William forcibly snatched the Iron Crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Milan, crowned himself in front of everyone, and proclaimed, in accordance with the tradition of the enthronement of the ancient Lombard kings: "God has given me this, and no one else dares to blaspheme".

At this moment, the Archbishop of Milan sitting on the altar was completely dumbfounded, he didn't expect William to play his cards so unreasonably, as a representative of God, William should have knelt down to him and accepted the crown he had given him on behalf of God, but he didn't, he took the crown directly and rudely, and kept it on top of his head.

This is the first time in the world, the first time that a monarch is unwilling to kneel to the clergy representing God at the time of coronation, but instead crowns himself as king, not only the Archbishop of Milan was dumbfounded, embarrassed to sit on it at a loss, even the princes and ministers below opened their mouths in surprise and were speechless.

"Your Majesty, is this going to be above God?" At this time, the Archbishop of Milan finally decided not to retreat, because it had touched the bottom line of him and the Church, how could he tolerate a secular monarch above theocracy?

"I am the Lord of Destiny, and my authority comes from God's grant, not from you. When I see God, I will pray to him. William turned his head slightly and spoke in a sonorous voice.

“long live the king！ long live the king！ long live the king！ ......”

"Long live my king! Long live our king! Long live our king! ......”

The people present were infected by William's heroism and majesty, and burst into bursts of enthusiastic cheers, which were touching and endless.

The few foreign envoys who had come to William's coronation watched with horror, now aware of the fact that William was invincible and the Normans were invincible, and some of them were already weighing in their hearts whether they should dissuade their king and refuse the Holy See's request to form an alliance against William.

This is exactly what William wanted, although the number of envoys from other countries who came to attend the coronation ceremony was not large, but it included envoys sent by the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Grand Duchy of Montenegro, the Duchy of Salerno, the Republic of Venice, Bavaria of the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia and other countries.

After wearing the crown, William took the scepter and sword, and ascended to the throne surrounded by court dignitaries, ministers, generals, officials, noblewomen, cardinals, and envoys of various countries.

"Count Lambardo of Chancellor Treviso. Advance. Treviso swears with his life that he will always be loyal to you, my majesty! ”

"Count Ugo of Bologna. Hughbardi swears to God that he will always be loyal to you and will never forsake you, and if you disobey you, you will fall into Hellfire! ”

"Manfreya, the governor of Genoa. Doria swears to you that the family of Doria, who is a vassal and a minister, and all the families of the Republic of Genoa, will always be loyal to you, and may you be well! ”

"Bishop Henry of Chentrento. Feng. Trent swears allegiance to you! ”

......

The princes of northern Italy, the governors of the republic, the consuls of the city-states, the bishops and other nobles at all levels came forward and knelt down in front of William and swore allegiance to William one by one.

The Italian nobles and high clergy, who were loyal to William, numbered in the dozens, and to the accompaniment of solemn sacred music, the spectacle was so spectacular that it was almost impossible to find a painter who could have expressed it with canvas and brush.

"It seems that this His Majesty William is what everyone expects!" An envoy from Hungary was talking to an envoy from Croatia.

"What do you expect? It was only William who used his power to subdue the Italian states and force the Italian nobles and priests to submit to him, and I can guarantee that as soon as our coalition arrives, these nobles will rise up again against William's tyrannical rule! The Croatian envoy said confidently.

"I wonder why this Venetian envoy shook his head and sighed?" The Hungarian world said to the Venetian envoy who shook his head and sighed.

"Unfortunately, as far as I can see, even if there is a reluctance on the part of these noble clergymen, even this shows that the Normans have established themselves in northern Italy, and no one can easily shake them.

It is a pity that the dog thieves in Genoa dared to be so shameless, and after losing their most important colony, Nice, they shamelessly waged their tails and begged for mercy from William.

Venice will now face a very formidable business competitor! The Venice envoy shook his head slightly and said with a sigh.

Why be so pessimistic? My lord, don't you still have the commercial monopoly of trade in the Byzantine Empire? This is a piece of fat that is fatter and more juicy than the trade between Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, and I don't think Genoa, even if it had risen on the side of the Normans, would not be your match. The Hungarian envoy smiled comfortingly.

"I hope so." Venice's brow was still furrowed, and he didn't stretch it, thinking that he still had some worry in his heart.

The two Venetian and Hungarian envoys conversed intimately, but the Croatian envoys departed in disgust at the sight of the Venetians.

Everyone knows that these Italians do not have a mutually beneficial, win-win, open and inclusive thinking, and that eliminating competitors and eating alone is the goal they strive for, and they can do anything for the sake of profit.

For example, during the Fourth Crusade, the Venetian governor Enrico Dandolo used food supplies and threats to coerce and lure the Crusaders to attack the Croatian port of Zara, and induced the Crusaders to attack Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

On April 13, 1204, after the Crusaders captured Constantinople, they looted and slaughtered the city's inhabitants for three days, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked, the royal library was set on fire, the bishops and abbots who accompanied the crusade did not show mercy, and a large number of authentic religious relics were transported back to Western Europe.

As a result of this battle, the Byzantine Empire fell, and the invaders established the so-called "Latin Empire", whose official Latin name was Romania or the Romanian Empire, and Balwyn IX, Count of Flanders, was elected emperor and called Balwyn I.

At this time, although it was more than a hundred years before the Fourth Crusade, the nature of the Venetians did not change due to the difference of time, they were still greedy and selfish, and they could do whatever it took for profit, and they also formed a feud with each other because of the struggle for the coastal port cities such as the port of Zara in the Kingdom of Croatia, and the enmity between the two sides has not been eliminated for hundreds of years, but has increased dramatically.