The southern part of the Iberian Peninsula is in a festive mood, but the northern part is full of gloomy clouds. Knights www.biquge.info from France, England, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Knights of the Templars and Hospitallers are leaving the peninsula with their soldiers. They had to march long distances into the Duchy of Burgundy to assemble, and then threaten the mountains of the northern Apennine Peninsula from the west, forcing Jiang Zhuyi's mountain people to come back to relieve the siege of the Venetian city-state. Under the attack of the city-state of Rena, the city-state of Venice has been in decline, and if it does not receive support, it is estimated that it will not last until the summer, and this area very important to the church should be hung with the banner of the double-headed eagle.

Once the city-state of Venice was lost, there was not a single opponent of Friedrich II in the entire Apennine Peninsula, and there was no longer a supporter of the Church. If the emperor, who was extremely resistant to the Church, had occupied the Apennine Peninsula, it would have been very difficult for the Church to get its hands on Rome and restore the original Papal States.

Originally, this situation was difficult for the church to change, because the current Friedrich II was no longer the poor emperor who survived in the cracks, and through his control of the Mediterranean trade circle over the years, he had accumulated a very rich family foundation, and his military power was becoming stronger and stronger. The emperor also made a great contribution to Christendom in the western conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and the provision of holy medicine. Through trade, his relations with the Kingdom of Germany in the north gradually eased, and it was difficult to find an excuse to expel him, let alone cancel his title of emperor.

According to the plan of the new Pope Innocent IV and King Louis IX of France, the Flemish Hanseatic would be an important force against the emperor, first weakening the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the entire Apennine Peninsula economically, and then uniting several ambitious German princes, deposing Friedrich II as emperor, and then regaining the Papal States by military action. As long as the title of Emperor of Friedrich II is removed, the domains of Karlburg and Baron Jiang are all minor troubles. No matter how rich and unbreakable it is, it cannot withstand the attack of the entire Christian world.

But no one thought that he would kill a trip to bite the gold halfway, and before the Flanders Hansa invaded the Mediterranean Sea to control the maritime trade business here, the Eastern Emperor made the first move, and the entire Flanders Hanseatic was beaten to pieces, and there was no reason to leave.

Although the Flemish Hanseatic had the covert support of the Church and several kings, and was a tool against the emperor, it was also a cash cow for many noble lords. They didn't really plan to wrestle with the emperor, but just wanted to make some money for their family through the Hanseatic maritime trade routes. As a result, they ended up in a situation where they had no money to return to, and they had to pay a large ransom to the winner. This hatred is too great, Hong Tao is cutting off people's money, and it is more hateful than killing their parents.

However, these European nobles, including the Pope, also understood that there was no hope of going to the sea to find the trouble of the Eastern Emperor, not to mention whether they could find him, and even if they did, it would still be the second naval battle at the mouth of the Rhine, and how many ships would be sunk.

But everyone understands better that the Eastern Emperor is very powerful at sea and seaside, and it may not be powerful if he really wants to go deep into the European continent. The nobles who had lived through the battle of Bergen Opzom Castle, captured and ransomed, also saw Hong Tao's weakness. His army is very small, and it is already stretched to fight a seaside castle, and it is obviously impossible to rely on a few hundred people to fight against most of Europe, even if his weapons are advanced.

So these nobles, who were anxious for revenge, turned their attention to the territory of Karl Fort and Jiang Zhuyi. Everyone in Europe knows that Karl Fort is the base for the Eastern Emperor to come to Europe, and Jiang Zhuyi is the mistress of the Eastern Emperor, so it is very reasonable to take revenge on the two of them. Karl Fort was on the seashore, separated by Berber territory, and could not be attacked for the time being. But Jiang Zhuyi's territory was all inland, far from the sea, and it was all mountainous, so it was impossible for the Eastern Emperor to drive the warship directly to the mountain.

What's even more eye-catching is that this poor mountainous land, which no one wanted before, has now become a commercial hub extending in all directions. According to this trend, there are Friedrich II and the city-state of Rena, who are responsible for the distribution of goods, and the mountainous area controlled by Jiang Zhuyi in the middle to communicate the north and south. If he wants to enter the Mediterranean to grab business, there is still a Karl Fort lying on the mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar, and when the time comes, he only needs to charge a little more tax to kill most of the competitors for his cousin.

