Lord of Industrialization

In the church, Frederick lay on the coffin and cried miserably. The nobles who came around after hearing the news couldn't tell whether it was an act or not. They didn't know how to comfort him, so they sat on stools and watched the show.

Many people looked at Count Shakespeare. You have been studying acting for generations, so you are troublesome.

Earl Shakespeare saw that Frederick was wearing the highest-grade white robe and straw sandals for mourning the deceased. The front of his white robe was covered with mud, as if he had fallen down on the road. One of the straw sandals on his feet was missing, and there were still straw sandals on his feet. There were signs of strangulation, and the sole of the only shoe had a lot of wear and tear. It looked like it had been worn for a long time.

If it was the first day he met Frederick, he would feel that this was not an act.

Baron Wagelmut, the top painter in the court, took over the task of painting a series of oil paintings of William's life, and now took his most proud students Albrecht and Matthias to collect materials in the church.

The last painting in this series of oil paintings, "Farewell", was taken from the current scene of Duke Wesson lying on the coffin and crying bitterly. It later became a national treasure, and in the Internet era, it also became an emoticon of "You are in the last picture."

Rudolf arrived later than everyone expected.

He was uneasy when he walked into the church, fearing that five hundred devil soldiers would rush out from around him and stab him to death at Frederick's command.

"Still crying?!"

Rudolf deliberately came slowly, just to wait for Frederick to finish crying so that he could say something for the occasion and then return to the palace early.

He walked to the coffin bravely and stretched out his hand as if to pat Frederick on the shoulder. Unexpectedly, Frederick suddenly stood up and grabbed his hand.

The nobles who were watching were suddenly shocked, fearing that Frederick would blow Rudolph's head off with a punch.

William was the only heir to Rudolf. The other royal relatives with the right to inherit were killed in the lowland area eleven years ago. The ones who survived included Frederick. The others were either orphans or widowers, or they were poor.

At first some people were thinking that it was not too late to embroider purple robes right now.

Naturally, there were loyal people in the church. Someone immediately picked up a stool and rushed forward, seemingly to rescue Rudolph from Frederick's clutches.

"Rudolph, I'm sorry, brother William!"

Frederick's words surprised everyone present.

Count Wesson held up a stool and was obviously heading towards Rudolf. He was stunned when he heard this.

Count Wesson's grandfather and Frederick's great-grandfather were brothers. In recent years, he himself had made a lot of money by acting as Frederick's agent and became the spokesperson of Wesson in the lower Elbe region.

His territory expanded two months ago because he married the neighbor's young widow. Rudolf just held a canonization ceremony half a month ago, turning him from a baron to a count.

Count Wesson knew who gave him everything he had now. He thought Frederick was about to take action just now, so he was the first to jump out to help.

Another person who jumped out was Count Shuyun Stiga, a loyal man for generations and one of the deputy captains of the Royal Knights. Eleven years ago, he lost his left calf to cover William and Rudolf's escape from the lowlands. Swan City, across the sea in the lowlands, was left to their family to guard for generations.

Obviously, the stool in the hands of Count Shuyun Stiga was headed for Frederick.

Now that Frederick came, the two of them were stunned.

Count Wesson was the first to react. He immediately lowered the stool, then went over and placed it behind Rudolph. His face was full of a flattering smile: "Your Majesty, please sit down. You have been exhausted these days. Please take care of yourself."

Count Shuyun Stiga also placed the stool behind Frederick and said awkwardly: "Duke Wesson, you have worked hard all the way back. Sit down and take a rest."

The two looked at each other, and Count Wesson returned to his original position, but Count Shuyun Stiga stood behind Rudolph.

If William's body hadn't still been here, the onlookers would have applauded.

Rudolf was frightened. He was not stupid enough not to realize that Wesson's stool was aimed at his head. In shock, he was helped by Frederick to sit down on the stool.

After Frederick sat down, he nodded his thanks to Count Shuyun Stiga, and then said to Rudolf: "I couldn't tell you or everyone about some things between Brother William and me, so there was a misunderstanding. .”

He refers to him as "brother William" instead of calling him king. Apparently he wants to handle some things as family matters, and at the same time, he secretly suppresses Rudolf because of his seniority.

Rudolph couldn't help it. He was almost killed in the battle eight years ago, and he felt a little weaker.

Moreover, the brotherly relationship between William and Frederick was determined in the "Treaty of Wesson" after that war. If you want to refute this, it means that the treaty is invalid. It depends on whether Frederick becomes independent or settles old scores. In the mood.

