Chapter 1440： Spice Islands and Benefit Exchange

In the Royal Palace of Toledo, the capital of Spain, the King of Aragon came furiously from Zaragoza and discussed the issue of sending troops with his son Juan III.

The intelligence of the French sending troops to the Kingdom of Naples was eventually sent back to Barcelona by sea by Spanish agents and then sent to Zaragoza. However, because the sea route was very slow, and there was a long delay in the middle, the Spaniards delayed the best rescue time.

In particular, the French were sent south by seven hundred and eighty thousand troops. Ferdinand II did not have any confidence to let the Kingdom of Aragon and the French singled out.

You know, in terms of national power, the Kingdom of Aragon is not as good as the Kingdom of Castile. However, the strength of the Aragonese navy is true. At the beginning, in order to compete for Sicily and Sardinia, the Kingdom of Aragon developed a powerful navy. In the Mediterranean, apart from Venice, Aragon ’s navy is the strongest, much stronger than the Genoa navy that has begun to decline.

The Kingdom of Castile, although the national strength is stronger, but the navy started very late. At the beginning, Queen Isabella I sent Columbus to find the Indian route. The reason why there are only three boats is because the sailing career of the Kingdom of Castile is not well developed.

However, there is no way. Because at that time King Ferdinand II of the Aragonese kingdom, which was more sailing, did not support Columbus's voyage. Therefore, Queen Isabella I could only give three boats to Columbus.

However, in the past 20 years, the Kingdom of Castile has gained a lot of benefits from navigation, especially the huge profits from the Indian spice trade. Therefore, now the maritime industry of the Kingdom of Castile has also developed. Even the combined naval powers of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon have been able to escape Venice.

Of course, when it comes to the army, the kingdom of Castile is stronger. Even the Spanish star Gonzalo de Cordoba is also from the Kingdom of Castile. In order to deal with tens of thousands of French troops, Ferdinand II had to come to Toledo to discuss with his son.

However, on the side of the Kingdom of Castile, except for Juan III, the other nobles seem not very concerned about the rescue of the Kingdom of Naples. why? Because, the interests of the Kingdom of Naples are basically swallowed by the Kingdom of Aragon, nothing like the Kingdom of Castile. Therefore, the nobles of the Kingdom of Castile are not very enthusiastic about rescuing the Kingdom of Naples.

For a few days, Ferdinand II was busy arguing with the large nobles of the Castile kingdom, but there was no result. In desperation, Ferdinand II can only do the work of his son first-

"Juan, you have to support me for meeting the Kingdom of Naples. Because, after my death, the Kingdom of Naples must be yours. Remember, you are not just the King of Castile, you will also become the Kingdom of Aragon in the future. King! And King of Naples! "

Juan III nodded, and he naturally understood this. Later, Ferdinand II also said to Margaret, the daughter-in-law of Austria:

"Margaret, you write to ask your father to see if he can send troops there to help? You should be very clear that if the French annexed Italy, it would be bad for Austria!"

Queen Castile Margaret nodded and said:

"I have contacted the father emperor with a pigeon. However, the strength of Austria is basically accumulated in the Swiss battlefield, and it is difficult to divide the troops to support. The main reason is that the French sent troops to rescue the 17,000 Swiss mercenaries that were originally held. , The army of the Habsburg family was dragged on the Swiss battlefield, unable to move! "

"What should we do? If we don't have enough troops, we can't fight against the French ..." Ferdinand II was distressed.

Queen Margaret thought for a while and said:

"Father, in fact, there is no way to persuade those Castile nobles ..."

"Oh? Come and talk!" Ferdinand II looked forward.

"This is the case. The fleet sent to the Spice Islands reconnaissance came back two days ago ..."

Ferdinand II was shocked:

"Why don't I know?" After he finished, he looked at his son Juan III.

Juan III explained:

"The ship docked in the port of Cádiz in the Kingdom of Castile. The news is of course sent to Toledo before being sent to Zaragoza (the capital of Aragon)."

"What about the Spice Islands? Are there more spices?" Ferdinand II was also interested. At first, Marin described the situation there to him in Rome. However, he doubted that after joining forces with Portugal to monopolize the Indian spice trade, he sent the fleet to the Indonesian archipelago for reconnaissance.

Juan III replied:

"The situation is similar to what Marin said, where cloves and nutmeg are abundant. It is said that the cloves and nutmeg on the Calicut market are basically from the Spice Islands, and they are shipped to the Indian market through the Malacca Strait by boat. In the middle, I changed my hand, so the price in the Indian market is much higher than pepper. Its profit is much lower than pepper. If the Spice Islands are controlled, it is estimated that the profits of cloves and nutmeg will be much higher. "

Ferdinand II thought about it and said:

"This is indeed good news, but it has nothing to do with the rescue of the Kingdom of Naples? The most important thing for us now is to send troops to Italy!"

Queen Margaret interjected at this moment:

"Father, I mean, the future benefits of Spice Islands will be huge. If you now promise to give more benefits to the big nobles of Castile in the future development of Spice Islands, I think they are willing to send troops ... "

Ferdinand II hesitated. If you do this, it may be difficult to explain to the nobles of Aragon. However, at this critical juncture, the French cannot be beaten without relying on the power of the Kingdom of Castile. In desperation, Ferdinand II had nodded:

"Okay ~ www.novelhall.com ~ I go back to Zaragoza and discuss with the ministers ..."

Then Ferdinand II drove back to Zaragoza with his men and discussed the matter with the ministers of Aragon. Sure enough, many Aragonese aristocrats were not very satisfied with the transfer of benefits. However, if you lose the rich kingdom of Naples, it seems that the loss is also very large. It is not impossible to exchange some of the interests of the Spice Islands for the interests of the Kingdom of Naples. It's just that this amount should be carefully considered ...

So, Ferdinand II simply took a group of top nobles from the Aragon Kingdom and collectively took the spring shock-absorbing carriage sold to them by Marin and came to Toledo to discuss with the nobles of the Castile Kingdom. Things of interest distribution ...

The great nobles of the kingdom of Castile seem to have seized the opportunity to threaten the nobles of Aragon. Even if the two sides had agreed on the golden interests of the Zimbabwe Empire, the nobles of the Castile Kingdom wanted more.

Then, the nobles of the two countries directly fought in the parliament hall. Many noble large nobles had bruises and bruises ... but the meeting had to continue.

In the end, the great nobles of the Kingdom of Aragon made concessions and agreed to give up most of the benefits of the Spice Islands in exchange for full troop support from the Kingdom of Castile ...