Chapter 69 Young Master
Alexander regretted why he had not selected Latin, Hebrew, or other classical languages, otherwise he would not have looked at the letters turning around in the paper songs but could only open his eyes and be blinded.
Obviously, the letterwriter was also very cautious. He did not see the signature on the letter, nor did he see the most popular seal with a family badge at the moment. I believe that even if such a letter falls into the hands of others, even if he can clearly guess the identity of the letterwriter, it should not cause any trouble to him.
As for the fact that if it falls into the hands of someone like Alexander, there is no need to worry about leaking the secret.
However, Modillo's words were enough to make Alexander think a lot.
Although there are still many people who can communicate with the Count, as the letter said, I hope that the French will continue to stay in Italy, or who can get benefits from it, the identity of the writer will be revealed.
On that not very long list, there was a man's name swaying in Alexander's mind.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Unlike others who always had only guesses, Alexander knew more than anyone else Ferdinand II's ambitions for Naples.
As a descendant of the Aragonian royal family, Ferdinand II coveted Naples even more speculations, so when the French invaded Naples, he immediately responded to Naples' request for help and sent his wife's beloved general to Gonzalo, who shined in the war to recover the lost ground, and asked him to bring enough troops and money to Naples.
Gonzalo did not disappoint Ferdinand. While fighting the French, he also beat Naples's already crumbling rule. He even mercilessly deprived Alfonso II, who was still the king of Naples at that time, in the name of the army's need for unified command and the opponent was too stupid. So that when the unlucky madman Ferdinand inherited his father's throne, there was almost no soldier available except for the royal guards who were on the side.
The result of Gonzalo's arrogant behavior was nothing more than an inconsequential reprimand by Ferdinand.
Even after that, Ferdinand acquiesced to such near-rebellion.
However, what made Alexander know that Ferdinand was truly ambitious about Naples was that a few years later, the King of Aragon, who had the same clan and ancestor as Naples, would not be able to endure his greed, and eventually completely turned against Frederick, the king of Naples at that time, and directly annexed Naples.
How many years could Frederick be the king of Naples?
4 years or 5 years?
Where will you be then?
Alexander calculated it in his heart, and then shook his head slightly. He knew that this loss business seemed to be a sure thing.
50,000 Shepherd's wheat, a large number of oats and other grains will be taken to the north by James, and the stallions he paid for and the Columbus diary that Alexander cared about were not known when they would be able to get it.
Modillo seemed to see Alexander's unhappiness, which made the count a little happy. I don't know when it started, but the count felt indescribable comfort when he saw this young man being frustrated. He believed that as long as he came here a few more times, the young man would obediently obey his arrangements.
Thinking about it now, a smart and obedient young man seems to be very good, at least much better than a stupid guy.
Looking at Alexander's handsome face with a melancholy expression on his eyebrows due to depression, Modillo suddenly had an idea that he had never before before. Although this idea was just a hurry, he didn't let it go and grabbed it immediately, and then decided to give it a try.
"The life in the monastery makes you a little boring," Modilo reached out to put his shoulders, and patted his fingers gently on his shoulders. "You should learn more about things that can enjoy life more, such as attending more banquets, and learning to dress up. I'm not saying that your clothes are not good now, but I think of that Osborne, who actually made you come to Naples like this, which is a bit strange." When he talked about Osborne, Modilo looked a little strange, but he tried to make his tone sound natural, and then he took out a bulging purse from another secret compartment on the table. "Don't frown, you know that you have made enough money from me. In order to feed those Naples, I'm bleeding this time."
"But this is not my reward for buying wheat," Modillo said when stuffing his purse into Alexander's hand. "This is my personal wish. Thank you for your help. I must admit that I owe you a favor in this matter, so go to the city and have fun. I will arrange for someone to accompany you. That guy will not disappoint you, at least you can avoid those sick prostitutes when you are having fun."
Alexander looked at Modillo for no reason. He didn't know why the count was suddenly so interested in his personal life. And when he heard that tone, he was completely like he wanted to train him into a playboy.
