eastern european eagle

Chapter 567: Inspection of Spain
Seville, the capital of Spain.

Theodore was being introduced by the local chief executive as his future fiefdom, and he began to understand the true situation of this land.

The population of Andalusia exceeds one million, and the Baetis River passes through Cordoba and Seville. The fertile land provides a lot of food, and although Portugal, Castile and Aragon are eyeing it, the mountains in the north can still sustain it.

"Your Highness, Castile and Aragon are now preparing to unite against us. And this place is too far away from Constantinople. Only by entering Madrid and Toledo can the safety of Spain be guaranteed."

Theodore had no experience with such situations, so he looked to John next to him for help.

John served in Tuscany with all his heart and loyalty to the emperor, and the Mason family received many rewards for this.

However, every family will decline or even perish one day. Weren't all the great families in Florence executed by the emperor and him before? In order to keep the family alive forever, he had to find a powerful ally to marry, and the Roman royal family was his target.

The crown prince already had a marriage partner, so they set their sights on Theodore. Moreover, he was the future king of Iberia, and such an identity was worth fighting for by many people.

When Theodore was inspecting Iberia, John volunteered to be the prince's assistant, and Peter agreed, asking him to resign from his post in Tuscany and follow Theodore exclusively.

The little prince needed help at this time. John also saw Theodore's look of help and said.

"Iberia needs to recover after experiencing the pagans. The combined forces of Castile and Aragon in the north are putting a lot of pressure on us. For now, we can only take a defensive stance."

The land in Andalusia is fertile, but the Almoravid dynasty here was repeatedly defeated by the north. Because its focus was on Morocco in the south, it did not invest too much strength in the north, and the reinforcements were not timely, which led to the gradual loss.

"We can rely on our current position and the agriculture here to gradually accumulate strength. Although Castile looks strong, they are actually torn apart internally.

Their fighting is the most intense. We only need to wait for the right opportunity and then we can go north and capture them all in one fell swoop."

John's words temporarily reassured Theodore. As the future king of Iberia, he was under a lot of pressure. If he could get John to come to Seville, he would feel a lot more relaxed.

Compared with land and titles, Theodore still prefers sailing. Since the Vikings were able to find Vinland, he could also find new land. According to the data, he could find new land by going west out of Gibraltar, but no one knew how long it would take, fifty days, seventy days, or even a hundred days.

But if I were in Seville, I would not be free. Anyway, sailing by myself is impossible, so should I set up a sailing academy?
John also began to buy properties from Spain to take root. Some of these noble fiefs were distributed to farmers, and some were purchased by merchant nobles. John bought land near Seville and several wool workshops in the city. The sea was still the place of wealth for their family. ——————————

Castile's economy deteriorated further after the loss of Andalusia. Although most areas were suitable for raising sheep, they could not only eat mutton, and wool was also not edible. Fortunately, the grain of Aragon solved some of the problems.

At this time, King Juan is already 12 years old, Queen Mother Catherine is terminally ill, and the nobles are scheming against each other. The church, the nobles, and the citizens are fighting for power. Unknown difficulties are waiting for him.

Aragon was not in a better situation, as the loss of Sardinia had deprived them of a barrier. The Roman navy's ships often appeared on the sea, which made the new king Alfonso V feel sad.

He planned to rebuild the navy, but since he had no funds, he squeezed the pockets of the Jews (threatening to force them to be baptized as Christians if they did not pay taxes). He also imposed heavy taxes and levied severe taxes, but all of these were taken from the rich, and the common people loved him.

At the same time, Alfonso also actively negotiated with Genoa and other countries to expand local trade. Finally, the national strength was restored, and now it was necessary to continue to recuperate. As far as he knew, the Duke of Burgundy was forming a new round of anti-Roman alliance.

From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, Roman merchant ships crisscrossed the sea. Western European countries were horrified to find that they had been surrounded by Rome and its allies, and that all important places were basically occupied by Roman forces. They had to break out.

In fact, except for the Øresund Strait in the Baltic Sea, other places were more or less influenced by Rome. Rome influenced the local area through trade goods every year. If they wanted to break through, they had to risk bypassing the turbulent Scotland, but after bypassing it, they had to risk passing through Ireland. This route was not only time-consuming, but also had other dangers. Therefore, they would not choose this route unless they had no choice.

Since the open sea was not an option, the inland rivers had to be controlled. The Loire, Rhine, Elbe, Vistula and other rivers were still under their control, as was the upper reaches of the Danube.

After being severely damaged, John reorganized the army again, began to pay attention to the development of artillery and muskets, and let his 20-year-old son Philip join the army for training. An agreement was reached with the Duke of Orleans before, the two sides ceased fighting, Burgundy obtained some French land, and John was also committed to connecting the north and south lands together, and now it was almost done.

Compared with the first anti-Roman alliance, the second alliance was not only against Romania, but also against Brandenburg, England, Russia and Hungary. Even the church joined in. Pope Martin V issued an edict proposing to retake the holy city of Rome, so the bishopric also joined the alliance and increased their strength.

John's plan was simple. Since Rome was strong, he would attack the weak first. Burgundy attacked Brandenburg, Austria attacked Hungary, Orleans attacked England, Poland and Lithuania attacked Russia. If they attacked at the same time, Rome would not be able to cope with them. Then he would let the Arab cavalry harass the border, and Rome would be exhausted within half a year. Then he would lead his army to a decisive battle with the enemy, and he would surely succeed.

As for the subsequent division of the spoils, that was their business. Burgundy only needed to get Sigismund to agree to its previous conditions.

(End of this chapter)