The nobles onlookers all dare not show their dignity. Now comes the critical moment.

"That happened in 1032." Frederick's slow voice could be heard clearly by everyone present. "Two years ago in the spring, brother William brought me a message when he sent me a letter, saying that he planned to promise to give it to Antonia specifically. Build a palace and ask me if you can borrow some money.”

The nobles onlookers suddenly focused their attention on Earl Shakespeare.

After William was half paralyzed, he wrote letters to his vassals from time to time, mostly to increase his favorability and hope that everyone would support Rudolf's regency.

These letters are not long, only about a dozen sentences, but the words are formal and sincere, and no one will ignore them.

In recent years, letters from Frederick and other important nobles in the south have basically been sent personally by Earl Shakespeare, the chief minister of the House of Heralds. Firstly, it was William's request to show his weight, and secondly, Earl Shakespeare also thought of William. Moriju looked at a certain Goo Knight.

It was a bit sensitive for the king to ask his vassals to borrow money. After all, the vassals only performed feudal obligations to the king, which did not include borrowing money.

Especially in a loose country like the Rhine League, the Grand Duke of Mainz dared to slap the table on the prince. Before William was buried, everyone began to care about the affairs of Linden City. If you stared at other people's wallets, some people would definitely be unhappy.

William could only use his brotherly relationship to borrow money from Frederick, otherwise people would think that the king was starting to attack his vassals if they knew about it.

William can only treat this matter as a family matter, so Earl Shakespeare is naturally the best messenger. Everyone knows that his granddaughter is Frederick's mistress. In the eyes of others, the relationship between the two families In fact, it is the same as a marriage. It is not outrageous to say that they are a family.

Earl Shakespeare received the news from Psyche yesterday, saying that Frederick would appear sooner or later after entering the city, and now he nodded and acknowledged it as agreed.

Frederick continued: "It's just that at that time I was preparing to regain Constantinople, and I really had no money, so I had to ask Brother William to wait."

Count Shakespeare continued to nod.

Frederick sighed deeply and said: "I originally planned to talk to Brother William about the palace affairs in two years after the recovery of Constantbul when my wallet was better, but I didn't expect that a lot of things happened this year. I didn’t even expect that he would leave suddenly, I couldn’t wait.”

"well……"

What he said made the surrounding nobles believe it. After all, everyone knew that he was rich. A few floor tiles in the golden palace under the castle would be enough.

Frederick's expression suddenly became serious, and he said to Rudolf with a hint of reproach: "Brother William asked me to be your teacher that year. I felt that my knowledge was not enough, so I asked you to act as the Chancellor of the Finance. , learn how to manage a country’s finances on the job.”

"But, on the way back, I heard some rumors that are very unfavorable to you, and they involve a city, so I think I still have to say a few words to you as a teacher."

Rudolf listened well at first, and Frederick kept talking about his father's affairs. He thought that Frederick seemed different from other nobles. He didn't care about his own feelings and only talked about their interests.

Now when he heard that Frederick was about to talk about Linden City, he was furious. It turns out you are that kind of person too!

Rudolph was extremely angry, like a pressure cooker with a blocked outlet valve. The internal pressure reached the extreme at this moment and was about to explode.

Frederick glared at Rudolf, and the "pressure cooker" suddenly turned into a "refrigerator". The pressure was gone and there was only fear. He just wanted to stand up and immediately collapsed on the stool.

Count Shuyun Stiga, who was behind Rudolf, looked at Frederick expressionlessly and whispered: "Duke Wesson, please pay attention to the occasion."

The late king's body is right next to him. Some things are really too much to say here.

He did not mention whether Frederick respected Rudolf. At this time, the uncle was training his nephew, and the teacher was training his students. If Frederick wanted to beat Rudolf, he had to help move another stool.

Frederick just nodded to him calmly.

"When you are a leader, you must keep financial, military and personnel power in your own hands." Frederick continued to say to Rudolph, "But there is something more important than this, and that is to understand people's hearts."

After he finished speaking, he looked around at the surrounding nobles, snorted coldly and said, "I want to criticize some people. They have gone too far."

Everyone didn't take his words seriously. Anyway, if they didn't criticize by name, then they weren't criticizing themselves.

Frederick continued to say to Rudolf: "The new palace was Brother William's last concern. He asked me for help before he died. I did not refuse, I just waited for a while."

"Now that he's gone, don't worry, I will still help him."

"I am now next to Brother William, and I promise you in front of everyone that I will take care of the new palace."