When Richard returned, he immediately told Sophia and William what had happened to the operation.

The Haaland family has three hereditary barons, and they can quickly make a big deal out of it at the meeting of the nobles by writing a joint letter.

Howard is still in their hands, and they are not afraid that Jehram will not admit it.

But in this way, the Haaland family offended Prince Felix and passively became involved in the prince's struggle for succession, which is not a good thing for future development.

But being attacked by Jeram's hired people, the Haaland family couldn't bear this breath.

Moreover, the sixth squadron died in this battle, even if he tried to offend the royal nobles, Richard would take Jerram down.

After consulting with Sophia and William, the Haaland family agreed on their opinions.

On the eve of Richard's departure to the royal capital to file a complaint, Jehram found an intermediary who came to Fort William.

This man was none other than Richard's old prefect, Sharp.

Jeram was nervous, he knew that he had been caught by Richard, and if he didn't deal with it, his life would be threatened. So, he decided to find Sharp as an intermediary and negotiate with Richard.

He wanted to be able to control the matter and confine it to the province of Geda.

Sharp was Richard's old chief.

Although the joint leader of Chaprafael is under the management of the province of Gascoigne, Sharp has been an official in the north for many years, and his network resources are very rich, and he has also met Jeram of the province of Geda a few times.

After Jerrah came to the door, Sharp learned about it, thought for a while, and agreed to help him talk to Richard, and promised to keep the negotiation between the three of them and not let anyone else know about the existence of this matter.

Subsequently, Sharpe came to Haaland's territory.

Sharp, like Richard, is a military man who doesn't like to disguise himself and speaks quite directly.

"I'm here to be an intermediary at the request of your provincial high-ranking official, Jeram. He is very sorry about the fact that you were attacked. But he hopes that this matter can be controlled within the province, and if you have any requirements, you can talk to him. ”

"How to talk about it, where to talk about it?"

"Richard, now that you have the handle of Jerram, you have the upper hand.

How to talk about it?

What conditions are proposed?

Where to negotiate? It's all up to you. ”

The interaction between the nobles has always been the first priority.

After pondering it, Richard felt that negotiation was the best way to deal with it. Even though I hate Jeram very much in my heart, I still have to negotiate when it's time to negotiate.

After all, although the two sides have a grudge, no important person in the Haaland family died at the hands of Jerram.

Not to the extent that hatred cannot be dissolved. Even the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, which have a deep hatred of the sea, can negotiate, let alone this little hatred.

Now Richard has grasped Jeram's handle, as long as he grasps the right time, he can get more benefits from Jeram and speed up the development of the territory.

The venue for the negotiations was chosen in Vikburg.

After being attacked by Jerram's men, Richard was very concerned about his own safety, and the negotiations must be in the Harland family's own castle.

Jeram did not come to negotiate in person, and the representative of the Holland family was his butler Saville.

"Baron Richard, as long as you can get Howard back, you can negotiate any conditions?"

"What about the ransom price of 30,000 gold coins?"

"It's okay to talk, after Howard is free, we'll pay the ransom."

"Hiring mercenaries to attack the nobility, I am very pessimistic about Jerram's character. It's impossible for me to release them first, you have to pay the money first. ”

Paying the money first meant that you had to believe in Richard's character, and 30,000 gold coins was a very large amount of money for the barony's domain.

The baronies in the south, because of the relatively small size of the territory, only have an annual income of less than 10,000 gold coins.

The barons of the northern region, although their territory is large, have few people, and are often poorer.

If Richard did not engage in additional income such as steelmaking and winemaking, and relied on growing grain, even if all the paddy fields in the territory were reclaimed, tens of thousands of people would be busy for a year, and after deducting rations, the income from the sale of grain would be several thousand gold coins.

A few thousand gold coins also need to raise an army, socialize with other nobles, and integrate into the aristocratic circle.

Books need to be collected, tutors need to be hired, and the administrators of the territory need to be paid.

At the end of the year, I can't save much money at all.

Even if the treatment of the soldiers in the territory is raised to the same level as the main army with 30,000 gold coins, the soldiers of the seven squadrons can be raised for two years.

There is no mutual trust between the two sides now, and Savile does not dare to agree to pay the money first.

In the end, it was Baron Sharp who vouched for Richard and gave Savile a step.

With Baron Sharp's guarantee and agreeing to pay the money first, Savile also wanted to bargain with Richard and lower the price.

One afternoon, Richard didn't say a word, put on a stinky face. Let Saville spit and fly, and he won't let go even if he says it.

At the end of the meeting, Richard sneered and said, "Mr. Savile, you go and tell Jeram that not a penny of 30,000 gold coins is missing." If it weren't for the face of Old Sharp Chief, I would have to look good this time.

Didn't you even arrange for a master to hide in the shadows? Can you try to get this person to take a look?

You have to understand that it's not just you Holland who will use shady methods, but everyone will use it to assassinate.

You can take this as a threat to me, and this matter will not be resolved. Not only will I sue the Council of Nobles, but I will also use any rules to settle troubles. ”

Hearing Richard say this, Savile was taken aback. Savile was able to be sent by the Holland family to Jeram's side to assist Jeram, and of course he was very smart, and he immediately obtained covert information from Richard's voice.

"Richard knows that Simon is hiding in the dark, and there are only two possibilities, the first is that Simon has a spy arranged by Richard by his side, and the second is that Richard's mental power exceeds twenty points and awakens the talent of danger perception.

The Haaland family is only a small nobleman, and they have no foundation in the king, so it is impossible to know that there is such a person as Simon. It seems that Richard's mental strength has broken through twenty points and has been promoted to a mid-level professional. He is still so young, offending this kind of person is probably not a good thing for the Holland family in the long run. ”

Richard's words were so hard that it immediately made the negotiations untenable.

Savile continued to pester, and saw that Richard was already impatient and had already shown a willingness not to negotiate.

Jerram was caught by Richard and was naturally in a weak position in the negotiations, and Savile was well aware of this, so the only one who gave in in was the Holland family.

At the end of the negotiations, the two sides reached a verbal agreement.

Jeram compensated Haaland's territory with 30,000 gold coins, and Richard released Howard and no longer pursued the matter.

(End of chapter)