Vol 7 Chapter 263: Long live the king

Although Madrid has a long history, in the previous centuries, the city has not received much attention.
No one built the original fort here, and after centuries of expansion, it became what it is today.
The city of Madrid is located in the middle of a hill, and the Manzanares River runs through the city.
As the terrain gradually expands, the entire city has no specific scale.
This is an irregular city, with rugged and narrow streets and alleys everywhere.
Except for the streets where the rich and nobles gather in some cities, most of Madrid are simple and low stone houses.
Teams of soldiers ran forward along the street. They stepped on dirty puddles and splashed sewage on the clothes of pedestrians, causing a wave of scolding.
However, people soon discovered that these menacing soldiers did not seem to be the guards in the usual city. Especially seeing the terrible weapons in their hands, people began to realize that something terrible might have happened.
Residents hid in their houses one after another, watching the passing troops from the windows nervously.
A group of soldiers came outside the residence of the Chief Justice of Madrid. They surrounded the house quickly, then knocked on the door of the house, and then swarmed in.
They were only disappointed that the judge was not at home. The lady of the judge, who tried to maintain her dignity, told them that after receiving a seemingly surprising news, the judge hurried to the palace, and as far as she knew, There were many other nobles in Madrid who rushed to the palace with the judge.
These soldiers were very skeptical of what the Justice's wife said, but they had already received an order absolutely forbidden to offend these nobles, so although the Justice was not found, they had to leave a few guards, and then go to other places to continue looking for those who were ordered to look for. noble.
But soon they learned from some of the same empty-handed companions that Mrs. Justice was telling the truth.
Because of an unexpected news that suddenly came from Vallitod, the nobles rushed to the palace in a hurry.
There, the mayor of Madrid is waiting for the local nobles.
Although it is highly regarded, Madrid is still just an ordinary city, so except for the officials sent by Valaritod, most of Madrid's government affairs are controlled by the local nobles.
Now, these people are in the palace.
This news somewhat disappointed Gonzalo.
In his original plan, after mastering the troops sent by Madrid, he would lead them to quickly occupy the city while controlling the local nobles.
But now because the nobles gathered in the palace, at least half of his plan fell through.
This also made the soldiers who had just obeyed his orders to turn back in secret.
The commotion among the soldiers caught Gonzalo's attention, and he knew that he had to act decisively at this time, otherwise an accident might happen.
Gonzalo immediately ordered some soldiers to continue occupying some important places in the city, while he himself led most of the soldiers to the palace.
The Sisters of the Sun Square is a small fountain square. There are two long steps running through the entire ground along the topography of the square, which is higher in the west and lower in the east. It is named because of a very old fountain.
Long ago, it was the era of Moorish rule. The locals dug out two fountains with sweet water quality here.
People at that time named them the sun because the direction of the water from the two fountains was exactly facing the sun, and perhaps due to the tides, the two fountains always ejected spring water of the same size and height due to the rising water level at the same time, so they named them the sun. sisters.
Centuries have passed, the Moors have already been driven away, and the two fountains have dried up. Similarly, the Plaza del Sol has become Madrid’s largest grocery market.
Nowadays, there are many tents erected everywhere here, and countless patched awnings are crowded together one after another. When someone passes under the shed, even if the sun is hot, it is not easy to get the sun. .
People can buy almost anything they can think of here. Countless merchants from all over the world gather here to conduct various trading transactions. With the growing scale, the Sisters of the Sun Square is now almost second only to Seville. Asia’s miscellaneous trading place.
Even in terms of scale, even if it is the silk market in Valencia, if those real bulk transactions are opened up. It cannot be compared with the daily transactions here.
Gonzalo was walking forward slowly amidst crowds of people screaming, bargaining, and arguing with red faces because of business failures.
Gonzalo is a soldier. He is passionate about war and wealth. If he can take care of both, it will be a gift from God to him.
Isabella was able to satisfy his wish. While she was alive, she gave Gonzalo honor, status and money, and given him great power because of her favor.
All of these made Gonzalo once floated and thought that he would probably have such a lucky life in his life.
His idea will not be completely broken until Isabella is dead.
Several businessmen in front were blushing because of their disagreements and disputes. Gonzalo stopped to look at them, and then turned to look at the same noisy crowd in other places nearby.
Of course Gonzalo knew that these red-faced businessmen were actually fighting for every gold coin they earned, but he didn’t know what it meant for Castilla, or the kingdom of Spain in the future. what.
With the union of Isabella and Ferdinand, the two countries of Castile and Aragon finally gave up years of disputes and took a difficult but determined step towards reunification.
Even after so many years, the grand occasion when the couple entered Madrid is still talked about by the locals.
It's just that everything is not so easy. Years of estrangement will not quickly bring the two countries together, let alone become a unified kingdom.
This wish was still what she worried about the most when Isabella died.
However, once the pace of unification is taken, it cannot be stopped, and the prosperity of Madrid is the most direct proof of this trend.
Although they have never admitted, the Isabella and his wife have clearly realized that neither Vallaridod nor Zaragoza, no matter the size of the city or historical reasons, will not become the capital of a unified Spanish kingdom in the future.
It is impossible for the Castilians to accept that Zaragoza should be the capital of the future kingdom. Similarly, the workers of God cannot tolerate Barriaridde bowing to the Castilians.
Under this incompatibility, their eyes turned to Madrid unanimously.
Madrid is located between the two countries. In the early years, the Castilians built fortresses with the terrain to prevent the Aragonese.
In the following many years, the Moors and Castilians expanded these fortresses respectively, until they gradually formed a large-scale city.
Madrid, which was expanded about a century ago, has gradually become one of the largest cities in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.
To rebuild a capital in this city acceptable to both parties, Isabella and Ferdinand had previously discussed in private.
