In Venice, good news kept pouring in, and Claudio was beaming with joy.
In less than a day, the Venice Navy was annihilated, the capital fell, and the Governor was captured; this battle was basically decided, and if nothing unexpected happened, there would be no more surprises.
Thinking of his past difficulties and the Pope's promise to him, Claudio suddenly felt that the future was promising, and was about to arrange a banquet to call his subordinates to celebrate together when he received a secret letter from Lorenzo.
He thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but when he opened the envelope, Claudio was stunned: Lorenzo had rebelled!
Claudio repeatedly studied Lorenzo's letter word by word, roughly understanding Lorenzo's motives, intentions, and plans, only then truly realizing that it was not a joke, nor was there any hidden meaning; Lorenzo had truly rebelled!
With the main army outside, Lorenzo led his troops directly to Rome; if successful, the Pope's promise to him would naturally be null and void, and the situation would become uncertain; if he failed, as Lorenzo's subordinate, he could not guarantee that he would not be purged.
Where should he go?
Suddenly pushed to the forefront, Claudio was somewhat at a loss.
The choice before him now was the most important choice of his life; if he chose wrong, it would basically be his last choice.
Claudio leaned against the wall, trembling as he slowly shuffled to the chair and sat down, took a sip of tea, and slowly calmed down.
Caught in the middle of two sides, the situation was extremely dangerous, but it was also the key to victory or defeat.
He had five thousand reserve soldiers in his hand, and several hundred Venice surrendered soldiers who had not yet been transferred to the rear.
Such military strength would be tantamount to suicide against either side.
What he held most important now were, first, enough supplies to support the front-line operations for a period, and second, the news of Lorenzo's uprising.
If he rashly cut off the front-line supplies, Carducao would directly kill him, and he would surely die; if he continued to provide supplies but concealed the news, the Pope would certainly regard him as Lorenzo's accomplice, and Lorenzo would not tolerate him either…
According to Lorenzo's secret letter, delaying Carducao was the minimum requirement, which was clearly using him as cannon fodder.
Even if they succeeded, Carducao would undoubtedly be the first to target him when they received the news.
He couldn't possibly pretend to be foolish and waver back and forth at that time; that would truly make him an outcast from both sides.
Whether from an emotional or practical standpoint, Claudio actually hoped the Pope would win, but he was afraid that Rome would not be able to hold on.
Claudio did not know how many defenders Rome had, but it was certainly far fewer than Lorenzo's.
After repeated deliberation, Claudio finally made up his mind: trust the Pope, blockade the news from below, tell the news to Carducao, and then discuss countermeasures together.
With such a major event, celebration was naturally out of the question.
Claudio immediately took up his pen and wrote two secret letters explaining the situation, sending them separately to Carducao and the Pope, and then he personally went to Duke's station with a few trusted aides and Lorenzo's secret letter.
...
The situation in Venice had completely stabilized, and organized hostile armed forces had been cleared out.
A small number of Riccardo's warships patrolled and blockaded the surroundings.
Tuscany had suffered enough losses in this battle, and all subsequent battles would be land-based, so Carducao and Giovanni unanimously agreed that Riccardo was no longer needed to participate in subsequent wars and should remain in Venice.
Carducao handed over the remaining security work to Wyatt, and at the same time, gave him command of the mercenaries, and, as hinted by the Pope, arranged some additional tasks in advance.
Carducao's National Defense Force and Giovanni's Navy had entered a period of rest, preparing for the battle the next day.
Only Carducao, Giovanni, and a few other important officers were discussing tomorrow's deployment in a conference room.
According to the plan, the main force of the army would launch an attack on Treviso at dawn.
But at this moment, Claudio's secret letter arrived.
Carducao realized that the situation was not good; Claudio had always been diligently responsible for logistics and never interfered in any other aspects, so a sudden secret letter must mean something had happened.
Despite being mentally prepared, when he opened the letter, Carducao was still so shocked that he jumped three feet high.
If other countries sent reinforcements to Venice, or if there were problems with the supply lines, it would still be within Carducao's expectations.
However, Lorenzo in the rear had actually rebelled; if they came for him, it would be easy to handle, but they were heading straight for Rome.
If something happened to Rome, not only would all the gains on the front line be for nothing, but the entire Papal States might change hands.
If Claudio had not still been loyal to the Pope, and the front line had remained in the dark for a while longer, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Given the gravity of the matter, Carducao immediately showed the letter to Giovanni, who also turned pale with shock.
The two exchanged glances, then passed the letter around to the other officers present.
"It seems our plan for tomorrow has to be canceled," Carducao said with a bitter smile.
Giovanni nodded in agreement, saying, "It can only be canceled.
Currently, we have achieved a decisive victory here, and Venice no longer has enough strength to organize a threatening counterattack.
Leaving Venice to Duke's Field Army should also be fine for now, but if something goes wrong in the rear, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Rome only has two regiments of defenders; if Lorenzo gathers enough men to besiege the city, it won't hold out for long.
Even if it holds, the casualties and damage caused by the siege would be disastrous for our Papal States.
It is best if we immediately lead our troops back and intercept Lorenzo's forces before they reach Rome.
Although Lorenzo can nominally mobilize many people, on the one hand, most of them are not with him, and on the other hand, those are conscripts with weak combat power.
The sooner we intercept him and crush his conspiracy, the more we can minimize losses."
"I agree.
I suggest taking our National Defense Force on the Navy's ships overnight and sending them to Ancona to pursue.
The Venice surrendered soldiers might become an unstable factor if left here, so we should take them along too; we can control them.
Given the quality of Lorenzo's troops, it's impossible for them to march overnight; we still have a very good chance of intercepting them before Rome.
This way, leaving mercenaries and Riccardo's Tuscany soldiers in Venice is sufficient.
After you drop us off, you can return to facilitate movements between Venice and Verona," Carducao stated decisively.
"Good, no time to lose, it's settled then," Giovanni added, "However, we must also inform Duke's side of our actions, lest Duke's side, unaware of the situation, also blindly return to defend, giving Venice a chance to counterattack for nothing."
"That is natural.
We also need to explain the situation to Riccardo and Wyatt, though not too clearly.
We will act separately, assemble the troops, and gather at the pier on the Schiavoni Coast in half an hour."
Carducao and Giovanni cooperated tacitly, working together with loyal and reliable generals.
The entire land and sea army was commanded as if by an arm, and in less than half an hour, the army was assembled and loaded onto ships.
Under the dim moonlight, the Papal States' Navy departed from Venice, carrying tens of thousands of troops towards Ancona, and towards an unknown tomorrow.