In the pine grove villa outside Toledo, Gonzalo rested his legs on the table, a pair of leather boots on his feet gently knocking on each other, and a pair of eyes that seemed to be half-squinted together, as if he was napping.

But he was soon awakened by the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside.

Opening his eyes and looking at the door, Gonzalo did not move as a figure appeared, but greeted the visitor with a smile.

Lazy, casual and a little cozy, this is what Knight Sandro Don de Queliar saw when he walked into the room.

Gonzalo, who he had thought should be a little lost, now seemed to be quite relaxed, and the disheartened knight of Dekliar, who was worried about his friend's defeat, was a little at a loss for a while because of this unexpected scene.

"Sandro, you're here," Gonzalo greeted casually, and then ordered the servant standing at the door, "go get the wine, and get the best." ”

"My lord, you really surprised me," Knight De Kliar smiled bitterly, thinking about the scene he saw along the way because he was worried that he would die in such a hot season, and Knight De Kliar couldn't help but be a little annoyed, "I thought you were in a bad situation now, but looking at your current appearance, it seems to be more relaxed than before." ”

"You can say the same, in fact I never felt so good as I am now."

Gonzalo took the dusty bottle from the servant who had entered, unscrewed it vigorously and poured it into the cup in front of the Knight de Klyar.

"During this time I have been here reminiscing about the battle of Seville and the command of the Duke of Rome Thesia."

"I'm sorry sir, I have to correct you, it's Her Majesty the Queen of Sicily who commands."

Hearing the words of the Knight de Klyar, Gonzalo looked at him and let out a "hahaha" laugh.

"You can see you've been tamed by the queen, aren't you?"

"I'm her captive, to be exact," Knight De Kliar corrected slightly, "but I confess that I have been conquered by Her Majesty, and I never thought that one day I would be defeated by a woman. ”

"Who would have thought," Gonzalo was also touched by the subject, and he smiled wryly and clinked glasses with the knight of De Kliar, and after taking a small sip, he placed the cup between his palms and rubbed it back and forth, while a hint of indescribable confusion flashed in his eyes, "I used to think that I was the most special, but then I realized that God obviously did not favor me alone. ”

"So have you figured out why the battle for Seville was lost," Knight de Kliar asked with some curiosity.

"I don't know," Gonzalo patiently explained, seeing his friend's surprise at his answer, "I recalled almost every detail I could think of, as well as all the judgments we made and the orders that followed, and I can guarantee that if I were to re-command this battle again, I would have won it quickly, but ......"

"Just what?"

Seeing Gonzalo stop, Knight De Kliar couldn't help but ask curiously.

"When I think about it now, I realize that if I didn't know that there would be a later result, I could only make the decision I made at that time, and our opponents seemed to know what I was going to do from beginning to end."

The Knight de Kliar was silent, he pondered Gonzalo's words, and was surprised to find that things seemed to be as he said, and that they had done everything they could in the whole battle of Seville.

And their enemies, as Gonzalo said, always seemed to know what they were going to do.

"Even now, I can't think of a better way to deal with it than the reaction of the Queen of Sicily at the time, she seemed to know from the beginning what decision I was going to make, so she placed her heavy troops on her left flank, because she knew that I would send cavalry to attack her at the very beginning of the battle."

"And she's placed her best troops in the second line in her center," said Knight de Klyar, who joined Gonzalo's memories with interest, "because not only did it avoid our artillery, but it also allowed us to strike back in the brief confusion after we broke through the first line of defense." ”

"Not only that, their artillery can obviously cause a lot of damage to our phalanx, but they would rather endure the blow of our artillery and wait for the opportunity, and then destroy almost all of our artillery in one fell swoop!"

Gonzalo said excitedly, taking a sip of his wine, and then circled back and forth, as if completely forgetting that the Knight de Kliar had just come from a distance without rest.

