After the waiter left, Little William smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I'll make an appointment with His Majesty the King in such a place."

"For two soldiers, this is not inappropriate. And you know, the situation is very tense now, and I can't leave my army at will, and those etiquettes will only waste time," Carl said.

"You can understand, that's great."

Carl said: "I got news from the two embassies of China and Prussia that your country is willing to help us resist the Russian invasion. This is what the Swedish people want to see and is in line with the common interests of our three countries. The Russians are so greedy that they want to curb their ambitions.

However, I don’t understand at all. Since I am willing to form an alliance and join the war, the King of Prussia can just send representatives to me to negotiate. Why do I have to make a private appointment? Just to keep it a secret?"

William Little said: "I have been studying in China for a few years and am very lucky to have received the teachings of the Prince of China. I have learned a lot from him. One of the things is that it is best to cooperate with friends first, then a gentleman. There is also a saying in China that brothers settle accounts clearly, and I am worried that settlement of accounts afterwards will be detrimental to the relationship between the two countries.

His Majesty, the respected king, should be clear that the harmonious relationship between our two countries is not too long. My father hopes that harmony can continue in the future."

Before coming, Carl considered this issue. He thought it was a military consideration, but he did not expect the Crown Prince of Prussia to give such an answer. The so-called military consideration was that Carl knew that after the end of the Spanish war of inheritance of the throne, Prussia did not enter Kuma and put the Nanshan Mountain like other countries, and the standing army and recruited troops with strong combat effectiveness were still in a state of being able to drive out at any time.

In this way, the benefits of keeping confidentiality are great. The two countries can reach an agreement in secret and choose a critical opportunity. The Prussian army suddenly launched an attack on the Russian army, which was effective in defeating the enemy.

As for the relationship between the two countries, as William Jr. said, it is not so harmonious.

During the Thirty Years' War, the two countries were hostile, and in the following wars, the two countries also had territorial disputes. After Gustav II, Sweden experienced too many failures and lost a lot of territory, many of which now belong to Prussia. With the rise of the wave of nationalism between the two countries, territorial issues have always been a topic of less harmonious between the two countries.

The real harmonious relationship between the two countries was after William became king, and he vigorously learned from the East to develop economy and trade, especially in the textile industry and the steel industry. In terms of textile industry, Sweden can provide wool and market. In the steel industry, the high-quality iron ore provided by Sweden is necessary for Prussia.

Due to the heating of economic and trade ties, the relationship between the two countries gradually eased. Especially after Carl XII became king, she immediately encountered an anti-Swedish alliance. She urgently needed a stable neighbor. It was important to stabilize Prussia and not take advantage of the situation. In addition, Carl XII quickly won the victory of the Battle of Denmark and the Battle of Naval, from a defensive to an offensive, and then to an expansionary trend. With Poland and Russia as expansion targets, Prussia was trapped in the war of succession to the Spanish throne. The two countries had their own goals and had closer relations.

But the problem is that both countries are rising and developing rapidly, and have historical and territorial issues. Conflicts will happen sooner or later, unless there is a stronger country as a threat to both countries.

"Then what are you going to be a villain?" Carl thought about it and asked on his own initiative. After all, Sweden is now retreating step by step and urgently needs help. Among Sweden's potential allies, the Ukrainians only want to take advantage of the situation, and China does not want to end easily. Britain, which originally supported Sweden, has also changed its attitude towards the Netherlands.

Especially Britain, in their opinion, Russia's rise may not be a bad thing. Although its national strength cannot compete with China, it is China's land threat, and for suppression and countering such a world power, the stronger the chip, the more appropriate it is. It's just that the British have commercial interests in the Baltic Sea, so it is hard to support it directly.

William Little William said: "His Majesty the King, you should be clear that for us, the Great Northern War can participate in or not. If we want to participate in the war, our only demand is to expand our territory. Of course, there is also support from China. In the past, this was a kind of support, but after the Battle of Poltava, it was another kind of supervision.

We all know that the more anxious others urge you, the more chips you will ask for, right?"

"Yes, you can get more chips from China, but it seems you want more from me." Carl narrowed his eyes and looked at Little William.

Little William nodded: "You are right, so I said, "Free villains first and gentlemen later."

"Please."

"How we get territory from Russia and Poland after the war depends on what the war is like, we can not win and how much we can win. But we can agree in advance between the two countries that we want West Pomerania for Sweden," said William Little.

Dongdongdongdongdong.

The waiter knocked on the door. After getting permission, he sent several glass bottles, which contained the hot pot base, and thoughtfully posted a note on it with today's date, because the sealing of this thing can only be guaranteed to be ten days.

Carl put down his chopsticks, lifted the hot pot base, and said, "Mr. William, thank you for your gift, goodbye."

Little William nodded: "This is you rejecting me, right?"

"Yes."

"Then, let's go, don't give it away." Little William said calmly.

Seeing that the two seemed to be unhappy, the waiter left in a hurry. Carl asked: "Crown Prince, although you are very honest, I cannot accept the requests you made. The land in Sweden can only be expanded and cannot be lost."

Little William nodded, returned to the table, continued to eat hot pot, without giving any answer, but Carl just pretended to leave, but he didn't expect Little William to be so calm. Carl said again: "You should know that even if I promise you, Sweden will not agree."

"I have considered this, but my father insisted, so he had a backup plan, that is, to find Russia. Tsar Peter would definitely not care about this saline-alkali land in the southern Baltic Sea." said William Little.

"The Prince of China will not allow you to do this. Russia is China's biggest threat on the mainland. Now Russia has won the war. They are now thinking about what can help the Russians avoid expansion in this war." Carl suppressed the anger in his heart, closed the door of the box, and said.

