A muffled thunder descended on the earth with a majesty that seemed to destroy everything.

It seemed that everything between heaven and earth was intimidated by this terrible wrath of God.

Some people instinctively cover their ears, while others just look up boredly.

The city of Gawell was now completely shrouded in a continuous rain, and the collapsed city walls were still so dilapidated and suffering from the rain, because the house that had been on fire in the previous battle had been extinguished at this time, and the whole city was being washed by the rain, as if to wash away the choking smell of gunsmoke.

The Ebro River was rising again because of the rain, and although the tide did not come ashore, it continued to hit the embankments on the shore one after another.

Alexander stood by the river, paying attention to the scene on the other side.

A small detachment of Aragonese cavalry appeared on the opposite bank, patrolling up and down the riverbank, as if to observe if any enemy had taken advantage of the rain to sneak across the river.

A group of Aragonese troops crossed the river to the other side, and according to the scout's report, they had assembled in a village downstream not far from Gael, where Ferdinand was also there.

Ferdinand's failure to return to Zaragoza is enough to say a lot, but their immediate priority now is to prepare for the coalition forces to cross the river in pursuit.

So even on such a rainy day, I rode out in all directions, and I didn't dare to relax a little.

However, this is obviously redundant, not to mention that Gawell does not have a large enough boat to cross the river, and even if there is, it is almost self-defeating to venture across the river in such weather.

Alexander did not think that his soldiers could be brave enough to be so brave, he was well aware of the current state of the army, and although he had won several battles, he would not think that his army was really fundamentally different from other armies of this era.

It is very difficult to build a completely new and modern army, which cannot be completely achieved by simple training and actual combat, but requires a solid popular foundation and the strong cohesion gradually formed by the entire army.

In this regard, the Roman Tescian army may have been more or less modernized, but the Castilians are still far behind.

As for the Sicilian army, Alexander knew that his relationship with them was indeed delicate, and their feelings for him were complicated.

Many things were not achieved overnight, including the future unification of the Kingdom of Spain.

By now, it was time to think about it, especially after Zaragoza sent an emissary, and Alexander knew that his goals in Iberia had finally seen a definite future.

In the spring of six years ago, he would not have imagined that he would one day become the king of Spain, and at that time he was only thinking about how to survive in this chaotic era.

The impermanence of the world may be talking about his own encounters, Alexander sighed slightly, and when he heard the sound of popping footsteps in the rain behind him, he turned slightly to look at the priest who had been brought by Schelle.

The priest's robe was dirty, and the white gas from his mouth flashed because he was in a hurry.

Seeing Alexander, the priest quickened his pace.

It wasn't until Schell motioned to stop any more near the priest.

"God bless your Highness," the priest said politely and bowed slightly, and when he saw Alexander motioning for him to continue, the priest hastened to say, "may I ask you what is your reply to the archbishop's suggestion, I am in a hurry now, in fact, the archbishop is in a hurry." ”

Alexander looked at the priest in a little amazement, an old negotiator would never reveal such an obvious weakness in himself, and they would always appear to be calm and unhurried, and would never let the other party see that he was actually uneasy.

But the man in front of him was the complete opposite, and from the beginning he kept hinting that the archbishop was now anxious to await his answer, which made Alexander wonder whose side he was on.

"Your Highness, we would prefer you to be the master of this land," the priest suddenly raised his head and looked at Alexander with a meaningful gaze, "You know that this will be much more beneficial to us. ”

Hearing the deliberately aggravated "we" of the other party, Alexander had already vaguely guessed the origin of this priest, and then thought about the truth society that had infiltrated the Castilian church hierarchy in Toledo, and he vaguely understood the shadow of this truth that seemed to be clear and always present in all this.

Ferdinand, then, was abandoned, and Alexander felt that he had touched something deeper.

The conspirators of the Truth Society, who seem to be forever groping in the dark, have always longed to one day stand in front of the world and proclaim their faith, but in the end they have evolved into a group of mercenary "merchants".

It's just that unlike ordinary businessmen, they sell power.

Maybe they don't play a big role in the real kingdom competition, the empire fights for hegemony, but these people are good at drilling, and when they find that there are indeed people who know how to invest, they will stand up in time to show their so-called power, and now they are obviously a good investment target for them, while Ferdinand is a "junk stock".

Alexander shook his head secretly in his heart, these people of the Truth Society will probably be like this forever, maybe they can make a lot of money with this kind of drill camp, but these people will never be the people they dream of truly deciding the fate of the world.

Because they can't really fit into the system of today's world.

"The archbishop has written to Ferdinand," the priest still revealed to Alexandria what the Archbishop of Zaragoza had done, and when he saw Alexander's look of interest, he continued, "The archbishop has suggested that Ferdinand make peace with His Highness, and in his letter he also hinted that Ferdinand Zaragoza would not welcome him back. ”

Alexander nodded slowly, the attitude of the Archbishop of Zaragoza was expected by him, believing that after Alexander VI's promise was delivered, the Archbishop would naturally know which side to choose.

