Chapter 40: Charles 8 withdraws north

In Naples, Italy, King Charles VIII was very distressed and even a little desperate. why? Since entering the Italian army, the French army has been very smooth. The so-called "attack is invincible and invincible."
Basically, the Italian army, which resisted the French army, saw the French army and fled. Therefore, the French army almost lost nothing from Lombardy to Naples. It was only after entering Naples that many people were lost in several siege battles against the city. The other battles were basically run by the Italians themselves.
However, after entering Naples, the French army contracted a strange and terrible illness-syphilis ...
This extremely infectious disease is mainly transmitted through promiscuity. According to subsequent studies by scientists in 2011, syphilis was brought back from the Americas by Columbus two years ago. At that time, Columbus brought back a group of Indian female slaves from the Caribbean Islands in central America, and these female slaves were infected with syphilis.
Later, some Spaniards contracted syphilis with the slave women. And the island of Sicily next to the Kingdom of Naples is also Spanish territory. As a result, some Spanish clients brought syphilis to Sicily, and then transmitted it to neighboring Neapolitans through the Sicilian prostitutes, and then into the Kingdom of Naples ...
After the French army occupied the Kingdom of Naples, tens of thousands of young men, there must be such a group of coquettish guys, went to the Naples brothel to make a mess. Then they caught it.
In this era, mercenaries especially like drinking and prostitutes. Then, through these Naples prostitutes, many French people contracted this serious disease.
As a result, many French soldiers and Savoy soldiers were recruited one after another, and they started to grow plum-shaped pustules, and their skin began to fester ... Then, they died ...
Because the patient died of this disease was too miserable, causing serious panic in the French army. What's even more tragic is that the French have no idea how the disease came from ...
The morale of the French army was reduced to a minimum because of syphilis. At the same time, Charles VIII learned that Venice, the Papal States, the Duchy of Milan, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and some small states in Italy had formed anti-French alliances.
Not only that, the powerful Venetian navy also dispatched a fleet to bypass the southern tip of the Apennine Peninsula and began to block the sea route from Naples to Marseille, France.
This made Charles VIII realize that if he continued to stay in Naples, he might be trapped here. Other people are trapped here, but he can't. He is the king of France. If he is not in the country for a long time, it will easily lead to domestic changes. Moreover, it is said that the British also began to harass the Brittany region in northwestern France.
So, Charles VIII decided to return to the country and stabilize the situation. To this end, he was in the army, selecting soldiers who were not infected with syphilis, and returned home with him in a bucket.
It was fortunate that Charles VIII arrived. Fortunately, among his tens of thousands of troops, the heavy cavalry of the French knight family was probably the reason for relatively restrained life (not a good person). Most of them did not contract syphilis.
Most of the soldiers who became infected with syphilis were those mercenary mercenaries, especially those from Savoi Piemonte, Italy. These are the most and thirsty, so the stroke rate is also very high.
By May, the 23,000 troops of the Principality of Savoy had basically collapsed, leaving only a few thousand people in their hearts, but they also completely lost their fighting spirit. Many people, because of fear, quietly fled the army and returned to their hometowns.
As for the French side, Charles VIII chose 8,000 French knights who were still healthy, and 4,000 Swiss mercenaries, and began to go north, intending to kill the country while the anti-French alliance had not yet responded. First, to maintain domestic stability, and secondly, to escape that terrible syphilis ...
At the same time, in order to control the occupied Naples kingdom, Charles VIII left unlucky Gilbert de Montponsière as the governor of Naples, and led the rest of the army to continue to occupy Naples. This jun was later unlucky, and seemed to die in the hands of syphilis. Then the French army in Naples collapsed and the French were expelled from Italy.
撤 Charles VIII retreating north is a similar escape behavior. As a result, the morale of the French army was relatively low. And because of a serious shortage of supplies, coupled with 8,000 heavy cavalry carrying as many as 16,000 horses (each heavy cavalry carrying a war horse and a bridle), the demand for food and grass was extremely great. The French were in short supply because the maritime transport route was cut off by the Venice Navy. Therefore, Charles VIII had to order to send troops to grab food along the way, otherwise, the French army would simply be unable to survive.
In fact, not all of the 12,000 French officers selected by Charles VIII were healthy. Some people were infected with syphilis, but were still in the virus incubation period in Naples. So I didn't see it then. But during the journey north, these guys also raped local women while they were grabbing food. Then, syphilis spread along the French march line ...
At this time, people all over Italy were very angry about the brutality of the French army and organized resistance to the people. Therefore, when the French army went north, they encountered a lot of resistance. In order to obtain sufficient supplies, the French army often had to besiege those small cities. However, people fiercely resisted, and although they failed in the end, they greatly delayed the pace of the French army northward, making the French army march very slowly.
When passing through the Papal State, the Pope was treacherous and knew that the French would rob. He had already transferred all the main supplies to Rome and other sturdy big cities, forcing the French army in the Pope ’s country and having to find those remote towns Go robbery to get enough food and supplies. Otherwise, Charles VIII could not afford so many people and horses.
When the French were tortured northward, the anti-French coalition forces also struggled and quarreled. Of course, the quarrels of the Italians are not like the Shinra Council. The quarrel between the Shen Luo Empire Council is a fierce struggle for the distribution of power and the joint restrictions of the emperors on the emperor. The quarrel among the Italians is often for trivial matters, which make people laugh.
While marching south, Marin also saw the amusingness of Italian mercenaries ...
I often saw a beautiful the march, and many Italian mercenaries left the team without permission, ran to pick up girls, and ignored the military discipline.
When encountering some wineries, these bandit-like Italian mercenaries would also break into the door and rob the host's wine. Then, on the march, you will see Italian mercenaries with many wine bottles tied to their bodies ...
So, speaking, the anti-French coalition at this time was not marching faster than the French. The French delayed their speed because of a lack of food, while the Italians slowed their march because of aggression ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Also, because the coalition ’s nominal coach, Maximilian I, was not there, The Marquis Mandova and Venetian General Nicolo Piti Liuno appear to be fighting for the command of the coalition, causing the army to be frustrated.
伯 Count Alfred also seemed very dissatisfied with the Italian's tease, so Shen Luo's army did not go with Italy afterwards, but went a different way. However, in order to wait for the return of the emperor, the Shen Luo army also deliberately slowed down, even far behind the Italian army.
Marin seemed to understand why the Battle of Fornovo was fought by the Italian allies, but nothing happened to the Shen Luo Empire. Because the two armies are not together at all ...
The troops of the two parties are divided into two paths. The Italian aggression regiment, led by Italian states such as Venice, Mandowa, and Milan, has a total of about 20,000 people.
At the other end, it was temporarily led by Count Alfred, including 11,000 people from Shen Luo, and several Italian troops with a closer relationship with Shen Luo, a total of 15,000 people.
Therefore, the history book also says that there are 35,000 troops in the Holy Alliance. However, in fact, the 15,000 troops of Shenluo did not participate in the battle of Fornovo at all. The battle was completely fought by the Italian allies, so it is not surprising at all.
Umarin did not intervene in the marching route of the Imperial Army. At this time, it was only in early June. It will take about a month for the Italians to force the coalition against the French. If he intervenes, the Italians and the French may not meet. At that time, his "prophets and premonitions" would be useless ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Welcome the book readers to read, the latest, fastest and hottest serial works are all in ~ EbookFREE.me ~ To reading.