The appearance of Elliot in Taranto really surprised Normezi, but what he didn't expect was that Taranto's army would attack the French army together with the Cosentsas.

As a Neapolitan, Normezi knew better than the French about Taranto's place in Italy, or rather their role in southern Italy as a whole.

Unlike other rich Italian coastal cities, which are mostly located on the side of the Tirenian Sea, Taranto is located on the Adriatic coast on the southeast coast of Italy, like Venice, and because of its peculiar location, Taranto has become the gateway to the Adriatic Sea.

Especially at a time when the Ottoman navy from the sea is at a constant age, Taranto plays a pivotal role for the entire southeastern part of Italy.

For their own safety, the Venetians spared no expense to help Taranto strengthen their own defenses, which gave Taranto not only the largest naval fleet in southeastern Italy, but also a small number of troops, but well-equipped and brave and good at war.

Such a force suddenly fell to Naples, and Normezzi could not help but be secretly surprised by the Neapolitan methods.

Obviously, the fugitive court of Naples did not lose its former position because of their current embarrassment, and even in the face of a great enemy like the French, there were still people willing to resist the invaders with them, which made Normezi not only surprised, but also somewhat happy from the bottom of his heart.

Normezi didn't want to be a "traitor" willingly, he was very conflicted in his heart, on the one hand, he hoped to use the French to take revenge on the Aragonese who put him in a desperate situation, and even almost lost his life, but he didn't want to see Naples conquered and ruled by the French, as for his current power in Naples, Normezzi did not think that Louis XII would continue to use him in the future if he gained a foothold in Naples.

But he was not willing to see the success of the frustrated Gombray in front of him.

The best outcome in his mind is that these enemies of his will be able to kill each other, and in the end all sides will be severely damaged.

It's just that the Neapolitans, who were originally thought to be the weakest, seem to have become impossible to underestimate with the addition of the Tarantos, and although the Aragonese have not yet come, it can be seen from the fact that the French King Louis has increased his troops but the number of troops has never reached 10,000, and the number of troops that the Aragonese will send does not seem to be too much, at least the number of troops they will send directly to Naples will not be very large.

Normezi thought to himself, and his curiosity was aroused even more by the sight that the Viscount Elliot of Taranto seemed to be quite familiar with Alexander or Josa.

Normezi knew about the Free Trade Alliance, but he always thought that it was just an alliance of chambers of commerce organized by businessmen from all over the world to make money, and he never thought that this alliance would have any other purpose, even if he thought that the business alliance might be closer to each other, but he never thought that their relationship would be close enough to send troops to help each other.

But now the fact is that as a member of the Free Trade Alliance, Taranto sent troops at this time, which makes Normezi suddenly feel that he may have overlooked something before.

"How do the French want us to work with them?"

In one room, Alexander asked Normezi, who had not fully woken up, and seeing that Normezi seemed absent-minded, he had to ask a second time.

"Oh, that Charron wants to know the attitude of Billy Shelly to the arrival of the French, and he wants to negotiate between the two sides on this matter." Normezzie thought for a moment and replied, noting Elliott's appearance as he said this, but the viscount did not seem to notice his words except that he was very interested in the wine in his glass

"That Charlon, do you want us to recognize his king's occupation of Naples?" Jisha suddenly asked, her face was rare serious, and she looked dignified that did not match her age, "If this is the case, you can go back now, as the regent of Naples, I can give you a clear answer now, the rule of the Kingdom of Sicily will always belong to the Neapolitan branch of the Trastamara family, and the French will never get rid of the identity of invaders." ”

Josha's voice was not loud, but it was irrefutable resolute, which made Normezzi look at Alexander with some confusion, he knew that Alexander would release him not out of mercy, but obviously wanted to reveal the Aragonese conspiracy to the French through him, and now the French had shown their willingness to cooperate with the Neapolitan court, but Josha's attitude seemed tough and there was no room for maneuver, Normezi even wondered if it was because of the support of the Taranto people that made Jossa a a little blindly confident.

Taranto may have been a formidable force in southeastern Italy, but if they were strong enough to stand up to the French, Normezzi did not believe them.

What's more, the pressure on Taranto is also not small, and the maritime threat from the Ottomans has not been reduced by the defeat of Bayezid II in the Balkans, for some reason, judging from the recent frequent news from the Mediterranean, it seems that the Ottomans are still preparing to launch a large-scale invasion at sea.

As a result, the pressure on Taranto was great, and this was what surprised Normezi, how the people of Taranto were willing to send troops to help Napoli at such a time.

