Sitting on the rocks by the river can be felt noticeably cold, and the weather is already very cold at this time in November.

It's time to find a way to spread the cultivation of winter wheat everywhere possible, Alexander thought, at this time his mind had drifted from the battlefield to a wider place, or he was no longer thinking about the gains and losses of the current war, but about the future development.

The unique environment of the Mediterranean region allows Europe to rely on even in the face of increasingly severe climate change, which cannot but make people envy that Europa is indeed protected by God.

But even so, the situation across Europe remains dire, as more and more farmers are forced to leave their land, either flee the famine or move to the big cities to find a way to survive.

This has had a profound impact on the country.

More and more people are flocking to cities, forcing many cities that were originally built purely for military defense to expand.

The population is large and the city is bigger, which brings lucrative business opportunities but also all kinds of troubles.

The handicraft industry inherited from the Middle Ages was no longer enough to support the city's inhabitants, and the large number of people who quickly became paupers because they had no jobs became a huge problem, and the rapidly expanding urban slums became a cancer.

Increasing jobs, building centralized, large factories, and developing and manufacturing machines and technologies that would allow more people to work were all in Alexander's hands today.

Alexandre felt that he should allocate a large amount of money to all the schools in his area, including the University of Bologna, because this was the only way to encourage more people to enter the schools and to make more use of their talents.

The beginning of the 16th century was a very peculiar time, the darkness of the Middle Ages lasted for hundreds of years, and when the Black Death ravaged all of Europe, the church and the aristocracy were helpless and even unable to protect themselves, which gave their rule a slap in the face.

The prestige of the Church quickly collapsed, and the aristocracy was no better, and more and more people began to doubt what it could bring to them, although many artists were forced to cling to the Church and the aristocracy for the sake of life, but in their hearts they already saw themselves as neither superior nor inferior to the first two.

Many of the artists of this era were part-time engineers, architects, and even weapons specialists, and some of their whimsical ideas may seem unthinkable to later generations, but some of them do have an epoch-making impact today.

Compared to these more sought-after industries in this era, the development of chemistry and biology is also incomparable to that of the previous few hundred years.

Some alchemists who were considered heretics by the Church were secretly financed by the nobles so that they could have a safe environment and good money to continue their research, and even within the Church there were some people who secretly supported the heresy, which is why Copernicus was still free to study his heliocentric theory at the University of Bologna.

As for medicine, the Pavia Medical School has now taken root in Florence, and thanks to Lucrezia's patronage, the Pavia Medical School can boldly continue their various studies.

It didn't seem like much to do with the future, but Alexander knew how important these things were for the future.

The promotion of winter wheat will allow people to have more food and even surplus food, so that more people can have free time to get in touch with new jobs.

The enormous power of a factory that has been freed from workshop-style production is terrifying, and all this requires a lot of labor and skilled workers.

More specialized machinery, more specialized workers and more mature factory management methods will become the cornerstone of the future development of "Alexander's Empire".

It sounds great, but it's not so easy to achieve.

In this process, the interests of many people will undoubtedly be offended, just as the destruction caused by the enclosure movement of the British is not only the common people who suffered, but the resistance of the old aristocracy to this new industrial movement is stronger than that of the common people.

But nothing can compete with great profits and great power, especially when it becomes clear that this power can be rewarded enough, and an unstoppable whirlwind will sweep through all it can reach.

Agriculture, handicrafts, maritime trade, and the inevitable explosion of foreign expansion after all these developments reached a certain critical point, and this was an unavoidable path that the Spanish Empire would face in the future for tens or even centuries.

Alexander had seen where this path would go, rising, glorious, pinnacle, and decay, which was indeed the inevitable fate of an empire.

But Alexander felt that perhaps he could make the process longer, or that he might be able to keep the country as it should be for a long time to come.

It reminded him of the United Kingdom.

Alexander always felt that the future kingdom should follow the old path of Britain rather than the original Spain, because history has proved that road did not allow Spain to persist in the end, but had to shrink to the corner of the historical stage in the future of Europe in the magnificent era, watching the past enemies or allies set off waves of European turmoil, while he could only feel sorry for himself on the sidelines.

And it must be admitted that the Spanish colonization of the New World was brutal and even criminal, bloodstained.

The most important thing is that both Spain and Portugal, having mastered such a great advantage in the New World, never knew how to take advantage of this God-given opportunity, so that these two countries wasted this favor again and again, and they only saw wealth and no long-term vision, so that in the future they all tasted the bitter fruits of their own brewing.

