The invitation sent by the Duke of Milan, an invitation to Charles VIII to enter Naples, did not take long to reach the French royal palace and reach Charles VIII.

After Carriet returned to Naples, Charles VIII hid his fascination with Carriet deep in his heart, and turned back to the great monarch who was wise and brave and wanted to be a hero for all ages.

The news of the death of King Ferdinand I of Naples was immediately transmitted back to Charles VIII by the spies sent to the Kingdom of Naples early on. Charles VIII was ambitious, and after consulting with the French ministers, he sent a large number of spies to other European countries a long time ago, in order to obtain a steady stream of information and intelligence for France to analyze, and Naples and several other Italian states, because they have always been regarded as fat, so France sent the most spies to these countries, so the intelligence from this side can often be transmitted to France with great efficiency.

Upon learning of the death of King Ferdinand I of Naples, Charles VIII was keenly aware that this was an excellent opportunity to meddle in the internal affairs of Italy and the best time to enter the Kingdom of Naples. Charles VIII even believed that the next king of Naples should be succeeded by Charles VIII.

At this time, the invitation letter of the Duke of Milan appeared in the hands of Charles VIII like timely rain, and Charles VIII saw the breakthrough at once, and his heart was also extremely excited.

On this day, Charles VIII, as usual, was dealing with the affairs of the court with the ministers. When everything else was basically agreed, Charles VIII summoned several auxiliary ministers and told them to stay, saying that there was something important to discuss.

Charles VIII's sharp and shrewd eyes slowly swept over several high-ranking ministers, and he said slowly: "King Ferdinand I of Naples has passed away, have you received any news?" ”

Several ministers basically did not show any surprise, obviously receiving the news not much later than Charles VIII. Each of the ministers has a powerful noble family behind them, and their intelligence system is not much inferior to the royal intelligence system. Charles VIII would not have been surprised to see the expressions of the ministers, and it was obvious that they had known each other for a long time.

Charles VIII spoke again: "We in France have been gearing up for so long, spending a lot of financial revenue every year to support a strong army, and every year for military training, we also spend a lot of national treasury expenditures, the purpose is to be able to conquer other countries when the time is right, expand the territory of our France, and establish that immortal feat!" Charles VIII's eyes shone with an unusually hot light, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and this time, in addition to being as conquest as ever, this bloodthirsty light was also mixed with a touch of tenderness, and he continued in a low tone: "The death of Ferdinand I this time is the best chance for us to take the opportunity to conquer Naples!" Their old king has just died, the new king's prestige has not been established, the foundation is not stable, the country is in turmoil, now is the time when they are most vulnerable, we are attacking it, and the resistance encountered will be minimized! ”

Several ministers listened to Charles VIII's bold words, and obviously had a desire to try, and the overall strategy of France, as the top bureaucrats in France, also knew very well. They also knew that the current strength of the French army was very strong, and according to the intensity of war that the Italian states regarded as a child's wine, it would be vulnerable to the French army, so they were also very much in favor of launching a war of conquest against Italy, and Naples was obviously a good breakthrough.

At this time, a white-bearded minister came out and took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, this is indeed a good time to attack Naples, but we can't attack for no reason like this, right?" To do anything, we must be famous, otherwise we will be unpopular, and there will always be obstacles to doing things, Your Majesty will see if we should first think of a reason to send troops to Naples. For example, Ferdinand I was brutal, or the excuse that our people disappeared inside. ”

As soon as the white-bearded minister's voice fell, a slightly fat minister next to him couldn't wait to say: "Yes, Your Majesty, there will always be some scruples when we do things rashly, you see if we want to think about it in the long run, plan well, and find an appropriate excuse and reason to declare war on Naples." ”

Charles VIII squinted his eyes slightly, and the expression on his face seemed to be smiling, but he was also extremely comforted that several ministers were able to do things so meticulously. "In this way, I will go out to fight on the battlefield, and with these old guys guarding the family, I can feel a lot more at ease, and I am not afraid of any trouble."

Charles VIII waited for them to finish with a smile, and then replied with a smile: "You have a very reasonable consideration, but the excuse does not need us to find it ourselves, it has already been delivered to the door itself!" With that, he showed the invitation letter sent by the Duke of Milan to Charles VIII and circulated it to several ministers.

After circulating the invitation, several old ministers couldn't help but be overjoyed, this is really dozing off someone sent a pillow, I can't imagine that such an excuse to conquer Naples in an upright and completely unreasonable way is so effortlessly placed in front of them, this kind of scene, how to make them unhappy!

