The Rise of the European Emperor

After the French learned of the Spaniard's move, they were very nervous. Louis XII urgently ordered to mobilize a large amount of money and grain from the southeast to be transported by land to Naples, making preparations for the Spanish siege.

But he didn't know at all that Gonzalo de Cordoba didn't intend to storm Naples at all this time, but just to cut off the channel for the French to obtain volcanic ash.

Because of the losses in the last war, the Spaniards now only have a main force of more than 30,000. The French army staying in Naples was as high as 35,000 people, including 5,000 French knights with high martial arts skills. As far as Gonzalo's army is concerned, the number is barely the same as that of the French. If you go to attack the city of Naples, you will simply die. After all, half of the troops on the side that attacked the city had to be much stronger than the side that defended the city.

Gonzalo de Cordoba is also aware of his family affairs. The Spanish army is stronger in field battles because of the power of the phalanx. If you really want to break into the city and fight the French in the streets, the phalanx will not work well. Small space, pay more attention to personal force. And at this point, the French are much better than the Spaniards.

Therefore, after much thought, Gonzalo decided not to take the initiative to attack the fortified city of Naples, but to sweep other areas of the Kingdom of Naples and collect grain. At the same time, cut off the route for the French to transport volcanic ash to the country. And this plan was also approved by the two Spanish kings.

Of course, the two kings also suggested that after cutting off the route for the French to obtain volcanic ash, they might as well send someone to transport the excavated volcanic ash back to Spain...

Although Spain has more mountains and less plains, it still has a lot of arable land. It would be best if the volcanic ash can be used to fertilize and increase production.

You must know that the price of food in Spain is the highest in Europe, because the area has little arable land and is full of mountains and hills, but it has a large population. If the per unit yield can be increased, it should have a great effect on stabilizing grain prices. Of course, the noble families who obtained the volcanic ash fertilizer could also gain huge benefits by virtue of the high grain yield. As for who gets the most benefit? Naturally, it must be the Spanish royal family. In addition, it is those big noble families. After all, they have the most land. Moreover, it must be the priority to get volcanic ash.

In addition, because they occupied the northern part of Morocco, the Spanish royal family and nobles could also plant barley along the banks of several major rivers in Morocco. With the help of volcanic ash, the profits are also huge.

...

But these are secondary. The most important thing is that the Spanish ruling and opposition parties agree that even if Spain can't get volcanic ash fertilizer, it can't let the French get it!

France is about the same size as Spain, but most of France is plain, which is the most important part of the Western European Plain. Therefore, France has always been agriculturally developed and has a large population. If the French got enough volcanic ash, the Spaniards wouldn't be able to sleep. Therefore, Gonzalo's first task is to prevent the French from obtaining, and the second is to obtain...

But in any case, it is much easier to destroy than to seize. For example, attacking the enemy's food and grass and burning the enemy's food and grass is much simpler than capturing and transporting a large amount of the enemy's food and grass back.

Therefore, this time, General Gonzalo led the army to land in Salerno, more than 20 kilometers south of Naples. Then, he quickly led his troops straight to the Mount Vesuvius area and wiped out the local French defenders. Then, excavation production of volcanic ash resumed immediately.

However, the excavated volcanic ash is no longer transported northward by land, but instead transported to the sea, and then shipped back to Spain.

At the same time, Gonzalo ordered the army to dig many trenches and build many fortifications on the road from Mount Vesuvius to Naples to prevent the French army from counterattacking. As for attacking the city of Naples not far away? Gonzalo never thought about it...

Right now, the main source of volcanic ash for the French is Mount Vesuvius. Gonzalo knew very well in his heart that as long as the supply of volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius was cut off and he didn't have to attack Naples by himself, the French would be anxious first.

Therefore, Gonzalo is not in a hurry at all. After he took the important Mount Vesuvius area with his troops, he began digging ditches and building walls directly there, fully preparing to resist the French counterattack. At the same time, he also sent Spanish halter cavalry to rob food everywhere, especially the food in the villages in the north direction, so as to avoid giving the French the opportunity to obtain supplies.

In addition, the cavalry sent to the north to grab food was also responsible for destroying all bridges leading to the north to prevent the French from having the ability to reinforce Naples. Of course, a stone bridge that is too big cannot be destroyed. But the small bridges on those small rivers were all destroyed by these cavalrymen.

