Lord of Industrialization

While Frederick was enjoying himself in the hot springs, in the royal palace of the Rhine League in the city of Cologne, several palace ministers were waiting a little uneasily in the conference room.

The Grand Duke of Mainz now serves as the Minister of Agriculture in the palace. A great feudal lord like him usually acts as a local emperor in his own family, but the country trembles when he coughs. No one dares to ignore his voice. The palace official position is just a window dressing. He is qualified to attend various occasions.

Today is a regular palace meeting that handles daily government affairs of the country, which happens once every ten days. Also present are the Minister of the Interior, Earl Rank, the Minister of Military Affairs, Earl Pisto, and the Chief Minister of the Heraldry Academy, Earl Shakespeare.

The Grand Duke of Mainz took out his pocket watch with a ceramic enamel case and looked at the time. It was four o'clock after the meeting at three o'clock. He turned around and asked Count Shakespeare in a deep voice: "Is Rudolf always like this now?"

Count Shakespeare didn't say anything, just answered with a wry smile.

Count Pisto shook his head and said: "Now His Royal Highness is determined to imitate Duke Wesson in everything, but in the end, he only learns from the number of lovers."

Count Ranke looked at the beautiful pocket watch of the Archduke of Mainz and thought that Frederick had come up with some new tricks. He sighed and said: "Let's stay the same. If there is anything we need to discuss first, Your Highness the Prince is here. He signed directly."

There haven't been any major events in the Rhineland recently. The main reason is that winter is coming again, and a "poor relief fund" needs to be allocated to buy firewood for the poor in the city for the winter.

In previous years, money was distributed. Not long ago, Rudolf proposed that it would be better to distribute firewood directly when the price of firewood rises in winter. The gentlemen in the conference room who were not worried about heating in winter thought it made sense, so they passed it.

Also, Earl Shakespeare reported that several nobles had poor harvests in their territories this year and applied for exemption from this year's exemption.

This kind of thing happens from time to time. According to the procedure, we will send people to verify it on the spot, and then we will do what we need to do.

When preparing for five o'clock, the trivial matters were discussed. The Archduke of Mainz said: "The Helvetic Federation has signed neutrality treaties with the Osmaga Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia respectively. You all already know the relevant contents of the treaties. , I think we should be the third country to sign."

The Grand Duke of Mainz has been promoting this matter since he came to Cologne, and he had communicated privately with everyone present earlier.

In recent years, thanks to Frederick's leadership effect, the Rhenish Alliance seems to be on the rise. This year's occupation of Linden City by the noble coalition has given many people a taste of the sweetness, and it has made all nobles full of confidence.

The Rhine League will next expand eastward across the Elbe River. It must first stabilize the western region. If it can sign a treaty with the Helvetia Federation, it will naturally be great to eliminate a security risk.

From a political point of view, no matter how Frederick tried to avoid the limelight, this multinational treaty was his first, and no one would ignore his ability and status in international politics.

Frederick was a member of the Rhine League, and his greatness meant that the Rhine League was great.

Everyone had no objections to the signing, but Earl Rank said listlessly: "I have no objections. Let's wait until His Highness the Crown Prince finally approves it."

The Grand Duke of Mainz sighed and said: "The prospects were unclear last time, but now Wesson has set the tone. All we need is a letter of appointment."

He turned to look at the clerk on the table in the back row and said: "First write a letter of appointment as a diplomatic plenipotentiary envoy and sign it directly when His Highness the Crown Prince comes."

The secretary is just a handyman, and he does whatever the leader asks him to do.

He asked the trainee clerk to get a blank letter of appointment. He wrote a letter of appointment in strict printing, leaving his name blank, and finally handed it to the Archduke of Mainz.

The Grand Duke of Mainz read it over and found that there was no problem, so he put it in the pile of documents and waited for Rudolf to come.

At ten minutes past five, the office door was pushed open anxiously. Rudolf walked in quickly and said nonchalantly: "Sorry, I'm a little late."

The Archduke of Mainz frowned slightly, and the smell of several perfumes came to Rudolf as he walked by.

Count Rank asked the clerk to hand the documents just discussed to Rudolf.

The Grand Duke of Mainz was mentally prepared to argue if Rudolf had objections to the signing and appointment.

But he charged up and punched the air.

Rudolf didn't even look at the contents of the documents after he sat down. He directly signed the signatures, including the letter of appointment, and then handed them to the clerk behind him to seal the process with wax.

The Grand Duke of Mainz didn't understand what was going on, and suddenly found that the other ministers around him suddenly became serious, and even Count Rank, who was listless just now, was on guard.

Count Shakespeare wrote a small note to the Grand Duke of Mainz, which said, "Be careful that every time he does this, he will make some excessive demands."

