Summer in Catalonia is like a happy and unrestrained girl, full of enthusiasm and loveliness, walking on the country roads of Valencia, you can feel the bright sunshine, lazy afternoons and the wind full of rich floral fragrance.

Several men with bits and pieces on their bodies walked down the road with their heads held high, they were either tall or short and sturdy, but each of them had a clear unruly look on their faces.

These people were made to be mercenaries, and the Catalans had a fierce character, which made them famous mercenaries in ancient Rome, and the brave Roman legions did not suffer from them, but the Romans also hired them to teach their enemies a hard lesson.

Even centuries later, Catalonia is still one of the most famous sources of mercenaries, and their reputation for fierceness is no less than that of the Swiss, and while their unruly behavior can sometimes be a headache for their employers, their performance on the battlefield makes up for it.

The Catalans often joined the mercenaries together as a village, and as a result, they were more grouped, which was important on the battlefield, whether it was to charge together, kill the enemy together, plunder the spoils together, or escape, they were mainly in their own small groups.

The advantage of this result is that the Catalans can exert their power to a greater extent on the battlefield, but there are also many troubles, when they have a salary increase, they are passive and slack, or when they see that the situation is not good and are ready to turn around and flee for their lives.

But now Thiego is keen to see this gang of Catalans.

The "East India Company's Valencia Office" was doing a brisk business, but the owner of the office was not so much his wealth as his affair with the widowed mother of the Duke of Gandino.

To the surprise of many, while people were still speculating about their relationship, Tiego and Maria de Luna unexpectedly made their relationship public.

To the surprise of many, the Pope was said to have had no interference in the affairs of his daughter-in-law and the merchant, and that the Pope's son-in-law not only called Tiego his friend, but also congratulated him and Maria de Luna.

This made many Valencian nobles, although they secretly criticized all kinds of criticism, but for a time they were not used to the various calculations that the merchant intended to interfere with, and saw that the merchant began to openly enter and leave the Duke's villa, and at the same time spent a lot of money to buy all kinds of luxurious gifts for the Duchess of Gandino, and even the young Duke of Gandino began to call Tiego "my father", and those nobles could only vent their anger while jealousy: "The dignity of the nobility was finally defeated by gold." ”

The "East India Company's Valencia Office" had a lot of business, and they often had to participate in any money they could, and because of their deep pockets, it was said that one of the three main branches of the Liberian trade union, which is now quite prosperous in Europe, made a lot of money in Valencia.

But I don't know why, Tiego, who was in the middle of the shopping mall, suddenly handed over a lot of money-making business to others, and then he plunged headlong into the mercenary company, which is not actually so profitable in the eyes of some people.

Next door to his office, Tiego opened a "Catalan Defense Consultancy", a company with a novel name, one of its main activities is to hire a large number of experienced Catalans and send them to the battlefield after a short training.

Generous commissions and the spoils of war on the battlefield made many Catalans eager to become mercenaries, and the fierce local people contributed to this trend, so as soon as the "Catalan Defense Consulting Company" opened, the company's doors were almost squeezed.

Tiego's good reputation in Valencia during this time helped him a lot, no one doubted that the rich man would be in arrears with their wages, and his relationship with the Duchess of Gandino and many powerful people convinced him that he must have many connections and no business.

This guess turned out to be correct, although a large number of mercenaries were hired before, but it was only sent to Tiego in the Italian battlefield, but this time he openly began to announce the establishment of a permanent army, he lobbied everywhere in the hope of obtaining permission from the Valencia City Hall, but once the permission was obtained, he was not satisfied with the quota of the maximum of 2,400 people stipulated above.

"We're going to organize phalanxes, cavalry, artillery, and even baggage convoys, and we're not just going to provide a little mercenary for our employers, but a whole army with full service, how can that, dear Maria," Thiego enlightened Maria de Luna while wiping the sweat from his body after being the father of the young Duke of Gandino, "and if we want to transport our soldiers further afield, we need enough ships, So maybe we'll have to build a navy of our own, which of course seems a bit far away now, but we must know that the colonies are rich enough for us to spend this money. ”

Thiego's ambitions did impress Maria de Luna, and she now knew very well that her lover was by no means a simple businessman, and if she looked deeper, the good deeds he had done with the Duke of Rome Thessia would have been enough to let the people of Zaragoza know enough to hang him, but now she also knew very well that she was not only involved, but also the kind of big trouble that had not been withdrawn.

So all she could do was try to keep this trouble from becoming their mortal wound so soon, but the only way to do that was to keep increasing their strength, as Tiego said, until one day, they really had an army.