There will be no colonies in the future, this is what Alexander has been reminding himself all the time.

It was not the morality and notion of later generations that were at work, and he knew very well that if he had made that land a purely colony, he would still follow the Spanish path.

Moreover, according to his plan, the future New World Kingdom and Spain would form more of a "federation of Alexander's empire", a form that is more in line with the interests of both sides, this idea seems a little unrealistic now, but in fact the rudiments of this "federation" are already faintly visible in Italy.

There was still so much to do, and Alexander clearly felt that his time was so short, and sometimes he even felt that sleeping and eating seemed to be wasting his time, but he also knew that it would not be achieved overnight, and that it might be ten or even decades before everything he had conceived could have a real prototype.

Or even if it doesn't come to fruition even when he dies, then perhaps his empire will fall apart behind him like the other Alexander, if that would only mean that history does have its own choices or inertia, not that one person can change it.

There was a sound of stomping stones, and Alexander turned around to see Sher and Ulliu walking towards them, and when he saw Alexander looking at them, Ulliu stopped and bowed, and then continued walking.

"My lord, Ferdinand's convoy has arrived," Ulius reported respectfully, "and as you ordered, they were escorted by the hunting guards as soon as they entered the realm of Gawell, so the journey went smoothly. ”

Alexander nodded silently, he was waiting for Ferdinand, and after sending several envoys to Ulliu, Ferdinand finally agreed to negotiate directly with Alexander.

Alexander had been waiting for this day for almost 6 years.

Ferdinand entered the city of Garwell at noon.

Looking at this familiar city, Ferdinand was filled with emotion.

It was here that he had thought he had a chance to defeat or even destroy the sudden appearance, but it had become his greatest enemy by far his greatest enemy, but it was also here that he knew he had nothing left.

Now back in the city of Garr, he is still the king of Aragon, but he is no longer the master of the city, and it is likely that he will lose his dominion forever, including many places outside of the city.

Seeing Alexander again, perhaps psychologically, Ferdinand sensed a different change from before.

There was no victor's arrogance, but it was no longer the same as it had been, and Ferdinand felt as if he had seen something in this man that no one else had.

"I think it must have been God's favor on you, otherwise it wouldn't make sense at all, you seem to know how a lot of things will develop, and everything is under your control, if it is not God's favor then I will not tolerate it, because as a king unless God forsaken me, you will not be able to succeed."

For Ferdinand's opening remarks, Alexander could only answer with a silent smile.

Then he leaned slightly to the side and made an inviting gesture, and after Ferdinand watched him silent for a few moments, the two men walked side by side into a room that had been prepared.

On November 5, 1502, King Ferdinand II of Aragon negotiated with Alexander I, regent of Castile and heir to the throne, in the small Aragon town of Gawell.

Also at the beginning of this month, two other events took place in two other places on the Mediterranean coast that had never happened in history.

Archduchess Sophia I of Wallachia, Queen Alexandra IV of Greece, suddenly invaded northern Bosnia, while her army crossed the occupied southern Hungarian mines as planned, and the Bohemian army attacked Budapest from the north and south, respectively.

And just two days earlier, in the city of Gench, in the inland region of south-central Ottoman China, Kadron, who claimed to be the only son of Cem, had declared himself sultanate with the support of the Safavid army and a part of the tribal army.

The news shook the entire Ottoman Empire, and as the news spread, its impact became more and more significant.

Selim was a brutal monarch, but he was also a devout believer, and he prayed strictly according to the rules of the religion every day, and never had anything special about his status, which was even praised by his father, Bayezid II, during his lifetime.

But such a pious man, when he heard that Caderon had declared himself independent in the city of Gench, left the prayer hall in a fit of surprise and anger, which almost caused an uproar.

But Selim could no longer care about the bad impact on his reputation, and he immediately summoned all the generals still in Constantinople to discuss what to do, and ordered the whole city to be rounded up for anyone who sympathized with and supported the so-called sultan.

Attempts were made to stop him from doing so, but Selim did not listen to it.

He was well aware that doing so would make him unpopular, but reason told him that he had to do everything in his power to nip any trouble that might arise in the bud.

Now that the Ottoman Empire had three "sultans", many people realized that perhaps a protracted civil war was coming.

On the shores of the Black Sea, an Ottoman nobleman was sitting in a villa near the coast, drinking hot coffee in the cold wind blowing from the sea.

