The Spaniards were busy dividing up the gold that had not yet arrived, and they were not afraid of the seemingly harmless French army. However, the actions of the French frightened Emperor Maximilian I.

Maximilian I was more suspicious, he did not believe that the French were only fighting for the Duchy of Milan. In particular, Maximilian I became even more nervous when the French made Lyon a rallying point for their large army.

Originally, Frenzberg's 35,000-strong army and the 25,000 Swiss Resistance (the French withdrew a large number of French elites for the Italian war after the return of 10,000 Swiss mercenaries) were still barely on the offensive. But after the French army assembled in Lyon, the suspicious emperor immediately ordered Frenzberg to carry out a strategic contraction, and retracted the 35,000 troops to the fortresses of Lucerne and Basel.

Maximilian I did this because he was afraid that 30,000 French troops would enter Switzerland "by the way" on his way to Italy to help the Swiss resistance. At that time, the Franco-Swiss army, with its absolute superiority in numbers, would easily defeat the army of Frenzberg. This is even more likely if you are fighting in the field. So, Maximilian I had the soldiers of the army of Frenzberg retreat back to several fortified cities. In this way, even if there are many enemies, there will be no way for a while.

But His Majesty the Emperor was obviously overly concerned, and in normal times, Louis XII would not have minded doing so. Because, it was also easy for the French army to go to Switzerland from Lyon. If he could take the opportunity to destroy the main force of the Habsburg army, Louis XII would definitely be willing to do it.

It's just that this time His Majesty the Emperor guessed wrong. Because Louis XII was busy fighting for volcanic ash in Naples this time, he didn't have time to pay attention to the Habsburg army.

John. Rafi, at Marin's behest, had made the stakes clear - if the Spaniards had time to react and had enough ammunition, the city of Naples defended by the musketeers would have been difficult to overcome.

Only by taking advantage of the Spaniards' ignorance, moving quickly south, and besieging the city of Naples, will there be enough to conquer this fortified city.

The city of Naples is the strongest city in the Kingdom of Naples, and the gates are made of iron, which is very difficult to overcome. If the Spaniards were well prepared, it would be really difficult to take over.

However, according to the information provided by the secret agents, because of the huge consumption of gunpowder on the battlefield in Morocco, the gunpowder reserves in the city of Naples are seriously insufficient.

If the French had moved quickly and besieged the city of Naples earlier, it would have taken a month at most with the amount of gunpowder reserves of the defenders of Naples. A month later, the musket became a burning stick. Then, it was time for the French to play. In terms of martial arts, who has the French knight been afraid of?

As long as there is no musket to restrain the martial arts of the knight, relying on the traditional siege method, the French can also take the city of Naples. As long as the city of Naples is conquered and the main Spanish force defending the city is eliminated, it will be very smooth.

Even if the Spaniards reacted and gathered a large army to fight, who were the French afraid of?

The French had also come up with a way to restrain the Spaniards' superiority in the wall of fire - to storm the enemy's musket array with cannon fodder, and at the same time bombard the enemy's musketeer line with artillery. The Plate Knights, on the other hand, charged from the flanks without muskets......

Even in the Marin phalanx (Spanish phalanx), which is good at using muskets, the proportion of musketeers is only a quarter. The remaining three-quarters, mainly infantry. For those infantry, the French knights, armed to the teeth, were not afraid.

What the? You say that the opposing spearmen will stab the French knight's horse to death? That's not a problem!

As early as the Hundred Years' War between England and France, the French had the problem of English longbowmen shooting the horses of French knights. Later, the French came up with a way - the knights dismounted and fought on foot......

The knight's horse is indeed a weak point, and if the spearman stabs the horse, it can indeed interfere with the knight. However, when a knight in plate armor dismounts and fights on foot, is you a spearman?

The knight, dressed in a full suit of plate armor, was not afraid of the stabbing of the enemy's spears, but only of muskets. As long as the French knight dismounts and uses his two-handed sword to attack the enemy before charging the enemy's spear formation, he still has a good chance of winning.

A two-handed sword is certainly not as long as a spear, but the French knight wears plate armor and is not afraid of the enemy's spear stabbing his body. As long as the enemy can't stab him, his two-handed sword can slash and slash the enemy with a wide opening. Even, it can cut off the enemy's spear shaft. With the martial arts of the French knights, as long as they do not encounter muskets and artillery, it is still easy to cut down a few spearmen......

In addition, on the frontal battlefield, the French also brought hundreds of artillery pieces this time. Although they were all light guns such as one-pounder guns and two-pounder guns, the largest was a three-pounder gun. However, the range of the artillery was much longer than that of the muskets. If you shoot against the musketeers, the artillery wins.

