Night had completely enveloped the sky, not a sliver of moonlight could pierce through. Outside Verona, the Papal States army quietly lifted the siege and, without firing a single shot, retreated under the cover of darkness.
To make the act complete, Duke directly ordered a full army announcement: Lorenzo had rebelled, the rear fortresses were lost, supplies were cut off, and they needed to march day and night, making a long-distance forced march to reinforce Rome.
Therefore, the Field Army's reaction could not be said to be similar to a real one; it was entirely real. Most of the officers and soldiers were very angry, but there were also a few short-sighted junior officers who wanted to lead their troops to defect to Claudio, who had 'occupied' Ferrara. They were discovered and caught in time, and were immediately hanged from trees.
The movement of tens of thousands of troops outside the city, such a large commotion, could not but alarm the Venice garrison inside the city. Seeing the besieging army outside the city withdraw without doing anything, the Venice officer on duty doubted his own eyes, rubbed them, and only after confirming that the enemy had truly retreated, did he quickly send someone to report to Othello.
Woken up in the middle of the night, Othello, who slept in his armor, thought it was an enemy attack and got up in a hurry, but was told that the Papal States had withdrawn. He was also confused, and only when he climbed the city wall and saw the abandoned and destroyed camps outside the city did he believe it was true.
Although seeing was believing, Othello still thought it was a trick by the Papal States, whose purpose was to lure him out of the city to pursue and then annihilate him. But then he thought again, such a clumsy scheme to trick him into leaving the city to die was really too naive. According to his understanding, the opposing commander was also battle-hardened and would not be so naive. Perhaps something really had happened.
Undecided, Othello decided to send out scouts first to gather information and figure out what had happened before making a plan.
Claudio returned to Ferrara but did not state the reason, only ordered all supplies to be taken, the entire army to withdraw into the city, and then the city gates to be tightly closed for defense, not opening or responding to anyone.
Duke's army advanced at full speed, first arriving at the city of Ferrara, 'discovering' that the city gates were tightly closed. He symbolically called out, and as expected, no one responded. Then he left a single regiment to block Ferrara's North Gate, and left all the artillery and a large amount of food and supplies to this regiment.
The remaining troops all traveled light and quickly, bypassing Ferrara, crossing Romagna, and entering Tuscany to borrow a path, appearing to be heading straight for Rome, but in fact, they camped in a mountainous area to rest.
Borrowing a path through Tuscany was, firstly, considering that cities along the way within the Papal States might have been occupied by rebels, so it should be done whether to avoid conflict or to arrive as quickly as possible; secondly, entering Tuscany, there were Tuscan garrisons on the border, which could prevent Venice scouts from continuing to follow and observe; thirdly, distancing themselves from Ferrara could further lower Venice's guard, achieving the tactical objective.
As expected, several groups of scouts sent by Venice followed all the way to the Tuscan border, roughly understanding some of the situation. Unable to go any deeper, and not believing it was still necessary to continue tracking, they unanimously turned back to report to Othello.
The scouts brought Othello both good news and bad news: the good news was that Lorenzo, the Military Minister within the Papal States, had rebelled with fifty thousand troops and was heading straight for Rome. Duke was forced to lead his army back to reinforce. Ferrara closed its gates and would not open them. Duke only left one regiment and a large amount of weapons and supplies outside the city and was now on a light and rapid march, having already entered Tuscany. The bad news was that the previous shouts from the Papal States were true: the Venice Navy was annihilated, the capital was lost, the Doge was captured, and the movements of the Papal States garrison on the island of Venice were currently unknown.
Upon hearing these two pieces of news, Othello's heart almost gave out. Although he had previously reassured the soldiers that the Papal States' shouts were false, Othello was not entirely disbelieving; there was a degree of self-deception involved. But now, knowing that all of it was true, he still found it a bit hard to bear.
And with Duke forced to return to defend, it seemed he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But could he really breathe that sigh of relief...?
Othello knew that although Lorenzo looked powerful, he was actually vulnerable and had little chance of success. Even if they truly succeeded in killing Augustus and installing a new Pope, the Pope's throne would not even be warm before he was overthrown by the returning Duke.
If another Pope was replaced, the war would continue, and the Papal States would still be invincible. Surrendering to the Papal States, Othello, a dignified old Venice Golden Lion Flag, could not do; dying on the battlefield, though tragic, he had not lived enough; going into exile abroad to seek support for restoration, that would be too humiliating.
If he could not do something to seize this heaven-sent opportunity, Venice's defeat would be irreversible, but what could he do?
Soon, the envoy sent by Ferrara gave Othello the answer.
Upon seeing that the person who came was actually a Venetian, Othello's eyes lit up.
Before Othello could even speak, the man knelt down, tears streaming down his face, and introduced himself: "General, I am a soldier under Pisani. Previously, we went as a relief force to aid Austria in Ferrara to rendezvous with the Papal States, but unexpectedly, the Papal States conspired against us, declaring war without warning. Over two thousand brothers gloriously died in battle, and the nearly one thousand of us who survived became prisoners, transported in batches to the rear of the Papal States. Several hundred of us remained in Ferrara and had not yet been transported."
Othello was somewhat moved, reaching out to help the soldier up and softly saying, "You have suffered greatly. The Venice Republic will not forget you."
"General, I'm sure you already know the situation in the Papal States. Lorenzo has revolted, and Claudio, who was guarding us, has also rebelled, occupying Ferrara and not allowing Duke to enter the city. Duke could only leave one regiment and a large amount of supplies outside the city, and the main army is on a light and rapid march back to reinforce Rome. General, this is a heaven-sent opportunity!" The soldier's eyes flickered with the flame of revenge.
"You just said that Duke left a regiment outside the city, so how did you get out?" Othello asked cautiously.
"Heh, you don't know how big Ferrara is, do you? In fact, one regiment couldn't form an effective blockade against us at all. They could only block Ferrara's North Gate. I came out of the South Gate, took a detour, and got here."
"So, it was the commander of Ferrara, Claudio, who rebelled with Duke, who sent you?"
"Saying 'commander' isn't quite right either. He was originally under Duke, directly responsible for the logistics and supply of the front-line army, but he had troops in hand. Upon receiving the news, he led his troops into the city and effortlessly took control of the lightly guarded Ferrara, putting the commander under house arrest," the soldier explained.
Othello seemed to understand: "You just said 'heaven-sent opportunity.' Do you mean that Claudio hopes we will send troops, coordinate from inside and outside, annihilate the regiment besieging Ferrara, and seize the weapons and supplies Duke left behind?"
"The General is wise!" the soldier exclaimed excitedly, "You don't know, the besieging soldiers are only one regiment, but they left hundreds of cannons and tens of thousands of shells! With these weapons and equipment, we can blast our way to Rome ourselves!"
"Moreover, Duke is pro-Venice. This uprising must be related to Augustus's blatant attack on us. Even if they don't succeed in taking Rome this time, if our army occupies the Papal States and stabilizes their rear, they can still retreat and rendezvous with us. This way, we will have an absolute advantage in numbers and equipment! Not only can we restore our nation, but we can even bite off a large piece of the Papal States!"
To turn the tide in a desperate situation, to prop up a collapsing edifice. For such glory, Othello's heart trembled uncontrollably. After a long moment, he calmed down, gripped the soldier's hand tightly, and said, "Go back and tell Claudio to prepare. Our army will arrive soon! Then we will attack from both sides and devour this fat meat!"