"The Suls of Venice and Genoa are both in the city, so why don't you ask their opinions first?"

The Florentine ambassador reluctantly said that he did not want to face the Papal States alone, which would not help his country at all.

This coronation, the consuls of Venice and Genoa came in person, as a commercial republic, Venice and Genoa have the most influence in the international arena, and this period is also the period of the proudest of the two peoples.

Genoa and Venice, Milan, directly Italy and France, Germany from the geographical isolation, the Duchy of Milan on the border is mostly Alpine mountains, next to the Habsburg family hometown - Switzerland, if you want to easily enter Italy, you have to rely on Genoa and Venice, so the status of these two countries in Italy is very important.

"Of course, the governance of the two countries has always been our goal, and we have been in contact with the two countries, and the progress is progressing very fast."

The French ambassador's face did not change, which made the Florentine ambassador hesitate a little, compared to the previous two countries, Florence is closer to the Papal States, and the more pressure from the pope.

After thinking about it for a while, the Florentine ambassador decided not to offend the French, and after the Hundred Years' War, the rise of France was already unstoppable, which everyone could see.

The location of the main French is too good, the Pyrenees to the south, which is difficult for the Spaniards to turn over, the English Channel to the north, the Alps to the southeast, and the large forests and plains to the east, which is why France always wants to fight in the territory of the HRE.

"Well, if Venice and Genoa are willing to take the lead, Florence can join the camp of France, and at this point, I don't think the whole state of northern Italy will refuse."

"You will be glad for today's decision, and good luck, Your Excellency."

Having achieved the goal, the French ambassador smiled and signaled that this was already the third Italian state, and their conditions were all similar, all of them asked Venice and Genoa to take the lead, and if necessary, they were even willing to form a coalition of northern Italy to resist the Pope's orders.

Now the only question is how to get Venice and Genoa willing to take the lead, and before that, of course, the Holy Roman Empire needs to be consulted.

The Northern Italian states were nominally members of the Holy Roman Empire, and the conditions for joining this loose political union were not very harsh, with the exception of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Genoa, and several other northern Italian states that were members of the empire.

There is a reason for this, Genoa is close to France, so joining the HRE is afraid that France will think about him, there are no big forces around Venice, so he is not very keen on joining the empire, and joining the empire does not mean how loyal he is to the emperor, but it is just a repeated horizontal jump used by small countries, although it is old-fashioned, but this does not prevent it from being easy to use.

At the deliberate request of the French ambassador, he soon met with Frederick III, who was so obsessed with etiquette that he came to watch the ceremony in person.

The French ambassador gave a meticulous salute, which pleased Frederick III,

"Envoy, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Your Majesty is to make a decree that Genoa will take the lead and the northern Italian states form an alliance against the ambitions of the Papal States."

"Oh?"

Frederick III inadvertently straightened the cuffs,

"Against the Pope? Isn't the Pope one of yours? ”

At this time, the pope was still Marl I, and it stands to reason that France's request should have been allowed.

"Pope Mar I was well aware of the righteousness and was willing to vindicate Joan of Arc, but there were many bishops in and around the pope, especially the Holy See, who believed that the conflict with the Church of England could lead to the independence of the Church of England, and threatened Pope Marr to overthrow Pope Marr once he signed the Decree of Rehabilitation."

The French ambassador reluctantly told the ins and outs, and in this way, the matter became clear, nothing more than a conflict between the Central Holy See and the local churches, and the two sides refused to retreat, so there was a stalemate.

"Northern Italian Union? For the French? Do you think they'll agree? ”

Frederick III was intrigued and interested in the plan of action of the French.

"Please rest assured that Your Majesty agrees, as long as Your Majesty agrees, we naturally have a way to get them to agree."

The French ambassador is neither humble nor arrogant, hoping that the edict issued by Frederick III is just insurance, to find a name, in order to prevent the HRE states from misunderstanding that France is going to start a big expansion again, in fact, if the northern Italian states are really willing, even if Frederick III stops it, it is useless, the big deal is that people withdraw from the Holy Roman Empire, across the Alps, you want to fight, but I am afraid that the logistics will not be able to keep up.

