Barendi stood by the carriage and looked at the men again.

The sight of Maria de Luna, Duchess of Gandino, standing with Tiego was a pleasure to see.

In fact, she was very worried about what Alexander might think of this Duchess of Gandino, after all, although this woman is a little older, she still has some charm, and Alexander seems to be more interested in those more special women.

But fortunately, Tiego's intimate behavior with the Duchess made her know how much she thought, at least even if Alexander was really interested in this woman, he probably wouldn't do anything now.

Barondi knew from a very early age that Alexander had an inexplicable desire for exclusivity for women, and it was because of this that she was very careful with the men with whom she often interacted, and at the same time she did not forget to write letters from time to time to remind the uneasy Lucrezia.

Barondi actually wanted Lucrezia to make some flirtatious affair or something, so that she could get rid of a "fierce rival" without much effort.

But that's just a thought, Barendi knows very well how much Alexander is infatuated with Lucrezia, not to mention that they have a pair of children.

Estelles was Alexander's favorite daughter, perhaps because she was too far away, and Barendi believed that Alexander might not be as close to Sophia and her daughter as Estelles.

Because of this, Barenti did not intend to anger Alexander in this matter, but instead tried to restrain Lucrezia from doing something that would embarrass everyone because of her recklessness.

Barondi's actions were not just to maintain "family harmony," but to have her own plans, or to say that before she had children of her own, she had to consider that if God was really stingy with giving her a child, then she would have to consider finding an heir of her own from among Alexander's existing children.

And she would never choose the child of the bohemian wild girl, and as for the child of Jisha, she didn't want to think about it.

After all, it is impossible to let that annoying sister take all the good things alone.

Barente did not want to stay in Valencia for too long, and she hurried to Madrid, but Offrey asked her that she needed the support of the hunting guards, which forced Barente to stay for the time being.

Ofleiil was pleased with the timely arrival of the 2,100 huntsmen, and he had organized a very bold plan in this way, but the Valencians were either not interested in his plan, or they thought he was a little too bold or even crazy.

Ofleuil has his sights set on Barcelona in the north.

The reason why he had such a bold idea was because he knew that among Ferdinand's long list of titles, there was a very prominent title, and that was the Count of Acelona.

Ofleiyi thinks the Barcelonans are unreliable and even thinks they could be a problem in the future.

As for whether the Barcelona people will actually become the royalists, he actually doesn't care much, what really interests Ofleiyi is that Barcelona is in a unique position.

Located on the west coast of the Mediterranean, close to France, Barcelona has long been an important port in the northwestern Mediterranean.

Because of its proximity to the southern coast of France, Barcelona has been greatly influenced by the French for a long time, and even once in history the coastal city was ruled by the French, so Barcelona has an unusually close connection with the French.

It is precisely because of this that Alfonso I of the Astamara family was the first to conquer Barcelona after becoming king of Aragon.

In Alfonso I's view, Barcelona's relationship with the French was the greatest hidden danger of the Kingdom of Aragon compared to the separatist nobles throughout Aragon.

For this reason, Alfonso I simply put the city under his direct rule after the conquest of Barcelona in order to strengthen his control over Barcelona.

This was about half a century ago, and Barcelona is now the backyard of the Aragon royal family, which is why Ofleiuil felt that the threat from Barcelona should be addressed as soon as possible.

And his idea is quite similar to the choice of Alfonso I at the beginning.

Barentia agreed to Le Offrey's request, knowing that it was indeed important to Alexander, so she handed over the command of the huntsmen to Offleuil, and then went to her castle in the Duke of Gandino in the company of Maria de Luna.

Maria de Luna knew that she needed to be on good terms with the future queen at this time, especially after faintly hearing from Tiego that the queen did not seem to be on good terms with her sister-in-law, and that perhaps this was a good opportunity.

Gandino is a place located on the southeast coast of Valencia, where the land is quite fertile because of these rivers, especially the fruit produced here, which tastes much sweeter than other places for later reasons.

Not far from Gandino, further south of the sea, there is a place called Cape Nao, where the scenery is very beautiful and the climate is also very pleasant, and in a small valley facing the sea in Cape Nao, a luxurious castle-like villa is now in full swing.

The stone, glass, copper and all the ornaments used there are the finest, and it was Michelangelo who designed this castle-like villa.

Michelangelo, who is now already a success, has been troubled by a work that he has been conceiving but has never been able to get started, so when he receives Alexander's request to design a villa, he refuses.

But then, when he saw the heavy bag of money that Alexander had given him, he reluctantly agreed.

This exceptionally beautiful villa was prepared for the Pope, this is the place where he will rest and retire in the future, when Alexander made this promise, Alexander VI did not expect that the construction of this villa would start so quickly, and from the drawings to the materials can be prepared in such a short time, it can be seen that Alexander has been prepared for a long time.

