The signing of the Treaty of Amity, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance between the Knight King led by Laing and the Empire led by Karl-franz represented the establishment of a national defence alliance, unlike Laing's dukedom or Karl's Reik Dominion.
Whether it was the external or internal environment, it was the best opportunity for both sides to sign the contract. Both Ryan and Karl had relied on their own efforts to temporarily unify the situation. Taking advantage of this opportunity and the presence of most of the important figures on both sides, both sides signed the contract in the Culona Palace.
The Treaty of Amity, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance mainly had the following contents:
First, the two contracting states undertake to take all necessary measures to resist the invasion of the Northern Barbarians, Orcs, Green Dwarfs, Vampires, Skaven Ratmen, Dark Elves, and Dark Elves. Should any of the contracting states be attacked by any of the aforementioned forces, the other contracting state shall provide military and other assistance to the best of its ability.
Second, the border between the Empire and Brittany will be re-surveyed and re-surveyed. The two sides will agree to withdraw their troops from the border and not send more than a thousand troops to defend their respective fortresses.
Third, the two sides will open up more trade fairs and agree that tariffs and taxes will be discussed together. No additional fees or tariffs will be raised without permission to further promote trade between the two sides. Marlinburg will also be designated as a free trade city for commodity trading.
Fourth, the Brittany will pay a fee of 100 thousand crowns spread over ten years. Given His Majesty Laing's good relationship with the Empire and the many times he has assisted the Empire, the Empire will give him an annual interest rate of 1%. This will be used to bring in advanced industrial technology and talents from the Empire. The Empire will do its best to help Brittany establish its own industrial system, starting from Musillon and extending it to the rest of the kingdom.
Fifth, the Empire can use the treaty to hire Brittany knights at a price no higher than the market price. Similarly, Brittany can use the treaty to hire mercenaries from the Empire. If the Empire wants to hire Grail knights, the price will have to be negotiated. The same applies to the war machines of the Empire.
Sixth, the treaty will be valid for twenty years. If neither side raises any objections before the end of the period, it will be automatically extended for another ten years, and so on.
The leaders of the two countries signed the contract respectively. The religious representatives of the two countries, the Lake Goddess Morgiana and the Church of Justice's Grand Chanter Casmir IX, represented the justice of their respective gods and announced that the relationship between the two countries had entered a new era.
At the signing ceremony, thunderous applause rang out. Leon and Karl shook hands passionately, and both sides revealed standard smiles. This time, the two countries were officially united.
The champagne was opened, and the king and emperor clinked glasses. Karl-franz immediately showed his vulgar sense of humor. "Laing, guess what this scene looks like in the eyes of the green skin?"
"Two hammers?" Laing sneered. "One isn't green enough, and one isn't waaagh enough?"
"Hahahahaha!" Karl laughed loudly. "Oh, I like this joke, hahahaha!"
Laing laughed awkwardly. He thought that the emperor's joke was indeed confusing, but it was a good thing that they could reach an agreement. Compared to the southern nations, the Empire and the Brittany naturally had a sense of mutual recognition.
The southern nations were different. The origin of the southern nations was not the tribes when the Empire rose. Whether it was Tyrell or Estalia, they actually originated from an ancient kingdom called Titus (where the Skaven Rats were now located). After the fall of Titus, the surviving humans were divided into two factions. Under the guidance of the Goddess of War, Mirmidia, they went to Estalia and Tyrell to settle down. The people there never felt that they had an obligation to fight against Chaos or the green skin. On the contrary, they were obsessed with the ideals of democracy, civil freedom, and justice. The eternal city-state system, the always chaotic political situation, and the attitude of not caring about anything. This was the southern nations.
To put it simply, there was a huge difference in the values of the two nations. For example, if the Empire requested the southern nations to send troops to fight against the green skin and Chaos, the southerners' answer would probably be: Why? Why? Why should I lower my quality of life because of your responsibility and obligation? What does it have to do with me? You guys go and carry the burden. I just want to live a peaceful life.
Therefore, whether it was Laing or Karl-franz, they didn't have much hope for the southerners. It was already very good that they could hire the mercenaries of the Dogs of War, Tyrell, and the Mirmidia Church of Estalia to help.
On the other side, Kurfürst Boris held a wine glass and said indignantly, "The benefits are all taken by those two people. They say that it is industrial support, 10,000 gold marks a year. But everyone in the Empire knows that the Empire's industry is basically concentrated in Brunswick, Brunswick, and Nur. Our Countess has that kind of relationship with Laing. Heh, this time Nur is going to make a fortune. We can only get some soup."
"It's better than nothing." Kurfürst Marius was still wrapped in bandages. He broke his arm and ribs when he fell from the arena yesterday. Even if Laing had the best medicine of high essence and wood essence, it would take at least two months for him to recover. "Heh, I'm thinking, if the green skin attacks from the Black Fire Pass and sees a large group of Brittany knights, what will their expressions be?"