"You know, I even thought about what I would do if I were replaced by the Queen of Sicily," Gonzalo paused and looked at Knight de Klyar seriously, then he shook his head slowly, "and then I found myself unable to think of any better way, every decision she made may not be the most correct, but she won." ”

Knight de Kgliar nodded, although he was indeed impressed by the amazing beauty and bearing of the Queen of Sicily after meeting her, but now listening to Gonzalo, one of the commanders of both sides of the battle of Seville, he couldn't help but feel a little agitated and unable to help himself.

He couldn't help but imagine what would happen if he were the one who fought with them separately, and then Knight De Kliard realized with some dismay that it seemed that either of these two men could teach him a hard lesson.

However, Gonzalo interrupted his reverie at this time.

"Well, tell me what the queen asked you to do?" Gonzalo asked the knight de Klyar, "I know she has persuaded you to serve her, and now you are a retinue of the Queen of Sicily." ”

Knight De Kliar smiled, he didn't care about Gonzalo's mocking words: "The Queen wants you to serve her in the same way." ”

"It's obviously impossible," Gonzalo refused without hesitation, "I'm a Castilian, and I don't think the Queen of Sicily needs me." ”

"No, the queen is interested in you," Knight de Kliar immediately defended his new master, "and you know that Your Majesty has praised you as a true general and commander, and she says that you can do greater miracles." ”

"That's what the Queen said?" Gonzalo had some thoughts

Although the Battle of Seville unexpectedly caused him the biggest defeat since the expedition to Italy, he was not discouraged, but from the moment of defeat, he continued to ponder the gains and losses of this battle.

It's just that the Queen of Sicily seems to have more confidence in him than he does.

Maybe it's because of the Duke of Rome Thesia?

Gonzalo thought about it and thought it was very likely.

The Duke of Rome Thesia, what an interesting person.

Gonzalo thought a little amusedly.

For the brother and sister, his already strong curiosity is now even greater.

Thinking that his letter to Aribalitodus should have almost arrived, Gonzalo felt a faint excitement in his heart.

In the episcopal palace of Toledo, the archbishop walked back and forth uncertainly.

He was waiting for Alexander.

When a person is honest and willing to be ordinary, he often does not have any extraordinarily thoughts.

But when someone tells him that you have the opportunity to become a bigger person than you are now, with more wealth and power, even if you know that it may be a mirage, few people can not be excited.

If the person who said this to him disappeared after saying that, then he would have a grudge against that person from the bottom of his heart.

The archbishop is like that.

The promises Alexander had made to him had now become a sickness in his heart, or rather a curse.

Day and night, he couldn't help but think of those words, and sometimes he even imagined himself wearing a purple robe in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

It's a pity that what awaits him is that Alexander seems to have completely forgotten his previous promise, and there is no news for several days in a row.

It's like giving a man who is on the verge of starvation a pile of food and then cruelly snatching it from him, a torture that is even more brutal than giving nothing in the first place.

The archbishop has gone from suffering from gains and losses at the beginning to being extremely tormented by joy and anger later.

Just when he finally couldn't bear to wonder whether to send someone to Alexander, the Balkan guard officer beside Alexander suddenly brought him good news.

The Duke was to come to the Bishop's Palace to meet the Archbishop.

From the morning, the archbishop was distraught, and he told himself that he should not be so unrestrained, but as time went on, the sun began to rise overhead, and the archbishop's heart became more and more impatient.

He began to worry that it was Alexander playing tricks on him, but the little hope in his heart made him tell himself again and again that things would not be so bad.

The bell on the bell tower of the church rang once, and the archbishop had to come out of the room, and he had to attend the midday prayers.

It's just that he's in a bad mood right now, and it's not pleasing to the people around him.

According to the Benedict canon, the number of prayers a day is 11.

The noon prayer is the fourth time of the day, and from the time you get up before dawn to pray, to the lazy afternoon, when the priests are chanting to make you even more drowsy.

