eastern european eagle

Chapter 632 Confrontation
"Dear brother, there have been some changes in Naples recently. I hope you can help your nephew."

After Mary finished writing the letter, she asked someone to send it out immediately, asking her brother to come without delay. At the same time, she also wrote to her sister, the Duchess of Romagna, hoping that she could come to Naples to talk to her. Otherwise, she was a little scared to be alone.

The news of László's death spread throughout Naples within a few days, and various nobles were ready to fight for the position of cabinet minister.

At the latest cabinet meeting, Salvini, the Minister of General Affairs who handles national affairs and is also the Duke of Calabria, spoke first.

"Your Majesty's passing is the most severe blow to us. But we cannot dwell in sorrow. We need to let His Royal Highness succeed to the throne as soon as possible."

Peter sat in the main seat and watched the minister speak. His mother was crying beside him, which made him feel very stressed.

"According to my opinion, we need to guard against the threat from Aragon. They must want to take this opportunity to retake Sicily. We should stockpile a large number of troops here."

"Well, I'll do as you say."

Peter now needs to take over the state power as soon as possible and not let the enemy take advantage of the situation. He asked each minister to perform his duties and to eliminate all unstable factors in an emergency. And for Naples, the most important thing is to find foreign aid.

Most of the grain and fruit produced in Naples were exported to Romania, and they imported spices, ironware and other handicrafts and luxury goods from Romania. The economic and trade ties between the two sides were quite close, and coupled with the military port factor, Romania would keep its own at all costs.

"What's happening in other countries?" Peter asked.

"Basically there is no movement, but Aragon, Genoa, and Savoy are plotting something recently. I'm afraid they are going to do something in Sicily and Sardinia."

Sicily is a vulnerable place for Naples. Unlike Naples itself, the nobles of these two independent islands are very powerful. Even Laszlo has not completed the centralization of the local area, and with the death of the previous king, they will definitely take other actions.

"Watch out for Sicily and Sardinia. There's definitely trouble in these two places."

In Barcelona, ​​the capital of Aragon, King Ferdinand I was listening to a report from Naples.

"Hahahaha, he's finally dead. I don't know who did it, but he did a good job."

Ferdinand was undoubtedly happy. Since the loss of Sicily, Aragon's status has plummeted. The failure of the navy has reduced their territory to only the northeast corner of Iberia. Laszlo stepped on them and his status gradually rose.

Now that he is dead, this is a good time for Aragorn to regain his position.

"Can our troops be deployed?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The army is at your disposal. Genoa is also willing to transport your soldiers. You just need to pay." "Okay, it's just money. I have it."

In recent years, Aragon has developed the land around Barcelona. There is little arable land in Iberia, and Barcelona is one of the few plains. They built water conservancy facilities and encouraged the people to cultivate the land. After witnessing the rapid rise of Romania, they also began to take the mass line, giving citizens and farmers some rights and limiting the oppression of the nobles. There is some effect, at least fewer people fled south.

This policy had a huge impact on Aragon. The increase in cultivated land meant more income, and the taxes paid by farmers were twice as much as before Ferdinand ascended the throne. The second factor was population. The development of farmland attracted a large number of landless farmers, providing Aragon with sufficient labor resources.

With money and people, Aragon can rise again, and Naples is their first target.

"We have reached an agreement with the Harrison family of Sardinia and the Villa family of Sicily. If we can retake the two islands, they will become the Duke of Sardinia and the Duke of Sicily respectively. And they will regard Your Majesty as the King of Sardinia and Sicily."

Ferdinand was very satisfied with this, after all, he knew how difficult it was to centralize power. It would be better to delegate power to the local nobles and only require them to pay a tax.

However, Naples chose the most difficult path, which was to abolish the political rights of the nobles and let them live in the manors with their wealth. This was simply a betrayal of the aristocracy. Did they really think they could govern the country by just looking at the citizens? This was not a small country like Venice or Florence. To face a country with a very large territory and population, they needed the assistance of nobles and bureaucrats. But bureaucrats and nobles were one and the same, so offending the nobles was offending the bureaucrats.

He is doing this now to restore order and to restore the nobles to their rightful positions. He believes that everyone will support him.

And just as they thought, 33 nobles from Sardinia and Sicily jointly proposed to the new king, asking him to abolish some of the harsh policies of the previous king and let the nobles dominate the bureaucracy again. If they agreed, they would recognize his rule.

"Humph, this is a threat. They think that no one can cure them now that their father is dead. Am I weaker than my father?"

Peter did not want to be labeled as weak. During his time as a student in Constantinople, he realized that being tough was the way to maintain his power. Especially showing toughness to the enemy could temporarily centralize power. If he could win a battle, it would be a booster for expanding power.

Fortunately, his father left him a strong Naples. As of now, the whole of Naples has nearly 80 regular troops, and can recruit more. It also has a fleet of ships. These assets were left by Laszlo, the old father. Although it cost a lot, it was also the reason why other countries dared not touch them.

"Let our army gather in Naples, and the Calabrian army will cross the sea to Sicily to stabilize the situation. If Sardinia rebels, this place must not be implicated."

Of the two islands, Sicily is more important because the local wheat is an important food export and its geographical location is also relatively important, so if we have to choose between the two, Sicily will be the first choice.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Romagna is also on our side. The Duke is willing to send 4000 troops to assist us."

Although it was not much, Peter understood that this was the biggest aid they could get. In addition, his cousin, the Prince of Iberia, was willing to provide a part of the army to assist, which was his current trump card. The most important thing was still diplomatic deterrence. If Russia, Brandenburg, England and Romania worked together, the other countries would probably have no choice but to run away, so they had to wait.

(End of this chapter)