Eventually, after much bargaining, Diplomat I and Robert II finally reached an agreement. In addition to ceding the islands and recognizing the sovereignty of the Norman Kingdom over Northumberland and Cumbria, the Norman Kingdom was to pay 17,000 gold coins.

Although, in the eyes of Diplomat One, such an agreement has been quite advantageous. But to Egil, it still seems to be some—no, not somewhat. It's very--

"Cheap them. Egil shook his head, then turned to Diplomat One, who looked surprised, "Though that part of Scotland is barren to death. It was plundered by our navy before. But no matter how you say it, it is impossible to have such a small family background. You want less. ”

Diplomat No. 1 didn't dare to agree in his heart, he easily said such a number, looking at the other party's appearance, he had the heart to hang himself. Feelings are in the eyes of their boss, so they are still less wanted?

"Come, I'll settle accounts with you. Egil could naturally see what Diplomat No. 1 was thinking, so he calmly crossed his fingers to convert all the financial situation of Scotland, and then concluded: "In other words, plus the ransom of those knights and nobles, the other party can come up with at least 21,000 gold coins." But now if you look at it separately, the war reparations are only 17,000. And the ransom was only two thousand five hundred. In this way, there will be less income of fifteen hundred gold coins inside and out. ”

Seeing this, Diplomat No. 1 couldn't help but be convinced, and said that he would learn from the king and redouble his efforts.

But, in any case, this time the Scots were bleeding profusely. Both economically and manpower have suffered heavy losses. The domestic political situation is chaotic. It seems that thirty or fifty years will not slow down. But Robert II wasn't worried. Because the British Isles, except for the island of Ireland, which has not suffered too much war, the rest of the place is in devastation. It will take a lot of time, at least two generations, to recover. The average life expectancy of people at this time is very short. Therefore, Robert II felt that if there were no accidents, he would not have conflicts with the Norman kingdom again in his lifetime.

That's right, the Norman kingdom. At this moment, even Northern Europe is not united. But Egir has been very jealous to change the name of his kingdom to the Norman kingdom, that is, he has seen himself as the king of all the Normans. Such behavior naturally attracted the hostility of his neighbours in northern Europe, Sweden and Denmark. But Egil didn't care. Those two countries also experienced a major war. The loss of strength is serious, and it needs to recuperate. And when it comes to recuperation, Egil, who has a system cheat, will not be slower than the others anyway.

A month later, in February 1001. Egir finally scraped together enough money to start a network of roads connecting five cities in England. At the same time, statutory law, which had already been introduced in Norway, was introduced to England. Following the example of Norway, cities and towns in England replaced the traditional rule of the local aristocracy with professional administrators. The traditional rights of the English aristocracy were further eroded.

Later, Egil spent a fortune to be crowned again in an ornate royal palace in the heart of London, which had been renovated. The ceremony was presided over by Peter Peter, Archbishop of the Kingdom and Priest of the Field Order. Declared himself king of all the Normans of Norway, England, Wales and Ireland, and the islands of the North Sea. and officially canonized Artoria as her queen.

The Norman kingdom, which had been preparing for nearly a month, was officially established, and on the system interface, Egil's title was changed to Norman king. And obtained the surname of a founding king: the new year that created a new dynasty, and a white tomorrow awaits you. Prestige +2, Personal Security +3, the surname of a powerful king: Your country has a territory far exceeding that of other kingdoms, and its combined economic and military strength has reached a certain level. Prestige +1.

After a month of hard work, it was finally not wasted. Egil sighed as his prestige rose by three points. The prestige caste could have reached nine points - but there is a slight problem here, that is, Egil also has a surname that has suffered a crushing defeat, that is, a negative surname obtained after the battle of the Thames, which was staged by his wife after a shocking reversal, which has reduced his dominance and prestige a little. And the morale of the army under his command has been reduced by as much as two points. In this way, Egil's prestige was reduced to eight points.

However, it can be regarded as an improvement. Egil comforted himself. Although it is not yet comparable to the powerful titles of the King of France, the Emperor of the HRE or the Tsar of Russia. Compared with the Byzantine Augustus, it is even more tragic. But it's much stronger than the average king and grand duke of a small country.

