About half a month ago, in a humble house in Seville, a brother and sister who had just experienced a "fierce battle" had an equally heated argument during a break.

At that time, he expressed his strong opposition to Alexander's trip to the north in a very annoyed, even stern tone of "I am your queen".

In Jisha's view, such a risk was both unwise and completely unnecessary.

"We have a strong enough army, and look at Gonzalo, although he retreated to Córdoba, but he didn't make any positive moves, which is enough to prove the strangeness of his attitude now, so maybe we just need to send someone to convince him, so why take the risk?"

Jossa tried to dissuade Alexander, but did not stop from the moment he knew that he was going to the north alone.

She always tried to persuade Alexander to change his mind, both in front of people and in private, especially during their private tryst, and Jossa even used some special techniques that she had learned from Lady Oljara in order to dissuade Alexander.

Only this time Alexander was as stubborn as ever, much to the annoyance of Josha.

Looking at the "beautiful scenery" that I don't know if it was because of the intense activity just now, or because of the anger just now, and the "beauty" that stained his skin with a rosy red color, Alexander was almost ready to fight again.

However, looking at Ji Sha's serious expression, he knew that if he couldn't convince this stubborn sister, his trip to the north would definitely not be realized.

And his answer to Ferdinand was: "I don't have so much time to waste on Ferdinand. ”

The Battle of Seville proved the great combat effectiveness of the Sicilian army.

All arguments are pale in the face of great power.

The Queen of Sicily supported the Duke of Rome Thessia as King of Colora, and the powerful army she possessed became her greatest reliance.

Just this is enough to make many people look at Alexander differently.

That's one of the main reasons why he thinks it's okay to make this trip.

But it was true, as he said, that he didn't have that much time for Ferdinand to move around the southwestern corner of Europe

A lot has happened in this year, but the world has become a lot more exciting because of Alexander.

The Ottomans' very different successes on land and sea made the situation in the eastern Mediterranean extremely strange.

At sea, the Ottoman navy had almost swept across the eastern Mediterranean, and if they wished, the vanguard of their fleet could even break directly into the Adriatic Sea and wreak havoc.

On land, however, the defeat after the Battle of Bucharest forced them to change tactics, and now the main targets of the Ottomans were Poland and the Russians who had risen in the vast steppes of the East.

As for the Balkans and Austria, they are not yet threatening there for the time being, because they have not yet come out of the defeat in Bucharest.

This is a truly rare opportunity for Alexander.

He didn't want to fight the Ottomans for centuries, as he did in history.

His goal is the new world.

And because of this goal, it was impossible for him to fight in the Iberian Peninsula, so that even if he won in the end, it would lead to the future Spain being devastated by a long civil war, and the losses were enormous.

It was because of this idea that Alexander decided to go north.

He wanted to find a better solution to the civil war, which could cause great losses to the country.

And he is well aware that a protracted civil war is likely to lead to the intervention of foreign powers, which he absolutely does not want.

The French, the Portuguese, and even the Austrians.

He will not forget the impact of the war for the Spanish throne in history, and he will not forget that he is now in the midst of the 65-year-long Italian War.

If this war really continues like this, it may really be fought for more than half a century.

This is not a good thing for Alexander.

Therefore, he had to settle the struggle for the Iberian throne as soon as possible by the most effective means, so that victory on the battlefield alone would obviously not be possible.

Because of this, Alexander decided to go north despite Josha's strong opposition.

However, he was not so arrogant that he thought that as long as he ran to someone else's territory to reveal his identity, the other party would obey and bow down to him.

He waited until Gonzalo finally showed his attitude.

Gonzalo would agree to secretly go north with him, which didn't really reassure Jossa much.

Although it would be the biggest stain on his life if he went back on his word as Gonzalo, Zhoza did not think that this would be enough to guarantee that he would not betray.

There was only one reason for him to believe that he would not betray - he took his family and relatives in Córdoba hostage.

The Córdoba family has a modest estate in Montigna, not far from the city of Córdoba, where Gonzalo was born 51 years ago.

