At 12 noon, the bell tower on the east side of the town hall square rang with a characteristic pleasant ringing, and with a faint "crunch" sound of gear rubbing, the windows on the top of the bell tower on all sides opened automatically.

So the people in the square stopped and looked up at the icons that appeared in turn from the windows.

The icons were controlled by a very elaborate mechanism, and under the impetus of the machinery, the icons leaned out of the window and bowed in all directions.

Then the icons retreated back into the window, and then the window closed, followed by another creaking sound.

It's an interesting sight, and even though it's been almost a hundred years since it was built, Prague people still like to visit the Old Square to see the fun and magical scene.

As for those outsiders, whenever they saw this magical scene, they would sigh in surprise.

People can't wait to ask, what is the force that makes these icons so automatic, or is this what miracle God has done?

But in fact, this miraculous bell tower is the work of an ingenious craftsman who spent 28 years making all the mechanisms in the bell tower, and the entire process was almost entirely done by hand himself.

This magical bell tower is a sight to behold in Prague and a testament to the city's past glory.

Of course, in the eyes of many, Bohemia is no longer what it once was, and Prague, once known as the heart of Europe, has become bleak.

But in reality the Kingdom of Bohemia is still one of the most important countries in Europe, even if just a few years ago King Ladislas II of Bohemia had beaten his distant relative, Emperor Maximian of the Holy Roman Empire.

But those unpleasantness had passed, and the Battle of Bucharest, which ended just two years earlier, not only gave Ladislas II a respite, but even forged alliances with many countries in Europe through that battle.

And to the delight of Ladislas II, the queen, who had long been unexpected, actually gave birth to a daughter for him, which made Ladislas II, who had always been worried about the possibility of losing the throne because he had no heir.

Naturally, Ladislas II began to figure out how to get back the face he had lost with Maximilian a few years ago, and the first thing he had to do was to work with Wallachia on the Austrian-occupied Hungarian region.

After receiving the advice of the Grand Duchess of Wallachia, Ladislas II decided to seize this rare opportunity to regain the lost Hungarian territory from Austria.

When the echo of the last ringing from the bell tower of the bell had disappeared, a man hurried through the old square, and he was accustomed to glance at the bell tower, and then walked briskly into the town hall.

Prague's town hall is famous, but the most memorable thing is the windows, after all, whether you climb through the window or are thrown out of it, it will leave a very vivid mark on history.

The man had two shiny beards, a slightly brown face, and a cheetah-like physique.

He wears a wide shirt embroidered with numerous patterns, a scarf full of roses around his neck, typical of a Bohemian man, and a scimitar hanging from a wide belt around his waist indicates that he is a palace guard.

As Nashan walked into the town hall, several people happened to see him, and the officials frowned or pretended not to see him, or deliberately put on a haughty appearance, but the corner of their eyes followed the gypsy until he disappeared at the staircase leading to the second floor.

Then the officials whispered things like, "What is this guy doing?" Or something like "the queen has something new to do", and then they gave each other a tacit and weird smile.

But they didn't dare to be so bold in front of the gypsy.

When Nashan arrived outside the mayor's office, he happened to see a group of people waiting in the booth outside, and whenever he saw someone entering, those who arrived first would show a look of "long wait", and then everyone moved slightly to make way for the next person to make a chair.

However, Nashan clearly didn't want to wait, so he walked straight through the crowd to the closed door and nodded to the attendant standing there, and then pushed the door open on his own.

This, of course, caused displeasure among those who had been waiting for a long time, and they all rose and rushed forward, asking all sorts of questions, but all of them were kept out of the door by the attendants.

As the door closes, the noise is silenced.

Although the people in the house were a little unhappy when they saw Nashan push the door like this, they still stood up and greeted him.

"Captain, I didn't know you were coming so quickly," the municipal magistrate wanted to be polite, but his stiff expression made Nashandu feel uncomfortable for him, "So, the representative of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke is about to come to Prague?" ”

"Soon," replied Nathan, a little impatiently, for he was really not used to the perfunctory entertainment with these officials, so he was a little anxious to do what the queen told him to do, "but this time it is said that in addition to the representative of the Grand Duchess, it seems that the Duke of Rome Thesia will also send a very important official. ”

"Is that so?" The mayor was surprised, "We hadn't heard of this before, so it looks like we need to do a little bit more preparation." ”

"There is no need for such trouble," Nashan shook his head, "according to the Queen's orders, we just need to make our guests feel that we value Hungary, so that we can all speak for the King." ”

The magistrate nodded approvingly, though he didn't like the gypsies, especially at the thought of the West calling them bohemians, but now they were allies.