Perhaps it was the great enthusiasm shown by the Madrid people when they came to this city that moved them. The Isabella and his wife have placed great expectations on Madrid.
Moreover, the development of the city is indeed impressive. Today, Madrid has become a major commercial port in the northern part of the peninsula.
It's just maybe because the Moors were driven away many years ago, and then gradually lost its role as a military fortress as the relationship with Aragon eased. Although Madrid is developing rapidly, it does not have enough troops here. .
The troops sent to Toledo are already a considerable part of the Madrid garrison.
When Gonzalo finally walked through the Plaza of the Sisters of the Sun, he also saw the Carlos I Palace not far from the square.
But of course this place is not yet called by this name. Although the palace standing between the two towering fortresses looks a bit abrupt from a distance, it has not yet become the huge group of palaces later called "Mother of Versailles". Naturally, there is no glorious garden that was once the largest in Europe.
In the current Carlos I Palace, there was just a long wall connecting them between two adjacent fortresses. There is still no shadow of the future palace in the large deserted open space behind the wall.
The fort is very tall and strong. This is the result of the expansion of the original fort built by the Moors by Enrique III.
In addition to these two larger fortresses, what Enrique III left to Madrid was the small palace that looked a little lonely behind the long wall.
There, Enrique III spent the rest of his life comfortably, but his descendants obviously had no interest in Madrid. Soon after his death, his sons moved the capital to Toledo.
Gonzalo looked at the fortress from a distance, wondering how sure he could quickly occupy the two buildings if he had to attack the city forcibly.
The result was disappointing. The two fortresses that Enrique III spent a lot of money to reinforce and expand for safety have now become obstacles blocking Gonzalo's path.
"Fortunately, there are not many troops in Madrid."
Although his own subordinates are not many, Gonzalo feels lucky that the enemy also has very few troops.
Looking back at his men who were still struggling among the various criss-crossing stalls and shantytowns, Gonzalo waved casually to the people around him.
Seeing the soldiers suddenly appeared, the grocery market, which had vaguely discovered something was wrong, began to chaos. The merchants panicked and packed their stalls, and more people fled in panic.
The chaos in the market has also caught the attention of the fortress, noticing that someone was looking down, Gonzalo took the lead and walked towards the long wall.
Not far from the long wall, Gonzalo stopped. He raised his head and looked at the wall carefully, and then let out a sigh that the people around him didn't understand.
"The Duke seems to want to occupy Madrid," Gonzalo turned around and said to his men around him. He smiled when he saw the slightly weird faces of the officers who were originally the Madrid defenders. In the palace, I have a good talk with the nobles of Madrid. Believe me, this will not be long."
The soldiers hesitated to look at the fortress not far away. It was very strong. Just look at the huge boulders and the defenders, who could not stand by the favorable terrain, Gonzalo’s men. Can't help but feel a little uneasy.
"My lord, maybe we shouldn't attack the castle so easily."
Looking at the person who said this, Gonzalo did not blame him, but opened his arms to the defender on the wall two steps forward.
"I am Gonzalo de Cordoba, and I want to know who I can talk to now."
Looking at the people below, there seemed to be a commotion on the wall.
"It seems that our arrival has made some people uncomfortable," Gonzalo said back to his men. "But it's nothing. Soon they will know what to do."
The people who responded were much faster than they thought, which even surprised Gonzalo, and strangely, when he recognized that the person standing outside was indeed Gonzalo de Cordoba, the long wall and There was a burst of cheers from the nearest fortress.
"It's really the Duke of Mondilla!"
Gonzalo clearly heard someone call him that, which made him feel a little strange.
Those who are a little familiar with him know that Gonzalo prefers others to call him the captain of the knights, and only on some very special occasions does he call himself Duke of Mondilla.
This habit is already well known among the Castilian nobles, so now that someone calls him a duke, Gonzalo vaguely feels something is a little unusual.
Two heavy wooden doors under the long wall opened, and a group of people walked out of it, which surprised Gonzalo again.
Looking at the two people walking in the front wearing eye-catching gold ornaments and holding a staff, Gonzalo had to signal the vigilant soldiers behind him who were ready to attack, asking them to temporarily lay down their weapons.
Gonzalo knew one of the two, and the other could be easily guessed from his clothes and gold ornaments.
"Duke, to be able to see you at this most difficult time, God must be merciful to us."
The Madrid judge holding a cane was a little agitated. He not only bowed and saluted but also tried to kiss Gonzalo's hand, which made Gonzalo surprised because of the accident.
"My lord, it's great for you to be here in time," and the mayor of Madrid, who stood by, also expressed excitement in a tone that seemed relieved. "You can imagine what we are like now, which is really true for all of us. It’s terrible, but fortunately you are here now. My lord, we all obey your orders."
Gonzalo looked at these Madrid officials and aristocrats in an incredible way, UU reading www. For a moment, uukanshu.com felt that either these people were crazy, or he was crazy.
It's just that although he was baffled by the scene before him, he was sensibly told at this time that he would never let the other party discover that he was actually also unclear.
Thinking of this, Gonzalo's face showed the look of everything under control, but just as he was going to ask what happened, an officer hurried through the crowd and came to him.
"My lord!" The officer glanced at the Madrid people. Although guessing that Gonzalo might have heard of what happened, he still whispered in the general's ear the shocking news he had just received. "I heard that Ferdinand The Queen’s Guard was disarmed and Queen Juana was placed under house arrest."
Hearing this, Gonzalo could no longer conceal the surprise and shock on his face. He suddenly looked back at the Madrid people opposite!
From their looks, Gonzalo realized that the news should be true.
At this moment, Gonzalo was silent.
After a while, under the gaze of people, Gonzalo suddenly said something that surprised everyone: "Long live the king."