Peace

In a flash, time had arrived at the autumn of 1460. After a year of recuperation, Austria had initially shaken off the shadow of war.

However, the peaceful days were not as easy as Laszlo had imagined; he could only snatch a little time from his heavy duties to accompany his family.

The All Austria Conference was still in preparation, and the preliminary work for the Grand Duke Conference had already been completed.

Laszlo issued an edict calling on the Imperial clergy to actively participate in the Grand Duke Conference.

Louis XI had already agreed to allow the clergy and scholars of France to attend the conference before ascending to the throne.

Juan II, who had just ended the civil war, defeated and imprisoned his son, Prince Carlos, cruelly poisoned his son, who had contended with him for the throne of Navarre and attempted to become the heir of Aragon.

This decision, which violated human ethics, plunged him into a series of troubles. He was now struggling to cope with the endless rebellions of the Catalans and was indifferent to the Grand Duke Conference.

Even worse than his situation was Henry VI, King of England of the House of Lancaster.

The War of the Roses had completely erupted, escalating into a large-scale civil war.

The House of Lancaster had achieved almost complete victory in last year's battles.

Edward, Duke of York's son, and his associates could only cross the sea to Calais, intending to counterattack England from the continent when the opportunity arose.

The House of York had a very close relationship with Burgundy. Philip the Good provided a lot of money and soldiers to support Edward's rebellion.

Edward returned to England earlier this year and gained a foothold on the island.

In a disastrous battle in July, the Yorkist army successfully won and captured King Henry VI.

When the Pope's envoy came to invite the King of England to participate in the Grand Duke Conference, the envoy was surprised to find that the legitimate King of England had become a prisoner of war, and it seemed that a new king was about to emerge in this country.

Therefore, this invitation came to nothing, as the English were already fighting tooth and nail for the crown and could no longer care about anything else.

King Henrique IV of Castile, who was troubled by the succession issue, predictably agreed to participate in the Grand Duke Conference; he had always maintained good relations with the Holy See.

And King Alfonso V of Portugal, Laszlo's brother-in-law, who had extremely high religious fervor, gladly accepted the Pope's invitation.

In this year, Prince Henrique, the naval commander-in-chief of the Crusade in the Ottoman Crusade, passed away, and the influence of the Portuguese Atlantic faction was greatly weakened.

Alfonso V decided to shift Portugal's strategic focus back to Morocco in North Africa, and he was planning an attack on Tangier, an important city around the Strait of Gibraltar, from his North African strongholds.

He hoped to gain some help from the Holy See through this Grand Duke Conference, which would make his holy war efforts easier.

Other more remote countries did not have much influence on the Grand Duke Conference. For example, the representatives from Denmark and Poland came to attend primarily to add some "universality" to the conference.

The Grand Duke Conference was finally scheduled to officially convene in Ferrara in October.

Pope Pius II did not give a clear time limit for the duration of this Grand Duke Conference; he had a premonition that perhaps this Grand Duke Conference would not achieve satisfactory results.

However, since he had the strong support of the Emperor, Pope Pius II was determined to make a bold attempt in the final chapter of his life.

The old Pope, nearly sixty years old, traveled north with the College of Cardinals and accompanying Italian bishops to Ferrara.

The return to peace in Italy provided a good environment for this Grand Duke Conference.

However, Laszlo, residing in Vienna, was plagued by continuous meetings.

Earlier this year, he had been busy with matters concerning the Hungarian Parliament. After returning to Vienna, he intended to reconvene the Imperial Conference to continue his efforts to promote Imperial reform.

However, the ensuing Grand Duke Conference and All Austria Conference forced him to postpone his plan to convene the Imperial Conference, and he had other arrangements for next year.

Laszlo finally decided to schedule the All Austria Conference for November, and he now had to attend the Grand Duke Conference held this October.

Lead-gray clouds churned in the sky, adding a touch of solemnity to the early autumn morning.

On the avenue outside Vienna, a large procession was slowly moving south.

In the middle of the procession, Laszlo and Leonor rode in a lavishly decorated four-wheeled carriage, enjoying a rare marital journey.

Behind their carriage followed a long convoy, some carriages loaded with baggage, and the rest being the carriages of the bishops.

This time, the Emperor's southern tour to Italy was escorted by the Imperial Guard. In addition to the accompanying royal attendants, there was also a large number of Austrian bishops and scholars invited by the church.

The carriage wheels rolled over the cobblestones, making a rhythmic creaking sound.