When she heard about the villa from Maria de Luna, Barentia affirmed Lucrezia's place in Alexander's heart.

Barentine did not think that Alexander did this purely because the Pope had an important role for him, and in her opinion, he probably did it more to please Lucrezia.

Lucrezia may have been stupid, she was inferior in status to Josa, not to herself, and even to Sophia, but the woman, who had nothing but her looks, was favored by Alexander with her characteristic charm.

This may be the ability of that stupid woman, Barondi said in her heart.

While Barendi was stationed in Gandino, Oflaiyi had already begun to act.

His plan was simple, straightforward, and even a little crude, he was to directly use all the Valencian troops he could mobilize, and then form a legion with the huntsmen as the main force, and then quickly advance along the coastline to the inland city of Lleida between Barcelona and Zaragoza in the northeast, and then directly cut off the communication between Barcelona and Zaragoza!

Ofleiuil knew very well that the situation was very delicate at this time, and once Ferdinand learned that he had been betrayed, he would be anxious to finally be rescued by the nobles of his domain, and the actions of the Barcelonans were all the more important.

The nobles would take Barcelona's reaction as a signal, and if Zaragoza could not help Ferdinand in time, then the nobles elsewhere would probably follow suit, and perhaps Aragon would be in the middle of a civil war.

The Valencians apparently only wanted to settle for the status quo, believing that they were now the patronage of the Pope and therefore did not need to bother with matters that had nothing to do with them, which seemed to be true, but Oflaiil could not tolerate it.

As for Tiego, he was in a difficult situation in this matter.

Despite his lack of military prowess, Tiego keenly felt that Ofleiuil's decision was the right one, and that Maria de Luna's previous attempt to rule Valencia was a strong warning that he did not know if the queen would know about it, but if he did not prove his loyalty in the following actions, it would probably leave a bad impression on the queen.

This is something that Tiego absolutely does not want to see.

He had worked so hard for the Queen's brothers and sisters all these years, and now he was about to suffer so much, and he did not want it to be ruined just because of Maria de Luna's greed.

It's just that he also knows that it's not easy to talk about the Valencians, the people in this place are too huddled and xenophobic, even if he has integrated into the aristocratic circle of this place, but when such an important decision is made, those people will instinctively exclude him.

But things were much easier now, and while Ofleiil was inspecting the guards in the square in front of the town hall, and watching the hunters walking through the square with a neat pace to the beat of the snare drums, Tiego lost no time in revealing his intentions to the Valencian nobles.

"In the future, Her Majesty will also become the Count of Barcelona, so the people of Barcelona will still face us with pride, isn't it?"

"But we are papal domains," said a nobleman, glaring disapprehensively at Tiego, who was disgusted by the fact that he had risen to prominence by sleeping in the bed of the Duchess of Gandino, "even if they were the direct domain of the king. ”

"Maybe, but I've heard that the Queen is really interested in Barcelona, you know it's very close to France, and maybe the Queen thinks it's easier to deal with the French by valuing Barcelona."

Tiego's words made those nobles begin to pay attention, they knew that even as a papal territory, if it was not valued by the monarch, it would still not have much benefit, and Barcelona, which had been competing with Valencia for many years, became the queen's favorite, then maybe Valencians would have to watch them swagger for a long time in the future.

"But they are not the Queen's domain yet," the other nobleman finally relentlessly said, "perhaps they still want to be loyal to Ferdinand." ”

"It's very likely, so if we can stop the Barcelonans at this time, it will mean something completely different to the queen, and she will know who is loyal to her, right?"

The nobles were lost in thought, they knew that Tiego was actually trying to trick them, but that didn't mean that Tiego's words didn't make sense.

"About 2,000 people, it looks like a really powerful army." A nobleman stared at the hunters walking through the square, and at the same time wondered in his heart whether a person with such an army would have the possibility of defeat in the future.

After all, declaring that he was not under the papal patronage and voluntarily sending troops to suppress the nobles loyal to Ferdinand were two different things, the former would have an explainable excuse even if Ferdinand was restored in the future, and the latter would be a complete betrayal of him.

"Maybe we should watch the Barcelona people change their doors in the future and trample Valencia under their feet again." Tiego said in a nonchalant tone.

"You dream, this will never happen," interrupted Tiego with a huff, and they were no longer in the mood to watch the parade, but gathered together to talk in a low voice, and then simply quarreled.

Oflaiyi looked at the hunters walking in front of him without moving, and a smile of satisfaction appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After several years of hard work, he had finally trained such an army of which he could be proud, and although the Roman and Sicilian armies were now gradually detached from the shadow of the old armies, Ofleiil still regarded the Chasseurs as a model for the new army that he had truly learned from the Duke.

