Night

The Eladore family was a long-standing noble house in Genoa. This banquet gathered most of the local nobles and wealthy merchants, who, even in their current predicament, refused to lower their stance and insisted on interacting with the Florentines on equal terms.

Since the banquet began, Pauli had been busy trying to decipher others' conversations, with no appetite for the food. After a long while, he felt his head swimming, more tired than when he studied Latin in his youth.

"The Genoese are too shrewd. You can hardly get any advantage when doing business with them."

More than an hour passed, and Pauli could no longer stand it. He used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to leave the banquet hall. He wandered aimlessly in the courtyard, and the cold wind gradually blew away the drowsiness and drunkenness from his body.

"So cold."

Pauli turned a corner and saw the guards standing at attention, holding a halberd in their right hands, their gazes fixed straight ahead. They weren't chatting amongst themselves or flirting with the serving maids passing by.

Such strict discipline.

He observed these elite guards of the Eladore family and, comparing them to the Milanese court guards in his memory, found the former to be superior.

The next moment, another person walked out of the hall, staggering towards the restroom. Pauli instinctively hid in the shadow of a laurel tree and suddenly saw a metallic glint flashing beneath the person's sleeve.

Chainmail!

Why wear chainmail to a banquet?

Fear surged through him like a tide. Pauli wished he could slap himself, regretting not taking Vitus's advice seriously.

"It's over. I never expected to die such a foolish death."

He paced anxiously in the courtyard. After a long time, perhaps fate was not yet sealed, Pauli unexpectedly discovered a hole in the wall behind a patch of flowers.

Through the hole, he crawled out of the Eladore residence and ran wildly down a deserted, secluded alley, not even daring to look back.

Meanwhile, the consul's guard was stationed in a nearby abandoned mansion, enjoying dinner sent by the Eladore family. Although not as luxurious as the banquet, there was wine and meat, and everyone ate with greasy mouths.

Pauli dodged the servants' sight and recounted his observations to the captain of the guard, "...If you don't believe me, send someone to the banquet hall now and say there's an emergency to inform the consul. See if they let them pass."

The captain of the guard did as he was told. Soon, his subordinate was stopped at the door. The reason given was that the consul was "strolling" in the garden with a lady and it was inconvenient to disturb them.

Pauli: "When I left, the consul was dead drunk. This is clearly a lie. Hurry, get your men ready!"

Before he finished speaking, a scream was faintly heard from the mansion. The situation was critical. Pauli casually pointed out a few soldiers and had them sneak out of the city separately to request reinforcements from the main army.

"Is there some commotion in the city?"

Vitus closed his scroll and lifted the tent flap. The city walls, under the thin moonlight, had a dark blue sheen. The tall towers pierced the sky, and figures holding torches occasionally flashed behind the battlements.

He asked the translator, who was mending clothes by the campfire, "Did you hear any shouting?"

"No," the translator pointed to the Cuman camp next door, "These nomads often drink and sing. You might have misheard."

Vitus accepted the translator's explanation and returned to his tent to continue reading. Unbeknownst to him, the noise from the city grew louder and louder, mixed with the urgent sound of bells.

Something's wrong, something must have happened!

He took the translator to the main military tent and found eight mercenary captains arguing outside the tent.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you in the tent for the meeting?"

Vitus curiously lifted the flap. The Florentine noble responsible for guarding the camp was not inside. According to the attendant's description, this young man named Usoya had already left the camp to secretly meet an old lover at a manor in the northern suburbs.

Soon, the remaining two mercenary captains arrived, drunk. The cold wind howled, the firelight flickered, and their shadows twisted and swayed as they argued in their respective languages. When the situation calmed down slightly, Vitus loudly proposed:

"I suggest we assemble the troops immediately. If the employer dies, all your reputations and commissions will be gone."

"I agree," Piero said first, "Even if the employer dies, we will still break into Genoa and demand our losses from the locals!"

The others also agreed and went to gather their troops. Soon, nearly seven thousand men, holding torches, headed towards Porta di Sant'Andrea. Vitus had soldiers go to the gate to shout, "Ask the defenders what the situation is in the city. Are the consul and the members of each family safe? If there is no reply within five minutes, I will immediately bombard the city walls!"

Vitus's plan was simple: the main force would gather at the east gate to attract the enemy's attention. Then, a team of the most elite soldiers would be selected to go to the fishing village to collect boats and row to land at the city's southern pier.

Five minutes passed, and there was still no reply from the city walls. He signaled the gunners to prepare to light the fuses, but was stopped by Piero, "I think it's too quiet on the city walls. Is it possible that the militia defending the city, seeing the chaos inside, rushed home to protect their property, so there's no one up there?"

To verify his guess, Piero had soldiers throw grappling hooks onto the battlements and climb the city walls with ropes. He guessed correctly; there were no defenders to be seen, only some carelessly discarded weapons.

"These people run fast!"

Ten mercenaries looked at each other, then went to the gate tower and, with great effort, turned the heavy winch, slowly lowering the drawbridge to allow the entire army to enter the city.

"Don't rush, I feel like this whole thing is a bit complicated!"

Vitus stepped up the stairs to the top of the gate tower and looked out. The spreading fires in the city reddened half the sky. Except for the wealthy district in the north of the city, other areas were also in chaos, with residents' cries and wails everywhere.

This is wrong. If it were just a simple Hongmen Banquet, Casella Eladore could have easily killed the consul and guests like Pauli without such a large commotion.

Vitus took several deep breaths to calm himself and observed again. The sounds of fighting in the northwest area were particularly intense, as if an organized army was launching a night raid to seize control of Genoa.

"It's probably the Milanese army. They didn't leave but instead used the collusion of certain families within the city to fight their way back into Genoa, intending to hijack the Florentine consul and the top brass to force us to retreat."

Vitus informed the mercenary captains of this conjecture and changed the battle plan on the fly.

Genoa's streets were complex. If the army was deployed in street fighting, many mercenaries would desert to loot civilian houses, leading to a dispersion of forces.

He decided to change tactics. He would send an elite force to the Eladore residence to rescue the consul and the top brass. The remaining main force would seize control of Genoa's city walls, cutting off the Milanese army's retreat, and then make further plans at dawn.