There was no opposition to Ladislas II's attempt to regain Hungary, and the opposition was not strong.

The Austrian aristocracy, which was inextricably linked, strongly opposed this, and even went so far as to warn the king of the devastation caused to the kingdom by the Starosso War a few years earlier.

This, of course, upset Ladislas II, and even more upset the queen.

As a queen with Rastamara blood, after seeing her husband's weakness and incompetence in front of the Bohemian nobles, she decided to save the kingdom on her own.

Like many other queens with powerful backgrounds, Joanne of Naples, Queen of Bohemia, also had her own group of followers, many of whom had a position and power in Bohemia, which was enough to make them a rather hard-line faction led by the queen.

And Nathan, as the queen's attendant, captain, and lover, has often become a liaison between her and her followers.

However, Nashan was clearly not keen on these things, and most of the time he just turned around and walked away as soon as the word came out, rather than taking the opportunity to establish personal friendly relations with the ministers.

This was the main reason why the queen was relieved to make him her emissary, believing that the gypsy would not betray her as long as Nashan was interested in her person and not in power.

Like her husband, the queen feared that if the couple had no offspring, the heir Ladislas II would have to transfer the throne to Maximia or his descendants, according to an agreement with Maximian, which was the price Bohemia would have to pay after the defeat of the Staroso War.

It's just that Ladislas II seems to be as incompetent as he is at governing the country, and for the sake of this queen she once thought of borrowing the power of outsiders, and she did.

Fortunately, God seems to have heard the couple's prayers, and during the Battle of Bucharest, the queen miraculously conceived a child, and then gave birth to a daughter more than a year ago.

In this way, the agreement with Maximia was undoubtedly shaken, and although there was no queen in the Kingdom of Bohemia, this did not prevent the princess's husband from inheriting the throne in the future.

What's more, Ladislas II and his wife, who originally thought that they would be extinct because of many years of inactivity, could have another son, if that would really be nothing to do with Maximian.

Because of this, Ladislas II gradually became determined to recover the lost Hungarian territories, for which he frequently contacted Wallachia and the Duchy of Caniola, and even acquiesced to the invasion of southern Hungary by King Helva of Northern Bosnia.

When Nashan returned to the palace, he saw the queen coaxing her daughter to take a nap, which was supposed to be a wet nurse's business, but the queen insisted that she would take care of the princess herself for a while every day.

This is understandable, and it took many years of marriage to Ladislas II to have such a daughter, which made the queen have to be careful.

"I've heard that bathing your children regularly can avoid a lot of ailments," said Nathan, walking over to look at the sleeping princess, and then said in a tone of disgust, "that's all that Alexander said, but Sophia listens to him now, and really bathes her children almost every few days." ”

"And did her children get sick?" The queen asked with concern.

"Like, I don't think so," Nashan reluctantly admitted, "her children are all healthy now, especially August, who is now a great boy." ”

"Two-year-old stick boy?" The queen asked in a slightly sarcastic tone, then looked at the daughter in her arms, "But if he becomes Libus's husband, I hope he really grows up healthy." ”

"That's for sure, my grandson must be as strong as I am." Nashan winked at the queen as he spoke, revealing a mischievous smile that only two people could understand.

Then the queen's face flushed, and she thought of the exciting nights that Nashan had brought her in the past, and if it weren't for the fact that Nashan and her relationship were so well known to the public that she feared that the child she gave birth to would be criticized for looking too much like Nashan, she would have wanted to borrow seeds from Nashan.

But fortunately, the king suddenly gave his strength, which saved a lot of trouble.

Then she remembered the errand that Penashan had gone to do.

"The magistrates have agreed to cooperate with us," reported Nashan, "and we can not care about the nobles, our army has entered Hungary, and the Wallachians are joining them in the attack on the Hungarian nobles who have taken refuge in Maximian, so what is there to worry about?" ”

The queen just shook her head at Nashan's words, she knew that Nashan was not a man who was good at playing tricks in the court, and now that he thought about it, he was not as good as his daughter Sophia, who was more suitable for life in the court.

For more than two years, Sophia's actions in Bucharest like a female leopard who had drunk too much have opened the eyes of the Balkans and surrounding countries.

It was many people who thought that the young archduchess could not maintain her rule at all, but two years later, the female leopard was still rampage, but the throne under her ass was surprisingly secure.

This made the queen think that maybe Sophia was not as simple as people thought, at least her seemingly nonsensical behavior was always very clever to avoid the troubles that would cause her.

