his actions.
Less convenience.
'Actually, if you think about it, who would have thought that someone could bypass the tight defense outside the castle and sneak into the interior? No one wants the place where they live to be full of guards that make the scenery look bad.'
Avoiding the few guards in the city, Lu Xiao followed a maid who was relatively gorgeously dressed and slowly moved to the lord's living room located at the highest point of the castle.
The maid did not stop in the living room and continued up to the open-air garden on the roof.
An expired luoli with an unhappy face was tearing the petals from his hand. The maids beside him all lowered their heads tremblingly, fearing that the lord's wife's anger would be vented on them.
The girl who is right at the junction of luoli and girl has some baby fat on her face and a very delicate appearance. The tall and beautiful nose bridge supports the wonderful outline of the entire face. Her light green eyes are as eye-catching as lake water.
But at this time, the lake that should have been calm and peaceful was actually filled with turbulent waves, which intuitively showed the owner's extremely unhappy mood.
Lu Xiao hid in the distance and used his clairvoyance to look at the body curve of the expired Luoli unscrupulously. "Well... the aristocratic girls of this era are really well developed. They have such an S-shaped figure for childbirth at such a young age."
Completely unaware that he was making dangerous remarks in his heart, Lu Xiao waited patiently on the high platform of the castle for more than ten minutes, but never saw the lord Girolamo Lirao appear.
Caterina Sforza's mood became more and more irritable. At that moment, a maid couldn't help but cough. Luoli took the opportunity to turn his anger on her and raised his hand to throw the drink in her hand at her.
Fortunately, the brown drink was no longer hot. The maid whose clothes got wet hurriedly bowed her head and apologized, and it took a while before she was forgiven by Catalina.
Lu Xiao's brows gradually furrowed. "You have such a bad temper at a young age? Is it because you witnessed your father being assassinated when you were a child? Since then, you have lacked the guidance of a correct outlook on life?"
Catalina didn't know that someone was peeping at her from a distance. After finding an opportunity to vent her anger, she waved all the maids away irritably, and leaned alone on the lounge chair in the roof garden, staring blankly at the cloudy and gloomy sky.
"Mrs. Lirao, please forgive me for disturbing you. Lord Lorenzo de' Medici has a personal letter for you."
The sudden soft greeting from around her startled Catalina, who was feeling sorry for herself. She subconsciously lifted up her long skirt and jumped up from the lounge chair. At the same time, she took out a small dagger from her lower waist, alertly
Look at the person who made the noise.
Lu Xiao's brows twitched when she saw the dagger, and she felt sad for Girolamo in her heart. Some clues about Caterina's distrust of her husband could be seen from this hidden dagger.
The feeling of fright gradually subsided, and the opponent did not launch subsequent attacks, which relieved Catalina's nervousness, and her breathing gradually returned to normal.
Looking at the hooded man in gray robe who lowered his head and handed out the envelope, Catalina asked in a low voice: "How did you get in? Take off your hood!"
Lu Xiao sighed silently and took off the hood on his head, revealing an oriental face that was very different from the Italians. Catalina's eyes flickered slightly, and she unconsciously showed curiosity.
"Mrs. Lirao, I don't mean any harm..."
"stop!"
A look of disgust appeared on Catalina's face, and she raised her hand to stop what Lu Xiao had not finished saying: "Don't use that hateful name, just call me Catalina."
Lu Xiao paused for a moment: "Okay, Caterina, on behalf of Lorenzo Medici, Lord of Florence, I am sending you a friendly letter."
"Due to my position, I cannot stay in the rock castle for a long time. Please take a look and give me a reply as soon as possible."