Sure enough, seeing that Alexander was still hesitant, the count simply ordered his servant to call a guy who looked very slippery. After giving the order, he patted Alexander on the shoulder and laughed and said, "Go and spend money, young man, spend all that money. This is what the Modilo family should do."
Looking at Modillo's smile, Alexander suddenly had an illusion that he had really become his cheap nephew.
The man who was ordered by Modillo to be Alexander's follower was named Mario, a name that not only ordinary, but also made Alexander think of a specific person, so he thought it was easy to remember.
Mario was a local master, or a custom master. Although Alexander soon discovered that most of the places he was proficient in were not very good at taste, it did allow him to see another side of Naples.
Mario knew where almost all the Naples's socialites were, and knew their schedules better. So when Alexander thought he would take him through the streets and into the living room of a famous prostitute, Mario took him into a house that looked slightly remote and had a little dark living room.
A fat man shook his body and walked out of it, and it was obvious that he should have lived a good life in the famine. However, when he heard about Alexander's name, the man with a fat face and a big beard immediately screamed sharply.
"My God, is this the noble man, Lord Gombre of Agri, the hero of Naples and the savior of the Naples?" The fat man screamed exaggeratedly, but after he circled around Alexander, his face collapsed. "This adult has a good reputation, but his dressing disappoints me too much. You know, I originally thought he should be more..." The fat man raised his hand and made an unspeakable move, and then shook his head. "This is not my master, simplicity is not the style of Naples. This is not Florence, which will only make people despise you."
"That's why I brought him to you," Mario smiled on her face. "I promised my master that he must dress up his nephew in a pretty good manner."
"What?" The fat man looked at Alexander in surprise. "This Lord Gumbrey is the Earl's nephew?"
"The closest kind," Mario deliberately lowered his voice, but he could probably hear it outside the gate. "His mother is the Count's sister, Countess George Anne of Corsenza. As for his father, I can't tell you which adult he is."
"Oh~oh~~"
The fat man covered his mouth and let out a scream, and then his attitude became more enthusiastic. Just when Alexander didn't know what was going on, he was taken to a room that looked not only dazzling, but even completely dazzling.
There are all kinds of jackets, shirts, trousers, boots, hats, laces, linings, ribbons, and not many people know what they are for. The room is filled with various decorations. The colorful ones are no longer enough to describe. Some of the accessories that are dazzlingly illuminated by the sunlight cast out of the window cannot help but transform into various colors.
"A woman's clothes actually only need to be dignified, and men must be the most beautiful," the fat man proudly announced as if he was patrolling his territory, "Sir, we have the best clothes and various accessories here. As long as I am dressing up for you, it will definitely fascinate all women."
Alexander nodded involuntarily. He was indeed startled by the things in the room. Then he remembered an interesting story he had heard before: completely subverting people's impression that women only need beautiful clothes. It seems that the styles of men's clothing in this era are more colorful than women.
"Sir, I personally insist that you should wear this coat," the fat man showed off and moved a hanger to Alexander. "Look at this, a wonderful treasure that really matches satin from the east and velvet from the north, and these beautiful breast buttons that can be shown to anyone. This is made by the best carving workers, and this pair of pants, I believe it must be very suitable for you. This hat seems to be specially made for you. My God, this boot has been with me for a long time, and must be waiting for your real master to appear..."
When he finally walked out of the fat man's house, he looked back at the two doors and then looked at the nearly half-deflated purse. Alexander shook his head, and then a cluster of precious peacock feathers inserted on his wide-brimmed hat also shook.
"Next, sir, I will take you to see the real Naples," Mario blinked slightly at Alexander. "But before that, the master wants me to take you to another place first."
Another place is a school.
As the religious shackles that have been broken for nearly a thousand years have been explored in the name of pursuing art.
Whether it is a noble or a civilian, the pursuit of good things has become a trend to prove whether one is out of date. With this trend, some schools that originally only teach the Bible and rhetoric have gradually introduced subjects that can attract more students.
