"It's all here, let's talk about it!"

I squeezed out a smile that I thought was very appropriate, motioned for the guests in front of me to sit down, and they exchanged words and discussions, and then nervously found their seats and sat down, and I ordered the attendants to serve food and fill everyone's glasses.

"I am not fighting to destroy Friesland completely, but to ask for an explanation for your cunning sneak attack in the first place, everyone knows that my fiancée, Miss Crescenty, has been treated cruelly, and God will not forgive the perpetrators."

The other party is Leonardo's contact through the inside line, several important business leaders in Utrecht City, who have had business dealings with him, and a few of them are said to be old friends with deep relations, as soon as they received the news, they sent envoys to secretly go out of the city to meet with us, it can be said that on behalf of the merchant class in Utrecht City, the opportunity to end this war is here, naturally we should not wait.

The leader was a sturdy and short middle-aged businessman, under the cover of his cunning eyes, and a trace of calmness that had seen the wind and waves, and I judged from the admiration and respect of others for him that he should be the plenipotentiary of this negotiation, and he must be a very powerful businessman in Utrecht, so he took the initiative to turn to him and said polite words with a smile, hoping to shorten the distance between them.

"We have also heard a little about Miss Cresenti, and are very angry and disappointed that the Earl of Friesland is involved in such a heinous atrocity."

"But as far as I know, the real troops were sent by a few rebellious vassals of the Earl, who have always disobeyed the suzerainty of Utrecht, set up checkpoints in their own territories to extort tyranny, invade neighboring fiefdoms by force, believe in violence and abandon pious beliefs, as if they want to establish an independent kingdom, so their actions do not represent the will of Utrecht, but here I still want to express my condolences and apologies to you."

The middle-aged businessman got up, bent his waist to ninety degrees, and made a very deferential bow, which shows that he has been walking the rivers and lakes for many years, so that he is very good at dealing with these intricate interpersonal relationships, and shows his position through neither humble nor arrogant answers.

"I do not advocate that the crime of one person be regarded as the same crime of the whole nation, but the fact that the Count of Friesland, in collusion with the Normans hostile to Nijmegen, has violated my borders on more than one occasion, and plundered the population of the villages, and of course I know that these things are driven by the greed of the superiors, and have nothing to do with you businessmen."

Since the other party is polite, there is no need for me to be aggressive, and then change the topic: "The siege of the city these days is a disaster for the people of the two countries, and you can also see the result of both defeats, even if Nijmegen still has absolute certainty of capturing Utrecht, but out of the principle that knights do not bully the weak, we want to solve the problem through peaceful means first, and the loss of life is not the result that everyone hopes after all." ”

The corners of the middle-aged man's mouth twitched unnaturally, if I hadn't deliberately paid attention, it would have been difficult to find, he would probably see through my bluff, but he replied more humbly: "The kindness and chivalrous demeanor of the Earl are extremely admired by us, the lowly merchants who chase after the smell of fish, we have long heard that in your territory, there are no as many harsh taxes as those flies, and there will be no robberies and deductions of business trips at will, and even for us lowly speculators, we have prepared stone houses to protect ourselves from the wind and rain, and encourage legitimate commercial trade. This is exactly the paradise that every businessman dreams of. ”

"Merchants are all after profits, and of course we welcome such a ruler to reign over the country, and we are willing to stand on the side of justice and help such a ruler to achieve victory."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he quietly glanced twice on Leonardo's face, as if speculating on the role of the old guy in my court, and still had some doubts in his heart about the success of this trip.

I clapped my hands and laughed, and pushed the food on the plate in front of him: "Leonardo has been canonized by me as a knight, serving as the prime minister and treasurer of the Nijmegen court, I am a rough man who can only fight, and it is thanks to his efforts to sew and mend at home that I have no worries on the battlefield, and Nijmegen's career is thriving." ”

Since people still have some doubts in their hearts, let's just do something real, and first throw out Leonardo's identity and throw bricks and stones:

"I have a lot of respect for you businessmen, walking day after day between countries to do business, and it is also a self-supporting way of survival, and should not be treated with contempt and injustice."

"Everything in Nijmegen is a blueprint, and it needs to be improved by more and more people with lofty ideals, and then promoted to more regions to benefit more people who are self-reliant, rather than those nobles or samurai who were born with a golden spoon."

"Although my family comes from a noble background, the recent generations that have fallen behind in the family have also relied on their own efforts to start again little by little, so I am very aware of the struggles and pains at the bottom of the society, and I want to make some changes within my ability, and at the same time fulfill my ideals, I will not fail God's love for the world."

