1499, the last year of the 15th century.

During this century, many major events that are completely different from the past have happened. Whether it is art or technology, they will use this 1499 as a boundary to separate from the previous one. The future 16th century will bring the whole world into a completely different new era.

The dark age, which has been around for thousands of years, will end at the end of this century, and an era of dawn that is different from ever before is approaching.

Only Alexander knew these things now. He knew very well what the 16th century meant. This was an era when there was no major breakthrough in a thousand years before, but in the following 100 years, countless outstanding figures emerged like a blowout. This will be the first era that began with no longer entirely emperors and generals, but with great scientists and thinkers leaving their names in history.

With magnificent waves and undercurrents, Alexander felt the huge driving force of the future era and the many crises in it.

At this time, Alexander suddenly wanted to know the mood when Caesar said the famous saying "I come, I meet, I conquer", but he was somewhat moved now.

At night, Caesar, who came to Du Yilan Palace, saw that Du Yilan Palace was brightly lit from a distance. Alexander knew Count Modilo's living habits. It can be said that his uncle was a pure hedonist. Even in this era when materials and skills were poor, Count Modilo's life could be called colorful.

During his time in Naples, Alexander had seen the Count and different ladies meet more than once. What made him interesting was that many of the husbands of noble ladies were proud of their wives being able to capture the eyes of Count Modillo.

Du Yilan Palace is always lively and crowded. The Count, who claims to be generous, opens the door to welcome all those who are willing to come in to the banquet and talk to him, even ordinary businessmen and civilians, as long as it is not excessive, he does not care much about the other party's identity.

However, in the past two years, the Earl has obviously become unreliable. It seems that in order to eliminate Frederick's possible suspicion about him, Earl Modillo has not taken the initiative to invite anyone to his home for a long time, and Du Yilan Palace has not held a banquet for a long time.

But now, on the first day of Alexander's return, Du Yilan Palace became lively.

This seems a bit too direct and blatant, as if he is telling Frederick "I'm going to do something." But Alexander needs such an effect, because only by forcing Frederick to get angry will he do something extraordinary.

Alexander's arrival caused a cheer from the guests of Du Yilan Palace, but unlike the people in the Lookout Tavern, what he saw from these guests was a completely different excitement, metaphor, and greed.

A few years were enough to allow Count Modilo to use the reputation and rich financial resources accumulated by his family for many years to attract a group of people. Some of these people were old nobles in the previous Naples Kingdom era and were originally incompatible with the Aragon royal family, some were purely bought by the Earl and Ruosha with money, while others seemed to have seen some opportunity and took the initiative to surrender.

These people are not very close to each other, and even if they get together, there is no main topic. This makes people unable to grasp their handles. As time goes by, some self-evident tacit understanding gradually forms between them.

These people were waiting like Count Modillo. They might not even know what to wait for, but when the opportunity came, they all gathered in the Count's Du Yilan Palace.

The guests who came were not all nobles, so they were arranged in different rooms in the main hall. All rooms were like a huge rose petal arched with the main hall in the middle. People could go through the main hall to enter other rooms. However, according to Alexander's observation, these people were actually very clear. For example, the nobles would have frequent contact with soldiers and would not easily interact with merchants. Some locals who had no titles but were quite prestigious in Naples were able to talk to both nobles and merchants.

Alexander walked through the main hall and greeted those people frequently, and every time he appeared in a place, he caused a small commotion.

Alexander could have noticed how strict the big net that Count Modillo had woven patiently over the years. It can be said that if he was willing, he could become the regent of Naples without even needing Alexander's help.

But Alexander wanted more than that.

"It's time for us to leave." The Count looked at Alexander and walked over and whispered, then led the way to the stream behind Du Yilan Palace.

There is a wooden house built on a stream there. It is completely made of thick wooden pillars and is surrounded by wooden houses on the river surface without any barriers. Even the wooden boards under your feet cannot hide because of the gaps.

It is not very comfortable here in winter, but it is a good summer resort in summer. The key is that this is the place where the key figures gathered by the Count to discuss things.

Five people were waiting in the wooden house. When he saw one of them, the nobleman who questioned his unreasonableness to the king in public during the day, Alexander couldn't help but look at the count beside him.

If the Count had no ambition, maybe even God would laugh.

"The court seal officer, Leoford," the Count smiled and introduced to Alexander, "You have seen his verbal words before."

"Sealing Officer." Alexander nodded slightly.

