Prince Alfred walked around outside a room with some excitement, sometimes stopping, sometimes scratching at his hair, at this time he did not look like a prince at all, but a young man who had become blindly excited by love.

Speaking of which, Prince Alfred can be said to have a deep love for Josa, since a few years ago he has been deeply attracted to the youngest daughter of the Count of Cosenza, even later with his father Frederick became king, and his identity has changed a lot, so that in addition to his marriage to consider the possible benefits and the future law of inheritance of the Kingdom of Naples, Prince Alfred has always been obsessively in love with Josa.

It is foreseeable that if nothing happened and Frederick did not find a more suitable marriage partner for his son, then Prince Alfred's affection would probably be rewarded, after all, among the nobles who regarded marriage as an exchange of interests, it was a miracle that such an infatuated person could appear.

However, Alexander's appearance has changed too many things at once, and the current Jisha is no longer the ignorant girl who just held a bow but couldn't shoot the target.

When the news of the sudden arrival of the Countess de Cosenza in Naples, Frederick's father and son reacted in very different ways, with Alfred overjoyed and immediately going to confront his sweetheart, while Frederick reacted much more indifferently, and even felt a hint of anger in the king's demeanor if he looked closely.

The Kosencha army became famous in Bucharest, and the brave grenadiers not only taught the terrible infidels a hard lesson, but even eliminated the devils of Transylvania, who were said to be possessed by the devil.

These achievements were enough to make the Cosenza army and their Countess a legendary existence, and for this reason many Neapolitans even said that even when the French came, there were Cosenza troops to protect them.

Frederick was a little uneasy about the unusually strong strength of the Kosenza army, but he could endure it when he thought that they were indeed a strong force against the French, and he was well aware of his son's infatuation, and now it seemed that marrying Kosenza would be a fairly acceptable option.

However, the Count of Mordillo has always been deaf and dumb to the king's repeated hints, and even when Frederick had to make a proposal to him for marriage, Modillo did not seem to be so enthusiastic.

This made Frederick not only feel insulted, but also a sense of crisis.

He was worried that if he married someone else, whether it was a Neapolitan or a nobleman from another country, it would be the worst news for him.

After all, the nobles who can marry with Josa should be able to match her regardless of their status, if it is a Neapolitan, it means the creation of an alliance that is enough to threaten the royal family, and if it is a nobleman from other countries, then it may be that Cosenza splits from Naples because of Josa's marriage.

Either possibility was something Frederick never wanted to see.

So he is still very supportive of his son's pursuit of Josha, but Josa has always seemed to be close to Alfred, and with the prosperity of the free trade zone in the past two years, Josa seems to have put all her energy into making money, and no one knows how much she is worth now, but according to Frederick's guess, if Alfred can marry that girl, the financial crisis of the royal family will definitely be solved.

However, the Modillo family has always been cold to the royal court, the last time Josa returned from Bucharest, actually returned directly to the territory after visiting her uncle, which made Frederick extremely annoyed, especially after the news of the imminent invasion of the French, Cosenza responded coldly to the king's orders to send troops several times, but now Jossa suddenly came to Naples, Frederick guessed that this was not because of his orders at all, but purely because of Modilo or Alexander.

"That family are pretending to be obnoxious hypocrites," said Frederick, looking out the window at the back of his son, who was rushing out of the palace with his attendants, "that George Anne's prodigal reputation is louder than that of the most famous prostitute in Naples, and even her illegitimate son now dares to dictate to me, and I would never have agreed to Alfred's pursuit of that woman if it weren't for the royal family's need for their family's support." ”

Leoford, who stood not far behind the king, listened silently to Frederick's complaints, and he knew that the king did not want him to express his opinion, but that someone needed to be responsible for listening to his complaints.

It's just that Frederick didn't notice that Leoford, who was behind him, looked at his back, and there was only contempt and contempt in his eyes.

When Alfred arrived at Tuylan Palace, Jossa was talking to Count Mordillo about her marriage.

Seeing the unexpectedly calm on his niece's face, the Count vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he felt a little relieved.

The change in this niece surprised him so much, is it because of Alexander?

The Count sometimes even wondered whether it was right or wrong to admit that Alexander was the right or wrong decision, although the whole plan had been going according to his vision, but the Count always had a sense of uneasiness that things might come out of his grasp at any time, especially as Alexander's power grew, he had felt that it was getting harder and harder to control the young man, and now the relationship between them had gradually become indistinguishable, perhaps more in cooperation, and the basis of cooperation was the crown of Castile, and then there's the Tsusha.

The Count knew better than anyone else the relationship between Alexander and Jishana that brother and sister were not brothers and sisters, and that lovers were not lovers, and he sometimes even wanted to directly remind the pair of 'brothers and sisters' who made him feel uneasy: "Take it easy, don't go overboard, after all, you only have one mother in name." ”

Therefore, the Count was not surprised by Alexander's anger, and he was even prepared to face the fierce opposition of Josha, but now that he had accepted the suggestion so calmly, the Count was both happy and a little uneasy.

