Six or seven days the king spent to no purpose at Pisa; and, having altered the garrison, he put into the castle one Entragues[406], a servant to the Duke of Orleans, but an ill-conditioned man. Monsieur de Ligny had recommended him to the king, and by his interest a detachment of infantry from Berry was left with him. This Entragues managed his affairs so well (I suppose by means of his money), that he got Pietrasanta into his hands, and another town not far off, called Mortano; besides which, he had another government at Librefatta, near Lucca. The castle of the town of Sarzana, which was extremely well fortified by the interest of Monsieur de Ligny, was put in the hands of the bastard of Roussi[407], who was the Count’s servant. Another castle, called Sarzanello, he put into the hands of one of his other servants; and the king left great bodies of his forces in these places (though he will never have so much need of them again), and rejected the assistance and offers of the Florentines, who, upon his refusal, grew desperate. And yet, before he left Siena, he had intelligence that the Duke of Orleans had taken the city of Novara[408] from the Duke of Milan; and it was therefore certain that the Venetians would declare war against him; for they had sent him word that if he invaded the Duke of Milan, they should be obliged, by the alliance they had lately made, to assist him; and their army, which was numerous, was quite ready to take the field. Now you must understand, that just upon the conclusion of the league, the Duke of Milan had a design upon Asti, supposing he should have found no troops in it. But my letters prevented him, and hastened the supplies which the Duke of Bourbon sent thither; and first there arrived forty lances of the Marshal de Gié’s troops, who had been left behind in France, all very well appointed; and after them five hundred foot from the Marquis di Saluzzo. The arrival of these forces diverted the Duke of Milan’s army, commanded by Galeas di St. Severino, who was posted at Annone, a castle belonging to the said duke, within two miles of Asti. Some time after they were joined by three hundred and fifty men-at-arms, and gentlemen of Dauphiny, and all the Frank-Archers of that country, and about two thousand Swiss; so that they were in all fully seven thousand five hundred fighting men. It was a prodigious expense and trouble to assemble these forces, and when that was done, they did not answer the end for which they were designed; for they were sent for to have assisted the king, and instead of that he was forced to support them. The king had written to the Duke of Orleans and his chief officers that they should attempt nothing against the Duke of Milan, but only have a care to secure Asti, and come to meet his majesty as far as the river Tesino, where they were to assist and favour his passage, there being no other river where he could be stopped; for the Duke of Orleans had been left at Asti, and