"Earl." The seal officer bowed a little.

There is no red tape etiquette or rhetoric, but both parties already seem to understand what each other means.

"Okay, everyone here is really his own people," the count picked up a silver pot from the table next to him to pour wine for everyone, and at the same time introduced the other four people to Alexander, the commander of the city defense force, the head of the port tax collection office, the mercenary captain of the palace guard and a representative of the local chamber of commerce in Naples, plus the hidden deep court seal officer, these people can be said to be key figures who have different lifelines of the Kingdom of Naples. "Now my nephew Joer will tell you what he wants to do."

The surprise of several people about Qiao Er's reputation and name, both nephew and uncle chose to ignore each other. This was also a tacit understanding between the two, and everything was for the more thrilling plan in the future.

"I want to seize Naples." Without any concealment, Alexander directly expressed his thoughts, and then his eyes slowly passed through the faces of several people.

There was a faint breath, and Alexander's eyes fell on the head of the tax collection office. Seeing the head of the tax collection office nodded slightly excitedly after seeing the head of the head breath, he smiled and looked at the others.

"Are you sure?" The city defense officer looked at Alexander. "I am not against the count, but I know that you only brought three ships, and your soldiers are less than 700 at most. It is okay to occupy the palace, but next..."

The team officer shook his head as he said that.

Obviously, the team officers are considering the possible consequences of the city defense force launching a large-scale counterattack.

Seeing the different expressions of several people, Alexander was very satisfied.

It is not an objection, but a purely objection to whether the coup can be successful. This means that whether the coup should be a coup is not a problem for them, but they are just worried that it may fail.

This tells everything, as Count Modillo said, these people are indeed "people of themselves" at least for the time being.

As for what will happen next, no one can guarantee it.

"I brought not three boats. I still have 10 boats on the island offshore," Alexander didn't mind exaggerating the army he brought. Now what he needs is to give these people enough confidence. "I brought an army of 3,000 people in total. You should have seen the Balkans I brought. Do you think the Naples army can block such an opponent of a team of 3,000 people?"

The eyes of several people began to change. They looked at each other and finally fell on the faces of the count and the seal officer Leoford.

"Sir, what should we do next if we do this? Who will become the king?" The seal officer stared at the count with a slightly hot gaze. "We all know that you have the blood of the Anjou royal family..."

"No," Modillo shook his head, and he slowly sat down and drank a sip of wine. His eyes looked at the people from the ardent expressions. The count shook his head and said, "You should know that this is not my era, nor the era of the Anjou family, so it is a very bad idea to inherit it."

Several people listened with a serious expression. They knew that this was a critical moment, because everything decided here was likely to be related to the fate of the Kingdom of Naples in the future.

What's ridiculous is that they are just planning a coup in this wooden house, but they have begun to consider who will inherit this kingdom in the future.

"The successor must be a person who can be legal, or at least nominally possesses legal claims against Naples and even Sicily, so there should be only one person now," Modillo's eyes turned to Alexander, with a little strange in his eyes. "This person is Prince Alfred."

The expressions of several people showed surprise. They looked at Alexander unexpectedly, wanting to know his opinion on the count's statement.

After all, if there is a disagreement between the nephew and uncle, then things will be a little bad.

Alexander's eyes met the Count. He did not expect that the Count would suddenly object to his plan. Although he wanted an explanation, he knew that now was not the time for disputes.

In addition, he could vaguely feel that the count seemed to have not said anything.

"There is another way, that is, if you want to legally gain the rule of Naples, my niece Rusha has the same chance," Earl Modilo said, pausing, his eyes always looked at Alexander, as if everything was said to him, "but the premise is that she must marry Prince Alfred."

A slight sniffling sounded in the wooden room, and the eyes of several people became truly excited.

No matter when, a coup is the last and most likely to occur in all kinds of accidents. There have never been many bloody coups in history, after a brutal massacre, the precedent of the third party that finally wins the fruits of victory, or even if the coup is successful, the hidden dangers laid down will bring various troubles to the future.

So if you can achieve your goal by even a legal way of covering up your mind, no one will choose such a fierce way.

Now the count's words seem to have given these people hope to achieve a "legal coup".

Alexander looked at the count silently. He felt that perhaps the count had thought of this solution from the beginning, but he never told him.

As for the reasons, everyone knows.

Alexander also sat down slowly, and his nephew and uncle looked at each other silently from a distance. The people next to him also noticed the abnormal atmosphere, and for a moment, the wooden house fell into silence.

