The sudden hostility from Tuscany Camp left Pisani bewildered and vaguely uneasy, so he immediately ordered all units to assemble their troops and count their numbers, and the unique horn sound echoed over Venice Camp.
He didn't know until he counted, and once he did, he was shocked. As reports came in from all levels of officers, Pisani was surprised to find that dozens of soldiers were missing, and it was said that they had all gone to Tuscany Camp and had not returned.
Looking at the current stance of Tuscany Camp, those dozens of soldiers were most likely in grave danger; if not dead or alive, they were at least detained. Pisani, still reeling, vaguely caught a whiff of conspiracy.
Taking a deep breath, Pisani furrowed his brow in thought: Perhaps some major conflict had angered the Tuscans, or perhaps Tuscany had some conspiracy, but no matter what, he absolutely could not act aggressively at this moment. Not to mention that he couldn't bear the consequences of further angering Tuscany to the point of armed conflict, and if a fight really broke out on land, his small force was no match for Tuscany, and it would be difficult to end the situation then…
Suddenly, a boatswain's urgent voice rang out, interrupting Pisani's thoughts: "Commander, our missing men must be related to Tuscany! To think the worst, some of our comrades may have already met with misfortune, and Tuscany's current behavior is definitely due to a guilty conscience.
The missing soldiers are our blood brothers who have lived and died with us, and the soldiers are reacting very strongly; some are already clamoring for a real fight with the Tuscans! We must demand an explanation from Tuscany!"
"Don't worry, Tuscany has been increasingly submissive recently, but now they are suddenly making trouble. If nothing has changed internally, then this matter is likely a trick. His Holiness the Pope should not be aware yet, I will go to him now. As long as His Holiness the Pope is willing to mediate, all problems will be resolved easily. Riccardo wouldn't dare not give face to the Pope, even if he has some conspiracy, he won't be able to carry it out, and he must give us an explanation for this matter!"
No Augustus, yes His Holiness the Pope. Thanks to Augustus's attitude and performance before, Pisani at this moment not only had no suspicion of Augustus but also firmly believed that the Pope would mediate and stand on his side, unaware that all of this was the Pope's doing.
Everyone's faces were grim, but no one raised any objections. Pisani continued to command sternly: "You all quickly go to your respective units to appease the soldiers and stabilize the situation. Absolutely do not let conflicts with Tuscany flare up again. I'm telling you now, if anyone fails to control their subordinates at this time, they should make way for others!"
After giving simple instructions, still uneasy, Pisani gave a few more harsh words to his subordinate officers, explained some ways to deal with the situation, and then, taking his personal guards, headed straight for the Pope's camp without looking back.
Passing through Papal States Camp, Pisani felt that the Papal States soldiers today seemed a little different from usual, but as the main business was urgent, he didn't think much of it.
…
"What? His Holiness the Pope isn't here?" Learning from the guard at the entrance that the Pope was absent, Pisani immediately panicked, his mind in a turmoil.
Tuscany was causing trouble, and the Pope just happened to be out at this time; Pisani now had to be suspicious.
However, Pisani quickly thought of another possibility: the news that the Pope was going out this afternoon had been leaked to Tuscany, which further solidified his idea that Tuscany had a conspiracy.
"His Holiness the Pope just left this afternoon, so he probably won't be back for a while." The guard, having received no special orders, ignored Pisani's distraught state and answered truthfully.
"When His Holiness the Pope returns, please be sure to tell him I was here. I have important matters to report." Seeing that the guard's expression did not seem to be faking, Pisani had no choice but to give up and returned disheartened.
Pisani's rare repeated warnings made the Venice officers not dare to be careless, and they all strictly ordered all soldiers to stay away from the border of Tuscany Camp. Although this caused great dissatisfaction in all units, it was still barely suppressed.
Returning to Venice Camp, seeing no unusual movements at the camp border and everything as usual, Pisani breathed a sigh of relief.
Upon returning to the main tent, Pisani called for the orderly and commanded: "Pass the order to the entire army, do not disband, continue to maintain the current state until His Holiness the Pope returns."
"Commander, are we just going to endure this without doing anything?" A trusted aide beside him asked, hinting at something.
Pisani was also asking himself this question. Pisani understood that if he were to negotiate with Tuscany at this time, it would be most appropriate for him to appear in person. Given his status, unless Tuscany directly intended to declare war on Venice, he would not be in any danger.
But it's better to be safe than sorry. For his own safety, Pisani chose to retreat, feigning ignorance: "Doing nothing is indeed not good; idleness easily leads to trouble. How about this, let our soldiers conduct training."
With Venice showing no movement and not a single person visible on the border, Riccardo was burning with anxiety. If Venice could really endure until the Pope returned, it would be difficult for him to handle the situation then. Should he take the initiative to attack? The nature of the matter would then be completely different.
After much deliberation, Riccardo decided to do something to provoke Venice. So, he ordered the construction of a high platform behind the defense line and had all the detained Venice soldiers brought up and made to kneel.
At the same time, he took out the most effective large megaphone available in the entire camp and had someone shout in Venetian towards Venice Camp: "This is the consequence of trespassing into Tuscany Camp!"
With this shout, everyone in Venice had their attention drawn, and seeing the scene on the high platform, the fleeting surprise instantly turned into raging fury.
The Tuscany soldiers, fearing the other side hadn't heard clearly, picked up the megaphone again, raised their voices several octaves, and roared once more: "All Venetians listen clearly! This is the consequence of trespassing into Tuscany Camp!"
The emotions that Venice had so painstakingly suppressed instantly boiled over again. Even some officers were no longer willing to maintain order, and even more officers gripped their weapons and led the way, shouting curses towards Tuscany.
Pisani himself felt an uncontrollable surge of anger, which quickly turned into bone-chilling coldness.
Tuscany's blatant provocation, completely disregarding the consequences, was clearly intended to incite a fight between the two sides, making it clear that they wanted a fight to the death, just waiting for him to take the bait! And was all of this just Riccardo's personal act of revenge?
Without the Grand Duke of Tuscany's authorization, without the Pope's tacit approval, and without prior communication with the Papal States army, how could Riccardo bear the consequences of provoking such a conflict? One must know that while the two countries had always been at odds, there were no direct conflicts of interest.
However, to go to such great lengths to assemble a joint army, only for their own people to start fighting before even setting off, this could be considered a farce worthy of being recorded in history. Even the Pope, how could he bear such a charge? How could the Pope allow Tuscany to do this? And why was the Grand Duke of Tuscany doing this? Pisani couldn't understand, and he didn't have time to understand.
Just as Pisani was distracted, a dozen fully armed Venice soldiers separated from the military formation, quickly formed a column, and charged directly towards Tuscany Camp. On the vast, flat camp border, the column was like a sharp arrow, shooting towards Tuscany Camp.
"Stop them quickly!" Pisani cried out in alarm, shouting desperately.
But it was too late; before the order could be passed down, those dozen Venice soldiers had already entered within a hundred meters of the Tuscany defense line.