The sea route from Rome to Naples was smooth, but it was on this journey, which was not supposed to be very busy, that Alexander caught Alexander's attention by encountering several ships that looked as if they were fleeing.

He quickly guessed from the things they were carrying and the faint look on their faces as they staggered past each other that they must have come from Naples, and then he quickly received a positive answer from the crew.

"Your Excellency, you guessed right, these ships are all from Naples, but the sailors are wondering why we are going to Naples at this time," said Oflaiyi with a smile, "I guess there are many people in Naples who have escaped by now, and these people are only some of them." ”

"Yes, but that's why we're going to Naples," Alexander said, looking at the other two boats not far behind his own boat in the distance, "Sometimes the harvest comes when others think you're just as unreaping as they are." ”

Oflaiyi smiled, he knew what Alexander was looking at, after all, as the captain of the marching army, he was more familiar with the matter of army movements.

Alexander seemed to be a leisurely few days in Rome, but in fact he waited every day, until a letter arrived from the open sea, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Not long after Alexander and the Montina Guard openly left Rome to board the harbor, the ship after the voyage joined up with two ships that were already waiting at sea.

It was a well-loaded fleet, and the armor of the soldiers on board could be faintly seen gleaming in the sunlight.

A Montina army secretly set out from Pisa, which had not been noticed by anyone before, quietly separated from the main force on the way to Montina in order to avoid possible eyes and ears, and then advanced towards Pisa at great speed.

This is why Alexandria chose to delay Ferrara for two whole days when he was about to reach Montina, all in order to buy time for the army, which had already marched to Pisa in advance.

It was only after receiving a report from the defenders of Pisa that Ofleuil learned of the existence of this army that had suddenly appeared in Pisa, and it was then that he became aware of an unusually bold plan that Alexander was contemplating.

Stealing Naples was the last and most insane step of Alexander's trip to Rome!

No one would have thought that Alexander, who accompanied his lover back to his mother's home, would choose to attack Naples in southern Italy at such a time, let alone that while he was rampage in Rome and attracted countless attention, an elite army he had sent had quietly boarded a ship in Pisa, and then in order to prevent detection, the fleet first sailed to the western depths of the Tyrenian Sea, and then turned back to the south, and then finally rendezvous with Alexander at sea near the distant islands off the coast of Rome.

In order to hide people's eyes, this fleet chose all kinds of inconspicuous merchant ships, and if it was not carefully observed from a close distance, at most it would be a caravan of a certain size that was transporting goods.

The most important thing is that this fleet does not carry anyone's flag, which greatly confuses everyone who encounters them.

This was the first time that Ofleil had seen the Balkans on the field march, and although they were on a ship, he already had a vague sense of the very different momentum of these men from the Balkan soldiers he had seen in Montina, or rather a more unsettling and nervous oppression, which made Ofleiil finally admit that Alexander had said that these Balkans seemed to be born to be soldiers.

"It's your job to train them well, and I want them to be the elite of my subordinates, just like this time."

Alexander's order made Ofleiyi feel a little nervous, and looking at the Balkans, he suddenly became a little envious of Gompati, who was only responsible for bringing them to Pisa and staying there.

Bring these people to war, and hope they don't get into trouble on the battlefield, Ofleiyi thought with some headaches, but he could understand why Alexander had chosen the Balkans over other troops to participate in the operation.

The bravery and loyalty of the Agri are of course unquestionable, but after all, the Agri were once under the rule of the Kingdom of Naples, and even the title of the titular lord of Alexandria is now loyal to the king of Naples, which doomed the operation to be considered a rebellion if it was led by the Agri.

This was absolutely not permissible for Alexander, and it was more appropriate than Pisa, Montina, and the Balkans, because this time he was not trying to conquer, but to "steal" Naples.

The flotilla dispersed again after rendezvous at sea, this time Alexander continued with only two ships, while the others slowed down and followed far behind.

The news of the Frenchman's arrival apparently frightened the Neapolitans, but the successive encounters with several ships that had escaped from Naples along the way made Alexander a little worried that the fleet behind him might be discovered, so he ordered the forwards of his three ships to speed up, hoping to reach Naples before they could all be discovered.