Because, the musketeer's bullets exceeded 70 yards, and they basically flew around. And the shells of artillery, even if they are rear-mounted Furlong cannons, have relatively stable ballistics within one or two hundred meters. In this way, there is no need to talk about the results of mutual shooting...... In addition, the French also prepared cannon fodder to attract the attention of the opposing musketeers, and it was even more of a problem......

……

In fact, the French army suffered losses in the Battle of Capitanata because of Gonzalo. Morality. Córdoba hid the musketeers behind fortifications and trenches, holding back the onslaught of the French cavalry, as well as the attacks of French shells.

It's the same as a musketeer hiding on a wall to shoot at the enemy, and a musketeer with cover is much more powerful. If they were standing on an uncovered plain, the French would have struggled to lose some of the knights, and a general charge could also crush the enemy's musketeers.

In short, the muskets of this era could not crush the knights. Only with cover can the musketeers not be afraid of the charge of the Plate Knights. The same musketeers, in the hands of different people, have different results. And, to the delight of Louis XII, Spain's No. 1 player Gonzalo. Morality. Córdoba was still suppressing the local revolt in Morocco at this time. The commander of the army in the city of Naples appears to be a straw bale nobleman of the Kingdom of Aragon......

……

After completing the assembly in Lyon, the French began to move eastward and cross the Alps on a large scale. After seeing the size of the French army, the secret agents sent by the Habsburgs almost frightened and incontinent - where is this 30,000 troops, there are clearly more than 50,000!

Then, the Habsburg secret agents hurriedly released carrier pigeons to report to the emperor. This news also almost scared Emperor Maximilian I - 50,000 troops, plus 25,000 in Switzerland, could destroy Austria......

His Majesty the Emperor had already begun to think about escaping, but the last news came that the French had really gone to Italy, not to Switzerland......

……

When 60,000 troops and 80,000 men appeared on the Piedmontese plain, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, a traditional ally of France, was almost frightened.

If it was 30,000 horses, Charles III, Duke of Savoy, would naturally not think much about it. Because, this is the normal configuration used to attack the Duchy of Milan. After all, the Duchy of Milan is said to have recruited 30,000 Italian mercenaries, intending to defend it to the death.

Although the Italian mercenaries have average combat effectiveness and can be used to defend the city, they can still withstand 30,000 French troops. However, the French army that appeared on the Piedmontese plain obviously numbered far more than 30,000 men, and it was estimated that there were 50,000 or 60,000 regular troops......

On this scale, it is enough to sweep all of Italy, can Charles III not be afraid?

Fortunately, the French did not seem to have much interest in annexing the Duchy of Savoy, and continued to move east towards Lombardy. The Duchy of Milan is located in the middle of the Lombardy region......

……

Then, the next person to be scared was the Duke of Milan, Ludovico. Sforza ......

"What do you say? The French army came not only 30,000, but 50,000 or 60,000? Ludovico. Sforza's hand shook in fright and he dropped a porcelain teacup......

"Yes, Lord Duke! We sent a lot of brothers to count the numbers. The result was that the French probably sent 20,000 knights and 30,000 or 40,000 infantry. In addition, there are 70,000 or 80,000 people......"

"20,000 knights? That's pretty much the limit of what France can mobilize...... "Ludovico. Sforza gasped.

Even in the first two wars, the French used a maximum of 10,000 knights. And this time, the use of 20,000 knights is equivalent to betting on the fortune of the country......

In this battle, the French seem to be desperate......

Facing a desperate France, Ludovic. Sforza had lost all courage at this point. In terms of national strength and heritage, the Duchy of Milan and France are too far apart......

After an extremely fierce ideological struggle in his heart, Ludovico. Sforza reluctantly ordered:

"Take all your valuable assets, and most of your food, and retreat in the direction of Graubünden!"

Ten years ago, when France and Spain were fighting in the Kingdom of Naples, Ludovico . It was at Marin's suggestion that Sforza withdrew with several thousand troops and a large amount of money to the Müstair valley on the border between Graubünden and Italy, and retained his vitality. Later, when the French army went to Naples to fight the Spanish decisive battle, this old boy returned to Milan with thousands of men and horses, and easily recaptured the Duchy of Milan.

This time, it is clear that Ludovico. Sforza tried to repeat his old trick again. Moreover, this time the French army was still on the Piedmontese plain. At this time, the withdrawal of troops has the opportunity to take away most of the money and food of the city of Milan, including most of the army of the city of Milan......

……

However, Ludovico . Sforza didn't expect that the French didn't want to attack the Duchy of Milan at all this time......

When Ludovico. When the news reached the French army that Sforza had abandoned the city of Milan and fled with his army to the Müstair valley in the Graubünden region, Louis XII was stunned:

"I didn't really want to attack Milan...... This...... How's that going now? ”

。 m.