-- Livonia, which is also a Gothic people, is a wealthy and geographically located Livonia is a better choice than the barren, dangerous and unfriendly Turov. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

If he could, Archduke Henry naturally wanted to swallow this piece of fat in his stomach. He even almost uttered something like, "Now that the Hereford family has got Turov, then I will take over the Livonian land."

Thankfully, Archduke Henry wasn't stupid yet. He just looked at William a little nervously, and didn't say what was in his heart. He just looked at William nervously.

"Livonia is geographically important, densely populated and fertile, so it is natural that such an important land should be ...... It should be under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family. William paused at the end and then said.

"Really? haha...... Oh, yes. Did Earl William think so? It so happened that I thought so - then after this war, I would be able to manage the land with difficulty. Although I really want to make a "reluctant" expression. But the joy of the Archduke Henry could not be concealed. He tried very hard to adjust his facial expressions, but in the end he failed. So much so that his face showed a very distorted strange expression, as if crying but not crying, as if smiling but not laughing.

"However, there are still some things here that I would like to discuss with Your Majesty. William said.

"Really?" Hearing William say this, Archduke Henry was a little nervous again.

"It's shipbuilding. "The Hereford family needs a navy to defend our territorial waters and transport our output," William said. Whatever we want, we would like to provide us with a little convenience while His Majesty takes control of Livonia. It gives us some control over the resources of shipbuilding - of course, we pay taxes to the crown in the normal proportion. And if the royal family needs ships, they can also entrust the shipyard under the control of the Hereford family. I can guarantee that. ”

"I thought something was going on. Hearing William say this, Archduke Henry breathed a sigh of relief. It's like the vast majority of the aristocracy of this era, backward in thought and unable to keep up with the times. Archduke Henry valued the land more than anything else. As for industry, manufacturing, and commerce, it is indispensable.

In fact, William himself muttered a little when he said this—he knew that Archduke Henry was not shrewd. But he didn't expect that he was not shrewd to such an extent.

After all, Shilonsk is now so prosperous thanks to the blessing of manufacturing. The 100,000 textile workers and tens of thousands of looms in Shilonsk are the confidence of Grand Duke Henry to become the strongest prince of the Wende Kingdom.

With this fact at the bottom, William thought that Henry's Guild was very concerned about light industry, textile industry and manufacturing industry, and even about shipbuilding. I didn't expect this to be the case.

After this encouragement, William continued to test whether he could get his hands on the textile industry in Shilonsk - but he did not expect that this time the Grand Duke Henry's attitude was very resolute. Without hesitation at all, he rejected William.

"Looks like this guy isn't quite confused. William thought to himself.

In this way, William and Archduke Henry, the next strategic cooperation was basically finalized. The Hereford family will receive the territory of the Grand Duchy of Turov and will have access to the shipbuilding industry in Livonia.

At the cost of these two conditions, the Hereford family would support Archduke Henry in the following war. The strategy was for Archduke Henry to face Archduke Dietrich first. by the Hereford family against Thial of Turov. Either side has dealt with its opponent first, and then comes to the aid of the other with its army - of course, just to sound good. William didn't think Archduke Henry could finish his opponent faster than he did. So the end result is definitely that the Hereford family settles Thial of Turov and then comes to Henry's aid.

After talking about the general matter, Archduke Henry was satisfied. At the same time, his complexion became not very good-looking, and he felt as if he was about to fall asleep.

This gave William confidence in the health of the future "His Majesty the King". It seems that even if this guy really becomes King Wende, he will definitely not live long.

"I'm relieved. With this gloomy mentality, William took his leave of the Henry, and that evening he took up residence at the residence of the Grand Duke of Henry, who had lived in the consulate in Livonia and in Polotsk in the estate under the name of the Hereford General Company. In this way, William also declared the "intimacy" of the Hereford family with the Trieste family.

The next day, William went to see Archduke Henry again, and was ready to discuss with him the specifics of cooperation. But he was dragged away by Archduke Henry, and he ate, drank and had fun all day.

According to Archduke Henry, as long as the general direction of cooperation is decided, the specific details of the next are left to the officials to discuss. This made William laugh and cry - yes, in a sense, there was nothing wrong with Archduke Henry's words. Leaving specific tasks to professionals can get the greatest benefit and allow the rulers at the top to "maintain friendship". After all, negotiations require you to compete for each other, and you will not give an inch. If you do that, the "personal friendship" or something will disappear.