When he heard that Gonzalo had agreed to go north with Alexander, he did not object, but unceremoniously sent his troops across the Henier River and occupied Montigna, southwest of Córdoba, on the south bank of the Guadaville River.

The Queen of Sicily's attitude was clear, either this trip north ended in success, or even if Gonzalo failed, she had to send her baby brother back safely, or she would not hesitate to attack the Córdoba family in Montigna.

It's actually a bit of a scoundrel, even a hooligan, but Jisha doesn't care what others say about her.

Alexander certainly wouldn't have sent himself into the hands of others just because of a promise, even though Gonzalo didn't really have a reason to betray him.

In the last years of his life, the historical Gonzalo lived a leisurely and peaceful life.

Far from the whirlpool of power and the battlefield full of gunsmoke, he spent the last and most comfortable days of his life quietly in his hometown.

In fact, if you think about it, you will find that Ferdinand can be called benevolent to Gonzalo.

After Isabella's death, Ferdinand racked his brains to maintain his rule while trying to reclaim power from the unruly aristocracy.

Among them, Gonzalo was undoubtedly the representative of the powerful aristocracy of Castile.

Holding military power and having a prominent background, he is the former queen's most favored general, and he is also the current queen's minister.

It's just that these are enough to make Gonzalo a thorn in the side of others.

What's more, his unruly personality made him even humiliate Ferdinand in front of him more than once.

But even so, Ferdinand's punishment for him was only to deprive him of his power, and then let him stay as cool as he wanted.

Sometimes Alexander thinks about it, and thinks that if he were to change himself, he may not have the tolerance of Ferdinand.

However, he also knew that this seemingly lenient punishment and a comfortable and peaceful life were precisely the most unbearable for Gonzalo.

Historically, Gonzalo died in his hometown within a few years after being stripped of his military powers.

Although it seemed that the fever contracted during the war against Italy seemed to be the main culprit, Alexander knew that what really killed him was the seemingly peaceful and peaceful life, but in fact it was invisibly consuming his life.

Gonzalo de Córdoba was born to belong to the battlefield.

When he was forced to live a peaceful life away from the battlefield, the vitality of his life gradually faded until one day he left this world.

Alexander felt the need to save this true genius and master of war.

Compared to Gonzalo or Josha, Alexander felt that he was actually mediocre.

At least during the Battle of Seville, he found that as the scale of the war grew, he gradually lost control of the situation on the battlefield.

Perhaps on a higher strategic level, Alexander could boast that no one knew what to do better than him, but on the battlefield, as the number of troops committed by both sides increased, and the scale of the battle grew, Alexander knew that this was beyond his ability.

He needs more capable men.

She is indeed a rare helper, but she is first and foremost the Queen of Sicily.

This status predestined her to be the future "empire of Alexander", rather than the commander of Castile or Roman Thesia.

Alexander wanted someone to be his Gompati or Ofleil in Castile.

In terms of prestige and military prowess, Gonzalo de Córdoba was the best candidate.

"Gonzalo de Córdoba." Alexander sat in the garden and looked at the night sky and laughed, "Let me see if you are worthy of my value for you." ”

The Tagus River in June and July is a stern and loving mother to the people who live on the Meseta plateau.

As we enter May, much of the Iberian Peninsula will experience a long dry spell.

It was a very difficult time, both in the city and in the countryside, and people had to fight endlessly for that little bit of water.

Even many years ago, Castile and Aragon fought more than once over water.

Even now, whenever there is a dry season, there are still various conflicts that erupt over water in various places.

This is a time of great suffering for those who live near the largest river in the Iberian Peninsula, and even more difficult for those elsewhere.

For some, however, the Tagus River drought is a good time to make a fortune.

Because inland river transport ceased during the dry season, many merchants had to count on shipping goods to the north and south, so that the Tagus River, which was located almost in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula and eventually emptied into the Atlantic Ocean, became the busiest river at this time.