"Have you thought about it?" Seeing that his niece nodded slightly, the earl said carefully, "Actually, even if you are married, you can do what you like, and even be with the person you like, no matter who he is, and I think it is better, maybe in the future we will need a child like this to inherit everything we have." ”

Looking at her uncle's speechless appearance, Jisha smiled, and then her expression slowly became solemn.

"Then uncle, if I agree to marry Prince Alfred, can I make a request?"

The Earl thought for a moment and nodded, he felt that at this time he could agree to all the conditions of Zhensha, as long as she could agree to this matter.

"I want our wedding to happen right away." Jisha's expression was calm, and it seemed that what she said was not her business at all, "It's best in a few days." ”

Hearing Jisha's words, the earl's face changed suddenly, he looked at his niece seriously, as if he wanted to determine whether this was her sincere words, when he saw only firm affirmation on Jisha's face, the earl suddenly lowered his voice and asked: "Tell me child, how many people have you brought this time?" ”

"Not much, after all, Kosenza needs to be defended," Josa smiled at her uncle, "so I only brought my Kosencha grenadiers." ”

Hearing Zhisa's words, a look of horror quickly flashed on Count Mordillo's face, he knew that what he had been fearing had finally happened, and the situation was developing in a direction he didn't expect.

Count Mordillo's sudden request to see the king surprised some courtiers, after all, the count had not asked about the affairs of Naples for a long time, let alone took the initiative to ask to see the king, but since the Count of Montina came, it seems that the Count of Mordillo has also become active, I heard that the night before yesterday the Count also held a banquet in the Tuylan Palace to greet his nephew, and the invited people were all big people.

Frederick was also surprised by Modillo's request, but he summoned the Count anyway, but the arrangement was not in the main hall, and the time was deliberately delayed for a quarter of an hour.

The king wanted the count to understand one thing, and it was up to him to have the final say in Naples.

Mordillo didn't seem to care much about this, and after meeting the king according to etiquette, the count immediately told Frederick exciting news.

"You're saying that Josa Cosenza agreed to marry Alfred?"

Frederick was surprised to ask, in his mind that when he came to Modiglo's house, he would definitely have to take the opportunity to make all kinds of demands at such a time, and he might even put forward the obviously excessive condition that the count would be the minister of the kingdom, and Frederick was ready to bargain, and his bargaining chips were of course the final concession of the kingdom, and the relative condition was that the Modillo family would not only help the royal family pay off all its debts, but also bear all the defense expenses of Naples by the trade union.

This was a staggering amount of money, especially since under pressure from the French, Napoli, who was almost fully expanding its army, was already unable to make ends meet, and was already heavily indebted.

In exchange for getting rid of the debt, Frederick, who had thought about it repeatedly, felt that the deal was still a good deal.

But he didn't expect that before he could start bargaining, the other party disarmed and surrendered first, which made Frederick feel that a good woman was not easy to have the opportunity to pursue a woman, and he was about to pounce on the city to conquer the city, but suddenly found that the other party was a big man.

"And what do you want?" Frederick asked with a heavy face, not knowing whether it was because he doubted the count's sincerity, or because he had not had the opportunity to show his eloquence.

"I hope that you will unequivocally support my nephew Alexander's good friend, Metropolitan Massimo of Tuscany and Romagna, as cardinal," said the Count respectfully to Frederick.

Frederick looked at the Count in astonishment, and began to think seriously about this condition.

It was evident that Alexander's ambitions somewhat frightened Frederick, and he knew that if he asked the Archbishop of Naples and the bishops of the southern diocese to support the metropolitan, whose name he had not even heard of, it would mean that he had chosen to side with Alexander in the future papal struggle, although it was not clear what would happen in the future, and the breach of the covenant was nothing to them, but it was indeed a very important thing to casually declare his support for a metropolitan.

"If you can show your support, the trade alliance is willing to pay off all your debts for you."

Mordillo added another weighty chip, and seeing that the king's steps were slowing and heavy, the count bowed slightly in satisfaction and begged to leave.

When Mordillo's figure disappeared, Frederick's pace quickened, and he hurried through the hallway, past the patio, and finally to a brightly lit room.

When a servant was busy with his work, he immediately saluted respectfully, and then pushed open the door for the king.

A young man who was lying at the table and bowed his head raised his head when he heard the sound, and immediately stood up to greet the king respectfully.

"Tell me how much I owe you." Frederick asked with an unkind face, he had no politeness to this man, and the only thing he showed was disgust and disdain.

"Your Majesty, do you mean that you recently borrowed money to buy military supplies, do you know that the money has not been confirmed by the elders, or because you still have a lot of debts that you have not paid before, it is possible that the elders will not agree to this loan."

