Count Gerolamo did not lose courage at the sight of these formidable preparations to assail his stronghold, but applied himself diligently to increasing his means of resistance. He fortified the approaches, repaired the curtains, videttes and battlements, and added new bastions and other works of defence. He had already collected a large body of mercenaries and to cover Montobbio had garrisoned Cariseto and Varese. He asked vainly for the assistance of the French troops in Mirandola, and then turned his attention to negotiations with Pierluigi Farnese. This duke pretended loyalty to the empire, but he secretly furnished men and supplies, permitted his vassals in the mountains to enlist under the standards of Fieschi and instigated the people of Valnura and Trebbia to obstruct the passes in front of the imperial troops. Gerolamo, knowing the worth of Verrina’s advice and courage and the intrepidity of Assereto and the band of heroes who had taken refuge in Marseilles, sent many messengers to urge them to share with him the peril and glory of the siege. These refugees had sent Ottobuono and Cornelio Fieschi to the court of France to plead their cause, and the king had received them with marks of favour and promised to restore their fallen fortunes. The assurances were reiterated frequently, but the French monarch took no steps to prove his sincerity. Verrina and Assereto grew weary of the tedious delay and accepted the invitation of Gerolamo without awaiting the return of the Fieschi, preferring the risk of battle to begging for aid which was always promised but never given. They crossed Piedmont and found means to enter Montobbio. Gerolamo received them with joy and committed the defence to their hands. Later, Ottobuono came to Mirandola and Verrina and Vicenzo Varese went there to aid him in urging the French commander to assist in the defence of the castle. They solicited in vain. This refusal of France to succour Gerolamo is a new proof that Gianluigi had not agreed to deliver Genoa into the hands of the French monarch. Francis was prodigal of promises, but he left the Fieschi to encounter the forces of the empire alone. Spinola planted batteries on a height now called _Costa Rotta_ near Granara, a village to the west of the castle; but though he bombarded the citadel for forty days he was not able to gain one inch of ground, while the fire of the fortress mowed down the flower of his troops and daily explosions of his own guns added to the loss of life. Besides, the inclemency of the season and incessant rains prevented the formation of lines of circumvallation. The besieged were greatly encouraged, and the soldiers of the Republic proportionately demoralized, by these circumstances. On the tenth of May the podestà of Recco was ordered to send to Montobbio as a reinforcement to the besiegers all the men of that commune between the ages of seventeen and sixty years.