"Congratulations, congratulations, Your Majesty, in this way, one of the greatest difficulties in entering Naples is gone! To conquer Naples with our country's powerful French army, I think it is easy to capture, and the minister hereby congratulates His Majesty on the completion of his grand wish to establish immortal feats! The chubby minister said loudly.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, and I wish Your Majesty an immortal meritorious service!" The other ministers also said in unison. Charles VIII laughed, it is also very rare to be able to reach a consensus with these important ministers, and in this way, there will be no constraints, but will be extremely efficient to implement the orders conveyed by the high-level.

After Charles VIII consulted with several ministers and made a decision, the huge machine of France began to work violently. Raising food, grass and military salaries, dispatching troops, recruiting people, preparing military supplies, everything and orders were quickly conveyed, and King Charles VIII of France also decided to personally lead the army to Naples. For the arrival of this moment, Charles VIII has been waiting for too long, he has long been impatient, and now the opportunity is in front of him, Charles VIII does not want to fake his hands, he wants to make contributions with his own hands and become a hero for all ages.

Even before the death of King Ferdinand I of Naples, King Charles VIII of France had already hired a group of extremely brave spearmen from Switzerland through diplomacy. Brave and stoic, stoic, and strong, these spearmen were a formidable force on the entire continent. Legend has it that in some places where martial arts are not strong, Swiss spearmen can subdue them and win the war by almost simply revealing their prestige.

This group of spearmen, about 5,000 people, from the moment they first stepped into the French Praetorian Guard barracks, they began to practice the art of joint attack with the other branches of the Praetorian Guard Battalion, because they were already extremely proficient in the war techniques they needed to master, so in a short period of time, they began to have a preliminary tacit understanding with the other branches of the French army, and as time went by, the cooperation between them became more and more proficient, more and more tacit understanding.

At this time, the French army transferred this group of Swiss spearmen to the expeditionary force, and let them follow the French king to conquer Naples, so as to supplement the lack of hand-to-hand combat power of the French army.

France had long since manufactured a large number of armoured weapons for its army, and at this time, they continued to transport these weapons and supply them to the expeditionary force that was about to go on the expedition. Charles VIII decided to mobilize half of the Praetorian Guard to accompany him on the expedition, while the remaining half of the elite remained in the capital to ensure that everything was prepared. He was now accompanied by the following elite troops: more than 13,000 cavalry, 4,000 archers, 5,000 crossbowmen, 5,000 Swiss pikemen, and an elite secret army, the Artillery Regiment.

The cavalry regiments, which accounted for more than half of the whole army, all wore spears and swords, and were heavily armoured, and they were all noble knight regiments composed of nobles, and the elite level was also one of the best in Europe.

The 4,000 archers and 5,000 crossbowmen, although they did not wear heavy armor, were all dressed in light armor, each with a bow and crossbow, and a number of arrows, all of which were made of stainless steel, and were extremely sharp.

The five thousand Swiss pikemen, who were not given weapons because they already had them themselves, but they were also equipped with armor for one man and one body, which were lent to them during the war and taken back by the French after the war.

The above forces on the surface are already daunting, but what Charles VIII really has high hopes for is the last unit, a professional artillery unit. Charles VIII equipped this elite army with a large number of artillery and ammunition, requisitioned a large number of horses to haul the mobile gun carriages, and most of the requisitioned men were transferred to transport the artillery and ammunition. Charles VIII hoped that they would be able to quickly exert their due strength and quickly breach the enemy's castle, so that their large army could enter the city to fight the enemy army and win, rather than being blocked outside the castle and falling into a protracted siege, so that the enemy would have enough time to react, which would bring unpredictable other risks.

In this way, the French army vigorously sharpened its troops and horses, and carried out the general mobilization of the expeditionary force to improve the morale of the expeditionary force. The French army was in a state of momentum at this time, and there was a sense of impatience to vent, it had been trained so hard for so long, if it could not show its majesty on the battlefield, it would have really suffered so much in vain!

While the French were well prepared for war, Naples was still immersed in the bloodless wars of the past, completely unprepared for the great crisis that was coming, and they did not think that anyone would be able to break through the many checkpoints on the road and come to the city of Naples to attack the city. Not to mention that they haven't discovered the abnormal movements of the French army, even if they learn the news, it is estimated that it is just that France wants to take advantage of the fire to loot and extort benefits, and they will not take this matter too seriously!