After the "return" of Corsica, Aragon's island chain in the western Mediterranean was weaved. Most of the islands in the western Mediterranean, including Malta, are covered by Aragon.

The island chain in the Western Mediterranean is formed by the combination of continental fulcrums, major islands, and secondary islands to form a multi-layered defense system, as detailed below:

Continental fulcrum: Naples, Melilla, and Oran (1509).

Main islands: Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, Gozo.

Secondary islands: Comino, Cominoto, Fairfra, Ponting Islands, Ischia, Capri, Lipari Islands, Egadi Islands, Ustica, Pelage Islands, Pantelleria.

It should be mentioned here that Malta has been an inherent territory of the Kingdom of Sicily since ancient times, and indeed since ancient times, and before 1530 it was an annex of Sicily, like the islands of the Pelage Islands, just like the Penghu Islands.

As for how it had anything to do with the Knights Hospitaller, it was actually the Knights Hospitaller who was invited by the Charles Empire himself.

When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Knights Hospitaller on Rhodes became the only Christian power in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

Resistance in Rhodes continued until 1522. That year, Suleiman I commanded 200,000 troops on 400 warships to Rhodes, and the Knights on the island had only 7,000 soldiers, although the strength was very different, but the Knights still held out on their own for six months, and at least 50,000 Turkish troops were killed in the battle. In the end, the Knights reached an agreement with the Turks, and the Knights withdrew from Rhodes and went to Europe.

During their seven years in Europe, the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem moved many times and lived without a permanent residence. By 1530, on the orders of Pope Clement VII and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Knights Hospitaller came to the island of Malta and paid a symbolic rent of 1 Maltese eagle coin per year to the Kingdom of Sicily.

Thus, on the island of Malta, the Knights Hospitaller established the State of the Knights of Malta.

Fearing the threat of the Knights Hospitaller, and in order to expand further in the Mediterranean, Suleiman I sent a large army to attack Malta in 1565. The battle began very similarly to the last one in Rhodes: the Knights struggled to hold on, most of the cities were destroyed, and half of the Knights were killed. Just when the Knights saw that they could not hold on, a reinforcement army came from Spain, and the situation on the battlefield was suddenly reversed, and the Turkish army retreated in panic, with losses of more than 30,000 men. This victory brought peace to the Knights of Malta for a period of time, but it also led to a strategic decisive battle between the pacifist and Christian forces in southern Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean, which lasted for eight years, including the Battle of Malta, the subsequent Battle of Vienna, the Battle of Lepanto, the Spanish suppression of the Morisco uprising in the country, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire's conquest of Tunisia. The last Ottoman victory in North Africa was the seizure of the Spanish-occupied city of Oran in 1708 while Spain was caught in the War of the Spanish Succession.

In this way, the Knights Hospitaller still played a great role in stopping the expansion of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. However, due to the establishment of the Knights of Malta, the vicissitudes of life since then, with the changes in the international situation and the decline of Spain's national power, Malta was out of Spanish control, both nominally and in fact, which was a very tragic thing, and Ferdinand did not allow this to happen.

Moreover, it can be seen that Malta is a strategic stronghold, not from the 19th century, but from the 16th century. It happened to choke the choke point of the eastern and western Mediterraneans, and if it wanted to launch a large-scale attack on the western Mediterranean - pirate raids were not counted, but Malta had to be captured, and with the high combat ability of the Knights Hospitaller, Malta's easily defended terrain and strong defensive facilities, there was no problem at all if the Turks were to be crushed and even pay even more painful losses than in history.

However, the Knights Hospitaller is still in Rhodes, Ferdinand is considering whether to say hello to them in advance, if they can't hold on, come to me to do it, this matter must communicate with the Pope, so that the Knights Hospitaller will be stationed in Malta after the fall of Rhodes, it should not be a big problem, after all, Rhodes Island is not a place to stay for a long time, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the key is that the political status of the Knights Hospitaller in Malta should be restricted, and the establishment of the Knights of the Order State should not be allowed, The civil administration must be in the hands of the Spanish administration.

The Knights Hospitaller can't come to Malta for the time being, and when the Knights Hospitaller comes, it's already more than twenty years later, and Spain certainly doesn't have to fear the Ottoman Turkish Empire at that time, but unfortunately, Ferdinand has no interest in defending Christendom from the invasion of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, so the future Holy Roman Emperor, I don't know if he is XX or XXX, in short, don't want to tie Spain to the chariot of the Holy Roman Empire, so that Spain can take all its wealth, The army and even the government went bankrupt to sell our kidneys to fight the soil, and we have no relatives, so we can't do this for you, unless you are willing to pay.

In addition to Malta, Ferdinand now has three large islands in the western Mediterranean, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica.

Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the first largest island in the western Mediterranean, and its location is so remote and safe that it was never attacked until the 18th century, neither the French nor the Ottoman Empire. The French offensive on Corsica during the French Revolution was also thwarted. At the same time, Ferdinand has completely swept away the aristocratic power of Sardinia itself, introduced craftsmen and technicians from Iberia, England and Flanders, as well as farmers and fishermen from Iberia who signed semi-deed of sale, stationed a large number of troops, implemented semi-military management, and established a complete set of modern industrial and agricultural systems.

But the other two islands do not have such good conditions, Corsica is currently firmly in the hands of Aragon, but it may be threatened by the French, originally history, 1553~1559, the French occupied the island for a short time, and then withdrew with the end of the war and the signing of the peace treaty. Sicily is the largest and richest island in the Mediterranean, known as the "Golden Basin", but for Ferdinand, this is more embarrassing, on the one hand, there are many people, and it is from here that the Black Death began to spread in western Europe, which is obviously not suitable as a site for "epoch-making bases" with high requirements for secrecy. Sicily, too, was a fat piece in the eyes of the Ottoman Empire, which was repeatedly harassed and plundered by the Ottoman navy and North African pirates (spontaneously and more often with the backing of the Ottoman Empire) throughout the 16th century.