For this, Maria de Luna had to work hard to help Tiego get things done, while at the same time Catalan Defense Consulting had already expanded its business to Andalusia.

At the beginning of summer, Gonzalo's army was approaching Seville, where the Andreusian rebels were entrenched, which led many to think that the rebellion would soon be quelled, but almost two months later, Gonzalo was still confronting the rebels.

This made some people wonder if he was raising his own self-respect, and when you think about the rumors about some of the queen's ill health, people believe that Gonzalo seems to have his own little calculations.

At least Ferdinand had no doubts about this, so he sent several emissaries to Andalusia in succession, each with different reasons, some telling the Gonzalo French that they might intervene in the Iberian dispute, while others saying that the king wanted him to return to Italy with his troops.

In short, Ferdinand wanted to recall Gonzalo to Barriadot as soon as possible, or at least keep him away from his army.

Even some of his close friends thought Gonzalo was using the rebels to make him important, though they generally felt that it was necessary because just after August, the Queen, who had appeared to be in poor health, fell ill again.

And this time, even Ferdinand was caught off guard.

In August, the relationship between Portugal and Castile became even more tense, and the navies of the two sides continued to provoke each other at sea, and on land, although the Castile troops pressed the border, the Portuguese did not show weakness.

To make matters worse, the bad news came from Lisbon that Queen Maria of Portugal had been sent to the Convent of Notre-Dame in the name of praying for the requiem of her child, while Juana, who lived in the convent, had been admitted to the Château de São Jorge for the first time in a public capacity.

This strong signal caused an uproar in Castile, and it was clear that Manuel had completely torn the already fragile veil of peace between him and the two kings, and the strong smell of gunpowder had filled the sky over the entire Iberian Peninsula.

Surprised and outraged by what had happened to her daughter, Isabella had to postpone her plans to make an official audience with the Pope, even though they were both living in the same royal palace, and summoned the Portuguese ambassador to Castile.

Confronted by the sleek Portuguese, Isabella unceremoniously warned him that if Manuel tried to challenge the majesty of Castile, she would "immediately let him know what a foolish thing he had done." ”

After giving such a stern warning, Isabella's attitude changed again, and she begged the ambassador to speak to Maria on her behalf, as a personal friend, and asked the master to take care of her poor daughter.

Despite the Portuguese ambassador's sophistication, the queen struggled to cope with both hard and soft measures, and he had to do his best to reassure the queen that her worries were unwarranted and that Portugal always regarded their in-laws as their most reliable allies.

Isabella, of course, would not believe the ambassador's nonsense, but she did take the opportunity to express her desire to ease relations with Portugal.

It's just that both sides know that this is just a delaying trick that everyone is playing, and as the conflict between the two navies in the Azores becomes more and more intense, eventually war will be inevitable.

Ferdinand's desire to recall Gonzalo at this time was even stronger, whether it was to prevent the respected queen's favored vassals from supporting himself or really needing him to stabilize the situation in the north, Ferdinand sent people again and again to try to persuade Gonzalo.

It's just that he didn't know that Gonzalo's life was not easy at this time, and the aristocratic coalition army that had been defeated and retreated seemed to have suddenly received the support of someone, whether it was weapons and equipment or baggage supplies, they were quickly replenished after suffering losses, and even the army that was scattered and wiped out was quickly strengthened.

And Seville's excellent transportation in all directions also caused great difficulties for Gonzalo to encircle the city.

Gonzalo, who had sent an army to cut off the coastal ports of the lower Gwadar River from Seville in early July, found that his move was not very effective, and Seville, located at the confluence of several rivers in Andalusia, soon found a new way to communicate with the outside world after the initial panic that the Gwadar River would be cut off.

Instead of transporting supplies and goods from ports on the Atlantic coast, they enlisted help from ports on the Mediterranean coast, such as Malaga or Cape Oloqui.

What made Gonzalo suspicious was that it was clearly a large and powerful force that supported the coalition of Andalusian nobles, not only supplying their neighbors with weapons and money, but also sending them a large number of mercenaries, and when he fought hard against the fierce Catalans on the battlefield, Gonzalo would have even suspected that he had sent those Catalans if he had not known that Ferdinand really had no reason to support these rebels.

The headaches didn't stop there, the successive defeats had made the aristocratic coalition somewhat smarter, and they knew that they couldn't confront Gonzalo on the frontal battlefield, so they began to turn from stubborn head-on battles to harassment and maneuvering.

In this way, the advantage of the coalition forces in local warfare was revealed, as they were often able to get information about each other's movements earlier than the royal army, and at the same time, taking advantage of their familiarity with the local terrain, the coalition forces engaged in a guerrilla war with Gonzalo in central Andalusia, where the water network was intertwined.