"They will be very excited." Kurfürst Wolfram Hertwig said helplessly, "We have an opponent. These green moss can never be cleaned up, I swear."
"But they can be contained." Duke Carcassonne frowned.
"Maybe you're right."
After the signing ceremony in the morning, there was a larger banquet and personnel appointment at noon. Laing had to reorganize the royal court. He had to replace Richard's people with his own.
Laing soon reorganized his court in the afternoon.
The new king's court was as follows:
Religious representative and theocratic consultant: Lake Goddess Witch Morgiana.
The head of MI7 and the head of spies were Aurora Trowek, the sanctum witch, and Theresa Trowek, the legendary warlock.
Chief female courtier and wizard consultant: Sanctuary Witch of Light Fire, Veronica.
Marshal of the Brittany Border Guard: Roland Marshall.
Regent of the Kingdom: Knight of the Holy Grail, Duke Lauen-Leo Cornwall.
Minister of the Kingdom: Katzenberg.
Minister of Finance: Suria (temporarily), Steve (deputy), Guffen (deputy).
Commander of the King's Royal Guard: Knight of the Holy Grail, Baron Armand.
Chief Judge of the Kingdom: Baron Eduardo Candreva.
Minister of the Kingdom's Navy: Knight of the Holy Grail, Baron Fedmond.
Chief Steward of the Royal Household: Orica (deputy), Sylvia (deputy).
As for the Brittany ambassador to the Empire, Laing trusted Earl Florence Beaumont, whom Richard had appointed previously. He had no intention of changing him.
After the reorganization of the entire court, there was a series of banquets and various trivial matters, including whether the new king would inherit or abandon the old king's policies, a series of diplomatic contracts with the wood elves, dwarves, and high elves, the pardon of political prisoners, the mobilization of the national army, and the promises made to the dukes.
This was because, in terms of the entire Knight King's system, Laing had severely damaged the foundation of the entire Brittany nation.
Under normal circumstances, the Brittany Knight King's divine right was always supervised by the Lake Goddess Witches and restrained by the dukes. If a king could not comply with the wishes of the Lake Goddess and ensure the interests of the dukes, he would not be able to sit on the throne for long.
But for Laing, he was the first king in Brittany history to break this rule. Above, the Lake Goddess had clearly given up on his divine right, and below, Laing had formed a close alliance with Morgiana. When the king's authority could not reach the corners, he could use the power of the Lake Goddess Church to enforce his will.
In other words, Laing's authority as the king had overgrown and was showing signs of going out of control.
After he ascended the throne, there were many rumors in the court that the new king would reverse the course of history and try to eliminate the independence of the duchies and directly command their armies.
Hearing this rumor, before Morgiana could react, Suria immediately went to Laing. The intelligent and politically sensitive queen asked him to call for another meeting of the dukes. Suria made it clear that Laing, as the king, should protect the interests of the kingdom.
Laing also realized the problem, so he immediately called for a meeting of the dukes and announced that a new Knight's War was about to be held. The harvest of the Eight Peaks Mountain expedition would be related to the elite level and number of troops sent by the dukes. At the same time, he promised to protect the independence of the duchies and inherit the glorious history and fine traditions of Brittany.
Although the great nobles still had doubts in their hearts, they still expressed that they would send their own elite troops to participate in the Eight Peaks Mountain expedition. This was not only a show of goodwill to the new king, but also a sign of coveting the endless wealth of Eight Peaks Mountain.
Many things made Laing dizzy. Since the beginning of the year, both Richard and Laing had in fact stopped dealing with major internal affairs, waiting for Laing's decision. Coupled with various meetings and banquets, he was busy for three days and three nights. Laing worked at his desk for about twenty hours a day before he finally finished dealing with most of the squeezed documents.
This caused a lot of resentment in Laing's backyard, especially a certain goddess who had discussed with Laing that the two of them would consummate the marriage after he ascended the throne. Seeing that Laing was so busy that he even had to run for his daily prayers, the Goddess of the Lake had already prepared a set of high elven wedding dress and a complete ceremony. However, seeing that Laing was so busy and was about to prepare for the Eight Peaks Mountain expedition, the Goddess could only tell Laing that they would secretly hold a wedding ceremony after he returned from the expedition.
At this time, Emperor Karl-franz of the Empire had already embarked on the return journey with more than half of the Empire's parliament. Only the Duchess of the Empire stayed behind. Benefiting from the autonomy of Wesson and the ability of the Nur City Council to govern themselves, Emilia planned to stay here for a few more days.
