Vol 7 Chapter 154: Strike!

On the edge of the Azores near the European continent, there is a large island named São Miguel not long ago. Among the entire archipelago, São Miguel is also one of the largest in size, and because of the rugged and complicated coastline There are many excellent natural harbors, and as soon as it is discovered, it has become the best haven for adventurers who explore the European continent deep into the Atlantic Ocean.
At the southwestern end of San Miguel Island, there is a good bay. The whole bay is like a gentle girl with arms spread out to the tired traveler. The calm and mirrored harbour has blue bottoms and pale yellow sand beaches. From afar, it looks like the healthy skin of a lively and pretty girl. This place was named by the discoverer as Ponta Delgada, and it soon became the most prosperous harbour town on San Miguel Island.
Some people have thought about planting some crops on this island, but most people prefer to use it as a transit point to the new colony, so San Miguel Island quickly flourished, and boats coming and going More and more, explorers from the European continent or from the new colonies have to rest here, and soon a large-scale port has been built here, and some fruits on the island have become inaccessible at sea all year round The fresh melons ’crews are so cherished with precious delicacies that even the most deflated cook can sell his hard-to-swallow meals here for a good price.
There are not many people on São Miguel Island, but because of its superior location, each of them is very prosperous, but this good day was completely destroyed by a maritime battle between Portugal and Castile.
The naval battle was carried out not far from the island of San Miguel. After the naval battle, some surviving crew members floated to the island with the fragments of the sunken ship floating, but these Castilians soon discovered in despair that they should have The island of São Miguel, occupied by Castile, has been seized by the Portuguese.
These crew members became captives, waiting for them in captivity and the heavy labor on the island.
Among these captives was the commander of the Castilian Merchant Marine, a well-known Spanish explorer.
This naval battle is like a loud horn of war for the two countries that have already fought against each other. From the sea to the land, the two countries instantly entered a state of war.
Ports of Ponta Delgada quickly built a turret, and the artillery purchased by the FTA from France was quickly installed on the turret. The muzzle was pointed at the sea, and the Portuguese were alert to Casti. The Leahs may retaliate.
Only this time, the Portuguese guessed wrong. Queen Isabella did not order the captains of Castilla to attack the Portuguese in the Azores, even though the captains and the merchants who hired them were better than the queen. Even more angry, because the Portuguese completely cut off their connection with the new colony.
Although the Atlantic Ocean is vast, sailing in the sea without a reliable foothold is extremely dangerous, not to mention that it is a fairly mature route from the European continent to the new colony via the Azores. In this era The risks and failures of opening up a brand new route may be too great, and sometimes even outweigh the gains.
The Portuguese occupying most of the Azores islands is equivalent to cutting off the Spanish road to the colony, which is undoubtedly a fatal blow to many businessmen who have put their lives on the new colony.
These merchants were also inextricably linked to many nobles, and for a time, the royal palace of Bariaridode was full of clamours and immediately called for troops to the Azores.
But Isabella did not respond to the requests made by these nobles. She insisted that the Portuguese should be defeated on land first, and at the same time, the French who might interfere with Iberia at any time should be deterred.
Many nobles are quite puzzled about this. In their view, whether they or the queen can obtain the huge wealth of today is entirely because of the discovery of the new colony, but now facing the threat of the Portuguese, the queen is not eager to reopen the new colony. The connection between them is obviously neither in the queen's own nor in their interests, so a group of people unwillingly put forward the meaning.
But this time it was the Queen ’s reprimand that awaited them.
These people desperately turned their attention to Ferdinand. They hoped that Ferdinand could come forward to dissuade the queen from changing the land and sea, but what he received was only Ferdinand's silence.
Ferdinand knew very well what Isabella was so determined. The Aragonese fleet transferred the Mediterranean to destroy pirates, which obviously gave the United Kingdom ’s navy a great discount on the Atlantic ’s strength if it rashly contacted Portugal If the people start a war, even if they win the Castilians, they must pay a great price. Then, in the future development of new colonies, because the strength is at a disadvantage, they will have to dominate the will of the Aragonese.
In addition, as Isabella's physical condition is getting worse, and Toledo's noble council has unauthorizedly announced Juana's future regency status, Isabella needs to let Castilla's situation think about herself as soon as possible. The development in a favorable direction, and the victory at sea obviously does not meet her needs. What she wants is to first appease those Andalusian nobles, and then quickly defeat the Portuguese and the French. She believes that by then the noble parliament of Toledo Can only obediently submit to her again.
It is precisely because of these considerations that Isabella insists on solving the troubles on land first, and then waits until the Aragon fleet destroys the pirates, and then joins the forces of the two fleets to wipe out the enemy on the Atlantic.
This idea is correct. Once she understands the Queen ’s overall plan, all her ministers have expressed their support. The previous meeting made the corresponding decision based on the Queen ’s intention.