Ferdinand's failure was due to his haste to marry Isabella, who had brought his authority to a peak, but also made him anxious to challenge the Church like Isabella.

But Aragorn was different from Castile after all, and the victory in recovering the lost territories in the south left Isabella with no one to fight against for a while, even the Church had to back down a few points.

Ferdinand's prestige in Aragon was not comparable to that of Isabella in Castia, and he feared that Isa's overly powerful authority would lead him to become a puppet, which forced him to try desperately to establish himself above the Church in Aragon.

Ferdinand's approach cannot be said to be wrong, and although he stumbled along this path throughout history, he eventually gradually brought the Church under his rule.

But now he has failed because there is a person who should not have been there who has become a stumbling block to him.

"My messenger will meet with Ferdinand," Alexander said to the priest, "and I beg you to go back and tell the Archbishop, that His Majesty will reward him for this wise choice." As he spoke, he glanced at the priest, "And your choice." ”

The priest bowed in understanding, and then he said in a slightly regretful tone: "Your Highness, this is the last time you will see me, and I will not see you again according to our rules, but rest assured that we will have someone to contact you if necessary." ”

Alexander bowed his head silently, he knew that these people of the Truth Society were still very careful, probably because of the habit of hiding and hiding for many years, even those who cooperated with them tried to be on guard.

And based on his many contacts with the Truth Society, Alexander was able to sort out the seemingly intricate factional relationships within this secret organization.

At least the Liberian Truth Society still retains some of its original beliefs, but as for the Arians, it is difficult to see the shadow of the original Judas believers in them.

That's probably why Arian is different from these Truth Society people, and doesn't mind knowing something inside them at all.

A mystical order like the Society of Truth reminded Alexander of the end of those equally ancient secrets of the East, and the two sides had striking similarities in many places, and their fates might have been different.

The rain suddenly fell heavily, the dense rain completely blocked the view, and the scene on the other side was no longer clear, Alexander did not know if Ferdinand was watching the rain like him at this time, but he was indeed ready to fight the king of Aragon again.

Ferdinand was indeed watching the pouring rain outside, but he was looking through the window of the house at the gloomy sky and the rain.

The chamberlain stood not far behind the king, with barely moving food and empty wine bottles on the plate in his hand, and sighed secretly in his heart when he smelled the choking smell of wine on the king's body.

The letter from the Archbishop of Zaragoza came, and although it was not known what was written, it was obviously not good news, because the king, who had read it, cursed loudly in public, regardless of decency.

Ferdinand's anger made him even ignore whether anyone around him would hear him, and he cursed loudly that the archbishop was Judas, and that the nobles of Zaragoza were a bunch of villains who flattered Judas.

The king's anger terrified those around him, and everyone was careful not to provoke the king into trouble.

The rain outside made Ferdinand feel bad, but what made it even worse was the situation.

After evacuating Gawell, Ferdinand did not think of returning to Zaragoza immediately, but he soon found himself in a way that seemed to be blocked.

The archbishop's blatant refusal to send reinforcements made Ferdinand feel an unprecedented crisis, and he was indeed anxious to return to Zaragoza, because only by returning to the capital would he have the opportunity to quickly eradicate the conspirators who tried to rebel.

But because of this, Ferdinand knew that it was his return to Zaragoza that the archbishop feared most now.

So whether there will be any danger on the road has become Ferdinand's biggest concern now.

He sent scouts to reconnoiter in the direction of Zaragoza, and as he expected, not far from Zaragoza, his cavalry spotted a suspicious army.

The concealed team, which guarded the main road to Zaragoza along the Ebro River, made Ferdinand not suspect that it should be the army sent by the archbishop.

In such an era of war and war, even the status of the king is not necessarily inviolable, and it is difficult to guarantee that those people would have the audacity to murder the king if they rashly crossed that road with only a few guards.

Hearing the report, Ferdinand immediately tried to send someone to Zaragoza to deliver the news, believing that Zaragoza must still have nobles and troops who were still loyal to him, and that they would come to his rescue if they knew of his departure and the archbishop's plots.

The long wait made Ferdinand's heart anxious, but he had to hold back the anxiety in his heart, because he knew that his men were now in a state of flux, and if he seemed panicked, then it was likely that the army that had been regrouped could fall apart in an instant before news of Zaragoza came.

Another muffled thunder rumbled through the clouds like a dragon's roar, followed by a blinding bolt of lightning that tore a twisted crack in the air, and then a huge thunderclap poured down from the sky!