"Count it too!" Frederick said with some viciousness, "I want to know how much debt I have." ”

"Well, Your Majesty, if you must know," the man obediently walked over to the table, took out a thick ledger, and began to open it, then he looked up at Frederick, "Your total debt so far is 140,000 florins, unless, of course, you owe money to someone else I don't know. ”

"Oh, is that much?" Frederick did not look furious or depressed as the man had guessed, but on the contrary, he smiled like a gloating smile on his face when he heard this number, and then he suddenly asked seriously, "That's a lot, tell me if I can pay off your money all at once, can I borrow more money from you, I mean also borrow this money at once?" ”

The young man looked at Frederick with a meaningful gaze, and he felt that the king's technique of fishing for big fish with a long line was too blatant, and even a little suspicious of taking others for fools.

However, it would be good if he could really recover the money that he had lent him one after another at one time, and whether he would continue to lend him money again at that time is another matter.

"It's up to the elders to decide, you know it's a lot of money at stake, but if you do pay off your previous debts in one go, I think the elders will consider your ability to repay and your noble status and high reputation."

Frederick smiled with satisfaction, of course he would not believe that the other party had trusted him because of these few words, but if he could really pay off the debts he owed before, then it meant that even if he borrowed money from others, he would not be rejected because of the bad reputation of paying off debts.

"That's good, then please prepare for me to draft a contract to pay off all the previous arrears at once, I know there are still a lot of troubles in this, but for the sake of me having to pay you back, get this matter done as soon as possible."

Listening to Frederick's unreasonable instructions, the young man nodded patiently and listened, while quickly writing down the king's next requests in his hand.

It was only as Frederick watched him leave the room satisfied, that the young man took out a thick notebook from under the mess of ledger papers on the table, which he had been looking at when he saw the king enter.

"'140,000 florins to be paid off at once,'" the young man wrote with a quill on the paper, and then drew a circle on the line with the tip of the pen, "Did Frederick take such a sum of money, or would someone else pay the debt for him?" ”

As he spoke, the young man flipped the notebook forward, looking at the line of records he had written before the king entered.

"According to my observations, the origin of the free trade zone is undoubtedly Naples, which is very surprising, because the most famous and often mentioned are Pisa, Rome, and Rotterdam, which was a blockbuster last year, and these places are the places that have benefited the most from this new free trade zone, while Naples is less remarkable than them, and it is only when you go deeper into the city that you will find that this is not only the origin of the free trade zone. It can also be said that it was most affected by this huge consortium dominated by trade, because in Naples there is only one word to describe their influence, and that is 'omnipresent', and it is the half-sister of the Count of Montina, Countess Chessa Cosenza of Cosenza. ”

The young Jew Joseph Buccini closed the diary and carefully kept it, feeling that the records were obviously very valuable, because they could provide good and reliable evidence for the elders who decided the fate of everyone.

After all, it is not easy to borrow money from the Jews, but on the other hand, it is not so easy for the Jews to find those debtors who are very supportive to repay the money.

So whenever they need to lend a large sum of money, the elders are most concerned about whether they are risking losing their money.

As things stand, there are likely to be more and more opportunities for them to deal with the free trade zone in the future, so Joseph Buccini is convinced that his trip to Naples will play a key role in how the Jews will cooperate with the Count in the future.

Jossa didn't see Alexander, of course because Prince Alfred circled her almost incliningly, and because the place where Alexander went was really not suitable for her.

Alexander is now in the same house where he first met Sophia, in the boudoir of Lady Olgala in Naples, but now it is said that Lady Olgala has long been a prisoner in Grogenen's private house, and it is not easy to see the beautiful woman who once held high in Naples and Rome.

When Mrs. Olgala was here, she used to make a beautiful renovation of the house, but now it has become a filthy third-rate prostitute, where drunken drunkards and vomiting drunkards lay asleep on their vomit, and some impatient prostitutes simply grabbed passing women in the courtyard and raised them in public.

Alexander was in a room on the second floor, which was barely clean, but a man sitting in a chair in the middle of the room was not so nice.

The man was tied to a chair with a burlap bag over his head, and his mouth made a muffled "whin" sound, apparently his mouth was gagged.

As the hood was removed, the man looked around in panic, then stared at the tavern keeper standing in front of him, whining incessantly.

Barr removed the rag from the man's mouth, but immediately pinched his mouth with his hand to keep him from making too much noise.

"This is Nabar, why are you arresting me?" The man asked vaguely.

"Be honest, be obedient and you'll be fine." The tavernkeeper grabbed the man by the hair roughly, forcing him to look up, and then pressed a sharp dagger to his throat, "Are you willing to be obedient now?" ”

The man immediately nodded honestly, and only then did he notice that there was a young man in the room watching him silently.

"You're a palace tailor?" Alexander asked calmly.

"I am everyone's tailor, not just for the palace." The man immediately sensed what might have led him to be kidnapped.

Alexander nodded, he admired this man's cleverness, and he realized the crux of the matter so quickly.

"I love tailoring, and I know a very good tailor who has even helped me change so many things."

Alexander said and patted the frightened pale tailor on the shoulder, then took the short knife from Barr's hand and slit his throat with a single sword!