Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 240 Miss, you don't want your artwork to be smashed by barbarians, do you?
Joanna was still a little worried about Guo Kang's state, but Guo Kang had recovered and began to answer her questions.

"You don't have to worry." He comforted: "We will definitely focus on Mediterranean trade for a long time. The idea of ​​marching west to the sea does not need to be too urgent. We can wait for us to manage Andalusia first. After Morocco, it will start at the same time as going south to West Africa. At present, there is still no need to consider so far.”

"I also understand." Joanna nodded: "But you also know that Rome's strength and energy are limited after all. Is it enough to go in so many directions together? I see that your plan always considers all directions. Go in. But if you force a multi-line attack, it may cause neither side to do well."

"That's not a problem." Tuo Huan Gang Guo Kang explained: "Actually, you are still not very familiar with our environment. In our position, we need to attack from multiple lines."

"We have Poles in the north, Rus in the northeast, Turkmen in the east, and the city-states of Tianfangjiao in the southeast." He listed: "Alemanni in the northwest, Italians in the west, a string of people in the southwest and south." islands, and Egypt across the South Sea."

"This location is surrounded by enemies, not to mention the bordering areas, even across the sea. Moreover, the Mediterranean Sea is very convenient to cross the sea. The enemies of Italy and Egypt can invade directly across the sea, which may be more convenient than going by land. "

"So this is actually the Three Jins of the Warring States Period, and its position is in the world. Either be strong and enterprising, or perish directly. There is no other choice."

"Yes, and there is another reason." Guo Kang added: "Generally speaking, although at the same time, we do theoretically only determine one main direction. But in the secondary direction, we also need to maintain the offensive momentum and maintain pressure."

"This is because, after decades of exploration, we have found that it is useless to rely on covenants and oaths to maintain stability in a certain direction. Especially in the north, ordinary diplomatic means cannot achieve our goals."

"If you want to make a temporary concession, the other party will ask for more; if you persuade them that we have a common enemy, the other party will still insist on fighting with both sides, and often attack us first. In this case, negotiation and lobbying are almost useless."

"So, it's not just strategic, it's diplomatic. We'd rather negotiate with the Turkmen chiefs than engage in diplomacy with the Alemanni. Not only is this kind of pointless, but it makes them think that we are I only came to talk about it with a guilty conscience."

"Our current experience is to refuse to conduct all negotiations other than surrender." He spread his hands: "This little trick is especially effective when dealing with Poland and the Alemanni."

"Is that so?" Joanna looked very interested: "This sounds quite unreasonable."

"No way, they only have this kind of virtue." Guo Kang was also a little helpless: "These people think they are smart, and they will try to use their brains to think, and they always want to take advantage of it. When negotiating, other methods are useless except threats. .Instead of doing this, it is better to directly carry out threatening military operations.”

"If there is a threat in the negotiation, they will think that the threat is empty. And if only military pressure is applied but the communication is refused, they will not understand our purpose, so they will be confused and afraid. In this way, because they will be blind Thinking about it is more effective than direct negotiation."

"Also, after being intimidated many times, there will always be a few military leaders who feel that they have been played. They will think that we have no strength to really attack, and they are just trying to scare them from taking the initiative. These people tend to attack easily , and then lost because of anger and underestimation of the enemy. These consequences will further affect the follow-up people."

"Anyway, their side is quite special. I suspect that this strange state is caused by their political system and military organization." Guo Kang thought for a while and said:

"For the Turkmen and Rus tribes whose culture is more backward, this trick is not suitable. Their minds are much more 'simple'. They always threaten them, and they will really push them to your death. For those people, use The traditional method of giving a stick and rewarding a bunch of grapes is the best. Instead, it is not such a routine."

Joanna thought for a while, and seemed to understand.

"I thought you already understood this." Tuo Huan was a little surprised: "I think you should have a deeper impression of the Alemanni."

"Hey, I understand it, but it's useless to understand it with our little military strength." Joanna looked a little helpless: "That's why we have to ask for help everywhere, because a big country like you must intervene. We have the wiggle room."

