Doctor Amnesiac, but not completely amnesiac

"Come to think of it, I used to laugh at you, saying that you always insisted that a person whose life or death was unknown was alive. But now, I have watched my Majesty die of illness with my own eyes, and now I can't even fool myself."

Qiao Yelan laughed at himself.

"Emperor Vladimir?... What a pity! After His Majesty the Emperor of Corsica, he was the only one who had the best chance of sweeping across the Western countries again - but he still failed to do it."

"We used to fight each other on the battlefield, but now we are sitting here talking about the emperors we are loyal to. Fate is really hard to describe."

Emmanuel picked up a bottle of wine and drank it down in one gulp.

"You're not coming?"

"I never drink."

"Yes, you never drink - but I have to drink. If I don't drink, I will remember what happened that day."

The Grand Duke of Normandy looked straight at Qiao Yelan.

"Why was I so stupid? So stupid that I was seduced by the Leitanians and left the main battlefield, causing the Gaulish floating battleship army to be crushed by Wellington's high-speed fleet, and ultimately causing His Majesty the Emperor to lose the war."

Qiao Yelan didn't answer, and Emmanuel didn't need to answer.

He had long been in his sleep, and when he woke up, he was tortured over and over again.

There was a long silence until Emmanuel finished the bottle of wine.

"I still have to thank you, even though I wanted to eat you alive back then - but in the end, we lost the war, not got stabbed to death. On the contrary, this is the basis for my cooperation with you."

"I thought you were very politically savvy at the time, but it turns out it's because of this?"

"I had no political sense at the time. If you hadn't come to me, I would still be fighting guerrilla warfare with my defeated troops. I'm a soldier. How would I know the bullshit civilian rules? Surrender means losing half. In my eyes, surrender means losing!"

He threw the bottle in his hand away and it landed on the thick carpet with a dull sound.

"Although they needed a prestigious former Gaul to sit in the newly established duchy in order to rule the Gaul region and not let their energy be involved in the uprisings one after another, the Victorians never trusted me."

"You even made a law for me not to enter Londinium? It made me laugh. Who wants to go to that crappy capital of yours? But now, everyone is the same. No one is allowed to enter Londinium! Hahahahahahahaha!"

He laughed wildly and patted the armrest of the sofa.

"The Four Emperors fought. Of the four emperors, only my majesty died on the battlefield. Of the other emperors, your majesty died on a hospital bed, and Herhun Zuolun died at the hands of an assassin. The funniest thing was those Victorians - they hanged their own emperor with their own hands."

Emmanuel wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. It was obvious that he rarely could release himself like this.

"So it seems that the deal between us can still continue?"

"Of course! Why not? With you, I was able to feed my Gaul people who were already in rags at the time, and I was able to revive this land that was destroyed by the war - not to mention, you also let me see a great show that happened in Londinium!"

Emmanuel picked up another bottle of champagne, shook it vigorously, and popped the cork in a victory celebration.

"Victoria's history as a country has ended. Both Dragun and Aslan are dead and their bodies cannot be found. The blood feud of Gaul has been avenged, but my own revenge has not yet been avenged."

"Lethania? The Witch King is dead, who are you going to seek revenge on?"

"Humph, I am not happy with Leitania. I have been in constant conflict with her for many years, but my enemy is someone else."

He held onto the still-bubbling bottle of champagne and stared at the map.

"Vladimir, Herkunzulon, they are all dead, but there is still one person who is alive——"

Qiao Yelan knew who he was talking about.

The Iron Duke of Victoria, the master of the high-speed fleet, and the best battleship commander.

The Duke of Wellington.

"I will kill him - no, I will not kill him, I will destroy his fleet, burn his palace, and ravage his people!"

He muttered through gritted teeth.

"Didn't he say that the keel of his flagship is the keel of the mobile city of Fontainebleau, the former capital of Gaul? Very well, I will pull out this keel again, hang him on it, and parade him around the entire Victoria - until he dies, until I die, until the last person who is willing to carry out my orders dies!"

The roar was deafening.

"Qiao Yelan, I don't care who you are loyal to now, and I don't care what your purpose is, but as long as your reasons for using me have not changed, then I will not betray our contract."

He gave a cold and eerie smile.

"As long as I can have another fight with Wellington, I can give you everything else."

Chapter 107: Surplus Value Squeezed to the Extreme

"You should know that my cooperation with you is not well-intentioned, right?"

Qiao Yelan asked very frankly.

"If you really come to me to discuss cooperation sincerely, I should be afraid."

The Duke of Normandy also answered seriously.

"Then there's no need to be secretive about our conversation - are you planning on rebuilding Gaul?"

"The Gauls have disappeared. This is a fact I am very sure of. I have seen many people who say they want to restore their country. They wear all kinds of clothes and wear all kinds of crowns. But in fact, they are just bastards who use this slogan to squeeze the property of their former compatriots."

Emmanuel leaned on the sofa, looking at the gorgeous chandelier on the dome with lifeless eyes.

"Those who really wanted to restore their country had all died within ten years after the war ended. This is the first time I've suddenly admired the Sarkaz. Their country was destroyed even longer than the records of the Terran calendar, but there are still many Sarkaz who want to return to Kazdel and rebuild their country."

"So, you're going to give up too?"

Qiao Yelan asked back.

“I didn’t give up, but I was just a soldier, I didn’t have the ability to rule a country, and as a [Gallic canonized by Victoria], I was a traitor in their eyes.”

Emmanuel didn't look at Qiao Yelan, but just asked questions on his own.

"Do you know how many assassination attempts I've faced?"

"Hmm, twenty times?"

