It had been a few days since Louis XII received the report of the battle in Naples, and this was not to blame the French for being too slow to transmit information, but because when Charlain found the situation urgent, and was about to send someone to get the news out of the sea while preventing resistance, something happened that surprised both the French and the Neapolitans.

The ships were threatened by the lighthouse outside the harbor, and the artillery battery, which had been placed on the lighthouse reef by Frederick to prevent the enemy from invading the port of Naples from the open sea, became an obstacle for the ships blocking the port of Naples.

I don't know when the occupied lighthouse battery sealed off the bay of the port of Naples, and the huge cannon on the reef was enough to frighten the faint of heart.

Because of this, Scharren was almost incommunicado from the beginning, and when there was a sudden riot in the city on the afternoon of the 2nd against the Neapolitan army outside the city, Scharren knew that things might be out of his control.

Sure enough, with the fall of Nablia, the whole city was in chaos for a long time, and at this time Charlain did not entangle, he quickly ordered to gather the French troops from all parts of the city in the direction of the palace, and he decided to make a final resistance.

The palace of Naples was a fortified fortress built in Norman times, and its precipitous and impregnable fortress was even stronger and unconquerable than the outer walls, and Charloon believed that he could confront the Neapolitans if he relied on this palace, but he did not expect the king to send people to support him, after all, it was very difficult to transfer troops from northern Italy to Naples, and he did not know when he would have to wait until reinforcements were sent from the French mainland.

However, Sharlon was not in a hurry, although he felt that his judgment of the Neapolitan forces might have been wrong, and from the reports sent back by the officers who had fought with the enemy, the strength of the Neapolitan army was actually no less than nearly 8,000 men, which really surprised Scharron at first, but then he quickly discovered something quite special from it.

For example, in terms of combat ability and tactical skills, the Balkans and Cosenza grenadiers of Montina were undoubtedly the main force of this army, and it can be said that it is mainly these two forces that have caused such unexpected and huge casualties to the French so far, and it is the same two forces, according to the descriptions of the soldiers recovered, the Cosenza grenadiers seem to be better at positional warfare, while the Montina are better at rapid maneuvers and onslaught.

Charlain would notice this because the Neapolitan army seemed to be too clearly distinguished, and in addition to the thousands of troops that had been identified by him before, the thousands of people who seemed to be "extra" were obviously very different from these armies in terms of combat effectiveness and combat methods.

This made Scharren very curious, and he wanted to know the origin of the other armies, because only by knowing the origin of those armies could he accurately judge whether he could wait for the reinforcements he hoped for by holding the palace.

Soon, Charlen got the answers he needed, and to his surprise, these so-called extra troops were actually the so-called Chamber of Commerce escorts from various cities in southern Italy.

Of course, he knew what this kind of chamber of commerce escort team was for, although many of them were mercenaries part-time, or local armed forces organized by the chambers of commerce in various cities, but in Xia Erlun's impression, this kind of escort was vulnerable, not to mention a rabble that could confront the regular army.

However, these rabble were able to cooperate with the Neapolitan army to launch an attack on the French army, although their performance may not be satisfactory, but this kind of action that can mobilize these people from so many places to organize an army at once makes Charlen surprised and vaguely uneasy.

Charlain was not a pure soldier, or perhaps because of his special status as a royal family of Savoy, he had a vision that was more distant than a mere knight, he was a diplomat with a sword, an occupier capable of commanding armies, and a staff officer capable of the king's advice rather than just storming, which is why he was sent to Naples by Louis XII.

Even the fall of the city of Naples could not be attributed to his incompetence, because even Gonzalo, who was a military genius, would not dare to challenge the French army easily when he only had the strength of Alexandria today.

Alexander's reason for daring to do so was simple: not only did he have the sharpest firearms unit of his time, but he also had a better training in firearms warfare than Gonzalo and the Ottomans.

This is not a contest between two armies, but a collision of two completely different old and new ideas of war!

For Scharlen, what worries him more, in addition to the shock of sharp firearms, is the impact of Naples on the whole of southern Italy, which is what makes him feel unbelievable.

Even if the chambers of commerce were willing to provide their escorts because of their interests with Naples, what about the lords and councils of the cities?

Didn't the rulers of Piscotta, Chetzzaro, Catanzaro, and maybe even Taranto, take into account the anger and revenge that might arise from the French?

But the answer from the soldiers' reports was that the allied Neapolitan army seemed to come from various parts of southern Italy, and he had not heard anything about them until then.

Acquiescing, Sharron felt that only this explanation made sense.

