Gonzalo looked at the letter in his hand with a gloomy expression, he did not expect to receive a bad news that made him uneasy early this morning.

A doctor close to Isabella secretly wrote to Gonzalo to report to him about the Queen's recent illness.

Things seemed to be bad, just a few days before the Queen fainted again, and the letter recorded some descriptions of Isabella's condition at the time.

"This is not the first time that the feces are diluted and cannot condense like muddy water, which makes people very worried that His Majesty may be in a critical condition due to constant diarrhea......"

Looking at the letter, Gonzalo looked at the city of Burgos in the distance with a heavy face.

Gonzalo Córdoba was an arrogant and empty-sighted man, and until he was 20 years old, he was a scourge in his hometown, where fights were commonplace, and it was not uncommon to run amok with some fox friends and dogs, or even rob travelers just for fun.

Such a person will often only become a tyrant in his realm in the future, and will have nothing to gain except tyrannical rule and the exploitation of the taxes of the people.

But Isabella saw something valuable in Gonzalo's unruliness, and that was the perseverance of the man's impulse to settle for the status quo.

Not long after he was sent to the court for "re-education", Isabella had the discernment to begin to reuse this young nobleman, who was considered by many to be of a bad nature.

And Gonzalo did not disappoint Isabella, and in the following two decades, he became a famous Iberian general with his great achievements on the battlefield, and also became a capable subordinate of Isabella.

Isabella's trust in Gonzalo was enviable, and she allowed him to train and even adapt his army as she pleased, while at the same time feeling comfortable putting military power in his hands.

This trust was not available to others, and in return, Gonzalo put almost a personal smile on the queen before faith in God, before everything else.

Even in the face of Ferdinand, Gonzalo was always unpretentious, which made the relationship between him and Ferdinand very strained, and if it were not for Isabella's mediation, the two people, who both regarded their dignity as inviolable, would have been incompatible long ago.

It's just that when Isabella was alive, these contradictions were naturally covered up under the majesty of the queen, but now Isabella's condition is getting worse, which makes Gonzalo start to worry.

Gonzalo was obsessed with the battlefield, but that didn't mean he didn't care about what was happening in the court, he knew better than anyone that Isabella was his biggest backing, but now that he seemed to be a little unreliable.

Gonzalo was worried about the queen's condition, but he knew that he could not return to Valaridot at this time.

The sudden return of a heavily armed general to the capital when the king was seriously ill was intolerable for any heir to the monarch.

Although Isabella's heir was Juana, Ferdinand, who was bound to become regent in the future, could not allow such a thing to happen.

Even Gonzalo was secretly speculating whether it was Isabella's idea to send him alone to the north to fight the French at this time.

And what made him care was that he was not now commanding a new army that he had personally formed and trained and was regarded as a close confidant.

Now that I think about Gonzalo, I suspect that there may be Ferdinand's reason for this, but the war situation in the north really needs a person who can deter the two enemies of France and Portugal to deal with them, which makes Gonzalo have to go all out into the northern battlefield.

Gonzalo's illness in the doctor's letter worried him, but something worse made his mood feel rather depressed this morning.

The southern rebellion, which had been negotiating well, had an accident, and the Andalusian nobles, who agreed and opposed to the negotiations with the Barriaridus, had serious differences of opinion.

This disagreement eventually led to the split of the Andalusian rebels, with the nobles who favored the negotiations occupying Seville and the opposition entrenched in Fort Guadala, not far from Seville.

This would have been a good thing for Barriaridud, but Don Bavi, who was already at a disadvantage, cunningly took advantage of the division of the southern aristocracy.

While he put on a posture of sincere peace talks, he sent people to actively contact the Bararidot, but on the other hand, he vigorously supported the opposition, which was obviously at a disadvantage, and he sent a large number of troops and large sums of money to Guadalaburg, and while negotiating with the Barriaridud, his cronies under the banner of the opposition made frequent sorties in Andalusia to attack the royal army.

Gonzalo's forces had to delay reinforcements north, which was obviously a very bad outcome for Gonzalo.

Whether or not the French were eventually driven out, Gonzalo was now more concerned about whether his troops could get north as quickly as possible.

Gonzalo had a vague bad premonition, which was so different from the almost inflated confidence he had sworn a few months ago that he would not be able to fall as long as the queen lived, so much so that when he looked at the letter in his hand, he felt for a moment that it seemed to be a long time ago.

Gonzalo was still confident in the capture of Burges, and judging from the forces sent by the French, they were more in response to the Portuguese than to occupy Castile lands.

However, the Portuguese have just retreated to the west bank of the Coa River due to the recent crushing defeat, and it is believed that Manuel will not have the courage to take the initiative to provoke a war for at least some time.

