Naples was one of the kingdoms of Italy, and was the daughter of a nobleman who had long been at peace and war with the rest of Italy, and the peerless beauty that fascinated King Charles VIII of France. Naples, like the rest of the Italian states, has been at peace for a long time and has hardly experienced bloody battles of annihilation recently, but the Italian states of this period are in a period of cultural prosperity, so Naples seems to be alive and thriving.

The capital of Naples, the Royal Palace. A violent cough, Ferdinand I coughed in pain, and beside him, stood full of his own relatives. Ferdinand I's health began to deteriorate a few months ago, and it deteriorated very badly a few weeks ago, so it is not much of a surprise to Ferdinand I's relatives as he is now. Apparently, they were ready for Ferdinand I to die at any time. Now they are gathered together because Ferdinand I felt that his time was near, so he gathered his relatives together to complete his last words in this life.

After Ferdinand I gave his instructions, his face showed a calm expression, he had made the will that should have been made, and the heir had been chosen, so he didn't have too many ties, just waited quietly for that moment to come in a painful cough.

After a long time, the people gathered around Ferdinand I noticed that the king was no longer coughing, his eyes were tightly closed, and he did not know whether he was resting or had died, so they had the audacity to call softly: "Your Majesty...... Your Majesty...... Are you feeling better? Several calls were made, but Ferdinand I did not respond. At this time, the doctor sitting next to him gently shook the king's body a few times, but found that there was no response, so he boldly reached under the king's nose to detect whether there was still breath. Under this probe, the doctor was also taken aback, and then knelt down and said loudly: "Your Majesty has gone to heaven and returned to the arms of God!" When everyone heard this, although they had been prepared, they were also taken aback, knelt down together, and immediately cried and cried.

Ferdinand I's eldest son, later Alfonso II, stood aside, a look of grief on his face, but his thoughts were complicated. On the one hand, Ferdinand I had already established him as the heir, which made him grateful and determined, and he also had deep feelings for Ferdinand I, on the other hand, Ferdinand I's departure undoubtedly meant that the next kingdom of Naples would be ruled by him, and he would rule Naples, which made him excited. But he never imagined that a great danger was imminent.

It wasn't long before Alfonso II ascended the throne and became the king of Naples. However, it did not take long for Alfonso II to get excited, and there were frequent news of turmoil in the country. Of course, this is the inevitable process that every king goes through to success. Alfonso II also found it troublesome, but he was able to deal with it calmly.

First of all, his close relatives, that is, those who were originally qualified to compete with him for the throne, were secretly all moving one after another, and they wanted to take advantage of his unstable foundation to come a few times, so as to see if they could earn some opportunities and let themselves try to be a king. Of course, after all, I didn't dare to do too much, so after a while, there was not much movement.

And those ministers, there are also some things that are not quite like words. The highly respected ministers of the former dynasty, one by one, relied on the old and sold the old, relying on their rich experience, and they were also ministers during the reign of the previous king, and they did not have much respect for Alfonso II, and Alfonso II's own prestige was still insufficient, and his own team had not yet been able to promote so many people to high positions in one step, such a situation, Alfonso II could only endure it.

However, these are always disputes within the court, and in fact they are the turmoil that occurs in the process of every change of throne, and the real fatal problem lies in the political tradition of Italy, where Naples is located!

Italy is a peculiar country, and they habitually like to ask for help in the national war, which has also led to the predominance of many neighboring countries to covet Italy. Italy itself is a treasure trove of art, their culture during this period is really splendid, and the impression of many countries on Italy is: people are stupid and money comes quickly! Italy gives the impression that it is a weak country, a splendid culture, a country that can be easily conquered militarily and can be very profitable.

No, after learning of the death of Ferdinand I, the old king of Naples, all the other Italian states made frequent moves, each with their own strange tricks, thinking that they could seek some benefits for their own country from this matter. Among them, the Duke of Milan is the most prominent one.

Italy has long had a habit of drawing in foreign aid when it is indecisive in its internal affairs, and the internal forces of their Italian states often invite the military forces of other countries to enter Italy for the purpose of seeking allies and confronting adversaries.

"The king of Naples has died, ladies and gentlemen, do you think we can get some benefit from it?" The Duke of Milan said to the courtiers around him.

The first minister said to the Duke of Milan respectfully: "This Neapolitan kingdom, relying on its own national strength is stronger than ours, often does not look at us in the eyes, this time they are in chaos, it is the time for us to take advantage of the opportunity, we can't just let it go in vain" The minister was actually repeating the words of the Duke of Milan, but this is also called an art of speech, because the Duke of Milan seemed very happy after listening to it.

