"Dad, why did you run away when you saw your aunt, she was so beautiful." Richard innocently asked William.

"Richard, listen to Dad, don't stay with two women at the same time, especially don't try to please them at the same time, otherwise it will be very dangerous. The best thing to do is to retreat temporarily, and then look for opportunities to break them one by one. The corners of William's mouth twitched, and he looked at Richard and said.

"Oh..."I don't know if Richard understood or was stunned by William, but he didn't ask about it again on the way back anyway, and William was relieved.

"Richard, you're going to do your homework with Uncle Ladolph in a moment, I'll send you to him first, remember not to disturb his work, you know?" William admonished Richard.

"Got it," Richard said, bowing his little head and flattening his mouth.

Although Chad was a little reluctant to learn his homework with Prime Minister Ladolph, William knew that he was a good boy who kept his promises, and if he said he would, he would keep it, so he didn't have to worry too much.

In the Prime Minister's House on the side of the Palazzo de la Siti, Wilhelm and Prime Minister Ladolph were negotiating, while Richard was temporarily placed in the care of William's court governor, Phale Osborne.

"Your Majesty, it is indeed a good choice to go south to participate in the Aragonese Holy War of Castile against the Emir of Zaragoza.

Although we will not be able to gain territory in this battle, we will still be able to reap the rich spoils of war and spread the influence of our Normans to the Iberian Peninsula.

The mutual defense pact currently binds us to the fact that we cannot declare war on the Christian nations, but we can turn our attention to those Moorish pagan countries, which is a good option.

You see here, here, and here, these are the areas that I've identified as suitable for expansion. Prime Minister Ladolph took out a roll of maps, spread them out, and gently pulled them out with a pencil, and said to William.

William looked at the map and saw that the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea were enclosed, including several places in North Africa.

"Lleida and Tarragona, two places that are not traitors to the Emir of Zaragoza, Yusuf. Hood's domain, at the behest of my father-in-law, Ferdinand I, was unable to take his rightful territory in the Aragonese Holy War. William asked, puzzled.

"Your Majesty, since Ferdinand I of Castile launched the Holy War in Aragon, it is natural that he has seized the three de jure territories of the Emir of Zaragoza in Aragon, namely Zaragoza, Calatayud, and Albaracin.

Lleida and Tarragona, on the other hand, are de jure territories belonging to the Duchy of Barcelona, and are no longer part of the territory that the Aragonese Holy War should have captured.

Thus we could have waged a holy war against the emir of Zaragoza, rather than joining the holy war in Aragon at the invitation of Castile.

In this way, we can support the Kingdom of Castille and share the forces of the Emir of Zaragoza, and at the same time we can gain the two kingdoms of Lleida and Tarragona.

These two countries will then be the wedge we will insert into the Iberian Peninsula. A smile on the corner of Ladolph's mouth showed a smile in his hand, and he explained to William.

"Will this affect the relationship between my Normans and Castile, and will I be hostile to the Duchy of Barcelona? It seems a little too radical. William frowned slightly and asked.

"It doesn't matter if Ferdinand I of Castille unites us to divide the Emir of Zaragoza, Lleida and Tarragona, as long as they are negotiated beforehand.

As for Barcelona's hostility, we don't need to take it to heart, if the other side doesn't come to attack us, it's fine, if they don't know each other, they will directly counterattack fiercely, enter Barcelona, and force the Duke of Barcelona to cede land and pay compensation. "Duke Ladolph is confident, and he has already thought of a countermeasure.

"As you say, in addition to the Barcelona Holy War with Lleida and Tarragona, we will also launch the Valencian Holy War and the Marcalho Holy War to seize Valencia, Castellón and the Marcalho Islands in the Iberian Peninsula.

In this way, our presence in the Mediterranean will not be confined to the cramped coastal ports of the Duchy of Toulouse, but Valencia, Tarragona and Marcalho will be the port anchorages of the future Mediterranean Fleet. William nodded excitedly in agreement.

"Yes, Your Majesty, not only these, but also Denia, Murcia, Almeria, Granada, Malaga and Gibraltar on the Iberian coast will be our targets." Prime Minister Ladolph pointed to the map on the table and pointed to the emirates on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

"Whether it is too radical or not, although the Moorish empire of the Iberian Peninsula has fallen apart since the collapse of the Umayyad dynasty, the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty, established by the Umayyad successors, still control large swathes of territory in Córdoba.

If we enter strongly, the other side will not ignore it, and the Moorish emir states of the Iberian Peninsula will unite against us, which I do not want to see.

And I'm even more worried about the Sultanate of Murabit in North Africa, the rising Moorish Sultanate, if the war goes badly for these Iberian emirs, they are likely to ask for reinforcements from the Sultanate of Murabit, and things will go in a direction beyond our control. William pointed to the position of Morocco in the North African region with his right hand, and said in a solemn tone:

"Prime Minister Ladolph, we still have the early goal of occupying Lleida and Tarragona, and the capture of Valencia and Castellón as the medium goal, and it still depends on the situation."

The Murabit dynasty, also translated as the Mulan Pi Kingdom, was a dynasty founded in West Africa in the 11th century by Berbers from the Sahara.

At the height of the dynasty, its sphere of influence included present-day Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gibraltar, and Tlemcen in Algeria, with most of Senegal and Mali to the south and most of Spain and Portugal to the north.

William was most impressed by the fact that the future Sultan of Mulabit, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, was invited by the Prince of Spain to confront Alfonso VI of León. In the same year, Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed the Strait of Algeciras and annihilated a coalition of 100,000 Christians led by Alfonso VI at the Battle of Salaka.

Later, he fell in love with the famous Cid and killed each other, which was impressive.

Of course, the Murabit dynasty is far from its peak at present, but its upward momentum is unstoppable, and William does not want to provoke the vast territory of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gibraltar, etc.

"Your Majesty, you are wise and decisive, and the minister sighs to himself."

Prime Minister Radoff was convinced.