Doubts made Normezzi frown, he guessed that this should be more of a bluff, and in his mind always thought that the young queen was not only young but also less important, and all her power should come from her uncle Mordilo and her brother, speaking of which, this time Normezi did not come directly to visit Count Mordilo but came to see Alexander, more because of Charlon's orders, and as far as Normezzi himself meant, he was more inclined to deal with Count Mordillo.

However, Normezi soon realized that he had clearly miscalculated the situation, and when he heard Josha's words, Alexander only nodded his head and made a gesture of refusal to him.

"It is clear that His Majesty has given the final order, and if you have nothing new to tell us, then you can leave now."

Normezi looked at the three people in front of him unexpectedly, and when he was sure that they were indeed trying to expel him and not play some tricks at the negotiating table, he secretly concealed the surprise in his heart, and quickly raised his hand to stop Alexander, who seemed to be about to order someone to be kicked out: "Wait, wait a minute, we have something else to talk about, don't we?" Don't you, Count, wonder what exactly the French want from you? ”

Seeing Normezzi a little angry and stopped, the corners of Josha's mouth quickly rose a subtle smile, after hearing that this man had come to Billy Sheli, Alexander guessed that in addition to his mission to the French, he obviously also wanted to secretly communicate with the Neapolitan court, and from then on they had already decided to use a tough attitude to force this person to speak out himself.

And the arrival of Elliott has added a lot of chips to them, and now it seems that it is not bad, and Normezzie is indeed a little uncontrollable.

"That Sharron wants to work with you." Normezi breathed a sigh of relief after speaking, he picked up the glass next to him and took a big sip of wine, before he continued, "He did not send people such as Cosenza to occupy it, but only to test you in this way, knowing that Cosenza is your territory after all, and he hopes to test your attitude towards the French in this way," he paused as he spoke, and then said with some reluctance, "Your Majesty." ”

"Sharron." Alexander smiled lightly, he remembered his time and time again with Charlain in Rome and Pisa, and it was clear that this man's diplomatic skills were no less than he was on the battlefield, and Louis XII had accurately grasped this man's strengths.

Alexander couldn't help but be a little jealous of Louis XII, as the king of France, he had an almost incomparable talent advantage, in addition to his own subordinates, the only ones left to him by Charles VIII were enough for him to easily arrange transfers, and on the other hand, Alexander couldn't help but feel dwarfed by the lack of enough talent in his hands.

However, Alexander also knew that Louis also had his own troubles, and the French nobles left by Charles alone were enough for him to have a headache, and I believe that so far the vast majority of Louis XII's energy was not focused on invading Italy, but on how to balance and restrain those French nobles.

"Did you mean the cooperation by Charlen himself or was it Louis's instructions?" Alexander asked.

"I think that's what the King of France meant." Seeing that Alexander seemed to be a little dissatisfied with his statement, Normezi affirmed, "I am sure that this is what Louis meant, you must know that Louis was not originally intended to make Charlon the commander of the occupation of Naples." ”

Alexander nodded, he knew what Normezi meant, Louis XII obviously took into account Charlon's previous experience of being stationed in Italy for a long time, which means that Louis valued more of Charlon's diplomatic means and his military role.

"Perhaps I can talk to him," Alexander's words were already faintly heard as he inhaled a soft breath, but he continued, "the status of the Neapolitan royal family is unquestionable, but perhaps there are other aspects that we can talk about, such as how to deal with new enemies that may arise. ”

Normezi nodded, this is also the reason why he came to Billy Shelly this time, although it is inconvenient to say something in front of the Viscount Elliot now, but as long as he can continue to stay, he has every chance to talk to Alexander alone.

Seeing that the back of Normezi, who was almost about to retire with high interest, had just disappeared outside the door, Elliott, who had been patient, left and put down the cup and stood up, although he tried his best to hide it, his expression still showed an anxious look, he came to a place not far in front of Jisha and stopped to give a salute, and immediately said in a hurry: "Your Majesty, I have just received news that the Ottomans seem to be about to attack the Venetians on the island of Kythera in the Mediterranean. ”

Hearing this, Zhisa tightened, and she quickly looked at Alexander.

Alexander was also slightly surprised, he knew that Kythera was a very important colony of the Venetians on the northern shore of the Mediterranean, and one of the most important roles of this island was as a connection and transit point between Venice and Crete.

