In the following days, the people of Venice no longer caused Augustus any major trouble.
After that "chance encounter" on the Bridge of Sighs, Donato took the opportunity to deal with several individuals who had acted without permission and messed things up, so no one had anything to say about their punishment.
As a result, some people who had been eager to act immediately quieted down.
These people were all full of grand boasts, but as soon as their own safety was jeopardized, they immediately gave up.
So much so that when Donato wanted them to cause trouble for the Pope, they all refused, deeming it too risky.
Donato led Augustus and his entourage on sightseeing trips every day, and Venice was only so big, so they would soon have seen it all.
Venice initially had three objectives for delaying: first, they believed that the longer the delay, the more impatient the Papal States would become, and the more they could gain at the negotiating table; second, to find weaknesses in the Papal States through contact during this period; and third, to continue to intensify discussions on countermeasures during this time.
However, Augustus, who had initially appeared impatient, was now in no hurry at all; no weaknesses had been found, the true purpose of the Pope's visit had not been clarified, and there was no clue on how to discuss countermeasures.
Further delay was no longer meaningful, but given the current situation, Donato was truly unsure.
At the same time, Augustus received a letter from Rome stating that Karl and Duke's armies had completed their bandit suppression and were already on their way back to Rome.
Meanwhile, Rudolf II, far away in Prague, learned of this even earlier.
Rudolf II, who regarded the Pope's reinforcements as a lifeline, had always ordered people to closely monitor the movements of the Pope and the Papal States' army.
The Papal States' army had already returned to the city and could depart at any time, but the Pope was stuck in Venice.
At this rate, when would the reinforcements arrive?
Thus, Austria directly decided to send diplomats to Venice and set an early date for their visit.
The purpose was to pressure Venice and help the Pope reach an agreement with Venice as soon as possible to get away, although they did not know the purpose of the Pope's visit or whether it was related to Austria.
Austria publicly claimed to be urging Venice and the Papal States to reconcile.
As a result, other great Catholic nations, such as France, Spain, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, also wanted to demonstrate their status as great powers and sent diplomats to Venice one after another.
Even some smaller surrounding Catholic nations, such as Modena, Parma, and Mantua, also wanted to show their presence.
Venice panicked at this point.
Although they had known that Austria was eager for reinforcements and keeping an eye on the Pope, they had not expected Austria to be so direct, nor had they expected that Austria's casual excuse would cause such a large butterfly effect.
If diplomats from so many countries gathered in Venice, the negotiations between Venice and the Papal States would no longer be decided by the Pope and themselves.
Some matters, if they involved Catholicism, even if the Pope could have originally agreed, could not be agreed upon with the diplomats from these great powers sitting by.
Thus, under duress, officials at all levels in Venice unanimously decided to quickly initiate negotiations and reach an agreement with the Papal States before the foreign diplomats arrived in Venice.
Well, now, after so many days of delay, they hadn't made Augustus anxious; instead, they had become anxious first.
Augustus also hadn't expected Austria to take the lead in orchestrating such a situation, which truly helped him greatly.
The rest was up to him.
Finally, under Venice's arrangement, the talks between Venice and the Papal States began in the conference room within the Doge's Palace.
Due to limited space in the conference room, and to show fairness, both sides only had eight attendees.
This was not an issue for Augustus; he was the sole authority within the Papal States, and he could even negotiate one-on-one.
However, Venice was different; merely eight people could not represent the whole of Venice.
Even though the seven people selected, besides Donato, were top in power and ability, there were still some matters they could not decide.
This was a known problem from the beginning and had been a major point of discussion these past few days, with no good solution yet found.
They couldn't have dozens against dozens in negotiations; that wouldn't be negotiations, but rather arguing or fighting.
Moreover, with time being pressing and Venice being eager for the negotiations to yield results, they had to temporarily abandon those inefficient methods.
They would discuss what they could first, and if there were problems, they would go back and discuss internally.
"Your Holiness, have you enjoyed your stay in Venice these past few days?" Donato greeted unhurriedly.
The more anxious one felt, the less one should show it, otherwise they would be led by the nose.
"Quite good, Venice is truly a beautiful city.
These past few days have truly been the happiest days since I became Pope; I almost want to live here and not return." Seeing through Donato's thoughts, Augustus deliberately praised, feigning a reluctance to leave.
Donato's mouth twitched, and he replied, "It's wonderful that Your Holiness likes Venice.
You are welcome to visit often when you have time.
However, Your Holiness, your visit this time is not merely for sightseeing, is it?
Don't you also have important matters to discuss?
You mentioned this as soon as you arrived in Venice."
"Indeed.
However, these past few days, I have observed that your esteemed country seems to have little interest in the matters I wished to discuss.
Upon reflection, it is not such an urgent matter after all.
Perhaps eliminating the estrangement between the Papal States and Venice was merely my wishful thinking, so I have set it aside."
Augustus found it tiresome.
All their words essentially boiled down to: I'm not in a hurry, you are; I wasn't in a hurry, you were first; I was in a hurry before, but now I'm not, and it's all because of you.
Seeing that he couldn't gain an advantage, Donato got to the point: "Not at all.
Eliminating the estrangement between the Papal States and Venice is the common goal of our talks, and Venice has always been working towards this.
Isn't showing you and everyone around Venice also a very good way to eliminate estrangement?"
"Wiping you out would be even better, a permanent solution," Augustus thought to himself, and said aloud, "Indeed."
"Then, do you have any other objectives for this trip?"
Augustus had never intended to hide this, but Venice had been too incompetent to discover it even after so long, so he confessed, "To be frank, yes, I do.
As you know, I once promised Austria to help them resist the Ottoman invasion, and I am about to fulfill that promise by dispatching troops.
After a year of formation and training, as well as the bandit suppression and combat drills a few days ago, the Papal States' army has initially formed its combat capability.
However, naval strength cannot be significantly improved overnight.
There is a considerable gap between the navies of the Papal States and the Ottoman Empire.
Therefore, we hope Venice can dispatch its navy to assist us in confronting the Ottoman navy."
"Dispatch the navy to help confront the Ottomans?" Donato asked, startled, wondering if he had misheard.
Given the current relationship between Venice and the Papal States, it would be good enough if they didn't fight, let alone dispatching Venice's most important navy to help the Papal States confront the Ottomans.
Venice wished for nothing more than for the Papal States to suffer setbacks; after all, the Ottomans couldn't reach Venice, and even if they did, Venice's navy would be sufficient for self-defense.
The Pope must be too fanciful!
"Then do you have any specific plans?" Donato thought,