Meanwhile, the large imperial army, which had been massed in Varese to support the siege of Montobbio, kept the duke in constant apprehension that it might be destined to punish him for his treachery. These fears were strengthened by the fact that Gonzaga had added to Vistarino and Oriola five other captains, Sebastiano Picenardi, Lodovico da Borgo, Pier Francesco Trecco, Osio Casale and Gianfrancesco Ali, with considerable bodies of troops and strict orders to levy new recruits in Monticello and Castelvetro, feuds of the duke. To provide for the danger, Farnese, who had Cornelio Fieschi under his protection, reorganized the army of twelve thousand infantry which he had collected in January at Cortemaggiore, sent commissaries to forbid enrolment of imperial troops in his feuds, fortified the castles in his jurisdiction, placed six hundred infantry at Borgo, a greater number at Bardi and ordered Francesco Clerici commanding at Compiano to be on the alert and in constant readiness for battle. Shortly after he instructed his commissioner in Venice to ask the consent of that Republic to his drawing eight thousand arquebuses from Brescia. He was allowed to draw only five thousand. These operations led to reciprocal suspicions, rancours and threats between Farnese and the imperial captains, and Gonzaga, to prevent an open outbreak, recalled Vistarino from Bobbio. This measure relieved Farnese from his present peril and he resolved to take advantage of the siege of Montobbio to get possession, in advance of the imperial troops, of some feuds of the Fieschi. He seized Calestano, and then sent Gianantonio Torti with a strong force to occupy Valditaro. As the Fieschi had some imperial vassals in these feuds, Farnese informed Gonzaga that he wished to hold them for the interests and rights of the empire. He did not wait for an answer, but hurried his troops into the feuds. His designs upon Valditaro were thwarted by Scipione and Cornelio Fieschi, who threw themselves into it with about one thousand of their vassals and shut the gates in the faces of the Ducal forces. He called Scipione to himself in Piacenza and persuaded him that the forces of his family were too weak to contend with the empire. Scipione consented that the duke should occupy the castle in the interest of his family. He returned to his vassals and persuaded them to enlist in the service of Farnese, who sent his agent, doctor Giovanni Landemaria, to take possession in his name. The acts of the notary Bartolomeo Bosoni clearly prove these facts.