After a few more tangled battles, Gonzalo quickly sensed the enemy's intentions and decided to simply send his troops to occupy Seville as a proof of his victory in quelling the rebellion.

This hand did seem to have frightened the reinforcements, and they rallied to Seville to defend the city, which they considered spiritual.

Gonzalo was pleased to see that his plan was going well, and he himself felt that the war had dragged on for too long, which not only disappointed the queen but also made his own face look bad, so he decided to take Seville in one fell swoop, and then take the opportunity to destroy the alliance of nobles who tried to rush to their aid.

Everything was ready, Gonzalo's army marched towards Seville, and they soon crossed the plain of Tantetu on the northern outskirts of the city, and in front of the famous bell tower spire of Seville, the royal army had defeated several coalition forces that were trying to return to the city.

Gonzalo finally breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was time for this war to end.

Don Bavi may flee Seville and continue to fight with his rebel forces, but the Andalusians who have lost Seville will eventually wither like a tree without water and roots.

The Andalusian nobles were also apparently aware of their defeat at hand, so some simply fled the battlefield quietly, while others began to ponder how to ask the queen for forgiveness after their defeat.

It was at this time that a bad news caused Gonzalo's plans to be completely disrupted.

Queen Isabella fell ill.

The queen fainted when she was meeting Pope Alexander VI.

An unexpected accident sent the court of Valariedud into a panic.

At that time, many people who saw the queen fall were so nervous that they even forgot what to do.

They shouted and shouted in a mess, and some even ran to the Pope and asked him to pray for a miracle to save the Queen.

In short, if it weren't for Alexander, who was standing not far away, Ferdinand would have been frightened by the sudden surprise.

Then the king desperately carried the queen, surrounded by the same panicked ministers, and rushed out of the palace of the Rose Horn, where the Pope was.

Ferdinand could no longer hide the fact that Isabella's health was already in disarray, and he had to admit that the queen's situation was not good in front of many Castilian nobles who were furious with surprise and anger, and he had to face the Castilian people's demands that Juana be brought back to the court at once.

News of the queen's ill health was immediately sent to all parts of the kingdom, and Gonzalo, although he was a little late, was the first to be informed by the nobles.

Hearing the bad news, Gonzalo immediately abandoned his army, knowing that his departure would definitely have a great impact on the counterinsurgency, and might even make the situation out of control, but Gonzalo really didn't care about it.

He knew how much trouble it would mean for Isabella if something really happened, and he was even more worried that Ferdinand would take advantage of the opportunity to make a big deal in Barriadot.

After handing over command to his deputy, he rushed to Barriaridud with his guards desperately, and along the way he kept inquiring about all kinds of news that might come from the capital.

It's just that everything indicates that things may be much worse than he thought.

Gonzalo's sudden departure changed the war in Andalusia dramatically, and the aristocratic coalition quickly took advantage of this opportunity to launch a counterattack against the royal army, and Don Bavi went to the battlefield in person despite his physical inconvenience, and under the leadership of this veteran of the Reconquista, the aristocratic coalition took advantage of the situation to attack again and again, and for a time the war in Andalusia fell into a stalemate.

But none of this mattered to Gonzalo anymore, he never expected such a day, or he always thought that it was still far away.

So when he suddenly heard that Isabella was ill, Gonzalo completely abandoned his opponent on the battlefield because of his anxiety and immediately rushed to Vallaredot.

Despite his anxious mood, Gonzalo made it back to Vallaridód a few days later, after hearing the latest news about the Queen's condition.

Isabella's illness was unexpected by many people, and when she saw that the queen kept coughing and her face was red and her whole body was hot, the doctor who heard the news only hesitated a little and immediately gave the queen a prescription for treatment.

"It still needs to be bled out, this fever has been tormenting Your Majesty for a long time, believe me this is the best method now, you must know that this is much milder than the terrible method of the British to burn the soles of the patient's feet with a red-hot iron."

The doctor's words really frightened Ferdinand, and he immediately couldn't wait for the doctor to help him as soon as possible, watching a thin reed rod insert into Isabella's severed wrist, and the red blood water flowed down the open reed rod to the silver basin on the ground next to the bed, Ferdinand finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he thought about the changes that might have happened because of Isabella's sudden illness.

Ferdinand immediately sent someone to the castle in the Highlands, and now Juana was an important bargaining chip in his hands, and he wanted to get Juana under control before anyone else might have an impact on his daughter.

But Ferdinand never imagined that what awaited him was an empty castle.

Juana and Philip, who are already dying, are missing.