"That's the number I got in the first three years after I was crowned Duke of Normandy."

The old man sneered.

"And I, in order to prevent Victoria from finding out and letting them arrest me before I could rebuild my army, and hang me in Londinium - I killed every assassin."

"When I finally cleared out the Victorian spies around me and was finally able to secretly protect the assassins who came to assassinate me - no one came to assassinate me anymore."

A soundless silence spread and the old duke closed his eyes.

"So, the only thing you want to do now is to fight Wellington?"

"If I can win, I can use the power of victory to become completely independent, which will also be the resurrection of Gaul. If I lose, then everything will cease to exist. It's not that I don't want to rebuild Gaul, but I know the order of priority."

He sat up straight again, and his awkward posture was enough to surprise every noble who knew him.

"Gal has been destroyed forty years. Too many Victorians have come here, and young people rarely say these two words anymore. Now I am fighting Wellington in the name of civil war, which can better drive my army and my duchy than in the name of restoring Gaul."

"No country can be established by conspiracy and division. Syracuse is just a group of unruly people that even the Witch King is too lazy to manage. He just lets them fend for themselves. Only a war, a war where victory means death, can allow a new country to be reborn from the ashes!"

He looked at Qiao Yelan.

"So I need steel - lots and lots of steel."

"You'll get it."

Qiao Yelan promised.

"I came here this time with a mission from Da Yan - Da Yan needs you to issue a statement to support the promotion of Longmen Coin as the universal currency for international settlement. I just came to say hello to you, and the team that will actually negotiate and give you benefits is behind."

"Then what benefit can I get? Not the subsequent negotiations, but the promotion of this Longmen coin."

"A new and sufficiently broad trade route."

Qiao Yelan’s words cheered up Emmanuel.

The Duchy of Normandy has many trade routes nowadays, after all, Victoria's own geographical location is here - but unfortunately, most of these trade routes lead to Victoria.

There are only a few foreign trade routes, and the route to Iberia in the south does not bring any benefits. The people there have been in constant fear since the destruction of the Invincible Armada. Without the trade and materials brought by the maritime caravans, life in Iberia was already difficult, let alone restoring its glorious foreign trade.

The trade route to Sargon must pass through the Crasd Sea. Similarly, since the disappearance of Alfonso and the Golden Fleet, Duke Godotin's naval fleet has recovered from the humiliating defeat and is once again showing its strength here. Any merchant fleet is under their watch.

That leaves only one trade route to Lateran.

But the problem is that Lateran itself does not have much output, and other merchants, instead of going through Lateran and crossing the wilderness, would rather take the Lethania-Victoria route directly. At least there are no large areas of uninhabited areas here.

"Da Yan's goal is to promote the widespread use of Longmen coins, so many businesses will grit their teeth and move forward even if they know it's not easy to use and the profits are tiny."

Qiao Yelan spread out his hands.

"In other words, I will have more ways to get in those things that Victoria restricts you from shipping."

"make a deal."

Emmanuel agreed without hesitation.

Ever since Gaul was defeated in that decisive battle, his decisions have always been so clean and sharp.

Once the general direction is decided, the details can be negotiated later.

"In that case, I will leave after the customary seven-day visit."

"Are you planning to visit the other Grand Duchy territories?"

"It's [Da Yan] who plans to visit the other Grand Duke territories."

Qiao Yelan corrected.

"Besides, there is no Duke of Stafford."

"Hmm? What happened to that guy? Doesn't he control the western passage to Londinium?"

"The reason given to the public was that he had previously sent a letter questioning whether Da Yan had any remaining bloodline that was sheltering King Drake, and His Majesty the Emperor had already determined that it was a rumor."

"The internal reason is that the western part of Victoria can be supported by the Duke of Castile - instead of going through the trouble of giving one more gift, it is better to give two gifts to the Duke of Castile."

"Da Yan has finished explaining his reasons, what about yours?"

The Grand Duke of Normandy was not fooled.

"My reason? My reason is very simple - Grand Duke Skafford is a person who loves gambling. I can't let him get enough gambling money through public channels, so I can't let him get a share of the Longmen Coin project."

Qiao Yelan turned the joystick himself and controlled the wheelchair to move out of the secret room.

“Otherwise, how can I use the money to induce the Duke of Scarford?

"Hey, that guy, with his strength, what can he accomplish?"

Emmanuel made no effort to conceal his ridicule.

"You're right. Grand Duke Scarford can't really accomplish anything, but he's more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish it. If you think about it from another perspective, this guy can at least be used to cause trouble, right?"

Qiao Yelan lowered her eyebrows and smiled.

In the hands of evil spirits, there is no worthless garbage.

Because things that have lost their value have long been discarded.

---------------------------------------------------------

This was not unexpected at all by the Shaoqing of the Honglu Temple and other members of the delegation. They had only attended a few dinners, had some meaningless chats, ate and drank, and then they received the news that the Grand Duke of Normandy was willing to accept Longmen coins.

Okay, we can go to the next place to get some free food and drinks.

The delegation packed up their things with ease and followed their eldest brother on the road again.

"The next person to visit is Grand Duke Godottin, who is located in the west of the Duchy of Normandy."

"Ah."

"The Grand Dukedom of Godottin is close to the sea, so the port and shipbuilding industry are very developed, and maritime trade has also increased as a result."

"Yes."

"So Grand Duke Godoting is a tough nut to crack. It's not easy to negotiate with him."

"Correct."

"Are you listening?"

"Yes - does this negotiation have anything to do with me?"

Shaoqing looked up in confusion.

"...Yes, I need you to attend a formal meeting."

"okay."