The French also realized the danger and sent French knights to stop it. However, the horses of the Spanish backless knights were not armored. They were between the heavy cavalry and the light cavalry, and the French knights could not catch up at all. And if you send light cavalry, you can't beat those Spanish backless knights... When the French made up their minds to let the French knights remove their horse armor and plate armor trousers, and then chased down the Spanish backless knights, the Spanish backless knights Already finished the task and returned to camp...

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, the French commander in charge of guarding the Kingdom of Naples, was in a hurry, and there was still a lot of money and food that had not yet been shipped from the mainland. If the road is cut off, the food and grass in the city will only be enough for half a year.

But luckily, beside him, there is a strategist named Charlie...

As the former Duke of Geddes who was able to beat the Principality of Saxony back then, Charlie, the current Earl of Nantes, is beyond doubt. After carefully consulting the topographic map of the Kingdom of Naples, he made a suggestion to Charles III, Duke of Bourbon - to transport grain quietly from the coastal plain...

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon frowned and said:

"That won't work, Earl Charles. I remember that the Oranci Mountains in the northwest of Naples cut off the seaside plain. Therefore, the Roman road was taken from the interior. That is to say, there is no road along the coast. Moreover, the food transport team is too By the sea, it is easy to be bombarded by Spanish warships..."

Charlie, Earl of Nantes nodded and said:

"That's true, but, my lord, although the Oranci Mountain cuts off the coastal plain, it is not completely without roads."

Charles III reacted:

"You mean... take a mountain road?"

But then, he shook his head and said:

"No, our army needs a lot of food. I'm afraid we can't transport much food by walking the mountain road alone. Generally speaking, the food of the army is transported by carts on the road. How can anyone take the mountain road? How much food can be transported?" ?”

Earl Charlie shook his head and said:

"No, my lord, it's not that the mountain roads can't transport food, it's just that the transport efficiency is low and it's very difficult. But for our army, what we need to solve right now is not whether it's difficult or not, but whether it's possible. As long as it can be transported Grain, it doesn’t matter how much the mountain road transports.”

"Furthermore, my subordinates have seen topographical maps. There are only a few places on the west coast of the Apennine Peninsula where the mountains are close to the sea, cutting off the narrow coastal plain. And between the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States, apart from Mount Oranci, only Terra The mountains on the Cina side are close to the sea. As long as the problem of crossing the mountains and mountains in Formia on the coast of the Oranci Mountains and Terracina in the northwest is solved, the food can be transported.”

After listening to Earl Charles' words, Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, walked to the map again, looked at the mountains and rivers marked on the map, frowned and thought. After thinking for a while, he said again:

"Well, even if we send people to find the mountain road through Formia and Terracina. However, after crossing these two places, it is the Papal State. We, France, have a bad relationship with the Papal State. If the Papal State obstructs What should we do with our army's rations?"

Earl Charlie thought for a while and said:

"This is not a big problem. There are also a group of French cardinals in Rome. We can ask His Majesty the King to bribe those French cardinals and those bishops who have a good relationship with France, and ask them to help cover it up. You You know, those cardinals are all greedy for money, as long as they give enough money, they can do anything."

After a pause, Earl Charlie said again:

"Moreover, I heard that guy Marin sent a lot of grain to the Holy See as a 'tithe'. This year, the Papal State has a good harvest of grain. We can directly spend money to buy grain from the Papal State. It doesn't matter if the price is high, as long as they If you are willing to sell us grain, it is impossible to stop us from transporting grain. It doesn’t matter if the grain is difficult to transport, we just need to drive the Naples mountain people to help transport grain through the mountain road.”

Charles III nodded and asked again:

"What about the Spanish battleship bombarding the food delivery team?"

Earl Charles has long planned:

"The route near the sea transports food at night and rests during the day. Those who take the mountain road transport food during the day. Anyway, the Spanish artillery can't hit the mountains..."

In this way, at the suggestion of Earl Charles, the French opened up a coastal grain transportation route. Although the volume of transportation is not large, the victories are endless.

Moreover, Earl Charles also secretly bought fishing boats belonging to the Pope, hired them at a high price, and helped to transport food around Formia and Terracina at night, which was more convenient than taking the mountain road.

On the Spanish side, because the admirals were too confident in commanding the sea, and there were no ships cruising at night, they were taken advantage of...

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