After speaking, I pretended to purse my lips sadly, and performed the image of an aspiring young man very well, in order to win over these rich people against the water, I did not hesitate to recite some official propaganda words in the newspapers of later generations, to ensure that they were stunned for a moment, and willingly led us to build a bridge.

The middle-aged man was really shocked, but judging from his expression, it should not be that I was shocked that I was in a high position and could say such shocking words, but that he didn't understand the actual meaning of the complicated rhetoric at all, and he coughed lightly twice in embarrassment, reminding his companion to come up and talk.

A fat man sitting next to him immediately understood, his smiling eyes were almost squeezed into a slit, and at first glance he looked like a slippery head accustomed to seeing the wind and steering, and he always habitually rubbed his hands before speaking, as if doing so would bring him some good luck:

"Your Excellency Earl, the villain is Meers, a woolmer from Utrecht, and a business partner with Brauten, and a good friend in private, so my words also represent his thoughts."

The fat man, who called himself Myers, pointed to the middle-aged businessman who had just spoken to me, and gave a brief introduction: "We have come today for the same purpose as you, to avoid an unnecessary war, and if everyone can settle disputes peacefully at the negotiating table, it is better than wasting the lives of soldiers to fight to the death, and that result is condemned by God and undesirable to both sides." ”

Another master of Tai Chi, said that for a long time except for wearing a high hat, there was no useful substance in the words, I raised my glass and motioned for him to continue.

"We can pay for the guards guarding the gates, and then send a signal for the army from Nijmegen to enter the city, and it's not very difficult to do that."

Myers rubbed his hands together again, smirking lewdly, as if he was proud of his proposal: "But again, we need a reason to do so." ”

Leonardo, who had not spoken, suddenly interjected at this time, put down the wine glass in his hand, and stared intently at Myers, I have seen that kind of look, which can make people with fragile nerves go crazy, and the fat man can only ask for more blessings.

Leonardo asked, "What about Lord Count Friesland and Lord Bishop of Utrecht?" In case the sword soldier has no eyes and inadvertently injures the two adults, I'm afraid this is not the situation that our family's benevolent earl wants to see. ”

Broughten pushed away his wine glass, met Leonardo's meaningful eyes with the corners of his mouth, and replied word by word in the clash of willpower: "No one in the rebellion can make absolute guarantees, we can only pray to God Almighty to protect the two adults." ”

With that, Brouten sat back down and was silent.

Leonardo got the answer he wanted, and sat back satisfied, the atmosphere suddenly quieted down, and Myers hurriedly stood up to warm up:

"I believe that under the command of the Earl, the army of Nijmegen will be victorious, and your reputation for cherishing the people is well known!"

I nodded and suggested that everyone have a drink to see if the heat was about the same, and then I said my assurance:

"The army of Nijmegen has promised that there will be no offense against the business of all of you in the city, but the Flemish knights who have sent troops with us have suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, and their hearts are already full of great resentment, and before the joint army, the Count of Baudouin has already demanded that after taking the city of Utrecht, in order to make up for the losses, they will be arbitrarily searched in the property except the population, I am afraid that those tiger and wolf men who are holding their stomachs and have nowhere to vent will accidentally damage the interests of all of you here, Unnecessary trouble and bloodshed. ”

As soon as he heard that he was going to be robbed, Myers immediately burst into a rage, and was even more angry than his daughter-in-law being slept on, like a dog with its tail trampled, reluctant to let others take advantage of it, compared to Blauten, who was much calmer, calmly sat in the chair and did not squeak.

"You are deceiving, Lord Earl!"

Myers' foaming stars flew all over the sky like a sprinkler at full power.

"I beg your pardon for being rude, but we have come with sincerity, and we have been treated unfairly, and the Count of Nijmegen, who is called upright and self-disciplined, will not look down on us rust-smelling parasites, and the Frisians, though they yearn for freedom and peace, are by no means lambs to be slaughtered."

The bull, who had long been unpleasant to them on the other side, was immediately ignited with a violent temper, and a fierce man jumped up and almost knocked down a few people on the side, and the thin chair was kicked far away, and his eyes were wide open like a lion with his mane standing up to end.

"Do you think that the sword of the knights of Nijmegen is just a splendid ornament? Each of us is a **** warrior, willing to throw the last drop of blood in our chests to protect Lord Earl! ”

(End of chapter)