Then the next thing to deal with was mainly the city of Burgos and the French army, which had penetrated deep into the Galician region in northwestern Castile.

The city of Burges, like other Iberian cities, was left by the Moorish invasion of Iberia with a number of unusually strong castles, and the defense of Burgos City was also very strong, because it was the main road to Navarre in the north, and there were various sentry points and forts near Burges, and these fortifications formed a fairly strong defense system with the main city of Burges, which caused Gonzalo some trouble.

The French retreated to the city of Burgos after the defeat, which made Gonzalo unable to take the city immediately for a while, and he was more concerned about the French army that had penetrated deep into Galicia than the French in Porgues.

The Galicians and the Portuguese are inextricably linked, when the son-in-law of Henry, the Count of Portugal and the later founding monarch of Portugal, Alfonso I, tried to incorporate Galicia into the Portuguese territory when he founded the country, but was strongly opposed by the then King of Castile, Alfonso VI, and then under the mediation of the Holy See, Alfonso I had to give up his claim to Galicia.

However, this also planted the seeds for the later disputes between the two countries, and many Galician nobles secretly negotiated with the Portuguese, and if it were not for the fact that the center of power in Castile had always been in the north, and the powerful royal power had put great pressure on the northwest, perhaps there would have been a rebellion in this region.

But now it was different, the French intervention had plunged the north of Castile into war, and the Portuguese could not help but take the opportunity to stir up the discontent of the Galicians, which was a good opportunity for them, and even before the departure Isabella summoned Gonzalo with her weak and sick body, and repeatedly told him to watch out for the situation in the northwest.

This is also the reason why Gonzalo is not in a hurry to attack Burges, he must first grasp the movements of the French army in the Galician area, and then determine whether he wants to destroy the French army in Burgess first.

After all, once the battle was in full swing, it would be impossible to arbitrarily decide whether to stop the fighting, and his forces would be firmly drawn to Burges, and then the French activities in Galicia would become crucial.

From the very beginning of his arrival in the north, Gonzalo sent a large number of people to inquire about the situation in Galicia, some of whom had returned, and some of whom had not been heard from yet.

However, he had learned from those who had returned that the French army had begun to plunder Galicia after entering the region, and that the Portuguese had sent a small but influential army to Galicia.

Gonzalo was now waiting, he was waiting for more detailed information about the northwest, after all, if he sent troops to Galicia, it was likely that he would not only face the "Franco-Portuguese army", but also the local nobility would probably be involved.

In that case, it would be not much different from fighting in an enemy country.

And fighting on the enemy's turf, with these current armies, is not so optimistic.

Gonzalo's heart was dull, he had to face not only the enemy on the battlefield, but also the conspiracy from behind at any time, and the contradiction between him and Ferdinand could not be resolved at all.

Just thinking about what awaits the queen when he is gone, Gonzalo can't help but feel a pang of annoyance.

Gonzalo was not afraid of Ferdinand's retribution, and with his prestige, Ferdinand would be too stupid to do too obviously.

But just thinking about the day when you have to think about the Aragonese groveling, Gonzalo has the urge to destroy everything.

Gonzalo didn't really think much about Juana, in his eyes Juana was a spoiled little girl, although he didn't hate her rudeness or even hysteria like the others, but this was only because she was Isabella's daughter.

Gonzalo's allegiance was only to Isabella, who was his queen, his confidant, his most trusted person.

As for the others, whoever wears the crown of Castile, he or she is nothing more than a monarch who makes him obliged.

A cold wind blew, and Gonzalo pulled the collar of his cloak and stroked the valuable cloak on his body, a touch of bitterness appeared on his face.

Extravagance, absurdity, arrogance, this is the impression that many people have of Gonzalo.

In the eyes of many, Gonzalo Córdoba is a very polite knight most of the time, but sometimes unspeakably unspeakably unspeakable bastard.

A cloak worth hundreds of florins was unimaginably extravagant for anyone, but Gonzalo did not hesitate to buy himself such an outfit that even a king would be too extravagant.

This made him criticized, and many accused him of embezzling a large amount of booty from the original occupation of Naples.

In the face of such accusations, Gonzalo continued to go his own way, and what made people feel unbelievable was that Isabella never reprimanded him even once.

Did the queen indulge him only because of blind trust?

Gonzalo sighed secretly, knowing that the queen must have known exactly why he was doing this.

It is impossible for a money-hungry, lustful, arrogant and domineering person to accomplish anything big, and Gonzalo is now playing such a vicious and nasty guy.