In this sense, the fall of the Flemish Hansa was not all bad, at least not for the Church and Louis IX, the two staunch forces against the Emperor. Not only was this a good excuse for them not only to have to endure and look for opportunities, but also to add a large number of powerful new members to the Emperor Alliance. Many nobles who were not firmly opposed to Friedrich II also sided with the Emperor Alliance after this incident, on the one hand, for revenge, and more for profit. At this time, most of the European nobles saw that trade was a big cake, and it must not be allowed to be enjoyed exclusively by a few people, and whoever dared to eat alone was the enemy!

As the negotiations broke up again and again, the armies of the Coalition began to gather on the northern side of the Apennine Peninsula, the Habsburgs, who had a close relationship with Jiang Zhuyi, became ambiguous, and the Duchy of Burgundy also declared neutrality, supporting neither Friedrich II nor the Coalition. Even some of the nobles who had been on Friedrich II's side began to take sides, and they planned to see the situation before taking sides.

In this case, Friedrich II didn't want to fight and had to fight, he couldn't watch Jiang Zhuyi's territory being besieged, her emperor didn't care, but he still understood the truth of his lips and teeth. Once Jiang Zhuyi is defeated, the city-states of Renaa and Milan will be the next targets of the Fallen Emperor's Alliance, and then Rome. So the armies of the Two Sicilies also began to move north, and although the negotiations continued, the two sides were actually ready for war.

"Carl, what is Hong doing? He started this war, but the flames of war ended up burning on our heads, shouldn't he do something? "Friedrich II no longer looked like a scholar at this time, sitting on a huge throne like a lonely vulture. The situation of the war was obviously unfavorable to him, mainly because the allies had all died down, and the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Jiang Zhuyi alone could not fight against the whole of Europe, and a draw was unlikely.

"It's useless for him to come, the battleships can't drive on land, and he doesn't have enough army." With a cigar in his mouth, Karl sat down in the chair opposite the Emperor with his head bowed, which was the farthest away from the Emperor, and the Emperor's roar sounded less harsh.

"But he has better muskets and cannons, so why can't he provide them to my army? Even if he doesn't trust me, can't he equip Baron Jiang's army! Friedrich II continued to roar, and if Hong Tao had been present, he would have remembered the mustache of the posterity. At the same time, the question arises, why are leaders of German descent almost all of them this virtue, is neuroticism also inherited?

"William, you're in too much of a hurry, Hong won't abandon us. As for what he is going to do to help us, neither you nor I can guess, and there is no need to waste those thoughts. I have withdrawn part of my army from the city-state of Venice, and if your army attacks the Venetians from the west, the battle will soon be over. Then we will unanimously go north to fight the coalition forces, which is the most important thing to do at the moment, what are you waiting for? Do you think that if you don't attack the Venetians, then there will be no excuse for others to attack you? Jiang Zhuyi also came to the palace in Naples, she was quite optimistic, not only did she not mean to defend, but also encouraged Friedrich II to take the initiative.

"It's not the worst yet, next week the Pope's envoy will come, I can give up the title of emperor, they can let whoever they like, I just need my own kingdom." Friedrich II was still fantasizing about avoiding war, he really didn't want to fight, and he didn't want to passively fight for others.

"William, you are really not fit to be an emperor. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to use his power to stabilize the situation in Europe before Hong returns to the East. If you can win this time, even if it's a draw, you will be the biggest beneficiary. But if you don't want to invest too much money, and you always think about getting something for nothing, then it's hard to say, even if we win in the end, you won't get any substantial benefits. This is the same as doing business, and when the time comes, don't blame me for being greedy, because I invested the most and deserved to be rewarded accordingly! Jiang Zhuyi smiled disdainfully, she felt that Hong Tao had chosen the wrong object of support, if Friedrich II was not Karl's cousin, she would have stopped this emperor a long time ago, and she had no strategic vision and courage at all.

"If you win, it's all yours! But where's your Hong? Even if he comes, by what will he win? This time it's not a Flemish Hanseatic army, it's the whole of Christendom, are you going to take them all to the seashore and wait for Hong's cannons to blow them up? Friedrich II looked at Jiang Zhuyi like a fool, in his eyes, this woman was a profiteer who was more Venetian than the Venetians, and it was okay to talk to her about how to calculate other people's property, and it was a bit of a harp to talk about war. (To be continued.) )