In order to respond to and cooperate with the fancy strategy of beating France formulated by the anti-French united front, the great French king Charles VIII led more than 10,000 people to the north, and the remaining more than 12,000 people continued to guard the Kingdom of Naples. As a result, France's 20,000-strong troops were left unreplenished, discarding most of their artillery and some of their remaining supplies (but unwilling to give up the plundered gold and silver treasures) and scattered across a vast area stretching north from the Alps to the Strait of Messina in the south.

At the same time, syphilis was still raging in the French army, and other diseases were also invading the bodies of French soldiers and officers. Even the commander of the French army in Naples, the famous general Aubigny, had a severe case of malaria and probably did not live long!

"Your Majesty, Aubigny has severe malaria?"

Gonzalo's tone was tinged with surprise and surprise. In this Renaissance war, it was definitely a big problem for the commander to be seriously ill, especially since Aubigie had to be on the battlefield in person, so even if he won a big victory, he would not be able to organize a pursuit, because his physical condition did not allow it. This is indeed a fact, and Aubigie has faced such a dilemma in history.

"I can't be wrong with my information." Ferdinand said confidently. Oh, and since the king of Aragon also took part in the bad deeds. Aubigny's fate was even more tragic.

In Sicily, the 5,000 troops of Castile, the 10,000 troops of the Kingdom of Naples, mainly the Calabrian militia (very poor), and the 4,000 troops of Aragon, including 500 arquebusiers from Sardinia and 10 18-pounder British Kofilin cannons, were the future of the Red Cannon, which England itself did not have......

The battle for Naples is about to begin. At this time, the Spanish side increased by 4,000 Aragonese troops compared to the same period in history, and the advantage in strength was greater than in history, but Gonzalo's personal view of the situation was not as pessimistic as in history, but it was not much optimistic.

The Spanish army was generally formed to fight the Moors, and generally tended to be lightly armed, with cavalry mainly projecting harassing javelin cavalry, while the backbone of the infantry was mainly known as the small round shield swordsman, the Spanish swordsman had strong personal martial skills, but if he faced the cavalry charge, he had almost no ability to fight back. In other words, the Spanish army was actually an army that was behind the times – and although it was about to become ahead of its time, it was still backward for now.

Oh, that's not true, the 10,000 garrisons on Sardinia are looking down on the existence of this era, and the Aragonese native army also has 25,000 men in the "First Army of the Western Reclamation Corps", which can skillfully use the Spanish phalanx, and of course, it also needs to be perfected by actual combat experience.

Ferdinand is now the richest king in all of Europe, and if he shows off his hidden weapons of murder, he can crush the French.

But Ferdinand wouldn't just reveal his cards in order to show his niubility. Even if the French are driven out now, they will not be able to get the Kingdom of Naples, even if it is their own kinship. In any case, the historical trend is on the side of Spain, and it is possible to carve up Naples with the French in the future, and then show the Spanish phalanx to drive the French away. As for the flintlock pistol and the line of shooting, he had to wait until 1517 to use it to dominate Portugal by force.

……

The Neapolitan army was even more substandard, outnumbering the armies of Castile and Aragon combined, numbering nearly 10,000 men, but it has already been said that their origins, most of them were improvised militias in Calabria, and their combat effectiveness was extremely low. Gonzalo, however, knew that the French had the world-famous Swiss pikemen and the terrifying super heavy cavalry of the Gendarme (also known as the Knight of the Edict, there are a lot of names anyway...... These two trump cards.

……

But the Spanish side has two advantages that cannot be erased and can play a decisive role.

The first, with a large number of people, 19,000 coalition troops against 12,000 French troops. There are more soldiers, and one percent crushes people to death. Most of the time, superiority in forces means strategic superiority. In this first Italian war, this law was very obvious, no matter how strong the French knights were, no matter how brave the Swiss pikemen were, there were so many people who could not stand the opponent!

The second, the supply advantage is very obvious, the Spanish supply is completely unimpeded, while the French supply has been cut off, this gap is decisive, the French are doomed, and a temporary victory in the campaign will make them lose even more.

Third, there are many firearms and they are proficient in their use. Charles VIII's expedition to France brought 136 guns, most of which were lost and discarded (supply problems, not enough shells, and now the French army was in danger of being surrounded and annihilated, so it was necessary to maintain mobility), and the French army in Naples currently had only 10 guns. In addition, the Spanish arquebuses and arquebusiers were excellent, especially Ferdinand, who was a firearms man. Of course, firearms were not as useful as later generations, but if Spain held on, the French would have no chance.

……

As for the operation of landing in Naples, after research, Ferdinand found that the southern theater of the First Italian War (and the same as the northern theater) was full of a kind of brain ...... The atmosphere.

When the French learned of the Spanish landing on the Strait of Messina, their reaction was to sweep south from Naples towards the Strait of Messina, preparing to drive the Spanish army out of the sea......

As to what effect the French would have had if they had done so and surrounded the Spanish army in the coastal cities, the Battle of Cerignola eight years later gave the answer. Even if a Spanish army of a few thousand men was stationed in a coastal city, it could withstand the superior French army for several months (not in the end, but with reinforcements and a victorious counteroffensive), not to mention when the numerical superiority was on the side of the coalition forces. Moreover, the French had no supplies, lost a lot of weapons and equipment, syphilis and malaria were rampant, and even the commander-in-chief was recruited.

However, the Spaniards did not allow the French to reach the Strait of Messina, and the French were about to rush to the Strait of Messina, but at this time, the two sides fought a decisive battle at Seminara, on the southern coast of the Calabrian Peninsula, after the Aragonese king (separate from the boot of Naples) drove the ducks on the road north, and the two sides fought a decisive battle at Seminara, on the southern coast of the Calabrian Peninsula, and the French won......

However, French victories were always tactical victories, as has been emphasized many times, and in the context of the whole battle, France was faced with a certain defeat, and what were the casualties on both sides in the first battle of Seminala? There are no specific figures, because the actual number of casualties on both sides is too small. That is, the French had nothing to gain but to occupy Seminara, and the long supply lines and vast expanses of land behind them were exposed to the guerrilla warfare and landing warfare that the Spanish would soon launch.

So, the French who were inexperienced for the first time, in the end, only a few or a few hundred (this statistical gap) fled back to France in the northern theater, and in the southern theater of Naples, although the French indisputably won the battle of Seminara, in the end they also indisputably lost, and the number of people who left was also indisputable, only a few men......

In any case, the 19,000 allied troops under the command of the Spanish side are now about to land in Naples.

On June 1, 1494, in a very joyous atmosphere, the Castilian and Neapolitan armies, 15,000 men, under the command of Gonzalo, landed in the town of Lezzo on the side of the Calabrian peninsula in the Strait of Messina. This is different from the original history. However, before the Common Era, there was a famous general who led a slave rebel army here for several months, his name was Spartacus, and hundreds of years later, there was a famous general who won the battle here, and his name was Garibaldi.

This marked the opening of the Southern Theater of the First Italian War.

……