industrial lord

Chapter 187
Frederick comforted Belle Burke and asked her to wait for lunch in the servant's restaurant, and continue to step on the sewing machine when she was full, and she could not have dinner without smoking.

He wouldn't blindly believe Bell Burke's one-sided words. He didn't know what happened in Cologne, but there were people familiar with the situation in Wessenburg.

Christian has been in Cologne for many years and is very familiar with the situation there. Frederick asked Vanessa to inform him to come to the castle to meet him in the afternoon.

"Nils from the Hegel family?" Christian became nervous when he heard the person Frederick asked, "My lord, did you know someone who was taken away by him?"

Frederick shook his head and said, "No. So you know what he did?"

Christian sighed, and said: "The patriarch of the Hegel family is also a sword master, and the old lady is His Majesty William's first woman, so no matter what their family does in Cologne and the surrounding areas, they will be sheltered. "

Frederick understood as soon as he heard it, first love, he knows how much these words weigh in a person's heart.

His hometown in his previous life built a scenic area. When he went back one year, he saw a tourist driving a car and killing a pig. The villagers surrounded him and refused to let him go. When he went over, he saw that it was Chulian and her family who were driving. So without saying a word, he helped them out, and even helped them buy a ticket to go home.

Christian continued to sigh and said, "That Nils... oh... he has done all kinds of bad things, and the God of Light will punish him one day."

"To tell you the truth, my Zhuangzi's steward's daughter was taken away by him before. When I went to ask for her, he slapped my teeth loose."

"That girl... well... she should still be buried in his garden now."

He kept sighing, and described what Niels had done in detail, basically consistent with what Bell Burke said.

Frederick asked again: "Then what about the Shakespeare family of the Academy of Arms, how much do you know?"

Christian suddenly became serious and asked, "Is Miss Bellburke Shakespeare here with you?"

Frederick didn't answer, but said, "Tell me about this family."

Christian said solemnly: "The Shakespeare family is a family that should not be underestimated. They were just actors in the palace more than a hundred years ago. At first they relied on pleasing the queen at the time, and later they relied on their excellent acting skills to deal with the king. Among the nobles, in order to safeguard the interests of the royal family."

"I have dealt with them a lot, and they can behave very much in line with my temper and hobbies, which makes me feel that I can become good friends with them, so even if there is an argument, they will not fall out."

Frederick smiled and said, "It sounds like they are more suitable to be diplomats than you."

"That's right." Christian also agreed with this statement, "So they have been in charge of the Heraldry Academy for decades, reconciling the relationship between the royal family and the nobles, and between the nobles and the nobles."

Frederick nodded, and asked again: "So they are all performing, so how credible are their words?"

Christian replied with certainty: "They will not lie, they will only use acting skills and words to generate sympathy and goodwill, and then follow their steps little by little."

Frederick sighed: "They are really talented."

Christian asked him suspiciously: "My lord, is it true that Miss Shakespeare is here with you? There is a grudge between her and Niels, and I was there when Niels was injured that day."

Frederick replied: "Miss Shakespeare, it's the first time I heard about it from you."

"By the way, I heard that the Shakespeare family is short of money recently?"

Christian thought for a while and replied: "At the beginning of last year, I heard that they got a way to do business with the Aveiro family of the Kingdom of Madeira in the west. Those believers of the Earth God Sect would sell hippogriffs to them, so they bought a lot of them. Cargo formed a fleet to sell."

"If something goes wrong with this shipment, it's going to be a real pain in the ass for them."

After hearing this, Frederick recalled the map in the west, calculated the distance, and said, "It's not surprising that something happened to the sea route of more than 3000 kilometers."

Christian agrees.

Frederick asked him again: "So, do you think it is necessary for us to make friends with the Shakespeare family?"

Without even thinking about it, Christian replied with great certainty: "It is very necessary."

"The Shakespeares are dogs raised by the royal family. They will bite whoever the royal family tells them to bite, and wag their tails at whomever the royal family tells them to."

"They are extremely well-informed, so they also act as intelligence dealers."

Frederick thought for a while and said: "You send back the thousand florins sent by the Shakespeare family yesterday and the letter written by Mrs. Shakespeare, and tell them that no one among the prisoners of war said he was 'Shakespeare'. Miss Beale'."

"Tell them again, if the business with the Kingdom of Madeira can still be done, I can give them [-] florins of goods on credit."

Now that he is rich and powerful, he can buy goods with tens of thousands of gold coins on credit, but that is only the wholesale price, not so much based on the ex-factory price.

If the Shakespeare family doesn’t come, anyway, he intends to ask the church to act as a guarantor. The church must ask them for such a large sum of money, or sell the house. I heard that their house is very big and the location is good. It is not far from the palace, and the surrounding area is either rich or expensive. The area of ​​the garden ranks among the top five in Cologne City. It may be profitable to buy it and transform it into a greenhouse.

Then, Frederick said solemnly to Christian: "This time you go to Cologne to inquire about something."

"Many places west of the Elbe River have been looted this spring. The king will send troops to reinforce and organize defenses. We will definitely send troops to fight."

"I received a message that there is a force planning something, the target is us, the purpose is unknown, you go and try to find out."

Christian agreed without changing his face, a little shocked in his heart.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has intelligence collection business. It has some intelligence dealers' business in its own hands, and has related funds. This part of the funds is specially approved by the Duke and will not be audited.

He knew about the king's reinforcements on the west bank of the Elbe River and reported it, but he didn't have any news about a certain force targeting Wessen, not even the intelligence brokers who had channels in the palace.

Now the Duke directly mentioned this matter, which means that he has another intelligence organization, which is normal, but it is not easy for this intelligence organization to inquire about the deeper information in the palace.

Frederick thought about it again, and asked Christian to leave the study for five minutes before returning.

After Christian returned, Frederick handed him a map of the Rhine Union, which clearly marked important cities such as Cologne and the territories of many important nobles.

"You still have a task." Frederick said, "Purchase real estate in these places in my name, whether it is a house in the city or a manor outside the city. The reason is that I want to build a local chamber of commerce."

"The specific requirement is that these places must be high, and the higher the better."

Christian didn't quite understand the last request, but seeing how cautious the leader was just now, he shouldn't have asked.

Frederick asked him to leave with a map. Seeing that it was still early outside, he decided to go to Heinrich to see how the research on telegrams based on broadcasting was going.

(End of this chapter)