The Grand Duke of Mainz was confused, thinking about what a "slightly excessive request" was, and almost jumped up the next moment.

Rudolf said to the ministers: "I want to confer the city of Linden to Antonia."

There was a sudden silence in the conference room, and even Count Rank and others who were prepared were stunned for a moment.

"How can it be!"

The Minister of War, Count Pisto, suddenly jumped up from his chair. The chair was brought down by his legs and hit the clerk behind him heavily on his feet.

Rudolf said categorically: "Nothing is impossible. Antonia is my beloved concubine. She has no territory with us yet."

"I originally promised her to build a palace for her, but due to financial reasons I have been unable to start the construction, so I decided to use Linden Tree City as compensation."

The faces of all the ministers present turned dark.

When Linden City was captured, everyone had the money and strength to contribute. For example, Count Ranke formulated the strategy of marching south on the pretext of attacking the Principality of Franconia and then used moldy grain as an excuse to attack the city. Count Shakespeare's son arrived. Linden Tree City bribed local nobles to replace normal grain with moldy grain. Count Pisto lost several pounds in order to raise grain and transport it. Even Frederick activated Linden Tree City's "Steaming Bun Bureau" to transmit information through the radio.

Now that Linden Tree City is a free city, everyone has divided the cake and is preparing to use it as a base to expand to the east of the Elbe River. But His Highness the Crown Prince actually wants to seal it to the Crown Princess? !

This operation cost a lot of money, and many people were waiting to get their money back with land and money. Wouldn't it be a waste of money if it turned into a fiefdom for the crown princess?

Earl Ranke said seriously: "Your Highness, this matter is too important and needs to be discussed by everyone at the court meeting."

Rudolf shook his head and said: "I have already promised Antonia about this matter, and I have broken my promise about the palace. What will she think if she deceives her again about this matter?"

Count Pisto said expressionlessly: "Your Highness, have you ever thought about what the nobles involved in this battle think?"

Rudolf's face suddenly darkened, he slapped the table and said, "I commanded this battle. Of course I have the right to decide the ownership of Linden Tree City."

All the nobles present were speechless for a moment.

Rudolf just signed with his eyes closed from beginning to end. Later he was going to get married. However, in his early years, he first defeated the war with the Kingdom of Gaul in the lowlands and was later defeated by Frederick, so he wanted some merit. Just to decorate the facade, everyone will recognize it for the sake of the country.

Okay now, this happens.

The Grand Duke of Mainz picked up the thermos cup and unscrewed the lid and took a sip of tea. Then he "placed" the cup heavily on the table and said angrily: "Your Highness, please take the time to review the Treaty of the Rhine League. "

The Rhine League itself was a loose alliance formed by the remaining nobles after the fall of the Second Pulan Empire. It could only be united when it was external. The original treaty of the founding of the country stipulated that the nobles who joined could come and go freely.

It's just that the previous generations of kings were good and strengthened the royal authority, so this clause in the treaty was forgotten.

However, the Archduke of Mainz has been thinking about joining forces with the Archduke Byrne for independence in recent decades. Ten years ago, he planned to support Frederick as king to support his appearance. Naturally, this clause will not be forgotten.

His words were serious and could be seen as a threat.

What's more important is that he really has the motivation and ability. If they finally break up and their upstream cooperative organization declares independence, the Rhine Alliance really has nothing to do.

Apart from anything else, whoever gets kicked in the head by a unicorn will challenge Wesson's army.

Not to mention, many people’s second sons and daughters who have no inheritance rights are now developing in Weisen State, and there are recent rumors that Weisen State will open up investment, and everyone is welcome to make a fortune together.

So after the Grand Duke of Mainz got angry, all the ministers began to study the lamps on the ceiling or the pens in their hands, which made Rudolf's face darker.

Earl Shakespeare had been coordinating the relationship between the royal family and the nobility all year round. Seeing that there would be big problems if he continued, he said to Rudolph: "Your Highness, why don't we donate money to build a beautiful palace for the Crown Princess."

"The construction workers under Duke Wesson will build the house quickly and well. They are guaranteed to satisfy Her Highness Antonia."

The others nodded together. Lime Tree City is a chicken that keeps laying eggs and cannot be lost.

In recent years, due to the increase in grain production, everyone's pockets have become richer than before, so it is acceptable to pool some money together to build a palace to protect this chicken.

Everyone felt that after the Archduke of Mainz gave a stern warning and Count Shakespeare handed him the steps, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could simply step down.

However, Rudolf shook his head: "What I promised Antonia was a palace, not a palace."

Everyone was embarrassed. The palace was simple, but the palace was complicated. The cost of building a palace was at least three or four years of the royal family's income, and they couldn't afford the money.

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became silent.

At this moment, a knight from the Royal Knights hurried over and brought unexpected news to everyone.

"His Majesty the King is awake!"