replied that this concession was far from satisfying him, and that he
still must have the keys of Pietra Santa, Pisa, Librafatta, and Livorno.
Piero saw no more difficulty about these than about Sarzano, and
consented on Charles's mere promise by word of mouth to restore the town
when he had achieved the conquest of Naples. At last Charles VIII,
seeing that this man who had been sent out to negotiate with him was very
easy to manage, exacted as a final condition, a 'sine qua non', however,
of his royal protection, that the magnificent republic should lend him
the sum of 200,000 florins. Piero found it no harder to dispose of money
than of fortresses, and replied that his fellow-citizens would be happy
to render this service to their new ally. Then Charles VIII set him on
horseback, and ordered him to go on in front, so as to begin to carry out
his promises by yielding up the four fortresses he had insisted on
having. Piero obeyed, and the French army, led by the grandson of Cosimo
the Great and the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, continued its triumphal
march through Tuscany.

On his arrival at Lucca, Piero dei Medici learnt that his concessions to
the King of France were making a terrible commotion at Florence. The
magnificent republic had supposed that what Charles VIII wanted was
simply a passage through her territory, so when the news came there was a
general feeling of discontent, which was augmented by the return of the
other ambassadors, whom Piero had not even consulted when he took action
as he did. Piero considered it necessary that he should return, so he
asked Charles's permission to precede him to the capital. As he had
fulfilled all his promises, except the matter of the loan, which could
not be settled anywhere but at Florence, the king saw no objection, and
the very evening after he quitted the French army Piero returned
incognito to his palace in the Via Largo.