Chapter 17

The war for the throne has begun. Two years have passed, there's a lot to unpack in this chapter. Without modern shipping and industrial capacity, it took Mary that long to build up her forces to launch a multi-front offensive. Scotland is still in the hands of the Catholic faction led by Queen Regent Mary of Guise, who is the mother the future Mary Queen of Scots, currently living in French Court controlled by Catherine de Medici, the de-facto leader of France during the mid-16th century. Mary Queen of Scots also has a claim to the throne of England as I mentioned earlier in the novel and Medici's are in control of a much more powerful Papal State that has unified italy three hundred years before it was done. Mary of Guise has gained support and weapons from her French allies, so the Scottish armies are heading south. This action was not just a matter of support for another Catholic ally, but also a show of power. However, the mechanized forces embedded in the forces were Spanish in origin, meaning they're being observed by Mary's ally and future husband, Philip II, and his father Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Netherlands, Burgundy, and Spain.

Interesting note about the use of Rubber, Spain would have access to natural rubber from Latin America, which has had a history of rubber use and harvesting since the Olmec civilization around 1600 BCE. After 40 years of farming crops in their Latin American territories, they should have enough rubber to make adequate tires for vehicles with modern knowledge embedded in. Technically, these tanks would be classified as armored vehicles due to lack of tracks, but medieval forces would not be able to deal much damage against them without high caliber artillery. 

As for what's going on in London, there's a lot to unpack here that is beyond Eli's knowledge at the moment. I suggest folks read my supplemental short stories on this. Edward's illness and activity will be featured there. Tuberculosis was a fatal disease during this era, but the powerful antibiotic Streptomycin can be used to treat it over a six-month period.

This week's law of power is the 26th law of power, "Keep your hands clean", Mary Tudor has divided her enemies' forces through the use of intermediaries without even bringing her main forces to bear. Additionally, this rule applies to the concept of using "Cat's paw" or agents that act on your behalf to carry out dangerous tasks, Jane Dudley is a great example of this. Historically speaking, she's a complex person with noticeable loyalties to the Catholic cause and was welcomed in Mary's court, so I extended this concept and made her devotions far more insidious and her betrayal of her husband far more impressive. Being betrayed by your spouse in your home territories, while you are away is a famous historical note from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when the warlord Cao Cao manipulated Cai Mao, the spouse of Liu Biao to betray her husband and assist in the occupation Jing Province, nominally for her son's safety and family's power base. Noble women in media are usually portrayed as weak and subservient to their husbands under modern views, but in reality, they are human beings and can plot just as well as men especially in chaotic times like these.

Notes:

1. Eli's selection of nobles in his entourage was a necessity. Bringing them and having them join Mary's side will make a transition to a modern nation-state much easier than what happened in history when noble landowners were divided by the Catholic and Protestant factions for the next hundred years. However, real power isn't based on land or castles in reality anymore, they're based on resources, which Eli has already secured through an elaborate arrangement with private/public networks. 

2. Historically, Scotland and France had a marriage alliance at this point in history, which would have posed a major issue to the rival Habsbourg Dynasty led by Charles V, Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Netherlands, and Burgundy. In history, the Italian Medici, Austrian Habsbourg, and French Valois families were at each other's throats and played counter-balancing acts supporting or fighting Tudor-era England during this time in history. However, with the unification of Italy under the Medici and the control of France as well under regent Catherine, two of the three great families are intertwined by blood in history at this point (They will all be intertwined in history by 1560, creating a united front against Elizabeth I at one point in history). The Habsbourg family patriarch, Charles V, was an ambitious man, one who understood the power of marriage and alliances to further his ambitions.