And because the Tagus River would flow into Portugal, trade between merchants from the two countries became more frequent.

The war did not prevent the merchants from making money, on the contrary, because of the war caused a shortage of various goods, so that those merchants with quick mobile phones saw a rare opportunity.

Those businessmen took the risk of traveling between the two countries, and while doing so could be costly, the rewards were staggering.

On this day, however, the docks on the Tagus River were not very friendly to the merchants, and many merchant ships had to be stranded on the docks because an army was passing through.

The Samanares River is not very long, and at such a time of season, the water level is low, making it one of the most difficult rivers on the Meseta plateau.

It's not a long way to get from Madrid to Toledo, but it's certainly much more comfortable and quicker to travel by water than by land during this season.

Several riverboats flying the same flag, loaded with large numbers of soldiers and their horses, struggled to swim up the river.

The scorching sun above and the steaming water under their feet made the people on board miserable.

Traveling in such a season is a terrible experience, and if it's a march, even a river transport, it's enough to be devastating.

A shirtless man with a pair of voluminous trousers underneath leaned against the aft deck of a pergola made of several planks.

Sweat trickled down his head along with the wine he had just used to shower, but the hot smell didn't cool him in the sun.

"My lord, if this continues, maybe everyone in Toledo will have heat stroke before they all get heatstroke, and there will be no way to fight," one of his men complained to the man, "if the weather wasn't that hot, of course......

"If it's not so hot, if it's autumn, if that Duke of Rome Thesia hadn't come to Toledo at all," the man interrupted, he looked up at the top of his head and wiped the sweat from his face, "Of course I hope so, but we can only pray for the end of this errand soon." ”

"My lord, is that Duke of Rome Thesia really in Toledo?" The subordinate lowered his voice and asked, "I mean, why did he go there, I heard that the Sicilian army has occupied Seville, so shouldn't he be with the queen?" ”

"I don't know about this, what those old men think shouldn't be in our hands." The man took a sip from his glass, then poured the rest of the wine over his head.

"Speaking of which, I say sir," the subordinate lowered his voice, and even leaned into his ear despite the man's disgust, "the duke, I mean, is he really the son of King Enrique, as they say?" ”

The man frowned and leaned to the side in disgust, then looked lazily and curiously.

"It doesn't matter if it's not, do you think it's something we should be in charge of?"

"But if he is really the son of King Enrique, we should arrest him and hand him over to Ferdinand, isn't that a bit ...... I mean......"

Seeing that his subordinates stretched out two fingers and made a "little" gesture, the man glared at his subordinates with dissatisfaction.

"We're soldiers, we're paid to fight, and I don't have that share of the money to think about 'ought or not,' or do you think your purse is enough to think about these things?"

The subordinate who was reprimanded obediently closed his mouth, but the look on his face seemed to be a little unwilling.

"Don't be foolish, when we get to Toledo, we will arrest the Duke of Rome Thesia, and send him to Vallidodode, where a large bounty awaits us."

The man said that he wanted to take a sip of wine, and then remembered that the glass was empty.

"Go get me another drink," he instructed his men, "and get everyone moving, and after another pier you're about to enter the Tagus River." ”

The men turned and walked in the direction of the bow, but soon returned empty-handed.

"Why didn't you get any wine?" The man asked dissatisfiedly.

"My lord, the river ahead seems to be blocked." The subordinate pointed in the direction ahead.

"How could this happen?"

The man was immediately annoyed, and the already difficult river in the dry season was blocked, which was likely to frustrate his plan to reach Toledo in two days and catch the Duke of Rome Thesia, who had not yet had time to escape.

The man hurried to the bow of the boat, but he did not see the imaginary mass of boats blocking the river.

Only one boat looked lonely on the shore.

But looking at the flag fluttering on the boat, the man had a look of surprise on his face.

He pointed to the boat and looked back at his men in surprise.

"That's right, sir, that's the flag of the Knights of San Diego."

Looking at the man's expression, which seemed uncertain, his subordinates answered his doubts.