The Duke of Milan said: "The Kingdom of Naples is indeed stronger than our Duchy of Milan, even if they are now replacing the old and the new king, and they are in a period of chaos, they are really not our opponents, and if they want to reap the benefits, they still need to use their brains." ”

Another minister said: "If we want to reap the benefits, we need to use our brains." We are not financially rich at the moment, and if we hire those greedy and cunning mercenaries, I am afraid that not only will we not get any gain, but the gains will outweigh the losses, and these greedy fellows will come to suck our blood again, and we will not achieve our goal! ”

Speaking of mercenaries, there was also a sense of helplessness on everyone's faces, they were indeed greedy and cunning, and often did not do anything when they got the money. Regardless of whether the lord demanded that there should be no violent military confrontation or that the enemy should be fought to the death, they always adhered to the principle that money is easy to get and life is hard to lose.

Of course, this is not to say that the strength of the army of the Kingdom of Naples is much better, their current state is worse than that of the Duchy of Milan, because the old king has died, so those mercenaries have some changes, because many of them have agreed with the old king, and now that the new king has ascended the throne, they have not had time to straighten it out.

The Duke of Milan and his group discussed and discussed there, and found that they were limited to their own strength, and it seemed that it was not as simple as they imagined to take advantage.

At this time, another minister finally moved out of the Italian political tradition: "Grand Duke, although our national strength is not very strong, it is really difficult to take advantage of ourselves, but I heard that Charles VIII of France is already ready to move, and I want to invite the French king to Naples, Charles VIII should not refuse." ”

At this time, everyone's eyes lit up, and they all thought that this idea was good, and the Duke of Milan even made a decision on the spot, saying that he would invite Charles VIII to enter Italy to muddy the waters, so that it would be convenient for them to fish in the troubled waters of the Duchy of Milan.

So the Duke of Milan wrote a letter in which he sincerely invited Charles VIII to Naples so that the two families could work together to achieve great things.

As soon as the letter was written, it was handed over to the person in charge and sent to France. However, to the surprise of the world, the letter brought about such drastic and bad consequences, and the Duke of Milan's move is not enough to describe the word luring the wolf into the house. It was this letter, and the evil consequences it brought about, that caused the unchanging pattern of Europe for thousands of years to begin violent turmoil and changes, which directly led to the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modernization.

In Naples, a group of mercenary leaders also gathered together to discuss the impact of Ferdinand I's death on them.

"The old king said to leave as soon as he left, he still owes me the final payment of the last hire and has not yet been repaid, and I don't know if the new king will admit it when he succeeds to the throne, but don't let me be pitted then, and I will have to pay the bill. My family's small business is small, and I can't afford to toss like this. A young mercenary leader said. He is the leader of a group of mercenaries who have recently risen, and his combat power is not bad, but his experience is relatively shallow, and his family background is not thick enough, and he is in the stage of accumulating foundation.

At this time, an elderly mercenary leader with a wrinkled face and small eyes and thick lips spoke: "There should be a public account record in the Kingdom of Naples, and it should not be greedy for this commission, I am more worried about whether the commission that Lao Wang discussed with us in the past will change, and I don't know if it can still maintain the commission level in the past." ”

"Humph!" A middle-aged hugging commander wearing gorgeous clothes and a gold-inlaid belt around his waist snorted disdainfully at this time, and said: "The new king who has not dried up does not dare to do this, and now our mercenaries are in demand, and they are not acting in the eyes of several major Italian states, and their national defense and border defense are almost all supported by us!" After a pause, he continued: "I am still thinking about how to bargain with the new king in order to increase our commission, and if we dare not comply, let us unite and kick him away, and simply stop accepting their employment from the Kingdom of Naples, they will not be able to eat and go around." After speaking, the middle-aged man's face flashed with greed again, and he continued to seduce everyone: "I didn't see the Duchy of Milan, so I let one of our mercenaries take it, and now this Duke of Milan did the same thing as us at the beginning!" ”

As soon as he said this, the people around him took a deep breath, and they also felt honored, but they were also sober, after all, the Kingdom of Naples was no better than the Duchy of Milan, and not many people dared to really think of replacing it, but they were all moved by the proposal to increase the price.

However, what these mercenaries didn't expect at all was that the Duke of Milan, the mercenary leader in their mouths, actually attracted a bad star to Naples in an extremely casual situation.