For the crown of the Frankish Empire that William dreamed of, he fought with the Holy Roman Empire and the Holy See again, but he was unwilling, and he gambled with the fate of France, England and the Normans, and fought with the enemy easily, which was not the work of a wise man.

Faced with Prime Minister Ladolph's question, William explained: "Prime Minister Ladolph, it is not advisable to be strong, you should outwit it." ”

"Your Majesty, how to outwit it?" Prime Minister Ladolph asked curiously.

"Since the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany and Italy have never been fully integrated, including the areas of the Kingdom of Burgundy, which were conquered by the Germans.

However, are the nobles here really willing to obey the leadership of the Germans and accept their oppression, whether it is the Italians, the Lombards or the Orcists, they are not willing to accept the oppression of the HRE Empire, but the empire was strong before, and the Italian and Burgundian princes and city-states dared not speak out.

But now that the Holy Roman Empire has suffered a complete defeat, with tens of thousands of troops lost, and the noble knights have suffered countless casualties and lost their strength, will they have no other thoughts? William explained.

"Your Majesty, then why haven't they taken action to become independent from the Holy Roman Empire?" Prime Minister Ladolph asked, puzzled.

"Since ancient times, a serpent could not be without a head, and the Italian states, Provence, Savoy, and the Upper Burgundian states did not have a leader of great prestige to muster up the strength to resist the rule of the Holy Roman Empire.

First they had to get the support of the Pope to get the name of justice, and then they had to have a strong leader to lead the war of independence. William was not the slightest impatient with Ladolph's question, and said with a smile.

"Then who does Your Majesty want to be the leader?"

"It was the Duke of Lombardy and the Marquis of Milan, Ezzo II of the House of Este, and the father of Welf." William named his candidate: "Actually, I wanted my son's maiden family of Tuscany and Archduke Bofacioni of Spoleto to lead this independence, but unfortunately he died in May of this year, and his only remaining son, Federigo, succeeded him.

The five-year-old Duke of Federigo is frail and sickly, and everything in the duchy is in the hands of her mother, the Duke of Lower Lorraine's family, Beatrix, where can she take on such a task?

For now, the Duke of Lombardy and Ezzo II, the Duke of Lombardy and the Princes of Milan, are the best candidates. ”

Ezzo II, a traitorous figure, was born into the Este family, who ruled the Duchy of Lombardy and Milan for generations, and in order to seize the inheritance of the Welf family, the Aldorft Count and the Padua Nation of Verona, he married the sister of Guelph, the Duke of Verona, that is, Welf's mother, but when he seized the Welf family's inheritance, he cruelly abandoned Welf's mother and married the sister of the former Count of Enman.

This is also the reason why Welf left Lombardy, and he thought about reviving the Welf family day and night and taking revenge on Ezzo II.

However, in William's opinion, it is somewhat ridiculous that the male blood of the Welf family was actually cut off when Welf's uncle, the Duke of Guelph, died, and he was actually a descendant of Ezzo II, so later generations called this Welf family the Welf House the Younger.

It may seem to Welf that he has inherited his mother's legacy and the name of the Welf family, and is determined to take revenge on Ezzo II.

It's a pity that William has no plans to march into Italy so far, and it is naturally impossible to help Duke Welf take revenge.

Frustrated, Welf had the idea of leaving the Norman kingdom and returning to the Holy Roman Empire, and he once talked to William about giving up his fiefdom in Wales in exchange for an army of up to 6,000 men, but he did not agree.

Welf's thoughts aside, William was more concerned than Ezzo II with the situation of the Duke of Tuscany and Spoleto, the young Federigo, and more precisely with his son Richard's future daughter-in-law, the future Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Matilda.

Since the death of Duke Bofacioni, Matilda has not had a good time, and her mother, Queen Beatrix, does not seem to have welcomed this threatening daughter and intends to expel her.

How can this be?

William planned to help Matilda seize Tuscany and Spoleto from her younger brother, Duke Federigo, and her mother, while provoking the Italian city-states and the princes of Upper Burgundy to independence.

Matilda is the future daughter-in-law of little Richard, and if she achieves the position of duke, then the future Tuscany and Spoleto will not belong to the Normandy family?

As soon as Tuscany was achieved, William's plan to march into Rome and rob the pope had a basis for success.

Therefore, the plan to provoke the independence of the princes of Italy and Provence, and William's plan to seize Italy and march into Rome are not contradictory, but have the effect of one plus one being greater than two.

"Your Majesty, that means that as long as they are independent, whether they succeed or not, we will have a chance to take advantage of the opportunity to seize Provence, and even have a chance to march into Rome?" Duke Ladolph was amazed by William's plan.

"Indeed, without the blessings of the Holy Roman Empire, I do not take them seriously by their loose Italian states and princes of Provence." William confidently said: "However, the strength of a few princes of northern Italy and the princes of Provence, Savoy, and Upper Burgundy was not enough to make them independent from the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, even with the help of the Pope."

We'll have to get a few helpers for them. ”

"Your Majesty, it's Caesar of Sicily. Morality. King Outville? Prime Minister Ladolph listened very carefully, and immediately reacted after William finished speaking.

"That's right, it's Caesar of Sicily. Guicaster. William nodded and said, "He relied on the recognition of the Holy See to legally own Apuria, Calabria, Lecce, Bari and Sicily, and wear the crown of the King of Sicily."

Although Caesar fought back in the last war and stabbed the Holy See in the back, this did not prevent the Kingdom of Sicily from moving closer to the Holy See again.

If Caesar and his Kingdom of Sicily could be persuaded to help the Italian states against Emperor Henry III of the HRE, their chances of success on their own would be greatly increased.

You must know that the charge of my Normans with guns and iron cavalry is unstoppable, and it is not easy to deal with the Holy Roman Empire army, which has suffered a great loss of strength. ”

The Normans were always interested in profit and adventure, and the Norman monarch knew this all too well, and this time he decided to run the golden kingdom of Ghana to the Normans of Sicily as a bait to lure them into sending troops.