...... It's just that, although he said so, William believed that Archduke Henry himself definitely didn't think so. He's just afraid of trouble. Moreover, the guy he assigned to negotiate was not a professional. It's the favored courtiers around him. I don't have any ability at all, I will only eat kickbacks.

This was told to William by the representative of the Hereford family, who was present at the negotiations that day. These professional diplomats, who had joined William's command through various channels, and the business talents were all dissatisfied with the representatives of the Archduke Henry. I just feel that talking to this kind of guy who doesn't know how to learn or know how to do it lowers my taste and style.

Again, in addition to the treaty between the Hereford family and Archduke Henry on the partition of the territory of the Wende kingdom, and the treaty on intervention in the shipbuilding industry in Livonia, they also had to negotiate the export of steam engines, the export of light industrial products, and the import of Shilonsk textiles. They felt that the rest of the days were going to be difficult.

"But it's not without its benefits. The deputies smiled wryly and said to William: "As long as this guy is fed, then we can get the most benefits for the Grand Duchy...... It's just that...... I really didn't expect that it would be such a guy who would decide the fate of Shilonsk. It seems that the future of the Grand Duchy of Shilonsk is not optimistic. ”

William did not have the international spirit of the delegates. He didn't worry about Archduke Henry at all. On the contrary, after hearing about these things, William was still very happy.

"Then feed them -- and keep all the evidence of their bribery as a handle. These things will definitely be useful in the future. William said.

In this way, William accompanied Archduke Henry to eat and drink during the day, while his professional delegation negotiated with Archduke Henry's favored courtiers.

After a stack of estate deeds, commercial bank cheques, and jewellery in the evening, the negotiations went well during the day. Basically, what William's delegation said, Archduke Henry's favored courtiers agreed to.

In the words of William's negotiators: "They seem to have no idea what the meaning of the terms they agreed to. In the beginning, we were still using jargon and negotiation skills to confuse them...... But then we realized that we didn't have to. No matter what we say, they will just answer 'yes'. I even doubt that if we finally swap out the treaty and make Archduke Otto king. They will not hesitate to agree to our conditions. ”

In addition to the fact that the negotiations went smoothly, William also confirmed once again that Archduke Henry would never live long - this guy usually did not do much exercise, and his physical fitness was very poor. And the eating habits are also very bad, like to eat and drink. A variety of spirits, a variety of high-calorie creamy snacks, a fat roast suckling pig, a roast goose...... He loves to eat. Moreover, there was no one around him who understood that it was not good for his health......

William noticed that Archduke Henry gasped for breath when he walked a little, his throat was like a bellows, and there was phlegm in his throat. If you do a little more movement, your face will turn red. Considering that this guy was over forty years old, William even began to worry.

"Hopefully, this guy will hold out until the day he ascends the throne and is crowned King of Wende. Otherwise, it will be very troublesome. William thought to himself.

That's it, William fulfilled all the official tasks he needed to complete in Shilonsk. Next, the plan for the division of the territory of the Wende Kingdom after the war was determined. It was determined that after the war, the Hereford family would take over Livonia's "entire shipyard, shipyards, ships." And it can "pass through the territorial sea of Livonia at will, and use ports and docks at will".

After that, an agreement on trade in goods between Shilonsk and Novgorod was determined.

The two sides grant each other the most-favored-nation status. Dumping of one's own goods with the lowest tariffs is "welcomed" - considering that Shilonsk has almost no industry other than textiles. Consider that Novgorod has all kinds of industries except textiles. This treaty can also be called and beneficial to both sides.

It is worth noting that William found a good buyer for the steam engine produced in his factory.

Although Archduke Henry and his favourites knew nothing about the textile industry. But the middle-level officials who really managed the textile factories, as well as the various factory owners, understood the situation.

What William did was to encourage them to upgrade their industries. By purchasing various types of steam looms, we can improve the output and product quality.

Shilonsk is full of textile factories, and most of these factories still use handmade weaving, except for a very few that use steam looms.

If all these factories were to be replaced with steam looms, it would be a big deal. That's enough for William's steam engine factory to keep busy for a while.