"The other party's boat is less than two nautical miles away...... Carl didn't answer Hong Tao's words, he knew that he couldn't talk about Hong Tao, and he knew that his cousin would definitely accept Hong Tao's suggestion. This is the least costly, the least risky, and the most obvious effect, and if he were the emperor, he would choose to accept it for the sake of the survival of the empire.

"U-turn! Let's go back! "Hong Tao doesn't want to remind him how powerful the subhuman naval artillery is, he wants to be surprised, since he wants to kill people, try to be as efficient as possible, what to do and what to shout, he must have professionalism.

Friedrich II's attitude towards Hong Tao's idea was completely different from Karl's, he was more worried about the ability of the two warships, if he could not stop the opponent's assembled army, then his army would be driven into the sea. In addition, he was not ready to attack, and he did not have so many troops in his hands, at most he could provide Hong Tao with a thousand men. One thousand against five thousand, still at the enemy's doorstep, or landing operations, if you lose, no one can escape, all losses!

"Have you ever thought that if you win this battle, then you will become the public enemy of the whole Christian world, and as a Christian, I am afraid that the empire will not be able to openly protect you." In addition, there is another problem, that is, the problem of justice, even in the most unfortunate time, the emperor does not dare to go to the Sultan of A\la \ Bo to borrow troops, this is a big taboo, it will cause public outrage.

"No, no, no, there are no infidels here, these two ships are all vassals of Knight Karl, he is not only the commander of the fleet, but also the perfect Christian, he gave his youth for the holy war, didn't he? And he is also a member of His Majesty the Emperor's clan, which is an internal affair of the Empire. It is really not suitable for outsiders to meddle. So this is a war between you, Your Majesty, Emperor, and your cousin who is loyal to you to fight against the enemies of the family. It has nothing to do with outsiders. ”

"If I lose, I will bear all the losses, I will pay everyone's ransom, and your loan will not have to be returned, these two boats will belong to you, His Majesty the Emperor, and I will row back in a small boat myself. Of course, all this can only be explained in this room, between me and His Majesty the Emperor's brothers, out of this room. If you change any person, it is a non-existent thing. Of course, Hong Tao will not worry that he will lose, the only thing he is worried about is that the other party will not make a move. Once you have seen the power of the naval guns, the whole turtle retracts inland and does not go to the sea, the naval guns will lose their effect, and you can't stop the warships every day to watch the hot and Asian ports, then this special economic zone will lose its meaning and become a tug-of-war.

"I'm here to personally command this battle, on the battleship of His Excellency the Duke!" Friedrich II was very good at bargaining, and this request should have been what he had always wanted to make. I just didn't find the right excuse, and now I've finally found it.

"On my battleship. Without an emperor, there can never be! If Your Majesty wants to come on board, you can only be my guest, and your troops are all under your command, and I will not interfere, but you cannot interfere in the battle of the warship either. If you can agree, I will clean the captain's room and make it your majesty's palace. "Since they are all here, and they have become partners with the emperor, it is not necessary or appropriate to stop him from boarding the ship. The partner wants to go to your factory to have a look, and you stop you from going, then you still cooperate with a fart, and people 100% think you are a liar. But no matter who gets on board, the rules of the fleet cannot be changed, and if you see it, don't think about the command.

"Carl, what do you think?" Friedrich II really couldn't guess what Hong Tao wanted to do, so he could only hope that his cousin would not cheat himself with outsiders.

"Just do as the Duke said, I mentioned to Your Majesty on the first day I came back that the Duke is the best at harming people, and fortunately we are on the same front with him. With him, the Lombards will probably never be enemies of the empire again, but the honor of knighthood will also be gone. Carl was still taking eye medicine in front of Hong Tao, and from his heart, he really didn't want to let Hong Tao take action. When he was wreaking havoc on Jawa Island, he never felt that it was wrong to do that, but when it was his country's turn, he immediately thought about it more, people are all this virtue, the ancients didn't have a cloud of clouds, standing and talking without back pain!

