industrial lord

Chapter 166
The 80th birthday of the Grand Duke of Mainz was held grandly. The nobles of the entire Rhineland Alliance came. Prince Rudolf came to congratulate on behalf of the royal family. A mission was sent.

The circle of nobles is determined by factors such as title, region, blood relationship, inheritance, and interest, but no matter how it is determined, there is no age.

Frederick thought at first that he would have time to play with Maria, but they did not overlap in various social activities.

After he arrived in Mainz, he received invitations according to the catty. There were formal banquets and dances, as well as tea parties and salons with female relatives, but it was stated that Duke Wesson could come by himself, and everyone knew that he had no female relatives.

So the fellow attended a tea party with great anticipation, hosted by the daughter-in-law of the Grand Duke of Mainz.

For these ladies, the tea party is a place for relaxed chatting, sometimes with the hostess or the guests invited by the hostess as the core, and the participants can either surround the core or talk privately by themselves.

Salons are somewhat different. When they are launched, they often have a theme, mostly art, and professionals are often invited to attend, just like a rich woman who calls her favorite stars home, and then invites her friends to watch the stars together.

Frederick hadn't seen what a high-end tea party was like before, so he went there, sold himself out because of his young age, and then spent a fulfilling afternoon, physically enriched.

At night, Baron Wesson asked Duke Wesson curiously: "Meatballs are not to your liking?"

The grandfather of the Baron Wessen was the younger brother of Frederick's great-grandfather. He was the one who drove the old man away from the exclusive territory, so the old man ran to join the former king.

In terms of blood, Baron Wiesen's family was Frederick's closest relatives.

Now that Duke Wesson is well-off, relatives will naturally come to him. Today, the restaurant not only serves the dishes from his hometown in the north, but also several families that are related to the Wesson family.

Baron Wesson prepared the meatballs that are common in his hometown. The meatballs are a mixture of minced meat, onions, eggs, fish and some ingredients. After cooking, they are topped with cream and served with shredded sweet radish root. not bad.

It's just that Frederick was acting cute during the afternoon tea party. As a result, the ladies who were out of motherhood kept feeding, their stomachs were full, and now they were eating very slowly.

He smiled and said, "The dishes are delicious, so savor them slowly."

Frederick didn't intend to entangle the grievances of his predecessors. This kind of historical account can't be calculated. It's better to see if he can expand the scope of business, so he began to ask about the local customs there.

Seeing that he didn't loathe him, Baron Wesson breathed a sigh of relief. What he had to do now was to coax this eldest nephew.

"Our territory is not far south of Hanma City." Baron Wesson introduced the territory. "The land there is pretty good, it's flat, and there's enough water. We can only grow wheat and grapes."

Frederick thought for a while. These days, the minor nobles are all like this. They mainly focus on agriculture, and at most have a little handicraft.

Baron Wesson continued: "It's a hard time in the world now. In August, the Osmaga Empire and the Piast Kingdom fought in Bohemia. The scale was not large, but Osmaga The empire has suffered."

"Now the Osmarga Empire is asking the nobles on the other side of the Elbe River to send troops to cross the Odra River next year to attack the west of the Piast Kingdom and share the pressure on the south."

"Those nobles would have been scraped off by the Osmarga Empire in previous years. Where there is money to send troops, why not cross the river to snatch us first."

"We have no choice but to go to the king, but we didn't expect the king to ignore us at all."

"In the end, I had no choice but to come here to try my luck."

As he spoke, he began to complain, and the others at the table echoed.

However, they didn't seem to have the idea of ​​asking Frederick for help, they just wanted to ask him to help pass a message in front of the Grand Duke of Mainz for a private conversation.

Frederick didn't say much, he nodded and agreed, with his own thoughts in mind.

After the banquet was over, he was going to catch the third game of the day.

The carriage left the city and came to a manor not far away. As soon as he entered the gate, he heard the sound of music from afar.

The ball was a place where nobles chased birds and swallows. Frederick yearned for it very much, but at present he could only yearn for it.

The party held tonight is Reiner, the heir of the Grand Duke of Bain, and Theodore, the heir of the Grand Duke of Mainz, is also present, plus the Duke of Wesson, this is a high-end game.

The dance floor was full of beautiful flowers, and the ladies and ladies were all dressed up, and it was too beautiful to look at.

But this has nothing to do with Frederick. The master went to dance after a few polite words with him, and then disappeared with his beautiful partner. As for Theodore, he had long since disappeared.

Sitting next to Frederick now is a burly man. This man is Sforza, the head of the Helvetia Federation Mission, and he needs to find him this time.

Sforza said to Frederick: "Your Excellency has many Helvetia prisoners of war in your territory. I wonder how you will deal with them."

Frederick took a glass of fruit juice and took a sip without haste, thinking that this was indeed the problem.

He seemed to be talking about an insignificant matter, and he said in ordinary words: "Please rest assured, I have no plan to kill them, nor do I have a plan for long-term detention. If there are injuries on the body, I will arrange for them to give them appropriate treatment."

"They are prisoners of war, and they need to pay a ransom for themselves in exchange for freedom. That's okay, right?"

Sforza nodded and said: "That's reasonable. I want to know how much ransom they want, and the money will be paid by my country."

Frederick didn't answer right away, but asked a servant beside him to bring him some biscuits.

He then had the opportunity to think, those captives were all strong mountain mercenaries, if they were redeemed in small quantities, it would be fine, but packing them all at once would look like they were going to expand the army.

The Helvetia Federation and the Principality of Mainz didn’t deal with it. It’s not good for these people to go back no matter where they are used, so Frederick ate a biscuit and replied: “I heard that the Helvetia Federation has many mountains, and there are a lot of cultivated land and minerals. The country is not rich, so the king of your country should spend the money where it is more needed."

"Don't worry, they can go home as long as they work with me for three years and don't cause trouble. Of course, I have to do two more years to heal those injuries."

Upon hearing this, Sforza said anxiously: "This is not acceptable. Those captives' families rely on them to send money back to support their families. If they don't return home for three years, they will starve to death."

Frederick pretended to be surprised and thinking. If he hadn't asked himself, he would have been deceived now.

Although the income of mercenaries is high, these people spend money lavishly. In addition to the purchase and maintenance of weapons, it would be nice to have one gold coin sent home every year.

In Wessen State, an ordinary worker earns two florins a year. These mercenaries are strong and work a lot, and they are well-disciplined and easy to manage. It is not a problem to pay three florins a year based on wages.

"Okay then." Frederick said, "I will give each of them a salary of 1 florin per year and let them work in my place for 6 years, and I will send the money to their families through the church. "

The corner of Sforza's mouth twitched slightly, thinking whether he really didn't know it or did it on purpose, if he couldn't bring the man back, the king must have twitched himself like a millstone.

Frederick looked smug, as if he had done something terribly good.

Before Sforza could say anything, several sixteen or seventeen-year-old ladies came over laughingly, one of them seemed to have lost a bet, and was pushed out by his companions to invite Frederick to dance with him.

Frederick thought to himself, this dance is something a child like himself can dance, and he agreed to the other party's invitation.

(End of this chapter)