The fingers looked a little rough, and the thick calluses that had accumulated on them were very stiff, unlike the hand of the Count of Mordiglo, which had been sharpened by the sword and sharpened the calluses, which had been cut off from a hand that looked like it had been working for many years.

Alexander wrapped the finger in a cloth and looked at it carefully, he knew the ring on the finger, it was indeed a piece of jewelry that the Count liked very much, Alexander had seen him wear it more than once, and with the character of Count Mordillo who rarely earned a second time in a dress, it was evident that he loved this jewelry.

"Your Excellency?" Schell asked in a low voice, he saw that the old man first said a word that he didn't understand very angrily, which shouldn't sound like a good thing, and then began to take that finger and look at it, which made Schell a little baffled.

"The person who sent this thing is gone?"

"I'll make people stare at it." Schell smiled and said, "Although I didn't know what it was at first, I called as soon as the man left, and then asked people to follow, so I shouldn't be able to run away." ”

"Should?" Alexander glanced at Schelle.

"I can't run away." Schell immediately replied confidently, "I didn't use our own people, but the guys who the tailor boss asked us to come over and do our errands." ”

Osborne had not been idle for a few years, and when Alexander first sent for him, he knew that the young man he had helped had not forgotten him, which made him both happy and uneasy.

I am happy that a decision may become the key to changing my future life, and I am uneasy because I don't know where this decision will lead him.

And Osborne soon heard about Alexander's changes through various news, which also made him realize that if he couldn't make a satisfactory result for Alexander, even if he would still be prosperous in the future because of the reasons back then, it would be difficult to really become a member of Alexander's circle.

Considering that the Moorish who had to stay with Alexander because he didn't even have a place to live, now became a prominent figure, Osborne knew he had to do something.

So in the past few years, in addition to still opening his tailor shop, he has also secretly cultivated a group of subordinates, just because he knows the almost cruel rules of the Sicilian Brotherhood and the trouble that he can't get rid of once provoked, so when Osborne recruits helpers, he will mostly find some foreigners who have taken refuge in Sicily instead of locals who have complicated relations with the Brotherhood, and he has always been very careful not to touch those he can't afford to mess with.

There was a rush of footsteps from the wooden staircase, and then suddenly stopped outside the door.

Alexander shook his head at Schell with a helpless expression.

Schell walked out of the door with a little suspicion, and after a while, he walked back with a heavy face: "My lord, they lost people. ”

Alexander gave him a look of "sure enough", and seeing that Schell seemed to ask and resisted, Alexander said to him: "Actually, you have done nothing wrong and are already very good, but you are a soldier, and your specialty is on the battlefield and not on the street, so you should let Ulliu do this kind of thing." ”

Listening to Alexander's words, Schell was a little unconvinced, he knew that the imperial official and the chief steward were the first cronies of the lord's side, and from some not-so-serious gossip, he had heard that the chief steward was even more dog-legged in front of the lord's women.

But listening to Alexander's words now, Schell has an urge to compare himself with the chief steward.

"Those are the locals, if I'm not mistaken, it's probably related to the Sicilian Brotherhood, do you know these Brotherhoods, don't underestimate these people, they may do bigger things in the future." That's all Alexander can say, after all, what happened many years later is meaningless and only troublesome to say now, and he raised his finger again and looked at it, "Kidnapping, threatening, chopping off fingers, that's really their style." ”

As he spoke, Alexander pulled off the ring and threw his finger out of the window.

Flomenza didn't want to follow the clues Alexander gave him to find out what was going on in Sicily, not only because of pride, but also because of the fear that he would be led by the nose and eventually lead him into a ditch.

But after hearing reports from some of his men that the merchants seemed to be really trying to give Gonzalo a large sum of money, Flomenza realized that his meeting with Gonzalo was inevitable.

A general with enormous financial support, something no ruler wanted to see and would be disturbed by, and Flomenza, as a close confidant of Ferdinand, could not afford to watch this happen.

However, it was somewhat difficult to find Gonzalo, for the general had been a favourite of the nobles since his arrival in Sicily, and his rooms in the palace were almost never used, day and night when he was either on his way to a feast or on his way to it.

Although Alexander's sudden appearance cooled down the excitement of this aristocratic circle for a while, the atmosphere was soon stirred up by Gonzalo, only this time in addition to attending the banquets of those nobles, he also accepted the invitations sent by some local merchants through the nobles, and rumors about these merchants providing funds to Gonzalo came from these banquets.

The small merchants were equally eager to get in touch with the general, and after hearing that he seemed to need a lot of money, they thought that the Aragonese army he led was so strong, and that the general himself had even defeated the powerful French knights, that many thought that investing in his military adventures might be a good opportunity to make a fortune.

As for who he is going to fight, there are not so many people who care.