For whatever reason, the cities acquiesced to the fact that the convoy of their local chamber of commerce had joined the Neapolitan coalition and participated in the attack on the French.

In other words, from the moment the Neapolitan side took the initiative to withdraw from the city to avoid Billy Silly, the brother and sister never thought of reaching an agreement with the French through compromise, or maybe they did think so because of the threat of Aragon, but now for some reason, they no longer need to worry about the Aragonese, so they took the initiative to attack the French army.

Charlon, who had figured all this, felt fear, not of the Neapolitan army, but of not knowing when Naples had such an impact on southern Italy.

This effect is different from that of the Vatican, but it is precisely because of the difference that it is more terrifying.

Because this is a more direct and secularizing influence that does not require religious bondage, imperceptibly, the crown of Naples seems to be becoming heavier and more weighty.

At this point, Charlon felt that the king's previous judgment seemed to be wrong, or that the desire for the crown of Naples had deceived his eyes, and that everything now could be said to be the result of a light enemy.

It's just that what he never understood was what made the brother and sister suddenly change their attitudes, and even go to the risk of going to war directly with the French, aren't they worried that the Aragonese will eventually reap the benefits?

After all, Gonzalo had already arrived in Sicily, and Alexander had even ventured to Sicily for this reason.

Thinking of this, Charron suddenly realized something, and he guessed that Alexander must have done something in Sicily, so that he had no worries at all.

This doubt led him to send Normezzie as an emissary to Alexander with the conditions for an armistice, and he always felt that there should be something in it that he did not know.

Speaking of which, Charron has not been as anticipating the arrival of the Aragonese as he is now,

But Normezi brought back the bad news that disappointed him, that Gonzalo's Aragonese army, which had suddenly sailed from Sicily a few days earlier, was not aimed at Naples, but Greece.

At this point, Sharron finally understood everything.

Sharron was not angry, and even when he heard the news, he had a sense of "it was so".

Everything is clear, and even those southern cities can explain why they allowed the convoy to join the coalition forces in Naples.

For those cities, whether French or Aragonese, they ruled over Naples no differently, and what they needed was the wealth that Naples brought them.

Obviously, neither the French nor the Aragonese were capable of providing such a satisfactory result, so when they found that the Aragonese were not involved for the time being, and the Neapolitan royal family did not seem to be without a chance, they decided to bet on the Neapolitans.

The 8,000 French troops in Naples faced almost equal numbers of the "Southern Coalition of Naples", a battle that perhaps seemed to be evenly matched in numbers, and even the French seemed to have the upper hand.

But now Sharron knew he had actually lost.

The battle at the foot of the Lord's Day was inflicted on the French, the so-called 8,000 French troops were actually not that many, and the chaos caused by the Neapolitan riot and ambush in the city in the siege two days later exacerbated more casualties, and when he gathered his army and retreated to the palace, Charlain found that his losses were nearly half of his original strength.

And these are not the most important things, what really makes Sharren care is that he is really only facing the coalition of Naples and the Chamber of Commerce Escort?

He clearly noticed that some of the besieging armies were quite different from the previous ones, and that was the contrast between the so-called rabble and the regular army, and if the rabble had previously served only as an auxiliary force to the Neapolitan army, now Charron had no doubt that the enemies under the same banner were completely changed.

The regular army of the various cities, Sharron recognized their origin and guessed their purpose.

It is clear that the cities, seeing that the situation was turning in their favour for Naples, had finally made the choice by sending their troops to the front in the name of convoys to deal with the French, an outsider whom they had previously felt a great threat to all of them.

"That's your plan?" In Billy Shelly's palace, Jossa stood in front of Alexander with a thick robe, and it was late at this time, although she noticed that when she came in, the Balkan man named Sher was immediately clever enough to make excuses for almost all the guards in the corridor outside, but Jossa still stood far away from Alexander and did not approach him, "So what about your trip to Sicily, I didn't see Uncle Modillo." ”

"Count," Alexander rubbed his head, he was also annoyed by the Count's unexpected disappearance, although he felt that the other party should not hurt the Count, but the result of returning empty-handed was that Jisha expressed strong dissatisfaction with him, "I don't want to lie to you, I don't know where he is now, I can only be sure that those people will not hurt him." ”

"Is it because he's the Count of Naples, or because they've cut off someone else's finger?" Josha took two steps forward, but was still across a table from Alexander.

