William thought about this for three whole days.

In the past three days, William thought about almost all the possibilities, even including some things that should not have been considered by the king, and finally came to this conclusion-

The Netherlands, unlike the British, simply did not possess the spiritual strength to fight a decisive battle with other countries. Therefore, it is impossible to fight with the Spaniards without you and self like the British.

Since it is impossible, it is impossible for the shrewd Dutchman to go down this road again, and will certainly think of other ways to solve the most difficult problem at hand.

So, when he found me again, he had actually made up his mind.

"Qilan, I thought about it, do you think this will work?" When I was consulted, there were many people around him, including people from the navy, key officials from commerce, and even people from the Dutch East India Company, and Youxi was sitting in the front row.

When she looked at Youxi, she was also at a loss, saying that William had not discussed this matter with her before, and it seemed that he had made a decision by himself, and today it was just an announcement.

"I think we can't simply copy what they do, but we should have our own plans." William said.

I shrugged my shoulders and didn't say much to let him say what he thought.

"I wonder if we can do this!" He asked his subordinates to push open a huge piece of paper with many words and patterns depicted on it.

I couldn't help but glance at him with appreciation, as a head of state, it is really commendable to be able to do this kind of work.

"I intend to take two steps to achieve the Netherlands' goal of becoming a first-class maritime power." William's face was filled with excitement, and it was clear that he was very happy with his plan.

"The first step, which we are currently doing, is to open up all the trade joints at sea and establish a smooth and barrier-free maritime trade route." William said excitedly, pointing to a corner of the huge work programme.

"As for the matter of maritime defense, I am prepared to use other means to resolve it temporarily." His fingers slid down the plan, gradually reaching the upper third.

"Buy the service! I mean, Trust Security! William's voice was full of hope, and he looked at me with a look in his eyes, hoping to get a positive answer from me.

"Trust Security?" I couldn't help frowning: "What do you mean?" ”

"Just like the United Kingdom did at the beginning, mobilize all kinds of forces, but we have more abundant financial support, not necessarily only with our own security forces!"

"In other words, to buy security forces from all walks of life?" I asked.

"Exactly!" William said excitedly: "I plan to sign coastal defense agreements with countries that are not major competitors, such as Italy, Portugal, and Sweden, so that they can help us strengthen coastal defense." William said excitedly.

Listening to his words, I couldn't help but be silent. After William was still a scholar, his understanding of the sinister world was obviously not deep enough.

Security is only true when it is placed in one's own hands, and safety in the hands of others is nothing more than self-stability.

But knowing that he was comforting himself, I was powerless to argue and convince.

After all, he is the king of this country, and he knows the pain and pain of this country best.

"Isn't there a better way?" I looked at the plan and asked helplessly.

"Yes, with the current state of affairs, we have no better way to deal with this." William spread his hands and smiled bitterly at me: "If I can, I also hope that my country can develop more permanently and steadily." But not right now, my friend! ”

William spoke very earnestly, and I glanced at him, and then at the ministers around me. There was an unspeakable pain and embarrassment on their faces, presumably William had already communicated with them, but they made different suggestions, which made William finally make up his mind to take such a compromise route.

"What about the second step?" I asked with a smile.

"The second step is the problem I want to ask Qilan to help me solve." William put the pen in his hand on the paper a little heavier, and said with excitement on his face: "I want to ask you to help us make a long-term naval development plan, I mean, at least not lower than the French specifications." ”

I groaned that I had never heard of or seen a model of national defense as an alternative backup mission. But at present, William is obviously paying attention to it, and does not intend to invest real capital in national defense at the first time, which has to be said to be a choked thing.

But the current situation is that I need William's help and support, after all, being able to have more strength is a strength, and I don't have the power and strength to pick and choose.

I turned my head to look at Woo-hee and wanted to ask her what she thought about it. But I didn't have the opportunity or the convenience to ask this question.