The lightning drew a trajectory and stabbed towards the ground, accompanied by thunder, and suddenly a flame burst into the woods outside the village in the distance!

"God, it's Thunderstrike!"

"What a bad omen!"

"Is God angry, or is there a traitor among us?"

Seeing the fire tree that was directly ignited by the thunder that had been split and was burning, many Aragonese people were terrified for a moment.

While looking at the terrible scene like heavenly punishment with frightened eyes, they kept drawing crosses on their chests, and some of them were so frightened that they knelt in the rain and prayed incessantly.

Ferdinand stood up in astonishment, and he looked out the window at the flames burning in the rain, water and fire, cold and heat, light and darkness intertwined, and the entangled scene seemed to him to be as full of contradictions as his present fate.

It didn't take long for the pouring rain to extinguish the flames, but the blackened and twisted trunks of the trees, the smoke still rising, and the pungent smell of the wind seemed to remind people that the terrible scene that had just happened was imminent.

Ferdinand came out of the house, and he saw that the soldiers were all looking at him with panic, dazedness, and doubt, as if the sudden fire of heaven had something to do with him.

Ferdinand walked towards the charred tree despite the obstructions of his attendants, and saw that it was still smoking, and the bark was cracked, revealing the trunk that was also charred and blackened, and Ferdinand hesitated slightly, and under the terrified gaze of the soldiers around him, he walked up and stretched out his hand, pressing his hands tightly on the still steaming tree.

Then he took a deep breath, took two steps back, raised his arms, and raised his charred hands above his head.

"See, I am the Aragonese chosen by God, your king, and God's punishment will not come to me, because I am protected by God!"

Ferdinand shouted to the soldiers, the rain running down his face and quickly soaking through his clothes, the bitter cold made him shiver slightly, but Ferdinand still insisted on standing in front of the charred trees and refused to move.

The Aragonese soldiers looked at him in astonishment, looking in horror at the ugly, charred black trunk behind him, and at the king standing motionless, as if they didn't know what to do with what was in front of them.

"Your Majesty," said the chamberlain, holding a leather cloak over Ferdinand, and whispering in his ear quickly, "there is news that someone from Zaragoza has brought back." ”

I don't know if it was cold or what, Ferdinand's cheeks trembled, and he immediately ran quickly towards the village.

When he came to the lodgings, he saw a man who was also drenched drinking from a cup, and he snatched it from the man's hand and drank it dry.

Then he asked his attendant to help him take off his soaked clothes, and when he got straight to the bottom, he said to the man who had just come back from standing aside, "Tell me what you have heard." ”

"Your Majesty, I have sought out many of the nobles of Zaragoza, but I am sorry that they seem to be completely reluctant to get involved in this matter," the man said, and when he saw the strange look cast by Ferdinand, he quickly explained, "That's how they describe it, 'not getting involved in it.'" ”

"Did they say so, those people were the nobles of Aragon, but now they stood by while their king was in danger," Ferdinand spun back and forth naked, and then he stopped to look at the man, "and tell me what is happening in Zaragoza?" ”

"Not Your Majesty Zaragoza, it's Rome," the man paused as if to think about what to say, before he spoke, "It is said that several countries in Rome have just signed a treaty called the Po Agreement, and that the envoy sent by the Emperor has just arrived in Zaragoza, but you have already set out for the expedition by then. ”

"What is the content of that treaty?" A bad feeling flashed in Ferdinand's mind, he knew that Maximian should be just as difficult now, but if he would send a special envoy for this treaty, then there must be something very important in it.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I didn't see the specifics of that treaty, but one of the articles is a joint commitment by the signatory countries not to recognize the rule of the emperor's family over any country in a non-imperial sense, and to include the inheritance of the emperor's direct descendants unless they voluntarily renounce the title of Holy Roman Emperor."

Ferdinand, who had just taken the towel from the attendant next to him, was stunned, his eyes staring at the man without blinking, as if trying to see if he was telling the truth.

His gaze was so fierce that the man bowed his head in fear.

"That's right," said Ferdinand, who sat down slowly as if he had come to his senses, still wiping his arm unconsciously with the towel, but his eyes were firmly fixed on a corner of the room, and after a while his eyes moved to look at the attendant beside him, "I have something for you to do." ”

The attendant bowed down cautiously and said, "Your Majesty, what do you command?" ”

"Go to Zaragoza," said Ferdinand slowly, "do not hide your identity, go to the archbishop in the name of my messenger, and tell him that I ask him to promise to keep my grandchildren safe." ”

The attendant looked at Ferdinand and wanted to ask something, but Ferdinand raised his hand to stop him: "Just tell him like this, and he will understand what I mean, but remember that you must let everyone know that you have made this request to him on my orders before you see him." ”

The attendant bowed in acceptance, and as he looked up, he was horrified to find a strand of hair falling from the top of the king's head.