Frederick III turned the wrench in his hand, and his eyes rolled with bones,

Don't look at Frederick III doesn't seem to care much about the affairs of the empire, but this is all on the surface, the Habsburgs have monopolized the throne of the HRE since Frederick III, and before that, Rudolf I and Albrecht I were all fleeting, but they were elected emperor for one term, and it can be seen from here that Frederick III was not useless.

"If this is the opinion of the northern Italian states, as emperor, all I can do is support."

Frederick III said in a serious way, the ambassador understood that the next thing was the point, and sure enough, Frederick III did not pause,

But does this mean that France is going to expand its influence into Italy? As an emperor, I don't want to see this happen. ”

The ambassador's smile froze, of course Charles VII had such a wish, now is the time of great controversy, Charles VII is not willing to go into the grave like this, expanding France is a necessary task for every French king,

However, this does not mean that Charles VII can ignore Frederick III's opinion, although Frederick III's pure strength is not strong, but France is not much better, just after the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French generation is almost empty, where is there anyone willing to fight again.

"Of course... No, your Majesty may rest assured that His Majesty Charles is willing to make an agreement with you on this matter, and that France will not use this to interfere in the affairs of Italy. ”

After thinking about it, the ambassador still decided to give up the idea of working against Frederick III, the Italian region is indeed a piece of fat, the main Italian region has not yet had a strong country, and when it comes to things, it likes to ask foreign countries to intervene, and it is rich and weak, who doesn't like it, but it is a bit too much to make a feud with Frederick III for this, and it is not too late to interfere in the Italian region when France recovers, there is no need to rush for a while.

Since he had received the promise of France, Frederick III did not need to be stuck, and he happily agreed to the ambassador's request, so that the Imperial Diet was ready to issue an edict at any time to endorse the establishment of the Northern Italian Union.

Subsequently, after bribing the consuls of Genoa and Venice, various benefits were promised, and the two countries also "reluctantly" agreed to France's request, as long as the Holy See did not agree, they could form an alliance at any time.

With the support of various countries, the ambassador wrote a letter to the Holy See without stopping, in which he explained Joan of Arc's merits with emotion and reason, and wanted to rehabilitate Joan of Arc, asking the Holy See to overturn the decision of the Church of England, and demanding that several bishops of England who made the decision be excommunicated, which is commonly known as "excommunication".

As soon as the letter reached the Holy See, it caused an uproar, and soon the Church of England also received the news, and also sent a letter stating that if the Holy See overturned the decision of the Church of England, the Church of England could consider that the Holy See had been seriously interfered with by foreign powers and was not enough to be a model for the Church everywhere.

Although the Church of England is not yet independent, but the authorities in England have this idea, but for a while can not find any good excuse, historically, at the beginning of the Reformation, the Church of England broke away from the Holy See, established its own independent church, directly under the control of the king himself.

And now, although there has been no action, the influence of the Holy See on the Church of England has been much weaker than before, after all, the emperor is far away, from Rome to London, to cross the sea and mountains, and the transportation is inconvenient, so the Holy See has always been in a state of stocking for the Church of England.

But the key is to be free-range, the Church of England still has a lot of donations from the Holy See every year, and it can't just give up, besides, the French people will tremble when they are frightened, who will look up to the Holy See in the future, isn't this rubbing the Holy See under the soles of their feet?

Thus, with the unanimous consent of the cardinals of Rome, the bishops sent by the Church of England were persuaded to leave, and the cardinals abolished Mar I from the papacy and supported the restoration of Bishop Pius II of Poland, who once again ascended the papal throne.

Getting this news, Charles VII was furious, who would have thought that the Holy See would do so absolutely this time, and would not give a little time to react, but soon, Charles VII also made countermeasures,

A week after Mar I was deposed, Charles VII re-established the Holy See of Avignon in Avignon, with Mar I still the Pope, and the scene of two Holy Sees, two popes, was repeated, each declaring the other illegitimate, and the pace of war was approaching again.

A month later, the northern Italian states of Milan, Venice, Genoa, Ferrara, Saluzzo, Bologna, Florence, Mantua, Lucca and other countries jointly issued a statement in support of the Holy See of Avignon and disagreed with it, much to the chakra's annoyance.

After the joint statement, Charles VII concluded an agreement with the Northern Italian states, which enjoyed trade privileges in cities such as Lyon in southwestern France, and the circulation of goods was unrestricted.