"We prepared some food outside," the Count made the worst excuse. After several people left one after another, the Count looked at Alexander. "I know you did a lot, including sending the Barribal merchant named Matthews Tiego to Portugal. Although I don't know why you chose there, I know you should have a reason."

"Tell me, what are you going to say?" Alexander said coldly.

"You want a crown," the Count said it directly. "If I'm not wrong, your ambition is so great that you want not only to get Castilla, but also to wear the crown of Aragon, so why can't you make some sacrifices for this?"

"Just like you sacrificed your sister?" Alexander still looked cold.

"You should know that it is worth it, otherwise there would be no such party here today," the Count was a little impatient. He stood up and walked back and forth, and the wooden boards under his feet made a creaking sound. "We have been preparing for this day for too long. Now we can grasp everything by just reaching out and grabbing it before. Should we give up this opportunity?"

Alexander looked cold and his eyes were filled with anger, "But I never thought of sacrificing Ruosha. I am not you. I will not use sacrificing my sister to achieve my goal."

"But she is not your sister at all!"

The Count finally broke out completely.

He stared at Alexander with red eyes, walked up to him a few steps and said in his ear in a low voice that only two could hear, "We all know some things, but do you really need to explain them? You want to get the crown of Castile, and I want to achieve the unity of the Kingdom of Sicily, our goal is the same. What's more, if my plan goes well, maybe your dream can really come true, you can get Castile, and your children can inherit these two kingdoms." Speaking of this, the Count paused and directly broke the last bit of obstruction. "I'm talking about your children and Ruosha. Did you hear that, your descendants can become the king of a huge empire, tell me what else you want!"

Alexander narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the count. At this time, he was even more sure that the count had planned it long ago.

Using Rusha and Alfred's marriage to allow the Modilo family to legally seize Naples, and as a branch of the Anjou family, this means that Rusha and Alfred's children also have the opportunity to declare power to the Kingdom of Sicily.

But what's more important is that if Ruosha had children with Alfred after marrying him, and even the only child with inheritance, what would that mean?

Two Sicily, Castilla, and even Aragon!

Alexander looked at the rare count who was no longer so breeze but was showing an excited look. He suddenly felt that although he had known before that Modillo was not a fuel-efficient lamp, he only now realized that he still underestimated him too much.

Obviously, in the Earl of Modillo's plan, whether it is his sister, niece, or his cheap nephew, or Frederick and his son Alfred, everyone is a pawn in his process of realizing his huge ambitions.

No one is exceptional, and no one can break out of his grasp.

"What do you think? Tell me what you think." The Count asked in a rare aggressive tone. "Think about it, you can really get it by just reaching out. How should you choose?"

Under the Count's stare, Alexander thought for a moment, then laughed, "Dear uncle, don't you know that you have heard a saying, 'Only children will choose' and I am no longer a child."

In the pavilion outside the wooden house, several Naples were waiting anxiously.

They were not sure what caused the differences between the Count's nephew and uncle. Speaking of which, Earl Modilo's plan can be said to be perfect, especially when the French are approaching. If the power change can be completed quickly without causing much turmoil, this is undoubtedly the most ideal plan.

But now it seems that Count Montina is very dissatisfied with this plan, which makes these Naples feel embarrassed.

They knew very well that in order to successfully seize the rule of Naples, they had to rely on Alexander's army, but now there was a disagreement between the two crucial leaders, which was too bad.

As time passed by little by little, the anxiety became more and more intense among the few people. Just as several people were discussing the seal officer Leoford to inquire about what was going on, the door of the wooden house called and Alexander walked out of it.

Behind him, Earl Modillo followed him out with a deep expression. Seeing several Naples who were walking hurriedly and nervously, the Earl exhaled gently.

"Please rest assured that our feast will continue," the count walked up to several people and said to them in vain, "but everything that follows will be decided by my nephew Joer."

The Naples' eyes were all on Alexander's face, and several people held their breath and waited for Alexander's decision.

Alexander's eyes flashed. He knew that these people were already tied to him. Now they were waiting for not only the decision he should make next, but also the direction of their future destiny.

"I will follow the advice of my respected uncle, Earl Modillo. If everything goes well, after confirming that Prince Alfred becomes king, I will admit my sister Ruosha's marriage to Prince Alfred."

As soon as Alexander said, the Naples couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. They looked at each other, and their eyes flashed with an uncontrollable excitement.
To be continued...