Surrounded by a small irregular archipelago in the far open sea near the north of Naples, Alexander had imprisoned him in an island belonging to the Count of Mordillo after capturing Caesar, and now he ordered the fleet behind him to stay in the archipelago for a while, while he sailed with three ships towards the familiar port of Santa Lucia.

The morning sun shines on the land in the distance, and in the reverse light, Puerto Santa Lucia looks like a beautiful woman still asleep, quiet and sweet.

Standing on the bow of the ship, Alexander looked at the familiar harbor and couldn't help but think of the time when he had wandered here with Ulliu, who had almost nothing, and now he had returned, with an entire army, and a bold and almost crazy plan.

The morning breeze was blowing, Alexander raised his hand and pressed the hat on his head, and at that moment he seemed to faintly hear something, and then standing beside him, Schelle suddenly dragged him to the ground almost like crazy, and then pressed up desperately!

With the accompaniment of "Boom! With a loud muffled sound, a column of water rose into the air, and the column of water was thrown high into the air, and then smashed down with a muffled sound, and instantly seemed to smash a shallow water hole on the sea.

"Coastal artillery?!"

Shocked by this sudden attack, Alexander couldn't help blurting out that he had the impression that Naples did not have such powerful coastal artillery.

Why haven't we seen each other for a few years, did Frederick equip his army with such a powerful thing?

After all, it was nearly 3 leagues from the port of Santa Lucia, and it was hard for him to find that there was an artillery cannon that could shoot so far.

"My lord, I don't think this came from the shore," said Schell in a loud voice to Alexander, evidently his ears were shaken, and in fact the people standing near the bow of the ship were somewhat stunned by the sudden cannon.

"It's not from the shore, it's from ......"

Before Alexander could finish speaking, he noticed a looming figure on a looming block of buildings on a reef jutting out of the sea not far from his fleet.

"From there?"

Alexander asked, somewhat surprised.

"It should be, wasn't there artillery installed here before?" Ofrey also looked at the small reef with some trepidation, there were a few houses on it that didn't look very solid, but this was not the point, the point was that if you looked closely, you could see that there seemed to be a few cannons arranged on it.

"That's not a good thing, my lord, these cannons are completely blocking our fleet." Offrey whispered as if he was afraid of being heard by the people on the reef.

"It used to be a lighthouse." Alexander said faintly that Alexander was surprised that the Neapolitans had dismantled the lighthouse on the reef outside the harbor and installed it with cannons, but as Oflaiyi said, it was a terrible thing, especially for the fleet behind it.

For the Neapolitans, the cannon was also apparently frightened, and the whole harbor was awakened by the sound of the cannon at once, and when Alexander gave the order to slow down the fleet, a small row of oars soon sailed out from the direction of the harbor.

The boat first cautiously paddled a path in the direction of the reef, and then came to a halt in the sea, which was estimated to be within the range of artillery.

"Looks like we'll have to send someone to contact them," Alexander motioned to Ofleiuil, and he told the other two boats to order them to be cautious, "Don't be profane, we're within range of their guns." ”

"Please rest assured, sir."

Offrey smiled and jumped off the lowered boat and rowed towards the row, while Alexander squinted slightly and looked at the houses that loomed on the reef.

Alexander really didn't expect that the Neapolitans would actually place an artillery position on the island and reef off the coast, although it seems that there is not much artillery placed there, but this is the necessary place to enter the port, and the artillery on the island and reef should be more to alert the shore, or to delay the enemy from the sea, so that the defenders on the shore can have a preparation.

Alexander didn't really care about the danger posed by this small island, after all, it was impossible for the artillery above to block the entire coast, and their role was more to warn the defenders.

What made Alexander concerned was that Frederick, King of Naples, clearly did not want to sit still, and although he knew that the French were menacing, he seemed to be much tougher than his uncompetitive and short-lived nephew, and even his act of arranging artillery on the islands and reefs might have been to let the French know his determination to resist to the death.

Offleigh had not been there for long, but he had not been on board when his boat had rowed back.

"My lord, the Neapolitans say that only some of you can go ashore, and the rest will have to stay on board and wait for news." The boatman reported to Alexander, "In addition, the man you sent also let them stay, they said that he should be a nobleman, otherwise it would be impossible to dress so decently and cleanly, so they left him as a meat ticket, saying that if you don't listen to them, you will tear up the ticket, I said that my lord I am adventurous enough on this trip, so you see if it is ......"

