When the French learned of the Spaniard's move, they were very nervous. Louis XII urgently ordered the mobilization of a large amount of money and food from the southeast to be transported overland to the city of Naples, ready for the siege of the Spaniards.

But he had no idea that Gonzalo. Morality. Córdoba had no intention of storming Naples at all, but only to cut off the French's access to the ash.

Because of the losses of the last war, the Spaniards now have only a main force of just over 30,000. The French left behind the city of Naples to defend the city of Naples with an army of up to 35,000 people, including 5,000 French knights with high martial arts. Gonzalo's army was barely as numerous as the French. To attack the city of Naples would be to die. After all, half of the troops of the besieging side must be much stronger than the defending side.

Gonzalo. Morality. Córdoba also knows its own family affairs, and the Spanish army is stronger in field battles because of the power of the phalanx. If you really want to break into the city and fight the French in the streets, the phalanx will not be easy. Small space, more emphasis on personal force. And in this regard, the French are precisely much stronger than the Spaniards.

So, after much thought, Gonzalo decided not to take the initiative to attack the fortified city of Naples, but to sweep the rest of the Kingdom of Naples and collect food. At the same time, cut off the route for the French to transport volcanic ash to the country. And this plan was also agreed to by the two Spanish kings.

Of course, the two kings also offered to send someone to transport the excavated ash back to Spain after cutting off the French access to the ash......

Although Spain has a lot of mountains and few plains, there is still a lot of arable land. It is best if you can fertilize with volcanic ash to increase the yield.

You must know that the price of food in Spain is the highest in Europe, because there is little arable land, all mountainous and hilly, and the population is still large. If yields can be increased, it should have a great effect on stabilizing food prices. Of course, the aristocratic families who obtained the fertilizer of volcanic ash could also obtain huge profits by virtue of the high yield of grain. As for who gets the most benefits? Naturally, it has to be the Spanish royal family. Besides, it's the big aristocratic families. After all, they have the most land. And, for sure, get the volcanic ash first.

In addition, because of the occupation of the northern part of Morocco, the Spanish royal family and nobles were able to grow barley along several of Morocco's great rivers. With the help of volcanic ash, it is also very profitable.

……

But these are secondary, the most important thing is that the Spanish government and the opposition agree that even if Spain does not get the volcanic ash fertilizer, it cannot be obtained by the French!

France and Spain are about the same size, but most of France is plain, the most important part of the plain of Western Europe. Therefore, France has always had a developed agriculture and a large population. If the French had had enough ash, the Spaniards would not have been able to sleep. So, Gonzalo's first task was to prevent the French from obtaining, and secondarily to gain ......

But in any case, it is much easier to destroy than to capture. For example, it is much easier to attack the enemy's grain and grass and burn the enemy's grain and grass than to seize and transport back a large amount of the enemy's grain and grass.

Therefore, in this dispatch, General Gonzalo still led a large army to land in Salerno, more than 20 kilometers south of Naples. Then, he quickly led his troops to the area of Mount Vesuvius and eliminated the local French defenders. Then, the excavation production of volcanic ash was immediately resumed.

However, the excavated volcanic ash was no longer transported north by land, but instead transported to the sea, and then loaded back to Spain.

At the same time, Gonzalo ordered the army to dig many trenches and fortifications on the road from Vesuvius to the city of Naples to block the French counterattack. As for the attack on the city of Naples, which is not far away? Gonzalo didn't even think about it......

At present, the main source of volcanic ash for the French is Mount Vesuvius. Gonzalo knew very well in his heart that as long as he cut off the supply of ash from Vesuvius and did not have to attack the city of Naples himself, the French would be in a hurry themselves.

Therefore, Gonzalo was not in a hurry at all. After leading his troops to take the important area of Mount Vesuvius, he began to dig ditches and build walls directly there, preparing with all his might to resist the French counterattack. At the same time, he also sent Spanish bareback cavalry to loot grain, especially from villages in the north, to avoid giving the French a chance to get supplies.

In addition, the cavalry sent to the north to grab food was also responsible for destroying all bridges to the north to prevent the French from having the ability to reinforce Naples. Of course, a stone bridge that is too big to be destroyed. But the small bridges over the small river were destroyed by these cavalry.