The Venetians had always believed that as long as Kithera was still around, their power in the Mediterranean would not be dealt too much blow, because their fleet could form a maritime defense line between the mainland, Kythera, and Crete at any time, covering almost the main route from the Adriatic Sea to the Mediterranean, and their navy could calmly respond to all threats from the other side of the Mediterranean.

Even though the Ottomans had conquered all of Greece near the island of Kythira, the Venetians at sea always regarded Kythera as an important sea fortress on their way to the Mediterranean.

But now that the Ottomans are threatening Kythira, it means that they are already threatening the Adriatic Sea as well, and Taranto is at the southernmost point of the Adriatic Sea.

"I must rush back to deal with the possible attack with my father," said Elliott helplessly, "to be honest, I regret that I have agreed to help you, knowing that perhaps we need the French to help us hold Taranto, and if the Venetians cannot resist the invasion of the Ottoman navy at sea, perhaps the only way for us all is to ask the French for help." ”

Seeing Elliott's slightly depressed look, Alexander didn't blame him for saying this, after all, it seems that things are indeed as he said in the current situation, as for the Ottomans who won the victory at sea but still failed to invade the Adriatic Sea in the end, and the fact that France, which he had high hopes for, hooked up with the Ottomans to trap those European countries, Alexander believed that even if he said it to him at this time, Elliott did not believe it.

Fortunately, Taranto's troops were still timely, although before Alexander returned to Naples, he had sent a letter to Taranto, hoping that they would fulfill their obligations as members of the Free Trade Alliance, but Taranto only belatedly let Elliot arrive with a small army after a delay after seeing that they were in full control of the situation in Naples, but Alexander did not care about this.

Whether it was Elliott or Earl Horsen, the father and son apparently did not realize that this was the first time that the Free Trade Alliance had fulfilled its non-trade relationship since its establishment, and that it was also the first time that the Free Trade Zone Alliance had appeared in front of the world as a military alliance.

Although the scale of the action is small, and even in some ways more symbolic than the actual action, the meaning is extraordinary.

And it was not a whim for Alexander to involve Taranto's army in the defense of Cosenza.

Although she was already the regent of Naples, Cosenza, as the territory of Josa, was not officially declared to be incorporated into Naples.

This means that as a county, Cosenza did not go to war directly with France, and the actions of the French army undoubtedly meant an invasion, and at this time the Taranto army fulfilled its obligation to support Cosenza as a member of the trade alliance, completely avoiding the name of actually supporting Naples.

Alexander didn't want to push the Count of Horsen too much.

As for the threat from the Ottomans, Alexander had already known about the Ottoman navy's imminent attack long before Elliott got the news.

Historically, the Ottomans had already begun their invasion at sea in July.

The result of a major war was the crushing defeat of the Venetian navy and the loss of their last independent colony in the Mediterranean, Kythira. As a result, the Venetians not only suffered a major naval depletion, but also lost their foothold in the Mediterranean.

To make matters worse, it almost severed their ties with Crete, and the Ottoman fleet nearly sealed the Venetians in the Adriatic Sea.

Alexander even thinks that it would not be an exaggeration to say that this naval battle was a turning point in the decline of Venice.

The brutal war shook the Venetian economy, the shrinking of the maritime trade caused the Venetian market to gradually decline, and at the same time the discovery of the new world and new shipping routes hastened the decline of the ancient commercial city-state, and even after a few decades of defeating the Ottoman navy in the decisive battle of Lepanto, the fate of the Mediterranean, the decline was irreversible.

And what about this time?

After the consequences of Bayezid II's disastrous defeat in the Balkans, will the naval war, which began later than in history, once again be the key to the decline of Venice?

Normezi, who had been arranged to stay, was eager to meet Alexandre alone, and he knew that Alexander would not be satisfied with just letting him report to the French, and he even had a vague feeling that the French would send heavy troops to occupy Naples not so much as the judgment made by Louis XII after judging the situation, but rather the result of Alexander's clever arrangement.

So isn't he worried that so many French troops are simply not something he can contend with?

Thinking of this, Normezi, who was still a little apprehensive, suddenly relaxed.

He believed that Alexander would take the initiative to see him.

Sure enough, that night, one of the attendants knocked on Normezie's door.

He was then taken to Alexander's room.

"Tell me the terms offered by the French." This time Alexander asked bluntly.

"That's the case," Normezi began to think carefully about the wording, but then he decided to be more straightforward, "I wonder if you are interested in Sicily. ”

Although he had only heard this sentence, Alexander already thought that perhaps Louis XII and Count Mordillo could get together for a drink.