Listening to the foaming mouth of the black-toothed boatman in front of him, Alexander waved his hand helplessly to let the people next to him entangle him, while he himself frowned and looked at the port of Santa Lucia in the distance.

It is clear that Frederick was a little panicked by the French, which explains why many fleeing Neapolitans along the way would feel that a catastrophe was about to come when he saw that the king was too calm to breathe.

However, what Alexander didn't expect was that the Neapolitans simply blocked the port, so did he really want to enter the city with only a few people?

Now the problem was that it was not only him, but even Ofleiil had been detained, what if he followed them ashore, but the Neapolitans refused to release Oflei, he could not think of anyone else but himself and Ofleiyi who could command the entire fleet.

But what if only a few people are allowed to go ashore?

Alexander shook his head after a moment's thought, and then his gaze fell on Schel.

"Schel, it seems that you are needed now," Alexander said, motioning for him to take out a pen and paper and begin to write, "Listen, you follow them ashore, and if possible, give this letter to Ofrai, and let him send it to Count Mordillo, and if Oflaiu cannot get out, you must find a way to get it to the Count." ”

Schell carefully put away the letter, and as he climbed down the soft ladder, Alexander whispered: "If the Neapolitans interrogate you about our origins, you can tell them where you come from, or simply say that you are a mercenary sent by the Grand Duchess of Wallachia, which may help us somewhat." ”

"Don't worry, sir, I know what to say." Schell smiled, and he jumped into the boat and sat down a little awkwardly, as if it made one wonder that he might fall into the water next.

In fact, many of the Balkans in the entire fleet were seasick, which was what worried Alexander, after all, if he really had to fight the Neapolitans at sea, his Balkan soldiers would immediately turn from a fierce pack of hungry wolves to lambs to the slaughter.

The rowboat was quickly heading towards the harbor, and he could faintly see that the people on the lighthouse island reef were busy with something, and seeing that they did not retreat with the rowboat, Alexander was somewhat interested in these people.

After all, such an island was a Jedi with no way out, and he didn't believe that those people would give in to their allegiance to Frederick, which made him wonder why these people were still holding on to the reef that could fall at any moment.

The sound of the cannon apparently alarmed more than the defenders on the shore, and soon some of the small boats were gradually approaching Alexander's flotilla, and the boatmen of the boats first circled the flotilla, and when they were sure that they would not attack themselves, they slowly approached, and then began to shout and sell at the boats.

"This is supposed to be a Neapolitan."

Alexander whispered to himself, in his impression that the reason why the Neapolitans hated the invasion of the French at the beginning was not actually out of any loyalty and patriotism, but because the French greedily exasperated them, as for the temporary support of the people after the restoration of the Neapolitan royal family, it was just looking forward to continuing to live a peaceful life, but unfortunately the Aragon royal family of Naples obviously did not meet these requirements of the people, So Ferdinand II, who was quickly restored and short-lived, and his uncle Frederick, who succeeded him, became the scum of the people who were not much better than the French.

So it shouldn't be difficult for such a Napoli to get. Alexander told himself so.

An armed fleet of Neapolitan ships also cruised nearby, but they did not get very close, but only watched vigilantly over the small flotilla of three inconspicuous merchant ships.

As the sun was almost overhead, another row of oars approached from the direction of the harbor, and Alexander ordered his men to prepare while keeping an eye on the lighthouse reef, and he had ordered that if the situation was not good, he should retreat quickly while the small but apparently superior fleet of Naples had not had time to surround it, and then join up with the fleet waiting in the open sea to wait for an opportunity to land elsewhere.

It's just that if that happens, the plan to "steal" Naples will be a complete failure.

This time the rowboat rowed very simply, and Alexander walked to the bow of the boat, and when he saw a familiar figure on the opposite boat, he was stunned for a moment and then smiled strangely.

He knew he was going to pass.

The oarboat on the opposite side slowly stopped beside Alexander's boat, because the height of the boat was different, and the man standing at the bow could only helplessly look up at Alexander, who was looking down at him with a smile on his face.

"I didn't expect you to come back at this time, so what should I call you now, Earl?" The man asked in a somewhat cold tone.

"I didn't expect to meet you so soon, Your Highness Alfred." Alexander replied with a smile.