"I have one more request, if the Lombards are completely defeated, His Majesty the Emperor must sign an agreement with me. The content is very simple, in the future, the merchants of the Golden River Company and the Straits Company in the city of Rena will have extraterritoriality, they are not bound by the laws of the Empire, and the company will set up a management agency in Rena, once they violate the laws of the Empire, they can only be handed over to this management body to deal with, and how to deal with it will be decided by Karl and His Majesty the Emperor. To win this war, my company has to pay a lot of money, and if it is only possible to do business in the Special Zone, then it is better to go to Venice to do it. I'm a businessman, and I have to be fair in everything, and I don't think that's too much to ask. And I can assure you that the merchants in my company are not criminals, they are just different from the people of the empire in their habits, and if their personal safety is not protected, no one will want to sail so far to do business here, and I ask your majesty the emperor to understand my difficulties. ”

The emperor's problem is solved, and Hong Tao still has a problem. He paid so much price, not just to want the management of a special economic zone, as long as he has money, he can get it anywhere, he wants a concession in the actual sense. This is Christendom, and it is very strict with the heathen, and they can always use the religious system to make it difficult for their own people without express guarantees. When the time comes, the emperor will push 625 again and put the responsibility on the Pope, and he can't really attack the Papal State! What private guarantee is waste paper in Hong Tao's eyes, this kind of problem must fall on black and white, and it must be a formal agreement with legal effect.

“…… I need to think about it. This time Friedrich II must have been angry, although there was no major change in expression on his face, but the atmosphere in the room suddenly became very depressing, and Hong Tao had the urge to turn his head and run out. It seems that coercion does exist, he also felt it in the Great Song Emperor at the beginning, and today he felt it for the second time in a European emperor.

"You're pushing my cousin's limits, he's a tough man, and it's an insult to him." Coming out of the Emperor's chamber, Karl muttered to Hong Tao quietly, both worried and a little complaining.

"Doing business is like this, you can't talk about it without conditions, you just see whether the benefits are enough. But you're right, your cousin isn't a businessman, he's an emperor, so I'd better be careful. You go and send the salamander and Jiang Niangzi to the dock, and I will wait for you there. Let's go back to the boat to live, it's not safe here, in case your cousin is also the same virtue as the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, then it's useless for you to apologize to me, your head is gone, you can't hear! Hong Tao did not regret his request for the concession, but he felt that Carl was reasonable, he was a little reckless, this is the palace, not the ship, it seems that this kind of thing must be discussed on the ship in the future.

"It's okay, you're a coward!" Carl knew that once Hong Tao had concerns about safety, it would be useless for anyone to persuade him, but it was still okay to laugh at it by the way, this kind of opportunity was rare.

"Cowards live a long life, I still want to live a few more years and watch the salamanders grow up." You are bold, go with your cousin, he must be roaring angrily in the house now. But I guess he'll agree to my request, and it's a good deal for him. Hong Tao doesn't care about other people's evaluation of his moral exercise, that thing doesn't eat or drink, healthy life is the world's first truth, otherwise you can't see anything, no matter how good your moral exercise is, it's useful?

No matter how much Friedrich II cursed Hong Tao as a bastard behind his back, it was a deal that he really couldn't refuse. Extraterritoriality in a small city in exchange for the submission of a large area that has been fought by our ancestors for a long time, how can it be worth! What's more, if the Lombards were conquered, the territory of the empire would once again encircle the Papal States, and Gregory IX, who had cowered in Rome, would surely turn blue with anger. As soon as he remembered the angry look of the Pope, Friedrich II forgot all the unhappiness and happily agreed to Hong Tao's request. As soon as the city of Re\Na\Ya is defeated, and the emperor's army does not suffer any major losses, this treaty will be signed immediately!

Is this a traitor? In essence, Friedrich II's actions are no different from those of the Empress Dowager Cixi, in order to suppress the domestic resistance, seduce foreign forces into the country, and cede the sovereignty of the country. But then again, if there is no clear understanding of history, how many people will reject such conditions when they are placed in front of everyone? In all fairness, I think there should be very little, this is human nature, selfishness! If a person does not put his own interests first when doing things, then you must stay away from this person, he is a complete liar!

In the past, Hong Tao felt that the efficiency of Da Song was low, but now he knows what it means to have no minimum, only lower. An army of 1,000 people, still an emperor, he actually prepared for half a month! However, it is understandable that this army was not the army of the Kingdom of Sicily, but members of the Teutonic Order in the Italian peninsula and some local mercenaries who rented ships in Venice.

This was also a bad idea for Hong Tao, who originally recruited local troops from Sicily, but was rejected by Hong Tao on the grounds that it was not flamboyant enough to attract the attention of the Lombards, and therefore could not allow them to concentrate all their forces on Rena. Hong Tao had to give the Lombard League enough time to prepare, so that they could gather the last people in their hands who could be used, so that they could make a pot of stew.

(To be continued.) )