So I could only look back at William, and let myself ask as calmly as possible: "Then from your perspective, from your point of view, if the first step you hope that the forces brought in from the outside are not enough to support the threat that is coming, what should you do?" ”

When I said this, I was already a little annoyed, and William, as the king of a country, naturally understood the implicit meaning of my words.

So he said to me in the gentler tone possible, "Yes! Yes! My friend, I know you can always see a lot of things that others can't, and you have a long-term view, but for now it seems like the safest way to go. ”

I was silent as William continued: "You know, it's not that I don't want to do these things, but at the moment, I don't have many options to rush to. Is that right? ”

"Maybe!" I silently looked at William in front of me and asked the question I wanted to ask the most: "Then what is your decision about what is happening in the new continent, Your Majesty?" ”

William looked at me, and this time he gave a sincere answer: "We are determined to win the new continent, and this is an exception." My friend. Our fleet forces are concentrating there, and I'm sure you're going to be there, right? ”

This is a lie, as if the superiors promised you that they would definitely reuse you and promote you, but there was no substantive expression of a truth.

After all, anyone can say big things, but it's definitely not like that. Seriously, I'm really disappointed in William this time, and I even regret it a little - was it right or wrong to help him break up the secret alliance between Spain and England?

Seeing that I was slow to speak, William also knew that what he was doing would indeed make people unhappy, so he spoke again: "My friend, I hope this will not shake our friendship, you know, I have always regarded you as my best friend, not even one of them. ”

Listening to him say this, looking at his sincere eyes, I didn't know what to continue to say, so I could only nod silently.

Youxi also opened his mouth to persuade: "Qilan, the current trade of the entire country of the Netherlands is rising rapidly, and it is not a good time for a full-scale war. His Majesty's compromise may seem a bit slow to you, but in fact it is definitely the most suitable option for the situation. ”

After saying that, she added: "There is no one!" ”

I know that Youxi will not lie to me, she must know more about the situation in the Netherlands than I do, so since she said so, then I have nothing to argue, just do what she says.

So I turned back to William and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you want me to do for you in the first phase?" ”

William stretched out his right hand to me, shook it with me, and said, "You've done a lot, my friend, you don't have to rush to the front in everything, of course, if you want, we can join forces to do something in the new continent, right?" ”

"A new continent?" I asked, "What do you want to do?" ”

William spread his hands and said very seriously, but very happily: "A lot of things, right?" I think you'll give me a suitable plan. In addition......"

He looked back at the Chancellor of the Exchequer, smiled, and then turned to look at me: "In the joint projects in the New World during this time, no matter what your plan includes, we will bear eighty percent of the budget, do you think this is good?" ”

With all that said, what else can I say? In addition to a wry smile and a promise, can you say anything else about rejection?

William finally added: "Believe me, my friend, you would imagine that a navy like the French would appear, but definitely not now!" ”

I suddenly understood William's plan, so I smiled and asked, "You want France to rush to the front as a shield, right?" ”

"Haha, Qilan, why are you saying it so ugly?" William laughed, and the people next to him also laughed, William laughed for a while, and said to me with a smile on his face: "Yes, that's the case, that's what we plan, and I don't intend to hide anything from you at all." ”

I nodded, so honest, what else could I say? This is actually what I appreciate most about William – authenticity.

With him, you don't have to think about which sentence is true and which sentence is false, the biggest characteristic of this person is that he either doesn't say it, or he tells the truth.

As a monarch, what am I to be picky about? If he just promised happily, but did not see actual action, wouldn't it be even more depressing and helpless?

Now that things have come to this point, let's do as he says! A compromise is a compromise solution. After all, he's the head of the Dutch family, and I'm just a skirmisher.

"Happy working together!" I held out my right hand to William.

"Happy working together!" William and I shook each other tightly and said something that surprised me: "The people you have sent to the new continent several times are very capable, and the immigration policy is also very successful, so North America is not the desolate scene it used to be. If you have a chance, let's go and have a look, how about it? ”

Oh? It seems that the overall situation is good! My mood suddenly improved a lot, I smiled at William and nodded, and replied vigorously, "Okay!" ”