A warm current poured into his throat, making his frozen body much more comfortable, and Ilup, who was about to freeze, let out a comfortable snort.

After the failure of the expedition to Europe, as Bayezid II became seriously ill and gradually lost power, Elup, who had been highly regarded by the Sultan, also lost power.

Selim hadn't tried to recruit him, but El Lup politely declined.

So he was driven out of Constantinople.

In Selim's opinion, since this desert aristocrat is so ignorant, as long as he doesn't look for trouble, then go wherever he likes.

So Eryup, who was suddenly free, chose a small coastal town called Zayel on the Black Sea as his place of exile, and as the supreme administrator here, Elop lived a leisurely life.

In the distance, several large boats appeared on the sea, which caught Erypp's attention, and he walked to the platform to look at them carefully, thinking secretly about their weight and the depth of the waterline, so as to estimate how much he could make on this trip.

Alup had friends in Europe, and through friends of friends, he was connected to the Kingdom of Naples in Italy.

After a lot of meaningful bargaining, the two sides finally reached a long-term trade contract.

The middle of the deal was his brother, the Ottoman envoy Ashurk, who had now settled in Rome, and Raphael's good friend Prato who ran errands back and forth.

Today's Prato has long since stopped doing those small businesses that can earn hundreds of gold coins per minute, he has given almost all the business in his hands to others, and the "branches" he has established in various parts of the Balkans have also been handed over to his subordinates to take care of, and now Prato is the general agent of the "Continental Development Company" in the East, and it is normal for him to talk and laugh with those kings or grand dukes.

Even so, there was one deal that Prato had to do himself, and that was the business of arms and weapons from Italy to the East.

It was no longer possible to send arms to the Safavid Persians directly from the Mediterranean through Egypt or some other port, so it became a very important shipping route from Italy through the Balkans, then through the Black Sea to the small Black Sea port called Zayel, and then through there to Asia Minor.

This route is obviously not easy to follow, especially in Northern Bosnia, which has become a considerable threat because of King Helva.

Elip frowned slightly as he looked at the boats, and he noticed that the hulls of the ships seemed to be higher than he thought, which meant that the cargo on them was not as much as he had suspected.

After meeting Prato, his suspicion was confirmed.

"You know that this is not a good road, Lord Doge," Prato poured bitter water on Elope, "knowing that I still have to pay a part of the protection fee, and I mean that some of this shipment was left by the Archduchess of Wallachia, who started the work. ”

Speaking of Sophia, Prato couldn't help but shudder secretly, the shadow left by Sophia in his heart has been difficult to erase, so for him, this route has to endure both physical and mental torture: "It's not easy to make money these days." ”

"Did the Grand Duchess leave those arms for the invasion of Hungary?" Alpha asked casually, but he wasn't interested in that anymore, and making money was the most important thing for him.

"It seems that it's not just Hungary," Prato thought for a moment and shook his head, "who would have thought that such a small woman would have such big ambitions, and I think she might be going to attack North Bosnia." ”

Elope was stunned for a moment, and even though he had decided that he no longer cared about these things, he couldn't help but be shaken by Prato's words.

Then he said with some emotion: "It's all the same, maybe your business will be more prosperous in the future, at least you can make more money here." ”

Prato looked back at the busy dock where the ship was about to be unloaded, nodded thoughtfully, and then asked with a little confusion: "Your Excellency, how long do you think this war, I mean this war will be fought here?" ”

Hearing Prato's deliberately accentuated "here", Eleup looked to the west, and then replied in a muttered voice: "Who knows, who knows......"

Eryup's words sent an excited look on Prato's face.

He remembered the time when he had fallen into Rome with Raphael a few years ago, and how he had been almost desperate because of the failure of his investment.

Now all this is a thing of the past, and a few years have passed, and the fortunes of both have changed dramatically.

Raphael has already made a name for himself, and it is said that his painting of the Baptism of Estelles, Duchess of Pisa, has become one of the most beloved collections of the Duke of Thessia in Rome, and it is because of this painting that Raphael has become famous and famous.

But the bigger change is Prato himself, now he has a wealth that he doesn't even know how far he has reached, but people are always not satisfied, and now Pratt is eager to get more wealth, and then build his own wealth kingdom.

"I hope to fight for a few more years, but not the Governor, I hope to fight for a few more years." Prato said with a smile.

Listening to the words of this European, Elop had a complicated expression on his face, but in the end he didn't say anything, just a vague "hum".