William Little did not comment: "So what? To put it bluntly, the goal of the Chinese prince is to limit Russia's strength and relieve Russia's threat to them. But I will never have one solution in my heart than you, the uncle Yu who knows me. Some of his political enemies often say that His Highness Yu has a flexible moral bottom line, but he does not know that Uncle Yu's political skills are more flexible.

For example, limit Russia. Perhaps Russia's strength to annex the land will increase, or perhaps we join forces with Russia to fight to the war will be hated by Uncle Yu, but so what? In the end, Prussia is still an important bargaining chip used by China to balance Russia.

Assuming that Russia has won, expanded, and become stronger, what will my uncle Yu do? He may not forgive us, and may end the friendship with the Hohenzollern family, but will never end the cooperation between the two countries. On the contrary, for the benefit of the empire, at that time, Uncle Yu will still allow us to expand, and it is best to let us divide Poland with Russia, so that Prussia and Russia directly border, and the competition between the two countries is still a restriction on Russia.

But our interests are still achieved. As for friendship, it is really not important in the face of national interests. And your country, I think you will lose a lot, a lot."

Carl hesitated. Although William Xiao is very arrogant and shameless now, his words are logically fine. As for what William Xiao said, Sweden has suffered a lot, how much is this, he doesn't know, but at least West Pomerania is inevitable.

"Your face is really annoying now!" Carl said viciously. Although he said this on William's face, and William was also the crown prince of Prussia, it is undeniable that as soon as he said this, Carl's momentum became three points weaker, and the rhythm of this small-scale negotiation was controlled by Prince William.

The crown prince smiled and said, "I said, "First the villain first, then the gentleman. Now I do villain behavior, of course I have ugly faces, which is normal."

Carl sat back and said, "Actually, you don't want to get into China, you have a bad relationship with us, right?"

"Of course." William did not deny this, but he immediately added: "But West Pomerania is important to us, and it is a necessary window for the development of the Brandenburg region."

In the eyes of the Prussian royal family, Prussia's position is really embarrassing. It is full of powerful countries, including Sweden, Russia, Austria, France, etc. If Prussia wants to rise, its territory must expand, and it will become enemies with European powers early and late. This is the most important reason why China supports Prussia.

It is precisely because of this that Prussia needs friends, and even if it solves one direction, it is good. Sweden’s friendship is very important, while China’s friendship is even more important.

The Hohenzollern family did not want to get into evil with China because William and his son understood that the rise of Prussia would definitely not only require the simple territory and population, but also the development of science and technology. For Prussia, it has a natural disadvantage with Western European countries in this regard. If it is involved in evil with China, it will be difficult to cooperate with these in the future.

Seeing Carl fell into deep thought, Crown Prince William continued: "His Majesty, why not discuss another possibility about West Pomerania?"

"What else is possible?"

Crown Prince William said: "You may have many troubles as kings, but what about exchanges?"

"Exchange? What does it mean?" Carl asked.

"How about we can exchange land with the same area or the same economic strength for the West Pomeranian region?" said Crown Prince William.

When Carl heard this suggestion, his expression soothed a lot. He was the king and the king of an absolute monarchy. Although he advocated the divine authority of the monarchy, he knew that the king's authority came from authority. The cedes land to Prussia was definitely a major blasphemy of the royal power and threatened rule, but the exchange seemed much more relaxed.

To put it bluntly, the West Pomerania region is not Sweden. In the eyes of Swedes, West Pomerania, Livornia and even Finland are all colonies, and colonies can be traded.

After a while of thinking, Carl said: "If it is an exchange, it must be the existing land in Prussia, rather than the exchange of land you have not yet obtained."

If the land in Poland and Russia is used to exchange it, it will still be a challenge to Carl's royal power.

This was originally the solution that William and his son thought. Anyway, only if they win can they have extra land. If they lose this exchange plan, it will be meaningless. It is not a pity to sell the land of his father, let alone the land of his neighbor Lao Wang. Fortunately, Prince William also has a backup plan and took the initiative to say: "How about part of the land in East Prussia?"

"Seventy percent are East Prussia."

"40%."

"Half, no less."

"Okay, that's half."

The two of them determined the principle of exchanging land in just a few words. The Hohenzollern family didn't care much about the East Prussian region. This land was originally Poles and could also be regarded as a Prussian colony, especially in the marginal areas. Most of the residents were Poles, and it was not considered a traumatic slightest exchange for them.

"Okay, the difficult problem has been solved. The crown prince can also put away his villain mask. Let's talk about some cooperation between gentlemen. When are you going to send troops, how much, and how to act?" Carl said impatiently, as if the situation was very critical.

Little William smiled: "His Majesty the King, this is not something that can be explained in a few simple words. You know, although I have received military education, I am not like you. I am a natural commander. I cannot tell the specific plan. I plan to take a military officer group to your base in two days, but before that, we need to know the exact situation on the battlefield. Now I say we know, please tell me whether it is true or not."

"Okay, tell me."

William Little explained the information in Prussia in general. After the failure of the Battle of Poltava, although the Swedish army was not much damaged and there were only more than 9,000 troops that lost combat effectiveness, they were all key veterans in the Swedish army. On the contrary, the main force of the Russian army was not damaged.

At that time, Carl's lowered strategic expectations no longer wanted to conquer Moscow and become the overlord of Eastern and Northern Europe, but changed his thinking, first to get Poland and dominate Polish politics, and secondly to defeat St. Petersburg and restore England.
Chapter completed!