"It's because of this, but the real reason is that those people gave me a finger without any conditions," Alexander explained with a smile, and when he saw that Jisha seemed to be a little confused, he beckoned to her, but all he got was that Jisha went around the table to the side, but still stopped two steps away, "If I refused their conditions before I retaliated by sending my fingers, I might still be worried, but these people didn't ask anything but threatened like this, and they used someone else's finger, I think they seem to be trying to hide something. ”

"Hide what?" Visa was slightly confused.

"Their relationship with the Count," Alexander stepped aside, and the chair was large enough for two men to sit side by side, "just as I went to Sicily for a different purpose, and I now think that the Count was not necessarily just to meet Camus's old slippery head." ”

"You're saying Uncle Modillo was rescued and not kidnapped?" Her brows, which had always been slightly furrowed, relaxed slightly, but she was unmoved when she looked at the half of the chair that had been given up, "What about your Montina army, I know that you wrote to Barentia della Roverre when you first came back, asking her to send an army to Lombardy, and now that we have launched an attack on the French, are you ready to officially engage the French?" ”

Listening to Josha say his fiancée's full name in a rather peculiar tone, Alexander couldn't help but look at her seriously.

"My Naples is at war with the French, and her army is entering Lombardy," Jossa supported herself by pressing her palms on the armrests of her chair, bending slightly to meet Alexander's gaze, and then looking at him carefully, "you wouldn't be so stupid, would you, or that you would rather take such a big risk of offending the Emperor than bring down the Fuggers, not just to make a fortune out of them, right, then tell me what you want to do next?" ”

Facing the inquiring eyes of Josa, Alexander sighed in his heart about the intelligence of his "sister" while pondering what to say to her.

If there was anyone Alexander trusted the most, it would be Josha, because she was the only one who knew him best, and she was the only one who knew best what everything they were doing portended, but even Josha didn't want to say too much to her, or at least not too much about it now, because that wouldn't do her any good.

She would probably have disrupted his previous arrangements by being in a hurry to find out, and if she did, it would be more than worth the loss.

However, it now appears that Jossa has clearly made some speculations about his plans, and with Gonzalo's attack on Crete, everything will be very different from history.

"Why do you think the French kept invading Rome?" Alexander asked, and seeing that he was a little puzzled, he simply said directly, "In fact, it is not that they have a legitimate claim to Naples or any other place, but because the French kings need to use this war to consume the power of the French nobility, just as they used the Hundred Years War to drain the blood of almost all the French nobles." ”

Jossa nodded thoughtfully, she knew that Alexander was right, as far as she knew, the power of the French monarch had become stronger than ever after that long war, and even powerful principalities such as Brittany and Orleans were not as strong as they had been before the war, and Burgundy was now even gone.

But what does this have to do with Alexander? Ji Sha vaguely thought of something, but couldn't say it for a while.

"And what do you think of Rome?" Seeing Josha's doubts, Alexander lowered his voice and whispered, "Don't you think Rome is the same as France?" Those city-states, duchies, counties, and even Papal States, there are so many secession forces in one land, what is the difference between all this and France, don't you think it's too annoying, but what can we do if we can weaken these forces through war with the French, we have an army, we have great wealth, and most importantly we have each other? ”

Zhisa looked at Alexander with some confusion at first, then the confused look on her face suddenly froze, and then she looked at Alexander with some disbelief.

"You're going to ...... God, don't tell me you're trying to unify all of Rome?! ”

Alexander smiled.

The tone of voice full of surprise made him happy and excited, like a precious reward that a child has finally received after countless efforts.

The reward was the surprise and sigh of his sister, and the child was him.

"The crown of Naples is beautiful on your head," Alexander said, looking at the blond hair of Josa, "but I think this crown is still too light, it is not worthy of your beauty and status, and you deserve a more glorious crown, which should be the most powerful and noble sign in the whole South." ”

Looking at Alexander's serious expression, she paused, took Alexander's hand and kissed her gently: "My dear brother, if you want to realize your ideals, let me go down with you, no matter whether the result is heaven or hell, I will always be with you." ”

On 8 November, after much deliberation, the report finally sent to King Louis XII of France by the commander of the French occupation forces in Naples, detailing what had happened in Naples, including not only the unexpected actions of Gonzalo's army, but also Charlon's speculations about the situation in southern Italy as a whole.

Looking at the report, combined with the sudden entry of Montina's army into Lombardy, Louis XII seemed to see a hidden enemy that he had never noticed before finally revealing his hideousness.

"It turned out to be you." Louis XII muttered to himself, he couldn't help but look south, which was in the direction of Sicily, and he remembered the young man he had met in Sicily a few years earlier.

"Well, maybe you'll be the one who's going to really fight me, Alexandre Giulian Cambrai."