"Even if we understand, we can only use our brains in this direction. The deterrent method you mentioned just now is probably meaningless to us..."

"Okay." Tuo Huan understood now.

"That's why I said, if you develop in the direction of the Mediterranean, my family and friends will definitely fully support it. This is not only for the benefit, but also has safety factors in it." Joanna explained.

"Even capricious speculators now hope that more forces will intervene. Because the French and the Alemanni are too brutal. Especially now that the French are caught in war and cannot form enough constraints, Aleman The Nepalese are simply unscrupulous. If you can really intervene, even if it’s just a show, to scare those barbarians, our situation may be better.”

Guo Kang thought about it and felt that this was indeed a very important reason.

In this era, the barbarism and cruelty of European history may exceed many people's expectations.The dark scenes in the history of Seris are often impressive, and even think that contemporary Europe is a paradise.But unfortunately, in most cases, it's just that these bloody histories are not well known.

The concerns of the upper echelons of the Italian city-states about security issues are not unfounded.

In this era, they were indeed economically prosperous and culturally prosperous, and entered an era called the "Renaissance" by later generations.In Guo Kang's impression, this should be a common sense that everyone from Ireland to Khitan knows.He himself knew the beginning, the peak, and the glory it brought to Italy from books very early on.

How it ended up in Italy, though, is less well known.

In 1527, the Shinra army invaded Rome and carried out a massacre that lasted eight days.The rebels set fire to all over the city, destroying classics and works in batches.

Among the soldiers, there are a large number of Protestants from the north.They destroyed monasteries and churches, tortured painters and poets for fun, and randomly carved Martin Luther's name on Raphael's murals.The University of Rome was looted, and a large number of scholars were massacred by soldiers; Raphael's art school was forced to disband immediately because of too many casualties.

Later generations do not know how many residents were killed in this disaster, because the number of the dead was far greater than that of the dead citizens. During the looting, serious civil strife broke out among various armies competing for treasure.

Afterwards, the army wandered around for eight months, plundering the region from Milan to Rome.The destruction was so complete that the army itself fell into a famine.They didn't deal with the many corpses, and they lived around for a long time, which caused the plague again.In the end, the Shinra army also left a large number of corpses and left in a hurry, making it difficult for people to tell the exact number of victims.

This incident may have gone beyond the category of brutality - Tucheng slaughtered himself like this, to be honest, it is really rare.

And after this incident, the high period of the Italian Renaissance came to an end.

The population of Rome fell from nearly 1 to [-].The Church, which had been a major patron of art, philosophy, and even science, was also battered, never to restore its splendor.

So, the Renaissance wasn't "finished."It's not as beautiful as it fulfilled its mission and then handed over the baton to future generations.

The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment did not appear end to end and in sequence.Nor does it mean that Europeans have a "civilized degree": after the Renaissance, they can improve a little; after the Reformation, they can improve a little;

On the contrary, it may even be said that the fruits of the Reformation directly participated in destroying the most precious fruits of the Renaissance.

Cordoba is over, Constantinople is over, Rome is over—this is the "order" of development in Western Europe.

At the beginning, Guo Kang also seriously considered these issues.But now, he has roughly figured it out.

"It is impossible for us to give up our attention to Italy. You can rest assured." He said to Joanna: "Rome is our old capital, and we will take it back sooner or later. Otherwise, how can we call ourselves this name? But you also see When it comes, we have been unable to protect ourselves for a long time, so we can't manage so far."

"But now, if you want to manage the Mediterranean region, you definitely can't ignore it. Especially in the current situation, I suspect that there may be changes in Naples. If there is a new round of competition for the throne, we must also participate in it to prevent being attacked by the enemy. Take control of this important fenced area."

"That's true." Tuo Huan also agreed: "Although it is not the main direction of action now, we will definitely keep an eye on it, and it is impossible to ignore it. Now we also have enough reserves. If something goes wrong, our legion will definitely Will react faster than their motley crew."