Although she knew that there must have been the guidance of the Duke of Rome Thesia, Sophia's performance was enough to surprise the queen.

This made her a little proud, after all, in the Prague court, it was her protection that gave Sophia the opportunity she has now.

This made her not only regard Sophia as her daughter, but also believe that she would be her staunch supporter.

The betrothal of her daughter, Libus, to Sophia's son, August, was the result of the queen's deliberations.

She knew that many in the court objected to her influence on her husband, Ladislas II, and that the king was clearly timid in the face of the nobles.

This had already caused the queen's displeasure, and at the same time made her realize that if she wanted to eliminate opponents in the court, the support of her mother, Neapolitan, was not enough.

The rise of Wallachia in the Balkans has become a powerful foreign aid for the Queen of Bohemia, and if Sophia's son can be made his son-in-law, then even in order to inherit the Bohemian throne smoothly in the future, Sophia will definitely spare no effort to stand by her side.

"Who will the Duke of Rome Thesia send to Prague?" The queen asked.

Nashan thought for a moment, then shook his head blankly: "I don't know, it should be someone who is still reasonable around him, I'm not interested in those things, I just hope that one day I can see my grandson wearing a crown on a throne in Bohemia." ”

"If you want to see this, then care more about things that you are not interested in."

The queen tried to remind Nashan again, but she soon realized that it was in vain.

Wallachia had a small mission in Prague, and the chief emissary of the mission was a Wallachian nobleman who was well known to the Prague court.

However, this man has little power, or he is just a messenger who communicates the opinions of both sides.

And this time, Wallachia sent it to Bodpade, an important minister next to Sophia.

This made the Prague court aware of the importance of the Wallachian visit, and when the two sides were now acting against Austria, many pro-Austrian Bohemian nobles could not help but be secretly vigilant.

They feared that strong support from Wallachia would allow Ladislas II and his wife to wage war against Austria in spite of their opposition, so the news of Bodepade's imminent visit was already a scene of intrigue at the Prague court.

What the Bohemians did not expect was that not long ago there was another piece of news that upset many people.

Among the envoys of this visit were important figures sent by the Duke of Rome, and this obvious act proved that Ladislas II and his wife had made up their minds to participate in the encirclement of Austria.

This made the Bohemian nobles finally realize that this war against Austria was perhaps more of a counterattack against them by Ladislas II.

It is clear that after decades of weak rule, with the birth of an heir, the king finally has the courage to rise to prominence.

The emissaries of Wallachia and Rome-Thesia had not yet arrived, but Prague was already full of characters.

They were waiting for the arrival of the two foreign envoys, many of whom had already publicly expressed their support for revenge against Austria, not only for the recovery of Hungarian territory, but also for the defeat in the Starosso War.

However, there are also those who stand up for their strong opposition, and their reasons are also very strong, that is, the Kingdom of Bohemia, as one of the electors, took the initiative to challenge the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and they were slapping themselves in the mouth.

The two sides have been arguing about this from the beginning, because this almost got into a big fight in the town hall, and some people have even opened their windows to stage another "Throw Out!" Throw it out! The drama is up.

Faced with this chaos, the queen proposed to Ladislas II to demand heavy fines from his provocative nobles, but unfortunately the king again hesitated because of his indecision.

It wasn't until later that he finally made up his mind, but he only sent his guards into the town hall to force the nobles who had made the most trouble to separate, and then ordered them to go home and reflect on themselves.

The queen and their supporters were disappointed by the king's unreliability, but Ladislas II still eloquently explained: "As king, it is my duty to maintain due justice and not to favor anyone." ”

Of course, this seemingly high-sounding reason could not deceive anyone, and it was known that he was only afraid of strong opposition and had to maintain the so-called justice, but this obviously did not earn him the respect he hoped for.

The opposition nobles reacted ecstatically to the king, finding that their fears that the king might change his attitude towards them were obviously unfounded, and that Ladislas II was still the soft-eared king of Bohemia.

But the opposition's triumph soon vanished with two unexpected pieces of news.

After the Armistice of the Po River with Venice, the Duchy of Rome and Thescia signed a new agreement, which was called the Lombard Declaration of Neutrality.

Whether or not they supported war against Austria, the news took the Bohemian nobility by surprise, and they realized that they seemed to be underestimating the fledgling Duchy of Rome and Thesia.

Another thing that happened next made the pro-Austrian bohemians hesitate for their choice.

Prague was suddenly visited by an envoy sent by the German princes, supported by the Hanseatic League, whose public slogan was "free trade".

For a time, it suddenly became clear that Austria really seemed to be "surrounded".