Inside the carriage, Laszlo furrowed his brows, his gaze through the window falling on the distant rolling mountains.

He idly surveyed the scenery outside the window, pondering the matters of the Grand Duke Conference.

His decision to go to Italy for the Grand Duke Conference was only a temporary one, made to show his support for Pope Pius II.

For the Grand Duke Conference to truly produce results, it would go through an incredibly long cycle.

However, this was a good opportunity for him to express his views on church reform to Pope Pius II.

Before setting off, Laszlo had summoned several Austrian bishops and even met with the Archbishop of Salzburg. Without exception, they were pessimistic about reform.

It wasn't that they thought the current state of the church was so good, but rather that they feared Pope Pius II's reforms would be too radical, leading to most people being unwilling to accept them.

Moreover, the Hussites had now been completely annihilated by Laszlo.

Although the idea of reforming the church was widely spread in the German region, the contradictions were not sharp enough to cause violent conflict if reforms were not made.

The privileges and capital for enjoying life that the church provided to the clergy made them happy to maintain the status quo, or even further expand the rights of the clergy—this was also the main purpose for a considerable number of clergy attending this Grand Duke Conference.

After talking with them, Laszlo also became somewhat pessimistic about the prospects of the Grand Duke Conference.

However, he believed that human effort could prevail, and church reform was imperative. He also tried his best to gain the support of some bishops.

Leonor noticed her husband's worry. She reached out and gently smoothed Laszlo's furrowed brow, softly asking, "Are you worried about something?"

Laszlo nodded, took Leonor's hand and gently caressed her slender fingers, his gaze still on the scenery outside the carriage, and said without turning his head, "There's nothing to worry about with this trip to Italy. We won't achieve anything in the short time we're staying.

But Pope Pius II, or Nicholas as he is also known, said in his letter that the purpose of convening this conference is to promote church reform, and that is what worries me."

"Church reform is a good thing. Didn't you often conspire with Nicholas about this before?" Leonor was a little puzzled. "Or are you worried that the reform will fail due to great resistance?"

"Yes," Laszlo sighed softly. "Reform, reform—the word itself makes one tremble.

I once heard a theory that those involved in politics, the bureaucrats, clergy, and even lords, the word they fear most is change.

Sometimes people resist change out of adaptation to the status quo and fear of the unknown, after all, no one knows what the outcome of reform will be.

It's only when everything is irreversible that they realize the necessity of reform.

This is true for the church, and even more so for the Empire!

Contradictions and dangers will constantly accumulate. Only by making changes can everything avoid falling into a worse situation, but unfortunately, most people do not understand this truth."

Leonor nodded, half-understanding. She could hear the anxiety and helplessness in Laszlo's words, so she offered comfort: "You are a great hero praised by the people, who defeated infidels and heretics.

With you personally standing up to support the Pope's reform, there will surely be a satisfactory outcome in the end."

"I hope so."

Laszlo could only hope that his prestige and power would make those bloodsucking clergy, who only cared about their own interests, turn to support the church's reform.

The couple set aside the heavy topic and began to chat about some light and pleasant things.

Laszlo then remembered that one of the purposes of his tour was to escape from burdensome political affairs.

Almost every so often, a series of memorials would be sent to his desk, dealing with territorial disputes between clergy and nobles, trade disputes in free cities, peasants' petitions for tax reductions, important diplomatic affairs, and so on.

When he was absent, these matters would be discussed and decided by the entire Privy Council.

And when he returned to the court in Vienna, some more significant events would require his personal decision, with ministers only offering some reasonable suggestions.

Since returning from Hungary, he had been busy every day dealing with accumulated political affairs, receiving nobles and foreign envoys, and holding Privy Council meetings, keeping him extremely occupied.

He decided to use the most common method European kings in the Middle Ages used to avoid political affairs—going on tour, sometimes for hunting.

Putting aside busy work, taking his beautiful wife and lovely children to Ferrara, a famous Italian city rich in humanities and arts, to attend a grand event covering the entire Christian world—that's what life was all about!

In fact, this was not entirely an evasion of responsibility. The Venetia region had only recently come under his control, and this trip to Ferrara was a good opportunity to inspect the territory in Northern Italy and ensure that Austria's rule established there was stable enough.

Manifesting one's sovereignty through inspection and demonstrating power to deter villains was also an important task for a monarch.

The convoy quickly moved south, along the newly repaired Roman road, and soon reached the Friuli Plain in the Venetia region. The Emperor's entourage paused for a rest in Aquileia.