What he said was very confident, and it was indeed true.

Compared with other European countries, the military system of the Purple Horde allows them to deploy an army at any time to quickly intervene in emergencies.For other countries, recruiting vassals and recruiting mercenaries is a time-consuming process, and it is difficult for the monarch to keep them on standby at all times, so the speed of action must suffer.

Over the years, other countries have indeed realized this, but the military system of a country is ultimately derived from the political system.Without changing the way the entire country is organized, the new military system is also a castle in the air.

Therefore, everyone can only tinker and try to use various remedial measures so that the gap in this area will not be too large.As for completely changing the country, this is really impossible.

Joanna obviously understood this too.She nodded in agreement, but reminded: "Since this is the case, should we also prepare in advance in terms of publicity? Do you have any ready-made reasons for intervention?"

"Yes." Guo Kang said without hesitation: "I know the lineage of Naples. The current king of Naples is called Ladislaus, and his ancestor seems to be the descendant of the Cuman Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the daughter of Ketaian Khan, so We can go after Kotayan Khan in the same old fashion, and then wipe out Naples."

"Guo Kang Anda is right." Tuo Huan agreed without thinking, "We can just say that when we need it."

"No." Joanna reminded: "Elizabeth and her husband, the last offspring, was Queen Joanna I decades ago. After she was killed, this line was cut off. Killed her to seize the throne, It's her cousin Carlo III, who has no blood relationship with Ketaian Khan."

"However, there are also things worth noting here. You see, the inheritance laws of Sicily and Naples allow women to inherit..."

However, Guo Kang didn't care about the second half of her sentence, but immediately thought of a way to answer Chase's question.

"That's not what you said." He argued strongly, "When a cousin inherits his cousin's family business, he also has to inherit the other family's family. Inherited. So although blood is a little farther away, legally, he is still a descendant of Ketaian Khan. We still have reasons to pursue him."

"Hey? Can Europeans accept it too?" Tuo Huan was a little surprised: "Do the other lords and the Pope recognize it?"

"Maybe there is no such name, but the nature is the same anyway." Guo Kang continued to forcefully explain: "If he refuses to admit it, it will be unethical. Let alone the Pope, even if he sues the Ming Dynasty, he will not favor him. "

"I think what Guo Kang Anda said is right." Tuo Huan suddenly realized: "Actually, we can use etiquette as an excuse to start a war in the future."

Joanna found helplessly that the two of them seemed to have no interest in the topic she hinted at.

In fact, the relationship here is relatively simple in Europe's complex aristocratic marriage network: Joanna's mother is the deposed Hungarian Queen Maria, and her maternal grandfather is Lajos I of the Anjou Dynasty—that is, Naples. That Anjou dynasty.

Her maternal grandfather was the cousin of Carlo, the former king of Naples.

During the reign of Lajos I, he sent troops to Naples many times.At first, he supported his younger brother, but later he simply wanted to annex it directly.It was only because of the intervention of other countries that it failed.

After the death of Lajos, Carlo, King of Naples, also operated in reverse, trying to expel Queen Maria and take over Hungary.It was only in the melee of all parties that Carlo was assassinated, and his son Ladislaus was subsequently defeated and returned to Naples.It can be seen that the two are very close and can compete for the throne with each other.

Joanna hoped that Guo Kang could at least think of her and his mother when mentioning this matter.However, Guo Kang even thought out the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't expect this relationship...

She didn't know if it was good to say it straight, so she could only look at the two people pitifully: "Is it really okay to just find a reason like this? Don't you need to consider the support of the local people?"

"It's okay, of course we know." Guo Kang showed a heroic smile: "Don't worry, we will protect the local people from the barbarians. They will know who to support when the time comes."

"Guo Kang Anda is right." Tuo Huan also agreed: "It shouldn't be difficult to understand. Miss, you don't want your artwork to be smashed by barbarians, do you?"

(End of this chapter)