Flomensa met Gonzalo at Camus's house, and he was a little surprised to see the palace minister here, looking at the combination of these three people in front of him, the governor who likes to think crankily can't help but have the illusion that "there are always people who want to harm me".

In fact, before he arrived, the three of them were discussing Gonzalo's upcoming new operation.

Madame Gonçalo was a rare expression of her heartfelt concern, for she was already the only person in Castile who could speak to the nobles, who regarded Gonzalo as their spiritual leader and protector, and if he provoked Ferdinand by his unauthorized actions, it would be unsatisfactory for the queen to favor him again.

And Camus seems to be really old, he didn't say a few words from beginning to end, and even the palace minister abandoned his past prejudices in the hope that he could persuade Gonzalo to be more reasonable, he just hummed a few words and disappeared from the news, but when Gonzalo mentioned the staggering huge profits brought by the plantations in Crete, Camusli's cloudy eyes became a lot clearer.

When Flomenza came to visit, the discussion of several people was about to come to fruition, and Gonzalo not only succeeded in convincing the palace minister, but also received a large amount of financial support from the palace minister.

So when Flomenza arrived, watching them tacitly avoid talking about the previous topic, it confirmed his guess that these people might be planning some kind of conspiracy.

Speculation and suspicion are always unsettling, and after several attempts to find no answer, Flomenza decides to take the risk and question directly.

"So, General, how are you going to deal with the threat of Count Montina?" The Doge asked carefully and decided, from the outset, not to recognize Alexander's so-called negotiations, but to attribute everything to a threat, which would render all the conditions put forward by Alexander meaningless: "When will your army march on Naples?" ”

Gonzalo pondered for a moment how to answer, after all, what he said next would make the governor furious, and Gonzalo was not thinking about how angry Flomenza was, but how long his army would need to stay in Sicily.

"We're not going to Naples," but then Gonzalo spoke frankly about his intentions, "we're going to help the Venetians, and we're going to teach the heathen." ”

"What general are you talking about?" Flomenza began to think that he had misheard, and he couldn't help but ask again, but seeing that the palace minister next to him seemed to be relieved to finally say it, he knew that he had heard it correctly.

"Let's go to the Aegean Sea, and then attack the Ottoman stronghold there, my army will be enough for this task, and then ......" Gonzalo tilted his head slightly, and said in a nonchalant tone, "Let's go to Crete and completely occupy there." ”

"And what about Naples? What about the tasks given to you by the king? Are you going to disobey the king's commands? Florencea finally couldn't help but question, he stared at Gonzalo with an ugly face, his fingers trembling with anger, and he felt that this man was really hateful, "Please don't forget that you are King Ferdinand's courtier!" ”

"I'm Castile!" Gonzalo interrupted Flomenza loudly, "And the honor and benefits I can bring back to the kingdom are much greater than that of a small Naples, maybe in the eyes of you and your king Naples is everything, but this seems to me to be just the pitiful eyes of a monarch of a small country, if you want to command me, you must first be able to command the army outside, but in my opinion, neither you nor your king can do this, you can only rely on me, so how to fight and who to fight I have the final say." ”

Flomenza's lips trembled imperceptibly, and he forced himself to calm down, and in the face of this arrogant Gonzalo, he told himself that he had to do everything in his power to stop this from happening, or else things might get out of hand.

"General, you can't do that." Flomenza intended to dissuade Gonzalo's almost crazy idea: "Your army simply does not have that much strength to fight against the Ottomans, and the Venetian navy will most likely be wiped out in the engagement, and then you will be in danger, you will either have an accident at sea with the Venetians, and even if you can land, you will be stranded on those islands, and then wait to be besieged by the Ottomans." ”

"That's why I need more help," Gonzalo smiled at Madame Palazzo and Camus, "I can hire the Neapolitan fleet, so that I have a chance to retreat even if the Venetian navy is destroyed, and don't forget that the Aegean Sea is very close to Greece, so I can land directly in Greece if necessary, and don't forget that the Ottomans have just suffered such a big defeat on land, maybe I have a chance to recover Greece." ”

Listening to Gonzalo's completely playful answer, Flomenza's heart kept sinking, and now he knew the reason for the Sicilian merchant's strange behavior, but he wished he didn't know.

"We have a lot to gain, I mean the occupation of Crete is good for all of us, including you Governor, though I doubt you can understand that." Gonzalo unceremoniously ridiculed Flomenza, "We can push our forces all the way to the forefront of the Ottomans at sea and protect Sicily from direct threats, in fact, the Venetians said the same, but they only want to use money as a reward, and I think it is more cost-effective to take Crete directly." ”

Flomensas remained silent, knowing that it might be impossible to stop it, but that the merchants' huge sums of money were enough to fully secure Gonzalo's adventures, which allowed him to completely need domestic backup, and even if he ordered the ports of Sicily to stop helping his army, he would still be able to wage this war.

