At this time, Naples said that it was at war, but the battle situation was extremely strange. Neither side has taken the initiative to engage and has gone its own way. After the Spanish army took control of Vesuvius, they began to dig trenches and build fortifications, as if they were the ones who were being attacked.

On the French side, the French army has always liked to launch a cluster charge with plate knights. However, at present, the army defending the city of Naples is mainly infantry, and its field combat ability is not strong. Therefore, the coach Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, did not have the confidence to take the initiative. However, Count Charles, in a similar way of smuggling, hired fishing boats from the Papal States to help transport food at night, but brought a lot of military rations to the city of Naples. Among them, many military rations were simply purchased from the Papal States at high prices.

As Count Charles thought, there were indeed many French bishops in the Holy See, as well as many pro-French bishops. Under the French money offensive, these bishops opened the door for the French army.

As for Pope Julius II, although he knew the situation, he chose to pretend not to know. The reason for this was not that Julius II was afraid of France, but that Julius II did not want to see the French army easily defeated.

Marin had already written to him to discuss the situation in Naples, and in the case of Gonzalo's return, it would be difficult for the French to bargain for the Spaniards. Neither France nor Spain was a good thing for the Papal States, and Julius II wished that both countries would lose each other. Therefore, at the moment when the French army was in an unfavorable situation, Julius II simply pretended not to know and allowed his bishops to collude with the French. Of course, you can sell grain, but the price has to go up a little. It would also be good to take advantage of this opportunity to extort more from the French.

But in any case, it is the Spaniards who have the upper hand at the moment. Because, Gonzalo's army, occupied Mount Vesuvius, which was very important to the French. In this way, the source of volcanic ash in mainland France was cut off......

Louis XII was in a hurry, and had been frowning when he and Queen Anne had been making villains lately. Due to natural disasters and the fact that most of the grain in the Duchy of Milan was robbed, the Kingdom of France has lost the ability to launch an offensive this year. There is even a shortage of food for disaster relief in China.

And after spending a lot of money to bribe the cardinals of Rome at the suggestion of Count Charles, and spending a lot of money to buy grain from the Papal States at a high price nearby, the money in the treasury of the Kingdom of France was spent like water, and it was not enough.

In desperation, Louis XII had no choice but to send an envoy to Venice to ask for another loan.

But how could the Venetian merchants be kind to each other? Although they want to see the Spaniards unlucky, they will not miss any opportunity to make money.

Thus, while demanding higher interest on the loan, the Venetians also demanded that the French supply the Venetian merchants with silk from Lyon, Burgundian wine, and wood for shipbuilding at lower supply prices.

In the absence of authentic Ming Dynasty silk, the local silk produced in Lyon is a very popular product and the first choice for many European aristocrats to make clothes. There is no shortage of markets for this thing, only out of stock.

Before, the French took it and sold it at a high price. Whoever gives more money will sell to whomever he wants. But now the Venetians, taking advantage of the difficulties encountered by the French, offered to pay for the silk produced in Lyon at a lower purchase price. Although Louis XII was dissatisfied, for the sake of national security, he reluctantly accepted the Venetian's conditions.

As for Burgundy wines, it goes without saying that they were synonymous with Europe's finest wines until the rise of brands such as Château Lafite in Bordeaux. This thing doesn't have to worry about selling at all. As long as there are aristocrats in Europe who pursue a luxurious life, this thing will not be sold.

As for the timber, it is mainly the old oak trees of the old age in the mountain forests of south-central France. These were the best materials for shipbuilding, and they were needed by Venice, a seafaring power.

Venice is a small country with few resources. Their shipyards are largely dependent on imports for the timber they need. Currently, Venice has about a few thousand merchant ships sailing the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans, and even as far as the Black Sea. Most of the timber required by these ships was imported. In France, in addition to the large development of the plains and few trees, the plateaus and hilly areas in the central and southern parts of the country are still very rich in tree resources.