"The Earl hopes you can learn here," Mario said very carefully, as if he was afraid of angering the young man in front of him. He tried to use words that were not very exciting to Alexander. "The Earl thinks you have been in the monastery for too long and you need to learn a lot." Speaking of this, he thought for a long time before he put on a sentence that was not bad. "At least you have to learn to be particular."
In other words, I am regarded as a local bun. Alexander understands the meaning of this sentence.
Sometimes it is useless to pay attention to this kind of thing, but sometimes it is often a sign of whether a person's origin or noble bloodline is measured.
Alexander didn't know if he was a country bumpkin who couldn't stand the table in Modillo's eyes, but it was obvious that the Earl thought it was necessary to let his nephew show his face in front of the nobles of Naples.
So when Mario booked courses for Alexander in that school, including etiquette, rhetoric, Greek literature and philosophy, classical Latin and military, Alexander couldn't help but suspect that he seemed to have returned to his disgusting student days. Through Mario's intentional or unintentional publicity at the fat tailor's house, almost all the nobles of Naples already knew that the Gambrey of Agri, who is now famous in Naples, was the nephew of Count Modillo.
So, when Alexander followed Mario to the boudoir of a famous lady, before he could enter the door, he found that many people were paying different attention to him.
Alexander did not care about the eyes of those people. Although he did not quite understand what Modillo was thinking, entering the aristocratic circle in Naples was exactly what Alexander hoped, and now it seemed that this did not harm him.
As Modillo said, Mario is indeed a person who will not disappoint, at least he has a unique vision.
So when you walk into a small street corner building that is not big but is decorated with a pleasingly pleasingly, looking at the marble reliefs embedded on the wall decorative platform, which are all kinds of styles but are quite pleasingly pleasingly pleasingly decorate. Alexander cannot help but admit that the owner of this house should be a woman of taste.
No matter in any era, beautiful women with great reputations will always be surrounded and favored by a group of men. They will strive to show themselves in front of those women in order to win their favor, just as some male beasts always have to sing in front of female beasts or try their best to play with their beautiful fur.
The more direct way is to simply use a duel to gain the female's blue eyes.
So when Alexander just walked into the yard of the famous lady, he happened to see such a bloody incident that was caused to win the admiration of the beauty.
A young man in a short cloak was standing in the yard, holding two short swords with wide blades in his hand. As he gasped slightly, one of the short swords dripped blood beads along the edge of the drooping sword.
Blood fell on the smooth stone slabs and splashed into bright red petals.
Opposite him, there was a man half sitting on the ground, and the same red blood flowing from his ribs had dyed half of his body red.
"I proved with my own courage that I am the one who deserves the most to Mrs. Orgala," the young man gasped and announced loudly to the people watching the duel, his accent was a little strange, obviously not a native of Naples. "If any of you think it is qualified to challenge me, come here."
The young man looked around, his face filled with strange smiles of pride and contempt. When his eyes swept past people, he avoided his eyes and did not dare to look at each other.
At this moment, Alexander stepped into the yard with one foot.
This was nothing, but what was really bad was that Mario happened to shout to the yard in a loud voice: "Madame Orgala, as you wish, my master is here to your date."
The shout happened to be the moment the young man looked around and turned around.
This originally coincidental moment was inexplicably given a certain unusual irony!
Everyone in the yard was watching this scene with dumbfounded eyes. Mario was still posing for continued shouting, but he could no longer make a sound. Looking at the young man staring at them, Mario's throat was filled with gurgling sounds.
"You want to challenge me?" The young man's eyes paused on Mario's face and then moved away. Then he stared at Alexander, stroked the short sword around his waist with his hands, and his black eyes flashed with excitement like a wolf. "So say your name."
Alexander looked at Mario strangely, but the pimp was still at a loss when he was still open with his mouth open.
The young man was impatient at this time. He pulled out two daggers and said to Alexander: "I'm here to have fun, but I don't think the men of Naples deserve the favor of Mrs. Orgala, so if you don't want to be injured or killed by me, come quickly, otherwise let's end it all as soon as possible."
Chapter completed!