William tried very hard to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info because, although these dukes and consuls are scum, even if they are good for them, it doesn't mean anything. But they are the rulers of a country, no matter how small. The etiquette education he received as a young child allowed William to ensure that he would not have such a loophole.

But at the same time, William also understands one thing, that is, these people can't count on it. Whether he wanted to compete with the Britons for supremacy, or against the Britons, none of them could count on him. They are too weak.

This weakness is not only about their strength, land area, population, military combat effectiveness, and overall national strength, but also about the weakness of their hearts.

From the beginning to the present, none of the small Lombard states has had a hero who has enough ability to unite the whole of Lombardy.

Maybe you could say it's because of external pressure, or for some other reason. Look for some objective factors. But at the end of the day, the most important reason is to look for itself.

Speaking of which, there were several very good races in the Lombardy Peninsula, the Latins who were close to the same culture as the Peloponnesians, and the Goths, all of whom established effective rule in this area, and even the most legal kingdom title on the peninsula, the Lombard Kingdom, emerged from that time.

In addition, even the current Lombards have made considerable achievements in many fields such as art, culture, commerce and seafaring. Logically speaking, such a nation and such a place cannot, will not, and should not degenerate into this......

The problem is, the reality is that people like to joke around. The current Lombards are so depraved, such incompetent. William, after examining the combat effectiveness of these Lombard mercenaries, as well as the Duke's Praetorian Guard, came to a conclusion that he did not know whether it was good or bad. That is, he only needed one reorganized army, that is, fifteen thousand men, to defeat all the armies of the whole of Lombardy. And to effectively guarantee the occupation, annexation requires two corps.

It only takes 30,000 men to conquer a rich, populous and geographically important kingdom, and even in an instant, William is a little moved......

Well, it's just a little, a little bit of excitement. The current situation did not allow him to annex Lombardy.

But no one can say what will happen in the future.

As soon as he thought of this, William felt very happy.

"All in all, our tactics are like this. After intimidating these people who were frightened by the Britons, William smiled and said calmly, "We can put up Queen Briton as Emperor." In a sense, I can even continue to allow the Kingdom of Wende to remain within the confines of the Ostrogothic Empire. ”

"This, but ......" Hearing William say this, these people were surprised and incomprehensible. However, William's next words dispelled their doubts to a certain extent: "To be honest, I never said that I was the emperor. Isn't it?"

Several dukes and consuls looked at each other. Yes, William's current title is the Supreme Lord of the Great Frontier Region. Although the vast majority of people regard him as an emperor, in fact, the nobles who are most sensitive to titles, titles, and titles know that this is really not an emperor. And it's a bit nondescript.

And what William said next also made the consuls and dukes somewhat dispel their doubts.

It's like the Roman Empire, when multiple emperors ruled together. Emperors were also divided into two types, the highest being Augustus and the second being Caesar. That is, a holy Gothic emperor was Augustus, and his deputy was called Caesar. This does not affect the legitimacy of the empire or the legitimacy of the title.

And William's statement here also shows his attitude.

On the one hand, he decided to compromise with the Britons and even submit to them in name. On the other hand, he will also be against the Britons. He pulled these Lombards in his mind, and it was even possible that he would unite more people against the Britons in the next peace meeting to form another faction.

This play, this way, the bloodless struggle was very pleasant to all the dukes and consuls, on the one hand, they could use their ingenuity, and on the other hand, there was no risk - even if they were to play the last game, they could cry and shout to the Britons that they were forced, that all the mistakes were done by the same Wilhelm von Hereford, and that they had been looking forward to the Britton's salvation.

When that time comes, you will be reformed, the market will be opened, and you will be as you like, and it will not be worse than the situation you are facing now. It's just a matter of time or time.

"Well, that's it. William nodded: "Next, the Carpathian Council of Nobles will send someone to negotiate." We'll talk about it next......"

William was halfway through speaking, and seeing that none of these guys were interested, he also interrupted the topic and said no more.

These dukes and consuls would not care what the barbarians of the Carpathians thought more than their own survival.

Moreover, the situation in the Carpathian kingdom today is very bad - the main thing is that they have no king. There is no king, there is no king - this is very important, so it needs to be said three times in a row.

Emperor Kalman IV, with whom they had formed a commonwealth, is dead, and the entire Swabian family has disappeared without an orthodox heir - of course, even if there is an orthodox heir, it is not clear whether they would dare to install a Swabian family member as their king under pressure from the Britons.

Therefore, another important topic of the Westphalian Council this time was to elect a king for the Carpathian kingdom without a king.

Of course, this is not the point, the point is that this king must have enough strength, enough strength to protect this shield of the Lord of Radiance, against the invasion of the dark elves of the Ottoman Empire from the southeast.

From this point of view, the Russian-Gothic Empire was a perfect fit, and William was the senator of almost all the Carpathian kingdoms, as well as the common people expected him. Their best bet would be to form a federation with the Empire.

The problem was that this was very difficult to achieve - on the premise that the Bretons did not want to see the slightest increase in the power of the Empire.

"The future of the Carpathians is uncertain. William thought to himself.

In the following peace conference, if he could, he naturally had to fight with all his might to become the king of the Carpathian kingdom. Just what if...... If the price is right, he can't sell this kingdom -

William's "price" is one - keep the Ostrogothic Empire!

He can bow down to the Brittarians, he can make the Britons occupy the vast majority of the Empire, he can betray the Carpathian Kingdom, but in any case, he must retain the legal system of the Empire. In any case, even if it is divided, even if the power of the empire is taken over by a foreign royal family, even if it is ...... As long as the empire remains, then there is hope for everything.

William's biggest fear now is the dissolution of the empire by Victoria.

She's on a really good hand right now.

If William had been her, he would have coerced and induced the southern Lombards to withdraw from the Empire, and then to recognize the Russian-Gothic Empire, and to withdraw the entire Kingdom of Wend, as well as the Kingdom of Russia, from the Empire. Then swallow Frisia and Lotternia, and turn the Grand Duchy of Jutland and the Kingdom of Bern into independent kingdoms. It would be better to have Franconia become independent, to divide Great Moravia in two, to annex Bohemia to the north, or to form a confederation. Austria in the south, on the other hand, formed a co-confederation with the Carpathians, or even a new empire, to balance the situation in the human world.

In this way, there is no legal system, no name, no emperor - or even a nominal emperor. The Gothic nation's most powerful empire since the end of the classical era will disappear completely. As long as the Bretons are able to govern the northern territories of the empire properly for some time to come, these territories will eventually coalesce into a new state.

In this era of national awakening, the Lombards, who had broken away from the empire, would form a new people, while the Jutland and Bernese would eventually lose their sense of belonging to the empire.

Under this general trend, no matter how hard William tries, he can't go back. His big brother empire plan will be completely aborted. The great ideal of unifying the entire Gothic nation will become unattainable.

Just thinking about this possibility made William feel uncomfortable all over. It is for this reason that William must, no matter what, must maintain the continued existence of this empire. Even if it's just an empty shelf, even if the emperor is a foreigner, even if he condescends to another woman and calls another woman his sovereign.

All this endurance and humiliation are for the great revival of the Gothic nation!

"And, one day, I'll get justice back. William said this, almost gritting his teeth. The dukes and consuls sitting beside him couldn't help but look at each other when they saw him like this, and at the same time felt a little chill in their hearts.

They didn't know why William had such a terrible expression all of a sudden, and they didn't know why he was angry, so they could only say nothing in confusion. Well-behaved and quiet, like a war horse chilling cicada.