Soon deputations from some of the cities came to him with complaints
about the oppression of Milan, which had taken Lodi, Como, and other
towns, and lorded it over them exasperatingly. Frederick bade the proud
Milanese to answer these complaints, but in their arrogance they refused
even to meet his envoys, and he resolved to punish them severely for
their insolence.
But the time was not yet. He had other matters to attend to. Four years
passed before he was able to devote some of his leisure to the Milanese.
They had in the meantime managed to offend him still more seriously,
having taken the town of Lodi and burnt it to the ground, for no other
crime than that it had yielded him allegiance. After him marched a
powerful army, nearly one hundred and twenty thousand strong, at the
very sight of whose myriad of banners most of the Lombard cities
submitted without a blow. Milan was besieged. Its resistance was by no
means obstinate. The emperor's principal wish was to win it over to his
side, and probably the authorities of the city were aware of his lenient
disposition, for they held out no long time before his besieging
multitude.
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