As for Olica, she was very considerate and accompanied Laing as he dealt with his official affairs. She did not complain at all and instead enjoyed it. It was not that she took the opportunity to monopolize the king's life, but rather, she proposed many solutions to the problems reflected in the documents. Some of them were even enough to make Laing's eyes light up. It seemed that the dark elves had gained a lot of knowledge and made great progress in certain areas. The king casually asked Olica if she had gained anything special, but Olica only smiled and did not say anything. Laing was too busy to care about anything, so he did not ask and instead enjoyed the dark elves pouring him tea and massaging his shoulders.
Suria and Morgiana were also tied up with many things. Veronica was busy preparing to assemble an entire group of witches. Teresa and Aurora were also focused on establishing a branch in Kurona. Everyone had their own things to do, and only Emilia and Olica accompanied Laing. The Duchess of the Empire changed into her old maid uniform from time to time and brought Laing's children around the palace for a tour. Laing really did not have the energy to care about them.
"Phew …" After three days and three nights, Laing finally finished dealing with all the documents. He was so tired that he wanted to bury his head in all the documents and fall asleep. Even someone as energetic as him was almost crushed by the mountain of documents. He now understood why Richard looked so old.
"Master, are you done with your work?" The dark elf Olica stood behind Laing, her small hands wrapped in white lace gloves massaging Laing's shoulders. "It's a little stiff. You must have accumulated a lot."
"Ah, I'm so tired." Laing looked around and saw that there was no one else in the office except for Olica. Emilia had gone to Suria's banquet. He then complained like a thief. "If Suria and Morgiana are willing to help me, I can at least reduce my workload for a day."
"Your queen and the Lake Goddess have their own things to do, master," Olica said with a smile. Olica giggled. "You can't be lazy. Master, don't forget that you have an appointment with His Excellency Teglis for a candlelight banquet in the courtyard of the palace tonight!"
"Banquet, banquet, banquet again." Laing smiled bitterly. "The banquets have been really satisfying. Now I just want to go back to my days as a knight and eat bacon sandwiches with inferior cider. That simple and boring life."
"Anyway, I'll be with you, master." Olica gently hugged Laing from behind and buried her head in Laing's back. "Master, you can slack off a little tomorrow. There's still some time now. You can sleep for an hour. I'll wake you up and we'll go to the banquet together."
"Thank you, Olica." Laing's heart warmed. He nodded slightly. The king did need to rest. Even if it was only an hour, Laing would quickly recover his energy.
Just now, Olica helped him solve a problem.
This year, the canal from the Sannes River to the Grismori River was finally completed. Laing immediately ordered workers to prepare for the continuation of the canal. This time, the canal from the Grismori River to the Chinon River had to pass through the Bordero and Bastogne duchies.
It was on this issue that Laing encountered a lot of resistance. The progress of the canal was not ideal. The compensation for the expropriation of land was not enough. The kingdom's finances were tight, and there was a shortage of manpower. There was always a shortage of conscripted workers in each region. The work schedule was also very good. Therefore, the project could not be carried out in 24-hour shifts. It was always on and off.
More importantly, the local nobles, especially the smaller ones, were very disgusted by the canal passing through their territories and destroying farmland, woodland, and roads. They either adopted a non-violent and non-cooperative attitude, or pretended to obey but secretly opposed, or reluctantly agreed. However, they kept making a fuss about the compensation, hoping to take the opportunity to extort more money.
Laing had a headache over this. In this world, people valued land far more than in the Celestial Empire of Laing's previous life.
However, Olica provided Laing with a new way of thinking. That was, the expropriation of land would be calculated according to the market price. However, after the expropriation of land, the expropriated people would receive a certain percentage of the profits generated from the development of the land.
If the other party insisted on compensation, they could hold a public auction, but the future profits would have nothing to do with them.
As for those who firmly refused to expropriate, they could just let the canal take a detour. There would not be too many of these diehards. After all, Laing's personal prestige was there, and he had the money ready.
Laing suddenly understood. He thought to himself, "That's right, why didn't I think of it?" He had seen so much in his previous life. Even if he had not eaten pork, he had seen pigs run!
It could only be said that after staying in this world for so long, his way of thinking had changed.
After sleeping for a full hour on the small bed in the inner room, Laing woke up at Olica's call. He washed up and then went to the castle courtyard to meet with Tegris.
In the silver tableware and candlelight, Tegris and Laing sat opposite each other. The table was filled with food from the high elves. The two sides discussed the next step of the plan.
"Yang Fire Amulet?" Tegris was a little puzzled. "You are looking for that? Is it Lilith's idea? "
"Well, yes. Do you have any clues?" Laing used a fork to pick up a piece of fruit salad. "If we can find the Yang Fire Amulet, we will have more confidence in The Final Moment."
"… About the Yang Fire Amulet, we have to start from the famous Phoenix King, 'poet' Isis."
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