The archbishop stared at the priests with a heavy expression, and just as he wondered whether to find a few less pleasing ones among them, he saw several figures appear at the door of the church

Seeing Alexander standing outside at the junction of the noon sun and the shadow of the church porch, the light and darkness made the archbishop suddenly stand there like an angel who holds all the destiny of the world.

It's just that this angel was vaguely uneasy after his initial excitement.

Alexander looked at the archbishop standing next to the priest of prayer, and saw that although he seemed calm, he was somewhat deliberately calm, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

How many people in this world can resist the temptation of wealth and status, or even if there are people who are really not tempted by these things, it does not mean that there is no other way to make them happy.

In fact, sometimes it is not only the temptation that can impress some people, for some people money and power can make him bow down, but for others, perhaps noble but empty beliefs can make him slash and die.

The key to everything is to see if you can skillfully find what everyone desires and needs the most.

For the Archbishop of Toledo, Alexander had already made him suffer with the promise of a future cardinal.

The archbishop spent the rest of the day almost groggy, and for the first time the short afternoon prayer felt so long.

Finally, seeing Alexander half-kneeling and making a cross, the archbishop walked towards him.

"Duke, I've heard you've been meeting with the elders."

The archbishop said and looked at Alexander, and was slightly surprised to notice a trace of exhaustion on his face.

"Yes, Archbishop, you may not be able to imagine how I've been here these days," Alexander glanced at the archbishop and smiled meaningfully, "but you only have to think a little about the changes that may arise from your becoming a cardinal, and you can guess where I am now. ”

The archbishop's face immediately turned serious.

Of course, he knew what kind of bad character those nobles had, and maybe they could cooperate with the church because of the same purpose in dealing with Ferdinand, but as long as there was even the slightest opportunity, those nobles would immediately turn around and bite the church hard.

So Alexander promised to help him become a cardinal, and those nobles would not have caused him trouble in this matter?

The thought of this made the archbishop's already uneasy mood even stronger.

As a senior priest of the Church, the Archbishop of Castile, there has never been a more exciting thing for him than to be a cardinal.

When he first heard that Archbishop of Valencia Rodrigo Borgia had become a cardinal of the Holy See, the current archbishop had not yet taken over, and the only thing he could do was to be secretly jealous that Rodrigo Borgia had an uncle who was the Pope, although the Pope had been dead for many years, but the impression of the Borgia family in the Vatican can be seen from the election of Rodrigo Borgia as a cardinal.

Now that it is difficult to have a powerful duke willing to help him, and with the support of the current pope, the archbishop feels that the doors of the Vatican are open to him.

The archbishop's gloomy face slowly eased a lot, and in his eagerness to know the result from Alexander, the archmaster offered to invite Alexander to visit the Cathedral of Toledo again.

"It's true that some people are unhappy that you might become a cardinal," Alexander couldn't help but smile as he remembered the attitude of the noble elders, and it was not for nothing that the old and new nobles and the church in Toledo, although they controlled a large number of traditional Castilian powers, could never fight against Isabella and his wife.

Thinking of this, Alexander felt that he had come to the right place in Toledo.

"Archbishop, have you considered holding a prayer procession, which may be a good way for you to get more support?"

The archbishop was stunned.

He knew that most of these marches were long distances and could cause a lot of suffering.

However, such a procession can undoubtedly bring him a lot of prestige, which he didn't care about before, but now for him, the prayer procession can undoubtedly bring him great help.

"Duke, do you mean to use a grand long-distance march to get people to support me as a cardinal?"

"At least that will give those who oppose it a chance to cause trouble," Alexander thought for a moment, and suddenly smiled, "I think the destination of the march will be Barrialtrod, which is the most suitable place." ”

Hearing Alexander's words, the smile on the archbishop's face, who was in a good mood because of his good attention, instantly froze.

Looking at Alexander, the archbishop suddenly had the feeling that he was on a thief ship.