Land first, then sea, became the last decision of the Castilians to resolve the current situation.
So even if I heard that the Portuguese in Ponta Delgada took the time to build a strong coastal defense fortress equipped with powerful artillery, Isabella was not worried, because as long as the Portuguese fleet was defeated at sea, Then those islands are naturally within reach.
At this time, whether it is Isabella or her ministers, or even Ferdinand, think that this time will not take too much time to kill pirates, maybe three months, or half a year, not more than one year at most, That is to say, before October 1502, the battle on the Mediterranean could be over, and then the Aragonese fleet could return to the Atlantic Division, and then it was the time for the Portuguese to be unlucky.
In late October, the Aragonese fleet, which had been away for many days, finally returned the news that they found signs of piracy in the Mediterranean Sea near the African side, and they were happy that they met from Rhode Island in this area. The fleet of the hospital knights of the two sides, who have common interests in combating pagan pirates, quickly formed an alliance. With the hospital knights ’familiarity with this sea area, the Aragon fleet quickly killed a small force. Pirate gang.
This good start satisfied both the fleet and the Sicilian Governor Flamenza in the rear. The sudden rampant piracy caused huge losses to Sicily, although there were also businessmen who were looted by the robbery and accused the FTA and those pirates. Secretly colluded, but all this is unfounded, and now the influence of the FTA in Sicily has penetrated into almost every corner.
This made Flamenza unable to take action at all, and he didn't want to do this for himself, after all, his own pockets were also earned from the FTA.
However, Hailedin's attack on the route between Sicily and Aragon annoyed Flamenza, especially the attack on the tax fleet, which forced him to request Ferdinand to send a fleet to gangsters.
At the end of October, the Sicilians were a little frustrated by the bad news. The Ottomans once again launched an attack on Rhode Island. Although this time was not large, the hospital Knights still had to temporarily leave the African coast and return to Rhodes. Island reinforcements.
The Sicilians were not very concerned about Rhode Island, although many of them had generously provided to the Knights whether they were out of faith or to prevent Rhode Island from blocking the Ottoman attack, but as long as the Ottoman fleet did not appear near Sicily It ’s not a big problem. It ’s just that if you lose the hospital knights who are familiar with the situation, killing pirates may not be so smooth.
However, the Aragonese fleet is still confident. They believe that even without the help of the hospital knights, it will only delay a little time, and the fate of those pirates' ultimate destruction will not change.
From late autumn to early winter, the temperature in the Mediterranean area slowly fell, but the temperature of the war suddenly increased.
Gonzalo, who was instructed to fight the Portuguese, did not disappoint Isabella, although the long stretch of Pyrenees in the north and its many branches caused complicated terrain, preventing Gonzalo from fully showing his revolution in his heart. The power of a large square phalanx, but he still strikes the Portuguese frequently with superb command skills.
What surprised Isabella and Gonzalo on the front line was that the French, who originally thought they would not listen to the warning, behaved very well this time, although they did not cross the border between the two countries as Isabella warned. The retreat, but the French army retreated to Navarra inland for nearly 20 miles.
This move made Isabella somewhat puzzled. She was originally prepared to fight at the same time with the two countries, but the French "obedience" made her a little full of doubts for a while.
However, Isabella was still vigilant against the French and at the same time mobilized the troops on the border between the two countries to the battlefield in the direction of the Portuguese, hoping to defeat the Manuel Portuguese as soon as possible and force Manuel negotiation.
After all this was arranged, Isabella, who was finally unable to support her due to excessive fatigue, entrusted the state affairs to her palace minister, and she had to start rest in accordance with the doctor's instructions.
But even so, the queen is still concerned about the war with Portugal, and Juana is also a source of relief for her.
Although it was necessary to declare to the outside that Juana was ordered to go to Toledo in order to conceal the truth, Isabella knew that this lie would not last for long, not to mention that many people actually knew what happened, and more importantly, the noble council ’s The aggressive is also destined to have a fierce conflict between the two sides.
Now Isabella ’s only hope is that the negotiations with Don Bavi will have a good result as soon as possible, as long as they can appease the Andalusian nobles and prevent them from being used by the noble parliament, once the Andalusian rebellion is resolved , She can free her hands to calmly deal with those old nobles of Toledo who have never forgotten to do right with her.
Although the Iberian peninsula is not very large, the climate of the peninsula has obviously changed greatly since November.
Not only is Malaga still shining in the south, but some places in the north are already chilling.
On the northern of the Pyrenees, which is further north, the sea breeze from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea cannot be blown, and the climate appears dry and cold.
A shepherd drove his flock on the hillside. Although the grass at this time had gradually withered, some fruits in autumn just happened to be the favorite of goats. They would eat for the winter. , So the sheep at this time is also the time to get fat.