"I'm sure enough to take Barcelona with just the hunters," Ofleiuil's gaze swept over the soldiers, "and if I just blocked the traffic between Barcelona and Zaragoza, I wouldn't even need to use all my strength." ”

"Don't be too anxious friends, don't be too anxious," Tiego said in a low reassurance as he walked up to him, "Trust me, soon they will have results." ”

Oflaiyi nodded and didn't say anything more, in fact, he knew that he was indeed a little too anxious at this time.

Not being able to make it to Barriaedud as soon as possible caused him to miss the battle of Rometown and Gahel, much to the annoyance of Ofreil.

He had already heard that it was Gonzalo who was in charge of the battle, which made Ofleiil realize that the Castilian star might become another Gompati to compete with him.

And Gonzalo's prestige, status, and authority in the Castilian army were definitely not comparable to him.

This made Ofleiuil, who was about to become Minister of War, not unsuspecting, so he was eager to prove himself with his actions, and at the same time let everyone know how he was different from Gonzalo as Minister of War.

The difference is that Gonzalo is the commander in chief on the battlefield, but in terms of strategy related to the direction of the war, Ofleiil hopes that everyone will have more confidence in him.

Eventually, after some debate, the Valencian nobles finally agreed to send troops to Barcelona.

However, their condition is that no matter what privileges the queen gives Barcelona in the future, Valencia must have the same rights.

Such a condition was certainly not negotiable for Ofleiil and Tiego, but the two of them, in their respective capacities as Minister of War of Castile and envoy to the Queen, agreed to be witnesses to report the Valencian contributions to the Queen in the future.

The final strength of the Valencian army was 4,300 men.

Except for the main force of 1,700 men made up of Balkan and Agri musketeers, the rest was made up of the Valencian militia.

But such an army, of course, did not say anything about the speed of the march, and even had to stop and camp shortly after their birth.

But what the Valencians did not expect was that while they were messily pitching their tents, the Roman Thesian hunters had already set up their roads again after a short rest, and this time they simply left the Valencians far behind.

"I just want to let the people of Barcelona know that Valencia has sent troops."

Looking at the stunned Valencian militia standing on the side of the road behind him, Ofleiyi smiled slightly.

From the beginning he had no intention of marching on Barcelona with the Valencians, knowing that to act with such a half-hung army would only be dragged down.

His real intention was to make the Barcelonans cautious because they had heard that Valencia had sent troops, so that he could quickly occupy Lleida while the Barcelonans were not reacting.

Before leaving Valencia, he informed Tiego of his intentions.

However, he also asked Tiego for his help.

"I need the Aragonese fleet stationed in Valencia to blockade the port of Barcelona, so that I can better intimidate the people of Barcelona."

Though he had made this plan very bold, he was very careful in its execution, which was why he wanted to be supported by the Aragonese fleet, and did not want to command the Valencian army, which he thought was no better than a rabble.

At the beginning of December, after the people of Barcelona were shocked to learn that Ferdinand was seriously ill, a controversy broke out in the old royal palace.

Many of the nobles demanded that the king be rescued immediately, while others wanted to wait and see what was going on.

But before their argument could be resolved, someone had already brought them bad news about Valencia.

The Valencian army suddenly advanced northward, and although it was not known what their intentions were, it was clear that they had not come well.

Barcelona was in an uproar, and some people still insisted on sending troops to Zaragoza immediately, their intention was clear, to rescue Ferdinand and quickly take control of Zaragoza, at which point the situation would be reversed.

Others, on the other hand, believe that the defense of Barcelona is the priority, and that a rash attack is likely to give the enemy an opportunity.

The two sides quarreled for a while, and even almost fought when it was fierce.

It was not until the arrival of a fleet flying the Valencian flag, which suddenly appeared off the coast of Barcelona, that the controversy ended once and for all.

The people of Barcelona began to build fortifications in a panic, and they pushed their best artillery onto the walls of the coastal castle, ready for a great battle against the invading enemy from sea.

However, the Valencian fleet did not attack Valencia, and then news came from the interior that made them completely desperate.

The Valencian army, which was supposed to be halfway through, suddenly appeared under the unsuspecting city of Lleida.

A war for the city ended quickly in a staggeringly short moment, and when the Lleida finally came to their senses, they realized that the city had been taken.

The traffic between Barcelona and Zaragoza has been cut off completely!

On the 112th of 1503, a letter from Zaragoza via Alexander of Gael was delivered to Josa, who was resting in the conservatory of the palace of the Barriaridud.

Looking at the letter, a smile appeared on her face.

The Queen of Sicily, Countess of Cosenza, Josa Cosenza Astamara, is about to become regent of Aragon.