This bombardment produced no better results than the first one and the siege must have failed had not fortune opened a new and easier road to victory. A general order forbade any person not in the army to approach within two miles of the bastions under penalty of death. One day a soldier of the garrison dressed as a mountaineer was arrested in the act of examining the works of the besiegers, and on his person were found letters of Gerolamo to his brother Ottobuono. In these letters the count declared that he could not continue the defence for more than three months as his military supplies were insufficient for a longer period, and he urged Ottobuono to secure the immediate aid of France. Spinola was greatly encouraged by this discovery of the weakness of his adversary. He detained the soldier for some days and then, having seduced him by splendid promises, sent him back to Montobbio with a false letter of Ottobuono, in which the writer informed the count of the death of king Francis and declared that the only hope of the besieged was in an accommodation with the senate. This intelligence greatly dispirited the garrison, in whom the want of supplies and the obstinate courage of the besiegers were beginning to produce apprehension. But desperation lent them new strength and they made several bold sorties which seriously damaged the enemy. To the want of supplies, a new and more dangerous evil was soon added. The mercenaries collected by Fieschi in the neighbouring feuds, being poorly fed and receiving no pay, began to murmur and finally refused to expose themselves to further peril. The count found that his own life was threatened by these rebellious soldiers, and in letters written on the 20th of March to Gian Maria Manara in Valditaro he asked ten faithful men to serve as a guard of his own person. Manara was a physician by profession and had so much influence with the Fieschi that they had left him to govern at pleasure the whole valley of the Taro. He furnished the men and obtained other reënforcements from captain Mengo da Montedoglio who commanded in Valditaro for Farnese. Gerolamo also sent a messenger to Cardinal Farnese to ask asylum in the church of that prelate in case he should be reduced to extremities. In this he was successful, and the cardinal also wrote to the Duke of Piacenza to give Gerolamo all possible aid.