"Was that Cambrai the general who gave you the idea?"

Flomenza remembered the secret conversation between Alexander and Gonzalo, and then Gonzalo's attitude changed, and then he remembered the Venetian envoy who had left Sicily suddenly, and even ignored the etiquette of formal farewell.

"That's a good idea," Gonzalo didn't answer directly, but he admitted it, "and you can't help but admit that it's an idea that benefits everyone, and I think even the king would think it's worth trying." ”

Flomenza opened his mouth to speak, then closed his silence, and though Gonzalo's arrogance angered him, he had to admit that he was right.

As Gonzalo said, the great thing about this idea was that everyone could benefit, that the crown of Naples could be kept, that Sicily would be safer, and that even the king might be angry at Gonzalo's flagrant disobedience and endure his arrogance at the great temptation of Crete.

"Devil, that man is the devil."

Flomenza whispered to himself, he felt that he had never met such a man, he had seen many nobles of Aragon and Castile, and those people would also promise all kinds of benefits, but there was no one like the Count of Montina, who would still unwittingly fall into his trap because of his temptation, even if he knew that he was trying to achieve his own ends.

Just like Gonzalo, just like himself.

Flomenza remembered Alexander's promised loan, and he also remembered the Moorish quote Alexander quoted, "Gold is gold."

After the Sicilian merchants gave Gonzalo all the money to carry out his military adventures, Flomenza's eagerness to restore Sicily's prosperity became even more urgent, and in the absence of financial support, someone was willing to provide a considerable loan, which could not but be said to be God's favor in Sicily.

But is it really "gold is gold"?

Or is it really just a higher interest rate and a difference in price without middlemen?

Flomenza hesitated, but he also knew that with the Venetian envoys gone, he had no place to raise such a large sum of money to allow Sicily to resume normal business.

Another thing to worry about is the trade alliance, and Florencesa doesn't know if if he rejects Alexander's "kindness", the ports of Sicily will be in trouble again, and if so, Sicily will really face big trouble.

"Devil, devil." Flomenza muttered these two words until he returned to the palace, so that he did not notice that his wife had come before him.

"What are you talking about, sir?" The Governor's wife looked up at her husband, who was nearly 30 years older than herself.

Looking at the little hairy wife in front of him, Flomenza instinctively showed a trace of disgust, he had married the daughter of his predecessor Gomez because of a miscalculation of the situation, and now it seems that the family not only cannot provide him with any help, but also may become a burden to him in the future.

"I'm just a little bothered, please don't mind ma'am." Flomenza reached out and pulled his elbow-tall wife as she walked casually down the hallway, as she continued to wonder about the things that annoyed him.

"That Cambrai, I hate him." The Governor's wife spoke suddenly.

"How?" Flomenza was slightly surprised.

"He had been imprisoned by my father before, in the palace, in the dungeon with his mute woman, and then I don't know how to release him," the Doge's wife told her husband about the past, and then he came back to save the mute woman, and it was on the night of the blood that he killed many people, and I saw that my father died that day. ”

Flomenza stopped suddenly, of course he had heard about Alexander's previous events, and even heard that he had promised Sophia, who was now the Grand Duchess of Wallachia, that one day he would return to Sicily with her in glory, but Flomenza had not paid much attention to what he had done on the night of the bloodshed.

Now hearing his wife, who had experienced that disaster, talk about it herself, Flomenza couldn't help but be intrigued.

"It will not be a good thing for that Cambrai to come back," the Governor's wife said with certainty, "it is better to arrest him again, or to drive him out, or he will surely do something bad." ”

Listening to his wife's words, Flomensa was a little relieved that her judgment coincided with his own, but because he was in a dilemma because he might miss a God of Wealth, he sighed softly, took the little hairy child's hand and continued to walk slowly along the corridor.

And in a nondescript house in a densely populated, cluttered neighborhood of Palermo City, two people are drinking and chatting.

After taking a sip of the bad wine that felt difficult to swallow, Modillo, Count of Naples, pointed at the person across the table with the finger of the hand holding the wine glass, and warned: "Although I don't know what you want, believe me, the fact that you gave away the finger ring really made Qiao Er anxious, so whatever you want, I advise you to be smarter, or if you do it for me from now on, I can guarantee your safety, I am very interested in your skills." ”

Crion, who was sitting on the opposite side and carefully polishing his sword with a piece of sandstone, raised his head to look at Count Armodillo, and then continued to bow his head and sharpen the already sharp blade seriously.

"You can't give me what I want," Creon muttered in a voice so low that only he could hear him, "because they were taken from the beginning. ”