Several cavalrymen galloped down from the hillside. They looked very anxious. They didn't slow down when they rushed to the shepherd. They stunned the flock and ran around.
The shepherd hurriedly greeted his flock while staring at the few uninvited guests with anger and indignity.
The cavalry apparently did not care about the frightened sheep at all. They kept whipping the mount and ran forward. Several smokes rose from behind them. When the smoke dispersed, the figures of the cavalry had disappeared.
The shepherd spit out a furious spit at the backs of those people, and then used a wooden stick to drive the scared sheep.
But before he could gather the sheep together again, another loud rumble of hoofs came down the hillside.
The shepherd looked up and looked at a group of cavalry running fast. He collapsed his shoulders helplessly, watching the cavalry pass by quickly. Some giant horseshoes of war horses directly kicked the goats in front of them. When she flew out, the shepherd could only make a cry of whether she was crying or cursing.
A gorgeously dressed knight suddenly raised his hand and threw two shiny things when he passed by him. The shepherd was a little stunned and immediately bent down to find it, which made the cavalry who nearly ran into him scold.
When the cavalry finally went away, the shepherd finally found the two coins buried under the dirt from the bumpy ground.
Looking at the flashing coins, the shepherd opened his mouth and smiled. He raised his hands to the backs of the cavalry who could no longer be seen. He raised his hands as if to say hello, and then shouted "God bless your generous lord" , Carefully put the money in his pocket.
The cavalry sprinted along the mountain road, and they hurried even during the break. Although they cursed the abominable Moor all the way, but after a hard march for more than half a month, This army from the interior of France finally crossed the Pyrenees and quietly arrived in a small town called Olite in the southeast of the Kingdom of Navarre in early November.
When they arrived at their destination, the French cavalry discovered that it was not just them who were suffering. The French army in some other places also came to Orite after such a hard march.
It's just that they all came here under the leadership of their respective lords or subordinate noble knights.
Shortly before this, the French troops that had arrived in the Ebro River had just taken the initiative to retreat. The number of these French troops was not much, and there was not much threat to the Castilians.
But the Castilians did not know that when this French army arrived at the Ebro River, in the following more than a month, there was a steady flow of troops from the French mainland and the Kingdom of Navarre to the two. National border assembly.
This cavalry from the interior of France is just a small part of it. During this time, such an army arrived in the small town of Olite almost every day. Some of them are about a few hundred, and some may only have dozens of people. The non-stop gathering of French troops on the border between the two countries far exceeded the Castilians' estimates.
After several consecutive battles in early November, Gonzalo, who fought against the Portuguese, wrote a letter to Isabella. In the letter, Gonzalo, who had always been arrogant and bold, showed the first time he was cautious. It was found that the Portuguese did not seem to display an unusually strong offensive desire as they thought. When the Castilians launched a counterattack, the Portuguese immediately retracted their fortress on the side of their border and took advantage of the solid terrain. , They dragged Gonzalo's army firmly, which made the excited Gonzalo, who was originally stimulated by victory, realize a strange smell.
He wrote a letter to the generals monitoring the French army in Navarre, warning them to be careful of the French movement, while quickly writing a letter to Bariari Dodd, hoping to attract the Queen ’s attention.
Gonzalo's messenger entered the city on the night of November 12. After learning that everyone had already slept, the messenger found a hotel for dinner, and then slept beautifully.
On the morning of the second day, the messenger came to the royal palace and asked to see the queen. After being told that the state affairs are now presided over by Mr. Gong Xiang, the messenger made another meeting request again.
The Castilian palace minister only saw Gonzalo's messenger in the afternoon, but before the palace minister opened the letter, an equally muddy man was already led by several guards who were equally panicked. Xia broke into Gong Xiang's office.
"French!" The man shouted loudly after he rushed in. "The French broke through the river Ebro, and they came with the Navarra!"
Gong Xiang suddenly turned blue when he heard the news, but he still tried to calm himself down ~ EbookFREE.me ~ and then cut Gonzalo's letter with a slightly trembling silver knife in his hand.
It's just that the contents of the letter made Gong Xiang look at it silently.
"My army is completely stuck here, which makes me very worried that the French may take the opportunity to send troops. If it is me, I will not let go of such a good opportunity. Now we have a pitiful force on the south bank of the Ebro As long as there is a reliable army and a bold commander, it is entirely possible that such a conjecture will occur, so Your Majesty I ask you to strengthen the defense of the Ebro River, because I worry that the French may attack at any time The time of this attack is not calculated in months or weeks, but in days. Perhaps the French were ready when I wrote this letter, so I ask you to do everything possible ... "
On November 7th, the French army launched an attack from the assembled city of Olite. It took only one day to cross the Ebode River and set foot on the land of Castile.
Also in November, the Naples fleet, which had been prepared for more than half a month, set sail from the port of Naples.
Their destination is Sicily!
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