Speaking of doing it is William's advantage, since he wants to arrange the marriage of his children, it is naturally as soon as possible, after all, there are only a few princesses in the whole of Europe who can be worthy of their sons.

Immediately, Walter the Younger of the Gifard family was sent by his emperor to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, with a mission to obtain a princess for William's second son Friedrich and third son Robert.

After nearly two months of upheaval, little Walter. Giffard finally set foot on the lands of Constantinople.

Constantinople, located at the eastern tip of the Balkan Peninsula and controlling the Bosphorus, is the gateway to the Black Sea and the key point of communication between Europe and Asia. Giffard's gaze.

Walter Jr.'s trip was also the first official contact between the Norman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Giffad was highly regarded by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine X and the Grand Patriarch, and was soon received by the Emperor.

"Your Majesty Basilus, Minister Walter. On the orders of His Majesty our lord Kaiser Wilhelm, Giffard has come to see him. "Little Walter. Giffard knelt down on one knee and said respectfully.

"I have read the letter of your envoy, and your lord Wilhelm, the Norman Emperor, wants to ask for the pearls of my family's account, Anna and Theodora, for his sons Friedrich and Robert, and I cannot agree under any circumstances." Constantine X put down the letter presented by the other party in his hand, shook his head and spoke.

The reason why Constantine X rejected each other was not for nothing, Anna and Theodora were the princesses in purple, and they were the pearls of his palm, and he naturally refused to marry them to France, thousands of miles away.

Moreover, because the Normans of Sicily often invaded Macedonia and the relationship between Greece, he had a very poor impression of the Normans, although William of the Norman Empire and Caesar of Sicily did not have a direct subordinate relationship, but in his opinion, the Sicilian Caesar was clearly a pawn supported by William.

With this in mind, it was reasonable for Constantine X to reject the other party.

For Constantine X's refusal, Walter Jr. had already prepared, and in order to convince the other party, he had to stimulate it with sharp and stern words:

"Your Majesty Basilius, you are the rightful successor of the Roman Empire, but now that your country's territory is only the Balkans and Anadolia, and the territory of Italy is only the territory of General Naples, I wonder if your country has the intention of resuming its rule in Italy?"

"Shut up! My Rome is still the master of the world, and the Caesar of Sicily will only steal the southern Italy, and when I sweep away the Seljuk Turks in the east, I will personally lead a large army to defeat them completely! It seemed that he was poked by Walter Jr., and Constantine X immediately changed color and said angrily.

"Your Majesty Basilius, the foreign minister does not mean to offend, but I have heard that Caesar of Sicily is gathering strength and intends to launch a new invasion against your kingdom of Macedonia, Greece and Thrace.

At this time, your country is separated by the war in the east, and in the face of Caesar's army, does His Majesty the Emperor need an extremely powerful ally to contain one or two for you? Little Walter bowed and said sincerely.

At this time, Constantine X also calmed down, "Your envoy is saying that William is willing to form an alliance with me and Rome?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty Basilius, my lord is willing to conclude a close marriage covenant with you on the condition that the marriage contract of the second prince Friedrich and the purple princess Anna and the marriage contract of the third prince Robert and the purple princess Theodora shall be concluded." Walter Jr. finally opened his cards and said that William was willing to conclude an alliance with Byzantium.

"Your envoy wait a moment, this matter is important, and I need to discuss it with the queen and the patriarch."

With that, Constantine X left the throne and turned to leave, surrounded by the guards.

"Johannes, what do you think of what the Norman envoy said?" After Constantine X left, he did not consult with his empress and patriarch, but consulted with his own close adviser Johannes.

"Venerable Basileus, there are now three major empires of the Catholic envoys, namely William's Norman Empire, Henry IV's Kingdom of Germany, and Ferdinand I's Kingdom of Spain.

Now the threat to our country mainly comes from two directions, one is the Seljuk Turks from the east, and the other is the Normans of Sicily, with the current strength of the empire, it is still difficult to deal with two strong enemies at the same time, so it is not impossible to marry the Norman Empire. ”

According to the analysis of his advisor Johannes, Constantine X actually had the intention of agreeing to the marriage in his heart.

Constantine X regarded himself as the true Roman Emperor, and he would have wanted to regain a shelf on the Italian peninsula. But because of the threat of the Byzantine Empire, barbarians from the east, Barcelus did not have the power and ability to launch an invasion of Italy.

Therefore, if the Norman prince married his purple princess, Constantine X would have the opportunity to increase his sphere of influence and influence in Italy.

Of course, this was not only in favor of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine X, but William could also gain a strong ally and prove his authority as emperor to all Catholics.

It's like Charlemagne and Harlan more than two hundred years ago. The alliance of Rysted, the whole of Christendom was under the domination of these two poles, which greatly increased Charlemagne's status in Christendom.

However, even so, Constantine X did not fully agree to William's request for marriage, and in his opinion, it was enough for his eldest daughter Anna to marry the other party's second prince, Friedrich, to conclude a strong in-law alliance, and as for his other daughter Theodora, she was only 4 years old, a little too young, and it was redundant to marry the third prince of the Normandy family.

Constantine X planned to use the marriage of his second daughter Theodora to find more useful allies, the first choice was naturally the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the second choice should also be the king or heir to the throne of a powerful country.

In this regard, Constantine X had already planned, and David I, the brother of King Solomon of Hungary and the heir to the throne, had already planned. Arpad is an ideal candidate.

After some discussion, Constantine X did not immediately return to the palace and inform Walter Jr. of his decision, but reamed in the royal gardens, seemingly deliberately hanging out of the other.

Fortunately, little Walter was not in a hurry, it was already very smooth to be able to complete the mission in one go, and if he failed this time, he would also think of other ways, such as getting through the relationship between the queen and the patriarch, or bribing the Byzantine emperor's close ministers to do something for him.