The French also realized the danger and sent French knights to stop them. However, none of the horses of the Spanish backless knights were armoured, and between the heavy cavalry and the light cavalry, the French knights could not catch up at all. And if you send light cavalry, you can't beat those Spanish bareback knights...... When the French made up their minds to get the French knights to remove their horse armor and plate pants and go after the Spanish open-back knights, the Spanish open-backed knights had already completed their mission and returned to the camp......

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, the commander of the French army who was in charge of guarding the Kingdom of Naples, was in a hurry, and there was still a lot of money and food that had not yet been shipped from the mainland. If the road is cut off, the grain and grass in the city will only be enough for half a year.

But fortunately, there is a strategist named Charlie by his side......

As the former Duke of Guedes, who was able to beat the Duchy of Saxony back then, Charles, the current Earl of Nantes, has no doubt about his ability. After carefully consulting the topographical map of the Kingdom of Naples, he made a suggestion to Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, to quietly transport grain from the coastal plains......

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, frowned and said:

"No, Count Charles, I remember that the Aurenci Hill, northwest of Naples, cut off the seaside plain. That's why the Roman road came from the interior. That is, there are no big roads along the coast at all. Moreover, the food convoy was too close to the sea, and it was also vulnerable to shelling by Spanish warships......"

Charlie, Earl of Nantes, nodded and said:

"That's true, but, Lord Duke, although Mount Orancy cuts off the coastal plain, it is not completely out of the way."

Charles III reacted:

"You mean...... Walking the mountain road? ”

But then, he shook his head and said:

"No, our army needs a lot of food, and I'm afraid we won't be able to transport much food just by walking through the mountains. Generally speaking, the grain of the army is transported by carts on the road, how can there be a mountain road? How much grain can be transported? ”

Earl Charles shook his head and said:

"No, Lord Duke, it's not that the mountain road can't transport grain, it's just that the transportation efficiency is low, and it's difficult. However, as far as our army is concerned, what needs to be solved at present is not the question of whether it is difficult or not, but the question of whether it can or not. As long as he can transport grain, it doesn't matter how much he can transport on the mountain road. ”

"Moreover, my subordinates have seen the topographic map, and the entire west coast of the Apennine Peninsula, and in a few places, the mountains are close to the sea, cutting off the narrow coastal plain. And between the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States, in addition to the Orancy Mountain, the mountains on the side of Terracina are close to the sea. As long as the problem of crossing the mountains between Formia on the shores of Mount Orencil and Terracina further north-west can be solved, grain can be delivered. ”

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, listened to Count Charles's words, walked to the map again, looked at the mountains and rivers marked on the map, and frowned and thought. After thinking for a while, he added:

"Well, even if we can find a mountain road through Formia and Terracina. However, after crossing these two places, it is the Papal States. We in France don't have good relations with the Papal States. What if the Papal States obstruct our army from transporting food? ”

Count Charles thought for a moment and said:

"It's not a big problem, and there are a number of French cardinals in the city of Rome. We can ask His Majesty the King to bribe the French cardinals, and to bribe the bishops who have good relations with France, to help cover up. You know, those cardinals are greedy for money, and if they give them enough money, they can do anything. ”

After a pause, Count Charles added:

"Moreover, I heard that this guy Marin has sent a lot of grain to the Holy See as 'tithes', and this year the Papal States have a bumper grain harvest, and we can directly spend money to buy grain from the Papal States. It doesn't matter if the price is high, as long as they are willing to sell us grain, it is impossible to stop us from transporting it. It doesn't matter if the food is difficult to transport, we should drive the Neapolitan mountain people to help carry grain on mountain roads. ”

Charles III nodded, and then asked:

"What to do with the shelling of the grain convoy by the Spanish battleships?"

The Earl of Charles had already planned:

"The route close to the sea, carrying grain at night and resting during the day. Those who walk on mountain roads carry grain during the day. Anyway, the artillery fire of the Spaniards could not reach the mountains......"

In this way, at the suggestion of Count Charles, the French opened up coastal grain transportation routes. Although the volume is not large, it is better than continuous.

Moreover, Count Charles also secretly bought fishing boats belonging to the Papal States, hired them at a high price, and helped transport grain at night to bypass the two Jedi of Formia and Terracina, which was more convenient than walking through the mountains.

On the Spanish side, because the admirals were too confident in controlling the sea and did not have ships to cruise at night, they were actually exploited......