Because she knew him, even if she did more ridiculous things, Isabella didn't punish him.

And his pretentiousness was never for the queen to see.

Only, does it all make sense now?

Looking at the letter about the Queen's condition, Gonzalo's heart was unusually heavy.

A scout rode his horse from afar, and the mud splashed on the ground by the horse's hooves was like a wave on the water.

Gonzalo immediately stood up and waved at the scouts running in the distance.

"Your Excellency, a letter from Galicia."

The scout rushed to the front and quickly pulled out a stack of tightly bound letters from his leather bag, and Gonzalo immediately took it, pulling the tied strings, Gonzalo quickly looked at the information sent from Galicia.

The French army entered Galicia and plundered along the way, immediately setting out on the road, with the aim of joining up with the Portuguese in Galicia.

Although he had already guessed this possibility, once it was proven, Gonzalo sensed the trouble.

Gonzalo knew exactly what Isabella was really worried about the war in the north, and the invasion of the Portuguese and French did not make Isabella feel much crisis, but the situation in Galicia made her worried.

Isabella had always hoped to reclaim power from the aristocracy, but the road was not smooth, and even with the prestige of the Reconquista, there was still great resistance.

At times like these, a war seems to be the only good way to break the deadlock.

War destroys the old order, and new rules emerge.

Gonzalo knew what Isabella wanted him to do, and when he thought about it, he was the only one best suited to do it.

Gonzalo glanced in the direction of Burgos again, and he knew that the French there should be waiting for him to attack the city in fear, and although the walls of Burgos were strong, Gonzalo believed that if he was given time, he could still take the city.

But now he had a new plan, and the French had to stop what they were doing in Galicia, and it was a good opportunity to re-establish a new order in northwestern Castile.

Gonzalo then ordered the evacuation of Burgess.

His order caused a great deal of repercussions, and the officers and the local nobles, who were eager to drive out the French as soon as possible, hurried to Gonzalo, who could not understand why they had left Burgos at this time, and when they heard that they were going to march on Galicia, many of them became hesitant.

Just as the Catalan mercenaries of Aragon were famous on the continent, the last remnants of the Visigothic dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, the Galicians inherited the barbarism and brutality of the ancient Goths, and they were the most famous warriors of the Kingdom of Castile, and the first choice for successive kings to recruit guards.

It was only with the intricate relationship between Portugal and Galicia that aroused the jealousy of the royal family that the Galician warriors gradually fell out of favor at the Castilian court.

But the courage and bravery of the Galicians were impressive, and when they heard that they were going to enter Galicia, the officers could not help but worry about the future that was coming.

"It is still necessary to transfer the new army to the north as soon as possible." Gonzalo thought to himself, knowing that the officers' fears were justified, and that if the Galicians did participate in the rebellion, they would probably be caught in the same sea as Andalusia again.

Unlike Andalusia, however, Galicia did not have well-developed water transport and rich land to provide food, so it was difficult for the relatively barren Galicia to hold out if they were to join the rebellion unless they received support from the Portuguese or the French.

This made Gonzalo already have a rough plan in his mind, and he planned to use a "Gonzalo-style" shock to intimidate the local nobles who were about to move.

Gonzalo believed that if the locals understood the terrible consequences of a Hu Lai, a possible rebellion could be averted.

As for Burges, Gonzalo did not abandon the northern city.

He intended to first cut off the French from the Portuguese, and at the same time besiege Burges with a force, and then wait for reinforcements from his new army to the north.

This plan might have been risky beforehand, as it meant that he would have to divide his forces into three different parts and confront three enemies in two directions to the northwest.

However, his previous victory over the Portuguese on the east bank of the Coa River relieved him of a great deal of pressure, and the unique topography of the Coa River ensured that he could hold the difficult crossings with only a small number of troops.

"God is on my side." Gonzalo said this to the chaplain at the end of his prayer, and although he was severely reprimanded by the priest, he only laughed but did not repent.

Gonzalo would have said this for a reason, and if the Portuguese hadn't rushed to attack first, resulting in a bleak situation, the situation might have been a different story now.

"I am optimistic about Burgess, she is the girl I fancie, but for now let her suffer some grievances in the arms of the French," Gonzalo instructed the general who remained to besiege Burges, "The French will not go out of the city to cause you any trouble for the time being, so all you have to do is keep an eye on them and wait for my new army to arrive." ”

Gonzalo ordered his army to prepare for departure as soon as possible, and time was of the essence for him, as Isabella's illness and the situation in Galicia urged him to act as soon as possible.

What Gonzalo didn't expect, however, was that just before he set off, his plans were interrupted by the arrival of a lame man who had slipped out of the city of Burges.