After being crowned king, Egil continued to pursue a centralized political system. Recovered the law enforcement rights of the local lords. It was changed to a magistrate's court judge to enforce the law. and proclaimed a decree prohibiting the private fighting of the nobles. Violators of the order will be punished with a reduction of the territory, and in more serious cases, they will be removed from the nobility and confiscated all the territory. And if there was a dispute between nobles, they should also go to the nearest town court to find a judge to hear the case.

Finally, there was the monopoly system of salt and iron, which Egil had coveted for a long time, and on the basis of this, Egil also listed grain, cloth, iron tools, and livestock as controlled commodities. Prohibition of free buying and selling.

After that, there is a system of taxation according to the acreage. A system of taxation based on the number of livestock and farms. According to the system of collecting taxes according to the surians of shops and mills......

This series of measures, although slightly hindered business development. However, it opened up a new source of finance and taxation for Egil. In contrast, of course, there was an almost unbearable attitude of the aristocracy.

At the same time, Egil's three research institutes continue to work on various technologies. The one that studied armor is now bottlenecked. It seems that it will take a long time to research the equipment above the plate chain composite armor. The one who studied the humanities, after researching the written law, began to work on the knightly system to further increase the combat effectiveness of the Norman royal knights under Egir (the Norwegian knight is an improved version, with increased attack, defensive skills and morale authority). After that, scientific research institutes that study products for people's livelihood are working hard to study glass technology according to Egypt's instructions. In order to add another product that can be exported to earn foreign exchange.

Although the research speed of these research institutes is not slow. But Egil was still dizzy at the sight of the multi-meter-long tech tree. Consideration is being given to the establishment of a few new research institutes.

However, before Egil could finish considering the address of the new research institute. England's internal affairs have changed again.

After several times of ignoring Egil's ban and smuggling iron and horses, the castles of several ancient noble families that had been in circulation for hundreds of years were razed to the ground, their property was looted, the family lands were usurped by the royal family, and all members of the noble family, regardless of gender, old and young, were divided by death. The corpse was hung in the head of the city of London and drenched in the rain for thirty days. Several aristocratic families who fought over water sources were also sentenced to pay large fines and reduce their fiefdoms.

Eventually, Egil's perverse behavior provoked a strong backlash, and in England, a total of eighty-three nobles, large and small, swore a blood oath before Jehovah's icon. Form a rebel coalition. Mobilizing all the troops that could be mobilized in his own territory, he raised a counter-flag in the central English town of Manchester, elected Henry IV, Duke of Lancaster, as the new king of England, and prepared to expel Egil, a foreigner.

In this way, the rebel aristocratic alliance gathered a total of nearly 20,000 rebels, and received a large number of small feudal lords in response, and the rebels effortlessly conquered York City, which was only garrisoned by 500 town patrols, and was very arrogant.

"Really, can't you let me breathe a sigh of relief?" said Egil as he received the news. Originally, after the tax of nearly 100,000 gold coins in March came up, he was still thinking about what to do. In this way, this amount of money does not have to be considered. Let's use it directly as military expenses to expand armaments for war.

"There are 20,000 rebels, right?" asked Egil anonymously to his secret service chief.

"That's right. Nameless replied.

"Then, we will also use 20,000 troops to meet us, so as to show our fairness and justice. Egil ordered.

"Fairness and justice, do you have a connection with these two words?" the system elf couldn't help but sarcastically say, "Also, the vast majority of the other party's 20,000 troops are temporarily conscripted peasant soldiers, and your army—when did you have 20,000 troops? Counting the dwarven mercenaries, it's only more than 17,000, right?"

"Soon it will be. Egil replied easily: "I am now a powerful king." How can it be done with such a small number of troops. ”

As Egil said, when Alfred only owned England, a full mobilization could send an army of 50,000. Egil's territory is now nearly twice as large as Alfred's. And the territory is scattered, one in the east and one in the west. But there were only 17,000 troops - of course, this is not counting the garrisons of the towns. However, Egil had already made a decision, and the task of the town garrison in the future was to catch thieves and patrol the town. Just take the salary of a police officer. It is no longer included in the calculation of the regular army.

So, Egil needed more troops. Expanding his main army to 20,000 is only the most preliminary idea. In the next step, Egil will also set out to form the Norwegian garrison, the British garrison, and the Normandy garrison. And exchange for generals. In the future, you can't fight in the south and the north alone.

Of course, Artoria can't.

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