Despite France's large population at the moment, 15 million people are not a lot of people, with a land area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers (excluding Alsace and Lorraine, and Franche-Comté, and parts of the kingdoms of Nice, Savoy, and Navarre). You must know that in Ma Lin's previous life, there were more than 20 million people in a Shanghai market with only more than 6,000 square kilometers. In later generations, England, which is only 130,000 square kilometers, had a population of more than 55 million.

But also in later generations, France, with its 550,000 square kilometers, has much better geographical conditions than England and more developed agriculture, but its population is only about 66 million. In other words, in more than 500 years, the population of France has grown from 15 million to more than 66 million, which is only more than four times that of 500 years ago. England, on the other hand, has grown from less than 3 million to more than 55 million, more than 18 times the number 500 years ago...... Germany, the sworn enemy of the French, has also grown from 10 million to more than 82 million, more than eight times the number 500 years ago......

How to say, over the past few hundred years, the population growth rate of France is probably the lowest in Europe. By the time of the war in 1800, France had a population of 29 million. At that time, Germany had a population of only 18 million, about 10 million fewer than France. But two hundred years later, the population of Germany has increased to more than 82 million, and France has more than doubled to more than 66 million, which is 22 million miles less......

In a previous life, someone made an interesting claim that the French population growth has slowed down since the beginning of romance in the 19th century. Everyone is busy looking for love, and no one wants to have children......

And in later generations, after modern people began to indulge in love, the fertility rate also dropped sharply. On the contrary, there is no love, and the population of the African Lao Hei, who only knows how to think with the lower half of his body, has begun to skyrocket. Like Arabs who don't care about love, the population has skyrocketed.

Similarly, in ancient China, where there was no love at all, the population increased rapidly because of the pursuit of the traditional culture of "full children and grandchildren".

After giving up traditional culture and beginning to pursue love, the population growth rate of modern China plummeted. And that's not the worst of all, if same-sex marriage is approved, negative population growth can be foreseen......

For example, the Netherlands, which pioneered same-sex marriage, has a very low fertility rate. After all, people of the same sex can't have children. In later generations, the population of the Netherlands grew entirely on immigration. In the absence of immigration, the decline in the population can be fully seen.

But there are many problems caused by immigration, such as Germany, which is about to become Deutscestan. The same is true of France, which has also brought a lot of terrorist attacks......

For Marin, who desperately wants population growth, any factor that stands in the way of population growth is unforgivable. Therefore, Marin intends to strictly prohibit any love to be promoted in Beihai, and even more so to prohibit the same sex that cannot be created. Only in this way can we ensure sufficient population growth in the future of the North Sea States to meet the huge population needs of the development of the Americas......

……

After finally borrowing money from the Venetians, Louis XII naturally planned to buy food for disaster relief. However, looking at the whole of Europe, Louis XII was surprised to find that he could only buy grain from the North Sea countries. Because, in this era, only the North Sea country has so much surplus grain. In other countries, food barely meets domestic needs, and there is no surplus at all.

Louis XII had no choice but to send an envoy with a lot of money to the North Sea Kingdom to buy grain from Marin. But after seeing the envoy, Marin's nose was almost crooked—many of the coins brought with him were counterfeit French silver coins forged by Marin in nickel and white. Aren't you stupid to collect this money?

But to refuse so bluntly would slap Louis XII in the face. Marin thought about it and finally came up with an excuse - because he did not trust the quality of French silver coins, the North Sea Kingdom only accepted high-quality gold coins that were generally accepted in Europe, such as Ducat, Florin and Gulden......

After receiving Marin's reply, Louis XII was furious. However, he had nothing to say. Because, the French are indeed very undisciplined in the minting of silver coins. Fortunately, many of the Venetian loans are Ducats minted in Venice. As a last resort, Louis XII took out a batch of ducats to buy grain from Marin.

Seeing the real money, Marin was immediately moved......