French

Inside the Hofburg Palace council chamber, Laszlo summoned Eyczing.

Seeing the Emperor's displeased expression, Eyczing knew he had probably disturbed the Emperor's reunion with his family, but he did have very important news to report to the Emperor.

"Speak, what do you want from me?"

Laszlo calmed his emotions, hiding the displeasure in his heart.

Eyczing immediately said, "Your Majesty, I have received several important intelligence reports here, please bear with me until I finish."

Laszlo raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing this, and his expression became serious.

Since Eyczing said it was important intelligence, he had to take it seriously.

"Mehmed II has turned the tide, having defeated the Mamluk Sultan's army, and is now counter-attacking into Syria. I don't think it will be long before the Mamluks seek peace with the Ottoman Empire."

Eyczing's expression was grim; this was very bad news.

The Ottoman Empire defeating the Mamluk Sultanate meant that the threat from the East was beginning to brew again.

Laszlo's eyelids twitched, and he almost choked.

He now felt like cursing, but finding no one to vent on, he could only endure it.

The Mamluk Sultan was indeed a useless good-for-nothing.

He had clearly crippled the Ottomans, but this Mamluk Sultan had rushed over aggressively, hoping to take advantage, only to find that he himself was the biggest advantage to be taken.

"Indeed, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. However, the Ottomans probably won't have the energy to fight us again in the short term.

I think the next war with the Ottomans will be our opportune moment to recapture Constantinople."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The next news is about Naples. Skanderbeg commanded the allied forces to defend Naples, successfully repelling the French attack. Piccinino, an important Anjou general, was killed in action. The French have now temporarily retreated to the Anjou stronghold in the Apulia region."

Eyczing excitedly relayed this good news to the Emperor.

Laszlo was first stunned, then overjoyed: "Good, I knew Skanderbeg wouldn't disappoint me."

Although Austria had not yet sent troops, a considerable amount of florin had been loaned to Ferdinand I, the King of Naples.

Although Laszlo knew that Ferdinand I was historically a cunning, treacherous, and perfidious scoundrel, he was not worried about the King of Naples defaulting on the loan.

Not to mention whether he had the guts to anger the Emperor for a loan of two hundred florin, even if he truly decided to be a deadbeat, Laszlo still had ways to collect the debt by force, though at that point, what was recovered might not necessarily be money.

"I think we still need to symbolically send troops to aid Naples. Eyczing, what is the strength of the French?"

"King Charles VII, after completing the transaction with the Duke of Anjou, handed over 6 companies out of 15 ordinance companies, which is over four thousand elite standing troops, to the Duke of Lorraine. In addition, the King also gathered a conscript army of about three thousand to support the Duke of Lorraine, plus mercenaries from Savoy and the Anjou faction in Naples, bringing the Duke of Lorraine's total forces to over eighteen thousand."

"Hiss, Charles is really willing to spend a fortune."

Laszlo had a bit of a headache; he finally understood why Skanderbeg had also suffered a setback in the Florence region.

Six ordinance companies, which means 600 lances. This means this French army has at least 600 heavily armored knights, about 1200 cavalry retainers, and several thousand infantry retainers.

Moreover, these were all true elites who had experienced the Hundred Years' War. With such a force as the main strength, sweeping through Italy was very possible.

Skanderbeg's ability to repel the French attack was probably mainly due to Naples' strong city defenses.

However, Skanderbeg himself was a master of siege defense, and holding a city was precisely his strength.

It was said that after he pledged allegiance to Naples, he even sent his son, Gjon, to Naples as a hostage, but it's unknown if his son is still in Naples now.

If not, Laszlo would be interested in inviting his son to visit the court in Vienna.

After all, if you're already clinging to a powerful patron, why bother with Naples? Wouldn't it be better to directly cling to the Emperor's patronage?

Of course, the above were just jokes; Laszlo knew it would be difficult.

Skanderbeg chose Naples as his suzerain because he was confident that the Neapolitans would not cross the Adriatic Sea to annex Albania.

But if he pledged allegiance to Laszlo, Albania would likely find it very difficult to maintain its independent status.

Putting aside the issue of Albania, Laszlo asked again, "How many troops do Ferdinando and Skanderbeg have?"

"The nobles of the Kingdom of Naples assembled an army of eleven thousand to support the King. Skanderbeg led three thousand of his personal guards across the strait to reinforce Naples. After they converged with the Papal States' army, the combined forces of the three nations were not inferior to the French.

It's just a pity that the French were too strong in open battle, causing the allied forces to suffer heavy losses and scatter in defeat. The Papal States has been forced to withdraw from the war, and now there are less than ten thousand troops left defending Naples."

"What about the French who failed the siege?"

"Specific intelligence is still unclear. It is said that the French suffered minor losses during their attack on Naples, and the unexpected death of an important commander led to this retreat."

After listening to the analysis of both sides' strengths, Laszlo had a headache.

If he personally entered the fray and fought a major battle with the French, it would definitely be a losing proposition.

Supporting Ferdinand I was meant to weaken France, not to weaken Austria.

"I think we can recruit some peasant soldiers in Hungary and Serbia, draw some troops from the Hungarian Border Guard, and then dispatch a legion of standing army to form a volunteer army to send to Naples. What do you think of this idea?"

"Your Majesty, without collecting additional war taxes, such a deployment would still place a relatively large burden on our finances."

Eyczing did not want to commit too many forces to Naples.

From his perspective, it was only a matter of time before the King of Naples defeated the French.

The Duke of Lorraine was utterly unable to control the French troops, who plundered, burned, and committed all sorts of atrocities wherever they went.

It wouldn't be long, he thought, before the farmers of Naples would unite around their King, fighting with all their might to drive out the invading French.

Laszlo rubbed his chin, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Ah, what if we let the Neapolitans cover the military expenses and logistics of this army?"

Eyczing sighed softly: "Your Majesty, Naples is still seeking loans from us. Do you think they can come up with the money?

In the end, it will still be our money."

"This is truly..."

Laszlo was speechless. So, Naples had neither money nor soldiers, and even had traitors within its ranks during wartime, yet it still had to fight against France, the powerhouse of Western Europe.

"Then, according to the terms of the previous agreement, dispatch the Independent Army's First Legion to aid them. I also want to test the true strength of the French. Regarding the supply issue, according to the previous agreement, all supplies for the reinforcing troops arriving in Naples will be borne by him. We will advance two weeks' worth of wartime military pay to the expeditionary force to boost their morale."

"Your Majesty is brilliant."

"Can we transport this force to Naples by sea?"

"As long as the florin are in place, those merchants would even carry devils on their ships."

"I will inform Adolf later; he will handle the troop movements."